Belle drove her new vehicle around Storybrooke for about an hour or so. Not only did she want to get comfortable with all the modern gadgetry, but somehow the new contraption gave her a sense of freedom. The whole feeling felt strangely familiar. She was happy with the purchase, but for some reason she felt incredibly sad; like she shouldn't be alone in this joy. It was the same feeling she had when Rumple gave her freedom back, telling her to leave the Dark Castle and expecting her to never return. The car ride was fun, but she knew she needed to return home; to return to him.

She was about to turn around when she realized where she had mindlessly driven to; Storybrooke's town-line. She stopped about a half-mile away from the border. She could still see the spray painted line from where she parked that separated their world from the world out there. She knew Rumple had been beyond the border to find Neal and it made her wonder what was out there. What was it about this world that was worth cursing the Enchanted Forest? This other world was a place with no magic; a place that Neal desperately wanted to go to so that he and his father could be together. Neal saw this world as their happy ending. She wondered about their happy ending; hers and Rumple's. Could theirs be out there as well?

She continued staring out the windshield. She pondered, was their happy ending just beyond that red line? Was it destiny? If it was, then their destiny was just a half mile away; so close. Now that magic was gone from Storybrooke, what would happen if she crossed the border again? Would she lose her memories like she did before? Or would something else bad happen to her, like what she heard had happened to other people before the first curse broke?

Belle wasn't going to force fate's hand and take that risk in endangering herself, but somewhere deep inside she knew Storybrooke wasn't their happy ending. In fact, she believed that it was this town that fed into Rumplestiltskin's belief in his need for magic. Belle didn't know much about business, but she could remember reading something about supply and demand from one of her father's economic books. In the business of magic her husband, Rumplestiltskin, created both the supply and the demand in Storybrooke. She speculated. At the moment, Storybrooke lacked the supply in magic, but in Rumple's mind he felt that there was this constant demand for it. What would happen to Rumple if magic no longer existed and there was no demand for it? Perhaps that's what Baelfire saw all those years ago in this Land Without Magic. Perhaps that's what still lied in store for them; their happy ending. She believed in their happy ending, but did he? No, and that was the problem. She needed to convince her husband that their happy ending existed and that it was just beyond that red line. If she could figure out a way to show him that there was no longer a demand for magic, then they could move on and forward to their happiness; and that was the key to their happy ending. If she could convince him of that, then his story would come full circle to what Baelfire had requested of him all those years ago.

She sat in the car and bit her lip as she chewed on the thought some more. When she realized that this was something she needed to discuss with her husband, it made her want to see him even more. After all, their happiness was at stake. Somehow they would find a way for both of them to live outside of Storybrooke. As she turned the car around and headed back to Main Street she thought about how receptive Rumple would be to her insights. As of lately with the loss of magic and the added pressure of their expectancy, he was overwhelmed, irritable and ridden with anxiety. It was his current critical state that made Belle decide against sharing her thoughts. But that wouldn't stop her from seeking out different avenues to getting to their happy ending. Perhaps there was something in her library that could help them; a clue of some sort. She wanted to see her husband, but she wanted to arm herself with knowledge first.

She pulled up to the library and parked as close as she could to the library's front entrance. She turned off the car and gingerly got out, collecting her keys and other belongings along the way. She entered the building and went straight to her desk to set her stuff down.

"Where to even begin?" she thought to herself.

Happy Endings. In the midst of her organizing and categorizing the various books in her library, Belle did notice a pattern between the books from their world and the books of this world. Not only were their authors to their lives, but there was always "…and they lived happily ever after…" at the end of the story. There was somebody from this world, a penholder, who sat down and created their fates. Belle went for her list of books from this world and recalled the books that they discussed during their book club sessions. There had to be a common denominator between all of them.

Belle went throughout her library and collected books they had discussed in their club. As she quickly skim-read each story she remembered something Gold said before sacrificing himself to save them all, "…but I'm a villain, and villains don't get happy endings…"

She never believed him to be the villain, just a man who made poor choices. He didn't have any hope for a happy ending, but she did. Maybe that was it, hope. Perhaps, she speculated, if I can give him hope that he can have a happy ending, then maybe he won't need magic.

Belle didn't realize how long she was in the library reading various books and writing random thoughts down, until she heard the door to the library open. She looked up from her desk and saw Henry approach her.

"Henry," Belle greeted with a smile.

"Hi Belle," Henry answered glumly, doing his best to smile.

"What's the matter?" she asked noticing his demeanor.

"I came to pay you back for the books I lost."

"Oh Henry, don't worry about it."

"Nah, it's the right thing to do," Henry insisted, as he pulled out his wallet and placed the money on the counter in front of Belle. "Sorry for not returning them."

Seeing that there was nothing left to say or do, Henry turned around and walked back toward the exit when Belle stood up from her chair and called after him, "Henry…"

Henry stopped and turned, "yeah?"

"I, uh…" Belle began searching for something on her desk, anything to get him to stay and talk to her. She saw her list of authors names and grabbed it, "…I need your… your help finding these things."

Henry turned fully around to face her properly and cocked his head to the side. His eyebrows furrowed out of both concern and curiosity, "Why don't you 'Google' it?"

"What? I don't understand. What am I supposed to stare at?" Belle asked, now clearly confused.

"No, 'Google', as in using the internet. It's a search engine."

"The internet… that means I have to use the computer, right?" Belle said with grave hesitance. If it wasn't obvious already, anything computer-related was always incredibly complicated for her and she dreaded Henry's response.

"Yeah," said Henry confirming her fear.

"Oh boy…"

"Don't worry," reassured Henry, noticing Belle's anxiety, "I can show you. It's really very simple."

"So says you and your grandfather." Henry set his book bag down as he came over to the computer that had collected dust on her desk and turned it on for her. As they waited for the computer to wake up from its ill-use slumber, Belle looked at the young man thinking of something to talk about to break the silence. "Speaking of your grandfather… are you, um, planning on stopping by to see him for magic lessons today? I'm not sure what you guys would talk about now that there's no longer magic in Storybrooke… but I'm sure he could use your company."

"Really? …because I'm afraid he doesn't want to see me."

"Why would you think that?"

"For those same reasons… for bringing Dad back and because I somehow broke magic in Storybrooke."

"Don't you see? That's why you have to go see him. Henry, you both are hurting because you both lost someone very special yesterday. I mean, he was special to all of us, but you lost your father and your grandfather lost his son. You both have something to commiserate over."

"I believed I could get my father back, but it blew up in my face. I had hoped that magic would make everybody happy, but instead it's only made everyone upset."

"You and your grandfather are so alike…" Belle murmured under her breath, shaking her head as she smirked over the similarity.

"What?" Henry said, not understanding what she just said.

"Nevermind… Henry, I believe that you are a very powerful sorcerer."

"How so? I don't even have magic anymore."

"You don't have to have magic to be powerful. You need knowledge and understanding, but more importantly, you have to have hope and love. Actually, I believe that love and hope are synonymous to one another and you have both; love from your family and hope by being the truest believer. Love… transcends through time and space. It took centuries for your grandfather to find your father, but he eventually did… albeit through a curse, but he did it all because of his love for him. And hope… from what I hear, hope brought your other grandparents together. Their hope for each other is what has them finding each other all the time. You had hope of bringing your father back, and although it was for a short while, you still brought him back! You brought him back from the dead. So believe me when I say that after working with your grandfather and reading a lot of books, I can safely say that I don't know too many people, or people in stories that can bring people back from the dead and Henry… that's powerful."

"Yeah, but my grandfather used magic and a curse to find my father and I used my magic to enchant a pocket-watch to travel and see Hercules."

"Yes, but you're not seeing my point. Everyone has access to the knowledge and spells you just obtained by reading the books that were from this library. And you were the only one who actually opened your mind to reading them and believed that the spells could work. You and your grandfather both believed you could do the impossible and you both used whatever and did whatever it took to do it. You both had hope. You know, most people misunderstand Mr. Gold. But I have hope, that same hope that both you and your grandfather share. I have faith that he and I will find our happy ending. And faith… makes all things possible. Hope makes all things work and love… makes all things beautiful. I don't need magic or the heart of the truest believer to believe in that. I believe in it because I know that life has a way of proving itself, revealing those truths in its own time. The trick is, being patient enough to see the opportunities and then seizing them when they happen. You just need to believe it and to keep your eyes open to see it too."

"I suppose you're right. You both married each other, and now you guys are having a baby... It didn't take magic for either one of those things to happen. You both just had—"

"-love," finished Belle. "'To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.' You should forgive yourself, Henry. I know you believe that you broke the magic here in Storybrooke, but I disagree, it's not completely gone. Because you see, there's magic in family. You have the hope and love of your family and I know deep down you believe that too. I don't think you have to be afraid of your grandfather. You should go see him."

"Thanks but… I'm not ready to talk to him yet. I think I'll be much safer if I just stick to my school books."

Belle chuckled to herself over the irony of Henry's last statement, "I think, of all people, I understand."

Hearing her words echo in Henry's voice she understood exactly what defaulting to books meant; he was hiding. He was afraid of taking a chance and risking getting hurt again. Just as Belle recognized her own reflection in Henry, the computer sprung into life. Henry showed Belle the internet icon on the screen and double-clicked on it. He pointed to the web browser and typed in the appropriate site. The site came up on the screen he taught her how to look up the names on her list.

"Thank you so much Henry."

"You're most certainly welcome, Belle," said Henry smiling genuinely for the first time in what felt like a long time.

Belle quickly recapped in her mind what they were just discussing. Family, hope, faith, love. It made her think of how fortunate Henry was to have such loving parents and it made her miss her mother. She looked over at Henry and felt the need to get something off of her chest.

"Henry, I must confess," Belle hesitated, choosing her next choice of words carefully, "I'm actually quite jealous of you."

"Jealous of me?" Henry said, surprised by Belle's confession.

"I never had a mother growing up, and you have two!"

"Do you want to borrow one of mine?" said Henry, grinning with his offer.

Belle smiled at the generosity, "Thank you, but um… well, being that one of your mothers is actually younger than me and the other… well, she imprisoned me for twenty-eight years… I think I'll pass."

"From what I'm told, you can't choose your family," remarked Henry shrugging his shoulders as he pulled up individual information tabs from all the authors on Belle's list.

"True…," said Belle understanding the merit of his words, "I see your point."

"There," said Henry completing Belle's web searching task. He pointed to the screen and explained, "all these things up here are called 'windows' or open web pages. If you click on this window here, then you'll see the page I've left open for you to read on these authors. Why are you so interested in these authors anyways?"

"Oh, it's… book club stuff," Belle lied, thinking of the first excuse she could think of on the spot. She redirected the questioning, "Speaking of which, will I be seeing you this Saturday?"

Henry got up from Belle's front desk, picking up his book bag he had left on the ground to go help her. "I think I'm going to take these weekends to focus more on my studies though. The price of skipping school is doing a lot of makeup work and being the son of both mayor and sheriff has its own pressures. Don't get me wrong it certainly has its perks, but that's one of the major drawbacks."

"I see. Well, you are always welcome back to the club, and the library for that matter. Whether it's to check out a book for school or if you simply just want to talk."

"Thanks Belle. I appreciate that," said Henry gratefully, glad that he found another place of refuge should he ever need one.

Belle nodded and returned the smile. She remarked, "It's so good to see you smile again. And uh, thank you for showing me the internet… thing and helping me out there. I'm not really good with computers. This will save me loads of time."

"Anytime," Henry said as he walked out of the library.

When the doors from Henry's exit finally closed shut, she continued thinking about her family. She thought about the small family she remembered as a child growing up and the small family she was creating now with her husband. Deep inside, she felt the need to reach out to her father again. She had barely seen him since she told him the news of her pregnancy. She rubbed her protruding belly when she felt in her heart, the overwhelming need to be with him. Although the conversation she had just had with Henry was a fruitful one, she somehow felt empty. Rumplestiltskin had the other half of her heart after all and what she needed now was to be close to him; to feel whole again.

Happy Holidays! Another chapter, because you know... I heart you guys. And the 50th chapter at that! My goodness! The big you OUATgirl17, Montreat11, BreathingintheSun, carpelibrum, and Grace5231973 for your reviews. I am always grateful for your thoughts.

For some reason I really liked writing this chapter and I hope you guys enjoy reading it too.

OUATgirl17: I read your review from yesterday's chapter and made an addendum. I suppose that's what I get for posting too hastily. I tried to clarify the timeline issues at the end in my Author's note. This chapter, plus the previous two chapters are all happening on the same day, just front different character perspectives. So, hopefully things will make more sense now. ::crossing fingers::

Thank you for reading! See you next chapter.