Belle

I finally had enough courage in me to meet my biological father, Maurice French. I couldn't explain how it felt, it didn't feel real that's for sure. I was sort of worried about how he would react to me. Would he be happy or would he cry? Would I cry? So many things were running through my head. I was thankful that I had Regina and Henry with me. She was going to meet her real father too.

Our first stop would be the hospital, where Doctor Henry worked. I could tell Regina was just as nervous as I was. Her hands were shaky while on the steering wheel and her eyes kept checking the rear view mirror, not for traffic, but at Henry who was sitting in the back seat of her Mercedes. I supposed she did have a lot more to worry about regarding her son, but she wasn't meeting a complete stranger. We've all met Doctor Henry before and he was a really nice man, I didn't doubt he would be happy to have my sister as a daughter and a new grandson.

The three of us made it to the hospital and got some help at the reception desk as to how to locate Dr. Henry's office. The lady at the reception desk was pleasant and nice enough to escort us there.

"Regina its so good to see you." He said getting up from his desk to greet us. "And look at you Belle, all grown up already, how old are you now?"

"16."

"16? My, how time flies. Seems like just yesterday you were only 5." he turns his attention to my nephew, shyly hiding behind his mother. "And this must be Henry."

"My mommy said your name is Henry too."

He gives him a handshake."It is. Its nice to meet you Henry."

We sat on a small sofa in his office, Henry sits in Regina's lap, still shy and refusing to leave his mother's side. Dr. Henry takes his seat back behind his desk and the room fell quiet and awkward, which only made me worry about meeting my father, would we have this awkward silence too? Regina only looked down at her shoes, not making any eye contact with the man who was her biological father.

"So Regina, how are you?" Dr. Henry asked breaking the troublesome silence.

"I'm good I guess," It got quiet again, until Regina broke the silence this time. "You know this is all very strange for me. Did you have to have sex with her?"

"If this is your way of asking me do I regret it, no I don't." He said ardently. "You're mother was a complicated woman and I was a lonely man. But if you give me a chance-"

"I have a father." Regina said flatly.

"I know-"

"He's the only person who's ever been there for me." Regina continued, and she was right. Rumple loved her and never judged her about anything, unlike Cora.

"I understand Regina-"

"Do you really? Because I don't. None of this makes any sense."

"I understand how you're feeling, you're confused about why all this happened. But that's just life, I would think you out of all people would understand what life does to a good person." Dr. Henry said making Regina cling to her son tighter.

"I know you're upset and I can't thank Mr. Gold enough for raising you into a beautiful young woman." He remarked affectionately, but Regina still hadn't looked at him. "You know, I was the doctor who pulled you out of your mother. I've birthed many, many children over the years as a doctor, but I remember when you were born."

"You do?" Regina asked.

"Yes, you were this little baby girl, with hair black as night and pure brown eyes. It was something about you that just.. just stuck with me." He sighed ruefully. "Then I had to give you away to your father. He was so happy to have you. I remember him crying and I remember thinking that this man is the luckiest guy in the world."

"But he wasn't," Regina said quickly. "You should have said something, you could have told him."

"I didn't know for sure Regina. And I didn't have the heart to break someone else's."

"But I grew up without my real father, without actually knowing you." She vented.

"But you did know me," He explained. "When you were 6 and you broke your arm, don't you remember the special cast I made for you. Black because it was your favorite color." He said, which gained him a smile from her. "And when you were 11 and had a stomach virus. Remember when you were feeling better I had the kitchen fix you a nice juicy steak because you had your appetite back."

"I remember." she nodded with a warm smile.

"Regina its never too late for me to start. I've never had children before, but I always wanted a daughter." He confessed. "You don't have to call me dad or whatever, just let me be there for you, like I should have been."

"Okay." She finally said. Doctor Henry got up from behind his desk and gave Regina a big hug, they continue to talk and got to know one another. They even set a date to meet up for lunch. I hoped I would get the same successful results when I met my biological father.

We left the hospital and our next stop was the coffee shop where we all got tall cups of hot chocolate. Mine was full with marshmallows and chocolate chips, Regina's was topped with caramel and toffee nuts. Henry got the works, marshmallows, mini chocolate chip cookies, sprinkles, whipped cream and cinnamon. I didn't want to think about the sugar rush he would have later.

"Regina can I ask you a question?"

"Duh what's up?" She said before taking a sip of her hot beverage.

"It's a question I'm not suppose to ask." I said nervously fumbling with my cup.

"What, like a sex question?" Regina chuckled. "Belle I think you're far from still needing to learn about sex."

"No its not that." I rolled my eyes, Regina was never able to take me seriously.

"Well what then?" She asked, turning onto Main Street.

"You know how I told you about Ruby and Dr. Whale. How they're in love?

"Yeah?"

"What if- what if I like an older man?" I asked just letting the words roll out my mouth.

"Then you like an older man, its not unusual." She said with a small shrug. "As long as it's not like some old geezer, but what about Will?"

"I still like him, but I don't know, it's just- I don't feel as close to him as I wanted to be." I confessed. Ever since I forgave Rumple, it felt like me and Will were drifting apart.

"Well you should do whatever makes you happy," She said taking a sip of her hot chocolate and looking in her rear view mirror to Henry. "Just don't do what Ruby did or I did, just wait."

Honestly I was alone in my situation, there was just no one I could talk to about it, I couldn't tell Regina that our father was the older man I was attracted to. And I would be completely devastated if what happen to Whale happen to Rumple. But a question still lingered in my mind, what will happen when I do become of age, would my family be more susceptible to us then?

We made it to the flower shop named Game Of Thorns. I certainly found that funny, since it was a play on words for my favorite show. Of course Mr. French didn't know that it was my favorite show. But just like how Regina named her son Henry and didn't know her real father was named Henry too, maybe there was just this connection between us.

"Hello?" I called out entering the shop. Nobody was at the registers, but I could hear rustling in the backroom.

A tall man stepped from the backroom, not particularly noticing that I was there. "We're close, come back in the spring-" He drops the pot he was holding, awe stricken by my presence. He seemed to recognize me which was weird because I've never met him before. "Belle, is it really you?" He asked in disbelief while stepping over the mess he made.

"Yes. Its nice to meet you." I said with some uncertainty, I wasn't sure what I was suppose to say to him, but I held my hand out for a handshake.

He doesn't shake my hand, he just looks me over with tears welling in his eyes. They were blue, like mine.

"Can I- can I hug you?" He asked and I nodded. He practically broke down while I was in his embrace, but it was as though I could feel his pain, all the years he spent wondering about me. "Oh Belle this is all I ever wanted, just to hold you." he said wiping his tears.

"I'm sorry my mother kept me from you, if I had of known-"

"No, don't apologize for her Belle. You're here now that's all I care about," He sniffed. "Wait here, there something I've been wanting to give you."

He returned with a painting of me as a baby, but the painting wasn't painted with paint, but with rose petals. "Your mother gave me a picture of you when you were only a month old. I enlarged the picture and been working on it ever since."

It was a masterpiece if I ever saw one, and he made this for me without even actually knowing me. It was beautiful and so detailed. The texture was even soft when I touched one of the petals on the picture.

"Its beautiful, but how did you keep the petals from dying?"

"A painstaking process, you see I have to treat each petal and it takes a day to dry. Then I have to re-texturized it to make the petals soft again. Once that has time to dry, I'm able to layer the petals on the picture. I used pink roses to match your skin tone, and blue for your eyes, but I had to dye white roses to match your hair."

"You did all that just to make a picture of me?"

" Belle every dream I ever dreamt was of you. Doing this hobby was the only way for me to feel close to you."

"But you didn't even know me, why did you care so much?"

"Because when a man becomes a father, his children are all that matters. I may have not known you, but I always loved you."

I was blown away, fathers and their daughters, was there ever a stronger bond? Probably not. "I think I'm allow to have two fathers." I said with a smile and saw his eyes lit up because I accepted him.

"I think you are too." He said smiling too.

"Wait, were you the man who use to wave at me after school?"

"Yeah you caught me a few times, I just needed to see you."

"Why didn't you try to talk to me?"

"I didn't want to scare you, "He chuckled. "I would have looked like a lunatic running up to you saying, Belle I AM YOUR FATHER." He said like Darth Vader and we shared a laugh.

We continued to talk and really got to know one another, he was very sweet man and didn't mind answering all my curious questions. He also told me about how he wanted to reveal himself as my father, but because my dad was the most powerful man in town, he thought it would end badly for him. He showed me around his shop and even gave me and Regina a bouquet of carnations to take home with us.

xox0xox

After a few more months, things were becoming clearer that me and Will were just not meant for each other, but we still carried on as a couple, we hid behind the lies we told ourselves, that maybe tomorrow things would get better, but they didn't.

I didn't dwell on it much, because in the back of my mind I thought things would just work themselves out. But if I were honest with myself, I didn't want them to. Not with Will.

It was sort of like Rumple and I started over, but this time we built on a stronger foundation. We took things a lot slower then before, we relearned each other on a more romantic basis. I didn't sleep in my room anymore, I didn't feel it necessary, the only reason why I did before was because of Cora. Now that she was gone I was able to indulge myself.

And It felt right, like this was where I belong. Though I wasn't ready to completely end things with Will because I was still a little unsure. But I could tell Rumple was really trying. And perhaps I was trying too.

"I suppose you're making a habit of this." Rumple asked rolling over after just waking up.

I yawned. "Don't act like you don't like it, be honest, you're happy I'm back in your bed."

"I'm not unhappy." He smiled softly. "Come here." Rumple pulled me closer to him and I rested my head on his shoulder. I loved being in his arms, where it felt safe.

"Do you have to go to work today?"

"Yes, if you want me to keep Whale out of prison, I have to."

"But when you leave the bed, it gets cold." I casually pleaded.

"I can lay here a moment more." He said and I cuddled into his warmth some more then sighed, I couldn't help but think about how this was what I always wanted. "What are you thinking about?" He asked.

"Us."

"What about us?"

"That for a long time this was what I wanted. No Cora, no lies, no secrets, just us." I told him.

"It could still be that way."

"It could but-" I trailed off, I didn't want to breathe life into his name and honestly I didn't want to talk about Will.

"Yeah I know. And tonight's prom. I'm sure he will want to go to third base tonight." He turns to me. "You won't let him will you?"

"I don't know, maybe?" I teased.

"Belle!"

"Only kidding." I smiled.

"Good, because I'm still your father, I don't want to think about you having sex with anyone." He said cupping my chin to meet his gaze.

"Unless its you?"

"Unless its me." He agreed.

I haven't thought about him sexually in a while, but I definitely missed it. The way he could make me melt underneath him, watching his hair move as he rocked himself in and out of me, of course I missed it. "So you still think about us.. in that way?"

"Yeah."

"What do you do when you think about me?" I asked, it certainly was a turn on that he still thought of me in that way.

"I touch myself." He said embarrassed by it, but he didn't have to be, I liked that he still thought about me sexually.

"And do you say my name just when you're about to-"

"Belle," He said cutting me off. "What are you doing?"

"What, I was curious."

"And how often do you get curious about me, and what I do?"

"Um-, lots as of lately." I confessed while biting my lip.

"Well allow me to put your mind at rest. You are the only woman I think about in that way."

I loved when he called me a woman, when I'm with him, I even felt like one, not like a teenager.

"I think about you too." I blushed. "But I still cant." It would be wrong to have sex with him while I was with Will. If I did, I would only be doing to Will what Rumple did to me. I just couldn't hurt Will, no matter how bad I wanted Rumple.

"I know." He sighed. "Well I think I should get ready for work."

"Okay. Promise you'll be home in time to see me off to the prom?"

"I promise sweetheart." He said placing a fatherly kiss on my forehead. "I wouldn't miss that for the world."

He got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to get ready for work. I stayed in the bed basking in his scent, not ready to get up or leave his room. I eventually got up anyways when my stomach growled alerting me that I was ready for breakfast.

"What are you doing sneaking out of dads room?" Regina said startling me.

"What- Damnit Regina, you scared me and I'm not sneaking."

"Did you sleep in his room last night?" Regina asked, she always felt it necessary to voice her opinion about me and our dad. She always thought Rumple was babying me.

"So what if I did?" I huffed folding my arms over my chest. "It's not your problem."

"Belle you're 16, stop acting like a damn baby. You cling to his coat tail like a little girl."

"Oh my God, just leave me alone you wouldn't understand."

"Understand what?" she asked.

"Nothing." But I felt like she understood, especially when I saw the change in her expression to one that was sort of disgust.

"Look I get that you feel sorry for dad, and maybe you feel the need to replace Cora. But you're his daughter, he will never think of you in that way." She said before walking off.

I wished that we were closer. Regina wasn't the type of sister I could just bond with, she was just so hard nature, and I even felt like she hated me at times.

xox0xox

It was prom night and my nerves gotten the best of me, My other father Moe stop by to see me off to the prom as well. He even made me a yellow rose corsage to match my dress. It was very sweet of him and I appreciated the effort he was making as my new dad. My sister helped me pick my dress, it was gold with embroidered stitching around a plunging neckline, that left almost nothing to the imagination. She claimed that I should show a little more now since I was 16. I reluctantly agreed to wearing the revealing dress, maybe she was right, perhaps I should show a little more, I knew I wasn't going to be the only one scantily clad when Ruby texted me a picture of her dress.

Rumple gave me a diamond necklace and earring set for the occasion. It was beautiful, the diamonds glistened and sparkled every time I moved or when the light reflected it. When Will arrived, Regina took our pictures and I even took some with her and Moe before he left. Regina left too, Henry was asleep upstairs so she decided to go out with her friends for the night.

It was getting close to the time for me and Will to leave and my father pulled him to the side into the den to speak with him alone. Of course my curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to make sure Rumple wasn't harassing him about tonight.

"-Bring the wide end through the loop, and then you're able to pull it to the appropriate size you want the tie knot to be, for a prom I recommend a medium size knot." He said fixing Will's tie.

"Thanks Mr. Gold," He chuckled. "I'm not very good with ties, this is only my second time ever wearing one."

"Well you will have to know how to tie it on your own. Pretty soon, you'll start going on job interviews, and your first impression should be the best." He told him before pulling up at chair to sit in. "Have a seat." He told Will.

Will took his seat cautiously on the sofa in front of Rumple. I leaned against the doorway carefully so I could eavesdrop without being seen.

"Everything okay?" Will asked.

"When you take my daughter out, just remember that there is someone at home waiting for her to return in one piece." He said with a stern face.

"You don't have to worry Mr. Gold, I have my Driver's license."

"I'm not talking about just your driving skills." He said before scooting to the edge of the chair to get closer to Will. He wasn't being intimidating or anything, more like concerned. "I know you kids today forget that adults were once teenagers too, I know what happens after prom night."

Will looked confused. "Oh no, Mr. Gold you have the wrong idea-" Will tried to explain, there had been only one time between me and Will and that went horribly wrong. I really don't count it because we didn't even make it that far into the act itself.

"That's besides the point. Look Will, Belle is very special to me, and I just don't want her to get hurt again."

"Who hurt her?" Will asked.

"I did, and she's only now starting to forgive me, but I fear we won't get back to the way we were. I lost her trust, but you have it now. Just don't make the same mistake I did, always choose her, because Belle deserves that, she deserves to be with someone who'll make her happy. And I guess that someone is you."

"And what about now? Have you chosen to put your daughter first?" Will asked.

"Yes I have, she'll always be my little girl, and nobody will ever take that place from her."

"Belle's lucky to have you as a father, I think she'll forgive you."

"I do forgive you." I told him, walking into the den.

"You do?" Rumple asked in shock that I was listening. What Rumple said made me see that he was who I wanted to be with, he finally valued me as not just his daughter or his lover, but as a person too.

I walked over to Will and took him by the hands, he got up from the sofa and stood in front of me. My heart was heavy, but I couldn't keep doing this with him anymore. "Will I'm sorry I can't go to prom, I want to spend tonight with my family."

"But I thought-"

His eyes shifts down with disappointment, I didn't want him to be sad, but if I continued this with him, I would only be hurting him more. "Will, lets face it, we haven't been the same for a long time, and its my fault for dating you to try to get over him."

"Him... Gaston?" He asked.

"Sure, yeah Gaston." I lied to cover for Rumple. "Will you're a nice guy and I have no doubt that you will find the perfect girl for you, but I can't give my heart to you when it belongs to another."

"I understand Belle, I wasn't completely over Ana when I started dating you. I guess we just needed each other until our hearts were healed enough to go back to where we wanted to be." He said.

He was such a nice guy, I had no doubt he would find a girl that would appreciate him as much as I did as a friend. "Can you forgive me, so we can remain friends?"

"Of course, like your father said, you deserve to be with someone who makes you happy. Maybe its not too late to see if Anastasia wants to go to prom."

"I think she would love to go to prom with you, After all she did try to fight me over you, I think she still cares."

He smiles and gave me a hug. I was thankful that he was so understanding, unlike Gaston when I broke up with him.

I walked him out and we said goodbye one last time. "See you later Belle, I hope everything works out with you and Gaston." I smiled and wished him good luck with Anastasia before closing the door.

"So, Gaston huh?" Rumple asked apprehensively.

"No daddy, you." I giggled before wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing my father deeply, like I been wanting to do for months now. He scooped me up into his arms and carried me off to his room.

Rumbelle 2017
And nope were not done yet...
-RL
(p.s. This has also been a test chapter. When Belle was listening to others talk, the perspective felt it changed to third person. So my question is, would you like story to be converted to third person perspective (no I's and Me's) while still keeping POV chapters, or should I just shut up and leave it alone. lol)