I own nothing! just a new oncer with lots of fluff... :D
"I just don't get it." Ruby shrugged and tossed her hair back over her shoulders.
"Get what?" Mary Margaret said looking at her friend over her cup of tea.
"That!" she nodded out the window, Mary Margaret turned in the booth following the wolf's gaze.
"The dwarfs? They're brothers, dwarfs always stay together." She shrugged smiling. "I think it's sweet. Until you have to live with them. then it's a little crowded." She frowned slightly at the memory.
"No not that! That!" she emphasised her head nodding forward again. This time Mary Margaret looked more closely at the street scene. "Belle and him."
Mary Margaret's eyes finally settled on the two people across the street, for the first time she saw them differently, as a couple. The smile spread across her face again, she watched as Belle reached up and pulled Mr Gold's collar up closer to his chin, she saw him smile, a genuine smile, not the one most of the town was privy to, a true honest to god heartfelt smile that would light up your day. She had never felt more happiness for the man before. The dark haired beauty reached up and kissed his cheek lightly. Her own smile matching his perfectly.
"I know! It's just plain weird." Ashley said turning back to her salad.
"Guys stop that! I think it's sweet…" Mary Margaret said her hand moving to her own ring. "…Everyone deserves true love."
"Snow! You have to be joking!" Ruby scoffed. "have you forgotten who he is!"
"And he's so old! He could be her father!"
"I don't think age is really something we can take into account anymore you two! We have been frozen in time for twenty eight years!"
"Still. What can she see in him?" Ashley looked out the window again.
"The heart wants what it wants."
"Mary Margaret how do you do that?" Ruby started at her friend.
"What?"
"Be so… Snow White all the time!" the three women laughed.
"It's a gift." The bell on the door went off distracting them all.
"Hello!" Belle beamed and dropped her bag on the ground as she slid in next to Mary Margaret. "What are we all talking about?" her natural lilt filling up the awkward silence.
"oh you know…" Ruby looked down at her plate.
"I was baby clothes shopping!" Ashley said jumping in.
"Oh can I see! I adore baby clothes." She smiled.
"Me too! You should have seen the stuff I had for Emma…" Mary Margaret started before she trailed off. Ruby reached across and took her hand. "…I'm ok!" she shook it off and smiled again. "Can we see them Ella?"
"Of course, she's growing so fast I can't keep clothes on her! And The Emporium only has so much. But this stuff is quite nice." She pulled up two bags onto the table. Belle cooed over the little red and black baby grow.
"A little ladybird! That is too sweet." Ruby gushed along with the others.
"It still astounds me how small babies are." Belle smiled running a finger over the stitching. "small and precious."
"Precious about eighty percent of the time! Head wrecking the other twenty." Ashley laughed. "No she's an angel. I just wish this teething thing would be over! You'll understand when you have your own." She waved a hand at the other three women absentmindedly.
"I don't think that will be in my future! I'm a grandmother now." Mary Margaret laughed.
"Or me! There's some genes don't need passing on." Ruby shrugged.
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't think…" Ashley's face fell.
"Hey you're grand! It's hard to keep up with everything around here." Ruby stood up and started clearing the table.
"What about you Belle." Mary Margaret asked as she noticed the librarian had yet to take her eyes off the small garment.
"Sorry?" she looked up the trance broken.
"Children…" Ruby and Ashley froze.
"Oh I have never really given it thought…" she said frowning at the clothes. "No I don't think Rump…" she shook her head. "No I don't think it's in my future either." This time the smile on her face was dull and strained and Mary Margaret's heart wept for her. "I… I better get back to the library. It's almost ready for the opening!" she handed the little outfit back to Ashley and standing up waved at them all. Ruby practically fell back into the booth.
"Wow that was weird." She said eyebrows raised.
"I keep putting my foot in it!"
"Can you imagine him with a baby! That poor child." Ruby laughed.
"I think it's sad. Why should we sit here and ridicule them. She's good for him. And she's his world."
"Do you have rose tinted glasses or something Snow! "
"No I just know what a blessing and a curse true love can be."
Belle sat on the grass staring up at the stars, her book lying half off her lap.
She thought back, when she'd sat on the grounds of her fathers palace staring at the stars dreaming about how her life would work out. She was newly engaged to Gaston and was starting to see the world closing in around her. All she could see was a wedding, children and playing the attentive wife. It was daunting, the dreams she'd had of seeing the world seemed more and more unattainable, but it was what her father wanted, it was what was good for their people. Besides the thought of little children running around wasn't that daunting. Her mother had loved it, she had often told her how she hoped to see many little grandchildren some day.
But all those thoughts had slipped away too the day she'd agreed to leave with Rumplestiltskin.
She'd be lying if she said she'd even thought of it since. There had been so much else to think about throughout her life. But now here, sitting under the stars there was little else to think about.
"Not a good book dearie?" a voice said from behind her.
"I've read it before." she shrugged and turned to face him, patting the ground beside her. He looked down then back up at her. Hoisting his cane up he slowly lowered himself to the ground. She knew he'd struggle later to get back up, but for now she just reached out and took his hand.
"you looked troubled. Lost in a thought." He said his thumb rubbing her much softer hand.
"Lost in a memory more like." She smiled. "Half a memory."
"Anything I can help with?"
"No, just a fancy."
They sat in silence outside what was now their house, watching the stars.
"I haven't done this in centuries. Bae and I used to do this for hours at a time." She tightened her grip on him. "A long, long time ago."
"You will find him Rumple. You will have a family."
"I… I do."
She placed the last book on the shelf, and stepping back smiled.
"It looks great Belle better than ever." She spun startled at the intrusion.
"Thank you Ruby. I hope others can get from these books what I have all my life."
"I'm glad you found your calling here." The wolf in her could smell the sense of sadness around her friend.
"I found a hobby" she said walking towards the reception desk.
"What do you mean?" the other woman asked following on.
"My calling is different." She said slowly, phrasing it carefully. "My calling is the same in every world it seems. Him." She shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. Ruby laughed
"Gold?" she said before she could help herself.
"What are you laughing at!"
"Oh I'm sorry Belle I am! I don't mean to laugh I just don't get it!" she shrugged. "How can you love him." Belle saw red, the same colour as Ruby's jacket, flash before her eyes. Red saw the change in her face and walked forward. "Oh Belle I'm sorry please I just cant understand. You're so pure and good an he's…"
"Loving and loyal and…" she cut her off. "…I know what you all say about me, about us. I know how it must look from the outside, but you don't know him like I do. You haven't seen his goodness and his compassion ad his true heart. He is the best man I have ever met. I truly do love him."
"But you could be with anyone, someone young and whole…" Red's face was still filled with confusion. Belle could see that she reached out and took her hands.
"His age, his past his… his limp!" she said her smile growing with each word "Mean nothing to me, I fell in love with his childish laugh and his stupid jokes that are meant to shock me, and his soul." She shrugged, a smile finally reaching Red's face. "I was lucky enough to find true love. It may have come in a form I had never expected, but it is what it is. I fell in love with the Dark One because of the light I found in him" Ruby's eyes filled with tears.
"I'm sorry I ever…"
"It's ok." She nodded. "You'll understand properly someday."
"Hopefully. Will you still come for dinner?"
"Yes I must just lock up and I'll follow." Red nodded and slowly walked out of the library.
Belle leaned on the counter, she'd never had to justify her feelings before. not to anyone, not even him.
"We need to have a talk dearie." A voice came from down the stalls. She grinned as she recognised it.
"Are you spying on me Mr Gold?" she crossed her arms.
"I was visiting. But now that I hear you going around talking about me to everyone in town…" he stepped towards her.
"I was just talking to Ruby about…"she tried to cut in.
"About how good I am. I heard. I don't know if I like you going around talking so well about me. I have a reputation to uphold around here dearie and I don't need you making people see the good in me." His eyes widened cheekily and for a split second she saw the dark imp she'd grown to know, minus the hand gestures.
"Well I told you, it would just take some time. I see it and they will too."
"Well then I guess I'll just have to be scarier." Her hands went to his collar and she smirked.
"You wouldn't dare."
"What are you watching Ruby?" Mary Margaret asked, it took her a few seconds to respond.
"Them. They… fit don't they!" she smiled. Emma turned and stared out the window.
"Who?" she said sceptically then turned to look again. There was only two people on the street, the man with the faint limp and the stunning girl holding onto his arm. "Gold and Belle?" she said her voice raising slightly. Mary Margaret smiled.
"Yes. They just… fit." Ruby shrugged and walked away.
"Well she's changed her tune. Only last week she was gagging about it." Emma laughed and turned back to her hot chocolate.
"Belle is slowly winning the whole town around. True love shining through again."