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Being the Dark One's True Love had taught Belle to expect the unexpected, but never had she thought she would return home to find him with a puppy in hand.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she stepped into the house, her head cocking to the side. The puppy was small, probably not even old enough to be taken away from its mother. Tiny and fuzzy and with eyes barely open.
"Rumple?" she asked.
"The mother rejected him," he said softly. She realized in his other hand was a small dropper.
"You're feeding him," she said as she realized what was going on.
"The vet gave me formula." He tried to sound nonchalant but she couldn't stop smiling. She found this side of him so endearing.
"That's where you were this afternoon." She had gone by his shop and found it closed, which was unusual for her love. He was always at the shop and when he wasn't, he was with her. But he hadn't been at the shop. He hadn't been at home. He hadn't come by the library and she had worried.
He nodded and Belle came closer, scratching the tiny puppy under his scruffy little chin. "What is he?"
"I suppose that's between the mother and her unknown paramour."
"And the mother is…"
"Mr. Taylor's Scottie."
"Ah, that would explain the scruff," Belle said and gave the puppy another scratch. "What happened exactly?"
"Well, when two dogs love each other very very much…"
She punched him lightly on the arm. "Why was the puppy rejected, you dolt?"
Rumplestiltskin gave her a small grin and then held the puppy up. One of his front legs was twisted to the side, the paw smaller than the other ones.
"Oh," she whispered.
Rumplestiltskin nodded. "The vet said they'll likely have to amputate when he's a little older but that dogs can function perfectly well with three legs."
"And so…" She waited for the inevitable. He had never said they couldn't have a dog but she somehow imagined his choice would be something other than the deformed runt of an "oops" litter.
"He's ours…if we want him."
"You feel connected to him." And even though he no longer needed his cane, even though magic had healed him, she knew he felt for the tiny puppy.
"I do," he admitted and it was perhaps the most open he had ever been with her.
"Well then I guess this little guy is ours."
The puppy let out a yawn at Belle's proclamation. "And I guess it's time for someone to get a little rest," Rumplestiltskin said with a laugh.
"I suppose it is."
It seemed they had a new member of the family to spoil rotten and Belle could not be happier about it.