A very nice look into the episode. It was short but substantial.

Loved so much watching another person watching Rumplestiltskin and Belle together, feeling their reaction, hearing their thoughts.

So well done. Really, just perfect.

I like the way you wrote these charcters. You did so with a lot of love.

Poor Belle! I never even thought about the possibility of PTSD...

I do think the show kind of glossed over what would be some serious psychological damage Belle would have undergone as a prisoner for so long, little vignettes like this fill in some much needed gaps.

More Belle and Rumpelstiltskin, please

Wow, I love this! So good, and I love that it's from David's POV. His marveling over Gold's vulnerability, his desire to forget it - and his reasons for wanting to do so - his respect and admiration for Belle...all so wonderful and so in-character! I love the vulnerability Gold shows, the helplessness and the tentativeness to his approach to Belle, and her own strength of will. It's heartbreaking seeing her so undone, and I love that he's the one able to put her back together. Particularly chilling were David's thoughts about how many ways this relationship could go wrong and his fears of what Rumplestiltskin would do if it did!

Great story - love the emotion in it!

I had the same idea for how she reacted, cuz something like imprisonment HAS to affect a person a little. Very well written, like how it is Charming's POV.

Sparks this is gorgeous! Dammit, Ruby! I really wish you wrote for the show tbh. It annoys me to no end that they addressed every character's storybrooke self as being an important part of them (it was the whole message of 'We Are Both') but they haven't addressed Belle's, even when hers is the most traumatic and affecting.

This line made me tear up a little: "Crying silently, the way abused children learn to cry. Silent because she has learned that nobody will come to comfort her." :(

Brilliant job, as usual. I'm glad you were feeling up to writing something :)

So much love for this! I couldn't believe Ruby locked her up, an kept wondering how that must feel for someone who was locked up for 28 years (despite adjusting rather unrealistically well after being released lol). This was fabulously done.

Wow, that was so powerful and so restrained...much like Rumple under Belle's influence. Great job.

This was wonderful. It was fantastic to see the Rumbelle relationship through David's eyes.

Now this! Right here! *points at the fanfic* IS WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED! *claps* Bravo...this was absolutely magnificent, beyond words even! *favs* Thank you for writing what we all wanted to have happened.

This was lovely. Belle is one of my favorites simply because she can go through so much and come out the better from it.

Lovely and a great point. Poor Belle, always getting the short end of the stick. Thanks for a beautiful story.