"Deal!"

Belle shuddered at the sound. Sometimes Rumple spoke with such zeal about magic and his clever tricks that she wondered whether he had changed at all. She looked across the counter and met his eyes. But he had. So much was different. He was a real man, just as she had wished all those years ago.

He noticed the doubt in her eyes, and slipped his hand into hers.

"Let's go get a hamburger."

Belle smiled, reassured. "Okay…husband."

"Then let's go, wife."

"No problem, husband!"

"I love you."

"Me too."

It was at these moments she knew how far they had come. He had turned from a scary bedtime story to a savior to her captor to her master then lover and finally…her husband. The word just felt wrong in her mouth, but she couldn't think of anyone else she would ever say that to.

She walked back to her…their room, to grab her handbag. She quickly checked "The tales of a thousand gallant knights", examining its weight before replacing it on the shelf. The book had been written by bigoted, arrogant knights, but she had still been loathe to hollow it out. It felt like a stupid hiding place for something as important as Rumple's dagger, but she couldn't carry it around, and Rumple refused to have anything to do with it.

Nothing had solidified her faith in him as much as that dagger. Despite all the cowardice, ruthlessness, the barriers, he had finally given up power. He chose her.

Belle stepped out of the room with a smile. She was going to have lunch with her husband.