Hey there! Again, sorry for slow updates. Bare with me though. These two will eventually have their happy ending. But they need to sacrifice things in order to stay together.
Thanks again for reviews and favouriting my story!

She saw her yelling at the pawnbroker. Screaming things at him. She couldn't hear what, but she was screaming alright. This meant she wasn't cured. She hadn't fully recovered. She would have to go back. Yes, Belle French would have to go back to the psychiatric hospital.

Regina grinned wickedly. She had her now.

Rumplestiltskin had just finished locking up his shop when he walked into Granny's café. The last he'd seen of Belle was when she left his shop earlier. And he wasn't sure when he would see her next. This wasn't going well. This wasn't the type of reunion he was hoping for.

Rumplestiltskin flung the café door open. "Ruby?" he called.

"Mr Gold, we're closed-"

"Why did you tell her?" Rumplestiltskin demanded. Ruby only blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't act, answer my question!" his grip tightened a little on his cane, and Ruby crossed her arms.

"She deserves to know. Besides, I thought she knew anyway. Why would anyone keep something like that from her?"

Rumplestiltskin began to get angry. Because it'll crush her to find out something like that.

"No, she didn't know. And now she can't handle that kind of information!"

"Hey, calm down. Look, I'm sorry if I upset her, but she was going to find out sometime anyway."

"Not like this!"

Then Ruby's eyes widened.

"You wanted to tell her, didn't you?" she breathed. His silence was enough for an answer, "She wasn't making it up. You guys kissed?" she sounded almost disgusted.

"She told you?" Rumplestiltskin said, sounding shocked. Why would she tell Ruby something like that? But he wasn't going to deny it. If he did it would only make Belle seem more insane. And there was no way he was going to let people think that.

"She also mentioned the curse again." Rumplestiltskin's head shot up. Oh no. Please, no. This wasn't helping her situation at all.
He dipped his head, feeling stressed.

"Why did you kiss her?" Ruby demanded, with a look of disgust on her face.

Rumplestiltskin sighed deeply, "I don't have to tell you that. But trust me, she's getting better. She's fine."

Ruby shook her head, "I'm not so sure-"

"She's fine!" he repeated with a snap. "You can't tell anyone about this. No one can know about what happened between us."

"Why is this so important to you, Mr Gold? Something isn't right between you two."

"That's not your problem, Ruby. Just don't tell her anything else. She can barely handle this as it is." Ruby rested her hands on her hips. She didn't seem impressed with Mr Gold trying to cover for Belle. He knew just as well as she that Belle had to be treated carefully. He shouldn't be doing things like kissing her if he wanted to help her. What was going through Mr Gold's mind?

"I still don't think this is right." She said, shaking her head.

Rumplestiltskin didn't seem to care what Ruby thought. She had told Belle and it had crushed her to find out. He was getting more irritated the more she went on about how he wasn't treated Belle right. He could treat her just fine. The curse will break, and Belle will go back to normal. She will be happy again.

"Well I don't care what you think," he snarled, "You keep your mouth shut and stay away from Belle."

Ruby didn't reply straight away. She simply turned around and headed into the 'employees only' door, reminding him once again that the shop was closed. So he turned and left.

Belle got back to her apartment and sat down on the sofa. She thought about what had happened in the last hour, and when she did, rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands.

What's happening to me?

She couldn't understand. She had a different curse to everyone else? Why? Was the queen using her against Rumplestiltskin? Probably. Those two have hated each other for years. Regina would've wanted to see Rumplestiltskin suffer. Belle's curse pained him. She knew he hated to see her like this.

Belle tried desperately hard to try and remember what she was like before.
She had met Rumplestiltskin before? She shook her head. She didn't remember.
She screamed and cried whenever she saw him? She didn't remember that either.
She had taken sessions with Dr Hopper? She didn't even remember that.
Is there anything else she didn't remember?

Tears started to fall from her eyes without even realising. Why is this all so messed up? Why couldn't they just be together? Even after the curse is broken. Will they still have to fight to stay with one another?

Belle lay down on the sofa and closed her eyes, remembering the days when she was truly happy. When she fell from the ladder into Rumplestiltskin's arms. When she managed to talk to the man within the beast. When she came back from the town and kissed him.
She pressed the palms of her hands on her eyes. She didn't want to remember what happened after that. That kiss was the last of her happy moments in that world. After that it was just heartbreak and sadness.

Belle lay there for a few minutes, before drifting off to sleep.

Emma sat in Granny's café, sipping her hot coco with cinnamon, and started to think.
She thought about Miss French. She thought about Mr Gold. She thought about what Henry had told her about them. That 'they kissed.' She didn't think twice about him also mentioning that they both remember that they're fairytale characters. That meant nothing.

Mr Gold was hiding something. Something that involved Miss French. And Emma wasn't exactly sure what. Maybe Henry was right. Maybe they were secretly seeing each other. But that's stupid. As far as Miss French knows, the two of them haven't even met. Even if they had seen each other, why would they be kissing on their first meeting?

Emma quickly tried to shake the image of the two kissing from her mind. It was too weird.
Then she realised she hadn't even talked to the librarian since she found out about her. She had to talk to her.

Ruby walked over just as she finished her drink, "Hey. You alright?" she asked, taking the cup and placing it on a tray.

"Not really. Just thinking about something that's bugging me." Emma replied, frowning.

"Well, if there's any way I can help…" Ruby suggested.

"Actually," Emma looked up at her, "you can. Do you know anything about Belle French?" she asked.

Ruby went silent. She was thinking. Emma could see it on her face. "Ruby?"

"I do." she nodded slowly.

"Well, do you think you could tell me?"

"You know about her problem, right?" she asked, lowering her voice a little.

Emma nodded, "Her father told me."

"I'm watching over her. She's my friend and I'm making sure she's doing alright."

"Well, is there anything important you could tell me about her? Like, what does she talk about? Has she been acting strange lately?"

Ruby bit her lip. She wanted to protect her friend, but that meant being honest about her with people. "Ruby? Has she been acting strange?" she asked again, picking up on her hesitation.

"She might have said one or two things…" she said slowly.

"Well, can you tell me?" Emma asked, but it sounded more like a command to Ruby.

"I don't…"

"Ruby, what did she say? Remember, I can't do anything to her if you tell me." She had a point. Emma might be sheriff but she has no control over who goes in and out of that hospital. Then again, just because she's sheriff it doesn't mean she has to tell her anything.

"She's my friend. I don't have to tell you anything that happened between us."

Emma smirked, "Actually, you do. This is now one of my cases, and if you are a witness to some important information I need, then you have to tell me. Otherwise I can arrest you for obstruction of justice." Damn it! "Now tell me."

Ruby hesitated. Like Emma said, even if she does tell her anything, it's not like she can chuck her back into that hospital. She was just giving her a little information.

"Well, two days ago, she didn't turn up for lunch with me, which is always a regular thing. Then when she did turn up yesterday she told me she had been busy catching up on things. That's not at all like her. She doesn't know many people."

"Did she mention anyone?"

Ruby slowly nodded, "She mentioned, Mr Gold."

"Mr Gold?" she knew it. Something wasn't right about those two, "What did she say about him?"

"She mentioned a curse, she's done so before." Ruby said, purposely ignoring the question and talking about something that would catch Emma's attention. And it worked. For a couple of seconds.

"The curse?" Emma shook her head, "What did she say about Mr Gold?"

Ruby bit her lip again. When she took too long to reply Emma raised her eyebrows, and she sighed.

"She said she kissed him."

She awoke with the sound of someone knocking at her door.
Belle looked at the clock on the table next to her: 10:17pm

I took a nine hour long nap?!

Belle quickly woke herself up and hurried to the door.

And she looked down.

"Henry?"

"Hey Miss French." The 10-year old smiled at the slightly confused librarian.

"What are you doing here? It's ten o'clock at night. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I snuck out." He said casually. It was a normal thing for him anyway.

"You snuck out?" Belle sounded shocked. She'd never known the kid to sneak out before. Obviously she doesn't know much about him. Which she honestly didn't.

"I need to talk to you about something," he said, ignoring her question and walking into the apartment, "Emma's starting to ask questions about you round town."

"What?" Belle suddenly felt sick to the stomach.

"She talked to Mr Gold about you."

Belle closed the door and whipped her head round, "What?!" she repeated, her voice cracking a little. "Henry, do you know about my… my problem?" she asked slowly. Belle didn't like to think of it like this, she didn't like the fact that so many people knew.

"You mean your curse? Yeah, I know about it."

"Is that why she went straight to him? Since Rumpl-Mr Gold is the cause of it?"

"You can call him Rumplestiltskin round me," he smiled, "I know you're not really crazy."

Belle forced a weak smile, "Thanks." She said half-heartedly.

"Yes, that's why she went to him. But...there might be another reason why she went to talk to him." Henry said slowly.

Belle peered at him, "Henry...?"

"I kind of, accidently told Emma you two believe."

"Henry-"

"And that you kissed."

"Henry!" Belle yelled, covering her face with her hands and running them through her hair. This was so bad. She knelt down in front of him, "You promised."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, it just sort of came out. Emma wasn't listening to me and I guess I wasn't thinking properly."

Belle got up and paced around the room, biting her nails. Now what was Emma going to think? Too many people knew, Henry, Emma, well, at least she can trust Ruby to keep it a secret.

How long until this news got to her father? Maybe no one would believe it anyway. It's not like anyone's actually seen them together. Except Henry. That kid needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.

"Henry, you need to get home." She said, walking towards the door, "Your mother will kill me if she knew you were here." Belle opened the door. She wouldn't be surprised if Regina actually did.

"Well, just be careful. Emma's watching you. She's not exactly trying to get rid of you. She just wants to find out about you. I don't think you want that." He said, walking out the door.

Belle sighed, shaking her head. "Thanks for warning me, Henry."

The 10-year-old smiled, "That's okay. You remember. That means you're more of a target."

"Great." She said sarcastically. It was nice that the kid was looking out for her, but at the same time she wished he didn't know about her and Rumplestiltskin.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow Miss French." He started to walk off before Belle called after him,

"Henry," he turned around, "call me Belle."

Henry grinned before running off.