Belle watched Emma leave to go talk to her son and waited until she was completely out the door before turning to Rumple to address his issue. She saw nothing but dread and shock on his face as he continued to stare at the vacant spot where Henry sat. She reached for his arm hoping that her touch would bring him back to reality and asked, "Rumple… what is it? Something's wrong and you're not telling me."

"Can't you feel it?" he asked with panic in his voice and on his face.

"No?" said Belle, baffled by Rumple's odd question. "Feel what?"

Something was wrong and he knew what it was. He didn't want to say what it was out loud and feared that by saying it would only validate his fear. Without saying another word, he ripped his arm away from Belle's grasp and bolted out of the living room.

"Where… where are you going?" Belle asked, doing her best to catch up to her husband who was already heading down to their basement from inside the house. Belle took her time descending down the stairs. From above she heard bottles clinging together violently followed quickly by the sound of glass shattering to the floor as she made her way down the steps.

"Rumple?!" Belle called out in alarm, but Rumple didn't respond to her. "Are you alright?"

As she got closer to the basement floor, she came upon a disturbing sight. Rumple was pacing franticly, going to and fro tossing books from shelves, spilling potions, emptying jars, and knocking vials all across the floor. Belle noticed all the liquid that painted the floor and hesitated going any further fearing that the spilled liquids were most likely hazardous concoctions. She had never seen him in this much anxiety before and it frightened her. It was like she was witnessing two of the worst versions of him; the coward and the beast.

"Rumple! Rumple! Please stop! What are you doing?!"

"Belle, it's gone! It's all gone!" he exclaimed looking wildly about him anxiously combing his fingers through his hair. She wanted to get closer to him, but was afraid to take another step forward. So she stood at the second to the last step and called to him from there, "Rumple stop! What's all gone?"

"Magic!" he shrilled in an almost crazed-like manner. "I can't even perform or create a simple potion!"

"What?! How is that even possible? You brought magic into Storybrooke."

Rumple paused in his frenzy, thinking of the answer to Belle's most astute and pertinent question. How?

"…Henry," he answered with a sinister growl.

He ran back up the stairs passing Belle to get to Henry. Belle climbed back up the stairs and tried to follow her husband. When she reached the top of the stairs and back into the house she called after him faintly feeling incredibly strange as the words escaped her mouth, "…Rumple."

She felt the heart within her chest beat abnormally fast, like she was involuntarily running a marathon. Her legs trembled and she became dizzy as the room spun inexplicably about her. Rumple turned around and saw Belle staggering forward toward him. He ran over to her as quickly as he could, catching her in time as she fainted in his arms.

… …

"Belle… Belle… sweetheart, please wake up…" Rumplestiltskin calmly pleaded, gently coaxing his wife to wake. She could feel his hand holding hers as her eyes fluttered open. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that he was kneeling down beside her at the couch with the look of worry and sadness on his face. She looked about the room from the couch she was lying on and realized that he had lifted her from where she fell and placed her there.

"Rumple, what happened?" Belle asked as she tried to sit up.

Rumple stopped her, placing two gentle hands on her shoulders to help her lie back down, "No, no, no… lie back down for just a little while longer. You fainted… and it's my fault."

"How? How is it your fault?" she wondered as she did as her husband requested.

"Our hearts, remember? We both share my heart and what you experienced involuntarily was my panic attack. Apparently whatever my heart does, yours does as well. It was how you were able to tell whenever I left this world."

Belle was about to say something when she unexpectedly felt their child move within her. She immediately reached for his hand and placed it over her stomach. The surprise caught him off guard and the tender moment made them both temporarily forget the horrible incident from before. Time seemed to stand still as smiles spread across both their faces. Words failed him as he felt his child move again within her. With each movement he chuckled softly to himself, occasionally "oo-ing" and "ah-ing" with amusement as his heart melted with awe and amazement. They looked at each other amorously in gleeful silence, still giddy over the reminder of their expectancy. After a few more moments of blissful silence, his face suddenly warped from happiness to remorse.

"Thank you, Belle."

"For what?"

"For carrying our child… for loving this undeserved man who seems to do nothing but make wrong choices," he said reaching for her hand to hold. "I have made… so many poor decisions in my life and I have to say, being a father was never one of them. I believe… that it was my being a father to Baelfire that brought out the best in me. And thanks to you, I get to be a father again. But my behavior tonight," he said still shaking his head looking down in shame, "was not only deplorable… it made me realize how much of a selfish fool I am."

"You're not a fool, Rumple," contradicted Belle.

"No, I was a fool," he corrected, looking down at her and their unborn child, "... I was a fool for callously endangering the lives of the only two precious people left to me in this world who could possibly bring out the best in me. And for that, my love, I am so sorry."

Belle accepted his apology by kissing the hand that was still in hers and then held it close to her chest as she smiled. He lowered his head and kissed Belle's swollen belly. He then closed his eyes and rested his weary head on her stomach, straining to listen to the heartbeat of their child. Belle breathed calmly in and out as she reflected on things.

She thought about how peaceful this moment was and how today's turbulent events were so unlike this moment. She could only imagine the emotional roller-coaster he'd been through today; picking up Henry from Hades' Underworld, interacting with his deceased son, letting his son go a second time and then suddenly losing magic. She wished she could understand Rumple's grief and help him through it, but she was helpless because it involved two subjects she was the least experienced in; magic and parenting. She had never been a parent before and struggled to empathize with that kind of parental love-loss Rumple was experiencing right now. She wondered about her own parents. Her own father was always so distant in her upbringing. Not that her father didn't love her, but he was always too distracted by his royal obligations to sit down and truly connect with her. Her mother… was still a very sensitive subject to her and it made her wonder about Rumple's mother.

"Rumple?" Belle asked as she played with Rumple's hair. He continued resting on her stomach with eyes closed as he responded, "Mmm?"

"This is going to seem random, but… what do you remember of your mother?"

"Nothing. She left before I was old enough to remember what she even looked like. Though, knowing my father, I would imagine that it didn't take much to make things very miserable for her. I never went searching for her because I'm sure she had her reasons, as we all do. But whatever her reasons were, I only hope her happy life was worth abandoning her own child."

"Oh Rumple… Rumple I'm so sorry."

He opened his eyes slowly and gazed at her focused face which was staring at the ceiling. He could see the wrinkles in her forehead as she concentrated on a particular spot.

"You're thinking," he observed, raising an eyebrow at her. "You're thinking about her, aren't you?"

By 'her' she knew exactly what he meant; her own mother. A subject rarely brought up in conversation. "I'm curious now. You asked me about my mother, but I think you're really wondering about your own. What is it about her that has you so crossed?"

"I don't believe she ever existed."

"Well… she had to have existed if you're here."

"You don't understand."

"You're right. I don't."

"She… is… unbelievable."

"Apparently, if you can't even articulate who this mysterious person is."

"I… don't want to talk about her right now."

"Alright," Rumple sighed with defeat, giving in to his wife's request figuring it had been a long day for the both of them. "Shall we brave the stairs and go to bed?"

"Yeah," said Belle getting up and off from the couch with the assistance of her husband and they both walked slowly towards the staircase. As they ascended the stairs to their bedroom, a strong wind from the east blew through their neighborhood causing their large Victorian house to creak from the bombarding gusts.

Interesting dialogue happening from all of you through your reviews. Excellent! BTW, Thank you BreathingintheSun, Grace5231973, Katelynberg, Montreat11 and OUATgirl17 for your reviews. I'm about to write the last leg to this story, but I'm still in the planning/developing stage, so it might take me a little while before I throw up another chapter. Meanwhile, I plan on connecting with you all as soon as I can. I'm really glad you guys liked the previous chapter. I hope you guys like this short Rumbelle chapter as well. See you next chapter!