Author's Notes: I do not own Once Upon A Time, which is a show on ABC where they bring back your memory for twelve episodes, then take it away again. Thanks for all the reads and reviews! Sorry I haven't gotten back to everyone who reviewed, I've had migraine issues. Please let me know what you think and happy reading!
By the time Belle caught up with Beatrice, she had arrived at the bottom of the path and was pulling on the rear door handle of the car.
"I've got the keys," said Belle, fishing through her pockets.
Beatrice grunted and pulled the handle one last time, popping it open.
"How did you-" Belle began.
"Oh, yeah, I do magic now. See how I told you now instead of in a few months?" She sat in the backseat and slammed the door.
Belle stood dumbfounded as a rain cloud suddenly appeared. She got in the driver's seat and turned around to face her daughter.
"Beatrice, hear him out-"
"What's your excuse?," asked Beatrice.
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I-I was trying to help him with you."
"Oh, yeah, a lot of help."
Suddenly, the door opened and Regina was helping herself in the backseat.
"Seriously?," asked Beatrice.
"Regina, now is not a good time-" said Belle.
"Excuse me, I just helped you get your little family reunion. I think I'm at least entitled to not having my hundred-dollar blowout ruined by the rain storm that came out of nowhere."
"Don't you have your own car?," asked Beatrice.
"I rode here with Neal. Believe me, this day has not turned out the way I envisioned, either."
"Oh, join the club," muttered Beatrice.
The doors opened. Beatrice turned her expression to a frozen glare out the window as Merlin helped Gold in, then joined them in the backseat.
Belle sighed and drove.
Reinette thought she would be ill as she looked upon the spectacle in Sir Maurice's Great Hall.
She was uncertain if that was the morning sickness or the way her husband paraded around with his hunting comrades, quite pleased with the manner in which he had managed to impregnate her. She thought it rather curious the manner in which men bragged about such matters, as if they were doing any of the work. Her father would have never dared to say such a thing. He was far too much of a gentleman and besides that, her mother would have beat him senseless.
Or rather her husband thought he had managed to impregnate her.
"Reinette?"
She had been daydreaming again. She turned to the lady to her left at the banquet, Queen Eva.
"I'm so sorry, Your Majesty."
"Not at all," said Eva. She leaned in. "Are you feeling quite alright?"
Reinette smiled. "I am quite fine."
Eva nodded sympathetically. "These men they can grow quite tiresome."
Reinette looked over to the corner where King Leopold was engaged in quiet conversation with some of the other nobles in stark contrast to Maurice's boisterousness. "I don't think you know that as well as you claim."
"Well, let us not speak of them," said Eva. "Tell me of Avonlea. What sort of land is it? I have not seen much of it."
Reinette shrugged. "The people are good. There is not much in the way of society here. Maurice's brother knights..."
"What?"
"There is something strange about them and the clerics in this land have such a hold. Magic is so mistrusted here. I dare not speak of my mother's background..."
"Or your father's," added Eva.
"Or my father's," Reinette confirmed. She shook her head. "Enough of my tale. Tell me of your travels."
"Well, you know we went to King Xavier's funeral."
"Such a strange death. And did you meet your old friend?"
Eva nodded. "Princess Cora. I've tried with her, I truly have and she says she accepts my friendship, but..."
"You don't believe her."
"No. I want to-"
Reinette shook her head. "I wouldn't. It's best to trust your instincts on such occasions."
Eva nodded. "Do you suppose you'll be well enough to come to the Summer Palace?"
Reinette stared off again. "I don't know where I shall be this summer."
Beatrice was in the house quickly when they arrived home. Gold limped out of the car, his need for the cane returning. He retrieved the one from the stand by the door and followed Belle into the kitchen. He was puzzled by the sight of an empty wine bottle and more puzzled that Belle was pulling out another one.
"Do you want to tell me what's been going on?," asked Gold as Belle rummaged for the corkscrew.
"Well, Baelfire is Henry's father, that about covers it," said Belle, successfully pulling the cork out.
"And how did you find him?"
"What does it matter? Go talk to your daughter. Neal or Bae will be along as soon as he gets through his argument with Emma," she said as she poured herself a glass.
"You talk to her," said Gold, sitting on the stool at the counter.
"No."
"No?"
Belle shook her head and took her first sip of wine. "No, see, I'm going to go up there and apologize for my part in this which was not making you tell the truth to her right away-"
"I asked you not to."
Belle continued unabated. "But you, it's your story, Rumple. You have to tell it. I never lied to her until this."
"You never lied to her?," he asked derisively.
Belle's eyes shot up at him. Gold had been aware that a different Belle had emerged from the Curse even without the dubious benefit of Regina supplanted memories. There was an independent woman with a career. He had also caught flashes of something aimed at Moe and Mother Superior: the mother bear.
He really wished it wasn't aimed at him in this instance.
"No. I didn't and now she is broken-hearted."
"And why should she be?"
Then he really wished it wasn't aimed at him.
"For months, you have been asking her to trust you and you haven't told her this, this...!" Belle was so exasperated she couldn't finish. "If you want her to trust you, don't be too cowardly to trust her."
Belle put the glass down on the counter and hurried upstairs.
Beatrice wordlessly went upstairs and into her room.
She couldn't express how happy she was to be back in her own room.
Of course, she wasn't capable of expressing much at the moment. She walked over to her desk and sat. Her messenger bag was slung over the back, her mom must have gotten it from the school.
Oh, school. Now that she was home, she would be back at school. This was getting better and better.
Ignoring that, Beatrice turned on her TV, opened her Macbook and grabbed her iPhone from her pocket to put it on the charger. She reached in the bottom desk drawer where she kept her candy stash and found the espresso truffles she had left there. She had three and decided she needed a shower to wash the odor of Enchanted Forest off her.
She came out of the shower and went to brush her teeth when she caught her reflection in the mirror.
It was weird without her glasses. She had never seen herself without her glasses. They might as well have been attached to her face. She could better see that she looked more like Belle than she thought.
"Beatrice?," Belle called.
Beatrice rolled her eyes. Ah, yes, no doubt Princess Belle would be up here to try to make things right.
"I'm getting dressed!"
"I'll wait."
Beatrice groaned and put on her robe. She went into her room.
"Yes?"
"I was just coming up to apologize, Beatrice. I never should have let this carry on this long, I'm sorry."
Beatrice shrugged. "Fine."
"Not fine," said Belle with a frown of disapproval at her daughter's tone. "Your papa loves you. You need to let him explain himself."
"Well, he hasn't wanted to tell me anything before now, why should we change that?"
"You will understand better if you let him explain it."
"Yeah, well, we'll see about that..." She grabbed her pajamas and went back in the bathroom. "I'm sleeping. Is that okay with everyone?!"
Reinette waited in her room. The candle grew shorter and shorter as the night dwindled.
"Were you waiting long?"
Reinette turned and smiled at Merlin as he sat in a chair. "You got my message."
"Indeed I did." He nodded towards her. "How are you feeling?"
"I can't possibly stay here one more day."
Merlin frowned. "Alright."
"I want to come with you."
"And where is it you think I live precisely?"
"It matters not."
"Doesn't it? Where do you suppose our child should be raised? Where she would be protected?"
"You can protect her."
"I can't protect her forever."
"Lock her in a tower then."
"I can't lock her in a tower. Listen to yourself."
Reinette threw her arms up. "Alright, perhaps that is too extreme..."
"Perhaps?"
"Yet I cannot stand Maurice."
Merlin frowned at her. "You said you understood my plan."
"I do."
"You had your choice of sham marriages and this is the one you chose."
"What are you saying?"
Merlin didn't speak.
"You intend to leave me here, don't you?"
"Do you not understand the plan?"
"Our daughter is to find her True Love."
"She must be here to do it."
"What?"
"I thought I was fairly clear on these points."
"But you know who he is," said Reinette. "Surely they can be introduced some other way."
"Yes, we'll just invite him to a ball or a house party," Merlin said dryly.
"Why not?"
"This isn't your usual fairy tale, Reinette. This is very much a man who does not go to balls or house parties and very much a girl who could never meet her True Love at one."
"Well, who is he?"
Merlin was silent. "I'm not telling you."
"You don't trust me?"
"Not when you act like this. You said you understood, you said you were prepared to pay the price that this sort of magic comes with."
Reinette nodded. "And the price is my suffering?"
"You're not the only one."
"Yes, but I am the only one that seems to care."
Merlin stood and walked over. Reinette shirked away from his embrace.
"Believe me when I say this is the safest place for her," said Merlin.
She didn't answer. Merlin waved his hand and a pendant appeared.
"You can't bribe me," Reinette snapped.
"This is a gift," said Merlin. "It was your mother's. I was going to return it to her, but I've just enchanted it. When you wear it, you will remember me, remember the plan, remember the sacrifice you're making."
She turned. "And when I don't?"
"You won't remember it and you'll be able to get through your days." He paused. "That magic will go away with you for someday it must be Belle's and someday it must be her daughter's."
Reinette took the pendant. "Do not return."
"I beg your pardon?"
She looked up at him squarely. "Never return. You are not welcome here. That is the price you must pay for this magic," she said, her voice dripping with anger.
She turned away.
Merlin nodded. "As you wish, milady."
Reinette turned back around, suddenly concerned she was about to regret what she had just asked.
He was gone.
Angry sleep was something Beatrice could manage, especially after she had spent the better part of the day wandering the woods, fighting zombies and dealing with Regina's crazy mother.
Was she angry or was she sad? And why was it so hard to tell? Normal people didn't have trouble telling. Why couldn't she just be like a normal person?
Oh, right. She was living in a fairy tale freak show. Still, so was Emma and she didn't seem to confuse angry and sad.
Beatrice fell unconscious for a while. She awoke to the sound of the cane tapping.
She looked up. Gold was standing by her bed.
"Are you alright?"
"I just want to sleep."
He sat on the side of her bed. Clearly, he was not going to let her sleep. Beatrice grudgingly sat up.
"I crippled myself," said Gold. "I met a soothsayer and she told me I had a son and that my actions on the battlefield would leave him fatherless so I bashed my own leg in so I would be sent home."
"Okay..." said Beatrice, thinking that sounded kind of gruesome.
"With that act, I cemented my reputation as the village coward and my wife- Bae's mother- grew unhappy. She finally left me for that pirate you met. I had to raise him on my own. He was all I had."
He gave her a sideways glance, confirming he had her attention. He continued on with his tale.
"When Bae was almost fourteen, he was going to be sent to the Ogres' War. I tried to run and couldn't. The only power to save him laid with a magical dagger."
"A magical dagger?," she asked skeptically.
He looked at her. "The dagger of the Dark One."
"You have a dagger?"
"Yes. All magic comes with a price. The power started to control me and Bae could see it so we struck a deal that if he could find a way to strip me of my powers, I would do it and he found the Blue Fairy who gave him a magic bean."
"To come here?"
Gold nodded. "When the moment came to go to this new world, I was a coward. I let go of him and he was gone. The price of my power was my son."
"The Dark Curse was about finding Neal?," asked Beatrice.
"Well, it wasn't quite as simple as that," said Gold.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you deserve to know how I failed him, how I failed you and how I am still a coward because I was too afraid you would reject me if you knew."
Beatrice's lip trembled. Her eyes stung.
"Beatrice?"
Gold looked at her in alarm as she put her face in a teal ruffled pillow and started sobbing.
Sobbing girls were not his specialty. This was one of the ways he had to conclude that raising a son was simpler than raising a daughter. She had such emotions and he had no idea where they came from.
"Be-" He had gotten half of the name out when he realized that he had done this. This was his to fix.
"Beatrice," he said, prying the pillow from her face. "Beatrice, why are you crying?"
She was red and splotchy, heaving with sobs. "I don't know..." she stammered out.
He hadn't been expecting that. She could at least provide him with a reason.
"Okay..." He took her in his arms. "Shh... It's okay. I'm right here. Your papa's right here... and I'm not letting go."
Belle walked in. "Rumple- Beatrice, what's wrong?"
She shook her head. Gold looked hopelessly at Belle.
"Neal's here," Belle said. "I'll tell him you'll be a minute."
Belle left.
"You had to be without me a very long time," said Gold. "I love you. What know you don't believe it yet, but I will spend the rest of my life proving it to you."
Belle wandered the forest. She had been playing with the nurse and trying to get ahead at a game of hide and seek.
She might have hidden too well.
"Are you lost, sweetheart?"
She looked up at the man who seemed to be miles above her.
"I was playing and I ended up here."
Merlin knelt down. "Well, that's no way to behave, is it? A young lady can't wander the forest on her own. Anything could happen. You might run into a fairy."
"But the fairy could help me home," she objected.
"Belle, if you listen to me on one thing, let it be this: do not trust fairies."
"Why not?"
"Would you trust any other woman who wore a tutu and threw dust at you?"
Belle considered it. "No."
"Well, there you go." He took her hand and stood. "Come along. I'll walk you home."
They began walking.
"How do you know my name, sir?"
"Everyone knows you. You're Belle of Avonlea. A great beauty."
She sneered. "Who says I'm a great beauty?"
"Just wait for it."
"I don't know you. Are you from Avonlea?"
Merlin scoffed. "I should think not."
"Are you visiting? Have you come to see my papa?"
"Again, I should think not."
The forest thinned and they were at the back entrance of Sir Maurice's castle.
"You should go back," said Merlin. "Before they send out a search party and some knight rescues you. Then you'll have to marry him."
"Eww," said Belle.
"Exactly. Avoid the knights, Belle. Knights are boring. The monsters are far more interesting."
She looked up at him curiously.
"Run along," he said, waving his hand as he released hers.
"Belle!," Reinette called. "Belle!"
Reinette stood in the garden as Belle came running back to her. Merlin watched as Reinette scolded Belle, then hugged the girl and led her inside.
Beatrice awoke. Belle had fallen asleep next to her after explicitly promising not to sleep in her bed. She should have known that was a lie. She heard a car pulling away and suspected that Neal had just now left. Belle had decided to let the reunion happen downstairs on its own.
She went downstairs finding Gold seemingly paralyzed by the front door.
"What happened?," asked Beatrice.
Gold turned. "Hey. You should be asleep."
She shrugged. "So?"
"Bae is going to stay in Storybrooke for the time being, to get to know Henry. And you." Gold shrugged. "If he gets to know me again, that will be purely coincidental."
Beatrice snorted. "Like Mom's going to let him get away with that."
"Yes, your mother does have that effect on people," Gold said with a smile. "Do you want something to eat? A drink?"
"You know, you don't have to do that," said Beatrice.
"Do what?"
"Ask if I need things. I'm fifteen. I can make my own snacks. Not well, but the point stands."
"No, see, I really do because I'm here to take care of you and I need to know what you need, what you want."
Beatrice crossed her arms. "Pancakes."
"Pancakes?," asked Gold.
"I could go for some pancakes."
It was an odd request, but it did seem to be the first thing that she had willingly asked him for without looking as if she were being held at gunpoint.
So he was going to fulfill it.
He smiled. "Alright. Pancakes."
He started walking towards the kitchen. Beatrice followed.
"I don't know if you're a coward," said Beatrice, sitting on the stool on the counter.
Gold smiled ruefully as he gathered the pancake ingredients. "Trust me. I am."
"Well, maybe on the emotional stuff, but I don't know about the Ogres."
"I ran from the battle. I believe you'll find that's the definition of cowardice," he said starting the batter.
"Yeah, but basically we're talking about ogres, right?"
"Yes," he said, wondering what her point was.
"Well, you were in a war and then like fourteen years later the same stupid Ogre War is going on? What kind of crap is that? Not to mention that whole beauty and the beast thing gets rolling because of the Ogres and how long was that?"
"A few hundred years."
"See, a few hundred-" Beatrice paused. "Wait. How old are you?"
"Well, that's a rude question," he said putting a pan on the stove.
"Right..." Beatrice shook her head. She had thought he was older than her mom before... "Anyway, doesn't it seem stupid to go die fighting something that everybody's been fighting for a really long time and making no progress at?"
"Stupidity wasn't at the forefront of my thoughts when I ran, but I see your point," he said as he started the burner. "It was its own madness."
"You saved Neal. Bae. Whatever we're calling him."
Beatrice stared off as Gold finished with the pancakes. He placed a stack in front of her.
"I'll get the syrup," he said.
"No syrup. I hate syrup."
Gold got the butter dish out of the fridge and handed it over.
"So, what do you suppose is with the empty wine bottles?," asked Beatrice.
"Well, I'm not asking," said Gold.
"Neither am I," said Beatrice.