Even though Jefferson had told her everything that he'd known about Rumpelstiltskin and his sins, Dagian still found comfort speaking with him over the phone late that night. Maybe it was because she still knew him, maybe it was his voice, he had a way of…comforting her by just speaking.

"Did you visit the baby today?" he asked her.

"I had dinner in the room with her today and spent a couple of hours afterwards," Dagian said, "What about you?"

"Spent the morning with her," she heard some pride in his voice, "Whale says that she might be able to come home soon."

"Yeah," Dagian smiled, "Yeah, he told me the same thing."

"I told you she'd be alright," she could hear his relief in his voice, "The worst is over.

Dagian doubted that.

A few seconds of silence passed, "I've heard you've been spending time with the Hatter."

And here they went, "What of it?"

"He's not exactly the most stable of allies, Dagian."

"Neither are you," she reminded him, "If he's to be believed."

Another moment of silence on the phone, "And what has he told you?"

Dagian hoped that she wasn't about to sound as accusatory as she knew she felt, she wasn't angry…really. She was just trying to understand and accept what he had a part to play in, "That you weren't as hands off on Regina's turning as you led me to believe."

She heard him sigh, "Does the part where you tell me that you're very disappointed come next? Do I have to apologize for something that we both know had to be done?"

Had to be done. The lives he ruined…the people he manipulated and the people that he'd hurt and killed….all had to be done to get their son back and she'd once given her blessing in the realms and then had told her she didn't care when she woke up here. She knew that it was better Regina to cast the curse than Rumpelstiltskin. Not only would he have lost his ability to love the son that they were trying to find. And then there was her fate if he'd cast that curse….Dagian had a feeling that what Regina had put Graham through would've been a cakewalk compared to what Rumpelstiltskin would've put Dagian through for 28 years if he'd cast the curse.

But there was a part of her that did start to care now that she was getting to know these people. What Regina had done to Jefferson and Grace even though Jefferson had felt like he'd already paid dearly for his sins years before she'd separated them.

And Henry…the boy had to deal with Regina as a foster mother because Rumpelstiltskin had turned Regina and brought them all here. Emma grew up without her parents and they'd lost all their memories and missed out on moments…the parallels between their misfortune and the loss of Bae was…painful at best.

Dagian folded her knees up, "Jefferson wants me to publish the truth about the things you and Jefferson have done."

"Is that supposed to bother me?"

"I worry…," Dagian felt like an idiot for bringing this up since the Dawn side of her knew his tempers and emotions for 28 years, "I worry that we might unlock a few skeletons in your closet that you'd rather keep hidden."

"You can publish all you want dearie," he told her simply, "Do you honestly think that'd stop people from coming to me? They'll do it, they've known what I'm capable of for centuries, Dagian and they're either too lazy to do things themselves or too desperate."

"You're forgetting one thing," she said, "Belle."

IT was quiet but she heard him draw a small breath, "Did Jefferson tell you that he had a part to play?"

"Yes," she said.

That was obviously against what he was hoping for. Dagian was never gladder of Jefferson's honesty than she was right now. She already felt like a pawn in whatever game they were playing, she didn't want to be pulled in that tug of war contest of who was giving her more facts and who was covering their own backside.

Dagian pulled her covers over her legs, "What are you going to do if I decide to go this route and Belle reads it?"

"I'll figure something out," he told her, "I always do."

"The truth might not be a bad thing," she pointed out.

"I don't lie!" he protested.

"Sure you don't," she muttered, "I do have one question though…and then I Have to turn in because I want to spend the morning with Lily."

"What is it?"

"The things that we've done…and the things that we've allowed to happen…we're monsters now. What if Baelfire doesn't accept us? What if he looks at the collateral damage and decides that we're not worth being the parents that he separated from? What if this was all for nothing"

"He'll accept us," Rumpelstiltskin said but she could hear the doubt in his voice, "He will."

Dagian didn't need to ask him if he was sure about that, she knew the answer already.

"Anyway," he said with a sigh, "I better be off. I have a long day tomorrow."

"As do I," Dagian said.

"Dagian…," he said at length, "When Regina finds out what you and Jefferson are planning to do…you do know that she'll probably try to come after you."

"Yes," she said.

"You should know that no matter what you do, and what you expose…I give you my word that I will support you in this."

Even though Dagian hated the fact that she was relying on him still, she knew she was out of her depth against Regina without him.

"Thank you," she said, "Really."

"Goodnight Dagian."

She smiled, "Goodnight Rumpelstiltskin."

0000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000

Rumpelstiltskin put the phone in the cradle just as Belle came into the room. He really needed to find her something better than that skimpy slip of a nightgown. It was far too tempting for a man like him.

He looked down at the wedding ring on his right hand. The one that Dagian had given him in the Enchanted Forest. They had divorced in this world but neither was sure if they were really….officially divorced. They weren't sure which law they should follow. The ones here or the ones from their homeland?

So because of his own fears, Belle's distrust of him and his vows to Dagian, he didn't touch Belle like that. At least not until they were married. Other than death, that was the only way to end a previous marriage in their world. He knew they were separated and in this world that was as good as being single but he didn't care. It was against his own code and it felt like cheating both her and Dagian.

"How was the baby?" Belle asked.

He smiled at the mention of his daughter and grabbed the cellphone, "She's getting stronger. She has these…beautiful bright eyes and wisps of red hair, and she sleeps with her hand tucked under her chin.

Belle smiled as he excitedly described is daughter and showed her the pictures that he'd taken of his little girl.

Belle took the phone and stared at it, "She's very beautiful."

"Of course, she looks like her mother, not me."

Rumpelstiltskin stopped when Belle frowned. The baby didn't look completely like Dagian. She had his cheekbones and nose but everything else was a gift from her mother.

"You're not ugly, Rumpelstiltskin."

"Perhaps not physically," he muttered and closed the phone, "Belle…Dagian is going to start…running the newspaper."

Belle looked at him blankly; of course she didn't know what that was. She only had memories of the asylum. She was only a prisoner here and Regina hadn't thought to give her a full personality full of memories. Her Storybrooke personality was just a blank slate, "It's a…paper that tells people what's happened. What the events are."

That seemed to perk her interest, "Really?"

"And no matter what you might hear from the others or…read from that paper…I want you know that I'm sorry for the things that I've done. And I'm trying to change."

Belle took his hand and sat on the bed next to him, "I know."

0000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000

The events of the day played over and over in Dagian's mind and she couldn't sleep.

Jefferson and Rumpelstiltskin had given her a lot to think about. A lot of decisions to make. And while she knew she needed sleep and she needed to think about what avenue she was going to take with her daughter and with this paper in the morning...for the life of her she couldn't.

Should she wait until Lily was home before she started exposing Regina and Rumpelstiltskin or did she go ahead to show them that she wasn't afraid of what they were going to do to her?

She rolled from her stomach to her back and looked at the ceiling. Maybe she should just go to her office in the newspaper now. She wasn't getting any sleep otherwise.

At least she could get rid of any shrines that Glass had of Regina.

She turned on the lamp and sat up; at least it'd be quiet. Things would be chaos when she let it get known that she was looking for reporters.

In the dim light of her room, she saw someone sitting in her chair facing away from her window. A dark handsome man, the same one that she'd dreamed stabbed her in the hospital, dressed completely in black.

"Tell me you haven't forgotten me already," he said, his voice full of malice.

Dagian screamed, she tried to scramble off the bed but her legs became tangled in the sheets and she lost her balance.

She lost consciousness when she cracked her head on the nightstand.