Belle had fallen asleep after a night long of reading up books that Rumple kept in his house. She was trying to be of use to find a cure for Winter, but until now she had no luck. She did not have faith that she would, as Mr Gold would have probably first read the books at his own house. Belle just.. needed to feel like she did something to help her.

During her research, her eyes started drooping and she landed right into a nightmare. It was in the shop of Rumple. He gave her a necklace. Not much time later, Grumpy entered and requested his axe back. Rumple was upset over him disturbing their moment and speaking with disrespect to her. He holds the dwarf against the wall, threatening to kill him with the very same axe. She begged him not to, telling him it was not him anymore. But then.. he turned around. His face was back to how he was as The Dark One and he said in his high pitched voice: "Oh it's me, dearie. Always has been, always will be."

Belle awakes with a gasp and realizes it was all just a dream. She was back in Mr Gold's room, just two rooms away from the still sleeping Winter. She snaps her head to the side and sees his part of the bed empty. The brunette hurries out of bed and goes to Winter's room, suspecting he was there. When she enters, she sees nothing but the occupied bed.

The woman walks all around the house. When she reaches the kitchen, Belle notices a light coming from outside. It was the garage. On her bare feet she walks over the grass and kneels down by one of the windows of the building outside. Her blue eyes widen when she sees her lover's back turned to her, his fingers gentle on his beloved spinning wheel as he was making gold.

He then cuts a piece of the golden chain off and walks over to a separate table. Belle stretches her neck to see what he was doing. Gold leans over a potions bottle and drops the small cord in the vial. The liquid lights up purple and sparkles dance around the bottle. Damp escapes and Belle was out of her mind.

Why was Rumple brewing potions?

Before he could spot her, she quickly runs back over the wet gras and goes back to bed. When she was in the kitchen the next morning, having noticed that he never came back to bed, she waits there for him. "Hey," he says with that half-smile of him, trying to look innocent. It was only so that the Dark One was never innocent. "Hey," she says, standing up from the seat," What are you doing?"

"I was gonna make you breakfast," he says, trying to make an excuse. "No. In-In the basement. I saw you practicing magic," she says. Rumple closes the refrigerator and walks to the counter she was standing by, holding a glass bottle filled with orange juice. "Want some breakfast," he asks, not acknowledging the subject.

"No, we need to talk about this," Belle says and she raises her voice. "It was just a couple of spells. Nothing to be concerned about," he explains, trying to soothe the brunette's worries. "Okay, then be honest with me. Why did you bring magic here?"

Rumple thinks his answer through. "I've told you. Magic is power," he responds. Belle tries again, forming her question differently. "Why do you need it? Tell me." On that, Rumplestiltskin couldn't give her an answer. The woman sighs. "You don't need power, Rumple. You need courage.. to let me in." With that being said, Belle walks off in her silk nightgown as Mr Gold begins to think.

He let her be on her own for a while so she could clear her head, and maybe stop being upset with him. When it was time for lunch and she still didn't come down, he started to worry. So, Mr Gold goes upstairs to their room and knocks. "Belle?" When he gets no response, he opens the door. "Come on. At least come and eat something."

But when he opened the door, he found their bedroom empty. "Belle?" As dread begins to fill his heart, he quickly stumbles off to Winter's bedroom. Belle liked to sit at her side and talk stories of the two of them in the Dark Castle. "Belle, are you here," he asks again, feeling the fear run through his veins as he finds out that Belle was no longer in their house.

The young brunette had escaped her home that she shared with someone she didn't want to see for a while. She was still unfamiliar with the town and decided to pay a visit to Granny's, a place she did know. Ruby, the kind waitress, asked her if she was okay, as she drank quite much iced tea that morning.

"No, I-I've never had it iced before. It's-It's delicious," she stutters while she tries to explain how magnificent this invention was. Ruby smiles gently. "I haven't seen you in here before."

"Well, I.. I've been a kept woman until recently," Belle tries to explain without really telling what she went through. Ruby sits down on the other side of the table. "Let me guess: bad breakup?" "I.. think I may be headed there," the brunette responds, pressing her lips tight.

"And do you have a place to stay? Any family here," the waitress asks, sounding concerned. "I'm-I'm not sure, I'm still looking. But I'm on my own for now." "I could ask Granny about a room here," the girl offers. "Thanks.. uh.." Belle falls silent once she realizes she doesn't know the name of the woman who was about to help her.

"Ruby." "Belle." She exhales quite loudly. "What I really need, though, is-is a life, a job." A life apart from Rumple. A life in which she can prove her worth and bravery.. and help save little Winter. Snowflake, as Belle called her sometimes. As snowflakes fall during the winter, coating everything.. just like her bright personality does.

"Well, what do you like to do," Ruby asks, hoping to help her find what she would like as a job. Belle thinks deeply, but comes quickly to the conclusion. "I do love books." "The library. It's been closed forever, but things are changing now. Maybe they need a librarian," Ruby offers her. Belle bites her lip and begins smiling as her mind wanders off to the hundreds and hundreds of books that must be there.

"Where can I find it? I'm new in town, so.." The waitress smiles, happy to be of help to the brunette and gives her directions. "It's inside the clocktower. Hard to miss." Belle stands up and throws some of the papers that Mr Gold gave her, this 'money', thanks Ruby and leaves Granny's in a hurry. On her way she sees a man with red hair and glasses, holding the leash of a Dalmatian.

Belle leans down to pet the dog. "It's beautiful. What is his name," she asks the owner, looking up to meet his eyes. The man smiles. "That's Pongo and I'm Archie Hopper, the therapist here in town," he says, extending his hand to shake it. Belle takes it. "I'm Belle." During their introductions to each other, Pongo began to sniff Belle's dress and start whining.

"Oh hey, what's wrong," Belle asks, wondering if she did something wrong. Dr Hopper lays a hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault. Ever since the curse was broken, he misses someone very much. She's under a Sleeping Curse now, but they were very close. She was in therapy with me," Archie explains.

The mechanics begin to work in Belle's brain. "Do you mean Winter? Winter Black?" The doctor nods, his eyes widening. "Why, do you know her? You seemed new in town, so I didn't suspect you would.." Archie dwells off as Pongo's sad whining begins to become louder. "I do, I live at the same house as her. Maybe Pongo smells Winter on me," she explains.

"That could be it," the therapist mutters. "Do you mind if.. Pongo and I paid her a visit? He misses her very much and, well, so does rest of town," he asks, staring at the brunette in the blue dress with hopeful eyes. "Well, I can try if you'd like.." "I would really appreciate that.. oh, I must hurry. See you around.. Belle." The therapist hurries away and Belle continues to walk to the clocktower.

She tries the door, but it wouldn't budge. The woman stares through the windows, but no one was inside. Just many, many lovely books. Belle was startled by a man wearing a red hat. He asked for money, which she all spent in Granny's, so she told him she didn't have any. He then asked if she was meeting anyone there, on which she said no. The man turned her around and placed a hand on her mouth, dragging her off to somewhere.

As Belle was taken to someone she would soon enough recognize as her father, Mr Gold was on a search party for her. Earlier in the afternoon he had gone to her father, who denied seeing her and helping him find her. Knowing that no one in town would want to help him, he goes to someone who might, as that man knows how much you would suffer when you lost someone dear to you. He hesitantly agreed on helping her.

Prince Charming went to all different sorts of people in town to ask about Belle's whereabouts, but when they saw Rumplestiltskin lurking in the distance, they didn't want to help. They go to Granny's, hoping there might be somewhere there willing to help. There David approached Ruby.

"Belle, huh? Sorry. Doesn't.. ring a bell," she jokes, but a certain look in her eyes makes David believe that she is lying. After he promised to protect Belle, she told him about their conversation earlier. When Mr Gold showed some sort of affection towards Belle, when he told about the woollen vest for the cold that she accidentally left in Granny's, Ruby told them that she could help by trying to find her.. by smell. She brought them to Moe French's flower shop.

Mr Gold and Mr French start arguing, in which Belle's father reveals his plan to send her across the town border so she would forget everything.. and everyone. David soon notices the mine dust on the man's hands. The mines. They were sending her over the town line through the mines, where no one is patrolling the border.

The trio went down the mines, taking Moe with them so they wouldn't loose their prisoner. When they arrived, the cart was gone and they could hear Belle's pleas. Rumplestiltskin didn't hesitate and extended his hand. As a magnet, it pulls the cart back and opens the handcuff that chains the woman to the cart. David helps her out of the cart as Mr Gold asks if she was alright.

She calls the two of them out, saying she doesn't want to see them ever again. Then, Belle leaves the mines.

The next morning, Belle was having breakfast at Granny's after staying there in the hotel. Ruby explains what she was eating and tells her of the gift someone left for her. It was the key to the library.

She goes to the building, where she meets Mr Gold. The two of them talked it out and he told her of the reason he brought magic, what his cowardness cost him in his former life and that he must break this new curse. The one that keeps them in Storybrooke, but also the one that keeps Winter trapped.

The two part with a promise of eating a hamburger together, but Mr Gold wasn't done yet. He went back to his house, to the basement, where he had bound Mr Smee on a chair with golden ropes. He asked him about his captain and Smee told him nothing more than that he was in a different land.

Their old land.