A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and/or favorited this story! Thank you especially, emilia9, for the really encouraging review! I can't tell you what that means to me! You're the one who really made me want to continue the story, so here it goes. :)

"Didn't I tell you that good help is hard to find?" Mr. Gold smiled at Belle as they entered the rural area of the town. He paused on the sidewalk and pressed his palm against his wound, sighing as the pain ebbed away. His magic was back now, but the magic-preventing enchantment over the forest set him on edge. Who else could it have been but Regina? But what motive did she have?

Belle released him from her helping hold, smiled, and jumped up to hug him tightly, her hands stroking his hair. "I'm glad you're okay."

Mr. Gold pushed his troubled thoughts to the back of his mind and let his hand rest on Belle's cheek as she pulled away. "You're the one who was in danger. I'm glad you're okay."

She took his free hand in hers and swung it gently from side to side, still smiling. "Yes, but I don't think I can say the same about my picnic basket."

He chuckled at the thought of the abandoned basket by the water. "Well, maybe that bear will get a stomachache and learn its lesson, if it didn't already from you. But it's a pity that those cupcakes have to go to waste."

Her grin spread wider. "I can make some more, if you want."

"I would love that. Perhaps we could even make them together."

Belle laughed and raised her eyebrows at him. "The Dark One? Baking cupcakes?"

Mr. Gold chuckled. "He's done more surprising things."

"Like what?"

"Like falling in love with someone who he could never deserve." He pulled her into his arms, holding her gingerly around her waist.

She looped one arm around his neck, and with the other brushed her knuckles from his temple to his jaw. "Like being a better man." She hugged him, her head on his shoulder as her nose burrowed into his neck. "I love you, Rumplestiltskin." Her breath tickled his skin and sent a good shiver up his spine.

"Oh, Belle." He sighed and held her closer. "I wish you knew how much I love you too."

Belle pulled away after a few moments and smiled at him. "Do you want to…have dinner or something?"

Mr. Gold took a good look at the world around him; the sky was darkening, though it didn't seem possible that so much time had passed. "Of course. Granny's?"

He asked only for her sake; he would rather eat with her alone, but whatever she wanted, he would go along with.

"I have food at my apartment," she said, though it almost sounded like a question. "And I've been told that I can make something edible."

"Whatever you want," he responded, not wanting to pressure her into anything. He had never been to her apartment in the library; not since she had made her home there, anyway. He had cleaned it out before giving her the key, and he could only imagine the warmth and light she had brought to the place.

A bright smile lit up her features. "Come on." She took his hand and began to tug him down the sidewalk. The library was only a couple blocks away, so they made it there in little time.

Belle unlocked the library door, and Mr. Gold held it open for her as she stepped through. There was still just enough light outside for them to see their way inside the building.

"Are you enjoying the library?" Mr. Gold asked as they weaved in between bookshelves.

"Yes! It's wonderful! I could be happy here forever."

"I'm glad." He squeezed her hand gently. "And how do you like this literature compared to that of the Enchanted Forest?"

"It's good, but…different. Less happy endings." She looked up at him with a frown. "Why is that?"

"Every world is different. I suppose that this one just isn't as optimistic as ours."

They were at the back of the library now and came to a set of old, creaky, wooden steps. At the top, however, stood a new door, its white wood polished and clean. Belle paused, key in hand, and turned to face Mr. Gold.

"Will we ever be able to go back? To the Enchanted Forest?"

Mr. Gold leaned heavily on his cane. "It is possible, but honestly, I don't know." He tried to decipher the look on her face and failed. He had never been able to read her as well as she could read him. "Do you want to go back?"

"Well…" She shrugged a little as she finally opened the door and flipped on a light inside. "I do miss it, but I like it here too."

Mr. Gold quietly shut the door behind him as he stepped into a narrow hallway which opened up into a sizable apartment. The kitchen, complete with a counter and two chairs, took up the left corner of the room. Beyond that was a small wooden table with four chairs to match, and the whole right side of the room was dominated by a large sofa, a coffee table, and bookshelf which stretched to the ceiling.

"It's beautiful," he said in truth as he stopped just outside the hallway to admire the drastic change she had made to the old apartment. There were vases of flowers on every table, the walls had been painted a soft beige, and everything was decorated in light blues, yellows, and greens.

She looked down and laughed. "Thank you."

He walked toward the bookshelf and examined its layout. The books were in alphabetical order by author, but there were two sections of books, with an empty shelf separating them.

"The ones on the top are my favorites," Belle explained from his side. "Below that are the ones I haven't read yet."

Mr. Gold glanced over the titles of her favorites: Pride and Prejudice, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, The Chronicles of Narnia, among several others. He smiled a little at the thought that he had recommended many of them.

"Do you have a favorite?"

"No! There are too many to choose from."

He smiled wider at the look of excitement on her face. He was glad that she was happy; it was all he had ever wanted for her.