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

So, here we are on the final chapter. This just fills in what happened after the meeting. Be warned, it's a fluff-fest, but we get so much angst with RumBelle that I think a little fluff is needed!

I want to say thank you so much for reading and especially to those who've left comments. Over twenty comments for my little story and all so sweet – I'm very touched.

As usual, I own nothing: I'm just dabbling.

Sleepless in Storybrooke

Chapter five

They stood on the pavement, still holding hands.

Bae looked at them. 'What do we do now?' he wondered.

Tristan smiled. 'Well, I think you and I need to find a hotel and I need to make a few phone calls, and then perhaps the three of us could have dinner?' He looked at Belle.

She smiled. 'I'd like that very much.'

They started walking down the street.

'Who do you need to call?' Bae asked his father.

'Well, when I found you gone this morning, I went to the Nolans' and Emma told me where you were. Mary Margaret made me promise to call them when I'd found you. I should call Cora too, and let her know I won't be meeting her after all.'

'You don't have to call her,' Bae said, making a face.

'This'll be the last time I speak to her, son,' Tristan promised.

'Good,' Bae said, relieved. He smiled at Belle then and she guessed that this Cora woman was the one he'd called the ice queen. His feelings about her hadn't changed, then, so the woman on the beach must have been a different person entirely: she'd obviously just looked like Cora from behind.

'I should probably call my friend Ruby as well,' she said. She smiled at them. 'She's the one who convinced me to write to you in the first place.'

'I have to confess that I never actually read your letter, Belle,' Tristan admitted: 'Bae wanted me to, but…'

'He thought you were a raving lunatic,' Bae filled in helpfully.

Belle laughed at Tristan's mortified look.

'It's alright,' she told him, squeezing his hand: 'I'd probably have thought the same.' She smiled and so did he. 'Anyway, I should probably confess something myself,' she said. 'That day in Storybrooke, I knew who you were: I told Ruby about hearing you on the radio and she had some friends of ours who are private investigators do a little digging, so I probably know more about you than you do about me. I know it's crazy, not to mention unethical, and I'm sorry: I just–' But he squeezed her hand to shush her and she saw that he was amused rather than annoyed.

'Sounds like this friend of yours would get on very well with my son,' he said, and smiled at her. 'Seems like the universe has conspired to bring us together and I'm very glad it has.'

Her smile was radiant. 'I am too,' she said earnestly.

Tristan ended up paying an almost exorbitant amount of money for a hotel room, but it was worth it to be able to spend some time with Belle. He'd known her less than an hour, but he felt like he'd always known her, or always been meant to meet her. He'd never felt such peace, such contentment, or such happiness before: it was a revelation to him.

Belle waited in the lobby while he and Bae went to their room to wash up.

Bae grinned triumphantly at his father as they rode in the elevator.

'I knew you'd like her, Papa,' he said: 'you should listen to me more.'

'Aye, I should,' Tristan agreed. 'I'm sorry, Bae.'

Bae smiled. 'I forgive you, Papa.' They hugged and then Bae had a brainwave. 'You know, I'm kinda tired,' he said: 'why don't you go have dinner with Belle and I'll just order room service and go to bed early?'

Tristan smiled and shook his head, but then he offered his son his hand. 'Deal.'

Bae grinned.

'Yeah, he's fine, Mary Margaret: thank goodness.'

Tristan had taken a few minutes before meeting Belle to make his phone calls.

'That's a relief,' she said, sighing. 'So, what about that woman he went to meet: did she show up?"

'Aye, she did,' he said softly.

'And?' she pressed.

'And it turns out that she's the woman I saw in the airport and on the street at home.'

'You're kidding!'

'I know: weird, huh?'

'It's like fate,' she said.

'I'm starting to think that, yeah,' he said.

'So, how do you feel?' she asked.

He smiled. 'Nervous,' he said: 'a little scared, like I've woken up from a very long sleep, and very happy.'

'So it's nowhere near comfortable, then?' she queried.

He laughed. 'No, me and comfortable have parted ways forever.'

She smiled. 'Good: I'm glad. So, what are your plans now?'

'I'm gonna take her to dinner and then we'll see from there.'

'Great, well, good luck: we can't wait to meet this woman.'

'Thanks, Mary Margaret: you can tell Emma to expect a call from Bae any minute.'

'Will do: good night.'

While she waited, Belle called Ruby.

'So, how'd it go: did you meet him? What happened, Belle?' Ruby demanded without even saying hello.

Belle laughed. 'Yes, I met him,' she said.

'And?'

'And we're going out to dinner,' she said, smiling happily.

'Alright, Belle!' Ruby crowed. 'So, you're happy: everything's good?'

'Everything's wonderful,' Belle said softly: 'he's sweet, and warm, and looks at me like…'

'Like you're special,' Ruby finished, smiling.

'Yes,' Belle said, and smiled again. 'I know I've only known him an hour, but it just feels right: I can't explain it.'

'Then don't try,' Ruby told her firmly, yet gently: 'just go with your heart.'

'Thank you, Ruby: you're a wonderful friend, you know that?'

'I know,' Ruby said, and they both laughed. 'We'll see you when we see you, ok?'

'Thank you,' Belle said again: 'say good night to everyone for me.'

Cora wasn't happy at being stood up, but Tristan couldn't find it in him to be sorry, not when he compared how he'd felt with her to how he felt with Belle.

'What you and I had is just not enough for me,' he said to Cora as he stepped off the elevator and looked around for Belle.

'So what is this: goodbye?' Cora asked, and there was no pain in her voice: it was asked like she'd ask any question, and she didn't even seem all that interested in the answer. He wondered how he could ever have been attracted to her.

'Yes,' he said, and smiled as he caught sight of Belle finishing up her own phone call: 'yes, it's goodbye.'

Belle went to meet him, smiling.

'Will Bae be joining us for dinner?' she asked.

'He's decided he'd rather order room service and have an early night,' he told her, 'so it's just you and me. Do you mind?'

She shook her head. 'I don't mind.'

'I can't believe it worked!' Bae said to Emma.

She laughed. 'Well, I guess we're good plotters. So, what's she like?'

'Beautiful and sweet, and I know I'm gonna love her.'

'I'm happy for you, and your dad, but don't disappear on him like that again: he was really worried.'

'I won't. So, did your mom and dad ground you?'

'Yeah, for a week, but I don't mind: it was worth it.'

'Thanks, Em: hey, maybe when you're not grounded any more, we could go see a movie or something?' he suggested hopefully.

There was silence for a moment on the other end of the phone. 'Yeah, I'd like that,' Emma said softly.

Bae grinned. 'Great.'

Over dinner, Tristan and Belle talked.

They began with her letter. Bae had given it to him before he left the room and told him to read it.

'I wish I'd read it when he asked me to,' he told her.

She shook her head and squeezed his hand. 'It doesn't matter,' she told him: 'we're here now.'

He smiled. He didn't need to ask where that was exactly because he knew they both knew. They'd work this out, somehow.

'I think perhaps we were always meant to be here,' he said: 'I knew it the very first time I laid eyes on you.'

'That day I ran away like a scared little rabbit,' she said, shaking her head at herself.

'Actually, I saw you before that,' he told her.

'You did?'

'At the airport: you gave a child back the toy he'd dropped and you smiled that lovely, sweet smile of yours. I tried to catch up with you as you left, but you were too fast for me.' He smiled.

'I wish I'd known,' she said softly, eyes wide and full of sincerity.

He shook his head. 'No matter: we're here now.' They smiled at each other.

Soon, they moved from the dining room to one of the quiet seating areas dotted around the hotel and talked for hours. She told him about growing up in Australia, losing her mother when she was just seven and missing her every day. He held her hand as she talked and gave her his handkerchief when she cried. She told him about moving to America with her wonderful, but sometimes anxious and over-protective, father, settling in New York first and then moving to Boston where she had built a life for herself.

He told her about growing up in Glasgow, Milah and their rocky marriage, and his wonderful, clever son. Then he told her the thing he never talked about with anyone: he told her about the leg injury he'd sustained in a car accident nearly ten years ago and how difficult it had been to find his sense of self again afterwards, as well as the further tension it created in his marriage.

'Milah had been pulling away anyway,' he told her, 'but that was the final nail in the coffin. Shortly after that, she took up with that actor and then she left with him. I came home from work to find Bae alone and a note from her on the table.'

'My God!' Belle cried: 'that heartless woman.' Tears trickled down her cheeks. 'Leaving you because of some terrible twist of fate that you couldn't control: it's beyond cruel!'

He smiled a little at her taking his side, but he had to tell her that it wasn't as simple as that: he had to tell her the whole truth.

'I wasn't good to her, though, Belle. We were never a good fit anyway, but the harder things got between us, the more I took it out on her: the more we took it out on each other, I suppose. There was never any physical abuse on either side, but the emotional abuse left its scars deep enough. We weren't happy together: my leg was just the final straw. I can understand why she wouldn't have wanted to stay with a cripple, especially when she didn't love me.'

Belle squeezed his hand and he saw that her expression was pained at his words. Somehow he knew that if he'd been married to Belle instead of Milah, his life would have been happier and he wouldn't have experienced the loneliness and the sleepless nights that he knew all too well. In that moment, he knew that he would never be lonely again: she would chase all the sadness, all the loneliness, and all the doubt away for good.

She smiled at him and stroked the back of his hand tenderly with her thumb as she spoke again.

'It wasn't just that you weren't good to her: she wasn't good to you either. It's like Dr Hopper said: it takes two to make a marriage or any relationship fail, so Milah has a lot to answer for too. Anyway,' she told him, 'that part of your life is over now, and at least you got something precious out of it in Bae: he's a very sweet boy.'

He smiled at her obvious fondness for his son. 'Aye, he's a good boy: no one ever had a better.'

'I know how difficult it was for my dad raising me after Mum died: it can't have been easy for you with Bae,' she observed.

'It wasn't,' he agreed, 'but David and Mary Margaret were a big help. They're good friends of mine: they're looking forward to meeting you, by the way.' He smiled and so did she.

Something occurred to her then. 'By any chance, was that Mary Margaret I saw with you on the beach that day?' she asked.

'Yes,' he told her.

'Ah,' she said, and felt very foolish: 'I thought she was Cora.'

'You thought Mary Margaret was Cora?' She nodded and he smiled. 'Is that why you ran away?'

'Partly,' she said, 'but there was also the fact that I was standing in the middle of a street full of oncoming traffic. I guess I felt foolish and embarrassed, but I'm sorry I ran away.'

'I think we've both been a bit slow in getting here,' he commented: 'I know I've been afraid to risk my heart.' He smiled at her. 'I think perhaps I was just waiting to meet the right woman.'

She smiled and blushed. 'I knew that you were special when I heard you talk with Bae on the radio, and then when you talked about love it-it felt like you were reading my mind.' She laughed a little and shook her head. 'These things happen in movies, but I never imagined anything like this happening to me.'

'Nor did I,' he murmured, taking her hands in his. 'I never thought that this was in my future: I never imagined I would feel like this.'

'How do you feel?' she asked softly, staring at him.

He smiled a warm, happy smile. 'Like I never want to let you out of my sight,' he told her, raising one hand to touch her cheek gently: 'like I never want to let you out of my arms,' he added, his voice low and intimate.

It was the first time he'd touched her other than holding her hand and she caught her breath at the tenderness of the gesture and at the sound of love in his voice.

'Oh, Tristan, I feel the same way,' she assured him, her eyes sparkling with happy tears and her lips quivering with the emotion she was feeling.

'Sweetheart,' he murmured, and she almost cried at the sweet endearment, but instead she leaned over and touched her lips to his for their first kiss.

Tristan took her into his arms as they kissed and knew that his heart had found its home.

Neither of them noticed that the sun was coming up as they kissed. They'd stayed up all night talking like young lovers, but that was exactly how they felt.

Eighteen months later

Belle sat up suddenly, gasping.

Tristan heard her and, turning on the bedside lamp, he sat up beside her. 'Belle?' he asked, worried.

She turned to him and smiled. 'It's time: my water just broke.'

He smiled and kissed her. 'Wonderful,' he murmured, and rested his hand on her stomach.

She laid her hand atop his and kissed him again. 'I love you.'

He stroked her cheek. 'I love you too.'

She smiled again. 'Hopefully I'll be able to get out of bed.'

He laughed. 'Let me help, sweetheart.' He climbed out of bed and limped around to her. He helped her up and she hugged him.

'Thank you, darling,' she murmured. She smiled up at him. 'I have loved being pregnant,' she told him, 'but I'm so ready to not be any more.'

He laughed. 'Well, my love, it won't be long now.'

He stared down at her then and she knew that look: it was his 'I'm the luckiest man on earth' look. That look always made her eyes fill with happy tears because she knew she was married to a man whose deep, tender, abiding love she could feel in every touch, every word, and every look, making her know that she in turn was the luckiest woman on earth. He would love her forever, as she would love him, and she wouldn't trade the pain and uncertainty she'd felt before their meeting for anything, not now that they were together and so happy, thanks to Bae and Ruby.

Oh, it hadn't been easy even after their meeting. Parting in Boston had been difficult, but they tried to console themselves with promises of long talks on the phone and weekend visits. It got harder to say goodbye, though: phone calls got longer and longer, and her visits to Storybrooke and Tristan and Bae's visits to Boston were just never enough time together. Finally, after two months of phone calls and commuting, Belle told him that she'd discovered that Storybrooke was in need of a new librarian, she'd applied for the job and had gotten it, and she was moving to Storybrooke. Tristan had been astonished, but absolutely delighted, and so had Bae.

Belle's father wasn't so sure at first, though: he had been worried about the age difference and Tristan having a kid already. Their first meeting was rather tense and Belle told Tristan that it was just because she was Moe's only child and he was protective. To her father, she said that she was in love and that she was happy, and that she'd like for him to try to get along with Tristan.

'You told me that I would meet someone that was perfect for me,' she reminded him, 'and I have. Please, can you accept my choice and be happy for me?'

Lydia had spoken to him on the subject too and Moe had promised to try to get along with Tristan. The more he saw them together, the more Moe could appreciate how much in love they were. He thought about his dear Ellie and how much he'd loved her, and he could see that Tristan loved his daughter with the same depth of feeling. He treated Belle like a queen and obviously adored her, and his little girl had never been happier, so Moe accepted the relationship and was happy that his darling daughter had found a man to love her as much as she deserved.

There was no uncertainty at all from Belle's friends towards Tristan or from Tristan's friends towards Belle. Ruby was happy as long as Belle was happy and Tristan had been right when he said she and Bae would get along: she was pretty much his aunt in all but name by now. Mulan, Aurora, and Philip accepted him as Belle's choice easily too, particularly when they saw how happy she was with him compared to how unhappy she'd been before. The Nolans took to Belle instantly too: she and Mary Margaret began having lunch dates and David and Emma liked her a lot as well.

After a lunch to celebrate Belle's new job and her moving to Storybrooke, Emma quietly told Bae that he was right: Belle was sweet and beautiful.

Bae smiled at her. 'So are you, Em,' he said.

Emma blushed and looked away, but she smiled a little. Her mother saw it all and shared a look with Belle, who had seen the interaction too.

'I don't think we'll be telling her father about that,' Mary Margaret said softly.

Belle smiled and shook her head. 'Our secret,' she said conspiratorially.

'I can't believe my little swan's growing up,' Mary Margaret cooed, suddenly emotional.

'Did someone mention the words love and story?' David asked jokingly, seeing his wife on the verge of tears.

Mary Margaret swatted him on the arm, but he pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. She smiled and snuggled against him.

Tristan laughed and hugged Belle, and she smiled up at him.

Once Belle was settled in Storybrooke, her relationship with Tristan moved forward quickly. They married in August, just six months after they met, and by Christmas, Belle was expecting their first child: that had been the best Christmas present the family could wish for.

Bae was delighted to be getting a little brother or sister, and he loved Belle as if she were his mother: to him, she was his mother, and Belle thought of him as her son. Tristan, of course, was happier than he'd ever been with his boy, his Belle, and a new baby on the way.

Things had changed a lot for him with regard to work too. He left the law firm because he realised that the work had never truly made him happy. He took a long break before and after the wedding just to be with Belle and his son, and then he found premises in Storybrooke and opened an antique shop, deciding to put his knowledge and love of antiques to good use. The shop was doing fairly well now and he felt more fulfilled than he had in a very long time. As long as he had his family, his friends, and his business, he would never want for more.

Belle's body went rigid as he held her and he looked down at her.

'Contraction?'

She breathed through the pain. 'Mhm.'

He kissed her forehead. 'Then let's see about getting to the hospital.'

Bae dressed quickly when his papa woke him and told him that the baby was coming. He was excited: he was going to be a big brother. Even though he was fifteen now, he still loved the thought that he was going to have a sibling. He didn't even know whether the baby was a boy or a girl because his parents wanted to be surprised, but he'd told his mama that he thought it was going to be a girl.

She smiled when he said that and asked him how he knew.

'Just a hunch,' he said, 'and I bet she looks just like you.'

'Your papa says the same thing,' she told him and he grinned.

'I love you, Mama,' he said, and hugged her.

She hugged him back. 'I love you too, darling,' she told him, her voice full of love and sincerity. He held her tighter and she stroked his hair.

Milah had never called him that or held him like this. She'd never been affectionate with him. He preferred not to think about her, though: she'd left him. Belle was his mama now, and she was the best mama he could hope for. Everything was better now that she was here.

Moe smiled at his son-in-law when he woke him to tell him the baby was on its way. He clapped Tristan on the shoulder genially.

'You've made her very happy,' he said: 'I just wanted to say thank you.'

Tristan smiled. 'Well, she's done the same for me,' he said softly, and Moe nodded, knowing that he meant it.

'Won't be long now, Grandpa,' Tristan said, with another smile.

Moe felt his eyes light up at the title.

Ruby hovered in the doorway to Belle and Tristan's room, watching her friend anxiously as she finished dressing.

Belle saw her face and smiled. 'You're worse than Tristan and Bae,' she told her.

'I can't help it,' Ruby told her, 'my best friend's having a baby: this is a big deal.'

'Women have babies every minute of every day,' Belle said, 'and have done since the dawn of man: everything's fine, so stop looking so worried.'

Ruby tried to relax and managed to smile at her friend. 'Sorry.'

Belle smiled at her. 'You're forgiven, Auntie Ruby.'

Ruby grinned.

'Ready to go?' Tristan asked, coming in behind Ruby.

'All set,' Belle called, coming to meet him. 'Did you call the Nolans?'

'I did: they'll meet us at the hospital.'

She nodded and smiled. 'Then let's go meet our little one,' she said.

Belle had been in labour for nearly six hours and Tristan could see that she was exhausted. Seeing the pain of a contraction on her beautiful face made his heart clench and he wished that he could take some of the burden from her.

Belle reached up and stroked her husband's cheek. She smiled, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

'Almost there,' she told him: 'won't be long now.'

'I love you so much,' he breathed.

'I love you too,' she murmured.

A moment later, another contraction hit and the midwife told Belle to push. Not long after that, Belle and Tristan heard their child's first cry and they held each other, both crying happy tears.

Bae hadn't thought it would take this long.

'Sometimes it can take several hours,' Mrs Nolan told him.

'How long did I take, Mom?' Emma wondered.

'About six hours,' her mother said.

'How long did Belle take?' Mr Nolan asked Moe.

The florist smiled. 'Belle was a quick delivery: only took about three hours. She was a very accommodating baby in general: never gave us any trouble.'

Mr Nolan smiled. 'Opposite of me, then: Mom was in labour for ten hours with me.'

'Your poor mother,' Ruby commented.

'It's not gonna take another four hours, is it?' Bae asked, eyes wide.

Mrs Nolan smiled at him. 'I'm sure everything's fine, Bae: it just takes as long as it takes.'

Bae tried to relax, but every noise had him looking up. It was just as well, then, that his father appeared a short time later.

'Papa!' he called, going to meet him: 'is the baby here? Is Mama ok?'

His father smiled at him. 'Yes and yes,' he said. 'Come with me, son, there's someone who'd like to meet you.'

Bae smiled and followed his father down the hall and into a room. There on the bed was his mother, holding a tiny bundle wrapped in a pink blanket: his baby sister.

He grinned. 'I knew it would be a girl.' He moved closer. 'She's so tiny.'

Belle smiled up at him. 'Would you like to hold her?'

Bae was nervous, but he nodded.

Belle transferred the precious bundle into his arms. 'Support her head: that's it. See, you're a natural.'

He smiled down at his sister. 'What's her name?' he asked.

'Ellie, after Belle's mum,' his father said.

Bae nodded, staring at the baby in his arms. 'Hey, Ellie, I'm your big brother, Bae. I've been waiting to meet you. You've got the best mama and papa, you know, and I'm gonna be the best big brother. If you ever need anything, you just tell me ok.'

The little girl opened her eyes at that moment and Bae nearly gasped at the sight of his sister's big blue eyes.

Tristan went and joined his son, and they both looked down at Ellie.

'Looks just like her mama, doesn't she?' he asked Bae.

His son nodded. 'I knew she would.'

Belle leaned back against the pillows and smiled contentedly at her family.

Later that day, after everyone had met Ellie and cried and cooed over her, and after Belle and Moe had cried together as they remembered Belle's mother, Belle was able to get some much-needed rest.

She was just cuddling with Ellie when Tristan came in after taking Bae to get some dinner and dropping him off at the Nolans' for the night.

'Hey,' she called: 'I was just telling Ellie you'd be back any minute.'

'Hey,' he greeted, smiling: 'how are you both?'

'Well, Ellie's just had a feed, so she's pretty sleepy, and I'm just so happy.' She smiled.

He came and kissed her. 'So am I: I love you so much, both of you.'

'We love you too, don't we, Ellie?'

The baby made a soft gurgling sound that made her father smile.

'Just as smart and beautiful as her mother,' he observed, stroking her soft cheek: 'I knew she would be.' He smiled at Belle. 'Thank you, sweetheart.'

'Thank you too,' she returned, and kissed him. 'Come on, come and have a cuddle,' she said then, and moved over on the bed.

Tristan climbed up beside them and put his arms around his wife and daughter. He smiled at Belle's contented sigh and kissed the top of her head as she leaned against him. She smiled up at him and he marvelled once more at the love in her eyes. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve it, but he was so thankful for it.

Belle snuggled into her husband's arms, tired and content. It had been a long day, but a happy one, and she knew that as long as she and Tristan were together, she would continue to feel this wonderful happiness.

Her smile widened as she heard and felt her husband's deep, even breaths. She guessed that he'd fallen asleep, so she let her own eyes close and she soon joined her husband and daughter in a peaceful slumber.

The End

And there we have it. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you again so much for reading. I've enjoyed writing this very much and it's been lovely to share it with all of you. I can't get over the lovely comments I've gotten, so thank you again.

I've got several more stories in the pipeline, all in various stages of being written and edited. Next up will be a one-shot that's a crossover between Once and Harry Potter. It's also a RumBelle story, set shortly after the events of "Skin Deep". I should get that posted within the next week or so.

Thanks again for reading this!