A Deal Kept

By: RosexKnight

The deal with Gaston is fufilled, Belle stops worrying, Rumple gets a pep talk, and everyone realizes things are going to be fine.

It was first light when he woke up. He felt too cold. The dream of the previous night came back to him, and he sighed with a mixture of emotions, rolling over to try and descipher what had been reality and what had been dream.

He was very surprised when he found his arm draping over another being. Belle, to be exact. Memories of the previous night to wash over him. Last time, she'd gonna at first light, and he'd been convinced that he'd dreamt about the beautiful princess who had ordered his thread seeking him out. If it weren't for waking up next to her this time, he might have been convinced that it was a dream. But it wasn't. Belle was here, and real, and in his arms. Oh he could have wept.

"Sweetheart..."

Belle groaned, nuzzling into the crook of Rumple's neck. He didn't fight the smile.

"Sweetheart we need to get up." He tried again. How he wanted nothing more than to poof them back to The Dark Castle. But they still has a deal to complete.

"Not yet..."

Rumple chuckled, kissing her forehead. Last night was real. Belle loved him as he loved her. He tried not to think too hard about what came next. They had more than one deal to complete it seemed.

"It's already almost mid-day..." He cooed against her hair. "And we have to get back to The Dark Castle."

"Five more minutes." She bargained, snuggling further into him her hair tickling his nose, still smelling of the soaps she'd bathed in after everything.

He grinned, running a hand over her side, his touch light as a feather. "Love, the faster we get back..."

Belle shivered under his touch. "You don't play fair..."

"Would you expect anything less?"

She grumbled as she sat up, giving him a chaste kiss before moving to put on whatever she needed for the day. But Rumpelstiltskin was behind her in an instant, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her back to his chest. He buried his face in the back of her neck, breathing her in.

"What happened to getting home?" She teased.

The spinner shook his head. "I wanted to be sure."

"Of what?" She asked, moving to turn to face him, but he held her in place. "That I wasn't dreaming."

"I told you, you never were."

He hummed in agreement. "I'll never doubt you again, my Lady of The Dark Castle."

Belle giggled. "Careful, you keep talking like that and people will think we're actually married."

Rumple stilled. "Would...Would that be...?"

"No. It wouldn't be bad at all."

She turned in his arms, tangling her fingers in his hair and kissing him. He nearly growled as her teeth grazed his bottom lip. "Now you're not playing fair."

"Would you expect anything less?" She asked, stepping away and gathering the clean skirt that had never left it's spot where she packed it away.

"Here."

Rumpelstiltskin stepped back, and with a flick of his wrist he and Belle were dressed in matching gold and red outfits. Belle twirled, letting the dress fan out as he admired her. If she never felt like The Lady of The Dark Castle before, she did now. And she loved it.

"Come, my spinner." She said, taking his arm with a broad smile. "Let's deliver Ruby to my ex-husband and go home."

"Nothing has ever sounded more perfect."

Downstairs, Granny and Ruby looked as though they were just finishing packing themselves. Ruby smiled at Belle as Granny stood to the side with a man who was nodding, listening intently at every word she had to say.

"Granny's grilling him about how to take care of the inn." Ruby explained. "She doesn't like having to leave it. But she refuses to let me go to a place I don't know by myself..."

"Nervous?" Belle asked.

"I should be, shouldn't I? But somehow I'm not...I just feel like everything's gonna be alright. Is that weird?"

The princess glanced back to her spinner. He was pretending not to listen, turned away from her as his eyes drifted over the inn, making anyone they fell on squirm.

"Not at all." Belle said.

"You weren't nervous? Going with The Dark One?"

"No." Rumple snorted behind her, and Belle rolled her eyes. "He's still the same man. Just thicker skin."

Ruby nodded, seeming to accept this though Belle wasn't sure she believed her. After a moment, Granny approached them.

"Robin's got the ropes now." The older lady announced as the blonde she was talking to waved at them. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Ruby said with a nervous smile. Granny fussed over her, straightening her blouse and skirt before turning to Rumpelstiltskin.

"Well?"

Belle giggled as The Dark One glowered at the older lady. But he held out his hand, swirling it. A dark smoke encompassed them, and they were back in the hall of Avonlea's throne room.

Gaston and Maurice were alert in an instant, their attention to the new arrivals rather than whatever scroll they were looking over.

"Ruby..." The knight breathed with more relief Belle had ever heard in his voice. It seems he was not entirely convinced Ruby would come to him.

The brunette, swallowed, seeming to be nervous for a moment as Gaston took a tentative step forward. But, the nervousness left as fast as it came, relplaced with something that made Rumple stifle a chuckle beside her as Ruby marched forward.

Belle had been correct. Gaston was afraid he would get slapped and he did after all. The sound echoed through the hall, the man looking shocked and guilty all at once.

"You should have come get me yourself." Ruby shot out.

"I know." Gaston agreed without a fight. "I'm sorry, my lady."

"You should be." Ruby was in his arms in a moment, the two of them holding each other tightly. " You big idiotic lug."

Belle smiled, looking over to her father. She could see the apology and thanks in hie eyes, and gave him a smile. The first genuine smile she'd been able to give him in years.

"Thank you." Granny said, squeezing Belle's hand, glancing to Rumpelstiltskin. "I know this was for a deal, but you've given us more than you know."

"You're welcome." Belle said earnestly, "Tell Ruby to keep in touch."

"I will." The older woman turned her attention to Rumpelstiltskin himself "You take care of her."

She didn't wait for a reply before she was approachig Maurice, no doubt to talk to him about the state of his kitchens. Belle took the sight in. Her father finally having someone to whip the castle into shape, her ex-husband and her new friend, smiling at each other and mouthing thanks to her. A weight was lifted from Belle's shoulders that she didn't know had been there.

"I'm not worried." She said.

"About what?" Rumple asked, his arm wrapped around her waist. He hadn't been able to stop himself from touching her since the night before, and she found she loved it.

"This. Avonlea." Belle replied. She and her father's eyes met, and then he was looking behind her. To her spinner. He tightened her grip on her, nodding at the unspoken question. "Everything is going to be alright."

"Can we go home now?" Rumpelstiltskin asked after a pause.

Belle poked his side "Impatient are we?"

"Very." He growled, pulling her closer, a glint in his eye that made her bones tremble.

"Then take me home, my spinner."

The purple smoke hadn't even begun to engulf them before he'd taken her lips in a searing kiss that made her glad he was holding her upright or her knees would have given out. Before she knew anything else they were in his room, on his bed, and she reasoned that telling Baelfire they were back cold wait another hour or so.

"Papa?"

Rumpelstiltskin blinked, looking over to his son. "Yes?"

"You've been staring at your wheel for an hour." Baelfire said, coming to sit beside his father. "You're not even spinning."

He paused, glancing to the boy and nodding. It had been a week since they had came back from the deal at Avonlea. A blissful week with Belle as her lover. Her spinner. But he knew what came next. What she wanted next. And it was eating away at him.

"Sorry. I'm a bit...distracted."

"Did something happen with you and ma- Belle?" Bae asked, opting out of the name he used to make it easier for his papa.

"No. Well, yes." Rumpelstiltskin paused, turning to his son and placing his hands on his shoulders. Baelfire recognized the serious look in his eyes and braced himself. "Son...I want to ask Belle to marry me..."

Baelfire's eyes widened. "Are you going to?"

"I wanted to talk to you about it..." Rumple admitted miserably. "I love her. She loves me. But..."

"She'll say yes." Bae said without thinking, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Why wouldn't she?"

Rumpelstiltskin let his arms drop to his lap, gazing down at his hands. Once they were calloused with years of work. Now they were shimmery with the odd texture of The Dark Curse. Why would Belle reject him?

"Isn't it obvious?"

Baelfire shook his head, covering the spinner's hands. "Papa, mama loves you. This." He made a flourish with his arms, similar to the ones Rumple made when making deals. "And all."

"If it's true love I'll lose this." He said. "The magic. The power. I'll be a limp spinner again."

"You're acting as if she didn't love the limp spinner before." He said gently. "Besides, the power might be gone but the magic might be part of you now. Even if not you have enough spell books and gold to make anything possible."

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes shot up to Bae's. When had his son grown so wise? He was supposed to be the one assuring him, not the other way around. He was big. Too damn big. He'd blinked and suddenly his boy was a man. That wasn't at all fair.

"That doesn't make this any easier, son." Rumple said, turning back to his spinning wheel.

A silence passed between them, and suddenly Bae spoke. "You don't know what ring to get her."

It wasn't a question, and words tumbled out of the spinner's mouth in a rush "I was thinking of making a deal with someone for a blood ruby. I could enchant it with blood magic. It would bind us on another level, a magical level, but it would come in handy for protection purposes."

"She'll be my real mama..." Bae said, seeming to realize this only then.

"Yes. Well, as real as she can be..."

Bae stood, smiling at his father. His father the spinner. Belle had been right that day after their riding lesson. Despite all the magic, papa was still papa. "I think she'd like something more personal than just a gem, papa."

And with that he was off, leaving his father alone with his thoughts. He was right, of course. Somehow the boy was better at this than him. After a moment, Rumpelstiltskin's hands moved, and he begun to spin. It had all began with thread. Somehow, that seemed appropriate.

Yes. Everything was going to be alright.