AN: I am truly sorry that it has taken me so long to post this chapter. A mixture of family health issues on top of a bad case of writers block and visiting families made my writing just not happen. This chapter has a good deal more smut than my previous chapters, so fair warning. I appreciate all of you for reading and favoriting and/or following. Enjoy! :-)
+Belle+
Belle was frustrated and annoyed. Her father kept trying to send her notes to the library wanting to speak with her. For the most part she'd thrown the notes away upon seeing who they were from. He'd been sending flowers and notes for the past two months, since her wedding to Rumplestiltskin. She sighed and picked up the phone and dialed a number she'd tried to forget.
"Game of Thorns, this is Maurice speaking what can I create for you today?" He sounded tired and sad, even though everyone else wouldn't be able to hear the sadness.
"What do you want?" There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.
"I just want my daughter back. I want what we used to have." Belle was the one who was silent.
"Belle…"
"I'm not sure I want that. You have hurt me, Maurice very deeply. You never saw that I was happy with Rumple. All you saw was that he has done some bad things in his past, everyone has, or do I have to mention the coup that put you in power in Avonlea? I have done nothing but try to be there for you, and all I have gotten in return is having my memory wiped and replaced with someone else's, and criticism from you about my choices. I don't appreciate that. I cannot have a relationship with someone who is constantly trying to get me to fit into a box that I never really fit into. I'm tired of trying Maurice. Unless you can accept that, truly accept that, and then there is no relationship between us." Maurice was quiet again. She knew that he was pacing around the shop, something he usually did when he was on the phone.
"I am sorry, Belle."
"Give me some time." Belle quietly hung up the phone and looked at the flowers on her desk. A quick flick and the whole thing landed in her trash can. She knew that she wouldn't be forgiving of Maurice for a very long time. Snow came in and the two headed for lunch at a little shop close to the school. Belle was quiet during the first part of their walk.
"Belle is everything okay. You look sick." Belle gave her a brief smile and just seeing the concerned look in her eyes made Belle begin to talk.
"I don't really know how to begin. Some of this is stuff you've already heard and some of it isn't. Regina had me locked up in the basement of the hospital for 28 years. She was holding me as a pawn in her war with Rumple. She literally had my heart in her hands and she used it to convince me that I was married to Gaston as well as her secretary." Snow gasped quietly and stopped walking. Her face was a mix of compassion, outrage and anger.
"Once I was with Rumple and we were engaged she used Maurice….my father….against me. She convinced him that there was something she could do that would get and keep me away from him and back with Maurice. That's when I was shot and became Lacey. I don't know what she's planning or if I'm still in some sort of danger. Maurice has tried contacting me but I just can't face them. I have my heart back but I'm under no fantasy that she wouldn't just yank it out again to get what she wants. Maurice wants a relationship with me again, he's been sending flowers and notes of apology but I don't know if I can trust him anymore." Snow stood quietly for a second and then wrapped Belle in a tight hug.
"I thought my relationship with Regina was a little….complicated. You have me to talk to if you need to, I hope you know that. Anyways I have some good news for you." The two ladies continued on their way to lunch. Over lunch Snow filled Belle in on something that the principal and she'd been working on. They wanted to open the town library.
"When he said that I immediately thought of you Belle. You would be perfect for the position." Belle was stunned.
+Rumplestiltskin+
He had stopped sleeping since Cora's surprise appearance at his antiques shop. He was surprised that she hadn't tried to do something, anything really, on his wedding day. His hexes and wards had never alerted him to an intruder. He was so sure that something was going to happen that he almost forgot to celebrate getting married to the one person who didn't see him as a beast. Thankfully since he had his powers back sleep was not an issue, at most he would need four hours of sleep and that was only when he had a particularly draining day, typically he slept two hours every other day. He slipped out of the bed and the warm embrace of Belle. He walked downstairs to his office and started going through some paperwork for a contract coming up for review. He had an inkling that Regina was trying to screw over the person she was contracting with but he couldn't tell what her end goal was. He finished working over the contract around three in the morning. Rumple sat at his desk and thought about how much his life had changed and how for the first time he was truly happy and content. Yes, there was the threat from both Cora and Regina but those didn't bother him as much as he thought they would. Those women were good at magic but he taught them so he knew their weaknesses. He also didn't teach them all the magic he knew, just in case they decided to try and beat him at his own game.
The hair on the back of Rumple's neck stood up and a tingling in his brain alerted him to a person trying to breach his wards. With a single flick of the wrist he was standing outside his house looking at the back of the person on his porch. The dark hair and regal stance were immediately known to him.
"Hello, Cora." The woman turned and quietly walked down the stairs. Her smile was that of a Cheshire cat, all teeth and malice.
"I am sorry to hear that I missed your wedding. I bet Belle was a beautiful bride."
"What do you want Cora?" The woman laughed what he assumed to be a shy laugh, but he read as threatening.
"Why Rum, I was hoping that you would take my attempt at respecting your wedding day as a sign of my caring for you and wanting you to be happy." He just sneered and stared at the woman who kept edging closer to him.
"You don't care for anyone, Cora. I hope you understand that you coming near me or my wife again will result in some serious issues for you." Cora just kept her slowly walking towards him, like a person would to a wounded and scared animal to gain its trust. Instead of doing anything that would show his indifference towards her, Rumplestiltskin just stood stock still and let his eyes watch her walk towards him. Once she was close enough to touch him Cora grabbed his left hand and squeezed it.
"I miss our….tutoring sessions, you know the ones, the ones where you taught me how to channel my feelings. I have to admit that I could never get rid of the ones I felt towards you dearie." She gently took his hand and looked at the silver ring with a leaf pattern etched into the surface.
"Now, I am too late and you are taken." When she made a move towards kissing his hand, Rumple gently withdrew his hand and turned to face her completely.
"Well, dearie, I did get rid of my feelings for you. Leave now, before I turn you into a slug." Cora chuckled softly, she tried to pass the look she was giving him off as a loving one, but he read it as annoyance, frustration and quite possibly a little fear.
"Goodbye Cora." He flicked his wrist and was back in his office. He sat at his desk for an hour waiting to see if Cora would try anything, thankfully his senses never picked up another breach attempt.
A few days after Cora's little…visit the bell above his door chimed and a smile spread across his face when he saw that Belle was walking in.
"Hello, love. I thought you and Snow were going out for lunch today." Belle smiled a warm smile and had a look of desire in her eyes.
"That was yesterday, now no talking dearie." She just wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a kiss. He was surprised by the forcefulness and found it invigorating. Belle silently moved them back to his office making sure that the curtain was in place. She gently pushed him down onto his love seat and she began to strip. She let her hair, which had been in a librarian's bun, down releasing the curls that were ever present. He could feel himself starting to get hard. Belle turned and gently wiggled her hips down over his rapidly growing erection, but stopped just before she was fully in his lap. He could almost feel the heat radiating off her mound. Belle looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes filled with lust and desire, and slowly turning to face him. She showed a pale stomach and a black and pink polka dotted bra. She slipped the blouse off her shoulders and let it float down to the floor.
She made a show of slipped out of her skirt showing a matching garter belt and thong. Belle turned and bent slightly forward so that Rumple could see everything. He saw her wetness, it was like a man in a desert seeing an oasis, and his crotch throbbed with a deep ache. She kept the garter belt, thigh high hose and her heels on. She slowly straddled him, keeping his now twitching penis between the two of them. Belle silently undid his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. Once his shirt and under shirt were done away with, she began lightly kissing his neck and chest, her kiss was as soft as a sigh. His heart was pounding and they hadn't even gotten to the sex yet. He could feel the heat and the wetness that oozed from her through his pants, which Belle was quickly making short work of removing.
As soon as he was completely naked Belle kneeled before him and slowly took him into her mouth. He nearly came from the sensation of her tongue sliding up towards his head and down again. Belle continued until he was practically crying out from the sensations. Rumplestiltskin groaned when she stopped and abruptly stood up. She slowly turned around and lowered herself onto him. He was glad to be sitting because if he was standing up he would most assuredly have had his knees buckle from the feeling of her. He closed his eyes and concentrated on getting Belle towards her climax first before he came. He could feel her tightening around him and with a soft whimper Belle ground against him. He came when he felt her begin to slow her pace down. He leaned forward and kissed her back between her shoulder blades. Belle leaned back into his arms and wrapped them around her waist.
"Dearie, what got into you?" Belle sat up and shrugged her shoulders.
"I was thinking about you and the thought of just randomly showing up and having a midday affair with you got me all kinds of excited." He gave her a quizzical look and returned to buttoning up his shirt. She kissed his lips, soft and sweet, as she walked out the door. The last image he saw of her was her smiling and winking at him as she passed by the window back towards the school. The rest of the afternoon flew by and he practically ran home. He walked in to see Belle sitting in the parlor with the book he'd picked out so long ago for Gaston to give her.
"Reading our story, eh dearie." She absently nodded in his direction and took a sip of coffee. He could smell the pot roast in the oven. Rumple slipped upstairs and stepped into the shower. A minute later and his solitude was interrupted. Belle slipped in behind him and began kissing between his shoulder blades.
"What has gotten into you love?" He turned to see her eyes filled with love and lust, the lust made his blood rush to his waking erection.
"A frustrating day that I want to end in your arms." She kissed him deeply and the feeling of her damp skin and perky nipples rubbing against his chest was heaven.
"I enjoyed this afternoon. It felt a little taboo." Belle smiled and kissed his neck. They stayed in the shower kissing and fondling each other until the water turned cold. Rumple magically transferred them to the nice warm bed; he'd made sure they were dry too. Belle was on her back and Rumple was above her kissing and touching her face. He slowly moved his hand down her body towards her heat and gently began rubbing her clitoris, and elicited a moan of pleasure. Belle's kisses became frantic and he could feel her beginning to swell. Her hips began to buck against his hand. He paused long enough to slide between her legs and with his thumb gently on her nub of pleasure he began to rub and thrust into her. Belle's legs clamped around him and with a cry Belle squeezed his throbbing erection with an orgasm. He moved his hand up to her breast and with a few more thrusts he ground into her with his own orgasm.
The two lay still for a few minutes in a post sex silence when Belle got up and grabbed her robe.
"I need to check on dinner and get the table set." She practically skipped out of the room. Rumple got up a minute later and donned a robe as well and wandered towards the wonderful smells wafting from the kitchen. The smell always brought him back to the Dark Castle one freezing night.
The Dark Castle
Rumple stood in front of the open window watching the blizzard sweeping over his lands turning it to white. His mind always drifted to Bae during these types of storms, Bae loved the snow and would nearly kill himself staying out in it well past the point of freezing. On the chilled air he caught a whiff of wonderful smells. He noiselessly appeared in the little room just outside the kitchen. Belle was in the kitchen humming a song and practically waltzing…..no wait she was waltzing around the kitchen. He smiled at the sight and loudly coughed. Belle stopped dancing.
"I know you do that just to announce yourself to me but you don't have to." He quirked his eyebrows at her. She just shrugged and set a steaming plate of pot roast with squash, potatoes and fresh butter rolls.
"If I had known you were such a good cook I would have made that as my deal with you." Belle blushed and his heart flipped at the sight.
"Who taught you to dance?" Belle smiled and finished chewing a bite of food. She stood up and grabbed their goblets of wine.
"Papa, he taught me when I came of age. My mother….she'd passed by then or she would have taught me. It's one of my happy memories I have." Belle sipped her wine and kept quiet.
"What is your favorite dance?"
"Minuet." Rumplestiltskin couldn't help but feel intrigued by this woman beside him.
"I would have thought someone of nobility as yourself wouldn't have been taught a peasant dance." Her eyes quickly found his with a cutting look.
"I wasn't always….noble. My father worked his way up to being a knight but a coup put him in power when the King died in the Ogre war." He could tell clear as day that he'd struck a nerve.
"I didn't mean to imply anything dearie."
"I know and I'm sorry I snapped like that. I don't ever want to be like those….girls I've seen. All done up with no manners just out to wrangle a husband and more notoriety. There is more to life than just balls and flouncing around." He really shouldn't be so surprised by this.
"I thought all girls wanted to find their prince and fall in love and marry."
"That would be wonderful, but the reality is that love isn't, or wasn't, in the cards for me and I assume that it's similar for a lot of other girls out there. It's one of the reasons I longed for adventure and to see the world. It meant that I wouldn't be trapped in a marriage of strategy and alliances." The rest of the meal was spent quietly eating. Of course Rumple knew that was how marriages worked, but to hear that there was no love whatsoever was so sad. Milah and his marriage was arranged but he did, at least he thought he did at the time, love her. Once he was finished he left the kitchen and waited.
As soon as he heard the door swing open Rumple started the music. Belle had barely made it into the room before she stopped dead in her tracks. The room was awash in candle and fire light. He sauntered up to Belle and bowed.
"May I have this dance, Dearie?" Belle just nodded. He couldn't take his eyes off her. Her hair practically glowed in the light and she danced as if she were made of feathers, she gently glided across the floor. At some point they went from the traditional stance to one where her arms were wrapped around his neck and her head was resting on his shoulder. The feeling of her head there made his heart pound wildly. They danced like that for another hour until Belle's drowsiness made her clumsy. In a single motion he took the now sleeping Belle and swept her up bridal style and walked her to her room. He would have magically done this but he didn't want to wake her up, at least that's what he told himself. He laid her in bed and as he turned to leave she grabbed his hand.
"Thank you for that. I really enjoyed it." He nodded and left the room. When he turned and looked at her on the way out the door he saw a small smile on her face.