A.N. The first subchapter is smutty, so just skip to the end of the chapter if you're not into that type of thing.

+ + + + + The New Office

"Emma, are you alright?" David had asked her later that morning.

"Oh, I'm fine. Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, you seem distracted, all morning, like you've got something on your mind."

Emma felt like she was blushing. "I guess I am a little distracted. Gold is coming by for me at lunch."

David didn't say anything at first. "I'm impressed, Emma. You've been with the man a year now and you obviously still get . . . excited. . . at the prospect of a lunch date."

"He does kinda overwhelm a girl," she admitted. "And yeah, I'm . . . excited. I think he has something special planned. He said he wanted to show me something."

It was only a moment later when Gold came into the sheriff's office. Mister rose, stretched and jumped off his window seat to greet him.

"You're the only one he does that for," observed David.

"We have an understanding," Gold explained. "Mutual respect and admiration." He looked over at Emma. "Things I've only recently learned about."

"Come on, darling. What do you want to show me?"

"Lunch first," he insisted. "I know how important food is to you." He took her by the arm and led her on towards the Diner.

"Now I thought I was going to get something fancy."

"Not a lot of options here in Storybrooke. The fancy part comes later," he told her.

"What?" she pressed, sitting across from him.

She was so easy to amuse, he thought, like a child expecting a present. For her, the expectation was as important as the present itself. Well, he would try to come through .

"Eat first," he commanded.

Emma ordered one of her favorites, a chicken salad sandwich, "with plenty of mayo and pickles on the side. And fries. And cole slaw. And I'll probably want dessert. Oh go ahead and just bring me a slice of Granny's cherry pie."

Gold ordered a lean turkey on rye, no mayo and added one of the Diner's new sides, kale and carrot salad with ginger dressing. When Emma wasn't looking, he popped two of his pain pills. His knee had been giving him a fit since the night with the Lilac Fairy. He usually avoided pain pills, but didn't want anything getting in the way of what he had planned for his lovely wife.

Emma looked at his lunch, then hers, "You eat good," she told him.

"Well, even," he responded. "How are you feeling?" he asked her between bites.

"Fine," she answered but then blushed yet again. What is this with the blushing? She had felt herself flush several times this morning.

He raised an eyebrow, "Just fine?"

She put her sandwich back into her plate. She whispered back to him, "OK, I've been thinking about nothing except doing it with you. I am so turned on right now that if we didn't have an audience I would be right under this table and so on you. . ." She couldn't bring herself to finish and flushed again.

He nodded. "That's nice," he said blandly.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed. "Don't tell me you haven't been feeling anything?"

"Actually," he admitted, "knowing that there's a beautiful woman who's accessible and available has been a very pleasant diversion for me this morning."

"Diversion. I've been a diversion," Emma said. "You've kept me on your back burner as it were, while I've been boiling over here."

He gave her his slowest smile, "That's rather nice to know."

"Nice? I'm about ready to jump out of my skin here and it's 'nice'?"

"Very nice. Finish your lunch," he directed.

Emma seethed a moment. How could he be so calm? She wanted to climb over the table and bite him. Bite him on his firm, Scottish ass. Damn, what was wrong with her? He had only taken off her panties, but all morning, feeling the dress brush against her bare skin, feeling air between her legs, knowing he knew there were no barriers to his attentions, seemed to have set her off . She knew she was ready, ready, more than ready but would also have to wait until he decided it was time. And somehow, knowing that it would be his decision, had made everything even hotter for her.

Emma bent her attention to the meal, finishing her food as he had told her to. She had difficulties sitting still. Gold watched from the corner of his eye. Emma was certainly in a state. He was surprised that such a modest gesture had revved her up so much. This was promising to become an interesting afternoon.

Emma finally looked up and grinned at him, "OK I'm finished. Can I have my surprise now?"

"Not yet, my sweet." Gold signaled Ruby and paid the bill, as always, leaving a generous tip. He rose and held out his hand for Emma who eagerly took it. He led her out of the Diner.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"So many questions. I want you to be quiet for awhile and do as I say."

OK, this was going to be one of his control things. Emma nodded. She dutifully followed him and quickly saw they were headed towards the mayor's office. She wanted to ask if that was where they were going, if he had got the re-decoration finished, what it looked like, but managed to keep quiet as he had asked, ordered, more likely.

They stood outside of what was to be her new office. He turned her to him and asked, "Do you trust me?"

She shivered, but nodded.

"Good girl," he told her and removed his tie. He put it over her eyes, effectively blindfolding them. She stood, moving from one foot to the other, trying to be still. She heard him unlock the door and then felt his hand on her arm. He urged her into office but did not move to take off the blindfold.

"The room can wait, my sweet. I don't know if I can." She heard him whisper and felt herself led further into the room.

"Take off your shoes," he told her.

She kicked off her sandals. She was expecting him to disrobe her or to have her undress herself and was surprised when he said, "kneel."

A bit wobbly in the blindfold, Emma complied. She went to her knees, keeping them shoulder width apart, her back straight and her hands at her sides. She kept her head down, still and listening. She couldn't see him, but felt him walking around her. She heard him murmur, "Lovely."

"Now put your head and shoulders on the carpet." She followed his directive, keeping her butt high in the air as she rested her head on the plush carpet. She felt him lifting the skirt of her dress and flipping it over her head so she now was presenting her naked behind raised and open to his gaze, his hands, his. . . whatever he wanted to put on or into her.

She was trembling, nearly crying, clawing the carpet, waiting, waiting for anything to happen. She heard him behind her, still not touching her, "I like knowing that you've spent the morning primed and ready for my attentions."

When he finally touched her, she jerked and nearly cried out. It was only the lightest touch, enough to ascertain that she was wet. Had she been wearing panties they would have been soaked, but then, it was having not worn panties that had made her so wet. She felt him standing very close, between her legs, slightly splayed apart. Although she knew it was not an easy position for him, she felt him kneel between her legs. She felt him beginning to caress her butt cheeks, a gentle soothing touch. She felt him stroking her, touching all her openings back there. She began to squirm but had nowhere to go. His hand reached around to the front of her body and began to firmly finger her, rubbing her, stimulating. When he spread the nether lips and pinched her clit she could not stop from crying out again.

"You like that?" he asked her.

"YesyesyesIlikethat," she told him quickly. "Pleasemorepleasemore."

"I like how you've asked so nicely," he told her and continued with his punishing, pleasurable administrations. "Now be quiet again."

Emma didn't think she could accept much more from him. She kept trying to push herself back into him, wanted to beg him for penetration, but remembering that he had told her to be quiet. She knew from previous similar sessions with her husband that he would not take kindly to her challenging his directives and would draw out his attentions even longer, sustaining her level of frustration to the point that she would be mindless and nearly screaming, oh yes, sometimes actually screaming.

She couldn't stop herself from whimpering. She couldn't stop the sensations building in her body. He kept up his cruel pumping pressure on her clit, forcing her to accept his touch. When he slipped two fingers into her wet, sopping channel she felt herself let go, shaking and shivering, contracting around his fingers. She struggled to remain in the position he had put her into especially after he removed his fingers, but couldn't stop herself from begging him stopstopstop after the first orgasm, the sensation of continued stimulation on her clit was toomuchtoomuchtoomuch. He ignored her. She felt herself penetrated and then she saw stars.

Emma opened one eye and found she was still lying on grey carpet, the blindfold removed and the dress skirt pulled off of her head and back below her waist. She was lying on her side and realized that her breathing had returned to normal.

"Are you all right?" she heard him ask.

"Uh huh," she managed to say. She struggled but was able to sit up. She looked around. "Oh my god, that was fantastic and this is beautiful," she said, trying to take in everything at once. One of the first things she was able to focus on was an incredible desk, a light, almost white-colored wooden desk carved with, omg, roses and, yes, those were swans. She pulled herself to her feet, still staggering from his love-making and ever grateful for his support.

"I didn't think the desk would support our combined weight, so I decided to just have you on the floor," he shared.

"Well that worked out pretty well," she smiled demurely at him. "I suppose I'm one in a long line of mayors you've had in this office."

"Not a long line," he responded.

"Regina?"

"Emma, you knew Regina was my mistress off and on, long before I met you. Yes, I took her several times in this office. She likes it a little rougher than you do."

"Please tell me you knocked her around some," Emma said, wandering the new office, picking up and examining everything.

"There was the occasional spanking. . . with a belt."

Emma stopped, "Eeuu! Why Gold, you kinky bastard."

"Hey that was what she wanted, not me. I prefer to rely on my own equipment and the occasional soft restraint."

"Yeah, so I've noticed," she responded, looking around the room. "This is the most beautiful room I've ever been in. The desk is amazing. Where ever did you find it?"

"I've known about this desk for awhile and was just waiting on a chance to bring it out of storage."

Emma shook her head. The room was far more than she had expected. The desk, a plush chair, bookcases with glass doors, deep plush dark grey chairs sitting around a low table with a white marble top, the occasional lush green plants, with colors all in the white to grey family with the occasional touch of red. It was a charming, yet sophisticated room. Emma felt very much at home, very comfortable. Gold had done an excellent job.

"Was it worth it?" he asked her.

She soothed down the dress she was still wearing. "This room in exchange for wearing three dresses a week. Yeah, I think so."

"I'm so glad," he told her. He was sitting in her new desk chair and looking closely at her. "Take the dress off now."

Emma looked back at him surprised. It hadn't even been twenty minutes!

She had to smile. Then she complied.

+ + + + + Silver Shoes

It was later that afternoon. Gold sat in his shop. He heard the bell. It was dear little Paige-Grace. He found that he was looking forward to his once a week sessions with the child. She was a quick study, had long since passed anything that Emma could do and was fast catching up with Henry. He had the passing thought that Jefferson might be a better teacher for Emma, if she would ever consider accepting him. Paige was the perfect student for himself, serious about her magic. He knew she practiced, but was still careful. He appreciated that lack of impulsivity which often hampered young, inexperienced sorcerers. They would sometimes make fatal mistakes.

"I brought you something," she told him, bursting with the news. "It's just something little that I made in school." She held out her hand to him.

It was a ceramic white rabbit.

"Thank you, Paige. Thank you." He told her genuinely touched. People had rarely given him gifts. They were always appreciated. "I have a special place for this," he told the child and limped without his cane over to one of the display cases. He opened the case and set the rabbit next to a white chipped cup. "These are the most precious things I own," he said to her.

"I'm glad you like it," she told him, watching him with some concern as he limped back to behind the register.

"Come, Paige, now I have something for you. I've been holding onto it for some time." He took her into the back room and handed her a box with a pair of silvery shoes. He explained, "It took me some time to track these down. They originally belonged to your mother but were taken from her by a young woman named Dorothy Gale following the accident that killed your mother. I tracked down the family and bought the shoes from them. I thought they should come back to you." Especially since they had no magic in them for the Gale family any more.

"Did you know my mother?" she asked him, suddenly very serious. He realized that Jefferson had never talked with Paige about her mother.

"I did. I knew her quite well," he told the child. "She was a strong, independent woman. She loved you very much."

"She died in an accident?"

Gold thought back. Jenny had been in a snit about one of her servants and a relationship gone awry. He knew that neither he nor Jefferson had treated her particularly well and Jenny had some well-grounded distrust and disapproval of men in general. She had gone into the Munchkin's town to deliver a curse to the straying beau when Dorothy's house just happened to fall on her, literally fall on her. It was a tragic accident but, at the same time, he knew her time was over and something or another would claim her. Dorothy took Jenny's magic shoes and eventually they had made their way to a very strange land called Kansas.

Paige had put on the shoes. "They fit me perfectly!"

"And they always will," he promised her.

"Are they magic?"

"Very strong magic. You may want to leave them with Jefferson for the time being. He will take good care of them for you." He had leaned down while talking to the child.

Paige's face lit up. "Of course. Thank you so much. " She turned and gave him a hug around his neck, surprising him. "Next to my step-parents and my father, I think I love you most." She told him and, still wearing the silver shoes (while carrying her original pair) she danced out of his shop.

Gold was shaken. Love was always scary for him. But this child loved him whole-heartedly and purely. And he cared for her, almost like a daughter. Almost with as much love as he had for his own dear daughter.

+ + + + + Afternoon Tea

"I understand you asked Rumple to come after me, to apologize and try to make amends," Lillian was sitting at the Gold's kitchen table mid-afternoon, taking tea with Emma.

"I did. I thought it was an important step in healing both for you and for him."

"What does he have to heal from?" Lillian asked sharply. "He was the abuser."

"He has to forgive himself. That person who hurt you was damaged and ill. He can't get better until he can acknowledge and accept what he did and move on from it. He also needs your forgiveness, but I don't know if you are ready to offer that. Or if you will ever be able to offer that."

"Not any time soon," Lillian admitted. "Emma, I know you genuinely care for the man, perhaps even love him, but do you know what all he did to me?"

"Abuse, sexual, physical, mental, I guess, magical."

"He beat me, he raped me, he drained my powers. Oh Emma, I wanted to die. Even now, it's been a very long time, but even now, I still feel compelled to kneel in his presence, to lower my eyes, to try to obey, to anticipate his commands. My body begins to ready itself for his. . . attentions when I am near him. I am terrified when I am near him. I am not rational, not quite sane around him."

"And you want to hurt him, like he hurt you," Emma said with understanding.

"Sometimes, yes." She paused, "A lot of times. But other times. . . I know we had tipped him over the edge, we were at least partly responsible for making him so crazy. I know in so many ways he wasn't responsible."

"You know," Emma shared. "I had some tough times, not that I'm comparing what I went through with what you have had to deal with. But I know there are some things you don't get over. You learn to live with it or it kills you. It will eat you up from inside."

Lillian slowly nodded, in agreement. "Did he tell you what I've asked for?"

"He's offering you a house and a stipend. He's given you an apology, one that I believe is sincere. And he's agreed for you to become Ysbael's magic teacher when she is ten."

"You ok with all this?" Lillian asked.

"Uh huh." Emma took a sip of tea and shared, "He said that you made him kneel."

"I did."

Emma smiled. "I bet that had to feel good. I mean, I think the man has some genuine feelings for me, but sometimes he orders me about like I'm his 24/7 sub and if I disagree, he goes ahead and does what he wants to anyway or locks me in a dungeon or does something . . . else. . . dominating."

"It did feel good," Lillian admitted with her own shy smile. "I felt like he would have done just about anything I'd asked him to at that moment. But I was also afraid that he would turn on me and flame me, like I had cornered a dragon."

Emma took another sip of tea. "He still wants his son back, you know."

Lillian smiled. "Maybe I can help with that. I still have some residual powers and I know where the child went. With a little help from someone who knows about locating people, I might be able to find him."

Emma toasted her with her teacup. "Let's work on that."

+ + + + + No Words

Henry and Paige were playing scrabble in a quiet corner of the living room. Baby Ysbael was cruising along furniture, responding to any redirection with total defiance, sticking her chin out. Like her mother, Gold had thought. He would have his hands full with his daughter, he just knew. He and Emma were each enjoying a small bowl of homemade ice cream, a concoction he had created that included herbs and liquors. A secret recipe, he'd explained. Someday I'll pass it on to Henry.

"Let's see now. I will be officially inaugurated as mayor in two weeks. Regina's laying low. Lillian's settled. Jefferson is dating Ms. Dodgson and has a relationship with his long lost daughter. Mary Margaret had taken over the paper and you have your thumb on her. I don't want you to push on her too hard, you know. She wants to be fair and do a good job."

"Now Emma, when have I ever tried to intimidate anyone?" he asked her innocently.

She rolled her eyes. "Every moment of every day, my dear. It's who you are. Let me finish. I have fallen in love with you and David will become High Sheriff and Leroy will become his deputy and Mister the Cat has quit making my life miserable."

Gold was sitting with his mouth opened. "Can you repeat that?"

"Mister the Cat has quit making my life miserable."

"No, before," he motioned with his hand for her to go back.

"Leroy is deputy."

He shook his head.

"David is high sheriff?"

"Go back further," he urged.

"You intimidate people every moment of everyday?"

"After that."

"I've fallen in love with you?"

He put down his bowl of ice cream. "Emma, I can't imagine my life without you. I want you around. I think of you so often during the day. I like hearing you moan and scream when I touch you. I would probably try to kill anyone who tried to take you away from me or who tried to hurt you."

He paused, closed his eyes. "But I can't say the words. Emma. Something terrible happens to the people I love."

Emma smiled at him, "Then don't say the words. You can just show me."

fin

A. N. This has been a fun, but I think I have taken this story as far as it will go. Tried to tie up most of the loose ends; hope I did ok with that. A special thanks to Notsureyet18 and thedoctorsgirl42 who stayed with me the whole way, including my hospitalizations and multiple infusions. Also thanks to all the anonymous reviewers, phantomess300, OfTheDark, Yuiop, SakuraBlossom58, Ying-Fa-dono, BrittanyLS, belladu57, Detafo, the unknown few stand together, MonkeesDoctorWho1987, ParanormalMoonlight. Psychobillybutterfly, GwenCooper456, iub (), The Green Eyed Cat, Hannahcaiusvolturi, Emperor's Sister, Kate R1 (), Supernatural-Girl17, NyraGrimm, FranzF, Kendra Luehr, BuffyRowan (and everyone else that I may have lost track of who reviewed me). Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Hopefully quite soon (I've outlined it and am about 20,000 words into it) I will have an OUAT AU story coming out called The Alchemist (you can figure out who the main character is, I'm sure). It's got spaceships and pirates and dragons and an Evil Queen and doublecrosses and a number of favorite pairings that I hope will make an enjoyable read. It should be posted shortly after this chapter goes up. Thx txm