Rumpelstiltskin's head started to feel heavy as he stared at his wheel. He closed his eyes and shook the heaviness away. Within seconds the heaviness returned. This time when he shook it away shivers went down his spine. He sat straight up. He wasn't cold. He didn't get cold. He took one of his brittle hands away from the wheel to rub his temples. To his own surprise, his forehead was a bit damp with sweat. He didn't even realize he could sweat anymore. He attempted to stand up. It proved to be much more difficult than normal, considering his limbs felt weak enough to collapse under him. He felt a slight dizziness standing up and grimaced.
"Well that's just inconvenient," He hissed to himself. Belle, who had been wiping down a table, looked up at him.
"What is?" She asked, curious at first, and then concern became more apparent in her face actually looking at him, "Are you alright?" Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes and sighed. He knew he wasn't an easy sight to look at before, but he must have looked pretty awful if Belle was able to notice something was wrong almost instantly.
"It's nothing of your concern, deary," He said, starting to walk with great effort towards the door, "I'll be in my room. Fetch me when dinner has been prepared." Belle gave him another concerned look but nodded and returned to her work. He almost thought he would be able to make it out of the room, but just when he was about to reach the door, another wave of dizziness washed over him and he lost his balance. His hand shot out for some sort of support and it hit a suit of armor. The metal rattled upon the impact and Belle's head shot up again. She dropped her rag and rushed to Rumpelstiltskin, ducking under the arm against the suit and wrapped her own arm around his waist.
"Clearly this is my concern," Belle stated firmly.
"No. It isn't, deary. You just waxed the floor too much and I slipped," Rumpelstiltskin lied. That didn't stop Belle from placing the back of her hand to his cheek.
"You feel warm," Belle said. He didn't feel warm in any way. That was a plus at least.
"Well that's just my warm personality," He sneered. Belle gave him a face that clearly showed she was not amused.
"Either way, you look awful,"
"In case you didn't notice, I'm not that pretty to begin with,"
"Rumple, you're sick, and as of now, you're on bed rest," Belle said with a commanding tone as she started guiding him to his room. Rumpelstiltskin raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm sorry, I was pretty sure I was the master in this arrangement," He said bitterly, doing his best to ignore yet another wave of dizziness washing over him.
"You are, you're just not a healthy one at the moment," Belle said as they reached Rumpelstiltskin's bedroom, "You just need some rest is all." She laid him down on his enormous bed and pulled the covers over him. "I'll be back in a moment, call me if you need anything." Rumpelstiltskin watched as she left the room. He groaned in frustration and stared at the ceiling. This was ridiculous. He was the Dark One. He could conquer anything! (Except the flu apparently…) Within minutes, Belle returned with a tray that had the chipped cup, a teapot, and a large, steaming bowl of something that looked like soup.
"Here we are. Nice cup of tea and a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Does wonders for illnesses," Belle smiled gently. Rumpelstiltskin allowed himself to give a small grin in return.
"Highly appreciated, but there is one other thing that can help," He said.
"And what's that?" Belle placed the tray on the table next to the bed.
"A little orange vile in my potion inventory, it will definitely help me, but sadly its effects take quite a bit of time. May last all night, and once I drink it, you will need to keep a very close eye on me. In fact, I forbid you to leave this room once you bring the bottle," He explained. Belle tilted her head, confused.
"And why is that necessary?" Belle asked.
"There's…certain side effects that will require me to be supervised. While it does its magic to heal me, it will make me act beyond the ways I normally do. I may or may not act more insane than I normally am. Similar to how one acts when they're drunk. There's no telling what I'll do," He grinned and looked at Belle, who just stared at him with more confusion mixed in with concern, "Well, that vile isn't going to bring itself. Get to it!" Belle nodded and left the room. Rumpelstiltskin had time to finish his tea before Belle came in with a little orange bottle in her hand.
"You're sure this will work?" Belle asked.
"Fairly sure, now lock the door and windows, don't want me escaping while I'm intoxicated," he said as Belle handed him the bottle. Belle nodded and locked them both in his room. Rumpelstiltskin tried to pull open the cork of the bottle, but his lack of strength made that exceedingly challenging, which didn't go unnoticed by Belle.
"Here," Belle took the bottle and opened it. She handed it back to him and he gulped down the contents. He scrunched his face in disgust.
"I had forgotten how terrible it tastes…" He muttered. Belle sat besides him on the bed.
"So, what now?" She asked.
"Now, we wait," Rumpelstiltskin sighed, "Until things get interesting."
Several minutes passed with silence between them. Rumpelstiltskin was starting to feel strange. His head felt lighter. He was dizzy again but this time he didn't care. In fact, he kind of enjoyed it. He looked over at Belle, who was staring at the ceiling in boredom. The moonlight shined against her pale face nicely. Her blue eyes were quite literally sparkling and her brown curls seemed to glow. She was really quite a beautiful sight. Rumpelstiltskin turned on his side.
"Do you want to know a secret, Belle?" He asked, his words slightly slurred. Belle looked over at him, interested.
"What secret?" Belle asked.
"You know that fiancé of yours? That fellow…his name started with a G…" He waved his hand in front of him as if that would help him remember the man's name.
"Gaston?" Belle raised an eyebrow.
"Yes! Him! He stopped by the castle once. I think he was challenging me to a duel," He said. Belle sat up.
"Well what happened?"
"I turned him into a rose," Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. Belle looked at him, jaw dropped. She should have been furious, she wanted to be furious, but she just…couldn't. She found herself laughing instead.
"That day, when you said a merchant was selling flowers and handed me a rose…" Belle started.
"I handed you your fiancé," He grinned, "I'm pretty sure you snipped off a significant body part when you went to put him in a vase. If he becomes human again, he won't be having children anytime soon,"
"Rumple!" Belle said loudly as she laughed harder, "You're awful!" As she continued to laugh, Rumpelstiltskin started to giggle as well. When they both calmed down there was silence again. This time it lasted longer. After who knows how long of admiring his long, black fingernails, Rumpelstiltskin looked over at Belle again, who was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
"Dozing off on the job," He tsked, "lazy…" Belle blinked a few times and looked at him.
"Well excuse me for being tired, people are normally asleep at," Belle glanced at the clock in the room, "2:30 in the morning." He also glanced at the clock and shrugged.
"Fair enough, I'll allow it," Rumpelstiltskin said. Belle sighed and slipped under the covers.
"Goodnight, Rumple," Belle said as she placed her head on the pillow.
"Are you a thief?" Rumpelstiltskin suddenly asked. Belle's eyes shot open and she turned to face him.
"What?" Belle asked, "No, why?"
"You have such pretty sapphire eyes, and you must have stolen them. It's not nice to be a thief," He said, his words had become more slurred than before. Belle gave him a tired smile.
"Well, I didn't steal them, but thank you," Belle said.
"Well you definitely stole something…" Rumpelstiltskin yawned as his arm stretched over Belle. Her eyes widened slightly but she allowed it given that Rumple wasn't himself at the moment.
"And what did I steal?" She asked. The only response she got was Rumple pulling himself closer to her and nuzzling his head against her neck. Belle turned her head slightly to look at him. He had been pretty quick to fall asleep. Belle smiled to herself. It was strange, seeing the almighty Dark One look so peaceful. Belle wriggled her arm out from under him and wrapped it around him. She let her eyes close as she drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Belle had just about finished preparing breakfast when Rumpelstiltskin walked into the room and leaned against the door frame.
"Well someone's looking better," Belle smiled.
"Yes, and feeling better as well," Rumpelstiltskin replied, "Hope whatever shenanigans I may have caused last night wasn't too much trouble."
"Actually you were fairly decent for the most part, aside from you accusing me of being a thief, though you never told me what I stole," Belle smirked as she turned back to the meal. He looked at her confused.
"I called you that?" He sounded surprised. Belle turned around to look at him. "Yes, you did…" Belle said slowly, "What do you remember from last night?"
"Not a lot," He shrugged, "All a bit cloudy in the head actually." Belle just smiled and grabbed the plates of food.
"Well then, if you do ever remember, I am curious to know what I've stolen, but until then, breakfast is served," Belle smiled again as she walked out of the room. Rumpelstiltskin watched her as she went, not daring to reveal that he had a clear memory of the night before. He had been lucky he had fallen asleep before revealing that she had indeed stolen something:
His heart…