anonymousnerdgirl said:
SiG prompt: Rumplestiltskin witnesses Regina berate Belle when Henry gets stuck in the mine shaft.
Belle was waiting for Henry to finish his session with Dr. Hopper when the floor started shaking. She had exchanged horrified glances with the receptionist – an older lady who was very good with the children – before realizing that the building itself wasn't shaking, it was the outside. If Belle had known then where the day would lead, she'd have wrapped Henry up in her coat, forced him home, and locked both of them inside where it was safe. Instead, she was now standing outside a mineshaft while her entire world came crumbling down.
Belle wasn't sure she'd ever quite understand how easily Regina could slip from terror to rage. She'd been the one to blackmail Henry's psychiatrist, and as a direct result Henry and Dr. Hopper were trapped in a mineshaft. It was Regina's fault, and Belle knew it. Regina knew it too, which was why the only break she'd taken from screaming at Belle since they arrived was to start screaming at Emma Swan.
"I just can't believe you weren't watching him!" Regina was hissing angrily at Belle.
Belle scowled at Regina, but didn't want to distract herself from her nervous vigil, as though her intense focus on the caved in tunnel and the mine workers could keep everything from going badly.
"Leave her alone," Emma challenged Regina. "If Henry was that determined to sneak out he was going to get out no matter who was watching him."
"Don't tell me how to speak to my help," Regina turned on Emma again, leaving Belle alone again.
"If only there was some way to punch down through the ground," Regina was saying to Emma. They had stopped arguing for a moment, and Belle was now focused intently on their conversation.
"What do you mean?" Emma said.
Yes, good question, Emma, Belle thought to herself. Because there was no way Regina meant what it sounded like she was saying.
And then Marco was there, and he was saying something about dynamite and Regina and Emma were agreeing with him and suddenly all Belle could hear was the blood rushing in her ears.
They couldn't be serious. They could not actually be serious. They were going to detonate a bomb over a mineshaft immediately after an earthquake. Had everyone in this town lost their damned minds? Belle was frantic, but nobody was paying any attention to her. And frankly, why would they? They couldn't understand anything she said even as she tried to sign. Henry was trapped, and she couldn't save him because the only one who could have understood her was Henry. It was enough to make her want to tear her hair out. But no, Mr. Gold could understand her. At least a little bit. He wasn't here, but she could go get him. The town wasn't so large that she couldn't make it if she rushed. He would help her, he had to help her.
Belle took off towards the center of town as fast as she could. She didn't drive, but he did and if she hurried there was a chance she could get him back to the mine before they did anything irreparably stupid.
It felt like forever when she finally burst through the door to the pawnshop. He came out of the backroom like he always did with the same smile on his face which quickly evaporated when, rather than coming to perch on his counter, she grabbed his hand and started trying to pull him outside.
"Delilah," he exclaimed, pulling her to face him. "What's wrong?"
Mineshaft, she signed. Explosion, Henry...come quick.
"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head in confusion. "Something about...Henry? Delilah, I can't understand you when you sign so fast."
She was shaking but forced herself to take a deep breath. Of course he didn't understand her. Why on Earth would he know the words explosion or mineshaft? He only knew the words she'd shown him and those hadn't gone much beyond listing things in the shop.
M-I-N-E-S-H-A-F-T, she spelled out as slowly as she could. H-E-N-R-Y-T-R-A-P-P-E-D.
"Henry is trapped in a mineshaft?" He sounded incredulous but she just nodded.
R-E-G-I-N-A-S-E-T-T-I-N-G-B-O-M-B, she paused to make sure he understood her before continuing. D-O-N-T-L-E-T-H-E-R-K-I-L-L-H-I-M.
She was begging, but she didn't care. She needed him if she was going to save Henry.
"She won't kill Henry," he said calmly.
How could he be so calm when Henry was in danger?
Y-O-U-D-O-N-T-K-N-O-W-W-H-A-T-S-H-E-S-C-A-P-A-B-L-E-O-F, Belle insisted.
"I know better than you," he said in what she was sure he thought was a comforting manner. "Despite all appearances, the mayor does love him."
I-L-O-V-E-H-I-M-T-O-O.
She thought he flinched at that but he didn't make any movements towards the door and Belle had a horrible sinking feeling that he wouldn't.
C-O-M-E-W-I-T-H-M-E, she signed. P-L-E-A-S-E.
He looked almost regretful, but stood strong even as Belle grabbed his arms and pulled him, leaning away to try to pull him.
I-N-E-E-D-Y-O-U, she signed desperately, her last ditch attempt to force him to come with her. Finally, he exhaled and acceded to her demands that he follow her outside. It was a tense ride in the Cadillac to the mineshaft, but she was just so relieved he'd agreed to come with her she refused to think about anything else. Mr. Gold would help her, he had to.
When they finally pulled up next to the mine, she saw people still milling about and knew it wasn't too late.
"Delilah," he sighed her fake name as the car rolled to a stop. "I need you to listen to me, sweetheart, I can't help you with this."
W-H-Y-N-O-T? She demanded.
"Because this," he gestured between them, "with us. It needs to be a secret."
There wasn't anything between them, and she signed that to him.
"I don't mean like that," he replied, sounding almost affronted. "But you can't honestly tell me the mayor would approve of you spending your time with me."
S-O?
"So this is something that Miss Swan needs to do by herself."
S-H-E-A-G-R-E-E-D!
Belle was horrified that he trusted Emma, a relative stranger, to protect Henry over Delilah who had raised the child from infancy.
"I wish I could explain it to you," he replied. "But you're going to have to trust me."
Trust him? Why would she trust him when he was refusing the same to her. He was robbing her of her voice in this matter. He was making her powerless. Regina had stolen her ability to speak, but he was rendering her voiceless. She felt tears beginning to well up in her eyes and as she tried to blink them away they spilled out down her cheeks.
He looked like he might reach for her then, and she lurched backwards, slamming into the car door. She couldn't let him touch her, because she might let him comfort her, and she didn't want his comfort – not when he was willing to do this to her. Instead, she slapped him across the face. He looked almost as startled as she felt. She'd never hit anyone before in her life, but he couldn't understand her and fingerspelling was beyond frustrating – it was her only way to communicate what she was feeling. She loved him, but in that moment she hated him so much she wasn't sure she'd ever want to see him again.
Belle groped for the door handle, pulling it and clambering out into the cool air. She heard him getting out of the car, and following her as she dashed over to the clearing where the workers stood. The bombs were set, then. An idea struck her. She could run out into the blast area. They'd not detonate with her standing there. It would give Henry and Archie some more time. It was dangerous, but she would do it.
Do the brave thing... she reminded herself, bracing to run before she felt a pair of strong hands grab her arms. Mr. Gold had come up behind her and grabbed her even as she prepared to dash out there. She had stopped feeling the urge to speak a long time ago, had become accustomed to her own silence, but in that moment she wanted to scream and rage and make horrible feral noises. Instead, she just struggled and dropped her legs out from under her, forcing him to bear her weight.
"Delilah, sweetheart," he was whispering into her hair to keep them from drawing more attention than she already was. "Stop, please. This isn't the way. Let me explain."
She tossed her head from side to side, blocking out his words. She didn't want to hear whatever it was he wanted to tell her. She didn't want anything from him.
Whatever he meant to say was interrupted by the boom of the detonation, and Belle collapsed to the ground, shaking with silent sobs.
"You!" Regina growled, stalking over to where Belle sat on the ground and Mr. Gold stood over her. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Belle wasn't sure whether Regina was talking to her or Mr. Gold, but he answered anyway.
"Your maid was running around town," he said coolly. "She seemed to feel that setting off a bomb over a sinkhole was a bad idea. I can't say I disagree."
"I don't see how it's any of your business," Regina hissed to Gold before turning her attention on Belle. "I don't need a hysterical nanny! Get up."
Belle couldn't, though. She was too emotional.
"Oh, for goodness sake," Regina said. "You are the most useless maid I think I've ever seen."
"I think the girl is a little the worse for wear," Gold said evenly. "Maybe you should give her a moment. Please."
Regina glared at him, but turned around and walked back to the sheriff stiffly. Emma seemed agitated, but Belle couldn't hear what she was saying as she lead Archie's dog Pongo around the area. There was still hope, she just couldn't go back there and listen to them making more plans that she wouldn't be included in. Mr. Gold didn't try to touch her again, he just lurked like a gargoyle behind her, keeping anyone from disturbing her as a winch was brought out and Emma lowered down a shaft.
It seemed like a lifetime later that all three emerged safely, and by then Belle had managed to gather herself enough to rejoin Regina and Graham so that when Henry was on solid ground, he was shuffled into her arms to be taken home.
She didn't even notice the strange look that Mr. Gold shared with Regina when everything was finally over, or even notice when the man left. He wasn't her first concern, though. She wasn't sure she could forgive him for this – or even that she wanted to just yet. She had trusted him, and he had betrayed that trust. How could she forgive him for taking her voice?