Hello there friends! I almost cried writing the end of this chapter, don't worry though! No angst just a whole lotta feels. I apologize for this but I might be going on another hiatus, I will post whenever I can, maybe once a week or even every other day but you might not be getting daily updates. Sorry! Thank you guys for reading and Cheers Dearies ;) -Jack

Chapter 11

"So, I needed to talk to you guys before our fun-filled day" Rumpelstiltskin grimaced. "It's about the curse" Belle and Jefferson responded in unison.

"Yes"

"It's going to be cast in a months time, and I will have you know that both you and Grace shall remember everything" He looked to Jefferson, and cast him a grim smile. "Now, there are many activities in the village today. What do you wish to do?" He asked Belle lovingly.

"Can we get some breakfast first?" Her eyes shone with delight when he nodded and they walked out in search of some food. Jefferson saw a lady he knew and told Belle and Rumpelstiltskin that he'd find them later. "Just me and you now Rumpel" She beamed up at him and held his hand.

"Just me and you, dearest. Here, this is what I wanted to show you" They'd walked up to a stall that had a sweet smelling fragrance radiating from it. He walked up and ordered two of the house specials and walked back to Belle "C'mon, let's go" They walked to a small clearing, the delicious aroma emanating from behind Rumpelstiltskin's back, he wanted it to be a surprise. Once they sat down in the grass he presented a plate with two perfect pieces of pie, Blueberry she thought as she sniffed the pastry and sighed. "This is my absolute favourite, ever since I was a young boy" He grinned and conjured two spoons and handed one to Belle.

"You eat pie with a spoon too?" She laughed when she saw that he had already stuffed a bite of the blueberry treat in his mouth. "My parents always thought I was weird because I would want my pie with a spoon instead of a fork"

"The filling doesn't fall out of a spoon" He stated as if it were common sense. "Try it" She took the tip off the corner of the perfect triangle and popped on in her mouth. "Good?"

"This is the best pie I've ever had" She closed her eyes and cherished the taste of the blueberry in her mouth. They practically inhaled the rest of their pie and made eye contact after they were done. Rumpelstiltskin giggled and sat on his knees to get closer to Belle, he licked a thumb and wiped the corner of her mouth off. He stuck the thumb back in his mouth.

"You mustn't waste the blueberry" He muttered, she started to laugh with him and the two of them sat there laughing and joking about the pie filling when a maiden with raven hair and pale skin wondered up to them.

"Rumpelstiltskin?" She asked warily. He stopped laughing and looked up and there stood Snow White.

"It's you again. Why must you always interrupt-" He was cut off by Belle standing up and embracing the other princess.

"Oh my god! Snow!" Belle gushed. Snow looked taken aback, so did Rumpelstiltskin.

"Wait... Belle?!" Realization dawned on Snow and she hugged Belle back. Rumpelstiltskin still had no idea what was going and then the two girls were jumping up and down.

"So, shall someone fill me in on what's going on here?" He puzzled over the princesses and stood up. Snow pulled back and took in her friend. Another thirty seconds passed and he spoke again "Hey, I'm kind of clueless here"

"I thought you were dead?" Snow wondered and Belle looked just as confused.

"...No" She answered. At this point Rumpelstiltskin was getting upset from being ignored.

"Can someone just tell me what the bloody hell is going on here?!" He shouted, this earned him a response. Snow looked frightened and Belle looked apologetic. She stepped back and gave his hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

"Sorry Rumpel" Belle said with a nervous smile.

"Hold on! You were the girl in his castle!" Snow said with a disgusted expression. "Does he have you under a spell or a curse? Come with me, I need to get you away from this monster" Belle looked at the other girl with more repulsion than Rumpelstiltskin had ever seen on her face.

"I'm not under a spell. I'm with him because I want to be" Belle ripped her arm away from Snow White and clung to him. It took him by surprise and he needed a couple seconds before he gingerly wrapped his arms around her as well. Snow White was in shock and shot Rumpelstiltskin a look of confusion, he shrugged in reply.

"Okay, now that we have established I haven't cursed Belle. What did you mean you thought she was dead?" He asked and sat down pulling Belle into his lap. Snow cautiously sat across from them and began to talk.

"A few months ago I sent you an invitation to a ball, I sent one to Ella, Aurora, Ariel and a couple other girls. It said to bring your spouse, I got a rsvp saying that the ogres had attacked and both you and your mother died" Belle cast her two companions a somber look.

"Half of that story is right" Belle murmured. It took Rumpelstiltskin a moment before he realized what she meant and nestled his face into the crook of her neck.

"I'm so sorry dearest. When did this happen?" His voice hummed in a quiet lilt. Belle rested her head on his shoulder.

"A couple weeks before I went with you" She sighed, he raised his head and looked guilty.

"If you had called earlier, maybe-" He stuttered over his words and she stopped him.

"There's nothing you can do now, the past is the past" She lulled and his face slowly softened. "It's alright" Snow watched the scene unfold before her and any doubt that he'd cursed her disappeared. They were truly in love... was it True Love? She smiled. Her friend had always seen the beauty in things others didn't, Belle was the only one of her royally born friends that made friendships with the servants. She was the only one that stopped the other royal children from picking on the young slave boy. Belle had picked the dead flowers from her gardens and put them in a vase in her bedroom. It didn't surprise Snow that Belle's true love would be something only she would see the beauty in. She was brought back into reality by Belles voice "Snow, Snow?" she shook her daydream off and looked at Belle.

"Mmhmm?" Snow replied. Belle laughed a little.

"What were you thinking about?" Belle asked, Rumpelstiltskin had his face in her neck again and was... purring? Snow had no idea if this was a normal occurrence or if he was still trying to comfort his love.

"You, actually" Snow said without hesitation. Belle raised an eyebrow. "When we were younger, you always had a vase of wilted flowers in your room" At this statement Rumpelstiltskin lifted his face and stared at Belle with an odd expression, his face was full of curiosity and judgement.

"Were they fresh when you got them and you were too lazy to change them?" He squinted his eyes at his own statement and shook his head "No, you would change them. You aren't the type of person to just leave something like that" She was blushing heavily at this point.

"The wilted flowers always smelled the sweetest, like wine" She said with much embarrassment. Snow smiled even wider at her friends quirks.

"I was comparing that to your love" Snow beamed. Rumpelstiltskin looked absolutely appalled.

"What the hell do you mean?" He sneered.

"Your true love" Snow stated, Belle looked amazed at her friends deduction. "It's obvious in other people when you experience it yourself" She glared at Rumpelstiltskin "I was thinking about how Belle always saw the beauty in things other people didn't. She liked the wilted flowers because they smelled the prettiest, everyone else thought she was weird because they looked ugly but she saw past that. Everyone thinks you're evil and people will think Belle has been cursed and once they see she isn't, they'll just think she's plain crazy. Belle will see past the evil beast, past the wilted exterior and she'll see a handsome man, her love and the sweetest smelling flower"