"Everyone, just calm down." Charming had just been leaving his house with Mary Margaret to head to Granny's Diner for a meal out when he suddenly found himself in near-darkness surrounded by a whole group of really upset people. Someone lit a torch and he looked out amongst the faces. Mary Margaret was still at his side. He saw the dwarves, pick-axes in hand, grumbling off to his left. Dr. Whale was surrounded by his nursing staff, one patient lying on the ground clutching her obviously broken wrist to her chest.
Grumpy, always the most outspoken of the dwarves, pushed people to the side, and approached Charming. "We were just minding our own business trying to mine for fairy dust as instructed and half the town pops up?"
"I know, I know." Charming reached out and put a reassuring hand on the dwarf's shoulder. It seemed that another crisis was upon them and it was time to play the part of Prince, leader of his people, instead of David Nolan, animal rescuer.
"Ok everyone. Relax." He looked out at the crowd. It seemed the dwarf may not have been exaggerating. It did look like at least half the town was crammed into the small mining area. As far as he could see down each entrance to the larger area in which they stood, people were crammed in. And really crammed in. There was hardly space to move. "Is there anyone missing?"
The group looked around, glancing at each other, calling to each other. It was strange being the only one standing in place, Mary Margaret's arm looped through his. Everything shifted around him, bodies moving, people cursing and shouting for loved ones. It took several minutes before someone managed to push through the crowd and approach him.
Charming glanced down at Granny and the crossbow she was carrying. His eyebrows shot up. "Why…"
She shrugged. "Never leave home without it, boy." Her eyes narrowed. "Ruby's missing. She was with me at the diner, but never made it here."
"Regina," Mary Margaret said, her voice slightly breathless. "It had to be Regina." Her eyes shot up to Charming's, wide and a little frightened.
"Don't you pin this one on me!" They turned to see Regina emerge from the crowd. "I'm as trapped as you are."
Charming crossed his arms over his chest. "Even with your magic?"
As demonstration, Regina turned and shot a fireball at the ceiling. "What the hell?" Charming shouted. The entire crowd screamed and ducked, almost as one. It might have been funny if it hadn't been so serious. The fireball, however, simply fizzled and died, sending a few sparks down onto the crowd below.
"It seems my magic is useless here."
"Rumplestiltskin," Mary Margaret murmured. "Is he here?"
"Do you really think if he were here he'd be hiding in the crowd somewhere and not up here trying to take control?" Regina shot back. "Of course he's not here. As much as I hate to admit it, there's really only one person in town who could do this. And it's not me."
"My gosh, I can't believe the diner is deserted tonight," Belle exclaimed as she took her menu from Ruby.
Ruby looked around at the empty diner, almost as surprised as Belle to see no one was there. She swore there were people at the counter, a couple at a table near the front. She had only been in the back for a moment but when she came out, the only people there were Belle and Rumplestiltskin. The rest had left money on their table and apparently fled. "I'm sure I have no idea why." She glared at Rumplestiltskin, who simply gave her a rather disarming smile.
"Well, I can't complain about a quiet evening out," Belle said with a sunny smile.
"Indeed not, my dear," Rumplestiltskin replied with, reaching out to grasp her hand and pull it to his lips for a chaste kiss.
Ruby rolled her eyes and took their order.
"I really can't believe there's no one here." Every few seconds, Belle's eyes seem to fall on the door, waiting. It never ceased to amaze her how someone needed Rumplestiltskin as soon as they set out to have a nice evening together. It was almost as if the town couldn't deal with their relationship being out in public and had to force it into a dark corner. Of course, that didn't work either. They tried to have dates in the back of his shop (interrupted by the Charming clan before they had even unpacked the picnic basket she had lugged all the way from the diner), his house (interrupted by Regina who insisted she needed to "borrow" him for some help with a spell and "returned" him two hours later), and even the cabin in the woods she was sure no one knew about (no one but Emma, apparently, who came looking for him when some magic went awry in town and she was sure he was the culprit). Nowhere they went was safe from interruption, from public restaurants to secluded cabins, to a hidden spot in the park.
So for no one to even so much as show up in the diner while they waited for their order to come was amazing. Belle had never felt quite so lucky. Her true love and some peace and quiet. It was all she could ask for.
Ruby returned shortly, shaking her head at the empty diner. She set the plates down carefully.
"Thank you, Ruby!" Belle said brightly. Rumplestiltskin nodded in her general direction.
"Is there anything else you need? Because seriously…I have no one else to wait on. I'll get you whatever you want. More iced tea maybe?"
"No, thank you Ruby. That will be all," Rumplestiltskin said and waved his hand in the air. Belle was sure it was just a dismissive gesture until Ruby was surrounded by purple smoke and disappeared.
Belle gaped at him. "What did you…"
"Don't worry, love. The wolf girl is safe." He reached out and removed the top bun from his hamburger.
"Rumple, where is everyone else?" Belle's eyes narrowed just slightly.
"They're safe too." He took a big bite of his burger and Belle could almost see the smile playing about his lips as he did it.
She quickly looked around the diner. "You removed everyone from the diner?"
He mumbled something incoherent, his mouth still stuffed with food. "What?" Belle asked.
"The town…"
Her eyes widened. "You removed everyone from town?" He nodded and his eyes slipped away from hers. "The whole town, really? Where are they?"
"The mines," he said, taking another bite of his hamburger. "I assure you they're perfectly safe."
"Doesn't all magic…"
"Come with a price? Yes." He set the hamburger back down on his plate. "Aren't you going to eat yours? It's going to get cold."
She gaped at him. "Who is going to pay the rather exorbitant price for sending an entire town to the mines?"
He finally looked back up at her and the grin that graced his lips could be described as nothing other than naughty. "Why you are, of course."
"Me?" She cringed when her voice came out on a squeak.
"Oh yes. Yes I think you shall pay…and pay dearly for it." He stood quickly and reached out a hand for her.
Without even a moment's hesitation, Belle put her hand in his and was surprised when he yanked her to her feet and spun her around. She nearly yelped when he picked her up by the waist and deposited her on the counter. Despite his weak ankle and need for a cane, her Rumplestiltskin was incredibly strong. She still had memories of his catching her in the Dark Castle. The height she had fallen from had been great and he had caught her without even a slight stumble. His arms had been strong and sure. They still were, even in this imperfect human form.
"Rumple!" She tried to sound stern, oh did she try. But instead his name came out on a laugh.
He stepped forward and Belle naturally spread her legs apart slightly to allow him to step in between them, to get as close to her as possible. Reaching up, he placed his hands on either side of her face and pulled her to him for a long deep kiss. When one hand left her face to brush light caresses down her side, she stopped him.
"We can't…not here…"
"The entire town is gone, love. We can…anywhere…" The words were spoken into her ear and the feeling of his breath caressing her neck made her shiver.
Charming was arguing with Regina about what their next move to get out of their predicament should be when Ruby simply appeared in their midst.
"Ruby!" Granny hustled over to her, still clutching her crossbow. It seemed it never left her hands these days.
"Where are we?" Ruby asked. She was still holding the tray that she had served Rumplestiltskin and Belle on in one hand and lowered it slowly, taking stock of her surroundings.
"The mines," Charming said. "Where have you been?"
She gave him a rather incredulous look as she held up the tray. "Obviously."
"Don't you roll your eyes at him, missy," Granny said, smacking her lightly on the arm.
Ruby rolled her eyes again. "I guess this explains why the diner was empty." She glanced around at the masses of people huddled in the mines. "And maybe the whole town?"
"Everyone but Rumplestiltskin, it appears," Regina muttered darkly.
"And Belle," Ruby added.
"Belle?" Charming asked.
"Yeah…I was just serving them at the diner when I appeared here." Ruby suddenly stopped speaking as realization dawned. "Oh God."
"You sound like Mary Margaret," Regina sneered.
"What?" Charming said, stepping in front of Regina and giving her a rather disdainful look.
"I think I know what this is all about." Ruby looked around the cavern, her eyes wide.
Regina waved an impatient hand. "Yes, yes, get on with it."
"So yesterday, when you," she started, waving a hand at Regina, "wandered into the diner and dragged off Rumplestiltskin for some whatever stuff you people do, I heard him muttering on his way out the door. Something about 'have to do something about this' and 'never get one interrupted moment with Belle.' And he had this look. You know what I mean. That look he gets when he's going to do something and that something will probably be something no one will like and he just doesn't care because he's Rumplestiltskin and what are we all going to do about it really. You know?"
"You're telling me he did this all so he could have a date?" Regina looked rather flustered.
"Actually," Charming said. "It does kind of sound like something he would do." He did, after all, send him into a castle to put a potion in the belly of a dragon and all for the sake of true love. Rumplestiltskin wasn't really known for doing things halfway. It was all or nothing with him.
"For a date?" Regina repeated. "Since when does he care about such things?"
Ruby's eyes went a little soft for a moment. "He does really seem to care about Belle."
"Back in the Enchanted Forest he told me she was a 'flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness'," Charming offered.
"Wow, that's so poetic," Mary Margaret said. The trio sighed.
Regina stared at them. "Are you guys kidding me? Listen to yourselves! Do you remember who he is? What he's done? What he looked like? The first time I met him I didn't even think he was human."
"That's why their story is 'Beauty and the Beast.'" Henry squeezed out from between a couple of the dwarves, Emma close on his heels. "He's not supposed to be pretty."
"Kid's right as always," Emma said.
"Ok alright, enough about Rumplestiltskin and his love life," Regina said, throwing her hands up in the air. "How on earth are we getting out of here?"
Ruby just shrugged. "I suggest we wait."
"For what?" The Evil Queen was not known for her patience.
Charming's eyes met Ruby's and he nodded. "She's right. He'll let us out of here when he's ready." Ruby sat down. Charming and Mary Margaret followed. Soon everyone was sitting, most probably not even knowing why except that those around them had sat.
When Regina was the only standing she let out of a huff. "You people are all insane." But even so, she found an empty spot on the ground and sat down to wait. What else was she going to do, anyway?
"Wow." Belle slumped against Rumplestiltskin and tried to catch her breath. Her skirt was pushed up around her hips, her blouse half undone with her bra hanging loose about her. Her panties were only the Gods knew where. She remembered Rumplestiltskin tearing them from her and tossing them over his shoulder. That was the last she'd seen of them.
He was equally disheveled. His always perfectly pressed trousers about his ankles, shirt torn open, the buttons scattered about the floor somewhere. His hair stuck to the sides of his face in a long sweaty mess. Hers was tangled and no longer in the neat braid she had fixed it in, a casualty of Rumplestiltskin's long fingers and his need to always have them twisted in her hair.
"I think all our dates should end this way," he said as he leaned forward and nipped at her neck.
She laughed and pushed him off and away from her, jumping down lightly from the counter. She swayed a little as she regained her balance, clinging to him as she surveyed the diner. "Oh dear."
He followed her glance with one of his own and then met her eyes, a slow smirk spreading over his face. "Well, we certainly did make a mess of the place." There was chocolate sauce on the table next to the one they'd been eating on, whipped cream and ice cream melting on the countertop. Their hamburgers laid untouched on their table, no doubt long gone cold.
"I guess we should bring everyone back," Belle mused, leaning up against the counter.
"I suppose." With a wave of one hand, the entire diner was set to rights, everything put back in place, messes cleaned up. She even thought she saw steam coming off their hamburgers. With a second wave of his hands, their clothing and hair were set to rights.
She looked at Rumplestiltskin and sighed. She did so like him looking debauched, all signs of the ever so carefully put together Mr. Gold banished. It took her a moment to realize he had a scrap of material hanging from the one finger he was holding out, his hip leaning against the counter, bad foot crossed over the good one. He looked utterly sexy…and naughty. "Are those my panties?"
One side of his mouth slid up. "Indeed," he murmured.
"Give them back," Belle demanded, holding out one hand.
He shook his head, his mouth sliding up further into a grin. "I don't think so." And he carefully folded them and tucked them into an inner pocket on his suit jacket.
She stepped closer to him and leaned in for one more kiss. "You are incorrigible."
"You know me so well, my love." He held out a hand to her and led her back to the table. She sat opposite him and reached out to grab her hamburger.
Rumplestiltskin waved his hand once more and suddenly the diner was full of people. Ruby was standing right next to them, still holding the tray she had in her hand when she had disappeared.
Ruby stared at them and blinked.
"Hello Ruby!" Belle said, the words sounding a little more forced than cheerful.
Ruby just continued to stare, her jaw hanging slightly open. The rest of the diner had finally come alive with sound, even if most of those people were turning to glare at Rumplestiltskin and his lady-love.
"Can I help you with something, dearie?" Rumplestiltskin said, reaching out to twine his fingers with Belle's.
"You haven't eaten!" Ruby exclaimed.
Belle glanced down at her burger. "We just hadn't gotten around to it. Rumple kept them warm for us," she pointed out.
Ruby's eyes widened. "It's been two hours."
Rumplestiltskin didn't take his eyes off Belle as he spoke. "Has it been that long? I didn't notice."
Belle's faced reddened and she ducked her head, biting her lower lip and looking away from him.
"Oh God." Ruby turned to walk away.
"Oh and Miss Lucas?" Rumplestiltskin finally turned to her and met her eyes, an almost feral grin playing about his lips. "If you let anyone disturb us, I'll do it all over again."
Ruby rushed away to the sound of Belle's laughter ringing in her ears.