Why was this bothering her so much?! It never had when she cleaned in the castle! She never got bored, she never felt caged, she never felt used. But then again the work in the castle rarely ever ended. Big as it was there was always something that needed done. And, now that she thought about it, she wasn't ever alone there, not really. She might have spent large amounts of time by herself, but he'd always been around, they'd always spent time together...she'd never thought that she should be allowed to leave.

She was a servant then, whether she wanted to leave or not she knew she couldn't, but she wasn't a servant now, and though she desperately wanted to leave the house she knew that she shouldn't. They were coming up on her second weekend here and the town still wasn't put back together yet?! It was driving her mad to sit around all day and wait for him to come home, to wait for answers, to wait for...everything!

Behind her the clock struck, telling her that he would be home soon, distracting her. Automatically, without even a second thought, she pushed off the window ledge she'd been sitting on and walked into the kitchen with a sigh. They had a routine now, or at least she thought they did. Every day, at this time, she would make a cup of tea for herself and start dinner so that it was done when he came home. Over dinner they would have a small conversation, usually about the town or something she'd found in the house that day. The conversation would continue while he cleaned up afterward and then they'd get a few hours to spend in each other's company before they went upstairs for bed, woke up the next morning, and she waited again until he came home for lunch, left again, and she'd end up feeling like she was in the exact same place she was the night before. Morning, bored, lunch, bored, dinner, content, bed, peaceful. It was a routine and she imagined she should be happy about it...but she was just so...well...bored!

She filled the kettle and set it on the burner expertly turning the knob to heat the water like she'd been doing it her entire life. He hated that she did this every night; made dinner and cleaned during the day. It made him feel guilty, like he was treating her as nothing more than a glorified version of the caretaker that she had been to him before hand and he'd tried everything that he could think of to try and dissuade her from doing the house work and chores. But, as bored as she was with it, if she didn't do the housework then what else could she do?!

She'd slept off the drugs in her body and read La Belle et La Bete over and over again. She'd learned about her body and about when they could and couldn't make love. She'd finished the drawings of her father and Gaston and was still waiting eagerly for news on them. Finally, today, she had given the thing that he called a "television" a try and while it held her interest for a while, ultimately it was no use. She was bored. She'd finished the intensive cleaning only two days ago and while she'd initially felt happy and proud of that, now she only regretted it. If she didn't do the housework then there was nothing to do day by day, nothing to plan for, and nothing to look forward to. All she could think to do was sit. Sit and stare. Sit and wait. Sit and think. Sit and let her emotions run away with her.

Of course she wanted to do more than the housework! She could think of about a million other things that she wanted to do with her time! She'd rather go into town. She'd rather taste the food that was at this Grandmother's place that he called "Granny's". She would rather take a walk around the block. Explore the town. Go to the library. Read a book out on a lawn without supervision. Wander around his shop and every other shop she could find. Make a friend. Shop for the food herself. Learn to drive the car. Look for her father. Go swimming. Anything but spend another day in this house by herself!

Part of her felt terrible for it, for feeling so caged. Wasn't this what she had wanted? To be with him? She should just be content with that, not irritated and spending her days looking out the window at what seemed like a very calm world. She shouldn't care what lay in town, only here! And yet with every passing day she grew more and more curious, more and more anxious...more and more bored.

The kettle began to whistle and she poured it into a cup and set the tea bag inside to soak. Then walked over to the refrigerator, pulled out the pork roll she'd set there to defrost for the dinner tonight, and began to pull out the pans and vegetables that she would need. She'd mastered this kitchen. She'd only meant for it to be a place to start, until she could leave the house and then explore the world outside without being completely ignorant, but she had achieved this goal only days after moving in. In fact, he had commented nearly everyday on how fast she had learned. So why would he doubt she would learn the tricks of a town, safe or unsafe?

Yes, part of her felt terribly guilty for feeling caged, but another part, a growing feeling in the pit of her stomach only made her feel angry.

She just didn't understand! What was so bad about going into town?! If she was with him then nothing would be able to harm her so she wouldn't be in any danger! All she wanted was to do something different, just once! But she knew what he would say, what he would want her to do. "The town is unsafe, stay inside please," he would say. "It's not an order just a request." She shook her head at the words in her head. He'd repeated them so many times since she'd been here that not only had she memorized them, she could also pinpoint the exact day that he'd started using the word "request" instead of "advisement" as he had on her first day here.

She shoved the pan into the hot oven and closed it before washing her hands at the sink, maybe a little too forcefully as she felt her temper rising with her thoughts. She was trying so hard not to be angry or let herself feel frustrated, but she couldn't seem to help it anymore. As she shut the water off and dried her hands, she turned around absent-mindedly and leaned against the counter, looking out the window at the back door. Her mind wandered back to all those things that she'd rather be doing, losing her conscious thought to the brighter memories and activities.

It wasn't that she didn't want to stay safe and it wasn't that she thought that it wasn't a dangerous world! She just thought that he was taking her safety and the state of the town to an unhealthy extreme. The way he made it sound, anyone who stepped off his front porch was picked up by a dragon and carried away to their death. Surely it couldn't be that bad! She was much more capable of taking care of herself than he seemed to think. And it wasn't like she was asking to go outside by herself anyway! She wanted him to show her! To take her outside, to introduce her slowly to this world as he'd introduced her to this kitchen and the rest of his home! She wasn't asking for the world...just a small part of his.

A loud ding suddenly made her jump and she realized that she'd been staring out the window for almost an hour daydreaming. Enough time for the pork to cook. Enough time that he would be home any moment. She pulled the hot pads out of the drawer and set the pan on the counter to cool. Her tea had gone cold while she had been immersed in her thoughts and she dumped it down the sink before filling the kettle again to make a new pot. She ran around the kitchen as she waited for the water to boil, making herself busy again as she grabbed dishes and set the table for two, as always. But as she reached across the counter for another tea cup, she misjudged the distance and her forearm touched the side of the hot pan and-

"Ouch!" she shouted, pulling her arm back and dropping the cup to the floor where it shattered into a million small fragments. She fought back painful tears as she examined it. It wouldn't be the first time she'd burned herself, and it wasn't as bad as some of the others she'd had, but it still hurt! She tiptoed quickly around the remains of the cup she'd dropped, turned the cool water on at the sink, and felt relief as she let it flow over the angry red skin.

She heard the front door open and close and his voice call out her name, her heart dropped in frustration and disappointment. "In here!" she called back, shaking her head at herself. What a time for him to walk into the house! She wanted him to see her as competent not hurt with bits of tea cup laying everywhere! She prayed he wouldn't notice. But sure enough when he hobbled into the kitchen he took one look around and asked "What happened here?!"

She shook her head. "Burned myself," she mumbled trying to act like it was no big deal, like this happened all the time.

"Let me see," he said right away shutting off the water and holding out his hand for her arm.

"It's fine," she insisted, thinking that it wasn't now that the cool comforting water was gone. Fortunately at that moment the tea kettle chose to start whistling and he raised his head at the noise. He made his way over to the kettle, shut off the stove, and removed it from the heat.

"What broke?" he asked sternly, stepping over the pieces on the floor.

"A tea cup," she answered angrily. His voice irritated her. But it was the situation that truly irritated her; the house that had suddenly turned against her! She wanted him to know that this wasn't what it was like when he was gone. She hadn't burned herself since her first days at the castle and she hadn't broken a dish since she'd chipped her own tea cup. This wasn't what it was like all the time, he had to know that!

"Let me see," he repeated stepping up to her side. Before she could stop him and reach for some ice he held his hand over the burn. Before her eyes his hand glowed purple and the sensitive skin twitched and pain flared for a moment but then a feeling of cool spread outward from it and when he pulled his hand away she found that the red mark had disappeared. He'd healed her, just as he had healed her after she'd been kidnapped, but something about that made the smouldering cinders in the chest ignite. She didn't understand why, she just knew that she didn't like it. Magic...using it for anything was just too much of a temptation. First he did it for this the next minute he was doing bigger things like...

Like fixing the shattered tea cup in a puff of purple haze so that it reappeared completely on the counter as if nothing had ever happened. No, they hadn't agreed that he'd stop doing magic, but her opinion of it with him was very clear. He didn't need that temptation in his life in any form!

Frustrated, she turned away from the sink and crossed her arms over her chest. "You didn't have to do that," her voice was cool, something he seemed to pick up on as he shifted his weight and took a step back from her. It was as if he could tell that she was upset, that something was bothering her, and he looked panicked, like he was preparing for an attack. Something about the action stirred a pang of guilt from somewhere deep down but it didn't extinguish the irritation she felt.

"It's not a problem," he smiled nervously.

"You didn't need magic for a teacup! It's too much a temptation-"

"Too much a temptation to make sure you don't injure yourself on a shard of broken glass or stay in pain from a burn?!" he questioned, like her argument was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.

"Ice, cool water, and a bandage would have worked just fine for that," she pointed out, desperately trying to get herself to relax. What was wrong with her?

"You would prefer to remain injured?" he asked with a sparkle in his eye. He was resorting to humor and by the look in his eyes she could see that he thought he had her. Logically he did. She couldn't say "yes" because who wanted to deal with a burn? But she couldn't say "no" either because what else was there but for him to heal her? But the world wasn't as simple as he thought it was...and neither was she!

"I would prefer not to have to rely on magic for the slightest things!" she countered. "You know how I feel about magic and you know better than to use it on anything...even the smallest of things! Before you know it it'll consume you again!" He hadn't been expecting her to answer in that way but then she wasn't really sure what he expected as he looked her over cautiously.

"Is something wrong?" he finally asked quietly. She could tell that he was curious but also weary of whatever answer she might give. Maybe he suspected what she was going to say. Maybe he knew what was "wrong." Or maybe it was because he didn't know how to fix it?

"I don't suppose things are better in town?" It was both a statement and a question because she really didn't expect the answer to be any different than it had been from the last million times she felt like she had asked it and she just wasn't in the mood to hear the answer for what felt like the millionth time!

"Unstable," he breathed, like he was so used to saying it that he didn't even have to think about it. He didn't even act like he was tired of saying it, but rather like he didn't know why she needed to keep asking. Maybe that was part of the problem.

"Still?" she asked pressing the subject further. "After all this time the town hasn't put itself back together yet, hasn't calmed down in the slightest?!"

"With Mary Margaret and Emma gone?! With David in charge and Regina running free?! No, Belle, what do you expect?!"

"And you've had no word on the whereabouts of my father or Gaston?"

"I told you at lunch I took care of it, didn't I?! It's going to take some time Belle, a few hours is nothing!" She let out a disappointed sigh. She didn't want to fight or be angry with him but part of her was beginning to wonder if he was telling through truth! No. No, he had to be telling her the truth. The look on his face told her that he wasn't lying and he'd never go back on a deal. He had promised her honesty and she had no reason to think that he wasn't upholding his end. Especially since she'd upheld hers so well. Since they'd made that deal she hadn't asked a single question of him because some part of her truly believed that eventually he'd tell her everything all on his own, that he'd come to trust her! Shouldn't that consideration have gotten her one trip into town!

"Belle," he sighed after a moment, shaking his head as if he could just fling their small fight out into the cosmos and forget about it. "Why don't you just tell me what's wrong. Tell me what's bothering you so I can fix it!" he insisted through gritted teeth.

The problem was she didn't know. She never acted this way, never raised her voice like her father, never used that haughty voice that her grandmother had, not until he'd come along. But then again, she'd never felt more trapped, more antsy, more useless in her entire life then she'd felt over the last couple of days.

"I'm bored, Rumple," she admitted sadly. It was a lousy reason, something that didn't seem capable of producing the angry words they'd just exchanged, but she knew, that was really at the heart of the issue. "I want to leave this place. I want to do something besides sit here all day, besides feel like I'm still just a caretaker!"

His face suddenly contorted like he was in pain. "I've never asked-"

"I know!" she interrupted louder than she meant to, but she couldn't help it she knew this argument backwards and forwards as well. "I know, you didn't ask me to do those things, but if I don't then what else am I supposed to do all day?!" He didn't answer; couldn't answer, she suspected, because he knew that he wouldn't like the suggestions he came up with.

The silence grew between them as they stared at each other, the distance suddenly seeming greater than it was, wondering what they wanted the other one to do. But strangely enough it was the silence that sobered her...or maybe it was just the sad helpless look in his eyes that allowed her guilt to overcome the anger she felt. She hated fighting with him. Whether it was a big fight or a smaller one she didn't like doing it. The only thing she felt like she truly had that made her happy every day was him. And she wasn't willing to sacrifice that one thing tonight just because she was restless.

So, with a heavy defeated sigh she stepped forward and put her arms around his neck and laid her head against his shoulder, the closest thing to an apology for shouting that she could manage at the moment. It took him a while to respond, to put his arms around her, and another moment for them to tighten as his back finally eased and he molded against her as she knew he could. No, she couldn't waste the precious little time they had together night after night fighting...she'd rather just do this.

"Tell me what to do," he whispered in her ear, nearly begging. "Tell me what to do to make you happy."

Never use magic again! Take her to town. Take her to Granny's. Take her to the shop. Then maybe...no. She wanted to. She wanted to go back to town more than anything. But she had to believe that he was telling her the truth about the town. She couldn't ask him to put her in danger. He might actually do it and he would be on his guard, tense and unhappy, the entire time. And knowing that he was uncomfortable would not make anything better. It would only make her feel worse than she did just sitting here day by day.

"Nothing," she answered with a small disappointed smile. There was no answer, there was no way out, until the town put itself back together...there was nothing to be done.

"But Treatian, their deal is that he has to answer two of her questions every day. Why isn't she asking?" How astute of you to notice fair reader. This will come up in a later chapter but for now the honest answer is because she doesn't want to ask the questions. She's hoping to naturally develop that trust between the two of them so that they can get to the point where they don't need that deal they made anymore. He promised her honesty and answers, or so she thinks, so for now she is happy just to settle for honesty and hope that the answers come on their own later. She's hoping...

Peace and Happy Reading!