Author's Note: I do not own anything! Huge shout out to everyone who read and reviewed and favorite. :D. Sorry about that evil little cliff hanger. Mwhahahaha. Enjoy.
Belle worried as Mr. Gold was still kneeling on the ground. He looked as if he was looking for some support for his weight and his leg. He let his cane drop down to his side as he found his balance as he shook his head. "Belle," Mr. Gold whispered.
He reached for her hand and pulled her closer to him so he could see her. "Are you alright?" Belle asked as she knelt down to his level hugging him.
"I am fine my dear," he mumbled into her hair.
"You had me worried," Belle smiled as she pulled away.
Mr. Gold didn't get up as he was still kneeling. "Belle," Mr. Gold began again.
He grabbed her hand again and smiled and said, "Fate tore us apart, and destiny brought us back together again. The 28 years that we were separated, were the most difficult. I lived in regret that I let you go. I've loved you since you fell into my arms all those years ago in our land. Not this world, but the previous one. I know I can be foolish and I know that I'm not perfect. I rejected you once, and it was cruel of me"
Belle was listening intently as she looked down upon him. He was struggling to find the words to say, he didn't know how to fraise it. "Three words, that were so difficult for me to believe, three words that were difficult for me to believe. Three words I could never say in the past…when I was consumed for my lust for power. I still have that lust, that lust for power, but what is power without love? You can't have both. It's either one or the other. Last time I chose power, this time…I choose love. Belle, I love you."
"Do you mean it Rum?"
Mr. Gold fumbled around patting his pockets looking for something. Belle wasn't sure what he was doing. "Rum?" she asked again.
Mr. Gold still took one of his hands and dug into his pocket and he was holding a box. He slowly opened it and on the inside was a beautiful ring that had a blue diamond. "Belle, my love, my dearie, my everything…I ask you for your hand. Will you marry me?"
Belle began to cry as she threw herself onto Mr. Gold knocking him over. "I've been waiting for those words for so long. I will marry you, Rumplestiltskin."
Somewhere inside of him he feared that she would have said no. He was proven wrong. True love did exist. He slid the ring onto her finger and he giggled mischievously as he kissed her. "How long do you think we will have before the entire town finds out?" asked Belle.
"Word travels fast, I give it by the end of the day," Mr. Gold stated, "I was going to give you twenty eight roses each representing the span of our love, but I realized that my love for you grows every day. There is a secret garden I planted for you full of hundreds of roses. I was hoping you were going to say yes, because if you did I was going to take you there at nightfall."
"Why at nightfall? Won't it be too dark?" Belle asked.
"You shall see," smiled Mr. Gold.