I do not own Once Upon a Time

Chapter 13 On Thin Ice

The doctor stood smiling good naturedly at Belle as he checked her arm over for the last time.

'You may find your arm to be much weaker than it was before. Not to fear, however, it will gain strength in time. Try to do something with it a little each day, even if there is some discomfort, and you'll soon find you're able to be back to your normal range of abilities.'

Belle winced as the doctor stretched and brought back her arm a few times. Discomfort was such a tame word for what she was feeling. As long as it meant that Mary would no longer have to reside over her dressing and help her bathe, she would be more than resolved to a little discomfort.

There was a time of adjustment-Belle found herself frustrated once again when she would go to hold a tea cup and couldn't even bring it to her mouth without violently shaking it. When she took tea once with Mr. Gold, she chuckled that had they not thrown the tea cup she chipped out, she should use it as a training cup, so she wouldn't ruin things any more of the beautiful cups. Mr. Gold's eyes got big, then he had laughed nervously in return and wouldn't even look at her and she assumed she must have overstepped some sort of social que, which she was always worried would happen.

After two weeks of forcing herself to use her right hand, she could at last manage to write again, to hold a book again, and to operate almost as if the accident had never happened. Something she had not done, as of yet, was ride a horse.

'But I must do it at some point.' She had offered when it was made known that Bae wanted to ride. Mr. Gold had insisted that she not think about going, that David was well enough able to take Bae. He looked almost as frightened as she felt, but she put her chin up and gathered strength and told him that she would go.

Animals can sense when someone is nervous, and Belle could see visible signs of the animal's agitation. Mr. Gold had come to watch, his eyes overcast with concern. Belle knew he had blamed himself for her injury, and knew it was causing him some discomfort, but Belle also knew she must conquer this fear, if she was to ever be able to get on a horse again. She threw him a smile of assurance she did not feel, and mounted her animal. There was no burr to cause harm, and as she rode with Bae nearby with David's lead, her confidence grew, and at the end of the ride, she felt certain she had made the correct choice to conquer her fear.

Mr. Gold's countenance looked less severe when she and Bae returned, and both her mind and her body seemed to have finally recovered from the time of the Mills visit.

Now that her right arm was back in commission, her lessons resumed its usual vigor, yet Bae continued to linger longer in the schoolroom before going to search for his Papa. He seemed to enjoy both of them in equal measure, which she hoped did not leave Mr. Gold upset. Weeks went by with her second shadow, and for all she could observe, her employee seemed to take this new turn of things in stride. Mr. Gold would oftentimes be on the search himself and find them together in the school room. The scratch and thump of his cane would alert Bae, and he always was joyfully pleased to see his Papa, but would also encourage him to join in whatever game, story, or activity they were already engaged in. Belle would always look at him, concerned, but Mr. Gold seemed more than willing to join them, and they went along in a pleasing fashion while the weather outside grew colder.

In due time, Belle changed out of her mourning wear and into the clothes she had ordered from town. She wept as she cast aside the clothes she had worn for nearly a year. All visible signs of the ever enduring aching in her heart were shed and she would now be expected to be as happy as anyone with a matching set of parents and a future set in stone.

She looked at the dresses laying on the bed, as she folded each one gently. She chose for that evening a light blue dress, and chose an adornment for the first time in a year. Not that she had many of these-this one was her mother's that she could not be prevailed upon to sell. She now had a small pearl brooch attached to her new dress and felt, as she glanced in the mirror, that for the first time in so many months, she could see some color in her face. She had always been a little pale, but the black had drowned any color that there had been before. Her curls were ever errant fiends, and she simply did her best there, and went to join the family that was becoming ever increasingly dear to her.

Mr. Gold's eyes became quite large for only a moment before he contorted his features into something resembling his normal countenance.

'Oh, Miss French, you're beautiful!' Belle reddened shyly at Bae's compliment.

'Thank you, Bae.' This time it was Belle who could not keep eye contact with Mr. Gold, his look, even with his calm facade, she could feel the intensity of it. She had hoped that with the all traces of the injury gone, the wild look of worry for her imminent disappearance would also be gone. It had lessened, but had by no means disappeared. This did nothing but confuse Belle, but she did her best to put it aside.

December came to Dark Manor in all its chilled splendor.

'You'll go out today?'

Mr. Gold looked at her warily as she helped Bae with extra layers to shield him against the cold.

'With your permission, sir. My mother always thought it did good for a child's constitution to be out in the fresh air a little, even if it was cold. We will not be out above half an hour, you have my word. I think it will do him good to run off a little of his energy.'

'I see merit in that plan-Beware of the lake, however. The ice there is thin. It hasn't been cold enough for long enough for the ice to be safe. I expect to need to wait until January to trust it.'

'Yes sir, we will avoid it.' She smiled, and he gave her a tight but warm one in return.

And so they did. For three days. Each day for less than an hour, they would go outdoors, and play. They threw snowballs, made snow angels, and Bae ran around with rosy cheeks and laughing eyes. On the fourth day Bae's energy was hardly containtable. He zig zagged from tree to tree, from snow bank to snow bank and Belle could hardly keep up. She had shouted at him multiple times to not go past the little grove of trees outlining the lake, that he should keep well away from temptation. But little boys have a tendency to play near boundary lines, even so sweet a boy as Bae.

'Miss French! I see a Brambling across the pond! How I wish I had my sketchbook with me.'

'Bae! You've gone too far, come back this way.' She said this breathlessly, as she had been attempting all the while to keep up with his sprints. Bae did not hear her and kept creeping nearer to the forbidden lake to see the winter bird.

'Bae, please!' She cried to the chilled wind, and she wondered if it didn't carry it the distance required.

All at once she lost sight of the boy and heard a small 'crack' before a shrill scream. Time went into slow motion, though Belle knew her legs were doing what they needed to do without thought. She had hiked up the layers of skirt and pelted off as fast as she had ever before, and reached the edge to see Bae writhing in the freezing water. She knew she had mere minutes to rescue him before he succumbed to the frozen depths, and she was grateful she was so near the edge, so as to reach forward to grasp his arms. She pulled, even as Bae's body was weighted down with water. She managed to get him up on the bank, his body trembling with cold.

'S-Sorry Miss French' He trembled, and she shushed him gently as she pulled every outer layer she had on to wrap it around him and picked him up to carry him to the house. It was slower going than she liked, and she screamed out names towards the house, hoping that a servant might hear. Unfortunately they had traveled far that afternoon and the house never looked so far away. Each quickened step towards the manor was increasingly heavy-she was a small person, and though Bae would be considered small for his age, the water and her own petite size made the trek difficult. However, she found her strength had increased more than was usual, in fact, she hardly thought of her weakened arm that had still not gone back to its full capacity to maintain weight. This did not signify. The only thing that went through Belle's mind was to get the boy to the house, to get him warm, and to pray that he paid no permanent price for her negligence.

At last the door to the manor loomed close, and she kicked at the monstrosity, as she had no more hands nor strength to knock at it properly or open it herself. Thankfully there was a servant nearby and opened it straightaway.

'Miss French! Bae!'

'Go get Mr. Gold to alert him and get Dove to send for a doctor straight away. I am bringing him to his room. Send another servant to draw him a warm bath, now go!'

She said all this in one continuous breath and she struggled to gain the stairs. The excitement that had given her momentum was starting to slowly melt away and she could feel burning in her arms and shoulders.

Chaos soon erupted in the house as the servant alerted the proper people. A servant rushed in ahead of Bae's father, for Belle knew that his ability to climb the steps was a slow process, even if she knew he would be frantic.

As servants helped her get Bae prepared for a bath, Mr. Gold limped in, eyes wide with fear.

'Bae! What has happened here?' He barked out, his voice tense and rough with what she knew was desperate with concern.

'He f-fell into the lake, sir.'

'What?!'

Belle swallowed, though her own heart beat furiously not out of fear from her employer but fear that the little boy would be ill from his accident. She deserved the fury.

The servants had taken Bae to bathe him and therefore they were alone in the room besides servants frantically coming in and out.

'I told you not to go near that lake! What possessed you to do such a thing?'

'Sir, I-'

His eye was a fire of fury, but he seemed to at least take in somewhat of Belle's own disheveled, freezing state-as her teeth chattered in her lack of outer clothing and the newfound strength depleted, leaving her weak and shaking.

'Go. Get changed. I'll see to Bae. And Miss French?' He said to her as she dejectedly left, though she knew there was nothing else she could do to help Bae, as he was well taken care of there-

'Sir?'

His tone was now silent fury and tense worry. 'Pray to God that he is alright.'

She nodded her head and left the room.

After getting herself into new and warmer clothes, she nervously went in search of news of Bae. She worried that she would be unwelcome in the nursery, so she thought she might find out something from the kitchens. Mr. Dove found her before she got there.

'Doctor came and said Bae would be alright, Miss French. Said he had been rescued so promptly that the boy only needed to get warm. Mr. Gold says he would not see you at dinner, as he wants to eat in the nursery with master Bae. Would you meet him in the library after Bae's bedtime, he would like to know?'

'Y-yes, of course.'

Dove's words tried to reassure her, and he even smiled at her, but it did nothing to belay the fears she had. He was, with good reason, angry with her. She should have never even gone near the little strip of trees, she should have kept up with him, she should have kept him to the front of the house-so many things she should have done. She just thanked the Lord that her dearest little student was alright. She would have never forgiven herself if he had taken ill…or worse.

She went back up to her room to shed the tears that would not be retained. They were coming from a mixture of emotions, of thankfulness, of fear, of shaking anxiousness of the day that had been. Her body was still shaking from the weakness that was left from the depletion of her strength, and she had almost decided to forgo dinner. Her stomach rumbled despite herself, so she made her way to the staff dining hall.

All eyes were on her when she entered, and whispers were making their way around the table.

'Is it true you carried little Master all the way from the lake to the house…and in nothing but your underlayers!?' Mary asked incredulously.

'I, I suppose so. I can't say I had much thought as to what I did.' Belle smiled shyly.

More was said that evening, but Belle could not pay much attention to it at all. She dreaded the conversation that was to be had in only a couple of hours. She would be let go-Mr. Jeffrey would have to be written and begged to take her in. She would go in shame for what she had done,and would anyone hire her, knowing her deficiency in managing Bae? She would be dependant on Mr. Jeffery's charity and what then?

The hall was blurry as she left it. Tears stung her eyes and she did her best to wipe them back. Her knees threatened to buckle under her as she entered what had always been a sanctuary to her since Mr. Gold had shown her the wonderful room. Now it was to be the room of judgment. She walked in, took her place at a chair he showed her. She dared not do more than glance at him, though she was thankful his features looked softer than they had been a little while before. She knew he was looking at her intently-she could feel it, and she rubbed absentmindedly at her sore arms.

There was silence between them, and she both dreaded and yearned for the conversation to be had-so that way it could be over and she would know her fate. She decided to be brave.

'Mr. Gold allow me to apologize for today, though I know nothing I say can take back what happened. Only-Only that I…that I would never…' She couldn't even find words and the tears that had been coming off and on that evening appeared once again and she stifled a sob. Now she had tears that would only increase her mortification of the entire day.

'It's alright, Miss French.' His voice was soft and warm and she darted her eyes up at him incredulously.

'Bae has told me what happened-and has been very insistent that he was the one at fault and that I judged you much too harshly.'

She could hardly believe his words.

'But I was responsible for him, sir. I should have never been that close to the lake-I thought that…'

'That he would stay in the boundaries you set, yes, and so he should have, and so I believe he will forever do. This has been a punishment that I daresay he will remember for the rest of his life. But I-I think I need to apologize for how harsh I was to you earlier.'

'It's nothing, sir, you had every right to be worried and angry.'

'But I should have trusted you. You care for Bae, it's obvious that you do-and you risked yourself to save him and risked catching a chill yourself-and carried him all the way back and I did nothing but shout at you. I hope you will forgive me.'

She looked intently at him, tears still settled on her cheeks, though they were now of joy and relief. He pulled out a handkerchief and she took it gratefully.

'There is nothing to forgive, sir. I would do anything for Bae.'

He nodded solemnly. 'Yes, I believe you would.'

Author's Note:Next is Christmas! I thought I would be able to add Christmas time to this chapter, but things got away from me, lol So Winter at Dark Manor will be a two part-er

I again based Belle's recovery from her break from observing someone recover from being in a cast for 6 weeks. It took a while for them to completely regain the same strength, and I researched and found bad arm breaks could take an additional month for them to be able to take on similar weight than they did before.