Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters and storylines in the show. This is just a fanwork made for fun.
Mr. Gold. She mentally repeats the name over and over again, afraid to forget it and get completely lost again. Certainly, she had spent time enough locked out in that room, not knowing anything about herself and wishing she could see another person, to feel alive again. It was a pity, she couldn't even remember when was that: the last time she felt really alive.
The young woman breathed in the fresh air of the town's streets, looking up to the sign of a pawnbroker shop with that name. Mr. Gold. If she was lucky, she would have found him. Grabbing the knob, she opened the unlocked door, causing a little bell to jingle. There was a man inside, back turned to her as he did something she couldn't see, behind the counter.
"Are you Mr. Gold?" She asked, her voice sounding weird, probably because of the long time that had passed, since the last time she used it.
"Yes, but unfortunately, we are closed right now." He answered, grabbing a cane as he turned to face her.
By the moment their eyes met, he got paler, like he had just seen a ghost. In his other arm, rested a small child, that he clutched more to his chest at the sight of her.
"Somebody told me to find you and tell you that a woman called Regina locked me up in the hospital." She recited, as the man who freed her instructed her to say.
Mr. Gold walked towards her, appearing to be shaking a bit. He putted his cane aside when he reached her, standing only with his trembled legs and gripped her arm, looking at her with those stunned brown eyes and whispered as if in shock: "You are alive."
Biting her lip, she nodded to him. "The man who set me free said you would protect me."
"Yes!" He breathed raggedly. "Yes, of course I will." And then, without another single word, he embraced her tightly, only careful enough, not no smash the baby girl he was holding, between them. The human contact was good, and it made her great, even not knowing why that strange man was holding her with such happiness and relief.
His child made a loud sound of discomfort and he pulled away, getting his cane to stable himself on his feet again. He rocked the baby to calm her down. It was a sweet little thing, dressed in a beautiful gold-yellow dress, with brown eyes seeming to study her as she sucked her thumb.
"Should I know you?" The young woman asked Mr. Gold.
"No." He replied. "I – I'm going to get my car keys so I can drive you somewhere. Could you please hold my daughter for a moment for me to get it?"
She opened her mouth, not knowing what to say, afraid to accidentally drop the lovely child, hurt her and anger him. Even not remembering much about herself, she didn't want to risk discovering being a clumsy person that way. "I'm not sure if I know how to hold a baby, Mr. Gold."
"It is not difficult. Here, get her." He handed the baby girl to her, and she hold it in her arms, as close to her body as she could, trying to protect the child from falling. "See?" Mr. Gold said with a sad smile. "You are a natural."
Shyly smiling back at him, she watched the shop owner disappearing behind the curtains that led to the back of it. Her gaze then, rests on the child and some strange feeling makes her heart race while she raises her hand, that rested protectively around the baby's back, to smooth her soft auburn hair. The child wrap her little fingers around one of her curls, as if to retribute the affection and suddenly her eyes are almost filled with tears. She doesn't understand the effect Mr. Gold's daughter has in her, but she knows that whatever it is, it's good.
Just a moment later, he came back and she could notice how he doesn't seemed to be able to get his eyes out of her as he walked to her side. "I got the keys." He said. "We can go. Thank you, for holding my girl." His hand reached for the baby, but by that time she was too entertained with the young woman's messy hair to even look at her father.
"I can take her to the car, if you want to." She offers.
"If you don't mind," Mr. Gold said, his voice so low, that it's almost a whisper. "I would be grateful."
He leads her to his black car, opening the door for her, and letting her settle inside with the baby, before closing it and take his seat by the steering wheel. Gold takes them to a forest. She has no idea of what they are doing there, yet she's not afraid, because somehow, she trusts him.
They walk to a wishing well, he always a step forward, more agile than her, even with his needing of a cane to stand on his feet.
She's still carrying the baby and moving carefully when something hits her. It seems like a powerful wave that passes through her body, making her tremble and gasp, closing her eyes momentanely before opening it again. And then everything becomes clear. Her name is Belle. She is the daughter of Sir. Maurice. Rumplestiltskin's maid. Rose's mother.
Her breath is caught on her throat and some tears start streaming down her face at the realization that the baby she was holding is hers. It was her beautiful, precious daughter that she only hoped to be alive. Belle snuggled up Rose to her chest, kissing the top of her head before stopping to look to the man in front of her. He may look all human now, but she knew who he was. "Rumplestiltskin!" She called out.
Slowly he turned to her, surprise in his eyes. "What - ?"
"I remember you. I remember everything." She said, walking towards him. "I – I love you."
Mr. Gold's expression lightened. He hurried to enlace her in his arms, cuddling Belle fervously. "Oh, sweetheart, I love you too."
Happiness filled Belle as she hid her face on his neck, inhaling the essence of his cologne, her baby girl wrapped safely in her embrace between their parents. She pulled away, giving him a bright smile.
"You got her. You took care of our daughter."
"Yes, I did." He agreed, touching Rose's cheek with the tip of his fingers.
Even though, she was more than grateful for the fact that her daughter was not just alive and well, but had spent this whole time with her father, Belle still needed to understand the circumstances. The last thing she remembered was being locked in the Evil Queen's tower, crying over the loss of her baby.
She had been captured on her way to the Dark Castle, not long after she found out that she was with child and ended up spending all her pregnancy on a cell, fearing for her destiny. Regina had provided her a midwife when the time came and she gave birth to her little girl, naming her Rose, after her favorite flower, the same one Rumple once had given her in his castle. That baby was the light of her life and when almost a year after she was born, the Queen invaded her cell and took the baby from her arms, Belle thought it was the last time she would ever see her daughter in her entire life.
"But how did you get her?" She asked, caressing the little girl. "And how did you know she was yours? I never had the chance to tell you that I was pregnant."
"I made a deal." Rumple told her. "Right before the curse was casted, Regina came to me and offered her in exchange for an important information she needed to finish her plans. She told me you had died after giving birth to her and your father had ordered his soldier to kill our baby, because she was a demon's offspring." His fingers where still on the child's face, he looked at her with adoration while he spoke. "The Evil Queen claimed to have saved Rose from them. She told me they said you had named her before dying. I never doubted she was mine, I could feel our blood bond with my magic."
"It's all a lie. Regina captured me and locked me up in her tower." Belle replied with disgust. "I was on my way to you, Rumple. I wanted to tell you we were going to have a baby."
"Oh, darling Belle, I'm so sorry that this happened to you. But I'm going to make her pay." The anger she saw in him was nearly the same she used to see in the moments he got mad at something in their time in the Dark Castle and that alarmed Belle.
Rubbing his arm, she tried to calm him down. "No! Rumple, there is no need in hurting anyone. I'm safe now and so is Rose. Let Regina gain what she deserves alone."
"I'm not sure if you understand that, Belle, but that woman kidnapped you and stole our baby so she could use her against me. There is no way I'm going to let her go unpunished."
Belle shocked her head. "Rumple, please, don't do this. Promise me you'll stay away from Regina. Please, promise me. That's all I ask, and we can finally be together."
Taking a deep breath, he agreed, stroking her face gently as he lowered his lips to meet her in a hot, wet kiss. Their mouths pressed against each other's in a way they had never ever could have done before, because of his curse, their tongues finding their way together in such a passion, that her head started spinning. She smiled widely when they broke apart and rested her head in his shoulder, running her hand on her daughter's back, still feeling completely delighted from her lover's kiss.
"Come with me, there's something I must do." Rumple said, raising his hand for her to take.
Leading Belle to the wishing well, he took a little bottle from his suit's inside pocket and dropped it inside the well, explaining her that he was bringing magic to that world. He assured her that he was not bringing it so he could get his revenge over Regina, and when the purple smoke of magic he brought ceased, Rumple took them to his car, and they headed back to the shop.
Once there, he said she should her clothes to something that didn't looked so scruffy and showed her some dresses and other pieces of clothing from that world, he had in the store. Belle let him take care of Rose in the front part of the shop, while she choose a pair of black heels and a grey dress to wear and changed, after getting a hairbrush to fix her messy curls.
All she could feel at that moment was relief for being reunited with her True Love and her daughter. No matter what had happened with her in the past, now she had a chance to start over and get everything she ever wanted.
Belle was just about to go after Rumple, when she heard the unmistakable sound of a disagreement.
"Tell me now, Gold. What have you done?" A woman was saying.
"And why would you think I did something?" Rumple answered.
"Don't play dumb, you know very well what are we talking about." There was a man.
She pushed away the curtains and found her lover standing behind the counter where their baby daughter was sitting, her father's protective hand firmly wrapped around her shoulders. In front of them were three people Belle had never seen before: a black-haired short woman, a tall man and a blond furious younger female. They all stared at her.
"What is going on?" Belle asked.
"Sweetheart - " Rumple tried to start.
"Who is this?" The blond questioned, interrupting him.
"This, Miss Swan, is Belle. The mother of my child."
Raising a single eyebrow, the blond shared a look with her friends.
"I thought you said Rose's mother died in childbirth."
Rumplestiltskin pointed a finger to his forehead, and said simply: "Cursed memories."
"Yeah, whatever, you still owe me an answer."
"Oh, no, dearie. I owe you nothing."
He let Belle approached him and get Rose to her arms, while he spoke to those strange people. The blond woman, seemed to be getting more and more anger at each second.
"Tell me what is that damn purple haze." She demanded.
Smirking, Rumple replied: "Magic."
The black-haired woman opened her mouth to say something, but there was a loud noise outside the shop and everything shaked. They all shared worried glances.
"Emma we'd better check on this." The tall man said.
Nodding, Emma turned to face Gold one last time. "Our conversation it's not over. Don't you dare thinking that because there is a miserable little part of you, that may be decent around your daughter and your girlfriend, that it makes me trust you. Everybody knows what kind of man you really are."
"Oh, yeah, Miss Swan. Everybody knows. And you still owe me that favour."
With a snort, she followed her friends through the open door, leaving Belle, Rose and Rumple alone again. She gave him a look of suspicion. "What was all that she was talking about?"
"Nothing you need to worry about now."
"And what about that shake? Do I need to worry about that?"
"No." Rumplestiltskin assured her, kissing Belle's temples softly. "All you need to think about right now is the fact that we are together again and I'll give you everything you deserve."
As his lips found hers in that same passionate way they did earlier, Belle knew this moment was not only a dream coming true for her, but so it was for Rumple. In the end, having her and their baby with him was everything he ever wanted.
Author's Note: I really hope you all liked this follow up, it was really great to write it. My apologizes, as always, if there is something wrong with my writing, because as you know, english is not actually my first language. Comments are always appreciated.