Having already realized he was hopelessly doomed, Hook still was taken aback by the depth of emotion and feeling that had struck him when he entered inside Belle. The feelings that overwhelmed him, that almost drowned out the sensation of being wrapped up by Belle's warmth, Hook pausing not so much out of concern but because to do anything else would have sent him reeling towards making a complete fool of himself.

Not that he didn't already think himself a fool. Not when Hook now knew all he had missed out on, all he had been denying himself these last several hundred years. Because he hadn't been living, and he certainly hadn't been loving, a key piece missing from his self. That connection with someone, anyone, Hook having isolated himself in all that he did, and that included during sex.

Making the women faceless strangers, the sex meaningless, Hook had been denying the part of him that had secretly longed for an attachment but had also feared it. That had wanted a connection, a relationship, a life, even a future to share. Refusing to get to know the women he took to bed, it had been easy to use them, and even easier to leave them behind. With Belle, Hook now realized how much he had been hurting himself, denying that bonding attachment, that need to connect with a person beyond the most basic of levels.

He had that connection now, the woman beneath him having touched more than just his body, but his soul, even his heart. It was frightening to realize just how much of it she had, how little it would take for him to fall completely, hopelessly in love with Belle. He was already partly there, wanting to make promises to her, and have Belle make ones of her own in return. Which was complete madness, promises a luxury that exceeded what either of them could have or make.

All they could really give each other was this moment. A moment Hook wanted to last, forever just an unachievable dream. Even minutes seemed fleeting, his body's response almost immediate. Hook felt very much like an untried boy, rather than the experienced man he actually was, his sensitivity heightened, the stimulations Belle was providing almost more than he could tolerate. He felt her, not just fitted tight like a glove around him, but inside his head, pleasure spiking through out him, his every nerve alive and screaming her name.

Tingling with awareness, with how right this felt, how right SHE felt, Hook fought his body's demands. Ignoring the need to move, to hold down and do a frantic, hard fucking that would last only seconds at best, Hook shuddered. From the need, and the effort it took to ignore it, but also because of how right Belle felt, how her body welcomed him home, how she had given him a peace he had been missing for so many years.

He began licking at her skin, caressing his lips against the crook of her shoulder. Gratitude battled with his ardor, his body's urgency determined to be his downfall. Belle's nails digging painfully into his back was the only thing grounding him to any semblance of reality. He had hurt her, the pain the one unavoidable evil that marred this joining. The only one Hook would allow, the man gritting his teeth against demands, forcing his shaking body to be still. But every tremor that he felt, be it from him or from her, left Hook throbbing inside Belle.

His body wanting to divorce itself from his fraying control, Hook was lost again, when Belle moved. The wiggling shifting that she attempted along with the all too obvious intent to get out from under him, brought the animal out in him. The need to pin, to hold down, to master quickened his blood. Hook lifted his head, and growled at Belle, watching the frantic way in which she blinked. Her confusion was sweetly endearing, her naivety maddening, his smile strained. It would take so little effort for this to go horribly wrong, for Hook to scare Belle rather than please her.

That need to please warred with his body's selfish demands, played havoc with a self control that's limit was reached. As it began to shatter apart, Hook spoke in Belle's ear, his attempt at comfort sounding harsh as he told her to dig her nails in as hard as she needed. The uncertain look in her eyes didn't stop Belle's nails from drawing blood, the woman absolutely without mercy when Hook began to move inside her.

But not even that pain could distract him. Not from the sweet gripping pleasure around him, his whole body sizzling from the sensations that began where his body joined with hers. He sank deeper into her, Belle's teeth flashing before she clenched her lips together in a loud hiss of discomfort. He was too selfish to offer to stop, to even consider pulling out and letting her recover. Hook pushed inside her, then began to draw back, Belle's nails stinging in his flesh. And then surprise filled her eyes, one loud exclamation coming from her.

"Oh!"

Hook stilled for just a moment, acknowledging the sound Belle had made. A sound that hadn't held pain at it's core, Belle startled, confused, and maybe, just maybe feeling the start of something good. That good feeling just needed tending to, just needed a wee bit more care and concern to encourage it. But did Hook have it in him to do what was needed? He found the answer was yes, Hook bending towards her, so that his sweat stained brow touched against her forehead. Her beautiful blue eyes stared back at him, Hook doing his best to keep the darkness at bay in his own gaze, knowing his pure unadulterated lust would only frightened Belle should she see it at it's most wild and unrestrained.

Rather than cave in to what he wanted to do, what his body was screaming for, Hook let Belle see how much she was desired. Not just for her body, but for her heart, Hook wanting her, and wanting her enjoyment.

"That's it love..." He crooned husky toned to her, doing the slowest, most tentative slide forward. Belle's knees hitched up higher on the sides of his body, her nails beginning their dig automatically. Hook fought back the hiss of pain, and the one of relief that followed, Belle's fingers relaxing margin by margin as Hook began to rear back. This time she was the one shuddering, her eyes briefly sliding closed, the breath coming out of her in gasps.

Her eyes were shut to Hook's strained smile, the mans' body flexing, all sinew and muscle as it moved against hers. The slightest whine of sound escaped her, Hook's glance grazing her lips. No teeth on them, her lips flush and plump from kisses, and Belle's nails weren't digging in even a quarter as much as they had been just seconds ago. She was relaxing bit by bit, her eyes opening, to show the clear wonder in her look.

Hook shifted his face to the side of her neck, chuckling into the skin there. He felt the pulse against his lips, the pirate teasing it with tongue though not daring to do more than that for fear of the mark it would leave.

"Love, you're looking at me as though I'm responsible for the stars in the sky."

"Aren't you?" Belle asked, the smile and sense of wonder heard in her voice. Hook couldn't stop laughing, a soft rumble of sound that reverberated through them both.

"Not quite." He told her, lips quirking with mirth. "Still nothing more than just a man."

"What a man." sighed Belle, her tone very dream like in the satisfaction expressed. A satisfaction that wasn't anywhere close to what it could become, Hook's movements becoming less wary as bit by bit Belle uncurled her fingers from his back. She was no longer hurting, no longer trying to shift out from under him. Instead Belle moved with him, beginning a slow writhing dance under him that set Hook to groaning, his voice strained and admiring.

"You'll be the end of me with a dance like that."

Still looking at him like Hook had become her sun to her world, Belle made a questioning sound. He slid his arm under her arching back, careful with his hook so that at no point did it's sharp tip come close to so much as scratching at her skin. He wasn't about to mar all that lovely pale flesh, or spill one drop of her blood, though the wreck her nails had done to his back, Hook wore like a badge of honor earned.

The fingers of his good hand gave their calloused caress over her belly, Hook feeling it flex and ripple under his touch. He kept on circling his hand over her flat belly, Hook's eyes on Belle's face, watching her every expression and moan. He licked at his bottom lip, felt the shudder go through her as her eyes stared with yearning at his mouth. Only to then deny her the kiss she was all but begging for, instead bringing his mouth to nuzzle over one stiffened nipple. The devil was in him to tease her like this, Hook holding back his smirk as he brush his mouth over and over her nipple. Belle never took her eyes off him, her back arching under his arm's urging. It had the effect of her breasts being offered up like a feast to his lips, Hook doing the tiniest lick over one rosy tip.

"Hook!"

"Hmmm?" He wasn't suited to playing the innocent, his tongue flicking more firmly over her nipple. "Is there something you wanted, love?"

"Don't..." A gasp, Hook's hips perhaps a bit too eager for her answer, the forward thrust just a little rougher than the pace he had been maintaining. "Don't tease me so..."

"You'll like my brand of teasing." He promised her in between flicks of his tongue. He was all set to cover her with his mouth, to do more than just tongue at her nipple, when Belle won a battle he hadn't truly been fighting.

"I like your kisses more."

His eyes had never strayed far from hers, Hook staring at Belle, his lip's prize forgotten. Belle turned a fetching pink, but didn't take back her admission, staring at him with both defiance and challenge in her eyes. "Such an honest answer." He purred, Hook shifting away from her breasts, to hover his mouth over hers. Belle couldn't wait, wanting no more of delays or his teasing, her hands grabbing at the back of his head. Hook didn't even attempt to break free, letting Belle kiss him, the woman enthusiastic and passionate, his hair being twined around her fingers.

Breathing her in, Belle a sensory delight, sound, sight, touch, even smell alight with her. He tasted her with so much more than just his lips, felt her with more than just his hands, her every expression filling his vision, her sweet moans music to his ears. Hook kissed her and wondered if it was even possible to burn any hotter than this. When they were so close to exploding, a fever overtaking them both, their very breath lost to each other, as Hook and Belle gasped and moaned, their bodies without mercy, making them slaves to sensations. Even the metal of his hook turned hot, warmed by the heat of Belle's body, her liquid warmth flooding around him, in no way dousing the flame lit inside Hook. He heard his own voice coming from a distance, a harsh frantic groaning, no real words said because Hook had reached past the point of speech. Even Belle herself was incapable of it, the woman's voice just a desperate whine.

And then it was too much for him, Hook's body no longer capable of holding off. His hips' movement faltered, his voice just as desperate as Belle's. His cock throbbing, seemed to shudder inside her as seed erupted out the tip. It wasn't just one spurt that jettisoned out, but several, Hook's crazed feeling remaining so long as his ejaculation continued. Even after, with the powerfully lethargic feel of exhaustion setting in, Hook swore his cock was still twitching, still trying to push out seed.

It was the hardest he had ever come, and one of the most satisfying too, Hook staring down at Belle with his own look of wonder. Pink with her arousal, her reddish lips beckoning for a kiss, Belle was all a tremble, still wriggling in place. Never taking himself out of her, Hook reached between their bodies, and began caressing the pads of his fingertips over her clit. Slowly and patiently coaxing her to climax, Belle gasping, crying out as she grabbed at the biceps of his arms. Using him as an anchor to the feelings flowing through her, Belle's eyelids fluttered in time to her urgent sounds. Her chest heaved, Belle's beautiful breasts all a quiver as Hook loomed over her, intent on every facet, every second of the brown haired woman's ascent into euphoria.

He was still inside her when she came, Hook biting back a hiss as he felt the constrictions around him. Around the part of him he had thought well sated, his cock showing the first signs of stirring. Making him want more, even as he understood she had been a virgin until a few minutes ago and would come away sore even without Hook pushing her body to as of yet untested limits. Even knowing that, it was hard to resist, Belle and her sweet responses the ultimate in temptations. Even more so when she clung to him, her hands refusing to relinquish their grip on his arms, Belle's look pleading when Hook tried to move away.

"Don't." He could barely deny her, Belle's next words making Hook groan. "Don't let this moment end just yet."

"Belle." His moan was uttered into her skin, Hook's face buried against the crook of her shoulder. Except for the tremors that went through him, and the stirring of his cock, Hook held himself absolutely still. "I'm trying to be good here..."

Her fingers ran over his hair, the sleepy satisfaction apparent in Belle's voice. "You ARE good."

"Not half as good as you deserve." Hook muttered, then reluctantly lifted his head, a fierce look in his eyes. Belle's attempt at protest died on her lips, her own eyes wide and colored as blue as the waters he so loved at their most tranquil. "Because if I was any less a scoundrel, I wouldn't so much as consider taking you a second time so soon on the heels of your very first experience."

She had lost much of that sleepy look, and her flushed skin took on a more vivid shade of pink that bordered on red. But despite her blush, Belle didn't look appalled, didn't try to push him away. Hook stared at her with more than a little slack jawed wonder, before shaking his head, trying to firm something other than his raging with lust and out of control dick. His resolve to be good, Hook once again trying to pull out and being stopped by her.

"Belle..." He groaned, finding it took more effort to be good than he had previously ever imagined. Especially inside a woman who could tempt a saint into sinning. "You're going to regret this..."

"I don't regret it!" She interrupted him, the protest fierce with her passion. "Not a single second! I just..."

To his horror, Belle's eyes took on a wet gleam he would never be comfortable seeing. A gleam he never wanted to be responsible for causing, Hook stopping all attempts to pull away, as he brought trembling fingers to one smooth cheek. It was a hoarse voice that asked about the reason for those tears that threatened, his lust ebbing to something infinitely more manageable.

"I just don't want this to be over with so soon."

Instantly, Hook understood, giving her a sad smile of his own as he caressed her cheek. He didn't want this thing between them to end either, Hook greedy for more moments than one could fit into several lifetimes.

"If I had another bean, I'd carry you off in a heartbeat." He said to her, still stroking her cheek with his fingers.

"What about your revenge?" She inquired, her hand covering the back of his, stilling the movements of his fingers.

"You make me dream bigger than revenge, make me yearn for far more important things." Hook answered. "You make me want to have a future, and to have someone to share that future with."

Belle's tears began in earnest, the woman crying softly despite his attempts to soothe her. "Then you should try for that future..."

"Belle?"

"Even if it's not with me..." She added softly, miserably. Hook couldn't stop from staring at her, astonished, aghast, actually grimacing at the thought. "You've lost so much...abandon your revenge, move on and finally live the life you thought impossible."

"It wouldn't be half as meaningful without you by my side!" Hook snapped, infuriated when she shook her head no.

"You'll find someone else..."

"I don't WANT someone else!" He growled at her, tempted to start shaking some sense into her. The urge only grew stronger at her response, Belle so sad, so pained, yet trying to be brave and self sacrificing.

"In time you will. In time you'll forget me..."

"Never." Hook swore, stubborn to the core. Just as stubborn as she was acting, Belle now trying to push him away. A team of wild horses couldn't drag him away now, Hook pinning her in place. Belle began struggling in earnest, and even as angry as he was becoming, her movements also aroused him, Hook all but snarling at her to be still. The lust inside him tinted with his anger and desperation, became something dangerous, Hook far too tempted to prove some twisted point through love making.

"I could never forget you." Hook insisted through gritted teeth. "Not after you healed me, not after everything we've done." She only cried harder, Hook thinking clear enough to try a new tactic. "Or is it that you could forget me so easily?"

"What? NO! No, never!" Belle immediately protested, staring at him like the very idea terrified her. "I will never forget you, or our time together. I wouldn't want to!"

"Yet you expect me to do differently?"

"NO!" She gasped out. "But if you don't...if you won't move on..." She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears, and still they fell. "I don't want you to die at his hands! I couldn't bear it if you were dead."

"And I can't bear the idea of you trapped at his side!" Hook retorted. "You think I can go on, living some happy life when the woman I..." Her eyes had opened, huge and staring at him shocked. Hook quickly tried to cover, changing the words he had been about to say. "The woman I care about deeply is stuck with a monster, and miserable about it?"

"It's my decision to make." She had deflated some, as though Belle had guessed what he had almost confessed to, and found his lack of courage to admit to that possible love disappointing. But how could he in any good conscience make love confessions, especially with the threat of Rumplestiltskin looming over them? Neither he nor Belle had a future, either together or separate so long as that monster lived.

"I'm going to kill him." Hook muttered, and let go of Belle. The instant he rolled off her, she sat up, wide eyed and frantic.

"Forget about your revenge!"

"This is not about revenge anymore." Hook answered her grimly, fastening his pants closed.

"Then what IS it about?" Belle demanded.

"New beginnings." Hook told her, not even bothering with his shirt. "Belle, love I am going to make this right..." He came back to the bed, reaching out to touch her hair. "Trust me on this, I will find a way..."

"I don't want anyone to die...!"

"That's not possible anymore. Not with Rumplestiltskin the heart of this problem." One last touch of her hair, Hook wanting to linger and knowing he didn't have the time. But he was ready to work on that, to do more than buy a few fleeting seconds for them both. The idea forming would take the help of the cricket, and more than a little bit of magic for Hook to pull off the miracle he was wanting.

To Be Continued...

First I want to apologize for leaving you all with such a naughty evil cliffhanger for almost a month. I tried starting this chapter right after posting eleven, but I was feeling uninspired, in pain, and distracted. I got up to the part where it says something about hook not wanting to scare Belle, but please her. It wasn't until this past Sunday that I tried to work from there, and OH MY GOD! This chapter has been the biggest stress, most frustrating thing ever to get to completion.

This is technically my third attempt...I tried to continue it before the two hour once stuff aired, and then after the new ep played, I realized I had written pretty badly. It felt very rushed and crappy. My dear Robert says I have obscenely high standards for myself, and maybe that is true, but my friend Zerousy also pointed out that doesn't matter if I personally am not happy with what I wrote. So even if it's me being too hard on myself, I guess I gotta be true to myself and get this stuff written in a way I can be happy and proud to show it as the completed chapter.

So...this completed chapter went through three, technically four revisions, drafts. Each new revision, kept adding some good paragraphs to the what I already had, but then I would end up trashing a lot of what I wrote. Last night right after they climaxed, the third attempt was going horribly, the talking afterwards, and they were all snuggly instead of serious...and it was cute but wrong for the feel of the fic. Luckily I only had to trash three paragraphs at the end.

I ended up very pleased with what is the final version of twelve! Though boy did it put me through the wringer. I ended up changing an order of an event, in regards to Hook and Archie. He wasn't suppose to seek Archie's help again until after something else happened. But I realized tonight, it would work better to have it alluded to happening now. Next chapter is probably gonna be a Belle POV...and maybe smutty...depending on how the conversation goes when Hook comes back. Ideally I want them angsty, but deciding to live in the moment and grab for all the snuggle and lovemaking time they can get. But we shall see what happens as I write it out.

Again sorry for the wait. Right now I'm feeling pretty good cause I'm on two kinds of pain pills. XD I have a circulation testing/study thing to go to this month. Rather nervous about it, cause I don't know what this testing will entail but I am hoping it pins down what exactly the problem is. Of course I am trying to get as much writing as I can get in, while I remain feeling good. Knock on wood that I keep feeling pain free!

-Michelle

SN-46, aw thanks! For both the review and the health concerns. *hugs* I seriously didn't intend to leave you all hanging, stuck in a Hook Belle void without an update. But it's only been like the last two and a half-three weeks that I've been doing any real amount of writing. Though I was bad and let a different fic distract me during this one's crucial time! oopsie...*sweatdrop*

SuperDeeDee311, thanks! For the review and well wishes. Its appreciated.*Hugs*

Ravengirl07, I'm totally giggling. And turning up the air conditioning for you. XD And blushing over the best writer opinion. *blush*

Kendra Luehr, aw thanks. Though I feel bad for taking so long. But this chapter was practically giving me fits, fussing over it so many days in a row. At one point I thought I lost my ability to write...and to write sexual moments on top of it! But I'm glad I kept working on it, till bit by bit the whole thing became something I could be proud of! :D

Angelfan984, thank you my dear! And perhaps only getting hotter? XD

808bookwrm, oh thank you! I was really happy to read your words. :D I'm still hard at work on this and my other fics, even if it's a juggling act to find time to work on updates for them all. ^^;; Funny enough, one thing I ALWAYS worry about when rereading this fic (And I reread way too much some would say...but I am trying to keep all the details fresh in my mind, you know?) is that stuff happened too fast. Sometimes daydream about reworking this story, just to make the time flow better in terms of feelings developing. But hopefully between Hook's deal and Belle's shock of learning about Rumplestiltskin, it does make sense why they might end up having feelings in so quick a time. Maybe I just worry too much. XD

XXXX, you're in luck I did! XD