Another little thing I wrote for my girlfriend, and the first kinda het thing I've written in like 6 years. But she and I love Rumbelle very much and I couldn't keep myself away from writing this.I hope you enjoy this.

Don't like, don't read

Pairing: Rumbelle (aka: Rumpelstiltskin/Belle)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Once Upon a Time.

Just Another Day

He couldn't remember how he got to this point, with this woman in his arms, just like he had always wanted her, but for that moment, he didn't really care. She was there with him again, at last, after all he had done to break the curse that had stolen his Belle.

She looked so beautiful, even here in the arms of the beast that had trapped her all those years ago back in a land they had left far, far behind. So innocent that he retracted his arms from around her and sat up in his bed.

He couldn't touch her. Not now. Not after what he'd done in the name of winning Lacey's love. He'd let his Belle down, he'd broken every promise he'd ever made to her, regardless if he broke them for the sake of her.

He stood and walked through the back rooms of his shop where he lived, and found himself in the bathroom, staring at his reflection, but not recognizing it as who he was…or used to be…

Was he Mr. Gold, the man with nearly infinite power and influence over the people of this town? Did he have the heart of the Rumpelstiltskin before his child had been born and he'd been branded a coward? Or was he worse than all of that? Was he the Dark One, having just come off the loss of his wife and then his child?

Whichever it was, whatever he was, the man looking back at him was foreign and disgusting in ways only Belle had ever been able to look past.

He shook his head, placing his hand on the glass before him, trying to search out a detail on the face reflected back of who he was now.

"Rumple?" Her voice faded in like a memory, soft and lilting and as beautiful as ever. And after a moment her head popped up by his in the mirror, watching him through it, concerned, her arms slipping around him in a hug.

"Rumple… What are you doing in here?" He watched her for a moment before lowering his hand to grasp hers, thinking for a moment of things long forgotten.

"I don't know, Belle," he whispered back at her, feeling her chin come to rest on his shoulder as he looked away. He couldn't bring himself to look at her any longer now, feeling he was tainting her with his very gaze.

"Well come back to bed then," she said, slipping away from him and padding back into the bedroom. Rumple nodded and began to turn around, but felt the world spin in front of him before he sat up in bed. Alone. Again.

A sigh echoed around the empty room as he looked to the spot beside him, knowing Belle wasn't there, because Belle wasn't here anymore. His Belle was gone, and all that remained was Lacey, the trashy, drunken clone of his beloved, hiding her away somewhere in the depths of that beautiful mind that's potential was no longer being reached.

He sighed again and lifted himself from bed, barely noticing that he'd had less than an hour of sleep. It wasn't worth noting, because as long as Belle remained just out of his grasp, time was something irrelevant but far too important as he attempted to find some sort of cure that would keep him from corrupting himself totally in the company of Lacey.

So he started again, another day longing, alone and reaching toward a distant goal.

A/N: And there we have it. A short, sad little Rumbelle ficlet. I hope you all like it, reviews are welcome. Thank you.

SandXDemonX13

TTYFTDS