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English
Series:
Part 13 of Fluffy Rumbelle One-shots
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Published:
2016-07-10
Completed:
2016-08-07
Words:
1,802
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4/4
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31
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The Name

Summary:

In a world where The Name of your true love comes to you, Belle is just a bit lost. Who has a name like Rumplestiltskin??

Chapter 1: Belle's Naming

Chapter Text

The Name made itself known to her on her sixteenth birthday. Considering others, it was early. The Name usually didn't come until people's early twenties.

Belle was an early bloomer.

The Name would come to you in a whisper. It vibrated through your very soul and made your hair stand on end. There was no doubt about it. That Name was the name of your true love. Belle had heard once of a friend who'd had a true love with the name Tom.

It had taken her years to find her true love.

Belle hadn't been nervous, mostly because she hadn't expected it to come so soon.

Belle had been sitting as she listened to her doting father prepare a party for her downstairs. She had requested a quiet dinner with just one or two close friends. He'd insisted that her daughter deserved better. She appreciated it, really, but he didn't seem to think much of her preference for quiet and reading.

Belle sighed against the window. She had just opened a battered copy of her favorite book, when a word came to mind. She felt it course through her as a warm accented voice spoke,

"Rumplestiltskin."

She knew it had to be it, the name of her true love.

Then it hit her.

Where in the world was she going to find a man with the hideous luck to be named Rumplestiltskin?

She buried her head in her hands.

 

Belle was twenty-one when she told her father.

He'd been so set on her marrying Gaston, inviting him over for dinner and casting hopeful glances her way. It had come to a head one night when Belle had whirled around as her father began another unhappy protest, "Why don't you like Gaston? He's such a nice handsome young man!"

"Papa, he's not my true love."

"Sweetheart, you don't know that."

"But I do father, the Name has already come."

He paused, "It has?"

She hesitated and then nodded.

"Well, who is it?"

Belle smoothed the front of her short blue dress, "Rumplestiltskin."

Her father's brows wrinkled, "Rumplestiltskin."

There was an awkward pause.

"What kind of a name is Rumplestiltskin?!"

 

Belle was twenty-seven and working at the Storybrooke library. She'd kept a near constant look out for man named Rumplestiltskin, but it had been put on the back burner after the untimely death of her father two years earlier.

She smiled across her desk as one of her only friends, Ruby Lucas, confidently strode over to her.

Ruby Lucas had began dressing much more modestly after she'd met her True Love, Archie. Though sometimes, she dressed like that again, just to see her new husband blush a red as bright as her clothes.

"Belle, I suggest you watch out, Mr. Gold is campaigning to shut down the library."

Belle sighed, "Again?"

Ever since the old town dragon had met her two years ago, he'd tried to shut down the library every other month. It infuriated her to no end. It also meant that she was forced to see him month after month.

Ruby nodded sympathetically.

 

It was at the meeting when she found out.

Mr. Gold was sitting across from her, glaring with his lips quirking upwards in an irritating smirk.

A smile she hated and found infuriatingly attractive nonetheless.

Belle had been examining one of his proposed documents to close her library, again. She'd been glaring at it in frustration caused by the man in front of her.

Then she saw his signature at the bottom of the paper.

Rumplestiltskin Gold.

Her heart seemed to stutter to a stop as her breath caught.

Mr. Gold seemed to catch her sudden intake of breath. He asked in a surprisingly concerned voice, "Ms. French?"

She looked up, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

He fidgeted nervously in his chair before he saw her mouth breathlessly, "Rumplestiltskin?"

His face morphed into a frown, "Ms. French, if you have any degrading insults you wish to pin to me about my name, I will have you know that-"

"No! No, I... I... Rumplestiltskin?"

"What?"

She stood up, her hands planted firmly on his table as she leaned close, "Mr. Gold, what was the Name given to you?" The land owner had no question about what name she meant.

He didn't gather his wits about him, instead of saying she had no right to demand such a personal question of him, he answered timidly in a half-whisper, "Belle."

Chapter 2: Why is this now a three-shot?? Geez guys.

Summary:

Rumplestiltskin's naming.

Chapter Text

The Name made itself know to him after his forty-seventh birthday. Considering others, it was extremely late. When he'd passed twenty five with no Naming, he'd assumed he was broken, like his father who'd also received no Naming. His aunts who had raised him had told him that fact when he was just a young boy.

Rumplestiltskin did not like the idea that he might turn out like his father. Rumplestiltskin wished that pain on no boy, and he hoped that his son wouldn't have to go through the trouble he'd went through. Moving from moldy apartment to moldy apartment as his father tricked and conned his way out of Scotland and through the states until it all came to a head when his papa left him alone on the doorstep of his aunts.

At twenty five, he'd married a woman named Milah, the only other individual he'd met who had not received The Name. They'd had a son, Neal.

However, a year later, Milah had left taking his treasured Neal with her. She'd gotten The Name (Killian) and seeing no more reason to remain chained to Rumplestiltskin, had departed.

These circumstances had kept Rumplestiltskin feeling bitter and he took it out on the world, clawing his way to the top of the food chain and hoping to find something to fill the ache buried deep inside himself. Something that was as precious to him as his son had been.

That had all changed though on a warm spring day. The type of day that he despised.

Rumplestiltskin had just entered the Storybrooke Library with the intent of collecting the rent when he stumbled across the new librarian, Belle French.

She was fiery, beautiful, and brilliant.

He'd fallen head over heels for her within a minute. However, he knew she probably already had The Name. Not for him, obviously. Someone so perfect deserved a True Love of equal merit.

Rumplestiltskin left the library with a small smile on his face. He'd just turned the corner, when something surged through him and he stumbled, his scarred ankle twisting as he struggled to regain his balance.

He'd just heard The Name. He'd just received it. He stood there, his eyes wide before he was able to compose himself once more and continue on his way.

The Name was soft, spoken in a thick Australian accent, "Belle."

Chapter 3: Aaaaaand now there's four chapters

Summary:

The Aftermath.

Notes:

You know guys, this was only supposed to be one chapter. And then this chapter was supposed to be the short epilogue.

Chapter Text

He didn't gather his wits about him, instead of saying she had no right to demand such a personal question of him, he answered timidly in a half-whisper, "Belle."

They stared at each for quite long time, eyes as wide as a deer stuck in the headlights. Well, Rumplestiltskin's were. Belle was squinting with her head cocked, trying to see if he was lying.

He wasn't, his face was too open and honest for the first time since she'd seen him.

"How long have you known?"

"I- I wasn't sure..."

"When?"

He hesitated, his voice soft before he spoke again, "Just after our first meeting."

She struggled with this confession before she blurted the first thing that came to mind, "Then... Then why? Why have you been trying to shut down the library? My library? Why?"

He swallowed before deciding that there was no more point in hiding anything, "I had to see you again."

She blinked, her bright blue eyes drilling into him before she leaned closer, she had to be absolutely certain, and... she kissed him. A wave of golden light signaled True Love's kiss. There was no denying anything now.

Eventually she pulled away, cheeks red and eyes shining, "Dinner? Tomorrow?"

He nodded breathlessly.

Chapter 4: Reunited

Summary:

The not-so-prodigal son returns...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The scruffy brunette man looked around the town, eyes shining as he took in his childhood home Storybrooke, Maine. The blond woman next to him gave him a rare smile as she straightened her red leather jacket.

She didn't smile much, but he was happy to find that around him she did more. In fact, he'd made it a sort of game. Every time he made her smile or laugh was another goal reached.

"Neal, do you really think your father still lives here?"

Neal turned to his fiancé, Emma, "It's the best lead we have. Besides, Pops wasn't the type to move around."

Emma cocked her head, "Weren't you only twelve when your mom left?"

"Yeah, but Mom wasn't around all that often, he was."

Emma smiled at her true love and nodded at the town, "Let's go then."

The two walked down the street as Neal examined the buildings carefully. Neal's face lit up with a crooked grin, "No way. Emma, that's his pawn shop."

There in big bold letters were the words, "Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop."

Neal trotted inside, pushing open the door as the bell rang merrily.

An old man with shoulder length graying hair stood laughing with a beautiful brunette. Her long curls shone as she smiled, leaning closer to the man. The man smirked, obviously love struck as he leaned on his cane.

"Papa?"

The man, Rumplestiltskin and nearly unchanged from all those years ago, looked up in disbelief, "Neal?"

Emma looked between Neal's father and the other woman warily. Neal may have been distracted by the appearance of his long lost father, but Emma was connecting the dots between the two.

Rumplestiltskin took a halting step forward, his eyes wide in shock, "Is that really you?"

Neal rushed forward and pulled his father into a tight hug as he choked back a sob. The last time he'd seen his father, he'd promised pancakes for dinner. Then his mom had started yelling at him to pack his bags and they had rushed out, leaving behind the only parent he'd ever really known, the only one who'd ever really been there.

Belle's rosebud lips pulled into a cheerful grin.

Emma cocked her head and smirked as Neal and his father pulled away from each other, hands still clasping the other's shoulders.

"So," the blonde stated, "How long have you two been together?"

Neal's brows furrowed as he looked between his father and Belle, his eyes widened in understanding before his grin widened along with them, "Papa? You found true love?"

His father turned red as the librarian behind him smiled, "I'm Belle, I take it that you're my new stepson?"

The wedding rings on the couple's fingers glinted in the shop's light.

Notes:

We all know that as soon as the congratulations are over, Neal is going to realize that Belle is younger than he is.

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