In Shadow
Chapter 50
Enter the Savior
Rumplestiltskin said the first thing that came to mind. "That boy just pushed my wife and endangered my child. Move out of my way before I move you." He was so angry, in fact, that it took several moments to register what he had said.
Deputy Swan put a friendly hand on his shoulder. "What's your name?"
"Rum ...Roman ...Gold." He stumbled over the name. A false name. An identity forced upon him by the queen. He glanced behind him at Rose, no, not Rose ...Belle, his Belle. She had turned away to watch other people bowl. She hadn't heard him, then. That was a blessing. He brought a hand to his forehead as memories flooded in to his mind. Hundreds of years flashed through him at once and the pressure was almost unbearable.
Emma Swan looked at him with something like suspicion mixed with worry. "Okay ...Mr. Gold. Hey, are you alright?" She increased the pressure on his shoulder as if she thought he was about to pass out. When he didn't readily respond and his attention lingered on Belle, the deputy cleared her throat. "Mr. Gold?"
"What?" He snapped at her and she took a step back. He had no memory of this woman, but the name ...Emma ...it had been part of the curse. A loophole he had included that would allow for him to regain his memories. He had believed there was time to alter the curse to include Belle in the loophole. He had not counted on Regina's need for vengeance to be so motivating that she figured the curse out despite his refusal to answer certain questions. He looked at Emma Swan. The child of Snow White and Prince Charming. The person destined to break the curse.
She looked like she was trying not to yell at him. "Did your wife want to press charges? What Mr. Avonlea did was assault and, technically, attempted murder since she is pregnant. I can put him away for a very long time."
He shook his head. "I think just getting him away from her is best right now. I'll discuss charges with her later. Is that satisfactory?"
Emma nodded. "Yep. We'll take him to the station. Have a nice evening ...what's left of it. I'm sorry for what happened. Your wife is okay, right? Should I call an ambulance?"
Belle had lost interest in the other bowlers and got up to join Rumplestiltskin and Emma. He realized that he had to get rid of the deputy before she called Belle his wife in front of her. Explaining that would be a disaster, he was sure. "She's okay." He glanced at Belle for confirmation and she nodded. "Thank you for your help."
"Just doing my job." Emma looked at Belle. "Mrs. Gold, you let me know if you want to do anything about Avonlea."
Belle simply nodded and while Gold's face drained of color, Emma Swan took her leave. "Wow. When did we get married?" Her voice was filled with mirth.
He almost said they had been married for nearly three decades but managed to stop himself. "It's an understandable mistake."
"I suppose so," she agreed. "Are you ready to go? Gary kind of killed the mood."
Rumplestiltskin finally got himself under control, pushed the memories aside, and focused on his date. "I'm sorry about that, Rose."
She shook her head. "It wasn't your fault."
He took her hand and pulled her toward the exit. It was almost a new sensation. Her hand in his. Knowing that this was his Belle, his wife, his True Love made his heart ache. He was grateful that despite the fact that they didn't know about their previous relationship they had still managed to find one another, but he couldn't help feeling angry at being deprived of her for so long. He wanted to say so many things. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her for several hours. He wanted to make love to her until they were both so spent they collapsed into bed and didn't move for days. He couldn't believe how many things he'd taken for granted. Something as simple as feeling her hands on him when they took a bath to the feel of her body pressed against his. He had not realized how much he would miss being with her and now ...he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't look forward to getting home and showing her just how much he needed her. It was, very possibly, the most horrible sensation he'd ever experienced. Knowing that this woman belonged to him, that the baby she carried was his daughter, and that she had no memory of either of those things. He had to get her to remember and he had no idea how he was going to do that.
When they reached the library, Belle looked at him quizzically. "Roman? You okay?"
He wanted to say 'no ...on so many levels, no' but he had no way to explain why and he certainly didn't want her to think she was the cause. He therefore smiled. "Fine. I just wish the evening had ended on a better note."
She stepped closer. "It's not over yet."
"Really?" He raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."
Belle pulled on his hand. "Come inside?"
Gold nodded and followed her. Just inside the door she spun around suddenly and kissed him, melting into his arms as they came around her. Gods, he would never again take this taste for granted. She tasted like coffee and vanilla, sugar with a hint of nutmeg, as if she had been eating cookies all day. Her smell was lavender and roses. He had no idea how those two scents managed to coexist, but on Belle, they did. Her hair was oranges, which was a result of earthly shampoos, but under the citrus was just her scent, and the longing that stabbed through his soul was so powerful it nearly knocked him over. Flashes of their life together ran through his mind in technicolor. From the day she had arrived at the dark castle and her fear of him to the day she had realized who he was. Her kind words when he'd blamed himself for Clemson's death, her soft skin under his fingertips. He wanted to tell her. Needed her to know him so desperately that it was a physical pressure in his chest and yet, until he got home and got to his books, he couldn't even begin to start helping her remember him; remember them.
They broke apart slowly, their lips lingering only centimeters from one another, either unable or unwilling to move any further away than that. "Wow."
She smiled and he crushed her to his chest. He didn't know what to say. Something poetic? Something deep and meaningful? Something that would let her know how much it meant that they were together. He wanted to convey all of those things, but what came out was entirely different. "Yeah."
Belle ...Rose ...he knew he should stick with Rose, even when he thought of her because if he kept hearing Belle in his mind, he was eventually going to say it when they were speaking, let her eyes drift over his face, to his lips and back to his eyes. "What now?"
Gold wasn't an idiot. He knew exactly what she was offering him and God help him, he wanted to take her hand, pull her into her apartment, and ravish her with abandon until she screamed his name, but he couldn't ...more to the point, he shouldn't. "Now ..I am going to go home before this gets out of hand."
Her eyes filled with question. "What's wrong with getting out of hand?"
"Nothing," he said, brushing her lips with his. "Nothing at all."
She closed her eyes, letting him kiss her, savoring the sensation. "I hear a but coming."
He pulled back slightly to look down in to her face. "When we make love, Rose, I want it to be perfect in every way." His eyes skimmed over her face, down to her lips, and further to the soft swell of her breasts. He saw her shiver. Given that she did not have any memory of being his wife, he should tell her that it was too soon, he should say that they needed to know one another better, but he wasn't stupid, he knew that his patience would be short-lived at best. Had the savior not arrived, had he not met Emma Swan by coincidence and therefore did not know that this woman belonged to him in every possible way, that they were bonded, soul to soul, he still would not have slept with her tonight, but he also knew that if she continued to show interest in ...that ...he wouldn't have the strength to say no more than once. She did not look as if she had any intention of backing down. Her eyes were blue fire, spitting and sparking with desire. It was wonderful to see on her face, but the part of him that was Rumplestiltskin, her husband, wanted her heart; wanted her soul; wanted there to be no questions between them once the passion had been sated.
Her voice was soft, but heavy with pent up need. "I suppose I can live with that." She paused and then, "For now."
He lowered his head and kissed her. It was enough. Had to be enough. At least for the moment. He pulled her against his body and simply held her, letting all the emotion flood his senses. There was nothing he would have liked more than to stay where he was but if he didn't leave soon, he knew he would never get out the door. "I really should go," he said after several more minutes of kissing and touching had left them breathless.
She made a sound of annoyance in the back of her throat. "Do you have to?"
It made him smile. "Unfortunately, but I will see you tomorrow. Right?"
"Yes." She returned his smile. "What would you like to do?"
His eyes must have betrayed his thoughts because she laughed. "I thought we were waiting for that."
"Right. How about if I cook you dinner? No gawking townsfolk, just you and me, my place?"
Rose sighed and pillowed her head on his chest. "Sounds like heaven."
He pulled away with a great deal of reluctance and opened the door. "Tomorrow then. Shall I come get you?"
She shook her head. "I can drive." She blushed. "I know where you live."
Gold laughed. "Well, that saves time, doesn't it?"
"I guess it does. What time?" Rose was attempting to be serious, but failing at an epic rate. Her skin was flushed, her eyes were shining with laughter, and her smile was blinding.
"Six? Maybe we can watch a movie after."
"I'll be there," she said.
He watched her as she closed the door and listened until he heard her footsteps retreating. What in the hell was wrong with him? Dinner? At his house? Yes, because that wasn't a preamble to having her naked in his bed at all. He sighed as he walked toward his car. He now had less than a day to figure out how to retrieve her memories because he knew, without a doubt, that tomorrow he would not have the desire or ability to turn away from her. Theirs had always been an absolute and consuming attraction. It would appear that worlds away and a lack of memory had not changed that in the least.
When he arrived at his home he almost couldn't bare to go inside. He knew how dark and desolate it was in there and while it had never bothered him before, he wanted Belle with him so desperately that he couldn't seem to stomach entering a house that should belong to them both and yet, did not. He might have sat there in his car all night had he not seen a shadow moving in his bedroom.
Gold entered quietly, grabbing the gun he kept near the door and moved in silence up the stairs. He paused outside the bedroom and then threw open the door, letting it slam against the wall; hoping that would startle whomever had been dumb enough to break into his house. Germaine looked up from the bed where he was seated with the book Gold had found in his wardrobe earlier in his lap. "Well, that's tacky. I come to help and you point a gun at me."
"What are you doing here?" He didn't want to lower the gun, but he did.
"Time has started again, Rumplestiltskin. Your wife is now in danger ...so is your daughter. We must begin learning the Volumes de Sanguine or you are going to lose both of them."
Gold's blood turned to ice. He had forgotten about the books entirely. Between getting married and finding out he was to be a father, he had somehow let the impending death of both his bride and their unborn child slip from his mind. And then the curse had happened and he had forgotten everything. It came back to him now with a vengeance. "She does not remember."
Germaine looked at him with sympathy. "I understand and while I empathize, you must get her to agree to this. Obviously, returning her memory would serve you best."
"And just how do I do that?"
Germaine shook his head. "I am only an alchemist, you are the sorcerer. I am afraid this one is up to you."
Rumplestiltskin sat down, resting his throbbing head in his hands. Belle would understand why this was necessary and they would being studying immediately. Rose ...on the other hand, was going to think he was a psychopath. He had wondered, many, many years ago, what the price would be for learning the books of blood and now he had his answer. Delve in to the darkest curse in the history of the realms and figure out how to return Belle's memories ...or lose her forever. It would be an easy decision, if he knew he would come out of the dark magic intact, but he was not sure that was possible. In order to find what he needed, to create a bridge between the curse and Belle, he would have to call upon that part of himself that wallowed in the depths of evil and once it had been released, he did not know if he could bottle it up again.
