#post-s6

It was an impressive thunderstorm earlier in the night, and even though Gideon prides himself on being brave, Belle was not surprised when she heard the pattering of his little footsteps down the corridor and he crawled into bed with her and Rumpel, hiding from the bad weather under the covers.

All is quiet now, and Gideon sleeps soundly in his father’s arms. Belle has to smile at this peaceful picture of her two boys. She loves them so much that her heart could burst from it. She doesn’t know what she’d do if she lost one of them.

Eventually, she tears her gaze away from them and looks back out into the dark garden. She can just make out the shape of the little temple that sits nestled in the trees at the bottom of the garden. It’s a common feature of all the houses in this land; a little place to contemplate, remember, and give thanks. Despite the weather, that’s what Belle wants to do right now, to express her gratitude for the wonderful gift of her family.

Carefully, so as not to wake Rumpel and Gideon, Belle gets up out of the window-seat and takes her heavy cloak out of the closet, wrapping it around herself tightly over her robe and padding through the cottage to step out into the rain. In spite of it, the air is still warm, with a pleasant breeze. Belle turns her face up to it and feels the droplets on her skin. The rain’s never bothered her before, in fact she quite enjoys it: both being outside in it and watching it renew the land, or just listening to it from the inside whilst she’s curled up warm with her favourite book, a fire roaring in the grate.

She makes her way into the little temple and pulls her hood down. She had investigated the place as soon as they had arrived and unpacked, but it looks very different in moonlight.

Traditionally, candles would be lit to mark remembrance or thanksgiving, but Belle didn’t think to bring one with her and she doesn’t want to go back into the cottage now and risk waking Rumpel and Gideon. Instead, she shrugs off her cloak and spreads it out on the cool wood floor, settling herself down on it and looking around the intricate carvings on the inside of the temple; so many lifetimes of people giving thanks for the things in their lives that they could not bear to be without.

Belle glances back over at the cottage and her family snug and dry within it. The fact that she and Rumpel have had to fight so hard for their happy beginning makes it all the sweeter, and she is all the more grateful for it after the hardships that they have all endured. Being here with Gideon and getting to watch him grow up when she had at one point thought him lost forever is something that she will never fail to be thankful for.

She’s no magician, although she’s helped Rumpel out in many a potion brewed or a spell cast. She doesn’t know what it is that imbues this place with such magic, but she can feel it all around her in the little wooden structure. Gratitude is a powerful sensation. As she sits and listens to the rain, watching the droplets bounce off the leaves around her, Belle concentrates on everything that she wants to remember.

Thank you for giving Rumpel and me the strength to survive everything that we did to each other. Thank you for making our love strong enough to weather any storm. Thank you for making sure that we always found our way back to each other, and even after everything, we never stopped fighting for each other. Thank you for Gideon, for our second chance, his second chance, my second chance, Rumpel’s second chance. Thank you for the peace that we’ve had for so long.

Thank you for letting us leave Storybrooke and the place that brought us so much heartbreak. Thank you for this adventure, and this wonderful life.

In this moment, she doesn’t even know who she’s thanking, whether it’s fate or the universe or some other kind of higher power that she’s not even sure she believes in any more. In a way she’s thanking Rumpel and herself. It wasn’t magic that healed them and brought them back together from the brink of self-destruction. They had brought themselves to that brink and they have dragged themselves away from it. It was hard, and painful, and Belle does not like to think back to the nadir of their relationship, but she’s thankful, in her own way, for having reached it, because she knows that whatever happens in the future, neither of them will ever let things get that bad again. Certainly, they have their disagreements – all families do – but such terrible and wilful misunderstandings and misinterpretations are a thing of the past. They have learned to communicate, the honest truth with no hidden feelings, the way that it should be. That is something that Belle is truly grateful for.

Enough of the bad things. Belle turns her memory to the intervening years, watching Gideon grow up and discover the world around him. She remembers the first time that he discovered unicorns on one of their travels. They had shied away from Belle and Rumpel, only deigning to befriend the purest of heart, and it had brought tears to Belle’s eyes to know that despite everything that he had suffered at the hands of the Black Fairy, Gideon’s second chance was working out beautifully. She remembers his first word, his first steps. Everything is documented in the polaroids they never seem to run out of, and the travel book is crammed to the seams with their adventures, yet somehow, Rumpel always manages to find more space for another picture, or another memento. She knows that he’s expanding the book with magic and he will continue to do so until they settle down, but she’s glad. Having thought she’d lost the chance to travel and to see Gideon grow up, she’d rather have far too many keepsakes than nowhere near enough.

The sound of the rain changes and Belle looks up from her perusal of the messages on the walls, seeing Rumpel padding silently down the garden path towards her, a large umbrella held over his head. He’s also in a robe and cloak, and he’s smiling as he enters the temple, shaking out the umbrella and leaning it in the doorway.

“I was worried when I woke up and found you gone, but I thought that I might find you here.”

Belle nods. “I couldn’t sleep. Ever since we first got here I’ve been thinking about this place. For these past few years, whilst we’ve been travelling with Gideon, it’s all seemed too good to be true in places. I wanted to take a moment to really appreciate everything that we’ve had. Every moment has been a blessing and I don’t ever want to take it for granted.”

Rumpel sits down beside her on the floor and they look out of the temple towards the cottage together.

“I can understand that,” he says. “There’s so much that we have to be thankful for. It makes sense to want to take a while and truly mean it.”

They don’t talk again for a while, both of them lost in their thoughts. The rain helps, Belle thinks. It’s clean and refreshing, and it helps to rinse the old wounds and heal them. Everything has long since faded to a scar, but there are some things that are still painful to think of.

Rumpel puts an arm around her and Belle snuggles into his side, although not because she is particularly cold; despite being drenched in the deluge it’s still a warm night and she doesn’t want to go in yet. Remembering the bad things, she remembers that the worst parts were always when there was distance between her and Rumpel. In every one of the bad moments, they are standing at arms’ length, hanging back, creating a physical as well as an emotional barrier. Now that those moments are past, Belle wants to be as close to Rumpel as she can possibly be, and she’s so happy that she gets to do that whenever she likes.

After a few minutes of calm silence in the temple, the rain begins to ease off, and Rumpel gets back to his feet, holding out a hand to help Belle up.

“We should get back to Gideon,” he says. “He’ll be frightened if he wakes up and we’re not there.”

Belle nods and follows him out into the last light spots of rain, slipping an arm around his middle as he holds the umbrella over their heads. Gideon is still asleep where they left him, undisturbed for their little excursion, and they slip back into bed, one on either side. Tomorrow there is more exploring to be done, but for now, Belle feels at peace, and so incredibly grateful for what she has.

They only had a few hours to spend in Gibraltar, their ship had docked early in the morning and would be leaving in the mid-afternoon, but they had seen a good portion of the small peninsula from vantage points on the rock. Belle's favourite sight had been looking out towards the border with Spain and the long straight road that led up to it. The road was bisected at one point by the Gibraltar airport runway, and the fact that the traffic had to be stopped any time a plane had to land or take off had amused her greatly. 

The Apes' Den, home to the most famous troop of Gibraltar's legendary Barbary macaques, would be the last point on the tour, and Gideon was very anxious that they should get to it before they had to return to the ship. He was looking over longingly at the little minibus that had been taking them on their island tour, and then turned back to Belle, bouncing on his heels again.

"Maybe we could go without Papa? Surely we don't need to wait for everyone else."

Belle raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that Papa would take too kindly to being left behind. We don't want the ship to sail without him because you were too eager to see the monkeys."

"But if we don't hurry up then we might never see the monkeys!" Gideon sounded utterly appalled at this prospect, and in that moment it was clear that monkeys were far more important than making sure that all of the family were present for the rest of their cruise holiday. 

"All right," Belle said. "Let's go over and get on the minibus so that we're ready to go when everyone else arrives. I think we ought to put some more cream on your nose as well, it's looking a bit pink."

"It's from the hard hat," Gideon said sagely, before racing across the carpark to the minibus. Belle hurried to keep up. Thankfully the tour guide was well-seasoned and used to fielding excited questions about the famous monkeys, and Gideon was happy to sit in the passenger seat beside him and chat. 

A couple of minutes later saw the rest of the tour group emerging, with Rumpel among them. 

"Where's Gid?" he asked as they came over to the bus. Belle nodded up towards the driver.

"Getting a lesson in primate history," she said. They moved quietly up the bus to take seats behind Gideon and the driver.

"And even though they have no tails, they're actually monkeys rather than apes," the tour guide was saying. Gideon was rapt, and almost didn't notice that the rest of the tour group had returned and they were ready to set off to meet the monkeys. A ten-minute drive took them to the Queen's Gate, where the Apes' Den and a large concentration of the monkeys could always be found. 

Belle grabbed Gideon before he could rush off the bus.

"Now, remember Gideon, although they're used to humans, they're still wild animals, so don't get too close."

"Yes," the driver added. "It's actually illegal to feed them; it encourages them to go down into the town and seek out human interaction for food. Take all the pictures that you want, but don't get too friendly."

Gideon nodded his understanding vigorously, and the three of them stepped off the bus. A large group of the monkeys was sunning themselves on a lookout point by the side of the road, not too far from where the minibus was parked up, and none of them were paying any attention to the humans crowding around and taking pictures of them. Gideon kept a respectful distance, and every time he glanced over at Belle and Rumpel, he was beaming from ear to ear. 

"Can I take the pictures Papa?" he asked excitedly, and Rumpel chuckled as he handed over the camera and Gideon went a little closer to the gathered monkeys. Not too far away there was a little family group, two adults grooming each other whilst an infant played nearby, and Belle felt Rumpel put an arm around her, pulling her in close to his side and stroking her hair where it was falling down a little from its clip. Belle smiled as she continued to watch Gideon, and she reflected at how perfectly they matched the little macaque family. A mother and a father, still devoted to each other and to their little one, letting him stretch his legs and discover things for himself, but not letting him get too far away. Not yet, at least. Gideon was a growing boy, ready for all kinds of adventures, but for now, Belle and Rumpel would always be standing just a little way behind, just in case. 

Presently the cameras clicking and the general noise of the humans standing around spooked the young monkey and he ran back to his parents, who quickly pulled him into their little huddle. Gideon took a few more photos before racing back to Belle and Rumpel. 

"I didn't get too close and I used the zoom!" he said proudly. "I got some great pictures! They're so cute!"

Belle looked up at Rumpel as Gideon raced off to show his pictures to the minibus driver.

"You know, sometimes I think that he's part monkey," Rumpel said. "In fact, he's more monkey-like than these ones sometimes. Do you think we can swap and take one of these home with us instead?"

Belle batted his arm, although she knew that he was only joking. She stayed looking at the macaque family for a long time, until they were being herded back towards the minibus ready for the trip back to the ship. She hoped that they would be all right. Rumpel squeezed her shoulders, planting a kiss into her hair. 

"Don't worry about the monkeys," he said. "They'll turn out all right. We did, after all, and if we can manage it them I'm sure they can."