True Love's Proof

Chapter 8

She had gone to the Rabbit Hole against her better judgement.

Her father had to sort through inventory that had been delivered that day and Nick was busy...again. It had been three months since the funeral and even though her grief was still an every day burden, it was lessened by his presence, his friendship. They had shared meals, stories and each other's experience with loss. She spoke of Rumplestiltskin and he told her about Gloria and Amanda. But he had started to become less and less available in the last couple weeks. She didn't like the feeling of being pushed away once more.

That was the real reason she had said yes to Emma's invitation for a girl's night out at the Rabbit's Hole. Someone had offered to spend time with her and she jumped on it. Now, however, looking around the table at the gathering, it only made her feel that much more alone. Snow and Emma had Charming and Bae back at the apartment, both men were watching Henry. Red was sneaking unsubtle glances over to the bar where Jiminy was seated. The town's psychologist was most likely waiting for them all to go their own ways so he could spend his time with Red.

But Belle had an empty apartment to go back home to when this meeting ended. She missed companionship. There were four months of being in the Dark Castle with Rumplestiltskin that had been comfortable and pleasant. Then it was twenty-eight years of solitude, followed by a couple months of on and off moments of tranquility here in Storybrooke. Her father offered her some comfort but he still looked at her with pity tinging his eyes. Pity for falling in love in with a monster and pity at her grief over the loss of the monster. Nick, on the other hand, treated her like a person who had lost their love. He understood better than anyone here and she missed that unique connection.

"Call him."

Emma's voice rattled Belle out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry?"

"The science guy," Emma said. "Call him or go visit him at least."

Belle shook her head and turned her martini glass in her hand. "He's busy."

Snow tilted her head to the side. "Doing what?"

"I don't know. Trying to get home, I suppose."

Emma snorted. "Home to his spaceship?"

"Hey," Red grinned, "you're living in a town full of storybook characters and you're making fun a man and his spaceship? Sounds a little hypocritical to me."

"Sounds like you've been hanging out with a certain cricket," Snow countered.

Emma smiled tightly at Snow. "Thanks for sticking up for me, Mom."

Snow's smile was anything but tight. "Any time."

And Belle had to blink back tears at the easiness they all had with each other. Due to her incarceration, she had no friendships here, no ties to anyone really. The only one she had known was gone and the one friend she had connected to was off doing god knew what tonight. She shouldn't have come and pretend that she was friends with these women. It just wasn't so. She dropped her share of the check on the table and slipped from her chair. "I think I'll call it a night."

The other three woman all fussed over her leaving, asking her to stay but she just shook her head, wished them all a good night and quickly left the tavern. Once the cold night air hit her face did she allow her tears to fall. She was tired of feeling lonely when she was around other people. She was weary of the dull ache underneath her breastbone that she feared would never go away. But most of all, she was sick of caring for men who had a habit of pushing her away. Just once, she wanted someone to reach out to her first.

"Belle?"

She looked up and found herself almost nose to nose with Nick. Belatedly, she swiped at her tears. "What are you doing out here?"

He gave her a concerned look. "I was walking back from the school to Granny's when Emma texted me. She said you left their girl's night early and wanted me to check on you."

Emma, of course. Belle would have to kick her in the shins the next time she saw the sheriff. "I'm fine."

"If you say so."

She kept walking in the direction of her apartment and was torn when Nick started following her. "So, what were you doing at the school so late?"

"Working."

Always spinning, always working. Rumplestiltskin said he spun to forget. From the stories that Nick told her, he worked to survive, to go home. "How is it going?"

"Well. Very well."

Belle blinked back fresh tears. "So you'll be leaving soon."

"I don't know about that." He stopped and held out his hand to her. "Would you like to see?"

She didn't even hesitate and slipped her hand into his. At the moment, it was the closest she had felt to coming home in months. "I'd like that."

The school was completely dark and Belle was thankful that Nick kept a grip on her hand. He maneuvered the hallways like he had done this multiple times, walking with ease and confidence. They reached the lab room that was connected to his classroom and he flipped on the lights, releasing her hand.

Belle couldn't believe her eyes. There were four chalk boards in the room and every single one of them had been filled with equations. There were papers taped around the boards when the numbers over flowed from the board and he had needed more space. There was a beauty, an elegance to it all, even though she had no understanding of what she was viewing.

She sank down onto one of the lab tables and just took in the amount of work he had done. Rumplestiltskin had frightened her with his power, the immensity of what he held within himself. But Nick's brilliance brought on a new sense of awe and fear. He was so intelligent, bound for bigger and more important things than Storybrooke, Maine and a heartbroken knight's daughter. He was going to leave one day, possibly soon, and she had to be prepared for that.

"What does it mean?"

He smiled and pointed to the two boards on her left. "This is the equation I formulated based off a discovery that was made while I was aboard Destiny. There was a recurring pattern we found embedded in the very fabric of space itself. If we were to write it out using math, it would look like this. And then," he pulled out the box that Rumplestiltskin had bequeathed to him and opened it. "I was given this. I studied it under a microscope. Watched its movement, tried to take it apart to see what exactly it is."

Belle was surprised to see glowing pinkish-purplish swirling in the bottle. She couldn't quite understand why Rumplestiltskin would give that to Nick. "What did you find out about it?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea what it is. Usually, when that happens, I start looking at it from a mathematical point of view. Based off its reactions to the tests I put it through and observation of movement, I started mapping it with equations." He pointed to the other two boards in the room. "And I found the exact same pattern as I did with the unknown message in space."

Belle couldn't hide her smile at the realization of just what she was looking at now. She still didn't understand how the numbers and symbols could interpret a message or a movement but she could grasp the meaning behind it all now.

Nick put the bottle back into its box. "Do you know what's in this bottle?"

"Yes, as a matter fact of I do. It's true love."

He stared at her caught on the edge of laughing and believing. "He said it would get me home. But home to Destiny or home back to Earth? And how in the world would 'true love' do that?" He slammed the box shut with a muttered curse.

"Gods above, you and Rumple are so similar." Belle stood up and walked over to the boards. "He use to say that if you could bottle true love, the most powerful magic there is, you could do anything. You have the evidence in that box. You have the mathematical proof behind you and you still you don't believe in its existence."

His anger seemed to fade slightly. "I've never experienced it, Belle. It's difficult to believe in something if you've never experienced it."

"Just because you never experienced it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. You held it in your hands. You gave it written form. What else is left?"

He turned around and faced the boards thoughtfully. "I don't know. Could it really be that simple? Just believe and then what? Click my heels together and I'm back on Destiny?"

Belle came next to him, leaning back against the desk, their shoulders touching. "I don't think there's anything easy about believing something or even accepting it. I know that doesn't help with getting you home."

Nick glanced down at his watch. "Speaking of getting home."

She hated to admit the lateness of the hour but she didn't want to leave just yet. She had barely seen him in the last two weeks and she wasn't ready to let him go just yet. "I'd like to stay here a little while longer."

He gave her a half smile. "You would?"

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too." He admitted it guiltily, with an averted gaze. "Girls' night out didn't go well?"

She shrugged. "I don't think the problem was with them."

"Loss changes people. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not."

"How did it change you?"

"Not for the better, that's for certain."

She nudged his shoulder with her own. "I don't think you're so bad."

"You haven't seen me at my worst."

"The one thing I did learn from Rumplestiltskin was that even at your worst, you're still yourself. It's just another facet, flawed but still part of the whole."

He was quiet so she took the time to let her eyes rove over the equations in front of her. It wasn't until she yawned that the quiet spell between them was broken.

"Come on, then," he slipped an arm around her shoulders and led her out the door.

When they were back on the street, Belle spoke up. "Remember that day in the diner, when Bae showed up and thought you were his father?"

"Of course."

"You said that if you could see true love's proof, then you would believe in it."

"So I did." He laughed slightly. "When we made that discovery of the pattern in space, many people thought it proved the existence of God or at least a more intelligent being than humans. Now, when I go back, I'll have to tell them that it's not God but true love. They'll think I've gone around the bend."

Belle pressed herself against his side, trying to stay warm in the chilly night. "I have to admit, I'm not well versed in this world's religions but isn't it a widely accepted belief that God is love? And if He's God, wouldn't that make it the truest of love? Maybe it's His signature that you've found."

"Your explanation is as good as any."

"Maybe you should take me with you so I can pitch that idea to everyone else," she laughed and then sobered quickly. It was an option she hadn't considered until that moment. She could go with him. What was here to keep her now? A grave? Friends? An independent father?

Nick pulled away from her. "No, Belle. You can't come with me."

Her heart sank. He was the one who understood the science behind these wormholes and stargates so if he said she couldn't go with him, he must understand something she didn't. "Is it like Jefferson's hat? If only one person comes through, only one can go back?"

"No, nothing like that."

He had shoved his hands into his pockets and Belle wanted to tug one out so she could hold it again. "Then why can't I go?"

"Why would you want to? Did you not listen to stories I told you? The lack of food, the disrepair of the ship? No, you need to stay here."

"And what exactly is here for me? I spent twenty-eight years locked up. I have no friends, the only man I've ever loved is dead and my father feels sorry for me because of who I fell in love with." The passion that she felt took her by surprise, not realizing this was what she wanted until she opened her mouth. "I want adventure. I wanted to see the world and then you show up and tell stories of other worlds that you can travel through just by passing through a gate. How can I not want that?"

"You have no training in military or science fields."

"What about the senator's daughter, Chloe? She didn't have training either and yet she's been extremely beneficial to you and the crew. And Eli, you said he didn't even finish college and yet he's done so much for you too."

He actually looked pained. "I don't want you to go through what they went through, Belle. There is so much suffering and hardship, you have no idea."

"I have no idea about suffering and hardship?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Then why don't you want me to go with you?"

It was hard to determine the look on his face in the dark and he was silent for too long. Belle opened her mouth to repeat the question when he stepped forward, grabbing both sides of her face and pressing his mouth against hers. She fought a smile, pulling him closer to her instead. After all the time she had spent with Rumplestiltskin, how foolish of her to miss the signs of fear in Nick. It was too soon to tell if it was love but at least he cared enough for her to want the best or what he thought was the best for her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered against her lips.

Belle kept a firm hold on his shoulders. "Don't be." She leaned up on her toes and returned his kiss. She wouldn't bring up going with him again but when she went back to her apartment that night, she would pack her bag and be ready to follow Nick through whatever gate appeared in Storybrooke.