any chance you can Rumbelle the Dresden Files? Pweeeeease?
Honestly I’m surprised it took this long to Rumbelle it.
II
“My library tried to kill me.” It wasn’t until they were across the street, leaning heavy on a brick wall that Belle had enough air to spare for speech. It wasn’t until then that she began to connect the last few days into something that made sense.
Except that it didn’t.
“You really are a wizard.”
“There’s nothing wrong with your library. The demon bound inside the book that’s on a shelf in your library tried to kill you. The book I asked you to give me two days ago.” Gold clenched his cane in his hand, the wood smooth beneath his skin but the energy dull. It had taken everything he’d had in reserve to get them both out of the library alive.
“I’m going to ignore the fact that you’re blaming me for not believing something that sounded like a bad horror film plot because you just saved my life. How did you just save my life?” Belle reached for the cane in his hand; Gold pulled it back.
“It doesn’t matter. You should go home now. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come back to work.” Gold didn’t know what it said about his life that the brunette who had held his hand as they’d run and was now smiling at him in far too friendly of a manner unsettled him more than the demon that would like to cut out his heart so it could be free.
“You’re going back in there.” Belle tilted her head to one side, observing him. Smiling still, and he wondered just what she had to smile about.
“Not tonight. I need to gather a few more supplies.” He’d been in too much of a hurry to prepare properly when he’d realized just what kind of trouble Belle was facing. He also needed time and moonlight to re energize his cane.
“Well my apartment is over the library so I’m assuming that I can’t actually go home tonight. I don’t know anything about magic but I’m a quick study and I know how to read Latin. Is magic really in Latin or is that more of a Hollywood thing?” Gold’s heart sunk when Belle headed for his car, waiting patiently next to the passenger door.
“You’re not coming home with me,” he groused. He didn’t need her asking him questions, distracting him. Distracting him a lot, he conceded to himself. If he was going to get his point across he really needed to stop staring at her. “Don’t you have a friend you can stay with?”
“Probably, but not one that’s going to help me get rid of a demon. Would you rather I hired you? If I was your client you’d have to let me come to your office, wouldn’t you? The card you showed me said you were a PI.” The was a tear in her sweater where she’d gotten caught on the corner of a bookcase a few minutes ago. Gold found himself fingering the scar in the fabric. He could fix it, at least. Maybe it would distract her enough that he could leave.
“People pay me to make their problems go away, not to lead them into danger. You’re not safe with me,” he told her truthfully. There was a reason he didn’t have any friends. Well, not any friends except for Mal, and she was a non corporeal entity tied to her own skull. And Detective Swan but only on their better days could she even remotely be called a friend.
“I think I’m not safe without you, Mr. Gold.” When she kissed his cheek he lost all ability to argue. Somehow she ended up in the passenger seat of his car as he headed for home.









