Belle parked their car on the side street by the library. She was only five minutes late. Belle bolted out of the driver's side and hurried down the street, passing by one of her flyers:

BOOK CLUB!

Share ideas and thoughts about the stories you know

And the stories you don't know.

Come to the meeting and bring a friend.

First Saturday of every month. 9am. Town Library.

Belle pulled out her keys to unlock the door and was disappointed to discover only four people waiting outside the front door: Dr. Hopper, Henry, Mary-Margaret and baby Neal. She had been expecting at least ten people to show up. Nonetheless, she was glad to see some people there. It would have been an embarrassing failure if she had shown up and nobody else did.

"Belle!" greeted Mary-Margaret.

"I'm so sorry everyone. I was running late getting out of the house this morning. Here… let me open the door and we can get started."

Belle opened the door and Dr. Hopper followed after Henry into the Library. Mary-Margaret held back a bit to talk to Belle. Mary-Margaret asked, "Do you mind if Neal sits in with us? David's gone back to work and I'm still on maternity leave."

"No, I don't mind. Come on in," consented Belle.

"He really is a quiet baby," Mary-Margaret justified as she walked through the doors.

"It's quite alright," Belle smiled.

… …

Belle initiated the meeting and each of them took turns reading passages of short stories written from this world. Every once in a while she would catch herself staring at Neal and despite the baby's pleasant and silent demeanor he was actually quite distracting. Babies. Children. It was as if she couldn't escape her own thoughts. Could she? Was she?

"I don't know. Belle, what do you think?" Dr. Hopper asked.

Belle snapped out of her own thoughts and rejoined the discussion that was taking place in front of her. "I… I'm sorry. What do I think about… what?"

"About comparing the stories about us from this world and actually doing them justice by retelling what actually happened in our world."

"I think that's brilliant. I love it," she said simply. She wasn't completely sure what was happening she was too consumed in her own thoughts.

The conversation went around in circles. They continued taking turns reading some more passages out of the book and compared them to the ones they knew personally from their world. At the end of the session they were to go around the library in search for their own story. Next club meeting would be about their discovering this world's interpretation of their own story. After everyone was done checking out their books, she made it a point to connect with each person as they exited the library.

"This was a great meeting. Can't wait to come back next week," said Dr. Hopper as he left the building.

Henry left with Mary-Margaret and Neal and Mary-Margaret chimed in, "That was a great meeting. You know, I'm really surprised that nobody else showed up. I went to the school and gave them the flyers you gave me."

"I appreciate that and thank you for trying, but um… I'm starting to realize that when the stories are involving people's personal lives, most don't want to sit around in a circle discussing and dissecting it. Most people are just not ready for that kind of therapy."

"That… and it's really early on a Saturday morning. Most people in this world, and apparently your world, appreciate the weekends too," remarked Henry.

"Oh," replied Belle caught off-guard, "Well, I guess we'll try changing the time of the meeting to the afternoons instead."

"I'll try and convince some classmates to come," said Henry.

"That would be spectacular. Thank you Henry," Belle said gratefully, smiling as she held the door for them.

"See you next Saturday then."

"Next Saturday."

Belle closed the doors behind them and scanned the library. Despite the small number, she would have to claim it a successful meeting. People came, they checked out books, and there was extreme potential for more people to join. Belle looked at the clock on the library wall.

10:04 a.m.

She had mentioned to Ruby that she would help out after the club meeting. So Belle gathered her belongings and walked out the library doors. She turned to lock the building then headed to the car to grab the blankets she had borrowed from some time ago. She arrived at Granny's Bed and Breakfast with blankets in hand and walked up the steps. She opened the door and entered the building's lobby area. Nobody was there to greet her.

"Ruby?" Belle called out into the void.

"I'm up here Belle! Come on up!" shouted Ruby from the second level. Belle ascended the stairway and listened closely for any sounds pertaining to Ruby.

"Where are you?" Belle called out to her.

"Down the hall!"

Belle walked down the hall and entered a room that appeared to have exploded with clothing. "Oh… wow," Belle remarked looking around at the scattered pieces of clothing strewn across the room.

"I know," Ruby admitted, throwing some clothes out of her closet and onto the floor, "but trust me when I say that this is organized chaos. Oh! You brought the blankets back. Thanks. You can set them down on the dresser there."

Belle complied and turned to place the linens on the dresser as requested. "How would you like me to help?" she asked, looking wearily on the floor trying carefully to not step on anything that would be valuable.

"If you see things that young boys would snicker at… put it in that pile there. I'll go through that pile personally and give it a final 'yes' or 'no' later. Clothes that are casual and still wearable and appropriate, put them there," Ruby said directing her to two different piles in the room.

Belle helped her out for the next few hours doing just that. It was amazing to see how much she had accumulated from the curse. After they were done separating clothing, Belle helped Ruby fold clothes neatly into boxes; one for donation, one for personal bedroom and one for incineration. Belle opened another closet within the room they were in and proceeded to toss more items into the center of the room for determination. She came across lingerie, boots, lace, belts… then she came across an unexpected beauty box. Belle opened the box and found her hygiene and cosmetics bag. There were so many different shades of red that it was hard to believe that there were that many names to describe just one color. There were tampons and liners and… pregnancy tests.

"Ruby, uh…?" Belle said holding up an unopened test.

Ruby rolled her eyes and stuttered, "Belle... I… the curse… I did mention that there were things from the curse that I wasn't proud of… right?"

"Oh, no! I mean, I completely understand. There were things that I remember from my cursed self that were absolutely deplorable. And I only had to experience Lacey for like a week!" Belle commiserated, trying to assure Ruby of her understanding.

"Thanks! This is why I needed you here instead of any of the boys to help me."

"No worries. Of all people, I think I can relate to your predicament the most."

Belle waited for Ruby to enter her closet again. When she was out of sight, Belle took the three tests and tossed them into her purse. Her heart began to pound in her chest. She had a means to find out discreetly.

She couldn't wait any longer. She needed to know and she wanted to find out immediately. Belle looked around the room. Seeing that they were pretty much done with the packing and organizing anyways, she didn't feel guilty about letting Ruby know of her departure.

"Hey, Ruby?" Belle called to her friend who was still in the closet.

"Yeah Belle?"

"I… uh… I have a meeting… I have to meet my husband soon," Belle said fumbling nervously with her words. She needed an excuse, frankly any excuse to leave without being rude.

"Oh ok! You go on ahead. We're pretty much done here anyways," Ruby said coming back out of her closet with another small box. "Thank you so much for helping me out. As you can see, it would have taken me a lot longer if I had done this by myself. Now that I can finally see the floor again, I can finish from here."

… …

Belle bolted from the Bed and Breakfast and practically ran back over to the library. She quickly searched for her keys and opened the doors. When she stepped inside she immediately closed the doors behind her and locked them. Was she out of breath? She ran to the library's bathrooms and practically burst through the doors to take the tests.

Her phone was set on a timer and she placed it next to the tests on the hand sink. It was only a few minutes but she stared at the timer feeling like it was taking hours. She thought nervously, frantically. Belle tried really hard to not fret. The tests, as far as she knew, could also prove negative and then she would have been worrying over nothing.

Why was she so nervous? It's not that she thought she would be a bad mother, but if she wanted to be honest with herself she realized, she never wanted to have children. Why was that? It's not like she didn't like children. But she did, however, have very little to poor experience being with them. She reflected on her own childhood and how cruel the other children were to her for not wanting to socialize like they did. And to have a child with The Dark One? What were the repercussions of that?

No! she commanded to herself. She refused to think along those lines and go down that path until she knew for certain. She stared at the timer.

:55 seconds

It was as if the seconds knew of her anxiety and time seemed to slow down as if to tease her. It ebbed at her soul and she waited in silence and on the edge.

Suddenly her phone rang. She jumped in place, startled by the unexpected breach of silence. Someone was calling her. Her husband. She picked up the phone and out of complete nervousness dropped it on the ground. The phone continued ringing as she regained dexterity and picked up the phone again. She flipped it open and answered, "Hello?"

"Belle… how was the book club meeting?" he said over the phone.

"It was good," Belle remarked, turning away from the tests leaning back against the sinks. "Only three people came, though. Um, Archie came… and Mary-Margaret came with Neal and Henry. Even still, despite the number, I would say that it was an overall success."

"Well that's good to hear. Are you feeling any better than you did this morning?" she could hear concern in his voice. She did leave him kind of worried after how he discovered her this morning.

"Better," she lied, her voice practically cracked at the word. She cleared her throat and reiterated, "much better."

"Are you sure?"

Just then the timer she had set on her phone buzzed in her ear. The tests! She spun quickly around and looked down at all three tests, each one with the same symbol, "Positive."

As you can see, I haven't left any author's notes in the past couple of chapters. I've just been writing, submitting, writing, submitting and writing! But just so Grace5231973, BreathingintheSun and Montreat11 know… I have been reading your reviews. I love how smart you all are. I was excited to read how you all were able to arrive at the conclusion before this chapter. But just you wait… there's more. Take my hand. Let's see how far this rabbit hole really goes. See you next chapter.