The sun rose on an empty bed, the soft rays of the winter sun stretched over the heavy sleepers, ending the spell at last. Bae woke first. Pale eyes searched for an explanation as to why he was asleep on a kitchen chair. His head had been hanging off the back, leaving his neck aching and stiff. He saw Red on the floor, curled up in front of another chair with one arm hooked around the booted foot of Jiminy.

The ginger sleeper was leaning against the wall, the side of his head was almost as red as his hair with the constant press of the wall on his skin. Rumplestiltskin was the only one who didn't look completely overwhelmed by fatigue. He was hunched over, his elbows on his knees supporting his head upon weaved fingers. Miraculously his elbows hadn't slipped during the night, something that no doubt would have resulted in him ending up on the floor like Red.

With a large yawn, Bae looked over at his father with a million little questions.

"Papa? Papa, wake up." He mumbled drowsily, running a hand through his mussed hair. He heard nothing more than a slight grumble from the man, so he leaned over and batted his father on the shoulder. "Wake up"

The sun was rising and they were all asleep in chairs…what the hell happened? He hoped his father would have a better idea, but for that he needed to wake up, and hopefully before he ended up on the floor as well.

"Why?" Rumplestiltskin finally responded, sounding even groggier than his son.

"Do you know what we are doing sleeping in chairs instead of our beds? And where is Mama?" He only realised a minute ago that there was somebody missing from this group.

"Have you checked her room? Maybe she made it to bed when we didn't"

The conversing voices started to stir Jiminy from his slumber, who yawned loudly and stretched his legs out, unknowingly taking Red's arm with him, dragging her head into the leg of his chair.

"Ow! What was that for?" She barked, rubbing her bruised temple and then wondering what she was doing on the floor, and then why her arm was around Jiminy's ankle. "What is going on?"

"I don't know," Jiminy yawned, "What are we doing here?"

Rumple ignored their questions, stretching his aching back with a groan. "Belle? Love? You here?" He asked slowly, weak with sleep.

When no answer came, he forced his eyes open and got to his feet. "Belle, where are you?" He could barely see through his bleary eyes. Still nothing. "Belle? Answer me pet!"

His head began to clear, and then his blood ran cold. "Why is the back door open?"

"What?"

"The door that leads out to the forest, it's wide open"

"No wonder it's so cold in here." Red grumbled.

As she got up to close it, the memories of yesterday struck Rumple like a slap to the face and he broke into a frantic run out the door, screaming Belle's name desperately. His behaviour, at first, puzzled the others and then Red was out the door as well, leaving Baelfire and Jiminy to recall their memories on their own.

Rumple ran as fast as he could, his large eyes searching frantically for any sign of Belle. Why had they all fallen asleep? How had the Dark One gotten Belle out of the house? Where had it taken her? What had it done to her already?

Suddenly Red was at his side, meeting him leap for leap. Damn she was fast.

"Anything?"

"No, what are we going to do? How will we find her?"

"You're already on the right track"

"How do you know that?"

"Look," she stopped him suddenly, kneeling down to dig something out of the snow. She stood back up with a scrap of cobalt cloth in her hand.

"That's from Belle's dress!"

"What is it doing here?"

"How did you know it was there?"

Red looked stunned for a moment, as though it were obvious how she knew. "It smells like her, I could smell it"

He stared critically at her. If she was making this up to toy with him, he would rip her head right off. "You can smell her?"

"Can't you? She smells like roses and freshness, like after a rain storm, I thought you were following her that way"

Did it really matter? Red could pick up Belle's scent, she could track her like a hunting dog. "It seems that ability is yours alone, now use it to find her as fast as you can"

She didn't grumble about being told what to do for once and instead just got on with the job, leading him along a path thankfully marked with scraps of cloth buried beneath the morning snow. Red picked up each scrap along the way, telling him the scent was getting stronger.

He took each vibrant cloth, scrap of lace and shiny cream silk she was set to discard once she had one with a stronger scent, collecting them together in the pockets of his cloak as though they were all they would find of her.

They were deep in the forest, Rumple felt almost lost, when Red brought them to another sudden stop. The look on her face sent a chill through him, she looked horrified.

"What? What is it?"

"Blood…I smell blood, a lot of it"

She didn't waste another moment, pushing her panic aside to end this search as quickly as possible.

Rumple couldn't breathe. Why was there blood? Then he saw a trail of ruby drops leading them through the white abyss. It was then he realised where they were, it was the same clearing he and Belle had been before, the one where the Dark One had made his last attack on her, when he had tried to violate her.

What the hell were they doing here?!

Once past the trees there was no way to miss the pool of vicious red that had soaked into the ice. The trail seemed to come to a stop, but he couldn't see why.

Then he saw a hand poking out from beneath the morning snow, so pale with cold that it blended with the landscape, making it difficult to see at first. Rumple leapt forward, working with Red to dig away the sleet and unbury the unconscious form of Belle lying face first in the snow.

"Belle? Belle?!"

Now mostly uncovered, they could see where the source of the blood was located and it made them both gasp loudly, rattling them to the core.

"What does that mean? Rumplestiltskin, what the fuck does that mean?!"

Her improper language caught Rumple by surprise just a little, but he decided it was totally appropriate in this situation. He could barely speak, too busy fighting down the nausea and the suffocating pain in his heart and head. While pulling Belle into his lap and searching desperately for a pulse, he tried to put together a coherent sentence to give to Red.

"She told me…yesterday she…Belle said she was pregnant…the blood…we've lost…the baby is gone." His lips trembled with poorly contained anguish; his voice shaking, broken by sobs.

Red was speechless. Already on her knees beside Belle, she clapped her hand over her mouth in shock, breathing deeply while trying to fight back the cascade of tears that ran down her face.

Rumple finally found a pulse, it was faint but it was there. He wrapped his arms around her limp form and kissed her face repeatedly. "Don't leave me love, please come back…I love you Belle, I need you, please don't go"

Around eyes that would not stop dispelling tears, Red placed a hand on Belle's arm, making Rumple pause in his sudden rocking back and forth he had started up, clutching Belle to his body and crying as though she were already dead. "We need to get her home, if she stays out here much longer we might not be able to save her…it might be too late already"

"No! She'll be fine! We'll take her home, warm her up and then she'll be just fine." He insisted, holding Belle even tighter than before, cradling her head against his cheek.

"…and what about the baby?" She didn't want to ask, but she needed to know. Who would tell Belle? How would they tell her? How would they tell the others?

"We'll worry about that when she wakes up, but she has to wake up first"

Red nodded, watching as Rumple created a thick blanket out of thin air and welcomed Red's help in using it to cover every inch of Belle's exposed skin with the warm fur.

"Wait, the blood…you can't let the others see her like this." Red said, pointing out the streaks of red on the inside of Belle's exposed thighs.

Clearing the busyness of his mind enough to think straight, Rumple waved his hand, clearing all signs of blood and trauma, cleaning Belle's body of the snow and dirt, and dressing her in a warm winter nightgown of summer gold and turning the blanket into a fur-lined cloak that sat loosely, for comfort, over her body that would most likely be tender and sore from the freezer burns that left patches of her skin red and raw.

With Belle properly dressed for the freezing temperatures and her skin beginning to glow with a pinkish hue, Red took hold of Belle's hand and watched as Rumplestiltskin worked his magic to take all three of them into the main room of the cottage. The back door had been closed and a lively fire was crackling loudly, spreading heat throughout the room. Jiminy and Baelfire had prepped the room with blankets and pillows, healing supplies, gathering anything they thought might be needed on the kitchen table.

"Mama!" Baelfire rushed to their side when the smoke vanished, taking hold of the hand not already in Red's possession. "Mama! What happened to her?!"

Rumple couldn't find the strength to tell his son what they had found. There was no time for it anyway, Belle was cold as ice and he needed to start warming her up. "Red, can you explain"

Red released Belle's hand and took both of Bae's, leading him away from the scene rather against his will. "Baelfire, listen to me, I will tell you what is going on but first we need to let your father take care of Belle"

The dark-haired wolf girl was a mess of tears and frustrated breaths, but she did her best to pull herself together long enough to give Baelfire and Jiminy a proper explanation.

Laying Belle down on his bed, Rumplestiltskin started work on removing the ice from her throat and lungs. Moving his hands back and forth over her frame, he gently added layer upon layer of warmth to her skin. The colour was beginning to return to her cheeks when there was a knock on the door.

"It must be Moraine." Bae said, heading to open the door and let her in.

"Stop! She shouldn't have to see Belle like this"

Rumple picked Belle up once more and was heading towards her room when he stopped in front of the ladder. He couldn't get up there without magic so long as he had Belle in his arms. The ladder was an inconvenience that was about to become a serious problem. Belle would be trapped up there until she regained her strength.

Deciding there was no good reason for the ladder to still be in place anyway, he carefully maneuvered one hand free. The creaky wood of the ladder fell apart, gathering in a pile of dust on the floor that a mysterious wind quickly whipped under the front door outside. The trap door disappeared and was replaced with a staircase up against the wall beside Bae's bed. The top of the stairs led to a small enclosed space with a proper door, leading into the room.

He hurried up the new stairs and into Belle's room before Baelfire opened the front door to welcome in his fiancé. Inside Belle's room, Rumplestiltskin made a few more changes, replacing the bed she had before with a great king size four-poster that reached from one wall to the other with just enough space between to walk around. Rich cobalt silks and soft dark furs made the bed a dream. Pillows were packed up against the mahogany headboard and there were silk curtains hanging around the sides for privacy.

As he was tucking Belle into her new bed, he decided the room should be grown, it was too small especially with the huge bed. He couldn't think about what had just happened, what he had found, he needed to think about anything and everything else until he had better control over his emotions. Giving Belle things she might need for comfort helped his brain to work, so he focused on providing everything he could think of to keep himself from breaking down.

He made sure Belle was comfortable and continued his work on warming her up with the help of the pre-warmed bed clothes. But even after she was back to a healthy temperature, she still didn't wake. The Dark One was keeping her unconscious.

Rage rushed through him at an alarming rate. He wanted to grab the Dark One by the throat, rip it out of Belle and beat it to death with his bare hands, then revive it and do it over and over again. He had to get rid of the damn thing before it did any more damage. It had already taken their unborn child from them, he would be damned if it would take Belle too.

There was one way he could think of to remove the Dark One, but there was a chance it wouldn't work. This was a whole other level of complexity that he had never dealt with before. But if there was a chance it could work, he needed to try. Locking the door with a quite touch, he wanted to make sure they were not disturbed. He had no idea what to expect and this was certainly not something he wanted the others to see.

With Belle tucked up in the middle of the bed, he stood over her, summoning the sacred dagger of the Dark One from its hiding place. Holding the dagger above her, he planned his words carefully to make sure no loop hole could be left. He took a deep breath and focused his mind leaving no room for weakness. This could be easy or this could be extremely difficult and he needed to be prepared for anything.

"Dark One, I command you to leave the body, mind and soul of this woman. Do not leave any trace of yourself behind and return to me completely"

Without warning Belle's figure lurched, her upper body wavering in mid-air as a horrific crackling sound came from her throat. Her eyes were black as night and she was shaking wildly. The sight was unbearable, it was like the night before, as though the Dark One were choking her to death, only it was even more painful than simple suffocation. But he had to keep going.

"Leave her NOW!"

Belle flipped over onto her side, crawling weakly to the edge of the bed while she sucked in desperate breaths around a dense squelchy substance living in her gullet. Her hands clawed at the bed sheets, dragging her body along so she could hang her head off the end of the bed. Her face was contorted in pain and at first he didn't know what he was looking at as she opened her mouth and coughed loudly. A thick black ooze began to drip from her mouth onto the floor, the sickening sound of something travelling up her throat to accompany it. Then the head of a snake, black as death, slithered from her mouth. The act of dispelling the vile creature was causing Belle so much pain, she was holding the bed sheets in her fists, trying to scream around the solid form she was heaving onto the floor.

He wanted to stop this, he wanted to just let the Dark One have its way so long as it stopped putting her through this agony. Heavy tears tumbled in torrents down her cheeks, it was clear she couldn't breathe. The damn thing was obeying the command while trying to kill her at the same time.

Rumplestiltskin looked at the body of the snake already free, beginning to coil up on the floor and he stabbed the dagger into its head. It hissed wickedly, trembling in pain, and then it fell limp, the remainder of it leaving Belle in one fell swoop. Her eyes turned blue, her throat was cleared and she collapsed in a pained gasp. Hoarse breaths entered and left her empty lungs. A powerful headache was making the room spin, making her feel horrifically sick, but as she breathed from one minute to the next, the pain subsided. The nausea stopped, the room slowed down and her breathing got easier.

Rumplestiltskin bent down, taking the paralysed snake in his hands, he focused on drawing every ounce of magic from the creature, leaving only the conscious, pure and whole, in the body of the slimy monster. He encased the snake inside a steel cage, an orb that sucked the beast inside the cramped space, suffocating the tiny devil and allowing no chance of escape. Until he could figure out how to destroy the consciousness of the dark power, this would keep it in check. Wielding the dagger in one hand and holding the trapped beast in the other, he snarled his final words at the vicious thing.

"You will never leave this form or try to break open your cage. Remain still for all eternity, and when your end should come you will die silently"

Covering all his bases, he coated the ball in layer upon layer of thick magic that almost dripped from his hands. The strongest magicks he had ever performed, he put everything he could into this task, preventing anything, inside or outside, from ever allowing the orb to be broken. He wanted to take no chances with this. He wanted it so not even he could unlock the curse being placed upon this prison. So long as he held it in his hand he could hear its screams. It was fighting against every command, every spell, but there was nothing it could do.

Once the spell was cast and his work was done, he cast the orb down to sit on one of the shelves downstairs. Yes, it was in the open, but if anything about it began to change, they would be able to see it and know something had to be done.

The evil now dealt with, he looked up at Belle. She was so still, barely breathing and almost catatonic in how lost she appeared. One arm hanging over the edge of the bed and her head flat against the mattress. Her eyes were blue, but they looked so empty of passion and life that it sent a shiver down Rumplestiltskin's spine.

"Belle? Are you alright?"

It took her forever to respond, her lips moving slowly to pronounce a single word. "No…" Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she let loose a bubbly sob. "…no I'm not…our baby is dead…"

The tears came silently at first, washing her face in the transparent sorrow. Rumplestiltskin slowly climbed up onto the bed, helping Belle back into the middle where she laid on her front, and settling to her side with his legs beneath him. He gently rubbed his warm hands over her back and her shoulders, trying to soothe her muscles and help her relax. His attempts to comfort her did nothing to lessen the pain and the tears, but she never gave any indication that she wanted him to stop.

Time was an enigma as he moved back and forth, continuing his massage until he was certain Belle had fallen asleep. She had soaked the bed sheets with her tears, the never ending storm that continued even in her slumber. He had begun to notice the tremor that ran through her body, the slight shiver and the sweat that began to bead on her forehead. The cold had made her sick, as if she wasn't suffering enough already. His touches slowed and became gentler over time, easing into a silent stillness that encased them both.

He didn't even try to hold back his own tears, this was as good a time as any for him to let go, to mourn the child they had almost had together. He had only found out about the child last night, at the same time he had discovered what the Dark One was up to. How had he been so blind? If he had done something earlier he could have saved their baby, their little one would not be safe and sound inside their mother's womb. But no, instead of frantically working to get it out of her he had declared everyone sit around the bed and watch her! What a lot of good that had done.

There was a soft knock on the door and Rumple waved his hand flippantly, turning the lock and allowing entry into the room. The dagger was properly hidden and Belle was sleeping, there was no reason to keep the door locked, he had nothing left to hide.

"Papa?" Baelfire called shyly, peaking around the edge of the door as he slowly pushed it open, taking in the new bed and large room.

"Come in son"

The boy was coaxed around to the other side of the bed where he looked over Belle in a dreamless sleep. "Is she okay?"

"She's merely sleeping now, the Dark One is gone"

Baelfire wasn't really sure what to do with himself. Slowly he reached out to softly touch Belle's cheek in the faintest hint of a caress. He wanted to smother her with hugs and thank her for not dying, but she needed to sleep and the energy that filled the room called for silence and slow movements. Everything was so still it felt like to go against that would make the room explode.

"She's really warm Papa, are these blankets a little bit much?" He asked with concern.

Rumplestiltskin shook his head. "She's sick, what you feel is the fever. Her body will heal, just give her time"

"What about her heart?"

Rumple drew in a breath to answer but found no words to say. He didn't know what it would take for her heart to heal from the loss, the chance she may never heal at all scared him quite a bit, but she was strong and she was brave. If anyone could get through this, it was his Belle.

Said woman chose that moment to stir, slowly opening her eyes to stare up at the face of her adoptive son. "Bae…" A trace of a smile touched her face and brought a little light to the boy's eyes.

"I came to see how you were, Mama"

Belle began to move, trying to push herself up but failing quite miserably. Rumplestiltskin assisted her into rolling over onto her back, where she made herself comfortable before holding out her arm to her son. Baelfire climbed onto the bed and snuggled up against her side, laying his head on her shoulder and sighing lightly at the touch of her fingers carding through his hair. He felt the heaviness of the room in that moment, so close he could see the red rings of sorrow around her eyes, the cherry pink blush on her nose and the intensity of emotion reflected in the grey-blue colour of her eyes. Her face was flush with heat from the fever, but all the little signs were still easy to make out.

Rumplestiltskin wondered if he should leave, thinking maybe Belle wanted some time alone with the only child she had. He started to shuffle about, moving himself closer to the edge of the bed when some hidden strength in Belle forced her arm out to grab his hand. She tugged on the connection, drawing him down to lay on her other side. Her eyes were closed as she moved her head, seeking out his warmth with a furrowed brow and the taste of yearning in her features.

Settling down atop the covers, securing Belle beneath them with weights on both sides, Rumple placed a longing kiss to her fevered temple and wrapped his arm around both Belle and Baelfire, holding the boy by his shoulder. They held Belle with all the love they felt in their hearts, staying close to keep her warm and safe.

It didn't take too long for Belle fall back to sleep, holding Baelfire to her side while she had her head tucked up against Rumplestiltskin's. Their noses touched when she moved in her sleep, her hot breath hit his face in gentle puffs that put a little bit of the throbbing pain in his heart to rest. She would get better, she would be alright, they would all be alright; everything would be alright.

He couldn't keep himself from nuzzling her softly while these thoughts ran in a mantra through his mind. He had to keep telling himself things were going to work out because right now it didn't feel like that at all. Belle was disturbed from her much needed rest once more when a call for dinner echoed up from the first floor of the house. She rolled her head around to press a kiss to Baelfire's forehead.

"Go eat something." She whispered, giving him permission to leave. He didn't want to leave, but he needed to give Belle some space.

After giving her a careful hug, Baelfire rose from the bed and disappeared out the door; his light footsteps plodding down the stairs.

"So there are stairs now?" She asked groggily.

"The ladder was more trouble than it was worth. Your room and bed are bigger too"

"I saw that." It felt like there was a touch of cheer to her voice but Rumplestiltskin couldn't manage to convince himself that it was there.

"Do you want me to bring you some food?"

"No, I'm not hungry right now, I think I just need to sleep"

"At least have some water." He summoned a glass of cool water into his hand, sitting up prepared to help her drink it.

"Just a little"

It took a lot of strength she didn't really have to sit up, but once she was up and he brought the cold glass to her lips it felt so worth it. Clearing any remnants of the Dark One's journey through her throat, the water was nothing short of refreshing and absolutely wonderful. But once she had sipped a healthy dose, she was too weak to continue further. Rumplestiltskin created a small bedside table on each side of the bed and placed the drink down on the one closest to Belle.

"Would you like me to stay?"

"No…go have some dinner, I'll be fine"

With that, she turned over onto her side to let herself become immersed in sleep once more. Rumple gave her a final kiss to her brow and climbed off the bed. He stopped at the door to look back.

"Belle?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you." He waited with bated breath.

"I love you too"

Hearing those words again after such a horrible experience was reassuring to say the least. He closed the door on his way out and made his way down the stairs. It was only as he set foot on the last step that he realised Belle hadn't looked at him once the entire day.