Mary opened the door which said, "Game of Thorns" and entered the shop. She closed the door and came upon the shop's glorious array of flowers. She walked around the lobby area and although her fantastic posture never wavered, she felt more relaxed. She felt like she was finally coming home to rest. Maurice heard the door open and close from the back of his shop and called out, "I'm sorry. Due to some unforeseen events, I'm closing the shop early."
"Maurice…" Mary called back softly.
At her voice, Maurice stopped what he was doing in the back and stepped out to greet the voice he knew and loved so well. He saw her and his heart practically stopped.
"Mary…" he replied back in disbelief, stunned by the sight of her and the sound of her name coming from his lips again. She smiled at the sight of him, but her smile quickly faded to sorrow as she reflected back to the last time she saw him. He immediately came forward to her with arms wide open. They came forward to each other and fell into a loving embrace, holding each other tightly. They both thought of the circumstances leading up to their departure and how, even after all this time, they managed to find each other.
"You haven't changed one bit," he remarked while holding her.
"You sir, have definitely grown older," she replied, speaking into his shoulder, "but all I see is the same strapping young man who gave me my favorite flower." He chuckled a little at her observation, but he couldn't hide his sadness as he sniffled at her shoulder.
"Mary…" he said, pulling apart from her with tears in his eyes, "I'm so sorry."
He reached for her hands and held them lovingly within his own. A tear escaped from the corner of his eye and she withdrew one of her hands to catch the tear as it fell from his face. "What are you sorry for? I'm the one who should be sorry."
Maurice shook his head, disagreeing with her. "Our daughter... I allowed her to make a deal with Rumplestiltskin. I lost her as I did with you to save our kingdom."
Mary reached up and gently touched Maurice's face. "You have done wonderfully raising Belle. She has grown into a beautiful and brilliant, loving young woman all because of you. I am just so incredibly sorry that I missed all those precious years. I was not there for you or her and I am afraid that makes me an awful mother."
"Don't say that. You're not an awful mother. It wasn't your fault. Your magic…"
Mary drew a finger to his lips to silence him. "It is alright. It is all in the past and we are finally here together, at last."
She slowly brought him close to her and they kissed each other slowly and tenderly on the lips. She hugged him one more time and closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder. They both inhaled each other deeply when she smelled the sweet floral aroma around her. The smell reminded her of how they met all those years ago. She thought about how he planted her favorite flower outside his shop. It was proof that he never stopped loving her. They held each other for another moment when she lifted her head up and asked, "My favorite flower. You remembered after all this time?"
"How could I ever forget?" he said beaming at her. "You know… roses are Belle's favorite."
Mary frowned when she pulled away from Maurice and stepped back with a sigh, "I'm afraid our Bluebell is very angry with me."
Maurice nodded in concurrence and picked up one of Belle's books which she left behind. He handed over the book to Mary and added, "Belle was in here earlier with this, claiming to have seen you. I knew it was only a matter of time before our paths would cross again."
She looked down at the book Maurice handed her and reflected sadly over it. She was flattered that Belle had longed to know her, but was saddened that all Belle had to know her by was this children's book. She placed the book back down on the counter next to them and remarked, "So much time lost. I missed out on so much of her childhood. I wish I could have been there for you both."
"You could ask our son-in-law about making that wish come true. His line of work involves making seemingly impossible things possible."
"The Dark One… I have heard," said Mary, acknowledging who he was referring to. She wandered a bit in the flower shop, touching the petals of all the different flowers. She thought of Rumplestiltskin finally finding happiness and the fact that he found it with their daughter warmed her heart. Happy over the thought, she turned away from the flowers and greeted Maurice with another smile. Completely ignoring the negative stigma Rumplestiltskin had over this town, she stated blithely, "Can you believe it? We're going to be grandparents!"
"You're completely fine with Rumplestiltskin… the Dark One, being our son in law and our grandchild's father? You do realize that he was the one who cursed our land back in the Enchanted Forest."
"To be fair, he only created the curse. It was from my understanding that he wasn't the one who casted it; it was a woman named Regina. Besides, had he not have created it then we would have never been reunited. I'm fine having him as a son-in-law."
"You know who he is, don't you? What he has done… who he has killed?!"
"I know exactly who he is and he is a man who is flawed. Just as we all are. I know that the best decision of his life was marrying our Belle. I know, just as how I know of how well you've raised our Belle that her presence in his life will only bring out the best in him. Trust me, I knew him a long time ago; long before his influence with magic. They are good for each other."
"It's not that I don't trust you. It's him I don't trust."
"Then you have nothing to worry about. Trust that our daughter has the ability to make sound decisions for herself. I trust her."
They looked at each other expectantly when he finally made the executive decision in his mind to agree with Mary's sentiments.
"Alright. Then so be it."
"Good."
They stood there in silence for a moment. She suddenly became unsure as to how to handle such an awkwardly human situation and it made her anxious, causing her to inch her way toward the door. As much as she loved Maurice, so much time had passed. Not that time had caused her to stop loving him, but so much had transpired between them since then and the fact that they weren't officially married did not hold any anchor or obligations to each other. They were lovers. Just two loving people who at some point in time, loved each other, but grew slightly apart due to time and personal experiences.
"Where will you be staying tonight?" Maurice asked, noticing Mary's eyes looking toward the door.
"I have taken up residence at a nice little inn called, Granny's."
"Please, stay at my place tonight. I insist."
"Thank you, but I think we should keep our space; at least for now, anyways. Please…" she said noticing the slight hurt on his face. She reached out for his hands and held them within hers. "…Please do not take this as a rejection. I have only just arrived yesterday and this town is going to get some getting used to. I need some time to get myself acquainted and I am accustomed to doing this… on my own."
"I can help you. Let me help you."
"No… This is what I have always done when visiting a new land. It is what has worked for me and what I am most comfortable with. We will be together just like we dreamed about. I promise… but not today."
"Whatever makes you happy, my love."
Mary drew his one hand to her face and kissed it dearly. With an available hand she cupped the side of his face and looked lovingly into his eyes, "Thank you so much for your patience. I understand that what I'm asking of you, after what you have done for me already, seems cruel and most unfair."
"Mary, for you…" he said, placing her hand that was on his face over his heart, "I will wait forever."
… …
Belle sat up in bed due to the indigestion she was experiencing early that morning. The slight discomfort kept her half-conscious as she tried to return to sleep, but the thoughts of her mother that stirred in her mind kept her more awake than sleep. When the pain in her esophagus was too much to bear she got up from bed and went to the bathroom to search for medicine. She flicked on the bathroom's brilliant light and with eyes half-shut waddled forward toward the sink. She opened the cabinet mirror above the sink and found the medicine and plucked it from its shelf. When she closed the cabinet mirror, she saw through the reflection of the mirror her husband standing in the doorway.
"Is something wrong?" he asked with eyes half open as well. She turned around and saw him more clearly. As he stepped closer to her she noticed a slight limp to his step.
"I should be asking you that," she stated, looking down at his leg. "Where's your cane?"
"Oh this… this is nothing," he said casually disregarding his own comfort for the sake of hers.
"No. Magic was what had held your leg together and now that there's no more magic you're hurting again. Come, let's find your cane."
"Belle…" he said, trying to argue with her. "I'm fine. I don't need a cane. Magic will come back to Storybrooke again."
"You think magic will return? What makes you so sure?"
"I can see into the future."
"Really?" she said in disbelief. "Even with no magic? I find that unlikely."
"We shall see. Look," he pointed out, ignoring her observation. "You completely avoided my question. Why are you up so early this time? What is wrong?"
She held up the bottle of Tums and handed it over to him. "Acid reflux. I couldn't sleep. And now that you're up, you can you help me find a cane. I think I stuffed one of them in the closet here."
He stepped back from the bathroom's threshold allowing her passage to their closet. He stared at the Tums and poured out two tablets for her. He limped over to the closet where she searched and offered them to her. "Here," he said to her with the medicine in his hands.
She looked up and took them gratefully, popping both of the tablets into her mouth, "Thank you."
Belle stood on her tip-toes to look above on the shelf within the closet, moving boxes and such. When she couldn't find any semblance of a cane she started parting clothes hangers within the closet. He opened the closet door further and hesitantly searched with her. Without sounding too irritable he claimed, "You know, I don't really need it."
"Yes, you do and why are you arguing with me over this? If you believe that Storybrooke's lack of magic is only temporary then so will this. Ah, here we go…" she said finding the cane at the bottom of the closet wedged in the far corner. In order to reach the cane, Belle realized that she would need to have to dive further and lower into the depths of the closet. This presented a problem since she was already in the latter end of her third trimester and was much too large to grab the item. She chuckled out loud to herself over the situation, "Um… heh. Well, I found it."
She pointed to the cane and upon seeing her dilemma he hobbled forward silently to extract the cane from the closet. "Boy, aren't we just two peas in a pod?" His continued silence rose a red flag in her mind and when he didn't respond to her comment she knew that something was still wrong. So she questioned his demeanor, "What's wrong now?"
"When are you going to talk to your mother?" he countered, diverting the questioning from him to her.
The question almost seemed to come from out of nowhere, but assuming that this was the reason for his silence she answered simply, "I'll talk to her when I'm ready." Belle knew the direction he was taking the conversation and she was not ready to start crying this early in the morning. So she avoided the topic altogether, "Let's just get ready for work. Ok?"
"Fine," he said coldly. Since neither one of them wanted to address the other's hot-button issue, they came to a conversational standstill. Not that they didn't care about each other's dilemma, they just wanted to keep the peace and not strain their relationship further during these stressful times. So they performed this conversational dance of tip-toeing around the other's issue.
She backed away from the closet as he stood there staring down at the new cane in hand. She looked at him contemplatively, trying to read his body language. Something was bothering him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She wanted to address the issue, but in fear of having another fight so early in the morning she decided against it and asked, "We're still meeting at your shop for lunch, yes?"
"Yes."
… …
They carpooled together and took the Cadillac to work. They parked in his usual parking spot and got out of the car together. Before getting out of the car, Belle noticed the cane he conveniently left behind and grabbed it. She brought the cane across her body and placed it outside her car door. Gold didn't make it to her side of the car in time as she stood to her feet using the cane to assist her.
"You, uh… forgot this," she said with an understanding smile, handing the cane over to her husband. The last thing she wanted was to make him feel bad for using the cane because of what it already represented to him, and she knew that despite what it symbolized to him he still needed it. He smiled humbly as he accepted the cane from her, planting it firmly on the ground as he had done for so many years. "See you for lunch?" she affirmed.
He nodded as she leaned forward on her tip-toes to kiss him goodbye on the lips. When they parted she took a few steps back from him and made her way to the library. She turned back around to face him again and saw that he was looking somberly down at the cane. The sight and his silence toward her was most unsettling so she said the only thing that would prompt a guaranteed response, "I love you."
She looked at him sincerely and at her words he looked up at her with a half-smile and replied, "I love you too."
The sincerity of his words was believable enough to temper her worries so she resumed her trek to the library.
He stood and waited, watching her round the corner of the building until she was out of sight. He tried to reason out in his head why he felt so ashamed of his limp leg. She accepted him before when he used the cane three years ago. What was so different now?
He knew it was his pride. He wanted to appear and be strong for Belle. Since their expectancy, he felt the ever pressing need to be the stronger of the two; to be the protector of his family. How could he protect his family if he was weak and powerless? In his mind, his gimp leg represented his weak and fragile self, of his life with Bae before the dagger. Before the draft to the ogre's war they had survived by sheer luck alone and the idea of being vulnerable like that again was an incredibly frightening thought. It was magic that protected Bae and the other children from the ogre's war and he knew that it would be magic that would protect his family again. His craving for magic was growing ever more insatiable by the day. He might have believed that magic was coming back, but it wasn't coming back soon enough. He needed that feeling of power, even if it was for just a moment. And despite his belief that magic would return to Storybrooke, his pessimistic side was winning out on the battle for his temperament and it was showing through his irritability.
If it wasn't for Mary popping into Storybrooke, he would have completely lost hope in the return of magic and it was his intuition that made him believe Belle would be Mary's caster for the Impossible Possible spell. If Belle could cast the spell, then she could restore magic back to Storybrooke. If Belle could enact the Impossible Possible spell, then she could finally perform the impossible and separate his power from the Dark One dagger. But in order for that to even happen, he needed to setup another meeting between his wife and his mother in-law and facilitate in the mending of their relationship first.
From the car, he walked the short distance to the shop using the cane Belle offered to him just moments before. He unlocked the door to his shop and entered the store. He walked to the back of his shop where the telephone was and picked up the receiver. He lifted the earpiece to his ear, listening for the dial tone and then dialed the number to Granny's Bed and Breakfast which he knew from memory.
Happy New Year everyone! And hello 2015. I hope this finds you guys well. Thank you shout-outs to my lovely all-star reviewers BreathingintheSun, carpelibrum, Montreat11, Imusicluver23 and Grace5231973. You guys rock my world and are way too kind. Thank you for being awesome.