Beautiful Lily

mary's magic

"Belle!" called out Gold from downstairs of the entranceway. He leaned up against the wall as he struggled to walk towards the stairway of his home.

"Hun," he called out again and when she didn't respond he ascended the stairway slowly toward their bedroom. He opened the door and discovered Belle lying in bed curled up in blankets with her back towards him.

"Darling...," he said softly, sitting down next to the vacant spot by her legs. He eased his weight down on the mattress and rested his available hand on her waist. He rubbed her sides gently over the sheets trying to comfort her and sighed, lowering his voice, "...Darling, why didn't you tell me who your mother was?"

"I would think it would be obvious," muffled Belle's voice through the comforter.

He paused for a moment, trying to think of how to address the issue. "What happened? You said she abandoned you," he delicately asked.

"The last time I saw her I was seven. The last thing I remember was her saying to me that she was going to go away for a while and that she would be coming back, but she never did. And when she never returned, everyone was convinced that she had died... but I never believed it." Belle resituated herself in bed, turning over onto her back to better look at her husband, who was listening intently. "I loved her so much, Rumple. She took me places... the world! I saw so many... fantastic things. We were close and our relationship was, in short, wonderful. I always listened to her and did as I was told, never giving her any trouble. I tried not to give her any reason to not love me. So why would she leave me?"

"I don't know sweetheart," he said honestly. He knew, first hand, what it was like as a parent to abandon his child. And although he didn't want to admit it out loud to Belle, he was pretty sure that Mary Poppins had her reasons as well. Based off of his intuition, he knew that there had to be more history between her and her mother, so he proceeded, "but now that she's here, you now have an opportunity to find out from her. All you need to do is just ask her."

She turned her face away from him. She knew he was right, but didn't want to admit it. She was looked pensively off in another direction and he could see from the red in her eyes that she was still in pain emotionally. He leaned forward and brushed the side of her face sweetly with his fingers, bringing her attention back to his loving eyes, "I loved Baelfire. Even when I made the worst decision of my life in letting him go, I never stopped loving him. I'm positive that your mother loves you very much as well. Give her a chance to explain herself. It's what I would want if I was her. You might discover that there's more to her tale than what you were originally led to believe."

"You think so?"

"I'm sure of it."

Belle thought heavily on Rumple's comment, realizing that what she was feeling now was what Neal was probably feeling when he met his father again in New York, "I never got the chance to ask... about when you went to see Neal in New York. How did it go?"

"Well... just like how you are feeling right now, he wasn't inclined to listen either, but thanks to Emma I was eventually able to start a dialogue with him. It was slow moving, but at least I was given a chance. I know your mother is part of the reason you're so anxious about motherhood. So if anything, you need this closure. You owe it to yourself to find out. And if not for yourself, then do it for our child because this cycle of abandonment needs to end and it needs to end with us," he said.

Belle nodded in agreement; another fair point. "And, if I may request," he added, pointing his finger in the air as if what he was about to say next would be contested, "since Mary Poppins is your mother... I'd actually like to continue having her around."

Belle raised an incredulous eyebrow. He smirked.

"Can you blame me? I finally have an in-law I actually like," he admitted honestly.