Walking into the study, Belle saw Rumpelstiltskin grunt in frustration yet again. "No luck?"

"No."

They had been trying for months to find a way to Neverland to get to Baelfire, but as of yet no solution had been found. They could do it if they had a child, but procuring a child wasn't that simple; nobody was going to hand their child over to be bait for an evil shadow, not to someone as widely distrusted as Rumpelstiltskin. On the note of children, Snow White had become pregnant; Rumpelstiltskin said he had known this was going to happen. After discovering that he no longer needed the curse cast, he had stolen it from Regina; she was now no threat to Snow or her husband, or really to anyone else, though he was keeping an eye on her.

"I'm sure you'll find a way."

"I hope so." He had never looked so defeated, so hopeless. She could see that he was afraid, too. Afraid of going to Neverland. She had asked him about it countless times, and he had brushed her off. They had grown close, but not that close. It was strange, but really, she was his closest... friend. The word friend was strange to use. Was that what they were? They were teacher and student, although she had mostly moved on to helping him as an equal and was only learning things as they came up. She could have left, but she hadn't. She was in love with him. She knew it was crazy, knew there was no way a dark sorcerer could love her back, but she couldn't help it. And so when Killian Jones had contacted her, to remind her of their deal, she had written back to kindly inform him that she had never actually agreed to kill Rumpelstiltskin and that she had no intention of doing so. He had told her it was unwise to mess with a pirate, and she had told him it was unwise to mess with Rumpelstiltskin. She had not received any reply to that.

"Why is it so hard to get there?"

"Because it is a land meant for children. Pan designed it that way." Peter Pan, she knew, was the leader of Neverland, a boy who had refused to grow up.

"You said you needed a child to speak to summon the shadow, yes?"

"That's right."

"So a child who cannot speak, that would not be of any use to you?"

He frowned. "Well, there might be something I could do to fool the shadow. But it doesn't matter. Where would I find a child?"

Belle pulled a letter out of her pocket. "This arrived today, postmarked about a month ago. From my friend Elana."

"How does she know the address?"

"I sent it to her a little while back. Anyway, the letter informed me that she has recently given birth to a baby boy."

He looked her in the eye for a second, not daring to have any hope. "A child."

"Yes. Now, I'd have to ask her, but she trusts me, so she might be willing to trust you too."

Now he did smile.

A month later, Elana arrived at the manor, her squirming son in her arms. "You promise he'll be safe?" she asked, almost as soon as she had taken off her coat.

"I do," said Belle, smiling a little at her friend.

"It's good to see you, Belle."

"And you."

"Belle, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

Frowning, she went into a separate room with him.

"Look, there's something I should tell you."

"Hmm?"

"This will get me to Neverland, but I have no means of returning."

His words sank in. "You're-you're not coming back."

"Well, I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything. Pan is ruthless." The fear returned to his eyes.

"Why. Why are you so afraid of Peter Pan? Clearly you know him."

He gave a deep sigh. "Peter Pan is my father."

"What?"

"He gave me up so he could be young forever."

"That's terrible."

"Yes, well. I promised myself that Bae would never be abandoned by his father the way I was, and then I broke that promise. But now I can be with him."

"In Neverland. Forever."

"We may eventually find a way out, Belle, but I don't know when. In this world, a century could have passed."

"So I'll never see you again."

"I don't know. I hope we'll meet again. I'm only saying you shouldn't... shouldn't wait for me."

"Oh."

"I have already sealed everything in the castle, and made it impenetrable to anyone who does not have explicit permission from one of us to enter. I leave it to you, to do what you wish with it; if you want to leave, that's fine, and if you want to stay, that's fine too. Live your life, live it well, and thank you for everything, for helping me find my son."

"Rumpelstiltskin, if you're going to leave for what may be the rest of my life, there's something I want to say."

"Yes?"

"I'm in love with you."

She could see that he was caught off guard, that he had absolutely no idea how to respond to what she had said. "Belle..." He swallowed something. "I'm in love with you, too."

Now it was her turn to be caught off guard, for she had never expected this. "Really?"

"Really."

"Well. Um, good luck finding Bae."

They walked back out, where Elana was standing with the baby. Rumpelstiltskin cast a spell on him to trick Pan's shadow, and it came in through the window; before it could even get near the baby, Rumpelstiltskin grabbed it and went off to Neverland, to face his father and to find his son. Belle felt a tear roll down her cheek, and Elana looked at her with concern. "Belle?"

"He said he might never be able to return."

Ten years went by, and life changed drastically for them all. Elana had two more children, another boy and a girl, who Belle visited frequently. Snow White had a daughter, Emma, and then a son Neal a couple of years later; Belle occasionally visited to say hello to them. She had used the gold from Rumpelstiltskin's castle to buy herself a house near where Elana lived, and she had gotten a job running the local library. She spent time writing, too; she had started spinning tales for Elana's children, and when told she had a talent for it had written a book of her own. She had made amends of sorts with her father, though they still did not speak often. All in all, her life wasn't so terrible. She did magic for the local villagers, often spent time caring for the children. It made her think about maybe someday having children of her own. But the only man she had ever loved was off in Neverland, for who knew how long.

Life changed again when Belle was twenty-nine. She heard a knocking at her door, figuring it was one of the villagers wanting a magical cure for something. But when she opened it, she saw something very different. "Rumpelstiltskin?" she said faintly, her legs suddenly unable to support her.

He caught her and set her back up with a smile. "It's me, dearie."

"You made it back."

"I did. And not alone."

A teenaged boy walked out from behind his father, sticking his hand out to greet Belle. "I'm Baelfire."

"Nice to meet you, Baelfire."

"May we come in?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"Of course." They all walked into the living room. "So, how did you find me?"

"Oh, well, you're rather well known now"

"Am I?"

"Yes. I managed to track you to this village, and the villagers all pointed me right to where you lived. You're popular."

"Well, good to know."

"So, about what we said before I left..."

She laughed. "Well, I haven't found anybody else in ten years."

"I thought you would have."

"I guess some part of me may have been waiting, because it never worked out."

They kissed then, and Bae made a face and left the room; as soon as they did, Rumpelstiltskin's skin began turning normal, and Belle frowned. "What's happening?"

"What's happening is, you're breaking my curse."

"Ah."

Another ten years went by, a very different ten years. Belle and Rumpelstiltskin got married, and had a son, Gideon, and then a daughter, Lily. Bae grew up and got married himself, to none other than Princess Emma, daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. They had a son, a boy named Henry, and it was now his first birthday.

"He's so adorable," said Snow White with a smile.

"He is," Prince Charming agreed.

"Yeah," said Neal, sticking out his finger for his nephew to play with.

"Glad you think so," Emma said with a smile.

"He really is a wonderful grandson," Rumpelstiltskin said.

"He isn't cuter than me!" Lily said with a pout.

"Yes he is," Gideon said.

Baelfire chuckled. "You're cute too, Lily."

"I just can't believe I'm a step-grandmother," said Belle, looking at Henry with a sigh.

Everyone laughed at that. "Yeah, I mean, technically I'm older than you," Bae said.

"Let's not get into that."

They chuckled again.

Belle looked around the little room and smiled. She had a husband, two children, a stepson, a step-daughter-in-law, and a step-grandson, a best friend who had three children (though at twenty, eighteen, and fifteen, they weren't exactly children anymore), and, all in all, a wonderful life.

And so they lived...

A/N: So here it is, the end of the story. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it! It definitely ended up pretty different from my original idea when writing it, but I think it turned out okay. Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/favorited/followed, I appreciate it. If you want you can check out some of my other stories. Other than that, The End!