A/N- All rights belong to ABC. I only own the OCs
Belle awoke to someone kissing her. She opened her eyes to fantasies of some Prince Charming, but instead, she found herself face to face with the same strange man as before.
Belle screamed, and the girl from the street, who was also in the room, jumped back in shock.
"Okay!" Rumple exclaimed, backing away. "I'll leave. I'll leave. I'm sorry, Belle. I'm sorry."
Hope, however, didn't want to leave. She wasn't ready to give up on her mother just yet.
"Mama?' she asked, half begging. "Mama, please. Please, it's me, Hope. Your daughter. Please, you have to remember me, please. Please?"
"I'm sorry," Belle said, feeling bad, though she wasn't sure why. "Please go. Please. You're scaring me."
"Okay," Hope conceded, limping out the door. "Okay. I'll go. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Hope visited Belle every day, though she couldn't stand to see her without her memory. Every day, she told her stories of the things they did together, until Belle felt like she did know this girl, even though she had no memories of any of her stories.
Rumple, however, couldn't stand to visit Belle. It hurt him too badly. He came once, showing her the chipped teacup in a last ditch effort to get her memories back. She freaked out, and shattered his cup. Gold left for New York a few days later.
Belle quickly grew frustrated without her memories, and she had a gut feeling that everyone was keeping secrets from her. She knew that she'd been shot, and she knew that strange man who seemed to know her had healed her. She had seen him hold a ball of fire, no matter how many people told her she hadn't. Belle knew that she'd seen Hope, the girl who claimed to be her daughter, get run over by a car, but all she had to show for it was a limp.
But all of that stopped mattering when Mr. Gold called her from New York. He said things that made her heart flutter, but the way he said them made her think that he was dying. Even more baffling to Belle, however, was the fact that she was heartbroken to get his call. Rumple talked to Hope as well, but Belle tuned out his words, thinking about how personal what he'd said to her had been.
Whatever he'd said had clearly alarmed her, and she'd had to excuse herself. Belle thought she was crying.
When Rumple showed up in Belle's hospital room a few days later, her heart filled with relief, though she wasn't sure why. Hope, too, was overjoyed that he was back, and she ran across the room as fast as her limp would allow her, throwing herself into his arms, exclaiming, "Papa!"
Rumple promised Belle that day that he'd break her out of the hospital later. But first, he said that he was going to take Hope to Granny's, and that they had some business to discuss.
When they returned to the hospital after discussing Belle's birthday over hamburgers, they found Regina leaving Belle's room.
"What did you do?" Rumple snarled, shoving Regina against the wall.
"Nothing." She smirked. "I just helped her, remember."
Rumple ran into the room, and Hope limped as fast as she could after him.
"Mama?" she asked. But Belle was already gone.
They searched every respectable establishment in Storybrooke, but they had no success in finding Belle. In their last attempt to find their missing Belle, Rumple and Hope went to the Rabbit Hole.
There, they found Belle, playing pool with a bunch of drunk guys.
"Mama?" Hope asked incredulously, overlapping Rumple, who asked, "Belle?"
"Look," not- Belle said, gliding over to them. "I don't know who you guys think I am, but I'm not Belle. My name's Lacey, and while I appreciate both of you visiting me in the hospital, I don't know you. Mr. Gold, you and I have never been together. And Hope, I'm not your mother. I'm sorry, but it's true. I don't know who you are, but I'm not your mother."
"You're right," Hope snapped. "You're not."
Then she turned on her heels and stormed away, leaving a heart-broken Rumple to fend for himself.
A/N- Hey guys, I'm back! Hope you enjoyed it, if you did, please leave a review! Thank you, and have a blessed day, dearies.