Chapter 6:
Bella and Gold talked a little on the way to the station and Bella explained her relationship with Emma to the powerful man. She wanted him to be on her side for as long as possible and she knew that in order to make him want to help her, she had to show him that she trusted him, she had to let him in, hoping that he'd let her in as well and that he'd become a friend. If he considered her a friend, he'll be less inclined to betray her, he'd think twice before doing something that would hurt her if she helped him. If he ever was to go back to being at his worst, she wanted him to think twice about hurting her and the people she loved. He could care and she needed him to. Caring about her even a little bit could make him hesitate just long enough for her or someone else to find a solution.
When they arrived at the station, they found Emma and Graham making out in his office, wrapped tightly in each other's arms while Emma was sitting on the desk, her legs wrapped around his waist. They were so into each other that none of them realized that they weren't alone in the room anymore.
"Hum hum…" Bella fake coughed with laughter in her eyes, making the couple jump apart.
"Bella, Mister Gold… I… We… hum…" Emma didn't know what to say.
"You were?" Bella asked her with great amusement, remembering when, a few years ago, Emma had been the one catching her making out with her boyfriend of the moment.
Of course at the time Bella had been 16 and eager to fall in love, to feel loved, Emma was now a grown woman who claimed that she didn't believe in love anymore. Bella felt like she was allowed to gloat a little. It was a sweet and somewhat funny revenge.
"She was helping me remember." Graham jumped in, trying to help ease Emma's embarrassment.
"Breaking the curse will take some time if Miss Swan has to make out with every single person in town in order to do it." Gold chuckled.
"And unsanitary." Bella joked.
"Very unsanitary." Gold nodded, amused.
"It could be very entertaining though. I even think some people would pay to watch her do it. Maybe that's the perfect way to raise money to repair Henry's wooden castle and the play ground." Bella added and even Graham chuckled.
"I imagine Doctor Whale paying for such a show, yes." Gold nodded.
"Very funny, now that you've had your laugh, care to tell me what you're doing here?" Emma asked her.
"By the way, it's a good thing we were the ones to come in and not Regina. Who knows how she would have reacted to this sight." Bella commented.
"True." Graham nodded with a suddenly paler face.
"You came for a reason or just to catch me making out like a teenage girl?" Emma asked, obviously remembering the same past moment as Bella had when she came inside.
"At least you still have your bra on." Bella pointed out.
"True. If I remember correctly, yours landed in the trashcan." Emma smirked, remembering when she caught Bella and entered just as Bella's bra flew in front of the door.
"Anyway, I came because I want to show him the page in the book where Regina locks Belle in her tower because he still thinks that she's dead." Bella added, taking the book and turning the pages.
"The tower?" Graham asked her.
"Yes, why?" Bella asked him.
"Did you see her? Was she okay?" Gold asked him.
"No, sorry. Regina didn't allow me in her tower, I was only allowed near the prisoners that she kept in the dungeons. I don't even know how many people she had in that tower of hers. I know that shortly before she cast her curse someone, a pirate a think, managed to break in and even killed a guard in doing so but she took care of it." He explained in an apologetic tone while Bella flipped through the pages of the book, looking for the one she had told Gold about.
"A pirate? Do you know who?" Gold asked, thinking of his enemy, the one who, he knew it, wanted him dead.
"I have no idea, Regina never said anything except that she had handled it." Graham shook his head.
"Here, that's the page." Bella nodded, showing it to him.
Gold took the book in his hands and started to read. As he went on, the emotions on his face were a mixture of happiness at the knowledge of Belle being alive and anger at Regina for what she did to his beautiful love.
"She planned it all… She rushed things, rushed Belle who in turned rushed me, put ideas in her head so she could take her away from me… She'll pay." He growled.
"Calm down, we need to be careful about this." Emma advised him.
"No, I just need to thrust my cane through her chest." Gold replied angrily.
"If we have to arrest you for getting rid of Regina, you'll never be able to find Belle and have your Happy Ending with her." Emma reasoned with him.
"We don't even know what Belle's cursed identity is. We need to search a bit, see if she even has one and then we'll be able to look for her." Graham decided.
"We can also keep an eye on Regina and her moves in town. See if there are places where she goes that a normal woman in her situation wouldn't go." Emma added.
"Before we do anything else, we need to get my heart back or she'll just keep on controlling me and she'll get all of this out of me before you can find Belle." Graham reminded them.
"She could also very well kill you. Even without magic around, crushing your magic heart would kill you here and now." Gold added.
"Henry and Mary-Margaret are coming here after school but she texted me earlier that Katherine met the gym teacher already and she could see love happening. At least that is done. I'm sure Henry will be able to help us get the heart back." Emma explained.
"Isn't this a bit too dangerous for him to get involved with?" Graham asked.
"I think it would be even more dangerous not to tell him and not to let him help." Bella replied, letting her instinct speak.
"Your instinct?" Emma asked her.
"Yes." Bella nodded.
"Then we'd be crazy not to listen to it." Emma nodded.
She remembered very well how the last time she hadn't listened to Bella ended up. Bella had warned her that selling the watches was a bad idea, yet, she had decided to trust Neal and had done it. She ended up in jail, pregnant and alone while Neal was probably spending that money somewhere, getting the new start she had wanted.
"So Miss Blanchard knows everything as well?" Gold asked.
"Yes, she doesn't remember everything but she knows and believes what's in the book." Emma replied.
"So you know that she's your mother?" He asked her.
"I do." Emma nodded, eager to change the subject.
She wasn't ready to talk about this yet because even if she now knew why her parents had let her go, they still did it. They could have kept her with them, and they would have grown up together, as a family but they didn't and she had to be alone. She still resented them a bit for that.
After a few more minutes, Gold left them to go back to his shop and Bella decided to join him to try and learn as much as possible about the curse and the town. When the curse broke, she wanted to be ready for anything and since he was willing to help her, she was going to take advantage of it.
"So, do you happen to have any idea of who I am?" She asked him.
They had the book with them and he had just read the last page of the book.
"According to that last little paragraph, I'd say that the Author of the book is your father."
"Do you know him?" Bella asked him hopefully.
"I didn't even know the Author was a man until I read this. I don't think anyone knows who he is but once the curse is broken, you might want to ask the fairies." He replied, saying the last word with disdain.
"I get the feeling that you don't like the fairies much… Why? They're supposed to be super good, right?" Bella asked him.
"I have a bit of an history with them, especially with Blue. She could have helped me when I was a boy but she ignored my cries, then when I became the Dark One to help my son, instead of helping me keep my son and change back into a good man, she helped him escape from me."
"I saw the story in the book." Bella nodded.
"She could have reopened the portal right behind my son, I know that now because I later found out more about the fairies' magic but she didn't because she judged me on my color, literally." He explained, not hiding his resentment at the blue fairy.
"She does sound a bit judgy, I mean, I've read Tinkerbelle's story on one page and it was just… I don't know. It just seems a bit too harsh a punishment for me and forcing Dreamy and Nova apart was just cruel. It's her fault if Dreamy became Grumpy and without her intervention, Tinkerbelle would have kept trying to get Regina to believe that she deserved love and the curse would have never been cast." Bella replied.
"I'm not a fool, I know that I'm an evil man but I can't help but think that if I had left with my son, I'd be a better man. Milah was right all along, I should have left my home when we got married. Everything would be different by now."
"Why didn't you?" She asked him.
"I was afraid. I've grown up knowing that my father was a coward who abandoned me, who didn't care about me and I've always been afraid of being like him, of losing my family… It turned me into a coward, in all areas of my life." He replied honestly.
"I… I'm actually very surprised at your honesty with me right now. Maybe it shows that you're ready to change, to become a better man. If this book teaches anything it's that it's never too late." Bella suggested.
"Or maybe I can feel that you and Emma are powerful and I don't want to be on your bad side." He smiled.
"I don't think that's totally it. I mean, yes, sure, a part of you wants to be on our good side so we don't end up going against you but I have a pretty good instinct on things and I can tell that you want a new beginning, your happiness. You just need to keep in mind that how powerful you are doesn't matter, what matters to get your happy ending is how far you're trying, truly. Doing good things is what makes you a good man and being a good man is the first step into getting your happy ending." Bella advised him.
"You seem to have a great insight on happy endings. What makes you think you're right?" he asked her, still pretty calm.
"Every book I've ever read." She smiled.
"Including this one?" He asked her, pointing to Henry's storybook.
"Yes, I spent all day yesterday reading it and taking notes on everything and I have to say, whoever wrote this book seems to have a grudge against Regina because only her bad traits are portrayed."
"I see… Well, I can't promise that I won't disappoint you, but I'll try to be a better man until we find Belle. Just don't expect me to change the way I treat the fairies. I still have my limits." He told her with a tentative friendly smile.
"We all have our limits, we become better persons by pushing them further away with every step we take." She replied wisely with a small smile.
"You'll keep me informed of anything that relates to finding Belle?" He asked Belle.
"Of course. Here, that's my cell phone number, call me tonight and I'll tell you what we discussed with the others." She told him.
After that, Bella spent a couple more hours with him, discussing the people in town and who they were, when he knew it. He told her about his fail safe, the golden egg hidden in Magnificent dragon form's chest. He explained that it contained a potion made of True Love that would help him break the curse if Emma couldn't do it. He also told her the few things he knew about his son in hope that she could help him locate his whereabouts but unfortunately it wasn't much to go on.
"Maybe when magic is back we'll be able to find out more about him. At this point, even what he looks like would help." Bella told him.
"Or the name he's using." He nodded.
"Emma might be able to find more about him if we had more information… I mean, all we have is Baelfire and something tells me that he's not using that name now." She shook her head.
"I know, I've got my work cut out for me but I'll find my son, I didn't do all of this just to fail so close to the goal. We're finally in the same realm after so many years apart. I'll find him."
"Being optimistic is the right way to go." She complimented.
When Bella finally left the Pawnbroker's shop to go back to the station, she had her head filled with the knowledge she had just learned. She had been surprised by the Dark One's openness with her but she knew better than to take that as a win. He was the kind of man who could make her feel like they were becoming friends right before he sent her on the road to hell to be slaughtered. She knew she had to stand on her guards but she also knew that as long as they were looking for Belle, he'd be on their side. Once they found Belle, they'd have to make sure the woman was on their side, willing to help Gold becoming a better man. If what they shared really was True Love, she'd be able to do it.
.The Sorcerer's thoughts.
I wonder how they'll take it when they find out who Baelfire is. It's nice to see Emma opening up to the possibility of love but I know that deep down she still loves Henry's father. How will she react when she finds out who he is and that he, too, left her for what was supposed to be her own good? It's a good thing my daughter will be here to help her like she always has.
I can't help but care about Emma as well, she's such an important part of my daughter's life, how could I not? I love her like one would love a niece and I'll do my best to protect her the same way I would my daughter.
I was happy to realized that my daughter didn't fall for the Blue fairy's act. She felt like something wasn't good in the fairy just by reading the book. She didn't need to trust her hand in the fairy's chest to know her heart is darkened by her past and that her decisions are clouded by her mistakes. I've never been a big fan of Blue and I know that she's afraid of me. I threatened her with my hat once already, I almost sucked her inside it and I can't wait for her to find out that Bella is my daughter.
I know that the look on her face will be worth it.
Bella thinks I have a grudge against Regina? Well, if only she knew the truth, how deep my grudge goes and why...
So, what's the verdict?
Thanks for reading and reviewing so far, I hope you'll keep at it. We're getting close to chapters that haven't been rewritten and that are new.
Lorelei Candice Black