The Librarian (TimeLady!Belle and Companion!Rumpel for gingerwhovianrobobtskeleton)
This was originally an ask fic that I wrote for gingerwhovianrobobtskeleton on tumblr, dropping it in her ask box in little instalments. Here it is all together. Enjoy! :)
The world spun, unblurred, and he was back in his home, standing inside the rich, tasteful living room of his giant home. The Librarian snapped her book shut, smiling at him. He returned a smile of his own, unable to hide behind his usual wry smirk. His life had been so ordinary before The Librarian had opened her book, taken him into the time vortex, and showed him the stars. He looked around his wealthy life, all he'd ever worked for, and wondered if it was what he really wanted anymore…
"Here you are," The Librarian said brightly, snapping her book shut with a loud thump that made him start, leaning on his cane, "Home sweet home! Did you enjoy our trip?" He nodded eagerly, feeling foolish. He must be slowing down the brave, brilliant, beautiful extraterrestrial. Being back in his sumptuous flat reminded him of all that he had… and lacked. He looked into The Librarian's big blue eyes and swallowed the urge to beg to go with her. Something in her face softened. "Another trip?"
Robert Gold nodded far too eagerly when The Librarian offered him another trip. This house, this city, this country, this realm, they would never be enough for him now that she had offered him every realm that ever was… not to mention the pleasure of her company: her thoughts, her laughter, her smiles. He could give ANYTHING for more trips with her. He'd always scoffed at love, always perceived it to be an opiate of the masses, useful for control and manipulation. Now he knows better—he knows HER.
The Librarian smiled widely, dropping to sit on his luxurious sofa, crossing her legs. "Something on your mind, Mr. Gold?" she asked, reaching for him. He moved backwards automatically. He should not touch her, dull her mind, mar her beauty with his nearness. She is so extraordinary and he is just a businessman with all the money in the world, but no one to share it with. "No, no, nothing, Librarian." He says, leaning on his cane to hide his avoidance. She raises her eyebrows knowingly. He sighs.
"I do not believe that I am worthy of this gift—of the opportunity to travel with you through your book to other places… I'm a cutthroat businessman, I've never been… kind to others." The Librarian inclined her head, "And yet, when it counted, when aliens attacked, you protected a child you know nothing about and care nothing for in a future where you do not exist." He shrugged, eager to write it off. "Impulse?" He said. She smiled. "A compassionate impulse. I choose my companions well."
Robert Gold blinks. Somehow, this tiny time lady with all the power of the universe managed to make him seem so very small… but so huge at the same time. Her very existence means that he's an ant. But she tells him he's a giant, he matters, and she invites him to travel time and space with her. One split-second decision to protect a child & she can read him like one of her books. He stood abruptly, leaning on his cane. "Let's do this properly," he says. She smiles. "Can I come with you?" He asks.
A moment of silence passes between them and, for a horrible moment, his heart is plummeting and his mind exploding with doubts: he must have mis-read the situation, her smiles were not for him, or she was not being serious when she called him her 'companion'… He swallowed and turned his face away. Her index finger caught his chin and turned him back to face her. Her eyes were bright, and the wide smile she wore dazzled him. "Of course," she murmured happily, "I want you to come with me."
Mr. Gold literally calms his stuttering heart at her words. She, the perfect otherworldly time-travelling alien, wants to bring him, the damaged broken businessman, with her through time and space via her special storybooks. Her finger is on his chin, holding him in place, forcing him to face her, and he reads honesty and gentleness in every line. She smiles, and he cannot help but smile back. "Really?" he asks, giving her a final out should she desire it, "You want me to come with you?"
She laughs, a musical sound that has his knees shaking—'weak in the knees' is not a mere metaphor—replying "Of course." Her eyes glimmer as she murmurs, "I wouldn't ask," voice dropping low as she peers into his eager eyes, "If I didn't want you." A genuine smile curls the businessman's lips and she returns it widely, so brilliant that he's momentarily dazzled. "Shall we?" she offers him her arm and opens her book. He presses his hand into the crook and takes a deep breath before falling in.
Travelling with The Librarian is freedom. Infinite possibility. They go anywhere, everywhere, to every star that ever was & every planet that ever could be. She takes his hand, opens her book, & gives him the universe. He takes her hand, turns the pages, & gives her his time, attention and heart. Over the years, his age begins to show & he dissolves his company, donating funds to charities & beginning one of his own for abandoned children. Still, he fears the day it'll all end—the day he dies.
He knows it's coming, the day he dies. It may be violent, running from some threat with a poor soul The Librarian's liberated. It may be peaceful, in his sleep in his room in her library. But he's aging, he wasn't a young man when she found him, and she's staying the same; a brave, brilliant, bookish immortal beauty. He wishes there were a way to stop the clock and be with her forever. He also knows it is selfish and presumptuous to expect it. So he doesn't ask, he just enjoys every moment.
He has started massages his leg every morning and night, swallowing the aches and pains, because it is worth the discomfort to be with her. She walks in one day and sees him bent over, wearing only a white undershirt and his underwear. She freezes. He adopts the face of a deer in headlights. She stares as if seeing him for the first time. She looks vulnerable and… afraid. "I did not realize," she murmurs, sinking to her knees before him. "Can I take your pain away?"
He stares. Is she truly offering? "You can do that?" He croaks. She smile and nods, her hands coming up to clasp his knee. He sees the typeface of words—heal, fix, care—sink into his skin, and the pain he's lived with for decades vanishes. He relaxes. She smiles shyly. "I can do more…" she says, tentatively, "I can give you more… life?" He loses control of himself and pulls her close, pressing his lips to her shoulder. "Thank you," he breathes, as 'forever, eternity, infinity' slip into his skin.