1 Month, 2 Weeks, 1 Day
He always came back in time for dinner. Each and every time. Sometimes by hours, sometimes by minutes, once by seconds! So when she finished dressing for dinner and went down the hall to find him in his room she was shocked to discover he wasn't there. At first it was fine. There was still time left. But as that time wore on she paced in the hallway, knowing she'd have to go down soon and he was cutting it too close for them to talk about whether or not he'd found anything this time around or even just whatever he was "looking for" while he was gone because she'd gotten nowhere talking to a couple of dwarves this afternoon. Finally, she heard footsteps on the stone stairs leading up to their hallway, she automatically stopped, held her breath and waited to see him, hoping to get a few short seconds of discussion in before they'd be late only-
It wasn't Neal. Only Robin Hood. "Belle! I was just about to find you!" her heart raced. Neal wasn't here but Robin Hood was? He was going to find her? It was bad news, what else would it be?
"Neal, is he-"
"He's fine," Robin assured her, holding up a hand and offering her a smile. "He sent me back with a message for you not to worry. He promised he wouldn't be far behind me, but he would be late to dinner." That didn't settle her nerves. Why would he be late? Why hadn't he come home with Robin Hood like always?
"Is…is he alright?"
"Perfectly fine. He had some business to attend to but I promise he won't be long now."
"What is he doing?" They were hunting! At least that was the cover Neal was using to look for something! What business could he have?
Robin sighed and did an awkward shuffle before her. "It's not my place to say. Baelfire wanted to tell you himself, but…I think you'll find his absence worth it. I hope you don't mind but in confidence he shared some of your struggles with me, I wanted to apologize. If I've ever contributed to your unhappiness or made you feel uncomfortable, you have my sincerest apology. I promise it was never my intention to-"
"It's fine," she quickly dismissed. It was more than fine. Neal told him what was wrong, what was happening with her. She knew Neal, she knew that he wouldn't have told anyone that he didn't trust. It was shocking, but his apology…it was nice. Someone more than Neal understood if only superficially and the acknowledgement alone felt good. But…something was still wrong. Those words should have toppled her over but they couldn't because there was another feeling growing in the pit of her stomach after what he'd said about Neal.
She felt a small twinge of something in her stomach at those words. Worry? Yes, she definitely felt worry but she didn't think that was what that was. Jealousy? Possibly, maybe a little. But while she and Neal had a lot of interaction for the last few months she wouldn't say that they were joined at the hip. No, she didn't like Robin Hood knowing something she didn't but she didn't feel any animosity toward him for it. Nerves? Yes. That was it. She felt nervous. It wasn't so much that Robin Hood knew and she didn't that bothered her as much as knowing that there was something going on that she didn't know about! The last time that had happened Rumple had-
"I'm grateful for the pardon. In Baelfire's absence may I escort you to dinner?" Robin Hood asked, making her suddenly aware that she was still standing there, glassy-eyed, trying to figure out what was happening. "We may as well eat while we await his return," she felt herself nod at his logic and take the arm he offered as they walked down the stairs together for the dining room.
She imagined that if this had happened a month or so ago, when there were dozens of people sitting at this table no one would have noticed that she walked in with Robin Hood and sat down next to him tonight instead of Neal. As it was there were barely ten people eating with them tonight, including the special visit that Ruby and Granny were paying and she caught David's face register the change right away.
"Where's Neal?" he asked the pair of them.
"Otherwise engaged," Robin informed him, pulling a chair out for her in a gentlemanly manner that Neal never bothered with and only made her feel more awkward. "He's assured me he'll be with us shortly."
"What do you mean otherwise engaged?" he questioned further. "Engaged with what? Where did he go?" Where did he go? Suddenly a new panic sprung into her mind, something she hadn't thought about before. David was worried that Neal had slipped his leash. That he'd taken advantage of Robin Hood…that he'd left for Rumple's castle! But…but Neal wouldn't do that would he? He wouldn't have found what he was looking for and just left her here alone would he?
No. No he wouldn't. She trusted Neal. He wouldn't just leave her here with the hope that he'd be back soon. If that was the case he would have found a way to come back for her or slipped Robin a note or sent her a secret message, something! She knew it. She had to remember that.
"He'll be back before night falls," Robin Hood assured the table. Still she could see in David's eyes that he was unsure, nervous, only seconds away from standing and demanding an answer from Robin Hood so that he could be sure Neal hadn't gone away! She understood that he thought he was protecting his daughter, that he thought what Neal, and herself for that matter, was planning was something to be stopped at all costs in order to give his daughter her best chance of normalcy…but she hated the way that he continued to eye them with suspicion nearly two months after their arrival.
"David," Snow reached out and laid a hand on her husband's arm, his face changed almost instantly. He calmed, softened even and she had to look away because it was a reminder of the times that she'd had that very same power over someone, the ability to calm with a touch and a word. "Don't panic for nothing. Give him a chance, have a little faith, he'll be back…" Snow offered her a quick sympathetic glance before she intelligently turned the conversation away from Neal to the topics they seemed to discuss every night. The towns and villages, the Kingdom, whether or not Zelena's continued silence meant she no longer posed a threat.
She was grateful, truly she was for Snow providing the little distraction she could with David, but it all seemed pointless to her as she sat there, terrible thoughts running through her mind all through dinner. On and on the circle went. The towns and villages were doing fine. Pointless conversation. The Kingdom was rebuilding. No Neal. No one believed Zelena got her reputation for nothing. Unimportant words. Maybe her silence was the threat. No Neal. It was impossible to expect a woman like that to change and just remain quiet. Tasteless food. Back to the local village Ruby and Granny were in. No Neal. On and on like unrelenting torture. No-
A movement by the door caught her eye. No. No movement. The door hadn't opened. She was just too on edge too on alert and only thought-
No! She wasn't wrong the door had opened, but only by inches. And there, peeking his head through, not enough for anyone to notice except her, was Neal!
She fought back a happy gasp and smile when she saw him in favor of the small motion his hand gave her to leave the room. He wanted to talk. Now, not later. Her heart raced and she glanced at her uneaten food, then around the table at the eyes not bothering to notice her or Neal at the door. With a deep breath and trying not to act too suspicious or attract attention, she wiped her mouth with a napkin, grabbed her goblet and got up, she walked over to the table that held the wine and made herself busy by pouring some into her goblet. When she looked over her shoulder, she found no one was watching her yet again. So she left her goblet there, and walked over to the door.
Neal opened it just enough to allow her to leave, then held a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet, as he expertly shut it so quietly if he hadn't stepped away she would never have known that he succeeded. "Where were you?" she demanded with a hiss as they moved away from the doors. "Why didn't you come back? I was worried!"
Neal opened his mouth and the look on his face was enough to make her stop questioning him. There was something he wanted to tell her. Good news or bad news? She wasn't sure she could deal with more bad news…
"Neal?"
"Do you want to go?" he asked suddenly, his voice a whisper as he glanced at the closed door a few feet away as if he was worried they'd be caught or hear their conversation.
"Go?" she questioned making sure she'd heard him right. Trying to understand what he meant!
"Do you still want to leave? Not live in the castle?" Neal asked quickly, looking more and more tense by the second. Leave. He wanted to leave. To take her with him! Finally!
"More than anything!"
"Then let's go!"
"You…you found the castle?" she assumed, sensing her excitement grow as her eyes grew wide. "You know where it is?"
"No, not that," he shook his head and lowered his voice again, still looking away nervously. "But there's a place we can stay. I finally found it. And if you want to go-"
"Neal!" they both jumped and her heart sank as she saw Snow White standing at the door staring at them. They hadn't been quiet enough, or fast enough, or…what did it matter? They'd been caught. And, drawn by the name she assumed, it only took a heartbeat or two before David joined them. "Sorry to interrupt," Snow said, looking suspiciously between the two of them, "I saw you were missing and came to check on you," she explained glancing at her before turning her interested stare to Neal. "When did you get back? We were worried."
It was hard to be upset with Snow White when she could see that she wasn't lying. She was genuinely interested about where Neal had been, genuinely worried. But it was what had her so worried that made her uneasy. And it was the way David seemed to hold his breath waiting for an answer that made her want to finally tell them that where he'd been wasn't their concern! In fact, neither of them were their concern! This was getting ridiculous!
"We're leaving," she stated. The words popped out of her mouth so fast she was surprised when she realized that she'd said it and not Neal!
"Leaving?" Snow questioned looking between them. "Leaving for where?"
"The woods," Neal answered for her, "not far from here. There's a house there, intact. It's closer than their place," he stated pointing to Ruby and Granny. Now she could see. Behind David and Snow, nearly everyone that had been at the table was up and watching the interaction now.
"A house?" David responded looking like he was fearfully fighting back a look of anger. "Intact or not, a house isn't necessarily safe-"
"This one is-"
"You can't be sure of that!"
"Yeah, actually I can," Neal fought without a beat of hesitation. The two men stared at each other, daring the other to blink first to submit, to roll over. Neither did. The tension in the air seemed to sizzle.
"I have seen the place for myself," Robin Hood suddenly spoke up from somewhere behind David. "Its survival is quite impressive…enough to convince me of its security."
"What kind of 'protection' does it have on?"
"Don't worry about it," Neal responded quickly.
"I'm trying to keep this Kingdom safe. There is a witch on the lose-"
"And we'll be safer there than we are here!" he argued, their voices rising. The pressure between the two had been building ever since they got here. She couldn't be surprised by his outburst. "It's Regina Zelena's after, not us! And don't try to pretend like you have the problem under control right now! You don't even know where she is! Nobody does!"
"Which is exactly why you shouldn't go running off into the woods just assuming a house you happened to find will be safe!"
She watched as Neal suddenly broke into a wide almost wicked smile. "It's better than staying here," he whispered maliciously, in a taunting tone, before turning to walk away. She felt tense, that was not the way to win over David-
"Hey!" David yelled. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?! You have something to say? Say it!"
"Man, you know exactly what it means!" he yelled turning back to shout at David, like a teenager confronting his father, arms flailing with unused energy. "All the looks, the lies, the excuses to keep us busy! We're not idiots, alright, we know what you're trying to do and if you don't trust us the least you could do is say it to our faces."
The room was quiet as Neal tried to leave again, all eyes focused on the fiery angry look behind David's eyes. Not even Regina attempted to break up the argument by saying something sarcastic. She swore she could hear every heartbeat, every footfall as Neal walked away from him again, a tactic she suspected he used to tame his temper when it got the better of him. She'd seen him do it once with Hook.
"Alright fine!" David finally called out after him. "Fine, you want to go out into the forest and risk your own life, fine do it! But you can't drag her off with you into danger-"
"I want to go," she insisted, her voice once again coming out before she could remember giving permission for it to. She tried to be calm, to not show that she'd spoken before she'd thought in the look on her face, but she could feel her heart race at being brought into the conversation as she had, as if she was baggage or a tradable commodity. Rumple might have been gone but she felt that same fire flare in her belly as the day she'd met him. No one decided her fate. No one. And if Neal could stand his ground, then she could too, with or without Rumpelstiltskin at her side. But shouting and yelling was a trait father and son shared. She needed far more provocation before she was pushed to that point. "I want-I need to go with him."
"Belle!" Snow corrected like she was her mother and had just said a terrible swear word. She had to try hard to contain herself.
"Neal is right," she informed them. "Everyone else has been allowed to go. If you won't let us find a way to bring Rumple back then we should at least be given the opportunity to live outside the castle walls just like everyone else. We'll be closer than Ruby, you've made sure we don't know where to go…" she gently accused. "You know these forests better than we do, and you have the best trackers living with you in this castle! Neal is right, we aren't ignorant, we know that if we tried to run you'd track us down in a heartbeat!"
"You're not prisoners," Snow White insisted gently, genuinely believing what she was saying. But the look on David's face told her that her own husband disagreed with that statement. He might not have liked the terminology…but he wanted to keep them there whether they wanted to stay or not for Emma's sake. As long as he insisted they stay against their will, they were prisoners.
Neal opened his mouth to speak and she automatically reached out to touch his arm to stop him. Things were heated enough, more yelling was only going to make the situation worse. "We're just asking," she went on gently, "for a bit of privacy."
They were watching her too now, for the first time they were looking at her like they had before all this had happened, when she'd stood by his side in the shop or at the diner. They were looking at her again like she wasn't broken, like she was a fair match in a war of words. It felt good.
"Satisfied?" Neal taunted David again in a whisper. But this time he didn't give him time to respond, didn't give him any more options. Just managed to finally escape as he turned back to her and looked at her under heavy lids. "We'll leave in the morning," he informed her loud enough for the others to hear before leaving the scene and climbing the stairs to their rooms.
I never really took David and Neal to have a terribly strong relationship to begin with, they never really interacted in the show. So it only seemed natural in the Enchanted Forest, all things considered, that they would grow into something like enemies. David wants Emma to live happily ever after, Neal wants to find Emma and bring her memories back, natural conflict. Plus, when you consider that the two of them are both a little hot-headed, it stems to reason that a face off like this might occur. I'm not saying that either will feel good about what they say here in the future, I think they would both regret this little spat and how out of hand it got, but in the heat of the moment, to me at least, it seems in character for them both.
Thank you Meredith Pechta, Kathryn Claire O'Conner, Raizen Yusuke, Agent66, Deweymay, and Skitzoeinhoven for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm glad you like the Neal/Belle relationship and the interaction that they've had. You can look forward to more of it for a while. Peace and Happy Reading!