thedoctorsgirl42, don't know really a lot about medicine and diseases, but I figured out, if a sensible muscle is pushed beyond its limits, herbs won't cure, only relieve a bit. Maybe I'm just cruel and am letting Rumple suffer a bit.

Vanillaface and jjxox8d, interesting guesses, but I'm not revealing anything…yet.

Thank you all for your reviews, you too, Grace5231973.

I do not own Once Upon a Time.

Chapter 12 – Day 7: Trust

Belle woke up with the awkward feeling that something was really wrong. She opened her eyes and saw thousands of shinny little spots against a black background. The beauty felt movement and lifted her head warily. She saw Baelfire's figure being illuminated by the yellow light of the campfire. He was bending over his father and she knew instantly something bad was happening. The teenager looked up when he felt Belle walk to his side. He looked desperate.

"Linda, he's burning up!"

Belle, looked at Rumpelstiltskin's lying form. She could not his face well in the dark, but noticed he was breathing fast and turning his head restlessly, from one side to the other. Sometimes he would let a moan of agony slip out. She placed her hand on his temple and then on his cheeks. She tried to hide her shock. The fever was high. Belle knew Baelfire was expecting her to tell him his was father was going to be okay and to tell him what to do. Rumpelstiltskin was already in a delirious state. If his fever won't go down quickly, he will not make through the night.

"He needs water." Belle instructed. Baelfire nodded and quickly run to the cans of water and picked one. Rumpelstiltskin's words about the water shortage echoed in Belle's head. But this was an emergency. She broke a bit material from her under dress and wet it. She refreshed Rumpelstiltskin's temple, face and neck. "Try to give him some water." Baelfire obeyed and opened the can with trembling fingers. He lifted his father's head a bit and managed to give him some of the precious liquid. "Are his feet cold?" Belle asked, while Baelfire closed the can again. He squeezed his father's feet afterwards.

"They are ice cold!" He spoke with a trembling voice, unable to hide his fear in losing his father to the high fever.

"You need to keep them warm. Rub them until the blood circulates again. When they are warm, put the bag with the rest of the wool over his feet."

Baelfire obeyed Belle. The princess remembered how she used to be nursed when she had fever and knew these were basic things that could save a life. Further there was really nothing else they could do. Only time could tell how the fever would developed. It all depended now on Rumpelstiltskin's resistance. And so she and Bealfire nursed Rumpelstiltskin throughout the long and dark hours of the night. He had sweated a lot, during his struggle against the illness, which was a good thing. Some hours before dawn, a fresh air spread through the grass and plants. The cool humidity damped Rumpelstiltskin's burning body and seemed to finally bring his fever down.

"Baelfire, I think he's getting better." Belle spoke, as she felt the temperature on the man's face cool down. His breathing had stabilized and he seemed to finally have fallen into a dreamless sleep. Baelfire breathed of relief and wiped some of his father's hair from his temple.

"His hair is wet."

"It's from the dew." Belle explained. Baelfire stared a moment at his father resting figure and suddenly turned to the young woman with wide excited eyes.

"The dew!" Belle looked at him surprised and confused with the boy's sudden mood's change. "I can collect water from the leaves!" Belle stared open mouthed at the boy. "It will not be a lot, but it's better than nothing."

The princess saw how the boy walked around, in the dim light, and gathered here and there drops of water. Little by little, the sky became lighter and Baelfire adventured more and more deeper into the forest, seeking the bigger leaves, where the most water was concentrated. It was already fully day when he returned. Belle got up immediately.

"Why did you stay so long away? I was worried sick!" But the boy smiled and carefully opened the can.

"We have almost as much water as yesterday." Belle stared both of shock and admiration at the boy, realizing he had spent hours collecting little drops of water, to compensate what they had spent over night. The things a person would do to survive.

"You are amazing, you know that?" Baelfire grinned proudly at the compliment.

He placed the can back on its place and walked over to his father. His face was cool and he slept peacefully, like if nothing had happened overnight. Baelfire felt the weariness take over him, and lay beside his father. Soon, he too was asleep. Belle remained awake, worried Rumpelstiltskin would fell back on a fever. She smiled as she thought that nature had its own way of fixing things. The dew had worked wonders on Rumpelstiltskin. She didn't want to imagine how it would have if he had the fever over day.

Later, around noon, Belle had to send Baelfire away. The moment he woke up, he behaved extremely fidgety, walking from one spot to the other; sitting down and getting right up again, breaking little braches, shooting little peddles, and so on. The fact his father didn't wake up was driving him crazy. And his nervousness was becoming highly contagious. At a certain point, Belle couldn't take it anymore and asked him to seek food. After all, the bread and dried fruit were shortening fast. Glad in doing something useful and distracting, Baelfire picked up the cage-trap and run off into the woods, with the promise not to distance too much. Belle blessed the return of silence and peacefulness and sat against a tree, opposite to Rumpelstiltkin. The princess dozed off a while and woke up with the sound of movement nearby. She smiled hopefully when she saw Rumpelstiltskin stretching in his sleep, a clear indication he was finally waking up. He opened his eyes and blinked several times, until he made out the shape of Belle.

"How long have I been out?" His voice weak and coarse from the sleep.

"The whole morning. It's past noon." Rumpelstiltskin sighed heavily and sat up, taking Belle's example and sitting against the tree behind him. They were facing each other. "You were really sick, you know. You had high fever and were delirious." She explained. The man rubbed his temple in annoyance.

"Well, that explains the blur of weird dreams." He looked around and his weary eyes suddenly became bright and alert. "Where's Bae?"

"He went hunting."

"Alone?" Belle didn't miss the hint of panic. She felt suddenly guilty. Maybe it had been selfish of her to send the boy away, even if he was driving her crazy with his anxiety.

"He promised not to get far away. Besides, he's very capable in finding his way back." Belle reassured him. The man looked thoughtful for a second and seemed to agree with her, for he relaxed a bit.

"You look tired." Rumpelstiltskin suddenly said.

"Uhm…Well, I barely slept last night."

"You poor girl, you've been awake nursing me all night?" He said amused. Belle gave him a fake annoyed look. "Then I consider myself really lucky, being looked after by such a fine young lady." He said courteously in a half bow. Belle gave a small giggle at the compliment. It was fine to see him feeling better and returning to his teasing mood.

"Well, just don't make a habit of it."

"I wouldn't dare!" He honestly said, not excited with the prospect of getting sick again.

"You look a lot better." Belle admitted.

"I feel a lot better." Rumpelstiltskin admitted, resting his head against the tree, hands folded on his lap. He closed his eyes for a few moments, but could feel Belle's eyes on him. He suddenly looked at her and slightly tilled his head to the side, with an observing look.

"What?" She asked.

"I can't quite pinpoint you." He said as he made circle movements with his hand. Belle frowned confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Your social status. You're certainly from a good house, a lady with noble blood, am I right?" Belle gave a sly smile but said nothing. Rumpelstiltskin took the silence as a Yes. "Well, you're definitely not from the lower-noble class. Those are the worse. Bloodly arrogant, behaving like if they are royalty. They don't like to be on the lowest rank, you know? Too close the common folk. Truly annoying types." Belle smiled amused, listening to the man's train of thoughts. He looked better at her, like if he was examining the girl.

"You're definitely not from the upper class, least of all from the court." Belle stared amazed at his conclusion.

"Why not? Am I not Ladylike enough?" She defied. But Rumpelstiltskin gave her a knowing look.

"Oh, you are Ladylike enough." He stated as a fact. Belle felt her cheeks warm up at his tone. "But if you were from the upper class, you wouldn't have taken a second look at two poor peasants." Belle stared a bit surprised. The thought they were peasants never has really bothered her. Actually, when she thought about it, she never really saw them as belonging to a social group. She saw them just as people. As equals. "Even more to dirty your hands cleaning a fish!" He continued.

"I could be an exception."

"There are no exceptions, dearie." Rumpelstiltskin assured with some bitterness in his voice. "The closer people are to royalty, the further they live from reality. Their lives revolve around luxury and richness, rumors and lies, betrayal and adultery. As for us, peasants, we are nothing more than parasites in their eyes, a danger to their perfect idyllic world." Belle was a bit shocked at Rumpelstiltskin's sharp tone. She wondered if this was what people thought about her father's court. "No, you're much more than that." The beauty couldn't help from blushing. He was not only speaking highly of her, but above all, placing her in the exception category without knowing. Belle couldn't take her eyes away of his as he spoke. He never looked as intently at her as now, even less, speak his thoughts about her out loud.

"Uhm, so…" She said trying to hide her awkwardness. "Where would you place me in the social hierarchy?" She tentatively spoke nonchalantly, much to Rumpelstiltskin's amusement. He sat back smilingly with a strange glint in his eyes, his hands only touching by his fingertips, forming a triangle.

"I would say you come from the middle-noble class. Possibly the higher middle-noble class. Or at least they seem to be the most normal out of the lot." Belle laughed at the conclusion, Rumplelstiltskin's grin widened. "So, did I guess well?" Belle's heart immediately panged. She looked somber and uncomfortable. She couldn't tell who she really was. Not only it was dangerous information to give out, but she was suddenly afraid she would think differently about her. "You're not telling, are you?" He said after a while, noticing her silence and change in mood.

Belle felt guilty, sensing the disappointment in his voice. They had been already a week together and only the gods knew how much longer they would travel in company. It felt wrong not to tell him the truth, but she could not imagine what would happen if someone was to get to Rumpelstiltskin or Baelfire, them knowing she was the princess. They would be tortured. They would be forced to give her away. Belle feared for their safety.

"It's not that I don't trust you." She tried to explain.

"Well, obviously not for this." He almost spat. Belle swallowed hard. She knew now for sure he was upset.

"I'm sorry. I really can't say…"

"It's okay, dearie. I'm sure you have your reasons." He spoke still annoyed, but more calmly. He was about to ask her something else when suddenly Baelfire arrived and interrupted his thoughts.

"Papa! You're awake" The boy run to his father, happiness and relieve all present on his face. "Wow, you look much better!"

Belle watched as the two of them chatted their most recent worries away. She decided to give them more privacy and walked a bit further away. Actually, she was the one needing privacy. Belle's talk with Rumpelstiltskin had stirred up dormant emotions that were incomprehensible to her. She felt guilty for not being completely honest to him and could not understand why it bothered her this much. Why it hurt this bad. Just like she didn't understand how she could trust him the way she did. Or why the look in his eyes sent cold shivers down her body and made her temperature rise at the same time. Or why the thought he could have died last night seemed to want to break her heart. She looked at the man from a distance and wondered if she should be happy or worried with these new feelings she was developing for him.

Things don't always go the way we want them, dearies. Please, keep reviewing.