Hi everyone! I'm a little hesitant about posting this here, mainly because I haven't used this account in so long. I haven't written any fic in forever, so I'm extremely rusty, and when I do I usually house it on tumblr. But anyway, this story picks up after Rumple kills himself and Pan. Moderate violence/abuse and allusions to rape. Enjoy!

Also I'm so sorry because I haven't used this website in so long and I can't quite get the formatting to work with me, but I will hopefully figure it out soon so please bare with me for the moment.

Belle didn't get out of bed for days. It's not that she simply didn't want to, but she physically could not. Every time she tried she felt like her legs were going to fall out from under her. The sheets still smelled like Rumpelstiltskin, and she just wanted to lay there covered in warmth and his scent forever. She didn't know what she was going to do without him, but every time she thought about it she would cry until she fell asleep.

It was Archie that finally convinced her to leave the house.

Five days after Rumple defeated Pan and sacrificed himself, Archie was at her door. He really cared about her well being like he cared about so many others in the town. He knocked, several times, before letting himself in and making his way up to the bedroom. None of the doors were locked, Belle didn't care if anything happened to her at this point.

"Belle?" He said softly, pushing the door open gently and finding her in a ball under the covers. He rubbed her back, telling her that she needed to eat something, and that she would feel better if she just let her friends help her. She didn't remember agreeing to go to Granny's, but suddenly they were walking through the door to the diner, into a mass of familiar faces that all looked very concerned about her.

She was welcomed in with many warm embraces and concerned smiles, they were all just happy that she was getting out of the house and eating again. She talked to Archie, Ruby, Grumpy, and many other friends for what seemed like hours. She was starting to feel something again. She was still overwhelmingly heartbroken, but for the first time she didn't feel hopeless. She was starting to feel warm again.

The door to the diner swung open. A tall, dark haired man that Belle had never seen before walked in. Judging by the look on everyone's face, they had never seen him before either.

"Who is that?" Belled asked the group that had assembled.

"I have no idea," Ruby replied.

Whoever he was, he walked up to the counter like he owned the place.

Four Years Later

"Looks like it's just you and me baby girl," Belle said to the toddler sitting on her lap, kissing her head and making her giggle, "Why don't you wish Mommy a happy birthday and then help her blow out the candles?"

Cheyenne wished her mother an enthusiastic happy birthday, and then helped Belle blow out the candles on the cake she had bought herself. The cake read Happy Birthday in big pink letters. She wished she hadn't even bought it, because it was making her sad. She just felt pathetic. She was celebrating her birthday by herself, in her kitchen, with a cake she had bought herself. She had her daughter, but Cheyenne didn't even really know what a birthday was, because she was only two and a half. She stroked her baby's brown curls that matched Belle's. Cheyenne was the spitting image of her mother.

She glanced at the empty seat across the table as Cheyenne happily munched on her piece of cake. She might not feel as pathetic as she did if her husband had bothered to show up, for any part of her day. She had woken up alone, with no flowers, no card, not even a phone call or a simple text message. The only reason she knew her husband was even alive is because Granny said he had been in the diner for lunch. She wondered if he was mad at her but then changed her mind; she would know if he was mad at her.

Right at the end of that thought she heard a car door slam in the driveway. "Look," she whispered to Cheyenne, pointing out the window in the direction of the headlights, "Daddy's home!"

Cheyenne squirmed in Belle's arms trying to get to her father, but Belle held her in place, an old habit because she never knew quite how her husband would walk in. She was always hopeful, she had been hopeful ever since they got married, but as soon as the door opened she realized how tonight was going to be. The same way the past four years had been.

"Cheyenne," She said to her daughter in a hushed, falsely upbeat tone. "Daddy isn't feeling well tonight, and it's about time for bed. Are you tired?"

"Yes," Cheyenne agreed in a sleepy voice.

"Will," she said to the dark haired man in her kitchen, "I'm putting Cheyenne to bed, and then I'll be back." He nodded.

Belle carried Cheyenne down the hall to her bedroom, the two year old got heavier and heavier as she fell asleep in her mother's arms. Belle clung to her daughter like she was the only thing keeping her head above water, which in many ways she was.

"Why doesn't daddy want to see me?" Cheyenne suddenly mumbled, half asleep.

Belle stopped short at her daughter's words,letting out a sharp breath and having to lean against the wall for support. Her daughter had never said anything like that before, and it absolutely broke Belle's heart. Cheyenne was her whole world. Belle could handle constantly getting hurt, but all she wanted was to shield her daughter from that life.

"Daddy loves you very much, but he doesn't feel well and doesn't want you to start feeling bad too," Belle came up with the first excuse that rolled off her tongue. Cheyenne accepted it without question and Belle set her down in her bed. She still had all the innocence a young child should, and would believe anything her mother told her, but Belle knew she couldn't stay that way forever.

She tucked her in and told her goodnight. "I love you baby," she whispered kissing her on the forehead, but Cheyenne was already asleep.

She paused in her daughter's bedroom and took a deep breathe before closing the door and making her way back to the kitchen to face her husband. Will was getting a glass of water, but Belle could smell the whiskey a mile away. He always went on about how a glass of water between drinks kept hangovers away, but Belle figured he was way past that at this point. Will reeked of it, he must have been out drinking all evening.

"You missed my birthday," Belle said smalley, feeling miniscule in more ways than one next to her six foot four husband. A brief flicker of recognition crossed his face at the mention of her birthday.

"Your birthday," he repeated. "Oh Belle, I'm sorry." He reached for her and grabbed her waist, pulling her against him with force.

"It's okay," she tried to pull back, not wanting to do this right now, like this. He took hold of her wrists, pulling her in again, and kissing her neck. It felt like he hadn't shaved in days, the scruff on his face scraped against her skin. She just gave up, like she always did, and led him upstairs to their bedroom so she could at least go to sleep after he was done.

She lay there with him and tried to forget the fact that it was her birthday.

The next day, Will had been in a good enough mood after waking up. He apologized to Belle for missing her birthday, and he seemed sincere so she accepted it. He left without much more conversation, so Belle got Cheyenne up and ready for daycare.

She was leaving the house, toddler in tow, when David Nolan ran up to her front door.

Before Belle could get out her string of concerned questions, David interrupted her. "I think there's something you need to see," he started, "something happened, well something is happening, anyway I think you need to come because we're not quite sure what is happening actually." Belle was more confused than David seemed. She had stopped getting involved with the Charmings after Rumplestiltskin died, so she wasn't quite sure what this had to do with her.

She looked at Cheyenne. "Do you want to take fun trip with Mommy before daycare today?" Cheyenne nodded, taking advantage of extra time with her mother. Belle also looked at David. "She'll be fine, right? I mean, this isn't anything dangerous is it?"

"No, I don't think so. Actually I'm not sure, but you'll both be fine. I'll explain on the way over."

But David didn't explain. They all loaded up into his truck and he drove them to the main square by the clocktower. It was obvious something had happened, it looked like a hurricane had hit. "A portal opened up, right in the middle of the square," David elaborated. Belle was shocked. From what she had gathered after Rumple died, travel between the worlds was extremely limited, and would need a very powerful force to jump start it again. A chill ran down her spine and she hugged her daughter closer to her.

There were a group of people assembled in the middle of the square. It looked like David's family, Emma and Snow, along with Regina and Hook and a few others. All the usual suspects.

Belle picked up Cheyenne and got out of the truck, keeping her head pushed against her chest in a protective embrace. The group split in two when they saw she had arrived, revealing a dark figure standing in the center. Her heart raced, she recognized the man looking straight back at her. Rumpelstiltskin.

Rumple was tired of all the interrogations about the portal opening up and his presence. He was about to put an end to them himself, he had more important things to be doing, but David Nolan's truck rolled up and everyone stopped talking, looking warily in that direction. David stepped out, and the group of people that had assembled parted. Someone else got out of the passenger's side, a beautiful girl with chestnut hair and blue eyes. Rumplestiltskin's heart raced as he recognized her familiar face. He was still slightly disoriented, but the one thing he knew since he had woken up was that he had to get back to Belle. His eyes moved from her face as he noticed another detail about her, that she was carrying a child on her hip.

Thanks for reading! R&R, check out my tumblr and all that good stuff.

Disclaimer: Cheyenne is mine. Nothing else is mine.