Everything about this felt wrong. It wasn’t that he had anything
against Belle. In fact, without ever knowing her, he adored her. She
managed to change his father, making him into a better person.
She helped him become the man he always wanted his father to be.
But that exact reason to love
her was a reason for him to
hate her.
Here she was, basically a stranger, able to make the Dark One
back into the man Neal once loved. It was something he wished he
could do himself. He wanted to be the reason his father became a
better man.
He wanted to be enough,
but he wasn’t, and
probably would never be.
Even still, Neal respected the woman who stood before him, and
he knew he would love her. However, there would be this hint of
bitterness that would rest within him, easy to ignore, but impossible to
forget.
Nevertheless, he offered
her a smile.
”Yeah. Neal would be better. But I honestly
just wanted to talk to you. Talking to my
dad is one thing, but I’d rather hear about
him through others.”
There was a part of him that felt like he couldn’t trust his father. He
wanted to know about his father through someone else’s eyes. Plus, he
wanted to get to know the woman who stole his father’s heart: a feat he
thought to be impossible.
& there is awkwardness beneath her smile, suffocating under it's
considerable weight & even she barely notices its presence, so
buried as it is & yet it's there, lurking & well deserved ;; who she
knows is the boy of tales told few & far between by father still in
throes of grief & barely disguised desperation but he who stands
before her now is full grown with a son of his own as told by his
father 'pon arrival back to town as that yellow scarf remained
wrapped 'round his shoulders & for some reason it was always
that little boy seen in her minds eye.
smile still curves & she refuses to let it fall as book is
remembered once more & fully set aside, placed below
counter & out of view ;; there are more important things
that require her attention & she does not need pages &
ink to watch her, judge her & the uncertainty that
continues to curl within her breast no matter how she
longs for it to dissipate to nothingness.
she understands his desire for men are forever able to lie & she
is not in the dark about their history, would seek the same should
she have been in his place & she knows only one side of events
that had long since transpired & perhaps she can offer that if he
ever comes to want it & she can hear his in return but ;;
she doubts the arrived with such lingering under his request or
if he shall ever foster it, speak it to her instead of the father who
had let him go.
❝ Of ... Of course. I'd be more than happy to tell you anything you
want to know about him. I think I might be the only one in town
who has good things to say. ❞
& the others more often than not have memories tainted by green
& gold flesh & graying landlord & none of the good & those are
what neal needs to know & belle is more than willing to share if
it shall come to help the two of them mend the broken
relationship, shattered by power & fear.
❝ We have some chairs if you'd like to sit rather than
remain standing ;; much more comfortable. Or we can
go somewhere if you'd prefer? Have you been to
Granny's, yet? Their hamburgers are delicious; not
that I have much to compare them to, or anything at all
really, but ... ? ❞