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"Rumple, do we have any spare blankets?" Belle asked as she stepped out of the kitchen. The nice warm kitchen. It was really the only place in the whole castle that was currently even remotely comfortable. Her room was frigid even with the fire going. The Great Hall was so cold she was sure she could see her breath.
“I told you to stop calling me that,” he responded with and she was sure that he muttered something under his breath about impertinent maids.
“It’s freezing in here.”
He looked up at her then and for a moment the look was unfathomable. “What did you expect dearie? It’s the Dark Castle, after all.”
“I expected it to be dark,” she answered, honest to a fault. “But cold is not the same thing as dark and it is freezing.”
She waited, arms crossed, attempting to rub off the goose bumps that were quickly rising on the bare skin of her arms.
“Hmph,” was all he said.
“You’re really going to let me freeze to death? How would you clean this castle then?” She stepped closer to him as she spoke.
“I have magic, dearie,” he started to say.
“Ha! I knew it.” She smirked at him and it was almost worth freezing to see the look on his face.
“Care to enlighten me?” He waved one hand in the air as he spoke and she loved seeing the Dark One looking flustered.
“This castle can clean itself. You don’t actually need me.”
“I…”
“Hmmm,” she responded with and then turned to flit away. Her point was made. Rather well really. Yes, being cold was quite worth his finally admitting that.
As she stepped away, something heavy fell on her. Heavy and soft enveloping her completely. Sputtering, she knocked whatever it was away from her, which took more than a few moments as she had to wade through it all to get back to the fresh cold air of the Dark Castle’s Great Room.
“What…” she started to ask.
“Blankets, dearie,” Rumplestiltskin pointed out and she glanced down at the pile at her feet.
With a smile she gathered up the entire hoard of blankets. “Thank you.”
He offered up a shrug. “It’s not like I did anything.”
“Of course not,” she responded with and wrapped the blankets around herself as she curled up by the fire with her latest book. She’d let him believe she thought that the castle decided to dump the blankets on top of her. But she knew otherwise. He really was getting quite predictable in his refusal to acknowledge that he liked having her around.