Belle and Rumple seek help in their fight against Hades and square off against the Charmings. This got a bit dark towards the end regarding Emma. Safe to say it's pretty anti-Emma, anti-Hook, and anti-Charmings.

The Line Between - continued

'Are you sure you want me to do this?' he asked, holding the pipes in his hand.

'Yes,' she said, gathering her courage.

Rumplestiltskin nodded and blew into the pipes. He didn't hear the note. Once, he would have, but he didn't feel lost or unloved any more.

'Did it work?' Belle asked: 'I didn't hear anything.'

'You can only hear Peter Pan's pipes if you feel lost and unloved,' he said: 'that you didn't hear that suggests you feel neither.'

'I don't,' she agreed. 'Did you hear it?'

He shook his head. She smiled.

'How-how will we know if he heard it?'

'Oh, he'll let us know. You don't have to worry, Belle: I won't let him hurt you.'

'I know, I just…last time I saw him was when you died, and he was going to kill me and Neal.'

He could see she was nervous about doing this and he came and put his arms around her. She settled into his embrace at once.

'Belle, if you don't wanna do this—'

'No, I do: I'm just wary of him. I trust you, Rumple: if you think this'll work, then we try it.'

He nodded. 'I love you.'

'I love you too,' she returned, and kissed him.

'Hope I'm not interrupting.'

Belle gasped and Rumplestiltskin pushed her behind him, protecting her with his body.

'Hello, son,' Peter Pan greeted. 'Well, isn't this a bittersweet family reunion? My condolences, Rumple.'

'Belle isn't dead,' Rumplestiltskin returned: 'she's just visiting.'

'Ah, well, glad to hear it.'

'Are you? If I recall, you wanted to kill her the last time you saw her,' Rumplestiltskin snapped.

'Rumple,' Belle soothed, feeling how on edge he was.

He relaxed and wrapped an arm around her, bringing her in to his side.

'Belle, I'm sure you remember my father, Peter Pan.'

'I remember,' Belle said quietly.

'And, Father, I believe you remember my wife.'

'Indeed I do,' Peter Pan agreed. 'Got yourself a beautiful woman there, son.'

'Don't start,' Rumple growled.

'I'm just being polite,' Pan returned, keeping his expression neutral. 'So, you called?'

'I did. We need your help.'

'I see.' Pan looked from his son to the woman who was his daughter-in-law. 'What is it you need?'

'Hades has something that belongs to us that he's trying to cheat us out of: we need your help to get it from him. I figured the only way to cheat a cheater is to enlist the aid of an even bigger cheat.'

'And you thought of me: I'm touched.'

'Will you help us?'

'Depends on what you're willing to give me in return,' Pan returned, studying his son.

'What do you want?' Belle asked warily.

'He wants to come back,' Rumplestiltskin told her: 'he wants to take the place of one of the Charmings.'

Belle's eyes widened. 'That's…we can't possibly do that!'

'I agree,' Rumple said soothingly: 'I already told him as much.'

'There must be something else we can give you,' Belle pleaded. 'We can't and won't trade another soul for yours.'

'Quite the righteous heroine, aren't you?' Pan mused. 'You care that much about these Charmings?'

'I care about Rumple's soul and mine,' Belle countered. 'We won't darken them by helping you come back to wreak havoc again. You would have killed me, Neal, Henry, and cursed everyone in Storybrooke: is it really so surprising to you that we won't help you begin another reign of terror?'

Pan studied her. 'Well, you've got fire,' he said, impressed. 'I can see why you like her so much, Rumple. I always did like a woman with fire myself.'

'Enough!' Rumple snapped. 'If you're not going to help us, leave, and we'll find another way.'

'I didn't say I wasn't going to help you.'

'Well, we're not gonna help you get what you want, so we're at an impasse, aren't we?' Rumple growled.

Peter Pan looked at his son and Belle looked at him, and she thought that Rumple might be wrong about what he wanted.

'You can go,' Rumplestiltskin said to his father, and Belle heard the note of disappointment in his voice.

'No, wait,' Belle said, and stepped away from Rumple towards her father-in-law.

'Belle,' Rumple warned.

'It's ok, Rumple,' she soothed. She looked at Pan. 'You knew Rumple wouldn't agree to help you come back: you had that discussion already, so what is it you want from him, really?'

Pan tried to keep his expression a mask of indifference, but Belle saw the flicker of feeling in his eyes, the regret, and she saw the way his gaze flicked to Rumple, though he tried not to let her see it.

'You want what all the souls here want,' Belle realised: 'you wanna take care of your unfinished business.'

'And what unfinished business could I possibly have?' Pan asked, defensive.

'You're not that unlike him, you know, in the way you try to conceal what you're feeling,' Belle said softly. 'Rumple put on an act with me for months, but I saw through him, and I see through you now. You regret not being a father to your son, but, don't you see? This is an opportunity for you to do that. You can deal with your unfinished business and move on: all you have to do is help us, help him.'

Pan blinked. 'Quite, ah, perceptive, isn't she?' he asked his son.

'Yes,' Rumple agreed: 'always has been.' He put his arm around Belle and she leaned into him again. 'Did you mean what you said about being a family, truly?'

'Yes,' Pan returned. 'No tricks, Rumple, no games. You are my unfinished business, and, as much as I would love to come back, what I really want is peace: I want to do right by you, for once. I know it's too late to earn your love or forgiveness, but—'

'You always had my love,' Rumple interjected: 'I just never had yours,' he finished sadly.

Pan stared at him. 'You still love me, after everything I put you through, everything I did?'

'Yes.'

Pan blinked and looked away.

Rumplestiltskin swallowed hard. He'd never seen that look on his father's face before. He'd always seen it twisted with malice: he'd never seen him show remorse or any kind of warmer emotion towards him, until now.

'Papa…'

Pan smiled, not a smile of malevolent glee now, but a smile of warmth, of gratitude, and there were tears in his eyes.

'It's good to hear you call me that again, laddie,' he said, choking up.

Belle stepped to the side as Rumplestiltskin and his father reached for each other and embraced. She smiled as the coldness and mistrust gave way to acceptance and warmth. Perhaps, after all, they could save a soul today.

'So, tell me everything,' Pan entreated: 'what is it exactly you need my help with?'

Rumplestiltskin looked at Belle and she nodded.

'Several years before I became the Dark One, Bae got sick,' Rumple began. 'Milah and I went to a healer, but the cure was a hundred gold pieces. Milah got a knife and sent me to steal the cure and kill the healer, but I couldn't do it. He and I made a deal instead: my second-born child for the cure for Bae. I took it, never intending to have another child. Many years after I became the Dark One, a second child seemed a possibility, so I found the healer and crushed his heart.'

'Wait, who were you planning to have a child with?' Belle asked sharply, frowning at him. She hadn't known about this.

'Regina's mother, Cora,' he told her. 'We had a brief affair many years before I met you. In the end, she chose power over me, even ripped out her own heart rather than be with me. It was nothing compared to us.' He gestured between them, hoping she wouldn't be angry.

Belle nodded after a moment, accepting his explanation. 'Ok: go on,' she invited, appeased.

'Well, the way things worked out, I didn't have a child with Cora, obviously. Still, the healer was dead and I thought that was the end of it, that death nullified the deal, but now that I'm here, the deal is back in play, and, what's worse, the healer has signed the contract over to Hades. We need your help to get the contract from him.'

Pan frowned. 'I'm not sure I'm following: you want to retrieve a contract for a non-existent child?'

'It's not non-existent,' Belle said quietly.

'Belle's pregnant, Papa,' Rumple said. 'We need your help to save our baby.'

Pan looked between his son and his daughter-in-law. 'I told you she looked fertile.'

'Papa!' Rumple groaned.

'He told you that?' Belle asked, shooting an offended look at her father-in-law.

'Yes,' an exasperated Rumple replied, 'because as well as looking like an adolescent, he apparently has the mind of one too.' He sighed. 'This was a bad idea.'

'I'm sorry,' Pan said contritely. 'I'll behave: promise.'

Rumple shot him a look. 'See that you do.'

'I'm sorry, Belle,' Pan said.

'Alright,' Belle said, mollified, 'but I'm hitting you with a book the next time you say anything like that.'

'Noted,' Pan returned, 'and congratulations,' he added.

Rumple and Belle thanked him.

'So, now you know everything: can you help?' Rumplestiltskin asked.

Pan smiled. 'I believe I have just the information you need.'

0

They were sitting in the back room, talking things over, when the bell jingled.

'Probably the Charmings looking for my help again,' Rumple grumbled.

Sure enough… 'Gold!' Emma called impatiently.

'I'll go get rid of them,' he said, rolling his eyes.

Belle looked at Pan as Rumple left them alone. 'Thank you for doing this,' she said quietly: 'it means a lot to him, and to me.'

'Well, I've learned the hard way how important family is. If I can help you now, maybe it'll make up in some way for all the wrong I did Rumple.'

'He did always love you, you know. I know he wishes you could have left things on a better note. Still, at least you can, now.'

'Yes,' he agreed.

'What part of the word no do you not understand, Miss Swan?' Rumple's raised voice came back to them, irritated. 'I've got problems of my own: you lot can sort out your own mess for once.'

'I haven't told Belle your little secret yet, but I will,' Emma threatened darkly.

'Right, that's it!' Belle snapped, jumping to her feet and storming through to the front of the shop. Pan watched her go, and then quietly went to watch from behind the curtain what his fiery daughter-in-law would do.

'How dare you threaten Rumple?' she screeched, striding around the counter to face Emma. 'How dare you blackmail him into coming down here with you? Some hero you are!'

Emma stared at her, shocked. 'You…you know?'

'Yes, I know,' Belle hissed: 'he told me himself, so you can take your blackmail and shove it.'

'Easy, love,' Hook chimed in.

Belle whirled on him. 'You keep out of this, Hook,' she growled.

'We were just trying to help Killian, Belle,' Snow said, attempting to soothe the angry woman.

'So help him,' Belle returned, 'and leave us alone. You really expect me to stand by and say nothing about how you treat my husband? You were all perfectly content to leave him to rot while you went on a fool's errand in search of Merlin. You completely ignored the fact that Rumple and Emma were both seduced by the Darkness: you excused Emma because she's your family. Well, Rumple's my family, so you'll forgive me if I'm not sympathetic to your threats against him. You'll also forgive me it I'm not accommodating your every need any more. Rumple and I have our own concerns to deal with now.'

'I can't believe you're just gonna let this go, after everything he did,' Emma said, flabbergasted. 'He's the reason Killian is down here!'

Belle turned to her very slowly, shaking in anger.

'Hook's down here because he got cut by Excalibur: what Rumple did to the sword wouldn't have killed anyone. You'd be dead too if it weren't for him.'

'What is that supposed to mean?' Emma demanded.

'Maybe you should try and figure that one out for yourself,' Belle suggested, 'instead of looking to us for the answers all the time. And as for letting it go, why is it ok for your family to forgive all of your nefarious acts, but I'm the worst in the world if I forgive Rumple? It's one rule for you and one for everyone else. You're not the hero you pretend to be: none of you are. You're all hypocrites.' She glared around at Emma, Regina, Hook, David and Snow. 'Get out, and don't come back.'

'Belle,' Rumple murmured, quietly proud of her. She sighed as he put his arms around her and relaxed against him.

The Charmings weren't leaving, though: they were all too shocked by Belle's outburst. They were about to get another shock.

'I believe my daughter-in-law told you to leave.'

'You!' Emma cried, as Peter Pan came through from the back room: 'what are you doing here?'

Pan laughed. 'Have you forgotten you're in the Underworld, Emma? I'm here for the same reason everyone else is: unfinished business.'

'What unfinished business could a demon like you have?' Hook demanded.

'Oh, isn't this the pot calling the kettle black? Didn't you recently release a dozen or so previous Dark Ones on Storybrooke? Am I misinformed on that? And you, Emma: how did it feel to turn your lover into a Dark One? Did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy giving in to the Darkness?'

'That's enough!' Regina snapped, as Emma looked very uncomfortable. 'You think we're just going to let you walk around town after you tried to kill Henry?'

'I'm no threat to Henry,' Pan said: 'Rumple wouldn't ask me here if I was. My reasons for being here aren't anything to do with you people, believe me.'

'Then why are you here?' David asked. 'Why would you ask him here?' he asked Rumple.

'That's our business,' Rumple returned.

'Suffice it to say, I have a family to protect, same as you,' Pan said.

'Emma, is he telling the truth?' Regina asked.

'He's not lying,' Emma said reluctantly.

'Oh, yes, the famous super power,' Pan said. 'Well, how nice to know I pass your rigorous testing, Emma, not that you have any moral high ground from which to judge me, not any more, at least.' He smiled nastily. 'From Saviour to Dark One: my, my, my, how are the mighty fallen. So are you the Saviour again, or…?'

'Gold, why are you working with him?' Regina demanded, impatiently, tired of Pan's goading: 'what's going on?'

'I don't believe I owe you any explanation, Regina. It's not like you care anyway.'

'I know you and your plans, Gold: they never end well for anyone but you. I can't believe you stooped so low as to talk Belle into going along with whatever evil scheme you've concocted this time.'

'I beg your pardon?' Belle hissed, stepping away from Rumple towards the queen. 'You have the gall to act as if you're concerned for my welfare now, when, not two months ago, you ripped my heart out of my chest and used it to force me to hurt the man I love.'

Snow gasped. 'Regina!'

'I did it to save Robin,' Regina snapped.

'I would have helped you!' Belle shouted, 'but that wasn't good enough for you: you just had to force me to do what you wanted.' She laughed bitterly. 'Rumple really was right: light and dark really is all about your point of view. Who are you to judge us? You have absolutely no idea what's at stake here for us.'

'Belle, if you're in some kind of trouble, we can help,' David said.

She rounded on him. 'Now you wanna help me?' she demanded. 'When I needed you to help me rescue Rumple from Emma, you were happy to take the risk of something happening to him because helping him didn't fit with your plan. Ugh, just get out,' she said, disgusted.

'We're going to take down Hades,' Hook said, grabbing her by the elbow as she turned away: 'I wouldn't get in our way,' he warned.

'Take your hand off my wife, pirate,' Rumple growled, a ball of fire appearing in his hand.

Belle pushed Hook's hand off her and was walking back to Rumple. He dowsed the flame in his hand and reached for her.

'Get down, Belle!' Pan shouted, and he just managed to pull her down into a crouch when a blast of magic sailed over her head, aimed at Rumple from Emma's outstretched hand. Luckily, he was quick enough to avoid it and it shattered one of the cabinets on the wall behind him.

The atmosphere between the two groups suddenly dropped several degrees.

'Belle!' Rumple cried, crouching down to her, checking her over: 'are you alright?'

She took a breath. 'I think so.'

'You're sure none of that hit you?' he asked, reaching out to touch her stomach.

She nodded. 'I'm sure.' She looked at her father-in-law. 'You saved me.'

'Yes. Thank you, Papa: I…'

'It's alright,' Pan soothed. 'I couldn't let anything happen to the woman carrying my grandchild, now, could I?'

'Grandchild?' Regina cried, shocked.

'What?' Emma asked weakly.

'Belle…you're pregnant?' Snow asked.

'Are you sure you're alright, sweetheart?' Rumple asked, ignoring the shocked voices of the Charmings.

'I'm fine: we're fine. Are you ok?' She was checking him over for injury.

'I'm alright,' he said, helping her up as Pan got to his feet himself. He hugged her and then stepped in front of her to face Emma, who was clenching her hands into fists at her sides, anger rolling off her in waves. He didn't give a damn that she was protective of her precious pirate, she would not throw her magic around because she felt threatened. Hook was the one who had grabbed Belle anyway: Rumplestiltskin had only sought to protect her, and he banished the magic when he saw Belle was safe, before Emma threw her magic.

'You ever throw magic in my wife's direction again and I will kill you, Miss Swan, Henry's mother or not,' he growled.

'It was an accident,' Snow claimed, coming to her daughter's defence.

He sneered. 'No, it wasn't.' He looked Emma over. 'Darkness comes in all forms, Miss Swan: it doesn't have to be attached to a dagger. I don't care what demons you're dealing with, don't you ever do that again.' Hook was a bad influence on her. Wherever he was, Bae must be shaking his head in sadness for her.

'I was aiming for you,' she spat: 'you're the only demon I'm dealing with!'

'Emma!' Snow cried.

'Oh, yes, we're back to it being my fault the pirate is stuck down here,' Rumple returned. 'Perhaps you ought to examine your own actions in all of this. Too uncomfortable for you?' he asked, seeing the way her eyes flicked away. 'You make your own choices, dearie: in the end, it's all down to you. You wanna insist it's my fault? Fine: keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night, but the thing about demons is that sometimes they're closer to your heart than you think.' His eyes flicked to Hook as he stepped back to rejoin Belle. The pirate only frowned. Of course he wouldn't see that he'd changed Emma, and not in a good way: in a very, very bad way.

'Well, good luck with Hades,' Rumplestiltskin continued: 'good luck coming up with a plan that actually works for once. It'll be a cold day in…well, here, when that happens.' He smiled.

'Gold, we should be working together,' David appealed to him. 'You wanna protect your baby from Hades, we get that: we'd be stronger together.'

'Oh, but you see, we don't trust you,' Rumple said, and Belle nodded.

'You don't trust us?' Snow asked, shocked.

'Do you really not get it?' Rumple demanded. 'Your daughter, the Saviour, just threw her magic in the direction of my pregnant wife,' he growled, 'a woman who has never done anything to hurt any one of you. Well, that's the last straw, you see. We're not gonna work with hypocrites, or with anyone who can't control their darker impulses.' He glared at Emma. 'Belle and I will take down Hades and save our baby, and, yes, we'll even save all of you because my wife will insist on it, even though I don't think you deserve it. She's a much better person than I am, you see.' He smiled fondly at Belle. 'And after this is all over, once we're home safe, you stay out of our way and we'll stay out of yours, and that's how it'll be from now on.'

'You're serious about this?' Regina asked: 'you trust Pan over us?'

'Quite serious,' Rumple returned, 'and, yes, I trust him. Five minutes ago, I was still wary, but then he stepped in to protect Belle from Emma and that told me more than anything else that he's changed for the better. I'd rather work with someone changing for the better than someone changing for the worse.' And he shot another dark look at Emma.

'We've said all we're going to say,' Belle said, determined: 'we'd like you to leave now.'

'Fine,' Regina said.

Emma was going to protest, but Regina raised her hand to stop her.

'There's no point, Emma: they've made up their minds,' she told her.

Emma did not look happy. Probably trying to come up with something else she could blackmail him with, Rumplestiltskin thought uncharitably. Falling in love with the pirate had been the worst thing that had ever happened to that woman.

Belle followed them to the door and, once Snow had left, Belle shut it quickly behind her and locked it, ignoring the other woman's parting words.

She came back to Rumplestiltskin and squared her shoulders.

'Right, let's go save our baby,' she said with quiet determination.

The end. Thank you for reading :)