Something was wrong.

Sleep always came easy for him when Belle was by his side. And though he hadn't experienced true bodily exhaustion since he became the Dark One, he did experience exhaustion of the mind and knew just how effective a night in her bed could be at relieving that sort of weariness. He needed that now. After the day they had both had, all he wanted was to close his eyes, experience oblivion for a few hours, and wake the next morning to a fresh start. New day, new beginning. Out with the old, in with the new! And yet…

The hours ticked by throughout the night. He stared at the ceiling. Watched the clock. Listened to the noises of nighttime in Storybrooke. Sleep evaded him. And he refused to guess why. The Dark Ones in his head, laughing at him throughout the night, had several suggestions that he was using every ounce of his tired brain to block out. Beside him, Belle slept on. Despite the day and her tearful good night, she had eventually fallen into a familiar pattern of rest that he usually found comforting: her slow and steady heart beating against his ribs, her breath falling gently over his chest, the occasional twitch of her fingers against his skin. It should have lulled him to sleep hours ago. It should have cleared his mind and let him sleep, and yet here he lay, still awake, still rubbing her back, still thinking and plotting and stewing and-

Next to him, Belle gave a deep sigh as though she was potentially coming to, finally rousing from the night, a dreaded sign that he could no longer ignore that the night was over, and it was morning.

Only instead of heaving that sigh and looking up at him, she pulled herself away, wrenched herself out of his gasp, and moved to the side of the bed as if she was about to reach for something.

And then she stilled.

"Belle?"

The cool air pebbled against his skin as he stared at her back, waiting for her to say something to answer him.

But she just laid there. Just lay there and breathed, not uttering a single word.

"Belle?!" he questioned again, moving onto his elbow to look her over only to realize…her eyes. They were still closed.

She was still asleep? Soundly? No, that wasn't possible! Every night that he'd ever slept with her, every single night, she slept against his side, never moving, never stirring. The only time she moved was when she woke for the bathroom or water or him!

A spell, then! It must be!

"Belle!" he cried, letting his magic sweep over her. He looked for the problem, for the signature of whoever had done this to her. All the while, the Dark One's laughter in his head rang out suddenly, sounding like Zelena. There was no spell! None that he could find! What was happening?! "Belle, what's wrong?!"

Another deep breath had her rolling over and sitting up in bed, glancing over to look at him with alarm before she glanced around the room as if expecting an attack!

"What? Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" she insisted as she looked back at him with concern and confusion. All emotions that he should be the one to lay claim to because she didn't yet see what had happened. "Why? What makes you say-"

"You were asleep!" he breathed. It was such a simple concept, and yet, for him, it was damning.

"Yes. Yes, you woke me, what happened?"

The impossible had suddenly become possible, and for no reason, he could identify.

"You…"

He let himself sink back into the mattress as he stared up at the ceiling, the same damn spot he'd been staring at all night just so he could be there for her, only for her to just…

What the fuck was that?! What had just happened? Something was wrong. With him? With her? Them?!

"Rumple, you're worrying me, what's going on?"

"You were asleep," he explained. "You were asleep, and you rolled away. You rolled away from me, out of my arms. You've never done that before. Why…why would you do that?"

You know why…

No!

No, he didn't know why, he didn't understand! This wasn't just some fling or a marriage of convenience. Hell, in many ways, it was the most inconvenient thing he'd ever done in his life! But it was worth it because she was worth it! Because every night he got to hold her made him feel grounded and whole! But for her to just roll away from him like that, after yesterday, given the true location of the dagger and the secrets he was hiding.

"I'm…I'm sure it was nothing," she attempted to excuse, but he could hear the worry in her tone. Even though she knew that she never did this, never left his embrace, that something was wrong. "I'm sorry," she apologized, rolling back over and fitting herself to him just as she had been, just like she always did.

Always.

Until just now.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to panic you, I must have just…"

She paused in the wrong place, just as he was hanging on her words, wondering, hoping that she was about to offer up an excuse that would be acceptable. A limb that had fallen asleep. A full bladder. A dream that was too vivid. Anything!

But she offered nothing. She didn't finish the thought. Just let it hang there between them, a crushing weight he hadn't expected to encounter this early in the morning.

Something was wrong.

"I'm sorry, I have to go…"

He wanted to rebel. He wanted to fight back. He wanted to probe her mind and figure out what the hell was going on and why she was suddenly pushing away when all she'd ever done was go out of her way to pull herself closer to him. But those answers terrified him. He wasn't quite sure he was ready for them. And so he nodded in response and kept his eyes staring at the ceiling, trying not to think about how it was far too early for her to be out of bed.

Her fingertips traced down the side of his cheek as she turned his head to where she lay and put her mouth to his. It was a peck. I swift kiss that didn't offer the opportunity for him to grow it into anything significant. Which was also damn near unheard of in their bed. What the fuck was wrong with them?

"I love you," she muttered, moving herself so that she could lean her forehead against his own, force him to stop staring at the ceiling. "I love you, and if I could, I'd spend all day with you right here just to prove it."

"Then do it!" he challenged quickly. A day where they told the world to go fuck themselves and stayed in bed, offering no explanation or justification for their actions…that did sound like them! "Stay here. Let the others deal with the Snow Queen today and stay here with me!"

Could he afford to let the Snow Queen go for the day? No, he couldn't. But that was the point. Letting her drop off his radar was nothing he couldn't fix in the days to come. But this, whatever had happened this morning, whatever was happening now…he had the sense that if they didn't fix it now, then it might lead to something catastrophic. He had the sense, but he didn't know. Oh, what would he give to have his gift of the future back?!

He stared up at her, looking into her eyes as she considered it, his hands itching to be playful and cheerful, to pull her back into his embrace just so he could hear her giggle before she screamed his name because if she chose to stay then that was exactly what they were going to do!

"I'm sorry," she apologized as her voice cracked in sorrow. "I can't. I have to go. I have to."

Without further explanation, she pulled herself away from him again and hurried into the bathroom, where she was safely out of his reach and wouldn't come back to him. It left him looking at the place where she'd been in utter shock. He stared at the door, that stupid two-inch barrier between him and her as though it was the toughest foe he'd ever faced. Odd…

She'd offered no explanation when she went into that bathroom, but he didn't need it. The Snow Queen was something he could afford to let go of for the day in order to have her by his side. Anna, on the other hand, was not something she was willing to release for him.

Wasn't being honest supposed to set one free from the weight of secrets? She'd been hiding something from him ever since Elsa came into their lives, and he'd felt it every day until yesterday when she'd confessed that something was Anna. Now that they had the truth, wasn't he supposed to feel like there was nothing between them?

Why did he feel like Anna was a barrier between them, now more than ever?

What the fuck was wrong with them?

This is another one of those chapters that I've been super eager to write from Rumple's point of view. Truthfully, I've been eager to write it in Rumple's point of view ever since I wrote it in Belle's point of view. I told you in the beginning that throughout this fiction there were going to be exit points, moments in time where we could see that if one or both of them had just done things a little bit differently then things might not have escalated to the point that they did at the end of 4A. I like to think this is one of those exit points. Rumple is clearly feeling guilt here. Belle is clearly feeling guilt here. Can you imagine what might have happened if they'd had done as Rumple said and spent the day together? What might have come lose for both of them? I guess we'll never know for sure, but I see it as a potential exit point they both just drove right on by.

Thank you, Rsbeall12 and Grace5231973, for your reviews and for playing my little guessing game. The attic thing is about guilt. He first dealt with that cave in the Underworld when he was using the attic as a lair. Several times throughout this fiction, even this series, Rumple has said himself that all villains have lairs. So in leaving that cave and automatically going back to his Underworld "lair" it's an unconscious moment of recognition that he's in a villain mindset. Not all the time. And, obviously, as we've said before, his ultimate goal to be free of the dagger is not a villainous desire, but some of his behavior to get to that goal is where he becomes villainous. And in that moment with Ingrid, it tells you he's in a villain state of mind. Peace and Happy Reading!