Dreams Come True:

Page 69: Looking for the Dagger:

Regina, Cora, Dream, and Hook looked around the library for the number 915.63. "Shouldn't we be pillaging his shop or ransacking his home?" Hook asked when Regina noticed Dream scanning her finger over the numbers. "That would be the obvious choice, yes. But Gold wouldn't risk crossing the town line and losing his memory without entrusting the dagger's location to someone." Regina explained when Cora and Hook looked at her.

"Belle." Hook said, looking over to Regina and Dream.

"My guess is she hid it in one of her beloved books," Regina said when she looked around with Dream. "Impressive, Regina." Cora smiled, walking over to the other side of Dream. "Thank you, Mother." Regina smiled, seeing her mom smiling at her.

"I'll be impressed when I'm holding the dagger in my hand." Hook scoffed, still looking around the books.

Dream found the number, seeing it in a familiar book. "Thumbelina... I used to read this book all the time." Dream said when she pulled out the book with a white sticker with the number on it. Regina looked at Dream when they all looked at her. Dream opened up the book, seeing a folded piece of paper. "Hold on. What's this?" Cora asked, taking the folded-up piece of paper and opening it up.

"Oh, yes... Crude." Hook smirked, walking over to them when Dream noticed a drawing of a rose in the corner of the page that they found the piece of paper. "To the untrained eye, a child's scribbles. But to a pirate? It's a map." Hook said, reaching over Dream's shoulder to grab the map from Cora while Dream closed the book, putting it back on the shelf. "Gold may not have hidden the dagger here, but I believe he's left us the next best thing." Hook said, walking over to the nearest table. "It's location." He said, setting the map on the table.

"Can you read it?" Dream asked him, making him look up at her, smirking.

"Well, lucky for you ladies, I'm quite adept at finding buried treasure." Hook smirked at her.

"So, Rumpelstiltskin is Henry's grandfather? And Dream's father?" David asked, sitting at the table after Mary Margaret explained what Emma found out to him.

"Apparently..." She sighed, looking at him.

"But I'm his grandfather." David objected, looking at his wife, who was standing. "You can have more than one." Mary Margaret corrected, trying to wrap her head around it. "So, his step-grandmother is Regina. The Evil Queen. And his adoptive sister is his father's half-sister and his step-aunt?" David asked when Mary Margaret sighed to herself.

"Actually, Regina is his step-great-grandmother... And she's also his adoptive mother. And Dream is his step-great-aunt... And my step-sister." Mary Margaret said as David sighed, aloud, to himself. "It's a good thing we don't have Thanksgiving in our land, 'cause that dinner would suck." David sighed, trying to wrap his head around this family tree.

"Or... Maybe this will mellow everyone out." Mary Margaret said, sounding very optimistic.

*New York City, New York*

"Gold, wait. What are you doing?" Emma asked as Gold turned to push every button, hoping someone would let them up. Gold did not answer when he stopped once he heard the door unlock. "I'm finding my son." He said, opening the door when Henry moved to stand up from the bench.

"He's gone." Emma fought, making Gold stop to look at her.

"But he lives here. He'll be back. And I'll be waiting." Gold said, heading up the stairs to the fourth floor.

"Stop. You can't just break in." Emma said, following behind Gold. "Yeah, well, actually, that's something I'm quite adept at." Gold said, turning to see his son's apartment number when he started to break into the lock.

"He might not come back." Emma continued to argue.

"Look..." Gold scoffed while he tried to unlock the door. "...finding people is what you do, Ms. Swan. I'm simply going to assist you. There may be information in here. Who he is... What he does... Who he loves." Gold said, looking at Emma, before going back to breaking in.

"No, don't do this. There are things called laws." Emma continued to argue.

"I'll be lookout," Henry spoke up, moving to look down the hall.

"No--" Emma went to stop him before sighing to herself. "You could get arrested," Emma said, turning her attention back to Gold. "Then my son will have to testify against me. And we will be reunited." Gold said when he finally got the lock before opening the door.

Gold opened the door, walking in to look around, while Emma and Henry followed. "Gold, come on, please, we really shouldn't be here." Emma tried to say, closing the door behind them. "I don't think he's listening," Henry said when Emma sighed to herself as they started to look around.

Emma stopped when she noticed a familiar item. It was a dreamcatcher that she and Neal found before Henry came into the picture. Emma moved over to the window, picking it up. "You find something, dearie?" Gold asked, noticing that Emma was looking at the dreamcatcher. "Nothing. It just looks like a dreamcatcher..." Emma shrugged off when Gold did not believe her.

"Yeah, well, if it's nothing, why are you still holding it?" Gold asked as Emma did not respond. "You're lying to me..." Gold said, sounding frustrated when Emma moved to put the dreamcatcher back.

"Just get back to looking, okay?"

"No, no, no, you saw something. Tell me." Gold demanded, making Emma turn to look at him. "You don't know what you're--" Emma went to say, but Gold kept getting more agitated. "Tell me!" Gold demanded, making Emma scoff at him.

"Henry, go wait in the bathroom," Emma said, looking at her son.

"But I can help--" Henry tried to fight.

"Henry, go!" Emma demanded, raising her voice, when Henry listened, going to wait in the bathroom.

Once Emma knew Henry was in the bathroom, she looked around before looking at Gold. "There's nothing here. The guy's a ghost..." Emma said, trying to come up with some excuse. "What, you think me a fool? You're holding back. I want to know what and why." Gold said, trying to remain calm. 

"I'm not holding back," Emma argued.

"Did he tell you something?" Gold asked, persisting that Emma was lying to him.

"Gold--"

"Did he tell you something?" Gold asked, raising his voice again. "Nothing. He didn't say anything." Emma said, raising her voice as well. "But you talked to him." Gold scoffed at her.

"I-- Don't put words in my mouth!" Emma yelled at him.

"Tell me!" Gold yelled when Emma sighed to herself. "You tell me, or I'm gonna make you tell me." Gold said, making Emma scoff at him.

"You don't have magic here," Emma said calmly, knowing he could not hurt her, or at least he hoped so. "Oh, I don't need magic." Gold said, taking a few steps forward. "You really want to do this?" Emma asked him.

"Do not push me." Gold warned.

"Don't push me," Emma said, raising her voice again. "We had a deal! A deal! No one, no one breaks deals with me!" Gold yelled when he pushed over a small table, making Emma jump, backing up from him.

"Hey!"

Emma and Gold turned to Neal, who rushed into the room. "Leave her alone," Neal said, in a calmer voice, looking at the two of them. Gold looked taken aback when he finally got to see his son.

~season 2, episode 14: "Manhattan"~

~1220 words~