Belle woke up in to the sound of angry muttering and beeping. Upon opening his eyes, she saw a stained ceiling and inhaled a whiff of disinfectant. She groaned at the realization that she was in a hospital.

Wait, why was she in the hospital…

Belle gasped and shot up, her head throbbing lightly as the memories of what she saw resurfaced.

The creature…she had seen it again. It…saved her! It spoke to her! It was real!

"Belle!" Ariel cried, sprinting to her bedside and throwing herself into her arms.

Belle yelped as she pressed into her IV. "Ariel please!"

Ariel pulled back, glaring at her friend. "Are you out of your mind! Do you have any idea how irresponsible that was! You could have drowned or become shark food!"

"There's some Jaws shit going on down there!" Belle could hear Leroy echo from the hallway.

"I know." Belle nodded, grasping her friend's anxious hands. "I'm so sorry Ariel, for everything. But you're not going to believe what I saw! I know what's attacking the boats!"

Ariel paused, her expression coated with both excitement and disbelief.

"It was a…" Belle stopped when she saw the mayor outside the room, trying to get past Merlin who stepped in her way each time she tried to get around him. She looked ready to pick a fight. She was a woman who had had enough and Belle feared what she would do if she repeated her statement from yesterday. She very might keep her in the hospital. Or, if she decided to investigate, they might discover the creature and try to hurt him. It was best to keep quiet for now.

"A…my head is getting fuzzy." Belle lied. "Could you get the doctor?"

Ariel rushed out the door, giving Belle enough time to formulate a plan. She couldn't tell anyone about the creature, not Ariel and certainly not the mayor.

But she would go back. She had to see him again.

-,-,-,-

Belle's head sinuses still throbbing the following morning, but with no other injury other than a bump on her head, the doctor discharged her with strict orders to keep up with her fluids and to stay out of the sun, which wouldn't be easy in her line of work. She was anxious to get back to the beach and see the creature again.

Belle had just finished changing into clean clothes when an unknown man knocked on her door. The man had on a hat that screamed 'reporter', and Belle instantly knew she was in trouble.

"Can I help you?" Belle inquired wearily.

"Good morning Miss French," the man greeted politely. "I'm Sydney Glass from the Daily Mirror. I was hoping I could ask you a few questions about your findings yesterday. The people of Storybrooke are starving for information."

Belle knew she should dismiss him, but with the reminder of Storybrooke's residence, she agreed. She showed him to a little table in her room and watched anxiously at he brought out a tape recorder as well as a pen in paper.

"What did you and your team see yesterday?" he jumped.

"My…team and I collected some debris from the site with the most attacks. Just boards and boat propellers."

"Was there anything suspicious about the evidence you found?"

Belle paused to put her words together. Now that she knew what—or really who—was causing the damage, she'd have to watch everything she said to not give the identity of her mystery creature away.

"We found what looked to be claw and bitemarks on most of the evidence."

"Wow! What do you think it was?"

"We have reason to believe it was a large shark, or some kind of fish."

The reporter looked at him, his mouth open like he want to say something but he closed it and scribbled something down in his notepad.

"What could be causing this…fish…to attack?"

Belle would like to know the same thing. The creature had saved her life; he was obviously compassionate. Why was he attacking boats?

"Well, my team and I took water samples earlier this week and suspect it may be due to a low count of plankton in the water, which usually causes hunger frenzies among the ocean life."

The comment wasn't entirely true. The water samples Belle had collected hadn't shown any irregularities, but anything was possible. She would find out soon enough.

The reporter nodded at her answers, though his expression showed dissatisfaction which put Belle further on edge.

"That's really all I can say right now." Belle stated gently, hoping the reporter would take the hint and wrap up his questionnaire.

"I suspected as much." The reporter snarled, swirling the pen between his fingers.

Belle bristled at his tone. "I beg your pardon?"

Sydney Glass sat back in his chair, his predatorial gaze reminding Belle of an eel she once faced down off the coast of Queensland.

"I'll be honest with you Miss French," began the reporter, "I didn't come here entirely on the behalf of Storybrooke's anxious fishing residence."

Belle felt coldness sink into her blood. This was not going to end well.

"You see Miss French, the mayor is becoming quite impatient with you and your teams lollygagging. Every day you comeback without results is a day a fisherman doesn't come back with a haul. Families aren't getting paid or fed, and it's adding a smudge to Storybrooke's reputation."

Belle took in a calming breath. "I'm truly am sorry, Mr. Glass. My team and I are doing everything we can to find out what's causing the destruction but-"