The Best Tea Cup is Chipped: Book 2

Dire Need

Belle stumbled forward and Rumple caught her, looking up to see Hook standing there grinning.

"I wouldn't count on it!"

"Rumple?" whispered Belle and he felt a rush of relief, she remembered him.

"It's alright, I can fix this." He made to heal her wound with a wave of his hand but it refused to close.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" he yelled at Hook.

"Exactly what you did to me when you took Milah. Now go on Dark One. Do your worst!" the pirate held out his arms invitingly. Rumple summoned a ball of flame.

"Oh I intend to!" however just as he was about to throw it he saw headlights and heard a car horn. Rumple grabbed Belle and pulled her out of the way of the car that came speeding over the town line and hit Hook sending him flying. Ignoring the man Rumple called 911 and tried to staunch the bleeding wound with his coat.

"You've got to hang in there Belle please."

"Ok...I...I...I will."

It seemed like forever before the ambulance and the yellow Volkswagen arrived. When they did Rumple begrudgingly made room for the medic.

"What the hell happened?!" asked Emma.

"What do you think?! That pirate bastard shot her and for some reason magic won't heal the wound. And then he got hit by the stranger's car. Speaking of which..." Rumple moved towards Hook who was holding his ribs and slammed his foot into the man's chest. The pirate let out a yell of pain.

"Gold, are you insane?!" yelled Emma as she and the Huntsman came to try and pull him away as Rumple held his can to Hooks windpipe.

"Yes, I am!"

"You can't do this!" said the Huntsman.

"I can if you let me go," he argued.

"Well do you want to go to jail for murder? Or the hospital with your wife cause they're about to leave," said Emma. This made Rumple pause. He took a deep breath.

"Fine."

Without another word he stormed over to the ambulance and got in the back. Belle was now on a stretcher with an oxygen mask as the EMT's tried to contain her bleeding.

On the way to the hospital Rumple texted the Hatter's and by the time he was rushing through the ER at Belle's side the couple was waiting.

"Where's the doctor?" Rumple demanded.

"Right here Dark One," came the voice of Victor Frankenstein.

"Belle was wounded and it refuses to react to my magic. She's bleeding out DO SOMETHING!" he snapped. Impressively Victor remained calm.

"I'm going to. Belle is my friend to I'll do everything in my power to keep her with us and work out what's wrong. In the meantime, I suggest you calm down so security doesn't try to kick you out."

"I'd like to see them try," growled Rumple.

"Oh, I meant that last bit for their benefit too," said Victor before turning to head to the operating room. As he did so Rumple overheard him speaking to Emma.

"This stranger is in a bad way he needs help too."

"I'm sure he does Sheriff but at the moment I think it's wiser to focus my main attention on the woman with the capacity to influence the Dark One than the stranger who could out us to the world. I'll have someone else get to him."

Rumple snorted at least Frankenstein had some sense.

"So, what in Absolom's name happened?" asked Pip. Rumple relayed the story. When he was done the Hatter cursed.