A/N: Well, I feel like I'm speaking into the air with this story, but if anyone is reading this, thank you. It's harder to post more when it seems like no one's reading, but hopefully at least someone is enjoying this. Please review, follow, and favorite! :)
"Are you sure you didn't use magic to make these?" Mr. Gold asked after a swallow of brownie. Chocolate was something he hadn't tasted in a very long time, and he had forgotten how good it was.
"Rumple," Belle laughed. "Here, try this." She dug in the picnic basket and finally pulled out a vanilla cupcake with white icing. Mr. Gold examined it, noticing the detail she had put into the icing pattern.
"How long did it take you to make all of this?" He looked up at her, still holding up the cupcake like a specimen.
She shrugged, shifting so that she was sitting on her knees. "I don't know. I didn't really keep track, I just wanted to make something for you."
He reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder, warmed by the thought that someone would want to do something for him. It had been a long time since anyone had ever cared about him like that, and he still wasn't quite used to it yet.
"Are you going to eat it?" Belle's smile was playful and her eyes were bright with mirth.
"Of course." He put away his thoughts as he peeled away the paper from the cupcake and took a bite, the icing touching his nose. He chuckled as he chewed and Belle giggled too, watching him as he swallowed.
"You have something..." she said with a laugh, pointing at her nose.
Mr. Gold wiped the icing off with the back of his hand, still laughing. He noted then how he only really laughed when Belle was around. With her, he was Rumplestiltskin. Without her, he was the Dark One.
It still amazed him that she could love him like she did. After all he had done; after all he had done to her. He had loved her, only to say that he never had and throw her out. He imagined what it would feel like if Belle had done that to him; and he shuddered at the thought.
"Belle," he began, setting down the rest of the cupcake and thinking that he had had enough sweets for the day. She was still smiling, listening attentively. "What were you thinking when you...remembered? When the curse was broken?"
Her smile melted into a thoughtful frown and she spoke slowly, as if picking each word with care. "When I saw you, all I could think about was how much I loved you and how much I had missed you."
"You weren't...angry?" He found that he couldn't look at her. He couldn't meet her innocent eyes when all he had done was hurt her.
"Rumple..."
He felt her hand on his cheek and leaned into it, her gentle touch calming him.
"I'll admit, I was angry with you for a long time." Her thumb caressed his skin gently. "You were the only man I had ever truly loved, and you threw me out."
"I don't want you anymore, dearie." The words that had haunted him.
"But then, before I was locked up..."
A pain went through Mr. Gold at that phrase. He should have been there to save her. He shouldn't have listened to the Queen. How stupid he had been...
Belle continued, her voice a little strained. "I was going to come back to you. That was when Regina took me away. In that dungeon...thinking of you was the only thing that kept me alive. I wasn't angry anymore; I tried so hard to escape, just so that I could get back to you."
Mr. Gold felt his throat clamp together as regret washed over him. No one would ever think of him as the soft type, but when it came to Belle, he was a different man.
"Belle." He gingerly ran a hand through her hair. "I'm so sorry." His voice broke on the last word as he swallowed back tears.
"Rumple," she whispered, placing a delicate kiss on his lips and pulling away only slightly afterward. "It's okay. We can't change the past, but I'm here now, and I love you."
"I love you too, Belle. More than you could ever know." Their foreheads touched, and Mr. Gold ran his fingertips down the side of her head, resting his hand on her cheek.
After a few moments of silence, Belle backed away, just a little bit. "What was it like for you? When you saw me after...everything."
That moment was etched forever into his mind as something he would never, ever forget.
The little bell in Mr. Gold's shop tinkled, telling of a late night visitor. He panicked instantly as he stared up at his most treasured potion, thinking the intruder must be either Regina or Emma. He hastily turned and put the potion away.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Gold?"
The voice didn't register as significant, other than it wasn't either of the people he feared it would be.
"Yes I am, but I'm afraid the shop's closed..." The last word died on his lips as he turned and saw who it was.
He stopped. Frozen. It couldn't be. She was dead. A thousand memories flashed by in his mind in quick succession. A treasured two months. A chipped cup. Millions of thoughts. Thousands of sleepless nights.
The woman advanced toward him, her appearance disheveled. "I was told to find you and tell you that Regina locked me up."
He shook out of his stupor. She couldn't be real. It was a trick. Yet, there she was, speaking to him, though she had no idea who he was. He took a hesitant step forward.
"Does- does that mean anything to you?" she asked, clearly uncomfortable.
Mr. Gold told himself to breathe, to close his mouth, to stop staring. But he couldn't do any of that. Her words didn't even register in his mind. He took another few steps, reached out his arm to take hold of her shoulder, and squeezed it.
Real. Flesh and blood.
The woman looked at his arm in confusion, then back up at him.
"You're real," he stated in barely a whisper. "You're alive," he added, louder, as he drew away and continued to look at her in wonder. His mind started working again, finally realizing where she had been. His eyes finally took in her whole battered appearance.
"She did this to you?"
"I was told you'd...protect me."
'Protect me,' the words echoed in his head. He grasped it then; Belle, here, asking him to protect her. That was all he had ever hoped to do; protect her.
Tears stung his eyes. "Oh, yes," he said in a broken voice as he grabbed her in an embrace. He had longed to hold her, to comfort her, for so long. "Yes, I'll protect you."
"Do you remember when you first saw me?" he countered with another question.
She swallowed hard and nodded. "You said you would protect me. You were crying."
"You do that to me." He laughed a little, smiling, though he could feel tears on their way again. "It was like the whole world was turned upside-down. I didn't believe it until I felt you were real. I had dreamed about you so many times, and hoped...hoped that you would come back." He held her head in both of his hands and brushed away a single tear that had tracked down her face.
"I would have. I wanted to."
"I know." My fault, he told himself. "How could you ever forgive me for doing that to you?"
"I already have." Her bright blue eyes were so full of sincerity and hope, enhanced somehow by the glassy wall of tears in front of them. Her arms around his neck, she leaned forward and kissed him again.
Mr. Gold wanted to hold her there forever. Just that would make him content. He didn't need power or magic, just her.
Finally they drifted apart, but Mr. Gold immediately pulled Belle into a long hug. They held each other tightly, Belle gently stroking his hair.
"Thank you, Belle," he murmured, "for always believing in me."