"Longing"

There was a chill on the air tonight and Belle shivered, listening to the crunch of her boots over the cobblestone path that led to the hay barn. She came out here to think occasionally, sometimes about her family or the life she was once a part of, but not tonight. Tonight her mind strayed to him and those dark sorrowful eyes. She had never seen him look so vulnerable and lost as he had today. She had been in the library reading when he came to her this afternoon. She remembered that playful glint that danced upon his mischievous face and wondered what his intentions would be. "Well dearie, I see you're enjoying the tantalizing tales of heroic endeavors." She looked up cautiously while struggling to suppress a smile, "And what would you know about heroic endeavors?" With a flip of his coat tail, Rumple whirled around and sat down in the chair across from her, "I have tamed titans! Calmed calamities! Lost love and moved mou..." "Rumple? What do you mean you lost love?" His gaze suddenly lowered to the floor and he was quiet for what seemed like minutes. He sharply stood up clearing his voice and looking anywhere but at her, struggling to speak the words as if remembering something to painful to process in this moment. "That's not for you to worry your pretty head about." Rumple turned and disappeared nearly as quick as he had come but not without leaving Belle with a longing to know more.

He watched her intently as she glided through the moonlight like a piece of pale silk caught in the wind. She was never awful to him and he hadn't known that kind of tenderness in his life since the birth of his son. He could feel the heat rising to his face thinking of her…no aching… longing for her. He feared his heart would give him away as he stood gazing through the slats of the hay barn. It pounded in his ears like thunder rolling through a darkened sky…and then he slipped. For a moment, just a moment he had let his mind wander to a life with her, thinking of a home and children but his mind had wandered so far that his body betrayed him. The board squeaked sharply as his weight pressed heavily against it. "Hello! Is someone there!" Startled, he took a step back but stopped. He was weary of the emptiness that rested in his soul. She was a light in the darkness he had created for himself and means to an end. He opened the door and stepped inside. He was very close to her now but she didn't pull away or even seem frightened as he had expected. They stood there, no words being uttered, only the undeclared longing for one another. His eyes traced the soft curvature of her face, slowly making his way to her supple red lips. Her eyes seemed to penetrate his soul and she whispered his name, "Rumple.." In that moment the chains of refutation fell away as they embraced in true loves kiss for the first time. He softly rested her on the golden bed of straw allowing his emotions to take hold. He held and kissed her there in the moonlight. She never noticed the single tear that fell from his cheek to hers, only that she longed for more.