Beautiful Lily

Books and pocket-watch

...Back in Storybrooke the following day...

Rumple escorted Belle back to the library from a nice quiet, but late, picnic lunch at the shop. He kissed her on the cheek as he departed from her, returning back to his shop. She turned around to face the door and reached for her keys from within the depths of her purse. She opened up the doors to the library and instantly a wave of air pushed out the building to greet her nostrils, filling them with the fragrant smell of books and old papers; her favorite smell in the world. She tried to remember the first time she smelled this scent and when she did she suddenly became nostalgic.

The thought that came into her mind was the first time she was given her library, and it was her mother that gave it to her. Belle entered the library setting her purse and jacket down on the counter. She picked up the clipboard that she was using to record book information, but immediately placed it back down again. She didn't feel like working today. She felt compelled to work on something else, to look up someone. Belle walked past the columns and shelves of books and somehow found herself being pulled towards the kids section of the library.

Out of respect for her husband she never allowed her curiosity to investigate books of this world to study him. If her book club meetings taught her anything, it was that the stories of this world had a skewed perspective of everyone's lives in Storybrooke, including her own. And while a good chunk of the elements remained true to every story she read, the rest of the details were simply not true.

She looked through the books of the children's section, running her pointer finger along the labeled alphabetized letters that were placed strategically and conveniently along the shelves. She wasn't looking up books about her husband or about herself, she was looking up the one person that had been plaguing her mind since she discovered her pregnancy; her mother. She never thought to look her up before, but because her pregnancy was making her emotionally vulnerable combined with her sudden nostalgia she felt overwhelmingly compelled to find her right then.

A... B... C... D... E... F...

Whenever she brought up the topic of her mother to her father he would frown and react angrily, almost hurtfully, always refusing to tell her more about her. It was as if the mere memory of her was painful. Since her father provided little information about her mother Belle was left with no choice and there was one thing that she knew about her that her father didn't have to tell her; her name. Belle justified to herself that since she wasn't around to contest her story, that is, if her book even existed, then her curiosity saw no harm in looking.

G... H... I... J...

Belle figured, if she and all the other citizens of Storybrooke were in this library, then certainly, wouldn't her mother? She had to know. It was worth a shot.

K... L... M...

And there it was... books. Not just one but multiple books on her. It was here in this library the entire time. Belle immediately unearthed the children's books from the shelf and gathered them together in her arms. She walked over to the closest table and plopped the children stories on the table. She propped open the first book and eagerly began reading. As she read each book she tried to keep an open mind given what she already knew about the books of this world, but anger brewed inside her followed quickly by tears of sadness. Belle continued reading until finally she was beside herself in sadness. Her head became dizzy with questions. Finally she had something substantial to show her father when she broached the subject with him again. Perhaps this time, with new information, he'll be more inclined to answer her questions.

Belle gathered the tiny books and threw the majority of them into her purse, carrying the first book in her arms to show to her father immediately. She grabbed her coat from off the front desk and stepped outside the library when she heard a commotion come from over at Granny's diner. The jovial shouts were so loud that they could be heard from outside the diner and across the street, and with the bright enthusiasm radiating from inside she could practically feel the attractive merriment pull her in.