"So you see, my girl, your mother has always loved you. It was her magic that caused her to leave. She never abandoned us. I love your mother and when she left us, I mourned her. I was never able to tell you before because it hurt too much to talk about it. I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Papa. I understand. At least I do now, anyways. Thank you for telling me," Belle said looking over at her husband for assurance and then back at her father. "Where's mother now?"

"She's helping David and Mary-Margaret with their child. So I would imagine that she's over at their apartment right now," Maurice said picking up the sonograms he had placed down on the counter. He took one more glance at the photos and then back at his daughter. "Before you go, I have a gift for my grandchild."

"Oh Papa, really, you don't have to," Belle called after her father as he disappeared from behind the counter towards the back of his shop. When he came out, he presented them with a vase of flowers.

"Lilies?" questioned Gold, recognizing the flower.

Maurice nodded and replied, setting the vase on the counter before them, "It's your child's favorite flower."

"How can you possibly know that?" Belle wondered in disbelief, bringing the vase closer to her to admire the plant.

"The truth is," Maurice said shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know."

Belle smirked and chuckled at her father's honest reply, "Thank you, Papa. They're beautiful and thank you for telling me about mother."

Maurice nodded, reaching for Belle and bringing her into a hug, "and I'm sorry for not telling you."

Belle bid her father goodbye and brought the vase of flowers with her as she and Gold left the shop. Gold moved ahead of Belle while walking toward the car and opened the passenger door for her. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Better," Belle admitted with a small smile, "much better."

"Good. See? I told you your mother had magical reasons for leaving."

Magical reasons. Magic.

The comment struck her oddly, as if tapping upon a connection she couldn't quite understand. She pondered over the notion as she got into the car and they drove home. Magic was the reason her mother had to left her. Could she ask her mother about it? She never had before. And then there was the timing in which her husband had said those words to her. As if magic was his motivation…

"Uh oh," said Gold as he looked over at Belle. For the most part, the car ride home was silent and the silence was what prompted him to check in on his wife. Gold caught her staring out the window again but in that particular way he always recognized when something disturbed her. At her husband's concern, she looked over to discover a smirk on his face as he continued, "my clever wife is thinking again."

"Nothing… it's just… nothing."

"Mmhm," he replied skeptically, knowing truly well that her thoughts weren't simply 'nothing'.

"It's been a long day. Might we just go home and rest?"

Gold complied and did as she wished and they drove the rest of the way home in silence. Despite their arrival home and going through the motions of the evening, Belle was consumed by her husband's comment about magic. Even as they danced around each other cooking dinner and then taking turns using the bathroom to go to bed she thought about what she learned about her mother. Her mother couldn't possibly be affected by the town's loss of magic because like Hercules and Elsa, she is a deity. She couldn't claim full credit for knowing that deity magic was untouched, it was Killian who mentioned it to her. The thought about her conversation with Killian led her to think about leaving town… to their happy ending.

Storybrooke. Magic. Happy endings.

Could she really trust the pirate's suggestion? Was their happy ending possible? Now that she learned that her mother's magic was unaffected, it certainly seemed possible. Suddenly Belle felt incredibly guilty. Would her mother be even willing to help even after how cruel she had been? Even if Mary was willing to help, Belle thought it strange to see her mother use magic. She searched for a memory on a time her mother could have used it, but nothing came to. She couldn't remember ever seeing her use magic. Not that she doubted her mother, she doubted the magic.

"You've been awfully quiet," observed Gold as he buttoned the last two holes to his night shirt. Belle was sitting up in their bed and appeared engrossed in a book. With all the questions that floated in her mind, she found it difficult to concentrate. So she stared at the same page and read the same passage over and over again. "That ultrasound was truly something," he continued. Clearly he was trying to start a conversation.

"It was," she agreed.

"You know," he said coming over to his side of the bed. He leaned on a bed post to bear the brunt of his weight as he continued, "I'm surprised that you didn't want to go see your mother right away."

Another pressure to bring her and her mother together, Belle noticed. A trend. A pattern was forming. Why?

Her mother. Storybrooke. Magic. Happy ending.

Belle didn't know how to reply to his comment, so she continued to focus on the same page in her book.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the playful twitching in his free hand; each individual finger curling and stretching anxiously. She hadn't seen those gestures from him in a long time but she knew them well. To her, it meant that he was either mischievously expecting for something to happen or he was contemplating how to proceed. He continued, pointing to the book in her hand, "Now typically, when you read, you flip through the pages. So, either you've found something on that page that is incredibly confounding, or there's something on your mind and you're refusing to tell me. You're thinking about your mother, aren't you?"

Again, he brings up her mother. Why?

"I'm…" Should she bring it up now? Her hopes for what she imagined would be their happy ending? No… later. "…you know. You're right. I'm going to go visit my mother tomorrow and try to make amends."

"That's wonderful," he replied almost gleefully as he entered his side of the bed to fall asleep.

"Yeah… Yes, it is," she concurred less enthusiastically, suspicious of his enthusiasm. He turned off the light on his side of the bed and leaned over to her.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she said as they quickly kissed each other good night. Belle turned off her light and sunk into the covers. She tried to sleep, but something wasn't adding up. He was handling Storybrooke's lack of magic well; almost too well and it made her suspicious. Had she been missing the signs all along?

The prompts of her mother in their conversations...His meeting her mother privately... His setting up a meeting with her mother prematurely… The outburst at the hospital…

He told her that he was confident magic would return, but he never mentioned how. Was he just saying that out loud hoping it to be self-fulfilling? Or did he really know how magic would be returning? Did magic's return somehow involve her mother?

She hoped that she was jumping to conclusions because if she was correct in her assumptions, then that would mean he was playing her all along. When magic left Storybrooke he panicked, but as soon as her mother arrived he was suddenly calmer. Was it a coincidence? If he had been manipulating her since her mother's arrival, then for what purpose? Why had he been pushing her to reconcile? What did he hope she would learn from her mother? She couldn't say for certain, but her intuition said that it had something to deal with magic.

Belle closed her eyes and fell asleep repeating the words in her mind that kept her engaged all day:

Rumplestiltskin. Mother. Storybrooke. Magic. Happy ending.

… …

Belle and Gold woke up the next morning, business as usual. She would use the bathroom first while he went downstairs to start brewing coffee and boil water for her tea. She would take her time to figure out what to wear for the day while he quickly stepped into the shower. By the time she was done getting dressed, she would descend down the staircase and upon her last step the tea kettle would whistle on cue and she would promptly pour the hot water into her teacup. While she waited for her husband to meet her in the kitchen, she'd pour his coffee into a mug and then scour the fridge for something simple and substantial for breakfast. Whether it was a workday or not, their morning ritual was like an unspoken choreographed dance.

He would greet her in the kitchen with a loving, "Hello", followed by a quick kiss on the cheek as he grabbed his cup of coffee. Eggs were typically on the morning menu, but the manner and style in which the eggs were made varied from day to day. She watched him as he moved around her in the kitchen, careful as to not bump into her. Then she noticed something that was a bit out of sorts, something she hadn't noticed until now. When he was still he was never truly still. Some part of his body was either fidgeting or twitching, whether it was the fingers in his hand or his foot tapping.

Even when they sat down to consume their breakfast she noticed his leg under the table moving up and down nervously.

"Is everything alright?" she asked him.

"Yeah, why?" he responded nonchalantly, as he let go of the newspaper to stab the eggs on his plate with his fork.

"Perhaps you should switch to decaf," she remarked, sipping on her tea as she glanced down at his moving leg.

"Ah," he concurred, his eyes drifting in the same direction as hers. "I'll just go ahead and pour myself a cup of tea instead."

At her observation he quickly got up from the table and walked immediately over to the kitchen getting his tea ready. She studied him curiously as he reached into the cupboard for his own teacup. How long had this been going on? Was this a side-effect from his withdrawal to magic? The whole situation was very surprising because she was usually very keen to the subtle nuances of his gestures, but this? She felt deeply concerned.

From what she knew, or from what he was leading her on to believe, he wasn't hurting himself or anyone else. However, she also knew that with him old habits die hard and whenever he was vulnerable he'd slip the mask on. His mask was on and he was hiding something from her. Magic was gone, but his ability to project illusions was still there.

"Are we," he said, breaking her train of thought, "still meeting for lunch today?" She nodded, confirming their plans as usual. "After you meet your mother, of course," he tagged on the end of question.

There it was again; another plug to bring her and her mother together.

"Yes. I told you I would last night."

"Ok. I was just confirming."

Though the way he worded the question sounded too eager and it felt like it was more than a simple confirmation of plans.

… …

Belle insisted that they take separate cars into town that morning. Just in case she wanted to go back home while he stayed at the Pawn Shop. When she arrived into town she parked in front of the Charming residence and stared out the window preparing her thoughts. She got out of her vehicle and was about to enter the building when suddenly Leroy ran past her, almost knocking her down, shouting, "We can leave! We can leave town!"

She watched as the short-statured man scurried on up the steps to the diner and followed curiously after him. As soon as she entered the diner, she heard him finish explaining his tale to the other residents.

"…Bashful and I were just working down by the mines, you know the one by the border, and then he accidentally crossed it. He still has his memories!"

Ruby looked on eagerly, "So… that means we can leave Storybrooke? How is this just now possible?"

"I don't know. Does it matter? Point is we can leave now," Leroy argued back.

Until Henry believes in magic again, Belle thought to herself, but it was only a matter of time before Henry believed again and she knew it. Rumplestiltskin knew it.

"Woah, woah, woah… before we start packing let's go talk to Emma first…" Ruby tried to reason. With everyone at the diner too distracted by the conversation Ruby and Leroy were having, nobody even noticed Belle discreetly leave the diner. As soon as she left an idea struck her. If people could leave Storybrooke with their memories still intact, then that could mean that she and Rumple could leave. She rejoiced over the idea of raising their child without magic and moved quickly to her car to drive over to her husband's shop to tell him the good news.

She knew the window of opportunity was closing. There was no telling when Henry would bring back magic, but if she and Rumplestiltskin were to leave Storybrooke, now would be the time to do it. She had to tell him and she became excited over the idea that they could be achieving their happy ending sooner than she imagined.

She got out of her car and as quickly as she could she rushed into the Pawn Shop. The front door jingled matching her enthusiasm as she entered the shop. Gold looked up and became concerned, not expecting to see his wife so soon.

"Belle, you're sweating and you're out of breath, what's wrong? Is it the baby?" he said reaching for her arms to steady her.

"No, no, no. Nothing's wrong," she stated, beaming at him to ease his concerns. While trying to catch her breath, she continued, "I've just heard some wonderful news!"

"What is it?"

"People can cross the town line… and keep their memories!" she said excitedly.

"How is this wonderful news?"

Belle sighed again, finally catching her breath and continued, "This is our chance to leave town and get our happy ending! Now hear me out…" she could tell by the expression on his face that he wasn't as enthused as she was. "…I didn't think it was possible, either… but then I drove to the town line a while back-"

"What were you doing at the town line?!" he cried out with concern, interrupting her.

"When I bought the new car, I was driving it around and found myself driving there. Don't worry! I wasn't anywhere near it, but I kind of stared at it… and it made me realize that there's no magic beyond the town line. If we are to truly be happy, we need to leave Storybrooke and start someplace new and different, where nobody knows us. And if nobody knows us, then nobody will bother us or try to harm us or use you for magic."

"No."

"No?"

"Look, we're not moving anywhere. I won't allow it."

"Why not? It would be perfect to raise our child. She'll know nothing about magic or be endangered by it. If magic is coming back to Storybrooke, like you say it will, then we should seize this opportunity now and leave before it does."

"Hook could still come after us."

"Hook is in love with Emma and would never leave without her."

"I'll be leaving my grandson."

"He could leave with his mother and come to us. Henry would never harm us. Why are you so against this idea?"

"Look, I realize that you're going through a lot, emotionally, but do you not realize how radical this is?"

"This isn't radical at all! If anything, it's sensible! It would make everything you've ever done to get to this world come full circle. What you were originally destined to do. Baelfire saw your happy ending without magic and now I do too! It's out there, in that world! He saw something. A future. A happy future. It's where the Dark Curse can't follow you and manipulate you into doing something you'd regret. Regret is the only thing left for us here."

"But there is something here!" Gold argued back.

"What is there left for us here in Storybrooke?"

"There's mag..!" Gold began to say but immediately stopped mid-sentence.

"Magic? Is that what this is all about? Are you saying that you'd sacrifice happiness so that you can have…"

Suddenly she understood.

Magic. Her mother. Storybrooke. Happy Ending.

They weren't just separate thoughts; they were the connection that had eluded her since yesterday.

"Wait… you think my mother is going to bring back magic to Storybrooke, don't you?! That's why you've been meeting her, pushing me to her, to curry her favor so that she would bring it back."

"Not her," he corrected, "you."

"What are you talking about? How would I bring magic back?"

"Your mother knows a spell; a spell in which can make anything that's impossible possible and only you can cast it."

"I don't understand. You know it was Henry who took magic away from Storybrooke and only Henry can bring Storybrooke's magic back... but you knew that already, you told me so before my mother even came into town. Unless…" His confidence about magic's return… His wanting to bring her closer to her mother… the fact that now only she can cast her mother's spell… it was as if he had already made plans for the spell once magic returned to…" you're looking to use my mother's spell to separate your magic from your dagger!"

"With that spell I could…" Rumplestiltskin stopped to correct himself, he looked away realizing that it was too late and that what he said only confirmed her beliefs. So he tried to rectify his mistaken statement by wording it to sound more inclusive, "we… we could use magic outside of Storybrooke."

"It's true?! Rumple! Why?!" Belle exclaimed with shock.

"We need that magic if we are to survive anywhere."

"There is no magic in this world! That's why we won't need it. That is why this is our happy ending. I see it! Baelfire saw it. Why don't you? You're the only person in this town who seems to need magic. Do you really not have faith in our ability to survive without magic?" When he didn't reply it only confirmed her statements. Belle sighed disappointedly, "No. I've told you. You don't need magic. Our family does not need magic!" Determined, Belle turned away from her husband and attempted to leave his shop.

"Belle, where are you going?"

"You don't want to move because you're afraid… well I'm not because there's nothing to be afraid of. We're all the same out there."

"I'm afraid I don't share the same faith as you do in the people out there. We're not the same at all. Out there, there are people who have power and those who don't and it's been in my years of experience that those who don't have power are the ones who suffer."

"Fine. You don't have faith in people. Have faith in me, then. Trust that with our combined abilities we can survive anything without magic." When he didn't say anything she held his hand to comfort him and continued, "Rumple, when I was scared of becoming a mother you told me that all I needed was you so that I wouldn't feel alone. So now I'm telling you, allow me to ease your fears… let's move to this world and confront this fear of the unknown together."

He backed away from Belle, frightened of the future she was presenting to him. She was using the same comforting words he used with her, but somehow they did not have the same affect and he remained unconvinced.

"There's no reason to be afraid! I'll be with you!"

He shook his head disagreeing with her, "We're not going."

She stepped away from him and shook her head disappointedly. "I'm asking you to run away with your family towards your happy ending and instead you'd rather stay here with your magic and repeat history." Frustrated, she turned to head out the door, "Rumplestiltskin, I'm leaving Storybrooke-"

"No! I forbid it," he said grabbing her arm firmly. She looked down at his hand where he grabbed her and then up at his worried face, "You heard what the nurse said yesterday, we can't leave now. Not in your condition anyway, we could be delivering any day now. This is ludicrous."

"It's not crazy!" she exclaimed, shrugging off his assertive grip on her. "I am not going to allow you to sacrifice our child's future just so you can have magic."

"All of this," he said stepping in between her and the door, "because you heard that people can leave town and keep their memories? And now suddenly you think this is our happy ending? Please tell me you didn't just think about this just now."

"You're right. I didn't just think about this. I've been thinking about this. I have thought about this ever since we first kissed and our true love broke your curse."

Disappointed with his lack of faith she moved around him and gripped the door knob. He placed a hand on hers and stated almost threateningly, "Belle, do NOT take my child away from me."

Belle shook her head and stared at her husband with pity in her eyes, "I'm not taking your child away and I'm not leaving you. I just don't have the same kind of luxury with time as you do waiting for magic."

She turned the doorknob and left Rumplestiltskin dumbfounded. It wasn't in her intention to leave him like that, but it was a choice that he needed to make because he wanted to. By day's end, if she didn't hear from him, then that meant that he had made his choice. But before she could get worked up over that possible outcome, she knew who she needed to see next before leaving Storybrooke forever… her mother.

This was one of those chapters where I reread and edited till my eyes bled. Ok, not literally, but that's why this chapter was nine days since the previous one. A lot is happening here and I tried to make it as easy as possible for the reader to understand with all that I was trying to convey.

So as I'm rounding third base and heading home with this story, I wanted to let you guys know that the final chapter will be called, "Author's Note" and in it I will keep you all apprised of my future writing intentions. I also wanted to let you guys know that I have enjoyed reading the humbling reviews of each and every one of you. Thank you to BreathingintheSun, ladybugsmomma, CrypticCobra, Montreat11, and Grace5231973 for reviewing this past chapter. Hope you liked this one too. See you next chapter!