Neal strode towards his father with no clue what to say - what could he say? His father would never give up, he didn't, he'd never met anyone as persistent as Rumplestiltskin when it came to getting what they wanted. Of course, that'd be great if right now what he wanted didn't clash completely with what Neal wanted, which was to stay as far away as physically possible whilst still being close to Henry and Emma.

"Papa," he said cautiously stopping a good few feet away from his father who turned slowly at the sound of his voice.

"I'd thought you'd forgotten I was here, Bae."

"Don't. Don't call me that," Neal frowned, he didn't yell, he didn't have the energy to not when he was going to have to explain to his son in a minute exactly why he grew up without a father. "You know I didn't come back here for you. I came back to fix the mess you created of my life. My son's eleven and I never knew he existed because, due to your curse, I couldn't be with Emma. I don't want to fix us because I don't truly believed you've changed -"

"Baelfire, let me prove it to you, allow me show that I am the Papa you wanted," Rumplestiltskin practically pleaded with his son - he couldn't believe this, all this searching, all these years, and his son wanted nothing to do with him. He expected anger and hurt for he had broken a promise, a deal, after all - there was a reason he never allowed himself or anyone else to break them after that. A deal was a deal and he'd broken one to his son.

Neal opened his mouth but stop as Henry appeared at his side.

"So, Gold, what should I call you?"

Pressing his lips together, Neal looked over at his father but didn't allow him to speak, "Gold was just leaving Henry, we can figure that out at a later date, I'm sure."

The dismissal was clear and, though Rumpelstiltskin never allowed himself to be sent away, he headed his sons request. There would be no talking to his son when he didn't want to listen - he had been a stubborn child, Rumpelstiltskin didn't even want to think about how stubborn he would be as an adult. He sent a nod to everyone and limped his way to the door.

Neal looked down at Henry and clapped a hand on his shoulder as soon as the door shut. The kid was confused but Neal didn't really feel like getting into that right now as well though of course he knew he would at some point.

With the hand that was on Henry's shoulder, Neal steered his son back to the booth they were sat and warily caught Emma's critical hazel eyes.

"Are you going to join as, Ems?" The nickname slipped out with his meaning to and her eyes narrowed. "Emma."

She sighed heavily but grabbed her own mug and Henry's from where the kid had left it and slid into the booth next to Henry. Neal looked at Henry's drink and snorted.

"Oh god, your mother hasn't got you on that has she?" he asked exasperatedly, partly trying to put of the inevitable.

"What?" Henry was on the defensive and Neal couldn't help chuckle.

"Is that cinnamon in your hot chocolate I see?" Henry looked down at his drink before returning Neal's smile.

"How do you take yours?!"

"Don't," was Neal quick response with a small glance at Emma - she was smiling at Henry softly. "Never touched the stuff. Well, except when your mom forced me to drink a mug when we first met."

He heard Emma's soft laugh and couldn't help but glance over at her. It was nice to have her laughing at something he said again or a memory between them. Henry looked confused and Neal shook his head once he noticed the curious glint in his eye.

"What do you wanna know, Henry?" his voice was heavier now than it was before.

There was a long pause while Henry took a large gulp of hot chocolate.

"I want the truth. I wanna know why you left Mom," Henry was off and Neal looked down at the table, tracing the groves as he listened to what Henry needed to know. "How you met, I want the whole story!"

Neal nodded and looked at Emma. Her expression told him he was going to receive no help from her - she was still angry even though he'd done a bit of explaining to her.

"Alright, Henry, what do you know?"

"Nothing! Emma hasn't told me anything!" Henry complained and Neal frowned, why did Henry call his mum 'Emma'?

"About Baelfire?" Neal elaborated, hating the way the name sounded on his tongue after so many years.

"I know you're Rumplestiltskin's son and Milah's...who ran off with Captain Hook!" Neal spluttered and Emma shot him a concerned look but Henry was too busy rambling off all the facts he knew about his father's life. "You and your father were close until he became the Dark One and changed. He got worse and you tried to bring him here but he didn't come through the portal with you... something he severely regrets the moment the portal closed."

"Henry," Emma muttered, shaking her head but Neal glanced at the door at the titbit about his father. Henry was trying to get his family together, Neal thought with slight amusement but of course that's all a kid wants: a complete family.

Neal cleared his throat.

"Yeah, kid, that's good basics you have there," there was a pause as he tried to think about what to say next. "Um, okay. We'll just stick with how I met your Mom and that story, yeah?" - Henry nodded enthusiastically - "Mind your Mom may have viewed it differently. When we met, I was a thief, we both were, your Mom just out of the foster system. I had stolen this car and parked down some back alleys to get some sleep and, you know what you're Mom does? She comes and steals it - she stole a stolen car."

Henry laughed not seeming at all affected by the fact that his parents were thieves.

"Did you get caught?"

"No," Neal smiled. "We almost did but I had the keys and managed to get the driver to let your Mom off for speeding. In repayment, she agreed to get a drink with me. We fell in love" - Neal glanced up at Emma to see her face set in a neutral expression but there was a slight tilt to her lips as she listened to him tell their kid their story, "whilst pulling cons and driving around the country.

"We were going to stop though, we were going to stop and go to Tallahassee but one of my old crimes (one that I'd done before I met your Mom) was still about and we couldn't do it. You're Mom wasn't going to take no for an answer though - you know how stubborn she is I'm sure - so she plans to go get the watches from where I'd stashed them back when I stole them and we were going to sell them and then make a lives for ourselves..."

Neal faltered here.

"What happened then?!" Henry asked impatiently looking between his parents. "Why aren't you together then? What happened? ... Mom?"

Emma shook her head, this was Neal's story. He would tell it, how he saw and remembered it.

Neal sighed heavily.

"I was going to sell the watches and meet your Mom elsewhere but I ran into...someone who claimed to be a friend. He told me that you're Mom had a curse to break and that I would only stop her - I believed him...because he knew who I was. He knew I was Baelfire. I'm not proud of it. He convinced me to leave your mum 'or else bad things would happen'..." Neal paused and focused on Emma as he continued. "I never meant to let your Mom go to prison, that was never part of the plan, or at least as far as I was aware. I would never have allowed that had I known before it happened. Anyway, I left and fled to Canada, leaving the car and (once I'd sold the watches) the money to Emma."

Henry sat in silence, mulling over all the information his father had just thrust upon him, but Emma spoke up; forced herself to through all the confusion she was feeling. Neal had let her go to prison that was always the fact, part of her source of anger at him. She loved him and he left her to go to prison. It was his fault. That had always been the truth. That now was on its head; it now needed more thought.

"How much money was it?" Emma asked.

"100 grand, I think," Neal turned to look at her, having been studying Henry's face to see how his son felt about him now. He wanted to know Emma too but knew he really shouldn't try figure out what she was feeling - she'd tell him if she wanted him to know.

"I could have kept Henry," she muttered softly.

Her face crumpled and Neal wanted nothing more than to go round the table and comfort her, like she did for him back in New York, but he highly doubted his affection would be welcomed. . Henry had the comforting thing down for him though, wrapping his small arms around his mom's sagged frame. He still settled for reaching forward and resting a hand on hers - surprisingly she turned her hand over and gripped tightly. His brain caught up with him. Kept Henry. Emma hasn't told me anything. She gave Henry up...because she didn't have the money or the life situation to keep him.

"Neal? Neal? DAD?" Henry's voice cut through his thoughts and the anger that was begin to burn at August or Pinocchio, whatever he wanted to be called. "The car? Is it the bug?"

"Yeah," Neal smiled, rubbing circles on Emma's hand with his thumb, "yeah, it's the bug."

Henry grinned widely in response as his eyes looked on his parents hands.

P.S. Sorry if there's a mixture of Mom and Mum it's because I'm English so naturally I want to put Mum but obviously we're in an America setting so it needs to be Mom. I did try to change them all but I could have missed some along the way.