Baelfire's Brother

Chapter Two

"So, should I call you 'Grandpa' now?"

Rumplestiltskin glared down at the Savior's son, before averting his gaze forward again. "Call me whatever you like," he snarled. He was too deep in his own head to worry about hurting the boy's feelings.

The location spell had found Baelfire, and he had tracked him down to New York. But what of his other son? When Rumple performed the spell, he knew it was a one-time deal, and he had been aiming for Baelfire, but why wasn't the boy's brother with him? When they were growing up, Lennox wouldn't let little Bae out of his sight, much less leave him alone in an unfamiliar world. Lennox. Goodness, Rumple hadn't put a serious thought to his firstborn in years. Sure, he'd been brought up when Rumple left to retrieve Bae, but there had never been a doubt in his mind that the brothers wouldn't be found together. For all his years of knowledge, he could not think of a reason for Lennox to have abandoned Baelfire in this world so vastly different from their own. On top of that, Rumple was doing his best to work out a way in which Bae came with them back to Storybrooke so they could combine their efforts in search of Lennox. He was leaving the majority of the persuasion to Emma.

Eventually, they found themselves back at Baelfire's apartment. Rumplestiltskin let Emma open the door for him and he stepped in after everybody else, just in time to see his son and grandson disappear up the stairwell. "So, uh," he started, turning to the Savior. "Have you told him?"

Emma sported her own brand of confusion, explaining, "He said it's complicated."

Rumple deadpanned, "Oh, I see. And I assume you didn't mention we're doing this to find his brother."

She shrugged. "Well, maybe he just needs some time. I don't know—"

Before she could properly finish, the door burst open behind her and a furious mound of black leather shoved her to the side. Rumplestiltskin met the figure's eyes and it all came flooding back to him. Pirate. Mila. The reason my boys grew up without a mother. Hook. The pirate threw the Dark One against the gate separating them from the stairs, and time seemed to stop as he raised his hook, which resided on the end of his arm. Where his hand would be, if Rumple hadn't cut it off in an attempt to snag a magic bean. Rumplestiltskin was helpless. Defenseless. He had no magic to protect him as the hook plunged into his chest, just underneath the collarbone. He almost didn't recognize the pained gasps he made as he sunk to the ground.

"Tick-took," the pirate leered over him, with a malicious gleam in his eye. He pulled his hook away and reared it back for another blow. "Time's up, crocodile. You took Mila, my love, my happiness." Rumple gasped again, but if he were in perfect health, he'd be scoffing. If he remembered correctly, and he was sure he did, the pirate standing here took Mila from him. He was the one forced to tell his sons that their mother was gone and never coming back. Alright, maybe he went a bit too far by killing her, but in his opinion at the time, she'd deserved it for abandoning their sons. The pirate continued, "And for that I now take your life."

Before he could proceed however, Emma swung and hit him over the head with a large metal canister, knocking the pirate out cold. She dropped it and crouched own in front of the injured Dark One. "Gold, are you alright?"

He let out a breath and attempted to cover his wound as he heard his son stomping down the stairs. Baelfire, Neal, whatever he was going by demanded, "What the hell is going on?" He flung open the gate and bent down to inspect the wound.

"One of your dad's enemies found us," Emma explained.

Bae looked to the pirate. "Hook."