A/N Thank you guys for constantly leaving reviews.
Taking several deep breaths, Belle reached out for the door handle once again outside of the pawn shop. She had taken a long time to think things through after Ruby had left. It all seemed to come in a sudden rush, the memories that is, and she wasn't sure exactly which way to go. She couldn't deny what she felt towards Ruby especially since it was proven to be true in magical terms.
True love's kiss will break any spell.
She once loved Rumpel, and she believed that she still did, but it wasn't as it used to be. Who ever said you couldn't love more than once? There was nothing that stated you couldn't be in love with two people. However that was the thing. She still loved Rumpelstiltskin…she just wasn't in love with him. She wanted him to be happy and find his son. She still wished to be friends with him. The hard part was telling this to him.
After another extravagant talk to herself about how she needed to get over her nerves, she entered the shop uneasily. She looked around the place searching for Gold, yet he wasn't anywhere to be found. A frown fell upon her face and she called out.
"Rumpel?"
After only a few short seconds the curtain to the back pulled open and out stepped the pawnbroker, a rag in his hand from probably cleaning. His eyes lit up when he saw who was calling upon him. It was silent between them for a moment as if he was processing something through his mind. Perhaps that she had just called him Rumpel and not Gold. Maybe it was the way that Belle's gaze had changed to a very familiar look. It dawned on him suddenly that he wasn't looking at the post-accident Belle, but the woman he actually knew.
"…Belle?" he asked warily, coming around the counter and limping towards her on his cane. She gave him a nod along with a kind smile before wrapping her arms around the man tightly. "Is it really you?" he asked as he pulled back to look at her once again.
"It is, Rumpel."
"But how—" he cut himself off. There was only one way that Belle could have gotten her memories back and he hadn't been involved in it. His face dropped hard which didn't go unnoticed. "So it's true…" he whispered sadly, taking a step back.
Belle closed her eyes taking in a breath, gloom overcoming her like no other. She didn't want to do this to him but there was no other way. She reached out for his hand and urged him to look at her. Not ready to discuss what was coming just yet, Rumpel jumped to the next thing he could think of.
"Can I offer you some tea?"
"That would be lovely," she replied.
He pulled a teacup from the cupboard along with an electric kettle. Once adding in the water to allow it to boil, he brought up two barstools in which they both sat upon. Being in each other's presence seemed more awkward than it should have been. If you would have asked Belle about Gold before she thought of Ruby in the way she did, she would have kissed him on the lips, but now things were different. She didn't feel that way towards him anymore. It was as if she was meeting an old friend she hadn't seen in years.
"When did it happen?" Gold asked.
"Just a few hours ago."
He didn't have to ask how it happened. That he already knew. Even if he wanted to he wasn't quite sure he could handle it. Through all of the turmoil, Belle had always been there for him to help him become the better man, not the monster everyone saw him as. However, Belle had found someone else and he knew exactly who it was. He had always seen the way that wolf looked at her. If he had his way that tramp would have gotten nowhere near the woman he loved. His attempts to get Belle back had been in vain.
She could see it in his eyes. Belle knew that look on him; he may be good at hiding from everyone else, but not her. She had lived with him long enough as his servant to know when he felt sorrow.
Suddenly a loud whistling erupted from the silence causing Belle to almost jump off her seat. The pawnbroker rose then and disappeared behind the curtain. Coming back a few minutes later, the whistling having stopped, he offered her a steaming teacup that she accepted kindly. She sipped on it for a few moments, waiting to see if Rumpel had any moves to play, but she was wrong. The man was simply crushed. They didn't need words to relay such a message.
"Rumpel," his eyes darted up as he placed his cup on the counter, "I know this is all hard especially since it all happened so quickly. You going to find your son and then suddenly I lose my memories. I know you tried hard to bring me back and I apologize that I was a bit standoffish."
"It's understandable, dearie," he replied with a cool voice, but she could hear the emotions buried deep inside, "You didn't know who I was and it was a completely rational thing to do. I just wish I could have been the one to…" His worlds trailed off. The one to save you. The one to prevent this all from ever happening.
A warm hand lightly fell over his and almost as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he took it between both of his. The soft blue eyes closed once again, a cheerless sigh leaving her lips before she spoke once again.
"I do love you. I don't want you to ever forget that, but I love her too." He pulled his hands away and got to his feet finding something on the counter in which to avert his attention to."…Rumpel please."
It was all as if something finally snapped inside the man. He gripped the edge of the counter before yelling out.
"I tried too, Belle! I tried to get you back…" his attempt to hold everything was in vain, his voice cracking at the end of the sentence. Belle thought she saw a shiny droplet forming in his eye, but he turned away too quickly. "How can you love her?"
"What?" she was taken aback by the question and fiddled with the fabric of her dress, "she – I don't expect you to understand."
"Of course I won't understand!" he threw up his hands and faced her again, sarcasm and spite dripping off his tongue, "the dark one knows nothing about love. He could never learn to love! No Belle, I love you and now you come to me and tell me that you love her?"
She stared at the finger that was being pointed at her in complete astonishment and said ,"See? This is what I mean. I can't take these outbursts of yours." She shook her head and began to walk away in defeat that things had gone in such a way, but stopped dead in her tracks when she heard him mumble something under his breath.
"No Rumpel, she didn't do anything wrong," she strode up to him with new found strength, "She tried for me. She stayed true! All you've done is twist people's words and make them bend to your will. If you loved me then you would have come to find me back when I went missing, but no. You took in the words of that heartless queen. You thought that I would actually leave you there and go back to my father. How could you?" she had surprised herself with the sudden rush of words that left her mouth.
She knew that was in the past and so long ago, but it still hurt. Being locked up in a tower with no one to even bother looking for her, got old fast. "I know you're trying to change; I can see that, but I don't love you like I used to. Ruby has my heart and that's how it's going to stay. She's been there for me, always has, and I'm not going to be a coward and walk away from love."
Gathering the leftover dishes of the night, the brunette waitress walked over to the next table. She knew that she should stop worry so much about what happened at lunch time, but she couldn't help but rerun everything through her mind. After being yelled at for almost ten minutes by Granny that her tardiness was unacceptable, she still failed to pick up her pace to compensate for the lost hour. This gained her several more aggravating comments from her grandmother and customers.
She had even snapped at one customer in particular who complained about her taking so long to complete her order. This customer happened to be the mayor in which she didn't like in the first place. Consequentially she had told the former queen where to shove it, almost causing a fight in the diner.
She didn't mean to cause such havoc, but she couldn't help it. Her mind was spinning uncontrollably about Belle coming back and telling her that what they had done was a mistake. It wouldn't have surprised her; she knew how much Belle loved Rumpelstiltskin, but she didn't want to face it. Like the coward she knew she was, she wanted to run far away under the moon and take residence with her solitude. In the wild. Where nothing could harm her. As the wolf she was invincible or that is at least how she felt.
Whatever was waiting for her she knew she would have to accept. She couldn't and would not tell Belle how to live her life. If Belle wanted to be with Gold then that was her choice. Ruby had to love her enough to accept that.
Just as the waitress piled a few more plates onto her tray, the door to the diner chimed and she whipped her head around to see the librarian entering. There was a look upon her face that she couldn't quite pinpoint and it frightened her more than ever. Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, she laid down the tray and went to speak, but before she could even get a word out, Belle was in front of her.
Soft hands grasped the darker brunette's face as warm lips suddenly crashed into hers with such intense passion that Ruby swore she was seeing stars. She felt her back hit the back of the counter and she couldn't help but laugh. Just within seconds her mind was spinning. Snaking her arms around the librarian, she pulled her close.
Off in the corner, Granny was just coming out of the kitchen wiping her hands off with a rag when she stopped dead in her tracks hearing a moan. Right before her eyes she saw Belle kissing her granddaughter with such intensity that she could only chuckle. So that is why you were late, she told herself. Shaking her head she turned away. She really didn't have a quarrel with them. On the contrary she didn't want something else happening in her diner, so as she entered the kitchen once again she purposely clanged a few pots and pans together.
The two lovers jumped away as if a gun had been pulled. The wolf-girl gasped for breath and slowly her eyes met Belle's, her cheeks rosy. The librarian gave her a bashful smile and bit her lip.
"You…you chose me," Ruby said in disbelief.
"Of course I did. I won't let you be a lone wolf anymore."
Hearing Belle refer to that made her heart leap with joy. She leaned forward to kiss her, but stumbled back when she heard movement coming from the back. Thank god she had her wolf's senses all the time. Belle looked at her in confusion, but quickly understood when Granny came from around the counter.
"Nice to see you Belle," she said in a voice that sounded as if she knew nothing of what just happened.
"Hi, Granny," she said with a shy smile.
Granny's eyes went wide suddenly when she noticed there was something different about Belle. The way she held herself. The way Belle seemed to look at Ruby. She had seen the way the two had acted towards each other post-accident and before and it dawned on her that this wasn't the memory-less Belle anymore. She wasn't exactly sure how she knew, but it she knew.
"She got her memory back?" she asked her granddaughter with a voice filled with light betrayal, "Why didn't you tell me, girl!"
The waitress laughed awkwardly and gave a glance towards Belle. Even Belle was confused that she didn't tell Granny the second she had gotten back to the diner.
"Well you were yelling at me too much!" Ruby argued, but let out a squeal as Granny snapped a towel at her. "Ow!"
"I don't care how much I was yelling at you. You deserved it, you fool." Ruby rolled her eyes and watched as Granny enveloped Belle in a huge hug that nearly squeezed all of the air out of her lungs. "It's good to have you back."
"I'm glad to be back. Thank you so much for allowing me to stay with you. I promise I'll be out and back in my apartment as soon as possible."
Granny laughed cheerfully and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Nonsense, take as long as you wish. I honestly don't think Ruby actually wants you to leave," she looked over at her granddaughter who shifted awkwardly on her feet, "Besides, you're apart of the pack now. Don't you know that a wolf mates for life?"
Leaving the girls with a wink, she left them both there bewildered. Ruby's face flushed deep red knowing that Granny had indeed caught them. She should have known that the elder-wolf had known all this time.