The Land of Before and After

Chapter 1

        "Belle..."

        The librarian started, thrusting back from the counter and instinctively grabbing the book she was reading to throw at the intruder. It had been a week since she had given up her son to the Blue Fairy to raise and, quite miraculously in her opinion, Rumple had left her alone for that time. Her grip tightened on the book; here he was now, though. He was clad entirely in black, his tie eskew and a button on his suit jacket wasn't done, telling her he dressed in a hurry. He had one hand slightly raised in case she had decided to lob the book at his head, but other than that he gave off the feeling of being rather calm.

        "What are you doing here?" Belle shot, stepping back a bit. Almost as if the effort of her words had shoved her.

        "Listen to me," Rumplestiltskin almost hissed it, whispering as if someone was listening, "there's a portal outside that opened up a few-" he caught hold of her book-wielding hand.

        As he did she cut him off, "No, stop there." She pulled away, dropping the book. It fell to the floor with a loud thwump.

        He didn't give up easily, "Belle, listen, please, just-"

        "No."

        That shut him up. Belle took this time to study him. He didn't look quite as broken as he had the last time he had emerged from his shop. To Belle it was a bit of a shock, but she wouldn't let it knock her off-guard. Backing up a few more steps, she then stuck her ground, "What do you want, Rumplestiltskin?"

        He shrunk back at his full name, his hand slowly dropping to his side, "I told you, there's a portal outside-"

        "I'm not going to go with you if that's what you're getting at."

        Exasperation crossed his face, "No, Belle-"

        "No?" She raised an eyebrow, still not having it, "then what do you want?"

        She could tell his temper was rising every time she cut him off, the hand he had reached for her with started curling into a fist, "I want you to listen."

        "Oh, you expect me to just sit and listen to anything you have to say? After what you did to me? What you did to my son?"

        "You were the one that sent him away, Belle," Rumplestiltskin said, shaking his head. This shook Belle to her core. How dare he. "And he's our son. Not yours."

        "No," Belle felt like a little kid for repeating the simple word this much, but it's all she could do, "you have no right to say he's your son. Go away."

        Rumplestiltskin switched back to his pleading tactic, knowing the track he was on would get him nowhere, "Belle, listen, please, the portal-"

        "No." Belle went to turn away, but he spun her back, grabbing her by the arms and pulling her in so their noses were almost touching. She heard her breath catch, they hadn't been this close since the escapade in the Dream World. She made the firm decision she wasn't going to back down and looked directly into his brown eyes, wanting them to echo her hate, but they didn't. Instead, his manifested fear, worry, sadness, pain, and something else they always seemed to hold- an undying glimmer of love. She swallowed hard, she didn't want him to love her.

        He loosened his grasp, not wanting to hurt her and realizing his rash action may have done so. He also, in that moment, was testing her, just to see if she would move away. She didn't, giving him a small flash of unbridled glee.

        "Belle," he said softly, going back to the hesitant, yet purposeful, whispering from the beginning of the encounter, "there is a portal outside that opened by itself a few minutes ago. We need to close it before anyone comes through it or anyone enters it."