Chapter One

Belle looked at her husband lying on the floor as she tried not to cry and wondered if he was alright. She still couldn't believe how close she came to losing him to the darkness. She knew he had been acting oddly since he had been freed of Zelena's control, but she never knew just how much he was suffering.

"What did she do to you?" she thought. Gently stroking his hair, Belle noticed how cold his skin felt and could just see the rise and fall of his chest. She kissed the back of his right hand as she looked toward the door and wondered if the others were able to contain the darkness.

Suddenly the guilt she felt grew stronger as she studied the pained look on his face and remembered how devastated he looked when he asked who could ever love him. It was the same look he gave her when she forced him to leave town.

"What have I done?" she thought and pressed her lips together. "You know damn well what you've done. You told him you weren't pulling back, but you did. Yes, he didn't like talking about things, he did lie to you, he did do awful things, but what you did was worse. You tried to change him instead of helping him. You used his dagger against him after all he's been through. You made him grovel and beg for forgiveness over and over when you only begged for forgiveness once. But the worst thing you did was banish him. No, the worst thing was getting involved with Will. How can you say you love him then go and commit adultery? Then you accuse him of ruining the life we had in the book. How do you know for certain he didn't really want that life? He said we were happy and in love. And you saw the look in his eyes when he looked at our son. No one can fake that."

She looked at him when she thought back to the night she banished him and how he begged her to listen to him.

"I'm afraid." echoed through her soul as she heard the fear and pain in his voice, but she just looked away. When she had looked back, she couldn't see him anymore and had gone back to town. She didn't care that he was out there on his own without a coat, money, food or water or his cane. She had forgotten he would have need of his cane. When she had told everyone he was gone and saw the pleased looks on their faces, she felt ten times worse.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, not knowing if he could hear her. Suddenly a loud noise made her look up as Henry appeared in the doorway and she saw the panic look in his eyes. He looked to her then to his grandfather as she got up and noticed Henry was shaking.

"Henry, what happened?" she asked. He looked back toward the others and tears prickled in the corners of his eyes. The memories of how happy his grandfather was while in the book moved through his mind. The guilt of ruining everything made him sick. He walked by her when he knelt next to Rumplestiltskin then looked at Belle with tears rolling down his face.

"The darkness," he said then sighed. "It attacked my mom."

"Is she alright?" Belle asked when Regina, David, Mary Margaret, Robin and Killian appeared and she saw the hate in Killian's eyes.

"You bastard," Killian shouted as he stormed toward Rumplestiltskin, but stopped as David and Robin grabbed hold of his arms. "Let go of me!"

"Killian, calm down," Robin said.

"I will not bloody calm down! It's his fault Emma's gone!" he shouted, pointing at Rumplestiltskin.

"What are you talking about?" Belle demanded. "What happened to Emma?"

"It was the darkness inside him! It… It…!"

"Is Emma's dead?"

"No, the darkness took her," Regina said, walking to Rumplestiltskin, knelt next to Henry and looked at Rumplestiltskin. "The darkness attacked me, but she wouldn't let it take me. She didn't want me to ruin my happy ending."

"So she grabbed the dagger and the darkness took her instead," David said, holding onto Mary Margaret. The silver blade dagger was in Killian's right hand and Belle noticed the anger in Mary Margaret's eyes while she looked at Rumplestiltskin.

"And you're blaming him?" Belle demanded, feeling the anger bubbling in her chest. She knew they were hurting, but she had enough. "Yes, why don't we blame him?! It's the perfect solution! Every time something goes wrong, it's his fault! Well, let me ask you something! Who started all this? Whose fault was it that Emma had to be raised in this world and not ours? Who was it who brought us here in the first place? It wasn't him! It was Regina!"

"Hey," Regina said, standing up.

"No, you are not getting away with this. You were the one who made the curse which brought us here so no one could have a happy ending. You were the one who made everyone forget who and what they were. You were the one who wanted people to think Henry was insane. You were the one who wanted to stop Emma from freeing us! Do you deny that?"

"No," Regina sighed and looked down at Rumplestiltskin.

"While I'm at it, do you deny what you've done to us…to Rumple and me?! You were the one who told me how to break his curse, but you didn't care how he would react! He was furious! He accused me of working for you! I tried to convince him I wasn't, but it was too late. He banished me! Then you took me hostage and placed me in a mental institution for twenty-eight years!"

"Are you serious!?" Robin asked. Regina glared at Belle as Belle balled her hands into fists and breathed hard and fast through her nose.

"Yes," Belle said as she looked at him then at Regina. "Did you even care what they did to me?! Did you order them to keep me drugged and torture me so I'd behave? If it wasn't for Jefferson, I'd still be there! But that's fine, isn't it?! Only those you deem worthy are allowed to live their lives while the rest of us suffer!"

"Now wait a minute," Killian said and she glared at him.

"Don't get me started on you! You know damn well what you've done to him and you were the reason I lost my memories after you shot me!" she growled then looked at Mary Margaret and David. "As for you two, how dare you name your son after Neal then say it was Emma who defeated Pan?! Yes, she was the one who figured out Pan was inside Henry, but who's fault was it which brought Greg here in the first place? Who drove him to such extremes that all he wanted to do was destroy magic?"

"It was mine," Regina sighed.

"Yes, and who was it who died to finally get rid of Pan?"

"He did," Henry said, looking down at his grandfather.

"And did any of you even acknowledge his death or even mourn for him when we went back to our world? No, you didn't! You never asked Neal if he was alright or if I was! He was Neal's father and the man I love! You stood there and watched him die and you didn't care!"

"We… Uh….," David said and she glared at him.

"Oh, that's right. You were so upset because you had to leave Emma and Henry behind! That took priority over the fact he died! But who cares, right? He was the Dark One. You were all better off without him! Well, let me tell you this. Neal and I cared!" she said and wiped away the tears which were running down her cheeks. "That's why we set off on our own! We knew no one would help us bring him back! Wait. We did get help. Zelena! She tricked us! She knew the price of releasing someone from the Vault of the Dark One, but wasn't willing to pay for it herself! After we freed him, Neal was dying and she stood there with this smug look on her face. She told Rumple he couldn't hold onto both Neal and the dagger and had him pick which one he wanted most! Did he pick the dagger? No, Rumple picked Neal. He picked his son! When she ordered Rumple to kill me, he refused and told me to run! That's why I didn't tell you what happened to Neal! That's why I didn't tell you Rumple was alive and had been taken prisoner! It was your animosity towards him which led him and his son to suffer at the hands of a psychotic bitch! What made it worse was when we went to Regina's castle. You were so afraid of Zelena, we left him in that cage!"

"He was insane," David said.

"Yes, because of Zelena!"

"Where would we have put him if we had freed him?" Mary Margaret asked.

"She had his dagger," Robin said. "He would have had no choice, but go back to her."

"Not if we had…," Belle said, looking down at him. "Not if we had put him to sleep."

"She would have bloody killed us," Killian said and she glared at him.

"For some of us, that would have been a good thing," she growled and he gave her a stunned look. "Anyway, once we got back here, none of us tried to find either of them."

"We didn't know they were here," Regina said,

"But when we did find out, no one tried to free him. No, we just let her keep him! What made things worse is Emma killed Neal!"

"Leave Emma out of this," Mary Margaret shouted and David held her in his arms.

"No, his death just as much as her fault as it is Zelena's and mine True, she didn't know Rumple and Neal were keeping each other alive, but he's dead and my husband blames himself for his death! How do I know? I have seen it in his eyes," Belle said with tears rolling down her cheeks again. She stroked her husband's hair for a few minutes until she looked at them again and sighed. "We just left him to suffer in silence."

"Oh, aye, he was suffering. The old crocodile tried to kill me," Killian growled.

"Do you want to know something?!" Belle growled as she walked to him. Killian saw the hate and anger in her eyes and she balled her hands into fists. "When I came back here after Henry freed us from the book, I told him it was because I didn't want him to hurt anyone again. Do you know what happened? He collapsed! I didn't know what was wrong! When he woke up, we talked. I told him that I didn't love Will, but I love him! Not the Dark One! Him! The thing is he didn't believe me because he feels no one can love him! That's when he passed out and I went to get you!"

"You don't love Will Scarlet, eh? Then how come you were lip locking with him the other day?" Killian asked sarcastically and she glared at him.

"Alright, you want the truth? It is true that I turned to Will after my husband left," she said, looking down at her husband. "No, correct that, after I banished him! I'm not proud of what I did. I don't even think he will forgive me for any of it. I can't forgive myself."

"Belle, you had all right to move on," Regina said then felt like she was slapped in the face by the looks Belle gave her,

"No, I didn't. He's my husband and now he's lying here with only a preservation spell keeping him alive! Do you even care or did you only agree to this because you were too scared to see what would happen once the darkness took him over? I know he was scared. He begged me to run far away so he wouldn't hurt me. He said the darkness was more horrible than I could imagine and I believe him."

"Look, we know you're upset, but we need to find Emma," David said as she growled, trying hard not to punch any of them in the face.

"Yes, you need to find her! She's important! She's the one you are willing to help and free her from the curse! Well, here's news for you! Rumple was cursed first and had been for over three hundred years! None of you even tried to free him, did you?!"

"We didn't know he was cursed. We thought….," Mary Margaret said.

"Are you saying you thought he was born evil?!" she demanded and her heart slammed in her chest. She never realized what they thought of Rumplestiltskin and she felt like screaming.

"Well, yeah," David said with a nod.

"I used to wonder what happened to him," Killian said. "When I first met him, he was this crippled coward."

Killian winced from the cold look Belle gave him and she held onto her husband's hand.

"Get out!"

"Yes, I believe it is time for all of you to leave," a soft voice said and they looked at the doorway to the backroom while the Apprentice leaned against the doorframe.

"What are you doing up?" Regina asked, running to him. She placed an arm around him as she helped him walk and he gently smiled at her. "You should be resting."

Belle seethed with anger at their concern for the man who failed to contain the darkness over the man lying on the floor and she wrapped their fingers together. This was his shop. He should have been the one who was made comfortable on the couch in the back room. Instead he was on the floor like some piece of garbage. She stroked his hair as the anger grew and she kissed his knuckles. The Apprentice looked at them as he sighed and the guilt he felt boiled inside him.

"Forgive me, Master. I have failed," he thought.

"I am recovered enough," the Apprentice said as he walked to Belle and looked at Rumplestiltskin. With a small grunt, he knelt down and Belle looked at him with sadness in her eyes.

"Please release him," she said.

"If I do, he might die."

"Or he might not," she said then looked at Henry. "Henry, call 911."

"What?" Henry asked. He had been concentrating on Emma taking the darkness to save Regina as he looked at his grandfather and blinked his eyes.

"I said call 911! I want the Apprentice to remove the preservation spell. We need to get Rumple to the hospital once he does," Belle said and Henry nodded his head.

A few minutes later the ambulance stopped at the curb while two paramedics came in and the gurney was between them. They knelt down next to Belle and Rumplestiltskin as she moved back and looked at the Apprentice. Nodding, the Apprentice waved his hand as a blue light shimmered over Rumplestiltskin and the paramedics started examining Rumplestiltskin. Belle held onto his silk tie after the paramedic removed the silk tie and an oxygen mask was placed over Rumplestiltskin's nose and mouth. She watched everything they did and prayed he was strong to hold on. The paramedics carefully placed Rumplestiltskin on the gurney as they headed for the door and Belle followed the paramedics out of the pawnshop. She helped the Apprentice get inside the ambulance as he smiled at her and she nodded. The doors closed after she got inside and she sat on the small bench, holding onto her husband's hand. The others watched while the ambulance moved down the street and the red and blue lights flashed in the darkness.

Storybrooke General Hospital

Belle sat on the brown leather couch in the family waiting room when Regina walked in the room and had two insulated paper cups of coffee in her hands. She walked to the couch when she sat down and handed one of the insulated paper cups to Belle.

"Have you heard anything?" she asked and Belle held the insulated paper cup in her hands.

"No," Belle said softly. Regina took a sip of the coffee when she sat back against the cushion and looked at her.

"If you're expecting me to say sorry for stealing your heart…"

"I don't even remember you taking it. All I remember is you coming into the pawnshop and asking for help."

"You asked what you could do to help me."

"That doesn't excuse you ripping my heart out and using me against my husband."

"I thought you didn't want anything to do with him. He is your ex-husband."

"I never filed for a divorce."

"You didn't have to. If we were still in our world…"

"But we're not in our world. Here, we're still married."

"Look, I had to make sure he wasn't going to do anything to Robin."

"He wasn't interested in you or Robin. He just wanted to make things up to me."

"Turning Emma dark would have made things alright between you?"

"No, but it doesn't matter. He was dying and…."

"Did you know?" she asked and Belle saw the concern in Regina's eyes.

"No," Belle sighed. "By the way, he isn't a bad kisser."

"What?"

"You made me tell him he was a bad kisser. He isn't," she said and Regina softly smiled. "Do you remember anything about what happened in the book he wrote with Isaac?"

"Yeah, he killed me," she said and Belle glared at her.

"He was trying to save his happy ending."

"I was trying to save Henry."

"Do you know we had a baby?" she asked and Regina's eyes widened.

"You had a what?"

"We had a baby. The sad thing is I don't remember is being pregnant," Belle said, stroking her stomach. "It was a boy."

"Oh," Regina said, lowering her eyes. She knew she could never have children, but the thought of Belle having a baby then losing it made her heart hurt.

"When Henry started changing things…," Belle said then thought of something and anger boiled inside her. "Henry ruined his grandfather's happy ending."

"He didn't mean to," Regina said when Doctor Whale walked in the room and they looked at him. Belle placed the insulated paper cup on the table when she got up and walked to him.

"Is my husband alright?" she asked and he looked at the file in his hands.

"He is in serious critical condition," Victor said, looking at the information.

"So he's alive?"

"Yes, but he is also in a deep coma."

"Can I see him?"

"He's in the ICU."

"Please," Belle said and he saw the sadness in her eyes.

"Follow me," he said as Regina got up and they went down the hallway.

ICU Room Seven

The nurse was checking the screen to the heart monitor while Doctor Whale, Regina and Belle stood at the window and Belle looked at Rumplestiltskin lying on the bed. A feeding tube was sticking out of his right nostril while the respirator tube stuck out of his mouth and the wires to the leads connected to his chest rested on his right shoulder. He wore a blue hospital gown and the blankets were tucked around his legs and waist. The needles connected to the tubes for the intravenous drip was taped to the back of his left hand and the pulse monitor clip was connected to his right index finger. The blood pressure cup was wrapped around his right bicep and two leads were tapes to the sides of his head. Belle noticed how ill he looked at she sighed and placed her hand against the glass.

"What is all that?" Regina asked.

"The tube up his nose is a feeding tube," Victor said.

"He's eating through his nose?"

"In a way, the tube goes through his nose, down his throat then into his stomach," Victor said. "He was having problems breathing on his own so I have placed him on a respirator and he is being monitored every five to ten minutes. He is on an intravenous drip with medication to prevent blood clots and to strengthen his heart. In addition to his heart, we are monitoring his pulse and blood pressure and charting his brainwaves. He also has a catheter installed to prevent him from urinating on the bed."

"Do you know when he'll wake up?" Belle asked.

"No," Victor said, shaking his head.

"May I… May I go in?"

"Just for a few minutes," he said and Belle nodded her head. Victor handed her a pair of plastic booties to cover her shoes and she placed the plastic booties on and headed inside. Regina watched her walking to the bed when the nurse looked at Belle and Belle stood next to the bed. The soft beeping from the heart monitor and the monitor that was recording his brainwaves and the hissing of the respirator filled the room as Belle looked at the nurse and the nurse smiled at her. The nurse was medium size with long blond hair tucked under a plastic cap, a round face, nice lips, a small nose and green eyes. She wore green surgical trousers, long sleeve green surgical top, white sneakers covered with plastic booties and plastic surgical gloves covered her hands. MUFFET, MARY was on the plastic identification tag pinned to the long sleeve green surgical top. Mary looked at Belle and saw the sadness in Belle's eyes.

"How is he doing?" Belle asked.

"He's stable," Mary said then looked at Rumplestiltskin. "You want to know something? I went to see him once in our world."

"Why?"

"I needed a love potion. When he showed up, I got frightened and ran away."

Belle thought about what she said when something clicked in her head and Mary softly smiled.

"Yes, he was my "spider"," Mary said and brushed some of the hair from his eyes.

"May I hold his hand?" Belle asked. Mary handed her a pair of plastic surgical gloves when Belle placed the plastic surgical gloves on then took Rumplestiltskin's right hand, wrapping their fingers together. "Do you think he knows we're here?"

"He might," Mary said and Belle gently stroked the top of his head. Mary felt like she was intruding as she looked at the screen to the heart monitor and Belle kissed the back of Rumplestiltskin's left hand. She looked at the moonstone ring on his left ring finger and gently rubbed the moonstone with her finger.

"Rumple, can you hear me? Please, I don't know how, but you have to find the strength to wake up," Belle said, gently squeezing his fingers. She let go of his hand then stroked the top of his head and tears rolled slowly down her cheeks. "Come back to me."

Suddenly the alarm bells rang out while she looked at Mary then at her husband and Doctor Whale, two nurses and an intern ran into the room.

"What's happening?" Belle demanded and Mary led her to the doorway.

"Stay out here," she said then ran back to the bed.

"Not until you tell me what's going on!" Belle said and Regina stood next to her. They watched as Doctor Whale, Mary, the intern and the nurses worked on Rumplestiltskin and Belle blinked the tears out of her eyes.

The Enchanted Forest

"Come back to me." echoed in his head as the sounds of the white charger's hooves pounding on the dry ground matched his heartbeat and Rumplestiltskin held the reins tightly in his hands. He heard the wind roaring in his ears while he looked straight ahead and gently kicked the white charger's sides. The white charger moved around the corner while he felt his body shaking and prayed to any and all gods who listened he was wrong.

He knew in order for the wedding to happen he had to killed the boy called "Henry", but why had the Outlaw Regina step in front of the boy just as he was about to kill him?

Her death wasn't supposed to happen.

"That's not how the story ended," he growled. His mind went back to his conversation with Belle and how she told him he would figure out what to do because he was a hero.

"But even heroes fail," he thought as the white charger headed down the dry road and his heart slammed in his chest. His cottage appeared between the trees as he forced the white charger to go faster then stopped the white charger near the hitching post. He quickly dismounted the white charger then tied the reins to the hitching post and ran for the door.

"Belle!" he called out as he opened the door and looked around the room. The stillness of the room made his stomach to churn and he closed the door. He walked to the dark wood cradle as he knelt down and saw the dark wood cradle was empty. He picked up the blue knit cap he had made for his son as he held the blue knit cap to his chest and lowered his head. "No."

"Rumple, what's wrong?" Belle asked as he turned and saw her standing in the doorway. He hadn't heard the door open. She was wearing a gold silk gown with puffy off the shoulder sleeves, black slippers and a red woolen cape with white fur trim. In her hands was a Moses basket and he stood up, dropping the blue knit cap into the dark wood cradle, and walked toward her. He looked down when he saw his son sleeping under the fleece blankets and she saw the look in his eyes. He looked so sad, yet relived and she tilted her head to one side. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," he said then made a small cough as his heart returned to normal and he placed his shaking hands behind his back. "I was just a little startled when I came home and you weren't here."

"Oh, I do apologize. I went to visit some of the tenants," she said, placing the Moses basket on the table. He walked to her when he picked the baby out of the Moses basket and held him against his chest. Belle saw the look in his eyes when she gently rubbed his upper arm and he smiled at her.

"Was he good?" he asked and she softly kissed his cheek.

"Yes, were you able to get rid of that threat you told me about?"

"Yes," he said with a nod of his head. "Though there was a moment when I wasn't sure if I could do it. If I hadn't, I might have lost you and Lachlan."

"What do you mean you would have lost us?" she asked, concerned.

"It doesn't matter now," he said and kissed her cheek. She simply nodded her head as he sat down hard on the chair and held his son in his arms

They were still here.

They were safe.

"But for how long?" he thought. Looking at them, he sighed as a cold chill moved up his spine and he gently rocked his son.