{ enchanted forest }

21. { second star to the right }

Tamara had gone on her morning run and Neal decided to go and see his father. To his surprise he had seen very little of him since his arrival in town. For someone who claimed to be searching for him for years, he did very little effort of reconnecting with him.

He took a shower and got dressed. After breakfast at Granny's he headed in the direction of his father's house. He had to admit to himself that he was also a little bit curious about the girl that his father took in as his own.

He knew very little of her, only her name and that she was cursed. Perhaps his father could tell him more about her. If he even had time for his only son.

Neal walked around the corner of Granny's when he saw him. There was a woman by his side with partially pinned up brown hair and a dress. On the ground by their feet lays a man.

He overhears his father commanding the man on the ground to kiss his foot, which was hanging above his head. He couldn't continue to watch as a bystander. Neal pulls his father off the man, who scurries to get away.

"What the hell are you doing," Neal yells. He keeps his father in his hold, allowing the man to leave peacefully. Lacey continues to stand by and stare between father and son. Gold rips himself free. "I'm surprised you didn't turn him into a snail," he remarks, staring at his father challengingly.

Lacey laughs, thinking it to be a joke. Gold asks her to wait for him back at his shop. He hands her his keys and she walks away reluctantly. Father and son were left alone on the sidewalk.

Neal scoffs out loud. "You're unreal, you know that? You spent years looking for me. I come into town, you disappear. Haven't even bothered to meet Tamara," he says. He prepares to turn around and leave to go back to his room when Rumple asks why he should concern himself with her, to which he exclaims out loud that they're getting married.

"It's never gonna last. Not while you carry a torch for Emma," Rumple responds. Everything about his demeanor, the way he spoke and the way he used his hands while speaking reminded him of the time he was Baelfire, staring at his father who now wore grotesque, scaly skin and lizard eyes. Even though he now looked human, beneath that skin he was still the same person as back then.

The exasperation was showing on Neal's face. "You know, you haven't changed one bit. For a second, I thought you might have. For a second, I thought that perhaps Belle and your new kid were able to do something I wasn't able to. I started to think maybe you were worth my time. I guess I was wrong." Neal backs away again. For him the conversation was finished, but Rumplestiltskin had to have had the last word.

He steps forward with a smirk on his face. "Yet you're still here." His son stops again and turns to face his father. All that there was left was disappointment. "For Henry. Not you. As far as I'm concerned, you can stay the hell away from both of us," he says before turning his back to his father one final time. He leaves, refusing to turn around.

And Rumplestiltskin's smirk had fallen.

●

David and Emma enter the Mayor's Office with drawn weapons. They clear the room so Mary Margaret could step inside alongside Henry. The beans that Regina had stolen were on full display, which was odd. What was also odd is that she had left her office unlocked.

Emma heads over to the security system to check it while Henry, Mary Margaret and David check up on the beans. They find that the plant has been recently harvested. Emma found it all incredibly strange. It was unlike Regina to leave evidence behind like this.

Her father suggests she might have already left Storybrooke, but all of them knew she wouldn't leave without Henry. Emma reads in the security log that the last time someone was in the office had been around 6 o'clock that morning. What was even weirder was that the person used an override code to get inside.