Once Upon A Time
Rumpelstiltskin was a coward. He knew that. He had always been. He hated war games as a child, he hated confrontations and fighting. He was not a dominant man and everyone in the village knew that even before the Ogre wars happened.
Except before the ogre wars, they called him harmless. And now because he ran from a battle he could not win, they called him a coward.
What was the better option then? To die in a battle he could not win? Was that preferable to surviving? Would it have been better for his pregnant wife that he had died and she could've taken up with the recruiter who had apparently haunted his cabin after he was dragged away from her? Would she have been better off if he had died? Would their son? He would now be forever known as the son of a coward unless he did something courageous. Cowardice was bred in the bone. And with both his parents as cowards, Bae had no chance.
But even if he was a coward, Dagian hadn't cared. At least she promised she hadn't but then she left.
And she was coming back to him if he hadn't disappeared.
The recruiter had sent him a letter today. They were looking for the pirates but it appeared they'd sailed north. The captain's name was Killian Jones and he was known for being the best swordsman on the seas and led his men to plunder several towns on the coast in an attempt to make a name for himself.
Rumpelstiltskin had no hope of going against that.
But as he sat rocking his son to sleep he couldn't help but go over his own doubts and fears in his head. His wife was on that boat with them; his wife. They were doing…the gods knew what to her and here he was knowing full well what was probably happening.
She was going to come back to him.
He stood and lifted his son. He couldn't sit by and wait for the recruiters to get their little navy set up to rescue her. Rumpelstiltskin knew the north. He knew the merchants that travelled there, and he knew the roads from maps and the stories they told.
He took enough money to last him awhile. Being a spinner and a pig farmer had allowed him to live in a little luxury and he was saving the money he made for Bae's future.
Well, this was for Bae's future.
He dressed his son, the roads were no place for a baby but he couldn't trust anyone here to watch him. They had their own families to feed and an extra mouth at his age was just a burden.
He was going to get himself killed but he didn't care, he couldn't sit by and let them hurt Dagian.
"Baelfire," he whispered to his eighteen month old son, "You and I are going to find your mum."
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"Darling, aren't you going to eat something?"
Dagian tore her eyes from the feast that was in front of her and just stared at the captain across from her. He'd presented her with far more food than she could ever hope to eat. Most of it could be put away if she didn't eat it but he had somehow gotten his hands on a ham. Her mouth watered at the smell of it but she still refused to touch anything he'd set down for her.
What was she trying to accomplish by refusing to eat? She didn't know. Maybe it was just rebelling. He wanted her to eat, he wanted her alive, and he made a show of what he could offer in an attempt to impress her. By refusing, she was spitting in both his face and that of the hooded man that Jones claimed hired him.
When she didn't answer him, he gave that grin that he liked so well.
"Oh m'lady are you starving yourself to protest your stay on my ship?" he mocked, "That's not healthy, you just spent four days sick and tossing up more than what you were putting in. You need your strength.
She just watched him; he shot her a smile that could be described as charming and flirtatious if not for the look of lust that brightened his eyes. She knew how men liked him thought. He could pretend that he was a man and a gentleman but she knew that he thought of her as nothing more than a challenge and a chase to be conquered. Anything that she gave him would lead to his immediate boredom of her and he'd look for the next challenge
Dagian wouldn't give him that satisfaction.
Jones took a bite of the strawberry and obviously savored it. His eyes were on her the entire time. It was seductive she supposed. He was a handsome man and he knew it and his arrogance was a far cry to the shy gentle composure of her husband which had attracted her to him in the first place.
The idea of her husband sent a pang in her heart. She didn't think Jones would've been so patient with her when he found her half dead and traumatized after the ogres had attacked her village and slaughtered them. She doubted he would've kept her far enough away to let her deal with what she went through but closes enough to comfort her when she needed him like Rumpelstiltskin did.
No, Hook would've taken what he could from her and when her use was done he would've thrown her off at the nearest port and she would've been more damaged than before.
When Dagian just stared at him, he frowned in disappointment, "You're far too thin anyway and you're not going to like it when the effects of dehydration set it and judging from your face they already are."
She glanced to the side and then at him, "May I leave?"
"To spend the night on the shelf that you call a bed?" he asked, "Now where's the fun in that?"
"At least I'll have my dignity," she said.
"Aw, you must be the daughter of a soldier; no other peasant woman I've ever come across has ever harped about that."
Dagian didn't move, "How many of them were in my place?"
He leaned forward, "I should very much like to meet the kind of man that cracked that icy surface you call a heart. I wonder if perhaps I'm doing this wrong."
"Luckily for me, you'll never find out," she said. He tilted his head, as if he was trying to figure out if she meant meeting her husband or getting her.
"Don't be too sure of that pet," he taunted and then grabbed her wrist to keep her from leaving the table "I've always found that the ones with the colder exteriors often serve to be the most passionate. And since you're the iciest woman I've ever met-."
"You won't have me."
She pulled away and he got that look again, "Well if you're not going to give in to that, then perhaps we can spend the evening chatting about your child."
Dagian wondered if her face registered surprise. She hoped not. She hoped she kept it emotionless to hide that inside her heart was pounding, "I have no child."
"Yes you do," he leaned forward, "It's the only way you could've survived not being a soldier in the ogre war."
"I was a soldier."
"You don't have that look. Trust me love, I'm quite perceptive and I've seen women who were veterans in the war. And you're not."
"I have no child," she protested.
"Well no anymore since you left him," he smirked, "But don't worry darling, I won't judge you. I just wonder what kind of mother leaves their son or daughter behind."
Dagian stood and walked to her room, the pirate followed her, "Well of course the ship is no place for a baby but-."
"Leave me alone," she hissed had slammed the door.
She curled up on her bed and wrapped the blanket around her. She left her son because she knew Bae would be better with his father and if she had brought him with her then Rumpelstiltskin would've had nothing to live for. Punishing him was not why she left.
It was sometime later when the door opened and Dagian tensed and kept her back to the door.
She smelled bread and honey…her mouth started watering but she didn't turn around as long as he was in the room.
"I am not a cruel man," he told her, "Eat something."
Of course Dagian knew that was a lie and she didn't move.
"Is this really worth dying for?" he asked, "You're a captive on a boat yes, but I have not been cruel to you. In fact as far as treatment to captives goes, I've been extremely merciful."
Only because he had to be.
"Perhaps one day…when that thing has done whatever he wants to do to your husband then you'll be free to see your son again."
She shuddered, what did a dark one want that she stood in the way for?
"However, you cannot see your son if you are dead which you most certainly will be if you don't take care of yourself. You need to eat something."
He left the room and she turned to see that he'd left a pitcher of water and a loaf of bread on the table.
Her resolve was weak and before she knew what she was doing, she had crawled over to the small table shoved against the corner and ripped off a piece of the bread. He was right, the dark one wanted something with her family and she had to survive. Because she could still atone for leaving Rumpelstiltskin.
One day the captain would trust her enough to let his guard down. And then when that day came then she would escape and find Rumpelstiltskin and warn him.
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Present Day
It came the day to take Lily home and Rumpelstiltskin for the life of him wouldn't stop fidgeting.
"It's taking too long," he whispered.
Dagian kept her hands clenched in her lap as her husband tapped his foot impatiently. His hands drummed on his cane as they sat with the baby in her small little room. She was sleeping peacefully, unaware of her father's impatience and her mother's growing irritation with her father.
A doctor that Dagian recognized from town but didn't know personally walked through the door, "Sorry, but there was an emergency-/
Dagian looked, "Where's Dr. Whale?"
The man paled, "There was an…emergency. He couldn't make it."
Dagian looked at her ex-husband in confusion, she couldn't remember Dr. Whale ever taking a day off, Rumpelstiltskin liked to joke that he was the only doctor in the hospital before."
"I have some…last papers for you to sign and then you can take your daughter home. I trust that you've already been brief on her care?"
"Yes, yes," Rumpelstiltskin said with a wave and lifted his daughter up. The girl smiled at him and he smiled tenderly back. Dagian recognized the love and devotion that he'd held towards Bae still existed
Dagian took a moment to ignore the doctor and walked up to stand next to him. Lily bore a resemblance to her. But her cheeks and her eyes were her father's, "They say that red hair and brown eyes are rare."
"Well then I suppose that makes our daughter special then," he smirked. They both walked out of the room where the baby carriage was waiting outside the door. Rumpelstiltskin limped heavily without his cane but he didn't let go of his daughter.
"We should give her a middle name," he told her.
"Why should we give her a middle name?" Dagian asked and walked up next to him, "We don't even technically have last names."
He smiled and sat down so his leg didn't buckle out from under him and he dropped his newly released daughter, "What shall we name you. Lily? Lily Rose? Lily Grace?" he shot a teasing look to his ex-wife, "Lily Belle."
"I'm going to punch you for that," she said and lightly smacked him, "Come on, put our daughter in the stroller, I have to get her home…I've had enough of this place."
Rumpelstiltskin looked up and reluctantly put his daughter in the small carriage, "Make sure the cover's up, it's sunny outside."
Dagian smiled lovingly at her daughter and brushed a knuckle down Lily's cheek, "I know."
Rumpelstiltskin looked up at her, "May I…may I spend the evening at your house?"
Dagian watched her ex-husband and the way that he interacted with their daughter. The happy simple joyous way that he looked at her made Dagian smile, "If you wish."
He used his cane to pull himself up and walked beside her, the hospital wasn't far from the house. They could make it on foot.
They passed the glass windows that looked out into the room full of beds and Rumpelstiltskin stopped.
Dagian looked at him, "What is it?"
"I believe I've found the good doctor, my dear."
She looked at the bed where he was lying in, "My gods…where is his arm?"
Rumpelstiltskin smiled viciously, "That shall probably be the topic of the conversation that you and I may have tonight."
"What are you talking about?"
"I have some business to attend to; I'll be along to your house shortly after I'm done."
"Oh Rumpelstiltskin, what are you going to do to that poor man so he can have his arm back?"
"Nothing too pricey dear," he said and kissed her cheek, "I just need him to tell me something."
"You're going to take his pride aren't you?"
"Of course darling," he said like he was genuinely shocked that she hadn't guessed it yet, "But I would say that our good resident doctor…or should I say butcher; Victor Frankenstein needs to be taken down a peg or two."
"Look who's talking," Dagian reminded him.
"That was low, dear"
"Well I certainly never said I was above verbal low blows," she said and adjusted the cover of the carriage, "Don't make him cry too hard darling, he tries to look down my shirt a lot but he is the best doctor we have."
"He's a butcher."
"Who is still the best doctor we have," she turned, "And while they took care of our daughter and we owe the hospital for that, one would think that Regina would bring better medical people over for the other things. No wonder it feels like Whale never leaves this place."
It wasn't until Dagian was out of the hospital that she realized that she'd invited Jefferson over for dinner earlier so they could talk about funds for the newspaper.
Oh, it was going to be an awkward evening.