POV Series #6: Ice Cream
Summary: Mr. Gold tells Emma that he was there when Henry was born. Starts at the end of 'Skin Deep'.
“So Henry, I wanted to ask you something,” Emma said as she and Henry walked toward Granny's.
It was nice to spend time with her son after Regina had been keeping them apart for so long. Henry’s hand clenched hers in a tight grip, as if he never wanted to let go. The thought of it brought tears to her eyes. It made her realize that he had missed her as much as she had missed him. She really didn't want to ruin the blissful moment by bringing up his 'fairy tale' delusion, but she needed to figure something out.
“Who is Mr. Gold supposed to be?” She asked as she glanced down at her son.
“I dunno,” he responded, his lips turning into a frown.
Emma stopped him and crouched down to his eye level.
“You don't know? Henry, you've warned me against him repeatedly. You’ve even told me that he was more evil than your... than the Queen.”
Henry gazed at her solemnly for a moment before looking past her.
“Yes, he is... well I think. I don't really know. Nobody likes him... and he’s the only one who can scare my mom... but...” he trailed off and sighed, looking down at the cracked pavement.
“What? What did he do?” Emma questioned.
Henry sighed again and looked back up at her.
“Nothing. I went to him for help, and he wouldn't. He pretended like he didn't even know what I was talking about, even though I knew that he did!”
The boy seemed so upset that Emma couldn't help but pull him into a hug. Unfortunately they were catching the attention of the few people out on the street. The last thing Emma wanted was it somehow getting back to Regina that she had upset Henry.
So she re-clasped their hands and starting walking again.
After a few minutes of silence and walking, she sat across from him at a booth, both of them licking their ice cream cones.
“Why did you need help from Mr. Gold?” She suddenly blurted, unable to let it go.
Henry froze mid-lick and then sighed again.
He sighed way too much for a ten-year-old.
“Mr. Gold is the one who told me I was adopted. I was five years old and upset because my mother had hi- uh, upset me. He told me that she had hired him to find me. It's what made me first start trying to look for you. After I got the book and realized what was really going on in this town, I knew I had to find you! But he wouldn't help! He even called my mom and told her to keep me away from him,” Henry sniffed then went back to licking his ice cream.
Emma was quiet as she processed what the little boy had just said.
“I still don't understand why that makes him more evil than Regina... I mean, the Queen.”
Henry smirked at her.
“It's okay. My mom, Regina, the Queen: they're all the same person. And they’re all evil.”
She grinned at him and they quit talking for a while, content to enjoy their ice cream and each other’s company.
“You don't agree that Mr. Gold is evil,” Henry commented, biting into the cone.
Emma started to shake her head, but then stopped.
“No, I don't. Don’t get me wrong, I'm not saying he's a good guy, I just think he might have some valid reasons for the things he’s done. And I certainly don't think he's as evil as Regina,” she admitted.
Henry shrugged.
“I don't trust him. And I don't think you should either... but until I figure out who he really is, I'm willing to keep an open mind.”
Emma had to giggle at how serious and grown-up Henry had sounded.
“Well, that's very mature of you, Henry,” she said, grinning.
Her stuck his tongue out at her.
Regina was waiting outside the Sheriff's office for them, a smug smile on her lips.
“Thank you, Sheriff. Henry it’s time to leave,” she ordered as she turned to leave.
The poor boy looked so depressed that Emma was unable to stop herself from saying, “Regina? Uh, I mean, Mayor Mills?”
Regina stopped and turned back to look at her.
Whatever she and Mr. Gold had discussed must have gone well for her. Emma wasn't used to seeing such a genuine smile on the mayor's face.
“What is it, Miss Swan?”
“Well, I was just wondering. I mean, if you could think about letting me and Henry have breakfast once a week? Just meet at Granny's to eat and then I'll walk him to the bus...”
The smile dropped off of Regina's face and she opened her mouth to give what would have probably been a very scathing retort.
Emma held up a hand to stop her.
“I miss him. And he misses me. Just think about it?” She begged.
“Please Mom? I promise I'll be extra good,” Henry whined, tugging on Regina's arm.
The Mayor looked at Henry and then back at Emma with narrowed eyes. Then a cold smile spread over her lips, and she was clearly content with the thought of having a new way to control them both.
“Alright. I'll think about it.”
And then they left.
Emma opened the door to her office, expecting to see Mr. Gold with the same smug smile that Regina had worn just minutes before. But she was wrong.
The man slouched on the bench in the cell looked tired, and broken. He held a chipped tea cup in his hands so gently, gazing at it as if it were the most precious item he had ever possessed.
Emma cleared her throat and he flinched. He looked angry at her, having seen him so vulnerable. Emma quickly thrust a peace offering through the bars.
He reached out a hand and snatched the chocolate ice cream cone away from her.
She let him eat in silence for a moment, leaning against the corner of her desk and crossing her arms.
“So, I guess Regina won whatever game the two of you are playing,” she commented, watching him carefully.
He stiffened for a minute, but only ignored her.
The quiet was getting to her. She had so many questions, but knew he would never willingly give anything away to her. Not if he could use it in the future.
“Henry told me not to trust you. He said that you are more evil than Regina.”
That drew a chortle from him.
“Out of the mouths of babes,” he said and then continued eating.
Emma smiled and uncrossed her arms.
“I think he's wrong,” she admitted.
“Then you are a fool,” he snapped, not bothering to look at her.
Emma simply nodded and looked down at her boots.
“Maybe, but maybe not.”
He ignored her again and she sighed.
“I thought he was right, until last night. I saw you beating a man. A man you blamed for killing someone… someone who was obviously important to you. That kind of passion, I'm gonna say it was a woman and that tea cup has something to do with her. That was what was missing from the other items I'd recovered. The tea cup. Regina must have got it somehow, and traded it to you for information. Giving up that information must have cost you a lot.”
“It was worth it,” he whispered, caressing the cup so lovingly that Emma felt a stab of what could have been jealousy. She shook it off.
“Regina has proven that it doesn't matter how important anyone is to her, she will willingly hurt them to get her way,” Emma stated, thinking of the many times Henry has suffered collateral damage at Regina's hands throughout his life.
She turned to stare out the window, thinking again of Henry and how she wished she could save him from this life. The guilt always threatened to suffocate her as she thought about her part in why he was stuck with the evil woman.
“You didn't know.”
His words broke through her inner pain and she was surprised to see that he had stood up from the bench and was standing at the bars, holding onto them as he watched her.
“What didn't I know?” she asked, voice hoarse with the tears she barely held in check.
“You didn't know when you gave up your boy that this is the life he would get.”
A tear slipped out and Emma looked away again.
“What, are you a mind reader now,” she asked harshly as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
He just shrugged.
She sighed and walked over to the cell.
“I don't know what Regina said or did to you. I don't know if you are like her or not. But I'm not like her. I'm not going to take advantage of you being in this cell to get the answers I need.”
Emma pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the cell.
“I thought you were supposed to hold me for twenty-four hours,” he said.
She shrugged.
“I know where to find you.”
She walked to her desk and plopped down onto her chair.
Her gaze turned back out the window, and she hoped he would leave before more tears fell. It had been a long time since she had allowed herself to remember the day Henry was born. The most lonely day of her life. But she'd already pulled the scab off of that wound and now it was time to deal with the aftermath.
When all remained quiet for a few minutes, she looked up to see that Mr. Gold had sat back down on the bench, though the cell door remained opened.
“Why aren't you leaving?” she asked, a bit harsher than she intended.
There was only a matter of seconds before the tears would come- unstoppable.
“I guess I'm just not ready to go back to my big lonely house.”
She turned her gaze to her desk and tried to take deep breaths in a vain attempt to keep the tears away.
“It was a warm Arizona Spring morning when you went into labor,” he said, his voice pulled her eyes to his and she was unable to look away.
“They allowed you to leave the prison long enough to give birth in a hospital. The warden wanted to handcuff you to the bed, but the doctor forbade it and threw her out. You were in labor for fourteen hours. There were tears, sweat, screams, pain, and a lot of blood... but then Henry came.”
Emma was shocked, completely speechless.
“I was in the hall, watching through the open door. Fourteen hours is a long time for a man with bad leg to stand, but I did it. I watched over you.”
She shook her head and swallowed, tears ran unchecked down her cheeks.
“You were so brave, and strong. You practically glowed with love as you whispered to Henry. Then came that terrible moment when the nurse took him away. You didn't watch her leave, but a few minutes later you gave in to the tears. Yes, just like that...”
She couldn't see. The tears blinded her, and sobs shook her whole body. Her arms wrapped themselves around her waist, a defense mechanism she had learned as a child. The only kind of hug she ever got before Henry came back into her life.
His hands were warm and strong as they grasped her wrists. He firmly pulled her arms away from her middle and wrapped them around his. She hadn't even known he'd moved, but now he was leaning on the desk in front of her. Her face was buried in his stomach and her arms wrapped round him, holding him tight.
His hands gently smoothed her hair as he let her cry.
It seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes later when Emma finally pulled away. He held a tissue box in front of her and she took several.
Again, he waited patiently as she blew her nose and cleaned up her face.
When she was done, he took one of her hands in his.
“You weren't alone that day Emma. I'm sorry I couldn't let you see me then, but I wanted you to know now.”
She didn't know what to say and was afraid that if she opened her mouth she would start crying again.
He backed away and started walking to the door.
“Are you evil? Is Henry right, or am I?” She blurted out in desperation.
He paused and turned back to look at her.
“You are right, but so is Henry. I'm not like Regina, but I do have an agenda and a great many have been hurt by it. I'm not a good man, Emma. But that doesn't mean I don't care.”
Emma sat still for long after he left. Her mind couldn't seem to process everything that had happened. As usual, Gold had left her with more questions than answers, but she didn't mind as much this time. There was a new warmth that had blossomed in her chest when she thought of him. He had been there to witness the most awful, lonely, moment of her life. He had stood in the hall on his bad leg for over fourteen hours as Emma had given birth just so she wouldn't be alone.
But why? Why did he care about her? Was he in love with her? And if he was, how long had it been? And how strong was that love? And what was his agenda?
She put her head in her hands, groaning as the pain of a post-tears headache began to descend.
Emma took a couple of aspirins out of her purse and stood up to get a water bottle, when it caught her eye.
The chipped china had been so important to him, that he had let Regina have the upper hand just to get it back. Yet, he had set it aside to comfort Emma and then left it behind completely.
She was in the cell, holding it in her hand when he came back.
“I've come back for my property, Sheriff,” he said, formally.
Emma brought it over and carefully placed it in his hand.
“Thank you,” he said and turned to go.
“Wait!”
He turned back to her with a quirked eyebrow.
“Yes?”
“Thank you. For... being there for me,” she said, hesitantly.
His face softened and he gave her a small smile before turning to leave again.
“Anytime.”
End