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Rumples first words Belle hears – you sent me a message something about ‘help! Help! We’re dying, can you save us? Well the answer is yes. Yes I can save your little town
Belle’s first words that Rumple hears – No wait. I will go with you
Rumpelstiltskin was born in the Enchanted Forest, a magical place in the universe, a reality full of princes, princesses, magic, mythical creatures like unicorns and… in such a magical place, of course there were soulmates. Everyone was assigned one at birth, the first words they heard their soulmate said born on their wrist under their palm in small writing. Of course, Rumple was born with one as well. His wrist clearly just had a simple ‘No wait. I will go with you’. Rumple’s childhood was unfortunately not the best. His father wasn’t the best father, and when he discovered the island of Neverland, he sent Rumple to live with his aunts.
His aunts were nice people of course, but it wasn’t the same as growing up with parents. He grew up in a small town, in the middle of now where in the forest, a poor town that not many traveled to except it was close to the water so sometimes pirates and other travelers came to the bars and taverns. In such a small town, he had little hope of every finding his soulmate. So when a woman named Milah started giving him some attention, even though the first words he heard her say were not the ones on his wrist, he decided to give the relationship a try, and eventually married her. Unfortunately, the only good thing out of that was his son, Baelfire. They weren’t together long, maybe ten years. Their son was maybe eight or so. He went off to fight the Ogre wars and came back with a limp, having given it to himself so he wouldn’t have to fight on the front lines which was certain death. After that Milah seemed to hate him. She spent every minute she could away from him, and seemed disgusted by him even being in the same room as her.
One night she went to the close by tavern and he found her with a pirate, arm in arm. She claimed she loved him, the first he had said were the ones on her wrist. Though the words on his wrist were not the first ones she had said that he heard, they were going to sail away together on his ship The Jolly Roger. And with that, Milah was out of his life. Rumple didn’t know what to do. He was a poor man, had nothing to his name but the small one room house he shared with his son. He was laughed at by those in the town, when walking he was often kicked or tripped, he not only was now seen as a coward but someone who had lost his wife. Due to his limp he had no real ways of making money, he couldn’t till a field, he didn’t have the knowledge or experience to help at a store or anything. He just was able to do odd jobs here and there. Life was miserable.
And then one night an old man told him of a dagger. The Dark One Dagger, and all who had it controlled the Dark One, the most powerful creature on earth. So Rumple stole this dagger and when he came back to the old man well a scuffle ensued and the man died by the dagger. The man however was the Dark One, and wanted that to happen to be released from its power. Rumple was immediately the new dark one, and was filled the magic that came with it. He had power. Magic. And very quickly, Rumple started to misuse his power, causing fear to the villages. His life became much better, but his son Baelfire’s life took a turn for the worse. No kids wanted to be near him. He was now a young teen, and yet all his friends wanted nothing to do with him. All feared his father. Baelfire found a way to open a portal and left for a universe without magic.
Leaving Rumpelstiltskin all alone.
At first, he had no idea what to do. He had power, magic, with this new magic came the ability to turn straw into gold, so he had all the wealth he could ever want. But, he had lost his wife, and now had made his son run away from him. He was lonely. And so for a while, Rumple just stayed in the town, gaining wealth, and a reputation of becoming a deal maker, he would get whatever he wanted and in return they got what they wanted. But years went by, and Rumple didn’t age. He stayed the same, even though he was now probably around one hundred years old, he still looked about forty five, the age he was when he became the Dark One. With the title came immortality, until someone was able to defeat him.
So, Rumple didn’t have much to do. He turned straw into gold, made more and more deals, grew his reputation, until he one day bought a giant mansion, a castle truly big enough to rival that of the King and Queens, with acres upon acres of land around him so he had privacy. He ended up teaching Cora magic, and then her daughter Regina after her as well, all for a price of course. Both were interesting to teach, since both ended developing a crush on their teacher. But Rumple wanted nothing to do with that. His heart had broken to pieces by the hands of Milah, and he didn’t want anything to do with women again. Besides, his soulmate was probably long passed, since by now he had been alive a few hundred years, amassing wealth and a reputation. All of the Enchanted Forest knew of him, feared him, wanted to make deals with him. He tried to push all thoughts of his soulmate out of his mind, and even wore a lot of long sleeves so that he couldn’t even see the phrase.
That was until one day he had gotten a message. A king, begging for help, ogres were destroying his kingdom, killing his people. He needed help, for any price. As Rumple read the letter he had gotten, he gave a sly grin. Oh he loved when people were desperate. He could name any price, and often did. Of course not gold or any riches like that, he made gold. But other things. After a few hundred years all by himself, he was lonely. And he hated cleaning, and using magic to do so was annoying. Perhaps the king had a daughter he could trade for a maid. If the king wanted to rid himself of those ogres he would give anything.
So with a snap of his fingers he was in the kings throne room. A few knights came him, but a few snaps and they all clattered to the floor. The door burst open. A man, clearly the dear king, a beautiful young maiden, a man with a sword, and a couple more knights in shining armor. Rumple crossed his legs.
“you sent me a message something about ‘help! Help! We’re dying, can you save us? Well the answer is yes, I can.” Rumple stood up from the throne his feet practically dancing with glee as he walked around the throne room. He tilted his head to look at the King and his princess, giving a pause as the brute with the sword slowly lowered it upon a nod by the king. His eyes flickered towards her, expecting perhaps fear or hope in her eyes, but was met with her looking down at her wrist. That was odd. No matter. He looked towards the King. “Yes, I can protect your little town” he told him. He pointed a finger at the king “For a price” he added. Rumpelstiltskin did nothing for free. The king started to walk towards him.
“We sent you a promise of gold” he said. Rumple gave a slight nod.
“Ah, you see ah I make gold” he said in a slow voice as if trying to explain it to a toddler. The man looked maybe fifty or sixty, to a man a few hundred years old he was a toddler. He had seen so much over the years. He was alive during the last ogre wars, almost fought in them, and now this place was being attacked by them. At least, this time, he could just make them disappear with a snap of his fingers. “What I want is a bit more special” Rumple added. Rumple looked over the kings shoulder. “My price is her” he pointed over his shoulder at the only woman in the room. She was still staring down at her wrist.
“No” the King said flatly, anger in his voice. The brute with the sword put an arm in front of her, pushing her back and protecting her.
“The young lady is engaged to me” the man with the sword said. Rumple walked towards them.
“I wasn’t asking if she was engaged. I’m not looking for love” he almost spit the word ‘love’ out like some poison. “I’m looking for a” he paused a second and said “Caretaker” in a sort of awed voice, that sounded much nicer then ‘maid’. “For my rather large estate. It’s her or no deal” he said with a grin.
“Get out” the king pointed towards the door. “Leave!” he demanded. The brute pulled the girl away, making a path for him where she was at least a foot away from him.
“As you wish” he said and started to walk towards the door.
“No wait” a female voice said. Rumple stopped, and turned. However something nagged at him about what she said. He tried to ignore it. She walked away from the man and took a few steps towards him. “I will go with you” she said. It still nagged at him. But he pushed it aside. He gave a little laugh at that.
“I forbid it” the man with the sword proclaimed and came forward.
“No one decides my fate but me. I should go” the girl said looking at them. She turned to him. He could see her eyes, determination in them. It was odd, most would never agree to this even to save their kingdom. And yet there was no fear, no hesitation in her eyes. It puzzled him. He put his hands together.
“It’s forever, dearie” he told her, making sure she knew what she was getting herself into. It would be for the rest of her life, being his little maid and cook.
“My family, my friends, they will all live?” she questioned. Rumple gave a little bow of his head and did a little gesture with his hands.
“You have my word” he said and looked back up at her. His word, probably wasn’t much, since she never met him before. But perhaps she knew of his reputation. He never went back on deals. Once a deal was made, a deal was kept. Of course that didn’t mean there weren’t loop holes or little bits of trickery in the way things were worded. But he didn’t plan on doing that with this deal. He would take her as his maid, and he would protect the town, the ogres would disappear. None of her family and friends would die, at least by ogres or his hand. She closed her eyes and gave a nod
“Then you have mine. I will go with you forever” she said, her eyes never leaving his. He grinned widely and gave an excited exclaim.
“Deal!” He gave a happy laugh at that.
“Belle, Belle you can not do this” the girl, who he now learned was called Belle, turned to her father. “Belle please, you can’t go with this” the mans eyes looked from her to him “Beast” he said. Rumple put a hand to his chest and faked astonishment and shock at being called such a thing. He had been called much worse.
“Father” she turned to look at the man with the sword, her betrothed “Gaston” she looked back at her father. “It’s been decided” she said softly. Rumple walked a little closer.
“You know, she’s right. The deal is struck” he made a little motion with his finger, sort of like someone signing on a contract. There was a moment of solemn silence. “Oh! Congratulations on your little war” he gave a laugh at that and put a hand on Belle’s back and turned them, leading her out of the castle.
He brought her to his castle. It was late now, since he couldn’t just snap and them both be back at his castle, they actually needed to walk. Or at least have a carriage or something, which he did snap into existence for them to use. But it still took hours. He showed her around a little. He brought her first to the kitchen.
“This is where you will cook my meals, and bring me anything else I want. Oh don’t worry about going to the store, the shelves are enchanted so they are always stocked with everything. Nothing cooked though, thats tricky. But uncooked things, like vegetables and fruits, meat.” he explained. He watched as Belle walked around a little, opening the cabinets and checking them to find he was right, all the cabinets were full. “Come along dearie” he said and brought her to the dining room with his long table, and his china cabinets. He only had the long fancy table since it looked better in such a big room, but he never had guests. “This is where you will bring me my food” he said. She paused again to look around, but there wasn’t much to see in this room. He didn’t bother bringing her to any other rooms, she would be here the rest of her life. She had plenty of time to figure her way around. He headed towards the dungeons.
“And this is where you sleep” he said and gave her a gentle push, causing her to stumble in. She turned to look at him in shock as he closed the door. “Good night” he said and walked away, heading to his own bed chambers.
A little time passed, maybe a couple of weeks or so. Rumple was sitting in the dining room at the head of the table, waiting for his little maid to bring him lunch. She was not the best cook, probably because of how she grew up, who needed to learn to cook when there were always people to do it for you? But, she had her entire life to learn. And, until then a little snap of magic could make a big difference. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh, his right wrist itchy. He gently moved his sleeve up to give it a scratch but paused, looking at the words. He had long ago stopped looking at them. But, there was something about them now that as he scratched and read them, made him take pause.
“I made sandwiches, I hope you don’t mind, I used the leftover meat from last night” Belle suddenly said as she entered the room. Rumple quickly stopped and pulled down his sleeve, looking up at her with a smile.
“No, that sounds fine” he said and watched as she set the tray down, and set his plate and silverware in front of him along with a goblet. She lifted the tray, about to head back into the kitchen to eat her own lunch. “Uh Belle” she paused and looked at him as if waiting for him to ask her something. “I…” he paused unsure what to say. “I don’t have any deals to make today, no one of importance to speak to or anything. Why don’t you sit and have your lunch here instead of in the kitchen? To give me someone to talk to” he questioned, hoping she would say yes. Belle paused a moment but gave a nod. She set the tray on the table and took her own sandwich off of it and set it down in front of the chair next to him, sort of since he was at the head of the table. She went to pull out her chair but he flicked a finger and it was pulled out for her, making her jump a little. She glanced at him. He felt his cheeks get a little hot and hoped his scaly skin hid any red coloring.
“Thank you” she said and sat down, and scooted in. Rumple leaned forward and took a bit of his sandwich. Well, at least she couldn’t ruin this, the meat from last night was magically altered to taste better, and she didn’t do much more to it today.
“So, tell me, what made you decide to leave your intended and come here?” he asked her, making casual conversation. Belle paused, and for a second he seemed to notice her glance at her wrist.
“It was an arranged marriage, I didn’t love him, and we weren’t soulmates. He had a soulmate he was engaged to, but there was a carriage accident, he was the only survivor. But, he’s the son of one of the wealthiest families in the land and since he didn’t have a soulmate, it didn’t matter that I wasn’t his. I was just going to have to marry him whether I liked it or not.” she explained. Rumple’s heart went out to her, he knew what it was like from first hand experience to marry someone who was not meant to be with you. But, he was also sort of glad he was able to save her from that fate. But now, something else was on his mind.
“So, why come here if you haven’t met your soulmate yet? Stuck here, forever, unable to leave. You will never meet him” he asked her, unable to hold back his curiosity. She puzzled him. Belle was silent for a few minutes. Rumple didn’t push, and ate his sandwich.
“I… might have met him” she finally answered, her voice soft and sounding slightly unsure. Rumple was unsure of what to say to that. For a second he wondered if he had met some tragic end, like Gaston’s soulmate had. Or perhaps it was some scenario like Milah and that pirate, he was her soulmate but she was not his. There were a few moments of silence as Rumple tried to think of what to say, especially since she said ‘might’, was she not sure? It confused him. But then Belle asked “Have you ever met yours?”. Almost instinctively, Rumple pulled his right arm sleeve down a bit as if trying to cover up the words there, but they were already covered.
“I don’t have one” he said, his voice flat, low, almost angry sounding with an edge to it that just lightly there. Like a warning saying ‘don’t push it’. Belle looked up. He could see her eyes drifting towards his wrist, the words hidden under his sleeve. She looked like she wanted to say something, or ask something more. But, she took the warning. She looked back at her sandwich and continued to eat.
After that, things seemed to be a little tense between them. Especially it seemed at meal times. She seemed nervous around him. One day she even chipped one of his cups. It stayed like that for a few weeks, until one day.
Rumple was in his spinning room, sitting in the corner with his spinning wheel, slowly spinning the straw into gold, watching wheel just spin, spin, and spin. He could hear Belle making some sort of ruckus in the room but was ignoring it. However it stopped a moment and suddenly he heard a soft voice.
“Why do you spin so much?” coming from Belle. He paused and glanced back a little. “Sorry, it’s just you’ve spun straw into more gold then you could ever spend.” she said, her voice still soft and a little unsure sounding. Rumple was silent a moment, glancing back at her and glancing at the wheel.
“I like watching the wheel. Helps me forget” he told her, his voice soft, almost mournful. He gave the wheel a couple tiny spins, it barely moving.
“Forget what?” she asked. Rumple gave a grin while looking at the wheel.
“I guess it worked” he said, and gave a laugh. She wasn’t getting that answer that easy. He turned to her, twisting his body a bit to get a good look at her. She smiled and laughed at that as well. She turned back to what she was doing. Now he could see what was making all that noise. She was on a ladder by the window, blocked by the thick curtains. Slowly he got up and walked closer to her. “What are you doing?” he asked, confused by it. She gave the curtains a few more tugs.
“Opening these, it’s almost spring. We should let some light in” she tugged the curtains harder. “What did you do, nail them down?” she asked. Rumple walked closer and gave a nod at that.
“Yes” he said very honestly. She looked at him looking surprised and turned back, tugging onto the curtains more and more. Suddenly the ladder moved and she fell, pulling the curtain down with her. Rumple caught her, one of her arms around his neck. He looked at the now curtainless window, the light shining on them, making his scaly skin shine a little. He looked down at her in his arms, and she looked up at him. And for a moment, it seemed like time stood still. The world was just her, in his arms, looking up at him. He never really looked at her before, but now it was like he was seeing her for the first time. She was beautiful. Her beautiful brown hair framed her face. Her skin was perfect and beautiful. Her eyes, the most gorgeous light blue color.
“Thank you” she said, her voice soft and a little shaky. Her speaking seemed to knock him out of it, and he realized he was holding her for a really long time and suddenly let her down. He could feel his cheeks getting warm. His heart seemed to be beating faster. “Thank you” she said again. Rumple gave a slow and awkward wave.
“No matter” he said and took a few steps away.
“Rumple, do you want me to put the curtains back up?” she asked him. He paused and turned to face her again, but was focusing more at her shoes then her.
“There’s no need, I’ll get used to it” he said. She had gone through all that trouble, and almost gotten seriously hurt, would have if he wasn’t there to catch her. It seemed horrible to put them back up. Slowly he walked back over to his wheel.
A few more weeks passed. Rumple tried to put what he had felt when Belle fell into his arms away, push it completely out of his mind. But, it was hard. He couldn’t get the way she had looked at him out of his mind. No one had ever looked at him that way before. And he had felt warm, sort of fuzzy and odd inside. He never remembered such a feeling before. And, when he was all alone, he sometimes would pull his sleeve up a little and look at the words there. He had a nagging feeling he had heard them. It had been a couple of months ago at this point, but one night he sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the words, trying to remember the exact thing Belle had said when she offered to come with him.
Had she…? Had she perhaps said them? Were those words the first thing he heard her say? But no, that was silly. No one could ever truly love him, he had turned his back on love. He wanted nothing to do with it or women in any way. His soulmate was long gone, passed on hundreds of years ago. And after getting his heart broken, he didn’t want a soulmate. He didn’t need one. He didn’t need anyone.
After about a month of not being able to get her falling into his arms out of his head, he decided to offer to have Belle eat with him again. He wanted to ask her some questions. It was lunch time. Rumple was sitting up in his chair, nervous and on edge, instead of leaning back and being casual like usual. He nervously drummed his fingers on the table and fiddled with the sleeve of his right arm. Finally, Belle came out of the kitchen with a smile on her face. She set the tray down.
“I made some soup” she said and got the bowl off of the tray and set it in front of him. Rumple gave a nervous smile at her as she set a spoon and cup in front of him.
“Smells delicious” he said, he doubted it was, but a little snap and it would be. “Belle” he said as she went to pick the tray up. She looked at him. Rumple took a soft, steadying breath. “I’d like for you to sit and have lunch with me” he said. Belle looked surprised at that but gave a smile and nodded and sat down. A little flick of his hand under the table and suddenly the soup would be delicious.
“Thank you, I hope you enjoy it” she said as she placed her own bowl in front of herself. He gave a nod and took a spoonful of it. He really hoped that her cooking would be getting better soon. After a few spoonfuls, Rumple decided to pose the question.
“Belle, when I asked about your soulmate, you said you might have met him. And I was wondering, why are you not sure?” he questioned. Belle stopped a moment and looked at her wrist. He had never gotten close enough to her to be able to read what it said, except when she fell but he wasn’t really thinking about that then. But from what he could tell, there was a lot of writing.
“I did meet him. But, it doesn’t matter.” she said, her voice soft, sounding a little unsure. Rumple took another spoonful of soup. Didn’t matter?
“Because you are here and can not be with him?” he questioned. She gave a shake of her head.
“No, not because of that. He… has no want of a soulmate” she said, talking slow like she was choosing her words carefully. Rumple paused at that. He had told her he didn’t have a soulmate. In reality he didn’t want one, felt he didn’t need one. And felt that when he became the Dark One, he no longer had one. There were a few moments of silence, Rumple wasn’t sure what to say. But, he had another question to ask her, now.
“Do you mind if I ask, what does your wrist say?” he asked her. Belle looked at her wrist but looked up at him, determination in her eyes.
“I will read it to you, if you read yours” she offered. Rumple couldn’t help but smile and give a little giggle.
“A deal?” it amused him, since he was the deal maker. But it was cute. He glanced down at his wrist. “I told you, dearie, I don’t have a soulmate. Wouldn’t that mean there is nothing on it?” he questioned her. Belle raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a smirk.
“Oh, I doubt that. You just don’t want one, and so you constantly hide your wrists with long sleeves. Though, I am curious to why you don’t want one. But, I’ll settle for just what it says” she offered him. Rumple again didn’t know what to say. He set his spoon down and decided to tell her.
“I… I was born a regular man, not the all powerful Dark One. And I lived in a small town of peasants. There weren’t too many people in it, the only people who even knew it existed were those who lived there and the occasional sailors or pirates who docked there. I met a woman, we knew we weren’t soulmates. But, we thought the chance of ever meeting them in that small town was impossible. We got married. Had a son” he paused a moment looking down, his voice softer as he said that. “But she left, found her soulmate in a pirate and just left us both. I loved her, or thought I did. But then I became this” he made a wild gesture to everything around him with his arms and hands, gesturing to the entire castle and to himself. Now was time for a little lie. “And the words disappeared. I don’t have one, any more.” he told her.
Belle seemed saddened by the story. It was a sad story after all, there weren’t any happy endings with him. But part of her also seemed disappointed.
“Is that what you try to forget, in the wheel as you spin?” she questioned. Rumple gave a sigh and a nod. “I’m sorry” she offered. Rumple gave a wave of his hand.
“Your wrist?” he questioned. Belle looked torn at that. She faced forward after a moment and raised her hand up so she could easily read her wrist.
“It says ‘you sent me a message something about ‘help! Help! We’re dying, can you save us?’ Well the answer is yes, I can. Yes, I can protect your little town. For a price’” she said. She slowly lowered her wrist but didn’t look at him. Even though it had been a few months now, Rumple knew he had said it. He remembered saying it, as he lounged in the kings chair, her fathers chair. He remembered watching her check her wrist as he spoke. His thoughts traveled to the words on his own wrist, still there. For a good few moments, Rumple was entirely speechless. She seemed to have the ability to do that to him. But Rumple finally found his voice.
“You’re lying” he said, his voice sneering. Belle turned to face him, looking shocked and hurt.
“Why would I lie?” she asked, sounding completely defensive. Rumple shook his head and got up and rushed over to her, taking her arm and practically dragging her up. “Rumple! I’m not lying, you could look for yourself!” her voice was pleading. He brought her down to the dungeon and pushed her in. She turned quick though and grabbed his right hand and quickly pulled his sleeve up, revealing that he had lied. She glared at him “Your the liar” she poked his wrist angrily “I can’t read upside down but it says what I said!” she proclaimed. Rumple jerked his arm away from her and closed the dungeon door. “Rumple!” she cried out. He turned and left, heading for his spinning room. He needed to think.
Rumple spent the rest of the day and all night spinning, only stopping to have some of the soup Belle had made for dinner, and made sure that some magically appeared in the dungeon where Belle was. Rumple didn’t even realize it until the morning when he woke up, but he spent literally all night at his wheel, and had even fallen asleep on his stool, leaning forward onto it. Slowly he got up from the stool. With a wave of his hand all the pain from sleeping in such an awful position simply disappeared. But, he had come to a decision. He had to let her go, let her leave. As much as it hurt him to do so, he couldn’t deny he had grown close to her, and had gotten used to her walking around, touching books in his library, and poking around in things. He knew that despite their being soulmates, she could never love him. And, it was the right thing to do. Let go back to her family. And let her have adventures, she once told him that she dreamed of going on adventures and seeing the world. She couldn’t do that here.
With a flick, his clothes magically were changed so he looked all nice and like he didn’t sleep in his clothes. He walked down to the dungeons and slowly opened the door. Belle had been lying down on a bed of straw that was there but immediately stood up. She glared at him.
“Leave, go. You stayed, your town is safe, and will be safe now its time to go” he said. Belle took a step closer to him.
“And what if I won’t go?” she asked. Rumple stared at her, being completely speechless. Why wouldn’t she want to leave? He just looked at her, confusion clearly written on his face. She held her wrist up so he could see the words written there. He could see she indeed had not been lying. But, even so, he couldn’t let her stay here, he had already decided it was for her best interest. “You are my soulmate. I came here to save my land, but also once I heard you say these words, I knew I had to come here and be with you” she said. Rumple was still speechless. She had come with him, to be with him? He shook his head.
“No, no, no one could ever love me” he said and took a little step back “I don’t have a soulmate” his voice sounded soft and unsure. Belle took a step forward and gently clasp his right hand in her hands.
“I know your hurt from what happened, what your wife did to you. And you might think that. But Rumple… I do. I love you, Rumple.” Belle told him. She slowly brought his hand up and gave a gentle kiss to the words on his wrist. “You can’t let one bad experience keep you from being with who you truly belong with. I want to be with you, Rumple. If you make me leave, I’ll just keep coming back, no matter how far away you send me” she declared.
Rumple stared at her in just shock, awe, confusion. He really just couldn’t wrap his head around why she would want to stay, especially after he just gave her her freedom. He couldn’t explain why she’d want to be with him. Belle sighed and walked a little closer to him and gently leaned up. Rumple watched her silently, unsure of what she was doing. But then her lips gently touched his. Rumple didn’t kiss her back at first, it had been a few hundred years since he was kissed. The last time he was kissed, was when he left for the ogre wars, his wife gave him one quick kiss as good bye, and his son gave him a kiss on the cheek. But this kiss was much better then any kiss he got from his wife.
He could feel the same warm and fuzzy feeling that he did when she fell into his arms. He gave her a hesitant kiss back. And, it felt like the world stopped. Everything was right in the world. And she was the world. Everything was perfect. And he knew after that kiss, he couldn’t deny it any more. Slowly he pulled away from the kiss and looked at Belle.
“Belle… I” he paused, he hadn’t said these words since his wife, the same time he got his last kiss by her, and then they knew it was probably not true. But he looked at her beautiful blue eyes, and saying it just felt right. “I love you” he said, and meant it. Belle gave him a big smile.
“I love you too, Rumpelstiltskin” she said. The two of them stood there, close to each other, just sort of smiling at one another for a while. But after a while, Rumple seemed to realize just where they were. He glanced around a little.
“Uh, come on, you need to pick your bedroom. Theres a ton in this castle that aren’t being used, you could have any you want” Rumple said and nervously gave her a light kiss on the forehead, it felt odd doing such a thing. It was such a loving gesture, and he never did something like that with his wife. “You can’t sleep in a dungeon any more, your going to be my wife” he said. Belle smiled and didn’t protest his claim. He held her hand and headed out of the dungeon to go towards where the bedrooms were so she could pick the one she liked best.
He never had her sleep in the dungeon ever again.