Rumpelstiltskin had offered to let Dagian have the passenger seat but she sat in the back with the baby. Dagian hadn't been in the back of the car before. Rumpelstiltskin and Dawn had…but she'd rather not think about that with the company she currently had back there.
Lily was awake when they started the drive; she was quiet but curious at the world as it went past her.
Henry sat on the other side of the car seat. Dagian…really wasn't looking to him tagging along. They were there to find Bae…a ten year old coming with them would just slow them down. At least the baby could be carried.
But as he plopped in the car and happily chatted with Dagian, she realized that Emma didn't want her son alone in Storybrooke any more than Dagian wanted Lily alone. She began to relax slightly as Lily smiled at Henry and cooed.
"So, where are we going?" Henry asked as he let Lily clench his finger.
"Logan International Airport," Rumpelstiltskin said curtly.
"I think he meant after that," Emma said sharply, she had made it no secret that she would rather be home in her bed. If it wasn't for seeing her son, Dagian would sympathize.
"Let's just take things one step at a time, shall we?"
A moment of silence passed.
"You really think that shawl's going to work?" Emma asked.
Dagian looked down at her own shawl. It was wrapped around her waist like a belt. Rumpelstiltskin wrapped his around his neck like a scarf. Dagian wondered how he planned to keep that secure if a strong wind picked up.
"Well, if it doesn't, and I revert to my cursed self, we're all going to have some problems," Rumpelstiltskin said.
Emma looked at Dagian through the side view mirror. Dagian just gave a shrug. Rumpelstiltskin was a lot like Jefferson in the sense that while he had his memories from the start that taught him how to function in this world but he remembered the whole time. 28 years ago, Rumpelstiltskin and Jefferson were at the place where everyone was at mentally in the present day.
They began to approach the border. Dagian felt her heart begin to hammer in her chest. Her ex would revert back to someone that not even he liked and Dagian would revert into…Dawn. And both would believe they were married.
Would she even remember Lily?
The thought made Dagian's stomach tighten and she looked at her daughter in terror. She could only hope that Emma would at least have the decency to get the child away from them. Lily deserved to grow up happy and healthy….
And what happened when Mr. Gold and Dawn saw magic? They'd capitalize on it. Mr. Gold would drive tour buses himself if it meant getting more wealth and power.
They passed through the border and Dagian was shocked…as if she'd treaded the carpet and touched metal right afterwards. A small breeze that came out of nowhere lifted her hair slightly.
But nothing changed.
The phone in her hand started buzzing. Dagian looked at it to find Jefferson had texted.
Are you still my D?
"So?" Emma asked Rumpelstiltskin.
Dagian hit reply on her phone. He only ever said 'D'. The spellcheck on his phone never let him type out her name without correcting it.
I don't remember you filling out ownership papers.
She sent it just as Rumpelstiltskin took a breath, "My name is Rumpelstiltskin…and we're going to find my son."
Jefferson sent her a smilie with a wink and a heart.
"Your face is red."
Dagian put the phone down in her lap and avoided Henry's look, "It's warm in here."
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They said nothing as they climbed out of the car and headed into the airport. Dawn and Mr. Gold had passports but they needed to get Henry and Lily some of their own.
"Do you realize that one day; we're going to be looking at that picture and crying because of how tiny she was?" Dagian asked Rumpelstiltskin.
"Yeah," he muttered harshly, "An innocent baby having to get her picture taken just so that she can see her brother for the first time are memories I truly want to have."
Dagian grabbed his coat sleeve and pulled him closer to her, "Please don't speak to me like that."
His gaze flickered behind him. Dagian looked as well. So many people were there. This amount combined with the technology…they didn't belong here and no one knew it. However, it was quite easy to feel their eyes on them like they did know that one was a powerful being and the other was his wife…ex-wife.
She looked at him; he wasn't even bothering to hide how uneasy he felt. If he was this shaken could it be that things weren't…working as they should?
"Do you…have magic?"
"If I did, do you think that we'd be flying instead of just arriving?" he snapped angrily and then his gaze softened, "I'm sorry."
Dagian closed her eyes, "You do realize…if Bae comes home with us then you'd have to give up your magic like you promised…you'll be vulnerable like this for the rest of your life? What you're feeling now is…what you'll deal with forever? "
Rumpelstiltskin's face darkened and he turned away from her, "We have to purchase the tickets."
Dagian had known weeks before that day in the airport that convincing him to give up his magic permanently would be a feat easier said than done. She knew that it was easier for him to talk about giving it up when he didn't have it than when he did.
But she still felt disappointment anyway.
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When they got to the scanning part of the airport, Dagian was confident that she wouldn't lose her memories because Rumpelstiltskin had said nothing to indicate that she would in the small amount of time it would be off.
But as Emma told him that he had to take off his belt and shoes off and he looked confused and then perturbed, Dagian realized just how unprepared he truly was.
"I'll help you," Emma whispered to Dagian and with Dagian's permission took Lily so Dagian could…oh they were so uncivilized here.
"Scarf and cane in the basket."
"I can't," He whispered when they told him he'd have to remove his cloak.
"You have to," Emma told him.
Dagian's hand went to the knot at her waist…she should've realized this might happen. Rumpelstiltskin had never been in a plane before but he'd always wanted to. Dagian could remember him telling her that when she was Dawn.
As Rumpelstiltskin and Emma continued arguing, Dagian stared down at her waist again. She couldn't…she could do it. They'd come too far.
"Have you ever been impaled upon a cane before?"
Dagian looked up sharply at Rumpelstiltskin's raised voice and rushed forward as soon as Emma grabbed his cane.
"My father's…nervous, we're headed to a family reunion."
"Father," Rumpelstiltskin scoffed.
"We do this and he's gone," Dagian told Emma, 'We're not getting him back."
Emma looked at him, "Just put your shawl in the bin. I'll help you through."
"If I let this go, I could forget who I am," He reminded her.
"I'm not going to let that happen," Emma told him in determination.
Dagian wasn't quite sure what Emma would do to stop the memory wipe but Rumpelstiltskin gave Dagian's hand a squeeze and went to remove his jacket.
Watching it was like…seeing him weak again. He stumbled and limped…far worse than she'd seen him do since they both were human. Dagian watched in horror as he stumbled through the metal detector and looked like he was in a trance. Emma rushed forward and placed the shawl on him. He nodded to Emma and then to Dagian but Dagian swallowed in terror.
Is that what she was looking forward to?
Her hands were shaking as she untied the shawl and draped it in a box. Immediately she felt stripped…her hearing became muddled and her thoughts…it was as if she was trying to recall a memory but couldn't quite grasp it. Her eyes focused in the distance as she tried to remember and her legs robotically stumbled forward.
She was only vaguely aware of two hands in hers. Something draped across her neck and immediately everything returned to her like a wave washing over her. Dagian looked to see the shawl had been placed on her shoulder.
"Dagian?" Rumpelstiltskin asked. She looked down to see that his hands were clenching hers.
"I'm…," she shuddered, "I'm okay."
Rumpelstiltskin nodded and removed his hands from hers. Dagian accepted Lily from Emma, "Thank you."
"Are you okay?"
Dagian averted her gaze, "I vote that we rent a car on the way back home."
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In the 400 years that he'd been alive, Rumpelstiltskin stared at himself in the mirror every day and promised himself that he would get his son back. No matter the cost, he would get his son back.
No matter the cost.
The lives that he'd ruined to get here…Bae was never going to forgive him for that. He'd find out about the curse….he would find out that Rumpelstiltskin had used magic to hurt people and get here.
He had brought Dagian and Lily with him to try and get Bae's sympathy. Dagian wanted to see her son again…Dagian could talk to him and if he saw his sister…
The sister that had been conceived under the curse.
How would Bae forgive him for this? How would he forgive his mother for…enduring him like he had? The mother that he only bonded with after she had abandoned him for thirteen years?
Everything would be for nothing. The lives he ruined and ended, the wife he'd traumatized, the daughter that he created right before a war, the true love that he'd turned away and thought dead…it would all be for nothing. Bae would never take him back and love him again.
And he was out here…alone really…without magic in a world that he didn't belong in and the only thing that separated him from losing…everything of who he was a strip of cloth that could fall off or be removed at any given moment.
They were finally going to see his son and he knew that it wouldn't be a good reunion. And all the sacrifices…"
He wasn't aware that he was slamming his fist into the toilet paper seat dispenser until after it was done. Now that it was all coming to this, he realized that he could understand the horror that he'd caused
He saw the damage he did to his hand and instinctively tried to heal his hand.
Nothing. He was powerless out here…
"Mr. Gold?" he heard Henry's voice, "We're boarding soon."
Rumpelstiltskin pushed his weakness to the back of his mind. He gathered himself together and opened the bathroom stall…
He would use Emma to get Bae to talk to him. She had come with him but they hadn't verbally agreed that accompanying them would be her favor. He was going to use this favor to get his son to speak to him.
And Bae…gods willing he was still honorable…would relieve her of that debt by fulfilling his end of it.
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"So, you and Rumpelstiltskin…" Emma started as they walked through the aisles to find their seats, "Have a son as well as a daughter."
"It's complicated," Dagian whispered behind her.
"So…your kids are completely biologically related? I mean you and he…"
"Yes, they're both ours," Dagian said. Well…if Dawn was part of Dagian now then she figured they could take credit for Lily…considering she was awake at the delivery.
Emma looked at her, "What was that like?"
Dagian scoffed slightly and looked around behind her to see that Rumpelstiltskin was coming up behind them, "Once it was loving but then when he changed, it certainly became more frenzied and passionate."
Emma felt the heat crawl up in her neck, "Changed?"
Dagian figured Emma's initial question was one of those that slipped out accidentally and she didn't think before she asked it and then hoped Dagian hadn't answered, "Shocking as it is, we were good people once."
Emma looked curious but didn't continue the question as Rumpelstiltskin got between them for his seat. Dagian sat in the aisle and placed her daughter in her lap, "Would you like the trade seats? You can have the aisle for your leg"
"No," he whispered, "You've been injured. You might want to get up before everyone else does."
Dagian looked at the blood seeping through a brown paper towel wrapped around his hand, "What happened to your hand?"
He moved it out of her sight, "Bathroom mishap…nothing to worry about."
Dagian recognized bloody knuckles when she saw them…she honestly hoped that the man behind them hadn't met a bloody fate in the bathroom.
"Would you like me to hold Lily?" he asked.
Dagian realized from his posture that he was barely holding on. He was almost shaking and she couldn't deny that she felt just like he did…or at least somewhere close.
She handed him his daughter and he held her in his arms. His gaze melted as he stared into her innocent green eyes, "It's okay, Lily. Shh…your papa's here."
Lily reached up towards his face and when she touched his chin, he pulled her closer to his chest.
Emma looked bewildered at the tender moment.
Dagian put her hand on his back, "We'll find him."
"I know," he whispered and looked at her, "I know."
But neither one discussed what would most likely happen after they found him. Tracking him down would be the easy part.
Dagian rested her forehead against his. There were no feelings of romantic intimacy, but both were faltering on strength right now…so they just leaned on the other one for the support they didn't feel themselves.
An announcement came on over the loudspeaker. Dagian barely regarded it because the plane was moving. Dagian moved away from her ex-husband in fear looked around her in terror.
Dawn had never been out of Storybrooke…she couldn't rely on her for false memories of what this could be like…
In Rumpelstiltskin's arms, Lily's eyes widened at the noise and moment and she started crying at the top of her lungs.
And now there was that.