The first time Rumplestiltskin held a bow for his maid Belle to use was…well because that little maid was so damn stubborn! Ever since he had missed that thief with his "magical" bow she wouldn't stop bragging about it. "Where did you put the magical bow that can't miss?" or "I made this meat pie as a special thanks" or "I hope that they can find happiness somewhere safe". It's not like he didn't spare the thief on purpose, not even he was so cruel as to leave a child fatherless, but she didn't have to know that. And no matter how many times he had to repeat to her "I was bored by the forest", "The magic of the bow isn't infallible", "Go back to your chores and stop with the non-sense"…that stubborn maid just didn't seem like the type to give up easily.
She should continue fearing him and crying herself to sleep because she lived with a monster…maybe not, that hurt his concentration more than anything… but that wasn't the point. The point was that no matter what, SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE SMILED TO HERSELF WHILE CLEANING THE LIBRARY AS HE THREATENED JEFFERSON. Daughter or no daughter, you don't borrow something from the Dark One and return it soaked in water because a trip to Atlantis hadn't gone according to plan.
"Something funny, dearie?" he turned to ask her, completely ignoring Jefferson's quizzical face from the other side of the potion table.
"N-no, Rumplelstiltskin. I just…I saw another copy of that same book when I was cleaning the top shelf, so maybe you could just…" said Belle.
"You seem to miss the point here, dearie." He replied.
"But turning him into a mermaid won't return you your book and…"
"A deal's a deal." He cut her short, walking towards her as menacing as he could manage, though he suspected she could have taken it as flirtatious. "But your deal was for him to return it, not to return it dry." She added with an "I-Know-It-All" tone.
Just as he thought, his maid had clearly misinterpreted his menacing walk. He had that effect on women, after all. "Can't you just let it go? I mean, you did before for a bigger offense." She concluded smiling kindly.
Oh no, she didn't. Smiling… Kindly... in front of Jefferson and pointing out loopholes in his dealings? "Well, I would think you above all should know the importance to keep our books safe….and dry." Rumplestiltskin added in a malicious tone, turning his head towards Jefferson, who had a very irritating amused expression on his face. Enough with the non-sense. He tied him up to one of the shelves. The mad-hatter looked at the ropes around his wrists, and then turned his attention back to them. Them. The hatter must have been misinterpreting him as well "I'm not particularly into those things, I think I'll take the tale and..." Yes, he clearly had. How annoying. "Fine, let's finish this once and for all". He took away the mad man's voice to keep him from adding more confusing thoughts to his already disoriented maid and conjured Robin Hood's magical bow. Effect or no effect, he was going to show them. Both.
"Well dearie," he continued, "since you are so convinced this bow can't miss, shall we put it to a test?" He handed Belle the bow and an arrow. He walked towards Jefferson and stopped by the table to pick up one of the apples that Regina had left there yesterday for him to test. He played with the apple while walking toward the mad hatter, wanting to savour his double victory, little by little. Silly people with their silly minds and his silly effect on them.
He put the apple on top of Jefferson's head, blocking his head with magic so it wouldn't fall and patting him on the shoulder. "There, there, dearie, don't fret. According to my maid, that bow can't miss its target, and its target is this apple. Of course, she could be wrong, as she is at so many other things," he turned to glare at his maid with a sarcastic smile, she knew what he was talking about.
"But I'm sure her archery skills can't be any worse than her cooking ones." He finished, turning to Jefferson again.
Perfect. The man was positively scared now, moving his eyes to glare at Belle, already doubting the magic of the bow and, of course, her archery skills. With a little bow, Rumplelstiltskin moved further from the mad hatter, stopping in the middle of them. Ah, this was brilliant. She wouldn't risk it, he'd prove her she was wrong about the magic of the bow and letting the thief go, and he'd have positively scared that crazy hatter for drowning his book.
The maid didn't seem to have grasped the concept though. After looking for a moment between the scared fool and the bow she had in her hands, she had raised her head looking directly at him, raising an eyebrow at his poker face with that annoying know-it-all expression again and prepared to shoot. Oh crap. That wasn't the plan. How stubborn could she be? Why wasn't she accepting the fact that he had missed and not spared the thief on purpose?
As Belle took her attention on Jefferson again, looking at him with a reassuring smile and concentrating on taking the aim, the Dark One started to think faster and faster. He was right. She was wrong. There wasn't good in him, and if there was, she was the last person who should have noticed. And he had to teach her a lesson. And he couldn't let her win this battle. And he should be feared, not challenged. And she shouldn't be so…
Belle shot. Panic took over Rumplelstiltskin and before he could think any better of it, he changed the arrow's target with an imperceptible movement of his hand. He had to show her she was wrong, but as Belle's expression started to turn into panic…
He stopped the arrow inches from Jefferson's throat. "That's enough dearies" Rumplelstiltskin said, releasing his prisoner and returning his voice "Think about this next time you try to drown one of my things Jefferson." He added with a gesture that meant "out of the way". He then turned to Belle and retrieved the bow with a happy expression.
"Unless you decided you couldn't stand the sight of that awful hat anymore, I'd say that bow is not as infallible as you think, Belle." He said to her with a smirk.
"You can go back to your cleanings, and cut the nonsense from now on." He concluded before starting to walk away, hiding from her confused expression his very own. She might have been right for once, but that doesn't mean she needed to know it.
The second time Rumplelstiltskin held a bow for his maid Belle to use was…well, first of all, she wasn't his maid anymore, she was his wife. And that wasn't the only thing that had changed in more than 28 years. He had been back and forth from hell, he had lost a son and gained a grandson, Belle had proven herself to be right more often than not and…no, she was still stubborn, that hadn't changed. She still saw good in him, no matter how many times he had proven her wrong, and she still insisted he should see it too.
They had spent two wonderful days in the house she had found for them for their honeymoon. They were away from Storybrooke and its problems. They had danced and made love, and talked, and made love again. Barely being able to keep their hands off each other after so much time spent apart, they had "christened" every room of the house, until they'd found themselves in the backyard, that afternoon, wanting to catch some fresh air.
That's where they found it. Robin Hood's bow, left among other stuff inside a small cabinet. Curious as ever, Belle had picked it up, wondering how it had ended up there when it had been safely stored in his castle.
As soon as she popped the question, he saw an opportunity. "I don't know. It should have ended up in my shop with all my other things."
She raised an eyebrow at him, hiding a smirk, "Maybe that's because you kept on refusing to admit its magic. Something about missing targets and not sparing Robin's life on purpose?" She teased. "You didn't really think I'd fall for that, did you?"
Of course he had. His plan would have been brilliant if she hadn't been more stubborn than he thought. It was something that he learned to cherish and love with time, something that could make them raise their voices at each other for what he thought were the most stupid things, but also what gave him hope every day that he could someday be the man she saw, the man she stubbornly never stopped reaching out for. But that didn't mean he could let her win so easily. She might have been stubborn, but so was he.
"I don't know. I didn't see any apple in front of Jefferson's throat." He said.
"You cheated" she answered, still smiling.
"You didn't want to prove that I was right, to admit there was a man behind the beast." She concluded.
She turned to face him and gave him a small peck on the lips "I guess now it's too late for you to prove both things" she finished with a smile.
He looked at her adoringly. How he loves her stubbornness now. But he also liked to win, and this match, 30+ years in the making, wasn't finished yet.
"Maybe?" He said, still smiling at her. "Or maybe you were just that bad at aiming. Shall we try again?" He took a step from her and conjured the cuff his father had made that prevents magic users from using their powers.
"No cheating accusations this time dear, just an honest bet. If you are right, you'll be able to shoot that tree branch without a problem" He put the cuff on his wrist and gave her an arrow. She rolled her eyes at his silliness, but she took the bet. If she had to prove him wrong once again, then so be it.
She took position to take the shot but he didn't move away from her this time. On the contrary, as she stretched her arm to take aim, he positioned himself behind her, embracing her with one arm and moving her hair out of the way with the other, starting to kiss her neck.
"I thought you said no cheating" she said turning her face a bit towards him and lowering her arms.
"It's not cheating, it's seizing the moment." He said, moving his hand underneath her shirt and aiming from her right breast. "It's not every day a man can prove his wife wrong WHILE ALSO being so close to her". Her offended snort came out more as a sigh as he lowered his other hand to seize her inner thighs.
"How am I supposed to concentrate like this?" she said breathless.
He smirked and stopped in that position, breathing her in before speaking in a husky voice "Infallible bows are not effected by distractions, but I wouldn't want you to think I cheated, so please, proceed".
He moved his hand from her thighs but kept on embracing her. She repositioned herself, a bit too close to him, so she could be the one to tease him this time, by thrusting a bit against his growing erection. He cleared his throat and she smiled to herself. She took aim, shot…and missed the branch by a good 2 feet.
How was this possible? Was she…was he right? Was it possible to miss a target with that bow? Was she that bad at archery that she couldn't even use an infallible bow properly? Was he….why was he laughing now?
"I'm sorry dear. I love you." He said between giggles, his face buried in her neck. "But I think you should have paid more attention, that's not Robin Hood's bow".