Chapter 7.
It was mid-afternoon and Belle hadn't seen Rumple since breakfast. Belle was sweeping the dining hall floor.
She tried to dismiss the thoughts she had of him. How he probably thinks less of her now that she had controlled him.
Well, partly controlled him.
It was obvious that he didn't want her, as he left so suddenly. She sighed as she continued brushing the dust together, slowly into a small heap on the stone floor.
She looked forward to dinner time. It was the only time she really got to see Rumple. She also needed to thank him for taking the spell of her door. She felt at home here and the last thing she wanted was to be locked up again in her room like her father did to her. She was never treated very nicely by her father but she still missed him at times, or just the company of someone capable of socialisation.
She smiled brightly as a brilliant idea popped up into her mind. She leaned the broom against the table. 'I'll make some tea for him now, to thank him. I'll take it up to his chamber' She said to herself trying to sound sincere knowing, she just wanted to see and spend time with him.
Belle walked up the swirly staircases slowly ensuring the tea wouldn't spill. Numerous thoughts were rushing through her head. After the Robin incident, she told him she wouldn't go near his side of the castle again.
She stopped suddenly, rethinking her idea of bringing him tea.
'Surely if he wanted some, he would call for me or get it himself? No, Belle. You need to thank him NOW.' She said to herself with confidence as she continued to walk up the stairs.
She came to a hallway containing two wooden doors. She could remember the one on the left being his bedroom, but the one on the right was open just a couple of inches. Enough for the light from that room to fill the hallway, drawing Belle in. She knocked softly before opening it further, hoping he wouldn't become outraged by her presence.
''Rumplestiltskin?'' She whispered. Her voice slightly creaked as she could feel the fear bundle inside of her. 'Maybe I shouldn't have come. He's only going to get angry.'
She mustered up most of her confidence and walked through the door anyway, it looked like a laboratory. There was no sign of Rumple. She walked over to the long, curved table that was placed in the middle of the round room as she saw scrolls laid across it. She glanced over it and recognised that they were foreign. Now was intrigued by Rumpelstiltskin's work. 'What could he possibly need from another realm?' She thought. She roamed the room further with her eyes to bask in the work of her master but her sight pulled her to the broken wardrobe, shards of glass were lying shattered across the floor. She had been cleaning long enough to see this was not an accident. Not just the shards but splinters of wood were gathered among the crystal panes, fallen off the beaten down wardrobe. She looked pained as she thought of his violent fits. 'He must have really been upset about something.' She placed the tray of tea on the table over the books and walked over to the glass pieces. She looked down and saw her reflection in one of the larger fragments.
Shock overtook her body as she saw Rumple stand behind her in her reflection. She shot up and backed away from him, treading over the glass and falling to the floor. Her reflexes told her to push her hands down for the fall resulting in her palms being dug into the broken glass.
She hissed out of pain as she looked at her hands, they were bleeding badly.
''Sorry dear, I didn't mean to startle you.'' He said, his voice soft as he bent down and looked at her hands.
He grabbed them as he hushed her. ''Let me help you.'' He said gently holding one of her palms while slowly sliding his other hand over her wound. A magical blue glow appeared over his hand, he could feel the tingle from the magic in his fingertips flowing into Belle. Belle stared deeply into his eyes, which were fixated on her palms. His soft voice and his eagerness to help made Belle wonder why he cared about her. He would deny it if she would tell ask him, so she didn't. The important thing was that she knew, she knew his feelings more than he did which made a small smile appear on her face.
Within moments he released her and the wound on her hand had disappeared like it was never there. She softly drew back her hand, sliding her fingers over his in the process. She needed to feel him. She felt like she was getting an addition, she needed to touch him all the time. Belle broke the trance and looked upon her hand, astounded. ''Thank you..'' She said bewildered by his magic.
Rumple reached out his hand for her to take to help her up. She accepted. He was as eager to feel her touch again as much as Belle was to feel his. ''Thank you for the tea, dearie.'' He turned around towards the table, his hands behind his back. He walked so smoothly it made Belle's knees weak. ''No problem, I actually came here to thank you.'' Belle said looking at him, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. Rumple turned in his steps to face her, glancing at her finger making various movements around her curls. It drove him crazy, he didn't know why. ''For removing the spell of my door, after last night.'' She looked away she could feel her cheeks rising again at the mention of last night's events. Rumple smiled at her shyness and embarrassment.
''No matter, I thought your punishment was met'' He squinted his eyes at her as he smiled deviously at her. He turned back to the silver tray containing the tea. Belle's face became an instant scarlet colour at his words.
Rumple noticed there were two cups on the tray indicating she was going to drink with him.
Rumple sat down on the chair by his table as he gently sipped his tea. Belle decided to sit next to him, on top of the table. Her legs crossed as she grabbed the other teacup herself. ''I thought you said you were never coming in this part of the castle again, dearie.'' He said looking deeply into Belle's eyes. ''Don't make me punish you again.'' His smile was small but contained a hint of seduction.
Belle was set back by his boldness as she looked around trying to not make eye contact with him.
Rumple could never let her go, she had awoken too many feelings inside of him. He wanted her around for eternity. Her soft smile made him warm inside and make him feel things he hadn't in a long time. He didn't care for Regina or Zelena to find out. He would protect her, she would never be harmed. She would be safer here than anywhere else. He tried to convince himself.
''I-I wanted to thank you, it couldn't wait.'' She stuttered holding up the teacup, indicating her gratitude. She looked at her fingers around the small frame of the cup. Belle noticed he seemed more at lease in his part of the castle. Either that or he was trying to get back at her for holding power over him by making her feel powerless now. Not that he wasn't doing that every minute of every day already, Belle thought.
Belle decided to play along with his little game as she eyed him up and down, uncrossing her legs slowly. ''And.. maybe I'm just not that obedient.'' She put her cup down as she slid her hand across a page from the book she was sitting next to. Caressing it slowly, trying to draw Rumple's attention to it. She gave a quick glance towards his face and saw him staring at her finger with his lips slightly parted. It worked, she thought. He followed her finger with his eyes. It made him think of how she caressed his chest last night while they were lying in bed. She could see in his eyes what he was imagining and it made her belly rise with heat. 'No! This was not the plan. Not now, Belle.' She withdrew her hand, breaking the spell she had Rumple under and jumped off the table. He followed her every move, hoping she would climb onto his lap again. He loved it when she was on top of him. It was the only time he didn't mind not being in control. He was throbbing with eagerness, everything she did almost instantly made him thirst for her.
Belle grabbed the tray and walked to the door. ''I should get dinner ready.'' She looked back at Rumple who was looking rather disappointed which made her giggle. Again, the glass on the floor caught her eye as the sun's rays were reflected upon it. ''That's dangerous, I shall get to cleaning that tomorrow.'' She stated, not asking. With that Belle left and Rumple was left to only his thoughts of her.
Rumple leant his head back over the chair as he sighed deeply out of frustration, trying to forget about Belle for now and get back to his work.
It was dinner time and Belle was sat at the table, the food was steaming hot but Rumple was nowhere to be found. This was the first time he was late to dinner and she wasn't sure whether she was allowed to start without him.
At that moment Rumple came crashing through the door, he had papers in his hand as he stomped to his seat at the table. He looked angry and puzzled as he started plating up some of the food onto his plate, staring at the scrolls within his palms.
Belle started eating as soon as he did, never taking her eyes off him. He never usually took his work with him. It must be important.
''What's that'' Belle asked. Rumple sighed in anger, looking at her. He knew she was going to ask, why did he even bring it, he knew she was going to disturb him anyway. He threw the papers on the table in anger and continued eating. ''Inscriptions, they're foreign.'' His face looked agitated. Belle grabbed the papers and looked at them. Rumple's anger rose at her actions in taking his work from him. ''What about it?'' She queried as she put them back down. ''I can't read them! No one can, these are ancient! And not from this realm.'' He threw his fork across the room in fury as her eyes followed his actions in shock. She bit her lip as she picked up his work again, studying it carefully. ''I think I can..'' She said not sure of his reaction. She hoped she could be of help to him, she wanted to do more, earn more of his affection towards her. ''YOU?!'' he blurted out rising from his chair and snatching the papers from her. Chuckling in disbelief. ''Y-Yes, when you've only got books to entertain you, you read whatever is available. I thought myself how to translate using different books and this; I think I've read these symbols in an ancient fairy tomb.'' She said looking down at her fingers not wanting to meet his angry gaze she could feel on her. Rumple sat back down and studied the papers more carefully before his face started showing more softness. ''Fairies.'' He mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes. 'Why didn't I see it that?' He thought to himself now feeling foolish for acting angry against Belle.
Knowing now he needed her help.
Soon enough the next day came. Rumple was up in his laboratory concentrating on creating a certain potion. He was carefully mixing some strands of hair with grains of some sort of sand very precisely. Sat on the edge of his chair looking through a magnifying glass he could feel the sweat starting to gather on his brow. ''Almost..'' He whispered.
A soft knock on the door broke Rumple's concentration and he dropped the tweezers with the grains into the bottle out of shock. Smoke quickly filled the table like a soft silky white blanket. He sighed loudly to himself as he threw his head back and growled.
Belle opened the door gently before walking in with a broom. ''I said I would clean up the glass?'' Belle smiled sweetly at him. He saw her upside down from his head that had fallen back on the chair. Her smile was all too sweet which made him sit back up and clear his throat. ''Yes, yes, come in why don't you.'' Rumple mumbled before waving his hands over the table trying to rid the room of the smoke. Belle walked past and glanced over ''What happened.'' She started sweeping up the shards carefully into one heap. ''Nothing, dearie.'' He said trying not to sound agitated or to blame her. He tried to pick up a scroll but coughed as some of the smoke hit up and he inhaled it.
''Are you okay?'' Belle asked as she walked over to him, putting her hand on his back patting it softly as he continued coughing. ''I'm fine, I'm fine!'' He pulled away from her touch. It was too gently, too warm. The smallest touch of her made him weak and made him want to do unthinkable things to his maid. Belle looked over at the table as she saw the scroll and picked it up. ''This is the one from yesterday, right?'' Belle queried as she glanced over to Rumple who had a slightly annoyed look on his face from Belle touching his stuff. ''Yes.'' He all but growled.
Belle sat herself down on the table, leaning the broom between her legs, making Rumple flinch. He licked his lips, how he wished he could be that broom. He walked over to her as Belle was reading the parchment.
She saw an opportunity and she took it. ''You don't need help translating these, do you?'' Belle asked, her eyes widening whilst looking at Rumple who was now standing inches away from her. He softly gripped the broom, a bit lower than was necessary, lightly brushing across her dress in her delicate area. Belle flinched slightly and blushed at his touch. He placed it next to her, never taking his eyes off her. ''I-I really don't mind.'' Belle said trying to keep on the subject matter which seemed almost impossible as his eyes were piercing into hers, she could tell what he wanted, what he was asking, no telling her he needed.
She distracted herself from him by reading the parchment as if it was a smooth read, annoying Rumple as he could barely make out a single word. He rolled his eyes as he snatched the papers from her and cleared his throat. He knew he couldn't keep her out of his part of the castle now, so at least it would be nice to know when she's coming. He thought trying to find excuses for letting Belle into his lab. ''Fine. Every day after breakfast for one hour.'' He demanded as he picked up Belle from the table and waved her out the door. Belle was suddenly outside the door and before she could say a word he had closed the door behind her.
An achieving smile erupted on Belle's face. She had arranged to spend more time with him which was almost interrupted by something else. Belle could feel her heart starting to race as she thought about the glace Rumple had just given her. She lightly bit her lip and went down to throw away the shards of glass that she had wrapped up in an old cloth. She couldn't wait for the next morning to arrive, not only would she see him at breakfast but also afterwards. Maybe now she could try and get to know him better.
It was night time, which was usually the time that Belle could sit down and relax, it was too dark for her to clean after dinner and she had usually finished her daily tasks before then anyway. Belle was always curled up with a book in the dining hall, on the long red silky sofa, in front of the warm fire, it was the only source of light in the dining room, it was just light enough to make out what was within every corner. She loved her evenings, she had picked up a romance novel she had found in her room. It had become her favourite, it was called 'Beauty and the Beast.' Involving a girl who falls in love with a monster, showing that it's all about what's within and not on the outside. She felt like she could relate to the story as she thought she was falling in love with Rumple. Although she didn't see Rumple as a beast she knew other people did. Also, she wasn't sure because she had never felt love before, or any kind of feeling towards a man, she had only read about love in books.
She knew Rumple wasn't acting as kind as she wanted him too but she knew he would open up to her eventually just like the beast in the book.
Rumple came down from his chamber. He would always spin when night time arrived. They would never talk or look at each other, they both knew the other was present but Belle knew that when night time came, it was best not to speak to Rumple when he was spinning. She wanted to and therefore she did, once. He completely ignored her, like she didn't even exist. Only seeming like he became annoyed by her presence and voice. She wanted to try again but he would always look slightly sad when he spun at night.
Rumple walked over to the sofa where Belle was sitting and sat on the chair that was positioned next to it.
Belle placed the book open, upside down on her lap just so she wouldn't lose the page she was on. She stared at Rumple in shock of him sitting with her and not behind his wheel.
''What are you reading?'' He asked looking down into the warm fire.
He looked troubled. It looked like he needed company.
''It's my favourite. Beauty and the Beast.'' Belle smiled as she showed him the cover of the book. ''Have you read it?'' Belle asked trying to engage in conversation because that seemed like what he wanted. ''No, I don't really read those kinds of books.'' He muttered as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the back of the soft chair. His scales were glowing, the golden specks on his skin resembling the ones in the fire mesmerised Belle. She stared at him, leaning her head on her hand. ''Those kinds?'' She asked him, feeling insulted by her choice of reading material. ''Romance. It's a story. No realism. No eternal love. No wife, child than a happily ever after.'' His voice contained no emotion but she could feel his heart did.
Belle felt curious at his sudden softness as well as him opening up to her, it shocked her. ''What makes you say that, I love the idea of hope, and that maybe someday you can spend your life with someone who will love you forever.'' Belle stated turning red as she looked at him, she wondered if he would notice she was talking about him. Rumple got up from his chair. ''It's not important.'' He said as he dragged his feet to his spinning wheel. Clearly ignoring Belle's words.
'No.' Belle thought. 'I have not got him to open up now and walk out halfway through.' Annoyance filled her as she closed her book and followed him, standing beside his spinning wheel, watching him spin. It looked like he was already too deep into a trance and that she wouldn't be able to communicate with him. ''Tell me'' Belle said softly as she bent through her knees, getting eye level with him, staring through his wheel. Rumple looked at her, his face looked serious but emotionless. Her blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight, her pink lips parting to reveal her white teeth smiling at him. ''I can't leave this castle, meaning I don't have the chance to meet a lot of people.'' She stated as she looked away slightly blushing.
''And if I'm never going to know anyone in my entire life, can't I at least know you?''
Belle's words reached Rumple as he stopped spinning. Her plea for his attention was finally heard. Rumple wanted to talk to her, he needed to talk to someone about this, he only ever had himself to talk to but with Belle it was different. Like she said; she wasn't allowed to know anyone so she couldn't even tell anyone if he did tell her. His weaknesses would be protected from the world, even if he did tell her. He stood up to walk over to the table and leaned against it, Belle following him and getting onto the table next to him.
''I had a son, Baelfire.'' He said looking down at his fingers, it felt like someone was preventing him from breathing. He had only thought about his son, never spoken out loud of him to anyone before. It was paining and he felt his heart sink. ''He's gone now, torn away from me, to a different realm.'' He exhaled as if he was holding his breath.
Belle looked at him in shock as she shifted closer to him, she could feel his unease and wanted to comfort him but not overwhelm him. ''You had a son?'' She asked softly looking down too. ''And a wife, Milah.'' He said looking at Belle's hands which she was fiddling with. He had noticed she had come in closer as he could feel her arm against his, it brought him at ease a little. ''She died.''
Belle looked up at him, he followed and they stared at each other. Belle could see the pain he had been through in his eyes, his lips pressed into a hard line, it showed he didn't want to talk about it any further.
Rumple felt like he was going to break down at any minute. ''So you were..'' ''A man before yes.'' Rumple finished her utterance as he wanted to distract her from talking more about his family. ''I became the dark one to protect Bae. Now I'm trying to find my way back to him.'' He tried to conclude, hoping Belle wouldn't ask any further questions but he knew that was never going to happen. ''Have you found a way?'' Belle asked wishing he could see his son soon. Although she had not spent much time with Rumple or met his son, she cared for Rumple and wanted him happy. ''Not yet, I'm hoping the answers are somewhere in the foreign parchments, scrolls, tombs. Because they're not in any of the books from our land.'' He said as he sighed and got back up. ''You've read all the books in this land?'' She sounded amazed, maybe they had more in common than she originally thought. ''The potion books, spell books, curse books; yes.'' He stated looking at Belle, he could see she meant novels. Belle looked like she wanted to ask another hundred and one questions. Rumple tried to avoid her questions by walking back to his wheel, trying to make him forget his thoughts.
Belle rushed over to him and put her hands on his shoulders as she knelt down on the floor next to his seat. ''You will find a way, I will translate everything and we will find something.'' She said with confidence as she stared into Rumple's big eyes who seemed softer than ever. Rumple smiled. He believed her, now that he had her skills, hope had returned to his mission. He smiled softly before starting to spin, forgetting his worries.
With Belle up in her chamber she could still hear the creaking of the spinning wheel coming from downstairs. He was spinning longer than usual this evening, probably because of their talk. She thought.
Belle couldn't help to let a smile appear she thought of her conversation with Rumple. 'He was normal before, he had a son, and a wife. He can be capable of love.' She saw hope in her future with Rumple. Maybe he could fall in love with her, the way she had now defiantly fallen for him.
The morning arrived quickly. Belle and Rumple were sat at the table eating breakfast, neither of them mentioned the talk of yesterday and Belle could feel that he didn't want her too either.
Breakfast soon finished and after Belle was done cleaning, Rumple escorted her up to his laboratory where she found an extra chair on the opposite end of the table, he had provided her with. He must have been excited to start, getting things ready beforehand. Seeing the state of the laboratory it was recently in, she figured he wasn't much for organisation.
''Shall we start?'' Rumple asked bowing gracefully before her, pointing one arm toward her chair. He seemed in a good mood, possibly because of the help he was no receiving. This worked to Belle's favour as this could mean that they could talk during their search. Belle nodded as she took the seat opposite Rumple's. Rumple picked up a big pile of stacked up books and placed them in front of Belle obstructing her view of Rumple. She sighed internally at the disappointment of any interaction not being made possible due to the amount of work and the obstruction of her view of him. She picked up the first book and tried to find some kind of spell, curse or magical object that could aid them just like Rumple had told her to do.
Rumple had told her to only stay an hour but Belle was too determined to help Rumple find his son and so she insisted on staying. Rumple smiled at her determination and allowed it.
It seemed like days and nights had passed. Belle read through almost every book and translated every foreign word, sentence and riddle. Even Rumple had asked for assistance with certain words he couldn't transcribe but nothing was found. Rumple started to lose hope as they neared the last stack of books and he became agitated. Belle was trying her hardest and he knew that but he couldn't help but lose his temper.
Rumple threw the last book they were trying to translate against the wall in fury. Belle closed her eyes in disappointment and exhaustion. ''We will find something.'' Belle said trying to soothe his disappointment. Rumple sighed deeply before turning his head to meet Belle's gaze. Her eyes had grown darker in colour and bags had developed underneath her eyes from the sleep deprivation she was suffering from.
Rumple reached out his hand to stroke Belle under her eyes. ''You need to sleep.'' He stated staring at her soft skin. He knew touching her was a mistake. He was cooped up with her all this time, forced to look at her, smell her perfume and listen to her annoying yet soothing humming. Basking in her presence made him crazy. He wanted to feel her on top of him again but knew he couldn't. She needed to sleep.
''I'm okay, let's just try and find more ways to get you back to your son.'' She said trying to hold in a yawn as she realised her tiredness as she leaned into Rumple's touch, letting all her defences down.
''No.'' Rumple said as he stood up and walked to her chair before picking her up and carrying her bridal style to her room. Belle flushed at his motions as she automatically swung her arms around his neck and let her head fall into his chest. She was so tired she couldn't even protest. She was completely relaxed in his arms.
Rumple put her down on her bed softly, slightly waking her from her sleep. She hadn't even noticed she drifted away in his embrace. She was more comfortable with him than she thought and also more tired. She took this advantage of this moment of Rumple leaning down to place her onto the bed by leaving her arms around his neck on purpose, pulling him on the bed with her.
He flinched, trying not to fall on top of her. He pinned his hands against the bed and hung over her, starting to breathe heavily. Being forced to hang over this beauty, to be inches away from her body. He could feel his leather stretching more and more by the second, he needed her.
She gazed at him, her senses waking up. Rumple gazed back into her eyes, her ocean light blue eyes returning, indicating her change of mood. Rumple got closer to her face, he needed to kiss her, he needed to finally kiss her. Belle followed his movement and she closed her eyes, parting her lips slightly. Rumple brushed his lips against hers, locking them together. His soft lips danced over hers as he deepened the kiss.
They backed away from their kiss and looked each other in the eyes. ''Rumple?!'' Belle looked shocked and amazed as she gazed on his face, his scales were slowly disappearing. Rumple felt a tingling sensation from his lips working its way across his face. He looked at his hands and his skin started to reappear. He backed away from her in shock and anger overtook him. ''WHAT ARE YOU DOING?'' He shouted.
Feeling no love at that particular moment his scales started to return, leaving the smooth skin that was starting to unpack, buried again beneath him.
''I-I don't know!'' Belle said in amazement as well as confusion as the scales started to return.
''YOU'RE TRYING TO BREAK MY CURSE?'' He shouted at her again, louder. ''TRYING TO KEEP ME FROM SEEING MY BOY?'' His hands started to shake. He was a fool for trying to trust her.
''What is your plan?! Why are you so interested in helping me find my boy? Why do you CARE?'' His agitation was clearly shown in his eyes as they penetrated through her. She couldn't take it again. She couldn't take his anger again. She knew he was falling for her, she could see it. She could feel it. She wasn't standing for this.
Belle stood up and walked towards him. She was slightly afraid of how he might react, but she tried to hide it by showing the anger in her voice.
''BECAUSE..'' She trailed off as she saw that Rumple was slightly taken aback by her act of confidence. There was only one thing she could say, one thing that she kept hearing over and over in her head. It was time. She blushed again as her anger disappeared and she looked into his rage filled eyes.
''I love you.''