She gathered up the book and her bell jar, then ran upstairs. She was about to pack a bag of clothes since she was running out at Granny's when she remembered that she didn't have to pack anything because she'd already packed. A suitcase was missing and she knew that it was the one in the trunk, the one she'd planned on taking with her to New York City on their honeymoon. She had yet to take it out of the trunk because it had been too painful.

It was still painful. The idea of going back and finally removing it made her want to cry because it reopened so many old wounds of what would have been. If only…

She couldn't think about that now. The bag was there, and it was packed, and she couldn't waste time packing another one, spending another moment thinking about her own needs. The dying rose in the bell jar called to her every second her eyes strayed from it. She needed to get this done.

She drove back to the shop as fast as she possibly could. Rumple was still there, looking just the same as though nothing had happened in the last two months, as though his soul wasn't dying…

"Focus!" Neal cried in her mind.

Yes. She needed to focus. She couldn't even allow Rumple to distract her as she tried to help him. So she set her things on the counter, and began by looking through the safe, which she was sure was somehow linked to him because she swore that it never looked the same way twice. She was beginning to believe that just as the magic drawer in the back that produced clothes when needed, this safe produced whatever he needed on the spot…so long as it was in his possession of course. Neal's blanket, the doll, none of that was in there now. Some magic, a few important documents, and some cash was all she found.

Alright…so it wasn't in the safe. There were still plenty of other places it could be. She sat down on the floor behind the left counter and began looking through it item by item. She tracked items with the cards that she'd made an eternity ago, when she'd thought he was dead and Neal was still alive somewhere. Items that had history she dismissed because they'd clearly been brought to him and not the other way around. Items that didn't have history she looked over, tried to remember if she'd ever seen them before in the Dark Castle, and if she had then she weighed the possibility that it had been something he'd owned before he was the Dark One in her head. But each and every time she concluded it was useless. Rumple was more or less a pauper before the Dark Curse overtook him. He'd never be able to have afforded things like these and if he'd had them then he wouldn't have kept it; he'd have used it for food or clothes or toys for Bae as Neal had told her Rumple always made sure he was taken care of. Should she gamble? Try and use it?

No. She didn't have time to be wrong over and over again, or to figure out how to destroy items of metal and gems. The doll or the blanket or the cane. It had to be one of those items.

She jumped when the bell on the door rang. "Belle! Anyone home?" Regina cried.

"I'm here!" she called pushing herself up off the ground and locking the case more out of habit than fear. "I'm here, Regina, but I'm sorry I don't have time right now for-"

"That's okay I just need a quick opinion and…that doesn't look good…" Regina's voice dropped to despair as her eyes fell on the rose and didn't leave it.

"It's not," she agreed with her arms over her chest. She hadn't seen Regina since the night of the Fury and though they still weren't on good terms she knew there wasn't really time to fight with her or even work with her! Not that she wanted to work with her, but…if this worked, if she could get Rumple to wake up and live then she'd spend the rest of her life making sure that Regina had everything she needed if that was what was required of her! "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"I'm sorry Regina I really have to work on curing Rumple, I can't help you-"

Suddenly Regina shuddered and pulled her eyes off of the bell jar. "I'll be quick. I just had one question for you-"

"Regina, I said-"

"Just look at this!" Regina insisted before she could argue, pushing a book she hadn't noticed in her hand under her nose. It was a specific page, with a picture of a toadstool and in the book itself was a small piece of parchment with a question mark written on it.

Against her better judgement, she sighed and looked it over carefully. Sometimes, when it came to Regina, it was easier to just go along with her than fight her. Easier and faster. "The uh…the Crimson Crown…"

"You know it! Have you seen it here in the shop?!" she demanded.

She shook her head. "No, of course not, it's a myth!"

"So are we according to half the books in your library," Regina growled, taking the book back and setting it on the counter between the two of them. "This book, it's one that I got from the diner, one of the books that came over with us from Camelot. And this…this is my handwriting! I think we were trying to use this in Camelot. I just can't figure out why or if we did for that matter."

She let out an irritated sigh and pulled the book closer to her. Honestly, she had better things to do than pay attention to myths! Especially when answers were right in front of Regina if only she'd read the book! She wasn't the only one in town capable of doing research! Killian or Robin Hood were well trained by her, why couldn't they have done it.

"The book says right here that it's supposed to help people communicate through magical barriers," she pointed out.

"Yes, but why would we need to communicate between magical barriers? Who were we trying to talk to? And…what do you make of this. 'Communication only possible when selected communication already established' I've never read a phrase like that before in my life, not in any spellbook I've read. Any thoughts on what it might mean?"

She shook her head as she read the sentence and then the paragraph that Regina was talking about. It was a confusing phrase. Why would communication need to be established if they needed to communicate? Or how for that matter?! But then why was any of this relevant?! The Crimson Crown was a riddle, nothing more than a myth! Wasn't it?

She shook her head again as she thought about it but just as she opened her mouth to respond her eyes landed on the copy of the journal lying on a nearby counter and only one name filled her mind. Who would they have been trying to communicate with? Maybe the only person who mattered in Camelot, the one who had been missing for centuries.

"Maybe we were trying to talk to Merlin," she suggested.

"And what was the barrier? Air?"

She gave another frustrated sigh and reached out to close the book. She really didn't have time for sarcasm. "Did you talk to Mary Margaret and David? Maybe they can help you."

Regina shook her head. "I showed it to them but apparently Emma stole one of the dwarves axes' and disgruntled dwarves are their territory not mine."

"Wait, wait…an axe? Emma stole an axe?!" she blanched. "Wh-why would Emma steal a dwarf axe? She's the Dark One would could she possibly need a dwarf axe for that she can't do on her own?"

"Ordinarily, I'd ask your husband but seeing as he's out of commission…" Regina said, gesturing toward the clear bell jar and dying rose.

The dying rose. She really should get back to work. But…

Excalibur, Doc's birthday party, a curse, the fury, and now the axe?! What was Emma planning? She shook her head and silently apologized to Rumpelstiltskin for the delay, but suddenly she figured that it was the most necessary thing in the world. If Rumple lived or if he died they would still need to know about Emma. And if Regina wanted to busy herself with this then it wouldn't hurt to give her something to work with. If anything it might help her so that she could get back to Rumple.

"I have to show you something," she breathed moving over to the leather book she'd been studying. "There is something special about this book, something unique about it."

"You mean besides the language?

"I think this is a journal and...I think it's Merlin's."

Regina's eyes widened. "You're joking," she growled.

"I can't be sure," she clarified quickly. "He wasn't writing for an audience, he was writing for himself, possibly for his student. He was a boy at the time; he wouldn't have needed details, he was living it. The author never names himself but…the more I read it the more I feel like it might actually be Merlin and if it is…The Dark One is all over this volume!"

"Volume?"

She nodded. "The book just picks up in the middle of a narrative, and I can only assume that there were volumes that came before. And in this, he never mentions how he met the Dark One but it's pretty obvious that the Dark One has been around for a long time by the time he wrote this volume and that he was out of control but that still wasn't the greatest reason that Merlin-or this author-was hunting him.

"It was love."

"Love?"

"The details are hard to make out, again it's clear that it happened in another volume of these books but from what I've been able to piece together the Dark One took someone he loved. It's difficult to understand; the language suggests uncertainty. Sometimes he's sure she's dead, others he talks as if he's certain she's still alive. He fears fully defeating the Dark One with death for her sake. I figure that the Dark One must have kidnapped her and held her for ransom in an unknown location. The reason he was afraid to kill him must have been out of fear he would lose her forever."

"Does he get her back?" Regina questioned looking the book over with interest.

She shrugged. "I haven't finished yet and…I won't finish until Rumple…" She couldn't finish that sentence. She didn't want to picture the world without him. He wasn't going to die, he just wasn't, she was going to stop it. And she really had to get back to work.

"Regina-"

"Why did you tell me all this?" Regina demanded suddenly glancing up at her. "Why didn't you just kick me out and tell me to do it myself."

She rolled her eyes. "As if it was that easy to get rid of you," she suggested sarcastically. Regina didn't respond, just kept staring at her with determination and desperation. She wanted her answer. "At a certain point, it's just easier to give into you. And…just because I don't trust you doesn't mean I can't work with you. Besides…Emma doesn't deserve half a chance just because we're not speaking. Angry as I am with you I can put my issues aside for the greater good. But only for so long. Now if you'll excuse me, I really need to-"

"Yeah, you…you should keep working. I'll do what I can to get the others to give you some privacy." Regina gathered up her book and the small question mark before looking at the clear bell jar once more and nodding. "If anyone can figure out how to get him back, it's you. Good luck…" Regina muttered, then turned and walked out of the shop.

I liked this chapter not just because I love Research!Belle doing her thing, but I also felt like it bridged a gap. What irritated me about season 5 was that it seemed like a departure from the characters we know. For the last couple of seasons OUAT has built Belle and Rumple up as the magical go-tos for all things magical, and then all of a sudden this season they seemed to use neither Rumple nor Belle. I felt that a chapter like this continued to maintain a status quo for Belle, showing Regina running to her when she needed an opinion about magic, as well as showing respect for her and the knowledge and work she's put into it over the years. Also, it made me feel better because I'm sorry, but there was nothing stupider in Storybrooke 5A than the Crimson Crown thing..really, when you watch those scenes it makes very little sense.

Thank you, Grace5231973, Teresa Martin, Kathryn Claire O'Connor, Ladybugsmomma, and Fox24 for your reviews. I'm happy that you feel this is adequately filling those blank spaces and giving us back some of what we felt we lost in season 5. I aim to please, and I am glad to hear that it's halfway decent! Peace and Happy Reading!