Outside the Great Hall the air seemed thinner but certainly darker. Was that because of her, he wondered, or was it the sun? Was it even sunny out that day? He hadn't noticed. He hadn't noticed anything but her. For all he knew, there could be a rainstorm and he'd never have known it, not so long as she was beside him. He shouldn't go back, he shouldn't want to go back to her, but he did. Badly. The presence outside his door wasn't one he recognized, and he was sure that it was someone coming for a deal, but all he wanted to do was go back in that room, talk with her, and see where it led them. As uncomfortable and curious as the conversation had made him, he wanted to finish it. He wanted this to go quick; he wanted to get it over with.

With a wave of his arm, the opened the door and was shocked to find a familiar face outside of it. Gaston LeGume! Belle's fiancé! With his sword drawn. Fool.

"I am Sir Gaston. And you, beast, have taken-"

He killed him quickly with little thought. With a snap of his fingers, he transformed the boy into a rose that now rested just outside the door in the exact spot he'd been standing. The act left him smiling, but if he was honest, he didn't really understand why he'd acted the way he had. He'd had his sword drawn and obviously meant to threaten him, but the truth was he wasn't in any danger. He hadn't felt threatened. He'd felt annoyed and angry. That boy had been there when he'd taken her from her father's palace. He'd watched shocked as not a single person, including Gaston, had tried to save her or stop him. And he chose now to try? To not even try to attack but to stand there like an idiot, interrupting the conversation they were having on a perfectly beautiful day?!

He laughed as he picked up the rose, wondering why he'd chosen that flower. Was it because it was her favorite? The pair had been engaged, but nothing he'd ever seen in his cauldron indicated she'd really had any feelings for him. She never spoke of him. She looked at him with more passion than he'd ever seen her look at Gaston, and while that fact should have made him ecstatic, if pressed, he had to admit that she looked at brooms with more passion than she looked at Gaston. Had he even known roses were her favorites?

Some might have considered his next action cruel, psychotic even, but as he turned back to their room, he hid the flower behind his back. He got no joy or even satisfaction from secretly presenting her with the body of her fiancé; he did however, take joy in presenting her with small gifts, tokens he found that he knew she'd enjoy. He only liked to see her smile.

"Who was that?" she questioned when he reappeared a few seconds later, glad that she hadn't taken the tea away yet.

"Just an old woman selling flowers…here!" he said, presenting it to her with a small, simple bow. She gasped and then there it was: her smile. And the lovely blush that followed as she admired the gift. "If you'll have it?"

She plucked it from his fingers without a moment of hesitation. "Why, thank you," she exclaimed, taking her skirt in one hand and making a polite curtsy to match his bow. She was turning redder by the second, so he lowered his head and flourished his bow, feeling more like he was playing a game with her than giving her a gift. Even after she walked away with it, she let out a laugh and looked over her shoulder with a smile that made him think the sun could stay hidden behind clouds for an eternity or fall from the sky entirely. As long as he had that grin, he was happy. And as long as she had that grin, he was convinced that she was happy. But was she? Was she truly happy? The thought of sending her away in that moment seemed perfectly cruel. She'd never appeared this way when he spied on her in her own Kingdom, it was a look reserved for this place and, sometimes he dared to think, for him. Was it too late? Would she be forever damaged if he sent her away? Would she ever heal? Would he ever get back to Baelfire if he didn't?

"You had a life Belle, before…all this," he commented, moving forward as she flit about the room. "Friends, family, what made you choose to come here…with me?"

He sat down in his chair as she sighed and went to the cabinet across the room to fetch something. He tried to make it sound like a casual question, like he was just making chit chat, but he was hanging on her every action, her every word long before she was even talking! They'd talked about him, even if she'd been the one to do most of the talking. Would she allow a conversation about her? About questions he'd had about her from the very beginning?

"Heroism…sacrifice?" she answered after a pause. "You know, there aren't a lot of opportunities for women in this land to show what they can do, to see the world, to be heroes! So when you arrived, that was my chance," she explained returning to her spot by the table with a pair of scissors and a vase. "I always wanted to be brave, I figured do the brave thing and bravery would follow," she shrugged, snipping off the end of the rose and popping it into the vase to sit upon his table.

He felt light-headed. What she wanted…it wasn't this. She might have been good at it and she might have been content doing it, but this wasn't the dream she had for herself. It wasn't all that she was capable of. Heroism, sacrifice, bravery…he looked at her and saw all that inside of her! Seeing her now putting a flower on the table she'd scrubbed clean in the castle she'd organized; it suddenly seemed like a waste. Perhaps…perhaps he didn't know her like he thought he did. Perhaps she would have been better off going with Samuel.

"And is it everything you hoped?" he questioned, trying to disguise his nervous swallow.

"Well, ah…" she jumped back up onto the table, a little closer to him that he would have liked and yet much farther than he would have liked as well. "I did want to see the world…that part didn't really work out," she commented under her breath, giving him a look like it was a joke she was sharing. She didn't realize how it cut him. "But I did get to save my village."

"And what about your…betrothed?"

Finally, a moment of relief when she rolled her eyes and shook her head like it was some kind of ridiculous idea. She hadn't loved him then. That look said it all without the words. But the words were nice to hear too. "It was an arranged marriage," she explained. "Honestly, I never really cared much for Gaston. To me love is…love is layered. Love is…a mystery to be uncovered. "I could never truly give my heart to someone as superficial as he."

He was mesmerized by her. He couldn't stop staring at her any more than he could stop his heart from racing against his chest or his fingers from wanting to touch her. Never give her heart to someone superficial…but could she, would she to someone else? Someone layered and mysterious? Someone like him?

"But, um…you were going to tell me about your son!"

His son. He hadn't been about to tell her about his son, not when her fiancé had knocked on the door, but…

It was good she'd said those words. They broke the spell she had over him, at least the one that had stopped all his thoughts. Now that he was thinking again, he knew that he'd always be under her spell, always be impressed and enamored with her but…she couldn't stay here. She was a distraction, that was true. But she'd also never truly be happy here. Oh, he wanted everything for her, just as he'd once wanted everything for his son! He saw so much of Baelfire in her, he knew that they'd be the best of friends if they ever met. But it was because of Baelfire, because of everything his son had been and what had happened with him. He'd wanted what Belle wanted, but he'd forced him to stay and he'd grown so unhappy he left. He couldn't bear the idea that one day Belle would come to hate being here, that she'd never get the chance to live her dreams. He couldn't allow it. It was time.

"When?" was now…

"I'll tell you what," he responded, ignoring the ache in his chest. "I'll make you a deal."

She leaned forward with interest, her eyes wide and attentive.

"Go to town and fetch me some straw. When you return, I'll share my tale."

Her brows furrowed as she slowly began to process what he'd said. He could see her initial clarity morph into confusion and then into disbelief as she opened her mouth and shook her head like she couldn't believe the words he'd just said.

"But…town?!"

He nodded. He hoped it was clear. He didn't know if he had the strength to repeat himself.

She smiled, smirked as clarity began to overwhelm her again. "You trust me to come back?!"

It wasn't clear. She was proud. He'd stopped letting her visit the town because she thought he didn't trust her. That belief was wrong, but he could tell now that she'd hung onto it. All she thought this was was trust, that she'd earned his trust. And she had! Entirely and completely! And that was why this was best for both of them. He tried to remember to breathe as he shook his head.

"Oh Belle…I expect I'll never see you again."

Now the meaning was clear. Her jaw dropped, her heart raced, and the air in her lungs caught in a way that made him think she'd stopped breathing entirely. Had she? He had. The weight of the words he'd said, the implication of it, settled into his stomach like a pile of rocks that made it feel impossible to move, impossible to use magic, impossible to do anything except beg her to stay. She seemed frozen too. She just sat there, not breathing, not speaking, not even smiling in her newfound freedom. It was long enough for him to think that maybe she did want him to take it back, she did want him to beg her to stay. And then she moved. She moved so slowly it was as if she were wading through water. He thought he might have even seen tears in her eyes as she wordlessly hopped down off the table. She left, walked out of the room and toward the kitchen slowly with a hand over her stomach as if she was going to be sick. He wanted to follow after her, to make sure she was okay. But he resisted. When she was gone, he used magic to reappear in his Tower as fast as he could and tried not to cry at the loss of her.

He failed.

Another slow chapter but a really important one. This chapter is one that really makes me understand why so many wanted Rumple's version of things for so long. I really love reading the last bit from both Rumple's and Belle's perspective. It's such a quiet moment, such a terrible moment for both of them and the thoughts they both have as it happens are unique and wonderful. You have Belle not understanding why she's feeling the way she's feeling, Rumple completely understanding but trying to pretend as though it doesn't matter. It's sad, of course, but very beautiful to me in a way.

Thank you Jennifer Baratta, Alarda, and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter. I think you know what's coming up. Peace and Happy Reading!