Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time and its characters belongs to Disney and I am sure a number of other people and companies.

Rating: M

Note: My first Rumbelle story. It is part two to my Truth series. The plots are not connected. It is simply that the writers of Once have chosen to have the characters lie. I have written 'what if' they had told the truth.

Truest Love of All

By

Latte

"True love is usually the most inconvenient kind." – Kiera Cass – The Selection

Rumpelstiltskin plastered an innocent, happy expression on his face and walked carefully around his shop, examining everything, trying to feel something other than helpless rage. The sweet taste of freedom that should have made his step light wasn't powerful enough to lift his spirits…Bae was dead! Rumpel had sacrificed his own life to finally put an end to Pan. He had foolishly believed that magic had been paid its due for all his transgressions and those he loved were safe. He had been terribly wrong.

Zelena had appeared and demanded The Dark One's Dagger or she would kill his boy. The decision had been as simple as breathing. He'd given her the seat of his power and control of his life, without a second thought, but that-green-bitch-had-killed-his-son, anyway. Just thinking about it made him grit his teeth in outrage.

The bell over the door jingled furiously, followed by the sound of high heels, moving quickly over the wooden floor. Rumpel turned and his arms were filled with the warm comfort of Belle. He clung to her, afraid that she was a figment of his imagination as she had been so often over the past months.

"I love you," she whispered. Her soft words and the press of her body against his was almost enough to defuse his wrath, but his loss and pain were too new. It would take time, surrounded by her love, and one other thing: revenge.

Belle wiggled in his embrace, reached into her purse and carefully pulled out his dagger. She held the blade between them, resting it lightly on the palms of her hands, a happy smile on her face.

"How…how did you get that?" He stumbled over his word, unsure of what was happening. There was no power radiating off the sleek blade, whispering of dark deeds that called his name. Just to be certain, his magic reached out to his true knife, where he'd carefully hidden it.

There had been enough confusion in the barn, as Zelena was captured that no one noticed his magical sleight of hand. One moment the ancient blade of The Dark One had been lying on the ground and in the blink of an eye he had exchanged it for a fake. Rumpel had sent the real dagger that bore his name to his cabin by the lake. It was disguised by a glamour. Anyone who looked would find nothing more than an eight-inch chef's knife in a drawer full of knives and cooking utensils by the kitchen sink. It wasn't the best hiding place, but it would do for the moment.

"Regina gave it to me to make amends and because she knew I wouldn't abuse its power." She stepped closer and smiled gently. Her True Love was alive and free. "I want you to have it." She offered.

"Why?" Rumpel leaned back never taking his eyes off Belle or the counterfeit knife.

"Because I believe in you. It's yours. You're a free man." She moved it toward him. He knew he couldn't take it without telling her the truth. He hoped she would understand why he hadn't trusted his fate to Regina or even Emma Swan.

Before Rumpelstiltskin could say anything, Belle continued speaking, with the blade balanced in her hands between them. "Just promise me one thing. Promise me you won't go after Zelena. I know you are better than that," she begged him, only having his best interest at heart.

"What exactly are you saying?" He tilted his head to the side, watching his love carefully. The words she had just spoken played over and over in his head. If she had been holding his true dagger, he would have been compelled to make that promise. Did she know that? Was it a subtle attempt to use his knife against him? Even as he thought it, he doubted that Belle would do such a thing. But…he had to wonder at her timing. The Wicked Witch had tricked his son and it cost Bae his life. She had taken command of The Dark One for endless months. He wasn't about to step back under the control of another person, even if it was under the guise of love.

"I…I'm…just asking that…" Belle wasn't sure what he wanted to know. "I guess I am asking you to stop making bad choices."

"She killed my boy and you expect me to simply forgive her?"

"No…but…there are other ways." She insisted. Her hands shook from the weight of the blade. She wasn't going to take it back, especially now, when they disagreed. After all he'd been through, she wanted him to know he had her trust. "I'm not trying to protect Zelena for her sake, but for yours."

"Is the dagger still mine?" He quirked a brow in question, suddenly very glad he hadn't had time to tell her the truth.

"Yes, of course. I would never use it to control you." Belle shoved her knuckles against his chest, still balancing his weapon, as her heart broke. Rumpelstiltskin was going to choose badly once again. "I'm simply asking that you think before you act." Her eyes swam with tears.

"What about your love?" He clasped her wrists and let the knife clatter to the floor between them. "Will you still love me, still be my True Love?" Rumpel stepped closer and closer until a display case dug into her back and his body was pressed against hers. He buried his face in her neck. The touch of Belle's soft skin was intoxicating, as he nibbled and sucked from her ear to her chin.

"Rumpel," she moaned his name. Her mind was spinning. She was so lost in her joy at being with him again, she hardly understood what he was asking.

"Will you still be mine…?" He bit her gently between each word and felt her gasps vibrate against his lips.

"Or-will-you-be-gone?" he demanded. His whisper rough with passion and anger, making his accent more pronounced than usual. It sent shivers down her spine to feel his warm breath move over her ear.

She tried to shake her head no, tell him she wasn't going anywhere, but couldn't move. She was too caught up in her dizzying need for him.

"Gone from me…" He nibbled on her throat until she trembled.

"Never, Rumpel, never," Belle gasped, desire made it hard to form words or think of anything but the feel of his skin that created a burning want everywhere he touched her. She had been so alone when she thought he was dead and frighten for him when she knew he was under Zelena's control.

"What if I make one of those bad choices you keep going on about?" His tongue danced over her lips, teasing and taunting her until she opened beneath him. Finally letting go of her wrists, one of his hands cupped her right breast, trapping her nipple between two knuckles. The other dug through her hair, supporting her head at just the correct angle so he could ravish her mouth with his.

His tongue thrust deep, again and again, while his hips bucked against her slim body. She felt his hard length rub against her stomach and slid trembling finger under his suit coat grasping at his shirt, yearning to return his caresses.

Belle held tightly to Rumpel as she felt her knees weaken and her body shake. "I love you," she declared between kisses and quick breaths. Her fingers kneaded his back and headed lower.

"Do you?" he asked and roughly pushed her aside. His Beauty stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn't gripped her shoulders, guiding her until she was sprawled against the glass-topped case. Her hair was disheveled, lips swollen, and eyes dilated with passion. He didn't think he'd ever seen her look lovelier, but that couldn't stop him now or he'd be trapped forever. "Do you love me, Belle, or only the Rumpelstiltskin you would like me to be?" There was more demand than question in his voice.

"What…How can you ask that?" Her mind was still saturated with desire and she was having problems making sense of what had happened.

"Oh, very easily, very easily indeed." Rumpel's expression was grim. "How do you like it when I'm the one who pulls away? How does it feel to be left with your heart breaking and body on fire, to be left alone…all alone by the one who is supposed to love you?"

"I…I don't understand." One moment they were in a love-filled embrace, the next he'd coldly thrust her away. "I love you. I gave you back your dagger, doesn't that prove anything?"

"Not when you try and control me by threatening to withhold your love? And it's not the first time." He glared at her. "There is very little difference, between Zelena using The Dagger of the Dark One, to bend me to her will and you bargaining your love for my behavior, my correct choices." He spit out the words, disgusted that it had taken him so long to realize he was being manipulated. "I was helpless with her, but this, what is between us, I have a choice, even if my freedom will tear my heart out."

His words were like an arrow to the heart. Her first thought was that he had been through too much lately. He was in shock, confused, but then she remembered exactly what she'd said to him. Added to her stance with the dagger in her hands, she realized it was easily taken as a threat. He was right and she had been wrong all this time. "I didn't…I mean…Rumpel please." She slid down the glass front of the display case until she was in a heap on the floor.

Memories of other times she'd withheld her love, pulled away, moved out of his house, or tried to control his actions because they weren't what she would have done, flew through her mind. "I'm sorry, I never meant…" She tried to get the words out as she cried. He was right. "Oh gods, I'm sorry…I only thought…I'm sorry, Rumpel, so very sorry." Belle rested her face in her hands and cried for all she was worth. "I love you."

He sat beside her on the floor and pulled his silk handkerchief from his breast pocket. "I realize I am The Dark One and don't know much about True Love, but I should think it is unconditional." He placed the dark silk on her lap and his arm around her shoulders. Despite his resentment at what she'd tried to do to him, it hurt to see her cry. She was, after all was said and done, his True Love.

"You're right and I've been wrong." She hiccupped and wiped at her wet face. "It is like our first kiss all over again, only worse, because I know better now. I've been trying to play the hero, without asking what you wanted. All the while neglecting the man I love with all of my heart."

"We may have come to an insurmountable impasse, Sweetheart. Even before I took on The Dark Curse, I'm not sure I could be the man you want me to be." He smiled sadly. Belle was the last light in his dark life, but he couldn't keep on trying to live up to her expectations. It was doomed to failure. They were doomed to failure.

"You are the man I want you to be." Belle rested her head on his shoulder, unable to stop her tears. "I love you Rumpelstiltskin. I don't care if your skin is pink or green and sparkly.

He harrumphed and leaned his forehead against hers. "How many times do I have to tell you that I did not sparkle? You were only seeing the outward manifestation of my magic."

"It doesn't matter, I still loved you, then and now. I love you with curly hair or straight, cackling or a gentle laugh, powerful sorcerer or pawnbroker," she whispered. Belle was terribly afraid she'd done irreparable damage to their relationship.

"You left out ruthless and cruel…" he frowned at her. "Or reserved and manipulative, but usually smart enough to show kindness to the few people I love." He ran his fingers along the curve of her cheek, making her sigh.

"You are correct, those differences are harder for me to understand, but they don't make me love you less. You still loved me when I was Lacey." She shuddered at the memory of the girl Regina had turned her into.

"Indeed, I did." He nodded. It had been difficult to see his sweet Belle scampering around town as a trollop, but he never stopped loving her and always tried to protect her.

"And I love you, but have been doing a poor job of showing it." Belle felt tears running down her cheeks again and fought for control. "I think my mistakes started with Robin Hood. Before that I was just a frightened girl. I'd made a deal with you and it turned out to be much more daunting than I expected. I kept telling myself that I had no need to fear the endless decades ahead, because there was good in you. I think that was all that kept me sane the first week."

"I'm sorry for the way I treated you." He acknowledged his error. "I was truly a beast at that point in my life." Rumpel kissed the top of her head and held her tightly.

"No, no you weren't." She swiped her cheeks dry and leaned into his warmth. "I won't let you take the blame for the way things began. I had heard all the stories about The Dark One and his infamous deals. My father was naïve to expect you to accept gold. At the time, I think, he believed that our treasury was his most precious possession. I was promised to Gaston, therefore, no longer his. Unlike papa I knew that if I hadn't made the deal with you, Ogres would sweep through our remaining two villages and by nightfall, there would not have been a soul left alive, me included."

"I believe Sir Maurice thought death before dishonor a kinder fate for his only daughter."

"But you never dishonored me." She smiled and pulled a strand of his hair. "Much to my disappointment."

"Ahhh, so that is the way of it. Now I know why you spent so much time on that ladder." He teased.

"You've found me out." Her blue eyes met his dark ones and it took all her strength not to lean forward and kiss the pain from his face.

"I have, as you said, found you out." He was sure they were speaking of two different things.

Belle worried at her lower lips with sharp white teeth. "When I was able to convince you to spare Robin's life, I got it in my head that I could change you. It was conceded and silly. I was so very wrong. You were a great sorcerer and I was just a girl with aspirations of adventure."

"You were never just a girl, nor were you conceded or silly." Rumpel remembered his early impressions of Belle. "I thought you were the bravest, strongest, most beautiful maiden I had ever met. Though I will agree that your ideas of adventure were a bit misplaced."

"But I was still wrong, even more so since I know you thought all those kind things about me." She felt pink staining her cheeks at his wonderful compliment. "And I was silly, because I was already beginning to care about you. You intrigued me and made my heart beat faster. Why would I want to change you and make you into something different?" She shook her head hardly understanding her motives. "We have True Love, why is it so difficult?"

"Don't ask me, I'm The Dark One, True Love is not my forte."

"No, but you were wise enough to know that it was supposed to be unconditional." She pouted. "A small detail I missed."

"Hmmm," he picked up the fake dagger and held it out for her to see. It wasn't fair, but he had to know if they had a chance. Her response to his admission would be the answer.

"Keep it, it is yours." She pulled against him and away from his hand with the blade. "Hide it somewhere safe, so no one will ever find it and use it against you again."

"This?" He shrugged and watched her carefully. "This is nothing more than a child's toy, a fake, a fraud, a carefully constructed reproduction created in case I ever needed to quickly exchange one for the other."

"Thank the gods." Belle covered her mouth and gasped, deep, hitching breaths shook her body. "I was afraid I had accidently commanded you…I would never…and I was terrified all the time it was in Regina's possession. She and Cora tried to get it once. I don't care how much she has changed. As much as I would like to trust her, after spending time in her various prisons, it is not an easy thing to do. Thank the gods that is not your real dagger."

"But you did try to command me." Rumpel insisted. "Using the weight of True Love."

"I realize that now and I am sorry. I was a self-righteous fool." She knelt beside him and gripped her hands to keep them from shaking. She was going to lose him and it was her fault. "I love you. I made a mistake. All I can do is ask for your forgiveness."

"If I left here, with the true Blade of The Dark One in my hand, entered the jail, and killed Zelena, would you still love me?" Rumpelstiltskin held her chin so he could see every emotion as it crossed her expressive face. He was sure he had his answer as her skin paled and tears pour down her cheeks.

"Yes," she gasped. "I would love you, but I would mourn for the piece of your heart that died, when the Wicked Witch did by your hand."

"Oh, my darling, Belle, only you would mourn for any part of me." He hugged her as she sobbed against his neck. "My heart is already as black as a lump of coal. There is no saving it."

"No, I refuse to believe that. Maybe once, but not anymore." She held his face and kissed his cheeks and neck as she spoke. "You took on The Dark Curse to save not just Bae, but all the children of your village. You saved Robin so Roland would have a father. You saved my family, friends and villages and all you received in return was a clumsy caretaker who burned your meals. You went to Neverland to save Henry, knowing whom and what was waiting for you and that you would likely never return. You died to save us all from your father's wrath, and willingly gave your dagger to the Wicked Witch of The West in an attempt to save your son. And you…you…love me and I love you. A person with a truly blackened heart cannot give or receive love."

"You really do see good in me?" he asked in surprise.

"Of course I do and it's not just because I love you. I can't promise that I won't give unsolicited advice on your plans or endeavors, from time to time." Her nose scrunched up when he laughed and kissed its tip. "But I give you my word I won't nag or hold any part of myself apart in an attempt to make you agree or change your mind. If you had done that to me, I would have been heartbroken."

"Belle, I can't promise you that I can be the man you deserve. Just the thought of destroying that green bitch, doing to her what she did to Bae, or a small taste of what she did to me, gives me such a feeling of relief." He growled, his anger clear and in the open.

"After all of you sailed for Neverland and I was left alone with my terrible thoughts and memories of Lacey, I had some sessions with Dr. Hopper. He told me that feelings are never right or wrong. It is how we act on them that is important." She kissed him gently, until the tension went out of his shoulders and his hands unclenched enough to cup her cheeks. "I'm not trying to give you advice. I'm simply saying that it is perfectly natural to feel the way you do about The Wicked Witch."

"I still can't make you any promises about Zelena, except that I will give myself time to heal and to see what the powers-that-be decide, before I do anything."

Belle loosened his tie and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt. She leaned over and kissed his chest above his heart. "There, right there, another black spot turned red and filled with tenderness, my lips could feel it."

"I love you," Rumpelstiltskin murmured, as he wrapped his arms around his True Love. "Come home with me?"

"Yes, please." Belle smiled with joy, as they were enveloped in purple smoke and reappeared in the middle of his bed. "I love you," she whispered and pulled his tie off the rest of the way.

Much later Rumpel wrapped his arms around Belle and held her naked trembling body against his.

"Are you awake, Sweetheart," he nibbled at her ear.

"Hmm yes." She stretched and rubbed her breasts against his chest. "I don't want to close my eyes, too afraid this is all a dream."

"I'm right here and so are you." He held her close and laughed gently, as a wonderful thought entered his mind. "I just realized that the last few hours, here in this bed, with you, are the only ones in months that I haven't been haunted by that green bitch. I haven't given her a single thought. You've managed to erase her from my mind."

"I'd be more than happy to do some more erasing." Belle nibbled her way down his throat to a very sensitive spot just below his right collarbone

"That's doing the trick, Sweetheart." His voice was deep with passion. "Ohhh, yes, right there." Rumpel arched his back as her touch wandered lower, wanting nothing more than to feel and be felt by her.

A moment later she was flat on her back beneath him. His eyes sparkled with excitement and joy. "I love you, Belle. Will you marry me?" It was a question he'd wanted to ask for a very long time, but something or someone, always got in the way. Right now, they were together, another villain had been vanquished, and he knew that life together might not always be easy, but there was no other woman he wanted to spend it with.

"Yes, yes, I will marry you, Rumpelstiltskin." She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips and kissed him. Their bodies moved in harmony making his large bed bounce and knock against the wall, as they celebrated the joy of their True Love.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon, when exhaustion won out and they finally slept, arms and legs tangled together, two people relaxed and at peace for the first time in a very long time. It was a sure sign of good things to come.

The End