A/N: Storybook text copy-pasted from the OUAT wiki entry, "Henry's Once Upon A Time Book". Some dialogue taken from S1E19: The Return. "Points" are the laces used to close medieval hose and secure them to a doublet.

Chapter 32

The smiles on the children's faces froze and faded rapidly when they raced back into the house and took in Emma's and Neal's serious expressions. "You didn't find him?" Ava wailed.

Emma swallowed. "I found him, but… well, he's," she hesitated, "he's not that well off and he… doesn't think he's in a position to take you in right now."

"But if he's our dad…!" Nicholas exclaimed.

"We don't need much," Ava said. "Just each other. Please, please, don't make us go to Boston. We've managed on our own here forever. If you don't want us, we'll find someplace else. Just please don't separate us."

"Kids," Emma started, but Neal broke in.

"We do want you," he said. "But we have to do this properly. Look," he passed two slips of paper across the table toward them. "You've got our cell phone numbers and our email addresses. Text us or write to us as often as you want. And to each other, too," he added.

"We don't have cell phones," Nicholas said.

"Public libraries have free internet," Emma said. "And maybe you'll get them. I didn't when I was in the System, but they weren't exactly a thing yet back then. It could be different now."

"We're going to try to get certified as foster parents," Neal said. "If we're approved, as soon as that paperwork goes through, we'll apply to take you."

"Will they let you?" Ava asked. "I mean, what if they say you have to take a kid who's been waiting longer?"

"I don't think it works that way," Emma said. "But once we've asked for you, we'll let you know. If it's something we all want, maybe it'll make a difference."

"And maybe it won't and we'll never see you again," Nicholas said.

"Guys," Emma said, "we're going to do our best to make sure that doesn't happen. Do you… want us to promise something we might not be able to make good on?"

"No," Nicholas sighed. "You did that already when you promised we wouldn't be separated." He headed toward the cellar. "I'd better see if I left anything downstairs I need to pack."

Ava bit her lip and turned away to follow her brother.

Emma, Neal, and Henry looked at each other.

"That… could have gone better," Neal said.

"They can't go." Henry was almost whispering.

Emma shook her head. "I don't want them to, but if their father won't step up, then…" Her voice trailed off.

"What?" Henry asked.

Emma shook her head again. "I don't… I have an idea, but if it doesn't work…"

"What?" Henry repeated.

Emma swallowed hard. "If I'm wrong about this, I'm going to have to go through with driving them to Boston. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up prematurely. Just… trust me and keep your fingers crossed?"

Henry nodded slowly.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Neal murmured.

"So do I."

Neal's expression turned stony when he saw the mayor's Mercedes pull up in front of their house. "Mayor Mills," he greeted her, before she made it to their front door. He spared a smile for Henry, who trailed a half-step behind, biting his lip.

Regina favored Neal with a cold smile. "I'm just here to ascertain that the sheriff does her duty."

Emma joined him outside. "You know," she said, "you don't have to check up on me."

"The fact that you aren't yet on the interstate with those children tells me otherwise," Regina informed her.

"Beats me how tearing them away from the only home they know, dragging them to another city, and separating them is in their best interest," Neal said.

Regina sighed. "Unfortunately, at the present time, I'm afraid that's the case. Now, if you and Emma were licensed resource parents, it would be different. Of course, once you obtain that certification, considering that children of the Zimmer twins' age generally aren't in any great demand by potential adopters, I shouldn't think you'd have much trouble taking them back. It's a long process," she added. "It's likely to take three to six months at minimum, but if you're able to pass all the background checks, the home studies, the medical and psychological assessments, have good references…" she smiled, "I'm sure it will all work out. For now though," she continued crisply, "those two need to be in Massachusetts."

"I'm on it," Emma snarled.

"Clearly, 'it' is not the road to Boston, then," Regina snipped back. "Suppose you collect your houseguests and get moving on that?"

Neal took an angry step forward. Emma stayed him with a hand on the inside of his elbow. "Don't," she sighed. "Unfortunately, she's right. It'll be okay."

"You sure?" Neal murmured.

Emma made a face. "Not really. But… I've got to give those kids their best chance."

"In Boston."

Emma sighed. "I don't like it either," she said carefully, pretending she didn't see Henry desperately shaking his head, his eyes pleading, "but I'm just about out of options." Just about, she repeated mentally, but not quite. It's a long shot, but there's still one more card I can play. No idea if it's going to pay off. There's still so much that could go wrong: if the car doesn't stall when I pull that trick I got off of Google; if my call for roadside assistance doesn't go to Tillman's garage; if he has another employee he sends out or some… contract with another towing company and he doesn't answer the call himself, if he sees the kids and still doesn't want to take them, if… Enough. Long shot or not, it's still giving those kids their best chance and, who knows? It might even work. She gave Neal a quick hug and a kiss on his cheek. "I'll be back by morning."

"If you're too tired to drive back tonight," Neal said, "stay over and I'll see you in the afternoon. Probably will anyway; Marco needs me to help him fix the cannery roof first thing in the morning. I'm just going to read for a little and turn in early."

"Sounds like a plan," Emma said. "I'm still heading back as quick as I can, though." She sighed. "Guess I'd better go in and collect the kids."

As she disappeared back inside the house, Neal glowered at Regina. "I hope you're happy."

Something in the mayor's smug expression faltered for an instant and her voice was just a touch softer when she replied, "I'm not."

Neal watched as Emma drove off with the twins. He waited until Regina and Henry had also left before he turned and went back into the house.

Henry's book was on the kitchen table. Neal had been meaning to get to reading that, but he hadn't had time before. Almost nervously, he reached for the book and flipped the pages to the table of contents. His eyebrows shot up. The chapter titles weren't exactly what he'd been expecting. "The Bandit Snow White," one header near the middle of the page jumped out at him. "The Novice Fairy and the Dreamy Dwarf…" Clearly, these weren't the classic versions he'd found in that second-hand book he'd bought in Fairbanks. Smiling a bit, he slid his eyes up to the top of the page. Maybe these were parodies or retellings or…

His mouth suddenly went dry and his hands went clammy. "Prologue: The Dark One and His Son…?" he whispered aloud. "What the hell?" It felt like some outside force was manipulating his hands as he turned the pages. Maybe this book was some sort of authorized tie-in to that graphic novel by… Sanders? Sanderson? Something like that, he thought. Or, or, wasn't there also a Dark One in Wheel of Time? There were probably a million more stories that used that particular term. It probably had nothing to do with Papa! He'd just read a paragraph or two to make sure, and then he'd probably have himself a chuckle and move on.

Setting his gaze firmly on the first sentence, he began to read.

Rumpelstiltskin was a mild-mannered and curiously unremarkable man who lived a rather unremarkable life. Along with his wife and young son, Baelfire, he lived in a modest wooden hut on the outskirts of the village, making his living by spinning wool into the thread that he would barter or sell to the people thereabouts. Rumpelstiltskin's fortunes were to change that beautiful day that the Duke's soldiers rode into the village. They were rounding up all men and children of a serviceable age, garnering recruits to fight in terrible, never-ending Ogre Wars….

Heart pounding, half-dreading what he would find, Neal continued, knowing that he wasn't going to sleep tonight until he'd read the entire prologue, however long it took.

He read the prologue. Then he read the first chapter, and the second. He was halfway through the fifth when a jubilant Emma came back, crowing to him about how she'd faked car trouble to get the Zimmer twins' father to come from the garage for roadside assistance and how his resistance had melted away once he was face to face with his children.

"He took them back with him," she finished. "We'll still see them around town, and I told the kids that they could come and visit us anytime. Tillman ended up being a better guy than I took him for initially," she added. "Maybe we should invite the three of them over for dinner next week."

"Sure," Neal agreed, his mind still on what he'd been reading.

"I still can't believe it worked out," she added. "I just wish you'd been with me to see the smiles on all their faces…"

"Yeah," Neal nodded absently.

"Neal? You okay?"

He forced himself to smile. "Yeah, sure. I… Did you ever read this?" he asked, tapping the book for emphasis.

Emma blinked. "Henry loaned it to me when I first came here and I sort of skimmed it. Mostly the Snow White stuff, since Henry kept insisting she was my mother. Uh… sorry there are a couple of missing pages at the end. Henry was afraid of Regina seeing them since," she gave him a rueful smile, "well, since she's the Evil Queen and he didn't want her finding out that Snow White's child got sent here ahead of the Dark Curse." She shook her head. "Wow, that sounds weird when you say it out loud."

Neal nodded. "Yeah," he said faintly. "Weird."

"Anyway, I stopped in to see Mary Margaret on my way back and she offered to take me to Granny's to celebrate. I popped by to see if you wanted to come with?"

Neal hesitated. "Nah," he said. "You go. I've still got to be up at the crack of dawn to help Marco tomorrow."

"You sure?" Emma asked. "It's not going to be a late night or anything. Mary Margaret has to make an early start, too."

"Maybe next time," Neal said, smiling. "Have fun."

"Okay," Emma said, drawing near to give him a quick kiss. "Probably be back before you turn in, though."

"Well, if you need me to drive you home, don't be ashamed to call me to meet you. Granny's is only about a fifteen minute walk from here, if that."

"We're just going out for coffee. Or cocoa. Normal cocoa," she added.

"You mean, no booze? Or no cinnamon?" he asked, with a teasing grin.

Emma smacked him playfully on the arm and gave him another kiss before heading out.

As soon as he heard the front door close, he reached for the book once more.

There were too many cracks, Regina realized. The clock starting up had been worrisome. The earthquake that had turned up fragments of Snow White's coffin had been concerning. David Nolan coming out of his coma, Ashley Boyd giving birth, Graham's defiance… and now, the woodcutter and his two children were a family again. Regina's frown deepened. The Curse was weakening. And somehow, she knew, it was all happening because of Storybrooke's new sheriff, aided by Gold—who seemed to be minding his manners, particularly his pleases, a bit too conscientiously these days.

Each element on its own was bothersome. Taken together, they created a result that Regina didn't care for in the least.

She wished that she could be certain that Gold was awake. Over the past twenty-eight years, there had been times when she'd been sure of it, but subsequently come to think she'd been mistaken. He was helping Emma now. Did that mean that he was awake? Or was he always scheming, awake or asleep?

He'd never tried any such tricks before, not for twenty-eight years. Of course he was awake!

But still the niggling voice at the back of her mind asked her whether she was positive that his plots and games were a new development, or whether he'd merely gotten sloppy enough for her to notice them.

But then, suppose his sloppiness was a cause for alarm? Or maybe he wasn't getting sloppy at all. Maybe she was just getting sharper!

She had to know for certain. She wouldn't rest until she did. Some way, somehow, she had to obtain some sort of leverage to force Gold to admit he was awake.

If he was awake. If he wasn't awake, but was helping Emma against her, whatever his motivations, if she confronted him without any evidence to bolster her accusations, she might well play into his hands. If he meant to help Emma win custody over Henry, then her accusing him of being Rumpelstiltskin would not help her case—particularly if she made that assertion where it could be witnessed or recorded. But if he was awake…

…Then her life was about to become exponentially more complicated.

Somehow, she needed to learn the truth. And she needed to learn it sooner, rather than later.

Neal closed the book and pushed it several inches away. His hands were shaking as his thoughts churned wildly. Part of him wished he hadn't read it, but part of him was glad he had.

It was all for him. The Curse, this town, Emma coming to this realm instead of growing up with the loving parents she should have, Henry getting adopted by Regina… Why start with the curse? Papa had been working behind the scenes, a deal here, a bit of advice there, teasing and tweaking and manipulating, and all for him.

His smile froze halfway. How many people had Papa hurt trying to get here? How many lives disrupted, how many deaths, how many deals? All to…

It wasn't his fault, Neal told himself. He'd never asked Papa to come find him! He'd never wanted…

—Papa, please! It's the only way we can be together!

—No, Bae! I can't!

—Papa, please!

—I can't!

—You coward! You promised! Don't break our deal!

If Henry's book was to be believed—and it had been frighteningly accurate in its account of his own story—Papa really had meant to honor their agreement. He'd panicked at the last, but he'd spent the past two centuries trying to make good on his promise. If Neal had known the lengths to which Papa would go, of course he would have told Papa not to. At least, if he could have somehow reached across realms to tell him. Yes, he'd wanted Papa with him, but not like this! He couldn't deny the rush of love and sorrow washing over him now, though, with the realization that Papa had cared enough to craft this curse to get to him, even though it had taken two hundred years for it to come to fruition.

I will do nothing else. I will love nothing else. I will find a way.

"Papa," Neal whispered.

His mind was spinning faster than Papa's wheel ever had. Should he reveal himself? If Papa was still cursed, then disclosing his identity would be meaningless to him. But if he was aware and awake… Papa still loved him, but it was obvious that not having magic hadn't made Papa less Dark, just less powerful. He'd still set the fire to clinch Emma's election win. He'd still made a contract to purchase a baby and only torn it up when Emma had agreed to do him an as yet undisclosed favor at some future date. Neal didn't even want to think what that favor might entail.

When Emma got back, he'd… He'd what? He couldn't talk to Emma about this. What could he say that she'd believe? The only people in this place he could talk to about Papa were Regina—which was a complete non-starter for obvious reasons, Papa himself, and Henry. And there was no way that he was going to lay this on a ten-year-old kid who already had enough going on. Besides, Neal had a feeling that if Henry were the author of this story, he'd end it with, "…And Emma broke the Curse, Good won, and everyone lived happily ever after." Life was never that simple, not unless you were ten years old. Or younger.

He wasn't even sure if he wanted Emma to break the curse. What if it meant that they'd all go back to the Enchanted Forest? He didn't know how it would work for the people living in this town. Maybe they would forget all about the last twenty-eight years and be able to pick up where they left off, but he couldn't turn the clock that far back. He didn't think Emma would be able to adjust either. No cell phones, no indoor plumbing, no electricity… And he didn't think she'd ever be comfortable in corsets and petticoats! Crud, did that mean he'd have to wear hose? Tie points? He hadn't had to worry about those before Papa had become the Dark One and decided that they needed to improve their standard of dress along with their standard of living. The doublet had been hot and uncomfortable and the hose and points had been worse. At least, Papa hadn't forced the matter then. But now that he'd learned how gentry truly lived and dressed and ate, now that Papa was a man of substance here, he'd probably insist on keeping the finer things in life—even if life in the Enchanted Forest was sure to be rougher than it was here.

And here he was carrying on as though the worst of the fallout if Emma broke the curse would be uncomfortable clothes! What the hell was wrong with him? He was tired. He was scared. He wasn't thinking clearly. He…

"Hey, I'm back," Emma called, as the front door opened. "You still up?"

He forced a smile onto his face and into his voice. "In here," he called back, and a moment later, she joined him in the kitchen. "Have a good time?"

Emma hesitated. "Kind of. But… Well, while we were at Granny's, David Nolan came in to pick up some takeout and from the way he and Mary Margaret looked at each other," she shook her head. "I just hope neither of them does anything stupid."

"You think they're…?"

"Seeing each other?" Emma finished. "Oh, yeah. I mean, I hope I'm wrong and it's seriously not my business, but Mary Margaret's my friend and this can't end happily ever after."

You might be surprised on that one, Neal thought to himself. Aloud, he said only, "I hear you. But other than that…?"

"Other than that, it was a good evening. And I drove by Tillman's house. It was late; the lights were already out, but I think they're going to be okay."

"Good."

"Oh, and…" she stopped. "Nothing."

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing important. I mean, someone new showed up. I met him when I stopped off at Regina's on the way."

"What? Why stop there?"

"Because I knew she had a council meeting and Henry was home alone and I wanted to say 'hi' and tell him the good news about the Zimmer twins. Anyway, this guy stopped when he saw us and asked us for directions to the nearest motel. I pointed him to Granny's. Funny thing: Henry was just in the middle of telling me that this place doesn't get any tourists. Guess he just never paid much attention. I mean, it's not like there's some… thicket of briar around the place keeping people out, right?"

"Yeah, right," Neal said weakly.

"Anyway, I'm beat. I'm heading up to bed. And I think you said you need to turn in, too."

He nodded. "I'll be right behind you." They kissed and then Emma headed toward the bedroom.

Neal stared at the book for another few minutes, as though it might have some details for him on the future as well as the past. Then he pushed back his chair and got up to follow Emma, closing the kitchen light on his way out. He didn't know when, what, or how he was going to tell her, but he hoped that things would look clearer after a good night's sleep.

He wasn't holding his breath, though.