Author's Notes: I do not own Once Upon A Time. Thanks for the reads and reviews. I've meant to PM for the reviews but haven't had time. Please let me know what you think and happy reading!
Catherine awaited her granddaughter's return to the Dower Summer House.
"Belle," she called upon hearing the door open anc close.
There was a pause as Catherine knew Belle reluctantly came to the sitting room.
"Won't you join me? Reginald's made tea."
Belle sat down. "Grandmother, I'm not really-"
Catherine ignored her and began pouring. "I have reports you were spotted at a dwarf tavern."
Belle froze. "Grandmother, I-"
"Of course, you're an adult. You've survived teh Dark One so I daresay you can handle yourself."
"Thank you, Grandmother-"
"Still, I have to wonder about the sort of woman who chooses to drink at a dwarf tavern. She must not want to be bothered. She must not want anyone to ask questions, particularly when she takes a satchel of books with her. So, I thought, why don't you just tell me what's happened?" Catherine handed her a tea cup.
"Nothing, I worked for Rumple-Rumplestiltskin, then he no longer needed me."
"And he didn't dishonor you in any way?"
"Gods, no!," she said. "He was quite the gentleman."
"Was he now?"
"Yes. He would never do anything so... vile."
"So you met someone else while you were at the Dark Castle?"
"No."
"I've heard descriptions of the Dark One, but of course, I've never seen the actual article. I;ve heard he has claws and green skin-"
"Sort of gold-tinged," Belle said absent-mindedly.
"Frightful hair."
"I wouldn't say frightful..."
"They say he wears dragon skins and usually leather trousers."
Belle gulped her tea.
"Mind you, your grandfather could pull off a pair of leather trousers. Well, he could wear them, I could pull them-"
"Grandmother!," Belle gasped.
"Oh, please, you were blushing long before I mentioned leather trousers." Catherine sat back in her chair smiling with the satisfaction of an old woman who liked to prove her skills. "Now, you said he let you go, but I think there was more to it."
"He let me go and then I met this woman on the road who said True Love's kiss could break any curse. Even his. So I tried it."
"And?"
"It was working."
"It was?"
"Then he stopped me."
"Oh."
"He said he cared more about his power than me and I called him a coward and I left and came here."
"Well, that is quite a tale, Belle."
"Then you understand."
"Of course I do."
"I mean, it's not like you and grandfather-'
"What's not?"
"I mean, your True Love. It was different. He was someone you could fall in love with-"
The Dowager Duchess burst into laughter.
"Grandmother?"
"You- you think I wanted to love your grandfather? You think in a thousand years I would have chosen to fall in love with him?"
Belle was confused. "You two had True Love, though."
"Yes, but I didn't want it to start and by the time I did, it had already been decided. Belle, when I met your grandfather he was an insufferable blabbermouth who was in love with his reflection. Not to mention he was a frog."
"I didn't realize you-"
"No, Belle, he was literally a frog."
"What?"
"He was trying to get me to kiss him to break his curse and finally, I just kissed him to get him out of my life and it worked."
"Then what?"
"He followed me around until I agreed to marry him. Then I did and he followed me around until I married him and he wasn't so bad."
"Wasn't so bad?"
"Leather trousers, Belle."
Belle thought she might die of embarrassment. "So what? So I should go back to him and beg?"
"No, a woman should never beg. That's a man's office. Just act like you forgot your cloak or something."
"He'll never admit anything. He's too much of a coward."
"Of course hs is. Most men are. Besides that, I don't think you get to become the Dark One without a reason."
"I suppose not."
"I'm not saying you have to go back this instant. Just when you're ready."
Belle smiled and kissed her grandmother on the cheek. "Thank you, Grandmother."
Belle sat in Mr. Gold's shop, pondering the strange turn of events and her own shortcomings as a mother when the phone finally rang.
"Hello?"
"Miss French."
"Mr. Gold, have you found her?"
"Yes."
Belle breathed a sigh of relief. "How is she?"
"She's alright. A little worse for wear."
"Where are you? Should I come meet you?"
"No, I'm going to bring her back to you shortly. You should stay put."
"Can I talk to her?"
"The sheriff has some business to conclude. I'm sure you'll speak shortly."
"Well, thank you, Mr. Gold."
Gold walked back to the car and got in. Beatrice was sitting in the passenger seat, looking unhappy.
"What's wrong?"
She turned. "What's wrong? What's wrong?!"
"Yes."
"Okay, well, I've lost my iPhone, my glasses, my hair is full of dead dragon, I've been kidnapped by Rumplestiltskin-"
"You have not been kidnapped."
"Then what would you call it?"
Gold paused. "Claimed."
"What?," Beatrice asked with dismay. "My mom sold me? Did she even read the contract? I didn't think she could be as stupid as Cinderella."
"Do you think your mother would sell her firstborn?"
"Not really..."
"Why haven't you run?"
"I can't see. We're in a moving car. Besides, you still have the egg and Henry is still dying and you have the cure."
"Did Regina tell you I was Rumplestiltskin?"
"No. August did."
"And do you know anything else about me?"
"The Cinderella thing. Straw into gold. You don't exactly have a lot of stories. You should talk to your PR guys."
"My PR guys?"
"Wait, Shrek Forever After. You were in that."
"Shrek Forever After?"
"Yeah, like you're mad at Shrek because he saved Fiona and then you didn't get to be King of Far Far Away, so you trick Shrek into like creating a time line where he was never born."
Gold shook his head. "What would be the point in that?"
"I don't know. It wasn't a very good movie. They should have stopped at three."
"So I have one not very good movie?"
"And this book, it was called 'Rumplestiltskin's Daughter.' My teacher read it in Kindergarten. Instead of marrying the king or prince or whoever, the miller's daughter marries you."
Gold shifted uncomfortably as this story was perhaps striking too close to the truth. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, so then your daughter gets trapped by the same guy and she like convinces the king to grow gold instead of spin it."
"You can't grow gold."
"Well, yeah, it seemed stupid. Not to mention, what sort of a moron is like, 'Hey, I can spin straw into gold.' I mean, if you said it, that's one thing. You can do it."
"You sound like your mother."
"So? Was she a moron?"
"Who?"
"The miller's daughter."
"What makes you think there was a miller's daughter?"
"Because I can't see anything and I can tell you're uncomfortable."
"I'm not uncomfortable."
"Yeah, because denying it is really convincing."
Belle stood at the door to the Dark Castle.
She was deciding whether or not to knock.
She had even formed a fist several times and then unclenched it.
He might not even be home.
If he wasn't home, she could at least say she tried.
This was ridiculous, Belle finally decided. She was a grown woman. She could either be brave and knock on the door or live the rest of her days not knowing. Maybe that would be okay. Maybe she would have adventures, she could even go on and live a reasonably happy life, be happy with someone.
But whoever that someone was, he wouldn't be Rumplestiltskin.
Belle banged on the doors.
Nothing happened. So she banged on them again.
"Alright, alright, dearie! No need to be impatient!"
The doors opened with magic as Rumplestiltskin just entered the entry hall. He stopped in his tracks as Belle came inside the doors.
"Where are the angry villagers?," he asked.
"The what?"
"Angry villagers? To slay the beast?"
Belle shook her head. "I came alone."
"And why did you do that, dearie? I made myself clear."
Belle froze. She wished she had bothered to work out a reason or some sort of speech. So, she could only fall back on her grandmother's advice.
"I forgot my cloak."
Rumplestiltskin tilted his head at her. "You forgot your cloak?"
"Yes, I just came to get it."
Not having a better plan, Belle marched past Rumplestiltskin in the direction of her old room.
"Is that all?," asked Rumplestiltskin.
"Yes," she lied as she continued her walk and tried to come up with a reason that would keep her in the castle after she made it there.
"Your father let you return to a castle with a dangerous monster so you could get your cloak?"
"I didn't go to my father," Belle let slip and immediately regretted it.
"You didn't go to your father?"
She stopped and turned. "My grandmother keeps a summer home not too far from here. I went to her."
"Your grandmother?"
"The Dowager Duchess of Padua. Is that all or may I get my cloak?"
"Oh, don't let me stop you, dearie."
"I won't," she said smoothing her skirt as she turned to begin the climb up the staircase.
Belle listened to Rumplestiltskin's footsteps falling behind her own. She walked in her room and then pretended to search and he stood smugly in the doorway.
"Can't find it, dearie?"
"I'm certain it's somewhere around here," she said, trying not to let her infuriation show. "So, how have you been?"
"What?"
"Dealing? How is everything?"
Rumplestiltskin was dumbstruck. Belle felt a little guilty about taking pleasure in that, but it didn't stop her.
"I suppose you must have been very happy since I left," said Belle. "Since you care for your power so much, it must have made you very happy."
"Why have you come, Belle?," he asked with an air of gravity in his voice.
"Have you been happy?"
"What do you think?"
She stopped and gave up all pretense of searching for a cloak. "Then why won't you let me try to make you happy?"
"I can't."
"Why not? What's so important? I know it's not power!"
"It's what power can get me."
"Then what is it that you want?"
She waited as he said nothing.
"If you're going to cast me out again, I think I at least deserve to know the reason why. The real reason not the lies of a coward."
"My son."
"Your son?," Belle repeated incredulously.
"You're right, Belle. I am a coward. I always have been and once it cost me my son."
"I don't understand."
"He's gone to a land without magic."
"A land without magic?," Belle asked.
"I have to find him and let him know..." He didn't finish. Belle could only guess at what depths of feeling were contained in his omission.
"So if I broke your curse, you would lose your power and you wouldn't be able to find him."
"No."
"And True Love's kiss? Is that all that could break it?"
"Is that all?," Rumeplstiltskin scoffed.
"There isn't any other way I could take your powers from you?"
A grave look fell over his face. "Belle, whatever you're thinking-"
"There is no other way I could take your powers from you?," she insisted.
"No, but-"
"Then I won't kiss you."
"Belle-"
"I wouldn't take your son from you."
"Of course you wouldn't-"
"Then what's the alternative? We never see each other again and both stay unhappy? What torture would that be?"
The Cadillac stopped just outside the woods. At least Beatrice was fairly certain it was the woods. Up close it was a brown and green blur. Gold stepped out of the car wordlessly and she scrambled to follow.
"Where are you going?," asked Beatrice.
"There's something I have to do."
"With the potion or whatever?"
"Yes."
"What about Henry? Are you just going to let him die?"
"There's more than one way to get True Love."
"What?"
Gold now noted that the girl had moved to follow him up the path. "I thought you couldn't see."
"I can't."
"You're going to follow me into the woods when you can't see?"
"Yes."
"To try and save a boy you hardly know with a potion you don't know how to use? I don't think so."
Gold walked up the path.
"I'm getting pretty good at using things I don't know how to use."
Gold hadn't realized she had followed and turned. He smiled in amusement at her as she hopelessly groped around. "You have inherited some of your mother's tendencies."
"And what would you know about my mom?"
"I know your mother rather well." He glanced back down the path at her. "You should stop before you hurt yourself."
"I can see some of the far away trees," said Beatrice.
"Yes, but your feet are rather close to you and where you're walking is what I'm concerned about."
"Yeah, I know you want to make sure the goods are in tact."
"No, I want to make sure your skull is in tact."
As if on cue, Beatrice tripped over her own feet and planted her face in the ground. She had been content to lay there and ponder where her life had become some kind of cosmic joke, but she realized Gold was helping her up.
"As I said, too like your mother. Are you alright? Did you hit your head?"
"My nose, maybe..."
"It doesn't look broken. Does it hurt?"
Beatrice realized Gold had one hand holding her chin and the other picking leaves out of her hair. "How did you manage to get so many dragon scales in there?"
"They itch." She yanked her head away, wishing she could see so she could get a read on Gold. "What are you doing?"
Beatrice froze, like she felt something. A wave of something. She turned to look back at the town.
"What was that?," she asked.
"I believe that would be Miss Swan." He took her by the arm. "Come on."
"Now you're dragging me."
"No, there's a ledge coming up and I want to make certain you don't fall over it."
"Okay, well, that hurts. I burned my wrists. It hasn't healed yet."
"Right, sorry," said Gold, moving his hand up. "Come on. Now, what about Beauty and the Beast?"
"The movie? The musical? The TV show?"
"The story. Whatever August told you."
"Well, my mom promised to go with the Beast forever to save her village from the ogres and... I don't know. This story is losing some of its appeal."
"Why?"
"Because my mom's in it."
"Then what happens?"
"They fall in love and have a daughter with really bad eyesight."
"Is that all you have?"
"Well, you try investigating something while everyone is under a curse and your mom thinks you're crazy and see how much better you do."
"And have you decided who the Beast is?"
"Not really." He let go of her and Beatrice could make out the shape of a well. She thought. She didn't really know a lot about wells. "Why did we stop?"
Gold stepped up to the well. "This is a very special place. The waters that run below are said to have the power to return that which one has lost."
Beatrice spotted the purple glowing potion. He dropped it in the well and she tried to scramble up.
"What did you do?," she shouted.
"Beatrice, everything's going to be fine."
"In what way is everything fine?!," she shouted. She then looked back down the well and thought she could make out a plume of purple smoke. She thought her vision was betraying her again, but, no, it really was a giant plume of purple smoke. She motioned at it and looked back at the blur she was fairly certain was still Gold. "In what is everything fine?!"
"Beatrice."
"Yeah?"
"I'm your father."
"What? No..."
Then she started thinking about it.
Her mother had immediately liked him and nobody else liked him.
He had been kind of clingy ever since they'd arrived.
The Magician card.
Since when did the Beast make deals? And how was the Beast going to stop the ogres?
Also, Beatrice was trying to remember for certain that Gold had brown eyes.
"Oh, God, this must be how Luke Skywalker felt..." Beatrice remarked as the purple smoke obscured everything. Gold took her hand. "What's the smoke?"
"Magic."
"Yeah," said Beatrice. "Sure, that makes sense."
