Pregnant.

The word shocked the beauty's once exuberant senses like a lash of red lightening. Pain shot through Belle's heart like clumps of jagged needles frilled through her veins. Her face paled with the disastrous word that echoed throughout her skull. Her world and all the happiness therein ground to a decided halt. Breath froze in her lungs and hope died amidst the last lingering fog in her soul. Cora was with child?

"Pregnant." Belle echoed in abject disbelief, the words coming out almost like a question but much more a statement of tragedy. Astonishment gleamed like sapphire in her bright eyes as she searched him. She knew the Dark One and her former mistress were lovers, but didn't they hold magic's to ensure such a thing never occurred? "After all this time… how is she finally with child?"

The Dark One threw his hands up in lugubrious despair. "Only fate knows." He breathed sorrowfully. "When I first met her she wasn't able to be with child. All this time I thought she was barren."

In their first months together they had tried so hard to conceive even though he sensed her bereft womb. The child that forged their deal was to have been his instead of some noble born whelp with a princely sire. That plot had never played out properly in their time, but now fickle lady fate seemed to wish to grant them a little one.

The timing wasn't lost upon him, but that didn't explain how she wasn't lying and how he could sense the faintest of heartbeats when he employed magic to listen. No matter how small the life, he could always detect a being and the child was as there as he was. In every aspect Cora was pregnant and there wasn't any evidence to see her conception was some trick!

Racing a hand through his straggly brown mane, a low cruse let forth from his direly frowning lips. How could his life be so cruel to them? Did his magic still demand to be paid for the powers he wielded? Was his happiness and love the price of power? Finally he made his peace with his Belle only to be set forth with another trial that denied him the happiness he sought.

It wasn't fair. The words sounded childish, to the beast but they were true. It wasn't fair to either of them.

"Rumpel." Belle placed a hand on his shoulder. Her crystal orbits read his without him even a saying a word. Already she could read what lay penned upon his black heart in bright, bold script.

Coaxed from the brink of despair by her soft, melodious voice, the Dark One found her azure eyes. Tears raced freely down her cheeks in torrents of their ill fortune. It wasn't fair and she knew that fact as well as he. They just couldn't be happy no matter what road they walked. Life seemed to eschew their wants of a good existence with happiness no matter what they did.

Swallowing hard, the Dark One fought back tears of his own. A lump of shame lodged tight in his throat, threatening to choke him. His gray-gold knuckles stroked her cheek in tender apology. "I'm sorry Belle."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Belle assured him with a weak sanguine smile through the stream of tears. She tried, by heaven above, she tried to stopper them behind the wall of courage that held all her sorrows but the flood of agony was a tsunami that refused to be held by the sluice gate of her stoic will. "I know what this means. You aren't the type of man to leave a child fatherless. You didn't in the forest and you certainly won't now that the child in question is your own. You are a good man Rumpelstiltskin and you will be a fine father to this babe."

Choking back foul agony, the fiend gulped down the knot of emotion in his throat. She knew him far too well even with their precious little time they held together. She knew he would not simply abandon another child even one that sprang from Cora's womb. "After I finish my price for you, you must leave Belle. I can't leave my child to be reared by this witch. I can't leave another of my children." Long he had planned and dreamed of what they would do when his price was paid, but now she would have to find safety and any amount of happiness alone.

Torment lashed his heart at the thought of watching her walk out of the castle alone. Did fate so enjoy to see bits of his heart ripped away one by one until only darkness and regret remained? Was the price always so high for the magic coursing through his black blood?

"You must go to your fathers kingdom at once when I pay your price." The fiend explained lowly, forcing his pain away. His features melted back into a hint of stalwart sturdiness. "I can protect that place for you."

If nothing else, he knew, his determination strong, he could at least make certain she and her people were no subjects of the curse. Perhaps she could find some mode of happiness there and forget about him. Perhaps the man she was once betrothed to had matured and could love her like she deserved.

Belle's brow beetled in confusion. "Protect?" She tossed her head a trifle. "I don't understand. Protect from what?"

"Belle-." He began pleadingly. She had to know, the fiend knew, she deserved to know what price was for her life now that they were to be parted. There was no way she couldn't find out. When the curse was to be enacted she would realize his price and everything he had done for her.

She cut in. "Don't keep things from me Rumpel. Not now. Not when we may not have much time." Trepidation fluttered like a frightened dove caught in her heart. Its pure wings beat a panic tattoo in her chest, trying to find escape. She knew some price was meant to be paid, but what?

"What I and Cora were working on with the magic." Rumpelstiltskin bowed his head in reply. Confession spouted from his lips in shame. He knew the price was wrong, but anything for his precious Belle.

A pale hue whitened the beauty's features with his admittance. Cora and magic together were never for anything good. She didn't know what they had been planning, but she knew it wasn't good. If Cora made that part of their deal…. "Rumpel you can't." She protested, her words tremulous and desperate.

"I have too." The broken hearted fiend stated through his pain. There was no hiding anything now that their happiness lay littered in rubble about their feet. "The deal I made in order to buy your freedom requires me to bring darkness into this world. Belle without this deal, my deal for you is void…."

"You mean…." Dread clamped a hand about her tongue, her mouth unable to reform the nightmare.

A solitary tear brooked down the Dark One's cheek. "You'd be Cora's captive once more." He breathed in a trembling reply, his heart crumbling to ash. "Oh Belle I'm sorry, but it's the only way."

"No." Belle fought back her pain that threatened to flood her soul. "No you're not sorry. You've no need to be sorry." Hope and stubborn rebellion flourished in a bright flash of light through her heart from the shadow of their dourness. At once she became an anchor in their sea of melancholy. Her hands wrapped about him, her heart helping his in the morass of despair. "You will not be sorry. I would not want such a price for my life. We won't be sorry anymore. We will be what we must. You will not enact this magic. You will give this child a sturdy family. You will love them for who they are not who their mother is. I will love them because they are your child and watch over them and that is how life will be."

If fate had decided they would be unhappy then they would make the best of their plight, Belle reasoned stoically. They would have to survive as best they knew how even bereft of one another's arms.

Rumpelstiltskin shook his head stubbornly, his will too far gone. How could he allow such a harsh travesty? "I can't Belle. I have to find someway to set you free even if it means doing exactly what Cora wishes. I couldn't build a family knowing you're so close and that I could not have you. Nothing matters to me but you and your happiness."

"For the child's sake, Rumpel." Belle pleaded to him, her fingers curled over his brown tunic. "For the realms sake. Don't ruin everyone's happiness for ours."

Snuffing out happiness was not the answer to their problems. He would make all miserable for their sake. What kind of life would that be, knowing all others were swamped in misery while they stood upon dry land?

"I am a selfish beast Belle. I cannot see you enslaved." The fiend held her hands in his talons. How could she not wish to at least be free? What did he care about the rest of the world, and his child would learn what misery was soon enough with a mother like Cora. All that mattered was at least she could be free.

Looking into his eyes with her crystalline depths, the beauty pulled her hands away. Her body yearned to be close, but she couldn't make him think his words were right. Her azure dot hardened to cerulean ice to hide her despair. "If you do, Rumpel. I can't stay with you. I won't. I can't be with a man I know in my heart is good, yet knowing he did something so selfish."

"Belle-" The fiend began to argue, even demand but he stopped short. She would never forgive him for such a thing. Every day of their life they would go through the darkness and grayness of a world awash with misery and Cora as their vile queen. That would not gain them happiness either. Rumpelstiltskin bowed his head, shame heaping over his very soul. "There really is nothing we can do…."

"We can love from afar." Tears streamed down her cheeks once more, her flood of agony renewed in their pain. "Everyday when I wake and the world is happy and smiling and bright I'll know you love me. Love is not always doing what you want. Some part love is willing to let pain in in order to help those you love." Her words dropped to a whisper. "Love me enough to do what's right."

Drawn to his darkness and light, the beauty nestled in his arms once again. In her soul she knew he would not enact the magic. Laying her head upon his chest she listened to the intrepid beat of the heart that owned hers. The good man was worth far more than her freedom.

Angry storm clouds swirled in the Dark Ones soul. Fury crackled like lightening, ready to unleash a storm of pernicious proportions. How he wished to rage and scream to the world and the heavens and all the injustices locked within. "We were to leave these walls and find happiness." Torment hedged the fiends timbre.

"Have faith, Rumpel." Belle braved a tenacious smile though her heart lay in the black stone at their feet. Tenderly, she laid her calloused palm against his gray-gold cheek, her eyes finding his. "Love is the strongest power of all. Everything will work out in the end. You'll see."

"I wish I had your faith." The fiend murmured and pressed his forehead against hers. Their hearts beat as one as they shared the precious moment ensorcelled in one another arms. Each drew of the others strength to aid them in their hopelessness. If fate was to be so cruel they could at least have each other at the one moment.

A sad smile broke upon her lips. "You may not have my faith but you have my love." She promised, her oath eternal. "I suppose that will have to do."

~8~8~

Infinite glee filled Cora's abominable heart as she glided through the main hall like a malicious ghost on some dark errand. All about her the keep radiated pulses of somber dread. A sense of dourness laid upon the keep such as the black walls had ever known in all there years housing the witch.

The melancholy that once permeated from the towering stone seemed almost like a whimsy of a petulant child compared to the plaintive emotions that painted the walls now. Two torn souls granted a dour sadness that the keep savored like a fine wine and added to the misery trapped within the sable stones. Coldness wailed down the stone corridors professing the lugubrious sorrow of two lovers who could never be.

Low creaking of aged gears and wobbly spools squeaked at a rapid gait in the furthest corner of the main hall as the witch drifted into the room. Shadows pooled in the cold corner where the Dark One sat at his ancient spinners wheel.

Hunched over like some elderly beast gnarled by aged, the Dark One worked silently in his corner. Wiry gray-gold talons curled over the wood and turned the wheel in a blur that made the shadows dance like the flames in the hearth. His whiplash body was bent double as though his black heart was tied with heavy stones that pulled him to the ground.

The fiend's body tensed like a man struck with a cat o' nine tail as he felt the harpy enter the dimly lit hall. His dexterous fingers twitched and diverted an inch from their spinning course, telling the tale of his bitter hatred. It was her, the wretch who couldn't abide others satisfaction, the thief of his happiness who carried his child.

Hints of gold from his talons sparkled intermittently in the light as he moved one hand in endless repetition over the wooden wheel in and out of the shadows. At his feet a kings ransom in gold pooled in a tangled bramble of stringed riches over his black boots. The basket normally reserved to catch the product of his thinking was overflowed in a sea of gold.

Every inch of the enchanted straw told a story of a battle he was fast losing. Whatever he was trying to forget wasn't being forgotten in the slightest.

Oh yes, Cora preened darkly, their misery would be long and terrible.

The enchanted ruby ring that caused such pain glittered against the firelight as she slipped into her chair. Her hands sensually ran the length of the dark wood arms rests as though feeling the delicious agony the Dark One exuded. Settling comfortably in the plush high back chair by the fire she felt once more in control of all her surroundings. She was ultimate queen of her domain again and held every pawn in her hand.

"Should we begin our plans to assault the fairies, Rumpel dear?" Cora asked in dastardly mocking to the Dark One laying new memories aside upon his wheel. Cruel taunting laced her lovely siren voice.

Surely now he would complete their bargain just to see his love freed from her slavery. With him by her side and the slave girl and he both miserable what did she care if the slave was freed. Her life would be her own again, but she would leave half her heart behind. Her heart would always be endowed by pain when she recalled what she lost. There would be no pleasure in her freedom, only hardship and pining.

The wheel creaked at a slower tempo as her taunting words died through the cold air. His knuckles curled in a vice over the rim of the wheel until they took a gray tint. The words of agreement danced like errant sparks upon his tongue wishing to spring free and cast a blaze. All he would have to do was say yes and his Belle would once again be a free woman. She wouldn't have to stay and watch as he reared a child with a woman he didn't love. Still….

"No." Rumpelstiltskin ground out firmly, his jaw clenched in a stoic vice. How he wished to speak the opposite, but reminders of his love bound his tongue from agreeing to such evil. Only her love would make him say such words, to not conform to his selfish ways.

Surprise flared the sorceress black heart with his admission. Her brow knit into thin, perturbed lines that held testament to her confusion. He still wasn't going to go through with the magic?

Gathering herself in a cloak of certainly, the witch austerely banished the look of confusion from her face. She couldn't let him see her disappointment. A smile weaseled upon her glossy ruby lips. "Then you know what that means, Rumpel. Our deal is void. The slave girl belongs to me again."

"Perhaps we can change the deal." The magical monster tried to reason. Bile rose to his throat in a wave of disgust that burned his blood as he addressed her. Heaven above knew he didn't wish to speak to the witch, but if he had any chance to save his Belle he would at the very least try.

Dark flares of cruelty glinted like hoary steel in her almond eyes. Oh he was desperate; deliciously so. "I want nothing else from you, Rumpel. No. There will be no changing of the deal. Either you help me bring my misery to the realms of your love remains to serve me."

Claws gripped the Dark One's heart in perilous agony but he shook his head. Belle would not wish him to agree. Never. To be of an accord with Cora was to lose Belle still.

Clamping his mouth into a thin gray line the fiend pinioned his black eyes upon his spinning in vain attempts to let the world fall away if only for a few hours. His hands spun the wooden wheel once more at a rattling tempo, trying to peel away the memories that tore his soul.

A vile chuckle tittered from the witches lips. His prided resolution was dogged but laughable. He was still trying to play the hero. "It's so unfair isn't it?" Her words aimed a poison tipped, taunting spear into his chest. "You found your love and yet you can't have her."

The fiends body flinched as the serrated menace cut into his figure and down into his soul. His heart twitched with agony as claws of despair overwhelmed him and dug remorselessly into his form. She would enjoy her torments he knew, and even more so with another to cause agony upon. And he couldn't stop her….

"Of course." Cora motioned casually to the despondent fiend. "You could kill me and be with your love, but that would be slaying two lives one of which is of your own pedigree. It seems, dear, foolish Rumpel I've got you by the throat and if you dare defy me I will make those you love pay."

Only the crackling of wood in the hearth and the creaking of the wheel echoed through the main hall as the witch let her cruel taunts pause. Not a sound echoed from his corner. He wasn't going to rise to the occasion, she knew, but that would simply make things more fun.

Sighing as though nothing more than inconvenienced by his stubborn display the witch clapped her hands to beckon her renewed slave girl. A dastardly smile curled over her lips as the wheel paused. That would certainly get his attention.

Looking over, the fiend glared at the witch. Horror and hate danced equally into his sable depths. "What are you doing?"

"Calling my slave." She reveled easily with a tired yawn. "I'm bored and if you won't provide my entertainment I have another who will. And this time, Rumpel I will have no interfering. If you aid her in any way I will see it as a breaking of rules from the girl herself. Remember the girl is mine and magic, if I so deem, will bar you from doing anything to aid her from my hands. Her price was paid and the magic will make certain the payment is upheld to its fullest extent."

Swallowing hard, the fiend quelled his pride. Magic was too strong to cut once the chains of the deal had been forged. "Don't. Please... Don't be cruel to her." He begged, the words erupting from his lips before he could stop them. "Please."

Did his love have to endure pain atop of the misery that was being denied love?

"Pleading?" Cora laughed in stark amazement, truly taken aback. "Is that what I hear from the most powerful sorcerer alive? Pleading for a slave girl?"

The fiend took a deep breath, his passion speaking from his heart. "I love her Cora. I will beg for those I love."

"Well this will be interesting then." Cora claimed as the beauty crept inside the main hall.

Head bowed, Belle carefully shuffled in, once more the dutiful slave. Cora would have had to find out the deal was off sometime and she was not of the inclination to do things that would get her punished right again. If being submissive would ensure a bit of her pain away, the she would though she was by no means cowed again. That Belle was gone forever, but survival still burned a hot ember in her heart.

Swiveling her head to the girl like a hawk with new prey in her vision, the witch gave a cruel grin. The firelight gleamed off her pale skin giving her flesh a ruddy tint. "Do you know what he's just done slave? He asked me not to be cruel to you." She tapped a manicured finger to her chin. "But I wonder what's worse that my cruelty." Turning back to the Dark One she loosely tented her fingers under her chin. "I'll make you a deal, Rumpel. Swear to still share my bed and all that entails and I won't be cruel to her. No beatings, no stair scrubbing."

"You have no heart." Belle ground out painfully through clenched teeth. Head up, her eyes bored the truest hatred anyone could have into the witch. The ultimatum struck her heart with a thunderous punch. Had they not suffered enough? She didn't wish for pain, no one did, but at the cost.… "Do you have to force someone to your bed with a deal because no one can love you?"

A snarl wrenched Cora's mouth. She would have to curb that rebellious, free thinking part of her slave again. "I'll cut you your tongue for that slave!"

"Deal." The Dark One sighed sorrowfully before the witch could raise her hand to punish the girl. His black eyes strafed over to the beauty. "I can't watch her be cruel to you Belle. If I can take a bit of your pain away I will. You know I don't love her. I will never lover her. I will tell you I love you everyday. She may have my body but you have my heart."

Perhaps she wouldn't understand but he couldn't let that type of pain continue. If he was to witness Cora beating his love then every bit of control would flee his body. He would do anything she would ask without blinking. His body was a husk, a shell. Mayhap the pain of knowing he only bedded the witch as a deal would hurt less.

Forcing a brave smile, the beauty looked back rebelliously at the witch. A single crystal tear raced down her cheek, but a victorious smile curved her lush mouth in victory. No matter what evil she could cook up in her mind, the Dark One loved his Belle all his passion would be for her and not the witch. Even with a deal the sorceress would only be second best.

Darkness roiled over the witches face like a dark cloud. Jabbing a quivering finger to the door she snarled at the girl. "Go to your cell, slave. I've no more wish to see you." She snapped rabidly, her temper barely under control.

"And I've no wish to see you." The fiend stated coolly and rose from his stool. Padding over to his Belle he slipped an arm into hers. "I'll walk you down." He smiled tenderly at his love. All the hate and pain whisked away from his face with her so near. He might not could have been with her as he wished but she still owned his heart.

Almond eyes pinioned upon the pair, the witch followed them with a disapproving look until they disappeared through a door.

As they vanished, a stark frown pulled her mouth. Shadows and lights danced against her face, leaving the devilish gears churning. Her face was calm, but inside she wished to scream with the rage of a thousand banshees in one monstrous chorus.

There had to be some other way to make him bring forth his magic. There had to….

Abruptly, a smile formed upon her lips. Yes, there was something he would pay any magic for.

Everyone had there breaking point and he had just shown his.