Once Upon A Time

When she'd told him she'd wanted to marry him, Rumpelstiltskin's eyes immediately lit up with excitement. The day after they were married, He happily chatted to everyone that would listen to him about his new wife and Dagian had to deal with well-wishers for the rest of the day and have everyone give her contradicting advice on how to entertain her husband and how to carry, birth, and raise the child that she would no doubt have one day.

It was an exhausting day, but finally after dinner and the light was extinguished things settled down. Dagian lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling while her husband lay on his side and brushed his fingers up and down her abdomen.

Dagian smiled at her husband. He was so…handsome. Not in a boring society accepted way but there was a tenderness and kindness in his eyes that made her melt every time he looked at her. That combined with his cheekbones and happy smile…it was just…

…no one could hope to match him in this entire village.

She was hoping that she'd be with someone like this for the rest of her life.

She brushed a knuckle against his cheek. He looked at her and smiled contently, "I love you Dagian."

She kissed him, "I love you too."

He gave a tired stretch and rested his head on her chest, "I'm so tired."

"I know," she said and brushed some of his hair out of his face, "That's what happens when we marry late in the evening I suppose. We don't have enough time to get a goodnight's rest AND get our consummation done."

He blushed but smiled, "My father used to tell me that these moments right here are the ones that a person comes to remember the most."

She smiled and settled back on the pillow. She hoped they had many moments like this.

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Present Day

When the contraction hit her as the madman half carried her up the stairs, Dagian forgot herself and unleashed all kinds of offensive names towards her captor in her old Realm language.

From the huff he gave, she knew he recognized a couple of them.

Good.

The room that he brought her to was large and she figured that with the hats and clothes scattered around it, it was his room. He helped her on a white bed and she practically sank in it, the bloody thing was so nauseatingly soft.

How was she ever supposed to get up?

The man fiddled with his scarf and tried to look anywhere but at her.

"Please," Dagian begged, "Please let me go. My baby needs a hospital-."

"You're going to have to deliver it here," he told her, "You might now have the ride back to town and I can't deliver your baby and drive at the same time now can I?"

"And what's your plan after this baby is born, hm?" she demanded, "If you're watching me then you know that I've been having problems and the idea that my baby might be born early is a thought that never crossed your mind."

"It was."

"And?" she demanded.

"My daughter is down there with a family that isn't hers," he said, "I risked it."

Dagian sobbed as a contraction hit. She was going to kill him herself if he let her survive this.

He grabbed the gun and tucked it in the back of his pants, "I'm going to get the tub ready, it'll be easier and less painful for you to give birth in that."

"Oh, no, no, no, no." she forced herself to sit up, "Don't you dare leave me now that the baby's coming."

"Everything depends on you and your baby's safety; I'm not going to leave you" he said, "I just need to get some supplies together and see what's that purple cloud did."

"Jefferson," she called, using his name for the first time since he'd grabbed her, "Please, you have to think of the baby when it's born. She'll need to get to the hospital. You can keep me if you want but please help my baby."

He hesitated and she saw his shoulders sag, "I'll help your baby, but you have to stay."

He shut the door behind him and she heard him lock it. Dagian gripped the bedpost as another wave hit and more water leaked. Gods, she didn't remember it being this bad when she was pregnant with Bae.

She saw a lamp on the nightstand, grabbed it, and slammed it down. She winced as her hand was cut but she ignored it. She was certain that he was going to help her baby but she wasn't sure about what he was going to do to her.

She grabbed a shard and tucked down the front of her shirt. She'd been separated from one child, she wasn't about to be separated from another.

Some incentive to use against him if he still refused to take her back to town was never a bad idea.

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The bathtub that he'd filled for her was gigantic. Filled to the brim with enough warm water to make her buoyant and ease some of the pain while she was in labor.

Dagian lay pretty much naked in the tub but any embarrassment or preservation of dignity was gone as she struggled to breathe until she was dilated enough to give birth to her daughter.

While she hated the madman for what he did, she had to admit that he spent the hours doing his best to make sure she was comfortable. While she was stuck there, he told her about his daughter, and how he'd left her to make a better life only to be separated from her. He told her how he went insane and his own guilt about what he felt like he had to do in order to get his happy ending with his daughter.

She listened but revealed nothing about herself. Rumpelstiltskin had advised that she keep her knowledge about the Realms and their past as quiet as possible and Dagian was unsure if she could trust the psycho that kidnapped her and was now delivering her baby.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Almost nine," he said and gave her some water.

"At night?" she asked, "I've been in this tub all day?"

"You're almost dilated," he wiped her face, "You're going to need to push soon."

She realized what that might mean for her baby. She shook her head and started crying again, "It's too early. She's not due for another nine weeks."

"Well, she's coming whether you think she's ready or not," he said while pushing back some of the hair that'd plastered to her forehead, "What are you going to name her?"

More small talk. Really. "I'm going to name her Lily."

"Lily," he said and gave her a charming smile that most women would probably fall for, "That's a pretty name."

Dagian winced at another contraction. Suddenly the house started to shake and she grabbed the edges of the tub, "What was that?"

He looked over his shoulder, "Nothing good."

She groaned and let her head roll back. Lights started to flicker and she looked at Jefferson with worry, "Something's going on."

He rolled up his sleeves, both of which had rolled back down, "One thing at a time."

He examined her and nodded, "You're dilated, it's time to push."

The news felt like a relief to Dagian, as she had been wanting to push for three hours but couldn't because she wasn't ready.

Some of the worst pain that she ever felt in her life seared through her body and she screamed as she pushed. Her strength gave out for a second and she gave a short rest before pushing again. A strange overwhelming feeling took over that she couldn't explain as she saw a few seconds later that Jefferson was holding her small baby in his arms.

He smiled at her as the child's screams filled the room, "She's okay."

Dagian felt the shard from the lamp pressing up against her undershirt and prayed she wouldn't have to use it, "Please….she needs to get to the hospital."

He looked at her daughter and lowered his head, "They remember."

Dagian furrowed her eyes, "What?"

"I saw them hugging in the telescope, they were reuniting and convening…they know who they are."

The news felt like a ton of weight on Dagian's chest and she started sobbing as the realization and horror came over her, "So you mean…all this…the kidnapping, the stress, Lily's birth, this all could've been avoided?"

"I didn't know."

"You put my child in danger for yours!" she screamed.

"How is that any different than what your ex-husband has done? What, you don't think I don't know about that? What you've told me combined with what I've seen and heard, it wasn't hard to put together. "

He had placed Lily in a small bassinet behind him, which meant she was safe. Dagan grabbed him by his shirt and placed the shard of lamp against his jugular. She might've killed him if not for the fact that she wasn't sure she could get out of this tub and to the phone to call for help by herself.

"If you knew they remembered, why didn't you call an ambulance?"

"I tried," He told her, "When I knew what had happened, I tried and I kept trying but the Thing about the only ambulance in this town is that the people that dispatched it had false memories too. I couldn't get through to get you one."

"Well," Dagian said and tightened her grip, "I suppose you'll have to try again