Hiya! This is quite an important chapter, hope I wrote it well enough...
Oh, by the way, for those of you who are missing Meghan I saw her tweet this: "For the Oncers I must clarify...Ruby never died and we haven't seen the last of Red." So I guess we're going to see a little more of her? Oh well, we'll see in season 3.
Anyway, here ya go!
Belle woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. And the light coming from the window made her pull the covers up over her head and want to stay there forever. She couldn't remember much of last night, but she knew she was never doing it again.
She eventually forced herself to bring the covers down and get up. Luckily today was only Sunday, so she wouldn't have to go to the library. Her father could manage it.
Belle made her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. When she got back to her room she noticed a piece of paper stuck to her mirror. She pulled it down, sat on her bed and read it:
Good morning Belle,
You probably have a huge headache right now. And I hope that's enough tell you that what you did wasn't a good idea, and that you won't want to do it again. I know you probably won't feel like doing anything this morning, so I thought I'd just leave you an apple and a little sandwich to eat for breakfast. I left it in the fridge. You're not going to want to feel like eating, but you must. Make sure you drink plenty of water as well, it'll help.
I'm sorry, I would've stayed the night so I could've helped you this morning, but I needed to sort out something with Regina since Henry's in hospital. I guess you haven't heard about that yet.
Last night Henry collapsed at Emma and Mary Margret's apartment. He hasn't woken up since. Don't worry though, I'm sure he'll be fine.
See you soon,
Jefferson.
What? Henry was in the hospital? How did that even happen? Belle knew Jefferson and she knew that he finished that letter too quickly for him to be 'fine'. He couldn't think of anything else to say, that's why. Jefferson knew something bad could happen to Henry. Really bad. And she wasn't going to sit and feel sorry for herself for the rest of the day. She was going to get up and do something. Maybe now she could go look for a present for him.
Belle quickly drank the rest of her water and went to the kitchen. She opened the fridge to find a sandwich and an apple. Her stomach disagreed with the thought of eating, but Jefferson told her she must. So she quickly ate the sandwich while getting dressed and took the apple to eat in town.
Belle wanted to get something Henry would really enjoy once he was out of the hospital. Maybe something he could play with, but she wasn't exactly sure what. Maybe she'll know when she sees it.
She was busy looking through shop windows and eating her apple when she crashed into Jefferson.
"Oh, sorry." She dropped her apple and went to pick it up.
"Hey, Belle." She looked up to see Jefferson.
"Oh hey, Jefferson." She smiled.
"You're up earlier than I expected. You feeling any better?" Belle dropped the apple in a nearby bin.
"Not really. I saw your note and decided to go look for something for Henry instead of staying in bed all day."
"Hey, you don't have to go out of your way like this."
"Of course I do! Henry's in hospital. The least I can do is get him his birthday present." Jefferson shook his head.
"I don't think he was being completely honest about that."
"Regardless, I still want to get him something." She began to walk off and Jefferson followed.
"Ok fine," he shrugged, "Do you want me to help?" she turned to him and grinned,
"Sure! It can be from both of us."
A few minutes later they ran into Ruby. She looked a little surprised to see Belle, but she was happy.
"Oh, hey!"
"Hi."
Ruby made a face, "You feeling good?"
"Not really. Besides the fact that I've got a headache, I'm really worried about Henry."
"Henry?"
"Yeah," her face turned sad, "Jefferson told me he's in hospital."
Ruby's eyes became wide with horror, "What? Really?"
"Yeah," Jefferson said, "We're just looking for his…birthday present." He knew all too well that Henry didn't have a birthday coming up, but if getting him something made Belle happy, then that's what they'd do.
"Oh, well, let me know if anything happens."
Belle nodded, "Sure." Then Ruby headed to work, "Poor kid. What exactly happened anyway?"
"Oh, he uh, collapsed at Emma and Mary Margret's apartment." Jefferson had known exactly what had happened. He was under the sleeping curse. But obviously he couldn't tell Belle that.
"Yeah, I know that. But I don't see how he could've just collapsed."
Jefferson shrugged, "Well, that's all I know." He lied.
"Oh, and, you said now that Henry's in hospital you needed to sort something out with Regina. What did you need to do?"
"Uh," Jefferson wasn't sure how to answer this question, since it involved magic, "I just had to talk to her about some things that needed to be sorted out."
Belle looked at him a little suspiciously. She could easily tell he was putting off the question. For some reason he didn't want to answer it.
"And you decided that Henry being in hospital was the perfect time to do that?" she began to feel a little angry. Jefferson tried hard to cover his smile, remembering the look on Regina's face when he went to go see her. But Belle could clearly see his amusement, and became even angrier, "Jefferson!"
"What? I didn't say anything!"
"Yeah, but I saw it! I can't believe you! You took advantage of Henry being in hospital so you could purposely get Regina at a bad time! What's wrong with you?"
Jefferson sighed at the fact that she didn't understand. And the fact that he couldn't explain it to her. He went to talk to Regina about Grace, and he knew Emma would be able to save Henry. And yes, he knew this was the perfect time to talk to Regina, when she thought she was about to lose a child. She needed to know how he felt. He was pretty sure the curse was going to break soon, and Belle would remember. Hopefully she'll understand him when it does.
"I'm sorry, okay? You'll understand soon. Let's just concentrate on finding something for Henry."
Belle sighed in annoyance at him, but nodded, "Fine."
After a few minutes Jefferson had begun to daydream a little. He thought about the curse being broken, and going to back to his daughter. How would he talk to her? How would he apologise for what he did? Would she ever forgive him? And then there was Belle. Would she still like him once she remembered? Or would she be angry at him for not being completely honest with her?
Jefferson soon realised he hadn't been concentrating when they were just about to walk straight past Mr Gold's shop. Belle had been looking in every window of every shop they'd walked past, and she would look in this one too. And if she saw Rumplestiltskin…
Jefferson sighed with relief when he noticed that the shop was empty. But that didn't stop Belle from seeing something.
"Look." Belle stopped walking and pointed at something in the shop.
"What?" Jefferson began to panic a little.
"Some wooden swords," she grinned, "They'd be perfect for Henry."
"Why?" Jefferson began to try and change her mind.
"Well, he likes fairy tales, right? We could get him a wooden sword for playing. Maybe get two to play with a friend or something."
"I don't think so." He began to walk off, hoping she would follow, but she carried on looking in the window, "Come on."
She shook her head, "No, I want to get this. I think Henry would love it."
"Well I don't. Come on let's look somewhere else." He gently grabbed Belle by the arm and began to lead her away, but she pulled back.
"Why can't I just have a look?"
Jefferson looked at her a little sadly, "You just can't. Okay?" he looked back into the shop to make sure Rumplestiltskin hadn't walked through. Luckily he hadn't, but he could any minute now, "You just can't." he repeated.
"Well I'm going in anyway." And she walked up to the door, but Jefferson was quick to react, and stood in front of her.
"No." he said firmly.
Belle began to feel angry again, "Stop telling me what to do and get out of my way!"
"I can't. Look, why don't you go meet with Ruby or something, and I'll buy the swords."
Belle folded her arms across her chest and shook her head, "No. Why can't I just buy them? What aren't you telling me, Jefferson? What's wrong with this shop?"
"Everything."
"Is it Mr Gold or something?" she said, ignoring him, "Is he too dangerous to be around?" she joked, but she wasn't smiling. When Jefferson stayed silent it made Belle more curious, "Back in the hospital, when I first got out, you mentioned something about Mr Gold. Didn't you? You told me I could go 'find' him. What did you mean?"
"I thought you remembered him." He mumbled.
"Well I don't. But that means I must've known him before. Who is he? Why is it so important that I don't see him? And why do I feel like you're lying to me?"
"Just please, please trust me, Belle. Don't go in there."
Belle shook her head, "You can't make me." Then she tried to push past Jefferson and get into the shop, but he grabbed her wrist tightly, "Get off me!" she tried to pull away but he had a firm grip.
"Belle, please!" suddenly he felt her kick his shin and his grip loosened just a little, but just enough time for Belle to wriggle free. She stumbled into the shop and Jefferson wasn't far behind her.
But it was too late.
Rumplestiltskin walked in from the back of the shop to find a wide eyed Belle staring at him.
She shook her head, and tears began to fall down her cheeks.
"No…no…NO!" she shook her head viciously and sent a piercing scream through the shop. Rumplestiltskin looked at Jefferson in absolute anger, but it all disappeared when he looked back at Belle. His heart was aching at the sound of Belle's cries, and she began to scream things about their past lives.
"It's you! I remember you! You're the one!" she yelled, "Rumplestiltskin! You're a coward! You're a monster! You let me go! I hate you! I hate you!" tears were streaming down her face but she didn't seem to notice. She didn't seem anything like the Belle they knew.
"Belle, please no. Don't say that sweetheart..." although he knew most of what she was saying was true, it pierced him in the heart to hear her say it aloud.
Jefferson tried to calm her down by holding her hand but she pushed him away.
"Get away from me!"
"Belle…" Rumplestiltskin began to walk towards her, but she screamed. So he stopped, she was just breaking his heart.
Oh God, what was he going to do now? Jefferson hadn't managed to keep her away long enough. But he couldn't think about his anger right now. Well, he couldn't think at all. She was screaming at him.
"All you'll have- all you're ever going to have- is an empty heart, and a chipped cup!" even though she had said those same words in the dungeon, she did not look the same when she said it. Her eyes were full of hate and anger, and she was yelling at the top of her voice.
Rumplestiltskin began to shake his head, "No, Belle-"
"An empty heart, and a chipped cup! An empty heart, and a chipped cup!"
Jefferson tried once more to calm her down, "Belle, look at me." she didn't acknowledge him, so he tried again with more force, "Look at me!" she whirled round and he tried to grab hold of her hands, but she was quick to react and pushed him backwards,
"I said, get away from me!" he stumbled into the wall and hit his head on the corner of a clock hanging on it. It fell down and landed on his head, hitting him again. He wasn't able to get up from the blow, but he was still conscious.
Belle turned back to Rumplestiltskin and pointed a finger at him, "You, Rumplestiltskin,"
"Belle, I-"
"I never loved you."
Then even though Rumplestiltskin knew this wasn't true, (well he hoped so much that it wasn't) it hit him like a ton of bricks at how mad Belle must've really been. He shook his head once more and stepped towards her,
"No, no Belle, you don't mean that." Then she saw how close he was to her and she started screaming again.
But her screaming was cut off when there was a sudden gust of wind and she became unconscious, falling into Rumplestiltskin's arms.
Jefferson looked down at the clock that had landed in his lap.
It was 8:15.
Ok, so can you guess what's happened?