If Dagian felt uncomfortable at breakfast with Emma and Henry in her corner, she felt more than vulnerable and exposed as she sat across from her son and his fiancé by herself.

Gods, she wished she'd taken up Jefferson on his offer to meet her son but she wanted at least one meal alone with them.

Well…she'd eat more, but it was hard to do so with Tamara staring unblinkingly at her while they ate quietly and chatted about the weather.

It'd be rude to call her out on it…but Dagian wasn't known for tact, "Is there something on my face?"

"I'm just…trying to wrap my mind around the fact that you're his mother. You just look so young."

"Oh, I like her," Dagian joked to her son and then turned to Tamara, "I'm several centuries old. Far older than I look."

"B- how?"

"Well surely Bae's told you," Dagian looked at him.

"He's told me a lot…it's difficult to really let it sink in…I think it was a…sleeping curse? What's that do?"

"Exactly what it says in the name," Dagian bit into an egg, "When…Bae fell through that portal when he was a boy was when we lost everything. His father and I were at a very shaky place in our relationship that outright crumbled when he let Bae go. We didn't talk to each other…he took me to a castle up in the mountains so that he could find a way to get Bae back. He was adamant that it was possible but I thought it was over. And thanks to the size of that castle…we lost ourselves in our own misery. He wouldn't speak to me because he was ashamed and I wouldn't speak to him because I'd sworn that I would never forgive him."

Bae wouldn't look at her…and Dagian felt very self-conscious talking about this freely to someone that wasn't Archie, or Jefferson or her ex-husband but she needed to let Tamara know the family she was marrying into.

"I wanted to see Bae more than anything and I knew that staying with him would be the key to that so when we first arrived, I promised him that I'd stay. But the longer I spent in that tomb of a castle, the more I realized that would be impossible. So I found a loophole. When he would leave for trips, I would spend countless hours in his library looking for something to help ease the pain and not kill me. And then I found it; a sleeping curse. I thought that I would take it and I thought that since Rumpelstiltskin and I were true loves then he'd wake me up when the time came to see our son again. Rumpelstiltskin and I unfortunately, were not true loves."

"So you spent…400 years under a spell."

"I think curse is more fitting," Dagian muttered, "With the things I saw."

Bae finally looked up, "You never told me all this."

"I told you enough," Dagian said and washed her breakfast down with a drink of milk, "I'm not proud of what I did. Maybe if I'd been awake, Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't have caused as much pain as he did. However, given his track record, I highly doubt it."

"So you took magic that put you in some sort of suspended animation state," Tamara said…as if saying it could make her believe it, "So does that mean that you have magic?"

"No," Dagian said, "Thank gods.

Something brief flashed across Tamara's face, Dagian wasn't sure what it was but if she didn't know any better, it could've been disappointment, "You're not a fan of magic, then?"

"Magic has never done anything good for me," Dagian told her honestly, "And I know…I know that there's good magic as well as bad magic but there wasn't any good magic around when I needed it. Unfortunately, I got a lousy lot when it came to that."

"You're not the only one," Bae told her and took a drink of his coffee.

Dagian wondered what he meant by that but didn't pressure him. He'd tell her in his own time, they were still making a lot of repairs to their relationship.

Dagian's phone buzzed and she looked at it, "Oh, I have to go."

"Why?" Baelfire asked.

"Work. They finally got that…man found beaten half to death in the parking lot out of surgery. I have to interview Whale."

"Do they know who did it?"

"I think Emma took some evidence but they don't know anything yet. It's not like the Rabbit Hole has cameras," she shouldered her purse, "Very nice seeing you again, Tamara."

She grabbed Lily's stroller and walked out of the restaurant.

"Hey!"

She looked behind her and smiled as her son jogged up to her, "You should know that I never held you accountable for what he did."

"Thanks Bae," Dagian told him, "But I have enough sins of my own to account for when it came to you."

"You mean the fact that you left when I was a baby? Because you should know that I forgave you for that…I moved on from it."

"But I can't forgive myself," she told him, "I was a coward and I never should've left. And when your father brought me back, I told myself that I was staying for you. And maybe a lot of my motivation was you but at first…the only reason I stayed was because there was no way he'd let me leave. And that was selfish and as the months passed, I came to be ashamed of that just as I am now. And then you fell in the vortex-."

"Mom."

"I will always believe that I could've done something to save you," she told him honestly, "If maybe I'd thought a lot faster then maybe we could've pulled you out. In many ways I'm no better than your father. I think you're easier on me because I was originally brought against my will to the house and that's how we bonded. But when you fell in that vortex, I abandoned all my principals and I gave Rumpelstiltskin my blessing to do whatever it took to get you back."

"He would've anyway."

"Maybe," Dagian muttered, "But maybe I had something to contribute to his bloodlust. There's no excusing what I did and what I would've allowed to happen and I want you to know how sorry I am."

Bae stared at her for a few seconds and he looked like he was seeing her in a new light and it hurt him just as much as it hurt her, "Well, what's done is done."

"Indeed," Dagian said.

"Enjoy your interview," he said awkwardly.

Dagian drew a breath, "That's not all."

He stopped, "What?"

"I told you that to apologize but also because I don't want what I'm about to tell you next sound like nothing but excuses."

"Okay," he started and waited for her to continue.

Dagian looked down and summoned the courage to look her son in the eyes, "I'm going to tell you why I never came home when you were a boy."

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Dagian was sure how it went. Bae was quiet when she told him about Zoso…and about Hook and Filib and how his father had looked for her after she had been captured. And she apologized over and over for even leaving in the first place.

A lot of the edge in Bae's look after her first confessions was gone when she finished. He kissed her on the cheek and told her he forgave her…

…and Dagian felt a peace that she hadn't felt in a very very long time. She continued to the hospital (Very late, much to the annoyance of Whale) and she went to the office and wrote up her article…

And then she went to Emma's. Jefferson wasn't at home. He was with Grace and her family and she didn't want to interrupt that time.

She found Emma and Henry eating the last of ice cream in a bowl. Henry's eyes brightened as she came in, "Hey Grandma."

"Hi Henry," Dagian greeted and watched Emma scoop another large scoop of ice cream into the bowl.

"We're in the middle of battle plans, would you like to join?"

"Henry!" Emma scolded.

Dagian furrowed her eyebrows, "Battle plans for what?"

Emma gave her son a motherly glare, "Nothing."

"What? She has insider knowledge."

"What's this about?" Dagian asked and grabbed a spoon, "Now you have my curiosity."

"Mom doesn't trust Tamara."

Dagian raised an eyebrow and looked at Emma. She didn't insult Emma by hinting that perhaps it was jealousy because she liked to think that Emma was a far better person than that, "Oh really? And why is that?"

"Because she lied to me."

"Everyone lies."

"I told her that it would be bad if the world found about his place…and she said I could trust her and she lied. She…lied."

"Oh," Dagian said and tried not to bring up how Emma's power was unreliable, she imagined that Emma had been told that already, "Well that…would be something to worry about."

"You don't believe me," Emma said and Dagian saw the defeat in her gaze.

"I didn't say that," Dagian told her. She tried to think back for any signs from Tamara's behavior and the look that Tamara had given her when she said she had no magic came to mind. Dagian didn't say anything as to blow what could be nothing out of proportion and she took another bite, "She does smile too much though."

Emma looked relieved that she had an ally and smiled.

"Rumpelstiltskin doesn't trust her either," Dagian told Emma honestly, "But I wouldn't get any hope from that, he doesn't trust anyone."

Dagian didn't tell Emma that was probably because Rumpelstiltskin hated Tamara because she got in the way of their son and Emma rekindling their flame.

Because she would think that'd be insulting Emma as well.