AN: This was written back when I was actively writing the series. I'm not sure why I never posted it, but here it is. I've simply cleaned it up and edited since then, no real story changes. As I've delved back into the series I've had a real hard time attempting to write in the present tense. I know that's been a hallmark of the series up until now, but I'm no longer able to make it flow the way I did when the series first came out. Starting with this chapter, all future works will be written in the past tense, for no other reason than it's the best way I can express the story at this point in time.
Original AN: Title from Home by Something Corporate. This idea has been marinating for a long time, but I wasn't sure how it was going to go. It recently only really took shape when someone suggested that Gold, who has always seemed to have a soft spot for kids, would help Ava and Nicholas by leaving things about for them. Well, Belle decided that wasn't enough.
He found her in the back yard, curled up on a chair and crying, her eyes red and puffy, her hands clutched at her face. She turned as he came through the back door, surprised and relieved as another wave of tears overtook her.
"Jolie? Love?" He moved to her side, unsurprised when she wrapped around him over the arm of the chair, sobbing into his stomach. She wasn't wearing a jacket and her sweater was far too thin for the low temperature. Her skin was cold, far too cold to be healthy and together with the crying it frightened him. He swung his coat from his shoulders and draped it over her, carefully kneeling to look her in the eyes. "What's wrong? Why are you out here?"
"They'll be so cold," she stuttered out, burying her head against his chest. "We have to help them. I don't know how, but we have to help them."
He gently took her hands and slipped them into the arms of his coat, rubbing up and down over the wool to bring some warmth to her chilled skin. He could see their breath puffing between them as they talked, the temperature dropping as the sun went down. "Help who?"
She looked up into his eyes, her own bloodshot. "Two children," she whispered, knowing ears for the queen could be anywhere when they weren't in their home. "Rum, there is a boy and girl out there, somewhere, homeless. How could she do that to them?"
His heart dropped in his chest, but he pulled her to her feet. "Come inside. You need to tell me everything."
Belle sat at the kitchen table, wrapped in her fluffy robe and with her slippers over her stocking feet while Rum made her tea. She was still sniffling, but found herself calming each second she was in her husband's presence. He'd know what to do, and that made her feel better.
He set her teacup in front of her, sliding his chair over to rub his hand across her back. "Tell me, Belle."
She felt more stress melt away just as he said her name. Jolie was a beautiful name and she had no objection to it, but it wasn't who she actually was. Only Rum knew, and just by saying her name he'd helped her center herself a little more. She took a sip of the tea, hot and sweet just like she liked it, and took a deep breath. "I know the rules, Rumple. I know we can't change anything that Regina's done, we can't give ourselves away, but... but I found them today, in the alley behind the library. They were sitting in an old box, a boy and a girl, not more than ten or twelve for sure. They were shivering, Rum, cold and huddling together and I tried to talk to them, but they said they'd been playing and were just..." She couldn't hold the tears back and was so thankful when she felt her husband's arms circle her, pulling her close to hold her. "They said they'd been playing, they were just taking a break and were on their way home. They ran. I tried to find them again, but I couldn't Rum."
He held her tight, cooing a low note to try to soothe her. "It's only been two years, love. It's far too early to go against Regina. If she wants them homeless, it's for a reason." She sat back, looking at him through tear filled eyes, betrayed. "No," he whispered, his hand cupping her cheek. "I didn't say it was right. It's too cold out there, it's too cruel, even for her." He wiped a tear away with his thumb. "Let me think. We have to be creative, but we'll help them."
She leaned into his embrace again, her heart's pounding finally subsiding. "Thank you."
Jolie Gold walked through the locker-lined hallway, head held high as she made her way to the school's auditorium. Rum had yet to come up with a plan, and it had been nearly a week. He hadn't been avoiding it, though. He'd found out the children's identity: Ava and Nicholas Zimmer. Rum had carefully asked after the children, and learned that the curse had everyone thinking that nothing at all was wrong with them. Regina wanted the children homeless and desperate, and they couldn't risk tipping their hand 26 years before the mysterious Emma would even arrive. Jolie strode into the auditorium and up onto the side of the stage, smiling at everyone and holding tight to the bag at her side. She'd come up with a plan, and her husband had smiled a wide, toothy grin at her when she'd proposed it. That grin fueled her now. The whole school was gathered and she steeled herself as Mary Margaret quieted them, beaming from the side of the small stage.
She found them easily enough, two children huddled together, not quite as put together as the others but not sticking out in any way, either. Ava and Nicholas sat together in the back, the other children's talking quieting to a murmur as they sat, quiet and still. It was hard to think about them on their own for the last two years, so she focused on the task ahead.
"Now, students, since Mrs. Shoemocker retired, we don't have a librarian anymore for our school. Please welcome Mrs. Gold with a very special announcement." Mary Margaret smiled and stepped back, opening the stage to her.
Jolie stepped up and smiled at all the children. In two years, not a single one of them had changed. Not a pimple in a new place, not a lost tooth, not even a changed hairstyle. If she thought about it too hard, it brought tears to her eyes, so she forced her smile brighter and put her bag down. "Good morning everyone. I'm Mrs. Gold. I have seen a few of you in my library, but not many. I've talked to the school board, and we're very excited to come up with a new plan for your library!"
Belle shifted and folded her hands, feeling a little exposed in front of so many pairs of eyes. "Over the next few days we'll be taking all the books from your library and incorporating them into the town library and leaving only reference materials here for classwork. Being only a block away, if your classes ever need other books, you'll be walking on over. Also, starting today, you'll all get library cards!" Though she was trying to be enthusiastic it wasn't quite catching the imagination of the students.
She took a deep breath and got to the most important part. "Now that your school library is closed, you'll be happy to know that I'm going to be keeping the public library open longer so you can make sure all your school work is done. We just got the heat system upgraded, so it'll be nice and warm in there during this cold weather, and the town council is donating some couches and desks for you to have places to work." She saw Ava look at her brother when she mentioned warm, and her heart skipped a beat. Sure, she was baiting them. Sure, she was going very far out of her way just for two children. Belle found she didn't much care as long as they were warm and safe at the end of it.
"I'll also be starting a youth book club. Once a month we'll have a meeting and talk about a book either you or I have chosen, and afterwards we'll have a little pizza party." She's struggled so hard with that part. Food, warmth, clothing. How did she get those kids these things? At least they'd eat once a month- a good meal, she'd make sure, with salad on the side and some kind of packaged treat they could take extras of when she wasn't looking. She already figured out where the little drink station was going to be in the library: milk and water and iced tea all the time for anyone who wanted it. She was still working on the clothing part, but she was sure she'd figure that out, too.
Though Rum hadn't come up with an answer for how to help them, he did do some more digging. He slipped into the school records for her. They couldn't find another child that didn't have a family, but that didn't mean they were all happy or well cared for outside of the school. Belle couldn't have her own children in this world, but Jolie Gold could sure as hell care for the ones that needed it. She didn't have it all figured out yet, but this was a start. The library, funded basically by her and her husband, would always have food and drinks and comfy couches and little nooks with beanbag chairs available for anyone who needed them. It also hadn't slipped her mind that maybe these little changes would be good for more than just a few children, too. Her library was so quiet, so sad most of the time. She hoped that making it a little more accessible, a little more fun, might bring in some friendly faces in more than once in a while.
Regina was taking away happy endings; Belle was finding a way to give them comfort until they could change the story.
She cleared her throat and smiled. "During the day today I'm going to stop in each classroom and have you fill out your application for a library card. One day a month I'll spend here teaching you guys how to do things around the library like use the microfiche and the card catalogue. Until then, if you need any help in there, that's why I'm the librarian: to help you find everything you need."
Belle smiled. She meant it: everything they needed.
It was after eleven when she finally came home, dragging herself through the door and tossing her bag on the floor. "Rum?" She called out, tired and defeated.
"Back room, love."
She followed his voice and the comforting aroma of a lit fireplace to their back room. She kicked off her heels inside the doorway and nearly fell into his embrace on the couch, snuggling into his arms and staring at the fire. "How did it go?" His voice was cautious, tired. He was more than a little nervous about the whole venture, but he'd agreed that something had to be done, and he didn't have any better ideas.
She sighed and cuddled closer to him. "The day was good. Signed everyone up, and I had a few really interested kids in the book club. I sent the little ones home with the flyer about the reading classes and the read alongs. I even signed Ava and Nicholas up myself for the book club."
"But?" He held her tighter, knowing what was coming just by the tension in her shoulders.
She tucked her head under his chin. "They didn't come. It's so cold out tonight, Rum, and they didn't come."
He stroked his hand over hear hair, pulling the pins from the strands and putting them in his pocket so he could slip his fingers through her curls. "I'm a cruel man, love. I delighted in so many people's misfortunes when they made wrong choices. But children? No, even I never imagined she'd be so cruel, so twisted as to do that to children."
"Why is she doing it?" Belle asked in a small voice, her eyes locked to the licking flames of the fire across from them.
He sighed. "I don't know. I don't know much about them except that they're being kept away from their father."
"Can't we-"
"No." His voice was tight and stern, and she could tell it pained him to say it. "The curse would never allow it. Even if we orchestrated it perfectly, the magic would twist it, would change it. To mess with the curse like that is inviting disaster. It's best for all concerned if we find a way to help them without them, or anyone else, knowing. If it seems a choice for them." He took a deep breath. "To truly make it their choice to take part in all of this is the only way to change it."
"Will you make me a promise?" She asked, her eyelids drooping heavily.
He hugged her tight. "Anything." He waited, but she didn't respond. He peered over, and her eyes were closed, lost already to sleep.
It was a week before Ava and Nicholas came to the library. At first they did their homework and left, they didn't take a glass of milk or a hard candy or even sit in the comfortable chairs like the other kids. Jolie Gold was floating through the library full of kids, offering help with homework and learning names when they wandered back out into the cold fall night.
They came again the next day, though. This time she didn't give them a choice; she just poured the ten kids in the library a big paper cup full of milk before passing out oatmeal cookies. Ava and Nicholas ate what she gave them, but didn't go back for seconds like some of the other children. They sat on the hard wood chairs at the old wooden desks and did their homework before slipping out again.
It went that way for another week, in which she spent nearly a fortune on cookies and milk once word got out to the kids that she was handing them out for free. Ava and Nicholas came in, ate while they did their homework, and then disappeared. Even Rum couldn't follow their wily trail as they meandered through town when she asked him to follow them one night.
Belle found something special was happening all the while: the other children were happy, too. For months she'd watched them play and sit and start to grow tired. Rum said it was the curse, weighing on their minds even though they couldn't feel it, the repetition of events bearing down on them, the little happiness they had was only because they couldn't remember.
But she was seeing the children smile, really smile, and learn. She knew that in the coming years the knowledge would slip away, only to be relearned month after month. She knew that they'd read the same books dozens of times and do the same math problems wrong every year, but she couldn't help but revel in the moment. For a handful of children she'd brought something new into their lives. Now that she'd finally seen the happiness shine trough, she knew she'd never stop trying to bring new little things to the eternal children of Storybrooke.
After a month she couldn't take it anymore, and tried a new tactic. It was dangerously on the borderline of what they could do within the curse, but winter was setting in and they'd seen their first snowfall last night. The thought that those children might not have someplace warm to go broke her heart, and she wouldn't stand by idly anymore. She did, however, remember what Rum had said- it had to be their choice.
Belle slipped behind her desk and picked up the phone, knowing that Ava and Nicholas were right behind her. She dialed and listened as a sharp voice told her the time. Who she called didn't really matter; it was what she was going to say. "Rum? I have a problem." She waited, pretending he was answering her, and watched the curious eyes of Ava and Nicholas through the reflective glass of the doors across from her. "It seems the lock is broken on the caretaker's apartment. Well, both of them, really." She waited a moment again, thinking that it didn't matter if SHE was the one who broke the locks, not at all. "Well, the door from the library is stuck, it won't open at all. And the door from the outside, well, it won't stay locked. She paused, trying not to jump in excitement when she saw Ava's eyes light up in the reflection. She continued, hoping that she wasn't going too far. "Well, the heat's on, and the bathroom still works because the water supply is tied to the library supply." She paused, waiting for an imaginary question. "Yes, I think the bed is still in there. I was using it mostly for storage, there were some donations of children's clothes in there I was going to give to the sisters for their clothing drive that I was saving for next year." She waited again, watching the two children try not to show their excitement, but obviously listening to her. "You're right, no use in dealing with it for a while. Not until spring at least. I probably won't even go in there until then."
Ava shushed Nicholas as Belle put down the phone with a few false pleasantries to the man that was supposed to be on the other end of the line. When Belle turned, Ava was trying to not look very eager. "Ava, right? I remember you from the school." The girl nodded and Belle smiled at her, hopeful for the first time in the last two months that she'd be able to really help these kids. "Can I help you with anything?"
Ava slid a young adult book across the circulation desk, her library card on top of it. "I want to check that out, if it's okay I mean."
Belle took the book in her hands. It was a book that let the reader pick the ending, one about space travel. She looked up at the girl, hopeful for how this might turn out and a bit saddened at how timid she seemed with her though Belle knew this little girl was strong enough to take care of her and her brother for the last two years. "Of course! That's what the library is for!" Belle made a show of looking at the girl's library card and stamping the card in the back pocket of the book before filing it away. "I haven't read this one yet- you'll have to tell me if it's any good."
Ava smiled, just enough to let some of her teeth show, as Belle handed back the book. "I will. Thank you, Mrs. Gold." She tapped her brother on the shoulder, who had been staring at the door to the caretaker's apartment the whole while, and the two slipped out into the cold as a teenager came up to the desk, three large reference books in her arms.
That night, Belle and Rumplestiltskin waited in his car in the back alley across from the library, staring at the door cloaked in darkness. "What if they don't come?" She whispered, shaking both from nervousness and the cold.
He shook his head, "They'll come. The one thing I have learned is that the girl is smart and cunning. She's not taken much from you because she didn't want to jar your suspicions, but it's cold and snowy tonight and they'll take advantage of it."
She leaned forward, wondering if she was imagining the shadows in the alley. "How long do you think we can let them stay there?"
Rum laughed. "Indefinitely, I think." He reached over and twined his fingers in hers. "We'll 'fix' the lock, but leave a key inside for her to find. You'll just have to casually mention that the inside door is broken for good, but you've decided not to fix it for the time being because it would disrupt the use of the library. That can buy us twenty six years easily."
Belle bit her lip, her eyes sparkling when the two shadows emerged, the girl trying the lock and opening it on the very first shot. Belle jumped with delight when the door closed behind them and the sliver of light shone from beneath the door. "They're in."
Rum turned to her, his fingers ghosting across her jaw. "You did a wonderful thing for them, my love."
She kissed his palm, cradling his hand to her face in hers. "Twenty six more years in hell, I won't let anyone suffer if I can help it."