Back in Storybrooke the following day…

Rumple escorted Belle back to the library from a nice quiet, but late, picnic lunch at the shop. He kissed her on the cheek as he departed from her, returning back to his shop. She turned around to face the door and reached for her keys from within the depths of her purse. She opened up the doors to the library and instantly a wave of air pushed out the building to greet her nostrils, filling them with the fragrant smell of books and old papers; her favorite smell in the world. She tried to remember the first time she smelled this scent and when she did she suddenly became nostalgic.

The thought that came into her mind was the first time she was given her library, and it was her mother that gave it to her. Belle entered the library setting her purse and jacket down on the counter. She picked up the clipboard that she was using to record book information, but immediately placed it back down again. She didn't feel like working today. She felt compelled to work on something else, to look up someone. Belle walked past the columns and shelves of books and somehow found herself being pulled towards the kids section of the library.

Out of respect for her husband she never allowed her curiosity to investigate books of this world to study him. If her book club meetings taught her anything, it was that the stories of this world had a skewed perspective of everyone's lives in Storybrooke, including her own. And while a good chunk of the elements remained true to every story she read, the rest of the details were simply not true.

She looked through the books of the children's section, running her pointer finger along the labeled alphabetized letters that were placed strategically and conveniently along the shelves. She wasn't looking up books about her husband or about herself, she was looking up the one person that had been plaguing her mind since she discovered her pregnancy; her mother. She never thought to look her up before, but because her pregnancy was making her emotionally vulnerable combined with her sudden nostalgia she felt overwhelmingly compelled to find her right then.

A… B… C… D… E… F…

Whenever she brought up the topic of her mother to her father he would frown and react angrily, almost hurtfully, always refusing to tell her more about her. It was as if the mere memory of her was painful. Since her father provided little information about her mother Belle was left with no choice and there was one thing that she knew about her that her father didn't have to tell her; her name. Belle justified to herself that since she wasn't around to contest her story, that is, if her book even existed, then her curiosity saw no harm in looking.

G… H… I… J…

Belle figured, if she and all the other citizens of Storybrooke were in this library, then certainly, wouldn't her mother? She had to know. It was worth a shot.

K… L… M…

And there it was… books. Not just one but multiple books on her. It was here in this library the entire time. Belle immediately unearthed the children's books from the shelf and gathered them together in her arms. She walked over to the closest table and plopped the children stories on the table. She propped open the first book and eagerly began reading. As she read each book she tried to keep an open mind given what she already knew about the books of this world, but anger brewed inside her followed quickly by tears of sadness. Belle continued reading until finally she was beside herself in sadness. Her head became dizzy with questions. Finally she had something substantial to show her father when she broached the subject with him again. Perhaps this time, with new information, he'll be more inclined to answer her questions.

Belle gathered the tiny books and threw the majority of them into her purse, carrying the first book in her arms to show to her father immediately. She grabbed her coat from off the front desk and stepped outside the library when she heard a commotion come from over at Granny's diner. The jovial shouts were so loud that they could be heard from outside the diner and across the street, and with the bright enthusiasm radiating from inside she could practically feel the attractive merriment pull her in.

She felt incredibly depressed over the sudden insight of her mother and felt that she could really use a pick-me-up, hoping that whatever was causing such a cheerful hullabaloo the happiness would somehow rub off on her as well. She walked over to the closest car to her on the street and while using the side-view mirror checked the make-up on her face. It was evident that she had been crying so she did her best, while taking a few therapeutic breaths, to wipe away the smudges that trailed under her eyes. When she felt presentable she turned and headed toward the diner.

As she got closer, the noise and happy racket got louder and louder. When she opened the door, she was immediately bombarded with a cluster of sounds, mostly laughter that was brought about by the diner's patrons. She looked around the full eating facility and discovered all the leftover people who were clearly done from lunch still lingering around along with new customers that were still eating. They were all laughing and talking boisterously over in one direction, clamoring for one woman's attention. The beautiful woman, who was the focus of everyone's attention had her black hair done up in a bun. She stood and leaned against one of Granny's dining tables that was moved and propped up in the center of the establishment.

"So, Mary, I asked to him," Leroy cried out with glee, finishing a joke. He was grinning so uncharacteristically that Leroy looked simply odd. "Doc, how would you know it's raining? You're a dwarf! You'd be the last to know."

All of Leroy's brothers laughed in unison along with about ten other patrons who eavesdropped on the conversation. Mary brandished her charming and alluring smile, which seemed to lighten the room up even more. She took the teacup that was cradled in her hands and brought it to her lips for another sip when she caught Belle standing at the opposite end of the diner. She looked up at her and instantly the room grew quiet. Mary instantly recognized her and gazed at her with a look of joyous surprise.

Belle was speechless and confused, recognizing the woman as well. But unlike Mary, Belle's face grew pale, as if she suddenly saw a ghost.

"Belle…" Mary said in a soft-spoken and caring whisper. Without looking down, Mary placed her teacup behind her and stood up immediately. Mary tried to move in closer to Belle when Belle shouted angrily back, "No!"

Belle turned away immediately to the door behind her and exited the facility, dropping the book that was in her hand.

"Belle, wait!" Mary called after her, but it was futile. Mary gracefully and calmly walked over to the item that Belle had dropped on the floor and picked it up. She turned the book over and immediately recognized the title, Mary Poppins.

… …

earlier that day…

After their late lunch, Gold kissed his wife good-bye by the library's entrance and returned to his shop. The door chimed expectantly as he proceeded to his private office and sat down by his spinning wheel. He removed his jacket and placed it on the table beside him. When the sound of metal thudded against the wood through his jacket he paused at the sound remembering that he had placed Henry's pocket-watch back in his coat pocket. He plucked out the watch with one hand and with the other, twirled the device allowing the gold from the sunlight to shimmer and dance across his face. He thought of Henry.

Gold knew he needed to talk with his grandson about magic and with Henry's suspicious absence from yesterday, he felt like the situation warranted a visit. He knew exactly where Henry was today and got up from his work bench to slip his suit jacket back on over his shoulders. He locked up the shop and headed straight to his Cadillac, turning it on and shifting it into gear. He drove the short distance over to Henry's school and placed his vehicle in park just outside the school's premises and waited.

The sun was exceptionally bright, so he reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out his sunglasses placing them on his face. He checked the time on the golden-faced wrist-watch and noticed that the time was 2:46 p.m. School wouldn't be letting out for another fifteen minutes and since the weather was pleasant Gold decided to wait outside the car for him. He closed the driver's side door and walked around to the front where he stood waiting patiently by the curb.

There were other parents coming and arriving early, but as soon as they saw Mr. Gold's car, they drove and parked a little further away doing their best to keep their distance from him. The parents hesitantly got out of their vehicles and gawked over at Gold who was waiting patiently by his car. He looked over at the on-lookers and with one glance they ran quickly into the school building. He smirked to himself crossing his arms over his chest, proud over the reputation he still had even without magic over the citizens of Storybrooke. In a way it boosted his ego a bit and the smirk that was on his face turned into a brief toothy smile.

Then suddenly, he felt the phantom pain in his leg resurge. The pain became so crippling that he ended up leaning against the hood favoring the stronger leg. He tried to remain calm doing his best to keep his poise. After a few steady breaths the intensity of the pain subsided, leaving just a residual prickling pain in its stead. Since he couldn't heal himself with magic he took a few more deep breaths; it seemed to be the only method that was working for him. He continued with the method, rubbing his tender leg until the pain was no more and after a few moments he was able to regain his cool composure once again.

"Grandpa?" questioned Henry as he approached his grandfather over at the Cadillac.

"Henry!" Gold greeted with a smile, "You're out early. Good! Why don't I give you a ride home?"

"That's ok. I can walk. The teachers actually let me out early to uh… talk to you."

"Really? About what?"

"Yeah, um… you shouldn't really come around the school unannounced. You still frighten all the teachers, parents and students… they're afraid to come out."

"Oh, well, next time I'll just call ahead. Look," Gold said pulling out Cogsworth from the inside of his jacket and dangling it in front of Henry, "Hercules came by my shop yesterday. He wanted to say thanks and give this to you. That is, if you're ready to take it back?"

"Magic? No thanks," said Henry refusing. He kept his head low and could barely look into his grandfather's eye. He adjusted the strap to his book bag and continued walking past Mr. Gold, giving him what appeared to be the cold shoulder.

Gold shouted after Henry without moving away from where he stood by his car, "You didn't show up to my shop after school yesterday. I came here today because I was concerned. Are you ok? Or are you just simply avoiding me?"

Henry paused in his tracks and turned around to face his grandfather. Unlike most of the citizens of Storybrooke, Henry wasn't afraid of Mr. Gold. Henry had every reason in the world to be afraid of his grandfather but somehow deep down, he wasn't. Henry finally looked up bravely into his grandfather's eyes and replied apologetically, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Dad. I'm sorry about removing magic from Storybrooke."

"Henry…," Gold said, trying to be sympathetic. "I can help you with that. Let me help you with your magic," Gold offered.

"No! Magic always has a price. That's what you taught me in your lessons. And magic… has done nothing but hurt and bring pain in our family. I've messed up too much as it is and I can't live with that kind of price over my head."

"You believed in magic once before. I know you can do it again."

"Mr. Gold!" Henry shouted at his grandfather to stop him from convincing him otherwise. The sudden formal addressing caught Gold off-guard stopping him in his pursuit. Henry continued, "I know what you're trying to do and I just can't, ok?!" argued Henry as he backed away from Mr. Gold and the conversation. "Please! I need to believe in something more real… something that won't give me pain and right now… that's science and math."

The conversation did not go as well as Gold had planned and he felt frustrated. The pain in his leg continued to throb as he stood there dumbfounded by Henry's sudden opposition towards magic. Confused and aggravated, Gold returned to his car defeated. He opened the driver's side door and sat down. The pain was more intense this time than the previous time. He massaged his leg and as he worked to rejuvenate the feeling back in his muscles he realized what the pain meant. It took magic to repair his leg and magic… was quickly running out.