Rumple loved the thought of surprising someone. Most of the surprising he had ever done had been to shock or frighten, never for the pleasure of it. As he came to Gale's sleeping chambers he could barely contain himself. Perhaps it was that he was alittle too excited or maybe living alone had made him not really appreciate the value of one's privacy. "Gale" Rumple sung out as he knocked twice then just opened the door.

Rumple was instantly sorry, by the look on her face, Rum could see he should waited for the invitation to come in, although he couldn't really say he was all that sorry about it. She was sitting cross legged in the middle of the bed with nothing on but a startled look and one of his silk sleeping shirts, she had been reading. Belle snapped the book shut as she scrambled off the bed, "What is it, what's wrong?"

Rumple couldn't take his eyes off her. The top of the Black, silky shirt had been left unbuttoned, which allowed for a genorous amount of creamy skin to greet his eyes, and to make matters more, it only hung down to just above her knee, Rumple could do nothing but stare, For a second he forgot why he had felt the need to burst into her room. Belle had a worried expression on her face as she saw him shake his head as if to clear his head.

"Are you alright" she asked as Rumple's momentary glazed over face left and he began to speak, "I, uh... I have something to give you, or umm, well come on" he extended his hand to Belle, she accepted and they went to see what was so important.

Belle quickened her pace to keep up, all the while wishing that she had insisted on putting more clothing on, but now that he seemed to be on some kind of mission to show her something, he seemed unaffected by her night clothes or rather lack of them. she had took to sleeping in his night clothes, they were warm and she loved the feel of the softness against her skin. Especially the bottoms, which she usually had on but when he had came bursting through her door, it had caught her unaware.

In truth it had frightned her beyond words for a moment. It brought back an all to real terror that had been a constant in her life just a few weeks before. Of course there was also the fear of discovery. If he found out who she was, or worse yet who she belonged to, she pushed all the bad thoughts from her mind as they stopped at enormous double doors deep in the castle, he turned to her, "I want you to close your eyes."

"What, why must I..."

"Close them or you don't get it." he chirped.

Belle gave him a pretend pouty look, "Don't get what?" her interest peaked.

"It's a surprise dearie, have'nt you ever had a surprise?"

Belle conceded and closed her eyes as she heard him open the doors and lead her through the them.

"May I look now?"

"alright, you can open them" Rumple said, he was standing so close behind her she could feel his chest at her back, the feeling of him touching her was very distracting but forgotten for the moment when she drank in the sight before her. It was a beautiful room, a library full of books. She walked to the center of the room, amazed, she had never seen so many books, floor to ceiling shelves must have housed hundreds, no thousands of books Belle thought.

"Do you like it" Rum asked, trying to decipher her body language.

"Oh Rumplestiltskin, it's breathtaking" Belle ran her fingers over some of the spines, reading a few titles. She then looked around for the first time noticing the splender of the rest of the room. A reading area of sorts was set up around the fireplace, a couch and a few large chairs, perfect for drifting away with a good book, a few small blankets were thrown over the backs of the chairs. As Belle inspected things she saw that there was an empty shelf. She looked over at Rumple who was grinning at her, he joined her at the bare shelf to explain. "Well dearie, the thing is, that most of these books are about magic or potion making, so I thought we could go to town and get you a few books you might find, well, more suited to your tastes."

Belle could contain her feelings no longer, before either of them had time to think, Belle flung her arms around Rumple's neck, hugging him close to her."This is the most wonderful thing anyone has ever done for me, thank you."

Rumple was as stiff as a statue in her arms at first, people didn't hug him, he was unsure of how to respond, it only took a moment before he timidly encircled her with his arms, rubbing her back in little up and down motions. Belle felt his muscles relax as ahe kept her arms about his neck, basking in the feeling of his stong hands rubbing her back.

Rumple liked the feeling of his silk shirt against her petite body. His hand glided easily down her soft back, she leaned into him, seemingly craving the contact as much as he was, the feel of another body was soothing after so long with no physical contact for either of them. Neither was sure how long they stood there in each other's embrace but Belle finally spoke, penetrating the silence. "so when do we get to go to town?" Her voice brought Rumple to full attention, his gift was only half delivered.

"Why now, of course, it's only mid afternoon, let's get you ready and be off." Belle almost squealed in delight as she relenquished her hold on the man before her . She stopped in the doorway, turning around to gaze at the room once before she left, She smiled at Rumplestiltskin before bounding off down the hall to her room to get properly dressed for a trip to purchase books, leaving a very bewildered sorcerer alone in the room with his disheaveled emotions.