Chapter 1

Belle

I hate that I wasn't there to catch you when you fell and it kills me not to be by your side now. Though I suppose it wouldn't make any difference, there is nothing I can do to help. God, that pains me to admit. My eyes are burning with tears that are building up like water in a dam, threatening to break through but I keep them at bay. Anything more than misty eyes would give me away and that was never part of our plan, Killian.

David and Mary Margaret moved you to your bed, the one you share with Emma, and I know that you're only sleeping but your stillness is deceiving. I've seen you this way in my nightmares though in those it was death that had claimed you, not a sleeping curse. Your skin is pale and the weight you've shed over the last few weeks is disturbingly noticeable against the king sized bed and the mountain of fluffy pillows around your head. You have told me that stress has always had this effect on you, but it still alarms me. You seem so small yet you are the strongest man I know. A pain shoots through my chest and I want nothing more than to sit upon the bed with your hand in mine. I'm here, Killian.

Mary Margaret enters the room. "Emma is on her way."

After forty minutes of failed attempts to reach Emma there is a collective sigh of relief. It's impossible but I will your beautiful blue eyes to open without Emma's kiss. Regina confirmed the Evil Queen had placed you under a sleeping curse moments after it happened but I foolishly continue to hope that you've only fainted or been knocked unconscious. For a moment I think your eyelashes flutter but it's only in my mind; they lay delicate and still against your cheeks.

"He'll be just fine," Regina assesses with a ruby lipped smile. She pats Henry on the shoulder and bids him to follow her to the kitchen for some lunch.

The boy smiles at me as he passes by and I am distracted long enough to note how much he has grown since our first meeting. It's incredible how much can happen in what seems no time at all. Years pass in a blink and blend into one strand until time is tracked not by days but events. Killian and I had met four years ago and it seems like yesterday. He had been a pirate with a heart set on vengeance, and retribution for his lost love had meant my own life. The tables had turned some time ago and now Killian protected me from Rumple. Rumpelstiltskin. Rumple is gone, a mere ghost of the man I had once loved. My heart has moved on.

"Belle, are you okay?" Mary Margaret's face is etched with worry lines.

"I'm fine, just poor Killian," My voice breaks when I speak his name. I press my lips together hard, harder when Mary Margaret begins to blur through my tears.

Mary Margaret takes my hands in hers and offers a gentle pat. "I know you and Hook have become good friends. He's going to be fine once Emma gets here, no need to worry. Come on, I'll pour you a cup of tea." She smiles, well aware of my fondness for the drink.

I glance at Killian's still frame before following my host down the stairs where the group is scattered between the kitchen and living area. Almost everyone is in a cheery disposition, scarfing down the turkey and Swiss sandwiches Regina and Henry prepared. Henry has busied himself with a hand held computer game and the Charmings are snuggling and whispering together on the sofa. I envy the Charmings; husband and wife who had fallen in love the moment they had met. They have their share of problems but they work through them as a team and their love never falters. The two of them make love look so easy and from experience I can tell you that that is not the case.

"Disgusting, aren't they?" Regina says to me as she dabs her mouth with a paper napkin.

There is a version of myself somewhere deep down that disagrees with Regina's analysis but the me here and now nods and agrees.

"Are they always like this?" It's rare that Regina and I talk together about anything let alone something we are both on the same page about, so I keep up the conversation.

Regina groans and rolls her eyes. "From what Henry tells me, yes. And Emma and the pirate aren't much better."

I put down my sandwich, any appetite I have vanquishing when the cozy Charmings transform into Emma and Killian. Emma looks at me with a knowing look before claiming Killian's lips with her own.

"Are you alright, dear?" Regina says to me, saving me from my nightmare.

I blink the vision of Emma and Killian away and feel the tear trail down my cheek this time. Regina hands me a fresh napkin and I wipe my cheeks dry.

"I'm sorry," I say with a weak smile.

"No need to apologize," Regina insists, her eyes straying over my belly. "I've never been through it but from what I hear the hormones can be pretty intense."

"How did you know? I haven't told anyone and−"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It was just a guess really." It looks like there is more Regina wants to say but she doesn't.

I nod, indulging my tears under the guise of hormones. I clutch my stomach out of both love and fear and try not to remind myself that I don't know whose child I'm carrying. That will only make things worse. Stop crying, I tell myself; I'm stronger than this. I blow my nose and straighten myself in my chair. Regina has grown bored with me and her lips are pursed together, her expression thoughtful. When she notices my curious eyes on her she leans forward across the table.

"Why would the Evil Queen put the pirate under a sleeping curse?" She rushes the question and I have no answer, I have been wondering the exact same thing. Regina continues. "What could her end game with this possibly be? Emma's on her way to wake him now. What was the point?"

The front door of the apartment bursts open and Emma charges in, eyes wild and searching.

"Where is he?" Her voice is edged with panic.

Mary Margaret approaches her and sets her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Honey, he's okay, please calm down."

"Calm down? Why would the Evil Queen do this?"

Regina responds. "We don't know. But everything is fine, Hook is under a simple sleeping curse which will be broken as soon as you plant one on him. He's upstairs in the bedroom, go on!"

Emma grips the stairway banister and bounds up to the second floor, her parents and Henry close behind.

"Amazing how excited people get to see magic performed," Regina says, uninterested.

"Well, not all of us have it," I say simply, relieved I'm not the only one who doesn't want to see true love's kiss in action.

I decide to leave now, before Killian comes downstairs and breaks my heart with his sea blue eyes. I fasten my pea coat and don my knit cap, prepared for the chill fall air outside. Regina opens her mouth to speak but before she can express the thought−

"Regina!" Mary Margaret sounds worried. She appears at the top of the staircase, her face flushed, lips trembling. "He's not waking up."

Regina tilts her head to one side as if she misheard but the words don't need repeating. I steady myself against the front door, feeling as though I've been stabbed through the gut. Regina hastens upstairs and disappears into the bedroom while I stand petrified, struggling to breathe. If Killian is dead−

The baby in my belly kicks as if forbidding the thought to fully form. As I climb the stairs I feel like I'm walking with ten pound weights tied to my ankles. I stop outside the doorway to find Emma crying in her father's arms, Mary Margaret in tears, Henry looking grim, and Regina passing her hand over Killian from his head down to his toes and back up again.

"I don't understand, it really is just a simple sleeping curse. The kiss should work."

Upon hearing the words, Emma rushes back to the bedside, lifting Killian's face into her hands. She smashes her lips to his. Long kisses, short kisses, she kisses him with the desperation of a woman who has just lost everything. Fresh tears well in my eyes upon seeing Emma so distraught, upon seeing Killian lifeless and pale.

"Why isn't it working?" David says to Regina as he struggles to keep himself composed for his family.

Regina has the look of a bad news bearer. "The only explanation for a sleeping curse failing to break is that the kiss isn't one of true love." She speaks regretfully.

"What?" Emma says, face white.

"I'm so sorry, Emma," Regina says, saddened.

The Charmings form a secure group hug around Emma while I struggle to steady my breathing.

"Belle?" Regina says my name as I sway and am consumed by darkness.


A/N: Thank you all for reading! If you like it, leave a comment. If you hate it, leave a comment. This story will probably be a three-parter with a potential sequel- depends on the feedback :D