Summary: Mr. Gold is freed like he knew he would be and he as drawn to the hospital, down to the basement where he found her.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the show or the characters.
Rating: Teen.
Pairing: Belle/Rumpelstiltskin
FINDING BELLE:
Gold watched Belle lying out stretched on the blanket in the middle of a clearing in the forest. The leaves fractured the bright sun raining down delicate shards of light on her. She was content to lay there, her eyes closed, her arms resting over her head. He was content to rest against the tree trunk watching her, a light smile playing at his lips. Gold realized he was doing that a lot; smiling. Belle alone could make him smile a real smile. For centuries he had smirked, sneered, grinned, but never had he smiled a real smile until her. Belle had given him a part of his soul back. She was the best thing about him. Seeing her made him touch on another memory from their world.
The day was warm, bright, and sunny. It hurt his eyes, but the Dark Castle was insight. Against his wishes, his heart kicked up in beat. Belle would be there, he would see her again. It had been a few days since he had last been at home. Rumpelstiltskin had had deals to make and payment to collect. That had kept him away from home, away from her. Now he was back.
Walking into the main hall he thought he would see her, but she wasn't there. Odd. Fear gripped him that she had taken his absence to leave, to break their deal. Going to the open window he looked out on his estate. A flash of orange caught his attention. It was Belle. She was still here and she was lying out in the sun.
He ran out of the Dark Castle, out the large front doors and into the meadow contained within his high stone walls. There she was, lying on a blanket and she was in a flimsy orange skirt, tied over her waist falling to the side sowing off the pale skin of her left leg up to the knee. Rather than her simple blue bodice and white shirt, Belle wore a common white shirt unbuttoned enough to fall off her shoulders. She looked like an angel come down to earth, all she needed were wings.
Belle had lost track of time lying out in the sun. She had gotten through all of her chores for the day and figured it would be nice to go outside. Rumpelstiltskin wasn't back and hadn't been at the castle for three days. She was bored. Being out in the sun, being in the fresh mountain air was what she had needed. Until she lost track of time when a shadow loomed over her. Opening her eyes, Belle saw Rumpelstiltskin standing over her with a strange expression on his face. "You're back." She said nervously at being caught.
"What are you doing?" Rumpelstiltskin found that he asked that question more and more around Belle.
"I finished all my chores. There was nothing else to do, so I came out here to lounge in the sun." Belle shrugged the shoulders of her shirt up and buttoned it. Slowly she rose from the ground waiting for him to say something.
"You could have left. The gates are not that far away. Why didn't you?"
"Why would I leave?" Belle asked.
Gold's small smile widened as he remembered her lying on the blanket. "When I was gone for those three days, why did you not try to leave?" She had never answered his question. Belle had only smiled at him, gathered up the blanket, and gone back inside the castle to change and bring him his tea.
Belle opened her eyes, turning her head to look at him. "Because," It wasn't an answer, but it was the best she could do. She had thought about it. He hadn't been there, wouldn't have been able to stop her. Every time she had started to the door something stopped her. Fear choked her. Belle wanted to go home, to see her father, but she would miss seeing Rumpelstiltskin every day. He was a better man than people thought, than he thought of himself.
"That's not an answer," He playfully scolded changing his position crossing his ankles as he continued to stare at her.
Belle sat up to look at him. "I guess I didn't leave because I would miss seeing you everyday." She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The cut in her hand stung a little making her wince. She knew he noticed but said nothing about it. Even her shoulder protested. That wouldn't stop her from being out here with him, being out in the fresh air. She had spent far too many years locked up and away from him. Never again.
"I felt, feel, the same way." Gold confessed. Those three days away from her had been hard, harder than he thought they would be. For three months it had been only them, alone in his home.
"Quite the pair we are." She muttered. "The Queen rips us apart, causes a curse and we find each other in this world. Fate, took pity on us." Moving to him, she stretched out along his side resting her head on his chest, her ear right above his heart. The strong beat comforted her.
"Yes," Gold brought his arm around Belle dropping a light kiss to the top of her head. He could find contentment sitting here, being with her. "I was very impressed on how you dealt with her this morning." Pride flowed through him when Belle had taken his hand right there in front of Regina.
"Being held prisoner by her taught me the value of hate." Belle's voice became frigid. She draped her arm over his waist holding him tighter. All the mental scars she suffered at the hands of the Queen would be worse if she hadn't been reunited with Rumpelstiltskin. "I want to see her suffer for all that she has done." Belle continued. This wasn't like her. Before she had been kind, she had been gentle, and easy to trust. It was why she had trusted the uninvited advice the queen had given her on the side of the rode that day. That advice had toppled the delicate world she had built, had lived in with him, and Belle would never forgive Regina for that.
"This isn't like you," Gold pointed out. Though, all that she had said he had thought about many times. There had been a plan in place for him to hurt Regina's power base, but all that went right out the window the send he saw Belle on his floor in his shop. All that mattered to him was keeping her safe. Idly he rubbed his chin over her hair thinking of a new plan.
"I know, but I'm like this now because of her." Belle sat up staring into his eyes, "I want her to hurt the way I hurt inside. I want her to feel every ounce of pain I went through." Tears welled in her eyes threatening to spill down her cheeks. She would have thought she would have been done crying by now. That was all she did yesterday; cried. "I want revenge," Belle confessed letting the tears fall. Rumpelstiltskin was there to wipe them away. His touch as gentle as air, his thumbs rubbed under her eyes taking away the evidence of her tears.
"We'll get it together." He promised her. Seeing her cry, seeing her angry, it killed him inside. The Queen had taken a small part of Belle's innocence from her and he would make her pay dearly for that. "But we have to be smart about it. Plan carefully."
"I know." Belle answered.
"Do you know what you're asking?"
"Yes."
"If we do this, a part of you will be taken that you can't get back. You have to be cold, calculating, and cruel." Gold wanted, needed, her to understand what she was asking. It was alright for him to travel this path. He was a bad man and did bad things. But Belle was sweet, she was kind and innocent. Gold could never see her hurting anyone.
"I could do that, with your help."
"Belle, I would not see you like this." He kissed her gently. "Let me do this, let me hurt her. I have no moral qualms about doing so."
"Why are you trying to talk me out of this?" She accused. When she had been alone in that room Belle had promised herself that she would make the Queen pay, and today on the street she had made that promise again. It was what she wanted. "She destroyed my life…"
"She told me you were dead. Practically gloated about it," Gold confessed interrupting her with rage coloring his voice. With a single sentence his heart had broken beyond repair and all his hope had died. Nothing would have stopped him from going insane. Belle had made life better for him. In that single sentence the Queen had made him her enemy for all time.
"What?" Belle's heart fell. "She told me that you knew I was alive and you didn't care." All the lies, all the gloating came back to her and made the hate burn anew in her heart. The Queen was a plague on their world. She had to be stopped.
"Oh, Belle, I would have come for you the moment I realized she had you." Gold mentally berated himself for ever letting her go. "I was planning and planning on how to come to you, how to ask for you to forgive me." He admitted. Every way he had devised of showing himself to her again always ended with her screaming at him, cursing his name.
"Why didn't you?" Belle had been hoping beyond hope that he would come for her. That he would have come to her. Of course she could have always said his name to summon him, but she never did. She was scared he would have ignored her.
"I feared you would rage at me, as I rightly deserved, and curse my name sending me from your sight just I had done to you." That had been his greatest fear. Belle cupped his face like she had on that night.
"I wouldn't have turned you away." She answered. Every day she wished for him to come and save her after she had given up hope of ever saving herself.
Gold pulled her close, bringing her as close as he could. He had so much to make up for, so much to make right with Belle. Where was he to start? Holding her seemed good enough for now. "We'll get through this, I promise." Looking up at the leaves, at the shards of light, Gold made sure he never hurt her again.
Later that afternoon, just as Gold promised, he dropped by the police station to sign the release form for Sheriff Swan. He would have thought Belle would go home, but she stayed with him. Belle was probably wary to be on her own with the queen so close. Gold wouldn't risk her. So, Belle stayed by his side with her arm looped through his.
Emma sat up at her desk from where she had been lounging staring at the badge that had belonged to Graham. Gold and the woman she had seen this morning had come into the station walking arm in arm. It was odd to her. Why would someone around Emma's own age be with a man like Gold? He was double dealing, under handed, and had a short temper. Yet, the girl seemed content, happy even. "You actually came by." Emma was amazed.
"You still have my possessions." Gold pointed out, "Of course I would be here." He pulled out the chair for Belle offering her a seat while he finished the business with Emma. "So, what needs to be signed so I can have my things returned?"
"Just fill out these and all of your things are yours again." Emma looked at the brunette sitting next to Gold. "You know I didn't catch your name this morning." This morning she had been half asleep, tousled hair, and rumpled clothes. It had been clear to Emma that she and Gold had been sleeping together.
"I'm Belle," she offered her hand over the desk. "It's nice to meet Sheriff Swan." She waited and then withdrew her hand. The temperature dropped about a few degrees and I wasn't directed at her; the cold hard stare was all for the man beside of her.
"Belle, that's a nice name." Emma managed to plaster on a smile. Belle seemed nice enough. It bogged the mind as to why she was even with Gold. "So, what are you doing with Mr. Gold?"
"What?" Belle was taken aback by the question. She had never had to deal with it before.
"Is that really any of your business?" Gold accused. His tone had taken a hard edge to it. Even before, back in their world, he had gotten protective of Belle when anyone asked about her, when the Queen had asked about her. It made him nervous and defensive. He could tell she sensed this. Her hand came to rest on his left thigh.
Belle had a sense of this world, fake memories trying to take over. "He's the only one to care about me, to give me a life." She drew on the false memories rather than tell the sheriff that she was from a world where fairy tales lived and magic was part of daily life.
Emma had a knack for telling when people were speaking the truth, and the girl was telling the truth. Except, her answer didn't sit well with Emma. There was something more going on. Emma just knew it. "That was nice of him."
"I can be nice." Gold quipped. Beside him Belle smirked trying to hide a laugh.
Belle couldn't help but to chuckle. She remembered the first time he had actually been his version of nice. He had offered her a single red rose. It had surprised and delighted her to no end that he would offer. That single act seemed out of character for him, but she welcomed it. "He has a heart." She said to Emma. "You just have to know how to look."
"Thanks for the humble validation." Gold smirked signing at the bottom of the form. "Now, sheriff all that is done, when can I have my belongings back?"
"Tomorrow." Emma took the form and set it aside so it could be processed in the morning. She knew her answer would irritate Gold and it had.
"You've got to be kidding me," Gold gripped his cane realizing what Emma was doing. "Fantastic."
"Guess you'll have to find something to do until then." Emma muttered and Belle chocked on a sudden wave of laughter. Gold just rolled his eyes.
"Well, if I must, I must." Gold relented standing up with Belle rising by his side.
"Just thought you would want to know, Mo French, he's going to be out of the hospital tomorrow. Try not to beat him half to death again." Emma commented trying to make her tone casual.
"No promises." Gold said as he and Belle left. For a moment he thought she would ask who Mo was. Belle didn't utter a word, at least not yet. She would and he knew it. That was why Emma had mentioned it. They walked out to the street with Belle still not asking. Gold hoped that she would keep it up.
Belle had wanted to know what Sheriff Swan meant, but it wasn't her place. She knew that in this world Rumpelstiltskin, or Mr. Gold as he was called, had a sort of deal making business with all the people around. Instead she wanted to touch on happier memories while making new ones. She was free for now, safe from harm, and she was with the man she loved. Nothing could touch her so long as she was with Rumpelstiltskin. "You know what I'm thinking about?" Belle teased linking her arm with his.
"Do tell dearie," Gold slid on his sunglasses as they set off down the street to where his car was parked. His heart clenched out of all the memories she could have picked. They had had too few good memories. Maybe now, if Regina managed to keep her disastrous paws out of their live, would be able to make better memories.
"I was thinking about that rose you gave me," Belle hugged his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. "I was picturing the look on your face when you offered it. It was the best afternoon." She chuckled when he shrugged gently.
"I think the best afternoon was when I found you in the meadow wearing that plain white shirt and orange skirt." Gold remarked. He could see a slight flush jump to her cheeks before she buried her face in his coat trying to contain her laughter. "To me that was the best afternoon."
"You would think of that afternoon." Belle quickly kissed his cheek. Right now, to her, they were alone in the world. Nothing could touch them. "So, what else are we going to do?" There was no end to the day when she was with him.
"Whatever you want." Gold answered. He was content enough to just be with her again. It was all he had ever wanted; Belle. She was here, she was with him, and he would keep her safe. Taking his left arm from hers, he draped it over her shoulders and tangled his fingers in her hair. Belle in turn wrapped her arm around his waist dipping her hand in the pocket of his coat.
Night had fallen over the quiet little town of Storybrooke. Even though the air was chilly, people still walked along the main street, chatted idly with each other, or walked into Grandma's Diner for just a taste of home cooking. That was where Emma was heading. She was going to have diner with Mary Margaret and perhaps get the details on who Belle was. If she wanted, she could have asked Henry, but he would have told her who Belle was supposed to be in the Fairy Tale world and that didn't help her in this world.
Walking over to the table Emma sat down with a smile. "Hey, how was your day?" She asked her room mate as she snagged a fry off of Mary Margaret's plate.
"It was fine, Henry was good." Mary Margaret added knowing that was what Emma would ask next.
Emma's shoulders slumped, "I wasn't going to ask. Actually I want to know something else." Pulling out the picture she had gotten from the security camera Emma showed Mary Margaret. "I want to know who she is besides her name being Belle."
Mary Margaret looked at the photo, "That's Annabelle French, Mo's daughter. She hasn't been around for years. We just thought she left town after what happened between Gold and her father the first time."
"What did happen?" Emma asked stealing another fry.
"Annabelle used to work in Gold's pawn shop and then she would work weekends at his house, cleaning, cooking, and things like that. Then one night she comes in here, her cheek is bruised, her lip is bloodied too, and Gold see's her. That night he took her home with him. She had just turned twenty-one and her father lost his temper. Mo used to drink a lot and sometimes Annabelle would be caught by it. Gold was the only one who would help her."
"So, he had her living with him? Wow, no wonder they looked so cozy together."
"Everyone knew what was happening, but no one would say anything." Mary Margaret muttered.
"How did Gold get the limp?" Emma was getting drawn into the tale she was being told.
"Mo went to Gold's house to get Annabelle and he had a shotgun. He shot Gold and Annabelle just vanished. Neither of them were the same. Gold really loved her." Mary Margaret looked at the photo again.
"Uh huh…" Emma nibbled her bottom lip. "Today when they were in the station, they acted like nothing had happened."
"Well, they're probably trying to move on and start fresh."
"You are so optimistic sometimes." Emma commented smiling wryly. Mary Margaret just shook her head.
At Gold's house, up on the second floor, in his room Belle lay in bed with him, snuggled close to his side watching the flames dance in the hearth as the heat warmed them and kept the chill at bay. Covering them was the wolf fur blanket that they had slept under last night. Somehow having that with them made Belle feel safer. She didn't know why. When they had gotten home, he had told her she could go upstairs and sleep in his bed and he would sleep on the couch. Belle wouldn't have it. If she had to sleep alone she wouldn't sleep at all. She had given him a look of pained fear at being alone. He relented coming up the stairs with her.
Gold hadn't thought Belle would ask him to stay with her. Though, he should have known. She didn't want to be on her own even with him just down stairs. The dark, it terrified her, made her remember what had happened to her. She had gone across the hall to change while he remained to change as well. Sitting on the edge of the bed Gold kicked off his shoes, unbuttoned his vest and shirt after loosening his tie. Leaving them draped over the back of the chair Gold moved to the dresser, the pain in his leg finally making itself known. A small growl rumbled in his chest at having the limp back. The one thing he had loved about his powers; he didn't have to limp.
He was settled beneath the covers, beneath the wolf fur blanket that Belle loved, when she came back in the room. Gold sat up feeling his mouth fall open slightly. She wore a plain black camisole washing out what color she had to give her skin an alabaster look; living stone. Adorning her slender hips was a simple orange sarong with pale orange symbols painted on it. Her hair fell around her face framing her small smile. It reminded him of that summer day where she had been out in the meadow.
Belle tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear as she watched the way Rumpelstiltskin watched her. "What?" She could feel a blush creeping up to her cheeks. Gathering up some of the skirt in her hands she walked over to the bed. He moved aside the covers for her and Belle slipped beneath them, slipping next to him resting her head on his chest and her arm over his waist. He pulled the covers back over her and held her closely. Belle couldn't be happier.
Gold sighed deeply, contentment filling him with Belle in his arms. He wasn't the sort of man to believe in 'happy ending' but here he was, with her, having his version. She wasn't a dream, or a trick of the mind, Belle was real. Everything he had accused her father of were the same things he nightly condemned himself for as well. At the Dark Castle, Rumpelstiltskin had had her love, her trust, but the kiss had almost lifted his curse and he could let that happen at the time. He shut her out. He turned her away. Gold would never forgive himself for that. Gently, reverently, Gold kissed her forehead. She lay next to him so warm, so soft. He tried not to fall asleep. Rolling his gaze to the fire Rumpelstiltskin moved his fingers trying to get the flames to respond to him. For a moment the flames flickered and then nothing. A small trace of his magic was coming back to him. For years he had felt the block to his powers and now it was starting to weaken. All it would take is time.
The flames flickered in the hearth as Rumpelstiltskin tried to manipulate them with whatever power he still possessed. She saw them bend to his will for a second before denying him. "Why did you offer me the rose?" Belle asked keeping her gaze locked on the dancing swaying flames. The gesture had been sweet, out of the blue. At the time she hadn't thought he would think of something like that, even for her.
"I thought you could use a token of my appreciation." He answered rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. It was a gesture that he often used around Belle. He hadn't done it in years though. She had often perplexed him when they had talked. It made hum chuckle lightly when he recalled her tugging on the curtains he had nailed down. Belle had tugged on them so hard they ripped and she had fallen right into his arms. At that moment he should have known she would grow to be much more to him. Without a defense Belle had slipped into his heart and found a way to make him feel.
Belle looked at him with half of her body resting on top of him, "Was it really an old woman selling flowers?" The tip of her right index finger traced a thin, fine, scar on his left forearm. She had barely had any time to know him, to learn what he had done in his long life, that she was finding this, being in bed with him, all the more exciting. This time they had a chance to get things right. Belle could be with him with out his curse. She had the chance to know him as an ordinary man. That thrilled her best of all.
"No," Gold turned his head away. He stretched his arm out touching each finger to the tip of his thumb rapidly. "It was your young man, Gaston. I turned him into a rose before he was even done threatening me." He and Belle had been having a conversation, getting to know each other, and then had come Gaston. Rumpelstiltskin only reacted.
Belle sat up, the blanket pooling around her wait, "You did what?" Again, the lack of anger surprised her. The gesture had been so sweet and unexpected it was hard to muster the anger. Belle was only shocked. "You, turned Gaston into a rose?" Though, she could see him doing something like that with all the power he possessed. Some part of her was flattered that he even thought to make Gaston into something that would please her.
Gold shrugged, "I thought he was far more useful as that way actually." He answered looking at her. Disbelief colored her gaze; that was the only emotion he could discern. She wasn't angry at him, wasn't trying to leave him. Belle sighed and shook her head.
"He was, wasn't he?" Belle giggled conceding the point. She had never really cared for Gaston in the first place. It didn't mean that she liked what had happened to him. "Still what made you turn him into a rose? You could have just sent him away." She settled down again curling into his side. The flames were making her eyes tired.
"I don't take kindly to people pointing swords at me, and he had done so, twice." Gold answered trying to recapture the calm, the peace that had been around them before she had asked about the rose. "Why did your father choose him for you?" That had been bothering him. He could never figure out the motivations behind that match. Belle was better than Gaston.
"My father needed the military resources of Gaston's father, but he wouldn't commit them unless I married his son. My father agreed, still no aide came. It was why he sent word to you." Belle answered with a yawn. Rumpelstiltskin had been her saving grace from a life of boredom with Gaston. She hadn't realized it until well after her world had fallen apart. At least now she had time to make it right. Belle tried to continue to think, but sleep was persistent. It demanded that she close her eyes, to fall into the deep abyss and let dreams take her. Safe in the arms of Rumpelstiltskin, Belle was content in the knowledge that nothing would hurt her.
The small town of Storybrooke was asleep, all the shops, the diners, were closed except for one. Walking into the motorcycle shop Regina gained the attention of Gage, who in their world had been the betrothed of Rumpelstiltskin's precious Belle. In this world, Gage was married to Annabelle. "Hello Gage."
Gage turned and greeted the Mayor, "Good evening. You're out and about late. Finally ready to buy a motorcycle and complete your bad ass persona." He teased. The last six years he had been friends with Regina had been a saving grace. She had taken interest in him since Annabelle had vanished.
Regina laughed, "No, I came to tell you that your wife is back. Annabelle has been seen in town." She watched Gage's eyes narrow on her and then looked down at the silver band on his left ring finger.
Gage wasn't sure what this would mean. He had hoped that she would come home. His thumb rubbed over the band. When they had turned eighteen they had gotten married, mainly because of her father and she needed to get out of his house and then something happened, Annabelle had seen Gold. Their life had taken a drastic turn at that moment. Gage knew his marriage to her wasn't real, but it felt real to him and he wanted her back. "Is she with him?"
Regina put her hand on the glass counter, "Yes." This would certainly put a kink in Gold's reunion with Belle. She knew that to play this card would result in an unexpected counter move from Gold, but it was worth it to cause him some small measure of pain.