"So this is what a stake-out is like," Belle noted, opening a Styrofoam container of broccoli and cheese soup from Granny's. "What did you tell Granny?"
"Girl's Day Out," Ruby chuckled, blowing across her spoonful before sipping her soup. Her crimson Camaro's seats could adjust until the passenger was just about lying down, which was exactly what they needed. Parked across the street from the convent, they ate without talking, two iced teas in the cup holders between them.
"I missed you, when you were Lacey," Ruby said.
"I missed me, too."
"It feels like the curse is still around in a lot of ways, you know? Snow gone all the time, you were gone, me being one of the few people here that can't hide the magical thing about her."
Belle twisted until she faced her.
"You want to do a fun project in addition to this one?"
"What would that be?" Ruby gave her hopeful eyes.
"Whenever we get bored, we're going to stroll right into that convent, find Nova, and talk her into seeing Dream—uh, Leroy again," she said, finishing her soup with one last lick of her lips. Before her life had truly begun, just another princess in another arranged marriage, she would have politely nodded at anyone's suggestion that one could have such a wonderful friend and yet could count the number of interactions they'd had with them on one hand. Lacey had her advantages at times—no inner voice, dead-set on getting what she wanted—but dying as Lacey made Belle shudder, and Dreamy had thought of her. It was all fitting together, like finding missing pieces of a puzzle, Ruby as the sheriff, Leroy as her deputy, and herself as the caretaker of a town, since caretaker of a "rather large estate" was already under her belt.
Mother Superior exited the convent and stood tapping her foot under the archway, glancing at her watch every few seconds. Tilting her head, Belle continued to watch her, watch her normally serene porcelain face wrinkled in impatience.
"You think if we just went up and asked her if she knew where he was that she would tell us?" she couldn't help but ask.
Before Ruby could swallow the tea swishing around in her mouth, a pigeon flapped less than an arm's length from Mother Superior, a tiny scroll attached to its rakish foot. Stroking its breast with the backs of her fingers, she tugged the scroll loose before it took off as suddenly as it came.
"What's all this about?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know."
With lightning speed, Mother Superior bustled back to the door.
Belle stepped outside herself, watched herself fling open the car door in slow motion and buzz to the convent with one eye in the sky hoping to track the pigeon and the other eye on...
"Mother Superior!"
Breathless in the doorway, she braced the door and smiled at Mother Superior.
"Belle! It is Belle now, isn't it?" she asked in a choppy, unsure way.
"Yes. Thank you for that potion."
"What's wrong? You look so flushed."
"Oh, I was just meaning to catch you before you had a meeting or a consultation of some kind..." Series of stories ran through her mind, plot lines, themes, motifs, dialogue, picking the snippets that be pieced together in some sort of story... "Do you know what's happened to the district attorney?" Lies did not come naturally to Belle, nor even Lacey. Mother Superior's saucer eyes widened even more.
"No, I had assumed he went into hiding. Have you heard from him?"
"It's just, with Emma gone..."
"Emma's gone? Where?" Mother Superior hurried to her and put her hand on her shoulder.
"I, I'm not sure where exactly," Belle said. "Her son was kidnapped. She and her family went to go find him." Family. At last Rumple had one.
"Gracious."
"There will be a town meeting tonight. We'll run some things by everyone, propose a few things. I think it's about time we kept dangerous people locked away, don't you think?"
"Yes, absolutely. The nuns will of course do whatever we can."
Belle took in the convent, breathed in the black and white tiling leading up to columns with rounded ridges. "Is Sister Astrid around?"
"Sister Astrid broke her vows and has hence left the convent," Mother Superior said with some bite.
"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Well, I'll just get going. Er, bye." With an almost delirious laugh from adrenaline and embarrassment, she skittered down the street back to the car. Broken vows, was it? That was one of the most romantic things she'd heard in a long time, long lost lovers possibly reunited. Her brain rehearsed all kinds of ways she could hint to Leroy she knew all about it the next time she saw him. She couldn't even be angry one of her friends had started a secret relationship.
"Sheriff, huh?" Victor said across the table from her in the diner, two simple bowls of oatmeal with a few strawberries between them. Her day off, she could watch the increasing number of customers come in and order with detached amusement. This way she could soak in reliving last night, steamy shower water running, her back against the tiled wall, his fingers running through her hair, kisses peppered down her neck and collarbone. His scent on her towels, the shower curtain, even the soap had been intoxicating.
"Provided everything works out," she said, taking a sip of cranberry juice. "Belle could be a great mayor and I think she wants to. I just think she needs more confidence."
"Well," he said, wiping his mouth. "I've asked the other staff members about Spencer, casually, of course, like 'whatever happened to that guy' and nothing."
"Some sheriffing I'm doing," she sighed.
"Sheriffing?" he chuckled.
"Detecting? Investigating!"
"If manhunts were easy, they wouldn't be so much work. But I am running out of people to ask." Sympathetic smiles and empty bowls closed out breakfast. The new busboy gathered up their dishes. Ruby considered going back into the woods and tromping around until she picked up a scent. Exciting way to spend a day, she thought, shoving her hands in her pockets.
"When are you going to tell Belle about us?" he asked.
"Oh, soon. I just want to take care of this mess. Why, anxious for a really awkward double date?" she teased, giving him a peck on the lips.
"No, because I think I love you."
Ruby sat cross-legged on the chair behind the podium, hands in her lap. Her crammed box of a closet held countless items that could work for a date or a party, but few pieces that really screamed "professional." She settled on a red satin blouse and a gray tweed skirt that hit her knees. Not one for stockings without fishnet, her legs itched underneath a plain black set from the inn's lost and found. Standing close by, Belle mouthed words she'd written on index cards, looking so like a, well, like a librarian, Ruby thought, but one of the hot ones, the ones that could rip off their glasses and bun and instantly be ready for something smutty. At least one of them exuded professionalism, Belle in a white suit with a floral-patterned blouse underneath.
"What if I have to go to the bathroom while we're up here?" Leroy hissed at her from the chair next to her.
"Why don't you just go now? A good deputy is supposed to be prepared."
"If I could have everyone's attention..." Belle addressed the assembly, poised and giving no indication of any butterflies in the stomach.
"Too late now," Leroy muttered.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Storybrooke, I know many of you don't know me or haven't known me very long, but it doesn't take long to see that Storybrooke is in need of leadership, of people committed to doing everything they can for their town to thrive. William Faulkner once said, 'You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.' While it might be intimidating without the people we've usually relied on, you have others that are willing to step up and serve you."
Taking a breath, she scanned the crowd, needing to squint from the stage lights. Ruby had done the same moments ago looking for Granny and Victor and the other dwarves, but only the outlines of heads could be distinguished. It might be just as well Belle could neither see her father nor make out his flower-covered scent out in the audience.
"Our plan is simple. With me as your mayor and Ruby and Leroy as respective sheriff and deputy, we would hold those positions until the return of Sheriff Swan and her family or until the next election year, whichever comes first. Updating the schools and the library to be contemporary with the rest of the country, cracking down on crime, and, of course, seeking ways to make returning to the Enchanted Forest an opportunity are-"
"Excuse me!" A large thick arm shot out and waved from the back. Ruby and Leroy eased up from their chairs, hands still on the arms. Anton bounded toward them.
"Sorry! Sorry to interrupt, and I loved everything I was hearing, by the way." He blushed and kept gesturing for the microphone. "Sorry, uh, hi, everybody. I'm Anton. I'm the one who was farming the magic beans that were going to take us all home. As a lot of you know, the bean field was burned, but a few seedlings did survive. It might take a little while, but we should have a limited number in time and then these guys can organize things from there."
Ruby threw her arms around Leroy and giggled. A way home, the prospect of becoming sheriff closer than before, a boyfriend she loved and who loved her...too good to be true. Fate usually dictated that something really horrible happen to balance the universe out or something, but she hoped that was a long way's off.
"Thank you, Anton, for your input," Belle said, regaining the podium in her kind, persistent way. "Well, as you can all see, things are coming together. Now is the time to be organized and united and not let anyone or anything jeopardize our chances at happiness!"
Applause resounded throughout the town hall. Belle's head jerked back, a stunned laugh jutting out from her mouth. It wasn't official, but maybe after all they'd been through, a silver lining was in sight.