Mayor's Office Hallway

"So, how do you like your tea?" asked Ruby holding a tea set in her hands. Ruby had made it her business to be Belle's secretary and assistant. Granny approved of the choice as long as Ruby helped out Granny in the shop at least 2 hours a day. Ruby knew helping out her friend was worth going back and forth between Belle and Granny's.

"Ruby, you don't have to do this for me," stated Belle walking in with Snow and Prince Neal.

"Nonsense," said Ruby. "It's my pleasure anyway to help you out. I mean this is going to be a lot of work running this town. You're not getting rid of me that easily." The girls laughed in the hallway right in front of the main doors to the Mayor's office. Belle's yellow suit stood out in Regina's black and white interior design.

"What do you think about the inside? Do you think we could use a new touch of wallpaper and maybe a more 'Belle' look to it?" asked Snow, touching the white curtains behind them.

Belle scanned the room and said, "Well, I can get used to this design it's not bad it's just—"

"Evil," said Ruby before Belle could finish.

"Intimidating I was going to say intimidating," said Belle.

"Close enough," added Ruby.

Belle smirked and shook her head. "If we could make this place more welcoming that would encourage more people to visit and come to me for help."

Snow smiled and chirped, "That's a good idea. Let's get started on that."

"But first, let's actually show her where she will be working," said Charming coming up with Mr. Gold.

Belle smiled when she saw her husband climbing up the stairs holding a big vase full of iris, red and white roses and pink tulips. Just seeing her husband was enough to make her heart race and her smile shine brighter but beautiful bouquet of flowers were a nice bonus. She ran up to Mr. Gold and hugged him tightly and he did the same with one hand while holding the vase in the other.

"Hey," she sang. "What are the flowers for?"

"Well they are for the beautiful new mayor. You didn't give me much time to congratulate you properly so I decided to get this office warming present for you."

Snow and Ruby both awed in Mr. Gold's adorableness. Belle giggled and redirected her smile towards Snow and Ruby. Ruby saw the redness in Belle's cheeks. Ruby made that face again that made Belle feel guilty for doing something very naughty.

Belle whipped her attention back to her glorious husband and said, "Thank you." She took the beautiful vase from his hands and held them close smelling them. The smell was incredible and it brought more happiness into the room. Belle leaned in to kiss Mr. Gold then Ruby sneezed and almost dropped the tea tray. Mr. Gold ad Belle jumped back like last time today but this time Belle squealed. Mr. Gold glared at the annoying werewolf and Belle turned toward and said, "Bless you. Are you okay?"

Ruby sneezed again and made everyone in the room jump. Ruby sniffled and groaned, "Sorry. Yeah, it's the flowers." She put down the tea tray on a nearby table and walked past everyone. "Be right back." Then she sneezed again and opened up the bathroom and shut the door.

"Remind me to not give her flowers for her birthday," whispered Belle to Mr. Gold. Mr. Gold nodded.

Charming cleared his throat and said, "Shall we step inside?"

"Oh, right," said Belle, turning her head away from the bathroom door, hearing her friend blow her nose inside. She stood in the middle of the doors and waiting for Snow to unlock the doors. Belle took a deep breath and glanced at her husband with a big grin. Charming stepped in front of the door and placed his hand on it. The key clicked it unlocked and Belle could hear her heart pounding with excitement. Today was the day she can make a change. Today was the day she wouldn't feel useless. Today was the day she will be mayor.

"Ready?" Snow asked, rhetorically. Belle nodded anyway ecstatically .

The Charmings pushed the doors open simultaneously and Belle's bright smile was overthrown by the light showering the room. Belle winced and let her eyes adjust. Then, just as sudden as the sunlight flashing her, all her happiness vanished.

Inside the office that held the symbol of power, change, authority, and new beginnings was now represented as broken dreams, bad omens, disaster and the end. The room was completely trashed. The curtains were ripped off from the windows behind the flipped over black desk with a broken leg lying on its back on top of other debris. The white lamps were all cracked and shattered all over the floor along with a headless white porcelain horse from the fireplace. The room was dark and ugly.

"What happened?" asked Belle stepping into the room first followed by Snow and Charming. She tried to take in everything at once but couldn't handle it. She lost strength in her knees and dropped lower to the ground, luckily Mr. Gold caught her before she fell too far. The flowers were magically transported to Charming's hands for Mr. Gold to catch her.

"Belle, Belle, are you all right?" asked Mr. Gold holding her close, letting her weight fall on him.

Belle got up quickly realizing this is not how she should react. She nodded and whispered, "yeah."

"Looks like this place was ransacked," pointed out Charming. He placed the flowers down and strolled in slowly, scanning the room. "I'll call Emma. We have to get to the bottom of this." He pulled out his phone and turned away to find Emma in his favorites.

"Good plan. Ruby!" called Snow. Ruby came running in at wolf speed with tissue in her hands.

"What's up?" asked Ruby then noticed the mess. "Oh." She dropped the tissues on the floor upon the mess.

"Can you hunt down whoever did this?" asked Snow. Charming left into the hallway to make the phone call.

"Yeah of course," said Ruby, watching Belle. Ruby stepped inside and placed her hands on Belle's shoulder and rubbed it gently giving her the encouragement that everything will be fine. Ruby began smelling the room finding anything with a different scent.

As Ruby did what she did best, Belle wandered around in the room. She saw the mirrors on the wall were cracked but still were kept in place. She gawked at her cracked reflection. "What do you think happened?" asked Belle.

"Well from all I know is there were two people here. One of them smells human but I don't know about the other one," said Ruby sniffling anything suspicious. Belle and Snow were worried about what Ruby said about the other presence not human. Ruby picked up a sheet of paper off the couch broken in half. The paper was stained with a drop of blood. She turned to the group. "I got a scent. We can hunt him down."

Charming hung up and returned back. Charming commanded, like the natural born leader he was, "Alright. Let's go. Snow go home with Neal. Belle come with us."

Belle nodded and the group ventured out. Belle followed until Mr. Gold grabbed Belle's arm and pulled her aside. Belle questioned, "What—what is it?"

Mr. Gold's face had the concern and sensitivity she fell in love with. "Don't lose hope in this. This wreckage doesn't mean anything bad. It only means this town has a handful of idiots destroying property."

Belle sighed and reminded, "Yes but Ruby said it was a human and something else that could possibly be a demon or a monster or something far worse."

"If it's anything threatening, I will be the one to stop it," decreed Mr. Gold. He placed his hands on her shoulders and massaged them to ease her anxiety. "Now you go with them, and I will clean up here in case I find anything else that could help us."

Belle studied his face but mostly focused on his eyes. His real power to convince her was in his eyes. Once she was convinced and regained more courage, she nodded and wrapped her arms around him unconsciously and pressed her lips against his unwarned lips. Mr. Gold was surprised and was too slow to take the lead by the time Belle let go, leaving each other's presences on the other's lips. As Belle thanked Mr. Gold she still felt his lips ghosting over hers, "Thank you, I needed that, Rumple." She beamed and hugged him tightly, letting her head rest on his chest listening to his rapid heartbeat. Mr. Gold had enough time to react to her hug and embraced her, smelling her shampoo from her morning shower. He loved the scent of strawberries on her.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. It always makes me happy when I see you smile like that," whispered Mr. Gold. As Mr. Gold pushed her back, he regretted it immediately missing the soft and warm embrace from his little wife. "Now, go before they come in here and interrupt us."

Belle giggled and gave him a peck on the cheek, avoiding any more tempting distractions. She twirled away and ran out the door, catching a glance at her husband. Once she left, Mr. Gold scanned the room and danced his fingers in the air and watched everything fall back into place. Everything that once belonged in this room is returned to normal except two items left in the middle of the floor in front of him. Mr. Gold inspected what seemed to be a long black feather resting on top of a long, green, glittery comb. Mr. Gold crouched down picked up both of the items. Mr. Gold rose and twisted the items in his hands. Then the black feather and the green comb glowed for a brief moment, revealing they possessed magic properties.

Mr. Gold faced the window and glared, knowing what needs to be done.