Author's Notes: I do not own Once Upon A Time. Thank you so much for the reads and reviews and follows. I appreciate it. If it helps, this chapter takes place after the events of The Return. I mean, except for the flashbacks, but you know it's timey wimey. Please let me know what you think and happy reading!
In Storybrooke, Regina Mills was a respected if somewhat feared mayor. That came with a certain expectation of behavior, even if they were all cursed imbeciles. She couldn't go around giving out the verbal lashings she wanted to, but that left one person she did still get some joy out of torturing.
She went through the exit door that led to Storybrooke Hospital's mental ward.
The icy nurse was waiting as ever.
"Any visitors?" Regina was confident there would never be any. Gold thought she was dead. Moe thought she was a fallen woman. Just like the Enchanted Forest. Still, one could never be too careful with Rumplestiltskin as her adversary.
"No visitors," said the nurse. "She has been sick, though."
"The poor little dearie," Regina said with an irony only she recognized as she walked towards room twelve.
She opened the hatch and looked inside. Belle did look positively pale. Or that might have been not having left her room in thirteen years.
"He's still not coming," said Regina. "Not now. Not ever. He doesn't even know you exist and even if he did-"
Regina's taunts were interrupted by Belle dropping her head to vomit the hospital slop. Regina stepped back in disgust and shut the hatch.
That had really taken the fun out of that.
Belle took a deep breath as she passed the "Welcome to Storybrooke" sign. Beatrice had dozed off in the front seat and she was grateful that the screams hadn't resumed.
She hadn't been here since the day she left in the ambulance for Boston. The details of how she had ended up in the mental ward were all a haze. Her father's disapproval was the only thing she was certain of.
Her whole life was a haze. She could only guess at it. What had happened? She wasn't going to have any answers here, all she could do was disappoint Beatrice.
She drove on anyway.
Since August's deception, Gold had found the pleasure was really taken out of his usual routine. It had, of course, been progressively lessening since Emma's arrival awoke him from the Curse. Some things had been more fun, like taking Moe French's van or having Mother Superior pay him the rent. Seeing the rest of them suffer the Curse was just starting to be tiresome. It was a testament to Regina's limited imagination that she could have possibly gotten satisfaction from lording over this cursed town for twenty-eight years.
Of course, now it was rather fun to watch to her work desperately to save it all.
So it was merely out of routine that he went to Granny's for the rent on his rounds.
"Is it rent day?," asked Granny.
Oh, why did this woman insist on being so tiresome even in her cursed state? Would it kill someone to greet him with something other than some excuse about the rent? At least in the Enchanted Forest people would at least amuse him for a moment with how they needed to leave their larcenous parents or how they needed to forget their True Love. Even Regina had become monotonous here with her single-mindedness about getting rid of Miss Swan.
"Yes-" Gold began with disdain.
"Excuse me?"
He froze in mid-sentence.
That voice. Unforgettable. Unmistakable.
Impossible.
Gold turned to see the face that accompanied the voice.
Impossible. Older maybe, but not in any way that would ever matter to Gold or that he would even notice. The modern clothes seemed strange, but the colors were all her, but, still.
Impossible.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," said Belle. "You were doing something."
"No," he said softly, "no, it's quite alright. Be my guest."
Belle smiled and edged up to Granny. "I'd like a room, please."
"Just you, honey?"
"No, actually, my daughter and I will be staying."
Daughter. That word dealt a blow to Gold.
"How many nights?," asked Granny.
"I'm not sure actually," said Belle. "We're on a bit of a quest."
"A quest?," asked Gold.
Belle turned to face him and shrugged. "It's hard to explain."
"That's quite alright."
"Here you go, hon," said Granny, giving her a key.
"Thank you."
Beatrice awoke in the car. It was parked outside some inn. This had to be it. She grabbed her bag and got out of the car.
Being from New York as she was, Beatrice wasn't much for small towns. This one, though, it was all wrong. Everything seemed slightly out of date. For one thing, the cars. Nobody had a new car, like the positively ancient Cadillac on the corner. She walked around. The shop windows seemed just a little bit out of date. She supposed that was the whole frozen in time thing.
It wsn't long before she found a diner. An actual diner and looked inside to see August.
August looked up at her in shock. "Beatrice, what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" She sat down in the booth next to the kid. "Well, let's see, at night I've been visiting a Netherworld in my sleep-"
"Beatrice-"
"And I got this!" She pulled down her sleeve, revealing the bandaged arm. "Oh, yeah, then this!" She pulled the other sleeve.
"I'm sorry, Beatrice. I thought that world was closed off-"
"Apparently, it's not! It's wide open! And I am trying to explain to my mother that I'm not some emo girl who burns herself, but it's kind of hard considering she doesn't know who she really is, but I've managed to get her here and now I need this stupid curse broken!"
"Is Neal with you?"
Beatrice snorted. "Yeah, he's got serious Daddy issues."
"Has anyone seen you? Like Regina or Mr. Gold?"
Beatrice looked at the kid. "Who is he?"
"I'm Henry."
"He's got the same book as me," said Beatrice.
"Has Mr. Gold seen you?"
"I have literally no idea who that is," said Beatrice.
"Wait, so she knows about the curse, too?," asked Henry.
"Um, hello," Beatrice said holding up her wrists, "I've been in a Netherworld talking to Princess Aurora every night."
"You what?," asked August.
"Yeah, I tried explaining Doctor Who. She didn't get it."
A week after her last visit to Belle, Regina walked down the street doing the usual morning rounds.
That's when she noticed Mary Margaret, Doctor Hopper and Marco standing around the clock tower. Other groups had gathered as well.
"What's going on here? What's all this?," asked Regina.
"Oh, good morning, Madame Mayor," said Doctor Hopper.
"We just couldn't help but notice the clock moved," Mary Margaret offered weakly.
Regina looked up. For thirteen years, the clock had sat at 8:14. It now said 8:15.
Which could only mean the Curse was weakening.
She stalked immediately into Mr. Gold's shop.
"Good morning, Madame Mayor," he said as he wiped down the glass case.
"What did you do? To the clock?"
He looked at her as if she were crazy. "To the clock?"
"It moved!"
"Oh, you mean above the library? Such a strange occurrence."
"And you had nothing to do with it?"
Gold looked at her curiously. "Do I seem like the sort of man to go around fixing clock towers?"
"You are the sort of man who does anything he sees fit to his purpose."
"And to what possible purpose would repairing the clock be?," he asked incredulously.
She eyed him again. He really had no idea what she meant. She turned on her heels and left.
Because there was only one other possible explanation.
Gold tried to be subtle in following Belle out of the inn. Subtlety was in short supply as the town pariah walking with a cane.
"Oh, my God!," Belle exclaimed.
He turned, grateful for an excuse to talk to her. "Is something the matter?"
"My daughter, she was asleep and I didn't want to wake her and now she's..."
Belle put her face in her hands.
"Perhaps she just went in search of you. How old is your girl?," asked Gold.
"Sorry?," asked Belle, casting him a suspicious glance.
Gold smiled. "It might help if I knew who I was looking for."
"Right, of course, she's fifteen."
"Fifteen? That's an interesting age." Indeed it was, as it explained nothing.
Belle shrugged. "I think it might be the one that does me in."
"Is she trouble generally?"
"Beatrice? No, it's always been just us and she's never given me any problems until recently and she's not trying to be trouble. I don't know, I-" Belle stopped herself. "I'm sorry. I sound like a crazy woman. I shouldn't lay all of this on you."
"No, not at all." He paused. "Beatrice?"
"I know, everyone always has that reaction, but it's from a play-"
"I know. Much Ado About Nothing."
Belle smiled. "I read it when I was pregnant with her. No one gets it."
"Her father didn't care for it?"
"It wasn't really an issue." She paused. "There's not a coffee shop, is there? She sort of has a caffeine addiction."
Gold motioned. "Granny's is just there. Perhaps that's where your girl went."
Regina went back to the hospital expecting to see the nurse. She was there, joined by Graham and Whale.
"Sheriff, what are you doing here?"
"Investigating a crime."
"A crime?"
Whale spoke. "The patient in room twelve is pregnant."
Regina now thought she would be the one to throw up.
Whale continued unaware of the mayor's distress. "She's three months and since she's been in here as long as anyone can remember, that means someone got in. She's so non-responsive that it had to have been by force."
"You can't know that," Regina said futilely.
"I just spoke to her myself," said Graham. "That poor girl doesn't have the presence of mind to consent to anything. she barely knows who she is."
Belle was non-responsive because she had no memories. Regina hadn't given her any. It was more fun that way when she came to see her. She gave Gold the sad memory of a brief lost love. She gave Moe the memory of a daughter who sold herself. She gave Belle nothing because she needed nothing.
They also couldn't know that Belle was three months pregnant because she must have been close to that when Regina cast the Curse. New life couldn't grow in Storybrooke, time was frozen. Hell, Cinderella had been walking around whining about being pregnant for thirteen years. That had already gotten old.
Yet somehow Rumplestiltskin's spawn was growing if the morning sickness was anything to judge by.
Regina walked back down the hall and looked through the hatch.
Belle still didn't know who she was, but somehow her eyes weren't quite as blank and lifeless. There was a spark in them as she sat on the bed, hand over her belly.
If this were the Enchanted Forest, Regina would have had any number of ideas. The child could have always been used as a bargaining chip with Rumplestiltskin, she always needed those. Or she could have adopted the child, trained him or her and enjoyed a delicious bit of poetic justice in the final destruction of the Dark One. Perhaps child could have stabbed father with his own dagger. Regina had a bit of fun fantasizing about that particular scenario.
This wasn't the Enchanted Forest, though. If the child was possessed of any magic as the seed of the Dark One's true love was bound to be, then he could only be a problem. The only magic in this world was that which was brought here. What if the spawn weakened the Curse any further? What if it somehow awakened Rumplestiltskin?
Regina had nightmares about what he would do to her if he found out.
Well, there was just one thing to do.
Inside Granny's, Beatrice could not believe what had happened.
Beatrice looked at Ruby. "No mocha?"
"No."
"Latte."
"No."
"Americano."
"Sorry, just coffee..." Ruby said warily.
"Oh, God, what have I done?," asked Beatrice.
August looked at Ruby. "Just keep the coffee coming."
Ruby nodded and walked back to the counter.
"If you grew up in New York, that means you can leave!," exclaimed Henry. "Why can you leave?"
"I don't know," said Beatrice. She looked back at August. "Why can I leave?"
"Guys, this is all fascinating, but-" August's face dropped.
"What?," Beatrice asked, turning back. Belle had just come in with an older man with a cane. There was something about him. Everyone in the diner looked away.
"Your mom's here," said August.
"Who's she with?"
"That's Mr. Gold," Henry supplied.
Beatrice looked back at August. "And who is Mr. Gold? Why wasn't I supposed to see him? Is he going to do something to her?"
"No," said August.
"Beatrice..." said Belle. "August, what are you doing here?"
"I write here."
"You know Mr. Booth?," asked Gold.
"Oh, yes, we're old friends," said Belle.
"How nice," Gold remarked. He looked to Beatrice. "And this must be your girl."
"Yeah, here she is. The elusive Beatrice," said Belle.
Beatrice watched Gold. He was looking her over, for what purpose she couldn't figure out. He stopped at her glasses and then again at the bandages on her arms. Beatrice tugged her sleeves down self-consciously.
"Well, Miss French," said Gold, "now that you're reunited with your daughter, I suppose I should be leaving you."
"Thank you for your help," said Belle.
"Not at all. If you need anything while you're here, you can find me at my shop." He turned to August. "Mr. Booth knows where it is. I believe I'll be seeing him there later."
"Right," said August, looking not so thrilled about that prospect.
Gold nodded giving Beatrice one last examining look and walked off.
"He seems nice," said Belle.
Henry looked at Belle in shock.
"Seriously, what is happening here?," asked Beatrice.
"You ran off again," said Belle, sitting down next to August. She looked at Henry. "Who's your friend, August?"
"This is Henry," said August.
"Hi, Henry. I'm Belle."
"Belle?," Henry asked in disbelief.
Beatrice shook her head. "I know, right?"
"I should go," said Henry. "My mom will be looking for me."
Beatrice got up to let Henry out.
"So, Belle," said August, "what are you doing here?"
"Neal told her."
"Neal told her what?," asked August.
"Seriously," said Beatrice, "let's just stop the crap, okay?"
"Beatrice..." Belle warned.
"No, really. I'm sick of playing this game where I come off crazy," said Beatrice.
"Beatrice," said Belle, "what is it you're hoping to prove?"
She motioned around. "None of this is right. The fact that you can't get Savior Girl to see it is just a little puzzling."
"Who is Savior Girl?," asked Belle.
"She means Emma Swan," said August with a shrug.
Beatrice remembered the prediction of the voodoo woman. "I'm sorry did you say Swan?"
"Yes," said August.
Swan.
Dragon.
Oh great.
It wasn't hard to convince Graham and Whale that the most humane thing to do was to send Belle French away. The Storybrooke mental ward was no place for her. Surely, in a city like Boston they would have the facilities to help her. Perhaps if she did ever regain mental competency, Graham would be able to resume his investigation into who took advantage of the poor girl. The worst possible thing would be to leave her in the place where she had been so misused.
This course of action also had the added benefit of sending her beyond the town line.
It was almost a shame Rumplestiltskin would never know that his lost love was so close and she carried their child. Regina had no intention of waking him up to tell him.
Regina sat in her Mercedes at the side of the road out of town watching as the ambulance carrying Belle went past the town line.
Nothing happened. The ambulance drove safely on its way.
She really hated that imp.
