The Rumbelle plot bunny bit me. I've decided to name him George. Enjoy!
"True Love, Ms. Swan. The only magic powerful enough to transcend realms and break any curse. Luckily for you, I happen to have bottled some."
-Rumpelstiltskin
Chapter 1: Time
The Queen hadn't wanted anything to harm her valuable chess piece, not even time. So when she had captured Rumpelstilskin's True Love, she had placed a spell on the girl's prison. She would be able to act just as she would in the normal world, but time would never have an effect on her as long as she was kept inside her cell. Time would have no meaning for Belle; for her or her unborn child.
Belle pulled on the sleeve of the sweater that the nurse had given her to keep warm. Stone cells underneath a hospital didn't exactly lend themselves to warmth.
Time had started to move again in Storybrooke. Not that it affected her. She never felt time move while inside her little purgatory. The little clock that was mounted on the wall was supposed to supposedly keep her from going even "madder than she already is, the poor girl." It never moved though. The only reason she even knew that time was moving outside of her cell again was whenever Regina, the Evil Queen, came to visit and boast about how everything was going her way or simply came to vent to someone who wouldn't think she was crazy, Belle could feel time trying to come into her cell whenever the door was opened.
It felt like there was a change in the air pressure. The air seemed to feel heavier as time tried to pop the bubble that kept it from affecting Belle. It wasn't a drastic change. It was very slight; so slight that anyone else wouldn't have felt it. But Belle did. After having spent so long without time, the change might as well have been as obvious as a juggling clown, on a unicycle screaming, "Look at me! Look at me!"
It was about to happen again, she could tell. She was hearing the nurse talking to someone, just like she always heard before Regina came to visit. She never listened to the woman anymore though. She simply stared into space and gave a nod of a monosyllabic response where she knew it would be desired. But she wasn't listening; she was daydreaming. Wondering what Rumpelstiltskin was like in this world. How did he dress? What did he do for a living? What was his name in this new land? How did he look? Did he remember their world like she and Regina did? Did he remember -!
That was new. Belle perked her ears up. That wasn't the sharp clack of Regina's heels or the soft squeak of the nurse's tennis-shoes; they sounded more heavyset, like the foot falls belonged to a male.
The door opened to reveal a man in hospital scrubs holding a coat. He walked into the room, extending his hand to Belle as she sat up. Belle noticed that this man had a nasty looking scar around his neck, and if she didn't know better, she would have said that his head had been severed. But no one could have their head chopped off and live, could they?
"Come with me," the man said.
Belle took his hand as he brought her to her feet. "Who are you?" she asked, "Why are you doing this?"
"My name is Jefferson," the scarred man said, "and I need your help to do something that I can't. There's a man. His name is Mr. Gold. Find him. All you have to do is tell him where you've been and that Regina locked you up."
"W-wait a minute. What?" Who was Mr. Gold? Why did this man, Jefferson, what her to find him. And what was it that he needed her help with?
"It's very important. Mr. Gold's gonna protect you, but you have to tell him Regina locked you up. He's gonna know what to do. You understand?"
"Yes," Belle nodded, "I-I have to find Mr. Gold."
"Good," Jefferson said, nodding in approval. He handed Belle the jacket and took her by the hand. "Come on, I'll get you out of here, but you'll have to find Mr. Gold on your own. He should be at his pawnshop."
As Jefferson led Belle past the door frame of her cell, she sighed in pleasure as time took it rightful hold on her for the first time in twenty-eight plus years.