Part 1: Being Left Behind

"He's come to kill Henry." Neal said to the group as Rumpel stood in saddened stillness as each of the members quickly turned against him.
"I mean no harm. I will not try to stop your journey or hurt any of you. I came all this way to die saving Henry. Now I have a way that can save him and me without anyone else getting hurt."
"Why should we believe you now?" Emma asked with her sword raised.
Rumpel looked from the angry faces of the Charmings, the smug resentment of Hook and Regina, and the utter betrayal plastered on Bae's face and knew that nothing he could say would ever be enough.
"Here, take the box. I will stay here." Rumpel said in a quiet voice.
"Just like that? No fight, Crocodile?"
"Quiet, Hook." Emma said as she lowered her sword and moved closer to Rumpel.
"You're telling the truth. But why would you stay here? If you mean what you say then shouldn't you be the one to face Pan?"
"It was my intention but I now know that anything I say or try to do will never be accepted at face value. This is your son, Miss Swan, you should wield the box...and I will remain on the island."
Neal looked away from his father's grim face. The others looked at one another in confusion.
"What about Belle?" Emma asked.
Rumpel looked up at her question. "Tell her that I love her very much, and that even if I can't find a way back to her... maybe one day she'll find a way to me. But if she doesn't I understand and only want her to find love again."
Snow looked at Charming and gave him a look that he only wished he didn't understand.
"No. If Emma says you're telling the truth then you are. We didn't listen to her about Tamara and Greg, and we lost Henry because of it. We will trust her now. If we can allow Hook to walk with us after everything that he has done then you deserve the same benefit." Charming said as he neared Rumpel and held out his hand.
Rumpel stared at the prince in disbelief.
"You can't be serious!" Neal said as he walked closer.
"I am very serious. You're father is the reason that I am with my wife and daughter."
"He's also an integral reason why you were separated to begin with!" Regina exclaimed.
"True. But you were the one to cast the curse and benefit from our misery for 28 years." Snow stated fiercely. "He at least was trying to reunite with his just wanted to win."
Regina stared at Snow as if she was going to throttle her.
Rumpel took the given silence as an opportunity to shake David's hand before placing the box in his other.
"Thank you Charming and Snow but I fear that my presence is not really trusted in this endeavor." He said as he pointedly looked at Bae.
"Son, I am sorry that I hurt you. I am sorry that you have nothing but contempt left toward me. I am sorry that I am the reason that our relationship was destroyed. I will always love you no matter what, and I am just glad I got to see you alive and well one last time." Rumpel said as he quickly vanished in a puff of purple smoke. Everyone looked around to see where he had vanished, but he was already gone.

Two Days Later Back in Storybrooke

The Jolly Roger pulled into the harbor and everyone in town gradually made their way to the docks. Belle ran ahead of the townspeople as she raced to the front. She spotted Emma and her parents along with Henry and Regina. Soon Hook, Neal, and a blonde woman with a little girl followed. Where was Rumpel?
"Where is he?" Belle asked in a desperate voice as she approached the group. None of the members knew quite how to talk .
"Belle, he stayed behind." Emma finally said as she put a hand on Belle's shoulder.
"What? Why? We had a way for everyone to come back safe including Rumpel."
Neal came forward. "He chose to stay. We couldn't risk him hurting Henry and he ..."
Belle came forward and slapped Neal across the face. Everyone stilled in shock.
"How dare you! He went to that Godforsaken place ready to die for Henry. He told me as much when he left me here. But then he found a way to save everyone and he was ready to come back to me. Ariel told me as much. You left him! He went there to honor you and you left him!"
Belle was crying now and shaking uncontrollably. Snow moved to comfort her but Belle pushed her away.
"I will find a way to him. I will be with him again and whether you like it or not, Baelfire, I'm bringing him back." She said with such fire that Neal was actually a bit afraid.
Belle stormed off. She would need Ariel's help.

"Belle, I don't know if you'd survive a swim through the realms. I would hold onto you the whole time, but I've never taken a human through so many magical channels."
"Well, there's a first time for everything. I'm not afraid."
"But we are." Came the voices of Anton, Leroy, and Ruby.
Belle turned around to meet their worried eyes.
"Belle, you could die. Gold wouldn't want that for you." Ruby said as she went to stand in front of her friend.
'No one decides my fate but me. I don't care how dangerous this mission is, I will swim to Neverland. He needs me, and I need him.
"You're sure then. There's no way we can talk you out of this?"
Belle walked behind the pawn shop counter and retrieved the small teacup. She traced the chip with her finger before putting the cup in her small back pack.
"I have been separated from him too many times. Nothing will come between us ever again. I won't allow it. I am going and that's the end of the discussion."
None of them knew what to do or say. "Alright, Belle. I'll take you." Ariel decided.
"Ariel, don't help her with this." Ruby begged with tears in her eyes. Ariel patted Ruby on her shoulder.
"I have to help her. She deserves her chance at a happy ending especially after helping me gain mine."
Belle walked up and hugged Ruby and then Leroy and Anton.
"I am sorry but this is the only way."

Belle put on her blue lace dress that she knew was Rumpel's favorite and a white cardigan.
Ariel was already in the harbor water waiting for Belle to jump in.
"Belle! Belle! Wait!" The Charmings and Neal were running toward her. Belle quickly put her backpack on, held her breath, and jumped into the water.
Once she was in, she swam over to Ariel. "We have to go now!"
Ariel nodded in agreement and then took them under.
The Charmings and Neal finally made it to the dock only to find a lone book floating on the water's surface.
"Oh no! She'll surely die!" Snow exclaimed in horror. The Blue Fairy was making her way over to them.
Neal stared down at the water feeling a heavy weight of guilt pressing down on him.
"It's my fault. I should have..."
"Neal, don't do that to yourself. I'm sure she'll be fine and so will your dad." Emma said.
"Yes. She will be fine. I made sure of it." Blue said as she finally stood with the group.
"How?"
"I gave her a special amulet that will allow her to survive the journey. She will make it safely to Neverland. Since Pan is dead, she will be safe with her...true love." She said with a bit of incredulity.
"But what's the price of that magic, Blue?" Tinkerbell asked as she seemed to appear from nowhere.
"The price is that she can never come back."
The Charmings looked at Blue as if they were seeing her, really seeing her, for the first time.
"You made sure that was the price, didn't you?" Emma asked in disbelief.
Blue had the decency to look ashamed.
"It's best if he doesn't come back here. He will never leave that island if it means that he is separate from Belle. This way they have each other, and we have peace from the Dark One. It was a difficult decision to make but a necessary one."
Snow shook her head in shock and Charming couldn't help but blink at the scene.
"Belle, has a father and friends here. She has a whole life and you took that all away from her because of an old vendetta with Gold." Emma said in disgust.
"She didn't deserve that. He didn't." Neal said with a wistful look at the harbor.

Return to Neverland

Ariel rose to the surface and pulled Belle with her.
"You okay?"
Belle blinked her eyes open and wiped her face. She couldn't help but to smile at the lush island in front of her.
"I'm more than okay. I'm home." Belle swam to the shore and Ariel followed.
"Belle, I can stay and help you find him."
Belle smiled with genuine happiness.
"Thank you but the rest is up to me. You have helped me more than you'll ever know. Visit once in a while. I'd like to know how Ruby, Archie, Leroy, and Anton are doing. Even my father."
Ariel smiled sadly at her friend. "Of course. I will be by once a month to keep you informed. I'm sorry Belle."
"All magic comes with a price and this is a price I would never think twice of paying."
Ariel nodded in agreement and hugged Belle before disappearing into the waves.

Belle came to a clearing and sat against a nearby rock. She could feel his presence. She could smell his magic.
"Rumpel! Rumpel It's me! It's Belle!" She yelled out into the wind.
A few minutes passed before she saw a bush rustle and Rumpel made his way through. His facial expression read complete astonishment.
"Belle? Is it really you?"
Belle ran over and toppled him to the ground. Before he could speak another word she was ravenously kissing him all over.

Night in Neverland

Belle was curled up next to Rumpel in the bed made of furs and feathers. He stroked her naked back and kissed her behind the ear.
"You shouldn't be here, Sweetheart. The deal you made with her..."
"Is a deal I would make each and every time. I love you and I am done with this constant separation. There are worst places to be stuck." She said as she lay her head on his chest and stroked his hair.
"I guess...but what about the library and all your friends...your father?"
Belle looked up and kissed him gently.
"I'll miss them just as you'll miss Bae. But I can live without them. I can't live without you. I'd merely be existing and that's not a real life. I want us to be a family. Rumpel, it's time for us to be happy."
He smiled at her and leaned down to kiss her thoroughly before pushing her against the pillows.

Three Months in Storybrooke is like Four Years in Neverland

"We're finally here." Neal said as he and Emma fell out of the portal and onto the beach.
"Yeah, home sweet hell." She replied as she looked at the lush jungle ahead of her.
"Pan's dead remember. It should just be a magical beach without an evil teenager at the helm."
"Yeah, but your sorcerer dad is here and probably in fierce protection mode since Belle came."
Neal shrugged and started toward the jungle.

It was dark when they set up camp by the caves. Neal could sense his father's magic but for some reason the old man hadn't made an appearance.

In the far distance, two sleepy little girls with curly brown hair and blue eyes lay in a hammock with their mother and listened as she told them the story of Beauty and the Beast. Their father stood on the balcony of their tree home looking at the ocean waves.
"Belle, I think we have a visitor."
Belle halted her story and watched him.
"Ariel left only a few days ago."
"Not the little mermaid...it's Bae."
The twin girls yawned in unison and Belle gently covered them with a blanket before joining her husband at the balcony.
'Why now? It's been years."
He smiled fondly and put an arm around his wife.
"For us it's been four years. For him it's been a few months. Time works differently here...He misses me." He said with happiness. Belle smiled softly at him.
"Well, let's wait and see why he's here first."

"I'm surprised he hasn't made an appearance." Emma said as she and Neal hiked through the jungle.
"Maybe he's busy...or mad." He said as he nervously ran a hand across his forehead.
Emma nudged him with her arm.
"He loves you, Neal. He went through hell to reunite with you. I doubt he's done with you now."
"Well, I never abandoned him before. Maybe he doesn't feel the same. I wouldn't blame him after how I acted."
Suddenly, the duo stopped at the sound of a child laughing in the distance.
"Lost boys? I thought they all went back to the Enchanted Forest?"
"That's what I thought too. Stay close." Neal said as he and Emma went behind a tree to see what they were confronting.
Neal's eyes widened at the sight of the two identical little girls playing with ribbons. They bore a striking resemblance to Belle.

"Vivi and Jilly! Come on and get your lunch." Belled yelled from the tree top. The little girls dropped their ribbons and made their way to the rope ladder hanging on the side. Neal watched in awe as Belle and his father came into view at the top. He could instantly see how much happier and healthier his father looked. Belle looked even more beautiful, if that was even possible.
"Are they my...sisters?"
Emma grinned in disbelief. "You were right. Time really does speed up here. They look about four years-old. Very cute. I can see a lot of Belle in them."
Neal noticed that one of the girls had turned her hand out and made a sandwich appear out of thin air.
"And I can see your dad in them too." Emma added.
"Vivian Ariel Gold, you do not use magic to get your lunch." Belle admonished the little girl. Gold chuckled at his daughter's downcast expression. "Now, Vivi, you know the rules," He said as he made his way down the ladder.
The little girl nodded sadly and gave her father the ribbons.
"Now, go sit in your room and I will collect you in a few minutes."
"Yes, Papa." The little girl replied with a sniffle. Rumpel patted her head lovingly before sending her off. Belle came down the ladder and stood with Rumpel and Jilly.
"She is too reckless at times."
"I'll teach her. She gets ahead of herself."
Belle gave Jilly a sandwich and went to sit on a nearby chair.
"Yes, she takes after her father in that way." Belle said with a grin.
Rumpel grinned in return.
"But she'll learn the right way, I promise Sweetheart."

Neal looked baffled at the domestic scene in front of him.
"He's changed a lot...I have magical baby sisters."
Emma chuckled at his perplexed expression.
"Well, there isn't much for Belle and him to do on this island except eat, sleep, and scr-"
"Don't finish that sentence. It's just hard to believe. He's moved on, Emma. He's moved on."