A/n: Once upon a time has just finished airing in Australia. I am totally hooked. So I had to write something. Just something short, but hopefully I'll be able to come up with some sort of longer/better plot in the near future. Please review. :)

Belle pulled her thick overcoat around her as the thunder rumbled overhead. She shivered. It would rain, and soon. She glanced ahead. Rumpelstiltskin had already moved some distance away. He picked his way between the gravestones, moving hurriedly and with purpose. Belle bit her lip and followed, moving quickly to catch up.

It had taken them five hours to get here by car. For the entire trip Rumpelstiltskin had all but ignored her, his concentration fixed, so it seemed, on driving and the road ahead. He didn't wait for her now and barely seemed to register her presence. But Belle could not hold that against him.

It was Emma Swan who had brought the news. Rumpelstiltskin had called in that favour she apparently owed him. Storybrooke's sheriff had seemed relieved at first, perhaps expecting the man's eventual 'request' to be something more sinister. When she'd finally delivered her findings however she'd been anything but relieved. Apologetic would have been accurate. Not that it was her fault. She could only tell Rumpelstiltskin the truth.

And so they'd driven the five hours to the cemetery Emma had directed them to. Not a problem, now that they could leave Storybrooke at will.

Ahead of her, Rumpelstiltskin had come to a halt. Belle approached him where he stood, staring down at a headstone, all but expressionless.

"Rumpelstiltskin..." Belle pressed a hand to his shoulder. "Is that it...?"

"No," he turned away sharply. "It can't be. Miss Swan must have been wrong."

Belle knelt down, brushing dirt and dust away from the weathered stone. The headstone bore a name, and a date of death, four years previous. No birth date was recorded. Though it broke her heart, Belle could not let her lover cling to a hope that should have vanished as soon as Emma brought her report. "This is the name. Ben Thatch. This is the name Emma said he took..."

"I know that's what she said..." Rumpelstiltskin's voice was strained. "But she must be wrong... either that or she's lying."

"Why would she lie? Not about this. She has no reason to. And finding missing people is what she used to do… I don't think she'd make a mistake… not about something like this. She would make sure." Belle stood back to her feet. Rumpelstiltskin… I'm so sorry…"

He turned back to her, though couldn't yet look at the gravestone. "But it can't…"

Belle could see the pain in his eyes, and knew that despite his half hearted protest she didn't need to convince him anymore. She let her fingertips brush his sleeve as he finally stepped forward and forced himself to really look at the gravestone. Then Belle stepped back. But she didn't move far.

Rumpelstiltskin stared at the grave for a brief moment and then sunk to his knees in the damp grass. "Bae…" He reached out in front of him, as if he could somehow pull his dead son from the block of stone. His hands fell back uselessly to his side. But his boy was gone. That's what Emma had found. He'd died in a car accident, only four years ago. No amount of magic, not even a plan 30 years in the making could ever hope to bring him back. Rumpelstiltskin hung his head, and his shoulders began to shake.

His sobs reached Belle's ears, bringing tears to her eyes. Eventually, she could stand it no longer and knelt down beside him wrapping her arms about his shoulders.