A/N: All right, so while wrestling with another story that refuses to cooperate with me, I read through a bunch of preschool!Rumbelle stories. I want to give a big thanks and a nod to all the authors who managed to make me fall in love with an idea that at first seemed a bit silly because this story would never have come to be otherwise. However, I was home schooled myself so I have no real idea what goes on in a preschool, which is why this story is set in the summer on a neighborhood block...

There are three chapters to this story and I will be posting the last two on Thursday and Saturday night. Please let me know what you think of it - writing for children, who are still recognizable characters, is harder than it sounds! :) Also, a huge thanks to roberre, who was invaluable in helping me get through this story and gave me a lot of encouragement!

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended.

The Value Of A Smile

She smiled. All the time. Which was weird. Even James and Mary didn't smile that much. Well, maybe they did when they were alone together, but they were nice to Rum most of the time, so he didn't spy on them like he did everyone else on the block.

Not that he'd been watching anybody else lately…at least not as much as he used to. Not since the new girl had moved into the house three houses from the corner. She had been crying when she and her dad had gotten out of their really big truck. Rum knew because he'd been watching very closely—it was exciting to have someone new to watch, someone new to use in his lots of deals. Maybe she would be the one who had the thing he needed, something that Regina would accept in return for what he wanted so badly from her.

He remembered very clearly that she'd been crying, or he thought he did, but she hadn't cried since. When she came out every day to play in her front yard with a big golden dog, she was always laughing or smiling. She even smiled at Leroy when he was being grumpy after wrecking his bike into her fence and skinning his knee in front of Astrid. Most of her smiles, though, went to her dog and to Ruby, who came to her house because she loved dogs and the new girl's dog was pretty and happy.

Ruby and the new girl became best friends really fast, which Rum didn't like very much. Before Ruby had come over to meet the dog, he had always walked past the new girl's yard at least once a day. The first time he did it was just to see her close up. She always wore a necklace, he'd noticed, one that shone in the sun. Regina liked shiny things, and even if she liked mirrors best of all, maybe a necklace would be enough.

Rum had only meant to look at the necklace as he walked past, but the new girl had seen him. And she had smiled at him.

Smiled.

At him.

Nobody smiled at him. James would help him, sometimes, when the bullies at school cornered him, and Mary would sometimes give him a cupcake when she had extra, but even they didn't smile at him. He was little and skinny and he made deals that traded something he had for the things he wanted—always trying to find the right thing to trade for something Regina would want—and he didn't have friends. So nobody smiled at him.

But she did. She'd smiled and ran to the edge of her yard, her hands holding onto the chain link fence, and she'd talked to him.

"I'm Belle," she said, still smiling. "What's your name?"

"Rum," he told her, and waited for her to laugh. Everybody did when they heard his name, even shy little Ashley who had sat by him once. Even the teachers would smile a little bit, although they tried to hide it.

But she only smiled and petted her dog's big head when he licked her hand. "I saw you," she said, "in your tree-house." She pointed to the shadowed tree and the dark wooden fortress perched in its branches, sitting near the top of the hill all their houses marched up on.

He was surprised. "You saw me up there?"

"Yes." She giggled when her dog jumped up with a stuffed frog in his mouth. "Down, Gold!" she said.

"I like that name," Rum offered shyly, standing back a bit from the fence. Her dog shone, just like her necklace. Just like her smile.

"Do you want to pet him?" Belle asked.

He wanted to, but he'd been bitten by two dogs already, and he didn't want it to happen again. So he shook his head and drew back a bit.

"It's all right," Belle said, and she smiled at him so nicely that he felt something warm and comfy, like a blanket, inside his chest. When she reached between the holes of the fence and took his hand, Rum slowly let her pull him forward until his fingers fell on soft golden fur. Gold sat nicely and looked at Rum with his mouth open, his tongue sticking out.

"He's smiling at me, too," Rum said, surprised.

"He likes you," Belle told him. She put her hand on top of his, squeezing it between her fingers and Gold's fur. "Gold always knows who the best kids are."

And Rum had felt himself smiling back at her.

After that, he'd walked by her house every day when she was outside playing. He never told her that he only came to see her, but he thought that maybe she had figured it out. But then Ruby had come, and she was always there, playing with Belle and Gold, and Rum didn't want to go past when Belle was busy, just in case she didn't smile at him. She had a friend now, so she didn't need to talk to him.

But he missed her. And he didn't like it. Missing people was stupid because once they left they never came back, but more than that, it made him feel sick and small and it made it hard to focus enough to watch everyone for something he could use. He didn't even care, anymore, about Belle's necklace and the deal he wanted to make with Regina, who ruled the block from her big fancy house at the very top of the hill, with all her new toys and Sidney's secret-telling drawings.

Instead, Rum found himself thinking about Belle's smile and her voice and her hand on his. He even missed Gold, and the fur that would move beneath his hand, and Belle putting her tiny, clean fingers on top of his.

So when Belle went somewhere with her dad in their truck and left Gold in the yard, Rum knew that this was his chance to get all the smiles back.

He crept out of his tree-house and walked, very casually, down the street. Then he lifted his hand—took a deep breath because it was hard to forget how much it hurt when a dog bit down on you with sharp teeth—and opened the gate.

Gold came right over to him, grinning at him with his tongue sticking out between long white teeth. Rum figured that it was hard not to smile all the time when you got to live with Belle. If she made this deal with him, maybe he would be able to smile, too, Rum thought hopefully.

Rum reached into his pocket and took out the leash he'd gotten from Archie in exchange for that cricket in the little cage August had made. It was kind of hard to get the leash attached to Gold's collar, with him wriggling so much and Rum trying hard not to get too near the dangerous mouth full of even more dangerous teeth, but he finally got it on. Hearing the satisfying snick, Rum felt very pleased with himself, and taking a tight hold on the blue leash, he led Gold out of the yard.

He'd gotten a bowl of water ready, and he was glad he had because when he led Gold into the backyard of the abandoned house where nobody had lived for a long, long time, the dog went straight to the bowl and began lapping up water so fast that Rum's pants got splashed.

"Stay here," he ordered the dog, unclipping the leash—it was easier now since Gold was too busy drinking to wriggle very much.

Rum closed the gate behind him and went to hide the leash under the board in the corner of his tree-house. Then he sat down and waited for Belle to get home.

He almost felt guilty for his sneaky plan when he saw how scared she was to find the open gate and empty yard. He could hear her calling for Gold, and he held his breath until he was sure the dog wouldn't start barking. Gold wasn't much of a barker, Rum had noticed, and he was glad, even if he did have to throw him a bone he'd gotten from Ruby to keep him from digging under the gate.

Belle got the other kids on the block to help her look for Gold. Everyone liked her and her dog, so they were all happy to help. Her dad looked for a little bit and then went inside the house to get the phone. Rum watched the scattering of children anxiously, a little hole in his belly whenever any of them got too near the abandoned house. The backyard was hidden by tall, scratchy bushes no one wanted to get too close to, but one bark from Gold would give it all away and ruin everything. Jefferson got the closest, but Gold was drinking some more water and being quiet, so the boy wandered off in a different direction.

Rum had been planning on waiting until the other kids went home for supper to talk to Belle, but when he saw her start to cry, he decided that he'd waited long enough.

It was scary, leaving his tree-house and walking up to her in front of everyone, but Belle just looked at him. It was the first time ever that she hadn't smiled at him, and he squirmed inside. For just a tiny little bit, he thought that maybe he should just forget his plan and tell her where to find Gold, but then the tall kid from the next block over, Gaston, gave Rum a mean little smile and stepped in front of Belle.

"What are you doing here, runt?" he asked really loudly.

Mary gave a little smile to Rum, but it wasn't bright and real like Belle's always were. "We're busy looking for Belle's dog, Rum," she said, as if she thought that would make Rum turn around and leave.

Instead, he straightened his shoulders to make himself look bigger, and sidestepped until he could see Belle. "I know where Gold is," he said, but not very loudly because he didn't care if the others heard him. All that mattered was if Belle would listen and accept his bargain.

"You do?" Belle smiled, and she glowed, as if she were a firefly. She skipped past Gaston to grab hold of Rum's hand. That made him forget about feeling bad, and he knew this was a smart deal, much better than that first one he'd made with Regina. But who cared if Regina wanted Belle's necklace? Rum would find something else to give her in return for his little bear.

"Yes, I do," he said solemnly. "I'll take you to him, if…"

"If?" Belle asked. She was still holding onto his hand, which made Rum realize how small she was. He was little—everyone told him so—but she had to look up at him. It was strange, really, because it made him feel like he could keep her safe, the way he had kept his bear very, very safe before Regina had tricked him into making that deal.

"If you know where Gold is, you should just tell her," Ruby said, sounding a little bossy.

Rum looked at her—just looked, but he knew everyone was afraid of him because they knew they might need to make a deal with him one day—and Ruby frowned and looked away.

"If I help you, you have to do something for me," Rum instructed them all. It would have been better to talk to Belle when no one else was around, but since everyone was here, he had to make it sound like he didn't care.

"Okay," Belle said quickly, squeezing his hand. "What do I do? Is he okay?"

"He's safe," he told her, and he was surprised at how quiet his voice was. "But if I tell you, you have to agree to come live with me in my tree-house."

"What?" Mary almost yelled. "She can't do that!"

"People don't live in tree-houses," David said. He sounded like a grown-up.

"I can ask for whatever I want," Rum said, standing even taller and glaring at all the children. All of them except Belle. She was still holding his hand and he didn't want her to be scared of him and let go. "And I want Belle to come stay with me."

"If I do, you'll help me find Gold?" Belle asked. "He'll get to come home?"

"He'll have to," Rum said, regretfully because he had tried to think of a way Gold could stay with them but he just couldn't figure out how to get a big golden dog up a wooden ladder. "But I promise I'll find him for you."

"He's probably the one who took him in the first place!" August said. He was standing a little off to the side, holding a stick in one hand that he used to draw lines he claimed were letters in the dirt.

Rum narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, but before he could even say anything, Belle shook Rum's hand and nodded. "Okay, I'll go with you. Just please, help me find Gold—he's lost and he's probably scared and lonely."

"But what will your dad say?" Mary asked, looking very sad.

"I can get the police to come rescue you!" James offered. Sometimes, Rum wondered if he thought he was a hero from a storybook. Other times, he wondered if he really was. He had sure acted like a hero when Mary had gotten a piece of apple stuck in her throat and almost choked.

"I can rescue you right now!" Ruby claimed fiercely.

Rum tensed, ready to run if he needed to, but Belle was shaking her head, her brown hair flapping against his arm in the wind. "No, I already decided. Besides, I want to find Gold."

"Here." Rum tugged gently on her hand and was happy and surprised when she followed him. The other kids started to follow, but luckily, it was dinner time for Mary and Ruby and August, and Gaston left after loudly declaring that this was a very bad idea. Jefferson and James, though, followed Rum and Belle to the yard where Rum opened the gate and showed them Gold. The dog danced around Belle and licked her hand, and Rum was relieved that he didn't look scared at all. He didn't want Belle to be worried about Gold while she was with him in the tree-house.

"Thank you!" Belle exclaimed happily when she finally stopped hugging Gold.

"I found him for you," Rum reminded her, shooting a sideways glare at James and Jefferson in case they tried to accuse him of hiding the dog here. He knew no one had seen him bring Gold here, but that didn't always matter.

"Yes, thank you!" Belle turned away from Gold and threw her arms around Rum.

Warmth and happiness and something strange and new rushed through Rum so that he felt like static electricity was shooting all over his body. He almost couldn't even move. Belle's touch felt better than anything he'd ever felt before. His mom certainly never hugged him, too busy talking about all the places she could have seen and wasn't able to now that she had a kid tying her down. Only his bear had ever hugged him, but even that hadn't felt anything like this.

"You're welcome," he said, and very carefully patted her on her back. He didn't want to hurt her or break her, and she was so little. Rum remembered patting a compass he'd gotten once and it had broken—he didn't even like to think of that happening to Belle.

Because she was smiling and happy, Rum let her walk Gold back to her yard. James finally had to go, which he did only after warning Rum to be nice to Belle. Jefferson stayed, though, and Belle ended up talking to him for a very long time, telling him how much food to give Gold and how he liked his belly rubbed and where his toys were.

"Don't worry," Jefferson finally said. "I'll take really good care of him."

"Come on," Rum said, thinking that it was a good time now to go back to his tree-house. Belle had never been there before, and he had tried to make it look nice for her, just in case she accepted his deal.

"Okay." Belle suddenly went very quiet, and she hugged Gold very tightly for so long that Rum began to get a little scared that she would change her mind and not go with him.

"Belle?" he said. His voice shook a little bit, which was embarrassing, but Jefferson was too busy playing with his hat to notice and Belle finally let go of Gold and turned to look at Rum. Her smile was very tiny and she almost looked like she was going to cry, but she took his hand again.

"I'm ready," she said.

"Good." He took a deep breath and tightened his grip on her hand, as if she were about to fall off something, and then he walked with her toward his tree-house.

Everything had worked out exactly like he wanted it to. He would never have to worry about not getting to see Belle smile anymore because now she'd be living with him. The couple times that his mom called him inside the house, he could hide Belle in the tree-house, and he would make sure to always bring her enough food. He had even stolen one of his mom's fragile teacups to give Belle for when she got thirsty.

It was perfect, he thought smugly. He had Belle. He would get to see her smile everyday, and maybe she would even hold his hand some more.

This, he decided, was definitely the best deal he'd ever made in his whole entire life.