Blueeyeddevil06 thank you for being my beta!

Rumpelstiltskin appeared in the dungeon and stared at Belle while she slept. His fury ignited even hotter. She was dirty and thin. She was asleep on a small cot and shivering under the threadbare blanket she was given.

Her father would pay. He had hurt the one person he couldn't stand to see suffer. He would destroy anything to protect her.

At that moment, he realized he would even destroy himself. That was what loving her meant after all, didn't it? He could no longer fight the fact that he loved her, and that destroyed everything. He had been power and vengeance. And now, he was weak. She had power over him. He turned from her and let her sleep for now. He would use his power to defend her.

He appeared in front of her father in his throne room. He didn't waste time with theatrics. He wanted the man to suffer, and he would. He would regret hurting Belle.

"You now have a war with the ogres to contend with," Rumple announced.

"I gave you Belle, and you promised to stop them. You sent her back. I didn't steal her!" he bellowed.

"No! You put your daughter in the dungeon!" He roared. "And now you will regret the day you turned your back on her!"

"She was corrupted by you!"

"No, she made me kinder. You would have benefited from that if you'd protected her. Now you will face my wrath!"

"What more can you do?! The ogres will kill us."

"Besides, laugh as they do?" Rumple quipped. "I will make sure the other kingdoms know what you did to your own blood. Will they help you if they knew what you did to Belle? I'm a beast, and even I'm appalled."

He then disappeared from the throne room and appeared in the dungeon again. He bent over her, "Belle, wake up. I'm getting you out of here."

"Rumple?" She didn't open her eyes. "I don't want to wake up. This is a lovely dream."

"What dream are you having, dearie?"

"You've come to rescue me."

"It's not a dream. You can open your eyes."

Belle opened her eyes, sat up, and looked at him in wonder. "You're really here this time."

"I was here before?" He asked her tenderly in confusion.

"No, I had dreamt you rescued me, though."

His heart lurched. "I came as soon as I heard what happened to you."

He waved his hands, and they disappeared from the dungeon and reappeared in the room that had been Belle's at his estate. "Sophie is here. She will help you clean up and get you something to eat."

He then quickly exited her room. He needed to get himself under control. His hands were shaking. He didn't know how he could serve two masters. He was The Dark One, and he was in love. Those two things couldn't coexist. He was sure about one thing. Belle was now protected.

He walked down the hall thinking about how he was comforted by the fact that the ogres would destroy her father's kingdom. He paused. That would upset Belle. "Damn, now even my vengeance is tainted!" He roared to no one in particular.

He continued on his way and marched into his study. He then contacted the neighboring kingdoms of her father's. His message was clear. The King had betrayed his daughter, and The Dark One would not stand for that. The ogres would be stopped again once her father was no longer king. He was to turn over his kingdom to a neighboring ruler, or his people would die.

When it was done, he collapsed in his chair. His first thought was that he hoped Belle would be pleased. His second one was to recoil in disgust at that first thought. He placed his head in one hand and sighed, "What has become of me?"

Meanwhile, Belle was being bathed by Sophie. She couldn't believe Rumple had rescued her from her father. "What did he tell you?"

"He said that I'm his housekeeper now and that you are his guest. He didn't tell me anything else, and I didn't ask him anything other than to rescue you."

Belle smiled up at her friend. "Thank you for coming here to plead my case. That had to have been incredibly hard."

Sophie shook her head, "I was terrified, but it wasn't hard." She paused. "That didn't make sense. The decision to come was easy. You would have done the same for me. I was terrified of him, though."

"And now?"

"I'm still terrified of him!" She declared. "But, I see what you said. There is good in him. I saw it when he went to rescue you. He could have let you stay there in that dungeon and die."

"My father wasn't going to kill me." Belle protested.

"No, not directly. But, you're already terribly thin, and you were freezing cold when you got here. Neglect would have been your actual cause of death. It's all the same in the end, though. You would have died without him to rescue you. That makes me believe in him too."

"He's good to me. It shocked me, but he is."

"If he could care about anyone, it doesn't surprise me that it's you. You're the best woman I know."

She then dressed Belle and brought her food to eat. Then when she was finished, she tucked her into bed to rest.

Sophie shook her head that she was once again to knock on a door to alert The Dark One, and her hand was trembling. She knocked on the door and heard the summons come in.

She bowed and said, "Belle has bathed, eaten, and she's now sleeping, Sir."

Rumplestiltskin nodded to her and watched her exit hastily. He snorted and commented to himself, "It seems I'm not the only one who is willing to put themself out of their comfort zone for Belle." He actually respected Sophie a little bit.

Killian laid in bed with Emma wrapped in his arms the morning after the formal dinner. He chuckled as he thought of the previous evening. "Do you think your mother has forgiven your father yet?"

Emma shook her head, "She's not one to go to bed mad. If he looks like he hasn't gotten any sleep, it means she stayed up yelling at him."

"I should be mad at you." She chuckled. "It was just too funny though for me to stay that way."

"Hey, your father started it, and now I get a new sword."

Emma rolled her eyes then rolled over to lay on his chest and look into his eyes. "What did that guy say to my father?"

"He complimented your father on having such a... lovely daughter."

"He didn't say lovely."

Killian's jaw tensed, "No, he didn't."

"Fine, I won't press you for details. You can relax now."

"I'm not keeping it from you. It just bothers me how he talked about you."

She kissed his chin, "I know." She then smiled. "I can't believe my father offered you a new sword if you knocked him unconscious."

"Well, Love, he knew he couldn't do it as King, so he asked me."

"Did he even have to offer you the sword?"

"Nope! But, we don't have to tell him that." He smirked. "I would have done it for the fun of it."

"Only you would think it was fun."

"Hey, judging by your father's laughter, he thought it was fun too." He said in his defense.

Emma tried not to giggle when she said, "Too bad that, when you hit him, he fell onto the table with the punch bowl. I think it was the mess my mother objected to more than the hitting."

"Swan, three ice sculptures fell and smashed on the ground, and one knocked over Grumpy. Of course, it was the mess that bothered her."

She laid her head on his shoulder, "Don't tell my mom, but thank you."

"You're glad I punched him?"

"Well, that too. But, this was the first formal dinner I've been to that wasn't painfully boring. My life is more interesting with you in it."

"And me taking you against the wall before we even made it to dinner…?"

"As I said, I love my life." She smiled at him and gave him a passionate kiss.

Killian had known quickly that he could never get enough of her. He had her on her back, and himself buried inside of her before she realized what he was thinking. "Tell me you want it, Love."

"Yes! Please, I always want you."

He made passionate love to her and again that morning. They orgasmed, and he held her close.

"I love my life too, Swan."

He happened to glance at his stump and cracked a small smile. He didn't even question how she felt about his missing hand anymore. He knew she accepted all of him and that she saw him as a whole man. Not a broken one. She'd healed every bit of him with her love.

Regina paced her office, and Robin came in, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. "You need to stop this."

"I have a half sister." She laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm disappointed in myself for being surprised at my mother's heartlessness."

"You would never abandon a child, even at your worst that was too far. It doesn't surprise me that this shocks you. It should." Robin rubbed her back. "Do you want to meet her?"

"She hates me!" She sighed. "Sadly, The Dark One is right. He's not a liar. I just don't get it. I didn't abandon her."

"No, but she's probably jealous. Your mother kept you."

Regina scoffed, "That was hardly a blessing."

"To a child that was abandoned, it would be."

"My mother set me on that dark path. She trained me to be that way. Zelena wasn't forced to grow up like that. She could have chosen to be good. It bothers me that she had more of a choice, and she chose hate."

"If you feel like no one loves you, hate is easier. That way, you're rejecting them, not the other way around."

Regina sighed and kissed his neck. "Do you have to make so much sense?"

"I'm a smart man. I married you after all."

"You fell in love with the Evil Queen. Even I question your sanity over that one."

"Best dumb idea I ever had." He joked.

She kissed him and melted into his embrace. It really was the best thing that could have happened.