Rumple awoke to the the loud blaring of a phone. He rolled over and picked up, anxious to hear what Ruby had to say. To his surprise, it wasn't Ruby at all, but Emma.
"Hello?" he grumbled.
"Gold! Just calling to let you know that Henry and the rest of us should be over at your house around twelve, all right?"
Rumple's mind blanked. It was only then that he remembered today was his grandson's birthday and that he and Belle had promised to host the party. He was just about to tell Emma they would have to cancel when he was interrupted by Belle walking into the room.
"Rumple," she said, "I hope you weren't thinking of canceling Henry's party."
"But Belle-"
"Trust me," Belle interrupted, "Tell Emma that everything is fine and then go ahead and get dressed."
Rumple obeyed. He said goodbye to Emma and began to get dressed while his wife was across the room applying her makeup.
"Belle, dear," he began, "How do you plan on hosting Henry's party? Any minute now Ruby is going to call us to go down to her office."
Belle sighed and flashed Rumple a soft smile. "No matter what Ruby says, today is Henry's birthday first and foremost. He is our grandson and this might be the last time I get to spend some time with him in a long while. So no matter what happens, we will celebrate today."
Rumple was surprised yet again by his wife's strength. You see, over the past couple of months Henry and Belle had bonded quite well. She discovered he liked to read and Henry would often spend whole afternoons with his grandmother as she told him stories of her past adventures. Belle loved Henry. Rumple figured he should have known his wife wouldn't let some illness ruin her grandson's special day.
Once dressed, Rumple walked over to the vanity where Belle was sitting and whispered in her ear, "You know, you really are amazing."
Belle smile grew wide as she turned around and kissed her husband, obviously still nervous about that day's coming events but not outwardly showing it.
As if on cue the phone rang and interrupted Belle and Rumple's moment of bliss. Belle quickly ran to the phone and picked it up on the second ring.
"Ruby, what's up?" she asked without even bothering to say hello first.
"Belle, calm down," Ruby said, noticing the anxious tone in Belle's voice. "The tests are in, I'll explain everything when you get here."
"Rumple and I are on our way."
"Okay. See you in a few minutes then- wait! Try to calm down; worrying isn't going to help anyone."
Belle hung up the phone and looked to her attentive husband. "Rumple, she needs us to meet her at the hospital. Let's go get our news."
Rumple hurriedly grabbed the keys to their car and started the engine. They made it in record time. Again the long-haired brunette doctor was waiting outside to greet them. She quickly ushered the couple into her office as she knew they were anxious to hear the test results. Once in Ruby's office she took a seat behind her desk while the duo took the seats in front.
"So Dr. Lucas," Rumple began, "What's wrong?"
Ruby took a deep breath and flashed a sympathetic look. "Well… unfortunately, the test came back positive. It would seem that Belle does have breast cancer. Stage two, to be exact."
With those words Belle felt like her whole world was caving in. She didn't know everything about this world yet, but she knew cancer was not something she wanted to go through.
Reminding herself to be brave, Belle managed to compose herself enough to ask, "So what do we do now?"
Rumple wrapped his arm around his wife for support while Ruby offered a sympathetic smile. "Well, actually, I've been working on that all night and I've come up with a few options. There are many ways to treat cancer and I believe we're going to need a combination of these treatments in order to treat yours. The first course of action I suggest is chemotherapy to shrink the lump in the hopes of saving your breast. From there depending on how the therapy works we can decide what type of surgery we'll need to perform.
"With your cancer being so invasive I do believe that it will require both the use of chemo and the use of surgery in order to be treated. For now, the cancer only looks to be on your left breast but there's still a high chance it could spread, so I recommend we start treatment as soon as possible."
Belle was at a loss for words instinctively she grabbed Rumple's hand and he took that as a cue to take over.
"Dr Lucas," Rumple questioned, his heart breaking for his wife, "What will this treatment mean for my Belle?"
"Well, Mr. Gold," Ruby answered delicately, "The chemo will work to help destroy the rapidly dividing cancer cells in Belle's body. However, chemo unfortunately does not just attack cancerous cells but affects all rapidly moving cells. So there are many side effects."
"Such as?" Mr. Gold said, beginning to get flustered
"Such as," Ruby replied calmly, "Stomach problems, weight changes, weak nails, mood changes, increased risk of infection, hair loss and fertility problems."
Belle had tried to be strong but all this new information was too overwhelming. Hair loss? Infection? Fertility problems? She had always dreamed of having children now that dream could just been taken away from her. How in the world was she going to get through this?
"Fertility issues?" Belle questioned.
"Everyone reacts differently to the medication, so it's possible… but yes." Ruby confirmed. "Chemotherapy has been known to cause problems with a woman's fertility. I'm sorry, Belle, but don't lose hope. You still may still be able to have children. Some women have kids just fine after chemo. It just depends on the patient."
Belle nodded as she held in the tears that were waiting to escape. "Is there anything else?"
"Not for today," Ruby replied as she started to stand up, "But I would like to schedule your first session as soon as tomorrow; your treatment really can't wait."
"All right then. I will be here tomorrow." Belle said as she embraced Ruby in a warm hug thanking her for all that she's done, "But right now we've got a party to go to."
Surprised but understanding, Ruby escorted the couple outside, promising she'd meet them at the party in an hour or so. On the way home, Rumple couldn't help feel having this party was insane; how could he possibly be happy when his darling wife was suffering? He pushed those feelings aside, however, the moment they arrived at the house. Belle would decide what she was capable of and if she felt she could handle hosting the party so could he.
They got home and Belle walked up the stairs needing to freshen up after the day's events. In the meantime, Rumple set everything up as they had planned. Using magic (of course), he transformed the entire house in an instant. The dining table was set with every kind of delicacy a kid could ever want, the walls were lined with bright colored decorations and balloons. The house just oozed with the feeling of celebration.
"Of course Belle would want it this way," he thought knowingly as the doorbell rung.
Rumple opened the door and in came far more people than he was used to having in his house. It looked like the Charmings had invited the whole town.
"Hi Grandpa," Henry said smiling up at his grandfather.
"Hello, my boy," Rumple bellowed forcing a smile, "Happy Birthday."
"Thanks. Where's Grandma?" Henry said, not so discreetly showing his favoritism for a specific grandparent. As if on cue Belle appeared at the stop of the stairs.
"Henry!" she called, smiling brightly as she embraced her grandson, "Happy Birthday! Have you read that new book I gave you?"
"Thanks! And yeah, I couldn't put it down," Henry said, honestly enthused by a book, something that came as quite a shock to his mothers.
"Great," said Belle "How about we go into the other room and start eating? We don't want to keep everyone waiting."
Within a couple of minutes the party was in full swing. The Charmings really had invited the whole town and the Golds' pink mansion was packed full. Throughout the house people were dancing and eating. Everyone was so consumed with the party no one really noticed Belle sitting in the corner alone; no one but Emma, that is.
"Hey Belle, is everything okay?" Emma questioned walking over to her friend and taking a seat next to her.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired," Belle said, forcing a smile.
"Belle, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I know there's something else bothering you." Emma said, concerned.
"Emma, I will tell you, but you have to promise you won't tell Henry or anyone else. I don't need to worry people."
"Yeah, sure; I promise," Emma replied becoming slightly weary of what was going on.
Belle answered solemnly, "I have breast cancer. Ruby says it's pretty serious and I start treatments tomorrow."
Emma was driven speechless for a second shocked by her friends confession.
"Oh my god, why the hell didn't you tell us?" Emma said while pulling Belle into a hug, "We shouldn't have had this party, Henry would have understood!"
"No, Emma, Henry can't know." Belle emphasized, "I don't want him to worry."
"Alright, Henry won't know," Emma agreed "but if you ever need anything, just call. I know we're not exactly close, but you can't do this alone."
Belle smiled. "Thank you, Emma, I will."
A few hours later and the party was over. Mr. and Mrs. Gold were in their room getting ready for bed. Belle was nervous about the next day and was currently in Rumple's arms wide awake and shaking with worry.
"Belle, you must sleep," Rumple cooed.
"I can't!" Belle cried "You heard what Ruby said, what this treatment will do to me. I'm going to be so ill, so useless, I'm going to lose my hair," Belle said beginning to tear up, "and Rumple, I might never get to be a mother…"
Rumple's entire body ached from seeing his wife in so much distress. She had held in her emotions all day and now they were finally coming out. Seeing the tears roll down her cheeks Rumple cradled his wife's face with his hands, looked her in the eyes and said
"Belle, you may get ill, but you could never be useless; your hair may be lovely but it's not important. What is important is that I get to see you next to me when I wake up each morning, that we get to live out our lives together. Even if I never have children, it won't matter because I'll have you and that's all I could ever ask for."
With tears streaming down her face. Belle kissed her husband with as much passion as she could muster. "I love you, Rumple," she replied as she laid her head against his chest and began to fall sleep.
"And I you," Rumple whispered.
