When Belle walks into the library, she's surprised to see that there are some lights on. She hasn't come to the library since… for a few days, and she was pretty much the only person who really even bothered going to the library at all. Before the whole debacle with the Spell of Shattered Sight, she did try to go to the library every day (even if it was only for a few minutes), but it's been almost a week.
She hears a clatter and someone cursing in the room next door and jumps a bit. "Wh-Who's there?" she calls out nervously, because the likelihood that the person in the other room is going to want to hurt her is very low, but you never know who might turn out to secretly be a villain.
"Belle?" That's Hook's voice, and she hears his footsteps and he's walking into the entrance room. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were going to come here today. I would have waited outside."
"Today?" Belle asks, a bit confused by his wording.
"I've been coming in and doing- maintenance for past 5 days," Hook replies. "Some cleaning, going through the books and setting aside stuff that needs repair, and I've also been doing some reading. Mostly about this land."
"You didn't have to," says Belle, barely suppressing the tears in her voice, because he's being so nice to her, and she hasn't really had anyone to do something like that for her for a while.
Hook scratches behind his ear and ducks his face a little. "I've always abhorred sitting around, and I'm still somewhat confused by a lot of things, so Emma-" and here, his face lights up with a grin "said I should check out the library and I couldn't help but notice that it's in a bit of a sorry state. So Emma's been letting me in here every day to do some upkeep." Belle is still silent, a bit too shocked to speak, and Hook looks nervously at her through his lashes. "I assume that's okay?"
"That is quite okay," replies Belle. "Um, would you mind if I see what you've done?"
Hook grins and goes back into the next room, and Belle follows. She's pleasantly surprised at what she sees- the floor is nice and shiny, there's a pile of books on the table, and a few of the shelves look a bit neater than she can remember.
"What do you think?" Hook asks, interrupting Belle from her reverie, and Belle gives into the urge to hug Hook. After a second, he tentatively returns the hug.
Belle pulls away and says, "I think if you keep on doing what you've been doing, and I start getting these books actually organized, we could probably have a working library in a few weeks."
By the time a week has gone by since she met Hook in the library, Belle thinks she might have gained a new friend, which is pretty good. The fact is, even before she banished Rumpel, she was kind of a loner- neither her life in the Enchanted Forest nor her life in Storybrooke have been conducive to being friends with a lot of people.
Except now there's Hook, who is very helpful, and enthusiastic, and it turns out he's also quite a gentleman, and is very entertaining (he'll constantly talk, but it's stories- from his past, or other tales he's heard- so she doesn't mind the constant talking at all). He's also very thankful to her for saving his life, because (and this doesn't make her tear up, oh no it totally makes her tear up) according to him, she got there in just the nick of time to prevent him from becoming just another name on the list of people who have abandoned Emma. Besides all that, he's practically a sponge when it comes to information, but when she comments on that to him, he tells her he hasn't survived for as long as he has by being a "dumb pirate".
In fact, one night after they're done at the library, he offers to take her to the Rabbit Hole, and they're drinking (rum for him, beer for her), and Belle actually finds herself laughing at Hook's indignant retelling of what Rumpel made him do while he was controlling him ("Your husband made me drink rum out of a bloody teacup! And then he had the gall to make me say that I couldn't recall a "long-winded explanation" about a portal, of all things. Like I've never had any experience with portals, except I bloody well have!")
And then at the end of the second week, she hears a disturbing lack of noise from the room that Killian's supposed to be organizing, and she walks in, ready to tear him a new one, when she sees him reading a copy of Peter Pan. He seems engrossed in it too, if the expression on his face is anything to go by.
"Enjoying reading about yourself?" she asks.
Hook starts and looks up a bit sheepishly, and says, "Apologies, lass, I just saw the title and I was a bit- curious. It's not often one gets to read about oneself."
"Well, right now- and as much as it pains me to say this- you should be organizing, not reading," replies Belle. "But- take it home, read it, and then you can tell me what you think of it."
"Thank you, lass," says Hook with a grin.
He comes back on Monday morning with Peter Pan in his hands and a grin on his face, and says, "I quite liked it. The author does a decent job of describing me, although I much prefer the name Killian to James. And of course, the way Pan is represented is completely off."
"You finished reading already?" is the only thing Belle can say.
"I love reading," replies Hook.
"It's just- you're a pirate. Who'd think that a pirate would love to read?" Belle asks.
She says it kind of jokingly, but Hook's face becomes sad, and when he speaks, it's in a low tone. "I learned to love reading before I became a pirate."
And it really shouldn't come as a shock to Belle (she knows that Hook didn't spring into the world, a fully formed adult male pirate with a hook for a left hand), but she can't picture what he could have been like before.
"Was it your mother?" she asks, because her love of books certainly came from her mother, and maybe his did too.
"My brother," Hook replies shortly.
"I didn't know you even had any siblings," Belle says.
"Had," he replies, and looks at her with a bit of laughter in his eyes. "Ironically enough, he's the reason I even became a pirate in the first place."
At her encouraging look, he launches into a tale of a young man and his older brother, his Captain, going on a hero's journey that ended with the older brother dead because of the treachery of a corrupt king and the younger brother taking his revenge on the king by stealing a ship that was literally called "The Jewel of the Realm" and turning it into the "Jolly Roger" and its crew to piracy.
(And really, Belle is sorry she ever said that Hook- Killian- has a rotten heart, because he may have done a lot of pretty bad stuff, but his intentions- avenging his loved ones- come from someone who has a good heart, not a bad one.)
And while they're working (in the same room now, too), Belle catches Killian eyeing some of the other books, and finds herself saying that he can take those home and read them too, and for some reason, Killian's delighted grin makes her smile in response too.
And he does, and at the rate he's bringing the books back, he must be devouring them at home, and the way he talks about them is making her want to read (or in some cases, reread) them, so one day she asks him, "Do you- would you be interested in starting a bit of a book club?"
"Book club?" Killian asks.
"We'd pick a book- or a few- and read them, and then meet up and talk about them," answers Belle.
"That sounds absolutely delightful, lass," Killian says with a grin. "Where would you like to meet up? Because my room at Granny's is a bit- cozy."
"Our- my house," Belle says after a few seconds, because seriously, it felt a bit too big when it was just her and Rumpel, and now that it's just her, it's become enormous in her loneliness, and God knows she needs an excuse to clean it.
So they decide on what books to read, and when to meet, and at the end of the week, she hears the doorbell ring, and Killian is standing at her front door, holding two bags on his hook and a thermos in his hand.
"Emma and Henry and the Charmings send their regards," he says as he walks in. "Also, Emma said I should bring refreshments, so here's some hot chocolate-" he holds up the thermos "and Emma made me bring whipped cream and cinnamon."
They end up in the living room, the hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon dispersed into two mugs and the books on the coffee table, talking (about the books, but Killian is also telling more tales) and laughing and having a good time, and it isn't until Emma calls Killian to tell him that it's almost 11 that they realize that they've been hanging out for 4 hours.
They both agree that this was great, and that they should do it again next week, and so when they go back to the library on Monday morning, they take the first half hour to pick out books for their book club meeting on Friday night.
And during that week, Killian convinces Belle to tell some of her stories (stuff she'd read in the Enchanted Forest, stories of her adventures that might not be as numerous as Killian's but from the look on his face are pretty interesting to him).
And their second book club meeting is just as much fun as the first, and they decide to do a third, except the next day there's word that some new people have come into town, and it's a relief that they're practically finished with the library, because the next week sees Killian spending a lot more time running around the town with Emma than in the library with Belle, and she finds that she's actually quite sad that he's gone, because he was nice company.
He does stop by for a few hours on Thursday and assures her that they're still on for tomorrow night's book club, and it's almost ridiculous how happy that makes her because even though there have only been two book club meetings so far, they're really the highlight of her week.
On Friday night, Killian shows up at 7, and they talk and drink hot chocolate and laugh (and Killian puts his feet on the coffee table and Belle scolds him about it but he can probably tell that she doesn't really mean it because he doesn't take them off) and they're having a great time until she hears a familiar dreaded voice say, "What is the pirate doing in my house?"
Rumpel is standing in the doorway of the living room, glaring at Killian with all he's worth, and a part of Belle leaps in joy at the sight of her husband (and the other part is sad and angry that she's still excited to see him because of what he did to her), and as Rumpel takes a step into the living room, Belle gets up.
"We're having a book club meeting," Belle says slowly and clearly. Rumpel opens his mouth to reply, but Belle continues. "And you- are not welcome." When Rumpel doesn't take the hint, she says "Leave."
Maybe because she doesn't actually have the dagger with her, but Rumpel doesn't move. Killian, however, rises to the occasion. "You heard Belle, mate," he says (and the way he says the last word practically screams that Rumpel is the complete opposite of that word). "Why don't you just run along and leave Belle and I to ourselves."
Still Rumpel doesn't move, and Killian looks at Belle and says in a faux-sad voice, "And here I thought that maybe he might actually do what any other person in a successful relationship in the town does and listen to his wife."
Belle can see Rumpel's glare intensify, his hatred of Killian warring with his desire to redeem himself in Belle's eyes, and in the end, he starts to leave. When he looks back, Belle is pointedly looking at Killian, who is looking at Rumpel with an enormously smug grin on his face.
Belle hears Rumpel stomp out of the house, and after the door slams shut (which, petty much?), she and Killian are silent for a few seconds before they catch each others eyes and burst out laughing. They don't stop for another few minutes, and they both actually have to wipe away tears from their eyes when they stop laughing.
They talk for a few more minutes before Killian's phone rings, and it's Emma calling because she'd heard that Rumpel had been at Belle's house and she knew Killian was there and wanted to make sure that he was okay ("Belle and I are fine, my love, don't worry, he left, everything is fine.")
When Killian is getting ready to leave, he looks at Belle with somber eyes, and asks, "Do you want to have another book club meeting next week? Because- your husband is back, and that can only mean that everyone's lives are about to get a lot more dangerous and busy."
Belle considers this for a minute, then says, "Let's try to have another meeting, but if we can't, we'll- reschedule. Honestly, I'm enjoying these too much to give them up."
Killian smiles and says, "Me too, lass. I'll see you around."
And he's leaving (leaving her alone), but that night, Belle still goes to sleep happy, because she may have just had a bad meeting with her husband and True Love, but she's glad she had that meeting with Killian at her side.