She woke up with the feeling in her stomach like she was falling. Her heart was racing, pumping adrenaline into her body so that she could prepare herself for whatever demon or curse or witch she had to face now-

It was him.

She had to face him, an old enemy that had returned in the dark of the night and appeared to hit him harder than it ever had before, returning strong enough to make him throw her from his arms and land on the other side of the mattress. It was so different than it had been before that if it weren't for that fearful look in his eye she wouldn't have recognized it.

Nightmare.

Before, he'd always just given a small jerk, been startled from sleep. This was worse. He'd flung himself up, tossed her away from him, he was hunched there on the far edge of the bed, his breathing ragged, sweat on his body, his fingers digging into the cotton of the mattress as he looked wildly around the room…as if he suspected he'd find Zelena hiding in the corner.

She knew that they'd have to expect this in some form, but she didn't know it would come now, while they were here, like this, the night of their wedding. But like it or not it was here and she knew that they could handle it. Together. "Rumple?" she questioned gently. Had this been a year ago she would have reached out for him, done her best to ease him, and get him to relax so he could go back to sleep.

But things were different now. So much had happened since last year, so much had changed. And this required delicacy. She didn't want to startle him, or crowd him unnecessarily. She could already tell that he was too tense for something like touch to work on him, she needed to work slower. "Rumpelstiltskin-"

But before she could go on he flung himself out of the bed and ran his hands through his hair, gulping down air. He didn't leave the room, just went to the window, opened it and lingered there in the frame, his head in his hands inhaling deep breath after breath of thinning night air.

Claustrophobia. Was that what had happened? Was that why he'd tossed her away and gone to the window? Had he lived in that cell so long the confines of the room were too much? The cabin? Maybe they shouldn't have come here. Maybe they should have just gone back to the house, somewhere familiar or bigger. "Rumple," she muttered, wanting him to look at her, to speak to her so that she could try and calm him down. But clearly he needed a moment, maybe he even needed something beyond words. "Rumple...Rumple, I'm just going to open the door and get you a glass of water-"

"Don't leave!" he shouted. "Don't…don't leave…please don't leave. Don't move."

She sat back down on the bed slowly, not wanting to startle him. But it didn't matter. He couldn't see her from where he was standing and he wasn't moving to look at her, he just kept looking out the window. She took a deep breath and tried to stay still, but it was pointless. She couldn't remain like this forever and she didn't want him to deal with this on his own from across the room. He needed her. This was shy they'd gotten married, why she was here!

"Rumpelstiltskin-"

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I'm not hurt," she responded quickly. "But…I am worried. Please come back to bed."

"I shoved you-"

"I'm not hurt and I know you didn't do it on purpose! You'd never hurt me!" she exclaimed trying to catch her breath and restrain herself because this was not the time to be having this argument again. "Please, Rumple, talk to me!" she begged. It made little difference. He was still tense. The muscles in his back tight as he struggled for breath she knew he couldn't catch on his own. "Rumple," she breathed gently, trying to calm him with her voice instead of being absolutely insistent. "Rumple, please come back to bed. Please come talk to me."

"I don't want to think about it…" he breathed, his voice tight. She nodded. She remembered how much her own nightmares had scared her, how she had wanted to pretend they weren't real. She could understand that feeling. For now.

"Then you don't have to talk about it, just…please come back to me. Rest for a while with me. Let me help you like we used to. You remember…"

He finally cast a glance over his shoulder. No, not at her, but toward her, enough to see her form but not enough to really bring her into focus and look at her. "Belle…" his weak words died there, she couldn't even begin to guess what he wanted to say but she knew what would help for him to know.

"I'm here, Rumple. It's just me. Please, come back to bed." She held her breath as she watched him, his form unmoving in the moonlight. So she moved for him. She took a little extra time to turn and collect the pillows from wherever they'd gone since he'd woken. She made sure to make noise as she stacked them against the headboards center and straightened the sheets. "Come on," she breathed finally after a few minutes, "come back to bed."

Finally, after some more quiet time had passed, after she'd fiddled, after he'd reassured himself he wasn't still in a nightmare, he stalked back to the bed and sat down slowly on the edge, his back to her as he hunched over looking defeated. She touched him then, she put her hand against his shoulder and he flinched, but didn't pull away. He just let her hands move over his back and shoulders, over and over again as she tried to ease his demons with gentle caresses. His muscles didn't soften, but after a moment he caught one of her hands on his shoulder and held it there in his tight grasp.

"Rumple?" she questioned timidly after he didn't move.

"Belle!" he turned suddenly, unexpectedly toward her. His gaze was wild, haunted, and though she didn't know what the images in his head had been, she knew exactly what to do. She reached forward and wrapped herself around him, pushed his head down into the crook of her neck, and held him tight against her. She didn't rush him, just waited patiently for his body to ease, no matter how long it took, for as long as her husband needed. "I love you Belle," she heard him mutter harshly into her neck. "I need you."

"You have me forever," she assured him, "and I love you too so please let me help you!" she begged.

Finally he nodded against her and she kissed his neck as she loosen her grip. He followed suit and let her recline against the pillows before finally crawling back into bed and fitting himself against her. They hadn't done this in a long time. Hold each other, sure they had! But comfort, comfort one another after a nightmare...it was long overdue. Until now their lives had been too complicated for silly things like nightmares to bother them. But that was then, and now...she remembered the motions, the way to ease him as if they'd only fought their nightmares yesterday, but they hadn't. It was too long since he'd let her stroke his back and hair, let himself go from being beyond tense to completely safe and secure in her arms. Her husband. She'd do this every night, every hour if that was what he required of her. Anything to get him back to feeling like himself after what he'd gone through.

It worked after a while. His limbs softened. She felt his heart quit racing. Nearly an hour later she could honestly say that he was calm again and things were back to being about as normal as they could be, though she knew he still didn't want to fall asleep. Maybe now, if she tried, they could talk about it. "Are you alright?" she asked gently.

He nodded his head against her. "I am now, thanks to you," he whispered.

"I'll always be here," she assured him. "I just want you to be mine again, happy, complete. You can tell me anything, you know that."

"I do." It wasn't an explanation, it wasn't talking about it but for now, so long as he knew that, it was just fine with her.

"Good," she smiled. Someday he'd tell her what was happening. But it didn't need to be tonight. Someday, when he was comfortable, when he was calm, when weeks or months or even years had passed she'd know what was going on, but for now she just wanted him to feel safe and relaxed again. For now she'd settle for him going to sleep. So she pushed his graying hair back off of his face and kissed the top of his head. "Rest Rumpelstiltskin. I'll be here, I'll always be here." It was a perfect way to end such a terrifying-

"Belle…" he sighed suddenly. "I have to tell you something first." Her heart pounded at the words and the tone that he'd taken with her, and she held her breath as he adjusted, out of her arms and onto his side so they could look at each other. He only did that when it was something important, definitely not something as unimportant as a nightmare. Whatever he wanted to tell her was obviously far more serious…far graver than that. What now?

"I have to tell you…Belle, I have to tell you…" but then he let out a sigh and even with the awkward position his shoulders seemed so arch forward in defeat. "I have to tell you how I love you," he muttered softly, cupping her cheek and holding her gaze again. It was…strange. Something in the back of her head questioned if that was really what he wanted to tell her but one look into his heavy tired eyes and she felt herself surrender to the words. Rumpelstiltskin, when he was in bed with her did have a tendency to say the sweetest things that surprised even her.

"I already know-"

"You don't. I love you more than anything, that you already know. But I want you to know more. I need you to know, that from this point on everything I do isn't just for me. It's for you…us! I need you to know I don't just love you. I am in love with you. I am truly in love with you in every way." She felt something like a smirk tug at the corner of her mouth, responding to the words he confided in her. Those words. This might have been better than the tale of a nightmare. "I've loved before you. Baelfire, my father, even Milah and Cora in some way. But no one has ever done for me what you do. No one has ever loved me like you do. And now I am so much in love I didn't even know it was possible to feel this strongly about anyone.

"You don't just complete me, you more than complete me. You break down my walls, and build up my weaknesses. You make my imperfections perfect, and perfections imperfect without you near. You chase away my nightmares, you calm me and you make me feel safe just by lying in your arms. No one has ever had that kind of power over me before, but I know that it lies with the right person.

"I am in love with you, by your side is where I want to be, and by your side is where I plan to be for the rest of our lives. Forever. The best thing I ever did was make that deal with you and the smartest was when I married you. You give my centuries meaning and I don't know where I'd be now if I didn't have you to guide me back home whenever I felt lost. You are my constant guiding light and without doubt the love of my very long life."

Tears filled her eyes again, but for a completely different reason. Finally, she felt herself smile, and blush. That was…more than she ever knew he was capable of. He loved her. And he was in love with her. How could she not be utterly flattered by his words? She felt the same way about him, but she didn't have the gift of putting words together nearly as flawlessly as he did. Educated as she was, she found herself tongue tied nearly every time she looked at him and speechless at just the afterthought of his declaration. Maybe that spoke for itself.

"I don't know what to say to that..." she admitted using a small puff of laughter to hold her tears in.

He smiled, and pulled her closer, kissing her forehead before settling his own against hers. "I already know," he whispered, and she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he really did.

"Can you read my mind the same way I feel like I can read yours?" she questioned, without really meaning to. It was a scary concept if he could. Having that particular gift, she always felt, made it easier to handle him, manipulate him when the Dark One held him at knife point. It made it easier for her to ease him back into bed, or tell her the truth when she knew he was lying, or even get him to agree with her over certain matters. If he had that power over her…it didn't matter. Both of them could use that particular trait for good and for bad. Even if he could, she had to trust that he'd never use it against her. Trust was the thing relationships had to be built upon. And he had hers. Completely.

"I think so sometimes. Yes," he finally answered. Her fears ebbed, they were still there but being close to him and talking as they might have before the terrible had happened pushed it aside. They held each other. They gazed. They touched and rubbed, but in a comforting intimate kind of way. His eyes were heavy, that was good, it made her happy. She didn't want to keep him up longer.

"Then you should already know that I'm thinking we both need rest," she finally commented, pulling him back into her embrace. She hoped tonight was a good omen for the rest of their life.

Alright, so first things first...yes, I sent them to the cabin. Why you ask? Because I had to. I mean...they get married the night before and I assume not at 5 am the next morning and the ceremony took like...what...two minutes tops? They spend the morning at the grave and then don't arrive at the mansion until the afternoon/evening so I had to send them somewhere else first and the cabin seemed like a good place to go. Second, this chapter, this entire fiction really, gives me the opportunity to explore something that we didn't get to see on the show. A decline in Rumple. We all wanted to see how he would suffer after being captive from Zelena's captivity, this chapter shows nightmares as a side effect, but it also shows fear. Belle doesn't know what is going on but we do and we know that he means to tell her about Zelena in this chapter and looses his nerve. We know that he is already making excuses and trying to justify killing her as being for the both of them even if Belle doesn't know it. It was a good place to begin the decline and I hope that you'll agree.

Thank you to PaigeJillian, Meredith Pechta, Grace5231973, Kathryn Claire O'Connor, Teresa Martin, Ladybugsmomma, Rumbellefan, Deweymay, Raizen Yusuke, Skitzoeinhoven, WyldClaw, and Fox24 for reviewing the last chapter and joining me on this journey. I know that it won't end well but I'm happy that you've put your faith and trust in me going forward! Peace and Happy Reading!