Aha! I didn't actually say she was phoning Regina. I said she was dialing the number. The number to...
"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the phone had answered the call within two short seconds.
"Dr Whale, hi it's Emma."
"Emma, what can I do for you?" the doctor sounded a little surprised to be getting a call from the sherif.
"I was just wondering if I can get some information on a patient you were recently caring for in the psychiatric hospital."
"Miss Swan, I'm afraid any information I have on any patient is confidential, and can only be discussed with immediate family." Emma sighed.
"Are you sure? I just want to ask a few questions about what she-"
"Miss Swan," Dr Whale interrupted, getting more impatient, "I cannot give any information about this person unless you are immediate family. However, if you have anything to report on this particular patient you may say so." Emma was silent for a moment. She was thinking.
"Okay, well, don't worry then." She opened the file and quickly scanned through it once more before closing it and standing up.
"Alright, well, if you need any help on anything else, please ask."
"Yes, thank you Doctor Whale." And Emma ended the call without letting him reply.
She looked down at the file and picked it up, opened the cabinet, and put it back in its place. She wanted to find out more about this girl now. She definitely would never have guessed that she had just recovered from "psychological problems." Miss French seemed perfectly normal. And Regina was the one that had written this report on her (Emma had noticed this had been printed on the file after a couple of times looking it over.) And Emma knew all too well that Regina wasn't to be trusted. But surely she wouldn't write a fake report on this girl. This whole thing didn't really seem right. Emma was going to have to get a second opinion.
So she left for the library.
"Hey Emma!" a chirpy Ruby's voice came from behind her as she passed the café.
"Hey Ruby." she waved back and carried on walking before looking at her watch.
12:40
Belle sat at her desk, staring at the clock on the wall opposite her.
12:30
Half an hour longer and it would be her lunch break. Which would mean she could go and see Rumplestiltskin. Belle swore that last time she looked at the clock it had been 12:30. But she had been sitting there for at least ten minutes. Was she that desperate to see him? But Belle wasn't ashamed to admit it. Yes. She was desperate. Anyone would be if you hadn't seen the love of your life in 28 years and was forced to hide it from people. But that was part of life. Part of the curse. Until it breaks.
Belle forced herself to carry on working and not look back up at the clock. But obviously that was much easier said than done. She would seriously have to start concentrating on her work if she didn't want her father to start getting suspicious. That was all she needed.
"Belle." the sound of her father's voice startled her out of her daydream and she turned round quickly.
"Papa," she breathed, "you scared me." Moe didn't so much as smile to her reply.
"It's one o'clock. You better head out to lunch now if you want to be back in time." Belle looked up at the clock and smiled.
"Yes I should, shouldn't I?" she spoke quietly, then stood up.
"You're just meeting with Ruby?" he asked, making it sound more like a command. Belle sighed, not liking to lie.
"Yes, Papa. See you in half an hour." and quickly left without letting him say another word.
Belle practically skipped down the road, feeling happy and giggly. When she had woken up this morning she had been afraid that the whole of yesterday was only a dream. But then she found her copy of Beauty and the Beast, along with the note that came with it.
Belle. It had said. She kept it with her. Stuck it on the side of the computer at the library.
Belle reached the pawnshop, but walked past it, and straight to the back. Where Rumplestiltskin had just opened the door for her. She grinned as she walked past him, and he said with a smile,
"You got here quickly." He closed the door.
"You say that as if it's a bad thing?" she teased, and waited until she had turned back round to him to speak again, "Would you have preferred if I came later?" Belle said, using a mocking frown. Rumplestiltskin laughed a little and stood right in front of her, placing his hands on her arms, rubbing them from the slightly cold weather outside.
"I would have preferred if you could stay with me all the time." He said quietly.
Belle smiled a little sadly and took one of his hands, and brought it up to her lips. She gently kissed it and whispered against his skin,
"I would too," she brought her lips away from his hand for a brief moment, "But you know we can't." then once again, she kissed his hand. It brought her comfort to know that she could do this type of thing, now that they were together again and they both knew they loved each other. She could kiss him whenever she liked without getting thrown out of his home.
Belle sighed sadly, "When will this curse end?" Rumplestiltskin took both his hands and placed them on her face.
"Soon."
"I miss our world." she whispered.
Rumplestiltskin leaned his head against hers.
"I know. We just have to be a little patient."
"Patient for what?"
"For the saviour to believe."
"And the saviour's Emma, right?" Rumplestiltskin smiled a little, the thought of Emma believing slightly amused him.
"Right." he lifted his head up, "But you haven't got long. How about a little lunch?"
Belle smiled, "That would be wonderful."
Emma pushed open the door of the library to find it empty.
"Hello?" she walked up to the desk, "Anyone here?"
The only noise she could here was the steady ticking of the clock behind her. The desk didn't hold any papers or books. Just a computer. But when Emma got a closer look she noticed a little sticky note stuck to the side of the computer.
Belle.
"Miss Swan." a man's voice startled her out of her thoughts a little. She looked up at Moe French, who was walking out of his office to greet her.
"Hello Mr French." she smiled.
"Can I help you with anything."
Emma paused for a moment, trying to put her thoughts into words. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to ask him this.
"Yes. Do you mind if I asked you a few questions about your daughter?"
Moe was silent for a moment, but answered with a weak smile.
"Of course. What is it you need to know?"
"I want to ask about her time in the psychiatric hospital."
Moe seemed a little shocked to hear Emma bring the subject up, and answered sadly.
"I will tell you, but may I ask why you need to know this?"
"Just doing a little research for something. And it would really help if you told me a bit about your daughters health." She said with a sympathetic smile.
Moe sighed and after a few moments he nodded, gesturing for her to follow him into his office.
"A couple of years ago, Belle was a normal, happy young woman. She was like any other daughter, loving, kind, never treated anyone badly. Except, she was a little funny around this one man: Mr Gold."
Emma leaned forward in her seat opposite Moe French's desk in his office. It was quite a small room, with a computer and some papers. But there were no pictures of friends or family on his desk. As far as Emma knew, most people kept pictures of their loves ones. Maybe he's just a little different.
"She was a little funny around him?" Moe nodded.
"They never spoke, they hadn't even met. Until one day I was with Belle in the supermarket. I remember this day well. It was her mother's birthday. My wife. We always buy her a card and sign it just to keep the memory of her alive." His gaze had slowly drifted away from Emma and his eyes became sad and distant, "We bumped into Mr Gold. Both him and my daughter seemed a little strange around each other. I made little small talk with him, but he didn't seem like he was listening, and Belle hadn't said a word to him. Which was very unusual. My Belle likes to talk to everyone." He smiled a little before continuing, "Then she started whispering things about beasts and chipped cups," his smile faded, "and that's when the screaming started."
Emma stayed silent, patiently letting him continue. "She melted down right there in the middle of the aisle. She was screaming and crying and shouting strange things to Mr Gold about true love and curses. It broke my heart, to watch my poor little Belle screaming so angrily. I'd never seen her like this before."
Emma could see Moe was trying desperately hard to fight back the tears in his eyes, but he carried on. "Later on I asked her what it was all about. She had no idea what I was talking about. I guessed this was just her way of saying she didn't want to talk about it. But the next day Mr Gold came over to apologise to Belle about anything that he had done to upset her. And the same thing happened again. She screamed and cried, and ranted on and on about magic and true love…this wasn't my Belle. And again she had no idea what I was talking about when I asked her why she kept doing this. She was such a happy person. Except around him."
"So what did you do?" Emma finally spoke up.
"The mayor started to notice. It happened on more than one occasion. Every time they saw each other the same thing would happen, and she claimed she never remembered it. One day Regina came to me and advised that she spend a little time in the psychiatric hospital, that it might help a little. At first I declined, but Belle got worse. And I thought that putting her in there could help her. She might become my daughter again."
"So you did." Moe nodded.
"For three years. And when I finally decided to let her out, I wanted her to take sessions with Doctor Hopper. I don't even think she remembers them. He advised that she try and stay away from Mr Gold until they know she has completely recovered. If they meet again before she is fully recovered, she could start all over again and she'll probably have to stay in that hospital for a long long time. So I made sure she never went near him, never spoke to him. And she doesn't even know why. She doesn't remember."
There was a long silence before Emma spoke.
"Do you know where she is now?" Moe seemed a little surprised that that's what Emma was asking, after all he'd just told her.
"Yes, she's having lunch with Ruby. Why?"
"When did she leave?" Moe looked at his watch.
"About ten minutes ago. Why?" he repeated.
"I was at the café talking to Ruby about two minutes ago. Your daughter wasn't there."
"I should probably leave soon." Belle placed the cup of tea on the table in front of her. She was sitting by Rumplestiltskin's desk while she watched him stir his tea continuously. Not once had he actually drunk from it. Belle was a little worried. "Are you alright?" she rested her hand on his, which seemed to help him out of his daze.
"Hm? Oh, yes, of course. You were saying?" he carried on stirring.
"You don't seem alright." she frowned, glancing at the tea his was stirring. He seemed to get the message and stopped.
"Oh. Sorry." he pushed the cup away.
"What's wrong?"
Rumplestiltskin looked up at Belle and frowned a little.
"You don't remember?"
She smiled and almost laughed.
"What do you mean? Of course I do."
"You remember about, before?" Belle shook her head and smiled again. What was he going on about?
"Yes, of course. Why else do you think I'm here? I remember you, Rumplestiltskin. I remember our deal, I remember your castle and I remember our kiss." Rumplestiltskin looked down, avoiding eye contact with Belle.
"Of course, you remember that." she stopped smiling.
"What are you going on about?" she didn't like the way he wasn't being straight with her.
"Have we met in this land before?" Belle was silent for a moment and then shook her head.
"No." she said surely. When Rumplestiltskin didn't reply she placed her other hand on his. "Why? What's the matter? Tell me."
He sighed, seeming unsure whether to tell her or not.
"Belle, before today, you and I have-"
The sound of the bell quickly silenced him.
"Gold?" Emma's voice rang through the shop. Rumplestiltskin put his finger to his lips, telling Belle to keep quiet.
"Gold?!" Moe French's voice repeated, sounding angry and dangerous. Belle's eyes widened with terror, and Rumplestiltskin gently squeezed down on her hands, telling her everything will be alright.
"What's he doing here?" she whispered. Rumplestiltskin only replied by putting his finger to his lips again and standing, heading for the door that separated his office from the shop. Belle stood up, but didn't move from her spot. She tried to calm herself. It's ok, it's ok. As long as he doesn't come back here it's ok.
"Miss Swan, Mr French. Can I help you with anything?" Belle stood still, listening to their conversation.
"Do you remember Miss French? The town's librarian?" Emma asked casually.
"I do." Rumplestiltskin replied simply. What does he mean he remembers me? We've never met in this land before. Belle thought to herself.
"Have you seen her today?"
"I have not." he replied a little uncomfortably. He was losing it a little.
"Don't lie to me, Mr Gold." she glared at him, but he didn't reply. Then she held up a piece of paper. "I have a search warrant." and without explaining any furthur, she pushed pass Rumplestiltskin and into his office.