A Child's Primer
A Rumbelle Drabble
For Jess
In the closet, there was a box.
Of course, Belle was too curious not to look.
And in the box, there was a book.
It was a red leather-bound book, old and worn. Inlaid in the cover was a plate, embossed letters rising from it. It appeared to be bronze, or perhaps worn gold leaf.
But the surprising fact about the book was not the cover, though it was beautiful.
It was what was inside the book.
Why would Rumple have an old, handmade children's primer? And why would he keep it in a box in the closet?
Belle mused over the curious book for several days before she began to read it, rather than flip through it.
At first, it was all letters. Scratched in a child's handwriting below a more carefully scrawled though still messy handwriting.
But then, letters faded into words.
And words into sentences.
My name is Baelfire.
It is nearly my birthday.
My mother is Milah.
My mother sings to me.
My father is Rumplestiltskin.
The book slipped from her fingers.
My father is Rumplestilskin.
She pushed the book back into the box, her mind whirling. She shoved the box back into the closet and slammed the closet shut.
She nearly made it to the bed before she lost control.
He found her there several hours later, curled up in a ball at the edge of their bed.
She had been sleeping when he crouched beside her, but she woke when he shook her shoulder gently.
"Belle? What's wrong, dearie?"
She looked at him, as if seeing him for the first time.
"I found a book, in the closet. Baelfire. He was your son. I'm so sorry."
She barely whispered the words before pulling him close, and holding him tightly.
She didn't know what happened to Baelfire.
She didn't have to know the details.
He was gone, and she knew it.
Because of the book.
She held him for a long time, neither one speaking. Neither one of them had to.
"He was my son."
End
Um, yeah. Not really canon, I suppose. Just a little drabble. For Jess, because she voted. n_n