Thank you to Twyla Mercedes for the lovely review, and she got it right on who Michal was (And was the only person to guess). Did all you Stargate fans notice the clues.
I want to thank those who have read and reviewed so far, and my loyal (though few in number) followers, please (I beg of you) tell your friends.
P.S. sorry had to re-upload because of some wired problem
Emma was a person who believed that some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed, and that she was one of the lucky few, or majority, that had more of those kinds of days then the other kind. But today, she was feeling like a poster child for that argument, looking at the white walls of the room she was in, listening to the music she could have sworn was saying 'abandon all hope, ye who enter here'. But the worst part of her day, was not only that horrible screeching noise, not just the loud thud she heard after it, but the fact that everyone thought, including herself, that what had happened couldn't have happened.
Earlier in the day
Dinner would be weird; it didn't take a shrink to figure that one out, although Emma was wondering if talking, or yelling at Archie about her problems might help, and tell her why she was going to the gates of hell, otherwise known as the door of Gold's pawnshop.
Of course she knew the answer, she wanted the video he had, and maybe wanted to know who he had in mind for watching the station while on their honey… vacation, that other word was just too weird. And besides, it's not like she was looking forward to maybe going somewhere exotic, where she wouldn't be chasing some low life for jumping bail. Nope, not wanting to go at all, even if it was Hawaii, she didn't want to go anywhere with a creepy, old, crippled, monster like Gold. 'Then why are you excited about it?' said a voice that sounded too much like him. "I'm not." she said to the voice in her head. 'Talking to yourself, are you sure you're not going crazy?', "Oh, I am not…" 'Ok, maybe a little, but it's your fault.' She thought.
Gold's voice shut up for a little while, but when they reached the pawn she heard him say, 'Whatever you say, Dearie.' "Oh would you just shut up!" Emma yelled.
"I don't think I was saying anything, all though I could be wrong."
Emma looked up to see that she had yelled at the Gold sounding voice in her head, and that the real Gold had heard. "Really, you wrong, I can't imagine." She said, trying to be as sarcastic as possible so she could think of a better way to ask for the camera other then 'Gold, hand over the video of possibly the most stupid and embarrassing thing I have ever done.' It just didn't sound right.
"Yes, I was once, I think it was a Tuesday, or was it Wednesday. Well, I'm sure it will come to me, now are you hear about my offer, or something else?"
"Offer?"
"I told you I had an idea for who could watch the station while were honeymooning."
"Oh, right, and who did you have in mind."
"A friend of mine," Gold said, handing her a folder. "Dove, ex-navy, special forces, and a few other things, seven feet six, not much of a talker, but he usually doesn't need to. Considering I usually only use him for collecting collateral on loans and such, he has plenty of free time and qualifications to be a deputy or acting sheriff while were away."
As Emma looked over the file, she was impressed, and could see why Gold would use him. Recommendation from Uncle Sam and private security, she noticed that Gold had made notes, things like how he refused a $10,000 bribe from the mayor, and loyal to the core; apparently he lost his job in the army after taking a bullet to the chest in the line of duty, damaging his vocal cords, and took two more, one to the hip and the other grassed his cheek during different robberies while trying to protect people when he worked for private security. "So, what do you think Emma?" Gold asked.
"He looks qualified, but I'm not sure I want to go on a honeymoon with you Gold" Emma said, she had decided for a less direct approach to getting the camera, and out of the marriage. "I don't even remember the 'I do'."
"Well, it's a good thing then that, as you know, I got a camera from Ruby that recorded the whole thing."
This could be easier then Emma thought, but the fact he knew she knew made her worry. "Well, if you know that I know, why not give me the camera, and help put some of my fears to rest?"
"Because my dear, nothing is ever free."
Emma could have hit herself, she should have seen that coming; but she knew she was between a rock and a hard place, so she chose the lesser of two evils, she hoped. "What is your price Gold?"
"Simple really, I want you to have an open mind about this marriage, don't just run to the nearest divorce layer, I want you to actually try and make an effort to have it succeed. Do we have a deal?"
"Deal," Yep, she was a gluten for punishment. "now can I see the video."
"What, you want to see it now, you should have said so, I'm afraid we will have to wait to see it Emma."
"What, no, that's not fair."
"Whoever said life is fair, but don't worry, I'll give it to you soon." Gold said.
Emma would have argued, but she knew it wouldn't do any good, she knew he was probably testing her or something; she'd just have to wait.
Present
When Emma got to where she was supposed to wait, she knew all she could do was wait, sit there, and let her mind torment her with all sorts of horrible scenarios of what she could hear when those doors opened. She could go home and get a book, but she couldn't trust herself to drive, or find the strength to. She could call Mary to come bring her something to do, or Ruby, or any of her other friends, but the idea of all the 'oh I'm so sorry Emma' sounded worse than the idea of driving.
It could have been 15 minutes, or 15 hours, but Emma suddenly remembered that there was one thing that could help her, the video Gold had given her, it could make things worse, not that she could see how, or better. But right now it was all she had, so she got the old fashion video camera out of her purse, rewound the tape, and pressed play.
The first ten minutes was Leroy acting like a stupid drunk, followed by her coming in and asking for the strongest drink they had, and a lot of it. Four shots later Gold came in, and when Ruby brought the fifth, Gold told her to give him the camera, followed by a number of threats when she tried to refuse.
After that, they talked, though it was getting hard to understand herself, she proposed to him, but what happened next surprised her. "Miss Swan, why don't I help you back to your home, you seem a little too drunk."
"NO!" Emma yelled loudly. "I don't care Gold, I want to just go, get married to the most despicable person I know, and have a wedding night, devoid of all feelings and all that stupid stuff. I'm tired of feeling, I'm tired of caring. I just want to for once do something stupid and not care."
"Emma." Gold said in a no-nonsense, stop dead voice. "You need to think, you may not fell this way later, what you're asking for can't be easily undone. And besides, you don't want to marry me, why not just have a one night stand?"
"Because a one night stand with you would be wired, duh."
"The alcohol has gone to your head hasn't it?"
"Yep, and I want to merry you."
"Because that would be less wired then a one night stand?"
"Yep."
After that, Gold kept trying to convince a very drunk Emma that she should just go home, but in the end, said he would marry her, if she sighed a pre-nup. After she did, they were married, and got home. But when they got to the master bed room, instead of, well, you get the idea, Gold told Emma that she would sleep there tonight, and he would sleep on the couch downstairs. "But why, I thought we could have some fun tonight." She said, slowly taking off her top.
"If we do, then you will feel guilty about it and stupid."
"I told you, I don't care about tomorrow. I want sex now." She said throwing her top off, and then she tried, and failed miserably, to grab Gold to drag him into bed. "Oh come on, it's not like you have a moral reason not to."
"This may come as a shock Emma, but I have a few morals, one being that I have never wanted an unwilling, drunk, or otherwise incapacitated woman in my bed. So to that end, I will be on the couch. In the morning I will make breakfast for me, and water and aspirin for you.
When the video ended, Emma was in even more shock. 'Nothing had happened. Nothing had happened. Nothing had happened. Nothing had happened.' Was all her brain could say, he hadn't done anything, he'd not taken advantage of her. Hell, she'd tried to force him, she'd tried to seduce him, worse is he told the truth earlier. She could never live that down.
"Emma." Someone said, but she didn't respond until she felt the hug and saw that it was Mary Margret who was hugging her. "I'm so sorry, I came as soon as I heard."
"Thank you Mary, but really I'm…" Emma almost said, had it not been for the hurricane entering the hospital.
"Were is my son." Yelled an angry Regina, followed by an exasperated doctor Hopper.
"Regina, Henry is fine." Emma said.
"What happened, the doctors wouldn't tell me anything about what happened, just that he was in the hospital, and there was a crash." Regina said to no one in particular, and then, turning and looking at Emma, started yelling. "What the hell happened, I left him in your care for less than two hours, and I get a call from a nurse saying that he was hurt and in the hospital."
"Henry is fine." Said Dr. Whale as he was coming into the room. "He's a little shock up, still trying to figure out what happened, but other than a few burses and being scared, he is perfectly fine. Gold on the other hand is also fine, depending on your point of view that is."
Dinner
When Henry got to Gold's house, he was excited, and scared. He was having dinner with Emma, a plus, it was in the lion's den, a negative. But, he could at least do recon for Operation Cobra. Sao he went to the door, and rang the bell. Mr. Gold came to the door and said. "Well hello Henry, are you ready for dinner?"
"Yep." He said, taking off his coat and shoes. "So what are we having?"
"Well, knowing what a health freak your mother is, I thought homemade burgers that have been deep fried, homemade french-fries with a pound of salt and a gallon of ketchup, and an endless ice cream buffet for dissert would be a good choise."
"Are you trying to bribe me into liking you?"
"Bribe you, no, spoil you rotten, annoy Regina, and use you as an excuse to eat a gallon of rocky road, followed by two gallons of vanilla, maybe. Besides, you sir, are far too smart to be bribed."
Emma, who had heard this, thought that she might gain five pounds from just thinking about that meal. But she had to focus on finding that video, she had checked Gold's room, two of the bathrooms, a guest room, and the room she woke up, and still no luck. She was currently searching through the linen closet. "Well Emma" Gold said, startling her, how could he be so quite with that cain. "what are you doing? Dinner is downstairs."
"Oh, I was looking for a sheet for my bed."
"Oh, don't worry, Winter our maid, put fresh ones on this morning, you made quite a mess out of them last night." Gold said, raising a suggestive eyebrow.
Downstairs was just like Gold said, extremely unhealthy food and condiments waiting to be eaten. God help her waist line. When they sat down Henry was already eating a burger, smiling like he died and gone to heaven. Emma just stayed quite while they talked. "So Henry, I heard you're doing very well in class, Miss Blanchard said you are her best student."
"Yah, it happens when people tell you what happened last year."
"Really, I didn't know you had older friends."
"I don't, I just asked page what she did in this class last year, and the year before that, with no body aging, you learn how to take advantage of some things."
"Oh yes, I heard about your theory. So tell me Henry, if we are all caricatures in a book, then who am I?
"I don't know, but I know you're someone very evil."
"Henry." Emma said, shock he would say something like that to Gold, even if it was probably true."
"What he is?"
"It doesn't matter, you shouldn't say it."
"No, it all right." Gold said. "But tell me Henry, the town is cursed, yes?"
"Yes."
"And we are all trapped, can't leave or age, and doomed to do the same thing every day forever, yes."
"Yes."
"And we are all different then ourselves, a version of ourselves that would only exist if we lost what makes you you and me me, yes?"
"Yes."
"So if we follow that logic, and this is my cursed self, then because I'm an evil person hear, maybe I was a wonderful, kind old man. The same way cowardly David Noland is Prince Charming, or our quite, soft-spoken Mary Margret is Snow White. What do you think about that, hmm?"
Henry was silent for a minuet, just eating his food, honestly, he wasn't sure, and it made since. "I guess you could be right."
Gold smiled at Henry and then said. "How about this, after dinner, we can look through the book, and try and find out who I am?"
Henry perked up at this, after all, anyone willing to help with operation cobra couldn't be all bad, and maybe he could get Gold to remember who he was. "Yeah, that would be great."
And so Gold and Henry continued to talk about all sorts of things, but while they talked, neither of them realized that Emma was looking more and more uncomfortable, not only did she not like the idea of a manipulative person like Gold around Henry, Regina was more than enough, but she was also upset that, while she had a hard time connecting with Henry, Gold managed to do it with no effort at all. It was when the conversation turned to the marriage that Emma went from uncomfortable, to uncomfortable and mad. "Well you see Henry, it was a wired day, I was not having the best day, so I stopped at Granny's for a drink, when I saw dear old Emma, looking as drunk as Leroy, with another shot of whiskey at the ready, and ruby videotaping the whole thing."
"Wow, so what did you do next?" Henry asked enthusiastically, much to Emma's annoyance, she did not want her son hearing about that night, especially the bedroom part.
"Well, I went and got the camera from Ruby, I then stayed and talked with Emma, I found out the Gramm had died, and that she was trying to drink her sorrows away. We talked for about 15 minutes, with me trying to convince her that alcohol wasn't the answer, and her generally not lessening, when she said the most unbelievable thing."
"What did she say?"
"She asked me if I wanted to marry her."
"No way, my mom would never do that, right Emma?" Henry asked.
"Well, witnesses say otherwise." Emma said, now getting from a cool simmer to a warm one.
"What, really." Henry yelled, finding the story more and more existing, and harder to believe.
"I couldn't believe it either, but after she asked me the 12th time or so, I figured the only way I could get her to leave the bar, and her 9th shot, was to say yes. After that, I tried to take her home, but she wanted to tie the knot, and it was either me or Leroy." Emma listened to that, and if she hadn't been so mad, and getting more so by the second, she would have noticed that her superpower hadn't said Gold was lying.
After going on about going to the court house, sighing a pre-nup, and then saying 'I do', Gold started talking about what happened when they got to the house and went up stairs, and by this time, Emma was ready to lose it. "And after trying pitifully to get me to come to bed, I told Emma I would be sleeping on the couch down stairs, and that in the morning I would fix her some water and aspirin for the hangover. And that my boy is how I married your mother"
Henry by this point was completely enthralled by the story, hanging on every word said. "Wow that was really cool, you were like a wired prince charming, coming and saving the damsel from making a big mistake."
Emma did lose it at that point, how could Henry be buying all of this, and how was marrying Gold not a big mistake. "Henry, I hate to tell you this, but I don't think Gold told you the whole truth." She said while trying not to yell. "And as for you Gold," She was at this point done trying not to yell. "who the hell do you think you are, you actually expect me to believe that you didn't do anything to me last night, you are a lying son of a )*($&. You marry me when I'm drunk, do who knows what after that, and now you have the gall to paint yourself as the hero, telling my son all sorts of lies and making him think you're a good person, that you were a benevolent angel, coming the save you, who the #$% do you think you are. You worthless piece of ^&*(!"
The room was quite after that for a second, then Henry, who Emma had forgotten to sensor herself for, got up from the table and ran out of the room, and then out of the house.
When Emma realized what she did, she went from being really mad, too really, really ashamed. "Oh no, Henry!" She yelled, running out the door, or at least she would have if Gold hadn't grabbed her. "What are you doing I have to go get him.
"And do what, say you're sorry, no, what you need to do is stay hear Emma."
"What, no, I need to tell him now.
"Yes you do need to apologies for losing it in front of him, but not now, right now he's running to Regina, and is probably sad and a little scared of you, so you need to stay here, I'll go get him and fix your mess." Gold said as he walked toward the door. And then, reaching into the coat closet, pulled out a camera. "Here, I think you need to watch this." He said, setting the camera down on the table near the door, and then he left.
Emma went and got the camera, and then went to sit down. After pouring a glass of wine and bringing it over to the hall table were the camera sat, she slowly sipped on it, being careful not to repeat the night before, trying to find the courage to watch what was on it. After who knows how long, she was about ready to do just that, but the sound of tiers coming to a sudden stop, and a loud thud outside made her change her mind. Dropping the glass, and grabbing a coat and pocketing the camera, she ran outside.
She didn't get very far however, she stopped when she saw that Gold was a good seven feet away from a car, lying in the middle of the road, and Henry was over to the side, a bit of blood next to his head.
Storybroke General Hospital
"What do you mean by point of view Whale." Regina said.
"From what Henry has told me, Mr. Gold ran after him after Mrs. Gold had yelled at her husband. He was in the middle of the street, having fallen down, very upset, when Mr. Gold got to him and managed to calm him down. After a few minutes they were going to go back inside, so Mr. Gold gave him some room while he pulled himself back together the rest of the way and picked up his backpack. He stood up and saw a car coming toward him at high speed, the next thing he knew, Gold pushed him out of the way, hitting his head on the sidewalk, and then was rendered unconscious, but not before seeing Gold get hit head on by the car."
The room was in a shocked silence, the only person not having their mouth hang open was Emma, and that was only because one of the paramedics who was there to get Henry and Gold had told her that was probably what happened. "So physically, there is nothing wrong with him, mentally however, I would say Dr. Hopper should see him first before anyone else, just to help clear anything up for him. Regina can go in after that and talk with him."
Archie went thru the doors leading to the recovery rooms. After he left Emma asked. "So what about Gold, Is he alright."
"Well, like I said, it kind of depends on your point of view, from his, he is fine, from anyone who owes him money, you're not off the hook. And from a medical point of view, it's a little, weird I guess."
"What do you mean?" Regina asked, 'Was she actually concerned!' was all Emma could think.
"It appears that the rumors of Gold's immortality have been proven, sorry if that ruins anyone's plans of doing away with him. After being hit by a car, which I'm told was going 45 miles an hour, head on, at 6000lbs. With that amount of force, he should be in a body bag or a full cast. So in my professional opinion, he is either immortal, has magical healing, or is and old, crippled, weird version of superman."
"So basically you don't know why there is nothing wrong with him." Regina said, not bothering to hide her lack of patience.
"Oh no, he has a cracked rib, a hair line fracture on his pelvis, dislocated shoulder, a few internal organs are bruised, and a concussion. But otherwise he's the picture of health, less than a day here, and a few weeks to recover on some slightly stronger than his normal pain killers, and he will be fine." Dr. Whale said, and then, pulling Emma aside said. "I might suggest a few sessions with Hopper, but if he knew it was my idea, the rent would skyrocket."
"Got it, thanks." Emma said. Then she went to sit down with Mary Margret, hoping her friend could help with the bad day she was having. "Mary."
"Yes."
"I was wondering. Suppose, you did something, made a life changing decision, and you thought for sure it wasn't the right one, and everyone you knew said the same thing, but then you found out you were completely wrong."
"Does this have something to do with Gold?"
"Yes, at first it was simple not liking him, then it was hatred for marrying me when I was drunk. Then I found out it was my idea we get married. Then I'm mad because he said yes, then I learn I asked him 12 or more times, and didn't cooperate when he tried to bring me home. Then I think he raped me, and find out he didn't and then saves Henry after I call him some terrible things and, and."
"You've had a bad day."
"To put it mildly, hell yeah."
"Look, Emma, Gold is a lot of thing, the scariest man in town, a loan shark, a pawn shop owner, a land owner, and Regina only knows what else. But, he is not petty or unreasonable."
"Are you sure we are talking about the same man?"
"Yes, look, while no one in this town wants to admit it or not, they all knew what they were doing when they make a deal with Gold, you ask what you want, he names his price, and then you say yes or no. And even though, we all know we are making a deal with the devil, we all still walk up and sign in blood. And in the end, everyone tries to come up with a reason why it's his fault, so what you need to do, is go in there, say you were wrong, and ask him to forgive you. And I bet he will not hold it angst you for assuming he took advantage of your condition last night."
"Ok." Emma sat for a moment thinking over what Mary had said. "What do I do about Regina, she is hellfire incarnate right now, and wants to burn me to the ground."
"If I were you, or anyone, I'd hide behind Gold and lat him deal with Regina"
The two friends settled in to a comfortable silence, or as comfortable as the situation would allow, when a nurse came and told Emma Gold was awake and wanted to see her. Emma thanked the nurse and found her way to Gold's room, but stopped when she heard voices.
"Why did you do it?"
Gold
Gold woke up in a dark room, it felt like a cartoon where, even thought there is no light, you can see everything clearly, if there was anything to see that is. He looked around, and saw a sliver of light 'Odd, I didn't see that the first time I looked there, I think.' But he couldn't be sure if he looked there before or not, just like he wasn't sure if he was walking toward the light, of if it was coming to him. 'Must have got hit harder than I thought'.
When it got to him, instead of reacting to the light, it just enveloped him, no sudden pain at the sudden increase of light, no extra warmth, it was just there. And when it disappeared, he found himself in a familiar room, with a fire, tapestries, bear rug, and comfy chairs. It was a conference call, 'Great'.
"Well are you just going to stand there like an idiot or are you going to sit down." Said and old and friendly voice, one he had heard only a few hours ago.
"Merlin," Gold said as he turned around, and there he saw his old friend, sitting as he would have in the Enchanted Forest years ago, smoking a pipe, only now with less of a beard. "Tell me old friend, why did you wait so long to contact me?"
"Really Rum, that is the first question, not how I did this in a land without magic?"
"I already knew that your pendant would have magic, just like everything else inside that box, and a conference call doesn't necessarily even need magic to work.
"True, true, I waited to contact you because of the risk of Regina suspecting, what with Emma stirring up trouble, besides, how was I to know whether or not that loop hole would work."
"Because I made it."
"Yes, yes, and I helped with it, in my own little way, but you can't blame me for being cautious."
"No, it was wise, and well done getting the box as soon as you could, I take it the clause of three worked."
"Yes, I even managed to keep most of the alternate personality from taking over. And it appears the clause worked well for you as well. But I have to ask, why did you save Henry, after all, with Emma, the rules have changed?"
"I didn't want the boy to die, and with the clause protecting me, I knew I would live, and it helps with my plan."
"OH, you have a plan, mind telling me what it is then?"
"Just telling Emma won't work, we need to plant little seeds of nonsense, we need to show here the things that don't add up, surviving an impossible crash, the fact that Henry is the only one to grow, things like that, if we can show her that, then when whatever defining moment comes that will either make or break her belief, all of it will tip her in the right direction."
"So basically it's business as usual, old friend."
"Yes, now, if you need me, I think I'm starting to regain conciseness."
"Well, good luck then."
Gold hated conference calls, they always gave him the mother of all headaches when it was over, not that most people didn't have that problem, it's just in his case, not only where some of his long forgotten memories brought back to the front of his mind, but also the memories of the previous Dark Ones as well. When Gold looked around, he saw Henry talking with Hopper. "Well." He said, startling the pair. "Either were all dead, in which case I extend my heart felt sadness to you Hopper, unless it was you that hit me, or the pain killers at the hospital are better then I remember."
"Mr. Gold, your all right." Henry said, very happy that the man who saved him was unharmed, more or less.
"Yes Henry, I all right. Hopper, could you go and find a nurse and tell them to get Emma. I want to talk to her."
After the good doctor left, Henry began talking. "Are you ok? Did it hurt? Why did you help me? Why did you come after me? Did Emma get the guy that did it?" And so on.
"Henry, Henry, calm down, and remember, I've been unconscious the whole time, so you know more than I do." Gold said laughing at the face the boy had made. "Yes I'm fine, a little stiff, a broken bone somewhere I bet, but nothing time won't heal. And how are you doing?"
"The nurse said you saved my life, and that everyone that's heard is in shock. Why did you do it?"
"It's rather simple really, I like you Henry, you're smart, well-mannered, and enjoyable company, that and I'm a selfish monster."
"But you're not a selfish monster."
"Oh but I am, you see, the whole time I was thinking about how much more it would hurt not to save you then being hit by a car would be."
"Really." Henry said, not believing him.
"But of course dearie, besides, any other reason would ruin my reputation of a heartless monster, and then getting people to pay rent would be a nightmare." Gold said, causing him and Henry to laugh. 'Oh, the first good laugh either of us has had in a while.'
"Well if that's true, I suppose now would be a bad time to say everyone wants to nominate you for a national holiday." Emma said, coming in the door.
"Oh Emma, your to cruel, and after I rescued Henry. Speaking of which, did you watch the video?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"And I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"And?"
"And I'm sorry I called you some terrible things."
"And?" Henry said, earning a proud look from Gold and an annoyed one from Emma.
"And I'm sorry for losing my cool in front of you Henry, and that I scared you, and that I was wrong and that Gold was in fact a perfect gentalmen while I was a perfect drunk idiot, and I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused and will you please forgive me?" Emma said lowering her head in shame.
Henry gave Gold look of 'should we', to which Gold replyed 'follow my lead'. "Will you get us ice cream?"
Emma's head shot up in shock. "What!"
"You're in the dog house, so until Henry and I forgive you, you must bring us ice cream, do all the house work, and wait on us, poor injured souls, hand and foot. And should Henry decide that I'm the coolest person ever, you are to smile and say he's right."
Emma looked at Gold, 'of course he's going to milk this' a voice surprisingly like Regina's said. She looked at Henry who had crossed his arms and was giving her an I'm-in-total-agreement look.
"It appears someone is milking his injury already." Regina said, 'how did she get here that quietly?' Emma wondered.
"Regina, you're not going to lecture me after I saved Henry are you."
"No, I was just coming in to get Henry; the doctors say you can go now."
"Regina, the boy hasn't even gotten a chance to properly recover; he hasn't ordered a single scoop of therapeutic ice cream yet."
"Yeah." Henry said, trying to look as pathetic as possible. "You, w…wouldn't… want me to have… a… r… r… relapse, would you?"
Regina was less then amused. "Come on, were going home, and if your hungry, you can have an apple when we get home."
"Regina," Gold said. "Would you then please buy the boy a gallon of ice cream, from me, to aid in his recovery, and please let him eat all he wants of it. Oh, and could Henry please come over to my house after I'm discharged."
Both Emma and Henry were shocked when Regina agreed, and then left looking mad. But at the moment Regina didn't care, she knew one thing for sure, Rumpelstiltskin was asleep still, after all, that no good, selfish imp would never save a child, he sold them as easy as bread and gold, he wouldn't raise a hand, let alone risk his life to save one. She hoped.
"So, now that we are all alone, is there anything else you want to say?" Gold asked Emma
"Other then I'm sorry for how I acted, not really."
"It's all right, in your place, I would have done the same."
"So why did you marry me."
"Two reasons actually, the first one was Henry."
"Henry?" Emma said confused. "Why Henry?"
"It's a way to make amends, even if he doesn't know it." Emma still looked confused. "Many years ago, Regina came to me, saying she was lonely and needed a child. After a few months, I found an adoption agency, and with a bribe or two plus the occasional sob story, I found out that an adoption had fell through at the last minute, and that Regina, after one interview and a quick glance at her résumé, one I wrote up to look as good as possible, she could have the child."
"Henry."
"Yes, she got him, and loved him, he brought something she was missing in her life, something she thought she needed, and I think they were happy, but, something happened, I don't know what, and now here you are, the product of a desperate act, and a child who felt unloved for to long."
"So why are you making amends."
"Because, I've always know what was a good deal, I knew when it was the best time, and who to make the offer to. But with Henry, I wasn't sure, so I made a bet with myself, if Henry turned out all right, I could rest easy and consider it a favor he owed me for giving him a good life. But if not, then I would intervene in some way to help him."
"And you solution was marriage?"
"You, Emma, are a coward." Gold raised his hand when Emma looked like she was going to disagree. "It takes one to know one, you and I have similar problems, we have similar losses, we both came from bad backgrounds, and we've both fought for every scrap we have, and have protected those scraps with everything we got. And we both run when it gets too hard, and Henry needs you right now. And because we're married, you at least have to stay long enough for a divorce, which I could drag out for years."
"You know, anyone else would ether find that insulting or think you were joking, but I guess, in a weird, twisted, unnatural way, it's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."
"Oh my dear Emma, what a life you have had if that's true."
"You don't know the half of it." She said with a soft laugh. "So what was the other reason?"
"Would you rather believe that the whole town is cured be Regina to steel all our happy endings, and that you're the savior and I'm trying to keep you here to break the curse for my own reasons, or that I'm and old, lonely man who figured this is the only way to get a beautiful young woman into my bed." Gold said in a both completely serious and silly way. And in response Emma just laughed, partly because it was funny, and also because, honestly, she wasn't sure which one she wanted to be true.
Just so it's clear, I have never watched Merlin, in fact, all I have is Disney's Sword in the Stone, Stargate's Merlin, and a few versions of the legend. So, because the show dose this any way, I'm going to take what little I have to go off of for this caricature, keep one or two things, and through the rest out the window and basically do my own thing. So this is in no way a crossover, and if it looks that way, it's completely unintentional.
Now, because I know I will get this question, I had Gold get hit by a car for many reasons; 1) I wanted to get Gold's and Emma's relationship going with there being a strong foundation, and I figured that saving Henry would do that, same reason why Gold didn't take advantage of Emma (Not that I think he would do that with Emma or anyone really).
2) Like Gold said, it's a way to plant little seeds of doubt in Emma's mind about what she thinks is "normal and true.
3) Way for him and Henry to bond.
4) Way to pacify Regina's suspicions about him being awake.
And on a slightly different note, I will explain other things naturally via the story or author notes, like the box, the clause, and other things.
So please, review. (You feel like you now have no choice but to do as I say.")
P.S. I still need a name for chap 2, any ideas?