I did this once before, nearly six months ago. Back then I only had 6 published fics, and I wound up cheating a little and choosing some I hadn’t posted yet. This time I have 31 published fics, so no need for cheating 🙂

1) Painting Layers of Love – Belle French lives alone and she likes it that way. She’s lived alone ever since the terrible car accident which killed her mother and claimed her eyesight. Belle spends her days painting, in complete solitude, until one day she wakes up and hears movement outside. Somebody has moved into the cottage next door. She had grown comfortable in her solitary existence until Mr Gold crashes into her life. Now her future is uncertain, like a blank canvas, waiting for her to apply the paint and decide what kind of story she is creating. [Tumblr, AO3] – This was on the list last time and it means a lot to me personally. I would probably bill it as a slow-burn romance but really the romance is secondary to the journey the characters are taking. They are learning a lot about themselves and attempting to do something incredibly scary – make a change. That takes time and it’s an ongoing process; very much one step forward, two steps back.

2) Between Two Fires – Captain Julian Gold, a decorated hero of the Frontlands Defense Force was once married to Lacey Beaumont. They had been happy but then she had died. Shortly after her death Gold discovered the truth. She wasn’t really Lacey Beaumont, she was Belle French and she was from Avonlea. Five years later there is a twitch on the border line. Gold follows the trail, stunned to find himself face to face with his supposedly dead wife – Belle. [Tumblr, AO3] – I love this fic so much. It’s a sci-fi/espionage mashup which combines a lot of my favorite things. I really enjoyed writing it and there’s so much more that I could explore with this verse. Honestly if I didn’t have so many more ideas to write, I would totally do that. I’d love to write prequels, sequels (remix sequels). This is a verse I could do a lot with if I had you know a way to freeze time.

3) The Beauty and the Tragedy – When Mr. Gold calls in Lord French’s marker, bankrupting his estate, it leaves Lady Belle with nowhere to go until Mr. Gold offers her a deal. She enters his service as a maid and true love blossoms between them. Belle dreams of forever but there is a room, which is permanently locked, that stands in the way. [NSFW] [Tumblr, AO3] – I wrote this in a day as an emergency writer for Rumbelle Revelry and I just love it. The way the fic came out, the imagery and how it flows, I just feel it works really well and I don’t often say that about anything I’ve written.

4) Conspiracy Afloat – When Mr. Gold buys Storybrooke marina, one of the marina’s few permanent residents, Belle French, swears he won’t get away with it. She sets sail and anchors in a remote cove and that night Belle witnesses a murder. At first light she returns to the marina to report it … but nobody believes her. Gold’s purchase of the marina now takes on even more sinister implications, and her growing attraction towards him only complicates matters. Vowing to investigate herself, if the sheriffs won’t, Belle soon starts to unravel a town-wide conspiracy. [Tumblr, AO3] – I wrote this for RSS and it’s quite long, the verse came to just over 30k in the end, but it could well have been novel length if I’d let it. I have a ridiculous amount of headcanon. It starts off quite slow but then it’s gets full of the usual fun tropes like bedsharing.

5) In Your Arms – Retired soldier and single father Gold works at a coffee shop library. Plagued by nightmares of the war he’s quiet, only interacting with customers when necessary. His favorite customer is Belle, who comes in a couple of times a week. Her smile is as bright as the sun. One day she comes in upset and for a moment he is brave enough to ask her what is wrong. [Tumblr, AO3] – This was on the list last time as well. I love this verse. The Gold in this is more like an AU version of spinner!Rumple and there’s a kind of a blanket fort going on. Gold is really sweet and this is another verse I could write so much more with. I might be adding a oneshot in April if I have time as it works for one of the Monthly Rumbelling prompts. I hope so because I would love to revisit these characters!

Picking the last one was hard because I would have loved to put The War Within on the list. I know it’s cheating to mention it at the end but I worked really hard on that, the verse is over 100k. It’s an alternate season six that has a Rumbelle true loves kiss and a happy ending. Anyway thank you so much for the tag! and for letting me ramble 🙂