Magic has a price. This has been drilled into us for over a year now. All magic has a price. Regina knows this. Even as something that will help Henry with his nightmares is within reach she stops him from taking it. She knows it’s not free. Bonus points to her for not pulling her usual Scarlet O’hara ‘I’ll think about it tomorrow’ stuff. (She would have won MAJOR bonus points with me if she’d said ‘whatever the cost is it’s mine, not Henry’s, but oh well.)

‘This one’s on me.’ Gold/Rum is always sooo careful about what he says when it’s about a deal (if only he’d use that caution before making flippant comments to Belle.) He doesn’t say ‘no cost this time’ because it’s magic. There’s never no cost. He says ‘this one’s on me.’ As in whatever price there is to pay, he’ll be the one paying it. He’s given Henry the power to control the netherworld between life and beath, a place where he’ll be able to comunicate with Aurora, someone in another plane/world. That’s not a tiny thing. But Gold, rather than burden a child with a cost for that takes it on himself.

Gold’s got a soft spot for Henry. He’s got a soft spot for kids in general (the only allusion we’ve ever had for Gold knowing about a child’s pain and not stopping it is Regina herself, knowing what Cora was and leaving her with her mother.) But his soft spot for Henry is something different. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s his fault the boy got saddled with Henry. Maybe it’s because he’s fond of the whole Charming family. Maybe it’s because the boy is the reason the curse is broken and he’s a step closer to finding his son. But he likes Henry, and is more gentle with him that with anyone else save Belle. And now he’s not only helped Henry but taken on the price for that help.

I love it. And I love that he never has any desire to make Henry pay for Regina’s crimes and mistakes. All that Regina has done, and he makes a house call because it’s about Henry, not her.

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