Reset

Emma smiled to herself, even Rumpelstiltskin was not only in love but so in love he was rapidly forgetting his old life in favour of the new one he was constructing.

In the back room Belle was sat in a comfortable looking armchair with a mug of hot coffee in her hands and looking like nothing had happened.

“Hi Emma,” Belle smiled happily at the blonde.

Gold knelt on one knee beside Belle and delicately placed his hand on her cheek, “are you sure you’re well?”

“Hi,” Emma smiled, “are you okay?”

“Did Rumple worry you?” Belle shook her head as she looked at him with a smile and admonished, “I told you I’m fine.”

“You were unconscious, Belle,” Gold pointed out.

“Why don’t we start from the beginning,” Emma suggested as she pulled up a wooden chair and sat down and looked at Belle, “in your own words, what happened?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you much,” Belle shook her head, “I was in the shop, cleaning the cabinets, and I remember the bell rang and that’s all I remember. The next think Rumple is waking me up and my head was hurting.”

“She was bleeding,” Gold pointed out angrily and Belle placed a soothing hand over his to calm him down.

“So you were hit over the head?” Emma frowned.

“I suppose I must have been,” Belle said, “but Rumple healed me.”

Emma nodded, “so there’s no evidence of the injury?”

“You expected me to leave her bleeding and in pain?” Gold said in annoyance as he stood up.

“I’m just saying that there is no evidence that Belle was injured,” Emma stated calmly, “of course I don’t want her in pain.”

Gold opened his mouth to speak again but stopped when Belle reached up and took his hand to calm him down, “Rumple, you agreed that we would let Emma handle this.”

“I agreed that I would let the Sheriff help in finding whoever did this,” Gold amended.

“Can we look in the shop and see if we can find the weapon and see if anything is missing?” Emma asked rather than take the man on in a direct argument about who enforces the law.

He nodded and turned to Belle, “stay here and rest.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Belle said as she stood up and shook her head at him before addressing Emma, “he worries too much.”

Emma grinned but wisely remained silent as Gold huffed and walked past them and into the shop. Belle rolled her eyes, “you’ll have to excuse him, he’s quite grumpy after all this..”

“I can’t blame him,” Emma admitted, “if something happened to..” she paused as she realised she nearly said Regina, “anyone I cared about.. I’d be the same.”

Belle clearly noticed the slip up but didn’t say anything and simply nodded. They both entered the shop where Gold was examining the broken cabinet with interest.

“Found anything?” Emma asked as she approached him while looking on the ground for anything that might have been used to attack Belle.

“There are a number of items that are missing,” Gold said, “and not just from this cabinet. Whoever did this has an understanding of magic, probably a user of magic.”

“Well that narrows it down,” Emma said, “you or the fairies.”

“Or Regina,” Gold pointed out.

Emma felt her breath catch in her chest, “do you think..”

“No,” Gold dismissed the thought immediately with a wave of the hand, “and it certainly wasn’t me.”

“The fairies?” Emma couldn’t hide her disbelief.

“Doubtful,” Gold agreed.

Emma crouched down and started sifting through some items that had fallen over and were mixed in with some large shards of glass.

“Then who?” Belle asked as she walked around the shop, noticing that various items were missing.

“Ow!” Emma exclaimed and quickly stood up and held her hand.

“Are you okay?” Belle asked with concern.

Emma looked at her hand, “I thought I’d cut myself on the glass but I haven’t,” she examined her hand carefully.

Gold regarded her with a smile before quipping, “should someone as clumsy as you be allowed to carry a firearm, Miss Swan?”

Emma ignored him and sighed, “so, what’s missing? That will give us a clue about who they are and what they want, right?”

“Indeed it will,” Gold replied, “however it will take a while to do a full inventory and I want Belle to rest now.”

Emma turned to look at Belle who blushed and smiled at the protective man, “right,” Emma said, “I will come by tomorrow and we’ll catch up on what’s missing, if that’s okay with you?”

Belle nodded and Emma turned to Gold who also nodded while looking at the cabinet, “I’m still convinced this has something to do with magic.”

“Doesn’t everything in this town?” Emma asked with a sigh as she walked towards the exit while still regarding her hand.

Chapter 77

Henry had desperately wanted Emma to play on his games console with him as she had promised she would do. Emma desperately wanted to spend time with Regina rather than locked away in Henry’s room but she also didn’t want to disappoint Henry. So when Regina suggested that Henry bring his games console down to the living room Emma was more than happy to scramble about with wires in the back of the television in order to set up the console.