"So, wait a second here," Regina called out. "Archie's married to Kathryn, Belle is mayor of my town, and that same woman had Rumple's kid?"
"I think that's all of it, yes."
The unique accent that Rumple had so missed hearing held an edge that he couldn't quite decipher as he whipped towards Belle in time to see her emerge from a side room of the mayor's office. "Belle," he whispered, a slow smile transforming his face as the very sight of her brought tears to his eyes and erased his worries.
She took the first step towards him, and he went the rest of the way. For a long moment he just hugged her, feeling the solid warmth of her in his arms and breathing in the scent of her perfume. Belle. His Belle. And he was back with her again after a long, long year.
Eventually she pulled back to look him in the eyes, breathing his name with tears in her sky-colored orbs. Good tears, it seemed, as she searched his eyes for anything besides utter joy upon hearing that he had a second child - and found nothing of the sort.
Suddenly Grumpy broke through their feeling that they were the only two in the room by saying, "Don't forget that it's somebody's naptime, guys."
Belle's eyes blew wide as she hushed her husband despite the fact that he wasn't saying anything.
Obligingly, he took her hand and they stepped further away from the side room door before he asked coaxingly, "Belle…?"
"Yes?"
"Can I just have a teeny, tiny little peek at our child?"
"She's sleeping, Rumple," Belle objected with an adoring smile.
"I can teleport without even opening the door! I won't make a sound!"
"You're killing him here, Belle," Bae said, helping his father's case and looking not a little excited in his own right.
"Come on, Belle, this is my daughter, and I just want a glimpse of her!"
Belle caved with a smile, agreeing, "Okay – but don't you dare wake her up! She has a propensity for becoming a full-tail diva when her naptime or plans she's got in her head otherwise are interrupted."
Rumple ignored Bae sarcastically asking Belle, "I wonder where she got that from?" and, as he'd promised his wife, he teleported from one side of the closed door to the other. He really had meant to stay for just a second… but then he saw her – and she wasn't asleep.
The room which they were in was really just a repurposed closet with a crib inside it, and he'd had no choice but to land directly at the side of the crib, hands on the top bar as he peered down… into eyes that were wide-open and the exact same shade as her mother's. Her nose he recognized as coming from him, but everything else he saw looked to him like Belle, and she was beautiful. His beautiful daughter.
Those bright eyes blinked up at him, her full lips parted just a little, and for one terrifying second, he thought she was going to scream. But then she smiled – and if he hadn't been melted by her before, he was a hopeless puddle now.
"Hello there, dearest," he whispered, stooping over the crib. "Dear, dear little one. I'm your papa… What's your name?" he lifted her gently into his arms, realizing, "Ye gods, I don't even know your name! We'll definitely have to get that from your mother, won't we?"
"Alana Marie," Belle laughed, coming up behind him and laying her head on his shoulder, arms finding her way around his waist in the cramped space.
"Alana," Rumple whispered, dropping the gentlest of kisses onto the downy red curls of the child in his arms. "A beautiful name for a beautiful girl."
"It's Scottish," Belle offered. "and it means 'pretty girl.'"
"Like I said, a name fitly chosen."
Someone knocked on the door of the room, and Bae called out from the other side of it, "Are you guys going to feel like coming out and sharing the kid anytime soon?"
Rumple smiled, saying, "I think he's impatient to see his little sister." Belle nodded, burrowing her face in his shoulder, and though he couldn't see her face very well, Rumple could feel that her body was tense, so he asked, "What's wrong, dearest?"
Belle mumbled into his shoulder, the words nearly incoherent, but he managed to pick out a name. Regina.
"Now, dearest, don't take this the wrong way, but d*** Regina."
"Rumple!" Belle gasped. "Lanie!"
"Well, my apologies then, but I mean it. You're mayor, you got that position fairly, you've done it well, and Regina can just get off her high horse, get over it - and over herself - and get on with her life. I can tell her so if you'd like."
"That is exactly what I don't want," Belle sighed. "I've upheld this office without you - no offense - for the past year, and if I immediately start relying on you to handle things the moment you get back, then I loose the respect from the citizens here that I worked so hard to earn."
"Very well," Rumple sighed. "What would you like to be done, Madame La Maire?"
A moment of silence passed before Belle admitted, "I guess we've got to go out there at some point, don't we?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Then why put off the inevitable?"
So saying, Belle swept out of the side room, and Rumple followed her, instantly finding himself flanked by Bae and Henry as they vied for the better view of Alana.
"Can I hold her?" Bae asked.
Rumple didn't really want to give his daughter up - not now, not ever - but he did, shifting the baby into her brothers waiting arms so that he could go to his wife unencumbered. She was standing in a circle with Henry, Regina, and those who were apparently the four council members, and they looked to have rather quickly gotten into a serious conversation. That was probably a conversation that he needed to be present for - for Belle's sake - or so Rumple thought.
He found, however, that his opinion might just be wrong when he walked up to hear Regina say simply - even calmly - "Okay."
"You're actually okay with this?" Belle asked the former mayor, her relief obvious.
"I might as well be," Regina said with a soft sigh. "I promised a number of people - including myself - that I was going to get better, and I guess this is just a test of that. It seems like it wouldn't do me much good anyway if I did try to get in the way of it. Not from what your council members are telling me - especially the unofficial councilmember." Henry smiled cheekily as Regina pulled him into a one-armed hug. "So, yes," Regina nodded. "It looks like I'm just going to have to make my peace with it."
"I am really glad to hear you say that," Belle admitted, offering the other woman a genuine smile which - miracle of miracles - Regina returned.
"But, hey, if you ever decide to throw in the towel, I'd be more than willing to pick up the pieces," Regina said, Rumple thought maybe even jokingly.
"Thanks, but no thanks," Belle replied. "This job is harder than I ever thought it might be, but I've kind of gotten used to it, and I like it."
"I guess we've all got to get used to some things, huh?" Regina asked, looking at Rumple as she nodded over his shoulder to across the room where Bae was holding Alana.
Rumple nodded, looking down into his wife's eyes as he said, "But I know I'm going to like these changes - as a matter of fact, I think I love them."
"Good," Belle answered, looking much more relaxed then he had when they'd come into her office, "Because we love you, Rumplestiltskin. And we're so glad to have you home."
In the middle of her office or not, Rumple tilted his wife's chin up for a kiss as he replied, "And I, for one, am glad to be home."