A minute passed by like it was weeks. Not hours or days or nights. Weeks.

It was cold. She was shaking. From somewhere in the distance she could hear water continuing to drip and trickle down the walls of the caverns. It turned her shakes to shivers.

She'd huddled herself together on the rock he'd left her on. Of all the things on her mind it felt petty and ridiculus to so much as take note of how her ankle burned red hot with pain even as she sat, but she couldn't help it. She'd tried to push through it, to get up and walk half a dozen times, to follow after him, but each time she'd come crashing down. It wasn't broken, but the injury sustained was greater than what she'd experienced in the mines beneath the library. She couldn't support her own weight. There was nothing to do now but sit and wait and wonder. She hadn't been able to take her eyes off the shadow that she'd last seen him disappear into.

He'd do this. He'd make it right. Gideon was his son. He was going to fix this. He'd messed up with his mother, allowed her to get into his head somehow just as she'd warned but she was gone now, nothing but a pile of ash and dust, and Rumple saw the mistake now! She could see it in his eyes, it was the only thing that made whatever had happened forgivable. That, and compared to the risk of losing their son, hating him and fighting him over that at the moment would have been wrong. She knew the man he was. He wasn't going to lose this opportunity to help Gideon. The only one stopping him would be himself, and she knew that he wouldn't do that. They'd already lost one son. Still, she knew deep down that it wasn't the cold that was making her shake in this little cave, it was fear. He could do this...so long as they didn't run out of time.

With all the drips and noises of the cave, she'd jumped at every one, but the shadows were so thick now that she hadn't realized until he was nearly on top of her that he was coming back. He was walking toward her, and she held her breath waiting for news, even as she observed the way he dragged his feet in shock. Her mind sent out a warning to brace herself, but somehow she couldn't figure out a way to do it that might be sufficient.

"I've failed you, Belle."

His words were a whisper, but they echoed across the hall so that each one hit her over and over again, ringng in her ears. Each one an ugly gray stone falling into the pit of her stomach.

"I failed our family."

No.

She stared up at him in confusion because she didn't understand it. She didn't want to understand, she couldn't bear to believe what he was saying! He hadn't been in time? He hadn't found the heart?

He was holding something in his hand. Something black. She couldn't understand. But he was so certain….

"I made the right choice…it just didn't work out."

It was as if he was speaking a different language. The words didn't make sense to her. They didn't sound like words and yet she felt every last one of them. Understanding eluded her at the most basic of levels and she wasn't sure if it would ever return to her or if she would ever be ready to listen to it. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to accept it.

The black object in his hand, it was black as coal, and she could only just barely make it out...it was a heart. Gideon's. She knew that just as she knew the sun would rise. But it was black? What had happened? How? Emma was dead? Gideon had killed her and now he was…

What did it matter how it happened, it was done. It was done. Gideon's heart was black, and she didn't know if that meant he was Dark now or if he was dead too!

She shook her head as she fought to stand. He was quick to reach down for her, to give her his arm to lean on and guide her. Even in the dark, she could see the tears in his eyes. But words escaped her. She couldn't think of a single thing to say that would comfort him. And she was certain that there was nothing he could say to give it to her at the moment. All she could do was put her arms around his neck and hold on for dear life, for the little that she had left. What their son was, or where he was, or what would happen to him was unknown. But Rumple was here, he was real and the grip he had against her back was a steadying reality.

"I'm sorry, Belle," he choked into her shoulder, a genuine apology.

"I love you, Rumple."

Her throat was swollen, but it was the only thing she could think to say. The only thing that might help and at the moment she couldn't bring herself to care if it was the right time or the right place to say such a thing. They had to figure out a way to live with whatever was coming their way. They may as well start by living with each other.

She allowed herself to be lost in his touch. In giving and getting comfort, she thought of-

She jumped and sniffled at the sound of an unfamiliar noise behind her, something in the cave. It wasn't a cave sound; it wasn't the dripping water or fallings stones she'd been listening to all this time. It was the noise of something living, but not an animal. It sounded like...

No. It wasn't possible.

Rumple's grip on her loosened as she turned around to locate the being that had made the sound. At the other end of the cavern, there was a small basket, smaller than what she'd used for laundry. Something was moving inside of it, squirming, making small gurgles just like Little Neal and Robin.

"Belle!" Rumple breathed lightly. Beside her his hand was open. And she couldn't understand the significance of an empty hand until she looked at the bundle at the other end of the cavern and remembered the lump of black that had once been their son's heart. It was gone. Two and two equaled four, she'd learned that long ago, but no matter how it was adding up in her mind right now she couldn't fathom how any of it was possible. It couldn't be. And yet, something in her knew it was.

She felt her jaw drop open. Her heart felt drawn to the tiny basket in a way she'd only ever felt once before. She took a step forward but nearly fell to the ground as her leg failed her. In her eagerness to move forward she felt no pain, but was vastly aware of its presence as Rumple's grasp tightened around her, taking on her weight as they both moved forward toward the object she kept expecting would disappear at any second.

It didn't.

And when she gazed down at the figure in the basket her head felt light, and all the world spun around him, a lone focal point in their world because she knew that face. She'd memorized every bit of it laying on a bed at the convent weeks ago! He was just as he'd been then, tiny as a newborn, not an inch grown! It was as if time had somehow turned back. And she couldn't understand how, but for once in her life, she didn't care.

She let out a choked cry as Rumple bent down to help her to the ground.

"Is that…"

"It's Gideon!" she cried pulling him from the basket and into her arms.

Standing was difficult, she was missing a leg, but with Rumple's help, she managed. The second the bulk of her baby was back in her arms, the moment his weight was against her once more a different weight, one that had pressed and ground against her soul, one that had been there since she'd given him to the Blue Fairy was lifted. She cried as she examined him, beholding the most beautiful sight that she'd never expected to see again. Their son.

When her leg failed, she practically fell into her husband. He held her steady, hands on either side of her to keep her on her feet as she held him between the two of them and looked him over. Not a scratch. Eyes still closed. These even appeared to be the clothes that she'd sent him off in! He could have been born thirty minutes ago instead of two weeks ago!

Emotions too strong to identify overwhelmed her and she stopped checking so that she could place a kiss of welcome next to the one of farewell she'd left weeks ago.

"A fresh start," she heard Rumple whisper as she gazed down at her baby. "A happy ending."

"No!" she refuted, looking up at her husband who was still staring down at his newborn son. Their first meeting. "A happy beginning."

She cried, blubbered like a baby. He let his head fall into her own and his arms held her closer and tighter to keep her on her feet as she cradled their sleeping son between the two of them. Her family was safe and hole. She didn't care how the miracle had happened, only marveled that for once in her life, a wish had come true.

Well, welcome to the end. I really hope that you enjoyed this story! The next story in the Moments series is Moments Grown and you can find it by simply heading over to my profile. It covers everything that happened in Storybrooke in the five weeks between when Belle and Rumple get Gideon back and the family dinner at Granny's Diner.

Of course, if you liked what you read please review! I love getting those wonderful little gems in my inbox and communicating with the people reading on a personal level. And if you want to read more, please check out any of the other fictions in the Moments Series. For more information on the Moments Series, upcoming fictions, posting and publishing dates, or a reading order, check out my profile for more details. Peace and Happy Reading!