"Belle." Rumplestiltskin said as he looked at his poor Belle lying dischevelled in her hospital bed.

She looked up at him and it broke his heart to see the confusion still living in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Why do you insist on calling me Belle? I don't know who this Belle is but she's certainly not me." She said, looking down at the sheets again and hugging her knees close to her chest. Rumplestiltskin looked down at his feet before answering.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so used to knowing you as Belle." "My Belle." He added uncertainly; glancing back at her face that now looked back at him with a stony expression.

"Sorry. May I still call you Belle? Please, it would really mean a lot to me."

Belle sighed before saying reluctantly, "Yes. If you do insist I'm this Belle girl then go ahead. She clearly means a lot to you."

"Thank you." he said, smiling weakly. "May I?" He added, pointing at the chair next to her bed with his cane.

"Go ahead." She replied, subconsciously inching a little further away from the side of the bed where the chair was situated.

Rumplestiltskin approached cautiously and sat down.

"What was it you wanted?" Belle asked immediately, not allowing him any time to try and sweet talk her again; it was beginning to scare her.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing. I wanted to talk to you." He added the word sweetheart in his head but refrained from saying it aloud. There would be plenty of time for terms of endearment when she had her memories back. Snow had warned him not to say anything that might scare her too much when in desperation he had gone to her for help in getting his love back. Of course he had had to make a mild threat that dear Henry would be in danger of some lost limbs if she refused but he had got the help he needed.

She did not understand at first why he was delaying his search for his song to get Belle's memories back. She pointed out that Belle would of course still be there when he got back and that she would be safe. This was the point at which he had lost it and yelled that by the time he got back she could be safe in the arms of another man.

It was his biggest fear. He knew that he never deserved Belle in the first place and this was the perfect oppertunity for her to find someone worthy. He'd be damned if he was going to let that happen though. He'd already lost her and he was not going to lose her to another man also.

"Well I'm doing fine." Belle said, pulling Rumplestiltskin out of his thoughts and back to the situation at hand.

"Good... good." He muttered, unable to think of anything else to say to banish the silence.

Plucking up courage he didn't know he possessed, Rumplestiltskin blurted out, "I wanted to tell you our story."

"We don't have a story. I don't know you!"

"Please. Please. Just let me speak. At least let me tell you it. Even if by the end you still think I'm crazy at least I will have given it a go."

"Fine." Belle said and allowed herself to relax a little, laying down under the thin hospital sheets.

"I brought something along that will help tell the story. It might even help you remember." He said as he reached into an inside pocket of his suit and produced a small porcelain tea up, chipped on one side.

He passed it to Belle. "Here, you can hold it if you like."

She takes it warily. "It's... a cup?" She said, her voice full of questions.

"Of dearie, it's so much more than that." And with this he began the tale.