"Your son is Henry's father."

Dagian ran a hand through her hair and rubbed her neck. The balcony of the hotel was the highest point that Dagian had ever been in her life and the view would've been spectacular if that view wasn't blocked by all kinds of taller buildings, "Yeah honey, it looks like he is."

Jefferson was quiet on the other end of the phone, "I thought you said he was like fourteen."

"He was," Dagian said and breathed in the smoggy air and felt like she was going to gag, "Not anymore."

"And he's your age…biologically."

"Yes," Dagian said.

"And he has a son that's older than your daughter…which is his aunt."

"I really don't want to think about it that way," Dagian whispered.

"And you're a grandmother."

"Yes."

"I've never dated a grandmother before!"

There wasn't teasing in his voice like she thought there might be. He sounded like he was honestly trying to figure this out as well, "Yes Jefferson, not too long ago, you kidnapped my son's baby's mother and her mother in an attempt to see your daughter again."

He sighed, "Oh gods, I Just realized that this makes you related to the Charmings now."

"Yeah," Dagian muttered, "Yeah, and my grandson has…that woman for an adopted mother."

It seemed that no matter how she tried to pull out of this mess, she kept getting pulled in.

"How do you feel about all this?" Jefferson asked.

"I don't know," Dagian whispered, "I just wanted to get my son, I didn't expect to get a whole family and extended family attached that I couldn't have cared less about beforehand. Well, except for Henry…we always had a soft spot for Henry."

A few minutes of silence passed, "Do you think he'll come back?"

"I don't know. I think he might for Henry. I think he just might come to make sure that Henry's alright but I don't think he'll stay. I think Rumpelstiltskin will do something to drive him away."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I'll need more time with him and since it's my son I'll spend years here if I have to."

"And how will you keep your memories? That thing around your waist will come off sooner or later."

Dagian shoved some hair over her shoulder, "Irrelevant."

"I don't think so, sweetie," He said with a smile in his voice.

"I just…we just found him and I'm worried that I'll lose him again."

"I know," he said a little more quietly.

"Jefferson," Dagian started and then drew a breath, "If you don't…want to continue this…I mean I know you don't want to be pulled into this mess any more than I do…but I feel like I might be obligated to help now that my grandson is mixed up in all of it. I know you didn't ask for any of this so…if you want to stop what we're doing then I'd-."

"I'm not going to stop dating you."

HE said it with such conviction that it took Dagian back for a second, "I thought you didn't want anything to do with this insanity."

"I don't," he said, "But I've come to…care about you a great deal.

He said care like he was substituting it for something else, but Dagian didn't question it because she didn't want to really know.

"We'll think of something," He promised her, "But don't think I'll abandon you when you need some support the most because I won't. I'm not that sort of man anymore."

Dagian smiled a little bit and adjusted her position in her seat, "You'll never know how happy that makes me. Thank you Jefferson."

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Rumpelstiltskin had reservations about going to his ex-wife's hotel room this late at night. He knew how this usually went when both of them were upset or needed comfort. But both of them were at different places in their lives and both had significant others and so he hoped they could control themselves.

He just felt like he needed someone to talk to.

He knocked on the door and when she opened the door, he couldn't say that he was surprised that she wasn't asleep.

"Hi," she greeted and looked tense.

"Hi," he greeted back, "I- I came to kiss Lily goodnight…if you don't mind."

Dagian nodded, "I'll go get her."

"Well," he stopped, "If I could come in for a couple of minutes."

"To talk?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes," he nodded. He may not have Belle but Dagian had Jefferson and he respected her enough not to try and ruin that for his own shallow selfish desires.

She opened the door and allowed him inside. He limped into the room and shut the door with his bad leg, "I just came in here to see…how you were doing."

She picked up a robe that was on the couch, "I'm sure today could've gone a lot better."

He heard the anger in her voice and couldn't say that he blamed her, "If I keep trying, if he understands that it was an accident…he'll forgive me."

"He won't forgive you until you give up your addictions and start changing," Dagian told him and threw the robe in the bathroom, "Offering to make him three years older than the son he never met with no memory of any of it was not the way to go."

He looked down. He had planned what he would say…for centuries he had planned it but when he actually looked at his boy…saw the fear and anger and betrayal, he had forgotten everything he would say and he fell back on what he knew. Magic. And like before; magic had cost him his son, "I know."

Dagian looked like she wanted to reprimand him for his method of…apology. She looked as scared of losing their son and angry at him as he felt towards himself. He waited for the onslaught but finally she relaxed and the fist she had loosened, "We have one more chance…tomorrow. Please Rumpelstiltskin, let's not ruin it. We ruin it and we'll never see him again."

"You want me to muzzle myself."

She opened her mouth and then closed it, concerned with how she should proceed, "Perhaps this is one time where you speaking and trying to get your way wouldn't benefit anyone."

He gave his ex-wife a nod of respect. Well, he had brought her back home centuries ago to try and repair the growing rift between him and Bae…maybe now she could fully do the job since she wasn't under his thumb and had more choices.

"Do you think you could convince him to come back if I said nothing?"

"I think…," Dagian started, "That if we can get Emma to see our side of things then maybe she can help us convince him to come back."

Oh, he'd been thinking the same thing but he hadn't wanted to bring it up to her yet, "Oh my darling former wife, how wonderfully manipulative of you."

"It's not manipulation," Dagian said, "Bae never signed his paternal rights away which means that legally he might have a chance at Henry. Emma could get him away from Regina if she wanted to since that adoption wasn't completely legal. It's a strategic advantage and if we present it to her as such then it's not manipulation."

"Unless she worries that Henry will get hurt if he's near our son or us darling."

"Well then," Dagian brushed some hair out of her face, "I hope he's a better man than he was eleven years ago."

"Indeed."

Dagian shifted and then looked excited, "I never thought I'd be a grandmother at…how old am I again? 464?"

"Something like that," he told her. In truth, he could hardly remember how old either one of them were, "Perhaps it's a better story to tell others that you are grandmother to an eleven year old at the biological age of 36."

Dagian smiled and he could tell that she was excited about the idea of having Henry for a grandson.

Before he could betray himself he kissed her cheek and kissed their daughter and left the room so that she couldn't see his doubts.

I'll just have to kill him; the old voice rang in his head.

But his grandson…the boy he saw grow up under that tyrant's hand. The boy he had acquired for Regina was his grandson. If he had known…if he had even suspected that Henry would be linked to Bae, he would've brought the boy into their house and he and Dawn would've raised him.

But how could he raise a child that he knew would be his undoing?

At the end of it all, it wasn't his promise to kill the boy that had made him withdraw; it wasn't him planning to kill Henry that made him go cold to the people around him as they took a taxi to the closest hotel that looked decent.

It was the fact that he was considering what he should do to keep Henry from being his undoing…

And him considering hurting the child scared him far more than if he actually did it.