Nearly everyone in the village hated Rumplestiltskin, or if not hated, at least looked down on him. He'd run away from the Ogre Wars rather than do his duty and fight, so he had been branded the town coward and was treated accordingly. He'd grown used to it over the last decade, and he endured it for his son, Baelfire. Bae was the reason he'd run in the first place. His fear of leaving his son fatherless was greater than his fear of being ridiculed. He would walk through fire for the boy; a bit of scorn was nothing.

Nearly everyone in the village thought Belle was an odd girl. A beauty, but definitely odd. She could read, which while impressive, seemed hardly a necessity, and all she read were those fairy tale stories anyway. Mostly she ignored them, helping her father with the chores when she had to, and running off to sit by the pond and read her books when she had the time.

Rumplestiltskin didn't think Belle was odd for her love of reading. He thought she was odd because every time they passed each other, she would smile and greet him cheerily, rather than the glares or, at best, polite nods he got from everyone else. He never quite knew how to respond, so he would stumble through a hello and move on about his day, thinking how strange it was that a bright young girl like Belle would take the time to be so nice to him. It puzzled him, but it fascinated him a bit too.

While it was true that Belle was nice to everyone, she went out of her way to be nice to Rumplestiltskin because she saw how he was treated by the majority of their village, and she thought it was just wrong. Of course she'd heard the story of his defecting from the army, but whenever she saw him with little Baelfire, she understood entirely. It was obvious he loved the boy with all his heart, and Belle just couldn't think how anyone could fault a father for loving his son. Knowing that, she couldn't help but smile every time she saw Rumplestiltskin, and frankly the way he seemed so flustered by her greetings was almost adorable.

It was a perfectly regular afternoon when Belle, her chores finished early and a book in her hand, decided to take a detour on her way to the pond. She knew that Rumple and Baelfire would occasionally be doing some work outside, so she deliberately wound a path that would go right past their house. Luck was with her, and there they were, divvying up piles of wool.

"Hello!" she called out sunnily, waving at the pair. Baelfire jumped to his feet, waving back, and Rumplestilskin grabbed his walking stick and rose as well, waving a bit less enthusiastically. That same confusion he felt every time Belle greeted him was back, and he was completely baffled as to what she might be doing in front of his house. "I was just on my way to the pond," Belle said, stopping in front of them with a bright smile on her face. "I just wanted to say hello."

"Very, erm, thoughtful of you," Rumplestiltskin stuttered. He hardly knew how to keep up a conversation with his son, let alone Belle.

But Baelfire had no such problem. "Would you like some tea, Belle?" he asked cheerfully. "I think it's just about time for a tea break, don't you Papa?" He looked up at his father hopefully. Rumplestiltskin was mortified. Bae couldn't know that no one would want an invitation into the town coward's cottage, but before he could reply, Belle was speaking again.

"I would love some tea, Baelfire," she turned her gaze to Rumple, eyes sparkling. "If it's alright with your Papa, of course."

With Bae tugging on his sleeve and Belle smiling at him, Rumplestiltskin was helpless. "I think you're right, son," he said, managing to speak calmly for once. "It is time for a tea break."

And with that, a tradition started.

Not quite daily, for of course there were always days when there was too much work to be done, but with as much regularity as possible, Belle was stopping by Rumplestiltskin's cottage for tea. Typically the three of them would sit at the tiny table by the fire, and when Bae wasn't busy playing with his friends, he was usually the one driving the conversation, talking about what adventures he had gotten into since the last time they had their tea. At first, the times when Bae wasn't there were awkward. Belle would try to draw Rumple out, but he was still uncertain with her and not really comfortable engaging her.

One such afternoon, Belle, in one of her attempts to get Rumple to speak up a bit, made the observation, "This place could use a woman's touch." As soon as she said it, she saw the shift in his mood and knew she had erred. She wanted to smack herself on the forehead. "I'm sorry," she said. They had never discussed his wife, but she knew it must be a sore subject.

"No matter," Rumple replied stiffly. "It's not really a secret. My wife didn't want to be shackled to a coward, and who could blame her?"

Belle winced. It was possibly the longest sentence she'd heard him utter when they were alone, and it was laced with a bitterness and self loathing that made her heart ache. He always seemed to not mind what the other villagers said about him, but she could see that he believed every word of it. She reached out as though she might lay a hand on his arm. Rumple pulled back, almost imperceptibly, but pull back he did, so she didn't touch him.

His hands were clenched together and his eyes downcast, so he couldn't see her face. Rumplestiltskin knew what he was, couldn't she see that? After a few tense moments, he heard her rise.

"I should go," she said. "It's getting late."

Rumple stood as well, still not quite meeting her gaze. "Well, good night then," he said, his voice still stiff.

"Good night," Belle replied quietly, moving to the door. She stopped before exiting, turning slightly but not looking directly at him. "And you're not a coward, Rumple."

She was out the door and gone before he could even attempt to muster a reply.

They didn't speak of that awkward exchange the next time they met for tea. Baelfire's presence was a blessing, as far as Rumplestiltskin was concerned. Belle seemed back to normal as well, though he thought he noticed her gazing at him thoughtfully a few times. He tried to shrug it off, but he kept thinking back to her saying he wasn't a coward. She'd said it as though it were the pure and honest truth, as if she was saying the sky was blue. The girl was just so baffling!

Belle listened eagerly to Bae's chatter, nodding along and asking questions at the right times, but she couldn't help watching Rumple and wondering what he was thinking. Was he still upset about her offhand comment from their previous meeting? Did he still seethe with that awful self loathing she had heard in his voice? She wondered if he even considered the possibility that when she told him that he wasn't a coward she was telling the absolute truth. How could she ever express to him how brave she thought he was?

As the weeks past and Belle continued coming by for tea, Rumplestiltskin found himself wishing he could do something for her. She was giving him a gift every time she came round, though she might not realize it. She gave him a few moments with someone who didn't look down on him, and she gave Bae another friend to spend time with. (Of course the boy had many friends, but at his age having a grown up who wasn't your parent pay attention to you was its own kind of special.) He couldn't afford to give her what he thought she would like most, a new book, but he did have some skill he could put to use. The spinsters who had raised him hadn't just taught him how to spin wool, but how to make things out of the yarn. With the weather starting to get cold, he knew just what gift he could procure for Belle.

He'd set aside what wool he could spare, and before the worst of the cold arrived, he managed to make a simple shawl, dyed blue. Once it was finished, he hid it in a box under the table, and waited for the next time Belle would stop by for tea.

It was one of those afternoons when Baelfire was away from the house, which were always interesting to Belle. She loved having Bae around, of course, but being alone with Rumplestiltskin was an opportunity to try and learn more about him without his son's influence. She saw him as a mystery to be uncovered. So on that chilly afternoon with Bae at a friend's, Belle greeted Rumple with her usual bright smile and settled in for another try at chipping away at the many layers of Rumplestiltskin.

For his part, Rumple was quite nervous. Belle was as chipper as ever, and he found himself glad that his son was out. He was sure that Bae knew how fond his father had grown of Belle, so it was good that the boy wasn't around to give the game away too soon. After pouring their tea, Rumple took a deep breath and steeled himself.

"Been getting cold lately," he observed. Discussing the weather felt a bit ridiculous, but he needed the simple start up to segue into actually presenting his gift.

"It has," Belle replied, wrapping her hands around her tea cup as if just speaking of the cold would bring on a chill. "I expect we'll see the first snow soon."

"I expect so," Rumple said, pulling the box up from under his chair. "In fact," he rushed on before he could lose his nerve, "I thought you might like this, to help keep warm." He felt his face start burning as he thrust the box across the table.

Belle's eyebrows lifted in surprise, but there was a small smile on her face when she opened the box and pulled out the shawl.

"This is for me?" she asked incredulously.

Rumple nodded hesitantly. "If you'll have it. I wanted to repay the kindness you've always shown me, so I made it for you."

"Rumple, you made this?"

He was looking down at the table, not quite able to raise his head yet. "I did. But if it's not to your taste I'll take no offense-" His sentence ground to a halt at the touch of her hand on his shoulder. He jerked his head up to see that she'd risen and moved to his side without his noticing.

"Rumplestiltskin," she murmured, "It's the most beautiful gift I've ever been given." Belle was utterly surprised and touched that he had taken the time to make something for her. Another piece of the puzzle that he was fell into place, and she felt certain what her next step should be. She knew he'd be shocked, but that didn't stop her from leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

He was frozen, his brain completely blank. Before he could begin to respond to her kiss, she was pulling back and giving him one of those smiles. Rumple's mouth hung open with disbelief, and she laughed softly. He tried to speak but she put a finger to his lips and stopped him.

"I know that wasn't very proper," Belle said, then shrugged. "But I don't really care. I've been thinking about doing that for some time now. I knew all along how kind you were, how sweet and brave." Rumple attempted to protest at that, but she raised her voice and continued as if she couldn't hear him. "You may not believe me now, because you've been told otherwise for so long, and you believe the worst of yourself. You'll just have to trust me. I can see the man you are inside, and I love you." She removed her hand from his lips, so he could respond.

For several moments, Rumple could only keep gaping at her. Her arms crossed stubbornly over her chest, her eyes sparkling at him, her mouth still set in that maddeningly lovely half smile. Everything inside him screamed that he needed to try to talk some sense into her, to make her understand that no woman could ever love him. But she'd said it already, and his own feelings were too strong to ignore. Her words had set something in motion that even his self hatred wasn't strong enough to stop. Rumplestiltskin surged to his feet and gently reached out to cup her face in his hands. Looking into her eyes, he said, "And I love you too."

Then he kissed her, and the rest of the world faded away. Nothing mattered but the taste of her lips, the feel of her arms wrapping around his neck, the way their bodies pressed against each other.

Belle pulled him closer with a hand on the back of his head, delighted with the way he responded. She'd been so sure of her feelings and fairly confident about his, but the reality of this was more than she could hope for. They fit together like they were made for each other. After several moments she pulled back slightly to look into his eyes again. He gazed at her with love and something more, something she recognized and wanted very badly to give in to. She glanced over to where his bed was, then looked back at him with a question in her eyes.

Rumplestiltskin hesitated for just a moment, knowing that if they went to bed together there would be no going back, for either of them. But looking at Belle with that fire in her eyes, he didn't want to go back. Taking her hands, he led her to his bed.

They sat down together, and Rumple once again took Belle's face in his hands, kissing her again. Her hands went to his shoulders, then slid slowly down his chest, pulling at his shirt with an intent that was clear. They pulled apart, and Belle quickly relieved him of the shirt, then pushed him back slightly so he was laying down. She kissed his lips once more, then began trailing more soft kisses down his neck. Rumplestiltskin sighed and ran a hand over her hair.

Belle kissed her way down his chest and stomach, and she dared to run her tongue lightly over the skin just above his pants before retracing her path back up to his neck. She found his pulse point with her lips and bit down on it gently, causing Rumple to gasp and his hand clenched in her hair. Belle raised her face to his and kissed him again, sighing happily as her tongue slipped into his mouth. After a moment, she pulled back and ran her hands over his waist, just above his pants.

When she started to reach lower, Rumplestiltskin gently took hold of her wrist and shook his head. "Not yet," he said, shifting them so she was the one laying on her back. He covered her neck with kisses, nipping at the skin beneath her jaw, while his hand made quick work of the lacing of her bodice. He ran his hands under the fabric first, moving his mouth back to hers as he bared her skin. Pulling away to gaze at her, he was struck by how beautiful she was. He covered one of her breasts with his hand and squeezed it lightly, and she arched against him, pulling him down to kiss her. He stayed there for a moment before moving down her neck again, his fingers moving to her nipple and pinching it while his mouth found the other, sucking on it gently.

Belle moaned and wriggled at the pleasure, her hand on the back of his head holding him to her breast. With a final twist of his fingers on her nipple, he sat himself up, and before she could quite follow his motions, he'd removed her clothes entirely. His eyes roved hungrily over her naked body, and the heat of that gaze sent an answering heat down between her legs. She pressed her thighs together and reached for him, wanting him on top of her. But Rumplestiltskin had other plans, for though he kissed her mouth briefly, he moved down the bed and pushed her legs apart so he could settle between them. His lips touched the skin just above the dark tangle of curls and she gasped.

Rumple smiled to himself and kissed his way down, gently opening her folds with his tongue until he found her clit. He pressed a kiss to it and felt Belle shudder. He moved his mouth to her inner thigh and nipped the skin before moving back to her pussy lips, then repeated the process on the other thigh. Belle made a soft keening noise when his tongue brushed her clit again, so he stayed there for a moment, laving his tongue up and down over the sensitive bud before moving away once more to run his lips over her thighs again.

Belle knew that if he just stayed on her clit for a few moments more she would be undone, and his teasing was driving her mad. She raised herself up enough to look down at him. He met her gaze with an impish glee in his eyes. "Please," was all she could muster before he was back at it, his tongue hitting her clit with a ferocity that made her head fall back and her back arch. Within seconds she was coming apart at the seams, gasping and gripping the blankets as the orgasm rippled through her.

Rumple kept his head down between her legs until the peak of her orgasm passed, then he moved up the bed to lay beside her, laying an arm across her waist and kissing her temple.

A few moments went by as Belle waited for her breath to come back, then she looked over at Rumple with mischief in her eyes. "Next time," she said, "I get to do that to you."

He chuckled and kissed her again. "Anything you say, sweetheart," he said.

"For now I'll be satisfied with this," Belle continued, pushing him onto his back and removing his clothes as he had done to her. He was hard and erect, and she took him in her hand, making him close his eyes and sigh. She leaned down and kissed the head of his cock and felt him shiver in response. Her tongue flicked out over it a few times, and she smiled at the small sounds he made. Curious, she moved between his legs and took as much of him into her mouth as she could manage, and he abruptly sat up, gasping.

"Gods, Belle," he said shakily, falling back again and trembling at the sensation of her hot mouth. He could feel her tongue caressing him and he thought he was going to come, but Belle abruptly took her mouth off him. He felt her move, and looked up to see her positioning herself above him. Rumple managed to grasp her hips as she guided him inside her.

Belle shook slightly at the feeling, then leaned down so their chests pressed together and she could kiss him, their tongues twining. Rumple's hands slid down her thighs and she followed his lead, moving her hips as his hands directed. She clung to him, knowing he was close. "Rumple," she whispered against his lips, "I want to feel you."

Rumplestiltskin clutched at her thigh with one hand while the other gripped her hair and held her close and kissed her urgently. He pumped in and out of her, bringing himself closer and closer until he thought he might explode, and when the orgasm hit him he pulled away from Belle's mouth and buried his face in her shoulder, shaking with the intensity of it.

For a minute he couldn't seem to move, and then suddenly he just collapsed, his arms falling like noodles to his sides. He hissed as Belle moved off of him, his softened cock still sensitive. She lay next to him, managing to get on top of his arm so he could at least attempt to hold her. Curled into his side, she touched his face softly and turned his head so she could meet his eyes.

"Rumple," she murmured, brushing his hair back.

His arms seemed to be working enough now that he could reach over and touch her face too, and he stroked her cheek, gazing at her adoringly. "Belle," he replied, smiling.

"I love you," she said, returning his smile with her own, her smile that lit up his whole world.

"Yes," he responded, kissing her forehead. "And I love you, too."