So, here it is. Chapter one of my first Fanfic. Give me tips! Constructive criticism is welcomed. :) And I would love encouragement. :) So. Yes? No? Tell me what you think! I would love to hear feedback. Though I must tell you, I have done a horrible thing and went ahead and wrote a steamy scene that will be in a future chapter, and now everything else seems utterly boring. Just so you all can look forward to that. :)

I was at my wit's end. Rumpelstiltskin was a fool. I had been a fool for marrying him. I mean, what had I been thinking all those years ago? Marrying the son of the town coward?! I should have known better. I should have known what my precious Rumpel would turn into. A coward himself.

Not only had he run from the Ogre wars, but he had injured himself to do it, claiming that it was so that our son would have a father.

But I tell myself that his father died when Rumpel crushed his own damn foot.

He died to me.

And now, here I was, living in such boredom I could cry. The only lively part of my life was when I could find the time to sneak off to the tavern. There were always some good stories to be listened to there. My refuge was behind a tall mug of ale, until my husband would always come and find me, sometimes paying Smithy on the way out, but sometimes he would be too infuriated to remember.

In those cases, Smithy would wink and shake his head, saying, "Don't you worry, lass."

Then Rumpel would lash into the endless "What about your family?" speech, and I would roll my eyes, and remember that Baelfire was at home, probably waiting to be nursed or washes, or, when he was older, served supper.

The thought of my son always seemed to bring me back to my own sad world. But Bae was another spot in my life that brought me joy. The only reason he wasn't the only joy in my life was because he reminded me of what Rumpel and I used to share.

And I couldn't bear the thought of it.

But here I was, day, after dull day, waiting for something to happen in my life that would change it into something that I could look forward to waking up to.

And then it happened.

I winced as I looked down in to the black kettle of pasty white gruel that was on the menu for supper. Again. Lifting the wooden spoon to my lips, I prayed to my lucky stars that it would taste different than it usually did, but it was no use.

As I slammed the spoon back into the kettle, I jumped with surprise when I felt a pair of hands encircle my waist. Once I felt his breath on my neck, I turned and thrust my palm into the man's chest until he released me, taking a few steps away.

"Don't you touch me, Rumpelstiltskin." I said with narrow eyes, then turned back to stirring the gruel.

"Milah, I-"

"Where have you been?" I asked, not giving him the chance to finish, and not turning around either. "Bae has been asking after you ever since he woke this morning."

My husband cocked his head and quietly asked, "Is Baelfire the only one who misses me when I'm gone?"

I tossed my braid over my shoulder and turned to face him when I answered, "It would seem so, wouldn't it?"

Rumpelstiltskin's brown eyes shone with hurt.

I pretended not to notice. "Why don't you take your son and go find some mushrooms, or anything to make this gruel taste edible? Anything at all would cheer it up a bit." I suggested.

Just get out of here.

He matched my gaze until I raised my eyebrows, and he nodded. "Okay, Milah." He turned, carefully limping around my mending basket and Baelfire's wooden blocks, and made his way to the open door. Turning back to the pot so he wouldn't see me watching him, I heard Rumpelstiltskin call out for Bae, who delightedly left the village children to fall into step with his father.

I could imagine what was happening now, Rumpel would be putting his arm around the young boy's shoulders, and would be slowly making their way along the path and into the woods together.

As soon as I was sure my husband and son had gone, I slipped out of the house, feeling a twinge of guilty conscience. But I quickly forgot about that as I skipped through the bustling town, men and women walking around, the street full of busy chatter. When I was here, I wasn't the wife of the town coward. Rumpelstiltskin wasn't pinning me down here. No one was holding me back from… anything.

I entered the tavern, and Smithy came to the counter, drying a mug. "Haven't seen you in a while, Milah."

I shook my head, "There's a reason I don't come often."

He nodded, "How's the little one?"

"He's the reason. Sometimes I worry that he's too attached to his father." I sighed.

"Surly you wouldn't deny him that."

I gave a terse nod. "I'm sure you'd like to talk, but I didn't come to be scolded."

"No, of course you didn't." He filled the mug, and I took it, thanking him.

The mug was filled to the brim, and I took a sip of it before finding a place to sit. The strong ale sent a tingling feeling down my throat, and I smiled with satisfaction. The tavern was unusually full of people, which was always a good thing for those of us who came for the stories. I looked for a familiar face or two, though when I saw none, I didn't mind.

Taking a seat next to the noisiest table, I settled in.

The table next to me was filled with rowdy men, each one hurling insults at the others, and laughing and drinking. The group wouldn't have even caught my eye except that they were obviously from far away. Nether their accents nor their cloths resembled anything that I'd ever seen, though they acted like every other group of sailors that make a habit of frequenting the tavern.

As if to prove my point, one of the men stood up to corner one of Smithy's serving girls.

"Come along, Smee. You have enough lasses ignoring the young men who really care about them because they're waiting for you to return to them."

I focused on the man who had spoken. He sat at the head of the table, his chair leaning on two legs, his feet up, and his long leather coat draped over the chair like a tablecloth. All the rest of the men seemed to listen to him when he spoke, and they each also seemed to revere him.

"But just why they like your ugly face, I'll never understand."

The rest of the men laughed, and the man standing up, presumably Smee, turned almost as beet red as his hat.

I smiled, almost amused by the goings on, though when the man who seemed to be the leader looked my way, I turned my eyes back to my ale.

I listened to the men carry on, until I could see the bottom of my mug and decided to go before Rumpelstiltskin became infuriated. Again.

On my way out, I tossed Smithy a silver coin and said, "Tell your wife I said she got a jolly good man." In other words, I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier.

He nodded, eyes twinkling, "You come on back whenever you find the time."

"You know I will."

I hurried out the door and down the road, wondering how long my husband and Bae would have been home without me. Rumpel would know where I was, but Baelfire would think only that I was doing something that needed to be done. His innocence very nearly sickened me.

It was during this train of thought, that I felt a tap on my shoulder, and heard a soft, foreign voice say, "Excuse me."

I turned.

It was the man who had been sitting with his feet up at the table.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I couldn't help but notice that you dropped this on your way out." The man held up a brown ribbon – my brown hair ribbon.

My hair had fallen out of its braid and into my face, but I hadn't noticed. I took it from him with a nod, "Thank you for returning it to me."

He bowed his head, and then looked back up at me, brown eyes smiling.

"Good day, " I said, turning to go.

"Wait," his voice stopped me. "Do you have a name?"

I faced him, "Most people do."

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"It's Milah."

"Milah. Just Milah?"

I nodded. "Just Milah."

He paused, looking at me for a minute, and said, "Well, good day, Milah."

"Good day sir." I turned, knowing that a smile was threatening to surface on my face.

And as I turned from the glittering eyes of the handsome young man, I suddenly met the eyes of another man.

"Milah," Rumpelstiltskin murmured. "does he know about me?"

I stiffened, walking towards him. "He doesn't know anything."

"He looked like he would like to."

I was past him now, Rumpel still standing in the middle of the road where he had appeared. "Where's Bae?"

"Waiting for his mother."

I clenched my jaw. "Get out of the middle of the road unless you want to be flattened by someone's spooked horse."

And it was in this cheerful mood that Rumpelstiltskin and I made our way back to our humble hovel.

"Mamma!" Bae rushed out of the opened door as soon as he saw the two of us walking up the lane towards the house. He grabbed my hand and started pulling towards to door. "Mamma, the gruel is smoking!"

Damn.

How could I forget about that?

I avoided Rumpelstiltskin's gaze as I rushed into the house with Baelfire.

To my surprise, I saw the big black kettle in the middle of our dirt floor.

"I took it off the fire, Mamma."

I kneeled in front of my son, "Bae, you are such a good boy." Hugging his head, I looked over his shoulder at Rumpelstiltskin. "Such a brave boy."

Rumpel rubbed his face and turned to close the door.

I stepped up to stir the gruel, a bit thicker than usual, but saved from being inedible by my son.

"Bae," Rumpel said, "Why don't you go and wash the mushroom in the stream before we eat them."

"Yes Papa." The boy said, as submissive as can be, and grabbed a basket that was filled with fresh mushrooms, before heading out the door once again.

I stood up and faced my husband, knowing what was coming.

"What?" He asked, when I stood staring at him.

"Go ahead."

"What?" he asked again.

I sighed. "You sent Bae out of the house, Rumpel."

He nodded. "Milah, I just want to ask you to think hard about the things you do. Before you do them."

"Oh, because that's what you do?"

"No." Rumpel shook his head. "Because there are some days that I can't live with the shame of not thinking."

I turned away. "If one of us were to reprimand the other for our actions, I think it should be the other way around."

I could feel Rumpel's eyes. "Haven't I paid for my decisions enough? When will you stop punishing me for a lapse in judgment?"

My voice hardened. "You know the answer, Rumpelstiltskin."

"Do I?"

"I will never stop blaming you for the shame you've put on this house. On my son. On me."

"You don't want to live again as we once did?" He asked.

Unbelievable.

"You mean when we didn't have a care in the world? We were going to have adventures, Rumpel. We were going to live life to the fullest." I turned back to him, almost shouting as I said, "But you ruined that for me. For all of us. You've changed it forever."

"Forever is a long time."

I nodded. "Yes it is."

"Why do you want to live like this forever?"

"I don't."

The door squeaked open, and Rumpel's mouth snapped shut from the response that he was obviously about to shoot back.

We ate a quiet supper together, Baelfire looking between his father and I, probably wondering what the tension was about this time.

To be perfectly, painfully, honest, the only fun I could find in this life was poking at Rumpelstiltskin.

But something bigger had happened than I realized.