Reunions

Gerhardt stood and dusted himself off, and he quickly took stock of the situation. The Merry Men were under attack by Gisborne, and no one seemed brave enough to do anything about it. Humanity had to be better than this, he thought as he stepped over a bush and grabbed Gisborne from behind. He slammed Gisborne's head into his own and then into a tree, releasing him only when he was sure he was limp. He looked at the brunette on crutches and the blonde standing next to her. The former's case he could understand, but certainly not the latter's. "What are you gawking at?" he asked sharply.

"Where do I start?" the woman replied.

"Please," Victor said, holding up his hands and moving into position to step between them. "I will talk to my brother. As to this man, his only medical problem is that he's unconscious, and he'll wake up with a bad headache, nothing else."

"Are you seriously going to do this?"

"Why the hell not?" the woman on crutches asked. "We all saw what he could do. I get that he's not as bad as what almost got out, but he's still evil and crazy powerful. Why can't we leave him here? I'm okay with it."

"What are we, a town of killers?"

"Uh..." Victor said. He glanced at his brother, who promptly shot back a German version of, "Don't look at me."

"You know what, I shouldn't have asked."

"He'll be fine. It's not like we shot him up full of bullets."

"I wish we did," Gerhardt muttered in German. "Would solve a lot of problems." Victor shot him a look.

The woman nodded and said, "Okay, look. I have something else to deal with. I have to get this kid," she pointed to Bae, "to his father, so if you'll excuse me."

"Feel free," Victor said. The two children, the puppet man, and the woman on crutches followed the blonde woman to her car. As to the other Merry Men, the two jittery ones kept close to their more stolid companion.

The woman turned from the car and asked, "Are you coming with us?"

"My brother and I have much to discuss, if you don't mind." She nodded and climbed into the car. As she drove off, the Merry Men seemed to take the hint and disappeared into the forest. Victor turned to Gerhardt. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Gerhardt asked.

"How did you slam into a tree and then get up like nothing happened? Or, for that matter, headbutt a guy and walk away from it without so much as a mild headache?"

"You did this to me. You shouldn't even be asking the question."

"Gerhardt..."

"While we're on the subject, let's talk about how inhuman you think I am. Let's talk about the fact that no matter how hard I try, I will never please you. You'll just continue to think I'm a monster, that you made a monster."

"Gerhardt..."

"I did everything you wanted. I relearned how to walk, speak, read, write. I regained my mastery over my languages, but you still thought I was a failure. You brought me back to frickin' life, Victor. You did the impossible, and I'm standing in front of you because of it. Why is that not something you can accept?"

Victor's eyes brimmed over with tears now. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, shaking his head. "Gerhardt, I'm so sorry. I never meant to make you feel that way. I felt like such a failure..." He took a shaky breath. "No matter what I said to you when I decided to save you, I thought he was right, that he'd been right all along. I'm really sorry. Can I have hope that you'll forgive me?" Gerhardt paused a moment and then nodded. Victor wrapped his arms around Gerhardt's neck, and Gerhardt returned the embrace. "I love you, brother."

"I love you, too."

OUAT

Rumpelstiltskin stared as a group of six filed into his shop. Among them were Emma, August, D Gale, Baelfire, and Morraine. He limped around the desk and stopped in front of them. "Thank you," he whispered. "All of you, and everyone who helped you."

"That's what we do," D replied with a shrug. Rumpelstiltskin nodded, and all but Bae and Morraine reciprocated and walked out.

Bae turned to Morraine, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'll be right outside," she whispered.

Bae nodded and watched her leave before he turned back to Rumpelstiltskin. "Here we are," he said.

"Yes, indeed," Rumpelstiltskin replied. "I'm glad you're alright."

"That means you don't have to kill anyone. That's one less night I have to spend lying awake wondering about the next day's body count." Rumpelstiltskin reached for his son, only to suddenly recoil, cry out, and shake his hand. "I'd like for you not to touch me right now. I wanted to find you for this talk. You cursed everyone in this town and then brought magic to a land without it. What else have you done? And tell me the truth."

"Baelfire?"

"Don't get me wrong. It's nice to see you again, but I think we need to have this talk before we do anything else."

Rumpelstiltskin bowed his head, nodded, licked his lip, and looked up again. "Both stories about your mother were true," he whispered after a moment. "She ran off with that scoundrel pirate, and-"

"And when you had power you killed her."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because that's what you do to people who anger you. That's what you've done ever since you became the Dark One." Rumpelstiltskin's hand shot forward, and Bae grabbed his wrist. "I knew it," he hissed, tearing his hand away and spinning on his heels to walk out the door. Rumpelstiltskin watched and then looked down at the scratches on his wrist and hand. For the first time he wasn't compelled to use magic to heal his wounds.