Chapter One
The large front doors opened as Belle walked in then the large front doors closed with a soft thud and she walked down the hallway toward the dining hall. Regina's words echoed in her head as she thought about their conversation on the road and Belle held the basket of straw tightly in her hands.
She knew there was a man behind those golden scales and soft brown lizard eyes. She had seen it in his face and in his eyes, but the Dark One's Curse was preventing him from being that man. Steadying her nerves, she placed her hand on the door handle and opened the door.
Rumplestiltskin was sitting at the spinning wheel when he turned to see who came in the room and his heart jumped in his chest. He knew he had let her go to see if she would come back, but the fact she was there sent a warm shiver through his body.
"She came back!" he thought and tried hard not to get up, run to her, sweep her up into his arms and hug her.
"A good thing," Rumplestiltskin said, pointing as he looked at her and she walked toward him. "I'm…uh…I'm nearly out of straw."
"Hm…," she said as she placed the basket down near the spinning wheel. "Come on, you're happy I came back."
"I'm not unhappy," he said with a small smile on his face and she shyly smiled.
"Um," she said as she walked behind him and placed her hand on his right shoulder. "You promised me a story."
"Did I?" he asked, looking up at her.
"Yes," she said as she removed the straw from his hand and tossed the straw to the floor.
"I needed that," he thought while watching the straw floating to the floor then looked at her and she sat down next to him.
"Tell me about your son."
"Uh, I lost him. Nothing more to tell, really," he said softly then shrugged his shoulders.
"And since then…you've loved no one and no one has loved you," she said and he leaned closer, locking eyes with her.
"Why did you come back?" he whispered.
"I wasn't going to…then…something changed my mind," she said and he gave her a puzzled look.
"What sort of something?" he asked and she moved back and placed her hands on her lap. "Belle, what's wrong?"
"Do you…Do you like me?" she asked and he arched his eyes brows up while widening his eyes.
"Of course I do."
"Then why didn't you want me to come back?" she asked with a hurt look on her face.
"It was a test, Dearie," he said, waving his right hand up and smiled. "You passed."
"A test?" she asked with a confused look on her face and he took her hand in his.
"Well, the other reason I thought you weren't coming back was because I thought it was selfish of me to keep you from being what you want to be. You did say you want to be a hero, didn't you?" he asked, wrapping his fingers around hers. She looked at the sunlight sparkling off the gold scales then noticed the gold scales weren't as thick as they were when they first met and his eyes even looked softer.
"Yes, I did," she finally said and he made a small giggle.
"You can't do that if you're stuck here."
"But who would take care of you?"
"I can take care of myself," he said with a smug look on his face and light danced in his eyes.
"Who would take care of the castle?" she asked and he pressed his lips together. He admitted that the castle never looked so clean, or felt like a home, since she'd been there and he knew he would miss her cooking.
"I would just get someone to do it."
"So you don't want me anymore?" she asked and he saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"I never said that, Dearie," he said, placing his other hand on top of theirs. "I just said that I wouldn't stand in your way if you want to go. Do you?"
"No, of course not," she said and he swore his heart started beating again.
"Good," he said then let go of her hands and reached to pick the straw off the floor. "Just one thing, do you like me?"
"Yes, I do," she said as he sat up and his heart went faster.
"Then we have nothing to worry about," he said as she lowered her head and he frowned. "We do have something to worry about?"
"I'm not sure," she said and he gave her a concerned look. "You see, while I was coming back to the castle, these men appeared on the road…"
"What did these men look like?" he asked as his face darkened.
"They were dressed in black armor and…"
"They wore black armor?" he asked as he stood up and she looked up at him.
"Yes."
"Were they riding black horses?" he asked then started pacing back and forth.
"Yes, they were," she said and saw that his face was growing cold and hard.
"Was anyone else with them?" he asked while he stopped pacing and folded his arms over his chest.
"There was this woman in a black carriage. She…," she said and he glared at her.
"No," he said softly then grew angry and balled his hands into fists. She watched him storm to the covered mirror and tore the cover off, tossing the cover to the floor. She could just see his reflection as he grabbed hold of the sides of the mirror and growled. "No."
"What's the matter?" she asked then jumped when he spun around and looked furious.
"You are spying on me!" he shouted while pointing a finger at her and she gasped.
"What do you mean?" she asked as he stormed to her and grabbed hold of her wrists. She slightly winced as he pulled her to her feet and held onto her upper arms. She had never seen such anger or hurt in his eyes as he held her and breathed hard through his nose. "You're hurting me!"
"I'll do more than that, Dearie!" he growled as he turned her around and pushed her toward the door. She didn't know why he was angry as they left the room and the door slammed shut behind them.
The door to her dungeon cell swung open on its own as he half pushed her inside and she nearly tripped. He followed her in the cell when the door slammed shut and the only light came from the tiny windows high on the wall. She stood in one corner as he paced back and forth then stopped and glared at her.
"Please, tell me what's wrong," she pleaded as he just stared at her and she felt the tears rolling down her cheeks.
"You're spying on me," he said as he felt his heart breaking.
"I am not!"
"Then you have no idea who that woman was?" he asked with a cold tone to his voice.
"No," she said with a shake of her head.
"She is the Queen!" he said, waving his hand up.
"You mean she's…Regina?" she asked and he glared at her.
"Yes!"
"And you think she sent me to spy on you?"
"Didn't she?"
"I've never seen her before today," she said as she carefully walked closer then placed her hand on his chest. His heart slammed against the palm of her hand as he looked down at her hand then at her and scrunched his nose up. "You have to believe me."
"What did you tell her?" he asked with a blank look on his face.
"I just asked her if it was possible to break your curse," she said and he became infuriate.
"So she could attack while I was helpless?" he demanded and she saw the anger in his eyes.
"No," she said, getting angry. "I just thought you'd want to be free of it."
"Why would I want that? I am happy the way I am!" he half shouted.
"You like being nothing more than a lonely man with an empty heart and a chipped cup?" she asked and he blinked his eyes a few times. "Don't you want to be loved?"
"No one can ever ever love me!"
"Why?"
"I'm a hard man to love." he said with sadness in his eyes.
"It's not that hard," she said as she barely moved her fingers against the cool, golden scales and he held her hand against his chest. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest as his heart thumped against her fingers and his face looked less angry.
"Are you saying…Do you…You love me?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face and she placed her other hand on his right shoulder.
"Yes, even when you are acting like a selfish beast," she teased as he placed his hand over her hand and sighed.
"No, I can't do this," he said and lowered his head.
"You can't do what?" she asked as she lifted his chin up.
"I can't allow myself to love."
"Why?"
"Because…when I…if I love someone…," he said then sighed. "They leave."
"Are you talking about your son?" she asked as tears prickled the corners of her eyes.
"Yes," he said and lowered his eyelids. "And others."
"Tell me," she said as he let go of her hand and moved away from her. He started pacing again as he thought about his parents, Milah, Cora and Zelena and a cold shutter moved through him when Zelena entered into his thoughts. Belle watched him when he sat down hard on the bed and she sat down next to him. She slowly placed her hand on his thigh when he took her hand and wrapped his fingers around her fingers.
"I don't really remember my mother or what happened to her. I guess she loved me," he said with a sigh.
"I barely remember my mother. I was six years old when she died," she said and he gently squeezed her fingers.
"My father….He just didn't want me. When he had the chance, he left and I was raised by two spinsters. They taught me how to spin, made me meat pies when I was sad and tried to love me. I just wouldn't let them."
"I guess my father didn't want me either. Why else would he let his only daughter leave with…?"
"A beast?" he asked with a hurt look in his eyes.
"No, I was going to say he let me leave with you," she said with a small smile.
"My son's mother never loved me. The only reason we married was because the marriage was arranged. I tried to be a good husband. When the ogres attacked, I signed up to fight them, but was sent home."
"Were you injured in battle?"
"I never saw battle. I…," he said then sighed. "I was told by a seer that I would die in battle and would never see my son. The thought of that killed me inside and I decided to hurt myself."
"How?" she asked with wide eyes.
"I smashed a hammer into my right leg," he said and she looked at his leg. "I healed it shortly after I became the Dark One. When I came home, my son was a month or so old and my wife, Milah, left."
"She left you with an infant?" she asked, wide eyed.
"No, she would come and go then she left for good when he was four. I had to tell him that she died," he said and she moved closer, placing her head on his shoulder.
"So it was just the two of you."
"Yes. We were happy until the ogres attacked again and the Duke's army wanted to take him. I had heard about the Dark One and thought, if I had his power, I could use it to stop the war and bring the children home. We went to find him and we did. What I didn't know was he would trick me into killing him. Once I did, I had his power and his curse. I didn't care at the time. I loved the power, but I never stopped loving my son. Everything I did, before and after, was for him."
"Then you lost him," she said and he nodded. "He must know you love him."
"I don't know. If he did, he wouldn't have…gotten lost," he sighed and closed his eyes, feeling her rub his back. "I did fall in love again with a woman named Cora. She was a miller's daughter and I taught her how to spin straw in gold."
"Did she love you?"
"No, she just loved power," he said and she placed her arm around his waist. He didn't want to tell her about Zelena as he sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "That is why I can't afford to love anyone. My heart can't take it."
"How can I make you change your mind?" she asked and he looked at her. He moved away while she watched him place his hand against his chest then her eyes widened as he reached into his chest and, with a little grunt from the pain, removed his heart. It pulsated and shimmered in a red light in his hand as she looked at the black spots on the surface of his heart and he reached out his hand to her.
"Take it," he said softly when she slowly reached over and took his heart in her hands. It felt warm while it started pulsating quickly against her palms and he watched her face as she examined the black spots.
"It seems to be going rather fast," she said with a small grin and he was amazed that she hadn't handed his heart back to him or dropped it to the floor in disgust.
"It always does that when you're around," he teased then leaned closer. A blush moved across her cheeks when she handed his heart back and he made a small grunt while he slid his heart back in his chest. "Oh, I think I put it in backwards."
"You what?!" she asked with wide eyes and he giggled.
"It's a quip, Dearie," he said and she rolled her eyes. He shrugged as she moved closer and took his hands in hers.
"Well, this should prove you can give your heart to me and I won't reject it," she said and he nodded his head. The golden scales had a soft rose glow as he blushed and she wrapped their fingers together. "So, will you at least try to see if I can break the curse?"
"How can you?" he asked.
"True Love's Kiss can break any curse," she said. Slowly they moved closer until their lips touched and they kissed. Time seemed to slow around them as she softly sucked on his lower lip then they moved back. They had closed their eyes as she opened hers and her eyes widened. His face was normal as he opened his eyes and she saw they were a soft chocolate brown. He was handsome and looked happy then the gold scales returned and he tilted his head to one side.
"Did it work?"
"Yes, it was working," she said with a smile, but he didn't smile back. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if I can do this. I love you, but my powers mean more to me than you," he said and she brushed some hair behind his left ear.
"They do?"
"Well, maybe just a teeny, tiny, itty bitty little bit more" he said with a small grin while holding his index finger and thumb barely an inch apart and she giggled.
"At least you admit you love me," she said with a smile and quickly kissed his lips. He moved closer when he took her in his arms and leaned her against him. She placed her head on his shoulder as he rocked her and felt his anger melting away.
"How could I stay angry with her? She thought she was helping me. She also took my heart and held it in her hands like it was a fragile thing. She looked at the blackness and wasn't repulsed by it. Then she gave my heart back and didn't reject me. Have I…Have I finally found my soul mate?" he thought while moving his hand along her arm and used magic to heal the bruises he knew he had caused when he grabbed her. Neither of them spoke for a long time when something alerted him and he gently moved her back.
"What's the matter?" she asked while he stood up and headed for the door, waving his hand to make the door open.
"Regina's here," he said as he walked into the doorway and looked at her. She nodded her head as he closed then locked the door and headed down the hallway.