The Thing You Love Most (Regina's Daughter)

Abandoned

A few hours later, as Morgan went on her evening walk with Lady, she saw Emma and Henry walking together down the street, looking thick as thieves. The two of them spotted Morgan and made their way over to her.

Emma kneeled down to pet Lady as Henry started talking. "I- I wanted to thank you for earlier." He said with a small smile. "For comforting me."

"Oh, no need to thank me." Morgan grinned. "I see you two talked it out." She briefly looked at Emma, who seemed to be toying with Lady and Lady appeared to love it.

"We did! But please don't tell my mom. She needs to think I'm still upset." The boy explained.

Morgan frowned. "Alright. Why the secrecy though?" Henry quickly looked away from Morgan, as if thinking what to say. Meanwhile, Emma looked back up at Morgan and mouthed 'the evil queen' to her. Right, he saw his mother as the Evil Queen. She replied by nodding as Henry was done thinking of what he should say. Before he could say anything however, Morgan already replied.

"It's fine, no need to tell me anything." Morgan winked at him. Emma stood up again after Lady got distracted by some moving leaves. "Mind if I tag along with you guys to... well wherever you're going?" Morgan asked them.

"Sure!" Emma said. She leaned closer to Henry and whispered. "Should we tell her about Operation Cobra?"

"No, we don't know if she'll tell my mom or not. Let's wait first." He whispered back and then smiled at Morgan. "Let's go."

"By the way, am I in your book?" Morgan asked with a frown and Henry nodded. "Well who am I?" She chuckled as she looked over to Emma who playfully rolled her eyes.

"In the book there is also a character called Morgan, I think that's you! She looks a lot like you." He answered.

"I'd love to read about her." Morgan smiled as they kept walking.

- The Enchanted Forest -

The sound of tiny footsteps on stone echoed through the castle. Slowly and gently, the hall door opened, revealing a little girl standing there. She was holding a relatively small teddy bear in her arms, although it was about the same size as her. "Rumple?" She almost whispered.

The man got pulled out of his thoughts and stopped spinning straw. "Yes, Morgan?" He replied.

Morgan started to sob a little. "I can't sleep." She pressed her small hand to her cheek to wipe away a tear. Rumplestiltskin sighed and waved his hand, beckoning her over. He conjured a chair out of thin air and lifted Morgan onto it, seeing as she was too small to get on it herself. He sat across from her on the spinning wheel stool.

"And why is that?" Rumple asked, his tone unintentionally mocking. Morgan lowered her gaze to the floor, fidgeting with her teddy bear. "Nightmares." She muttered.

Rumple gasped. "Well we can't have that!" He said dramatically and Morgan gave a little giggle. He lifted her off the chair and onto the spinning wheel stool, kneeling beside her. He gently took her teddy bear and put in on the chair. "You know what I do when I can't sleep? I spin!" He said cheerfully. "Let me show you how!" Rumple continued in a singsong like manner.

He explained the little girl everything about how to spin and she eagerly listened. When he was done, she asked excitedly; "Can you teach me how to spin straw into gold? I have seen you do that!"

Rumple hesitated for a moment. "Hmm-fine. But it takes practice and patience!" He bops her nose at the end of the sentence and Morgan scrunches her nose and giggles. "But for now, let's get you back to bed." With the flick of his wrist, he teleports them both to Morgan's chambers where he puts her back to bed.

"Why did my parents abandon me?" The little girl suddenly asks. Not expecting such a question, Rumple thinks about his answer carefully.

"They didn't want to abandon you..." He replied. "But they had to. To give you your best chance." His face clearly softens a bit.

"Okay... well I don't need them." She says as she hugs her little teddy bear closer, then she smiles as Rumple. "Because I've got you."

"Indeed, dearie." He answers, then he quickly wishes her goodnight, not wanting to tell her anything else and he goes back to clearing his mind.

- Storybrooke -

Morgan couldn't say she wasn't happy that Mr. Gold took her in, he'd always been there for her and she believed he always would. But seeing Emma and Henry so happy together, it gave Morgan hope. Hope that maybe one day she'd find her parents too.

The only thing she could go on, was that Mr. Gold was, according to him, good friends with her parents and that's why he decided to take her in after they left her. She grabbed a small jewelry box out of a drawer and sat on her bed, placing the box on her lap. Inside was the necklace she got from her parents. She looked at it, feeling indecisive whether or not she should wear it. It's the only thing she has left of them, but then again why would she need something of the people who left her?

Eventually she decided to wear it. It's a beautiful necklace and it is pure gold. It would be a shame to just have it lie around somewhere. She slipped the necklace over her head and looked in her vanity mirror. Morgan had taken to Gold's style ever since she was little; always wearing black. The outfit she was wearing now was no different, black skinny jeans paired with a rather large belt, a slightly puffy shirt that's tucked into the jeans and a pair of white sneakers. She stared at herself in the mirror still, the necklace really popped out. Then she remembers she has to work in the shop for the remainder of the evening, as she usually did on the days she didn't have to watch Henry. Briefly pondering whether or not she should wear the necklace, eventually she decides she will and leaves for work.