Work Text:
He stares at the array of brightly-coloured greeting cards bearing the words ’Get Well Soon,’ in varying fonts and sizes of letters, ranging from floral watercolours to smiling cartoons proffering balloons, all arranged on the table across the bed in front of him.
Among the offerings are chocolates, truffles and caramels - bars and boxes - and a small glass vase with a sprig of happy daisies popping out of it. There’s also a pile of leather-bound books and glossy magazines, as well as a book of crossword puzzles, his secret vice.
He spots a balloon in the far left corner of the bland hospital room, fat and high with helium, with a large cartoon sun printed across the shining surface, swaying gently back and forth.
Rumplestiltskin dazedly looks to his right, losing the veil of sleep, and finds Belle, sat in the bedside chair, looking sheepish.
“Is it too much?” She asks, bright as the morning sun. “I thought it would be nice, and Henry helped me choose some things.”
Rumplestiltskin swallows a sharp quip and his sudden, desperate sentimentality. No one has ever done anything like this for him.
“It was just one night,” he teases, reaching for her easily-given hand. “And you had time to do all this?”
“I wanted to make sure you were comfortable,” Belle tells him, kissing his knuckles. “And happy. I don’t want to sleep alone in our bed ever again.”
He steals a kiss, trying not to smirk. “Not too tall an order, sweetheart.”