Chapter Text
Enemies and Friends
The man watched quietly from the shadows. He'd been following her closely for the last several days, though he had to be extremely careful. It was a small town, and he wasn't ready to be seen yet. It was close, he could feel it in the air, the savior had come and the end of the curse was near, but she had stalled a little. What Emma needed was an advantage, some help, a plan. There were only two powers in Storybrooke, and one of them was the enemy. What he needed for her was a true ally. Mr. Gold, or more properly, Rumplestilskin, the all powerful Dark One himself might have no magick here, but he was as smart as ever, as cunning as a sack full of foxes, and the only one besides the Queen who had his memories. The young man had noticed, and he knew that Regina had figured it out as well. But the Dark One always played more than one game. He came here with a purpose, or rather allowed Regina to bring him here with a purpose, and the young man knew what it was. He'd been tempted to summon Bae to help, he'd not help his father, but he would do anything to help Emma. But that was not a good plan, and he wasn't sure the young man could actually get into town or what that would do.
So he watched and waited, and tonight, he found what he needed. Leave it to Regina to keep an ace in the hole, and now he had found it. He watched the woman leave, hiding himself in plan site, in orderly's scrubs with a mop. It was time to turn up the heat. Rumplestilskin made a dangerous and tricky opponent in the usual way, and he and the queen had danced this dance, but that was ending with the curse. He was pretty sure that the last thing that Regina wanted was Mr. Gold as an active enemy.
It had taken longer than he wanted, working out how to follow her, finding the secret hospital annex below. He knew he ought to figure out who else was down there and why, but that might compromise his plan. Once he found the secret, it was several more days, watching, working. If you look like you belong and do what people expect you to, they get sloppy. More time, lulling the suspicions of the mostly bored and generally in attentive (unless Regina was visiting) staff, and he was ready to make his move. At first he considered just releasing all the patients and leaving them wandering the corridor, but that would be too obvious and result in discovery that much sooner. Instead he picked a few patients, once he was sure weren't dangerous, ones that seemed almost familiar. After that it was a simple matter. He waited. Just after shift change, after the patients had got their food and their medicine to keep them quiet, or would have if he'd not swapped a few of their pills.
"Hey, Sandy, I'm going for a coffee, going to be a long boring night, want one?" he offered, as he had every night to the kind of stony faced nurse at the front of the ward. She had just gotten to the point of almost smiling at him. Pity, he thought.
"You know how I like it," she said, and turned back to the Mirror's crossword puzzle. He took himself upstairs to the cafeteria, looking out at the evening. 6:30, and getting dark, perfect for his plan. Gold usually didn't close til closer to 8:00 on Wednesday night, like most of the shops, and it was only a few blocks away. There was no way he would be able to help her once he got her out. He would have to stay to avoid suspicion and sew more confusion. Quickly he fixed a coffee for himself, black, and one for Sandy, cream, artificial sweetener, and two very fast acting sedatives. Perfect. He dropped another in his coffee, for later and made his way back down to the basement.
"Here you go," he told her, handing over the coffee and pretending to drink his. It didn't take long, and she was unconscious, face down on the almost done crossword. He checked her and then took the keys. This was where things were going to get interesting. First he moved his hand picked patients. Left two in the ER, one in the maternity waiting room, another upstairs in OR recovery. They were docile and still a little dazed at being out of their cages. They might actually wander off, which would please him just as well. The longer it took to find them, the more people that saw them, and wondered there they came from, the longer the search for Belle would be hidden. Finally he opened her cell door. Instantly he wished he had planned well enough to get her a coat or at least some boots. Her sweater and hospital gown were hardly proof against the Maine winter, and the hospital slippers were even worse, but he'd done his best. Now all he could do was pray.
"Hello, who are you?" she asked as he stepped into the room, her voice a little apprehensive and a lot curious.
"My name is unimportant. Right now, I am going to get you out of here. Do you want to leave?"
"I...yes, but..."
"No time. Follow me, and quickly, once you are outside, make your way to Mr. Gold, he has a shop on Main Street. Tell him that Regina locked you up. He will protect you. Just make sure you tell him."
"Regina locked me up," she repeated. "Mr. Gold, Main Street." He nodded and took her by the arm out of the room.