In Storybrooke, Mr. Gold strives to be the man Bae used to love--until Belle is kidnapped to Neverland. If he resumes his Dark One powers to save her, can he control them? In the Enchanted Forest, Emma battles ogres, zombies and her ex to get back h...
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Dr. Whale (Victor Frankenstein): I need magic. (The Doctor)
"Smee. What a vile man," Mr. Gold muttered to himself. Looking up, he saw Dr. Hopper still frozen on the other side of his shop. He straightened his maroon silk tie and put on his most ingratiating smile. "Takes one to know one, right?"
A shiver coursed through Dr. Hopper, making his ginger curls tremble. Waving his hands, he popped out of his corner. "Oh, no. I wasn't—wasn't thinking that. Nothing of the sort."
Mr. Gold pointed at the marionettes. "Not even when you saw those?"
Dr. Hopper passed his umbrella from palm to palm. Then he sidled towards the dolls as if anxious for a closer look but afraid of taking it. "Seeing those doesn't make me think of—of you. It makes me think of me. I've noticed them in your shop before, many times, but I—I didn't know why they bothered me so. This is the first time I've seen them and—and remembered."
Mr. Gold rested on his cane. "As agreed at the town hall meeting, I'm prepared to surrender all items to their rightful owners. But if I acquired an item in a deal—either here or in the Enchanted Forest—then that item is mine."
Dr. Hopper stared down at his scuffed brown loafers, the picture of shame and misery.
"Unlike Smee, however," Mr. Gold continued, "you've never cheated me. You're welcome to strike a new bargain. To tell you the truth, I'd made the deal in the first place with the expectation of renegotiating at a future time."
Slowly, Dr. Hopper raised his head to look at Mr. Gold. "Renegotiating? You mean they—they didn't have to stay wooden?"
"My potion was designed to render its recipients inanimate, not dead. I'd thought that after one night of guilt you'd come running to me, begging to have your mum and dad back. Imagine my surprise when I followed your trace to that cottage and found—not your troublesome parents—but these two strangers."
Clamping his umbrella to his chest, Dr. Hopper mumbled, "My parents. They—they were pulling the fairy potion con on—on a young peasant couple. They—they switched the bottles."
Mr. Gold chuckled. "Ah. Your parents were sly ones, weren't they?" If ever there were an example of perverted true love, surely the doctor's parents were it. He swept his hand toward the wooden figures. "If I'd known their names, I could have reanimated them to human form—as if nothing had ever happened. Imagine my greater surprise when I lost your trace on a fence rail and couldn't ask you."
Dr. Hopper banged his umbrella against his forehead. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. You told me you'd collect them, but I—I was too ashamed to seek you out. Damn me. All you needed was—was their names?"
"And a price. You were an excellent sneak thief. Your parents taught you well. I'd have asked you for a favor."
Dr. Hopper dashed up to Mr. Gold and leaned forward to earnestly search his face. "They're Geppetto's mother and father, Stephen and Donna Polendina. If you make them human again, I'll steal anything—anything you want."
