~: Mr. Gold :~

Mr. Gold sat resting his leg in his shop. The late afternoon was sinking into twilight just as a chime clinked. He looked up to find the Sheriff walking into his shop, holding paperwork.

"Ah, Sheriff Swan," he said, standing. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Your court date," she said dryly, dropping the paperwork on his desk.

"Thank you for the lovely reminder," he remarked, taking the papers off his desk. He was done with her. It had been a long day. He was tired. He was waiting for the store to close so he could leave for the day and go home to another sleepless night. When she hesitated, he asked, "Is there anything else you need, Ms. Swan?"

"Yes, actually," she stepped forward. "I'm curious about something."

"And what would that be?" he inquired.

"I talked to Mr. French."

Mr. Gold's jaw went immediately rigid.

She leaned against the counter, hands folding in front of her. "He told me that he had a daughter."

"You sure know how to dig up past problems, Ms. Swan," Mr. Gold ground out, steel in his voice. He did not want to bring up this subject now. "I don't think I can answer your questions anymore today, so if you'll excuse me." He gestured for her to leave.

She ignored him, "She was institutionalized a while back?" she leaned farther forward, staring intently at his face.

Mr. Gold didn't meet her piercing gaze, glowering away at a corner of his cluttered shop. This nosy law officer was going too far this time.

"Do you know what happened to her, Mr. Gold?"

He closed his eyes. He knew all too well what had happened to her. "She died, Ms. Swan. She died," his voice cracked, and immediately hardened again, "Now would you please leave?"

The door chimed again. "Emma!"

"Kid," the Sheriff turned to face the little prince who ran into the shop.

"I saw your car outside. I have to talk to you," he tugged on Emma's jacket.

"Kid what are you doing here?" she looked back at Mr. Gold, who was more grateful for the distraction then he would ever admit. "What happened to your forehead?" her voice turned to concern as she brushed his hair away to reveal a large goose egg.

"I got it playing around at recess," he said dismissively, moving back to the obviously more important topic he'd escaped his adoptive mother to tell Emma about, "This is serious! It's about Operation Cobra!" he insisted.

"Alright, alright, what're you on about?" she smiled affectionately at him. He remembered with a pang what it was to smile at one's own child. Mr. Gold immediately took up being interested in another corner of his shop, pretending to not listen.

"The Evil Queen is keeping captives in the basement of the hospital!" Henry whispered loudly up at the Sheriff.

Mr. Gold's ears pricked up. Madam Mayor had been sloppy recently. She'd let Henry discover a secret? Something he could hold over her wicked, deceitful head? He was already furious that he was in trouble with the law due to her interference, and that she now knew he remembered everything as well as he did. He thought that her Majesty could stand for a little pay back.

"What?" Emma asked, sounding almost as curious as Mr. Gold felt, crouching down next to him.

"There are people in the hospital that Regina doesn't want found," Henry repeated excitedly, "There's an ogre guarding the entrance and everything!" Mr. Gold blinked in surprise. An, ogre? Guarding the entrance? The little prince might on to something, he thought, still pretending not to overhear their conversation. What would Regina need an ogre to hide?

"Kid, kid, I don't think there is a basement in that hospital," the Sheriff tried to calm him down, "I've looked at the floor plans, remember? When David went missing?"

"I know, because it's secret! Look!" the boy was dragging off his back pack, grabbing a little bit crinkled manila folder out of it. "I grabbed this down there." He handed it to her.

"What is this?" Ms. Swan asked him sternly, taking the file from him and opening it.

"It's a file- it's for a captive down there," the boy continued, "I found it in the nurse's desk! We need to save her!" The boy was heroic, just as his child had been. Did youth never consider self preservation?

"Henry, we need to take this back," the Sheriff said seriously, standing up.

"But!" he looked at her with betrayal in his eyes, "Don't you believe me?"

"Of course I do," she said, offering him her hand, which he promptly took, "That's why we have to go investigate," Emma grinned conspiratorially at Henry, who grinned back.

"See you later, Mr. Gold," Henry called, and the Sheriff nodded at him as the pair of them left out his front door, the bell chiming their absence.

"Good luck to the both of you," he smiled as the door swung shut. Whatever was down there, the Sheriff and her son were going to go stir up trouble. All that Ms. Swan had done the entire time she had been in Storybrooke was stir up trouble for her Majesty the Queen, and Mr. Gold could not particularly find it in himself to complain. He grinned maliciously, touching his fingertips together and wondered what would happen this time.