Sometimes her Rumple needs her.

Sometimes the elegant gentleman disappears. Sometimes he becomes so vulnerable…

His eyes change at night. He never wants to admit it to her, but she knows the nightmares that plague his sleep. Even her presence is not enough to calm him on the worst nights, the nights where he grips at his lameness and cries out in pain, reliving his past. All she can do is hold him in her arms, stroking his hair and murmuring soothingly in his ear until the spell passes and he becomes Rumple again.

She often wonders if he is no longer Rumple when he dreams because he is Mr. Gold instead. His cursed persona, a man who is tormented by his physical frailty. He is stripped of that crutch he calls magic, left a naked, shivering shadow of a man. In his dreams, she knows that he doesn't have the power to defeat the evils that make him scream and weep. He doesn't know that he's still her Rumple, even without the trappings of magic.

Now and again, he never wakes from the nightmares until the morning. Then he pretends that they never happened and she lets him say so because she loves him. Such things are always easier to bear in the light of day. But there are also times… times that he does wake up in the heat of the moment.

When that happens, it makes her want to weep. She switches on the bedside lamp and pulls him close to her bosom, letting him rest his head against her as she gently caresses his skin. They do not speak, and the only sounds that can be heard are the tears still running down his cheeks as he tries not to sob. His weakness frightens her because she understands that he doesn't like her to see him this way. But the fear is no longer existent when she pulls him close and he melts into her arms like a small boy. Together, they remain on the bed, stroking and crying, for tears begin to fall for her as well.

As he begins to shift in her lap, she bends down to place a kiss on his damp forehead, whispering for him to sit up so that she can help him. As he shakily does, she reaches out to grab his cane and pulls him to his feet, placing the cane right in front of him so that he can feel the security and safety that it offers. She leads him out the door, down the hall, taking slow, mild steps as they walk, for she can see his hand shaking on the head of the cane. She takes him down into the bathroom and sits him down on the seat of the toilet, taking one hand to touch his face reassuringly.

The sound of the bath beginning to run echoes across the grey tiles that form the walls of the washroom, creating a waterfall to wash away the fear. As the water begins to reach warmth, she looks over at him to see his blank stare at the cane that he still grips with white knuckles. He won't look at her, and she feels her heart begin to ache. Her love drops from her lips as she watches him, giving him a moment of space before she turns the taps on the bath and swishes her hand in the warm water.

She kneels on the floor in front of him, gently unbuttoning his striped pajama shirt, murmuring soft assurances as she works. Her hands take his, setting the cane aside as she speaks to him like he is a frightened woodland creature that she must tame. The look of fear still reigns in his eyes as he tries to look at her, and she knows that he isn't quite awake. She pulls his shirt off and drops it on the floor as she helps him into a standing position to remove his candy-striped trousers and pants. He wobbles in her arms, unsure of his own weight and deliberately not standing at all on his weak leg. She bites her lip, but still smiles at his petrified face.

She doesn't quite know how she manages to get him into the bath by herself, but finally he sits in the warm water, curled up in a ball with his head resting against his knees. As she pulls a cloth from the shelf next to the sink, she still smiles at him, still saying the words that he needs to hear, even if he can't register them yet.

Dipping her cloth into the water, she begins to gently rub his back with the warmth, making little circles and then larger ones, watching his tense muscles slowly begin to relax, bit by bit. Warming her cloth over and over again, she begins to clean more of his body, running it across his arms and his neck, giving him a chance to waken out of that dream…

When he finally raises his head to look at her, she knows that she's done well. His eyes have begun to clear, and he whispers her name, the tears finally drying… she smiles again, kneeling down to gently wash his chest before he seems able to move once more, pulling at her nightdress to bring her lips closer to his.

She helps him out of the bath, his stance a bit steadier now, despite the wet. As she helps him to dry his body, he looks at her, and she knows that Mr. Gold has gone again. It's her Rumple who stands before her. And she helps him on with his nightclothes, feeling the glow of his warmth and affection burning into her cheeks. He pulls her close, looking at her eyes for a long moment before he pulls her into the kiss that she so badly wants, showing her Rumple.

"I love you, Belle."

"Rumple…"

Inspired by a picture I found on Tumblr, from doctorsong's page, showing Belle bathing her woobie Rumple. And then once that idea was in my head… Hope you enjoyed!