It seemed to be a complete surprise to Rapunzel, but for once she didn't have much of a plan. Somehow she had decided that the time it would take to formulate one would take far too long, and she wasn't willing to risk her son's life any more than it already was. Rapunzel knew it was odd; she could see it written all over her face when she finally finished hastily dressing and went down the stairs to find Ayana had gone to school. Flynn was waiting for them and for a plan of some kind, but she had none to offer.
"There is no plan," she confessed breathlessly. "Go to Granny's with Rapunzel she'll explain it all."
"Wait, wait!" Rapunzel called before she could leave the house. She was expecting an argument or some kind of response from Flynn but instead when she turned around Rapunzel threw her arms around her. The hug was tight; she couldn't have escaped or pushed away if she tried. But she felt no need to. She knew Rapunzel had hugged and held her only about a million times in the last twenty-four hours and yet she felt as though she couldn't remember any of them all of a sudden. There was just this one hug. Tight as it was she felt Rapunzel sigh and she put her own arms around her to return it.
"Be safe," Rapunzel whispered in her ear. "And check in, please."
She nodded against her shoulder a silent promise before glancing over at Flynn watching the entire thing before him with nervous curiosity. She pulled away from Rapunzel then and made a motion for the door.
"Take care of each other," she whispered before disappearing out the door.
She didn't have a plan. She had no idea what this was leading to, but she knew step one was to talk to David or Snow. That was essential. This wasn't a plan, it was a window of opportunity, and she didn't know what lay outside the window, but she was prepared to jump through it because she was certain that whatever was outside was far better than what would meet her if she didn't jump at all.
Where to search for them was easy enough. She already knew that the Jolly Roger was empty, as she'd accidentally gone there before Rapunzel's house. The police station was on her way to Main Street, but when she ducked in, she found that the building was empty. That made her nervous. Emma wasn't in town so she had expected that she would be gone, but she was certain that if David was awake, then he would be here. That left her with the reality that it might be Snow White who was awake and it hadn't dawned on her until just now, but she'd been hoping it was David she would find, for reasons she didn't quite fathom.
The Jolly Roger and Police Station were empty that left her with three options. Granny's, the school where Snow worked, or the apartment.
The apartment. She'd go there next. She had never been inside the school and wouldn't even know where to begin looking for Snow there, and she was confident that if Flynn and Rapunzel got to Granny's and found either David or Snow then they would call her. She could always phone to find out where they were…but she knew that considering what was happening talking would be better face to face. She'd go to the apartment. If no one was there, then she'd start making phone calls.
Her heart beat the entire time as she walked down the street. It took everything that she had not to run to the apartment, but as she moved up the steps, she found that her intuition was rewarded. The door to Snow and David's apartment was already open. And from inside she could hear people talking, the voices of two familiar men. So…Snow was asleep, and David was awake. She was lucky enough there, though she didn't necessarily understand why.
David was awake, and he was talking to Killian. That wasn't a surprise, with Emma away chances would have been high they'd be working together, trying to figure out how to get her back. But as she moved up the stairs, she caught small bits of their conversation and was surprised to find that it wasn't about Emma at all.
"Dwarves have searched the entire northern woods; there's no sign of our guy or anyone else for that matter," Killian explained.
"He couldn't have just vanished, we must have missed something," David added.
"This would be so much easier if we knew who the bloody hell we were looking for!" Killian exclaimed angrily.
She had to close her eyes and take a deep breath. It wasn't Emma they were talking about. It was a man. And she knew she had the answers they were looking for.
"His name's Gideon," she shouted slipping into the room and closing the door. There was no need to risk anyone else eavesdropping or finding out about this before they had to.
"Belle!" David exclaimed with surprise as they both looked over their shoulders to find her there. Both were more than surprised. Both were curious as to the information she presented them with. They were so used to her being an ally and frankly she was used to them in that capacity as well…so did that make them allies?!
"He's my son," she finally confessed looking at David and not Killian. David was a parent, Emma was missing, he knew this feeling! He'd be sympathetic to her!
"Your son is an infant," Killian interrupted.
"He was," she answered finally looking at him as her heart wrenched. This was all her fault. "Then he grew up in another realm without his parents and that experience…affected him." She was answering Killian, but she was still looking at David. How odd, she'd never really thought anything special of David, a prince from the Enchanted Forest, he was good with a sword and immensely helpful, but he always had appeared to her as Snow's husband or Emma's sidekick. Why had she never really thought about who he was until now? Now that they were suddenly both the same…two parents looking for their children, wanting only the best for both of them, he wouldn't let anything happen to Gideon, he would understand! Wouldn't he?
"Affected him?" David questioned. She felt her heart sink as she watched his eyes go dark and hard and suddenly she knew the answer before he had to give it. "He's trying to kill Emma!"
"I-I know," she stuttered, trying desperately to keep them on her side, to help all of them see reason. How did they know that he was trying to kill Emma so quickly? Had he appeared to them too? "It's not his fault! He's confused and…Rumple's out there looking for him right now!"
She wanted to slap herself. One look at Killian and she knew that he wouldn't take kindly to that particular plan. He doubted Rumple just as she did.
"To stop him? Or aid him?" he pressed.
She held her breath and thought about it. She wanted to say that it was to stop him. Truly, with all her heart, she wanted to say that she believed Rumple would stop Gideon from doing this, but her history with Rumple told her that she couldn't trust his words or his motivations. And that meant that she couldn't, in good conscience, tell them what they all wanted to hear.
"I don't know," she finally admitted. "But I do know that I can stop him!" she corrected immediately. "If I can just talk to him, reason with him, as his mother…" she glanced once more at David. But he still looked skeptical and angry. Though now she could see one other look in his eyes, sadness. He understood the complexity of all this. But was it enough to give him sympathy for the man attempting to kill his daughter for her magic?
"I don't know Belle," he whispered with a shake of his head. "If he's really planning to kill Emma-"
"We're going to have to stop him," Killian inserted quickly. How very like both of them. David tried to soften the blow, Killian had decided to get it over with. Either way, both had already decided that Gideon was the enemy, the villain of this tale, and his fate was that of all villains…destruction. But they didn't understand. It wasn't always destruction! Yes, Cruella, Cora, and even Peter Pan had all died, but it didn't have to be that way! Ursula had changed sides, been pliant when it was necessary. Regina was no longer the Evil Queen she had once been, though she wasn't about to bring up the Evil Queen that was running around Storybrooke now, and Ingrid had found peace and love before she'd died breaking her own curse! Sometimes the villains in their stories didn't need to be destroyed, they just needed to be reasoned with, and that was what she needed to do with Gideon. She just knew that it was true. And she'd just done everything that she could think of to keep her son safe, no matter how she had failed in that task she wasn't about to step aside and allow them to kill her son. She was no more willing than they were to let Gideon hurt Emma.
"But that doesn't mean he has to be hurt!" she begged of Killian. "And neither one of our children need to be harmed!" she pointed out to David. "Look, I came to you for help because I trust you. Can you trust me?"
David and Killian both avoided her gaze as well as one another's. She didn't need words to know that was a bad sign.
"Let's just find him," David insisted. "The sooner we do the better, then take your shot, but if it doesn't work-"
"Thank you," she interrupted quickly, unable to allow him to finish the sentence as Killian gathered up their things to go. She smiled at them both as they stepped away from the counter to reveal a map of Storybrooke that she herself had used before. She smiled, she participated, but she was more aware than ever of the unfinished sentence that lingered between them.
If it didn't work then Gideon was on his own, and they expected her to understand as they did what was necessary to protect Emma. She did. She understood perfectly. And in return, she hoped that they understood the dark thoughts suddenly racing through her mind. If this didn't work, then they were on their own, and she would do what was necessary to protect her son, no matter the cost.
Wait a second, I don't remember this scene from the show! No. No, you do not. When the season six DVD came out there were about three deleted scenes from this episode that featured a storyline involving Belle. This was one of those scenes. I have traditionally added deleted scenes and extended scenes into my fiction and I, despite the content of these few scenes, I was quite happy to do it this time around. Fair warning, these scenes do not exactly show Belle, Hook, or David, in favorable light. But that being said, I happen to really love these scenes. I felt that they made the scene at the well make so much more sense and I also loved Belle learned from these scenes. I also thought that it was totally in character for her to do what's coming next and showed just how far apart she and Rumple were at this moment in time and how much ground they had to cover to get back to each other. The scenes aren't pretty if you are a Belle fan, but as a Belle fan, I like them, so hopefully, you will too.
Big thank yous to Grace5231973, Paintbrush123, and Rumbellefan for the reviews on the last chapter. We are nearly out of the difficult chapters my friends. Stay with me. When this is over, we'll still be in 6x11, obviously, but it's the moment that Rumple and Belle finally come together and actually start to work together. So if you really hate these chapters then take comfort that we are going to be getting into "the good stuff" very soon! Peace and Happy Reading!