He sat in the library, hidden among the shelves of books, quite confident that any moment now, she'd walk through the door to investigate her new domain. He'd been here since he'd left the inn; come right over, not only to wait but to make sure the library was safe for her. He couldn't cast a protection spell over it, not yet. The way the magic worked, a spell like that would work strongest once she'd accepted this place was to be hers. But he did make some changes to the elevator, moving the outer controls inside so that she wouldn't be tempted to venture down into the mines. Dragon or no dragon, it was the last place he wanted her to be. With magic, it was an easy solution. He only wished the rest of what he had to do was that easy.

Honesty. He had one more chance, one more shot to be honest with her, to give her the answers that he needed to give to her, but wanted…

He wanted to be honest with her. And at the same time, the thought of being honest with her, truly honest, made him sick to his stomach. And now, thanks to Ruby and David, he knew why. Honesty of the heart wasn't something that he could give to her without giving himself.

It should have been easy. After all they'd shared and all they'd done, how they'd lived in these last few days and the confirmation from Ruby that she hadn't shared any more than was necessary after going, being honest with her should have been the easiest fucking thing in the world. And yet, here he was trembling at the thought of it. It wasn't because he didn't love her. It was because he didn't love the truth of what he had to tell her. He didn't love what he'd once been, what had led them to this place.

He didn't love himself.

Embarrassing and cliché as that was, it was what he was running from. If he told her about Bae, then he had to tell her about himself, about the parts of himself he wanted to keep from her, from the world! Milah, the war, his ankle, how he'd failed Bae, maybe even about his romance with Cora…he hated the thought of it. But he understood now that telling her about his past was more than just telling her about Baelfire. It began with him. So long as he kept that person locked away from her, so long as he hid that part of himself from her, then he could never truly live in that honest way David had spoken of.

Ruby had given him an unexpected hope this morning. "Give it time," she'd said. "I'm not saying she's going to give you a warm welcome when you see her, but I think with time, she'll change her mind. She seems hurt, but not broken."

Give it time. She might change her mind. She might return to him yet again. But it started here, with him. If he didn't give her this truth, his raw truth, he didn't know if she'd ever come around or ever trust him enough to come back. If he had the chance, then he'd do anything to keep her in his life, however short it may be.

Not for the first time this morning, he considered the truth serum back in his shop. He thought about summoning it to him once more, about taking it so that nothing was left to chance. But this time, before he could give in, he heard the door to the library groan open. A truth serum would need time to take effect. It was now or never.

"'We shall sit in our library…and yet be in all quarters of the world,'" he quoted, stepping out from the stacks to find her looking over to find her standing there. She'd been happy, a smile had been on her face, and her eyes had been wide when she'd first seen him, but now that she realized he was here, that they were alone together, he watched heat pour into her eyes as her gaze narrowed.

"You gave me the key?" she questioned, a hint of disappointment in her voice. That was what he'd been afraid of. This position was perfect for her, but he was worried that if she knew he'd gotten it for her, she'd walk away. She would, he knew. Unless he could fix this; unless he could end this encounter on a positive note. He knew what that was going to take.

"I heard you were interested, and I, uh…I made some inquiries," he shrugged. "There's an apartment of the caretaker if you want it."

She let out a frustrated sigh as she shook her head. "If this is some way to win me back, after everything you've-"

"That's…that's not why I'm here," he choked out. It wasn't. He was hoping that eventually getting her back might be one of the outcomes, but it wasn't why he was here, he reminded himself. He would have been here even if Ruby hadn't told him there might be hope. He'd have been here because he owed her the truth. He needed to tell her the truth. She deserved it.

"I came because…you're right," he explained, moving carefully toward her. His heart was racing, and he made no effort to stop it. He was sweating, and he did nothing to cool himself. He had to say the words. He needed every ounce of energy he had to get them out. He had nothing to waste on himself and everything to give for what he needed to say. What he needed to say…

"About me…I am a coward," he finally choked out around the lump in his throat. "I have been my entire life."

He's said it. That dreadful, terrible word that had been following him ever since he was a boy, the one that the town had called him, that Milah had taunted him with, that Baelfire had screamed at him the night he disappeared, the one Belle had used before she'd left…now it was out in the open between them. And he felt…not relieved. But not terrible either. Numb, perhaps.

"I tried to make up for it by collecting power," he admitted. "The power became so important that I couldn't let go. Not even when that meant losing the most important person in my life."

It played on a loop in his mind. The sound of Bae screaming as he clung to his danger, the feel of his hand slipping through his fingers, the sight of nothing but solid ground where a portal had once been.

"Your son…" Belle finished for him, drawing his gaze back to her. She knew. She understood. He knew that she would. And suddenly, the tightness he felt around his chest since he'd found out she'd left the house eased.

"Baelfire…is his name," he informed her. It was the first time he'd spoken that name to another human in a long, long time. Besides the Blue Fairy and August, wherever the fuck he was, she might have been the only one in town who now knew that name. But he didn't panic in telling her like he worried he might. He knew, without a doubt, that his secrets were safe with her. Just as hers were safe with him.

"After he left, I dedicated myself to finding him. I went down many, many paths until I found a curse that could take me to the land that he'd escaped."

"Here," she finished again.

He nodded. It wasn't a detailed account of what happened, but it was a start. It was enough to satisfy himself, and he hoped that for now, it was enough to satisfy her. Was it enough to bring her back to him? After he gave her "time"?

"And now I find myself in this little town with only one thing left to do…wait for the curse to be broken. So that I can leave…and find him."

She nodded, accepting the truth he'd just laid at her feet, the admittance that he'd intended to leave the town and maybe even her one day to find his son. The silence created in those seconds felt like it might have lasted hours, maybe even days, before she finally shrugged again.

"But instead of looking for him, you…you brought magic!"

"Because I'm still a coward," he answered quickly, surprising even himself. Telling the truth…was it contagious? Because this was the part in the argument where he'd come up with some excuse or tell her that it was a good thing, he had brought it back because it turned out he needed it. Instead, he'd told her the truth without even considering it himself.

"Magic has become a crutch," he admitted to her, "that I can't walk without. And even if I could, I now know I could never leave this place."

"Because anyone who leaves forgets the people they love," she reasoned, suddenly moving closer. Not toward him but rather toward a bookshelf closer to him. She leaned against it and fiddled with her fingers. It wasn't where he wanted her to be, but coming closer to him, willingly, had to be better than getting farther. "So when you go to look for Baelfire…you won't know him."

Which was why he didn't regret bringing magic even if he knew he'd brought it for unsavory reasons. He might have brought it because he wanted it. Now he knew that he needed it.

"Magic comes with a price…" he reflected. "Belle, I have to break this new curse. That's why I was using magic, that night you saw me, down in the basement."

She pulled her gaze from him and looked away as if the memory was painful. Or maybe it was just that she thought he was manipulating her, that in answering her questions, she thought he expected her to fall back into his arms, and they'd go home, and things would be what they were. He wished for that, if he was honest. But he didn't expect it because some part of him understood it was no longer possible, not after she'd been out here in the world, not now that she had a job and a home of her own and a friend willing to help her. He was here to try and "win her back," and at the same time, he wasn't. He was here because…because…

"I have lost…so much that I have loved," he finally choked out, realizing that he was crying and couldn't remember when he'd started. "I didn't want to lose you, again, without you knowing…everything."

It was a far cry from everything. They both knew that. But it had been a start. He'd done what he wanted to do; the rest…time had to tell. So, he swallowed hard, trying to keep his tears in check, and stepped forward. He didn't want to hold her, quite the opposite; though he'd never been one to desire physical affection, he suddenly felt that all would be well if she reached up to hold him. But he knew she wouldn't, and if he didn't touch her at least one last time…

He curled his hand against her cheek, brushed his fingers against her skin, and realized as she met his eyes that she was fighting back her own tears. How did he ever think he could manage a clean break with her? If this was truly the end and Ruby was wrong, he knew there would be pain on both sides. Oh, how he hoped…

"Goodbye, Belle," he muttered before lowering his hand, tightening his grip on his cane, making his way toward the door as best he could, although it felt like it was miles away. "Give it time," the wolf had said. "I think with time, she'll change her mind." With time, maybe-

"Do you…have you ever had a…hamburger?"

Her words froze him before he could reach the door. He closed his eyes as something cool and calm settled over him at her question. She'd called after him. He'd expected he'd have to wait days if not weeks and months for her to reach out, and yet here he was, barely a few feet…he sighed, then opened his eyes. He collected himself before turning and offering her a smile he didn't have to try too hard to produce.

"Yes, of course."

She rolled her eyes and nodded at his response, then danced on her toes a bit so that he noticed she'd pulled herself away from the bookshelf as if to come after him. Was that a good sign?

"Well…I haven't. But I hear that Granny's makes a great one. Maybe…maybe we could try it sometime?"

Sometime. Time. Not today, maybe not even tomorrow, but leaving here with the promise of something to come was more than he thought he'd be walking away with. He'd be a fool not to take it as the blessing it was.

"I would like that," he nodded with a smile on his face.

He couldn't wait for "sometime."

Completely expected chapter. I know a few of you have been waiting for this one, and I hope that I wrote it well. Interestingly I took the opposite approach to write Rumple's side of this than I did writing Belle's side. The Moments version is long, there's a lot of pauses and gaps, and I did that because I felt like Belle was waiting for the answer, and when you are doing the waiting, it always seems to take longer than it feels. But when you are the one doing the presenting, even if it's something you dread, I feel like it always feels rushed. I think that's just the cost of living at the moment.

Thank you, Grace5231973 and Alarda, for your review of the last chapter. I really appreciate it. I know hearing Rumple call himself a coward and divulge the little that he does here to Belle isn't fun; we're all dying for him to give her the truth and nothing but the truth (and by that I mean all of it, not just the bare bones), but I also hope that you'll see this chapter as the start of a turning point. Up until now, Baelfire and Belle have been two separate entities he's been struggling to devote himself to. They are certainly two separate things, but this is at least the start of combining "lover" and "father" into one complete person. I hope you'll like it. And I hope you'll like how I had him change the controls of the library elevator to explain away the differences between season one and season two. Character development aside, I've gotta keep up on those continuity errors! Peace and Happy Reading!