Anger was an emotion he was very good at. It was an emotion that every Dark One was good at, but considering the fact that he was nothing but a weak human in this Curse, he knew for a fact that the anger he felt belonged to no one but himself. And that was okay. In his experience, anger often brought about clarity. Once the gnashing of teeth and urge to destroy anything he could get his hands on phase passed, he found himself alone with his thoughts and was able to think through the anger and devise a plan.

He'd had a rough night. It was well after midnight by the time he finally came to on the floor of his shop, staring up into the eyes of the sheriff and an unknown paramedic who kept flashing a light into his eyes. The light was unnecessary. It gave him a headache so bad he felt nauseous, and immediately he'd gripped the young man's wrist so tight he'd cried out in pain and moved away so that he could assess himself. He was on his back. His ankle hurt like it always did after he tripped or didn't put his weight properly onto his cane. His head was pounding, so much so that his own heartbeat was agony. And when he put his hand to his forehead, he felt a sting on one corner and the familiar crust of dried blood. But what bothered him the most was his eyes. They felt gritty. They stung when he rolled them around in his skull as if sand had gathered over his eyeballs. They were swollen and difficult to open.

Pepper spray. When she'd raised her hand, and something had sprayed into his eyes…she'd maced him. Fucking hormonal princesses!

The next two hours were a blur.

The paramedics wanted to take him to the hospital. Tempting as it was to do that and potentially have a run-in with David, he knew that the shop and Ashley Boyd were a far more pressing situation at the moment. It was nothing, he insisted. He'd wash his face, bandage his own damn head, and take an aspirin for the headache against the advice of the paramedic. Still, the paramedics continued to insist, even after he'd checked his head in a mirror and saw the small cut. They wanted to properly wash his eyes out after the pepper spray and monitor him for a concussion. It took threatening them with a lawsuit if they didn't leave his property to finally get the Sheriff to say that if he was clearheaded enough to insist on that, then he was probably fine. They finally left after giving him a long list of things he shouldn't do for the day and telling him to come in if he had problems.

Once they left, he wasted no time laying into the Sheriff, who insisted there had been another emergency across town he'd been caught up on. He wondered if it had been Regina, as he'd originally thought, but he managed to hold his tongue on that one, especially since he was coming to regret his decision to call the man. If he could have gone back in time and knew it was Ashley breaking in, he never would have left the message. Given what had happened, given the Seer's prophecy regarding the girl, he preferred to keep this to himself. The Sheriff attempted to be gentle, but his questions were probing and annoying as he moved around him, trying to put it all together while lying about it at the same time.

He filled out the police report but lied about what happened using his father's old method of being as truthful as possible. The story he told was accurate right up until he found Ashley. Instead, he left out that detail, simply said that he didn't see an assailant, they attacked him from the shadows, used the pepper spray, and he must have fallen. The keys to his safe sat on the counter by his register instead of where he'd clipped them to his belt. The girl must have used them to get into the safe. The adoption papers were gone. But the dagger was still safe inside.

"Nothing has been taken," he insisted when the Sheriff asked him for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. "I must have scared them off."

"You're sure? Positive? This is a small place, but there are a lot of tempting valuables-"

"And if one of them has been taken, I'm certainly not going to find it in the next twenty minutes. I need to do an inventory for that, but as you said, there are many items in my shop. A full inventory will take weeks."

"And you're sure the camera doesn't work."

"Yes," he lied. "Hasn't worked in years." Though, in truth, he hadn't even remembered he kept a security camera until the Sheriff had looked up and spotted it. In fact, he'd used it so infrequently the equipment for the thing was stored in the tiny water closet in the back room. It might prove helpful in this situation, but given what he was going to be doing now that Emma Swan was in town, he preferred to turn the thing off and forget about it for good.

"Well…I've got your report. If you are sure, you are fine-"

"I am."

"Right…if you find anything missing in your inventory, let me know. Otherwise, whoever it was probably couldn't find what they were looking for and got spooked. If you think of anything, let me know."

"You'll be my first call. Hopefully, I won't be transferred to a voice mailbox again."

"Ahm…what the paramedics said…I know you haven't got many friends in town since your aunts died. You really shouldn't be alone with a concussion, and they said you shouldn't sleep for a while."

"I'll manage."

"If you want me to stay-"

"What I'd like, Sheriff, is for my calls for help to be answered in a timely manner, so I'm not bleeding out on the floor for hours, and to be left alone with my trinkets to make sure my possessions are still my possessions. Do we understand each other?"

Graham looked skeptical, but Regina's toy knew how to take a hint. He nodded his head once and then slowly backed out of the shop, leaving him alone with his anger to figure out what would come next. And what a question that was. He was positive; this wasn't a coincidence. It hadn't just happened. No, no, this was the Curse breaking, and his present finally catching up to a future he'd seen hundreds of years ago.

"A debt from the woman of ash will find the boy of fire," the Seer had said. And here he was. The boy of fire was obviously his Baelfire, making this the most important part of the prophecy. And Ashley, "Cinder"-ella, was obviously the girl of ash but…Ashley? The one to find Baelfire? No. It didn't seem right, and it never had. She owed him her baby and nothing else. And besides, the prophecy wouldn't lead him to the Swan only to have Ashley Boyd be the one to find Baelfire. No. Long ago…long, long ago, he'd suspected it was going to be an exchange, a favor. It was Cinderella's debt but one that Miss Swan would acquire for herself somehow. Now that he knew the Savior, it made perfect sense. She was a bail bondsman, capable of finding people. Oh, true, he planned on bringing magic to this world to find his boy, but he'd not set foot out of this town in twenty-eight years. He needed more than magic. Emma Swan had knowledge of the world outside their little town, and she was tough as nails. She would be the perfect person to enlist in helping him get to his son.

He had no Seer to whisper in his head now, but he had a plan. It was nothing but a half-cocked hunch, but given the pounding in his head, he wasn't capable of much more. He was going to get his favor, his debt…Emma Swan would pay it. But first, he had to make sure the girl was involved.

He spent the night in his shop. He was tempted more than once to bring out the cot and sleep, but that was the cocky Dark One inside of him talking. Like it or not, right now, he was human, and his headache told him that the paramedic's worries about concussions were real. He wasn't immortal until he brought magic back. He'd hate to make it this far only to die because he'd been an idiot who thought he was indestructible. So instead, he washed his eyes thoroughly in the water closet sink. He used the ancient security footage to find Ashley's picture, printed it out, then took his cane to the equipment, making sure it was good and destroyed. He stayed up for the rest of the night, thinking through his plans. Plans he had for getting Bae back, plans he had for bringing magic back, plans he had to get Emma to break the Curse. Some of those plans were solid. He felt certain he knew how to bring magic to this world using an old well up in the hills said to return lost things. Once he got Emma to get him the rest of the True Love Potion, it should be easy. From there, with magic, finding Baelfire should be just as easy. Other plans, like getting Emma to break the Curse entirely, were still unclear. He hoped, with time, it would sort itself out. He hoped. Near dawn, he changed into a spare suit he kept at work for all those false times Mr. Gold spent the night. Then as the sun rose, he packed up Baelfire's shawl, Belle's chipped cup, and his dagger to transport back to his house. He'd never had a break-in before this, but with the Curse breaking, he could be sure others wouldn't be back to see what else he had. He felt more comfortable leaving his most precious things at home, instead of in the shop, at least until he could find a safe place for them.

When morning arrived, he'd meant to venture over to Mary Margaret's apartment first thing, but after stopping by Granny's to grab a cup of coffee, he found that the chatter about town wasn't about his break-in, as he expected, but rather Emma. Outsiders had come into town that morning to deliver boxes to Mary Margaret's apartment. Supposedly it was Emma Swan's belongings. Though outsiders did on occasion come to Storybrooke, it was always the talk of the town when they did, and the magic always seemed to be…disturbed by it somehow, as if the Curse knew they didn't belong. Outsiders never stayed long. So he sat down for some breakfast, giving the service time to get in and out, then once his belly was full, and the coast was clear, he went to the apartment. He walked up the stairs, listened to the sound of the women chatting, and then knocked on the door. Mary Margaret answered, her eyes going wide at the unexpected sight of him. She'd looked that way the first time she met him, not that she remembered.

"Miss Blanchard. Is Miss Swan here?"

Suddenly the girl appeared over her shoulder in the doorway. Mother and daughter together…what a happy sight if only they knew it. He extended his hand for the girl, and she took it. "Hi, my name's Mr. Gold. We met briefly on your arrival."

"I remember."

"Good. I have a proposition for you, Miss Swan. I, uh… I need your help. I'm looking for someone."

"Really? Um…" the girl looked over to Mary Margaret, and he followed suit, raising his eyebrows to indicate he wanted privacy. Unlike the curious and brave Snow White, Mary Margaret backed away at the gesture.

"You know what? I'm going to go jump in the bath," she excused before hurrying away. Perfect.

"I have a photo," he explained, pulling a photo from his security cameras free from his pocket and handing it over. "Her name is Ashley Boyd. And she's taken something quite valuable of mine," he explained, hobbling into the tiny apartment. The table was still set for breakfast. They must have been in the middle of it when the movers had arrived.

"So, why don't you just go to the police?"

"Because, uh…she's a confused young woman," he lied. "She's pregnant. Alone and scared. I don't want to ruin this young girl's life. But I just want my property returned."

"What is it?"

"Well, one of the advantages of you not being the police is discretion. Let's just say it's a precious object and leave it at that."

Emma tapped the photo against her fingers as she looked him over. He kept his look of concern on his face, but it was a struggle not to smile as he saw curiosity and concern grace her face. Her mother had the same look when she was queen, not that she'd know that now.

"When'd you see her last?" she finally asked.

"Last night. That's how I got this…" he let his hair fall out of the way of the scab that had formed in the night, the source of his current headache. When he turned back, he decided that she looked properly shocked by that to please him. "It's so unlike her," he added with false concern. "She was quite wound up. Rambling on and on about changing her life. I have no idea what got into her. Miss Swan, please help me find her. My only other choice is the police, and I don't think anyone wants to see that baby born in jail now, do they?"

That was a low blow, but one that he had perfectly timed to play on the Savior's own past. He remembered what the adoption agency had told him about Henry, about his mother, where he was born. In fact, he still had the records that he'd been sent sitting around somewhere. But now, here she was trying to do right by her son…it wasn't possible for her not to feel that comment deeply. And it appeared to work. At least if the defensive posture and crossed arms were any indication.

"No, of course not."

"So, you'll help me, then?"

"I will help her."

"Grand," he smiled. "I will help her." Help "her," not "you." Not exactly what he was expecting. It was better than that. She was developing a relationship with this girl already. He could easily use that to his own advantage.

Suddenly the door to the apartment clicked open and there stood none other than the reason Emma felt so connected to dear Ashley Boyle, her son Henry.

"Hey, Emma. I was thinking we-" The boy stopped dead when he saw him standing there, his eyes widened, but he politely put a smile on his face the way his Bae used to when he ran into someone he didn't care for. He respected that about the boy.

"Hey, Henry!" he exclaimed, smiling back and pretending not to notice the way he smiled. "How are you?"

"Okay?" he responded as if he wasn't sure.

"Good," he chuckled as he made his way to the door. "Give my regards to your mother. And, um, good luck, Miss Swan." He took a glance at Emma before moving around Henry and looking down at him. The second he closed the door, he let his smile vanish.

Henry…he respected the boy, but as long as he was pursuing the Seer's prophecy he had to admit that he hadn't forgotten about her other prediction. A precious debt from a woman of ash would find the boy of fire. But a boy would lead him to Baelfire, and would also be his undoing.

He didn't believe in chance. He didn't believe in luck or happenstance. He didn't believe it was an accident that the town clock started again the night Emma decided to stay in town or that David waking up was random. And he certainly didn't think, not for one single second, that the fact that Henry had brought Emma here for a second was a coincidence.


A significant chapter, even if it doesn't seem like it. I made sure to touch on a few things here that relate to the future to make you, the readers, aware that it's all happening. So, he knows how to get magic back, the fact that he remembers the prophecy regarding Cinderella, and then at the end, the fact that he's beginning to consider Henry as the "boy" who will be his undoing. All those will be super important in the future, and I wanted to touch upon them so that we could make a chapter with a "seen scene" seem a little bit newer.

Big thank yous going out to Jennifer Baratta and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter, much appreciated. I hope you'll enjoy this one; even if we've seen this scene before, I really enjoyed writing the opening to it with the Sheriff and Rumple having fun being Mr. Gold. I also had to take care of the security camera because it's obvious later that's the kind of picture he shows to Emma, but the fact that he doesn't have that stuff around later...there had to be a reason for it. And frankly, I just couldn't see Rumple holding onto it. He's too smart for that. So away it went, and if you are ready, then away we'll go...to the next chapter! And the conclusion of 1x04. Peace and Happy Reading!