It was hard to consider arguing, as it was neither the place nor the time, but Rumpelstiltskin had a hand in his fate (and also hated the mendacious Blue with the fire of a thousands suns) and Mister Gold had been a lawyer. The desire was powerful on several fronts.

But he also realized, ahead of that anxious confusion that anyone was telling him this much of anything, that Archie was obliging what he proposed. He was being open. He was trusting him.

His first thought was of course that it was misguided. But it was something traded and felt correct.

"Irredeemable people don't have consciences at all, Doctor." Because he wasn't a good person, not by a long shot. But guilt ate him from the inside on the regular. "I saw the life you were living. I don't have a full understanding, but I know enough to know what kind of people your parents were. And again, you were in a desperate situation. That doesn't mean you had much of a choice, and people like that will do whatever they can to convince you that you don't have one at all. ...Needless to say, if they ever came to my door to sell anything personally, they likely never would have made it to parenthood."