There was no such thing as time for them anymore. It passed, she supposed, just as she always would have expected it to pass. She felt the weight of the years she lived begin to take their toll on her body and the guilt from the years she would miss in her heart every time Gideon visited, claiming he'd only seen them months ago when it felt like eons to her. But as far as days and months and hours and seconds went…they were all gone. Her life seemed very suddenly to be one never-ending memory. And she didn't mind it.

It was hard, though, to say when exactly, or how long ago, he'd rolled over into her arms in his sleep, and she'd realized that she had to make plans, not for herself, but for him. For as his problems had faded away and he slept easily these days, curled around her as if she were his anchor, her own panic began to hold, disrupting her sleep and making her wonder. What would he do on the day he woke to find she was gone, that his anchor was no more, that it was time to begin his last voyage. With her and Gideon around he was strong, the darkness suppressed to the point of extinction, but she knew that it would take advantage of him at his most vulnerable.

The answer came to her when he'd gone out, to gather them supplies from the village, little things that they couldn't collect on their small isolated island of paradise. Before he'd left she'd given him the note, a list really, of things she wanted him to get.

"It's like taking a piece of you with me," he'd muttered in sarcasm, but as soon as he'd vanished, she began to wonder if it wasn't such a bad idea. If she wasn't here to guide him, maybe she could leave a piece of herself behind, a small anchor that he could hold onto after death.

That was how she started the letters. Every time he left her alone, which wasn't often, she took a small fragment of paper and began to write, anything and everything that she could think of, things that she knew would keep him grounded while they were apart, and things that would need to be said so that he followed the right path and not the wrong one.

My Dearest Rumpelstiltskin

I've been thinking a lot about that cave we went to a few years back, the one that nearly killed us before we returned to find Gideon with Ellen for the first time and nearly had heart attacks all over again…(does he have children yet, I wonder? How do we feel about the idea of them together now?)

My beloved husband, I want you to promise me you won't go back to that cave after I am gone. In all our travels and wanderings we have discovered that there are right ways and wrong ways to go about doing things, and though going to that circle might bring you to me sooner, I fear what would happen on the day someone found the dagger and removed it. Would the curse be freed? Would it wreak havoc in a new land? Would you be taken from me again in death, summoned back as the one still bound to the dagger, like before?

I cannot tell, but I know that once we are together again, I don't want to be parted. This will be the last time we are separated, I have decided. And so, I ask of you to follow the path that you must, no matter how long it takes, to properly let this curse rest for good, so that we might truly know restful peace and Merlin's prophecy will be true, you'll have used the darkness to destroy itself, for light.

I love you with all my heart, my soul, my very being, and I trust the man you have become just as much as I love you.

Love always, your wife, Belle.

At first, she thought of hiding the letters she wrote, but in the end, she decided that she couldn't truly "hide" them in a traditional sense. Though her timely demise seemed decades away the truth was that she was mortal. At any moment the earth beneath her feet could swallow her whole, her heart could stop working, she could fall down the stairs, a bear could wander out of the forest and maul her…they were silly things to think, she knew, but they were things that naturally came to mind with mortality at the forefront of her thoughts. If she passed without revealing the place they were hidden then there was always the possibility they would remain there, unread, forever. That was something she certainly didn't want to happen. The letters had to be kept at all times in a place that he wouldn't be likely to look now, but would return to if something happened to her.

She hid the letters in a safe place, one that she felt sure he was bound to find after she was gone…their travel book. They had so many albums their travel book had become something of the abridged version of it. They put one picture of all the places they'd been to in the official book and then any extras in separate albums. If he wanted to look at pictures, she could bring one of those out. So, whenever she finished a letter, she carefully placed it at the end of their travel book, and left them there for him, before returning it to it's home in her desk. Yes, it was a gamble. She lived in fear that one day he'd grow sentimental and she knew all it would take would be for him to find one, and the truth would be revealed. But for the most part, their eyes were on other things. Each other, for instance.

As they spent their endless time in one another's company, it was not abnormal for them to experience long periods of quiet. When he spun and she sewed, when he cooked and she baked, they both read, whether outside on the porch, looking at the sun, on the edge of the cliff, or in their own home, her laid out on the couch with a book in her lap and he in his seat. It was not abnormal during these periods of time for her to glance over to check on him, and find him staring right back, checking just as she was. They'd share a smile, a small giggle and sigh of contentment, then returned to life as they knew it.

This is why these chapters are so short. I wanted to give every scene that we saw during that awesome montage in 7x04 its own starring role, but with not much to work with and not much going on for the Golds the chapters in this section became snapshots. They are each little snippets of what life might be like for a couple who are living out their lives waiting for the opportune time to die. They are simple but sweet chapters. At least that is what I hope you'll take out if them.

Big thank yous to Enomisje, Jennifer Baratta, Rumbellefan, and Grace5231973 for reviewing the last chapter and following right along with my logic where Gideon is concerned. You still haven't seen the last of him. I believe it's got another chapter before he goes for good and I think it's probably one of my favorites where he is concerned. I hope that you liked the letter idea in this chapter. Better yet I hope that you like the placement of those letters. I wanted her to be able to write him and leave him something behind but agonized over where she would put them for weeks! Finally, the answer came, ironically enough, from watching up. Ellie's last letter/instructions to Carl are in the back of their adventure book. I about hit my head and yelled "duh" when I realized I could use that. Your thoughts? Peace and Happy Reading!