Looking into what they believed they'd found wouldn't harm anything. In fact, the more he thought about it, this was perhaps precisely what he needed. It was time to talk to Ingrid again. It was time to figure out what she knew, where she was in her plan, and if she had put two and two together with the ribbons. In the absence of the Seer, the more cards he had in his hands for that conversation, the better. And there was nothing better than a Charming Staff Meeting where the town heroes revealed every last detail about the status of their current threat to fill himself in on anything important he was missing.

Belle took him to the police station to meet with the others. He'd expected only Emma, her parents, Elsa, and most likely Hook. He hadn't expected to find Henry also there. And he most certainly hadn't expected to find Regina there as well, a scowl on her face and her arms crossed protectively over her chest. That was a change. The last he'd seen of his former mentee, she'd been happy and at ease. Robin Hood had had a profound effect on the Evil Queen. But that was before Emma had brought Marion back from the past. Now that Marion was here and Regina's "heart," as the Seer had once said, was with his wife…Regina didn't wear it well.

"There…" she growled the second they appeared in the room. "They're here. Now, can you tell us what this is all about?!"

Oh, she wasn't wearing it well at all, was she…

"All right, given the circumstances, I suppose we can skip the formalities," Emma shrugged.

"We're all well acquainted with one another, Miss Swan. Please just get on with it so we can get back to our lives," he added, positive that his own comments wouldn't stand out against Regina's frustration. People expected him to be an asshole, Regina on the other hand had been growing out of that for some time now.

"Our lives may have to wait a bit after you see this," Emma responded, moving to the same television they'd watched Zelena die on not long ago.

For a moment, tension knotted in his belly. That had been the first time he'd manipulated technology with magic. Had the spell not held? Had she gone back to watch the tape and found what really happened? He glanced at Belle, if she had then there were a lot of minds he'd have to wipe in this room to get things back to normal.

"I was going through some of my old things yesterday from before I came to Storybrooke, and I found this…"

"What?" Regina questioned as Emma returned to her seat. Suddenly, children he'd never seen before appeared on the screen. Children who were laughing and looking into whatever camera had shot this film. A rather large boy took up most of that space until…

A girl with familiar light blonde hair and a certain cynical look in her eyes-a teenaged Emma. In a home with an unfamiliar boy, probably one of the group homes or-

"Give it back! Kevin!"

A foster home then, if Emma's paperwork was accurate.

He knew because he'd recognize that voice anywhere.

And while everyone else in the room stared at the screen in shock as the Ice the Queen suddenly filled the screen explaining to the boy that the camera was Emma's and not his, he stood there stone-faced. They'd finally discovered what he had the second all of this began.

"Emma, that's you!" Mary Margaret pronounced, naturally missing the point that it wasn't just Emma on the screen but the woman they were hunting as well. Still, the woman was smart; she'd put it together the second the shock of seeing her daughter as a teenager wore off. "You must be…"

"Thirteen. Maybe fourteen," Emma supplied without emotion. The importance of what she'd found was obviously not lost on her. But did she understand it? Better yet, did she remember it?

"Are you missing the part where she's with the Snow Queen?" Regina questioned in a sour tone that he needed someone to have at the moment. "Emma, you knew her before she came to Storybrooke?"

"Apparently, my run-in with her in town wasn't the only memory she erased. All this time in this…foster home, or whatever this place was, it's gone," she replied stoically.

Well, that at least answered a couple of questions for him. Emma knew there had been previous run-ins, but she still didn't remember them.

"I…I just don't understand how she ended up in this world!" Belle exclaimed.

"We were hoping Gold could tell us that," Emma responded, turning to look at him so that every gaze in the room followed suit. Leave it to his wife to dig into the details. She at least had put together that at the time this was filmed, Ingrid was obviously in this land but not cursed, which begged the question of how she'd gotten here in the first place. If she hadn't freely offered up that information at their first little chat, it would have been a question he'd demanded of her himself. "You spent more time trying to get here than anyone; how the hell did she do it?"

"Considering the time I spent on the same task, I'd love to know," he lied. Partially. He would have loved to know that the Apprentice was capable of what Ingrid had told him he'd done for her. If he had, that would have been his first stop after the Blue Fairy had refused him the magic beans that also apparently still existed. Fuck, for that, he wanted to bring the Apprentice back from the hat just to wring his neck before putting him back.

"Does it really matter how she got to Emma?" David questioned, taking the focus off of him. "Shouldn't we all be more concerned about why?"

"Obviously, she needed her for something," Regina suggested. "But what? That's our next problem."

"Well…we know she's hiding somewhere in the North Woods," David provided. "Combed every inch of her shop, tore apart her house; she must have cleared everything out days before."

"Then she must be hiding something," Hook stated, nearly making him roll his eyes. Every villain was hiding something. It was part of being a villain, as Hook should know at this moment, given their highly unethical activities in the last few days.

"Where?" Emma demanded, unphased by the deeper issues at play around her.

"What about her ice cream truck?" Henry asked after they'd all taken a moment to think.

"Whoa, Snow Queen has an ice cream truck?" Emma balked. And here he would have thought that if they knew who she'd been in Storybrooke, running a check on vehicles registered to Ingrid would have been simple and obvious police work.

"I'm a kid. I notice these kind of things," Henry smirked, proud of himself. At least someone in the family had a keen eye. Given that it was also his grandson, he could probably attribute that trait to himself.

"We'll split up into groups," David decided. "We'll search the town, the woods…Hook, Emma, Regina, you'll take the west. Gold, you're with me for the east."

Not in a million years.

The fact that he was even here right now was only because Belle had requested it and brought him along. But he had other things to do besides waste his time on a wild goose chase. Things like actually finding the Ice Queen and having a conversation of his own worth having.

"I think we all know I work best alone."

In his own defense, David at least shrugged in a way that suggested he couldn't argue with the statement.

"Belle, how are you at tracking?"

Oh, absolutely not!

Involving his wife in these sorts of conversations was one thing. Sending her right into the heart of danger was-

"Ah…actually, I-I think I'll be more helpful at the library," she refused. "Maybe I can dig something up on the Snow Queen."

He let out a sigh he hadn't known he'd been holding in. Research…that was her contribution. He appreciated it if only because her greatest risk of injury in the library, warded as it was, was a paper cut. Honestly, if they found the Snow Queen, what had they expected Belle to do, throw a book at her?

"I'd like to come with you, Belle," Elsa immediately piped up for the first time since they'd arrived. "If that's okay? Maybe something about my sister will be there too. Unless…you'd rather not have the company."

"No!"

His skin crawled at that answer.

"No, not at all. I would love some."

That answer, too.

Belle's heart was racing. And her voice had gone up an octave. And that smile that she'd given him just now as she headed out with Elsa…it wasn't a happy smile. It was the smile she gave when she wanted him to believe she was happy which meant…

That was a lie. She was lying. She didn't want Elsa to go with her to the library. Or she didn't want company?

No…it was the former. It had to be. Belle never shied away from company unless he was around, and that was because he was her company. He'd never seen her turn down help or disinvite someone to spend time in the library.

It was Elsa. She didn't want Elsa around.

He hid the look of shock on his face as she left, even as his gut tumbled in his stomach. He'd been a fool. He'd spent yesterday trying to put her first and yet…her odd behavior when all of this had started, the first time that Elsa had come into the shop, when she'd discovered Anna's necklace…he'd put all that aside, let himself assume it had something to do with the library and Ruby and marriage when the common denominator had in fact been the Arendelle Sisters themselves.

Enough was enough. He had to ask her about it, outright. He couldn't tiptoe around it like he had at the beginning of the week, assuming she'd open up to him, not when she was behaving this way. She had a secret. And he wanted that secret. Belle wasn't made to hold onto secrets like he was. They were going to have a talk by the end of today. But first…the former heir of Arendelle…

This is a fairly straightforward scene that I ended up loving in the end. Usually the scene stuff is so boring, but sarcasm is my kind of humor and I find that whenever I put Rumple into a room with the Charmings like this his internal commentary is just next level. I love listening to his sarcasm, I love listening to his irritation, and even how he works through their problems seemingly before they do. It's just a fun chapter to me.

Thank you, Rsbeall12 and Grace5231973, for your reviews on the previous chapters. I'm so sorry this one is a little bit late, work was endless yesterday. Next chapter will be posted on time! I hope you like this chapter and all its Rumple glory. I can't wait for you to read what comes next! This episode really did turn out much better than I thought it would. Peace and Happy Reading!