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Rumple opened unlocked front door with a small sigh. Belle had taken too many of Storybrooke’s modern world aspects with ease, but she couldn’t get her head around a door lock that didn’t involve a portcullis or a solid wooden bar. He shook his head fondly; her little oversight didn’t truly matter. After all their home was protected by more secure things than a simple Chubb lock, but the Gold of the curse still got tetchy by the unlocked door.
“Belle!”
He shrugged out of his overcoat as he called for her. The lack of response wasn’t surprising, not since he’d turned one of the unused rooms in his house into a library for her. It was nothing on the one he’d created in the Dark Castle, his town house was lacking the towers needed for that sort of opulence, but it was comfortable and well stocked which is all Belle wanted from a library. She was probably curled up in one of the oversized armchairs lost in a book. The image brought a soft smile to his face as he climbed the stairs in search of his lady love.
Belle wasn’t in the library, nor was she in the bedroom. Rumple was just beginning to think he’d somehow missed her downstairs when a faint sloshing sound reached his ears. He strolled towards the only possible source of that sound, the bathroom.
Belle had fallen in love with indoor plumbing and on demand hot water, so much so that he teased her she’d found her real True Love. Rumple knocked gently on the bathroom door and softly called her name. Once more he got no reply. A slight panic gripped him, images of her having slipped and hurt herself crowded into his mind. He twisted the door handle and stepped inside the bathroom dreading what scene of horror he might await him on the other side.
Relief melted into awe as he found Belle safe and well in the claw foot tub. Her chestnut hair was piled up on top of her head, held in place with what looked like a pair of chopsticks of all things. She was so focused on the book in her hand that she still wasn’t aware of him. He walked as softly as he could to the bath and trailed his fingers into the water.
“Bloody hells! Belle, this water is freezing!”
“What the…!”
Rumple never found out if Belle was going to swear. The book flew out of her hands and hit him in the chest as her legs kicked, splashing him with a wave of chilly bathwater. Belle burst into giggles.
“I’m sorry; I honestly didn’t know you were there.”
He wiped the water from his face with his hand, grinning at her as he did so. It took him a second to realize that her little whine of discontent was not for his soaking shirt or dripping hair, but for the soggy book clutched to his chest. An elegant wave of his hand dried the pages. He took a bow as Belle clapped her hands at his simple use of magic. The book was placed carefully on the vanity as he took in the goosebumps on Belles skin. Rumple picked up a fluffy towel and shook it out, holding it up so she could step from the tub and be wrapped up. She shivered a little and snuggled into his chest as her rubbed his hands briskly up and down her back.
“How long have you been in there reading, Belle?”
She wiggled her hand free from the towel and studied her pruned fingertips. He rolled his eyes as she waved them at him.
“Hum, not sure. I got caught up in the story.”
Rumple tutted and chivvied her towards the bedroom so she could get dry and warm. He briefly considered a simple spell that would keep the bath water warm for her, but if he did that there was a chance he might lose her forever to the bathtub.