A/N: So I have always been a fan of Alice in Wonderland of various sorts. The Disney version is one of my favorites, and I followed an online web comic for years called When Curiosity Met Insanity. I simply love Wonderland, so when OUAT in Wonderland came out on ABC, I gave it a shot. I hadn't seen OUAT yet, and while I liked it, I found I didn't have time to keep up with it well, so it dropped out of my line up. Well, the other day Robin4 makes a comment about Cora making an appearance on the last episode and so what do I do? I go watch that episode. What happens next? I spent this whole last weekend catching up on OUAT in Wonderland. Heaven help me, plot bunnies attacked as soon as I saw the Jabberwocky and this is what is coming of it. This follows not long after All Falls Down, so it is AU (cannon divergence) post Coming Home out of OUAT, and may turn out to be AU of Wonderland too. Enjoy!

Chapter One.

Rumplestiltskin hadn't dreamt of his son falling through the portal in some time now. He had no reason to with Baelfire there as a constant reminder that he had, against the odds, been given a second chance to make things right. There had been many years when that was all he dreamt of. Small bits changed, but the dream stayed mostly the same night after night with Bae leading him out to that little clearing and he knew what was coming. The ground opened up beneath them and he could feel himself slipping. He grabbed onto Bae's hand, holding as tight as he could. This time. This was the time he'd hold on, no matter what. He wouldn't let go of his boy. This was it.

Bae's voice filled his ears above the roar of the open portal, and frighten eyes the same colour as his own looked up at him, begging and pleading and accusing. He was breaking the deal he'd made with the only person in all the worlds that had ever loved him. His son. His Baelfire. If he could shatter the bones in his ankle to be with a baby boy he hadn't even met yet, certainly he could hang on this time.

And then his hand slipped and Bae fell down and down and down into an endless hole with his cries echoing in Rumplestiltskin's ears, his own promise to that baby boy ripping at what was left of his cursed soul.

I'll never leave you Bae.

But he was gone, and even in his dream he clawed at the dirt where the hole had been and screamed his name, but he'd slipped away again.

"He wouldn't have slipped if you hadn't let go."

Rumple froze, knowing the voice anywhere and his eyes darted around what had turned to inky blackness. It was just a dream. Just a nightmare. It wasn't real. He stood, determined to find a way out and back to wakefulness when he found himself facing the owner of the voice. "Hello, laddie," his father greeted with a smile, but was gone like a wisp of smoke, there just long enough to send his son's heart racing wildly.

He stood there for what felt like ages, gasping and gulping in his breath and trying desperately to separate dream from reality. A shiver worked its way up his spine and he felt hands on either shoulder and the fears' origin became clear as she whispered in his ear, breath hot against his face. "I like a good challenge, Rumplestiltskin. And you, for all your fear, are a good challenge."

A smile perked his lips as power began to gather to his fingertips. "You always were a bit more confident than you should have been, dearie," he remarked and spun, the attack flying.

She wasn't there, but his eyes widened as the magic slammed into someone far more precious. Her laughter echoed in his ear. "You hide it well, Dark One, but I always know what you're afraid of."

He shot straight up in the bed, Bae's name on his lips and one hand reaching out, finding nothing but air in front of him. It took a moment for his mind to register that he was in his old bed - one rarely used when he lived here before - and Belle was startled awake next to him, sitting up and touching his shoulder. "Rumple?"

Dark eyes turned toward her and his breathing eased only a bit. "Just a dream," he managed after a moment.

Her hand didn't leave his arm and he finally turned to look at her again in the dim light. They were in the Dark Castle, having arrived the evening before with Bae, Emma, and Henry. The world was not ending, there was no war on, and no curse looming. Things were as peaceful as they got and she was certainly not whispering in his ear dredging up fears better left behind the best built walls.

"Will you tell me about it?" Belle asked carefully. As much as he was learning to trust, she had to remind herself not to push him.

When he did finally speak, his words were almost light, but it was a tone Belle knew well. "Just a nightmare about a creature I ran across once. Nasty woman that fed on fear."

"That sounds terrible."

Rumple shrugged, finally leaning back against the pillows and his dark eyes met clear blue. A smile tugged at his thin lips. "Certainly not a place I'd set our sights on for a getaway."

Belle couldn't help but echo his smile. "It was just a dream though? Not a… a vision of some kind?"

"I highly doubt it. The woman from my dream was well and truly taken care of when I left her little, annoying world. I made sure of that."

Belle leaned against him. "Did you kill her?"

The question wasn't accusatory, just curious and Rumple wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "No. I don't think she could be killed, but she's trapped for all of eternity. It's close enough. Nothing to fear there," he promised and kissed the top of her head. "Now, shall we see if the others are up?"

"I didn't realize it was morning already. You keep it so dark in here," Belle mused, looking to the heavy drapes that only let in a small sliver of light from the rising sun.

"Something that is sure to change with you back in the castle," Rumplestiltskin said with a grin. They'd yet to spend a night together in the Dark Castle since returning from Storybrooke the first time until this one. Belle had never actually seen his bedchamber and had teased him about having one at all if he hadn't slept before. He'd only smirked and reminded her that he hadn't slept often.

The bed was huge and oh-so-comfy, making it difficult to convince themselves that they really should get up. Belle hadn't felt so relaxed, so at home, in a long while. They'd been so caught up in this disaster and that threat recently that they'd barely had time to breathe. It seemed to be weighing on everyone in some form or fashion at Snow's palace, but it had actually come to magical blows between Rumple and Regina the day before they decided some space was needed. It wasn't that anyone was particularly worried about the two sorcerers doing any lasting damage to each other, but the structural integrity of the castle was something else entirely. The fact that it followed just on the heels of a yelling match with Snow only strengthened Belle's resolve to get her love away from it. She wanted to go home. They needed some time away. She hadn't needed to argue the idea too much.

It had helped that Bae had jumped on board so quickly, saying that Henry's birthday coming up in a week's time was the perfect excuse to take him to the Dark Castle, an adventure he'd been begging for for months.

When they did finally untangle themselves from the warm sheets and made their way down into the Great Hall, Henry was already down there, looking intently at the many pieces collected over the centuries. He perked as the doors opened and a wide grin spread across his face. "Morning!" he greeted.

"Find anything interesting yet?" Rumple asked as he moved to the table, taking a seat in his usual chair and watching his grandson continue to beam at all the new possibilities.

"Well, Dad told me not to go poking around too much without talking to you first and everyone just kind of crashed out once we got here last night. I think he thinks I'll get sucked into some magical box or something. Or fall through a portal. Or... I don't remember the other thing. Pretty sure he was just making stuff up by the end of it."

"There's a good chance not. I have quite a collection here."

Henry took a seat across the table from Belle on his grandfather's other side. There had rarely been more than one chair at the table before - sometimes two on the rare occasions that the Dark One and his princess-maid took their meals together - but certainly not five settings. He'd offered to build Bae a castle as a child, and now he welcomed him in the one he'd hid himself away in after their separation. It was no accident that he'd chosen one of the most secluded mountains to place the Dark Castle on, the passages often cut off by storms of snow and ice. It hadn't seen a soul that wasn't trying to barter some sort of deal out of him for many years - and sometimes no souls at all being that Rumplestiltskin had been quite certain his was used up at that point of time - until Belle's arrival. Now, though, his grandson sat at his table and his son slept in one of the many rooms. How times had changed.

"How are you liking it so far, Henry?" Belle asked, pulling Rumple out of his thoughts.

"It's great! Not quite as enchanted as I'd pictured, but hey, still cool. I didn't really know what to do about breakfast though… I couldn't find the kitchen."

Rumplestiltskin flicked his wrist and breakfast appeared in front of him in a poof of magical smoke. He watched the young teen's eyes grow wide and the grin that hadn't quite left broadened again. "That's awesome!"

"Not quite as enchanted as he'd pictured," Rumple groused, sounding almost offended as his own and Belle's breakfasts popped into place and she shot him a look.

"Are you saying that every time you made me breakfast before I was up you just poofed it into existence?"

"Of course not," Rumplestiltskin answered automatically. "Not every time."

"Do you know how pathetic you sound?"

Baelfire didn't care. The bed was warm and more comfortable than any he'd ever known and nothing Emma could do or say would make him want to get up. He tried to convey that, but the grumbles were muffled by the pillow and he only received a slap to the shoulder for his efforts.

"Henry'll be up already. I really don't want to find him sometime next week at the bottom of one of your dad's weird multi-dimensional-thingies."

This did cause one brown eye to slip open and Bae stared at her from around the lumps in the pillow. "Multi-dimensional-thingy?" he echoed and she hit him again.

"You know what I mean!"

"I really don't," he laughed, finally shifting so that he could prop himself up on one elbow and look at her as she stood over him. "Pop'll be up. He'll watch Henry."

"Yeah, because that's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Just… for once, Emma, relax," Bae pleaded and before the blonde knew it he was pulling her back down into the bed. It just didn't seem to end and she found herself laughing as she rolled over him, taking hold of his sleeping shirt and bringing him with her. Finally, the dungeon of fluff did end and they fell to the floor, Bae hitting first and Emma on top of him, both laughing. "See? No death, no destruction, but still fun," he grinned up at her.

"And you're up. Let's eat."

Bae groaned as she started to hop off, but he caught her. "Hey, just a second." He reached back, groping blindly behind him until his fingers latched onto a satchel he'd brought with him. He pulled it closer and looked up, finding hazel eyes staring back at him and his breath caught. He'd always loved her, he knew, even when he'd told himself he shouldn't, that he had to let her go to do what she was meant to. Now, over a decade later, she was there with him - back in the Enchanted Forest of all placed - and he was more certain than ever that he couldn't live without her. Possibly not for another moment. Don't let it matter, his papa had said when they'd spoken about his fears. If she loved him even half as much as he loved her, there was nothing to worry about.

"Neal, I'm hungry and -"

"Henry's fine. I have something I wanted to talk to you about before we go down." He pulled himself up so that he was sitting, leaned back against the bed. Emma leaned with him, the mirth seeming to wear off as she realized that she'd been waylaid again on her quest for food. "I kept telling myself that I wasn't going to plan anything, because I knew as soon as I did something would get in the way… like it has been every other time I think I've got it covered." He took a deep breath, steeling himself and digging deep for the courage he needed. "But I don't have it covered. I'm never going to have it all covered, so I decided that I'd just know when the time was right." He gave a short laugh, pulling out a small box from the bag. "This is definitely not the way that I thought I'd be asking this, but I just can't wait. You and me… we've waited too long."

Emma froze, eyes fixated on the box as he spoke. She took it numbly as he all but pushed it into her hands.

"I should have asked you years ago, Emma. I shouldn't have ever let you go. I was so… stupid, but I'm not going to make that mistake again, I swear. Never again."

Her fingers worked the top open and the early morning light caught the diamond.

"I just want to spend forever with you," he finished his awkward, bumbling speech and their eyes met. "I love you, Emma."

And then there was silence. Painful, long, terrible silence. He hadn't realized he was holding his breath until the ache began and he was forced to let it out even before she spoke. It seemed like an eternity and she shook her head very slowly. "Neal... I just… can't."

"Why not?" He hadn't meant for his voice to sound so small, so wounded.

She snapped the lid closed and handed it back to him, standing. "I think I need a walk. Save some breakfast for me."

Bae watched as the woman he loved walked out the door, leaving him sitting on the floor with the ring he'd bought for her in his hands. She didn't want him. She didn't love him. The world came crashing down around him and he was sure he had never known pain quite like it before.

Magic did a great many things in the Dark Castle. It took care of the basic cleaning - there was no way that one person would be able to clean all of the rooms alone, no matter if she'd been given the task to do so by the castle's master or not - cooking, and maintenance. Rumplestiltskin always had access to who was coming and going - that particular spell having been cast just after the whole Robin Hood incident - and could quickly find the location of any visitors that he might have had.

Rumple had begun to wonder if his son and Emma would be joining them for breakfast at all as minutes turned to hours. Belle was telling Henry a story about an experiment gone wrong from their time before the Dark Curse when a small tug at his magic alerted him that someone had left through one of the doors and into the gardens. He closed his eyes, searching, and found Emma Swan alone out there. His focus shifted to find Bae hadn't left the room at all.

"You made him clean it?" Henry asked with a grin as Belle wrapped up the story.

She shrugged. "His mess. I might have helped a little, but only because that was technically my job."

"Oh you were far past that by that point, sweetheart," Rumple murmured as he stood. "Why don't you show Henry around a bit?"

"Where are you going?" she called after him, but he was halfway out the door by the time the words chased after him.

Rumple was standing at his son's door almost instantly. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed the particular magic that had been woven into every stone of the Dark Castle. There was no need to teleport from room to room or even wing to wing. One might open a door in the westernmost part of the castle and land themselves in the east. The corridors shifted as needed, obeying better for those that possessed magic rather than those that didn't, but he'd found a way to manipulate the spell to obey Belle's wishes, so certainly he could do the same for Bae. Henry had likely manipulated the halls and never noticed he was doing so. Not as enchanted as he pictured indeed, Rumple grumbled mentally once more as he wrapped his knuckles against the thick, wood door.

Silence was the only response. Well, Emma had indicated that Bae's distaste for mornings hadn't been dampened by the centuries. Rumple shook his head, a teasing quip in his tongue about it as he pushed the door open. The jest never made it out as he found his son awake, sitting on the bed and staring blankly out the window. "Bae?" he called instead, his voice soft as he inched forward.

Baelfire blinked then, looking like he might not have done so in a while. "Papa."

Rumplestiltskin froze, certain that something was terribly wrong but not quite sure what that something was. His dark eyes studied the younger man quickly, taking in the slump of his shoulders, the pained expression he wore, and the small box tightly gripped in his hand. He let out a long breath and stepped forward as the pieces fell together. "You asked her," he breathed, hoping somehow that he was wrong.

"She said no." Bae pulled in a shaky breath, looking as if he were holding himself together by just a few threads. His eyes met his father's. "I don't know what to do, Papa."

The invitation - the plea - was out there and Rumple moved further into the room and took as seat next to his son. He was no stranger to that terrible ache that accompanied a broken heart. It could eat you up inside if you let it. He'd seen it happen to many a soul that had called on him - love kills more than any disease - and he'd felt it himself. He'd never handled it well, no matter how many times his darken heart had cracked and felt near to shattering. He buried the pain beneath hate, the desperation for something better beneath violence and manipulation of others. He had no words to make this better for his boy. Even more terrifying was that he knew there were no words of wisdom to alleviate the pain. There were spells, certainly, but none that he'd ever offer to his Baelfire. One might as well rip their own heart out as to take the potion he'd given Snow White once.

So with nothing that he could say, no magic that could do more than cover it up to deal with later, Rumplestiltskin listened as Bae stumbled through the raging emotions. "I just... It's different now. Even when I was a kid we didn't really look for a happy ending, you know. Not like people like Emma's parents do."

Bae's eyes flickered over, watching his father's reaction and Rumple shrugged. "We weren't exactly royalty," he offered. "Our happy ending in those days was survival."

"Maybe I've just been around it so much, but I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could reach that, you know? I love her, Papa. I tried to convince myself I didn't and all it got me was a ticket out of her and Henry's lives." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "She didn't even tell me why."

"Perhaps she just needs time," Rumple offered carefully. "Your Emma is stubborn, especially when she's afraid."

"But Emma's not afraid of anything," Bae murmured with a smile that said he didn't believe the words for a moment.

"She puts up a good front," his father agreed.

Bae flipped the box open, dark eyes focused on the ring. "I love her so much, Papa. I thought when she said she wanted to try again and then stayed... I guess I misread it."

Rumplestiltskin stood. "I've seen a lot of people claim True Love over the years, son. Some had it, some didn't, but one thing is certain in everyone who really has found it."

"What's that?"

"It's powerful, and most certainly worth fighting for."

A small smile perked Baelfire's lips. "Thanks, Papa."

"Anyway, you two have Henry as match-maker. Even Emma Swan doesn't stand a chance."

This brought an actual laugh from his son and Bae stood, wrapping his arms around his papa in a tight hug. Rumple returned it. He might have missed more years than he would have ever wanted to in his boy's life, but he was determined to be there for him now.

"She said no."

Belle perked from her corner and her book. She'd brought him up to the library to show him the rows and rows of tomes and maps and various other assortments half an hour before, but when his grandfather hadn't returned with his dad and mom like he'd expected, Henry had found a window to peer out. It gave him the barest view of the side garden, one magically protected from the piles of snow that had been laid over the front courtyard the night before. It had been the blonde hair that gave the answer away, because that was the only thing that would have caused his mom to be out there alone, missing breakfast, and the only reason why his dad wasn't either with her or with him. He'd asked and she'd said no.

"Said no to what?"

The question caused Henry to tilt his head. "Dad asked Mom to marry him and she said no. Look."

His grandfather's girlfriend stood, her shoes tapping against the stones very lightly as she walked over and joined him in his spying. A frown touched her lips. "You don't know that's what's happened. You don't even know he was asking her today."

"He was going to some time while we were here."

"Did he tell you?"

"No, but it was really obvious. He's been dancing around it for weeks."

Belle gave him a knowing smile. "And you just knew?"

"Well… Gramps may have mentioned something to Grandma Snow who may have accidently let it slip to me." His own smile was rather forced. "But that she said no… Yeah. I just know Mom. She's a hero. She can face anything, but she's scared of getting hurt again, so she protects herself. Dad does it too sometimes. Grandpa too. I guess our whole family kind of hides behind walls, huh?"

"Emma will fit right in."

Henry felt his smile grow a little more real. "You're really brave though. You're not scared to show anything."

"That's not entirely true. I'm afraid of a good many things, I just try to face my fears as best as I can."

"Me too. I guess we'll be the odd ones on this side of the family, huh?"

"We'll just add a little balance is all," Belle said sweetly.

Henry leaned against the window, unable to see his mother past the walled off garden now. He wondered if she'd done that on purpose somehow. "I like our family. It's fun."

"There's certainly never a dull moment."

The teenager sighed. It was going to be a quiet morning. He'd both been looking forward and dreading his father's eventual proposal since Grandma Snow had told him that his dad had asked for Gramp's blessing. Not his permission, though, his grandmother had been so adamant about that fact that he hadn't quite understood why. Maybe it was something he was expected to relay to his mother when it all came out, but he couldn't be sure. Either way, he'd known it was coming and knew it was either going to be the best fourteenth birthday he could ever have hoped for… or he'd watch his family crumble around him because Mom was clinging to the past like it was her lifeline.

He excused himself, needing a few minutes alone to piece together everything that was happening around him. Belle was great and someone he didn't think of any less of as family just because his grandfather seemed to have the same nervousness about actually asking as his dad did, but his brain was spinning like mad trying to convince himself that it could still turn out okay in the end.

Why are you so nervous?

Because I have the benefit of a little more… life experience.

Henry wrinkled his nose as he walked down the corridor, noticing one opening up out of the corner of his eye, but he ignored it. Three years later and maybe it should worry him a bit that he was starting to understand what his grandfather had meant.

Things don't always happen the way we want them to.

He wanted to talk to his grandpa now. Part of him wanted ask him what he could See in this case. Would his mom come around? Maybe she needed a nudge. Should he give her a nudge in that direction, just had he had the whole time he was trying to convince her that the Curse was real?

He stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, a thought striking him. What if she never did and this really would shatter their fragile family?

"There's always a way," Henry breathed, setting his determination so that it wouldn't waver again. That's what Grandma Snow would have told him. Gramps too. He just had to believe and he'd find it. After all, he was in an enchanted castle and there was bound to be something that could inspire him on how to fix this fiasco. They were each other's True Loves, he just needed something that would remind them of that.

It was then that Henry realized that he was completely lost. The hall he'd just come through didn't look the same as when he'd passed through it and he was certain that the door to the left was new. Well, he decided, he had to start looking for inspiration somewhere.

The door gave a loud screech as he pushed against it and it opened up into a room that looked like it hadn't been used in years. Maybe centuries. Pieces of furniture of various sorts were scattered, covered in an array of bedsheets. A musty smell hit him immediately and his centuries theory became set.

He moved through the room, peeking under sheets and looking through drawers. He found what looked like could have been a box of half-written spells, a wand that most likely had not originally belonged to his grandfather, and a little hand-held mirror that seemed to be able to read his mind as to what he wanted to see. Emma's face appeared and Henry felt his chest clench at the obvious stress she was under. It faded over to his father almost immediately, sitting with his grandfather and looking that much worse.

"Don't worry guys, I'll help remind you," he swore, setting the mirror down and looking around for the next chest or drawer to dig through.

The next sheet he pulled wasn't off of anything like that though. It was a looking glass, standing taller than Henry and oval. The glass didn't have a speck of dust on it, despite its location, and it appeared to shimmer when he leaned in. "What are you?" the teen asked, reaching towards it. His hand pressed straight through the glass and he could feel air on the other side. His eyes grew as he pulled it back out and he let out a low whistle. Slowly, bordering somewhere between care and curiosity he leaned towards it and the tip of his nose touched what should have been solid. He kept leaning, hands on either side of the frame to brace himself and finally he pressed his face through the portal and opened his eyes. It was a tunnel of sort, made up of things that filled dreams. Suddenly he was through it, his careful hold on the mirror gone, and he was falling.

TBC