Author's Notes: I do not own Once Upon A Time. Thanks for the reads and reviews and follows. I love getting them! Please let me know what you think and happy reading!


Belle's mother had been gone for six years. She felt it acutely over the day and had shocked Rumple by being terse and perhaps even unpleasant. She had finally been forced to relent and admit the significance of the day.

"I think I have something that may help," said Rumplestiltskin.

Belle looked up from her book and saw an ornate carved chest at Rumplestiltskin's feet. "My mother's..." She looked up. "How did you...?"

He waved his hand. "Magic?"

"What if my father looks for it?"

"Do you suppose he would?"

Belle didn't answer. "Thank you," she said as she knelt at the chest and opened the latch. She went through the contents as Rumplestiltskin sat next to her. There were various examples of fine embroidery and a leather bound book.

"Did your mother do these?," Rumplestiltskin asked, fingering the woven silks.

"Yes."

"She was good."

"High praise knowing the critic," Belle said with a smile.

"Spinning and weaving are dangerous hobbies for noble ladies."

"Don't worry," said Belle. "She had all the skill. I didn't get any."

"Fret not, dear Belle. I can provide any spinning you might need."

Belle smiled at him and found another smaller box with the same shape and carving as the one it was in. Belle opened it and revealed a sizable amount of jewels.

"Are these all your mother's?," asked Rumplestiltskin.

"You didn't look?," asked Belle.

"Why would I? They're yours."

Belle looked back down. "Yes, all hers."

"I didn't think Sir Maurice could afford such things."

"No and he would never buy her jewels anyway." She looked up. "My mother had to marry my father. There was never any love between them. There was a scandal when she was young. Her virtue was called into question and she had to marry quickly to anyone with a good name and a title."

"She told you all this?"

"When she thought I was old enough she let me know they both loved me, but there was no love between them." Belle shrugged. "She didn't want me to make the same mistake."

"Oh, this one is interesting," said Rumplestiltskin, lifting a pendant from the box. The gem inside had constantly moving swirls of color.

"What is it?," asked Belle.

"Magic."

"Magic? How does it work?"

"No idea."

Belle looked at him in disbelief. "You don't know?"

"It's the magic of women."

Belle was amused now. "So that's all it takes for you to not know something about magic?"

"I'm not a woman."

"I had noticed."

"Very observant."

There was a banging on the main door.

"Wait here," Rumplestiltskin instructed.

He got up and left the Great Hall. Belle looked back down at the pendant. She grazed her finger across the stone and it became solid, blinding white for a moment. She looked on in shock.


Beatrice needed to think.

She needed espresso.

Unfortunately, in this cursed town, the closest thing would be sitting at Granny's and having cup after cup of coffee.

The diner was busy with the townsfolk coming in for their morning meal. Apparently, nothing ever happened here because more than one had inquired to Granny or Ruby about who the girl with the glasses was.

A hush came over the diner and Beatrice glanced up to see Mr. Gold coming in. She went back to looking at her iPad and then heard a cane stop accompanied by a chair scraping against the floor.

Mr. Gold was sitting in the table next to her booth.

"Good morning, Miss French."

"Uh, good morning..."

He picked up a laminated menu. "Just coffee?"

"I can't think about food until I'm awake which looks unlikely on this stuff," she said staring at the dreaded mug.

"Have you tried tea?"

"Yes, that would be great if I wanted to fall asleep."

She looked up. He seemed amused. That's when she saw Regina coming in to the diner and walking up to Gold.

"We need to talk."

"Do we, dearie?," asked Gold. He turned to Beatrice. "Miss French, have you met Mayor Mills?"

Regina looked at her in surprise, she hadn't noticed Beatrice sitting there.

"We were never formally introduced," said Beatrice. "I'm good, though."

"Mr. Gold," said Regina, looking slightly annoyed at Beatrice.

"Excuse me," said Gold getting up and following Regina out front.

"You aren't really going to fall for that, are you?," asked Regina.

"Fall for what, dearie?"

"That girl, do you really think she's yours? She could belong to anyone."

"And what makes you so concerned, dearie?"

"The Curse. We can't have outsiders poking around."

"Is that why you had your little chat with her?," asked Gold. He snapped his fingers. "Which reminds me, you're going to leave Belle and her daughter alone. Please."

Regina scowled. "Do you think that will hold?"

"I think it will hold until the Curse breaks at which point you're going to have more problems than them and if you try anything, I'll be one of them."

"Do you want the Curse broken?," Regina asked in disbelief. "Just so she can remember you? We've been in on this together since the beginning, Gold."

"Have we. dearie?" He looked at her. "We're done now. Please."

Regina scowled again as Gold went back inside.


Belle knew the signs as well as anyone.

It was as if Belle's mind had wandered away from her. She had a book open, she had started reading it and now she didn't know what had happened for the past ten pages. She flipped back to try and regroup, but she kept getting distracted.

The tenderness in her breasts. The sudden tightness in her gowns. The absence of her monthly cycle and this morning, she had been ill. That was the most damning of all. Rumplestiltskin had been off at some deal or other, so she hadn't had to face his inquiries, but she knew she couldn't avoid the topic very much longer. She wasn't sure how to broach it, if only she had been able to talk with some friends or even just other women. She wouldn't trade her life in the Dark Castle, but in the area of socialization it did leave something to be desired.

She wished for her own mother. She wished for someone to explain to her the ways in which her life was going to change. That was what she worried about: being a good enough mother.

A bird flew in the open window of the library. That caught Belle's attention. It sat on the table next to her and she realized there was a note. As she took it, the bird flew away.

Her father was dying.


Gold forced his way into Belle's room at the inn. Sliding in, he quickly spotted one bed with her neat fingerprints all over it, a book on the night stand. He noted the title and made a mental note to obtain his own copy and have it at the shop.

Though he was certainly interested in Belle, she was not the reason for this little search. It was the girl, Beatrice. He knew very little about her, just that she knew the truth of the Curse and liked caffeine. Her things were strewn all over her bed. Among them, a stuffed lamb, surely some sort of childhood keepsake. More interesting was the promising red leather messenger bag at the foot of the bed.

He didn't have a lot of experience with teenage girls and Beatrice's things were a mystery to him. There were some random school papers, including a physics essay he couldn't follow, but she appeared to have done well on it. She had a computer that he quickly discovered was protected by a password. That left him to rifle through the rest of the bag. He found five lip glosses and two nail polishes, a Starbucks gift card and a blue box that made noises.

He was about to give up hope of finding anything he understood until he found a book about voodoo. He knew in this land it was seen as a strange religion of some sort, but had seen its corollary back in the Enchanted Forest. He also found a purple sack. He opened it and recognized the contents. There was an empty container and he thought he saw the remnants of a magical powder on it. He also recognized some magical trinkets: some stones and some candles.

"Oh, Beatrice," he said with a smile, "what are you playing with?"

He was about to replace the contents of the bag when something fell out of the book. He reached down to pick it up off the floor and realized it was a tarot card. He had seen them all over the Half Sunk Kingdom though they were trifles to the people of this world. The card had an address written on the back and he turned it over to see which one it was.

The Magician. Oh, he had seen that card before.


"Belle!"

"In here, Rumple!," she called back from her room.

Rumplestiltskin entered. He pointed at her case open on the bed. "What is that?"

Belle turned to him with a red, tear-stained face.

"My darling Belle, what's the matter?"

"My father..." She burst into tears again and Rumplestiltskin moved to hold her.

"What's happened?"

"A bird delivered a letter. His physician says he's had sort of stroke, he's unable to even write..." Belle handed him the letter. "He's asked for me."

"I'm sorry, Belle."

"So you understand."

"Of course I understand."

"I must go to him."

Rumplestiltskin held up one finger. "I don't understand that."

Belle's jaw dropped. "What are you saying?"

Rumple opened his mouth and before he could get a word out, Belle beat him to it.

"Am I supposed to not go to my dying father?"

"Well, you said it-"

"How could you possibly think that? That I could just abandon him? Are you forbidding it? I am not your captive-"

"I wouldn't say I'm forbidding it-"

"What is wrong with you?! How could you be such a-"

"Let's not toss out the 'b' word again."

"Rumple, surely you can see that I have to go to him! I know you, I know your heart. I know you understand."

He looked at her. She was staring at him with those eyes.

Damn those eyes sometimes.

"And what will you tell them of me?," he asked.

"The truth."

"Let's not be rash..." he sneered.

She frowned at him. "My father deserves to know the truth. It's my father and my people, Rumple. They won't hurt me."

"And what if they won't let you return?"

She put her arms around him. "Then I'll call for you and you'll come get me."

"They very moment I'm needed. And let's use the truth sparingly. I can't have it going around that I've gone soft."

"I swear I won't let anyone know you're kind," said Belle.

He stared at her. "Was there anything else?"

She shook her head. "No."


Beatrice had followed her mom around all day. Apparently, she wasn't allowed to be on her own now. The diner was as far as she could go. That led to the adventure of looking for a fax machine in Storybrooke.

"Have you noticed everyone here has flip phones?," asked Beatrice.

"So?," asked Belle as they walked down the street.

"So, who has a flip phone? Nobody has a flip phone anymore." She realized they were almost at Mr. Gold's shop. "What are we doing?"

"I have to show some papers to Mr. Gold," said Belle.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's working for me. For us, really."

Beatrice was skeptical to say the least. Rumplestiltskin was working for them. "As what?"

"As a lawyer," said Belle. "He's being really nice about it so try to be pleasant."

"Nice?," asked Beatrice.

Belle entered the shop first and Beatrice followed. Gold stood behind a glass case and placed a wooden box on it. "Well, hello, Miss French."

"Hello, Mr. Gold. How are you?," asked Belle. She held up the papers. "Sorry, it took me forever to find a fax machine around here."

"No problem. I see you've brought your daughter."

"I hope that's alright," said Belle.

"It's fine." He looked at Beatrice. "Feel free to have a look around the shop while we talk."

Beatrice nodded. She hoped her mother would listen to her on this, because this really was the weirdest pawn shop ever. Not that she had been to a lot of pawn shops, but she had seen them on Law & Order. Surely there were supposed to be electronics and people's jewelry. Guitars and bicycles and oil paintings just seemed wrong. There was a set of beer steins, a mobile made of crystal unicorns.

"Are you reading this?," asked Belle.

Beatrice glanced back at the counter. Belle had a book in her hands.

This could only be a harbinger of doom.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude?," asked Belle. "I am as well."

"Well, I've only just started it," said Gold.

"I'm embarrassed to say I've just read it myself."

"Why embarrassed?," asked Gold.

"Well, I'm a librarian."

"Are you?" He sounded almost pleased at that.

"Yes, I've been trying to put together a series of lectures on Latin American authors, so I've had to study up."

"Don't you find magical realism fascinating?," asked Beatrice.

"I'm sorry?," asked Gold.

"She means the style of the book," said Belle. "Extraordinary events occur outside the realm of possibility, but the characters react like they're normal. You'll see. I'm sorry, I should be letting you read the settlement."

"No, not at all."

That's when Beatrice saw the most creepy pair of puppets ever.

"Oh, my God," she couldn't help but say.

Belle turned. "Beatrice, what's wrong?"

She pointed at the creepy puppets.

"Well, those are odd," said Belle.

Beatrice looked at Gold. "Did you seriously give someone money for those?"

"It was more of a barter," said Gold.

"They look so real, like they've shrunk..." said Beatrice. She reached out her hand to touch them, but didn't have the nerve.

"If they bother you, you could always come away from them," Gold suggested, not looking up from the settlement papers.

Beatrice decided he was right and walked away. Still, something to have new nightmares about.

"I don't see Beatrice mentioned anywhere in the settlement," said Gold.

"Well, she wasn't born yet," said Belle.

"She's not even referred to."

"What does that mean?," asked Belle.

"It means that at the least, this settlement has no binding authority over her. Has Mayor Mills given you any more grief?"

"No, actually," said Belle. "She crossed the street when she saw me earlier. It was a bit weird."

"I wouldn't worry about it," said Gold. He saw Beatrice looking at another case full of jewels. "Does something capture your attention?"

"Yeah, would you say this is more tiaras than your average pawnbroker's?," asked Beatrice.

Gold shrugged. "I hadn't given it much thought."

Beatrice stared at a pendant, with an oval stone in an ornate setting. She couldn't pick out what sort of stone it was since it was multi-colored.

Suddenly, Gold was standing behind the case. "Did you mean this one?," he asked pulling out the pendant and placing it on the top.

"That's so beautiful," Belle remarked.

"It's a Lloviznando opal," said Gold. "Very rare."

Beatrice looked up. "How rare?"

"Very." Gold looked at Belle again. "Miss French, why don't you talk me through this section of the agreement?"

"Okay," said Belle, walking back over to the other case.

Beatrice looked at the pendant again. She reached down and grazed a finger over the stone as it burst into brilliant white light. She stared at it in shock.

She didn't notice Mr. Gold watching her out of the corner of his eye.