Chapter Three: Where the heart is
(no copyright intended)
When Rumpelstiltskin returned home with lunch he had picked up from Granny's and a paper bag, he found the house to be completely eerily silent.
"Belle?" He called, but there was no answer. "I brought lunch."
He looked all over every room in the first floor, including the library but there was no sign of Belle any where. Rather than start to panick immediately he decided she must have gone upstairs to nap and headed up the stairs only to find that their room too, was empty.
"Belle!" Rumpelstiltskin called again, a little louder this time. There was still no answer and then, he decided, this was a good time to start worrying. She was not inside the house and from what he could see she was not in the backyard reading in the garden. So where the heck was she? He knew he should have stayed home today. Fishing his cellphone out of his pocket he scrolled down his list of contacts and dialed her number. Gold was relieved when he hear her answer after a couple of rings.
"Belle! Where are you? I came home to find you gone."
"Rum, please promise me you won't overreact and start yelling."
He froze on the spot almost instantly. This did not sound good. Why in the hell had he listened to her in the first place? Maybe it would be a good idea to put some type of ward on the doors. First things first.
"Belle-"
"Please?"
"Fine. Now tell me what happened."
"Well, I decided to go for a walk and I slipped on my way back. I think I might have broken my ankle."
All the blood drained from Rumpelstiltskin's face. His Belle was hurt and he had to find her. He would worry about scolding her for her clumsiness later after he made sure her and the baby were okay. Gods please let them both be okay. Gold was not sure he would be able to handle it if something was wrong with either one of them, not after everything they had been through. Oh, if only the once great Queen could see him now.
After Belle gave him an idea of her general location he ran out of the house and hopped back into his car to look for her. Sure enough, he found her sitting against a tree at the bottom of a small slope biting at her bottom lip when she saw him. Careful to avoid slipping down himself, he made his way down to her and kneeled down to examine her ankle. It was starting to look a little swollen but for the most part it did not look broken.
His next task was to help her back up to the car without sending them both crashing down and injuring them both. He put his arm around her waist for support, making her lean against him to keep from putting to much pressure on her ankle, lest they make it worse. It took them a while as they kept a slow pace but eventually they managed to get back to the car and headed home. It was not until he had her safely buckled into the car that it dawned on him that it would have been much simpler to just magic them both back to the car or the house for that matter. Too late now.
Once they were back inside their home, Gold lead her to the living room and prop her foot up on the coffee table while he went to retrieve a bag of ice. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding as soon as he entered the kitchen. Belle did not look to be severely hurt but you never could tell and it wasn't just her he had to worry about, there was the baby too. Her ankle, broken or sprained, he could easily fix with just a flick of the wrist but the baby was another story. Rumpelstiltskin had no sure way of knowing if anything was wrong much less how to fix it if there was. It was one thing to fix a broken bone, it was another thing entirely to fix something so small that had just barely begun to take shape.
He had to get her to the hospital. Now! Making his way back to the living room Rum picked up his keys again and grabbed their coats.
"Come on. We're going to the hospital."
"I don't think that is necessary. Apart from my ankle I feel fine. Just come and sit with me," She patted the seat next to her but Rumpelstiltskin would not budge.
"Something could have happened to the baby and for all you know that ankle could be broken. I just want to be sure that you are both fine."
Belle looked up at him worridly before whispering, "Okay" and trying to get up from the couch as carefully as she could. He was right. A sprained ankle was nothing compared to the possibility of losing this life they had created. She felt bad for making him worry as he helped her back into the car and drove into town. Rumpelstiltskin rarely, if ever, worried about anything other than losing her again because almost everything could be solved with a deal or a little magic. So if he was worried now, it had to be for good reason and that scared her just a little as she did what she could to keep a brave face on and stay positive. But as she gazed out the window she pressed both hands gently on her stomach, silently whispering I'm sorry and trying to hold back tears. She felt one of Rumpelstiltskin's hands cover hers, the other still on the wheel. He rubbed soothing circles with his thumb over the back of her hand as if telling her to relax, that it would be fine.
When they arrived at the hospital, they did not have to wait long before being taken into an examination room. One of the nurses inspected her ankle before someone came in wheeling in a machine that looked a lot like their computer back at home. The newcomer, a woman with greying hair and kind green eyes, grabbed her chart from the door and came over to them.
"Hi, I am Dr. Rosella Miller. It looks like nothing was broken during your fall, just a sprained ankle that should heal in about a week. It also says here that you are pregnant, correct?" Belle nodded. "Are you feeling any pain?"
"No, aside from my ankle nothing hurts. I feel fine," Belle responded.
"Okay, that is a good sign. I am going to need you to lift up your shirt a little bit so that we can do an ultrasound and check that the baby is doing okay."
She took hold of Rumpelstiltskin's hand as the doctor applied a gel like substance to her stomach and ran a white object that was rounded at the end over it. The doctor was quiet for what seemed like forever moving the transducer probe over her. Just as she was beginning to fear that something might have happened, the doctor pointed to the computer screen.
"There he is, safe and sound. From what I can see, everything looks normal and doesn't seem to have been affected by the fall. Just to be safe, I would like to put you on bedrest for the next two weeks and have you come in for another ultrasound. Would you like to hear the heartbeat?"
Belle stared in awe at the little grey and white blob on the screen. She could make out the shape of it's head and what might have been a hand but it was still early so she couldn't be sure. This was their baby. She beamed at the doctor and nodded then watched as she pressed a couple of buttons on the screen. Soon enough, the room was filled with a staticky sound and as she listened closely, Belle could make out the thumping of her baby's heartbeat. She turned to look at her fiancee and saw what looked like tears threatening to fall as he stared at the screen in front of them, giving her hand a light squeeze. It was one of greatest sounds that he had ever heard since coming to this land without magic.
The doctor smiled at them before printing out a couple of pictures and handing them to Belle. "I estimate you are about 10 weeks 4 days, give or take a day. Everything looks fine. Call me if anything changes, and other than that I will see you in two weeks. Take care."
Belle got up from the hospital bed and cleaned up the gel before a nurse came in to hand them her bedrest order. She would have to make arrangements at the library since she would not be allowed to go into work until the doctor gave the okay. And if she knew Gold, he probably wasn't going to be letting her do anything at home either. This was going to be a long two weeks. But for the moment she was happy as they walked back to the car holdings hands as she kept looking at the ultrasound picture in her hand. If she hadn't been sure before, now it was definite. They were having a baby and she could see Rumpelstiltskin trying to hide the smile on his face as they drove home to make lunch. In her head she started making a list of everything they would need to do to prepare for the baby's arrival and a wedding as well.
Rumpelstiltskin disappeared into their room as soon as they got home while she began unpacking the food that he had brought earlier. Sitting next to was a brown paper bag and out of curiousity she took a peek. Inside was a mystery novel by one of her favorite authors and two pregnancy books. Belle smiled as she took one of them out of the bag and started reading, not noticing when he entered the room until she felt his hand brush a stray curl behind her ear. She grabbed hold of his tie and brought him down for a kiss which he pulled back a lot quicker than usual. Trying to mask the slightly hurt look on her face, she watched him take her hand and slip his hand into his pocket before slipping a ring on her finger. Shocked, she brought her hand up to inspect the ring before launching at him with a fierce kiss, the force nearly toppling them both.
It was a beautiful ring with a gold band, with a moderately sized diamond in the center and two small blue stones on each side. The inside had an engraving of a rose with the words, Forever inscribed above it.
"I love you," he whispered against her lips.
"I love you too."
Thank you to tigger64 & cynicsquest for the suggestions. I am trying to incorporate both as they gave me some pretty good ideas for later chapters. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to review.
~WinglessDemeter
