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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Geppetto: Sometimes we have to lie to protect the people we love, eh? (The Stranger)
Mr. Gold rubbed his shin through his black silk slacks and glanced at Cinderella. "Sorry to be a bother." Not that she looked like she minded. Just fifteen minutes ago—according to the seven elaborate cuckoo clocks ticking away on the walls of Geppetto's workshop—she'd been hiding from him. Now she was waiting patiently until his muscle cramp eased, so she could help him back up the stairs. Rejecting her selfish cravings in the name of true love had revived her heroine-of-a-fairy-tale nature.
And the wizard who guided her was me.
"Take another minute while I clean up my mess." Standing, Cinderella settled Alex at the back of the half-painted rocking chair. "Be good," she said then turned to Geppetto's worktable.
Mr. Gold watched little Alex until she'd folded up her legs and tucked her hands under them. Assured she was indeed being good, he switched his attention to her mother's leftover snacks. "So... Thomas didn't forget you down here."
"No. He tried to get me to return to the party." Cinderella picked up an empty glass filmed with milk. "When he brought this, he said that if you wanted to settle accounts, you wouldn't have come with a date."
"Good observation." Mr. Gold smiled.
"He brought me nachos after you fixed his guitar—" as Cinderella laid the glass in the empty bowl, she glanced at him sidelong "—for free, he said."
"Free? Never. I was protecting my investment." Mr. Gold clicked his tongue. The prince claiming he'd received magic gratis would be bad for business.
Catching his eye, Alex giggled. The frown relaxed from Mr. Gold's face. I'll let it go this time.
Cinderella completed her stack with a dessert plate littered with toothpicks and cherry stems. "This is from when he told me to suck it up and get it over with. The worst you'd be was snarky."
The prince compared me to a snark? Curious. The only way an Enchanted Forest denizen could have come across the creature was by visiting the Tulgey Wood via the Hatter Wizards' hat. Despite the Dark One's half dozen trips to Wonderland, he'd never caught sight of one. They were quite elusive.
"Tommy didn't know what was really upsetting me." Cinderella's forehead knit together. "How can I own up to him that I—"
"That's between us." Leaning on his cane, Mr. Gold pushed himself to his feet. "Your husband is an understanding man, but unless someone's had a deprived childhood themselves..."
Cinderella shook her head. "I fantasized skipping out on him—on Alex. What kind of person..."
Mr. Gold waved his hand. "Not your kind." More like my mother, my father, my wife. "It was a thought, not a deed—one you've renounced." He smiled at Alex. "Your daughter's none the worse for it."
