A/N - Sorry all for the long delay in chapters! I decided last-minute to do NaNo, which of course ate the entire month of November (but on the upside, I now have 50k of a plot bunny that had been chasing me for a long time. Considering I normally only manage to write about 6k a month, that is extremely helpful in getting fic written in a timely manner.)

Thank you as always for the reviews, favorites, and follows. And my continuing undying gratitude to my beta, textbookone, who repeatedly takes time out of her busy schedule to make sure that the story actually makes sense before I share it with you all.

I'll be traveling for the holidays, but the next chapter will be ready to go up as soon as I return. :) I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas (or a great holiday, whatever you celebrate!) and I'll see y'all next year! :)

Bae shivered, tucking the blanket more tightly around him - for all the good it did. He'd been awake for probably an hour, and the logs he'd added to the fire had done little to combat the cold air swirling through the cave. The weather had finally turned - as he'd known it would - and he feared it was the challenge that might push them over the edge.

He let out a heavy sigh as he watched the flames consume the logs. They were going through firewood much more quickly now that they were having to stoke the fire through the night. He'd need to head out and gather more; may as well get on with it while the day was young. Grabbing his boots, he pulled them on, a careful eye kept on Emma to ensure that he didn't wake her. If he did, she'd inevitably tut at him over leaving the cave - but while her worry was kind, the outings were a necessity.

Deciding his bid was successful, he stood and grabbed a branch from where they lay piled against the wall. Holding it to the edge of the fire, he watched the flames lick at it until it caught, then lifted the torch to aid in guiding him outside. Stepping out of the alcove into the body of the cave, he released the breath he'd been holding, thankful that he'd been able to slip out without disturbing the princess.

The moment of gratitude was shattered when a voice sounded from behind him. "I really wish you wouldn't endanger yourself so needlessly."

He steeled himself for a moment before turning back to see Emma, still lying in bed, eyes closed and clutching the blanket as he'd done just minutes prior. "It's not needless. We need more firewood."

"We have a huge stack up against the wall. We'll be fine."

He shook his head. "Two days' worth - at most. And if it rains again - there goes any hope of dry wood. No, I'll head out and collect a few armfuls. It'll be enough to shore us up for a few days. I can check the traps while I'm out, too."

Emma frowned. "That'll take you hours."

"It'll only take hours if our luck has turned, leaving us to feast today. You and I both know that's unlikely." He let out a sigh of resignation. "Come on. I'll bring things to the mouth of the cave, you can carry them back down this way."

"That's stupid, Bae. You shouldn't have to do it all yourself." She sat up, letting out a heavy sigh of her own. "I'll come out and help."

"And spend the whole time jumping at every breaking twig, terrified Cora's come to skin you alive? It'll take twice as long - once to do my work and another to calm you down. No, it's best you stay in here, safe and protected from the bogeyman."

She made a face. "Pfft. He's far less terrifying than Cora, I'll have you know." Scuffing a toe along the cave's floor, she tried to reason with him once more. "It's not fair that you're stuck out in the elements. I really don't mind. You can get the wood and I'll check the traps-"

Bae shook his head. "Truly, no. You should see yourself out there, you're so jumpy it's ridiculous. Besides, if you're right and Cora's hunting for you-"

"If I'm right, you'll get yourself killed."

"I won't get myself killed. That's the whole point. I'm absolutely nobody to Cora, just a peasant, she won't pay me any mind. You, on the other hand - well, it's a lot of effort wasted if she should catch you now."

Emma narrowed her eyes, searching for a rebuttal and coming up empty. Finally she produced a sullen reply. "Fine. But I'll meet you at the edge of the rocks. I can maneuver back and forth through them more easily than you can."

It was true - she'd been slight when they met, but the girl was positively skin and bones now. She could slip through the boulders with little effort, and though Bae wasn't particularly large himself, every bit made a difference. So he nodded, anxious to get the day's chores completed and out of the way. "Fair enough."

Forty-five minutes later, Bae had piled the sticks as they'd agreed and moved on to the traps, glancing up just in time to see bits of blonde bobbing up and down through the gaps in the rocks. Sending Emma a wave, he couldn't help but smile; it was good to see her out of the cave. She was beginning to worry him... days upon end without exposure to daylight weren't good for anyone. He'd never be able to forgive himself if the girl he returned to her parents was a patched together version of her former self; pale, malnourished and downtrodden. She deserved far better than that.

He couldn't quite shake the image of her; huddled, shivering, under her blanket as she slept. Going into hiding to save her life was all well and good, but she shouldn't be forced to suffer such conditions. Perhaps there was another way to keep her safe. Of course, selling her on that was another matter entirely; she was quite attached to the safety of the cave. Bae, on the other hand, wasn't quite so sure it was necessary. Cora hadn't been heard of in twenty years before this little escapade - how terrible could she be?

Putting aside his thoughts, he bent to check a trap and found a pheasant, pinned under the rock he'd propped and baited. It was a stroke of good fortune - far more meat than the fish and small rodents he usually managed to catch - and he took solace in the fact that they'd have reasonably full bellies for this day, at least.

By the time he made it back to the cave, Emma had shuttled the firewood inside. He slipped in, the pheasant in one hand and a sack of foliage in the other. He made it to the doorway of the alcove just in time to watch Emma placing the last of the firewood onto the stack. Hearing him, she turned - "Oh good, you're back!"

Endearing as her worry was, he couldn't help but tease her. "You saw me hardly fifteen minutes ago, you goose."

She grinned in response. "Well how'd I know Cora didn't poof in just as soon as I came back to the cave? I'm just glad to see you in one piece is all." Her eyes flitted to the bird in his hand and grew wide. "What'd you catch?"

Matching her grin, he held it up. "Pheasant."

"Goodness, Bae!"

He shrugged. "Not as if I did anything different than normal. Just had something a little larger wander in, that's all."

She scowled at him. "You still caught it, silly. Give it here, I'll get it cleaned up."

"You don't need to do that," he said, shaking his head. "I've got it."

"You brought us food, the least I can do is help prepare it while you set up the spit and stoke the fire."

"It'll need plucking..." he said, eyeing her as he tried to decide if the trade off was fair.

"That's okay, I can do it." She paused, making a face. "Um, if you tell me how."

"Of course," he said, biting back the urge to throw another tease her way. "It's not hard, just tedious. You just hold the skin taut like this-" he said, illustrating as he explained, "-and tug it out like so. Be careful to pull in the same direction it grows."

"Feathers down the waterfall?"

He shrugged. "You can, but might be nice to add them to your bed."

"Yes, because a handful of feathers will do so much for that pallet I sleep on."

"Hey," he said, stepping over to look for suitable logs in the now-larger pile of firewood, "Over time it could add up. A few pheasants make a fine pillow!"

"Fine... flat... same thing," she said, grumbling. "So do rolled-up tunics."

"Only if they're not sopping wet from washing, dear princess."

She scoffed. "Bae, my clothes were disgusting. They needed cleaned. How was I to know they'd take three days to dry?"

He laughed. "So save your feathers and there'll be no issue when your clothing is soiled, my dear. Here," he said, digging in his stash, "you can put them on this tunic as you pluck them. I'll ready the spit."

Emma accepted the tunic with a nod and he watched after her as she marched back towards the waterfall. Seems her spunk wasn't so much gone as tucked out of sight, he thought… maybe he worried too much after all.

"And Red's seen no sign of them?"

Snow shook her head as she pulled the horse to a stop in front of the small cottage where Rumplestiltskin had agreed to meet them. "Nothing. She was able to trace the trail to a stream a couple of hours' hike from here but from there... I guess the recent rains have washed away any trace."

Charming grimaced. "That boy… When I figure out where he's spirited my daughter off to..."

"Charming, we still have no proof that Bae's the one behind this disappearance."

"Indeed," Rumplestiltskin agreed, appearing to the right of the royal duo. "My son isn't the one with a threat on his head."

Charming opened his mouth to deliver an undoubtedly biting retort, but Snow jumped in before he had the chance. "Well, wherever they are, let's hope we'll find some clues in the cottage."

She dismounted the horse with ease, years of pampered living not having dimmed her ability to ride. Rumplestiltskin walked her to the door of the cottage before gesturing towards the entrance and rolling into an exaggerated bow. "Your highness."

Charming, two steps behind her, rolled his eyes at the theatrical display. He stepped past the sorcerer, entering on his wife's heels, and together they glanced around the cottage where their daughter had lived.

"It's... quaint," Snow said, addressing Rumplestiltskin.

"They were supplied with everything they needed," he replied. "You'll find the kitchen fully stocked, still. Bedroom is back and to the right."

Snow wandered forward, taking in Emma's favorite chair, smiling as she noticed the lumps that had developed from her habit of flopping down on it. She continued looking around at the settee and the kitchen beyond, while Charming made a beeline for the bedroom. He stopped at the doorway, squinted, and looked back at Rumplestiltskin.

"There's only one bed."

Rumple, a hint of amusement on his face, looked over at Snow. "Is the concept of marriage lost on your husband? My, my, after all of these years you'd think he'd have it down. I'm a bit worried for the two of you!"

Charming's eyes widened and he moved as if he was going to lunge at the elder man. Snow put a hand up, signaling at him to stop. "Charming, he's just trying to get a rise out of you. The poor boy spent his nights on the settee here - Emma was quite clear about that."

"If I find out that boy's laid a hand on her..."

Rumple sneered at him. "Bae was raised to respect others - which is more than I can say for your daughter. Spoiled, that one!" He shook his head in disgust. "But nevermind that. At the moment, the operative question is where would she have gone to hide from Cora - leaving from here, traveling on foot?"

"Wherever your son dragged her, I'd imagine!"

"Enough!" Snow's shout caused both men to turn and look at her, shellshocked. "Our children are missing. How about if we stop fighting about whose fault it is and start figuring out where they've gone instead?"

Charming stared at her for a moment, then gave a quick nod before turning his gaze back to Rumplestiltskin. "You can't... magically track them somehow?"

"Tried. Three times. First time the shawl flew off too quickly for me to keep up. Second, the scarf made it as far as the stream down the way, then became too waterlogged to continue. Third only made it as far as the ivy on the wall before getting hopelessly entangled.

"You could try again," Snow said, reasoning with the sorcerer as Charming paced about the cottage. "Go on horseback, giving the advantage of speed, take something to the stream and set out from there-"

"Snow."

"Yeah?"

"Look." Charming lifted Emma's blanket from where it had been tossed over the side of the settee. "I was right - that boy has spirited her away somewhere. Emma would never willingly leave her blanket behind."

"No," Snow said, speaking slowly, "No she wouldn't." Looking at Rumplestiltskin, she continued. "Your move."

Hours later the pheasant had been devoured, a few bits even left sitting in the drippings to add to the following day's stew. Their bellies were fuller than they had been in days, and Emma stretched lazily out across her pallet as Bae headed to the back of the cave to wash up.

She found herself opting for silence more and more frequently. It was sometimes the only response she could muster in lieu of snapping at Bae. It wasn't that she was angry with him - she wasn't even sure that she could be - but rather that she was so frustrated with herself that it wanted to bubble over everywhere. The prior days had been... trying, at best. She'd thought she'd done okay one day, made some progress, gotten over herself - it had been Wednesday, perhaps, if she'd counted Bae's hash marks correctly. But then Bae'd awoken screaming, and she'd realized she'd do just about anything - anything - if it meant she could rescue him from that. That was the same night she learned that while kicking the wall next to her bed may have allowed her a silent vent from the frustration, it also gave her a sore toe - which proved even harder to hide than her feelings.

The soreness disappeared more quickly, too.

She sat up and shook out her blanket, sending bits of bark flying, remnants of having been used as a makeshift lumber sled earlier in the day. Wrapping it around her shoulders, she crossed her arms tightly across her chest. It made her feel a few degrees warmer, at least. Upon getting the corners tucked in securely, she worked to still her shivering before glancing up to find Bae standing there. He'd returned from the waterfall and now stood feet away from her, scowling.

"What?" she asked.

"You're freezing."

"Not anymore!"

He let loose with a heavy sigh. "Emma, it's the dead of winter, we are sleeping with a lit fire and you are still shivering through the night under that thin blanket. I - I'm not sure it's safe for us to be out here any longer." He cringed, leaving her to wonder what was coming next. "Perhaps we should return."

She hadn't expected that. Was he crazy? "You know that's not an option, Bae! Cora is still a threat."

Sighing again, he rubbed his forehead, frustrated. "Surely there must be a way to protect you from her."

She snorted. "Hardly. Cora has magic."

"So does my father."

Emma rolled her eyes. "We've been through this before - I'm not asking that man for help! He has no use for me, no incentive to assist me, he'd want to make a deal... likely ask for my firstborn or something."

He quirked an eyebrow as he replied. "That should be no issue, you've informed me you won't be having a firstborn."

"Well... it would be just my luck to bank on that and make such a deal, then have my circumstances change. Become a widow and remarry, perhaps."

He quirked an eyebrow. "I'm thrilled that you find me so disposable."

"Fair enough," she said, rolling her eyes, "I could become an adulteress, then. Would that be preferable?"

"By far."

"In any event, I would prefer not to have to surrender my unlikely heir to the great Rumplestiltskin."

"It's true, he does have a way of bartering for firstborns. Though he threatens far more frequently than he actually follows through." Seeing Emma's raised eyebrow, he amended his statement. "Not that the following through is excusable, of course... particularly in the case of princesses coming of age..."

"And even if this arrangement is preferable to him stealing away an infant, would you want to raise your child knowing he or she was subject to the fate of a loveless marriage?" He grimaced in reply, which she took as confirmation of her point. "No? I didn't think so. Nor would I, ergo, there will be no deal with your father. We stay in the cave," she finished firmly.

He sighed. "Fine. But if you insist on remaining out here, we'll need a solution for these frigid nights."

"What, pray tell, do you suggest."

He made a face - a face that she'd come to recognize as one that predicated a statement she'd disapprove of. "Bae," she began, a warning tone coloring her voice.

Another sigh. "I think we need to share a bed."

She gasped in horror and leapt to her feet, instinctively reaching for the branch she'd designated for use as a sword. "Ha! You think I'd be so gullible as to-"

"Not like that," he said, his tone pleading. "We need all of the warmth that we can get. Sharing body heat, the ability to share both blankets - this winter will get colder yet and it may be the only way to survive the nights." She dropped her spear slightly and he continued. "Fully clothed - we'll need the layers - and we can sleep back to back if you prefer. I'll sleep facing the wall and you can face the fire."

"I appreciate the offer, but it seems a convenient plan to end up in a compromising position."

"Emma. You know by now that's not what I'm after."

She deflated a bit at that - and she could tell from his expression that he took it as his argument gaining ground. She allowed herself to pretend it was due to acceptance of his point and not a tiny pin prick to her burgeoning feelings. Of course he only meant it for survival, Emma... to mean it for more would indicate he'd feelings for you beyond friendship and camaraderie.

"I'll be all right over here," she replied finally, as she pretended not to notice the hurt in his eyes at her rejection.

"I thought you'd come to trust me," he said softly, and the hurt in his voice nearly made her burst forth with the terrible truth right then and there.

"I do, it's just that..." I can't afford to put myself in that situation, her subconscious supplied, before her brain silenced it and finished the sentence. "It's just not proper."

"Emma. Sharing a sleeping space with your husband is far from improper," he said, his desperation making the statement sound far more stern than he'd likely meant it to.

"Yet you're not really my husband," she replied tersely, stressing each word as she choked them out. "Or have the details of our arrangement escaped you?"

"Not for a moment," he replied.

She tugged the tattered blanket back around her shoulders and laid down. "We'll be all right, Bae. The cave is shelter from the worst of the winds and the fire keeps it from being entirely frigid."

"Emma," he began, pleading again. "Don't be angry with me."

"I'm not angry."

"I'm trying to be practical, to keep us safe. Your parents - I made them a promise. If anything should happen to you -"

"Nothing will happen to me. It will all be fine."

"I just... I need to keep you safe. This arrangement - we're here because of my father. I can't let harm come to you because you were pulled from the safety of your home due to my father's manipulations on my behalf, and then I wasn't able to keep you safe. I've little to offer you... please know that I'm doing my best."

Her heart broke a little at his plea; given the circumstances, he'd gone far beyond his duties in protecting her. But she bit back the honest, earnest response that wanted to leap from her tongue in favor of a simpler one: "I know." With her statement, the cave descended into silence, and at some point they both drifted into an uncomfortable slumber.

It was shortly before dawn when he felt her crawl in next to him, tugging her threadbare cloth around them both. Her skin was cool to the touch - though he knew his was no better - and the contact made him shiver.

"You said you'd face the wall," she offered, an accusatory whisper, and obediently he rolled in his spot.

"Indeed I did," came his even-toned reply as he adjusted the blankets to account for his movement.

Drifting off to sleep, he figured the cold had outlasted Emma's pride. It would be years before he knew she'd crawled in to soothe the whimpering that she knew accompanied his nightmares.