Pan was the first to speak. His icy voice sent shivers down Belle's spine. "Go on, son, kill me if you have the guts to do it. Show them, all of them, that you are not a coward like your old man!"

"I am nothing like my father," Rumple said through clenched teeth as he forced the smug teenager onto the ground, the dagger about to dig into Pan's throat. "I just brought you here because I didn't want to risk Henry's heart cooling down too much on the way back. I don't care what happens to you once I do this…" he hissed as he raised his left hand before shoving it into Pan's chest. Pan gasped and twisted as Rumple tore Henry's heart out of his chest.

"Regina, take it! Put it back where it belongs," Rumple said, holding the beating heart in his hand but still staring at the writhing Pan on the ground. Belle could not make out the conflicting emotions spread over her loved one's face. What was going on? He seemed to be torn, in pain but still incredibly angry at the same time.

Regina was at his side in a split second, grabbed Henry's heart and within seconds, Neal had left Belle's side to kneel down next to his son so that he would be able to see all three of them when he was brought back to life.

Regina looked up to Emma who gave her the slightest of nods. Regina then removed the magical stasis with a flick of her left hand and plunged the heart into Henry's chest. Everyone who could see the scene gasped in a mix of horror and relief and even Belle's attention had been drawn away from her Rumple towards Henry. Regina withdrew her hand a few seconds later, just in time for Henry to draw a deep breath and open his eyes. He was clearly confused but as he saw his two mothers and his father, a smile appeared on his face. Then, as he seemed to remember what had happened in the skull cave, his smile disappeared and his hand shot up to his chest. He sat up so suddenly that he knocked over Regina. He jumped onto his feet and, turning around himself once, took in his surroundings. Within seconds, his parents and grandparents were fighting over who could get closer to him and hug him more tightly and everyone around suddenly seemed to be awakening from their trance and started talking at the same time, voicing their wonder and their relief.

As soon as she realized that Henry was going to be fine, Belle focused on Rumple once again. He was still pinning Pan down but the latter –very pale and looking frail—had now stopped squirming. Despite his apparent weakness he was still able to speak to Rumple although with everyone suddenly talking wildly among themselves now that Henry was back on his feet again Belle could not hear what he was saying. But she knew from Rumple's expression that whatever Pan was saying was hurting him deeply. All the anger had gone from his face; there was nothing left but pain and hurt. What sort of hold did the smug teenager have over him? She couldn't make sense of it.

As she finally made her way over to Rumple and quickly sank to her knees next to him, he looked up at her for the first time since he had reappeared through the portal. Only then did it strike Belle that he hadn't searched for her in the crowd before. Another oddity. "Belle," he managed to say in a monotonous voice and with an utterly lost look on his face as if only now realizing that by coming back through the portal he was finally reunited with her.

All she wanted to do was take him into her arms but his gaze had already dropped down to Pan again, his facial expression unchanged. Besides, he was still holding his dagger to Pan's throat and seemed undecided as to whether let Pan get up or take his life right there and then. So Belle decided to squeeze his arm ever so slightly and in a whisper she asked: "Rumple, are you alright? What do you want to do with him now?"

"Yeah, Rumple, are you alright? And what do you want to do with me now?" Pan said mockingly. As Rumple would not look at her, Belle turned to look the mocking teenager in the face wondering where the blatant hatred in his voice could possibly come from. It was then that she saw something strange happening to his face. For a split second or so, the teenager's facial features disappeared to give way to a much older face, the face of a bearded man in his forties.

"Why is he changing, Rumple?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"The magic that gave him youth is running out. That's what he needed Henry's heart for, to keep him young. And now he is turning back into the person he was before, before he turned into Peter Pan." Rumble said quietly, still not meeting her gaze.

Belle strengthened her grip on his arm, instinctively feeling that there was something that he was not telling her, something very important. And Pan's words only confirmed her gut feeling.

"Now, Rumple, are you not going to tell your lovely Belle who I was before I turned into Pan? She deserves to know… hell, they should all know! Another one of your secrets. But then, why am I surprised – you're still too scared she will run from you, abandon you… because when has anyone really loved you enough to stick around, right?"

At this, Rumple pressed the dagger even closer to Pan's throat and Belle could see a trickle of blood running down his throat. Was Rumple really going to kill Pan? But all of a sudden, he lifted the dagger from Pan's throat and shoved it into Belle's hand. She jumped at this sudden movement, and incredulously stared at the blade in her right hand. He had given it to her, entrusted her with this magical object that held his power.

Neal must have been watching the scene for a short while, too. He suddenly appeared at their side and knelt down on Rumple's other side, clearly as worried as Belle at his father's facial expressions. "Papa? Are you OK?"

A sad smile appeared on Rumple's face. "Not really, Bae, no. But I will be. Help me get him to my shop, please? We should make sure he's safely tucked away before I start on that potion for Charming. He can't have a lot of time left." As Neal grabbed Pan (who appeared to be too weak to put up a fight anyway), Rumple finally turned to face Belle.

His eyes instantly filled with tears and love as he saw the worried expression on her face. "Belle, I'm sorry to have caused you so much worry. Will you come with us? I really need you to be close to me now. And once I've taken care of Charming's potion, I'll have time to explain. I will explain, I promise." She nodded and closed her eyes in anticipation as he moved in to press a brief but passionate kiss on her lips.

Neal had pulled Pan to his feet and Belle helped Rumple get up after having shoved the dagger into her coat pocket. As he didn't have his cane, he had to hold on to Belle as they started walking towards his shop. They didn't get very far before hearing Henry's voice calling after them: "Grandpa, wait!"

Within seconds, Henry had overtaken them and, hugging Rumple, he started thanking him profusely: "Thank you, Grandpa. Thanks for saving me. I'm sorry I caused so much hassle for everyone. I should never have believed in him," pointing his finger in the direction of Pan who rather than walking by himself was being dragged along by Neal, "I should have believed in all of you, my family."

Belle could see that Rumple was clearly moved by his grandson's sudden outburst of emotion and his thankfulness. He ruffled the boy's hair and said: "You're welcome, Henry! Now, run along. I have to make sure that you still have two grandfathers tonight."

Henry shot him a quizzical look – so Belle was not the only one who didn't yet know what had happened to Charming – but he knew his paternal grandfather well enough to know when not to ask questions. He ran back to Emma to ask her what was going on with Charming.

"What's wrong with Charming?" Belle asked Rumple, as they continued towards his shop.

"Poisoned by dream shade," he said.

"But there is no cure," Belle answered, alarmed.

"Yes, there is. I found one. After Hook poisoned me and I nearly died from it, I studied the poison in more detail and I have developed an antidote."

Belle stopped in her tracks. "Hook poisoned you with dream shade? When? … Hold on, when I was in hospital and couldn't remember you. That phone call…" Her voice failed her as she saw a mental picture of her Rumple in agony and she deepened her hold on him as they approached his door.

"Oh, darling Belle, I'm sorry. There is so much we need to talk about. And we will. But now there's more urgent matters I need to deal with. I trust you have the key to my shop?" He finally gave her a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

Belle smiled a reassuring smile back at him as she turned the key. Rumple was right, they had to help Charming and to deal with Pan. They also needed to talk. They could do all of that now that they were reunited. She had her Rumple back. So why was she still so worried? As she turned around to grab his arm once again to help him walk into the shop, she shuddered: she did not like the dark shadow of pain and sorrow that had crept onto his face in the few seconds that she had let go of him. He was clearly putting on a brave face for her, for Bae, for Henry, for everyone. But something was wrong, very, very wrong.