Chapter Ten: Learning Again
"Love is when you can be your true self with someone,
and you only want to be your true self because of them."
~Terri Guillements
The library seemed to be lighter in atmosphere for the first time once everyone calmed down. Baelfire kept his distance for the rest of the morning and part of the early afternoon. Belle sat close to Rumplestiltskin even with the new information of past events screaming against her brain. She picked up his dropped cup and gave him a clean one before the tea cooled. Baelfire would look at them as they quietly whispered to one another about unsubstantial things and he couldn't stop the word 'murderer' running through his head.
A quarter past one in the afternoon Belle sighed, got up and picked up the entire set from the table. She set it in the sink and then looked at the two men, "I think that this is quite enough."
Both men looked up at her and then at each other as if the other would have the answer. When neither of them gave any information, Belle swiped her hands together and pulled Rumplestiltskin out of his chair, and the grabbed an arm of Balefire to get him on his feet as well.
"Belle, what are you doing?" Rumplestiltskin asked as she shuffled them toward her door.
"You will do nothing but pout if you stay at my table all day drinking tea," she said with the roll of her eyes as if that was a well-known fact. She pulled at Baelfire's arm so that he stayed in step with them and pushed him and Rumplestiltskin out her front door. She handed over Rumplestiltskin's cane and smiled at the two of them, "If he is anything like you, so will he. So, get some fresh air. Talk with one another, and work what needs to be worked on. You have been separated for too long and I will not put up with it any longer."
"But we, er…" Baelfire tried to reason.
"No excuses," she put a hand up and shook her head, "We all need to learn one another again. You two, especially. Give it a chance."
The two men sighed and breathed out resigned agreement.
She smiled brighter and looked lovely, even with the small amount of red puffiness around her eyes, "Good. I will see you two later."
Without another word, Belle closed her door and locked it.
"She knows that if you really wanted to you could open that flimsy lock with your magic, right?" Baelfire asked as he stared at the door.
"I could, but she knows that I won't," Rumplestiltskin shook his head and then turned to Baelfire.
"Now what?"
"We try again," Rumplestiltskin sighed and gestured with a hand for him to follow, "Anything you want to know?"
"Anything?"
"Anything."
Belle hummed as she left her bathroom. A few moments splashed with cold water and a swipe of this world's cosmetics did wonders. The swelling around her eyes went down, and though she felt tired and her eyes a little blood shot, she felt better. She just hoped that the two of them would not kill one another by end of the day.
"Belle?" a voice called from the front of the library and she heard the doors close behind them.
"I'm coming!" Belle checked herself over one more time in a long mirror, hurried out of her apartment and down the stacks. She was careful not to trip over any books or anything else or she would fall and get some bruises. It was bad enough that she would probably have to explain her eyes. She came into the reception area to see Ruby with a large roll of construction paper and a box filled with different paints and paint brushes in her arms. She held a huge smile until she saw Belle's eyes.
"Now what did he do?" Ruby frowned and put her supplies on the information desk. She took hold of Belle's arms and turned her around to check for anything else on her person.
"It's okay," she put her hands up to calm her friend and to stop her from spinning.
"If your eyes are any indication, I disagree," she pouted and grabbed Belle's cheek to turn her face back and forth to check for any other kinds of touch ups.
"He wouldn't hit me, Ruby," Belle said through squished cheeks and pushed Ruby's hand away.
"What happened?" Ruby asked in a firm tone.
"His son found his way here," Belle said and Ruby's eyes widened in surprise. Archie had told her that Gold had mentioned a son a while back, but he was now in Storybrooke? One Gold was enough. Belle saw her thought process and gave her an exasperated look as she began to explain her state, "Rumple let out a secret that he had been holding for a very long time. Things got heated and, well, emotions raged. It put me more in shock than anything else."
"Ah," she nodded and didn't ask her to elaborate, "Where are they now?"
"Out walking," she smirked, "I threw them out of my apartment a half hour ago. The last thing I needed was some moping men in my home. I just hope that they survive one another while they are out and about."
"We had a stranger come into the diner last night asking about Rumplestiltskin…" Ruby mentioned and went to the counter to start organizing their supplies, "I didn't smell anything off about him and Archie spent most of the time talking with him at the counter. No wonder that something about him smelled familiar, I probably smelt the family blood. But, I never thought that it would be his son."
"Did you know about Baelfire?" Belle asked and began to look through the different colors that Ruby brought, "Before now?"
"Nothing. If it wasn't for Archie, I would have never known. He told us his name was Brandon last night," Ruby chuckled, "Should have known that was off in our group. It's too normal of a name."
Belle chuckled, "So is James and that's the name of our prince."
Ruby nodded and laughed along.
"Thank you for coming over to help with the reopening banner."
"Are you going to be ready by this weekend?"
"Here's to hoping."
"So how do you feel about your semi-boyfriend having a son your age?" Ruby asked and popped open the blue paint. With Belle's silence she looked at her and noticed that her mouth was hanging open, "What?"
"Ruby!"
"It's a valid question," Ruby said and put the blue paint back down after mixing it with a paint stick, "I mean, he's how much older than you?"
"In which land?" Belle asked back and flicked her eyes to Ruby, "Besides, Doctor Hopper is older than Gepetto, from what I understand, and you don't seem to mind all that much, do you?"
Ruby paused and gave the other woman an amused smirk, "Touché. You, my friend, are catching on. I am proud of you."
"As you should be," Belle nodded and pulled the large white paper roll from the counter. She began to spread it out on the ground to the length she wanted for the outside banner for the grand opening, "The age has never bothered me. When I met him the first time he had already been around forever. It never seemed like a deciding factor. He's timeless in a way."
"Timeless…"Ruby set the paint on the floor on one of the corners to keep it down, "Not an adjective I would use for him."
"Story of my love life," Belle said in a whisper. Ruby looked at her and they both began to laugh.
"Speaking of which," Ruby lifted one eyebrow and looked around the empty library like someone was going to listen in. She leaned forward and waved Belle closer, "When you lived with him, you shared a bed, right?"
"…yes," Belle also lifted an eyebrow, "And?"
"Did you ever do the down and dirty?" Ruby asked.
"The what?" Belle asked with an instant tilt to her head, "I am sorry, Ruby I still don't know this world's slang yet."
"You know," Ruby's eyes bugged a little and the looked over to the side.
"Oh… oh!" Belle instantly blushed and bit her lip, "No, we never made love. We were waiting."
"For?" Ruby prodded.
"For when it felt right," Belle shrugged, "I mean we loved each other, and want each other, but he didn't want to push it and I… well, I…"
"You're a virgin!" Ruby said and sat back on her heels as she began to laugh.
"Of course I am!" Belle pursed her lips and turned to a bright red, "I had a fiancé when I was first swept away to the Dark Castle, untouched. When I just kissed him, he kicked me out, so no progression there. I've been in a lock up for the last twenty-eight years, so… yes, I am fairly if not completely sure that I still have my virginity."
"Ah, okay," Ruby smiled and put down another container of paint.
"And…" Belle bit her lip again, unsure if she should be talking about this, "You and Doctor Hopper?"
"Oh please," Ruby chuckled good naturedly, "He just barely asked me out on a first real date. Probably won't happen for a while."
"But it will happen," Belle smiled, "Can you thank him, by the way?"
"Why?"
"Whatever was passed between them has really opened him up," Belle looked at the banner to be and then to Ruby, "He got through to him. I have a feeling that he would never have said anything about the secret from this morning if it wasn't for Archie."
Ruby smiled with a nod, "I'll pass it on. I'm sure he will see it as an achievement."
An hour later, Belle took look over their work and what they had left, "It's looking really good, Ruby."
"I hope so, I am tired of being on this floor-" but then Ruby began to sneeze up a storm. She groaned and sneezed twice more, "Not again…"
The front door opened and Belle's father walked into the library with a bouquet of daffodils and Purple Hyacinths in his hands. Belle looked at the flowers and then folded her arms over her chest. Poor Ruby pinched her nose so that she could stop sneezing.
"It's looking really good, Belle," he said and pointed to the walls around them. He held out the flowers and Belle noticed the flowers that were usually used for forgiveness. She had read a few books about flowers and their meanings while going through her rows and section of books.
She sighed and kept her arms cross, not hinting toward the acceptance of the blooms, "Why are you here, papa?"
"I wanted to see that you were okay," he said and looked pointedly at her eyes. If Ruby was able to pick out her bloodshot eyes, she was sure he would be able to as well.
"Rumple told you I was," she nodded and sighed, "I am perfectly fine."
"Doesn't look like it," he frowned and then let the arm holding the flowers drop to his side. A regretful sigh escaped his chest, "Why him and not me?"
"Oh papa…" she seemed to echo Baelfire from earlier, "He- he is trying to be a better man. I know it doesn't seem like it. I know it doesn't even feel like it. But he is. He is trying hard and right now it is speaking volumes."
"And me?" he asked softly.
She looked at the flowers, "Trying to take the place of my roses?"
Ruby sneezed again from behind Belle, "Sorry."
"I just thought that they would bring more color," Maurice shrugged.
"Come with me," Belle asked of him and pulled him outside the library so that Ruby could breathe again. She held both of his arms and looked straight up at him, "I know what I said in the mine. I remember. It's just… I love him, papa. It will take a while for me to fully forgive him, but I can't stop loving him."
Maurice looked down as her hands slipped from his arms.
"…you need to accept that."
His small smile that appeared didn't reach his eyes as he mumbled, "Your mother was just as stubborn about me."
Maurice gripped the flowers still in his hand and nodded stiffly at his daughter. She frowned and wished that she could forgive him as well as she had forgiven Rumplestiltskin. But she could see his actions. He was still trying to decide what was right for her instead of letting her live her life. He turned down the sidewalk and back toward his flower shop.
Ruby popped her head out, "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," Belle nodded and headed back in to finish the banner.
"So, you beat the man over a chipped cup?" Baelfire asked as he and his father turned the corner. They had just come from the diner where they ran into Doctor Hopper and a few other residences on their lunch breaks.
"It was the only thing that I had left of the woman I loved, of whom I thought was dead," Rumplestiltskin defended his position, "I wasn't going to let him get away with it."
"You still have those tendencies, don't you?"
"To protect that which I treasure most?" he looked up at Baelfire's face, "I will always have those tendencies."
They rounded the last corner back toward the library where they very nearly ran into Maruice who was in the middle of a full retreat away from his daughter's library. Rumplestiltskin steadied himself and then his son. He turned toward the man in front of him and stood straight with a tight grasp on his cane.
"Mister French," he nodded and tried a friendly smile, "To what do I owe the second run in today?"
Maurice gritted his teeth and shook his head. He pointed to him in the face, "You take care of her, Rumplestiltskin. I don't care how powerful you are or become; I will find a way to make you pay if she is ever hurt again."
Another threat, from the same man, in the same day. Baelfire didn't think that this man was going to live very much longer with the way that he was going. His son watched for his temper, watched for the purple haze of the smoke of magic, but nothing.
Rumplestiltskin took a clearing breath and leaned toward him, "You have no need to worry. I would rather die."
Maurice huffed and walked past the two men without incident. Baelfire watched the interaction with interest and was surprised.
Rumplestiltskin chuckled a little without a look back at Baelfire, "Surprised that he's still alive?"
"A little, yeah."
"Belle doesn't like it when I kill, threaten or maim," he explained.
"She's really changed you, hasn't she?" Baelfire looked over his father as he straightened his suit.
"No, I'm changing for myself. I need to be a man that she deserves and a father you would be proud of," he nearly repeated Belle's words from earlier that morning and continued with an annoyed breath, "Since she absolutely refuses to leave me, and believe me she has every right and had many opportunities, I believe that it is my only option. I have a long way to go yet."
Baelfire paused and shook his head trying to get everything straight, "This is a big change from the last time I saw you fifteen years ago."
"It's only been fifteen for you, Bae. It's been closer to three hundred years for me," he watched Baelfire's mouth drop open. Rumplestiltskin shook his hand at him as if to tell him that it was of no importance, "Enough about this old man. What about you? No wife or family of your own, yet?"
"Close to it once," he nodded with a shrug, "That one got away."
Rumplestiltskin knew there was more to the story, but didn't push. They both walked back into the library to see both Belle and Ruby covered in paint and over a newly finished banner. Ruby looked up when the door opened and smiled brightly.
"How's it going, Gold?" she asked up to him and nodded her head, "Look who it is. Find what you were looking for, Brandon?"
Rumplestiltskin looked at Baelfire with a question on his face, but let it slide.
"Miss Lucas," he greeted with a dip of his head, "What are you two doing on the floor?"
"How else are we supposed to paint a banner?" Ruby pushed herself from the floor and patted her hands against one another.
"The cricket said he was looking forward to tonight," he mentioned nonchalantly.
"Oh, crap! What time is it?" she looked at the large clock in the reception area, "Gotta go, Belle! Talk to you soon!"
Belle smiled at her friend's hasty exit and smiled at the two men that stood in her reception area, "Well, thanks to Ruby, this is the last piece for the outside. Painting will wait until after opening."
"It shouldn't have to," Rumplestiltskin said with a hand up ready to make it any color she desired.
"No magic," she smiled at him and put a hand over the one that was up. She leaned her other hand on him and noticed the now blue smudge on his suit. She chuckled bashfully and tried to smack the paint off, "Sorry about that. This is one of your favorites."
"It's no matter," he reassured her and kissed the top of her head.
"Hello again, Baelfire," she smiled at him hopeful, "I hope everything is getting a little better."
"Step by step," he shrugged.
"Okay," she nodded in understanding, "I think I can whip up some dinner if you two would like to stay."
"I would love to," Rumplestiltskin answered immediately and turned to Baelfire, "Bae?"
"I think I will leave you two to your own devices for the night," he said and began to step away.
"Don't be silly, it's no trouble," Belle tried to ask him to stay, "If not, then at least have some dinner with your father."
"I think I still need some time to think just to myself," Baelfire said and nodded to her, "Thank you for your invite."
Rumplestiltskin wanted his son to stay. He didn't know what Baelfire really thought of Belle. They had talked about her and how Rumplestiltskin felt about her, but Baelfire really hadn't said anything from his side of the coin. He really wanted him to like her, and from the look of it Belle wanted him to like her too.
"I will be by your house later, papa," he said and pointed at him, "The old Victorian, right?"
"Yes," Rumplestiltskin nodded.
Baelfire nodded and then walked out the library.
"I really hope it wasn't me," Belle said and wrung her soiled skirt in her hands.
"Don't worry," he put a hand to her back, "It's all new to him, just like this world is new to you. It will take some time. That's all."
"But it's better?" she asked hopefully and looked up at him.
"It's better," he took her hand and began to lead her back to her apartment, "Now, let's figure out dinner because I am sure you had no lunch."