So you finally hit holidays and these are your first thoughts: "Oh my god, I have all the time in the world, I am going to get so much writing done!" Nope, all that free time gets filled up pretty quickly with housework, family events, social events, more housework (because you have time and your mum thinks that is the perfect use for it) and then you near the end and realise "I haven't written a single goddamn thing!"
And that is where I have been for the past three weeks...

My deepest apologies for keeping you all waiting so long. In the time I should have had to write I could have finished this story. After this chapter there might be one or two more and then an epilogue, but after getting through all that your muse decides its on holiday too! Well no more, here is the next chapter, I hope it makes up for the time you had to wait.

What Red was calling 'dinner' turned out to be a feast, but no one was complaining so far. "Bae, go get the lovebirds, but make sure you knock first"

"Don't worry, I won't just barge in there." After everything that had taken place that day there was no telling what kind of situation he might walk into if he barged in without knocking. He could interrupt a passionate scene or enter into a heavily awkward moment during a difficult conversation.

Making his way to the staircase he stopped at the sight of the aged wooden staff his father had once needed in order to walk. It sat near the front door, blending into the wall, right where his father had left it the last day it had been used. He remembered his father never being without it, hobbling around, trying to keep up with his young son.

He had never let on how much pain he was in, never wanting his boy to worry. Even though his bad knee had been a burden in many ways, Baelfire had only ever known his father with the limp and to see it disappear along with so much of the good in him all at once…it had been difficult to accept.

Moving on from the item that had played such a part in his youth, Baelfire climbed the stairs in silence. Stopping at the door, he was sure to knock a few times, waiting for an invite and then opening the door. When he stepped into the room he froze, staring in disbelief.

"Papa?" No scales, human eyes, rosy skin…the Dark One was gone.

"Hello Bae." The older man said with a glowing smile.

"How?"

Rumple looked towards Belle sitting beside him on the bed. "A kiss of True Love"

Bae too stared at Belle. "You did this?"

"It was both of us Bae, it was the love we have for each other"

A look of surprise came over Bae and Belle felt a tingle of worry. "What is it Bae?"

"I left home to find a cure for Papa's curse…I thought I failed"

Belle smiled. "You didn't fail, you found the cure only none of us knew it until now"

His face lit up with a sense of pride, as though this were his greatest achievement. Whether it had been fate or some kind of skill, it didn't really matter: his promise had been kept. Belle smiled proudly and opened her arms, inviting the boy into the loving hold of both parents.

Tears welled in the boy's eyes, flying from the edge of his face as he ran forward onto the bed, throwing his arms around the father he thought he had lost and the mother he had always wanted. He fisted his hands in their clothes, each hand on their shoulders holding them as close as possible.

He may be fifteen, he was supposed to be a grown up now, but there was still no greater feeling than being shown how loved he was by both his parents.

"Hey! How is that dinner call going up there?" Red yelled from the lower floor.

"Come on, let's go tell Red and Jiminy." Bae said excitedly, eager to share this wonderful event with the others.

Rumple looked to Belle. "Ready to go downstairs?"

She smiled. "I'm starving, let's go"

Rumple smiled back at her, but froze in his movement to get off the bed. His face twisted in pain, and although he tried his best to hide it a small groan escaped him.

"What's wrong?"

"Papa, are you alright?"

An air of resignation came over him as Rumplestiltskin sat back down and pointed out the door. "Bae, could you fetch my staff for me"

Bae's look of understanding did not go unnoticed by Belle as he hurried down the stairs, coming back mere seconds later with a tall wooden staff Belle could recall noticing leaning by the door once or twice. She had never asked what it was or what it was for, and she supposed now she didn't need to. Rumplestiltskin took the staff with a forced smile, trying to fool his son into thinking he was grateful when all he felt was defeat at needing the staff again.

"Why don't you go and tell the others we'll be right down, Belle and I will be right behind you"

Bae was surprised at first, having already planned to be his father's support down the stairs, but then he looked at Belle and saw the confused twist of her brows. His father wanted to talk with her privately, so he nodded his head and left with a fleeting comment.

"I'll save you both a seat"

Once his son was gone from the room, Rumplestiltskin drew in a deep breath. This leg of his had always been his greatest shame and though he knew it wouldn't be enough to drive Belle away it was still a difficult thing to talk about. The moment he made that choice, when he let that sledgehammer drop through the air and come crashing into his leg, smashing the bone and twisting the flesh into a mangled mess…it was something he would never forget or ever truly escape, at least not anymore.

Belle was looking at him expectantly, no judgement in her eyes, only patience and innocent curiosity.

"Remember when I told you how I injured myself to escape the Ogre Wars and come home to my son? That wound never healed properly"

"What do you mean?" He had never actually told her how or where he had injured himself, although it was beginning to become clear.

"I smashed in my leg with a sledgehammer," he forced himself to ignore her horrified gasp. "I am a crippled man, I cannot walk without support or my staff." The words came out slowly, he was trying to hide his shame. He had even less to offer Belle than he predicted when discussing the death of the Dark One.

Being in love with a man with the power of the Dark One was one thing, but taking away the power that gave him his confidence and strength and leaving him a defenceless cripple was adding insult to injury. He couldn't protect her, he couldn't even protect himself. He didn't think she was going to leave him over this, he had learned his lesson on that a long time ago, but it still hurt to think he would disappoint her.

"I'll admit I didn't see something like this coming when I kissed you, and while it could make things difficult at times…If you can live with it then so can I"

He locked eyes with her, meaning to give her a look scolding for saying the 'right' thing in place of her true feelings, as he couldn't really believe it would be that easy. But what he saw staring back sent the scolding right back onto him. She meant every word. This was something she would never wish for, but so long as he was happy and wasn't suffering from it too much it was just another feature of the true man she was very much in love with.

She slipped off the bed and stood flush with him, crippling him in a very different way with the warmth of her body pressing against his. "Remember that thing I said about the whole three-eyed antler thing? It still applies Rumple, that hasn't changed"

"But this isn't just appearance Belle, like this I can't run, I can't lift heavy objects or build, I can barely work, cannot stand for long periods of time. This leg prevented me from playing with my son when he was little. If he hadn't been so quiet and obedient I very well could have lost him many times because I couldn't catch up to him"

"So it affects your life but it doesn't have to affect us. You took care of me when you were the Dark One, you fed me, clothed me and provided whatever I asked for. Now it is my turn to take care of you. You remember how to live with this don't you? It was only a little over a year ago, and everything else I will be there to help you through. Although I do wish that your courage in giving up the magic hadn't punished you like this"

He lifted his staff-less hand to caress her cheek, loving the way her eyelids fluttered at the contact. "So long as you are safe it is a punishment I can live with"

Her smile was enough to chase away the pain and he could no more resist kissing those lips than he could cool the thudding warmth in his chest. Their kiss was sweet and deep, and cut short far too early by a second call from Red, leaving them both giggling like teenagers.

They hurried towards the door and took their time going down the stairs, Rumplestiltskin being completely unexperienced in tackling stairs with his bad leg and staff. Belle was set on his left side giving him support to lean back on while also giving him room for his staff. Having that thing land of her foot would send them both tumbling down the stairs.

At the sound of unfamiliar shuffling coming down from the upper level, Red looked up from her seat at the kitchen table, chewing at the bit to make a slew of inappropriate comments to get a rise out of Belle in return for having kept them waiting. All of which escaped her when she noticed the limp Rumplestiltskin was displaying.

"Wow Belle, you broke him already?" She quipped sharply, enjoying the roll of Belle's blue eyes in response. Oddly enough though Rumple found it entertaining enough to let loose a small chuckle.

"Sadly no, if that had been the cause for my bad leg I probably wouldn't feel so bad about it"

Belle looked shocked by his answer to the joke and felt the desire to dig a little further. "Why is that? Because I would be to blame for it and not you?"

"No, because it would mean we were probably having a lot of fun when it happened"

"Papa!" Baelfire whined, acting like a child as he covered his hands over his ears to make his point more potent. Rumple chuckled again.

He could have made his son blush profusely by stating that since he was months away from his wedding and doing the deed himself he should probably take notes, but he took pity on the boy and also couldn't bring himself to say such a thing in front of the entire house.

"So if you two weren't 'having fun' then what did happen to your leg? And why is your skin not all scaly and stuff anymore?" Red seemed to be full of questions tonight and no thought to figure them out on her own.

That question put some pride into Rumple. Letting go of the dark magic had to be the best thing he had done in years. "The Dark One is gone. Belle and I found the cure and she broke the curse"

"What? Oh my gods!" Red was on her feet, suddenly very excited. She gave Rumple a quick hug, being careful of his disability, before quite literally picking Belle up off the ground and spinning her around with unbelievable strength for her bony arms.

"What was that? I never knew you were so strong"

Jiminy grinned. "It seems a lot of new things are going on with Red lately. Earlier she moved very, very fast, running from one room to another in a single second"

"You must be exaggerating"

"I'm not, she moved so fast we couldn't even see her. It was definitely extraordinary, some kind of werewolf super power or something"

"Oh yeah, I saved the Dark One from hitting the floor when it bounced off the shelf again. It started rattling and then it just jumped, like it was going to pop or something"

Jiminy moved over to the cupboard under the sink and retrieved the box from where it had been moved to. Handing it over to Rumple, he watched curiously as the former Dark One opened the box to inspect what had become of the Dark One's consciousness. Looking inside, all that remained was a few scorch marks and the orb he had made looking like a deflated ball.

"It must have been destroyed when we broke the curse"

"So the threat is over, but we have a few new problems to think about now." Red stated bluntly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well how will the town react to this? To you being a normal man? Were they as friendly in the past as they are now?" She asked cynically.

Rumple's face fell. "No, they were far worse. The magic was the only thing keeping them away, now that I am powerless once more…"

They had been so close to having something to celebrate and Red had gone and ruined it. Belle was not going to stand for this so soon after such good news. "We'll be alright, we'll figure things out. Until we know what we are going to do, you should stay inside so no one sees you without your scales and such just to be safe. For tonight let's forget about the future for a while and celebrate what we have already accomplished"

Everyone agreed.

~o~o~o~

The chicken was sublime, the vegetables were cooked to perfection and to add to the flavours there was custard for dessert. Belle ate twice as much as anyone else, so focused on filling up her grumbling belly that she didn't notice the silent conversation that was going on between her lover and her best friend. She could swear that food had never tasted better as the aroma filled her nose and the spices tickled her tongue.

Eventually Baelfire put a sudden stop to the secret discussion, believing it was too risky with Belle right there, even if she couldn't possibly be paying less attention to the rest of the table.

As an extra addition to the celebration Red pulled out a bottle of wine intended more for flavouring food than for drink. Rumple was a little hesitant to drink given his wife's love for the stuff to the point of ruin, but decided to join in after a minute. Baelfire was a little excited having never tasted wine before. Jiminy and Red had no qualms about sharing a drink or two, but Belle refused entirely.

It smelled lovely and her tongue desired the taste of the fermented fruit, but something in the back of her mind was telling her it would be a bad idea right now. Perhaps because she had eaten so much. Never the less she was probably too full to take wine or any other kind of drink right now.

When she refused, Red felt the need to tease her a little. "Ate too much huh? Not surprising, you ate more tonight than I thought was possible for you." She quipped light-heartedly. "Are you feeling sick?"

Rumple was suddenly very concerned at the idea but Belle was quick to put his concerns to rest. "I feel fine, just tired. I've had a lot to eat, I'm warm and for the first time in a long time I am happy. All of that together plus the excitement of today and I am more than ready to turn in early"

Everyone was a little disappointed to hear she wanted to call it quits already, especially after having spent the last month in her room, but they had all had a big day and suddenly they were all feeling the tiring effects; even though not all of them were willing to admit just yet.

"Nonsense!" Red declared. "It's far too early for that kind of talk." She tried to say before breaking off into the biggest yawn any of them had ever heard. There wasn't a single person at the table who didn't start laughing. "Okay, maybe an early night would be good for all of us"

~o~o~o~

"Where do you even sleep now?" Belle had asked as she stood in her room alone with Rumplestiltskin. He seemed unsure if he was welcome to sleep in her bed, but she couldn't stand to be apart from him for even one night more.

His bed had been removed from existence when he rebuilt the house, he hadn't slept since then and had never thought he might need a bed once more. At the time, as far as he could see he would spend forever in his spinning room, never eating or sleeping. But now…without the Dark One in his system anymore he was pretty damn tired after today and now he didn't have the power to make himself a new bed, nor the strength to build one from scratch.

"The floor I guess." He shrugged, looking around at the wooden panels beneath their feet.

Belle smiled. "Nonsense, you gave me this huge bed big enough to squeeze in maybe five people, there is more than enough room for the both of us"

"Belle, after our time apart and…it seems too soon or not right." He didn't want to make any assumptions and while her blatant invite was exactly what he wanted, he felt like he might be intruding. He just needed to know it was truly alright and she wasn't just saying all this to be polite.

But she wasn't going to stand for it. "Either you sleep in that bed with me or I sleep on the floor with you"

Well that settled it. "There'll be none of that"

With a significant amount of effort and strength based on determination alone, he managed to lift Belle over his shoulder and carry her over to the bed, laying her down as carefully as he could manage all the while she filled the room with her blissful laughter.

She moved herself further along and held out her hand, drawing him into the middle of the bed with her. She brought him up to lay above her, his shadow eclipsing her face. The limited light went straight to her eyes, making them seem to glow in the darkness. He kissed her chastely and laid down beside her, wrapping his arms around her form to keep her close. It was a messy fight to get beneath the covers, but once they were tucked up nice and warm, they lay there together, staring into each other's eyes until sleep took them both.

~o~o~o~

Morning light invaded the room, breaking the spell of a restful night. Having lived downstairs most of his life, Rumple was unused to having the sun directly in his face first thing in the morning. He raised his hand and waved it lazily through the air, telling the drapes to close and block out the offending light. When the light still stung his eyes, he tried again to no avail.

Opening his eyes, he focused his sleep-blurred vision to try and see what the problem was, a now familiar spark of surprise rising at the sight of his scaleless hand. This was the fourth morning in a row this had happened, always so quick to call upon the magic for anything, forgetting it was gone in his sleep.

He felt embarrassed at having forgotten yet again. Dropping his sinful hand to his torso, a pleasant warmth seeped into the skin as another's hand covered it.

"It's alright to miss the magic, you don't have to feel ashamed." His Belle whispered against the side of his neck.

"I've only begun to realise how much I depended on it, made it do everything for me"

"You had power for the first time in your life, it makes sense to want to enjoy it a little"

"I'm afraid I may never let it go, that for the rest of my life I'll wonder if I should have kept it, if there was some other way…I'm worried I won't be able to live without it now that I know what it feels like to have it"

She squeezed his hand gently, drawing his forlorn eyes to her. "I think you're doubting yourself again. It's early, it hasn't even been a week since you gave up the magic, give it time, enjoy the little things that the magic kept you from, like cooking. Don't you think it is more enjoyable to do it yourself? The slow burn, the mixing, the chopping, making something with your hands and time instead of forcing the finished product into existence with a wave of your hand?"

"What time do I have for such things? Now that I can't spin gold anymore I'll have to go back to spinning wool. I don't know if I can do that again though, with so many more mouths to feed, it was hard enough when it was just myself and Bae"

"What are you talking about? You don't need to work anymore. You can't make more gold but you have more than enough to last the lot of us multiple lifetimes, I doubt we'll ever run out." He looked unsure and she leaned up to press a gentle kiss to his cheek. "You've worked hard all your life, now you can relax. You need never work again, Bae need never work if he so chose, although I find it unlikely"

"All I know how to do is work, what else would I do?"

"Live"

He was silent for a while, letting the idea really sink in. He had all the time in the world to do the things he never got to before. In hindsight he had probably wasted his time as the Dark One, there were so many things he could have done with that power but instead he chose to sit in his tiny little house and spin gold he never had any real plans for. Now he was a man again and he had more than enough money to provide for his family.

He never needed to work again…

"Not sure I know how to do that," he chuckled, looking down at her head settled on his shoulder. "Think you can teach me?"

A silly smile brightened the soft look in her eyes. "I could try"

"What should we do first?"

Her eyes fell away from his face and she began to toy with the edge of his night shirt. There was a sense of discomfort about her in the next moment that seemed to linger on forever. "The first thing we could do is…talk"

Her rather sudden change in mood was making him nervous and he felt himself lean closer to her even though there was hardly any room left between them for such a thing. "About what?"

He could hear the slight hitch in her voice when she spoke, despite how hard she tried to hide it. "Everything"

Wrapping a warm hand around her shoulder, he held her close and pressed a tender kiss to her temple. "Where would you like to start?"

Tucking her face against his chest, she breathed deeply. "I feel…guilty." Tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes but she ignored them. "I feel like losing the baby was my fault somehow. Not telling you earlier or I did something wrong or there was something I could've done…"

Rumplestiltskin didn't ignore the tightness in his chest, he let it be and acknowledged its presence. Pain was a part of living, just like joy and he tried to find a way to accept that. He tried to find a way to live with the pain of losing a child, but it was not something he could do in the span of a few minutes. It could take years to recover and even then perhaps not fully, but what he could do right now was try and ease her pain.

"There was nothing either of us could do, we were not in control of that"

"I still feel responsible somehow, like there must have been something I could have done to protect them. I feel like I failed in my first responsibility to them as a mother"

Rumplestiltskin fought back tears of his own as he watched hers fall to his chest. "Nonsense. There was nothing you could have done to save them, if there was a chance of saving them I know you would have done everything you could"

"I loved them so much, I still do. I had no idea what they might look like, be like, I didn't even know if they were a boy or a girl but I loved them with all my heart and it hurts so much to have lost them…"

Cupping her face in his warm hand, he pulled her closer to kiss her lips in a heated comfort. She fisted her hands around his shirt, clinging to him almost desperately, wanting more. He broke off the kiss before he lost control and didn't miss the disappointment in her eyes.

"I know this is hard right now but I want you to remember something important okay?" She nodded. "Just because we lost this child doesn't mean there is anything to stop us from ever having children together. We still love each other and while a child is a lot of work I know we could do a wonderful job together. All hope is not lost, now is the time to be more hopeful than ever before"

Belle looked dumbstruck by his words and he waited to see how she would take them. She jumped forward, now lying atop him from head to toe, and kissed him passionately. She left his lips swollen and his heart thumping wildly in his chest. Her summer sky blue eyes were full of such emotion that it made him want to cry.

"I feared it was just a reaction when I told you, that you were doing the right thing or something. But it isn't like that is it? You really do want to have another child?"

"Belle, with you I would have a hundred children, if I actually thought we could handle that of course"

The laugh that followed was the most beautiful sound he had heard all morning and he wanted to bury them both in the bed sheets for the entire day because of it. He wanted to hold her and kiss her and sleep and talk and never leave this room ever. But the universe had other ideas for their day.

A loud knocking could be heard on the front door and the aggression behind it threw all the pleasant feelings right out the window. Belle tensed, looking fearfully towards the bedroom door, wondering who was outside the house so early in the morning. It was barely an appropriate hour for visitation.

Rumplestiltskin slid Belle off his front and tucked her into the bed beside him, moving to shuffle his legs out from beneath the warm covers and reach over for his staff. "Stay here." He told her, wanting her to stay safe in their sanctuary, but she was already out of bed and throwing on her dressing gown.

"You're not going down there alone Rumple, I'm coming with you"

"What if it is dangerous?"

"Then we face it together"

He really couldn't argue with that, so he got to his feet and hobbled over to the bedroom door, ignoring the persistent pounding at the front door that would not stop.

Thankfully his slow pace down the stairs didn't harbour any increase in anger from the visitor as Red flew out of her room with her red cloak on to hide her night clothes and threw open the door, ready to yell the house down in anger at having been woken so rudely. But the moment she saw who was outside all the colour left her face.

Neither Rumple nor Belle could see around the door and the shock on Red's face drove them into the corner, watching her closely, trying to discern what had left such an expression on her face. Assuming danger, Rumplestiltskin tried to push Belle further into the corner of the house and block her with his body, but she was still able to see Red clearly from where she was.

"Red, who is it?" She hissed, hopefully too quietly for the person outside to hear. Sadly not.

"Why don't you stop hiding and come see for yourself?" A very familiar voice seemed to snap.

Whatever thoughts might have been going through her head before instantly vanished and Belle moved upon pure instinct, obeying the voice completely, escaping Rumple's hold to stand beside Red.

"Granny? What are you doing here?" She gasped.

The elderly woman looked so far from being pleased at seeing Belle and Red that both girls seemed to shrink in fear in her presence. "It has been months since anyone saw either of you, I thought I would come and see what the hell has been going on. In fact, I have to say I am very surprised to see you both standing right now"

"Pretty sure that will over very soon." Red whispered to Belle who had to agree. They were both in so much trouble.

But fun trouble, the kind where we get to watch these two sit there like naughty teenagers and laugh at their misfortune :P But seriously, the next chapter should be a lot of fun.