Cookies
It was the first time she dared to use his oven. She figured that – while he was working at the pawn shop – she might as well surprise him.
She found that the chores she took care of in his house in Storybrooke were a bit more challenging than those in his castle. She was no great friends with many of the electric kitchen utensils, but the oven seemed rather easy to use.
After about half an hour of mixing (with a spoon, of course, Belle did not trust the electric mixer enough) and kneading her cookie dough, she flattened it out with a rolling pin. With the cookie molds she had bought downtown, she entertained herself for another half an hour, until she had three trays of cookies – shaped like stars and hearts – ready for baking.
Once they were in the oven, she grabbed a book she had started reading the evening before (Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen – she loved her books, written about a time that was not so different than the one she once lived in) and sat down in front of the oven, looking at the clock every few minutes and checking if the cookies were already getting a golden color.
When he opened the door and was welcomed by an interesting scent that came from the kitchen – something familiar, though he could not quite put his finger on what it was – he stopped for a moment and waited.
On other days, she would run up to him and embrace him when he came back home, or sometimes she would already be standing at the door, opening it before he had the chance to. Not being greeted by her felt a little odd, but when he came into the kitchen and saw her walking around with pink oven mitts on and two large oven trays in her hands, he smiled.
"Rumple!" she cried out when she noticed he was in the kitchen, and she looked a bit taken aback.
He looked at the oven trays and raised an eyebrow. "Cookies?"
She grinned widely as she put down the trays on the kitchen dresser. "I wanted to surprise you!"
"Consider it done," he said softly as he went to stand behind her and looked how she put all the heart and star-shaped cookies in a bowl. He let his eyes wander over the rest of the kitchen dresser, which was filled with bowls and other unwashed things, and as though Belle could read his mind, she quickly interrupted him: "Don't worry, I'll clean it up!"
His eyes suddenly grew large as he saw a paper – a handwritten recipe – on the table and he stepped towards it to inspect it further.
"This is not your handwriting," he remarked quietly.
"No, it isn't. I'm afraid I had no recipe of my own," she admitted, picking up two cookies and walking towards him to offer one.
He did not take it though, instead he held up the paper and asked strictly: "Who gave you this recipe?"
Belle shook her head, being aware that he did not accept the cookie she wanted him to take. "Do you think they're poisoned or something?"
"Yes!"
She sighed deeply. Ever since Regina had locked her up, and then afterwards their little adventure with Hook, he had become even more suspicious of the other inhabitants of Storybrooke. He believed everyone was out to kill him – or her, just to get to him.
"Just read the recipe, Rumple," she sighed, sounding a bit tired of this conversation.
He started muttering to himself as he read it and there were only a few words she could understand. "… eggs… flour… knead… sugar… vanilla…" His agitation seemed to drop slightly as he reached the end of the recipe and he looked up at her.
"Who gave you this recipe?" he repeated his question, but this time the strictness was gone from his voice.
"Emma Swan. I met her in the shop where I was inspecting the cookware and after talking for a few minutes, she wrote down the recipe for me – right there and then," Belle replied, trying not to gloat too much as she noticed that he had dropped his shoulders a little, guilt slowly etching its way onto his face. "She told me to give you her regards."
"Oh," he said quietly, averting to look into her eyes.
She waved with the cookie in front of him and he looked up again.
"Now mister Gold," she said in a teasing voice. "Do you still want my heart?"
He took the heart-shaped cookie from her and smiled. "Always."