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Bella stayed with the Charming family until it was time to meet up with Marco and Pinocchio for dinner at Granny's. She knew that they all wanted to know more about her, Henry was literally bursting with excitement, but they were giving her the time she needed to sort through her thoughts and she was grateful for that. She would have to tell the hardest part at Granny's... Marco would probably want to know how she met August... Taking in a big breath, she forced a smile at Emma, Henry, Snow and David before she followed them inside, hoping that it wouldn't be too hard on her.
"Marco, thank you for coming." David exclaimed as he went to greet an old man Bella recognized from one of August's drawings.
"Of course, it was the least I could do..." Marco nodded, his eyes lingering on Bella.
"Hi! I'm Isabella Swan... Bella... I've heard a lot about you." Bella told him.
Marco smiled and nodded, calling his boy over. A cute little red haired boy rushed from his seat and Bella kneeled. The smile he directed at her was the same one her August had given her the first time they met and it made everything harder for her.
"Hello Pinocchio, do you recognize me? Do you know who I am?" Bella asked him, her voice shaking with emotion.
It wasn't her August, he was definitely not the man she loved anymore but there was still parts of him, like his eyes, his smile... It was very hard on her and heart breaking to watch for everyone else.
"No, I'm sorry. Was I supposed to?" He asked her and she tried to stop her tears from falling in front of the boy.
"My name is Bella. It's nice to meet you." Bella whispered.
"You too... Are you okay Miss Bella? You look sad..." The little boy asked her and Bella got up and turned around, trying to dry her tears before the little boy saw them.
"I'm sorry..." Marco told her and she shook her head.
"Hey, why don't Pinocchio and I go over there to eat alone, give you guys privacy to talk some more?" Henry suggested and Emma nodded, agreeing that it would be easier.
"You don't want to tell him...?" Marco asked.
"Tell him what? That we were in love and speaking of getting married before he was... rebooted into a little boy? I think he's better of not knowing. It would only confuse him." Bella shook her head.
"You're probably right... Come, let's talk." Marco offered gently.
"It's nice to meet you, despite the circumstances. August told me a lot about you. He loved you and his worst fear was to disappoint you." Bella said, shaking the hand of the man who could have become her father in law if things had been different.
"So, how did you and my boy meet?" Gepetto asked her as they settled in a booth and ordered some food.
"I was in Thailand, looking for a man named The Dragon who was supposed to have magic. I wanted to see if there was anything he could teach me that I didn't know yet about magic. August was living there, he had a girlfriend though it wasn't love that brought them together. When Emma decided to stay in Storybrook, Auguts started to turn back into wood, his left leg was the first thing that changed. Someone told him about The Dragon, he broke up with his girlfriend, packed a bag and left. We found ourselves in the same bus, going to the same adress." Bella started.
"It was love at first sight, right? Auguts told me this part." Emma guessed.
"Yes, it was. We had about an hour and a half before we got to The Dragon's place and we talked... I started by asking him where he was going and he just told me the address, I told him I was going to the same place and I couldn't help myself, I told him why. I told him my story. He told me his, his real name, his life, his mistakes and the things he was most ashamed of like leaving Emma behind when he ran away from the first group home they were put into. When we finally arrived in front of the Dragon's place, I told him that whatever he'd be given would only be a temporary solution, that he'd have to right his wrongs to be a real man again." Bella told them.
"He didn't listen to you, did he?" Marco asked her with a small smile.
"Well, he thought that I was right, but he still wanted the Dragon's cure, even if it was temporary. He wanted it to give him more time... I had an appointment with the Dragon and he didn't so I gave him mine and told him I'd be at a small dinner down the street if he wanted to see me again. An hour later he joined me and told me that he needed to find a lot of money... It was the middle of the afternoon and we kept on talking until the dinner closer around midnight. We went to my hotel together and spent our first night together... It was fast, I had never acted so fast in my life but it just felt so right... The next morning, we parted ways. I had a few people I needed to see to help him and he wanted to try and convince the Dragon to give him the cure he was looking for. We planned to meet in the hotel room again before dinner... The rest I didn't see happen but... August had breakfast in a cafe in front of the Dragon's place and saw a woman there that he had met in the waiting room of the Dragon..."
"Something tells me that he wasn't a good boy there..." Marco shook his head.
"When she went to the bathroom, he took her envelope full of money, the one she was going to use to buy her own dose of the potion, and he ran to the Dragon, paid for his cure and was about to drink it in an alley when the woman found him and attacked him to take it back. I don't know what she used to fight him but it wasn't natural and August was baldy injured when he came back to me but I healed him the best I could and I showed him the money I had collected... I had spent the day selling some magic items to pay for his potion... We went back to the Dragon together." Bella explained.
"So he got the cure?" David asked.
"No. When we arrived, the Dragon was dead on the floor. The woman August had tried to steal from had done it."
"How do you know this?" Emma asked her.
"In order to make the potion, the Dragon asked for a personal item filled with emotions. He only gives it back when you pay for the potion. That woman had given him a picture of her grandmother, August a string from when he was a puppet. When we found his body, August noticed that the picture of the woman's grandmother was gone, meaning that she had come back even though she had gotten the potion from him. Only a couple of hours had passed since August saw him so... It was clear but we couldn't do anything about it so we left, came back to America... August went to see Neal quickly to inform him of where he was going and we went back to my father's home. We stayed a few months there, happy, planning a future together until the wood started to spread again and he decided it was time to come here, begging me to stay behind so I wouldn't be in danger." Bella finished telling them.
"You keep saying 'that woman'... Doesn't she have a name?" Emma asked curiously, the sheriff side of her taking over while Marco held Bella's hand to show her support.
"Tamara, her name was Tamara." Bella replied and Emma paled.
"It doesn't mean anything Emma." David warned his daughter.
"What? What's going on?" Bella aksed.
"Neal's fiancée is named Tamara." Emma replied.
"Well, you can show her to me later and I'll tell you if it's her but... It would make sense... If it's her, if she's here, then I think we know who killed August." Bella replied.
"But why would she want to hurt my boy?" Marco asked her.
"For the same reason she killed the Dragon. The Tamara that killed the dragon wanted to destroy all magic. I'd think Storybrook is the perfect place to achieve something like that." Bella explained.
"Well, we don't know it's her until you see her. Let's not think of the worst." Snow suggested and they all seemed to more or less agree.
"Why didn't August come to Storybrook sooner?" Marco asked Bella to bring the conversation back to his son.
"Well, he was afraid of what he'd do once he saw you, to begin with. He knew that you wouldn't know who he was and he was afraid of how it'd fell. He also didn't know if he could do it or even how to do it... Getting a non believer to believe was hard and he didn't know if he'd be able to do it. And he knew that once he came, he could never come back, that he could get killed by Regina and he didn't want to leave me yet. We had just found each other, love at first sight, True Love... None of us wanted to risk giving it up so soon... He also knew that being with me was what prevented him from turning all wood faster." Bella explained.
"Because of the True Love you shared." Marco guessed with a soft smile.
"Yes..." Bella agreed, saddened at the past tense he had used.
"I'm sorry... It must be very hard for you..." Marco started.
"It's a confusing feeling. I'm happy for the fact that he can grow up with you and that you have your boy back but I'm sad because I lost him and I'll never get him back... For me, it's worst than if he had died... It's hard to process, to accept..." Bella tried to explain.
"I understand... If you want to spent time with him though, get to know the little boy he is again, you can. I'll be more than happy to..." Marco started to offer.
"It's nice of you but I think that it would only bring me more pain." Bella shook her head with more tears in her eyes.
"So, David tells me that you're from the Enchanted Forest as well?" Marco asked her and she nodded.
"Yes, I am."
"Are you by any chance related to Charlie Swan?" Marco asked her.
"He was my father. Did you know him?"
"He was a friend of mine, yes. His magic helped me locate the enchanted wood I used to make my boy." Marco explained.
"Well, you'll be sad to learn that he was killed when I was ten. He came in town to try and free my uncle from the queen's grasp and she murdered him." Bella replied.
"It is, indeed, sad news. I'm sorry for your loss... Especially since your mother..." Marco stopped.
"How do you know?" David asked him.
"I was their friends. She knew that the only thing keeping her alive after she faced the Evil Queen was being pregnant with her child. If Bella is alive, then her mother died." Marco replied.
"You'd be right." Bella nodded sadly.
"You're not alone, child. No matter what, you're part of my family. My boy loved you. I remember, when we were cursed, he spent some time with me and told me about you... He really loved you... he confessed to me that he was going to propose. Even if the circumstances change things, you're still welcome in my family." Marco told her, smiling invitingly at the woman that almost became his daughter.
"Thank you Marco, it's very nice of you." Bella smiled.
"See, you're not alone. You'll make friends quickly." Emma told Bella as she gave her a quick hug.
"You'll fit right in, here." David added.
Suddenly, Pinocchio let his presence known by his father's side and pointed his finger so the older man would bend a little. The little boy was whispering but they all heard what he was asking anyway, maybe because there wasn't many people around, or maybe because Pinocchio didn't speak very low.
"Papa, Henry said that Bella was sad. Can I buy her more fries to make her happier?" Pinocchio asked his father while Bella half chuckled, half cried at this sweet gesture.
"Of course." Gepetto smiled fondly at his son.
Pinocchio smiled at his father, then at Bella and ran to Ruby. A couple of minutes later, Ruby came back with fries, telling Bella that it was from a secret admirer.
"I'm afraid he's not making things easier for you..." Marco shook his head when he noticed Bella's face.
"It's okay... It might take me a while but I'll get over it... I hope." Bella shook her head.
"It's like he can't help but care for you..." David whispered.
"I know... I... If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and ask someone if they have an available room for me. It'll give me the chance to calm myself. I'll be right back." Bella informed them before she went to the counter and followed Granny so she could register for a room.
"I feel so bad for her... I wish there was something I could do to help her..." Marco told David, Snow and Emma.
"I'm afraid all you can do is let her speak with your son when she feels it's time and be there for her." Snow shook her head.
"Maybe you should find a way to explain things to Pinocchio... I mean, he knows that he was a grown up and that he went back to being a boy earlier today, right?" Emma asked.
"Yes, I tried to explain it to him." Marco nodded.
"Then maybe you can tell him that he was very close to her when he was an adult and that it's hard for her to see him now, that she needs time to get over her pain..." Emma suggested.
"You might be right." he nodded.
"Poor girl... I feel so bad for her... First she looses her mother because Regina killed her, then her father... Alone since she was 10... No family left and now the man she loves... It's horrible..." Snow shook her head.
"Surviving this will make her stronger." Emma declared.
"She was really alone since her father died?" Marco asked them.
"Yes, she told us earlier. She used magic to create a puppet at the image of his father so Authorities would leave her alone and she took care of herself. Went to school, got money by spinning straw into gold like her father taught her..." David explained.
"What a lonely existence." Marco shook his head.
"I don't know, she was probably better off alone than if she had gone into the system and ended up in Foster care. I've been there and I would have loved it much better to be on my own." Emma explained.
"But being so lonely... I hope she'll be able to move on and find another happy ending here..." Snow shook her head.
"She loved him, she'll need some time to get over it. Especially since he didn't really die... If he had died, she could have just put him behind her but this... It's much harder to get through." Emma declared and they all guessed that she was speaking from experience, she was speaking about her and Neal as well.
"Well, she's not alone anymore, she's got us. We'll help her through it." Marco decided, making Emma smile.
When Bella came back a few minutes later, she was feeling a bit better and if her eyes were still a bit red, her smile seemed real.
"So, do you need help carrying everything from your car to the room?" David offered.
"Oh... If you want to help, I will welcome it but otherwise, I'm fine on my own. I'm used to it." Bella smiled.
"You're not alone anymore. Come on Pinocchio, we'll help Bella carry her things into her room." Marco declared and soon, Henry, David, Snow and Emma were joining them.
Bella's car was bigger then Emma's and was filled with bags and boxes of all sorts. Books, clothes, souvenirs, pictures... At some point, Bella saw Marco grabbing a box and she stopped him.
"This one is for you... It's August's things, his most precious possessions, a journal of his life without you, written for you and a couple of photo albums for you. It's for you. Maybe you can use it to show Pinocchio some of his life as an adult in the real world." She told him.
"Thank you." Marco nodded.
When everything was in her temporary bedroom, Emma offered to see a movie all together but Bella turned the offer down.
"I know you're trying to help, and tomorrow I'll probably welcome it but for now I just want to be alone and wallow for a while." Bella explained.
"I understand, don't worry. If you feel up to it, we can have lunch together. I'll be at Granny's around noon. Join me if you want to." Emma suggested with a smile that mirrored her mother's before she left Bella alone in her room.
According to the first chapter's reviews, you loved it so here is the second part. I'll try to take it as far as Neverland and beyond if I'm inspired enough.
So, when or where do you think Bella is giong to meet Hook?
What would you like to see happening?
Lorelei Candice Black