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Belle grinned as her husband finally approached her, having left the rest of the group to their plotting. As soon as he was within reach, she latched her arm around his, dragging him over to their new companion. Rumple smiled indulgently at her.
“Mr. Douglas, this is Rumplestiltskin, he’s my…” she began to explain, but Mr. Douglas cut her off. Rather rudely, in Belle’s opinion, actually.
“Your father,” Douglas said, his eyes lighting with recognition. He gave an acknowledging nod. “Of course. I remember you telling me about him.”
Belle was speechless at the assumption and also the nerve of the man to cut her off in the first place. She already had not entirely trusted him since the moment they met, but as was in her nature, she had given him the benefit of a doubt. She watched as Douglas eyed Rumple with a frown, looking him up and down critically.
“I have to say, you look quite a bit different than how I pictured you from Belle’s tales.”
Belle glanced at Rumple to gauge his reaction to this whole mess and, of course, he looked completely unfazed. He raised his brows at her then and she caught the subtle amusement in his gaze. She narrowed her eyes at him, not really cross, but not particularly in the mood for his impish ways at that moment.Their standoff lasted a long moment before his expression relaxed into the fond smile she was most familiar with. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead then turned to glance at Douglas.
“I think I’ll leave you to clear up this confusion, sweetheart,” he said in an all too casual tone. “There’s much to be done, after all.”
With that, he wandered off back to the group, but not before giving her another amused look. She huffed and rolled her eyes at his antics, but she could feel her lips twitching.
“I’m sorry, confusion?” Mr. Douglas prompted, looking puzzled.
Belle smiled a little awkwardly. It was an honest mistake, she knew. Well, maybe not honest in his case, but it was understandable, she guessed. No one in Storybrooke found anything odd with the age difference between her and her husband - which was much larger than it physically appeared, actually - but this was not Storybrooke.
“That’s not my father, Mr. Douglas,” she explained. “That’s my husband.”
Mr. Douglas blinked a few times, his mind seemingly catching up to him with the new facts presented.
“I see. My mistake,” he said soon. “Arranged marriage, of course. I’ve seen plenty of those in my time. It’s funny, isn’t it? It’s always the poor, pretty young ladies getting stuck with older men.”
Belle frowned, displeased by the assessment.
“You’re mistaken, Mr. Douglas. Ours isn’t an arranged marriage. We married for love,” she explained, keeping her tone pleasant despite her inner upset. Douglas blinked before laughing heartily.
“You can’t expect me to believe that you truly love that man?”
Any of Belle’s good will slipped away at that. She boiled inside and her forced pleasant smile disappeared.
“I don’t particularly care what you believe!” she spouted at the infuriating man before stalking off. She bristled inside from the conversation. She wouldn’t lash out, but she wished she could. Unfortunately, they needed this man to help them with their quest.
Rumple was still standing with the others, listening to their plan, and seemingly oblivious to her current fury. She glanced over her shoulder to see Douglas watching her with confusion, as if he didn’t understand how he had offended her. That stoked the flames in her belly.
Belle reached the group and took hold of Rumple’s arm. She tugged him away from the group and closer to where she had been standing previously with Mr Douglass. Rumple turned to her with a victorious smile, his eyes alight with excitement.
“Belle, we think we might have figured out how to…” he started to explain, but she didn’t let him finish.
Surging forward, she pressed her mouth to his and wrapped her arms around his neck. He made a grunt of surprise before relaxing into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist. She kissed him as if her life depended on it and she wouldn’t let up until her lungs burned with need for oxygen. She broke away reluctantly and studied her husband, who looked more than a little dazed. He blinked down at her.
“Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”
Remembering the reason for her display, she shot a look over at Douglas. He was staring at them with a gaping mouth and wide eyes.
“Proving a point,” Belle replied, feeling smug for the success of her demonstration. Rumple followed her gaze and after a beat, smirked.
“You think he got the picture?” he asked, teasing in his tone. She smirked up at him.
“Well, we could always make sure our tent is closest to his tonight. Might drive the point home…” she suggested, sending him a meaningful look. Rumple’s smirk grew into a grin as he tugged her closer.
“I like the way you think.”