Chapter Seven: A Missing Person
"Snow!" Bae exclaimed. "Please, show me where the wood shop is." Mary Margaret asked him what his plans were for the frames. Bae told her they were surprises once again: one for Ruby and Granny, the other was for someone else.
She smirked, shaking her head, showing Bae the machines, and Baelfire went to work straight away, knowing already how to use each one. Having jobs all around can become very useful in time. He began his surprise for Ruby and Granny first, mostly Ruby, but it could stand in the restaurant. Snow shook her head, telling Bae he worked too much, but he shrugged her off, saying he wanted to do this.
Snow thought to stick around in case Bae needed anything, but as the dinner hour approached, she popped in on him. Sitting before him was the figure of a wolf, about one foot by two feet long, made entirely out of the old frames, the scraps were on the floor around the machines he used. Her eyes stuck to the outline of the dark wooden animal. Bae was just beginning to round off the wolf's nose...
He knew she had entered.
"What do you think?" he asked her opinion, causing her to jump. "I'll clean up don't worry."
Snow stared at the wolf, speechless at his creativity.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" she asked, walking closer.
"I've had a lot of jobs in my time," Bae said. "I pick things up. It's for Red and Granny."
"That's wonderful Baelfire. I'm about to head home, so if you..."
"What time is it? Oh my gosh, I gotta get home. Dinner's on in ten minutes!" he panicked, seeing the mess before him.
Mary Margaret insisted he just go and worry about the mess for another time, but he was persistent. Snow outmatched him in a game of persistence, for Bae didn't have time to argue. He left the school, hopping on his moped and driving home, going just slightly over the speed limit.
Something, Bae couldn't see what exactly, jumped out in front of him, and although Bae tried to brake, he knew he didn't have enough time to stop. His moped swerved off to the side, along with his body, and he jumped off, rolling on his side safely. Shutting his eyes as a reflexive reaction, Bae felt himself hit the cement road, and he heard his moped take a rough landing. He thought it either a person or an animal, he couldn't tell because the figure had jolted straight out into the road so quickly.
Convincing himself in seconds that it was an animal, Bae hoped he didn't hit whatever it was, and that he could continue on home. It was getting very late. He looked up, but there was no time. Something had whacked him in the back of the head...and the last he could recall, his head hit the pavement.
"He said he'd be home right at dinner. He's never late," Rumpelstiltskin said as Belle put a roast on the table.
"Perhaps he lost track of time," Belle suggested, sitting next to him, trying to calm him from this agitation.
"No, something's wrong. I'm going after him. I want you to stay here, and no matter what, don't let anyone in. If she comes, you know what to do," Rumpelstiltskin said, leaving the table and grabbing his coat.
"Don't you think you're being a bit rational about this?" Belle suggested, resting her head to one side and raising her eyebrows slightly, giving him that look that told him to stop and think. Gold was not in the mood for that tonight, and before she could say anything else, he slammed the door behind him.
Belle sighed, cleaned up the dishes, and rushed to the window where she opened it to see him walking hastily down the road, telling him to come home in one piece. Since she wasn't about to waste the food she just prepared, she thought to fix herself a plate and wrap the rest up for later.
As Rumpelstiltskin walked along the road, those bad feelings kept piling up. He came a block from the school and found Bae's moped, on its side but without its driver.
"Bae!" he called, seeing if the machine still worked. It started just fine. "Bae!"
There was no answer, and Rumpel began to panic. He went to the school, finding it locked. He tried driving Bae's moped, but he just couldn't figure the damn thing out, so it guided it at his side.
He knocked on Snow's door within the next 20 minutes. Emma answered.
"Snow White!" he called into the house, completely surpassing Emma, and she came running.
"Where's Bae?" he asked. Emma was so confused, Snow just told her to leave them, and she did so, but never without suspicion.
"He told me he was going home. He said he was going to be a little late. Why, what happened?"
"I don't know, I was going to ask you," Rumpel replied, getting angry and worried at the same time. "I found his moped. Now, I think he crashed! You didn't see anything?" Rumpel was gaining a few inches closer
"No, I went home soon after he left. I didn't see anything," Snow shot back, leaning back a little.
"Is there a problem here?" Emma asked, seeing Snow's movement and hearing her tone against Gold.
"We may have a missing person, Sheriff Swan. I suggest you ready a search party," Mr. Gold said, staring at her with a threatening glare. Miss Swan told him it was the first thing she'd do tomorrow morning, but Rumpel sat silent, giving her a look of disapproval and disappointment.
"What you want me to do it now?" Emma asked with a shrug, not believing this. "We'll never find him in the dark at this hour. Wherever he is, he's probably fine."
"Sheriff, with all due respect, we need to find him as soon as possible," Mr. Gold said. "Start looking."
"Why does it matter to you so much?" Emma spat. "I'm tired! And who is this kid?" Mr. Gold was silent at that as well, not willing to give out such information.
"We look tomorrow," Emma said, glaring back. He knew she wasn't afraid to challenge him. "That's final. I'm not going any earlier." Mr. Gold had to accept this from her, having no other choice.
He ran back into the house after putting the moped in the driveway, finding Belle in the living room by the fireplace cutting rags out of old cloth.
"Bae's nowhere to be found, but I found his moped," Rumpel panted, nearly out of breath as he was worried about Belle's welfare as he left her alone.
"Oh!" Belle said. "I hope he's all right."
"He can handle himself, but not for long...I have to find him, Belle. I have to," Rumpelstiltskin stared into her eyes, thinking of nothing else. "Emma refuses to search until morning."
Belle begged him to wait as well, not wanting anything to happen to him because no matter how much magic he possessed, she still worried over him. Rumpel was pretty set on going out to look for Bae, no matter what she did, but Belle couldn't let him go alone, not again. She stood up suddenly, facing him with a stern look. She grasped his wrists and threw him down onto the couch, letting herself fall on top of him.
"Dearie...what are you-"
Belle came really close to his face, threatening to kiss him if he tried to escape.
"Well now, that's not very fair is it?" Mr. Gold said, almost using his magic to throw her back, but her weight above him ceased him from doing so...for various reasons.
"Please, Rumpelstiltskin," she said, still keeping close. "I know you're worried for your son. I'll help you look tomorrow, bright and early before the search party if you want me to. But tonight, you just have to wait. I know it's hard, I know you want to look as soon as possible. But listen to me, you won't find him now. It's dark, he's probably lost."
Mr. Gold shut his eyes, not wanting to hurt Belle, but Baelfire meant too much to him...
"Belle...I cannot wait," he said, using magic to lift her slowly but she forced him to put her down again when she leaned in and kissed at his neck, distracting him from the magic.
"Please, just wait. We can cover more ground together. We'll find him. I promise," she whispered into his ear.
Mr. Gold knew she could never keep to such a promise, but somehow, it made him feel better to hear those words. Forced to, Belle made him stay in the house, no matter how much he wanted to go out. She sat him down in front of the fire and began to rub his shoulders, feeling that everywhere in his shoulders was some sort of knot or another.
He sometimes fought her, but then she'd hit a large knot or kissed his neck, and either the shot of pain or the shot of pleasure thrusted him back down towards her.
"I told you not to move," she scolded him, and then she'd continue.
Eventually, Rumpelstiltskin gave up, not even thinking to use magic because if he did, he'd hurt Belle somehow. Never use magic when your emotions are getting the best of you, he learned that back when he thought Belle had passed away. Sure, he'd broken a bunch of glass, but the rest of the castle was a disaster by the time the curse was enacted. Thus, he didn't use his magic, and combined with Belle undoing the knot in his right shoulder, he leaned back, sighing.
She let out a soft laugh.
"See? You're okay," she told him, kissing the top of his head and then his neck. He was falling for her tonight, which was a good thing. She had to keep him distracted. He may never sleep tonight, but she would make sure he didn't leave this house.
Mr. Gold thought that this was a trick by the Evil Queen herself. Perhaps she'd figured out who Bae was, and if he left, Rumpel realized he'd be leaving Belle open for her to take again. He didn't know the strength of her power, for it'd been too long since he'd had to challenge her with magic. Torn between his own thoughts, Rumpel decided to stay at home tonight, and tomorrow, he'd look for Bae with Belle, when he could see her in the daylight. When Emma and the others joined, it would give them more of a chance.
He leaned into Belle deeper until she was practically holding him up. When she finished with his shoulders, she wrapped her arms around him from behind so she could rest her hands on his stomach.
"We'll find him," she whispered, kissing the top of his head again.
"All right," was all he said before falling asleep against her as she hugged him close an hour later.