A/N: I'M HAVING SO MANY RUMBELLE FEELS THAT IT'S UNHEALTHY. IT'S TAKING EVERYTHING I HAVE IN ME NOT TO READ THE RECAP OF A TALE OF TWO SISTERS. HOW WILL I MAKE IT TO SUNDAY? I DO NOT KNOW. AND IT'S ALSO TERRIBLE BECAUSE I HAVE NO ONE TO FANGIRL WITH.
*steady breathing* Anyway, here's this chapter. Enjoy! :)
"That, was amazing," Mr. Gold stated, standing up to take both of their plates.
"I haven't tasted your cooking since the Dark Castle."
She smiled, seeming pleased. "Thank you." She paused as Mr. Gold placed their plates and silverware in the sink. "I miss it sometimes, you know."
He turned back toward her, curiosity brimming in his mind. She couldn't possibly mean what he thought. "Miss what?"
"Working for you in the castle."
She said it so matter-of-factly, like it was the most normal thing in the world, and yet Mr. Gold couldn't wrap his mind around it. "But I was…a monster."
A smile found its way onto her lips; that fond smile which had never changed, even between worlds. "You were never a monster, Rumplestiltskin."
Her unfailing faith in him still warmed his heart and made him smile. "I miss it too, sometimes," he confessed, sitting down across from her again, "but I'm not afraid like I was then."
"Of love."
"Of you. Of what you did to me." He smiled a little, recalling the times when his heart would flutter under her innocent gaze.
"I suppose it is better now, in a lot of ways."
Mr. Gold watched her eyes come to rest on a thick book sitting on the coffee table, her expression filled with longing. He could understand if she wanted to be by herself for a little while, after a whole day with him.
He shifted in his seat, clutching his cane. "I can go-"
"No!" Her gaze snapped back to him. "I was just thinking about how I used to read to you while you spun." Her clear eyes shone with honesty.
"Those were some of the best nights of my existence." He could say that in truth.
She laughed. "Would you-? I mean, it won't be the same, but I could read to you, if you wanted me to." She stood up and walked across the room to pick up the book and flip through the pages. "It's only David Copperfield."
"David Copperfield it is, then." He followed her steps to the coffee table and sat on the couch next to her.
Hesitantly, it seemed, she leaned against him, and then stretched her legs out beside her so she was lying on her side. She opened up the book to a page barely past the middle, and began reading in her soft, steady voice. Mr. Gold listened to her voice more than he paid attention to the story, but he still thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. He watched page by page go by until she had read through a good portion of it, and her voice grew weaker. Her head grew heavier on his shoulder until she trailed off in a sentence, the book resting on the couch cushion.
Mr. Gold enjoyed the feeling of her, so quiet and perfect, sleeping next to him. However, he soon realized that there was a problem; he couldn't leave. She needed to be placed in her bed, and yet he knew that if he moved, she would awaken.
From memory he knew she was a light sleeper.
So he decided to simply stay. He leaned his head back, and with the sound of her soft breathing in a steady rhythm, it was easy to fall asleep.
It was the unsteady breathing which woke him up.
Belle was breathing hard, her fists clenched and her body tense. "Rumple," she muttered in her sleep. A second later, a little louder, "Rumple, no!"
He had seen too many nightmares in his lifetime.
"Belle." He shook her shoulder gently. "Belle!"
She gasped as her eyes opened and she took him in. "Rumple?" she whispered, patting his chest with her hand. "Rumple," she sighed, burying her face in his chest and wrapping him in an embrace.
"You were having a nightmare," he stated quietly, daring to carefully stroke her hair just once.
"You're still here," she said, ignoring his statement. "You could have woken me up."
A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "I didn't want to. Besides, if I would have left you would have been at the mercy of that nightmare."
Belle pulled away from him to look him in the eye, a small smile emerging onto her face. "I am glad that you saved me."
"You said my name." He caressed her cheek, still noticing a frightened look in her eyes. "Do you want to talk about it?"
She sighed, leaning her head back on his chest. "Not yet. It makes it too real."
Mr. Gold glanced at a ticking clock hanging on the wall and saw that it was just past two o' clock in the morning. "I can leave now, if you want."
Belle stretched up to kiss his cheek. "Then who will chase the nightmares away?" With another smile she rested against him again, looping her arms through his.
Within a few minutes, they were both asleep.