It was well past midnight and Rumplestiltskin had just returned from a deal. He walked up to the library and found Belle curled up in the window seat a book open in her lap and her head leaning against the window pane. He smiled slightly watching her. He'd still not had the courage to let her go.
Unwilling to wake her but also not wanting to leave her in such an uncomfortable position Rumple gently removed the book and scooped Belle up bridal style. Her head lolled against his chest.
"Rumple," she murmured and he froze for a moment thinking she had woken however her eyes remained shut. Yet she had called out for him in her sleep. He wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
Quickly he transported the two of them to her room where he laid her down on the bed and with a wave of his hand her dress was replaced with one of her nightgowns. Slightly embarrassed Rumple swiftly pulled the covers over her and.
Then before he could lose his nerve, he softly caressed her face brushing back strands of soft chestnut hair.
"Goodnight my darling Belle," he whispered before disappearing from the room.
OUAT
Belle awoke the next morning to find herself in her bed. Which she knew was not where she had fallen asleep. She smiled at the thought that Rumple had carried her to bed. He really could be sweet when he wanted.
She hurried downstairs and prepared breakfast for the two of them once they were served and seated, she said.
"Thank you for last night. I'd intended to wait up for you but it seems sleep had other ideas."
"No matter. You don't need to wait up for me Belle." Rumple told her.
"I know," said Belle with a shrug. "So what were you up to last night? Some soul must have been truly desperate to call on you at that hour."
"Yes, it seems Snow White is suffering from that most painful of afflictions," said Rumplestiltskin.
"Oh?" asked Belle.
"Twu love." Rumple trilled.
"How is love painful? I would think it's wonderful that she found true love. It's supposed to be rare," asked Belle.
"Well, it seems she and her precious prince can't be together. He's engaged to another woman though he does love Snow White. So, she asked me to make the pain go away by giving her a potion to forget him."
"What!" exclaimed Belle upsetting the butter dish. Rumple waved a hand and it righted itself.
"You heard me."
"But he's her true love. No matter how painful surely, it's better to have loved and lost then not love at all? To lose all memory of someone so important would just be...horrible."
Belle had never had true love so to speak so she'd never been in Snow White's position. But then her thoughts strayed to her growing feelings for Rumplestiltskin. She could never imagine wanting to forget him. Not for anything.
"She is in pain," pointed out Rumple ever the devil's advocate.
"Yes, but taking a magic potion to wipe one's memory seems like taking the easy way out. Shouldn't she be trying to fight for him? For their right to be together?"
"You know if you ever lose your job as a maid you should take up romance counseling," chuckled Rumple and Belle snorted.
"I promised you forever remember?" replied Belle. Something odd passed across Rumple's face for a moment at her words but Belle couldn't quite decipher the expression.
"Indeed. Anyway, as usual you've proven yourself wiser than the general population of fools I have to deal with." Belle giggled. She'd heard too many stories of his deals and the way people handled them, be it not being specific, or not wanting to pay up to correct him. Besides a part of her liked the idea of him having a high opinion of her.
"So, I take it you made the deal anyway?" she said.
"Well, it's not my business if the girl wants to be foolish. And I only gave her the potion mind you. It's up to her if she drinks it." said Rumple. Belle had to admit he had something of a point there.
"What did you get in return?"
"One of her hairs. I'm working on bottling the true love of Snow White and Prince Charming."
"You can bottle true love? I've never read of that!"
"That's because I'm the first to do it," said Rumple looking slightly smug.
"Can I help?" asked Belle.
"If you like, I'll be needing on of Charming's hair's first though he should be arriving in a day or two if I've foreseen the timeline correctly."
"Then I'd best make sure this place looks presentable. We can't have royalty visiting a shabby castle," said Belle standing up.
OUAT
The next few days were indeed busy first Snow White herself stopped by and demanded a way to kill the Evil Queen. Belle was slightly shocked when Rumple agreed given that she knew the two did deal with each other on occasion though she'd never actually seen or met the woman. Rumple made her stay in the library any time the Queen came to visit.
Then Prince James, who seemed far humbler than the boy Belle had known on the few occasions her family had crossed paths with King George's court, came storming in demanding help stopping snow from killing the Queen and darkening her heart. Rumple gave him the location in exchange for the man's cloak.
Once James had left, trampling mud all over the freshly cleaned floors thank you very little, Belle stepped out of her hiding place in the alcove by the stairs and strode over to where Rumple stood plucking a hair off the cloak.
"Will he stop her in time?" asked Belle.
"Oh yes, he'll stop her, the Queen will live to kill another day, Snow will eventually get her memory back, and her love with Charming will come out stronger than ever," said Rumple with a wave of his hand.
"You seem certain." said Belle.
"I CAN see the future you know," said Rumple and Belle raised her eyebrows that was something she hadn't known.
"You can?" Rumple nodded.
"Yes, granted I can't see everything, but there are specific bits and pieces that I know will occur."
"Well, I suppose that makes me feel slightly better," said Belle still feeling some worry for Snow and her Prince. Belle and Snow hadn't been overly well acquainted as Belle's kingdom was fairly minor. But they had known each other in passing as girls. Truthfully Belle had found Snow to be a sweet if slightly spoiled girl. But that had been years ago. They were both very different people now, she was sure and the woman deserved happiness.
"You and your compassion," muttered Rumple shaking his head, though there was a fondness to his tone.
"Anyway, I take it that's the hair you needed?" asked Belle.
"Yes indeed! Shall we proceed to the lab?" asked Rumple. Belle grinned.
"Certainly." With a wave of his hand the two of them disappeared from the hall and reappeared in his tower.
OUAT
Rumple had grown quite fond of sharing his experiments with Belle. Her curiousity was infectious and their shared love of knowledge made them excellent partners.
"Why didn't you just use Alice and Jefferson? They're true love." asked Belle as he moved to get the vial containing Snow White's hair.
"Because it needs to be the love of Snow White and Prince Charming." he said shortly. It would be their child that would break the curse so he needed their love to include on the curse itself as a safety valve.
"But why?" asked Belle. again.
"That's my business," he said shortly unwilling to tell her about the curse. Fortunately, Belle seemed to take the hint and let the matter drop.
"So how does this work?" she asked.
"It's actually fairly simple. But true love is such a powerful force people simply assumed there was no way it could be contained," explained Rumple.
"I see. People were determined to make it more complicated than it needed to be. Much like love itself I suppose," chuckled Belle. "I mean really love should be simple if two people care for each other that should be all that matters. But from all I've heard that rarely seems to be the case."
"Quite. Essentially, we combine the two hairs. Then the catalyst is to imagine an incredibly happy memory filled with true love itself and project that onto the hairs," said Rumple. "Care to do the honors?" he offered her the vial with Charming's hair. Belle took a tweezer and very carefully transferred the brown hair over to the bottle with Snow's raven black one.
Rumple closed his eyes and focused his power on the bottle. He thought back to the day that he had made Bae the leather ball. They hadn't been able to afford one from the market so for Bae's tenth birthday Rumple had sewn one himself. He recalled with pleasure the joy on Bae's face upon seeing the ball. His wide smile and the warmth of his body as he practically tackled Rumple in a tight bear hug. Best of all perhaps was the sound of his voice saying, "I love you, Papa."
He felt the vial grow warm and opening his eyes saw that the hairs had turned into a glowing purple potion. Rumple giggled and Belle grinned.
"You did it!" she exclaimed enveloping him in a hug that Rumple relished.
"Yes, it seems I did."
"I suppose it's not so surprising though. If anyone was going to be able to do it it's you." Rumple couldn't help the slight swell of pride at Belle's confidence in him. No one had ever had that much belief in him and his abilities. He might have been the best spinner in the village but Milah had remained derogatory of him as it was a woman's craft. Belle really was the opposite of his former wife.
"I appreciate your faith in my abilities," he said with a playful smirk.
"Don't you let it get to your head," she said in a mock scolding tone.
"Perish the thought," scoffed Rumple and they shared a laugh.
"If you don't mind me asking, what did you think of?" asked Belle. Rumple paused and then sighed.
"My son." Belle's face became sympathetic and she grasped his hand.
"The deepest kind of true love then," she said softly.
"Indeed," answered Rumple glancing down at their joined hands her ivory skin contrasting with his scale-esk skin and black nails, marveling as usual at the way she never seemed to mind contact with him. How he would miss that when he let her go. How he would miss her.
OUAT
Several days after the success of the true love potion Belle found herself at a bit of a loss. For the first time in ages, she'd gone nearly a full day without seeing Rumple. He hadn't been at breakfast, nor come down for their tea, when dinner rolled around, she knocked on his tower door and received no answer.
She knew he couldn't have left because he wouldn't have let her know beforehand. Finally, after dinner had come and gone she decided to try the tower one more time bringing some tea.
There was still no answer but this time she pushed the door and to her surprise it opened. As it did so she heard Rumple speaking.
"Too many years to count Bae. But I've counted every one." Tentatively Belle stepped into the room and saw Rumple standing in front of a lit candle on a work bench.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to disturb you, but I didn't hear from you and I was worried." she said as he looked up.
"Go away," he said softly, Belle nodded.
"Right, I'll just leave this here." she moved to set down the tray.
"I said go away," repeated Rumple a little more irritably as he snuffed out the candle. It was only then that Belle noticed the shawl on the work bench and it fully hit her what she had just interrupted quite frankly making her want to kick herself.
"I'm sorry, it was a remembrance wasn't it. How old would he be?" she asked remembering him speaking about losing his son.
"Well, he's not dead, just lost," Rumple corrected her firmly. Belle wasn't sure what the difference was.
"Lost?"
"Today is his birthday," said Rumple quietly stroking the shawl, I should be with him, celebrating. We had a chance to be happy together, but I was afraid." Belle placed a hand over Rumple's.
"Maybe it's not too late," she said. Surely if his son was still alive there was a chance at reconciliation. She could see how much Rumple obviously cared about Baelfire.
"I hope not," answered Rumple removing his hand and stepping away. "But I'm afraid my ending shall not be a happy one." Belle bit her lip.
"Is any ending truly happy?" she said and Rumple paused.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, an ending is final. That's all there is. It's the moments leading up to the very end that we live for. The ones that give us a chance to be happy." He turned to look at her.
"Perhaps."
"I think your son is lucky to have you for a father," she said.
"No child is lucky to have the Dark One as a parent. I was losing him before he was gone," replied Rumple.
"And yet, despite being the Dark One, you've displayed more love for him than many an ordinary man. Children need many things but above all love and if you showed him even half the love that I've seen glimpses of than he was at least lucky in that regard."
And it was true the carefully preserved clothes, the deep affection and saddness in his tone and voice, the fact that however many years on from when he lost Baelfire he still remembered him.
An almost sad smile came to Rumple's face.
"You're an unusual woman Belle." Belle glanced down.
"Well, you aren't the first to say that," though most had said it with far more contempt. Suddenly she felt his hand tilting her chin up to look at him.
"It was meant as a compliment. Singular might perhaps be more accurate." Belle felt her cheeks heat up slightly.
"Thank you," she said softly as he removed his hand.
"You're very welcome." He then turned to leave and this time Belle let him go.
OUAT
At first Rumple had been annoyed by the interruption of his ritual celebrating Bae's birthday. Yet as they spoke and Belle moved to comfort him he found himself opening up to her again.
"No child is lucky to have the Dark One as a parent. I was losing him before he was gone." Looking back Bae had begun to pull away from the day he took on the curse. Yet all that might have been remedied if Rumple hadn't been such a coward. But Belle wouldn't be put off.
"And yet, despite being the Dark One, you've displayed more love for him than many an ordinary man. Children need many things but above all love and if you showed him even half the love that I've seen glimpses of than he was at least lucky in that regard." He looking into her blue eyes the words weren't just empty platitudes. She truly believed it. A part of him desperately hoped that she was right. That he at least hadn't entirely failed Bae as a parent.
He sighed. He'd taken Belle from all she knew and loved and yet here she stood comforting the very monster responsible for isolating her from her home.
"You're an unusual woman Belle." Strangely this didn't have a positive effect on her as she glanced down as if remembering something less than pleasant.
"Well, you aren't the first to say that." He reached out and gently used his fingers to tilt her chin up.
"It was meant as a compliment. Singular might perhaps be more accurate." perhaps it was a trick of the dim light but Belle's cheeks seemed to redden slightly.
"Thank you," she said softly. He removed his hand and turned to leave feeling slightly better than before she had entered the room.
"You're very welcome."
Author's Note: I always did love this little scene with the remembrance for Bae's birthday but I wanted to carry the conversation a little further since they are slightly closer than in canon. (Also the canon version has a plot hole since there she doesn't hear about Bae till the day he lets her go. Here he's spoken about him before.) I also slightly altered how the true love potion thing worked because this way seems a bit more magical. Belle having been present will also be relevant much later on in the series. Lastly I did realize after having finished the chapter that technically the events of Heart of Darkness don't happen till after Skin Deep but we're playing a little bit loose with the timeline. If you like the story please leave a note below in the comments! Thanks for reading! Next time we depart the realm of fluff and return to the events of Skin Deep!