He was so excited he felt like he could burst. So excited that he was tempted to go back over to the library that night, sweep Belle up into his arms, kiss her soundly and tell her his good news.

But he didn't. For her sake, he somehow managed to wait, reminding himself that she had the funeral tomorrow morning and had promised lunch afterward. Oh, it was like torture waiting for her. What a remarkable change. All his life, he'd kept things to himself, good news and bad news, a few weeks with her back at his side, and it was all gone. Every sin he'd ever committed, he was suddenly willing to confess. Every shred of good news he had he wanted to share.

He managed to hold on through the next day. He watched her return to her library that night and stayed put, telling himself they'd gotten very little sleep the last few days, and she needed to rest before the funeral. He managed to slip home, shower and change, in the early hours of the morning. After a night of making tiny adjustments to the potion for his power, and watched her slip into a car that picked her up when it was time for the funeral. He managed it…but by the time she returned, dropped off again by Ruby well before what could be considered lunchtime, he was ready to burst. He gave her a few minutes to change her clothes and then called her.

"Rumple?!" she questioned, sounding worried when she picked up. Why was worry always their first reaction?

"Belle, can you come over to the shop? I need to tell you something, now. I-I…I am sorry, but it's too important to tell you over the phone! I want to show you!" He was aware he sounded like a child at Christmas, too excited by a new toy to pause and take a breath, tripping over words, stuttering about. But he'd held it in so long, and the ache in his chest was prevalent by the time she said, "Yes, yes, of course. I'll be right over," and hung up on him.

He waited for her at the counter, preparing for her to come through the door and be the first thing she saw. A joyful face, that was what he wanted her to catch onto. She stumbled into the shop quickly, sending the shades on the door flying and those on the windows rattling as she shut them perhaps a little too eagerly.

"What, uh…what's wrong that you couldn't tell me on the phone?" she asked.

He beamed as she met her at the front of the store, feeling human and excited and nervous and scared all at once.

"I did it!" he hissed over the counter at her. "I can leave."

There was a moment of quiet as her mind worked through the riddle he'd given her, but then it began clear, and a smile bloomed over her own face as she stared at him in bewildered disbelief.

"You can cross the town line?!"

"Indeed, I can!" he confirmed. And gods, it felt so very, very good to say it out loud to someone who knew the true importance of it all. It felt even better to pull one of the vials he'd spend all this time working on closer to show her.

"When I pour this potion onto the object that I hold most dear, that object becomes a talisman. It allows me to cross the town line and still remember who I am."

"And who you're looking for."

"My boy," he finished, feeling light at the realization that she'd understood it all. Perhaps not the magic, but its significance, the true importance of crossing the town line wasn't lost on her in the least. And he loved that knowledge.

"What…what will you enchant?" she questioned, reaching forward to hold onto his hand. The question caught him off guard. Had he not shared that news with her yet? Not shown her the shawl he'd been keeping in his safe? He was beginning to forget everything he told her. Not out of wanting to keep things to himself, just because there was so much.

"Well…" he pulled his hand free from her grasp and turned to swing the painting forward and reveal his safe. From inside, he pulled Bae's shawl free and set it on the counter before her. "This shawl is all I have left of my Baelfire…"

She reached her hand out for it and touched it as though it was holy, as if what was precious to him was precious to her as well, and he could have sworn that he felt his heart warm at that gesture. He needed to come around from the counter. He needed to kiss her soundly in celebration of what he'd done and what they'd done.

"I don't suppose…I could come with you?" she asked timidly, glancing up at him from under her eyelashes.

That was the one downside to all this. He wanted to take every step on this journey with her, but he understood that this wasn't something he could share with her, not the way he wanted to. He would go, and he wanted her to go for many reasons. But what had to happen between him and Baelfire needed to happen between him and his son alone before he brought Belle into the picture. But that still didn't stop him from dreaming about the possibility of taking her with him.

"No…" he shook his head sadly. "I truly wish you could…but I only have enough of this potion for one object." And the time it would take him to develop it for her was not any more time he was willing to take for his son. Besides, it might be dangerous out there, too dangerous. And he had hidden the dagger with her knowledge so that she could play her role here. She needed to remain behind.

Fortunately for him, she nodded in understanding, even if he recognized that the gesture was sad.

"Hey," he whispered, finally unable to stand the distance and marching out from behind the counter. "This is my journey, Belle…this is my journey…and I'm afraid this is something I have to do alone."

"I know," she smiled as she pulled him into her embrace, and he eased into her, feeling suddenly like every dream and fantasy he'd ever had was about to come true, like he was about to get everything he'd ever worked for in his very long life. It was finally in his grasp. He couldn't wait.

The damn clock interrupted them again, chiming the half-hour and pulling her from him before he was ready to release her. "We should celebrate," she insisted. "I'll finish my chores at the library early, you can drive us out to the town line, and we'll test it…together. Then we can go back to your house, and we can talk about your plans over dinner."

He nodded at her suggestions, his heart bursting at the suggestion that she'd be returning to his home, the one that he'd barely been to since she'd left. He'd never noticed it before her, but now that he'd had her in his life and in that house, he realized that she was what made it into a home. The opportunity to relive that in honesty, to pull her into his planning…it was overwhelming. All he could do was nod, let her kiss him before she left the shop, pocket his vial of magic and return the shawl to the safe before heading into the back to start on something that might keep him busy until she returned.

I know it's a short chapter, but it's also a short scene. That being said, short or not, I feel like it really is a chapter that translated so well from page to screen, even more so than Belle's version did. This was quite obviously a moment that had to be seen and felt from Rumple's perspective to be really felt the way it needed to be.

Thank you so, so much, Grace5231973, for your reviews of the last chapter. Personally, I love this chapter, and I hope you will too! It's really just a happy snapshot of happy Rumbelle, and we don't have nearly enough of those! Peace and Happy Reading!