A/N: ah so here's another one. I hella skipped ahead in this one bc I really wanted to get to Gold and Emma actually being face to face again so! yeah. the long awaited reunion of Gold and Emma, not exactly in that way or anything but, they actually speak face to face again for the first time in ages so there's that. FINALLY!

"Any change?" Gold asked as Regina stepped back from out of his office. She'd once again gone to check on David to see if he would wake up.

"No. He's not improving. He needs true love's kiss; he won't wake up until Mary Margaret comes back."

"Until? Well that's rather optimistic, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"They're up against your mother. The only chance Snow and Emma have of defeating her is with the squid ink—"

"—which is why you sent the message through David—"

"—Which would be beneficial if we knew that message were delivered. But alas, given the Prince's condition, we don't know. As such, it's important we take precaution. We have to consider the possibility that when that portal opens it won't be his family that come through, it'll be cora."

"And neither one of us wants that," Regina replied, shaking her head, the fear and apprehension at the thought of that evident in her eyes.

"We have to find where they're coming through and destroy that portal."

"But—whoever came through would die—"

"—…I know."

Regina scoffed, looked scandalized. She knew he could be ruthless, but even she hadn't expected him to ever suggest that they be willing to kill Mary Margaret and Emma if they were the ones to come trough the portal and not Cora. She shook her head at him, somewhere between amused and repulsed though she said nothing.

He didn't like her silence, nor the way she looked at him and he was sure he knew what she was thinking. "What?"

"Are you really that desperate to keep your secret from Belle that you're willing to kill Emma?"

And his suspicions for what she might be thinking were thus proven to be correct.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, don't I? You forget I've known you a long time, Gold. I know how you work, probably better than anyone—maybe even better than Emma, though in a different sense, thank god. That's exactly the kind of thing you would do."

"You know, Regina, I don't think you know me quite as well as you think you do." His blood was actually boiling at that point and he tried to keep it under control, he didn't want her to see just how much this decision was affecting him.

"You're still the manipulative bastard you've always been as far as I can tell. This does nothing to prove otherwise. You really expect me to believe that part of you isn't just the slightest bit motivated to do this so that your darling Belle never finds out about you and Emma?"

"I don't care what you believe—I don't have to prove anything to you. But you and I both know the chances of Emma and Mary Margaret defeating your mother and being the ones to come through that portal is slim to none. You should be glad I'm suggesting it; it's a win-win for you either way. Either you get rid of your mother once and for all or you get rid of the only thing standing in your way of having your son."

"Right, because you care about that—"

"—No, I don't. I care about me and the last thing I need is Cora coming through that portal. I'll do whatever it takes to stop her."

"Even if that means killing the woman who almost had your child?"

His jaw clamped tight at her words, fingers curling tightly over the head of his cane.

"There aren't any other options. If I knew Emma had received my message and knew how to take Cora down, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Don't you dare presume to know how I feel about this decision. You don't know anything."

He was visibly shaking as he spoke and Regina noticed it immediately. Her eyes narrowed at him in response. She'd only seen him like this once before, so shaken and upset—when she'd told him what had 'happened' to Belle, that lie she had told him. Leaning back, she folded her arms over her chest, cocking her head to the side as she looked at him as if she seeing him for the first time all over again. He didn't like that either.

"What now?" He barked at her.

"You actually care for her, don't you?"

Again his jaw clenched tightly, his grip on his cane becoming tighter once again. It was all the answer she needed.

"You do. My, my. What a complicated situation you're in, Rumpel."

"Enough—Are you going to help me or not?"

She stood silent for a moment thinking, but he didn't have time to waste.

"Look, magic is unpredictable in this world. If something unfortunate were to happen while you were attempting to help, well, he could hardly blame you for that."

"No. I can't lie to him—I'm not like you. I'm trying to be a better mother."

"You won't be able to be able to a better anything if Cora comes through, and if she does, she will be a threat to everyone, including your son. So if you truly want to be a good mother to Henry, to protect him, if you want to be better—prove it."

"Huh—Rumpelstiltskin's cell…I haven't been here since before Regina's curse." Mary Margaret stood beside Emma, looking ahead down the corridor into the cell she hadn't seen in ages, and yet it felt like it was only yesterday, the memory of her last journey to there playing in her head anew. "This was where he told us you were going to be the savior."

Emma's whipped around to look at her mother so fast it caused a crick in her neck.

"He knew?"

"It was prophesized."

Emma blinked, confused, her movements stilled as she thought on those words. He had known she was going to be the savior, known she was going to be the one who broke the curse. Her now having that knowledge opened so many doors, the fact that he knew all of that had so many implications. Did he, Gold, back in Storybooke know? Or was that something only Rumpelstiltskin had known? Were the two even different?
If Gold was awake that meant he had his memories back right? So how long had he known?

She didn't want to be thinking about that, but it was all she could do. Her mind wouldn't stop as dozens of different thoughts came all at once, dozens of questions. None of them were particularly comforting, in fact, all of them were bad. The one most prevalent was that them, whatever had existed—or not existed between them had only been because he needed her to break the curse. She knew that's what he had wanted, she didn't know why, but she knew. What if he had only shown interest in her because she was the savior? And now, if the curse was broken, what need did have of her? What did he do when he no longer needed someone?

Thoughts plagued her again about whether or not he was actually going to help them get back home. She had voiced the concerns to Mary Margaret and been talked down, but they were surfacing once again. There was nothing for him to gain if he helped her get back to Storybrooke, and he wasn't really the kind of guy who did things for anyone unless he saw some benefit to him in it. Had she really managed to let herself be used so easily and not even seen it coming? How much of what had gone on was just an act?

Somewhere deep down, too deep for her mind to see it at that moment, she knew it hadn't all been a lie. There was no way, if she really thought about it. Those tears she'd seen in his eyes when she told them what had happened to their baby—He couldn't fake that. That night at his home after it happened and before he knew, when he had just held her all through the night—It couldn't have been an act. He was good, but not that good. Yet her mind was too clouded, her insecurities flushing out all rational thought. At that moment, she was fully convinced that Gold had only used her and was now ready to cast her aside, done with her.

"Come on—" Mary Margaret commanded, bringing Emma back out of her thoughts. Her mind was still racing of course, but she was at least brought back to the present.

Together they made their way down the corridor and into the cell where Mulan and Aurora were already searching for the squid ink. It wasn't a particular large cell (and for a fleeting moment she felt sorry for him having been stuck in it), so she didn't imagine it would be too hard to search it to find the ink. She figured it would take a few minutes at the most, assuming it was even still there at all.

And just as that thought occurred to Emma, Mulan confirmed it.

"The squid ink—It's not here."

"Gold said we would find it," Mary Margaret replied, beginning to search on her own for it in case they had somehow missed it.

"Was there anyone else in here with him? They may have taken the ink."

"No, he was kept alone. Visitors were forbidden, he was too dangerous to allow any human contact."

"How'd he keep from going crazy?" Emma asked. It was originally meant to be a private thought, but she'd said it out loud. Still there was that small bit of her that felt sorry for him, even while thinking that he had used her.

"He didn't—" Aurora chimed in and Emma turned to her, noticing her holding a small scroll in her hand. All three of the others moved towards her to see what it was that she was holding. Clearly something on that scroll held evidence that Gold had gone crazy while cooped up in that cell and they were all anxious to see what it was.

"What is that?"

"Is it a message?"

"Yes, and I think it's for you," Aurora answered, holding out the scroll for Emma to take.

"Why would you think—" she began, stretching out her hand to unroll the bit of parchment, but her words catch in her throat as she looks down at it. "—that…?" On the scroll was her name, Emma, written over and over and over again. An elegant script of just her name, filling the entire scroll. The parchment was easily two feet long and in the same small elegant handwriting was just—her name.

She stared down at it, dumbfounded. The sight of it was beginning to make her fears seem more and more likely, that Gold had only had anything to do with her because she was the savior, that he had planned everything. Or—almost everything. The pregnancy—the—what happened, that even she knew he hadn't seen coming and certainly hadn't wanted. But everything else? It was a strong possibility.

The others continued to look around the cell for the squid ink, but Emma took the scroll and sat off to the side, studying it, trying to make sense of it. Maybe under the surface or something there was some deeper meaning? Or maybe she was supposed to read between the lines or something so to speak. She had no idea, but she couldn't take her eyes or her mind off of it either way.

"What does this even mean?"

"He was obsessed with you Emma, you were the key to breaking the curse."

More of her suspicions confirmed with that statement.

"We've looked everywhere," Aurora said, exasperated. "There's no ink in this cell."

"There has to be," Mary Margaret implored. "He told David".

"You were in a netherworld, maybe something got lost in translation," Emma replied halfheartedly. She was still entirely engrossed in the scroll with her name all over it. Though part of her mind couldn't help but also chime in that maybe Gold had lied to David and made the whole thing about the squid ink up to keep them busy and away from Storybrooke.

"No—" Mulan replied to the room at large. "She heard right—"

"You found it!" Mary Margaret shouted, running over to her. Aurora did the same, while Emma stood from her spot on the ground to join the others.

"In a manner of speaking—There was ink in this cell." And then she held out the empty ink bottle for them to see. Were it not for Aurora suddenly and inexplicably turning away from them all, throwing a rock at the lever that controlled the door, they all would have been putting two and two together to realize that he had used all the ink to write Emma's name on that parchment.

"Aurora, what are you doing?!" They all shouted in some variation, making their voices indistinguishable from one another. But they all turned to face her at the same time when they did, that's when they saw her, Cora. Hook was there with her.

I knew it, Emma thought. She knew he was a no good liar, trying to flirt with her and win her over just to get what he wanted. Typical. She'd say it was good she was smarter than that, but as far as she could tell Gold had done the same thing and she had fallen for it then. But she hadn't truly bought it when Hook had tried it. Perhaps the situation with Gold had made her more alert, more aware so that it didn't happen to her again.

"Helping me," Cora answered them, stepping forward into the light of the torches lining the corridor and lighting the cell. Then with a simple wave of her hand, Cora had summoned the compass that they needed in order to get back to Storybrooke right out of Emma's hand, the action causing a gasp to fall from her lips.

"No, no!" Emma cried, shaking and pulling at the bars of the cell in a desperate attempt to free herself all while knowing it was useless.

"Don't waste your energy, dear, Rumpelstiltskin himself couldn't escape from this cell". Emma stopped her futile attempts to get out as Cora turned her eyes on Aurora. "Thank you, Aurora, we couldn't have done it without you."

"Why would you do this?!"

"How could you?!" Mary Margaret and Emma chimed simultaneously, rounding on Aurora.

"Don't blame her," Cora answered for her. "She was only doing what she was told." And as she spoke, she held out Aurora's still beating, bright red and glowing heart in her palm.

"You took her heart?" Emma asked.

"Actually, I did," Hook finally spoke up, "it was a gift."

Then Cora squeezed the heart in her hand, and behind Emma, Aurora cried out in pain, Mulan quickly moving to her aid.

"Forgive us," Cora said, her tone entirely insincere, "we'd love to say, but Storybrooke awaits." And with that she turned to leave, Hook following behind her, but Emma spoke out, calling after him to stop.

"Hook, wait!"

He turned to face her, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"Please don't do this. My son is in Storybrooke; he needs me."

"Perhaps you should have considered that before you abandoned me on that beanstalk."

"You would've done the same."

"Actually, no."

Emma looked down and away, ashamed. What if he was telling the truth?

Come on, Emma, you know he's not.

"Do you know what this is?" Hook continued on, pulling something out of his pocket. It was a necklace of some sort from the looks of it. As he held it closer to her, she realized what it was.

"The bean that the giant kept," she gasped, frantically moving to reach through the bars to try and grab it from him. Expecting her to do that, of course, he pulled it away from her, giving a chuckle while he watched her pointless attempts to reach it.

"Ah, ah, ah. Yes, indeed. A pirate always keeps a souvenir of his conquests, but this, this is much more than a mere trinket. This is a symbol—Something that was once magical, full of hope, possibility. Now look at it—Died up, dead, useless. Much like you. The time for making deals is done just as I'm done—with you."

Then the two of them left, her looking after them feeling like a fool. All she wanted to do was get back to her son—Was that so much to ask for? She wasn't being selfish, she wasn't trying to hurt anyone. Why was everyone making everything so goddamn difficult for her? Yet while she was feeling low and pathetic, she couldn't help but still try to get out, so after a minute of silence, she went straight to trying to break through the bars of the cell.

"You aren't going to break it down, Emma, it was enchanted to hold Rumpelstiltskin. We don't have a chance."

She didn't like it, but she had to admit that Mary Margaret was right. She just hated admitting defeat.

"This is my fault," Aurora said to no one in particular.

"No, it's mine," Mulan replied. "Cora took your heart because I failed to protect you."

"That's very sweet," Emma added sardonically, "but I believe it's my fault. I'm the savior and i'm not doing very much saving, am I?" The question was rhetorical. She already had her answer.

Mary Margaret silently crossed the cell, moving to sit beside Emma. Turning her head slightly, she looked at her. "We're going to win this fight, you know? Good always defeats evil."

"You sound like Henry."

She chuckled lightly, genuinely amused. "Guess optimism runs in the family."

"I think it skipped a generation."

"You should know better than anybody, you broke the curse."

"What have I done since then? I got us stranded over here, burned down the wardrobe, let Cora get the ash and now the compass. The only reason I broke the curse was because it was exactly what Gold wanted me to do. I had nothing to do with it."

"What are you talking about?"

"He told you I was the savior; it was his plan. Once I fulfilled that role maybe that's all I was ever meant to do. Everything I've ever done, he had it all mapped out before i was even born. I'm not powerful. I'm not-not—a savior." She sighed and pulled out the scroll with her name on it. "I'm a name on a piece of paper; I'm a pawn. That's exactly why we are in here and Cora's on her way to Storybroooke."

Mary Margaret sighed heavily. Things did look very bleak, she'd give her that, but this wasn't over. She didn't believe that it would end like this, she believed as she always had that good would always defeat evil, that she would always find her family. And she was determined to help Emma see it that way too.

"We are going to get out of here—" she spoke up again a moment later after silently studying the scroll again.

"How? By staring at that scroll? It's not like it's gonna magically open the door for us.

Mary Margaret laughed lightly, smiling down at the piece of paper, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. She finally understood. And in the next moment she was on her feet.

"What?" Emma said, looking up at her, tone incredulous.

"When I was a little girl I used to sneak into Cora's chamber and watch her practice magic. She had a spell book, and Emma, the spells were in the book—"

"Yeah isn't that what a spell book is, a book that has spells in it?" Emma replied sarcastically, clearly thinking Mary Margaret had lost it too.

Fair enough, Mary Margaret thought to herself a moment, but that's not what she meant. Shaking her head at Emma she held out her hand for her to wait. "Just watch." Then with the scroll in her hand, unrolled, she turned to the bars of the cell, blowing on it and the ink lifted from the page right before their eyes.

Emma jumped to her feet, eyes wide. "Whoa, the squid ink! Gold wrote the scroll in squid ink!"

Mary Margaret then blew the cloud of ink at the bars of the cell, where it broke through them, creating a hole more than big enough for them to escape from. A satisfied, relieved smile broke out on her face. Emma and the others had smiles just as big.

"Told ya," Mary Margaret whispered. It was almost to herself a bit even, reassurance to herself that they were going to make it back home. "Good always wins."

After Mary Margaret and them returned, the first thing they did was go to Gold's shop to wake up David. And while the others were busy reuniting and being glad to have found one another again, Emma had other things on her mind. She shuffled off after Gold who'd stayed behind in the front part of his shop, not entirely keen on watching the tear-soaked reunion of her parents, not that she could blame him.

When she stepped through the curtain and caught his eye, he looked away, ashamed. It killed him inside to think that he had almost killed her. It wasn't intentional, he didn't want her to die, he'd just been trying to keep Cora out of Storybrooke, however selfishly. He hadn't expected her to be able to beat Cora.

"We need to talk," she said, voice commanding and somewhat biting. He had a feeling whatever she was about to say to him, he deserved. He just wished her family wasn't in the next room over so that he could properly and freely try to explain himself.

"Yes, I believe apologies are in order." Instead of speaking how he would have wanted to, he had to put on this act, this front for anyone who might overhear them talking.

"No—" He quirked his brow. "No apologies necessary. I understand why you wanted to keep Cora out of here."

"'Just remind me never to be against you in the future, Ms. Swan."

"It's not really a bet when the game is rigged, is it?"

Again he quirked his brow at her in question. "To what exactly are you referring?"

"Your scroll—I saw it in your cell; you wrote my name again and again and again."

He shrugged, the gesture equally as prevalent on his lips as his shoulders. "Just wanted to make sure it would stick."

"The ink—It was there all the time; you could've gotten out," she implored. There was a question in her tone but she did not ask it. Why didn't he use it to get out? Why did he stay locked up?

"I was exactly where I wanted to be. You needed to find that so all this could occur."

She wasn't satisfied with that answer. He was responsible for more than just that. She knew it, more of this had been his plan, his design. It had to have been.

"You created the curse, Gold, you made me the savior. So everything I've ever done—It's exactly what you wanted me to do."

He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't just referring to her being the savior. She was talking about them, too. But she was wrong. What had had happened between them had never been part of his design. That was never supposed to have happened. Not in a million years. But he couldn't talk about that then, not with the others so close by.

"I created the curse, dearie, but I didn't make you."

Then it was her turn to quirk her brow at him, very subtly, hardly even noticeable. What did he mean? To her, it all seemed the same.

"I merely took advantage of what you are—the product of True Love."

Emma's eyes immediately flickered towards his back office where Mary Margaret and David—her parents—were.

"That's why you're powerful," Gold continued. "And everything you've done—you've done yourself." He made sure his tone was not accusatory, not blaming her for anything that had happened or saying it was all her fault what had transpired between them, but trying to let her know in the only way he could that he hadn't planned any of it.

Emma's eyes went wide, realizing that he was telling the truth. At least for the moment she believed him, there was no guarantee that her doubts wouldn't come back when her insecurities resurfaced sometime later.

"So, you don't know?" She asked him.

"Know what?"

She stepped closer to him, hand moving over her heart as she did. Instinctively his eyes dropped to watch the movement. He swallowed thickly, emotions swirling within him against his will at her closeness. Then his eyes met hers once more just as she began to speak.

"Cora—tried to rip my heart out—"

Gold's brow furrowed at that statement. Cora didn't try to rip out peoples' hearts, she did rip them out. She was the Queen of Hearts, nobody got away from that if she didn't want them to.

"But she couldn't. She was blasted back by something inside me…by—by—"

"By magic," he finished for her. "Whatever that was, I didn't do that—You did. I told you before, Ms. Swan, that you were more powerful than you know, but you're also more powerful than I know. All I did was use your parents' to my advantage. A drop of true love on the parchment of the curse as I told you before, making the product of that love, the only thing that could break it."

"Why—why make a curse only to make sure that it could be broken?"

"I wanted it broken from the start, dearie. But to break it, it had to be cast first."

"That doesn't even make any sense?"

"I needed to find this land and the only way to do that, was a curse."

"Then why did you want to come here? I don't get it. Why did you do all of this?"

He stayed silent a moment, not sure if he wanted to answer. She deserved an answer in his opinion, but was he ready to tell her? Not really. He might not ever be, not until he absolutely needed to. However, her mind ran on the same track his did, she felt she deserved an answer too.

"You owe me, Gold. My entire life was how it was because you wanted some curse cast. I deserve to know why."

"My son—" he began in a whisper so low she had to lean closer to hear. "I told you he was lost—this land is where I'll find him."

It was then that a thought occurred to her, her mind going back to all those months ago when he helped her run for Sheriff.

"So—So when you said to me about recognizing a desperate soul, knowing how badly I wanted to look like a hero for Henry—you were talking about yourself weren't you? You're a desperate soul—trying to do whatever it takes to be with your kid—"

Again he swallowed thickly. Whether he answered or not was irrelevant, she knew just by look at him. It all made perfect sense too. That was why she always felt like she understood him so well and he her. They really were so alike. And now she was beginning to really see just how much.