Chapter 7
On his way to the Sheriff's station the next day Rumplestiltskin sees Regina walking determinedly in his direction. From the look on her face however, he sees that she wants to talk to him but is being wary. "Madam Mayor, what can I do for you?" He asks grinning.
"I should've known you had her, you scheming little imp." She growls civically, but her voice dripping with venom.
"Ah, so Miss Swan's informed you of Belle's court date then?" He asks. She glares at him, but he stops her before she can say anything else. "If I were you your majesty, I'd be careful with where you tread with me right now."
"If you've known since she escaped, why haven't you just gone and killed me?" She asks, honestly curious.
"I promised Belle I wouldn't." He answers simply. "Besides, it'll be more fun to watch you get angry and knowing there isn't anything you can do."
"What's it like living with a girl, who can't even remember her past life with you?"
"Not as torturous as you might think." He smirks. "She still remembers her time as Rosalina. You should have never released her when you enacted the curse, otherwise I just might be helping you with your Mary Margret problem instead of going against you."
"Just because you've signed on as her lawyer-"
"Means I know exactly how you are going to play this game and know how to strike back." He responds. "You know better than to try and go up against me. Also, regarding Belle I don't want you going anywhere near my house and I don't want you trying to harm her in anyway you can think of…please."
He can see that it pains her, but she finally nods seeing as her promise to him didn't leave her with much of a choice. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeves Rumple, we'll just have to see how this all plays out in the end." She sneers and waves a goodbye, as she passes him.
"I suppose we will your majesty." He does a mock bow and continues on his way.
"Well played Regina, not bad." He sighs inwardly in the police station and seeing that Mary Margret was not in her cell. Emma was currently pacing around trying to come up with something to do; Henry had, for once, listened to Emma and went home.
"She's screwed, even if we do find the evidence to prove her innocence if she's not even here." Emma was murmuring half to herself. Rumplestiltskin wanders back into the hall and pulls out his phone to call Belle.
"Hello? Rumple, is that you?" He hears her familiar voice.
"Stupid woman." He snaps into the phone, his anger at Mary Margret seeping into his voice. "Not you love, it seems Mary Margret has fallen for the queens tricks and has let herself out of her cell."
"You mean she's gone?"
"She ran away yes." He sighs sitting down on the bench outside of the office.
"Do you have any leads as to where she might have gone?"
"None, and if she tries to leave town-"
"Bad things will happen, right." She finishes for him. "So what are you going to do? You know Emma is going to go and try to search for her."
"Of course she is, but where do we even start?"
"Wait, are you actually going to help look for her?"
"As odd as it sounds yes, I want to know how she got out of her cell and I already told Regina I would get her out of this. I can't go back on my word now can I?"
She laughs. "As if the Dark One ever goes back on his word. So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet, but I better come up with something before Miss Swan goes out and does something stupid." He groans and keeps an eye on the door in case Emma comes storming out with a place already in mind to go and look.
"She's not stupid and you know that."
"I didn't say she was. I'm simply pointing out that when it comes to her family they tend to do stupid things in order to find one another, even if Miss Swan doesn't know that Mary Margret is her mother."
He hears her laugh again. "I forgot about that, good point. In all seriousness though, when do you think she escaped?"
"My best guess would be a few hours ago, at most. She can't have gotten far through the forest if she was heading out of town."
"Why the forest?"
"She wouldn't have wanted to be caught. Everyone in town knows that she's been arrested if she was seen, they would've reported it."
"Right, so if she was going through the forest…you could always go talk to Jefferson."
He nearly drops the phone. "Belle, how do you know that name?" He asks knowing he's never mentioned it because of the mad hatter's involvement the night she can't remember.
"I…I don't know. I don't even know why I said that, it kind of just slipped out." She stammers uncomfortably.
He knows she's probably feeling in panic right now, or thinking that she's talking nonsense, but he's thinking of how many ways Jefferson could try and use Mary Margaret to his advantage if he wanted to. That and she would have to go through his property if she wanted to get out of town through the forest. "Belle, you are brilliant. If you were here I'd kiss you." He praises her, not caring if he called out her real name louder then he should have.
"Wait, what? What did I say?" She asks confusion laced in her voice. "Rumple? Who's Jefferson?"
"An acquaintance, who I think may have our friend." He replies getting up off the bench. "I'll tell you about him later Belle; right now just stay in the house and don't worry I think you're just remembering something."
"…Alright, I'll talk to you later Rumple. Please be careful."
"I will goodbye Belle." He hangs up and is about to step back into the office, when Emma walks out. 'Just in time it seems.' He thinks and before she can open her mouth he beats her to it. "I think I may have an idea as to where she is."
"How the hell can you possibly know-?"
"I know this town Miss Swan and I know its residents." He states firmly. "And trust me on this; you're going to need my help to get her to come back if my hunch is correct."
"…Fine, but I'm only taking you because you know where we're going." She states. "When we find her, you let me talk to her."
"She isn't who I'm referring to, but by all means if you think you can convince her to come back do that. I'm more worried about the resident who may have her." He argues.
"And who would that be?"
"An old acquaintance of mine and, to an extent, one of Regina's as well." He replies solemnly.
She doesn't say anything after that and they simply leave the building and head into the forest in her bug. Almost twenty-five minutes go by and they pull up in the driveway of what looks like an old mansion. "This is the place? It looks more like a palace." Emma asks getting out of the car. "This guy must have a huge family."
"No, he lives alone." He states walking up towards the house and knocking once "Miss Swan I would advise that when we are inside that you let me talk to him."
"As if I'm going to let you make a deal with him for my best friend." She snaps.
"That's not what I intended to do, this man can be a bit…unstable and one wrong move will have him after your throat." He warns. She simply stares at him, but finally nods. A few minutes pass and no one shows up at the door. Sighing he knocks on the door again. "Jefferson, it's me. I know you're in there, just open the damn door." He shouts.
"Gold, maybe we should-"Emma's cut off by the door creaking open slightly and the face of an unfamiliar man meets them with a grimace, his green eyes travelling to each of them in turn, but resting on Emma.
"Mr. Gold and, the Sheriff right?" The man greets, opening the door a bit wider. "What brings you out here?"
"I have plenty of reasons to be out here talking to you, but Miss Swan is looking for a little lost puppy, have you seen her?" Rumplestiltskin asks in a way that hints to Jefferson that he already knows where she is.
"I'm afraid I haven't, but if you want to come in I have something that could help in your search." He offers widening the door to let them in.
The three of them were in the living room drinking tea and looking over a huge map of the surrounding forest. Emma and Jefferson were talking, but Rumplestiltskin kept shifting his gaze to the door. He knew Mary Margret was in here somewhere, but he didn't know what Jefferson had planned, or why he would let them inside in the first place. Jefferson had to know that he had all his memories back, letting Emma in was one thing but to let him in? He takes a deep breath and can suddenly smell the faint aroma of almonds and something else. 'Damn it Jefferson, what did you put in this?' He wonders turning around to see Emma already knocked out. Not able to form any words he feels himself fall to the floor and black out.
He wakes up, what he assumes is hours later, on his back laying on a bed. Groaning he sits up to turn on the lamp to shed some light in the darkened room and is surprised to see his cane leaning against the bedside table. Looking around the well furnished bedroom he spots a closed door that, hopefully, leads out. 'So he is worried I'm mad at him.' He smirks sitting up and getting off of the bed. He grabs his cane and walks over to the door, unsurprised to find it locked. 'If he really thinks I can't pick a lock, he doesn't know me as well as I thought.' He sighs inwardly taking out a paperclip from his pants pocket and straightening it. It only takes him a few minutes to pick the lock and he wanders out into a hallway and hears voices farther down the hall.
"You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants a magical solution to their problems and everyone refuses to believe in magic." He hears Jefferson's voice.
'Damn it Jefferson; I know you're desperate to get your daughter back, but this isn't the way to do it.' He groans reaching the door where they were and looking in. He finds the two of them over by the window looking outside and to, what he assumes, is his daughter's current household. He looks briefly around the room and sees all the hats. 'Desperate man gone mad, but I suppose all parents do at some point when it comes to looking for their child.' He leans against the back wall, the other two still unaware of his presence. "Her name is Grace is it not?" He calls out and is satisfied with the jump of alarm Jefferson gives him when he turns around.
"Gold!" Emma sounds just as surprised. "He told me he took you back into town."
"What? Thought I abandoned you?" He jokes and turns his attention to the man almost cowering beside her. "Really Jefferson did you have to give me a higher dose of whatever you put in our tea?"
"I swear I didn't know she was alive." He stammers. "And I was going to come talk to you, after I got Emma to make the hat work."
"You were going to run and we both know it." He snaps. "Jefferson, it's not going to work. There is no magic here, no matter how many hats Miss Swan makes you it's never going to allow you to go home."
"I-"
"Keeping Mary Margret in your house isn't going to help you either, since I assume she's here?" He asks. Both Jefferson and Emma nod. "Regina wanted her to escape and you and I both know why. You keeping her here isn't going to gain you any favors with our mayor."
"I just can't do this anymore; I need to get out of here. You have no idea how hard it is to see your child everyday and not be able to go up to her." He snaps.
"No I don't, but I know how hard it is to lose somebody and believing at times that you won't ever get them back." He retorts angrily, thinking of his son.
"You got her back though."
"I-"He looks up at the two staring at him and forgets that, of course they think he's talking about Belle. She's the only one who even knows he has a son. He sighs deeply. "Jefferson, the point is you know all you can do at this time is wait for this to be over. There's nothing anyone can do."
"Yet." He growls looking back over at Emma.
"Yet." He agrees and turns to Emma. "Why don't you go and untie our friend? I need to talk to Jefferson a bit longer." She gives him an incredulous look. "I'll be fine, after all my best weapons are words and Jefferson here isn't going to stop us all three of us from leaving, are you?"
She looks at the two of them a moment longer and after deciding Jefferson certainly wasn't going to stop her she nods. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
After she leaves the room Jefferson sits back down in his chair. "I really didn't know she was alive you know." He begins, his voice guarded. "After the two of you left here I heard the news that she had died. I didn't believe it until I realized that the two of you tried to leave town. I did warn you."
"You did." He nods. "I'm not faulting you for that, what I can't understand is you knew neither of us had our memories, why didn't you try and stop us?"
He laughs hotly. "I don't think you realize how determined the two of you were that night. Hell, I don't even think Regina could've stopped the two of you."
"No, I suppose you're right." He sighs and falls in the chair opposite from him.
"So are you two still-?"
"Technically yes, but she doesn't remember the night we came up here. She remembers her past life as Belle and most of her life as Rosalina, except for that one night and the next day, but even I barely remember that."
"You did end up in the hospital." He notes. "What do you mean she remembers her past life though, how?"
"I don't know. She suddenly ran into my shop one day trying to run away from Regina, saw me and called me by my real name. She was alive and somehow had all her memories."
"It's Regina's own fault for letting your beauty free when the curse was enacted in the first place."
"Well yes, but her majesty had, at first, planned for me to be married to Miss Blanchard. Seeing as I made the curse however, I was able to ensure that I wasn't close to anyone." He states with a sigh of relief. "That would've been hell to explain."
"I forgot it was you who created the curse that sent us all to this hellhole." Jefferson growls.
"Oh don't get mad at me. The curse got you out of Wonderland didn't it?"
He only glares at him, but seeing as how Rumplestiltskin made a good point he only sighs. "So what are you going to do with your beauty when she gains her memories from that night?"
"It's up to Belle to decide what she wants to do."
"And if she decides to stay?"
"Then I suppose we'll just have to continue as we were before, or rather start anew. Be ready for this thing to break Jefferson." He continues, averting the subject. "I'm sure you'll be able to reconnect to your daughter then." Emma and Mary Margret walk back into the room. "Thank you for helping us out, but we really must be going." He gets up and Jefferson pulls out the gun again and directs it straight at him this time.
"You are going to stay here and tell me what I can do." He yells. Mary Margret gasps and Emma instinctively moves her behind herself.
'I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut when it involves his daughter.' He sighs inwardly. "Really? Jefferson you and I both know you would never actually use that old thing on me."
"And why the hell wouldn't I?"
"The same reason you wouldn't pull the trigger on Regina, even though she's taken everything you love most away from you." He states calmly. "You're a coward Jefferson, you're too afraid of what your daughter will think of you if you do."
Moments that feels like hours pass and Jefferson finally drops his arms. "Damn you." He murmurs dropping the gun and falling back into his chair.
"I'm sorry Jefferson."
He laughs hotly. "You've never once been sorry Gold, and you certainly aren't now."
"You'd be surprised." Rumplestiltskin mutters darkly. "Now, one more thing before we go, I'd like my phone back."
"Of course, can't go long without this can you Anthony?" He grins pulling a phone out of his pocket and tossing it to Rumplestiltskin. "Say hello to Belle for me."
"I'll be sure to tell her the Mad Hatter says hello." He retorts. "Farewell Jefferson, I'm sure I'll be talking to you again soon." He nods once and gestures for the two women to follow him out of the house.
"What the actual hell Gold?" Emma practically screams at him as they leave the house and find her car hidden under a tarp.
"I warned you when we first showed up that he was a bit unstable." He points out. "Though, I didn't expect him to drug us the minute we walked in."
'So you knew he was going to try something?"
"I also knew that he had Mary Margret in the house." He states and lowers his voice. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be over there convincing her to stay instead of snapping at me for getting our asses safely out of there?" He gestures over to where Mary Margret was standing and staring off into the town.
She gives him another glare, but still walks over to her friend. Sighing, he leans against the car and pulls out his phone to see seventeen missed calls from Belle. 'Damn, how long has it been?' He wonders and checks the time. '7:24, knowing Regina she'll be at the police station at exactly 8:00. We need to get back to the station, and quickly.' He turns to see Mary Margret tosses the car keys back to Emma. 'Seems she's made her choice.'
"Let's get you back." Emma smiles warily at her and walks back over to him. "I still say I should go and arrest him for kidnapping us."
"How do you propose we explain that Miss Swan? Mary Margret escaped from her cell and was then captured by him, if that were to come up it would simply prove that she was trying to run. The only reason we were even up here was because we were looking for her."
"I'm sorry." Mary Margret states, as the three of them get into the car.
"Yes, how did you know that he had her? Better yet, why the hell were you talking to him as if the curse is real?" Emma asks pulling out of the driveway and heading back into town.
"I warned you he was unstable. I had to talk to him as if I believed him, though I didn't appreciate the whole gun being pointed at me thing." He growls. "My own fault though for mentioning his daughter."
"You mean that family's daughter." She states.
"I assure you Miss Swan that Paige is Jefferson's daughter."
"Was that another one of your deals?"
"Not mine Regina's, and I assure you that Jefferson did not give his daughter away willingly." He tells them. "It's also something not to be discussed again."
Emma wanted to ask him more, but the tone in his voice stopped her. "Fine, but how did he know your name? And why did he call Rosie, Belle?"
"I told you we were running away that night and we were deciding false names. She came up with Anthony for me and I came up with Belle." He states remembering the look on Jefferson's face when he had called her that. 'Even in my cursed state I still wanted to call her by her real name.'
"You went to that maniac's place to hide for the night?"
"Tell me Miss Swan, you know most of our story by now, if you were Moe French and you found out that Rosalina was missing from her room where would you look for her first?"
"Wherever you are." She admits, seeing where this was going.
"And if you were to call the mayor and get her involved, where would you go?"
She sighs. "Somewhere isolated somewhere no one would expect you to go. How did you know Jefferson would help you hide though? He seemed pretty pissed at you when we walked back into the room."
"Ah, but when I walked in on the two of you the first time, did he seem mad?" He asks, as they finally pulled off the dirt road and onto pavement.
"No, he looked like a frightened child."
"He was more terrified of me being angry with him. He owes me a few favors and thought that he did something recently that pissed me off."
"And he didn't?"
"Like myself and the rest of this town, he assumed Rosalina was dead. I can't fault him for not knowing she's alive." He shrugs.
"Rosalina's alive!?" Mary Margret asks the shock in her voice evident.
"I told you I haven't had the time to tell her yet." Emma shrugs from the surprised look Gold gives her. She looks at Mary Margret through the rearview mirror. "Apparently Rosalina French has been in the hospital for gods know how long and recently escaped. She's living with Gold for now, until we can get her properly released."
"I…I'm glad she's alright." She smiles meekly. "I remember reading in the newspaper that it was a bad accident, I'm sorry."
"Yes well, I don't remember much of what happened." He responds, turning away from them and looking out the window to the town. "She's safe now and that's all that matters." Mary Margret turns to Emma questionably surprised at the protective tone in his voice. Emma only shrugs and shakes her head not understanding much when it came to those two.
They finally pull into the sheriff's station and quickly leave the car to get Mary Margret back into her cell. Emma barely leaves the room when Regina walks in and is stunned to see Mary Margret in her cell reading a newspaper. "I'm sorry but my client isn't having any visitors." Rumplestiltskin grins wickedly at her. She turns to leave, but he follows her out. "I warned you about playing this game with me. Giving her the key to leave her cell was clever, but it seems Miss Swan is more resourceful then you think."
"This isn't over Rumple." She growls.
"Oh I think it just about is. See you at the arraignment." He smirks and walks back into the holding room, where Emma had just walked back inside.
Rumplestiltskin was exhausted as he made his way up the steps of his house later that night. He had managed to find time to call Belle around noon to let her know that they were all alright, but the lack of actual sleep was starting to take its toll. When he steps inside the house he is barreled into before he can even close the door. "Belle? What is it, what's wrong?"
"I was worried." She states angrily, looking up at him.
He takes in her appearance, hair tousled, still wearing her silk pajamas and bags under her puffy eyes proving that she had been crying. "Belle, I talked to you earlier-"
"Telling me that the three of you are back, after spending most of the night in the house of a madman, isn't telling me much." She argues. "And saying that the three of you came out alright leaves me to believe something happened. I half expected you to come home hurt."
"I-"He sighs and closes the door behind him. She has a good point. He didn't exactly make it sound like they all came out of it unharmed and after she tried calling sixteen times the night before; of course she would be worried. He bows his head. "I'm sorry Belle; forgive your foolish h-"He catches himself, his conversation with Jefferson coming to mind. "…Boyfriend?"
She laughs heartily at the look on his face after calling himself that. "I forgive you, but I don't think boyfriend is the right term for what you are to me. Too, what do they call it in this world, high school."
He smirks. "What am I too you then?"
"I don't know…my lover?" He flinches. "Right, I didn't think that sounded right either. You're more to me then even that, my rock? My best friend?" She smiles in a way he knows he's going to hate the next thing to come out of her mouth. "My knight in shining leather pants?"
"You're really going to go there again?" He sighs and moves into the living room.
"Fine, how about all of the above?"
"I swear to the gods if you claim I'm that last one to anyone-"
"I won't." She laughs. "Besides, minus that one, you are the other three."
"I thought Ruby was your best friend?" He counters.
She shakes her head and they both fall onto the couch. "I love Ruby, but I know her well because of a curse. I spent six months in your dark castle actually getting to know you. Don't you dare say I wasn't a friend to you back then?"
"You were the only person I could call a friend." He admits. She smiles at that and lays her head on his shoulder.
They sit like that for a few moments and Belle reaches to grasp his hand. "I do forgive you Rumple, but I still want to know who Jefferson is."
He rubs his thumb over her hand that was holding his. "Back in our land he was known as the Realm Hopper, but most people simply knew him as Jefferson, or the Mad Hatter. I honestly don't know what happened between him and her majesty, but he somehow ended up trapped in Wonderland. When the curse was enacted I suppose she wanted Jefferson around so she brought him here along with everyone else."
"I don't recall ever having met him in our world, so how is it I seem to know him h…here." She stifles a yawn.
He laughs. "Is my Belle tired?"
"It's your fault I didn't get any sleep last night." She retorts. "When you didn't come home I started to worry and every time I called you it went to voicemail, though someone did pick up once. I think it was Jefferson."
"What did he say?" He demands, knowing Jefferson could've told her anything.
"He simply asked if I was the beauty in your tale. I was too frightened to reply and I hung up." She shrugs. "I didn't sleep at all last night. I sat in bed staring out the window and back to my phone."
"How long did you sit in bed?"
"Until you called today. After you hung up I managed to get a few hours of sleep, but my imagination kept getting the better of me and I woke up."
"Belle." He sighs and hugs her tightly. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to having somebody worrying about me, so when I hung up earlier I didn't realize just how much you needed to be assured that we were okay."
"It's alright. I get it." She smiles up at him. "Did you get to sleep at all last night?"
"If you count being knocked out for a few hours yes, but I don't know how long I was out."
"You were knocked out?"
"A simple drug to make me sleep love, nothing more." He assures her. "When I woke up I was just fine, though right now it feels as if I'm going to pass out at any time. Do you want to head up to bed?"
"I'd love to." She smiles again and they both get up and walk upstairs to their bedroom. Belle doesn't make it far before collapsing onto the, already messed up bed."You're going to have to forcibly move me if you want to get comfortable." She teases.
"I assure you love it won't be that tasking to simply roll you over and get comfortable all my own." He smirks collecting his nightwear to go and change.
"We'll see." She smirks, as he entered the bathroom.
When he walked out about ten minutes later he finds her laying diagonally across the bed, seemingly asleep. Grinning wickedly he moves over to sit near where her head was laying on his side of the bed. Setting his cane against the bedside table he turns back to distract her by stroking her hair with one hand while using the other to find her stomach, knowing how ticklish she is there.
She only lasts a few seconds and she bursts into laughter. "Rumple, come on that's not fair."
He continues, but she is still being the stubborn woman he knows and refusing to move. "Belle you're not doing yourself any favors by keeping this up." He laughs and continues tickling her stomach.
'No, but…I like…proving how stubborn…I…can…be." She states between laughs. He finally stops and gets the idea to roll over on top of her. She rolls over slightly to be able to make eye contact with him. "If you really thing this'll stop me from moving." Just to prove her point she reaches up and wraps her arms around his neck.
"I'm not trying to move you sweetheart." He grins wickedly and that had the desired effect, as he watches a flush of embarrassment appear on her face.
She still stubbornly holds her ground. "You can sleep like this if you'd like, but I can't see it being very comfortable for very long." She avoids looking at his face, fearing she was still blushing.
"Oh I wasn't planning to, but I'm making sure to keep you as close as I can." He murmurs rolling over again with her still clinging to him, much to the protest of his leg. He ignores the pain and ends up on one corner of the bed with his legs intertwined with hers, her arms still wrapped around his neck, and his now around her waist.
She starts to laugh. "Must we play this game every night?"
"You started it." He points out, as she finally moves and allows him more room.
"Fine I started it tonight, but you know you start it just as often as I do." She states moving to turn off the lamp.
He shrugs. "It's a fun way to end the night." He pulls the covers over them and she crawls over to throw her arm over his stomach and rest her head on his chest.
"It is isn't it?" She agrees.
"Yes it is." He kisses the top of her head and rests his arm on her shoulder. "Goodnight Belle."
"Goodnight Rumple."
Okay, so I had way too much fun with this chapter. I always thought an interaction between Jefferson and Rumple in Storybrooke would be interesting, so I wanted to try that out and thought this turned out great. I also loved the interaction between Belle and Rumple this chapter because frankly, Belle would be worried sick and Rumple wouldn't exactly be reassuring. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and the next one will be up same day next week, and yes that's a promise. xD
Ps. I hope you all are closer, or already have figured out Belle's missing memory.
