A/N: Sorry about the wait but I'm a very lazy person, and I was annoyed at myself for something I wrote in the previous chapter and it's been gnawing at me. I'm still not over it, but I'm getting better. This is a fairly short chapter but at least it's something.

Chapter VI

Rumplestiltskin tapped his claw-like fingernails on the console and the gate began dialling at his silent command. When the wormhole erupted he did not flinch or shy away. The darkened forest lit up with shimmering light as the vortex puddled. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the unsettled faces of the people he would come to know. Rumplestiltskin stepped up to the gate and stroked the surface of the vortex with his hand. It felt neither warm nor cold, but strangely hollow and electric. It reminded him of a portal from Wonderland he'd made for a traveller a long time ago. He had fashioned it from a large mirror and it had given off similar water like effect when activated. Once the traveller had passed to the Enchanted Forest with his daughter he had turned it back into a mirror and brought it home. He later heard that the same traveller had gotten himself stuck in Wonderland again after making a foolish deal with the Evil Queen.

John and Teyla walked up and stood on either side of him. John sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Well, I thought I'd let you go through first in case your soldiers on the other side decide to open fire." Rumplestiltskin smirked.

John startled and walked up and faced him. "How do you know about Atlantis?"

"My dear, I've been around long enough to pick up on a few tales and stories of the olden days."

When he failed to explain further John became impatient. "You know you're not exactly gonna be welcome when you get there. What are you going to do when Dr Weir, she's our boss, tries to dump you on the nearest rock?"

"We'll see about that."

John and Teyla glanced at each other, both conceding to the fact that getting a straight answer out of Rumplestiltskin was next to impossible.

"Can we please go now?" McKay groaned and John suddenly noticed night had fallen. Above them the trees rattled and creaked as if waving goodbye. John cast one last look at Rumplestiltskin before stepping through the vortex and was quickly followed by McKay and a scowling Ronon. Teyla turned towards Rumplestiltskin and gave him a half-smile. She felt like she was walking through a dream and was quite happy to find out where it might lead. He smiled back a little hesitantly and watched her step through the gate. Rumplestiltskin took one last deep breath in the forest he'd been residing for almost one thousand years and followed her through.

xxxoooxxx

The smell of the ocean washed over him the moment he came through the gate. He left his eyes closed and let his senses roam. The smell of salt and Naquadah, humans and a far distant land, as well as the sound of boots and guns running around him. Rumplestiltskin opened his eyes and couldn't help but let out a giggle and clasp his hands together at the sight of about twenty men with guns foolish enough to stand against him. His eyes drifted over the room and landed on a beautiful stain glass window above a staircase aglow with ancient writings alike those on the Stargate. Rumplestiltskin couldn't stop smiling as he bounded passed the soldiers, who looked very nervous and trigger happy, and ran up the stairs to the window. He stopped and pressed his palms against the cold glass of the window and felt the vibrations racking through the city. The city was moving ever so slightly and not from the sea it was resting on.

"Getting acquainted with your new surroundings?" A familiar voice asked and the one called Sheppard stepped out from the ranks. Rumplestiltskin kept his gaze on the wide expanse of water ahead of him and was about to answer something vague when an eager looking woman ran up and stopped right behind John. Her eyes were skirting between both of them in a curious and fearful manner. "So who's our guest?"

John thoughtfully rubbed the back of his neck before answering with an exasperated sigh. "Dr Weir this is Rumplestiltskin." At her incredulous and widening eyes he added, "Don't ask."

"Rumplestiltskin from the old children's story?" She asked with a lot less doubt and surprise than John would have expected. But then, she had always been fairly opened minded.

"What story would that be?" Rumplestiltskin tilted his head minutely and frowned and a mischievous grin formed on his lips.

"You know, spinning straw into gold and all of that." John filled in. "Stealing babies and such."

Rumplestiltskin turned to him and locked him with a fiery glare, a warning and a threat apparent in his eyes as he reached out his hand and poked John in the chest. The guns were re-aimed at him but Rumplestiltskin merely giggled and never took his eyes of John. "Those stories are from another world, how do you know about them?"

John frowned. "Through storybooks and bedtime stories." He tried to swap Rumplestiltskin hand away but it wouldn't budge and all he got for his efforts was another insane giggle.

"Stories and ideas have been known to transcend both planes and lands…" Rumplestiltskin muttered more to himself than to John. He poked John slightly harder in the chest before shoving him a few steps back and returned his gaze to the sea.

John took a stepped back in place and Rumplestiltskin glanced at him from the side. "So you really are Rumplestiltskin?"

"Yes!" Rumplestiltskin snapped but then grinned and began moving his hands thoughtfully over each other. "Yes, I am Rumplestiltskin."

Dr Weir was moving behind them. "How did you get here? To this world I mean." She was rather excited and frightened at the same time as she spoke.

When Rumplestiltskin spoke he returned his gaze to the sea, not wishing to discuss the matter. "I came here through a portal of sorts, a long time ago."

When he didn't elaborate further she prodded, "How was the portal opened? Was it a natural phenomenon or was it manufactured?"

Rumplestiltskin redirected his gaze to his fingers, which he seemed to find more interesting than Dr Weir's line of enquiry. She stared at him for a while but when she realised he was not going to answer she looked almost pleadingly at John who shrugged. He frowned as a question came into mind. "How did you know about Atlantis if you're not from this world?"

"You ask too many questions, dearie." Rumplestiltskin quipped though his eyes betrayed a hint of anger. "Questions with answers not for yours to be given I might add."

"We need to know how you came about the knowledge of Atlantis." Dr Weir said impatiently while stepping around John and faced Rumplestiltskin. "And who else might know."

"Worry you not." Rumplestiltskin said in an aggravating sing-song voice that conveyed that he didn't care one bit about their petty concerns or any possible threat that they might pose to him. "What I know stays with me and me alone. Unless…"

"Unless what?" Dr Weir asked filling with dread.

"Unless something of equal value is offered in return for said information. A deal can always be struck if both parties have and want something the other has."

"What do you want?"

Rumplestiltskin's grin faded and he tilted his head considering what she and her people had to offer. He knew they were a people who had turned to technology instead of magic and that they knew enough to travel between planets. Maybe they knew enough…

"Find a way to send me back to my world and I'll tell you all I know and I'll help you on the way." Rumplestiltskin decided not to mention the fact that he neither knew nor really cared much about their affairs.

"How can you help us?" Dr Weir asked looking indecisive and crossed her arms.

"Well he did turn the gate invisible and knocked Ronon on his ass." John injected and Rumplestiltskin grinned widely at the memory. "He also knew our names."

"Do we have a deal?" Rumplestiltskin asked while giggling and looked and sounded rather manic.

Dr Weir looked at John who shrugged again indicating that the decision was in her hands. She swallowed audibly before saying, "Yes, we have a deal."

Rumplestiltskin clapped his hands together making them all start and giggled loudly while rocking slightly on the heels on his feet. The sly look in his eyes made Dr Weir want to go back in time since she felt like she'd missed something important.

"I suppose you don't have a contract I could sign with all the small print written out?" She half joked and Rumplestiltskin's eyes widened and he smiled crookedly.

"Clever girl." He waved his hand in the air and produced a long parchment in a cloud of purple smoke. "Clever albeit a bit slow since you have already verbally agreed to the terms of the deal and once accepted it can't be reversed."

"But I didn't know what I was agreeing to!" She exclaimed while studying the contract with an increasingly worried expression.

"Well that's not my problem, now is it?" His rather pleased voice was beginning to grade on John's nerves. "How could you have her agree to a deal without giving her all the details first?"

Rumplestiltskin smirked and fastened him with an incredulous glare. "How could I? Because it serviced my needs, dearie. Don't be so naïve to think that anyone does anything without thinking about themselves first."

John was about to reply when Dr Weir exclaimed, "This says you only have to help us when you feel the need is great enough and that you won't relay any information if you deem it irrelevant." She looked at him with shocked and angry eyes and Rumplestiltskin couldn't help but laugh at the hurt look on her face making John glare at him.

"As is within my right. I said I'd help you, just not when and where."

"This is unfair." Dr Weir said angrily and rolled up the contract. "You should have told me what was in store."

Rumplestiltskin shrugged noncommittally before snatching the contract out of her hands and turning it back into purple smoke. "Perhaps… But here we are and we should make the best of it." Rumplestiltskin stepped around her and looked at the nervous looking soldiers. "If you've read the contract carefully you also know what will happen if you break our deal."

Dr Weir stiffened. "Yes, I know." She glanced over at John who had walked up to Rumplestiltskin. "Col. Sheppard will show you to one of our guest quarters. I'm sure you'll find it acceptable."

"After nine hundred years in a forest I'm sure I will." Rumplestiltskin muttered. John pointed to his right and Rumplestiltskin led the way out of the Gateroom, seemingly knowing the way which unnerved both John and Dr Weir. When Lorne made to follow them John waved him of and hurried after Rumplestiltskin who were a few paces ahead of him.

As soon as they were out of hearing range Dr Weir turned to McKay who had been watching the exchange from a safe distance behind the soldiers.

"McKay I'm gonna need you, Teyla and Ronon to tell me everything that happened on the planet." She looked a bit hesitant. "Do you believe this…person really is Rumplestiltskin?"

"What! Of course not!" McKay waved his hands exasperatedly and looked insulted by the very idea. "Rumplestiltskin is a fairytale character. This guy's just some alien or whatnot using the name, like the Goaul'd used the names of the old gods."

"Then how does he pull things out of thin air? Does he have some hidden device or is he really using…magic?" She sighed and dragged her hand over her forehead.

"The answer to the first question doesn't make any sense, so how about we skip that one." McKay answered counting the questions of on his fingers. "The second is probably not and the third… let's just skip that one as well, shall we?"

"I know it all seems absurd but we really need to know. Whoever, or whatever he is, I'm going to need you find out."

xxxoooxxx

John and Rumplestiltskin walked in silence through the halls of the city and the few people they met looked at them suspiciously and stepped out of their way. Rumplestiltskin looked after them with amusement in his eyes. When they passed through the park area he suddenly stopped. He shut his eyes and let the whispers carried by the wind wash over him and smiled at the familiar sounds coming from the mainland. The sound of barley moving in the soft wind and the rattling leaves of the aspen trees in the morning breeze. The ocean wrapped it all in salt and drowned out the smell of petrichor and grass. There was movement next to him and he heard a familiar voice belonging to a person he had almost forgotten was there. "Do you miss the forest? I imagine this place must be quite different."

"Indeed. The forest was very quiet and I miss the solitude." He opened his eyes and gazed over at John who looked slightly taken of guard. When they resumed walking Rumplestiltskin smirked, "You remind me of a man I met in Wonderland."

"You remind me of my niece's maths professor at Berkley, but I don't hold that against you." John grinned at Rumplestiltskin's confused expression. "He's a very difficult man to get along with."

Rumplestiltskin nodded and John continued. "McKay will want to talk to you about this magic business." Rumplestiltskin groaned and John added, "I suggest you're nice to him since he's probably the only one who can figure out a way to send you home."

They reached the residential towers and stopped in front of a door which John opened and gestured to Rumplestiltskin to enter. The room was sparsely decorated with a bed, bedside table, desk and a few chairs as well as a black couch and a large nearly empty bookcase at the left hand wall. When Rumplestiltskin hesitated to enter John said, "We're not gonna lock you in. You're free to come and go as you please as you are our guest."

Rumplestiltskin glanced at him and grinned knowingly. "You couldn't keep me as a prisoner if you wanted to. Technology will never neat magic."

"Magic…right." John frowned and began backing away. "I'll leave that for McKay and Beckett to argue over. See ya. I have an assignment tomorrow to prepare for."

John turned and walked away when Rumplestiltskin called out, "Do be careful, dearie. You never know what might be lurking in the forest."