"Are you sure there's something wrong with the baby?" Rumple repeated, moving himself closer to Belle, obviously concerned.

Belle shook her head feeling uncertain "I felt pain earlier- but I didn't think much of it, but now-" she let out another gasp of pain while Rumple kissed the top of her forehead and sat her down. He placed his hand across her flushed cheeks to check her temperature.

"You're warm" he observed, pulling his hand away and examined the flush that appeared in her cheeks.

"I don't know what's wrong"" Belle held back the tears which were slowly leaking out of the corner of her eyes.

"It could be stress, I mean, the past couple weeks have been anything but calm and relaxing" Baelfire added, while Rumplestiltskin stood facing the Beauty, watching her as she continued to further herself into the state of extreme discomfort.

Then Belle felt an alarming trace of something running down her leg. Gazing down, suddenly feeling light headed, Belle was overwhelmed with dizziness. She lifted up part of her skirts and saw a long streak of red blood that dripped almost down to her shin.

"She's bleeding!" Daniel exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Can't you heal her with magic?" he questioned, looking over at Rumple, who remained by the Beauty's side attentively.

"Its difficult to say, sometimes magic can only makes matters worse, I don't want to take the chance of causing any harm to the baby" Rumple explained, his eyes never lifted from Belle's sight.

"Well, we can't just sit here and do nothing, what if she's having a miscarriage!" Bae protested to the other two. "Something could happen to her!"

"Rumple-" Belle croaked desperately, grabbing his hand and holding it tighter than she had before.

"Go get Regina" Rumple commanded Daniel, who immediately obeyed and ran upstairs to fetch the Queen. Daniel rushed up the stairs and caught Regina completely off guard when he grabbed her shoulder to spin her around to face him. "Daniel what are you-"

"It's Belle" he explained, out of breath. "She's in pain, we think that she might be having a miscarriage" his expression was painted with nothing but sadness and concern.

"She could lose the baby?" Regina questioned, seriously.

He nodded, trying to read the Queen's opaque expression. As much as Regina resented it, as much as she resented the devilish thoughts that lurked deep down within her brain, she couldn't help her mind from wandering. The possibility that Belle could lose the baby- the same baby that might grow up and pose a threat to her someday.

"Regina?" Daniel called her name, noticing her absent blank stare. "Can you help us? Any potions or remedies that could heal her?"

She could let the child die, it was simple enough, all she had to do was tell Daniel that no such remedy existed, and like that she would take care of two problems at once.

No, Regina thought. She promised herself that she would try her best to change her wicked ways, she wanted to go back to the way things were before she became Queen, she wanted to be someone who her people loved and adored- not the Evil Queen that she was portrayed to be.

"I have a remedy" Regina finally spoke after moments of silence. "It was forged from a powerful sorcerer, it's proven to be a very powerful healing potion"

"Then there is no time to lose" he beamed, his face full of hope. Regina had fetched the small potion bottle and rushed to the Main Hall.

"Well?" Rumple awaited for Daniel and Regina to enter the room with news. "I have a remedy that I could give to her" the Queen replied, calmly.

"Are their any risks on taking the potion?"

"Not that I know of" she concluded, "It should be able to cure her of whatever pain she is experiencing" Regina handed the small vile of potion to Rumple, who popped off the lid and brought the top of it to Belle's dry lips. The Beauty swallowed the coloured liquid with a tiny gulp and a faint sigh.

"How do you feel?" They all stood there, anticipating the results of the remedy.

"Has the pain stopped?" Bae asked her.

"I think so" Belle allowed herself to sit up and feel the limitations of her movements. "I feel a lot better" she realized, stretching and standing up, letting a small smile come across her face with relief. Belle rubbed her belly tenderly, wrapping her arm around Rumple's shoulders for support.

"The bleeding has stopped too" she confirmed, looking in Regina's direction.

To her surprise, the Queen felt happy. She saw how Daniel cared for this girl, they way the boy and his father would look at her, they way her child would look at her once it was born.

She could of allowed the child to be miscarried, let the fear and uncertainty slip away from her mind of the child being a possible threat. She knew deep down that she needed to help the pregnant princess. Maybe, just maybe, she was deserving of Daniel's love after all.

"Are you alright to travel?" Daniel asked, still slightly weary of her condition.

"I think so" she responded, her stare hazy and tired, slowly resting her head upon her love's shoulders.

"Well you are welcome to stay here as long as you wish" the Queen suddenly spoke, which made Baelfire, Rumple and Belle all turn their attention to her. "That's very kind of you, Regina, thank you" the Beauty spoke softly.

"As soon as you feel well enough we shall return to the castle" Rumplestiltskin reassured her.

"I'm glad" she admitted "I've been awfully homesick lately. We can finally go back home to the dark castle."

"We can all be together now?" Bae asked, a tone of excitement in his voice. "Yes, we can all be together now" Rumple repeated the bittersweet words of his son. They shared a bittersweet goodbye with Regina and Daniel.

Rumple kept his appropriate distance from the Queen as Belle hugged Daniel, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. The Beauty then pulled back to face Regina and to her surprise, Belle smashed into her side, giving her a brief hug of thanks.

The Queen cleared her throat and gave the Beauty a brief smile before tucking herself close to Daniel and resting her head on his shoulder. That was the last image that was set in their mind before the three of them walked out the front entrance of the palace.

"Well, what do we do when we return?" Belle asked Rumple, her arms wrapped around his arms, lovingly.

Then with a smile he replied, "We will finally get our happily ever after"

She smiled and stood up her tip-toes and kissed him hard on the mouth. "Rum, I don't think anything has sounded better in my entire life" she spoke, grabbing a hold of Baelfire's hand as they returned back to the dark castle, hand in hand, never to be separated again.

~Epilogue~

Six Months Later...

Belle sat in the courtyard, a book in her hand, her hands rested upon her gigantic belly. Six months it had been, six whole months since she had confronted Gaston, confronted her fears and rescued Rumplestiltskin from the palace.

Now, Belle was faced with a new challenge: Being eight months pregnant. The sun danced off her beautiful long auburn hair as it flowed down passed her shoulders. Belle ran her hands around the circumference of her stomach, rubbing gentle circles with her fingertips.

"The baby will be lucky to inherit her mother's beauty" Rumple'a voice called from a short distance away.

Belle found herself smiling and beaming at the sound of his voice.

"You know, we can't keep calling her "baby" forever" Belle spoke out, knowing that Rumple was indeed watching over her. She closed her eyes as he kissed her neck, causing her to let out tiny giggles of delight. "She needs a proper name"

Her mind trailed off into a state of thought, then turning to face Rumple she asked "what about Agnes?" Belle suggested, while Rumple gave her a look of disgust.

"What? I don't hear you coming up with any names! You've shot down all the names I've thought of"

"Well I don't want my daughter stuck with any ordinary name, her name needs to be just as extraordinary as she will be"

"Well then you need to think of one soon because I need her out soon, I don't know how much longer I can take her kicking my ribcage" she admitted, adjusting her position to make herself more comfortable.

"What about Rose?" She asked "Bae suggested it the other day when we were out walking in the gardens, I rather like the name"

"Rose" Rumple repeated. "It is very pretty, and I do love roses-"

Belle grinned again while he said the name. "I like the name very much, I think it's absolutely perfect for our little girl"

While the Beauty searched for approval from Rumple, she felt movement deep in her belly, which caused her to instantly move her hands to feel the baby.

"What is it?" Rumple questioned, concerned about Belle's current expression.

"You have to feel this" her giggling caused his heart to flutter as she moved his hand on her stomach.

With his hand firmly rested upon her swollen belly, he immediately knew what he was talking about. He could feel movement, little kicks coming from the little girl- the little Rose inside the Beauty. Rumple couldn't help but smile, as he looked up to kiss the top of Belle's perfect head.

"It's funny" she spoke, grabbing his hand.

"What is my love?"

"So long ago, I believed that I needed to be rescued by a knight while I was in my tower. But little did I know that I didn't need some prince to come get me-"

"I bet you weren't expected the Dark One to come get you" Rumple trailed off, cutting off her sentence while the sun reflected off his pink human flesh.

"I'm sorry I wasn't exactly the prince charming you were expecting"

Belle let out a warm laugh at his words. "I'm not sorry, I ending up getting something so much better" she spoke, rubbing her belly, continuing to feel the little kicks coming from Rose. Leaning in, Belle showered his lips with sweet delicate kisses. He moved his hands and placed them on her stomach, allowing him to feel the movements of the restless baby.

"She likes it when you kiss me, that's when she kicks the hardest" she admitted. Rumple smiled, then looking up to gaze into her bright blue eyes he brushed her soft chestnut hair out of her face.

"I love you" he whispered, resting his forehead on hers. Belle immediately returned his actions.

"I love you too" she whispered back.

Rumple kissed her forehead while Belle snuggled herself against him, watching as the sun slowly started to set from behind the mountains, making it the perfect ending to their story. She had come so far from being some damsel locked in a tower, she had truly found out what it was like to have a happily ever after.

Their story was one that she wouldn't trade for anything in the world, it was one full of adventure and romance, it truly was a tale as old as time, Beauty and the Beast.

Hey everyone! Well, this is it, it's finally the end of the story! I was going to do a separate chapter for the epilogue, but decided it would just be better if I uploaded them together. Thank you all so much for reading the story! If any of you have RumBelle/Once fanfics you're working on now, send me a link and I would be more than happy to read them and leave feedback! Thanks for reading everyone!

- Ali