"I'm going to need a new dress."
Rumpelstiltskin glanced up at Belle and scanned the opulent gold gown she wore. "Nonesense, that will do just fine." He flicked her away and went back to spinning. "Now go about your duties."
Belle quirked her mouth into a wry grin and left him to his work.
It wasn't until the sun was about to set that he grew suspicious. Belle had been gone all day. He knew she enjoyed the grounds around his estate and even more so now that spring had come, but what had kept her attentions for so long, and why would she need a new dress?
He was about to go searching for her when he heard the main doors open and shut behind her. He counted her paces until she reached the great hall and he smiled down at the straw he was spinning into gold not bothering to look at her as she entered.
"Ah, I was beginning to think you'd run awa- hellfire and spite!" He was shocked straight up off his stool as he finally took in Belle's appearance. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His little spirited away princess looking like a street urchin and far too pleased with herself. He never thought he'd see the day a royal would wallow in the mud like an animal, but it seemed that was exactly what she'd gone and done.
Belle had sheared off the skirts of her gown scandalously high above her knees and was now barefoot of all things. She'd tied her hair up into a tangled mess atop her head, long dried mud strewn through it as though she'd put it up as an afterthought once after she'd become a swamp beast. Oh how he wished he could have seen that; the pampered little princess in the mud. The sight of her now made laughter bubble up in his chest and he couldn't bring himself to hold it back. It was one of the most entertaining things he'd seen in years. He'd have to make sure she was covered in mud more often.
Belle seemed to enjoy hi amusement and though she had her lips pursed a smile tugged at her mouth.
Rumpelstiltskin stepped around his spinning wheel as Belle planted her muddy hands on her hips, a proud smile in her glowing eyes.
"My, my, aren't you just a sight?" he sniggered. Belle glanced down at her wretched appearance well pleased with herself. Her father would have thrown a fit, but she'd never been happier.
"I think I look quite fetching." That she did, even under all the mud and leaves, one of which he pulled from her tangled hair. Her arms were sheathed in mud up to the elbows and dried smears of it covered her face and clung to her eyelashes. She was dripping all over the carpet, a sheen of sweat on her neck and clinging to her collarbone. He had no doubt she'd left a trail a mile wide in her wake.
The imp stepped back to examine her again, all amusement. "I can see why I owe you a new dress. Whatever were you doing?"
"Gardening. And yes-" She clapped both hands to his cheeks with a wet slap, a wide grin on her face as she slid her muddied hands over his cheeks while he stood there in open-mouthed shock. "You do."