Skin Deep by DD Agent
I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at ABC.
Thank you to those who read part two - special love as always to those who took the time to review - MrsDarcy17, The Sky Pirate Girl, Padme-And-Anakin-4-Ever, Hopecohen, becca, Rayvah, Aldesina, Lyn Harkeran, 8 Navy Roses, EarthGuardian, sarah hobbit and Sheherazade's Fable.
Okay, so here is part three! I hope you enjoy it! I would like to know when you'd all like parts four and five - I know the finale is tomorrow and I don't know whether you'd be too distracted to read. Lemme know!
Part Three
He watched her lie on the fainting couch she was so fond of. He had to agree that he was fond of it too - Rumpelstiltskin liked the way it displayed his mistress. He liked watching her when she thought he wasn't looking. Belle's eyes would be fully fixed upon the page; her fingers caressing the corner of the next one, desperate to continue the story. For someone so feared, the joy in her face when she read filled him with so much happiness. That face - especially when a curl would encroach on her skin - haunted his dreams.
Rumpelstiltskin placed the tea tray in front of Belle. She turned to him as he started pouring her a cup, beaming. It was then that he noticed what book she was reading - it was the book he had spilled tea all over on his first night in her castle. She bowed her head when she realised he was staring at the book. He handed her a cup of tea without a word and then poured his own. He was feeling brave today.
When it became apparent he was staying to drink a cup with her, Belle dragged her ankles up the couch and let him sit on the end. He held the tea cup in his hands, tracing the rim with his finger. Belle was grinning at him from the end of the couch, drinking her own cup. Her tongue ran out to catch a couple of drops of tea, and his gaze immediately went to his knees.
"Why did you want me here?" Rumpelstiltskin found himself asking. It wasn't the question he really wanted answering, that was something completely different, something about the way he caught her staring at him some times. But it was a step in the right direction.
She smiled at him. "I couldn't find a damn thing."
He chuckled and returned to his tea. He enjoyed being brave, enjoyed being frank with his mistress and uncovering her inch by inch. Just like he dreamed about doing on this very couch. "I think you were lonely. It's a big place, lots of rooms here."
"I can always find company if I need it," Belle hissed over her cup. That hurt more than it should have done. But it was the truth. She was a beautiful young woman - maybe a little pale, but in some kingdoms that was a sign of being high born. She could go to any tavern, any ball and find some handsome young man to take back to her bed. She didn't need him.
Their conversation had stilled, and Rumpelstiltskin turned to see his employer gripping the book like a talisman. Sometimes - like with the book - she could be so warm. Other times he wondered where her heart was. He decided to press on, going in a different direction to uncover more of his mistress. Taking another sip of tea, he swallowed and turned to Belle. "I was cleaning the upstairs rooms, and found some clothes, armour. For a young man, I would say. Were you...were you married?"
Belle placed the tea cup down on the tray and looked at him, wrapped up in memories that had happened long before he had even been born. She bit her lip, something he noticed she did when he said something that threw her off. When she was nervous. Eventually she answered him.
"There was a fiancé, once upon a time."
Rumpelstiltskin nodded. That was not what he wanted to hear. Anything but that. "Did he pass in the Ogre War?" She had been so compassionate over Bae, had seemed to understand the grief that he felt - still felt over his son. Her anger over the Ogre War seemed understandable now - his imagination painted a picture of a young husband very much in love with his new bride off to fight his war. A young widow turning to darkness in order to avenge her true love.
"No..." Belle paused, cracking his picture. "I ended our engagement, but he was close to my father so he..." She closed her eyes for a moment, the pain carving her face into shadows. Without thinking, he brought his hand to cover hers. She snatched it away as if his touch burned her. When he saw her eyes, the blue in them was almost over spilling. "Forgive me, Rumpelstiltskin. I'm not fond of remembering."
He nodded, understanding that feeling more than most. He took his cup again, taking a large swallow of his tea to try and stem the many questions he had on his tongue. "There is nothing to forgive, milady."
"You're too kind to a witch, Rumpelstiltskin," Belle snarled, her fingers continuing to grip the book.
He shook his head at her. "You're not a witch. You're not a siren or whatever else you want to label yourself." He felt brave for the first time in...he couldn't remember feeling so brave. Rumpelstiltskin smiled at his employer, looking at her with all the feelings he possessed for her. "I thought I hated myself...you hate your beauty so much you've covered up every single mirror in this castle. I'm right, aren't I?" He watched her bow her head again, not wanting to look at him. He mirrored her favourite action and lifted her chin to meet his eyes. "You shouldn't be ashamed of the pretty heart you want to wear on your sleeve."
Belle opened her mouth to respond to him, but the bell in the corner of the library rang. Someone was at the door. In all of his time at her castle, there had never been a visitor. The distraction gave his lady the chance to sweep out of the library and leave him alone to curse his forwardness.
X
Her skin was burning as she made her way down the spiral staircase to confront the intruder. Rumpelstiltskin was a good man, with a good heart - Belle was sure of that. But when he touched her...all she could feel was Gaston's breath lingering over her as her cursed dagger lay just out of reach. Not every man was like Gaston, but few were significantly better. Even if Rumpelstiltskin's intentions were honourable, she was rotten.
Storming down her hallway, the castle awakened to its mistress' displeasure. Boxes and bricks slammed out of her way, cracking the brickwork as she walked through the great hall that still held miniature castles from its days as a war room. The corridor leading to the main door overlooked the ocean, and for a moment Belle hovered at the broken window panes and remembered running up and down the halls, fascinated by the world outside.
Then the ogres had come and she had tried to be a hero and lost everything in the process.
She opened the front door with a wave of her hands, spreading the heavy oak wide. Belle expected soldiers, she expected Regina begging for help with a deal. What she did not expect was the old peddler woman standing there with a small cart that had only three wheels.
"Missy, missy...I'm selling pretty things, pretty things for a woman such as yourself!" the old woman pitched. "See...look!" She presented a large satin sheet full of necklaces and broaches full of colour. But what caught Belle's attention was laid right in the back of her cart.
"Is that a spinning wheel?"
X
She needed to make it up to him. No doubt her spinner was thinking about all sorts of things, thinking he wasn't worth much to her. She kept breaking away from his touch as if he was the problem. So Belle decided to show him that he was valued. Opening the doors to her library, she saw him still sitting on the couch. He smiled when he saw her.
"Everything alright?"
Belle nodded. "Just an old woman selling her wares." She crooked her finger and he moved from the sofa fluidly. Long gone were the harsh movements of a man with the weight of the world resting in his bones and centred in his knee. Now the leather - which he seemed to wear every day much to her delight and eventual dismay - and the white cotton clung to him like a second skin. "A gift. If you'll have it."
She held out her hand and awaited his. She dropped her gift into his palm, fingers gently brushing his as she moved away. Rumpelstiltskin looked down and examined her gift - a small spinning wheel encased in gold and hung on a thin piece of leather. He ran his fingers over the gold before slipping the charm over his head. He examined it now round his neck, grinning all the while.
"It's beautiful, thank you."
He bowed low, keeping his eyes on hers as he did so. She curtsied in response, putting her left leg behind her right. It had been so long since she had needed to act proper, but she enjoyed it. And Rumpelstiltskin was happy with his gift, and that was truly all that mattered. She watched as he moved to clear the tea things away.
"Rumpelstiltskin..."
"Mmm?" he replied as he knelt by the fainting couch.
"Why did you agree to my deal?" Belle asked, the fabric of her dress floating around her ankles as she walked towards him. He had so much potential, could have done so much. Instead he was with her.
He looked at her, shrugging for a moment. "Bae was my life. When he was taken from me, I had nothing."
"You could have started again. Moved to a different village, picked yourself back up," Belle suggested, returning to her place on the fainting couch. Her knees rested underneath her breasts as she watched him.
"I did. I came here with you."
Rumpelstiltskin placed a hand on their book. She couldn't stop reading it, nor could she stop thinking about it as their book. The Princess and the Weaver. A young princess, engaged to a brutish young knight, sent to her aunt's to study how to be a good wife to the future king of the realm. She enjoyed the adventures the young princess had along her journey, but Belle's favourite part was where she was rescued by a lonely weaver and the two fell in love. They even had a happy ending, married after the weaver won a duel against her former betrothed. The pages where the princess first met the weaver were coated in tea.
"But you could have..."
Her spinner made a noise that sounded disgruntled. He was getting brave with her. She found she rather liked it. "Lady Belle, I had no friends back in my village. No family that would have anything to do with me. I was a good spinner, yes. But that's hardly a money maker. All I had was Baelfire. I'm happy I came with you. I feel like I've become something. If I had stayed..." She could see the fear in his eyes for what he would have become. She knew that fear - she was a walking description of what happened when grief took over a person. "Thank you."
She paused for a moment before whispering, "I'm sorry about your son, Rumpelstiltskin. I was half way across the world when your village tried to summon me. A Genie was having issues with an hourglass and I owed him so I couldn't leave." She needed to explain why she hadn't been there, to allay the guilt she felt. She reached out and took his hand. It felt soft in her own, and he clung back. "If I had the power to bring him back, if it was even possible, I would."
"I know you would."
He clung back to her fingers before breaking apart and returning to the tea tray. Something nagged the back of Belle's brain concerning her spinner and his son. Something low and hard rested in the pit of her stomach that seemed to spike every time Rumpelstiltskin looked at her. Licking her lips, she decided to ask her question. "What happened to Bae's mother?"
Rumpelstiltskin's shoulders slumped from his position at the end of the couch. "She left me and Bae." He looked down at his shoes. "We...we met when we kids and we liked each other well enough so we got married. I always wondered whether she really loved me, though."
Belle's body reacted before she could stop herself and she reached over to place her hands on his shoulders. He smiled warmly at her. "To me, love is a delicate flame. It has to be nurtured, encouraged." They were so close, pain mirrored in both their faces. "Love needs to be cherished. Once it's gone, it's gone forever. I don't know which insulted my wife more, the fact that I came home from the war a cripple or a coward. Either way, she took her own life rather than be married to me."
She loved him. Clinging to his shoulders, wanting to comfort him more than anything in the world, Belle realised that she loved him. She wanted to kiss away every tear that threatened to break, wanted to hold him so close and whisper everything that she loved about him. His kindness, his generosity, his honour. The way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her. And for a moment, when he turned to her, she believed he felt the same.
His hand moved to rest on her thigh, to draw her closer, but Belle shifted out of her grasp and stood as if to leave. She heard his hand hit the leather of the fainting couch and she squelched the inner revulsion she felt at herself. He wouldn't accept her if he knew everything about her. He would consider her rotten, broken. He had to go. Before he got hurt, before she saw loathing in his eyes too.
"I think I'll go prepare lunch before you head into town," he whispered, his words full of too much understanding.
New book day. She had never hated this day more. He caught her gaze as he moved towards the door. She licked her lips and hated herself more every moment. Her spinner was a coward, and she hoped with the right pressure he would leave her.
"I think you should go into town for me, Rumpelstiltskin. Pick out some books you'll think I'd like."
His face portrayed the dread he felt at such a horrible task. She adored books and she would give him no list - what if he got them wrong? The coward in him would flee. The man who would attempt to fight for her would remember her coldness. "What if they're not right?" he whispered and she felt bile rise up in her stomach.
She didn't answer him, just left the library to go to her room. She would sit there and cry at the monster she had truly become.
X
Belle checked the elegant watch that hung off her wrist as she waited in the queue of the pharmacists. The rope and duct tape she was carrying was not exactly what she had had in mind for Valentine's Day. In fact, she had intended to spend the entire evening torturing herself with her copy of The Princess and the Weaver. But that had unfortunately gone missing.
The door to the pharmacists banged open and in rushed the Lucas girl. Ruby was about her age (or the age she looked), her penchant for red coming from the cloak her grandmother had begged Belle to bless. It was one of the few times that Belle had used her magic for free - she had wanted the young girl to grow up without the fear of becoming a monster. As such, she had always tried to be easy on Ruby and her family. Not lenient, just making sure Jefferson didn't go round to see them every time they were late with the rent.
Belle watched as Ruby - obviously dressed for a night out - looked at the Valentine's cards out on display. She picked one out and took it to the counter, but then went back and looked at another. "Having trouble deciding?"
Ruby looked up and blushed. "You have no idea. I'm trying to find something that says what I'm feeling in the hope that he gets where I'm coming from!"
Belle nodded. "And where is that?"
Ruby deflated against the card stand. "That I care about him, that he's special. That he may not realise it but he's not one of a thousand guys to me. He is the guy." She picked out another card, this one had two wolves snuggling. She put it back in disgust.
"I'm sure he knows, Ms Lucas," Belle smiled, handing her items over to the dwarf with the handkerchief. Poor, love struck girl. She was sure that the good Doctor was nursing a drink on the other side of town thinking about her too. "I'm sure he feels the same way."
Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure. He probably sees what every other man sees in this town." Belle raised her eyebrows. "Everyone thinks I'm useless, only good for pouring coffee and for looking down my shirt."
"Love is...love is layered." Belle started, pausing for a moment as she remembered someone long gone. "Love is a mystery to be uncovered. If he loves you, then he doesn't see you as just a pretty face. He wants to uncover the layers you have, Ruby. He sees your heart and wants it next to his."
Ruby nodded, slightly confused by the most powerful person in Storybrooke giving her soppy romantic advice. The girl turned back towards the cards. Grabbing her purchases, Belle picked out a card at the bottom of the rack with a cricket declaring his love in a ridiculous pun. "Good luck, Ms Lucas. Remember to enjoy it while it lasts."
With her duct tape and rope, Belle left the pharmacists. She had a date with Mister Horder to get to.
X
Horder was taped and bound in the back of the van they had taken as collateral only that morning. The Sheriff was apparently off searching on the other side of town, meaning that Belle had some time to get the information that she needed. Jefferson stood to the side, holding his bowler hat in his hands. He seemed concerned, but he didn't need to be. She had it under control.
"Are you sure you don't need me, Belle?" Jefferson asked. "I could get the information you need in about a minute twenty. Maybe minute thirty."
Belle smiled and kissed Jefferson on his cheek. He was a good friend. "I'll be fine, thank you. This is something I have to do alone. You should go watch over Grace, I have a feeling our deal may be concluded a little sooner than either of us had anticipated."
Jefferson raised one eyebrow but didn't say anything. He didn't say anything about the spare rope tied into a noose waiting on Belle's passenger seat, nor did he mention anything about the sabre also lying there. She was thankful for that. But he should watch over his daughter - soon Regina would be getting her comeuppance. A comeuppance Belle was very glad about.
"Where are you going to take him?" Jefferson asked.
Belle's heart broke a little as her tongue pushed the words out of her lips. "A house I own. It's empty - there was a fire there a few years ago. It killed a teenage boy and his father."
She started to turn away to get inside the van when she felt Jefferson's hand on her arm. He was concerned for her, worried she was taking it too personally. Regina shouldn't have gone after him. Again. "Did they really die in a fire?"
"No."
She pushed Jefferson's hand away and headed inside the van. She needed to get the book back. She needed to feel close to him. She put the key in the ignition and drove away. In the back, Horder attempted to scream. Belle just smiled.