PRESENT:
Two weeks past.
Belle still refused to talk to her father. His phone calls were always immediately declined, his occasional texts deleted without her even glancing at them, and even once when he kept ringing so she would except him into her apartment, she didn't acknowledge the beeping sound.
It was all a haze to Belle. It was as if her father was asking her to choose between him and Mr. Gold. She truly did love her father, but an affair of sorts with Cora of all people was not what she expected from the man she knew all her life.
Her thoughts racing, Belle set her purse on the glass casing counter of Mr. Gold's shop. She hadn't seen him since that terrible day, but it ended so happily. He had told her that they could just spend the rest of the day distracting themselves with work, as Belle then realized he did so often. And, as he promised, it worked. Side by side, pleasantly working with the man, joking and smiling back and forth, not thinking of anything else then the person they were with.
It had felt almost...domestic of sorts. Like being with him like that was something she experienced before.
But then after awkward goodbyes and closing up the shop, he limped in the other direction.
And she hadn't seen him since.
In two weeks.
It worried Belle, but after the ending that day had, she couldn't help feeling hurt. Did she do something wrong? It looked like he also enjoyed spending time with her?
But then again, him and Cora may be already filling out papers.
That gave her a queezy feeling in her stomach.
It's not that she liked Cora, for more reasons than one, but she couldn't believe the situation!
And after the divorce, if there would be one soon, what would happen to her job?
What would happen to Mr. Gold?
What would happen to them?
Belle let out a silent laugh. Them? There was no them.
But she wanted there to be...
The door jingled and the beauty couldn't help getting her hopes up that it was the older man with chocolate brown eyes, but she was a tad bit upset when she didn't here the familiar cane on the floor.
Her sadness turned to shock when she saw a small, blue eyed boy seemingly out of breath, holding a book half his size under his arm.
"Are you alright?" Belle asked slowly.
"Yeah.." The boy heaved, still not looking up at her. "I'm um... I ran here so...I'm Henry."
The beauty let out a laugh. "Belle."
The kid's heaving stopped and his head shot up.
There was a moment of eerie silence.
His large blue eyes lit up when he examined her features, as if he remembered her.
"Belle..." He grabbed the book from under his arm and started flipping through the large pages. "But you were- I thought you were dead!" He stuttered hurriedly to himself.
"Dead?" She gasped. "Do I even know you? Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine." He insisted, and he set the book down. "I came in here looking for Mr. Gold, and I find you of all people!"
"Mr. Gold's out, but if you need to find something-"
He cut her off by sliding the large book towards her, revealing a sketch of a woman dressed in an elaborate yellow gown with chocolate curls, her eyes a deep blue, and Belle thought it looked just like...
Her?
"Any resemblance?" The kid asked knowingly.
"Is...is this some kind of joke?" The beauty managed to get out. Why was there a drawing of her in this boy's book?
"No, the woman you are looking at in the book," Henry paused. "Her name is Belle."
She didn't know what to say to that.
"Look," He insisted and he flipped a couple pages to show her a man, or at least what looked like a man, with crocodile like skin and hands with long fingernails held out in an over dramatic fashion. "This is Mr. Gold. I know it is, I finally found out! That's why I have to tell him!"
Belle suddenly grew defensive of him. "Mr. Gold is a very nice man Henry, he is kind and caring and depicting him as that..." She gestured towards the drawing. "is cruel, and Mr. Gold is no such thing."
Henry paused, and his expression grew from excited to ecstatic. "You... You like him. You like him!"
Even though the beauty knew heat began to rise on her cheeks, she denied it. "No, Henry..." She paused and decided to change the subject. "Do you need something other than Mr. Gold?"
"Well if you're here..." Henry paused. "Then he must have found it!"
He began to flip through the pages again and Belle became confused.
Until he turned to a very familiar object.
The cup.
"The chipped cup?" Belle questioned.
"So he found it!" Henry proclaimed triumphantly.
"Yes..." Belle pointed hesitantly to the shelf in which it was sitting and followed the boy to it's resting place. She gasped when he quickly snatched it. "Be careful, that's Mr. Gold's!"
"Everything in this shop is Mr. Gold's," Henry rolled his eyes and held it out to Belle expectantly. "Hold it."
"Why?" She questioned, yet still carefully took it in her hands.
"Do you remember?" He started to jump up and down.
"Henry, you're confusing me, remember what?"
"Who you were. You're Belle the princess, and Mr. Gold's Rumpelstiltskin."
"Henry-"
"Please!" He pleaded. "Just look at it. Try to remember."
Belle thought this little boy had the wildest imagination around, but to pacify him, she stared down at the china cup.
Minutes passed, and yet nothing happened.
"Henry, please, it's not working, I don't know what you want from me. I've been going through a lot lately, so if you would just..."
The boy huffed, and grabbed the cup, placing it back in its previous position. "I just wanted you to remember."
"Well..." Belle began to play along. "How did others begin to remember?"
"No one has yet." He sighed sadly.
"But in previous stories, I mean, you've obviously read the book."
That made Henry's eyes light up, and without another word, he grabbed his book, and rushed out the door.
"Nice meeting you..." Belle called to the closed door.