"Yes, of course," a familiar voice penetrated Neal's haze.

A painfully familiar face smiled a completely unfamiliar smile to the woman who had met him at the door, and accepted a carving knife from her – and pressed a kiss to her cheek before he shifted to carve the roast meat that was set before him on the table.

"What's the seating arrangement for tonight Mrs Gold?" Henry asked eagerly, and the question distracted Neal from staring at the man who was carving the meat at the table.

The beautiful woman gave the boy a that beaming smile that lit up her face and the room.

"You and our special guest will be sitting in the places of honour, at the right and left of the head of the table, and your mother and Harry will be either side of me," she answered him.

"No name cards tonight though, kiddo," Emma interjected as she stepped out of the kitchen, a bottle of wine in one hand, and a bottle of sparkling grape-juice (or alternatively known as non-alcoholic wine) in the other.

And Neal was distracted all over again.

"Wow."

He blinked.

Emma smirked at him.

Then Neal realised that it was him who'd just spoken.

"You clean up pretty good yourself," she acknowledged easily. "Now sit down next to your dad before your knees give out from shock," she advised.

His dad. The casual acknowledgement of that title being assigned to the well-dressed, carefully shaved gentleman who was carving the meat at the head of the table finally did him in. Neal sat down (on the chair that Harry had pulled out for him and ushered him towards) heavily.

"You -?!" Neal tried to start.

"Don't even," Emma warned him sharply as she took her own seat. "You set me up to take a fall, you abandoned me, and you left me in a jail cell. I have so many reasons to never want to see you again, but between your father and your son, I found enough reasons to see you again that it tipped the scale in your favour."

"Uncle Rum can't leave Storybrooke though," Harry stated as he also sat down. "It's part of the curse that brought him to this world."

"A curse that Emma is gonna break," Henry added proudly as he bounced into his chair. "And when she does, all the other fairy-tale characters that are living here will remember who they are!"

"So your father and I have pretty much adopted Emma, since she is the mother of your son. Harry, your father... adopted, I suppose, as part of a deal. His mother was afraid for his life, and when she died, Rumple took him and raised him. Rumple and I were married... thirty? Forty years ago? It's a bit relative, but some time ago now," Belle explained, then smiled over at Emma. "See how easy it is to explain?" she asked with sweet, falsely innocent amusement.

"Belle, please don't make jokes like that when I'm too far away to kiss you for them," Rumple requested with a curling smile of his own. "Now, who wants some of this?" he offered, and held up some of the sliced meat between carving knife and fork.

"Ooh, I do!" Henry requested eagerly.

"You tricked me into coming here," Neal accused Emma across the table once they had all been served.

"Of course I did," she agreed easily.

"Do you even know who my father is?" Neal growled.

"I think she knows better than you do, actually," Harry offered mildly. "What with coming over for dinner at least once a week since the second month after she arrived in town."

"And you two having not set eyes on each other for the better part of three hundred years," Emma agreed.

Henry frowned. "How does that work?" he asked, curious. "I get that Grandfather lived that long because of the curse of the Dark One, but you don't have a curse," he said, his comment directed to Neal.

"I was in Neverland for a while," Neal admitted with a rueful, not-entirely-happy smile.

Rumple and Harry both scowled at the mention of the place though, and Emma and Belle both frowned deeply.

"What was it like?" Henry asked eagerly.

"It's a horrible place," Rumple cut in before his son could answer. "Full of horrible, selfish people."

"You've been to Neverland, Grandfather?" Henry asked, surprised.

"I have," Rumple agreed. "More than once, but those are stories that will put most of us off eating, so they can wait," he deferred.

By the end of the night, Neal had agreed to stay until the New Year at least. He'd also allowed for his dad (and only his dad) to call him 'Bae', while everyone else called him 'Neal' – though Henry was welcome to call him 'Dad' if he wanted. Neal was also calling his father 'Papa' again, and manly but tearful hugs had been shared.

Being forced to sit at the table and listen politely because his son was right across from him had really done wonders for Neal's understanding of his father – even if it was his step-mother who told a good portion of the story.

And then there was listening to Henry talk about 'Operation Cobra'. If Neal hadn't known exactly how real magic really was, and if he hadn't heard about the curse from August Booth before, he would have been very worried about the kid's mental state.

~oOo~

"I think that went well," Belle offered as she stood with her husband in their entryway, having just waved goodnight to Harry, Neal, Emma and Henry.

"It certainly went much better than I had even dared to hope," Rumple agreed softly. "Thank you Belle," he whispered, and pressed a kiss to her soft mouth.

She hummed at the sweet taste of their evening wine on her husband's lips.

"I wouldn't have been able to do this without you," Rumple admitted when they parted, and his breath shook with the nerves he had been holding back all evening.

"Oh, I'm sure you would have managed just fine," Belle countered easily. "You're the one that taught me how to cook, after all."

That startled a bark of laughter out of her husband, and Belle smiled.

The smile fell away a little though when she turned to face the hall that led into their big, empty house – and after having just had four guests (all family) for dinner, it felt very empty indeed.

"Husband," she called softly, he was standing beside her, after all.

"Yes Wife?" he countered, amused by the address as much as he was intrigued by it.

"I would welcome you in my chambers tonight," Belle offered.

"I don't know if I would be able to stay away a second night, if you were to ever give me a first," Rumple admitted at length, having needed a moment to process the implications of that statement.

Belle smiled softly at that. "I'm counting on it," she replied.

All these years of marriage and – all jokes, teasing, quips and innuendos aside – the couple had still never shared a bed to that purpose. They had still not shared their marriage bed. They couldn't while in the Enchanted Forest and Rumplestiltskin was the cursed Dark One; a simple kiss between them would have broken his curse, and that fact had been firmly established long before Belle began to see all the ways in which her husband was an attractive creature.

Then she'd had to get used to his looks all over again when they came here. That hadn't taken very much time at all, and Belle did long to know her husband. But she was a well-read woman, and conservatively raised. The prospect of the act itself made her nervous as much as excited.

"I will meet you in your rooms then," Rumple agreed softly.

Belle nodded in acceptance. They had to get dressed for bed, even if they were about to join in an activity that would see the removal of their nightclothes. She didn't care for having to worry about her hairpins and hose, nor her husband's tie and belt. She was quite nervous enough without that getting in the way.

~oOo~

Belle smiled a secret little smile up at the tree. Neal and Emma had picked it out with Henry, but it was in her living room. None of them lived together, after all. Neal was still staying at Granny's, rather than moving in with his papa. He'd been on his own for too long to be completely (or even remotely) comfortable with living with the man again, but he was happy to come for dinner twice a week, and meet for lunch in town every other day.

So much had happened since they'd come to Storybrooke. So very much. Charming was awake, and the divorce was finalised just a week ago. Mary Margaret was setting Kathryn up with the man who had been Frederick back in the Enchanted Forest, they had a date that very night, in fact. It was a double-date with Emma and Neal. Graham had gotten down on one knee in front of Ruby in the middle of Granny's just as the lunch rush was beginning.

Maximum audience, minimal risk of her bowling over him as she worked. They were getting married in the new year – date set for Valentine's Day, in fact.

Regina was both furious, and panicking. People were happy. People were getting their happy endings, despite her curse. Okay, so not everybody – Jefferson in particular was still miserable, aware of both lives and unable to do more than just watch his daughter from afar – but a lot of people.

It was particularly fun for Belle to stop Regina any time she said she "was just doing her duty as mayor" and counter that, no, she was being a busy-body and sticking her nose into other people's lives, where it didn't belong, so kindly piss off before it gets cut off. Please.

The way Rumple had kissed her after the first time she'd done that still made her toes curl in remembrance.

A box appeared at Belle's feet in a cloud of purple mist, startling her out of her thoughts. Then a second, and a third. Finally the front door creaked open – Belle made a note to oil those hinges later – and her husband walked in, carrying a fourth box.

"That's everything," he declared. "And I delivered your invitations while I was collecting the rent," he assured her.

"Several people on our guest list don't owe rent," Belle pointed out.

"I can still, and did, make pit-stops along the way," Rumple countered. "But, uh, I didn't deliver Henry's or Grace's. Thought you'd be better to do that."

Belle smiled. "I'll go by the school tomorrow. Grace is more likely to be able to come if she knows why she's being invited," she agreed.

"For Henry to have someone his own age at the party, rather than because it will give her real father a chance to interact with her," Rumple said with a smile. "Yes, and she's also less likely to be scared by your very presence. Now, shall we get to decorating?"

"We shall."

~oOo~

It happened while they were exchanging gifts. Everybody had a mug of either eggnog or cocoa, and they were sitting around the tree. Mrs Gold had arranged for a 'secret Santa' with each invitation, so everybody had come with a gift, and everybody would be getting something, so no one had to feel left out. Henry thought that Mrs Gold was being a bit sneaky with how she had assigned the secret Santa though.

Mr Jefferson had given Paige a white rabbit plushie in a hat that he'd made himself. Paige had given Miss Blanchard a book she'd made herself, with home-made paper even. Miss Blanchard had given Miss Kathryn (who wasn't Mrs Nolan any more) a very nice bird-house. Miss Kathryn had given Ashley a tupperware full of her famous chocolate samosas, and a voucher for the baby store to spend on little Alexandra however she liked. Ashley had given Emma a set of fuzzy hand-cuffs, and Sean asked if Emma would be using those when arresting people at this time of year instead of the regular ones, because the metal would be cold.

Everybody laughed at that, especially when Emma said she'd think about it. Sean had then given Mr Potter a voucher for a free tune-up for his motorbike, and Mr Potter had given Sean a voucher too, though Sean hadn't said what it was, just given Mr Potter a really grateful man-hug.

Graham got Ruby a wolf necklace, and Ruby got Graham a new leather jacket with a picture of a wolf embossed on the back. Neal gave Mrs Gold a mug that said 'not all step-mothers are evil' on one side, and 'best mother ever' on the other. Mrs Gold passed a slim box wrapped up in gold and silver over to her husband, but when he opened the slim little box, his eyes went wider than Henry had ever seen them before he dropped the box and started kissing Mrs Gold.

Emma picked up the box that Mr Gold had dropped and looked inside.

"Looks like you're gonna be a big brother, Neal," she said. "Congratulations Isobelle, William."

"Thank you," Mrs Gold answered with a smile once her husband released her.

Mr Gold gave Mr Jefferson a fine tea-set and some high-grade tea. Henry gave Neal a present similar to the one that Neal had given to Mrs Gold, only the mug that Henry had found for his dad had a stripe that would change colour depending on how hot the mug (or the drink in the mug) was.

And Emma gave Henry a set of wooden swords.

He hugged her tightly and said thank-you he wasn't sure how many times.

"Love ya Henry," she said in answer, and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

A ripple of power moved outwards like a sonic wave, but in colour.

"What was that?" Emma asked nervously as a number of the people around the room raised a hand to their heads.

"Congratulations, Miss Swan," Mr Gold said with a smile that was full of pride, the kind that a parent has when their child does something wonderful all on their own for the very first time. "You just broke the curse. Everybody remembers who they really are now. I must say, I thought it might take you a few more months before you'd do it."

Emma's jaw dropped open in shock.

"It was really that simple?" she asked.

Mr Gold nodded. "The True Love of a parent for their child," he said, eyes warm and soft at the thought. Especially since Belle was going to give him another child. He could hardly wait to hold his child in his arms, to be a parent again.

Grace threw herself at Jefferson, 'daddy' on her lips.

~The End~

~Epilogue~

Rumple hadn't been able to stand by and let his father destroy his family, even if the only way to protect them meant dying for them, but it was alright. Belle stood with Harry and Neal in the clearing where the Vault of the Dark One was located.

There was some argument that, as she was pregnant, she ought to stay behind, but she wasn't letting the fact that she was in her second trimester stop her from getting her husband back.

Harry unleashed a particular soul from Pandora's Box.

"Where am I?" Tom Riddle demanded.

"You are at the gate that leads to the greatest evil in this realm," Belle said with a tempting little smile, and held up the key to the vault. "Do you have what it takes?" she offered.

Without even thinking – the better part of six years trapped inside Pandora's Box had clearly deteriorated his mind, or else he was always mad and foolish – the grotesque man snatched the key from Belle.

Neal cleared the snow away, revealing the lock where the key was to be placed.

Voldemort didn't hesitate. He plunged the key into the lock.

Behind him, Harry and Belle smiled, satisfied, while Neal simply looked on dispassionately.

Then Tom Riddle screamed, released the key that had burned him, and slammed his palm into the snow.

Blackness congealed and rose, then solidified into a form as Tom Riddle died in the snow.

"Rumple!" Belle cried joyfully, and threw herself into her husband's arms.

"Belle," Rumplestiltskin answered, the word like a prayer on his lips – and then they were slanted over hers in a loving, passionate kiss.

Rainbow light rippled out from them like an explosion of power, and Rumplestiltskin was freed from the curse of the Dark One.

"You're not allowed to die again, is that quite clear?" Belle demanded when they parted.

Rumple chuckled breathlessly. "Crystal," he confirmed with a tender smile, and happily kissed her again.

~Really The End~