The library was a complete mess. The bookshelves where destroyed. Books where scattered and waterlogged. There must have been a flood at some point. The tables and chairs where smashed. Graffiti smudged the walls. Glass littered the floor. Glassless windows were bordered up.

Belle sighed, this was going to take more work then she expected. But it will be worth it.

She searched through her bag and pulled out her over used notebook. Belle scribbled down notes on a to-do list. Lists where the only way that she ever got anything done.

Locating a broom to start sweeping up the broken glass. She started thinking of things she needed to get prepared to show Gold. Like a budget for getting this place cleaned up and another for buying in new books.

With no near-by bins Belle swept the glass into the corner.

She jotted down to pick up some garbage bags.

There was very little that she could do until tomorrow. Especially in her heels.

XRumBellexOutlawQueenXRedCricket

The rest of the day was uneventful in Belle's eyes. She picked up the things she needed for clearing out the mess of a library. Looked around for shops that might be able to help her. Belle meet and spoke with one man. Marco. Apparently he was the town's handyman. He told her that he could rebuild the library bookshelves for a fair price. Belle agreed and told him that she'd bring it up with Mr. Gold.

Belle spent the rest of the day organising and cleaning her own flat. She had just finished setting up the T.V. when there was a soft knock on the door.

She wasn't expecting anyone. What if it was him? Bob- MR Gold!

Bobby was the name that his friends called him and they were no longer friends- 'Where we ever really friends?' Belle thought bitterly.

Another knock on the door pulled her away from her thoughts.

She walked up to the door and took a calming breath.

Surely he wouldn't pull a stunt like this. He would respect her space- right?

Glancing through the peep hole, she exhaled.

It was just Robin and the boy's. Roland and Henry.

Opening the door, Roland launched himself into her arms.

Henry smiled wildly up at her. It made his eyes grow wider. It was kind of unsettling.

"Hey! You guys coming in?" She asked

Belle carried Roland into the living area and set him down on the sofa.

"The place looks great, Belle!" Robin told her

"Thank-you, It's not finished yet" Belle replied

"Oh, yes, there is always the 'splash' of personality to think about" Robin chuckled

Belle laughed "Glad you understand, you guys want something to drink? I'm afraid I don't have much of anything yet"

"Anything's okay with us. Henry will give you a hand" Robin clapped a hand on Henry's shoulder

The kid was still smiling alight too brightly at her and now Robin and Henry where sharing a look. Robin winked at Henry and urged him to follow her into the kitchen.

Something was differently up.

Opening the fridge, Belle pulled out the orange juice.

"So what is it you want to talk to me about? Spill." Belle asked him, turning towards him "No need to be nervous"

"Are you really the author? Of the 'Lost Warrior' chronicles" Henry blurted out

Belle blushed and grabbed some glasses "Yea, I am"

"That is so awesome! I love those books! They are brilliant and written well… Brilliantly" Henry was bouncing with excitement

Belle blushed. She'd rather get constructive criticism- especially when her 'fan' was staring at her with big bright eyes like Henry was right now.

"My Mums say that I am obsessed…" he told her

"Mums?" Belle asked

Henry smiled "Ah, yea. My mum the mayor, she adopted me. My birth mum Emma, came back into my life when I was nine"

Belle wasn't sure what to say. That must have been a hard adjustment for Regina and she doesn't strike Belle as a woman shared well.

"What about your dad?" Belle asked

She assumed it was a safe question.

Henry looked at her with a glint of pride and sadness "My Dad died a hero. A fireman actually, he died before I was born"

"Sorry to hear that" Belle told him sincerely

Henry shrugged, giving her a small smile and took the glasses into the living room. It hit her then.

Since she met Henry there was a nagging taunt in the back of her head that she met him before.

Belle knew now that was not the case. Henry merely reminded her of someone that was once very important to her. It surprised her that she hadn't put together sooner…

Flashback

Her first week in the employment of Mr. Gold was… interesting to say the least. Neal was a great kid.

Her main duty's was looking after him. Taking him to and from school. Making him breakfast, lunch and dinner. And anything else that Neal needed.

She also had to keep the house clean. That wasn't a big deal to her anyway.

What was a big deal was that Gold had 'forgot' to mention that she would be a live-in caretaker. She was annoyed but she couldn't bring it up with Gold even if she wanted. He was never home for that to happen.

So she just bit her tongue.

And remembered she was doing it for Neal.

After the first month was over she had to agree that her new room was much nicer than her whole flat. Plus she was saving allot on rent.

She could finally put more money away for traveling.

Mr. Gold was right. His son was a very lonely.

When he got up in the morning he lacked enthusiasm about school and when he came home in the evening he never spoke about anything that he did. If he had friends, Neal didn't mention any.

If made her sad to think of such a sweet boy being that lonely.

So she went out of her way to try and make him happy.

She decided that she would try and get him interested in other things other than video games.

Neal had told her once how much he liked rugby, so she encouraged him to try out for the team.

The next day he came home with a black-eye.

"What happened?!" Belle exclaimed coming closer

Neal started crying and Belle hugged him closely.

He tried to explain as he sobbed but his sobs only got louder.

Belle only held him tighter and whispered soft comforting words till he calmed himself down.

Before he tried to explain, Belle sat him down at the kitchen table and gave him a glass of water to drink.

When Neal was ready, he told Belle what had happen still slightly teary eyed. "When I asked to join the team even the teacher laughed in my face! After school the guys on the team cornered me"

"What the hell! They can't do that-" Belle ranted

"Belle!" Neal shouted to get her attention "it's okay seriously, I was never really interested in rugby anyway…"

"Neal…" Belle started but Neal jumped in

"It's true. I tried because I thought that it would make you and Dad happy" Neal told her "I tried Belle"

He looked at her sadly and… hiccupped.

Belle smiled "I know you did Neal, but we are still going to have to do something about theses' boys… and the teacher."

Neal nodded his agreement… He was holding his breath to get rid of his hiccups.

"You know we are going to have to tell your Dad right" Belle told him

That scarred the hiccups out of him.

But he nodded anyway.

"Next time tell me what you think… Don't let me encourage you to do something you don't want to do" Belle warned him

"I'll try" Neal looked down

End of flashback

The sudden memory over took her as she walked in with the orange juice.

Henry and Neal where so alike, Belle was surprised that it didn't come to her earlier.

There was so much about them that was similar. They both looked alike, loved reading and they were both very lonely boys.

Belle wondered if Gold had put that together and how it made him feel being so close to someone that would remind him of his son.

Robin looked up as Belle handed him his drink "So have you seen the library yet?"

"Yes, this morning" Belle smiled and sat on her armchair

"First impression?" Robin asked

Belle laughed "It certainly will need a lot of work!"

Robin and Henry nodded in agreement.

"Agreed! That was is why we came to offer our help" Robin told her

"Really?" Belle asked

"Of course" Henry exclaimed "The library is important to us too"

Belle smiled at them "That would be fantastic"

The boys smiled back at her.

Robin patted Henry on the back "Go on tell her your idea!"

Belle turned to Henry as he blushed "Well I… was thinking. I name long term projects… find of like a code name. I think it gives us goal to work towards"

"Go on" Belle encouraged entertained

"The code names always started with Operation… For example: Operation: Cobra and Operation: Mongoose" Henry told her

"What where they?" she asked

"Top secret" Henry rushed to answer

"Okay so what are you thinking for the Library remodel?" Belle asked

Henry looked down "Operation: Koala"

"That is brilliant! Because I'm Australian!" Belle and Robin burst out laughing.

Roland laughed as well, Henry looked deathly pale as he tried desperately to apologise and explain.

Calming herself down, Belle grabbed Henry's hand "I love it! Let's get started! I have so many ideas that I've been dying to share with someone…"

Henry smiled brightly as he finally relaxed.

Belle's smile wavered for a minute.

Henry even smiled like Neal Gold. It was uncanny.

"Okay, so how about I make us all a cup of tea and we will launce straight into Operation: Koala!" Belle winked

The boys cheered in agreement.

Roland reached over and hugged his god mother. "Can I have some more orange juice instead?"

Robin reached over and bobbed his nose "What do we say?"

"Please?" Roland added

"Of course, sweetheart" Belle replied

Shooting Robin a scolding look she walked into the kitchen.

"Books wise, we need the old classics, nonfiction, new best sellers but I was thinking we could survey what the people of Storybrooke want in the library. How does that sound?" Belle called out as she put on kettle

"Sounds good: we could have tick boxes for each gene!" Henry supplied

Belle smiled. The library was going to be a lot of work but at least she now had little elves that help her lighten her burden- and with hard work, a little good luck and the magic of team work, the library would be opened (hopefully) sooner than expected and look even better than she even expected.

And not even Robert Gold could tell her otherwise.

HEY!

Sorry that this update took so long but I am super busy at uni at the minute. I've started making time for writing though.

As always, hoped you enjoyed and please review to let me know what you think. :D