He always woke early, at first light. Morning after morning, predictable as always, even as Mr. Gold, the sunrise compelled him to wake and get moving. But something was wrong this morning, different. There was a weight on his chest and his first instinct was that he was having a panic attack following one of the nightmares he'd been haunted by when his memories came back. However, that made little sense to him this morning. He hadn't had a nightmare last night. He'd had a dream. A wonderful and beautiful dream. The Curse had been broken, he'd finally brought magic to this terrible place, and the best part of it wasn't memories or magic. It was her. He'd dreamt that Belle was alive, that Regina had kept her locked away all this time, her existence hidden from him, but she'd escaped. His True Love had come back to him, and his mind allowed him to explore what it would be like to have one more day with her…one night.

He dreamt that they'd made love, just as he'd always wanted to, just as he'd always wished he had after he'd lost her. It had been remarkable; it had felt incredible. He'd claimed her instead of turned her away, and they'd come together as he never had with any other woman in his life. He didn't know that sex could feel that way. And after they'd finished, they'd curled into each other, holding one another until they'd fallen asleep. He'd been so relaxed that even as the Dark One, the voices allowed him to sleep beside her. And that was where the dream had ended.

It was a dream! Not a nightmare at all. And now the dream had ended.

Ended…but…if he wasn't panicked, if he hadn't had a nightmare, then the weight on his chest…

He kept his eyes closed but dared to expand his other senses, acknowledging he was awake but unwilling to face the truth if he was wrong. Laying in bed, he was naked. And the weight on his chest...it was moving, breathing against his bare skin, was it possible? Could it be real? He told himself it wasn't, that there was a reasonable explanation, not to get his hopes up. Then he prepared himself for disappointment before opening one eye and then another.

His heart stopped.

His mouth dried.

The air he had in his lungs left.

And his eyes suddenly watered with tears as he fought to maintain himself and understand what he was seeing.

She was real. She was alive. Yesterday wasn't a dream, last night had happened, and now she was nestled against his bare skin, and she was…beautiful? Incredible?

Indescribable.

That was it. For there wasn't a word adequate to describe what she was first thing in the morning.

Belle was sprawled out against him, pressed against his side, just as they had been when they'd fallen asleep. He had placed a sheet over them last night to keep them warm against the chill he knew was coming in the morning, and even if he couldn't see her now, he felt as though his body was sensitive to everything against him. Her breasts were pressed against him, his arm was around her shoulder and back, his fingers resting at her hip bone which was scraping against his own, and one of her legs was bent at the knee resting over his own. She was deeply asleep, her breathing even and steady. Her hair was tangled, probably from the number of times that he'd grabbed it last night. He'd touched her…everywhere. He'd seen everything. Together they'd been magical, but even now, sound asleep the morning after, she was gorgeous, far more beautiful than he'd ever suspected.

There was only one problem: the look on her face.

Her brows were knit together, her face wrinkled, and the hand that she had on his chest was in a tight fist. She was asleep, but every now and then, some muscle in her face gave a small, unnerving twitch and her heartbeat hitched. It was morning, but she was still so deeply asleep that dreams held her, and if he wasn't mistaken, then it was she who was in the midst of a nightmare.

He'd watched her sleep in the Enchanted Forest more times than he was proud to admit. Not out of fear for her safety or because he was a voyeur, mostly he'd just wanted to decode the Seer's hint that she would be important to his future. Important she was, but not a single time that he'd watched her sleep had she ever had that look on her face. So, if it hadn't been there before she'd left him, then...

Remnants of what Regina had put her through? Something he hadn't been there to save her from? Something that had come after?

On instinct, he reached out and wrapped his hand around the one lying against his chest. To his surprise, it eased; the muscles beneath her skin loosen, her fingers relaxed, and he was able to slip his own hand into her grasp. It was amazing. When he turned his head, he half expected to see her there awake, but she wasn't. Her face had remained the same. And that look…it was like a knife to his heart. He didn't want to wake her, rouse her from the healthy sleep he imagined she so desperately needed after her ordeal, but he didn't want to leave her like that either.

Magic, he could feel it coursing through him, stronger than it had the night before. He could fix it. He could fix her. He could make sure she never had another nightmare again, never suffered a bad dream for the rest of her life. But when he lifted his hand to settle it over her head, he found himself struck by another thought.

He hadn't needed magic on her hand, at least not that kind of magic. True Love was a magic all its own. He wondered, could he ease her dreams the way he had her hand?

Gently, easily so he wouldn't wake her, he reached out and gently brushed his fingertips against the skin at the small of her back. She didn't wake up. Slowly he moved his hand up her back, taking in every bump of her spine, the flexing of her shoulder blades, even the slight puckering of her skin from the early morning air coming in through the windows she'd opened last night. When he'd made his way up into the hair against the nape of her neck, he checked again. Nothing. No movement at all and no difference on her face.

He swallowed nervously, then applied a bit more pressure as he let his hand make its way down her back this time before coming back up. This time something changed. She didn't wake, and she didn't look any better than she had before, but as he repeated the motion, making more long strokes up and down, he felt the muscles in her back he hadn't even realized were tense suddenly ease, her shoulders curled further into him. He moved the hand wrapped around her own over her entire arm and watched as it relaxed as well.

It was remarkable. Nothing but his touch alone had done it! Outstanding! He'd never been able to do that before, not for anyone else he'd ever slept with, few as they were. But that damn brow!

Without thinking about it, without planning it, he used the arm around her back to hug her closer, pushed the hair away from her forehead, and placed a delicate kiss against her forehead.

That worked. To his shock and amazement, when he pulled away, the wrinkles in her forehead vanished, her brow evened, and though she was still asleep, he watched as a small twitch pulled at the corner of her mouth. She smiled. It was small, and it was brief, but it had worked. No magic, just himself. He'd calmed her nightmares and put a smile on her face even when she didn't know she was smiling. He could have cried with happiness and wonder, thankfulness even.

In a moment just as natural as the first had been, he reached down again and kissed the top of her head. "I love you," he whispered against her skin.

She sighed, smiled, then hugged him closer and fell quickly back into a deep sleep again.

He beamed, followed the instinct he had, and continued to move his hand up and down her back as he stared at the ceiling, perfectly content to hold her in his arms.

Heaven help him, he was in deep. So much deeper than he ever thought. He did love her, madly loved her. He'd known it the moment he let her go, that he'd fallen for her, but he didn't know just how fast or how far until last night, until this morning. He didn't believe moments like this could exist, that he could feel joy like this, pure happiness just by watching another human being sleep beside him, cling to him as she was. He'd heard it was possible, seen it on television and read about it in books. To him, it was about as real as a fairy tale. But here he was, joyful. Even in her sleep, she was making him feel loved, more loved and precious than he'd ever felt in his entire long life. He could stay here with her forever, right here, just like this, and be perfectly content all his life.

But he couldn't.

That was a truth he wasn't prepared for. But it was just as much a reality as this.

He'd let her go before, and though he'd done it stupidly, he'd done it for a good reason. Bae. He'd been waiting forever for this moment, not the one that had him alone in his bed with Belle, but rather for the one that he could get to the world without magic. For hundreds of years, he'd been waiting for the moment he could bring magic to that world, for the moment that he could find his son and get back even a fraction of the life that he'd had before he let him go. This morning was just as much that moment as it was this moment with Belle. They pulled him in opposite directions. Belle wanted him here, at rest, still. Baelfire demanded he rise and get down to business.

He couldn't stay here, much as he wanted to. There was work to be done, work that had to be done in town. He couldn't have his cake and eat it too, but as much as he hated the idea of leaving her, he knew she'd be safe here alone for the day. Here, she could rest and recuperate, and he could make his way into town and begin the process of figuring out his next steps.

If only he could get away.

He glanced down at her sleeping form, beautiful and peaceful. He didn't want her to worry, or panic, or even wake. But she was so tangled around him that there was no way he could leave without rousing her a bit. Not even magic would allow that.

He placed his cheek against the top of her head and tightened his grip on her, savoring the final moments he had her there so he could come back to the memory throughout the day. Then, with more courage than he knew he had, he kissed the top of her head and loosened his grip. "Belle," he whispered, "I love you, Belle."

She stirred slightly, but not enough to let him move. So he placed his lips against her forehead again and kissed.

"Belle, I love you, but I need you to roll over for me."

This time she heaved a sigh, a heavy one. She squeezed his hand, and finally, he felt her recede as he'd requested. Her leg moved, she withdrew her hand, and rolled over, turning her back on him and leaving him free to get up.

Immediately he regretted the decision. The second she was gone, he wanted nothing more than for her to be back against him, for them to be sleeping soundly, wrapped up in each other, and to make love again when she really woke up.

But he couldn't. He had to go. He knew he had to. With reluctance, he rolled out of bed in a hurry, afraid he might change his mind if he didn't do it right then.

He glanced behind him when he stood, wondering briefly where his clothes had been dropped last night, then wondered why it mattered. She'd seen everything, just as he had last night, and she hadn't turned away, hadn't looked at him as though he was less than perfect. But he shouldn't have looked at her as he was now. He shouldn't have stared at her bare back and the swell of her backside as he was right now. If he did, he was likely to climb back into bed and stay there with her.

Baelfire, he reminded himself. Think of Baelfire. That thought alone propelled him forward. Quickly, but still quietly. He closed the windows, making a note to turn the thermostat on again before he left, and collected his clothes, all the time thinking how wonderful it would be to get back into bed with her. He showered and thought about the fact that she was in his bed. He dried himself off and thought about whether the moonlight or sunlight did her more justice. He dressed and watched as her sleeping form continued to shift restlessly on the mattress.

As he sat in the chair to put shoes and socks on, he watched her roll over one more time, her arm automatically reaching for his side of the bed where they slept last night. While the idea that she was unconsciously looking for him should have broken his heart, he couldn't stop beaming. During the night when he'd held her close and she hadn't moved once. Yet, in the time since he'd gotten up, he'd watched her roll over what seemed like a dozen times. He let himself think it was him, that she was searching for him, for whatever comfort he'd provided. It was endearing but also tempting. If he didn't leave now, he might use it as an excuse to climb back into bed with her. As it was, before he left the room, he couldn't stop himself from quickly pulling the tangled sheets at her waist up over her beautiful form and kissing her forehead again.

"I love you," he repeated for what must have been the hundredth time in the last twenty-four hours. He wondered whether or not he'd ever get tired of saying it. No. He'd missed an opportunity to tell her once, a long time ago, and regretted it for far too long to ever let that happen again. As far as he was concerned, he'd tell her every morning, every time he saw her, every moment they had together to make up for the lost time.

I've been waiting for God knows how long to bring this freaking chapter to you! This is one of those moments that I saw very clearly in my head for Rumple when I was writing Moments, but as Belle was asleep at the time, there was no good way to bring up why he got into the habit of rubbing her back in the mornings. There was an opportunity in Moments Told and Untold for Rumple to explain it to her, and that's a sweet chapter, but it's just so much better reading it from Rumple's POV.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Spunkymouse and Alarda, for your reviews on the last chapter and for letting me know it went well. That chapter always makes me so much more nervous than the others. It's great to know you enjoyed it, though! Now, fair warning, officially, we are, of course, done with the 2x01 chapters only...unofficially, we're not. Things are about to slow down in this fiction. Way down. Like...I split "the Morning After" chapter into two chapters slow down. Why is that? Well, it's two things. The first is the timeline. I know it's confusing, but not to me. I've said it before, but for anyone new reading, I keep a meticulous timeline for this show; to the point that at any time, you could ask me what the date is in Storybrooke, and I can tell you with a fair amount of confidence that it's probably within a week of A&E's timeline. Now, the timeline screws you over in this season because, in the beginning, A&E told fans that we should assume that a season takes place over the course of a year. Spoiler alert...it doesn't. It's impossible. Given the hints we've had, Season 1 takes place from about October to March. The trouble is they realized this after the fact, and so at the start of season 2, they were much more...let's say ambiguous about time. They eliminated a lot of confining temporal words and phrases (yesterday, last week, next month), and that sort of leaves everyone to assume how much time is passing. Now, toward the end of the season, they begin to drop it as they accept that things are not happening over a large span of time, and this is why post-season 2, a lot of the meat of the season takes place over the course of a week or two. But, here we are in season 2A, when they were trying to take time up, so to make the storyline work with the timeline, I added time. These first four episodes especially were great for adding time. The downside? It really slows the story itself down. For hardcore Rumbellers who really want to see them together and want fluff and the pair in a relationship and trying to figure out what a relationship looks and feels like, I do believe you are going to love this little section. If you are eager to get beyond 2x04...it's going to feel a little long. Oh, and that second reason for it being long? That's my fault. Not to throw myself under the bus here, but it's Moments Seen and Unseen's fault, and we'll get to why that is in a few chapters. In the meantime, Peace and Happy Reading!