A/N: Takes place during 2x2. This is based partly on the facebook thing where you click on the items and it reveals letters the characters have written to each other. I haven't played it, but if you find and click on the chipped cup, you get a detailed and fuzzy letter to Belle about how things in the kitchen operate.
He'd left a note. Belle giggled, then savored the sound of her own laugh, before slipping into a robe and deciding to explore this "house," although it didn't look like any house she'd ever been in.
Just the ability to recall memories of houses she'd been in, and ones she'd never been in like this one, thrilled her. Natural light poured in through the windows in the hallway, smaller than the main corridor at the Dark Castle, but just as decadent, she thought, taking in each painting. Landscapes and still lifes, no portraits.
The stairs creaked the way she liked for stairs to, and soon she came upon the kitchen, tiled and softened with houseplants and stained glass. Stainless...tin? Was that the metal? There was no need to check the note since she'd already memorized it. Plums sounded so good. All right, she thought, staring at the man-sized metal door in front of her. Rumple did say it would be cold on the other side. Oh come on, you silly thing, she laughed at herself. It holds food, not dragons.
The bowl of plums chilled her palms. Setting it on the counter, she took a second to rub her hand over the counter top, so smooth and clean. She wondered if he had been a decent housekeeper all along or had developed those skills over time, the time between her leaving the castle and now. Shaking her head, she checked the note. Toast. This box is a toaster. It has, accordingly, made you toast. DO NOT put your hands inside the slits in attempt to pull the bread out before it has reemerged. It is VERY HOT inside the toaster. You WILL burn yourself.
This had been the part she wasn't so sure about. After pushing down the lever, Belle passed the time by reading the last part, that he'd be disappointed if she didn't call. That he loved her and couldn't wait to tell her. It was all she'd ever wanted to hear him say.
"Hello?"
"It, it's me," she shouted into the receiver, covering her mouth immediately afterwards. "Sorry, that was loud."
Soft laughter answered. "You're doing all right?"
"It's...I didn't burn myself."
"Did you see the bookshelf?"
"Yes, I did." Not one of the titles had been a book she'd heard of, the unfamiliarity of this world becoming more and more exciting. "Thank you for the instructions."
"I'll be back as soon as I can. I..." There was the sound of him swallowing. "I've received some bad news today."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Can I help with anything?" She wanted to ask so many things. Sleep had refused to come last night—her fear that it was all a dream and she'd wake up in a cell in the dark resulted in requesting Rumpelstiltskin to hold her tighter and tighter. But she had worried for him, too. His answer for bringing back magic sounded incomplete.
"No...look, we should probably have a doctor look at you. After all that time. I'm sure Dr. W..no, someone there can make sure you're fine." There was a pause. "You are the only good thing about today."
"I don't want a doctor, Rumple. I've been around more than my share of doctors."
"Of course," he said after a while. "Sorry."
"I think we should go out together. Somewhere with lots of trees but you can still see the sky, or a beach maybe, by the ocean? I know it's vague, just, open space."
"We can walk wherever you want." The change in his tone might as well have been music. There was more life in it, she noted. "We can go along the park. It has some trails near the woods, and then we can walk down by the harbor and then up and down the streets. Wherever you want." She could feel his smile and, sure he could feel hers, she sighed into the phone.
"So you're not upset now, since I called you?" she asked in a coy voice.
"Belle, it is the best five minutes I've spent today. Hey, I have to go, but I'll be on my way home, so I will see you very soon. Once we say bye all you have to do is put the receiver back onto the rest of the phone."
"Wait!" she cried. "I had one more thing to say. I, I..." she gulped, laughing at what she'd pieced together. "I promise you, I will learn this world. I promise I will find my place in it so we'll be able to help each other and love each other properly."
For a full minute, there was nothing on the other end, leaving Belle to wonder if she should put the receiver down without the "bye."
"Belle." His voice breaking the silence made her jump. "I'm the one who has to learn to love you properly. Now I promise you, I will try."