The Brave Thing

He said, "Don't you know I love you oh, so much,
And lay my heart at the foot of your dress?"
She said, "Don't you know that storybook loves
Always have a happy ending?"

He couldn't remember getting into his car or driving to his house. Seemingly one moment he was bidding the evil Queen farewell and the next he was at the front doors of his home. The doors were still locked, the alarm system hadn't been triggered, everything was as it should be, but he couldn't keep himself from rushing up the stairs, his cane thumping loudly.

The light was still burning, spilling its golden glow into the hallway and he stopped in the doorway. She was still sleeping. Rumplestiltskin nearly sagged against the doorjamb in relief. She'd been drugged into insensibility, that she was still asleep should have been expected. The heart knows no reason, he reminded himself and sighed.

The daily routine of showering, donning loungewear or pajamas as they were so quaintly called in this real, setting out a suit for the next day and removing from his old pockets his watch, wallet and phone were all completed quickly and without any thought whatsoever but to return to Belle's side. A robe belted around his waist over the tunic and loose trous he typically wore to be comfortable he limped into his bedroom. Still she slept.

He frowned at the bruises on her skin and went to the bathroom to fetch a salve. As an afterthought he grabbed a brush as well. The salve he dabbed carefully on every bruise he could see. Witch hazel was excellent for bruises. The brush, he paused determining how he could best brush her hair while keeping her comfortable. Behind her, if he sat behind her, he could carefully sweep her hair out from under her head and neck and untangle the long dark locks.

Suiting action to thought he arranged himself so he was sitting upright against the headboard, his legs, good and bad, stretched before him and as gently as he could, lifted her head. Slowly he was able to pull the lengthy mass of tangled dark hair into his lap. Start at the ends, detangle those and then work his way up, a half forgotten memory of Baelfire's mother working to untangle her hair reminded him of the proper way to care for Belle.

It was quite late when he'd finished, Belle's hair was smooth and shining, and he'd taken to speaking to her softly, telling her what he was doing, about the people in town, where they were and how much he'd missed her. She'd shifted once or twice in her sleep and a little smile curved her lips.

He'd set the brush aside finally and loosely braided her hair so it wouldn't tangle again in her sleep. It had been a while since he'd braided a woman's hair and after a few missteps it came back to him. And then he'd felt exhausted, the highs and lows of the day finally taking their toll. He looked at the door, and looked at Belle in the center of his luxurious bed, and decided that if he behaved in too chivalrous a fashion she wouldn't realize who he was.

Sliding down to lay beside her, able to hear her breathing and feel her warmth, he could hardly believe she was there. Rumplestiltskin sighed and closed his eyes. Tomorrow, perhaps tomorrow she'd wake.

He woke to warmth and comfort and the scent of her hair. His eyes flew open. Still his room, his bed the ceiling above him with its fanciful plaster whorls and swirls. But the weight on his chest, the warmth…that was very new. Cautiously he looked down and saw that Belle had at some point during the night turned over and burrowed against his side, resting her head on his chest and her legs had tangled with his.

One arm was immobilized, wrapped around her waist in sleep, but he lifted the other and allowed himself the luxury of petting her hair. The fragment of an old song ran through his mind, 'I once had a sweetheart, I loved her right well,' and he smiled. In sleep she trusted him, perhaps when she woke it wouldn't be so difficult for them.

She stretched against him, making a soft purring noise in her throat and he nearly groaned at the feel of her. In this world he had no magic to hold his body aloof from hers, nothing but willpower to keep himself in check. "Bonnie…Belle?" He murmured, afraid to speak too loudly, hoping he wouldn't startle her.

"Hmm…?" She stretched again and her eyes fluttered open. "Are we home?"

"Well… not precisely dear heart," Rumplestiltskin sighed and let his hand cup her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"A bit sore," she admitted with a grimace.

"Well there's a bathroom through that door," he gestured towards it, "With a quite large tub and plenty of hot water. Would you like to soak some of the aches away?"

"Hot water?" She blinked and a smile flickered light sunlight over her face. "A real bath?"

"All yours." He smiled. "Would you like me to run it for you?"

"Aren't I supposed to do that for you?" She blinked at him. "I remember cleaning."

"A different world," Rumplestiltskin reminded her. "A world where I made very foolish choices and bad mistakes." He touched her cheek again. "I would happily remedy those mistakes for the rest of my life if you'll allow it."

"I don't want you to be my slave," She shook her head, her hand catching his and holding it to her cheek before she turned and pressed her lips to his palm. "I…just want to start over with you."

"I would like that Belle, very much." He smiled even as the touch of her lips sent fire coursing through him.

"What should I call you though? If you're a man here and not the…" She hesitated and he cursed that the memory of the Dark One was so powerful and his own foolishness so far reaching.

"Not the imp, the trickster, the Dark One? Rumplestiltskin?" He supplied all the names he'd been called. She nodded silently, her warm brown eyes on his. "They all call me Mr. Gold here. No one ever calls me by a first name. I don't even know if I have one."

"That's not right," She frowned and leaned more fully against him to look into his eyes. "Everyone should have a name they can give friends."

"Perhaps you might give me one?" He suggested hopefully. "The Queen used to shorten my name to Rumple, I did not care for it." He wrinkled his nose playfully and Belle smiled. "Rum is shorter still, but sounds like a mixed drink."

"What about initials?" She frowned in thought. "If no one knows you're Rumplestiltskin here, we can't call you anything beginning with R. But Gold begins with G… hmm…" She smiled. "MG? For Mr. Gold?"

"Clever girl." He chuckled. "Just call me Gold for now, until we find another name you like for me." He sobered slightly and regarded her with dark eyes. "Just always know that you may call me yours."

"Yours…" She smiled faintly. "How can you wish to be mine…when we've been apart for so long? When…" She looked down, studying the pattern of the tunic he still wore, uncertain suddenly.

"When I was such a fool? When I said such terrible things? When I told you I didn't want you anymore?" He sighed. "When I lied for the first time in decades and said I didn't love you?" Rumplestiltskin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and shook his head. "Not a day has passed that I didn't think on you. Not a moment goes by that I don't want you with me. I was the worst sort of fool. And I am a coward, you were very right about that."

"What changed?" She whispered.

"I lost you. She told me you had killed yourself." He took a deep shuddering breath at the thought of losing her and tried to calm his suddenly racing heart. "And since the only thing I can't do is reorder time and change the past, I lost you forever." He looked over her shoulder. "You remember the chalice on the pedestal?"

She half smiled. "I dusted it enough."

"After you…left, when I was told you were dead, something far more precious replaced it. Something you'd changed besides me." He gestured towards the bedside table.

Turning with a grimace at the aches it stirred Belle looked to where he pointed and saw the chipped cup. "You kept it?" She looked at him. "All this time?"

"It is my most precious possession." He said quietly.

"Does that include me?" She turned back to him with a teasing smile.

"You could never be a possession." Gold told her. "When I found out you were alive…I…" He shook his head, sitting up and heaping pillows behind her so she had something soft to cushion her back. "I remembered something you told me."

"I talked a lot back then." Belle rolled her eyes.

"But never without purpose." He smiled and tucked a quilt around her legs. "You said you'd thought, 'do the brave thing and bravery will follow'."

"Right, when I agreed to come home with you." She nodded.

"I decided to try it. Because I've only known cowardice all my life. But for you…I decided I would have to be brave." Gold sat so that he could look into her eyes. "Because without you in it…my life is worthless anyway."

"Gold…" She reached out and touched his cheek. "I…it's so hard to explain. I trust you…implicitly…you've never done anything to hurt me physically…but when I left your home…"

"Did your father really harm you when you returned to him? Or was it the Queen the entire time?" The Dark One flashed in his eyes as he asked the question.

"I don't know really, all I remember is darkness, a cell, torture…" She shook her head. "And then a different cell but this time I could look out the window. And still the Queen came and looked at me."

"What can I do, to help you trust me?" Gold asked softly. "Tell me and I will do it. All you have to do is ask and if I can do it, it will be done." He took her hand gently and kissed the back of it.

"Kiss me." She looked him in the eye when his head jerked up to stare at her. "I remember that was the one time you were afraid of me…when I kissed you and your power began to fade. If you love me, love me more than being the Dark One…kiss me."

She'd barely finished getting the words out before his hands were cupping her face gently and his mouth pressing to hers. Heaven, he thought, it was heaven to kiss her. If what he felt was his power leaving him he would drain himself of it and kiss her forever. She gasped against his mouth and he groaned and deepened the kiss, lips moving over hers, tongue darting against her soft mouth. Finally, afraid he'd frighten her with all that was boiling up inside him, he gently pulled away and looked at her, his eyes searching her face for some hint of what she felt. "It's been a very long time since I kissed anyone Belle," he whispered. "I hope it wasn't too terrible, as kisses go."

"You were the only man I kissed…so I quite liked it." She blushed, her skin warming under his hands, and he half laughed and kissed her again gently.

"I wish I could say that was a true test of my love for you," He said after a moment. "But under the Queen's curse, I am only a man in this world." Gold looked down at her. "What I felt kissing you now…was the same as what I felt when you kissed me then."

"Your power leaving you?" She whispered, suddenly worried.

"I don't know," He smiled and shook his head. "And I don't care. The wonder that fills me when you touch me, when your lips are on mine… I don't have the words. But I never want it to stop."

"Then don't." She looked into his eyes. "Be mine and I'll be yours. Belle's Gold."

"Then I will be." He smiled. "But now, I'm going to run you a bath with some herbs to ease the aches and bruising. And I'm going to feed you." He rose from the bed while he could still leave. "I'm going to take care of you love."

"And then I can take care of you." She smiled at him.

He knocked at the door of the bathroom and cracked it open to poke his head inside when he heard Belle call for him to come in. "Are you sure you really want me in here?"

"I asked you in didn't I?" She laughed from her position reclining in the tub.

"Yes, but I'm a…well I'm only a man here love, no power to use for control over myself." He admitted with a wicked grin. "So make certain you have plenty of bubbles."

"I'm adequately covered." Belle smiled at him, not even the bruise darkening her check could take away the beauty of her smile.

"I brought you a robe, and some clothing." He set the articles on the towel warmer and sat down on the little stool near the vanity. "I need to speak with you seriously about the Queen."

"All right," She sat a little straighter and seemed to realize that wouldn't be prudent, slouching into the bubbles again. "She's the mayor here, right?"

"Yes, but she still has her power, whereas the rest of us don't." He frowned. "And that's my fault as I'm the one who created this curse."

"Wow, when you mess up you really do it in a big way don't you?" Belle sounded almost admiring and he nearly chuckled, shaking his head.

"You could say that yes." He sighed. "She chose to use it, but in exchange for telling her what was required for the spell, I made a deal. I could make her obey me if I use the word please." Gold spread his hands. "It hasn't been something I used often. More lately though, since Emma came to town."

"Who's Emma?" Belle asked curiously.

"She is the one who can break the curse." Gold chuckled. "Every curse has a counter. True love's kiss being the most common, as you know." His dark eyes twinkled at her teasingly. "Emma is the counter to the greatest curse the Queen ever cast."

"All right, and you can get her to do what you want as long as you say Please." The girl in the bath nodded thoughtfully. "So what do we do?"

"Well, last night Regina didn't know that Emma and I broke you out of the hospital." Gold explained. "We'd planned to have you released because of budget cuts, but we got a warning that Regina was planning something. We…set legal methods aside out of concern for your safety and rightfully so as it turned out."

"But if she doesn't know I'm with you then I have to be kept secret." Belle frowned. "So I have to stay here then, right?"

"I'm sorry, I panicked." Gold confessed. "I found out they were planning on giving you drugs that would destroy your mind. I didn't want to risk anything happening to you. When Emma told me the condition you were in when you'd been admitted… I nearly went mad right then."

"Gold, really, it's all right." She reached out a hand to him and he leaned forward and took it like a lifeline.

"The last thing I wanted was for you to be confined again." He told her sadly. "I wanted for you to be free to choose me, choose to stay if you liked, or go if that was what you wanted. I promised myself that I wouldn't ever keep you captive again. But…"

"You think you've done just that." Dark eyes were twinkling with amusement and affection. "My dear Gold, there's a vast difference between taking me prisoner and rescuing me." Her thumb rubbed over his knuckles. "So I have to stay in your lovely house until the Queen is defeated. I think I can handle it."

"There's something else too." He grimaced. "But the bathwater must be going cold, let me get you something to eat and I'll tell you the rest over breakfast."

"Do you have to leave?" She began to sit up in the tub. "I don't mind if you stay."

He pushed himself to his feet and kissed her hand and then bent to kiss her forehead. "If I stayed…I don't know if I could control myself around you my love."

"What if I don't want you to control yourself?" Belle looked up at him hopefully.

"Then I'll have to control myself doubly well," Gold smiled. "Once you've heard all I've done, what I am in this world as you knew what I was in the other, if you still want me, still love me… nothing will hold me back."

"Just answer one question for me please." She looked utterly serious now, despite sitting in a tub of cooling water with fading bubbles. Gold nodded, his eyes on her face.

"Are all these explanations and confessions now…are they another way of pushing me away?"

"I…" He frowned and thought about it. No, he wanted, needed her, loved her and couldn't bear to be away from her. Any thought of preserving his power at the expense of her heart had gone when he'd thought she was dead. "No," Gold shook his head. "No, more making certain you know what you're getting into with me. I love you Belle, I can't bear for you to leave me again…so I…I need to make sure you're aware of what I've done. What I am. I'm not a good man. I don't know if I ever will be, but I'll try. At the same time, I've worked very hard to be someone people respect and fear and I don't entirely wish to give that up. I just want you to be able to make a clear, informed, choice. And if you choose me…well then I'll consider this curse a blessing because it brought you back to me."

"All right." She nodded and smiled. "I'll get out of the tub and dry and into the clothing you've brought me. You go and deal with breakfast."

Gold spoke with Emma at the Sheriff's office and assured her that he would be spending the morning at home. The weather was still damp and gloomy and he seized on it as a legitimate excuse to not open the shop or leave Belle's side for the day.

Breakfast was easy, crumpets, jam, eggs and bacon and tea. He was debating putting everything on a tray so Belle could rest while she ate when she walked into his kitchen. "Belle, I wasn't sure if you-"

"I've been confined to one room for as long as I can remember," She smiled kindly, "Moving up and down stairs is a luxury."

"Well then, breakfast is served." Gold fetched two plates and the teapot. "This is the closest I've been able to come to the tea we had at my other home." He poured her a cup and gestured for her to help herself.

"Thank you so much." Belle smiled happily at him. "When I'm back to full strength, you'll let me help you with the house right? It would be nice to be able to help you."

"If you like," Gold took a deep breath. "You know most of what I do, I explained about my deals and my potions and all of that. But I did something...well quite frankly it was illegal."

"But I thought it was the sheriff who helped you break me out of the hospital?" Belle ate some eggs as she waited for an answer.

"Do you have any memories of your father...from this life?" Gold asked instead of answering.

"No, I guess here I'm an orphan or something." She shrugged without concern. "I love him but he'd never speak to me again since I went away with you and didn't marry Gaston."

"Regina told me that he was the one that beat you; 'cleansed' you was what she called it, because Gaston disappeared and you had lived with me for all that time, innocent though it was." Gold began to explain. He quietly and without any attempt to make excuses for his behavior told Belle about the loan, the repossession of the flower van and the results. The break-in at his home, and the discovery of the property at Mr. French's home, minus one very important chipped cup. And then he explained his kidnapping of Mr. French and the subsequent beating of the man, halted by Sheriff Swan. "So in the end, I was stuck in the jail, so I had to speak with Regina and she had your cup." He sighed. "And then I admitted that I had my memory and who I was."

"So you're the only one who knows?" Belle shook her head in amazement.

"I just told you I nearly beat your father unconscious and that's all you have to say?" Gold wondered if they'd done something to Belle's perceptions at the hospital. Certainly she was far too forgiving concerning himself. But no, the medical records hadn't indicated any treatment.

"Gold, he stole the one thing you had of me, when you thought I was dead." She shook her head as she delicately ate a dry crumpet. "I'm amazed he's still alive. If he'd...well if I had something to remember you by and he'd taken that... lets just say he'd still be trying to find his balls."

Gold nearly choked on his tea and sputtered in laughter. "You're far more bloodthirsty than I remember, is this something you were keeping quiet about or is it a new development thanks to Regina's manipulations?"

"Oh I was always a little bit bloodthirsty, but I think being tortured and locked up refined that quality a bit."

"I should be frightened but for some reason I find it remarkably appealing." He grinned. "You'll certainly keep me on my toes."

"Any other confessions?" She asked as she folded her napkin and placed it beside the plate. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Nothing comes immediately to mind." Gold gazed at her and his eyes moved over her body, clad in a pair of his sleep pants, one of his tunics and a thick velvet robe. She wore his clothing so differently than he, her curves and valleys making the clothes look far more enticing than they should. "May I...take you upstairs and..."

"Be with me?" Belle smiled. "I've been waiting for you to kiss me again Gold." She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I really wanted you to help me out of the tub."

"Well, then I'll have to find a ring for you won't I?" He tugged her into his lap and pressed a kiss to her mouth. "Something to remind you of how precious and rare you are, perhaps?"

"You could wrap a piece of yarn around my finger and it would be enough for me." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "But I'd rather kiss you upstairs...where we can't be seen through the windows and we won't be interrupted."

"Your wish is my command." Gold kissed her cheek and forehead and mouth. "I wish I were strong enough to carry you."

"I don't," She shook her head. "Men who are stronger physically tend to act like bullies." Belle rose from his lap and handed him his cane. "But you and I, we're equally strong, in my bare feet we're the same height...I want to kiss you lying down so your leg won't hurt you and if I get dizzy from your kisses I won't fall over."

"You make a compelling argument love," Gold chuckled. "Lead the way then."

TBC

Author's Note: Lemons in the next chapter. You have been warned!