Beautiful Lily

Happy endings ?

"So you see, my girl, your mother has always loved you. It was her magic that caused her to leave. She never abandoned us. I love your mother and when she left us, I mourned her. I was never able to tell you before because it hurt too much to talk about it. I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Papa. I understand. At least I do now, anyways. Thank you for telling me," Belle said looking over at her husband for assurance and then back at her father. "Where's mother now?"

"She's helping David and Mary-Margaret with their child. So I would imagine that she's over at their apartment right now," Maurice said picking up the sonograms he had placed down on the counter. He took one more glance at the photos and then back at his daughter. "Before you go, I have a gift for my grandchild."

"Oh Papa, really, you don't have to," Belle called after her father as he disappeared from behind the counter towards the back of his shop. When he came out, he presented them with a vase of flowers.

"Lilies?" questioned Gold, recognizing the flower.

Maurice nodded and replied, setting the vase on the counter before them, "It's your child's favorite flower."

"How can you possibly know that?" Belle wondered in disbelief, bringing the vase closer to her to admire the plant.

"The truth is," Maurice said shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know."

Belle smirked and chuckled at her father's honest reply, "Thank you, Papa. They're beautiful and thank you for telling me about mother."

Maurice nodded, reaching for Belle and bringing her into a hug, "and I'm sorry for not telling you."

Belle bid her father goodbye and brought the vase of flowers with her as she and Gold left the shop. Gold moved ahead of Belle while walking toward the car and opened the passenger door for her. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Better," Belle admitted with a small smile, "much better."

"Good. See? I told you your mother had magical reasons for leaving."

Magical reasons. Magic.

The comment struck her oddly, as if tapping upon a connection she couldn't quite understand. She pondered over the notion as she got into the car and they drove home. Magic was the reason her mother had to left her. Could she ask her mother about it? She never had before. And then there was the timing in which her husband had said those words to her. As if magic was his motivation...

"Uh oh," said Gold as he looked over at Belle. For the most part, the car ride home was silent and the silence was what prompted him to check in on his wife. Gold caught her staring out the window again but in that particular way he always recognized when something disturbed her. At her husband's concern, she looked over to discover a smirk on his face as he continued, "my clever wife is thinking again."

"Nothing... it's just... nothing."

"Mmhm," he replied skeptically, knowing truly well that her thoughts weren't simply 'nothing'.

"It's been a long day. Might we just go home and rest?"

Gold complied and did as she wished and they drove the rest of the way home in silence. Despite their arrival home and going through the motions of the evening, Belle was consumed by her husband's comment about magic. Even as they danced around each other cooking dinner and then taking turns using the bathroom to go to bed she thought about what she learned about her mother. Her mother couldn't possibly be affected by the town's loss of magic because like Hercules and Elsa, she is a deity. She couldn't claim full credit for knowing that deity magic was untouched, it was Killian who mentioned it to her. The thought about her conversation with Killian led her to think about leaving town... to their happy ending.