Synopsis: Following directly on from The War Within. Rumplestiltskin and Belle have a lot to talk about. True loves kiss might have woken Belle from the sleeping curse but their marriage won’t be fixed over night. They have a little less than nine months to sort themselves out as a couple – then they’ll become a family. It’s time for them to reconcile properly, and to finally have the courtship that circumstances originally denied them.
Note: This is turning into a proper sequel to The War Within, that wasn’t the intention at all. I had in my notes two oneshots, one for reconciliation and one sweet fluffy fic where they could talk baby names and stuff like that. I really am awful at guesstimating length haha. Anyway, enjoy! 🙂
On Tumblr: Chapter One
Belle lingered
at the foot of the stairs. Just a few feet separated her from the kitchen but
she couldn’t quite bring herself to walk the distance. Yesterday morning, for
the first time ever she’d had an honest conversation with her husband. She
chewed on her lip, thinking about it, and she had to acknowledge that wasn’t
quite accurate. Rumplestiltskin had been honest in the underworld, she just
hadn’t wanted to hear it at the time.In truth she
wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it now. She wanted more than anything to
reconcile with her husband, and to build the kind of relationship they had
never actually had – a happy one. Even in the early days of their marriage,
when she had been blissfully ignorant of all his lies, there had been a small
voice at the back of her mind which had whispered that things weren’t right.She had ignored
it, as she had wanted everything to be alright more than she wanted to deal
with the reality. Given her revelation about how she had formed a rose-tinted
picture of their past together, that seemed to be something of a pattern with
her. Anyway, given how badly she wanted to ‘make it work’, she should be eager
to do whatever it took in order for that to happen.Instead she was
engaging in pointless avoidance and she didn’t really understand why. It wasn’t
like her to be a coward, and shy away from things that were difficult or
painful. ‘Do the brave thing and bravery will
follow’ had been her motto all her life. Now when she needed her courage
for what mattered the most, it was deserting her.Moe is AWFUL. I can’t believe Belle defended Snow and the others, though!
Exactly what Belle thinks about Snow and the others is developed more in chapter three 🙂 As for Moe, that is briefly mentioned in chapter three, but I’ll probably develop that more in chapter four or a subsequent chapter. I’m glad you are enjoying it! Thanks for commenting 🙂