"So," Regina said, pouring herself a drink and settling on one of the sofas in her office. "How long have you been awake?"

Rumpelstiltskin watched her for a moment. This was a secret he'd wanted to keep for his own as long as he could, to play both Regina and Emma against each other until the curse broke. He still didn't know how that would happen, he just knew it was getting close to happening and he was so scared of doing anything to interfere with that. Bae was so damn close he could feel it, but Belle would die if he did nothing. He'd almost lost her once before, he couldn't lose her again.

"A little while now," he replied at last. "You can't have thought I wouldn't build in some safety for myself."

"That was supposed to have been your pleases," She said with a snarl on her lips. "I gave you what you asked for and you betrayed me."

"Betrayal implies we were ever on the same side," he reminded her. "You were only ever a means to an end, and while we're on the subject I can't help but notice my maid isn't quite as dead as I was led to believe."

She sat back and gave him a self-satisfied smile at that.

"I couldn't have you getting distracted," She said coolly. "Not when we were so close."

He could have throttled her at that, but he wouldn't. Not yet, anyway. He still needed Emma to discover the truth and if he killed Regina right now she'd just take Henry and run. Regina was useful just this little while longer.

"We seem to have crossed that bridge now," he shot back. "So I'll be collecting my employee and leaving."

"Employee?" Regina snorted. "Really, Rumple, after all this you're still going to pretend like she's not valuable to you? The question is, what is she worth?"

He felt rage beginning to bubble up in him, and it was all he could do to contain it.

"Don't misunderstand me," he replied. "Belle is leaving with me. The only thing up for debate right now is whether I let her provide the Sheriff with whatever evidence she's collected on you."

Regina froze. Not for long, she was too good for that, but he had known her a long time. He knew he had her.

Belle was still a little shellshocked, sitting on the sofa with Henry curled up halfway in her lap with his head cradled to her chest. He hadn't been this clingy in years, but she was just so relieved to see him again she only hugged him tighter.

"You have to leave with him," Henry murmured. "Please, Belle. You'll be safe."

She shook her head softly, signing would have meant releasing him and she couldn't let herself do that yet.

"She won't hurt me," Henry promised her. "Emma won't let her."

She did unwind herself from him enough to sign this time, needing him to understand.

Not all hurts are physical, she reminded him.

"It won't hurt me less to see you die," he replied.

Belle didn't have an answer for that, because she knew he was right. She didn't want to die, but she didn't know how to live with herself if she left him either.

She was still mulling it over when the door to Regina's office swung open and Rumple emerged with Regina behind him.

"Henry," Regina commanded. "Come here."

Nobody paid any attention to Regina, though. Henry remained right where he was as Rumpelstiltskin came over to them both and leaned down.

"Is there anything in your room you can't live without?" he whispered so that only she and Henry could hear. "Don't worry about your clothes, we can replace that. Anything of sentimental value?"

She thought for a moment. Her necklace from Henry was around her neck and she hadn't acquired much since she'd been here.

I have a book upstairs, she signed after a minute.

"I'll get it for her," Henry said quickly, sliding off the sofa and rushing up the stairs.

"It's going to be okay," Rumpelstiltskin reassured her, pulling her to her feet. "You're just going to have to trust me, darling."

Belle nodded, letting him guide her hand into the crook of his arm as they waited for Henry to return. She heard him bounding down the stairs after only a few minutes, carrying her book as well as a small box she recognized as his box of treasures. It held ticket stubs to movies, a cicada shell he'd found when he was five, and a four leaf clover she'd pressed for him years ago. She felt tears already beginning to well up in her eyes as he handed it to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her tight.

I'll miss you, he signed to her

I'll miss you too, she replied. Stay safe. I love you.

I love you too.

And then Rumple's hand was on the small of her back and he was leading her out of what had been her home. From danger to safety, leaving behind everything she'd known for the last twenty-eight years.

Belle was so small, and when Rumpelstiltskin finally ushered her into his home - their home, he mentally corrected himself - he remembered so vividly the last time he'd brought her with him that for a moment all he wanted to do was wrap himself up around her and reassure himself that she was here and she was safe for as long as possible, for as long as it took to believe it. She was really here, she was really safe.

"We'll get you settled," he said, more to hear himself speak than because he thought she needed the reassurance. "And then we'll go see what we can't do about getting you some clothes."

She nodded, but didn't seem to want to release the things Henry had brought her in order to reply to him. She was still so shaken up.

"Let me show you your room," he continued, touching her elbow to guide her up the stairs.

She followed him as he directed her towards one of spare bedrooms that was all light colored wood and rose colored sheets. It had reminded him of her the moment he'd woken up and he'd spent the time since then carefully adding in whatever he could to make it feel more like a place Belle would want to be.

He'd never entirely believed she'd ever stay here.

He watched as she set her book and the box on the vanity, standing for a long moment with her back to him. When she looked up, he saw her tear stained face reflect at him in the mirror. He dashed towards her as fast as he could, wrapping his arms around her as she turned to bury her face in his neck. He stroked her hair as she sobbed. He didn't know how long they stood there before she eventually pulled him down onto the bed with her. She curled around him, letting him hold her as tightly as possible.

"I'm sorry," he whispered at last. "I'm the one who brought you into this."

You saved me, she signed to him. How did you know I was in trouble?

"Regina," he admitted. "She suspected that I remembered, so she used you to blackmail me into admitting it."

She squeezed him a little bit apologetically, and he suddenly had to elaborate.

"It wasn't the end of the world," he continued. "The curse will be broken soon regardless. She can only hold out so long, and Miss Swan will know soon enough. You have my word."

And then Henry will be with Emma?

"That's really up to Emma," he reassured her. "But he'll be safe. That was one of my conditions with Regina."

So he'll be okay?

"He'll be fine," he replied. "I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Belle. And if you need Henry to be happy then Henry will be safe and happy."

She didn't reply, instead craning upwards to kiss him softly. He'd protect her forever, if he had to. And Henry to if it came down to it. Whatever it took to make Belle happy. Soon, he'd have Baelfire back as well. He'd tell Belle everything and she would love the boy just as she loved Henry.

For the first time in centuries, Rumpelstiltskin let himself feel hope that everything would be alright.

Two months later…

He'd promised that Henry would be okay, and now she was sitting by his hospital bed while Snow White read him a story. He was supposed to be helping Regina and Emma get something that would help save him, and she had to have faith. When the monitors started going crazy, beeping and Snow White was screaming for help. Everything was happening so fast, and Belle was being shuffled to the side along with the princess.

She watched from the arms of Snow White as the boy she'd raised as her own child was declared legally dead. She'd never hurt so much in her life. It felt like a gaping hole in her heart that she couldn't fill. She knew the loss of Baelfire had driven Rumpelstiltskin through the last three hundred years, but it wasn't until that second that she really understood why he'd done it. Henry was so small in the hospital bed, and so very pale.

Nobody tried to make her leave, thank the gods. She went back to being invisible Belle, sitting next to his bed and stroking his hair back from his face. His hair was always in his face, and he could use a haircut. Could have used a haircut. He was gone now, what did it really matter anymore?

The doctor and the nurses stayed away, giving her room to grieve. She shouldn't have ever left him alone, she shouldn't have trusted Regina not to cause him harm. Belle barely bothered to look up when Regina and Emma entered the room. She hated the Queen so much in that moment that if Emma had turned and stabbed her in the chest, Belle would have sworn it was a random stranger. But Belle couldn't have left Henry's side if she'd wanted to. She'd been with him for most of his eleven years of life, she would stay with him just this little bit longer. He had been son and ward and best friend and protector, and she had left him once before. She wouldn't do it again.

She had her head bowed over Henry's hand, and she could sense Emma coming towards them, but she was too preoccupied with her silent vigil to care. It wasn't until Henry's body jerked and he gasped awake.

True Love's Kiss could break any curse. It had been Regina who told her that, and now it was Regina who was being surrounded by her victims having fallen victim to the same thing she had tried to destroy Belle with. The irony was staggering, but Henry was alive and that was all that Belle could focus on.

An hour later, when the wave of magic rolled through town Belle knew that Rumpelstiltskin had been behind it. When he arrived at the hospital not long after and stood in the door with a smile on his face, she knew then that they would be alright. She would help him find his son, and they could start to forge a new family together.

"Is your voice back?" Henry asked her, breaking her out of her trance.

Rumple and Emma both seemed interested in this, he coming closer and her watching curiously as Belle tried to remember what it felt like to make a noise. She tried unsuccessfully to make a few different noises before finally shaking her head.

I lost my voice before the curse, she explained. I suppose Regina still has it unless she did something with it.

"We'll figure it out," Rumple promised her. "If I have to skin her alive I'll get it back for you."

Belle glanced over at Henry quickly, putting her hand on Rumple's arm to still his rage.

I don't need my voice, she quickly reassured him. I have a family now. Everything I need is right here.

The end.

I know a lot of people are going to be disappointed that Belle doesn't get her voice back. I put a lot of thought into this and what I basically decided was that while in the context of this story it does make sense for her to get her voice back the story doesn't exist in a vacuum.

There's a trope in stories about disabled people where the happy ending involves the disability being removed. I didn't want to write yet another story where the disabled person becomes able bodied and they all live happily ever after.

If there is any career path that lends itself well to a person who can't speak, it's small town librarian whose wealthy husband is head over heels in love with her. Her problem was never not being able to speak, it was that people were ignoring her. That's not fixed by getting your voice back, it's fixed by the people around you not being toolboxes.

Anyway, if you think for one goddamn second that Neal doesn't learn to communicate with her the second he finds out she raised his son then you have another thing coming.