I could not resist writing this scene.

Present Time

Storybrooke, Maine

Gold's mind was spinning as he went over the details of her plan that Zelena had just revealed to him.

Back.

She intended to go back in time and change the course of history.

No one had ever managed that before. No one. He of all people, with all of his years spent studying magic in order to get his son back, knew that such a thing was an impossibility.

But Zelena seemed sure of herself and deep inside he knew that if anyone was to succeed in doing exactly this it would be her. He had taught her, for a very brief period of time, but still; he had taught her, seen all that she could do, seen her natural born gifts. She wielded magic as easily as others breathed. A true Child of Magic, the most powerful on he had ever encountered.

She had said it herself; magic doesn't fail. People fail. And Zelena was not one to accept failure.

He rose and walked around the table while the woman he was forced to obey wiped her lips with a napkin. She was beautiful, something that should not surprise him; her mother had been the same, as was her sister. During this dinner that she had made him come to – by threatening him with the dagger, of course – she had done everything to show it to him. That she was no longer the young, innocent girl he had once taught but a woman, wise and mature, and hungry for power. At seeing this a plan had started to take shape in his head and now was the time for him to enact it.

"Thank you", he said and took her empty plate with him as he moved to the sink.

"For what?" Zelena asked. He did not look at her as he responded; he needed to focus, needed to keep his mind clear.

"For showing me something I should have seen long ago."

He turned with a small smile, seeing Zelena's surprised face look up at him.

"It's never easy", he admitted as he walked back to the table, to her, "for a man to admit he's wrong. But I wronged you and hurt us both."

Zelena looked away, though not fast enough for him to notice the tears in her eyes. He reached for the bottle of red wine at the centre of the table and filled both of their glasses, focusing his attention on the red liquid.

"Those mistakes can't haunt us", Zelena slowly said, before looking up at him, "not anymore. Soon, history will be wiped clean."

She smiled her wide, triumphant smile and he managed to return it, before clinking their glasses together. He took a big gulp of the wine, feeling it burn his throat on the way down. Manners and etiquette no longer mattered, not when he had his goal in sight. He placed the glass back down and turned towards the ginger woman with another smile.

"Until then", he said and stroked her face with the back of his hand, "a gentleman always makes amends for his failures."

He watched as Zelena's sea-green eyes darkened somewhat before slowly kneeling down, resting his hands on her shoulders as he bent forward. His lips soon came in contact with her throat and he did not take his time to be gentle with her. Instead he nipped and pulled at the sensitive skin, causing a loud gasp to escape her lips. One of his hands went up to cup her face while the other slid down her back, supporting her as he pulled them both up in a standing position. He turned her and placed her down on the table, allowing him to continue his ministrations without kneeling. She moaned and threw her head back to give him better access while her hands gripped his shoulders, pulling him closer. He raised his head and attacked her lips, once again not taking time to be soft and gentle. Instead he was demanding, forcing her mouth open beneath his, and she did not resist. In fact, her hands came up to his head in an effort to make the kiss even deeper while she let out another moan.

He shifted them, caused her to lie down on the table with him between her legs, never leaving her lips. His left hand trailed down her leg, touching the bare skin and...

She tore her lips from his with a small whimper as she froze him in his motions, his hand hovering above the hilt of the dagger she kept tucked in the shaft of her boot. Panting heavily she managed a glare at him.

"Sorry, love", she hissed, "afraid not."

She made him straighten up somewhat to allow her room to move out of the enclosed space. He held back a disappointed growl and also felt a slight tremor of fear run through him. Zelena had been in love with him once and from the sounds she had just emitted while he seduced her he had no doubt she still felt that way, deep inside her black heart. Her love for him, however, had been the reason why he could not chose her over Regina; he needed his most skilled apprentice to cast the Dark Curse, enabling him to go to this world and find his son, but the Dark Curse came at a price. In order for it to work one had to sacrifice the heart of the thing one loved the most and in Zelena's case that heart would have belonged to him.

"Never on the first date, dearie?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"You just wanted the knife", Zelena growled. He could hear how she pulled it out of its hiding and knew that possible ways of redeeming himself and making his life as her slave a little more bearable had left for good.

"I hope you enjoyed the taste", she now said, appearing at the edge of his panoramic view, knife in hand, "because you just squandered your only chance to have your son!"

She flicked the knife, breaking the enchantment that kept him in place while also making sure that he now kept his distance from her. He gritted his teeth at her, anger pulsating through every core of his being.

"My son", he hissed, "gave his life so I could stop you. And I can see only one way to honour that sacrifice; by killing you."

Zelena inhaled sharply, her eyes glowing with anger, hurt and madness.

"Celebration's over", she said, taking a step towards him. "Back to your cage, doll."

She flicked the knife again and he felt the command in his heart. Slowly he turned towards the door of the kitchen and walked out into the cold night air, not looking back at her. He stumbled slightly as he made his way across the lawn, towards the entrance of the storm cellar. Briefly he wondered if he had enough magic to conjure a glass of water, in order to get the taste of her out of his mouth. It was like poison. He had only kissed her to get the knife, only decided on this rash plan because it was the only way he could come up with that would ensure that he got close to it without her realizing what he was doing. Obviously he had been wrong about how easily she could be fooled, however.

He opened the metallic door, stepped down a few steps on the stairs and then closed the door again. It did not do much to keep the chill in the night at bay. In fact he would almost prefer the cage that he had lived in for a short while before the casting of the Dark Curse to the one he was now made to stay in and that said something about how miserable he truly was here.

As he sat down on the stool next to his spinning wheel he let out a breath he had not realized he was holding and rubbed his face with his hands. If Zelena succeeded with her plan everything would change. He did not know how far she would head back, but he doubted it was as far back as the time when he had lost his son the first time around. No, he reflected, it had something to do with Cora, her mother. She had had Zelena before he met her, before he found her imprisoned in a tower and ordered to spin straw into gold or die. If he was in full command of his magic he might be able to figure that out, but now he could only guess.

Cora had been a woman with ambitions, someone born poor, the daughter of a miller, who wanted a better life for herself. Zelena's birth must have put a halt to those plans due to not sharing blood with someone who could help Cora in her strive for power. In short; her father was not a royal.

"Oh, Belle", he whispered to himself, "I hope you fare better than I do."

Then he picked up some of the loose straw from the floor and started spinning the strands into gold.