Chapter Two

A/AN: This chapter will reveal more about Belle's night terrors and also give you some of her POV about the kiss.

Belle loathed storms. She pulled the covers over her head trying her best to block out the sounds of thunder that dispelled so many painful memories that she didn't want to confront. She tried to think of her happiest memory to block out the storm raging outside and within her subconscious. She found her mind anchoring on thoughts of Richard and his beautiful rich musical laughter from their Jeopardy game earlier. She felt herself soon drift off but knew it wouldn't be strong enough to fight off the turmoil.

~X~

Lightning cracked across the sky from her backseat window. The car was barely going 20 miles per hour as rain pounded mercilessly against the windshield. The sky was dark except for the occasional burst of lightning.

"Momma shouldn't we pull over?" the little girl in the backseat pleaded frantically.

"Belle darling once we top the hill we'll be in Storybrooke and then it's just a few miles from there." the woman in the front seat assured her.

"Okay momma I just have a bad feeling." Belle breathed in deeply trying to calm her frazzled nerves.

"Think about your most favorite memory like I taught you when you're afraid." her mother consoled.

"Okay my most favorite memory is when we went to Walt Disney World last year with papa." Belle smiled recounting riding Splash Mountain and the Haunted Mansion-her two most favorite rides.

"My favorite memory is the day you were born Belle darling. Those big blue cornflower eyes staring up at me full of curiosity and that head full of chestnut brown hair. You were the most perfect gift my Belle darling." she could see her mother smiling within her mind.

"Momma I love you." Belle sighed feeling her fears dissipate.

"And I love you my Belle darling." her mother said in a sing song voice but the moment was short lived.

The next thing she saw was the truck barreling toward them as it lost traction and slid down the hill they were topping.

"Please momma don't leave me!" Belle screamed as shards of glass blinded her eyes like a hoard of fireworks stealing her last visible moments. The picture of her mother flying through the windshield never leaving her mind as more glass exploded in her line of vision.

~X~

"Please momma don't leave me!" she cried, beating her fists against the door in the hallway, trying to withstand the inner turmoil she was trying to escape. She felt a pair of willowy arms wrapping themselves around her. The vision retreated from her mind quickly as new thoughts began filtering through her hazily. She clung to the form of her savior.

"Where am I?" she inquired in her confused state.

"Belle you're safe…I've got you now just relax." he said in his most soothing voice. She knew that thick Scottish brogue from somewhere.

"Richard…" she breathed going completely limp in his arms, feeling the need to collapse into his consoling embrace. She'd never felt more secure in her entire life as her own heartbeat drummed steadily in her ears.

"Are you okay?" he questioned her feeling his heartbeat increase as she clung to his frame.

"Yes I just have very bad night terrors when it storms…" she admitted, pulling away from him slightly. He placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her, "Would you like a glass of water? We can talk if you'd like." he found himself offering despite everything inside of him screaming it was a bad idea.

"Yes if it isn't too much trouble…I know it's rather late, and I'm sure you don't feel like troubling yourself with an insane sleep walking woman." she scoffed sitting on the edge of his bed. She was certain he must think her a mad woman, wandering the darkened hallways at night, screaming like a banshee.

"Belle you're not insane…A bit eccentric but never insane." he quipped handing her the water. She gulped it down greedily feeling like she hadn't taken a drink of anything in days. Why was he being so nice to her? He should be throwing her out for intruding at such a late hour!

"How do you do it?" she inquired focusing on the water cascading down her throat, instead of the man causing her heart to flip flop in her chest.

"Do what?" he questioned innocently.

"Make people feel better." she smiled bravely taking his hand. She didn't understand why she was coming undone in front of someone she had just met and yet felt like she'd known for a lifetime.

"I don't…No one has desired my company in a long time except for you Belle." he admitted, and she began to wonder if Richard's life had been one full of loneliness and pain like her own.

"You're the first person who's allowed me to be my true self around them besides Mary Margret. I'm a bit of an outcast actually." she confessed averting her gaze knowing that if she could see him, he would probably just shake his head in disgust at her.

"I find that hard to believe." he said with such ease, Belle thought her heart was going to melt. She knew for certain, she definitely had a thing for Scottish men now, especially this one.

"It's the truth…No one wants a useless blind girl slowing them down! My father has reminded me so many times how unmarriageable I am and that I'll probably end up in a group home one day if I don't find my place in society. My social skills suck!" she berated herself now certain he would agree with her.

"That's not true dearie…You've got a mind twice the size of anyone I've ever met, and I bet you would put Pat Sajak out of a job." he interjected eliciting a smile out of her. She'd never smiled in front of anyone this much before. The urge to close the gap between them and test those foreign waters was getting harder to resist.

"Thank you Richard! You really know how to make a girl smile." she grinned inching closer to his face throwing the last remaining pieces of her common sense to the wind. She lightly brushed her lips against his own feeling an unfamiliar spark surge through her igniting with flame.

She was surprised when he returned her kiss fervently, cupping her face in his calloused hands. She ran her fingers through his dirty brown hair, touching his face lightly until they landed on his scar. He pulled away quickly, and she heard him sigh deeply.

"Belle I'm sorry I shouldn't have-" she heard him begin to protest until she silenced him again with her lips. She pulled away after a few seconds, cupping his face tenderly.

"Don't apologize for something you didn't initiate…I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries, but I won't lie and tell you I regret it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to see where it goes. You're the first person to treat me like a normal person Richard, and you're the only one to see past my defect." she confessed feeling like a weight had lifted from her shoulders.

He sighed taking her hands and placing them gently in her lap, "I'm your professor Belle…What would it look like if-"

"If what Mr. Gold? If you got caught with the blind girl her father secretly despises and would love more than anything to ship off so that he doesn't have to be burdened with her anymore?" she accused not noticing the tears that began to fall in rivets from her eyes. Why couldn't she keep up her façade in front of him? Why was he making her feel so vulnerable?

"Belle I would never be ashamed to call you my own, but I'm afraid if you ever saw me for who I really was then you'd be ashamed of me." he retorted averting his gaze even though he knew she couldn't see him.

"Ashamed of what? Your scar? Do you really think I'm that shallow? That scar has nothing to do with who you are! You're a man who makes me laugh and that I can make easy conversation with. You're also a man I want to get to know better." she confessed, biting her lip nervously.

"Belle I just don't know…." he almost whispered filling her heart with dread.

"Well when you do know then please come find me!" she snapped standing up prepared to make an exit and if he wasn't such a coward, he would've followed her, but he was a coward, hiding away in Storybrooke: a town that was barely on the map.

He fell onto his back wondering what had just happened and how he was going to face Belle for their daily session. He'd only been here two days and had already gotten himself into a plight, he wasn't even sure he wanted to get out of. He would've been a liar if he'd said he hadn't enjoyed kissing Ms. French, but he knew he couldn't let this escalate any further despite what he wanted. He didn't deserve a woman like Ms. French or anyone for that matter, the voice in his head reminded him, even though his heart was in objection.

A/AN: This is just a little something I whipped up! I know it wasn't as long as my last chapter but the next one will be longer. I also know Belle's flashback was a bit hazy, and I promise to go into greater detail about her accident as this thing moves along. Please review!