2x21

[sheriffing]

Save it, lady.

No amount of complaining is going to get me to stop being upset about this. Neal is dead, Tamara and Greg have the trigger, and if they don't kill us Gold probably will when he finds out about what happened.

I know someone has to tell him, but I vote for anyone but me.

When this is all over, you need to let me crawl under the covers and hide until I'm ready to come out. I might not be able to do it now, but as soon as we stop them - as soon as Tamara pays for what she did to him, I'm going to take a break and grieve.

I need time. And alcohol. Let me empty a liquor store and then we'll talk.

Comments

[undealt]

[Wow. Emma maybe he'll be perfectly reasonable about this.

...Hah. Hahahahaha.]

I'd settle for killing them.

[And then maybe everyone else. Depends on how long it takes for the self-loathing and emotional breakdowns and ugly crying to hit.]

[sheriffing]

You can kill her after I'm done with her.

[What, is she supposed to argue for leaving this woman alive? No way, not now. That bitch took away Henry's father.]

...I'm sorry.

[That's the guilt talking. If he hadn't tried to keep her from falling in...]

[undealt]

Willing to go farther than it takes again, I see.

[He's almost... weirdly proud. Or he would be if he wasn't so devastated.

And he has enough guilt for two of them. Enough that instead of taking the opportunity to blame shift and yell about it and absolve himself of the guilt, he only brushes it off.]

Well. My son never lacked for bravery.

[sheriffing]

[There's nothing to be proud of, she's angry. It's the better alternative when the other choice is to be heartbroken, so if she doesn't get a few punches in, there will be hell to pay.]

Not when someone needed him.

[Why are they talking about this?]

We're going to need your help. Tamara and Greg want to destroy the town.

[offtheroad]

[ he spends a long time looking at his hands ]


Don't count me out yet.

[sheriffing]

[she's too upset to even look his way. and in the interest of focusing on other things -]

I told you it was Tamara.

[offtheroad]

[ that makes him wince. fiances shooting you tended to do that sort of thing ]

Yeah, you were right.

[ he doesn't add the happy now? because he knows she isn't ]

You got to keep it together, though. For Henry.

[sheriffing]

I'm trying.

[and failing miserably. she just sighs.]

He needs you too, Neal.

[badappled]

David and I will tell him, Emma. Don't worry about him.

I'm here for you. You know that, don't you? I know there's no time for grief, but we'll stop them. And after we do, we're here for you and for Henry.

[sheriffing]

I know that, I do.

I just didn't think we'd lose him again, you know? Not like this.

[badappled]

Oh honey, I know.

[sheriffing]

This'll break Henry's heart.

[undealt]

[Well, we have that in common, don't we? But that's not really a topic that Gold wants to breach.]

Of course you do. [It's easy to sneer at the suggestion, even if he'd do anything to see those two fail just for the sake of ripping their hearts out for what they did to his Bae.

But...] You assume there's anything left in this town worth saving.

[sheriffing]

[Hey, she was planning to direct all of her rage at the people who deserve it, but if he wants to play this game...]

I assume that since Neal was shot while trying to protect this town, it was worth it to him.

[There's that, if nothing else. Emma's gaze darkens at the thought that Gold will turn his back on the only family he has left. She should expect it from him, obviously, but would it kill him to be on their side this time?]

And I know for a fact that you owe it to your son to do this to honor him.

[badappled]

He'll need you more than ever. If there's anything worse than not having a father or mother, it's losing them.

[undealt]

And look where it got him. [Yes, it totally would. Maybe if Bae weren't dead and Belle wasn't gone in every sense that mattered. Maybe if his own grandson wasn't destined to bring about his end and he's found himself unable to do anything but wait for it because of some sort of familial obligation.]

You can play that card all you like, Ms Swan, but I've done a great deal to honor my son and it didn't get me anywhere. And now he's gone. And no amount of bloodshed or salvation or some mixture of the two is gonna bring him back. He died thinking his father was a coward. What else is there to prove?

[sheriffing]

He died hoping the two of you would reconnect, hoping that things would work out somehow. That was who Neal was, he was the guy who hoped when he didn't even have reason to and always believed there was a chance...

[Except where she was concerned. Can't say that doesn't hurt.]

Look, you're angry and you're grieving, and this is the worst possible time. I get it, I'm there with you. But you still have people here who need you.

[sheriffing]

How am I supposed to do this? He barely had a chance -

I don't know how to tell him.

[badappled]

You be honest. And you make sure he knows he's not alone. I know it won't be easy.

[undealt]

[I am Gold's Incredulous Expression.]

You know what the real difference between Regina and I is? I've long since accepted my lot, so I don't have anything to prove. I play nicely with the rest of the town because it suits me to be what I am and still maintain a standing as the one person who can solve everything. No matter what I do, everyone will always need me to fix the problems they can't.

I think we all knew there was bound to be a breaking point where I really stopped giving a damn about cleaning up the messes the rest of you make.

[Even if he technically made this one by creating the curse. Hindsight's a bitch. And he is having none of your sense-talking.]

[sheriffing]

The messes the rest of us make? Is that how you see it?

[Oh, oh no. Oh hell no.]

This mess is on two people, Gold. It's on you for wanting to bring magic to this town, and it's on me for not being smart enough to know when I was being played. Because when my son was dying - when your grandson - was suffering through the sleeping curse, you sent me on a quest with a dragon knowing I would have done anything to save Henry.

[The same as he would have done for Neal. Common ground's a bitch, isn't it?]

We're the only family you have left.

[offtheroad]

I know you are. And. I'm. I'm sorry I can be there. I would be, if I could call any of the shots.

[ he shakes his head, looking upwards ]

Guess things just can't ever be easy.

[sheriffing]

All we ever do is lose each other.

[she can't even say they're all that good at finding each other.]

Henry can't grow up without you; not now. Not when he knows what he's missing out on.