The bell on Grannies door rung as Rumpel entered the diner. The occupants of the diner looked up at him and then returned to what they were doing. After all this time, he was not used to the looks that people gave him. The Dark One always had a presence, even when he was not doing anything evil. Even in the early days of the curse, everyone had avoided him, worried he was going to up their rent or call for it to be paid early. Now everyone just wondered if he was going to bring darkness over Storybrooke instead of worrying about their rent. Not that he asked anyone for it anymore. It was not as if he needed the money.

He crossed over to the counter and waited for Ruby or Grannie to make an appearance. Rumpel was hoping to get a chance to talk to Ruby, needing her assistance for his son's secret proposal. His instinct was to go to Belle, but he could not do that, as Gideon did not want her knowing yet. He rubbed at his face thinking of the hour-long phone call he had received in the middle of the night, Belle worried that something had change between them. Rumpel knew he had not managed to quieten her concerns, but at least he had got her to agree to go to sleep.

"Ah, Rumpel." Ruby welcomed walking behind the counter to meet him. "What can I do for you?"

Rumpel looked around the diner. "Is there somewhere we can chat in private?"

Ruby looked concerned as she gestured for him to follow her. She led him into the back and then into the kitchen. The two cooks glanced at them and then ignored them, preparing the next order they had on the tickets in front of them. The heat from the kitchen hit Rumpel as he entered the room. Overdressed to be in such a warm room.

"I need your help with something." Rumpel began, pulling at the collar of his shirt as he tried to cool. "But I need you to keep it to yourself. I trust you can do that?"

"Of course." Ruby took a step closer to Rumpel.

Rumpel checked over his shoulder, making sure no one was stood in the ordering window. "Gideon is going to be proposing to Lilly this weekend."

"Oooo!" She exclaimed clapping her hands together. Rumpel glared at her and she quietened instantly.

"They're going to be going to my cabin tonight and I wanted to have a meal prepared for them, but also make the cabin look a little more romantic." Rumpel explained to Ruby.

She nodded her head at him. "I could definitely help with that."

"Good. I've ordered some roses from Belle's father and he's delivering them to the cabin this morning. So they need to be scattered around and that sort of thing." Rumpel gestured around with his hand.

"Okay." Ruby acknowledge. "When are they going to the cabin?"

"About six. After Lilly has finished her shift at the gas station." Rumpel informed her, his attention drawn through the ordering window to the door of the diner when the bell rung. He could not help the smile when he saw Belle coming into the diner. Grabbing Ruby by her forearm, he pulled her out of sight of the window and out of the view of Belle. She would only ask more questions, if she saw him talking to one of her friends.

"If you could set up a table for dinner for when they get there, maybe some candles and that kind of thing." Rumpel whispered to Ruby, keeping his voice down from his wife.

Ruby gave him a firm nod. As Rumpel pushed the door to leave the kitchen, he turned to Ruby and said. "Don't tell Belle. She doesn't know."

"Really?" Ruby questioned with a frown.

"Gideon doesn't want her to know yet." Rumpel said, giving her a coy smile.

He stopped his movement when Ruby touched his arm. "That's got to have put you in awkward position."

Rumpel looked at her hand on his arm. At seeing where his gaze was focus, Ruby yanked her hand away and smiled apologetically at him. He did not mind her touching him. He just had not expected it. Shrugging his shoulders at her, he left the kitchen and strode over to where Belle was hunch over the counter, waiting for service.

Exploiting the chance to take in his wife, Rumpel let his gaze wander over her, taking in the sight of her strong legs and curve of her behind. He would never get tired of her. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Out of all the women that had been with him over the years, she had been the only one that had given herself completely to him. There was nothing sexier to Rumpel than having her body and her heart at his beckon call.

He quietly shuffled up behind her and gently pressed himself against her. Belle gasped at feeling the contact behind her. His hands drew around her waist whilst he leaned against her, his lips brushing up against her ear. He knew she liked it when he did this. Her cheeks flushed and her skin became very hot.

"Hello." Rumpel whispered into her ear.

Belle crooked her neck to see him over her shoulder. "Hi."

"Lunch?" He asked and kissed the skin behind her ear, causing her body to shudder.

"Depends." She said with her eyes closed.

"On?" Rumpel clenched at her clothing, refusing to let go of her.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "On what you planned to eat."

"Oh, dearie." He groaned into her neck. Belle turned in his arms and laid her arms around his neck, smirking at the reaction of her husband.

Rumpel swallowed hard looking at her and said. "My afternoon is free, if yours is?"

"Well…" Her smile widened as she spoke. "I had hoped to spend some time with my husband, but if you have a better offer?"

"I think," Rumpel caught Ruby waving at him from the corner of his eye. "You should go back to your apartment and I will grab some food, so we don't run into this husband of yours. I've heard he's can be quite dangerous at times."

"So can his wife when she's being ignored." Belle told him before kissing him hard, clutching at his face between her hands. She left him in a spell at the counter, his eyes closed to savour the taste of her. The bell ringing above the door woke him from his daydream.

Ruby was now standing on the opposite side of the counter. "I've organised the food. Grannie's going to cover me, so I'll head over there now and start organising things."

He shook his head trying to clear the fuzziness Belle had casted on him. "Yep. Okay." Rumpel reached into his pants pocket and pulled a wad of money out to hand to Ruby. "Can you do our usual order to go and use the rest of the money for the thing?"

"Not a problem. Be right back." She told him taking the money, grinning at Rumpel as he fell onto the stool at the counter. Belle always had a way of intoxicating him. It was worse than being drunk. Losing all control over himself as she spoke his name, touched him or even looked at him in a certain way. It was stronger than someone commanding him with his dagger.

Rumpel scratched at the back of his neck when his phone in his pocket rung. Delving into his pocket, he nodded to Ruby as she placed a bag of take out in front of him onto the counter. He flicked open the phone to see Gideon was calling. Pressing to answer the call, Rumpel lent against the counter resting his head into his hand as he greeted his son.

"Father," Gideon sounded out of sorts. "We need to talk. Where are you?"

"I'm in Grannies." Rumpel lent off the counter at the sound of his son's voice.

"I'm at your shop. I'll wait for you here." Gideon told his father and put the phone down. Grumbling to himself, Rumpel shoved his phone back into his pocket and grabbed the food from the counter to leave Grannies. He quickened his step to get to his shop, wanting to get this over with so he could go and meet Belle. Rumpel did not want to miss seeing Belle. She was worried about them and he wanted to put her at ease.

Opening the door to his shop, Rumpel found Gideon pacing back and forth in the middle of the shop. He closed the door and put the food down on the glass counter nearest to him. Gideon stopped and quickly moved over to his father.

"Lilly has to work the late shift." Gideon was panicking. "It's going to ruin everything."

Rumpel took a heavy breath. "It will be fine, Gideon."

"How is it?" Gideon asked, shoving his hands on his hips.

"Because, young man," Rumpel pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I own the gas station. I'll call and get them to rearrange the shift with somebody else." He told his son, flicking open his phone to find the number for the gas station.

"Really?" His son was shocked. Rumpel quickly took care of the situation, telling Sneezy he would pay him double for working the extra shift. The dwarf had taken the deal faster than Rumpel thought he would. He had been thinking he would have had to offer more than double. Maybe three times or extra holiday.

Shoving his phone back into his pocket, he told his son. "Right, sorted."

"Thank you, father." Gideon hugged his father, his worry gone. Rumpel chuckled at his son and held onto him tightly, his hand holding the back of Gideon's head. His baby boy meant more to him than anyone. Moments like these were worth all the trouble, but also caused a heavy tug on Rumpel's heart. He should have been able to do this for Baelfire. The chance for those moments was gone now.

Pulling away from his son, Rumpel's demeanour was sad as he grabbed the bag of food from the counter. He opened the door to his shop for his phone to ring again. Rumpel huffed at the irritation of his phone and closed the door to his shop to pull his phone out of his pocket again.

He flipped it open and answered it. "Hello!"

"Hi, Rumpel." Ruby said quietly, taken aback by Rumpel's bark down the phone.

"Oh, Hi Ruby. Sorry." Rumpel apologised as he put the food back on the glass counter. "What can I do for you?"

"The cabin's locked." Ruby informed him, her voice still edgy. Rolling his eyes, Rumpel held his hand over the phone and picked the food up off the counter to give to Gideon. "Take this to your mother. She's at your place. I've got to take care of this." Rumpel told him before leaving the shop. "I'll be right there, Ruby."

He shoved his phone after hanging up back into his pocket, hoping it would be a while before the damn contraption rung again. He missed one thing from the Enchanted Forest: peace and quiet. No mobile phones that interrupted him. It would be days, or even months, before Rumpel would speak to anyone. Until, of course, he had brought Belle to his castle and everything turned on its head. The castle had come to life with her presence. The dark shadows gone with the light she took with her wherever she went.

Following the trail, Rumpel came to the opening of his cabin to find the cabin door open. He frowned walking over to the wooden deck, inspecting the roses that were sat outside by the door. As he near the doorway to the cabin, Ruby came out and jumped at seeing Rumpel.

"Hi!" Ruby held her hand over her chest.

"You said it was locked on the phone." Rumpel gestured towards the door as he spoke.

"Yeah," She looked hesitantly at the door. "I found a window that was open, so I climbed in."

He scratched at the side of his head. "Right…" Rumpel's gaze went to the roses. "I'll give you a hand getting these in then." He said reaching down to the roses.

"Wait, weren't you having lunch with Belle?" Ruby questioned, frowning at him.

"Was. Got interrupted by life." Rumpel told her, carrying the bucket with the roses into the cabin. She shrugged her shoulders at him and gave him a smile before grabbing the other bucket of roses. He eased his suit jacket off his shoulders and hung it on the coat stand near the door, and rolled his shirtsleeves up. Now he was here, he might as well help Ruby get it ready for his son and Lilly.