Belle stumbled forward and Rumple caught her. Looking up to see Hook standing there grinning.

"I wouldn't count on it!"

"Rumple?" whispered Belle and he felt a rush of relief, she remembered him.

"It's alright, I can fix this." He made to heal her wound with a wave of his hand but it refused to close.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" he yelled at Hook.

"Exactly what you did to me when you took Milah. Now go on Dark One. Do your worst!" the pirate held out his arms invitingly. Rumple summoned a ball of flame.

"Oh I intend to!" however just as he was about to throw it he saw headlights and heard a car horn. Rumple grabbed Belle and pulled her out of the way of the car that came speeding over the town line and hit Hook sending him flying. Ignoring the man Rumple called 911 and tried to staunch the bleeding wound with his coat.

"You've got to hang in there Belle please."

"Ok...I...I...I will."

It seemed like forever before the ambulance and the yellow Volkswagen arrived. When they did Rumple begrudgingly made room for the medic.

"What the hell happened?!" asked Emma.

"What do you think?! That pirate bastard shot her and for some reason magic won't heal the wound. And then he got hit by the stranger's car. Speaking of which…" Rumple moved towards Hook who was holding his ribs and slammed his foot into the man's chest. The pirate let out a yell of pain.

"Gold, are you insane?!" yelled Emma as she and the Huntsman came to try and pull him away as Rumple held his can to Hooks windpipe.

"Yes, I am!"

"You can't do this!" said the Huntsman.

"I can if you let me go," he argued.

"Well do you want to go to jail for murder? Or the hospital with your wife cause they're about to leave," said Emma. This made Rumple pause. He took a deep breath.

"Fine."

Without another word he stormed over to the ambulance and got in the back. Belle was now on a stretcher with an oxygen mask as the EMT's tried to contain her bleeding.

On the way to the hospital Rumple texted the Hatter's and by the time he was rushing through the ER at Belle's side the couple was waiting.

"Where's the doctor?" Rumple demanded.

"Right here Dark One," came the voice of Victor Frankenstein.

"Belle was wounded and it refuses to react to my magic. She's bleeding out DO SOMETHING!" he snapped. Impressively Victor remained calm.

"I'm going to. Belle is my friend to I'll do everything in my power to keep her with us and work out what's wrong. In the meantime, I suggest you calm down so security doesn't try to kick you out."

"I'd like to see them try," growled Rumple.

"Oh, I meant that last bit for their benefit too," said Victor before turning to head to the operating room. As he did so Rumple overheard him speaking to Emma.

"This stranger is in a bad way he needs help too."

"I'm sure he does Sheriff but at the moment I think it's wiser to focus my main attention on the woman with the capacity to influence the Dark One than the stranger who could out us to the world. I'll have someone else get to him."

Rumple snorted at least Frankenstein had some sense.

"So, what in Absolom's name happened?" asked Pip. Rumple relayed the story. When he was done the Hatter cursed.

"That son of a bitch."

"Please tell me I'm not going to have to stop you two killing him as well," came an exasperated voice and the trio turned to see the Sheriff.

"Not kill no," said Pip. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Right can I have a word, Alice?" Rumple raised an eyebrow.

"Just a minute Sheriff. I'd like to know how Hook escaped your custody after you caught him on the ship." Emma's brow furrowed.

"I never caught him when we got to the ship it was empty." Rumple closed his eyes realizing what happened.

"Cora. She must have realized what happened..."

"And posed as the Sheriff here to get Hook," finished the Hatter.

"Well, we have him now," said the Sheriff. "Now can I have that chat?" Pip followed the Sheriff a distance away.

"Look relax. Victor's good at what he does. He'll get Belle through this."

"Thank you, Hatter. I only hope you are right." They took a seat in the waiting room and sat in silence.

"Who's watching Grace?" asked Rumple at last when the quiet became unbearable.

"We called Master Altair. He'll drop Grace off at school and Pip already sent in a message calling out sick." Rumple nodded. Master Altair or Dove as he was known in this world had been a faithful tenant of his town below the Dark Castle and a loyal servant during the curse. He was an adequate emergency babysitter.

"What the hell is going on?" said a familiar voice and Rumple turned to see Dreamy the dwarf entering the waiting room.

"What concern is it of yours? And how did you find out?" asked Rumple. The dwarf rolled his eyes. Really were people no longer afraid of him anymore?

"Well, she's my friend to start out with. And I saw her come in on the security camera," Rumple paused this was the dwarf who had gone against the Blue Fairy, and who had come to Belle in her time of need. He shared a glance with the Hatter.

"A pirate shot her and the wound won't close to magic." The dwarf let out an impressive string of curse words.

"Well regular medicine closed it but I've got some bad news," came Victor's voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Rumple striding forward. Victor held up his hands.

"She's alive and we stopped the bleeding. But Belle can't sleep."

"What do you mean?" Asked Jefferson.

"When we tried to put her to sleep, she stopped breathing. When we woke her up, she started again but any time she loses consciousness she can't breathe and she slowly seems to be being sapped of her energy, which of course makes it harder to stay awake."

"So basically, she has to stay awake to stay alive?" Pip asked Rumple turned the symptoms over in his head.

"Yes. I've got her in a room if you want to see her," added Victor.

"Please," said Rumple. He hurried to the room indicated and found Belle sitting up in bed looking pale. It reminded him of when she'd returned from being tortured in the Enchanted Forest.

"How are you?" Asked Rumple. Belle gave him a weak smile

"I've been better. Do you have any idea what's wrong?"

"No. But I'm going to find out and save you Belle. I promise." He said fervently.

"I believe it," she replied softly. "In the meantime, I just have to stay perpetually awake."

"I'm sorry. This is my fault," said Rumple. Belle gave his hand a weak squeeze.

"No, it isn't not really. You may have given Hook cause to hate you but it was his choice to shoot me. And he was hardly an innocent party in that whole debacle."

"As always you are too good," Rumple told her kissing her hand.

"So you tell me," she replied. Rumple leaned in to kiss her willing whatever spell lay on her to break but when their lips met there was no rainbow shockwave.

"I guess true loves kiss is out," said Belle.

"That would have been too easy," muttered Rumple.

"The course of true love never did run smooth," said Belle.

"But fate could make it easier," sighed Rumple.

"Fate never seems to have been overly fond of us," replied Belle. "Did you piss it off at some point in the last hundred years?" Rumple snorted.

"No, I think it's always had it out for me. After all what child with good fortune ends up with a name like mine." This elicited a smile from his wife.

"I like your name. It's like you, completely unique."

"Why thank you," said Rumple.

"You know it's amazing you two can still flirt when one of you is in deadly peril," said a voice from the doorway and Rumple turned to see Pip.

"I thought that was the basis of your entire marriage," responded Rumple.

"Very funny," replied Pip rolling her eyes. "Now, Lucky for you I got to speak with the pirate and I know what's wrong."

OUAT

Emma watched Gold hurry down the ward and turned to Alice.

"Ok time to do that thing we discussed. Dr. Frankenstein can you show us the way?" God that sounded weird. Frankenstein was someone she read about in HIGH SCHOOL and saw in old horror films.

"I prefer Victor or just doctor," actually said the man leading the way.

"Just as long as I don't have to book you for digging up dead bodies," replied Emma. "By the way you handled Gold well, most people would have been terrified." The doctor shrugged.

"He might be the Dark One but right now he's just like any other person with a loved one in the hospital. Terrified for the one he cares about most. So, I simply treated him as such."

"Well, I think you earned some brownie points with him," said Alice as they came to the pirate's room.

"Right, you know the drill, we go in if he doesn't cooperate you do your thing. And whatever happens don't tell Gold. And NO TORTURE."

Alice pouted.

"You are no fun Emma Swan." Emma rolled her eyes and the two women entered to find Hook lying in bed his one good hand handcuffed to the bed.

"Where's Cora and what did you do to Belle?" demanded Emma Hook tried to get up but failed. He raised an eyebrow.

"Again? You're really into this, aren't you? Damn, that hurts."

"Not as much as several other bits of you may if you don't cooperate," hissed Alice.

"And who are you love?" asked Hook.

"The Pied Piper," replied Alice with a mocking bow and Emma was surprised to see a twinge of nervousness flash across the man's face.

"And she will make you talk if you don't of your own accord. Now where's Cora?"

"You look good, I must say, all "Where's Cora?" in a commanding voice. Chills." Emma glared not appreciating the flirting or the undermining of her authority.

"You have all sorts of sore places. I can make you hurt too," she made as if to press in on his broken ribs and Hook gave in.

"I've no idea where Cora is. She has her own agenda. Let's talk about something I am interested in, my hook. May I have it back? Or is there another...attachment you'd prefer."

"You're awfully chipper for a guy who just failed to kill his enemy, then got hit by a car. Speaking of which what about what was done to Belle?"

"Well, my ribs may be broken, but everything else is still intact, which is more than can be said for all the other bad days I've had. Plus I did some quality damage to my foe."

"You hurt Belle," snarled Alice.

"I hurt his heart. Belle is just where he keeps it. I'd also hardly call the wife of the Dark One innocent. But either way, he killed my love. I know the feeling and I'm not going to free him of that pain by telling you what's wrong," he shot them a grin.

"Keep smiling, buddy. He's on his feet, immortal, has magic, and you hurt his girl. If I had to pick dead guy of the year, I'd pick you. Alice, have at him."

Emma watched as Alice put a pipe to her lips and began to play a hypnotic tune. As it washed over Hook he seemed to try and fight the influence but failed a dreamy look coming over his face. Alice nodded her head in his direction as she played and Emma tried again.

"Where is Cora?"

"I don't know she moves around but she's generally with Regina."

"What was done to Belle?"

"Cora cursed the bullet with Ondine's curse."

"What's the cure?"

"I don't know." Emma wanted to groan. Great they knew what was wrong but they didn't have a cure. Suddenly Alice's pitch changed to an incredibly high note Hook cried out.

"Hey stop!" said Emma. Alice obeyed.

"That's for Belle," she told the pirate before leaving. Emma followed behind.

"I said no torture."

"That's not torture really. Not compared to what I can normally do. I just gave him a case of tinnitus." Emma sighed deciding against further scolding.

"You go tell Gold what you know I'm going to try and see what we know about our outsider."

"Done," said Alice with a mock salute before heading back down the hall. Emma only hoped the information they got would help save Belle. For the librarian's sake and as Victor had observed the towns.

OUAT

"Ondine's curse?" said Rumple.

"Yup." replied Alice.

"If it's a curse then shouldn't true love's kiss have done the trick?" asked Jefferson who had joined them.

"One would think," said Rumple. He'd only ever heard of the curse but didn't know anything about it. "I need to go do some research and figure out what has to be done. In the meantime, I don't want to leave you unguarded with Cora on the loose," he addressed this last part to Belle.

"She did this because she was angry with me," said Belle quietly.

"More like jealous," said Rumple.

"One would think without a heart you wouldn't feel jealousy," muttered Jefferson.

"Well, I can stand guard. Hattie can take care of Grace and then join you for the research," said Pip. The Hatter nodded.

"I'll put wards over the room," said Rumple.

"And we'll help too," Rumple turned to look at the doorway where he found Red, the Huntsman, Dreamy the dwarf, and Nova.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We can take shifts. If this Cora chick has it out for Belle, then you ought to have more than one person standing guard," said Red.

"And my magic might not be as powerful as yours or Blue's but a combination of light and dark magic should hold up stronger against whatever Cora might try and throw at her," said Nova.

"Won't your head fairy be rather upset?" asked Rumple. Nova shrugged.

"You aren't the only one she's harassed. I've quit caring what she thinks." Dreamy took a small pouch from his pocket presumably holding fairy dust.

"I had this little bit from when we were trying to get Emma and Snow back."

"Thank you Dreamy. All of you really," said Belle weakly from the bed.

"You go work out how to save her we'll hold the fort here," said Pip. Rumple gripped the top of his cane.

"Thank you," he said after a moment he stepped outside the room and together he and the fairy began layering magical protections over the room. Despite the woman's natural clumsiness, it turned out she actually wasn't incompetent. By the time they finished Belle's room was probably one of the most well protected places in town.

"Well, that should do it. Nobody with ill intent should be able to pass through, the doorway now reveals any magical disguises and you and I will both feel it if someone tries violating the wards," said Nova.

"Should being the key word," said Rumple.

"Have hope. Or if not that then faith in your own abilities," said the fairy. "Now go save Belle."

Rumple didn't need telling twice. He headed straight back to his home where he began searching through his most powerful books of magic for any reference to Ondine's curse. Jefferson eventually joined him later in the morning with a bag of food from Granny's and helped search through the tomes.

"You know I'm all for book collecting but it can make it damn hard to find what you need sometimes," grumbled Jefferson setting aside a red book.

"It also at least means you have a variety of information at your fingertips," pointed out Rumple scanning the page of the book he held. His eyes widened.

"FOUND IT!"

"What?" asked the Hatter.

"Ondine's curse. Created by Ondine the black fairy who fell in love with a mortal. When she learned he was unfaithful she cast a spell that stopped him breathing when he slept forcing him to stay awake and also draining him of energy."

"Sounds like what Belle has. What's the cure and why doesn't true loves kiss work?" Rumple heaved a sigh.

"Because sometimes when a spell or curse is created the maker of it can add a caveat to what specifically will break the curse. Anyone can cast a sleeping curse but it can always be broken with true loves kiss. But say the original creator of the curse made a specification that had to be fulfilled that wasn't true loves kiss. Then that wouldn't be enough."

"What's the specification?" asked Jefferson.

"Only one of Ondine's direct bloodline can lift the curse. Which means we are quite literally out of luck." Jefferson groaned his head falling back against the back of the chair.

"Direct bloodline means the Black Fairy or her sister. BLUE."

"And we all know Reul Ghorm won't help me even if I beg," said Rumple.

"Great," sighed Jefferson. "Maybe you could try getting Emma to ask?" Rumple tilted his head.

"It's a thought."

OUAT

Emma had never expected when she came to town that Mr. Gold would be on her list of contacts. And yet the man was now saved in her phone, albeit with the parenthesis (pain in the ass).

He'd apparently found the cure but it needed to be administered by the Blue Fairy who was unlikely to be helpful. Gold had offered that it would clear he debt to him if she convinced Blue to help but that honestly didn't sit right with Emma.

Firstly, this was Belle's life on the line, she didn't need a deal to motivate her to help her friend and secondly, she'd be helping Belle more than Gold technically so it wasn't exactly a fair trade. Maybe it was dumb to remain in the man's debt but she'd rather clear it when Belle's life wasn't on the line.

Emma tapped her foot impatiently on the floor of the convent. Just when she was on the verge of storming into the Head Fairy's office, she was finally let in.

"Ah Emma! How kind of you to visit," said Blue with a motherly smile that seemed a little too sweet for Emma's taste. She couldn't forget what had been revealed about the woman contributing to Jefferson being kidnapped by Cora and Grace having her heart ripped out, while being completely unapologetic.

"Hi. Sorry to bother you but we have a bit of an emergency. Belle Gold's been hit with Ondine's curse and rumor is you are the only one who can remove it."

"Hmmm. It seems the wife of the Dark One is finally facing the consequences of her actions," said Blue in a chilly tone.

"She was an innocent bystander shot by a revenge happy pirate," said Emma in flat disbelief. Fine so this woman didn't like Gold. But she was seriously going to punish Belle for it?

"Not quite innocent. That word can't truly be applied to one that binds themselves to the Dark One. And people must accept the results of their choices. Including what their choice in company brings them."

"Is that what you told yourself when you let Jefferson get abandoned by Regina to Cora and Grace have her heart ripped out? They chose to associate with Gold therefore they are as guilty as him?"

Blue gave her an infuriatingly benign smile.

"I don't expect one as young as you and who has not grown up in our world to understand. Perhaps your parents..."

"What I understand is you are letting an innocent woman die because of your vendetta against her husband. Which in my opinion no matter what realm you are in is pretty crappy. Certainly not what one expects from, "the good fairy." Emma snorted derisively. "I'm wasting my time." She turned on her heel and stormed out.

OUAT

Emma returned to the Hospital to find Gold and Jefferson had returned.

"Well?" asked Gold.

"No luck. I'm starting to see why you don't like her."

"Blue's just going to let Belle die?" said Leroy...or Dreamy. Emma was still getting used to the fairytale names.

"That hag," said Jefferson.

"Predictable," sighed Belle who was looking even weaker and clearly struggling to stay awake.

"Why can't you just do it Nova you're a fairy?" asked Red.

"From what Rumplestiltskin says it needs to be a direct bloodline. So one of the original two fairies. Black or Blue," said Nova. "I like most of the younger fairies was created by Blue. She might call us sisters but we aren't of the same maker the way she and the Black Fairy were."

Emma was still trying to get her head around the idea of fairy origins when Alice spoke up.

"Wait...Blue won't lift the curse because she's motivated by her hate of Rum. So she needs a different motivation."

"What are you thinking Pip?" asked Gold as the blond began to move towards the door.

"That's between me and Blue."

Emma glanced at Gold and Belle.

"Sorry I couldn't do more." Gold shrugged.

"The fault doesn't lie with you Sheriff. Though if whatever Pip has planned fails, I warn you I may become more...forceful in my dealing with the Blue Fairy."

Emma could hear the underlying threat in his tone and had no doubt the man was willing to try and force the head fairy to comply with his wish. And she at the very least, didn't blame him.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

OUAT

Belle was feeling weaker by the moment. The nurses had given her shots of adrenaline on occasion to keep her awake but it was still rather torturous not to be able to sleep. She also knew this wasn't a permanent solution. If they didn't find a way to cure her...well death could honestly be preferable. Not that she'd said it allowed to Rumple or was willing to throw the towel in quite yet.

Even in her sick state she was slightly pleased by the comradery that seemed to be growing between the Sheriff and her husband. They had more in common than either would probably like to admit to.

"I'm sorry, I've failed you so far," said Rumple at last.

"No, you haven't my love. You found the cure. It's hardly your fault you personally can't enact it."

"If Pip doesn't succeed in whatever she is doing I really will find a way to force that bug to help," growled Rumple.

"I trust you," said Belle softly.

"Stay awake," said Rumple then seeming to cast around for a topic of conversation he said. "Tell me about the latest book you were reading just like old times." Belle smiled remembering their conversations in the library back in the Enchanted Forest and rallied herself to launch into a discussion of her latest novel.

A couple hours passed and Belle was starting to get drowsy again when Pip returned shockingly accompanied by Blue. Immediately Rumple stepped in front of her.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I'm here to cure your wife," said Blue haughtily.

"Of your own volition?" asked Emma from the doorway. Jefferson scoffed.

"Of course not. But I'll presume Alice here promised her something that she dearly desires, which she'll get if she cooperates."

Rumple's eyes narrowed.

"Don't you dare try any tricks Reul Ghorm. You lift the curse and that is ALL."

"Anything else and the deal is off," added Pip. Blue didn't look happy about the matter but nodded her head in agreement.

"As you wish." Belle watched warily knowing that her husband would likely send a fireball at the fairy. Blue raised her wand and then waved it over Belle. A black haze seemed to lift from Belle's body and she felt her strength begin to return the unnatural tiredness disappearing.

After about a minute the black mist dissipated and Belle gasped.

"There it's done," said Blue.

"Hang on let's test it," said Belle. She glanced at Rumple. "Put me to sleep." Rumple looked nervous but waved his hand and Belle lost consciousness.

OUAT

Rumple sent his wife to sleep and watched with bated breath ready to wake her at the first sign she wasn't breathing. However they seemed to be in luck. Belle's breath came in and out steadily as she slumbered.

"I told you it was done."

"Forgive us for not trusting you," said Rumple sarcastically. He decided to let Belle sleep until he could get her checked out and taken home.

"Right then come on I'll give you what you asked for," said Pip to the Blue fairy who stalked out Rumple caught Pip's arm.

"What did you promise her?" Pip shrugged.

"Nothing I absolutely couldn't spare." Rumple gave her a disbelieving look.

"Reul Ghorm wouldn't help you for just anything." Pip sighed.

"Please don't worry about it." Which of course meant Rumple would be concerned.

"Whatever you gave her was powerful. I owe you a great debt," said Rumple.

"There are no debts between family," Pip reminded him patting his hand.

"Now go look after your wife."

Rumple watched the Piper leave. Whatever the woman said she HAD made a sacrifice today that much was clear, and he would forever be grateful.

Author's Note: And so we get my take on Belle getting shot. I thought it would be fun a) for Cora to be getting a bit of jealous revenge on Belle and b) since I already did the whole trying to win her back without her memories thing during the curse that I wish they'd done instead of the Lacey plot it seemed silly and redundant to remove her memories again. And well I've already said how I feel about Lacey (how uncreative can you get?) Ondine's curse is actually technically a medical disease you can look up with the name based on the myth I mentioned, I just swapped out Ondine being a fairy here instead of a nymph. We also get to see Emma once again realizing Blue isn't one to be trusted. As for Pip what she traded and her making the deal with Blue would be something shown in my Piper x Jefferson series. (Also I just wanna say I love Emma's dead guy of the year line.) Anyway thanks to all my readers and especially my commentors. Special shout outs to QueenNebulosa, Poorobscureplainandlittle, and Master_1108 who have been sticking with me regularly (and anyone else I missed). My readers and commentors are part of what fuels this story! If you like it please leave a note below. Until next time!