Summary: Belle is reunited with her Cousin Aqua, Alti in Storybrooke, and has been keeping a secret from Rumplestiltskin.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of ONCE UPON A TIME

Rating: T+ (Adult Situations)

Pairing: Rumple/Belle Hook/Alti (OFC)

THE BEAUTY AND A MERMAID:

ONE YEAR AGO:

STORYBROOKE, GRANNY'S DINER

Gold waited for the doors to close before he dared to speak to Alti again. Normally he was a man who felt no guilt over the choices he had made, but seeing Alti getting hurt because of her association with him, that had the power to cut him to the quick. She was someone who should never have to be hurt. "I wanted to apologize for the pain you suffered." He bowed his head.

"It's not because of you." Alti took a step closer. "I think Regina had something to do with the… attack." She couldn't bear to think, let alone, say what could have happened. "She doesn't exactly like me, just like a lot of women in this town."

"I never noticed," Gold muttered looking at her.

"Yeah, well, I got on her radar when Graham started paying attention to me." Alti informed seeing the minute look of shook/suspicion in Gold's eyes, "He calls the diner and orders lunch and asks that I bring it over and then he asks me to eat with him. Not exactly a date, but still, it's nice."

"You do get around…" Gold mumbled without putting much thought into what he was saying. Then, like magic, he saw the flash of deep pain in her aquamarine eyes. Instantly he wanted to kick himself for what he had said.

"Gee…" Alti scoffed. "Thanks…" For a moment she would have thought that Gold would treat her differently, but then he made that comment and she wasn't so naïve where he was concerned anymore. It amazed her how quickly she could change her opinion about some people.

"I didn't mean," Gold tried to back pedal only realize that it would do no good. He had made a grave offense. "I'm sorry."

Alti crossed her arms over her chest, "It's ok, and I've been accused of much worse." She was projecting ice, hurt, and letting anger fill her gaze. "If you don't mind, I have work. Thank you for coming to check on me." Turning from him, she put her head phones back in, and cranked the music up.

PRESENT DAY:

HOOK'S SHIP:

Hook dug the fingers of his right hand into Aqua's hip and she moved over him. She rode him hard and fast making his body hum with desire, his nerve sing in much needed release, but she was skilled, she was dragging it out as she hummed a sensual tune mixed with her moans and mewls of female pleasure. Her hips undulated; she rotated, and ground down on him in a rhythm that had Hook going out of his mind. Before his mind was too far gone by her talented grip on him, Killian rolled them, taking her beneath him. He stared down at her, her shining aquamarine eyes three shades darker now that she was in the throes of ecstasy. With practice, Jones held most of his weight on his right hand braced against the mattress of his bunk. Slowly at first he moved his hips, thrusting into her gently. He wanted to hit the right spot that would make her come undone.

Alti draped her arms over Hook's impressive shoulders as she looked down the line of their bodies to see him slipping in and out of her so slow at first. Her moans got louder until they were echoing, mixing with his, and filling the cabin. "Oh sweet sea gods!" She shouted when Hook rolled his hips grinding against her. He had the wrong calling as a pirate. Killian would have done well as a Court Seducer. Alti hitched her knees high, arching into every one of his thrusts. With each move she felt the ice around her heart being chipped away in the flames of passion being fanned between them. She knew that the more time slipped by, the more of her heart she would lose to this pirate. Right now, Alti couldn't care less. All that mattered was the shear bliss being shared between them.

Hook reared back bringing her astride him. Alti kept the pace; going faster and faster as she rose and fell over him like waves crashing against the shore. She leaned back, keeping her arms over his shoulder, and her hands cupping the back of his neck. Alti stretched out her torso in a generous offering to the Captain. How was he to refuse such an offer? He wasn't. Killian leaned in and captured one of her plump pink nipples in his lips where he teased and tormented the little bud with his teeth and his tongue. That put Alti off rhythm. Her movements became erratic, no longer graceful like a dancer. It was because he as tormenting her as she was him.

She tried to keep her moves fluid like water, but Killian was using his talented tongue on her. All too soon she was losing herself in him, letting him drive her wild. She knew she could inspire this in other, use her voice to drive men mad, but she, herself, had never felt this kind of soul burning desire that Hook was giving to her. Her body felt so alive, on fire with flames of passion racing along her nerve endings until she could barely process the fact that she was breathing. Then his lips were moving up towards the dusting of scales along her collar bones. Teasingly he played with them, raising them up, and trying to slip his tongue under them. All Alti could do was scream in pleasure, buck against him, and strive for the powerful release that was coming her way. Killian pounded into her over and over, each time hitting the right bundle of nerves to make her feel like she was flying high above the clouds.

Killian drove in and out of Aqua. His release was soon, it was just boiling over. All it would take would be one good, hard, lunge inside of her and soon he would be enjoying that powerful euphoria that made men think of nothing else for a short time. Aqua brought her hips up to meet his as he ground down into her and then he felt it. She had reached climax. Her velvety inner depths tightened like a fist over him, milking him, stoking him until he was spilling himself so deep inside of her. His spine bowed and his breath left his lungs. Hook tried to keep his weight off of her, but he didn't have the strength and she didn't give him a choice. Aqua brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around him bringing him into the warmth of her body. The gesture moved him more than it should have. For the first time in too many years, Killian felt the raging anger in his heart die down to a simmer. How could this woman do that for him? His love was gone. His True Love had been Millah. At least that is what he had thought until meeting this treasure of a woman from under the sea.

Alti stared up into Hook's eyes seeing a curios expression filling them. She knew the moment she had leapt into his arms that her heart had been lost to him. It was given that he could never love her. His heart had been lost to another; to Rumpelstiltskin's departed wife. But, here, in this moment she could pretend that this look he was giving her was really for her. Aqua had always been told that a mermaid was always half a woman and that she could never love fully because she would be forever torn for her desire for the ocean and a desire for a man. She could only ever hope to have half of a life. That made her heart fall in her chest and forced her to turn away. The euphoria was fading fast. He was a man who belonged to the ghost of another woman who as long gone. What was she doing?

"What is it love?" Killian could see the shift in her, feel it in her body. She was closing herself off from him. He wasn't going to let her. Killian would not let another woman slip from his grasp. "Whatever it is, tell me…"

Aqua turned her sudden watery eyes on him, "You belong to another. The ghost of the woman you loved so much still lays claim to your heart." She sniffled not wanting to shed her tears that were blurring her vision.

Killian brought his right hand up, his thumb wiping away a tear that was sliding down the side of her face. "Yes, Millah is still in my heart, as she will always be, but I can't hold tight to the phantom touch of her lips to mine. She's gone." It did him injury to voice those words, to let them slip past his lips, but he knew they needed to be said. Aqua needed to hear them. In all of his long years, Hook had never wanted to give up as much as he did in this single moment. Aqua was young, she was alive, and she was warm, but she allied herself with Rumplestiltskin. Could he let go of his hate for the Crocodile to let his heart feel love again?

"Could you ever love me?" Aqua asked before she knew what she was saying. The look on his face was stunned. That alone forced her from his bed. She scrambled out from under him and got dressed faster than she thought she was capable of. Now was not the time for this. She needed to keep him distracted and away from Rumpelstiltskin, not wanting him to fall in love with so she was first in his heart.

RUMPLESTILSKIN'S HOUSE:

Rumple sat watching the woman he loved pace and pace, nearly worrying a hole into his pristine wooden floor. Every once in a while she would stop and look out the window scanning the street. He knew who she was looking for. Belle was searching for her errant cousin who had fun off earlier without much of a glance back at them. Rumple wanted to must up the worry Belle was feeling for Aqua but his attentions were drawn to other things. Mainly the way Belle wore a pale blue halter top with barely any back to it that just whispered above the waist band of her low rise blue jeans. From his spot on the couch he could see her glistening golden scales gleaming in the low light of the foyer as she paced back and forth. Rumple could still feel the silky scales on the tip of his tongue as he played with them the night before when he had taken her.

Belle stopped her frantic pacing to turn and stare at her love. Rumple's eyes were heating holes in her back right where her delicate scales ran the length of her spine. She shouldn't be surprised that he was staring, not when he had paid such avid attention to them last night. Just the thought of the way he had taken her made her thighs tremble and her sensitive folds slick. Before he had been with her, showing her a gentle side to him, but last night was all dominance. And she had loved it. Belle wrinkled her nose and shook her head saying playfully, "No."

Rumple let his jaw drop as if he were offended and he splayed his fingers over his heart, "My dear Belle, whatever are you saying no to?" He asked with a wicked gleam in his eyes. If the truth was to spill from his lips, he was eager to have to her, to bend her over, expose the line of her spine to tease her golden scales until she was a trembling mass under him. Last night she had squirmed, she had moaned, and she had bucked against him. That had made him even more desperate to have her again. Rumple got up, came to her, and stopped just far enough away so that he could feel the heat of her body radiating out towards him.

"I know what you want." It was what she wanted to. She wanted him to dominate her again like he had last night. She wanted his tongue teasing her, playing with her scales, and bringing her so much pleasure that she would nearly lose her mind to it. She wanted to feel as if they were the only two in the world. Belle could still feel the way he had stretched out along the line of her back, the way he slid easily into her. All of it made her heart flutter with anticipation, with need. Before Rumple she never would have known what true addiction was. If she wasn't careful she would find herself craving him, wanting his lips, his taste; his body to hers morning, noon, and night. Teasingly, she reached out and pulled is tie loose from the collar of his impeccably tailored shirt.

"Of course do you, sweetheart." Rumple purred leaning into her. He brushed his lips to hers as gently as a butterflies kiss. "It's what you want too." Gold stated feeling the hitch in her breath. He opened his eyes looking at her to see her cheeks flushed, her tongue darted out to lick her lips. Everything Belle did always had the hint of eroticism to him. She was the perfect match for him and he loved her so much. "You," He kissed her lightly. "Are," Another kiss with an added nip. "My," This time Belle gasped when he kissed her and gave him the chance to plunge his tongue deep into her mouth. He ravished her without thought, only desire. Rumple didn't finish what he was going to say because Belle knew. She always knew his feelings towards her. Belle let him ravish her mouth in the only way he could; full of love and deep devotion.

Belle draped her arms over his strong shoulders as her fingers tangled in his hair. She was dizzy from his kiss alone, so much so that her knees were weak. Any minute she was going to fall fully into his arms. He would have to hold her up and she knew he could. Belle felt his hands at the backs of her thighs, gently digging in. Then, with grace, with power, Rumple lifted her and set her gently on the table just a few feet behind her. She took it as encouragement for her to wrap her legs around his waist. Belle breathed deeply, her back arching, putting her closer and closer to Rumple's body. She felt as if she were on fire, yearning for his sensual touch to cool the raging flames if only for a while. "You make me hunger." She whimpered.

"I am yours whenever and wherever you want me." Rumple replied breathing hard, staring into Belle's clear blue eyes. She was his miracle, his light in the darkest of nights. Belle alone inspired him to change as much as he was able. Rumplestiltskin knew that he could live a hundred more years and never find a woman like Belle and the way she saw into his heart to see the man who tried so desperately to hide from the world. "You are my life and I want to keep you forever by my side." He said cooling his raging lust to give way to gentler words of love.

Belle felt tears gathering in her eyes. "Through my mother, I have a measure of immortality. Merfolk are immortal creatures, but I am half human and someday I will fall to time." Belle said cupping her lovers face. "Though, that is not this day, or the next, or the next." It was a wonder that they could switch from fiery ardeur to sincere love in seconds. She knew that she would spend the rest of her life with him. Belle just wasn't sure how long that life was going to be. "I will never leave you while I yet draw breath." She vowed bringing a smile from Rumple. "I love you with all my heart."

"As I love you," Rumple replied. "You are the one I care about the most in this world." Leaning in, he placed a chaste kiss upon her lips. Then, Gold stepped back from her; his desire having cooled. He was now plagued with thoughts of Belle being taken from him. Rumple could not banish them from his mind even as she sat there; her jean clad legs still spread inviting him back to enjoy the warmth of her thighs.

"Rumple, what's wrong?" Belle asked, suddenly confused. A moment ago he was feasting at her lips, his hands running all over her back, her sides making her desire spread. Now, he was looking at her as if he was afraid to touch her for fear of breaking her. Carefully, she slid from her perch on the edge of the wooden table so she could stand in front of him. "Are you worried about breaking me?"

"No, it's not that." Rumple shook his head, closing his eyes in a vain attempt to banish the images that had plagued him before when Regina had carried the news to his ear that Belle had perished by her own hand. For months he had found false solace at the end of flask, at the bottom of a bottle. Before he had no idea how important she would become to him, how deep he would be ingrained in his heart. "I worry about what could happen to you now that Cora is here." Rumple warned. "She will not stop until everyone suffers."

"Is that why you wanted Aqua close to Hook?" Belle asked. She finally connected the dots. "You want my cousin to seduce Hook into being on her side, following her words, rather than him being aligned with Cora." She wasn't accusing him, wasn't condemning him for what he had done.

"Yes," Rumple answered without hesitation, without a clever way of twisting words. "She is the only one who could neutralize Hook, to make him question why he is doing what he is doing at Cora's side."

"You want him to fall in love with her," Belle exclaimed. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Hardly," Rumple giggled in his former manner drawing a smile from Belle. "I want her to know true love, just as you know it with me. Hook is her true love and she will make him see it before the end." Rumplestiltskin could see the future and he had seen bits and pieces of Aqua's life. She was the only one who breathe life into the last shred of honor and dignity that Hook possessed. As loathed as he was to admit it, Captain Killian Jones had a part to play at Aqua's side.

"This had better be one of your better laid plans." Belle warned. She didn't want to see her cousin fall for a man who could not love her in return. "I don't want Aqua to get hurt."

Rumple kept his mouth shut. He knew what would happen to his precocious mermaid. She would endure great pain but her reward would be the sweetest love in all the world. Aqua was going to face a difficult choice and she was going to suffer for it while saving the life of the one person in her family she had. Her choice would save Belle. Rumple just had to make sure he stayed out of the way and let Aqua make her decision.

STORYBROOKE:

Alti huddle into Hook's pirate coat she had absconded with upon leaving his bed. She had asked him if he could love her and he had just stared at her leaving her to feel foolish. The best course of action for her had been to leave rather than let herself fall even more in love with him than she already had. What had she been thinking? That was easy. She hadn't been. Her brain had been too addled because of the passionate pounding her body had gotten from Hook. He had taken her body to the height of pleasure that she knew she would never know with another man. Why did her heart have to belong to Killian Jones when he was so wounded by the death of another woman?

Jones picked up his pace when he spotted Aqua moving down a side street wearing his coat. She had left his bed leaving him cold and confused. He had been about to tell her that he could love her when she had bolted from his arms. Killian realized that he had taken too long in answering her. It had hurt her and now he was here to make it up to her. He had to tell her how he felt about her. Aqua was so deeply rooted in his heart that the pain of Millah's passing was becoming nothing more than a dull ache. "Aqua!" Killian yelled catching up to her. He reached out, took her arm, and made her turn to face him.

"Let go!" Aqua shouted fighting his hold. She had already made a fool of herself today, she was not so eager to go through that again.

"Settle down!" Killian shouted in return. "Let me talk to you." Then, like magic, she stilled, and turned a pained gaze on him that cut through all of his hate and rage. "I want you to understand that I loved Millah with all that I was." Tears welled up in Aqua's eyes and all he wanted to do was wipe them away. "But that love I had for her is a memory where you are flesh and blood and the feel the sea breeze on my face." Killian pulled her closer. "I am alive once more because of you." Slowly he brushed his lips to hers, "I love you."

Aqua wasn't sure if she wanted to trust what he was saying, "Why tell me this now?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"From the first moment I met you I realized I was running away from the perfect woman." Jones responded. Now was the time for truth. "You are the embodiment of the sea I love so much and the blend of a woman who makes me remember what it was like when I was an honorable man." Killian waited with bated breath for Aqua to say something, anything, but she remained forever silent. He thought his words had washed over her until her silky lips touched his. She was kissing him. Hook wasted no time in responding to her. His right arm wrapped around her waist, hauling her against him. The feeling of love filling him was unlike anything he had felt before.

Aqua didn't know what she could say to Killian. Instead she did the one thing she knew would convey what she could not say. She kissed him hard, passionately, and she draped her arms over his wonderful shoulders that felt like they would never tire from holding her up. Aqua wanted this moment to last forever and ever. All he wanted was the feeling of Killian's lips on hers to drown out the rest of the world. "I love you," She gasped against his lips. That single declaration would be her end, she just didn't know if it would be the sweetest agony or the deepest regret she would ever have.

Up on the nearest roof top Cora looked down at her dear revenge drunk pirate Captain as he kissed the rapidly annoying mermaid. Love could bring her careful plan crashing down like a house of cards. She couldn't let that happen. Except, for now there was nothing that she could do. Cora would have to wait for Hook to drop his guard so she could plant the tiniest seed of doubt about the creature who had stolen his wounded heart. She knew that true love would turn the Captain from his goal of killing Rumplestiltskin. For now, Cora was going to have think on how she could once again turn Hook into her ally rather than another enemy she would have to out whit.