Sleepless in Storybrooke Chapter three, an once upon a time fanfic

So, we're now half way through - two more chapters after this. Thank you so much for reading and commenting - the comments have been lovely :)

As usual, I own nothing.

In case anyone was curious, I imagine Cora in this as the younger version we met in "The Miller's Daughter". And now on with the chapter :)

Sleepless in Storybrooke

Chapter three

That same evening, Tristan was chopping vegetables and paused to look at his son as he stood glowering in the doorway.

'Come on, Bae, don't look like that: Cora's just coming for dinner. I thought this was what you wanted, for me to meet someone?'

Bae glared at his father and held up Belle's letter. 'This is the one I like!'

Tristan rolled his eyes. 'Ah, not this again, Bae! I told you, there is absolutely no way we are going to New York to meet some stranger who could be a raving lunatic.'

Bae's glare turned darker, if that was possible. 'You're such an idiot sometimes, Papa,' he said, as though he was bitterly disappointed with him.

Tristan huffed out an irritated breath. 'Yeah, well, sometimes you behave like a right brat, Bailey.'

Bae sent his father a look of pure loathing. 'I'm gonna go do my homework,' he said coolly, and turned on his heel. As he was walking up the stairs, he shouted back to his father: 'If you'd bother to read her letter, you'd see she's not a raving lunatic!'

Tristan sighed. Being a single parent was never easy, but it seemed to have become even more difficult lately, since Bae had called that radio show. The crazy thing about it all was that he was doing what Bae wanted and what Dr Hopper had suggested: he was putting himself out there.

Lunch with Cora had been nice. The last time they had been together, it had been all about sex with very little emotion attached: he'd never been able to get past her coldness long enough to get to any real feeling anyway, but the companionship had been nice. She'd said she'd missed him and he believed her, and they'd always understood each other pretty well. Ok, so it would never be anything like the relationship Mary Margaret and David had, but he'd never thought that was in his future anyway. Even if they never made any declarations of love, he and Cora could ease each other's loneliness. What was wrong with that?

Bae was as polite as he could be under the circumstances. He was angry with his father, even more so after he met the woman he had invited for dinner, but he tried to be polite. The thing was, though, Cora was not a nice person: beautiful, yes, but not at all nice. There was no light or warmth in her eyes, and she barely looked at him when his father introduced him. She barely even looked at his father either, come to that: she did seem very interested in his father's antiques, though.

He waited what he thought was a reasonable ten minutes after dinner and then politely excused himself, saying he had homework to finish.

'Alright, Bae,' his father said, smiling at him, pleased his son had made an effort to be civil to Cora.

'It was nice to meet you, Cora,' Bae said, hoping it didn't sound snide or sarcastic.

'You too, Bailey,' the woman said carelessly, not even looking at him.

Bae wasn't lying when he said he had homework to finish and it took him a while to get through it. After he was done, he flopped down on his bed and switched on the radio, figuring he'd listen to some music for a while, but it was coming to the end of a show. He leaned over to change the station when the announcer came on.

'Next up on Radio FTL: Conscience Call with Dr Archie Hopper.'

Bae sat up: of course!

'Belle!' Ruby called urgently, opening the door before Belle could invite her in.

Belle turned over and looked at her friend. 'What is it, Ruby?'

'Come and listen to this: the kid's on.'

Belle frowned: the kid? 'Bae?'

'Yeah, come on, honey: come listen.'

Belle followed Ruby out into the living area. The radio was sitting on the coffee table and Mulan turned the sound up.

'Calm down, Bae,' Hopper said.

'But he's downstairs with her right now!' Bae said.

'But isn't this what you wanted, Bae: for your father to find someone?'

'Yeah, but not her!'

'Why not her, Bae?'

'Because she's…her eyes are cold,' the boy said. 'She's the ice queen, my papa's been captured by the ice queen!'

'Bailey, I think you should take a deep breath and try to relax.'

'You've gotta help me fix this,' Bae cried.

'Bae, perhaps now that you see that you may get what you wanted, you're not so sure you really want it after all?' Hopper suggested.

'No, that's not – I do want him to find someone, but…'

Bae suddenly realised that Dr Hopper couldn't help him, not unless he could get Belle on the phone so that they could talk to each other. Well, Hopper couldn't get her on the phone, but Bae had her address: he could write to her!

He hung up the phone quickly and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen: he had a letter to write.

'What happened?' Mulan asked.

'Sounds like the kid just hung up,' Ruby said. 'You know, I bet this ice queen is that woman from the photos at the restaurant.' She looked sideways at Belle, who was looking down at her clasped hands. Her eyes were all puffy from crying and Ruby hated seeing her so upset.

'Probably,' Mulan agreed.

'It doesn't matter whether it was or it wasn't,' Belle said quietly: 'it was foolish of me to think that anything could come of my letter.'

'Well, I know one thing,' Ruby said, 'nothing's gonna come of him and the ice queen, not if that boy hates her as much as he seems to.'

'Perhaps, but I think it's best I just forget about all of this: it's better for my heart if I do.' With that, Belle stood up. 'I'll see you both in the morning,' she said, and smiled, though both Ruby and Mulan could see that it was only a shadow of a smile. Their friend was hurting and they didn't know what to do to help her.

Two days after their dinner date, Tristan drove Cora to the airport: she was going out of town on business.

'So I'll see you Friday night,' Cora said.

Tristan nodded. 'I'll pick you up: we can have dinner.'

Cora smiled coldly. 'I look forward to it,' she said, and kissed him briefly.

He watched her through the gate and then headed towards the exit, thinking that everything with Cora sounded very much like a business arrangement: no warmth about it at all, but perhaps that was best for his heart.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something – someone – that made him stop in his tracks. Up ahead, at one of the other gates, a young woman had just picked up a toy a child had dropped and handed it back to the little boy, making him smile up at her. The mother thanked her profusely and the woman smiled a soft, sweet smile and spoke words that he couldn't hear. Then she turned and made her way towards the exit.

He followed, wanting to catch up with her, talk to her, anything so that she wouldn't just walk out of his life. Her petite figure moved swiftly through the crowd and he saw her move further and further away. His heart was pounding: he'd never felt like this before, as though he knew this woman somehow, from somewhere.

Not looking where he was going because he wanted to keep the petite brunette in his sights, he almost collided with a trolley, and by the time he was done with apologies, the woman was gone.

'Damn it,' he muttered, and, sighing, made his way towards the exit to begin the lonely drive home.

'Mulan get away ok?' Ruby asked.

'Fine,' Belle said: 'airport was busy, as always.'

'This came for you while you were out.' Ruby handed her a letter.

Belle shrugged off her coat and opened the envelope quickly, not checking the return address, Ruby noticed, smiling.

'So, who's it from?' she asked expectantly.

Belle frowned as she read the letter. 'Bailey Gold,' she said.

'The kid?'

'Yeah: he wrote back to me.' She sat on the couch, still reading.

'What does he say?' Ruby came and sat in the armchair.

Belle read the letter aloud.

'Dear Belle,

I really liked your letter: it was way better than all the other letters Papa got. What's it like in Australia? Does the toilet really flush backwards? Do you get to have Christmas on the beach? Sorry, I bet you get asked those questions all the time.

What I really wanted to say was that I think my papa will like you a lot when he meets you. You said you like books and he does too, and antiques: he knows a lot about antiques.

We're really looking forward to meeting you in New York on Valentine's Day. Then you can see if you like my papa too and then who knows what will happen?

See you soon, Belle!

Yours sincerely,

Bailey Gold (but you can call me Bae)'

'Aw, sweet kid,' Ruby said.

Belle smiled. 'Yeah.'

'So?' Ruby prompted.

'What?'

'You still gonna go, to the Empire State Building?'

'Oh, Ruby, I…'

'I know you want to,' Ruby wheedled, 'and they're gonna be there…'

Belle shook her head. 'That's what Bae says: I don't even know that his father knows anything about that letter. Bae could just be angry with him about the ice queen.'

Ruby thought for a minute, pondering how to get Belle not to give up. 'Go up there,' she said suddenly.

'What?'

'You heard me: Storybrooke is, what, three hours away? You could go on Sunday: take the whole day and go meet this guy.'

Belle stared at her. It was a crazy idea, but still, very appealing.

Ruby smiled in triumph, knowing she'd won her over. 'Do the brave thing, Belle.'

Belle watched them from across the street and smiled. The boy looked so like his father and it was so clear to anyone who saw them how much they loved each other. They were just having fun, throwing stones and bits of driftwood into the water, and laughing and talking together. Tristan looked relaxed in jeans and a sweater and Belle couldn't stop smiling as she watched them.

Suddenly a woman with long dark hair came into view and went to meet them. Bae gave a shout of welcome; then Tristan turned and hugged her. Belle stared at them: obviously the situation with the ice queen had changed, then. Her heart thudded painfully at the knowledge.

'Where are David and Emma?' Tristan asked Mary Margaret.

'They went to get groceries,' she said: 'I just saw you two down here so I thought I'd come say hi.'

'Well, you know your company is always very welcome, dearie,' Tristan said, smiling.

'So how are things?' she asked.

'Not bad,' he said, electing not to tell her about Cora, because he didn't need her lecturing him right now, not when he was having a good day.

'And how about you, Bae?' Mary Margaret asked, hugging him.

Tristan didn't hear his son's reply: his attention was caught by the woman on the road in front of him. He stared at her, immediately recognising her as the woman from the airport. He walked slowly forwards.

Belle didn't know what had possessed her, only she knew she had to try to connect with him, so she got out of the car and made her way towards him, and now he was there, staring at her, close enough to talk to.

He spoke first. 'Hello,' he called.

'Hello,' she returned, suddenly not knowing what else to say.

He was about to speak when a car horn blared loudly.

Belle jumped as the car came to a stop beside her. She hadn't realised she was standing in the middle of the road and now she felt mortified. Suddenly she lost all her courage and, turning, she got back into her car and drove away, deciding to put all of this foolishness behind her once and for all.

Tristan watched her go, feeling suddenly empty inside.

'So what did you say?' Ruby asked, sitting beside Belle as she related the fiasco her trip to Storybrooke had been.

Belle sniffled. 'All I could say was hello.'

'Oh, my God,' Ruby said, 'just like Deborah Kerr in that movie.'

'An Affair to Remember,' Belle said.

'Yeah: isn't that where you got the idea for meeting on top of the Empire State Building from?'

'Yes, but as far as I'm concerned, this is an affair to forget. I can't believe I was such an idiot. I just want to forget any of this ever happened.'

'But what about Bae's letter?'

'It means nothing,' Belle said: 'it was written before I went there, before his feelings about the ice queen changed.' She sighed. 'Remind me not to be such a hopeless romantic in future, will you, Ruby? I just want to put this whole mess behind me.'

Ruby studied her friend and knew she didn't really mean it, but how could she make Belle see that?

'So you saw her in the airport and here?' David asked, when Tristan stopped by for a drink that night.

'Yeah. It was weird, like déjà vu: I felt like I knew her.'

David smiled. 'You're starting to sound like Mary Margaret.'

'Excuse me,' Mary Margaret protested, 'I remember a time when you weren't so down on romance. Don't you remember "I will always find you"?'

'Honey, I'm just kidding,' David soothed. 'I love love: you know that. It's just weird hearing all this coming from Tristan's lips.'

'Well, I think it's nice,' Mary Margaret said.

'It's a bloody nuisance is what it is,' Tristan protested. 'I don't even know this woman and I can't get her out of my head. I need to start focusing my attentions on women who are available and here, not this…apparition of a woman.'

'Women like Cora, you mean,' Mary Margaret asked quietly.

Tristan sighed. 'Bailey told you.'

'Bae only told me you were seeing some woman named Cora: he doesn't know your history with her, but I do, and my question for you, Tristan is: are you nuts?'

'Easy, honey,' David said, wanting to avoid an argument.

'No, by all means, continue, please,' Tristan invited.

'You got together with her when you were in a bad place,' Mary Margaret observed, 'and you think that by revisiting things with her now that you're going to be happy? You think things have really changed that much? Come on, Tristan!'

'Look, Mary Margaret, I'm not saying it's gonna last or that it's ever gonna be anything like what you have with David, it's just…it's…'

'What?' she prompted.

'It's comfortable.'

She stared at him, disappointed. 'Oh, Tristan,' she said, not knowing what else to say.

'Any woman who gets involved with me is gonna have a lot to take on,' Tristan said, trying to explain: 'what with Bae and…my leg. It's better in the long run if I don't put my heart into it because then, when she leaves, it'll be easier.'

Mary Margaret understood. 'So, you got involved with Cora again because you knew there was no love involved.'

'In a nutshell, yeah.'

'And you don't think that you deserve more?' she asked softly.

'Or are you afraid to try for more?' David asked.

'Look, we've been friends for a long time,' Tristan said, 'and I don't wanna argue with you about this. Let's just agree to disagree, eh?'

'Tristan, you don't get it, do you?' Mary Margaret asked. 'This isn't a simple matter of business we're talking about here: it's your heart. Forgive me, but I think you're making a big mistake with Cora. Say you do stay together, in whatever kind of relationship you have: when you get to the end of your life, are you gonna be able to look back and say "yes, that was worth it and I was happy"? Are you gonna be able to say that, Tristan, or are you gonna look back and see wasted, empty years, and realise that all the love in your heart never found a home? It's because I'm your friend that I'm pushing this: I just want you to be happy.'

Tristan didn't say anything and she sighed. 'Let me ask you one thing, just one and then I'll leave it alone: does Cora make you feel the way that woman at the airport made you feel in those brief glimpses you got of her?'

He picked up his cane and stood up. 'What does it matter how she made me feel? She's gone: she's not coming back, and I've got to live my life. I'll see myself out.'

He walked home and poured himself a Scotch. The house was quiet: Bailey was asleep, so there was nothing but the Scotch and his thoughts for company. Well, that wasn't quite accurate: there was also that beautiful apparition, haunting him with her kind eyes and warm smile. Cora…was not her, but Cora was here, so it was her he called to make plans for Friday night. He tried to ignore the way his heart lurched in protest as he spoke to her. This was to be his life: his heart must just accept that. He went to bed, and didn't sleep.

To be continued

Ending on a bit of a sad note there, so sorry about that. Little bit of angst before we get to the fluff :) Thanks so much for reading and comments/observations are always welcome.

If anyone is interested, I also post on Archive of Our Own under Scribbles_by_Kate and I'm on Tumblr too under Scribbles-by-Kate.

Chapter four will be up next Sunday - see you then :)