He hated to admit it, but there was a part of him that just loved playing the role of the villain. He loved teaching lessons and giving those who deserved it a taste of their own hardships. He liked the way that his mind worked when he had to be sneaky, liked solving problems that no one else would ever see solved and presenting a final end product, something his clients believed to be chance perfection, all the while knowing exactly what had gone into making it perfect. Putting on an act, giving people a show, becoming a savior in his own way to those who needed it…there was lying; some part of him loved playing the villain.

But there was another part of him, a stronger part of him, he was coming to believe, that was counting down the hours until he could give it all up for good and just be whatever she wanted him to be…this.

The smile that broke over her face as she carried a bag of food out of Granny's, likely two burgers with extra pickles for him, and spotted him took his breath away. It made him smile right back at her as she happily hurried down the stairs to meet him on the sidewalk. And when he presented her with the flowers he'd been hiding behind his back, he beamed at the joy that radiated off of her.

"For me?" she asked, taking the flowers and pressing her nose into the petals.

"Only if you'll have them."

"Always!" she smiled happily before letting him walk her around to the passenger side and holding the door open for her as she got in. She liked this side of him, the romantic hero. And for that smile alone, he'd be all too happy to give up the role of villain just to make her that happy for an eternity.

It was a long way from now to eternity. And so, for now, it was enough to make her happy for the night. To put a smile on her face over and over again and finally fall asleep in one another's arms.

But all magic came with a price. And the cost of spending an evening with her, completely and totally enamored and focused on her alone, was that his mind rebelled. In sleep it refused to let him rest, refused to let him have peace, refused to let him be with her and her alone.

When the images of Zelena and Baelfire overtook his mind and demanded his attention, he shoved her aside to sit up and catch his breath.

He shoved her…

Again!

She'd been right there by his side, and he'd practically tossed her from their bed, from her bed, from-

"It's all right," she'd cooed, her hands moving over his back and shoulders. "Everything is okay…"

But clearly, everything was not okay. It wasn't going to be "okay," not until he had his freedom, a clean heart, and some fucking privacy!

She'd gotten him back to bed, but only for a little while. He'd stayed curled in her arms far more for her benefit than his own. He wanted to show her, to make her see that he hadn't meant to push her way. Everything he was doing now was for her. For them. Which was why he couldn't stay in bed, wide awake as she slept. Not anymore.

Before the sun broke, just as the sky was turning light blue, he pushed himself out of her grasp. Last night had been fun, but there was work to be done.

"What are you doing?" she questioned. She'd slept soundly through his shower, and he'd been hoping to leave her a note to explain the absence, but now that she was up and glancing at the time…

"Going to the shop," he responded, filling his vest over his shirt.

"It's too early. I'm not ready yet, just…come back to bed for another hour or so…we need the sleep."

She needed the sleep. He needed work.

"You don't have to go anywhere," he assured her, taking a seat by her hip and attempting to knot his tie around his neck. Why weren't his fingers working this morning?! "I'll leave you the car so you can leave when you're ready. I'll use magic to get there. I'll be just fine."

But the look on her face, even tired as she was, told him that she strongly rejected that idea. "You weren't 'just fine' a few hours ago."

He froze where he was, tie half knotted, mind and heart still racing. He knew that he wasn't fine. That was why he was up. That was why he wanted to go to the shop. He was meeting Hook this morning, not because he wanted to, hell would have to freeze over for that. But he was meeting Hook because there was a potential solution to truly make him "fine" again. He had an opportunity right at his feet; he couldn't allow it to vanish now.

But he also wasn't ready to confess to her what was really going on yet. She wouldn't understand. Not yet. A few years from now, once things were settled and this was a distant memory, then she'd be upset, but it would be a hurdle they could overcome. Now, it would just be too much on top of what was already too much.

Belle sighed, the sound echoing off the walls in the silence of the quiet morning and his lack of response. He felt her shift in the bed beside him and lift her hands to the tie he'd been struggling with.

"Tinkering is one way to take your mind off of it, Rumple," she muttered, getting it tied properly before smoothing it down his shirt and moving on to button his vest over it. "But talking to me is the way to get rid of it. I can help you. You just have to let me."

He nodded. Not in agreement, simply out of obligation. She knew. Nothing precise, of course. But he'd been foolish to think she wouldn't notice that something was bothering him after Bae had died. She'd noticed it just as he'd noticed something had been bothering her after their honeymoon; something that she had yet to divulge and he hadn't yet dug out of her. They were both carrying secrets and…maybe that wasn't the worst thing!

Marriage didn't mean they couldn't keep secrets. In fact, he believed that sometimes keeping something secret could be the kindest, gentlest thing someone could do for an individual. One day, when all this was out in the open, she'd see that, but for now…

He took her hands in his own and held them tight before bringing them to his mouth to kiss.

"I'm going to take care of it, Belle," he promised. "I'm going to fix it." And before she could question him on what "it" was, he leaned forward to kiss her before telling her he'd see her later that night and leaving the room.

After stepping outside the door to their room, he used his magic to relocate himself to the shop, where he promptly pulled out his cell phone and sent a message to Dove. Last night, Belle had reminded him that she'd been waiting on paperwork for their marriage and to change her name. He'd thought nothing of it since they married, but the fact that she'd brought it up more than once in the last few days…it was important to her, he could tell. And given the fact that he'd now run out of their bedroom for the second time since they'd been married, he owed it to her to make sure that he accomplished that particular goal.

So he left Dove a message telling him to go to city hall. He was on orders to pick up a marriage certificate, to take it to Maurice and Archie for witness signatures before bringing it here. He was also told to inquire about the forms for Belle to legally change her name. Then, from his office at home, he summoned copies of Mr. Gold's will, the titles to the house, the car, the cabin-everything and anything that had meaning and purpose he called to him. Once he was back from dealing with Hook and the Apprentice, he would magically make the changes he should have made long ago to add not just her but Henry as well to his life.

But until then…

He pulled the bristles that he'd found at the cottage out of the safe, feeling the magic still dripping from them. They weren't ideal, at least not in this state, but for what he had in mind, they would do just fine. He spent the rest of the morning fashioning a broom out of magic, one that looked as close to the one that the Dark Ones remembered as he could get it. For a locator spell to work, he had to convince that broom that it belonged to the Apprentice, and for that to work, he needed the bristles to believe it.

He felt Belle's presence finally enter the library as he was attaching them to the broom itself and felt a pang of sadness that he hadn't driven in with her today. Fuck, he was ready to be done with this…with all of it. The sneaking around, the lying, the dagger…with any luck, it wouldn't be much longer. Soon enough, this would all be over, a terrible memory that he and Belle could move on from happily. He was ready to live for real. And with this broom, he was positive he was one step closer.

He grabbed the hat, then read through a few more of the notes Zoso had left behind to make sure that he understood before magically departing for the docks. He went straight for the Jolly Roger but there wasn't a heartbeat to be found on the vessel. Ordinarily, something like that might make him nervous, but that pirate had been so desperate to get his Hook back last night that he couldn't imagine that he'd miss this. So he walked along the dock, keeping his eyes peeled until he saw…there.

Hook was just up ahead, passed out on a picnic bench with an open flask of rum or some other strong drink, he suspected. He noted the cloth over his knuckles as he lay there and smiled. There was something to love about the beauty of self-fulfilling prophecies.

"Good morning, Captain," he said loud enough to shake the pirate awake.

He jumped and startled at the voice but then rubbed his eyes and came to with a groan. He wasn't sure if he was more unhappy to see him or have the sun in his eyes. Either way, he'd be getting what he wanted today. He and every other Dark One who had ever lived...

"Well…I trust you're ready."

He sighed and began to sit up. "I'm ready to pay the price and get this over with."

"Good." With a bit of overdramatic flare, he summoned the broom he'd fashioned from the bristles into his hand.

"What are you gonna do with that?"

"This is gonna help me find an old friend."

He set it on its bristles and forced magic into it, a locator spell, to be precise. But his magic…it reacted as he'd never seen it react to an object before. Instead of hovering in the air slightly and drifting away toward the individual it sensed it belonged to, the bristles of the broom split in two. From its handle, two objects like arms grew out of it, and then…it walked off! It simply left them both standing there.

It's like what he turned the broom into as a child! Nimue hissed in his head. There must be some of Merlin's magic still left in it along with the boy's. It's just reacting to our magic!

He heard himself make a noise of interest at that but didn't waste time. He couldn't waste time theorizing when there was something to be done. The broom was odd and fascinating, and the fact that it walked away from him certainly suggested that the added bristles had done their job in identifying the Apprentice as the owner instead of him, but none of that was the point of this. Finding the Apprentice was the goal.

"After you," he muttered to Hook.

The pirate rose from his seat, swung his jacket over his shoulders and the pair of them followed.

There are so many interesting things I really enjoyed sneaking into this chapter. I liked the recall of something old here. In the beginning, when Rumple first became the Dark One, in those first few fictions I wrote for Chronicles, the way he justified so many of his antics was that he was "teaching a lesson" to those who needed it. I loved bringing that back here as Rumple reflects on his love of playing the villain. But I also really liked hinting at who he is going to be in the future. You haven't seen it yet, because you have only read Moments through Belle's eyes and haven't seen my notes for what I have planned for the rest of Chronicles, but in Moments Beyond, Belle stresses time and time again that she and Rumple don't keep secrets from each other. And it's going to be true. By the time we get to Rumple's version of that, the plan is that he is someone who refuses to keep secrets from Belle just as she refuses to keep them from him. So here, we have him talking about his theory of having secrets in a marriage. It's not a theory that I disagree with, everyone is different and their relationships are all different. But I think Rumple is really going to see over the course of the Chronicles that he is someone who shouldn't keep secrets, who doesn't need that temptation in his life. And it's going to be fun to look back on chapters like this when he's all for having secrets in a marriage and comparing him to the man who will refuse to keep secrets from his wife. I can't wait!

Thank you, Rsbeall12 and Grace5231973, for your reviews on the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one, I know it's a bit of filler with a scene we've already seen, but what I'm coming to find as I continue to write and outline Chronicles is that this entire fiction is essentially filler. (This only fuels my speculations about why A&E did the Frozen Storyline, but I digress.) When I outline, I see a very clear arc in Rumple's present day season 1-3 and then another very clear arc in Rumple's present day 4b-6b. Which means 4a is just something of a filler, setup to get us into that new arc which is going to be hard, but I'm not going to lie, I'm enjoying writing it more and more now that I can clearly see where it's going and how Rumple is going to evolve. I hope you'll continue to join me and continue to enjoy what's in store! Peace and Happy Reading!