The ship moved constantly under Dagian and sent her stumbling even after she'd gotten her sea legs. Everything that wasn't nailed down moved with the boat as well. More than once, Dagian had accidently rolled out of her hammock when she was sick or she swung into the wall.

The captain tried to force her to eat some sort of broth that he claimed would give her strength but just the smell of it made her stomach clench and she tried to shove it away from his hands. Once she was certain that she accidently threw the hot broth on him because he screamed in pain and called her every name that her father had forbidden her to use to other girls milliseconds after it happened.

She wasn't going to bring herself to feel bad for it.

Finally after her fourth night on the ship, she finally had enough strength and she tired of being cooped in the small room and ventured outside the ship. It wasn't an easy decision. The idea of being among…pirates terrified her. Her father had often said that suicide was better than being a prisoner aboard one of their ships. She might believe him but there was absolutely nothing for her to hang herself on in her room in cast it got bad. She might as well start looking for places now.

"Oh, my lady, you've decided to join us."

She tensed at the captain's jovial voice and turned to see that he was leaning on the mast observing her.

She felt her stomach roll and she was certain that it wasn't from the movement of the ship but she held in the contents of her stomach…if there was anything left.

"Well, you have more color in your face now, that's good. Looks like you're finally adjusting to sea life. It can be…quite difficult to try something new but I assure you that it's worth it when you get used to it"

He reached out to brush her hair behind her ear, and she became angry at the move. That was her husband's show of affection, not his. She slammed his wrist away and watched as his eyes darkened.

"Alright, let me tell you how things are run on my ship. I am the captain, which means that you will respect me when we're alone and especially when I'm in front of my crew."

"Well, there's a good solution to that," Dagian said without thinking, "You can always let me off at the next port that way you don't have to worry about how I talk to you."

The captain stared at her for a minute and then started laughing, "Four days of the silent treatment and your first demanded is to be released? Well, that's why I do love my women with some spirit in them I suppose."

The crew snickered behind her and she felt like she was being made fun of.

He held out his hand and she stared at it, knowing full well that he wanted her to take it.

"Oh don't worry my dear; I won't bite unless you ask me to."

Dagian felt the nausea rise up again and wondered what slapping his face would get her but she wasn't sure that she wanted to find out.

She reluctantly took his hand and he placed it in the crook of his elbow and walked her away from the crew.

"I have to say my dear; we're not getting off on a very good start, are we?"

"I want my wedding ring back," she hissed.

"Why? You abandoned him didn't you? Why should you want any remembrance of a marriage that you were unhappy in?"

"Because it's not for you to have and what happened was far more complicated than that," she said.

He removed the small chain that held her wedding band from his pocket and examined it curiously, "Then explain it."

She could see that he was considering all sorts of things in his head. Her answers probably didn't matter to him, she knew that. What he probably wanted was to break down her spirit enough so that she did answer him.

"My husband is a good man," she said simply. A far better man than you.

"Then why did you leave him?"

"Because I am not a good wife."

That seemed to perk his interest, "Were you with someone else other than him?"

"No."

And there went his interest. He frowned and went back to looking at the ring on the chain, "You're going to have to do better than that."

She was going to have to play his game to get her ring back. Wonderful that meant that she was going to have to let him know far more about herself than what she was willing to share, "I refused to stand by him when he needed me the most."

The captain waited for her to continue but that's all she gave him. He held up the band to eye level, "Did you leave any poor motherless children behind?"

The lie was easy, "No."

He studied her, as if he was trying to decide if she told the truth or not before he shrugged and tossed her the necklace back. She caught it easily and pulled it around her neck.

"Considering you were getting ill the last time we spoke, let me tell you how it'll be on my ship now that you're a visitor here. The first time you try to escape, you won't see the light of day for a week. The second time will be a month. You try to hurt me or my crew or endanger them then I'll cut out your tongue. As long as the crew believes that you belong to me, they won't say anything to you nor will they touch you. That means that you'll probably have to…endure some displays of affection."

Dagian wondered if scratching his eyes out counted, "I thought you were forbidden from making such gestures."

"No, I'm forbidden from taking you to bed just like every other member of my crew is, but I suppose that if you were to give in one day…we could work something out."

She hated that smile he was giving her, "And have the Dark One come for you?"

"He didn't seem to care much as long as you weren't traumatized and you didn't escape. What if I was to say that I'd break the deal if you joined my crew?"

Dagian blinked in surprise. A risk taker who didn't keep his word. Wonderful, this conversation just kept getting better and better, "Bit premature to make that decision, isn't it?"

"You can read a map yes? Track where we are."

"Yes."

"Most of my crew can't and since we had to leave our navigator behind, thank you very much for that, now we need a new one."

"And what…you'd break the deal so that you could have a roll in the bed with me and I drive the ship, is that it?"

"Oh no, nothing that cheap. But here you'd get a good position…decent wages…be treated like an equal. I imagine that's something a person of your gender yearns for."

Not really. Her father treated her like the son he never had sometimes and Rumpelstiltskin NEVER treated her as anything other than his equal. The captain was treating it as some kind of reward that she wouldn't get otherwise.

"Would I get to leave the ship?"

"When I'm convinced that you weren't agreeing to join my crew just so that you could run away."

She heard the meaning in his voice. She was never going to get off the boat if he had anything to say about it.

"I'll navigate because it gives me something to do," she said, "But that doesn't mean that you're going to have me. I'm not going to join your crew because I know what you pirates are like. I've heard horror stories about you all growing up."

He gave her a faux pout, "Rumors."

He tried to reach for her hand but she pulled it away, "And if you want me to help navigate then you'll keep your distance."

"I wasn't offering you the chance to navigate for me darling, I can do it quite well. I was giving you the chance to do it for you. It would be a shame to see you wasting away in that little room with nothing to do."

"Well, I have the perfect solution to that," she said and smirked.

"Yes, but while I'm certain the Dark One wouldn't kill me if I successfully seduced you darling, I imagine letting you go would probably get my head on a platter. And I really fancy my head. It has a nice face attached, don't you think?"

"Unfortunately that's all it offers."

"Oh," he said, genuinely entertained, "Well I suppose I walked into that one."

She turned back around and stared at the ocean, "How long am I to be here?"

"Until the Dark One says otherwise…or…until his money runs out or until I get bored…but that doesn't seem like it'll be anytime soon though for any of those options. Especially for the latter, sweetheart. I love a challenge and if anything your refusal to me is just the entertainment I need because we are on quite a long journey."

She pulled away from him and walked down the stairs unsteadily. It didn't seem like being in her room was such a bad option after all.

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Dagian opened her eyes to find herself sleeping on the couch in the hallway. At first she was confused but the events of last night came back to her quickly and she looked behind her to see Rumpelstiltskin was awakening as well.

"I seem to remember us awakening to far more comfortable arrangements in the past," he muttered.

"I seem to remember us waking up to far worse," she said, remembering that small cot they'd shared when he was human. Ironic that that claustrophobic overheated cabin had some of her happier memories.

Dagian sat up and stretched her back, "I think Hook wanted me to join his crew. When he realized he wasn't exactly seducing me, he offered me a place on his ship. It seemed like he offered me everything but a plank off the boat."

"Do you know how long you were there?"

She shook her head.

"Did he harm you?"

"Not that I can remember," she said, "But I do remember being quite sassy in order to hide how terrified I was."

"I should've killed him when I had the chance."

"Why didn't you?" Dagian asked angrily, "Of all people you killed or hurt, why was HE spared?"

"He had a bean…a way to get to Baelfire and I was going to trust him to spare his life. I honored my deal but I took his hand for what he did to you. If he didn't have the bean then I would have killed him as painfully as possible for his part that he played in keeping us apart."

"You did that for our family?" she asked.

"He took my wife from me," Rumpelstiltskin said, "He's lucky I didn't take both hands…or other things."

Dagian shuddered but didn't argue, "I have more interviews to do today, I suppose we better get going."

"I have a change of clothes in the car; may I use your shower?"

"Of course," Dagian nodded, "Dinner at the hospital tonight?"

"Love to;" he stretched his leg out, "I can't wait to get done with THAT place."

"You and me both, darling," she bit her lip and looked at him.

He realized that she was doing it as soon as he looked up and sighed, "Alright, you clearly want to ask me something so…just go ahead."

"Are you going to tell her about Bae still?"

He nodded, "Yes. I'm going to be honest."

Something akin to envy rushed through Dagian and she tried to quench the emotion before it confused her. Most days she just really wanted to tell the Dawn side of her personalities to take a flying leap because she wasn't even ABOUT to go into this thought process.

Rumpelstiltskin studied her face, "If I had been honest with you…would you have stayed with me?"

"Which time?"

"When we woke up in this land. If I had let you keep your memories and you knew some of what you know now…would you have stayed with me?"

"I don't know," she replied to him honestly, "But it's not like it would've worked out anyway, what with your true love being alive and all."

"If we were still married and Belle came along, I wouldn't have betrayed you. I would've honored out commitment."

"You wouldn't have been happy," Dagian told him.

He gave her a look that said he clearly disagreed with that, "There are many types of happiness, Dagian. And I wouldn't have been unhappy if things were different."

She looked down, she knew that he wasn't trying to flirt with her or let her know that he was still interested. His body language and voice was far different when he did that. She didn't know why he was telling her this now; she just supposed he was being honest with her.

"But it wasn't different," she told him.

"Indeed not," he muttered.

Dagian gathered up the comforter quickly, she had to jump in the shower herself, "Well you might want to talk to Belle about how you spent the night here even though nothing happened. I'm sure it'll be our luck that someone's going to go see you leaving the house with a different change of clothes and assume the worst and it'll get back to her."

"Yes, and you'd better tell Jefferson the same."

Dagian looked up sharply at him, "The mad hatter and I aren't dating."

"So you just walk hand in hand with every man that you're friends with."

"Maybe I'll start. It'll keep the town guessing," Dagian smiled at his teasing, "Someone listens to idle gossip though. You might want to be careful on what you believe."

"You just need to be careful with him dear; I imagine he's already told you how ruthless he was once. If he wants something, he'll get it. He doesn't care who he has to hurt."

Dagian tried to keep her face emotionless and he searched her for any sign of a tell.

He knew that something happened between them when Lily was born.

When she didn't give it away, he gave a sigh of disappointment and stood, "I hope you brought something interesting to read to the house Dagian, I need something to pass the time while you take forever in the shower."