A few months had gone by since the incident in the Orient where Belle and Killian decided to push it out of their minds so as to not to upset the other and mainly because neither were entirely sure what had occurred the night. Hoping to keep his promise, the Jolly Roger was in low need of supplies as well as the crew had not been on dry land in weeks which gave the perfect opportunity to land onto the terrains of the Enchanted Forest. For her job as second in command, Belle began to see the coordinates and the necessary arrangements needed for their stay as she could not help but stare at the areas surrounding their destination.

"I don't understand, the Frontlands is not even far from Avonlea. You are not worried someone is going to recognize you and we all can get arrested and father can get me back?"

"I did promise you to spend a few days in being a child again among other villagers, we are far enough no one can even recognize you plus our supply count has gotten so low it would be great not to head towards a port every few weeks or so for a little while." Still giving his puppy dog eyes pout that would always make Belle smile whenever she would give him a moment into being serious. Killian's charms would be sure to get them all into serious trouble one day if put onto the wrong person but when he did put logic into their schemes, she realized he would be correct although was never sure to entirely trust him. Although in thinking about it, there was no harm because they are not entirely close to have been detected plus they would all mostly stay in the taverns or brothels which had their own way of giving discretion to anyone.

"Fine but if you do something stupid again while we are here, I will personally have you marooned with not even the proper tools one is normally given.

Despite her age and size, Belle was not known to make jokes about threats especially when she proved in the past to have a good aim with her daggers and having recently accosted her life before this was not an opportunity he could afford to ruin even by accident.

"I will personally take the longboat and save you the trouble. Please just trust me for once; now go off for a bit since we will be heading to port in a little while."

Leaving it as it was; Belle went below to her cabin thankful to get some semblance of privacy on a ship full of men heading towards her bed to retrieve her journal from its hiding place only writing on the next empty page.

Good chance Killian will do something stupid by the end of the week

She hoped for to be wrong as she started writing her entry of the day….

Deciding not to join the rest of the crew as soon as they made it to port; Belle stayed on the boat for a little before deciding to head off and began walking around some parts of town. Even though most of it was dark mainly because she was near the residential areas and closed shops there still felt a bit of ease as some of the streetlights were lit and the night was so bright it made it easier to spot her surroundings. While it was not considered safe for Belle to have been walking alone in a strange part during the night, the cold air gave her a chance to think while being lost in her surroundings; a privilege she usually was not able to maintain from spending weeks on board a ship or usually kept a close eye either by Killian and the rest of the crew whenever they are on land searching for some type of treasure. She started thinking about how protective Killian can be to the point where it made him almost contradictory from his promise about giving her adventures. Sometimes she would not be allowed to go on some of what was considered the dangerous adventures and the mysterious figure she saw back in the mountain plagued her mind as to there was another matter she could not put her mind around hoping its significance was not worth considering.

In keeping her hand close to her dagger, Belle began listening to some faint cheering in the background walking towards the noise as she soon discovered she was heading by a tavern where she assumed her crew must have been since it was the only one close by to where they could be on the ship. One rule Killian always told her was to never drink in a tavern alone luckily carrying an extra flask with her not needing to join her comrades but a warm fire was more tempting to walk in. Just near the door; Belle noticed a little boy could not be more than six or seven in what looked like he was wearing night clothes but slightly dirty. When shown towards the light, the boy looked like every mother's perfect child with big brown eyes and messy dark curly hair.

"Are you lost dear?" a better glance she noticed the boy has been crying looking cold and perhaps hungry. His parents are probably worried sick about him; luckily someone there must know who he belongs to.

The boy smiled at her with his big brown eyes wanting approval, "no ma'am. I am waiting for my mama and papa to come out."

And they left him all alone!? The nerve of some parents! Probably the father is one of charming womanizers getting drunk off his mind, spending their money flirting with some floozies while the poor mother is worried sick she probably did not want him to see what was going on. Oh I would like to give them a piece of my mind.

A faint noise came out coming from the boy giving Belle a little chuckle

"Tell you what, how about I get you a nice big mutton inside while we wait for your mama and papa to come out."

"Sorry ma'am but I'm not allowed to talk to strangers"

At least the kid was taught about not trusting adults easily, will give the parents some credit "That is very true, well my name is Lacey so that no longer makes me a stranger". Laughing a little to make the boy smile putting her hand towards his as they started to shake; although feeling slightly guilty in lying to him regarding her name even though it was a common lie she had been used to doing for quite some time.

"Nice to meet you Miss Lacey, I'm Baelfire" now they were able to trust each other, the pair went into the tavern allowing them to warm up as they were close to the fire in which Belle noticed a large group in the far back seeing it was Killian and he seemed to have been getting into a dispute with another man. A sight that was not new but Baelfire started tugging into her blouse pointing her to the same sight she was staring at.

"There they are come on" Belle took Baelfire towards the table still intending on giving the father a piece of her mind regarding finding the boy in the state that he was. I just hope he and Killian are not getting too chummy at the moment.

Getting closer, she began overhearing a woman who was sitting towards Killian talk to another man something about him being a coward obviously drinking as her words began to get a bit slurred even sounding spiteful. The boy called for his mother as everyone's direction headed towards Belle and her little companion not expecting her assumptions to get the better of her.

"Sorry I found him standing outside in the cold he looked like he was hungry". Baelfire wrapped himself around another adult who was the one the woman was having the argument with not too long ago. The woman looked like a typical villager who appeared to be very beautiful even though her face was one of years misery and hard work. It took her a second to realize the boy's father was actually sober and had been there to get the mother out. They all gave a glance at each other seeing the woman's face have a look of guilt as she got up making her excuses to Killian as she openly flirted with him while he kissed her hand good night. Unbelievable, in front of her own husband poor man acts as though she will hit him.

The woman was a bit tipsy but was able to walk off slightly, Belle noticed the boys were carrying on as thought nothing had happened leaving her to see if the couple had left fine. She noticed the father and Baelfire were heading behind the woman and saw it was difficult for him to walk out among the crowd as he was walking in a limp.

"Hey wait Baelfire"

The boy and his father turned as Belle caught up to them talking to his father, "I'm sorry but I thought it was not right to leave him outside even if you were both in here for a couple of minutes" She started to get the impression this was not the first time the father was known into coming to the bar in picking up his wife as his eyes shown genuine worry over his son as Belle pointed out the state of Baelfire towards not even wanting to look at her directly in the eye as though he believed she was condemning him. By the man's appearance alone, the family must have been in poverty so it was not entirely their fault the boy was in the state as he was. As she started to walk with this pair, Belle wanted to dig herself into an obscure corner of the earth for thinking the worse.

"I was only trying on getting Milah back home; there was no time for me to find someone on such short notice. Anyway thank you for your concern miss…."

"Lacey sir and you don't have to explain anything to me I understand" smiling at him and Baelfire wanting to prove to them both she was genuine in what she meant.

"No not a 'sir' just Rumpelstiltskin. Well we have to get back home now it was nice meeting you Lacey and thank you again".

The little man limped as fast as he could in trying to keep up with Milah as Baelfire waved goodbye to his new friend as she waved back.

Not wanting to head back to the ship but also not wanting to deal with Killian until he was more sober, Belle decided to stay in the bar stools for a little while deciding to break her brother's rule while picking up a book from her knapsack to read. Regardless of the level of interest the book had for her before, Belle could not help have her thoughts drift towards the little boy and his father who looked more lost than anyone she had ever come across during her travels.

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