"And I can't promise that it's gonna be fine, but here I am if you're ready to try." Belle whispered along as she fiddled about in the library. She was still raging from her fight with the 'heroes.' To think, they would just let Rumpelstiltskin die, even if he had a clean slate now. Even if he was still her true love.
"Here's my tears when you tell me those words," Belle remembered the words clearly. Belle, please, I'm afraid…. Belle, I'm a coward… So many hurtful things, and she'd still let him slip from her grasp. "Here's my life for better or worse." The song was playing around in her head, had been since she'd heard it on the radio the other day.
Rumpelstiltskin would have liked it, she thought, smiling in spite of herself. She could see the look of wonder on his face as she promised her life for better or worse. She could almost feel his awestruck gaze as he'd look at her, and she'd sing along softly in her lilting accent.
Then the elevator began to rumble, alerting her of a presence. She jolted out of her thoughts, and grabbed the fire hydrant. She had to protect herself; She wouldn't let Rumpel find her dead body. She couldn't do that to him.
The elevator rumbled again, and she got closer, brandishing the hydrant like a weapon. Then it opened, and Belle's world stopped.
It was Rumpelstiltskin. "Please don't hurt me." came his soft voice, and yes, that was him.
"Hey." Belle whispered, putting the fire hydrant down and bending onto her knees, feeling as if they'd buckle under her sudden weight if she didn't. "It's okay. It's- it's just me." She murmured, her hand outstretched for him.
"It's really you." Rumpelstiltskin said, and he didn't expect an answer, but she gave him one anyway, nodding with a gulp. "Hi." She whispered.
"I did recognise the singing, a little. It was muffled." Rumpelstiltskin commented, looking down at his hands, bloodied and bruised.
"You heard that?" She blushed a little, and wasn't that amazing that he could still make her blush. "No matter." She murmured. It was going to be sung for you eventually. She smiled hesitantly at him, and then took him in, her gaze going all over his figure.
"Rumpel, what happened to you?" She whispered.
"The dark one seems to think I can be her hero, brave." Rumpelstiltskin said neutrally.
"But what about the bruises?" Belle pressed.
"Merida. Belle, Emma has her heart." Rumpelstiltskin said quickly.
Belle nodded sharply, gulping again. "Come on. We need to get you cleaned up, and safe." Belle said at last, the silence becoming overbearing to her poor heart.
"I'll…. Alright." Rumpelstiltskin agreed, even if it was hesitantly. Belle reached out for his arm, and helped him get back into the elevator.
They went to their shop.
Along the way, Rumpelstiltskin began to talk to her quietly, in his frightened voice, the one she recalled from nightmares of Zelena. He told her he'd heard her, in his comatose state, and that's what kept him alive… She was.
Belle bit her lip, and just narrowly resisted the urge to proclaim her love for him. She did squeeze his hand, though, and perhaps that was what meant more.
"Yes…." Belle dragged the note out, humming to herself as she tended to Rumpelstiltskin. "Face me, take me, save me. Don't try to change me…" Belle whispered to herself as she went about the healing.
"Face you, take you, save you. I won't try to change you." Belle murmured, and Rumpelstiltskin's eyes were sharp, looking at her with that wondrous face she'd never get tired of having placed upon her.
Finally breaking upon the beauty of his stare, Belle bent down and kissed his forehead, peppering the kisses from the middle of his head down to his nose, down to his lips until she was kissing the corner of his mouth.
He could turn, and she'd let it go. He could turn the other way, and she would fall.
He turned the other way, the bastard. She wrapped his arms around his neck, standing though she was, and kissed him. "Here's my body that I'm giving to us," Belle whispered against his lips. She wrapped his arms around her, since he apparently felt too shy to do such. She had no qualms where he was concerned.
"Here's my arms that'll hold us up, here's my life dedicated to love. I'll try to give you everything you deserve." Belle pulled away to whisper the words, her blue gaze meeting his brown one.
"I… You're everything I don't deserve, Belle." Rumpelstiltskin murmured, his hands on her hips and kneading into them, making her moan softly.
"It's not about what you deserve," Belle said quietly. "It's about what we want." she told him. "And I know what I want - you."
"I want you too, Belle, I always have." Rumpelstiltskin vowed. "I never- I never meant the words from the Dark Castle."
Belle laughed at that, smirking a little as she stopped her standing and plopped (gently) into his lap. "I knew that. But it's nice to hear."
And the two spent a long time like this, exchanging kisses and promises of love and cherishing the moment with the other.
It was brilliant, and everything Belle needed.
Yes.