Adult-FanFiction.org : Television / Streaming

The Trade Off	By : LotornoMiko Category: M through R > Once Upon A Time Views: 5409 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Once Upon A Time fandom. Nor do I make any money off of it or this story.

Chapter List
- 1-The Trade Off
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Trade 11
- 12-Twelve
- 13-Thirteen
- 14-Fourteen
- 15-Fifteen
- 16-Sixteen
- 17-Seventeen
- 18-Eighteen
- 19-Nineteen
- 20-Twenty
- 21-Twenty One
- 22-Twenty Two
- 23-Twenty Three
- 24-Twenty Four
- 25-Twenty Five
- 26-Twenty Six
- 11
- 12
- 13
Standing under the spray of the shower's warm waters, Belle had had to admit, that this was something she had needed. And not just to chase away the chill that had been within her, but to give her the time to step back and process all that was happening. To actually think with something other than the borderline panic that had underlined her every thought and action for the last day or so.
The act of thinking didn't mean Belle hurt any less. Her heart break was real, the pain potent and damn near disabling. It was dangerous too, having already led her to make one suicidally stupid move when Belle had attempted to cross the boundary. Though she wouldn't have died a traditional type of death, the curse would have destroyed her true self, so that the person Belle now was would exist no more. There would have been no coming back from that, and though it was still tempting, that thought of being stripped of her pain and heart break, Belle knew she couldn't do that to her friends, or her estranged father.
Without panicking guiding her, Belle could see how selfish that would have been. The stress she would have put them all under. And though she still hurt terribly, Belle took comfort in knowing that fatally stupid mistake hadn't been carried to completion. What was less comforting was how the curse had been avoided. The man who had stopped her, actually going so far as to tackle her to the ground rather than let Belle cross over the boundary.
Hook.
Belle's face grew warm, a sort of mortified heat coloring her cheeks. It wasn't the first time he had seen a side of her that Belle would have preferred to keep hidden. Her reluctant ecstasy, the wild abandonment she had experienced at his touch was nothing compared to being seen at her lowest, her most pained. Belle had been blinded by her pain, hysterical and desperate. Despairing as she tried to cross the boundary. Hook had seen it all, from her panicked flight, to that suicidal decision.
Did he judge her for that? Did it even matter? Belle wasn't sure, except to know she didn't like how exposed these circumstances had left her. How vulnerable she felt, how embarrassed and humiliated to have Hook of all people witness such things. Belle couldn't think in terms of gratitude for the saving Hook had done. Not when it was his schemes and manipulations that had led to the situations that had come close to destroying Belle.
But the worst had to be over. Belle couldn't imagine anything Hook or even Rumplestiltskin could do, that would drive her to such a low point again. Belle simply had to be strong, endure whatever came her way just like she had in the past. From her time as the Queen's prisoner, to further back in the early days of her relationship with Rumplestiltskin when he had viewed her as nothing but a slave.
Compared to those times, this experience with Hook was simply no better or no worse. A survivor, Belle would manage just fine save for her embarrassment. Hook might enjoy having her in his thrall, using her to hurt Rumplestiltskin, but ultimately Belle was sure he would tire of this. He couldn't possibly be serious about wanting Belle for his own, couldn't really want to keep having her act as his woman. Eventually Hook would either grow satisfied or bored, thinking his revenge complete. Belle would be free then, left to her own devices to pick up the shattered pieces of her life.
Not sure where she would start with that particular mess, Belle knew she now had time to figure things out. That things weren't as bleak as they had once seemed. Her pain had not lessened, but it now felt she could manage it and whatever pitfalls came her way. She nearly felt hopeful for the future, for the chances that might await her.
Less promising was the fact that Hook was also waiting on her. Belle was frankly surprised at the patience he was showing, that he hadn't come barging in to disturb and molest her during her shower. Belle was under no illusions about what he was expecting, what would happen once she came out of the bathroom. She could think of no other reasons that would have motivated him to bring her back to his ship than for sex.
Belle was resigned to it. She had after all made a deal with him, and Belle was hardly one to back out on a promise. But a part of her couldn't help but hope he had worked out the worst of his lusts. That the insatiable man of the past night, wouldn't be all over her for every waking moment of this one.
Such hopes seemed dashed when Belle stepped out of the shower, and discovered her clothes were gone. Every last piece, including her bra and panties. She didn't know what distressed her more. That Hook had snuck into the bathroom at some point, or that he had taken off with her clothing.
Taking this as proof that Hook really had a one track mind where she was concerned, Belle almost didn't notice the shirt he had left behind on the bathroom's bench. But when she did, she grabbed at it like a life line, quickly slipping the black silk onto her body. It bagged on her, the sleeves so long that she had to roll them up. The hem was no better, falling past her scraped knees.
It also smelled faintly like Hook. A clean and strong masculine scent that Belle was hardly pleased to recognize. Never had she wanted to get this close to the pirate that she would know and find familiar the scent of him. But after what they had done together, she was intimately familiar with a great many aspects of him. And no doubt, Hook was the same with her, which sent off Belle blushing.
Deciding to pretend she was still red faced from her shower, Belle limped out of the bathroom. The pirate was halfway across the room, his back to her. His BARE back, the unvoiced question about her clothing dying in her throat at the sight of it. It had caught her off guard, the idea of Hook waiting for her half undressed so unexpected, so unwanted.
Not that Belle hadn't already seen Hook in various states of undress, and he her. But the fact that he was shirtless now, seemed to only confirm her expectations of what Belle assumed he would want from her. She practically sighed then, then nearly jumped when without turning, Hook spoke.
"Do I take your breath away, love?"
Belle blinked, a moment needed for his tone to register as teasing. Did her face warm further, her blush spreading when Hook turned to grin at her.
"No, not exactly." Belle finally managed to speak. An intrigued gleam lightened Hook's dark gaze, and flustered by it, Belle knew then that he did. By the simple act of looking at her with that ravenous hunger, that blatant lust, Hook could and did steal the breath from her. It wasn't something she would admit to out loud, nor did Belle find it a pleasant feeling. It set her on edge the way Hook often looked at her, that burning blaze of desire that danced naked in his eyes, something frightening compared to the way Rumplestiltskin had looked at her.
Her face nearly crumpled then as Belle realized Rumplestiltskin would never again show her such a loving expression. Hook's grinning face took on a serious slant to it, the man perceptive enough to pick up on Belle's distress. She wasn't sure how he knew, what telling sign had betrayed her in the face of her maintaining her composure.
"Is one of those for me?" Belle asked, inclining her head towards the table behind Hook. Among the bottles of various liquor, there was a black kettle and two glasses. One was still full with what Belle hoped was some tea.
"Freshly brewed and awaiting your pleasure." His smile had returned, Belle taking it to mean he wasn't going to press her about her moment of distress. She supposed he could guess as to what was troubling her, and it was a relief not to have talk about it. Not when talking wouldn't change a damn thing, not the truth of the matter, nor the fact that she hurt over it.
Wondering if she would always hurt this badly, Belle took a step forward. The fact that she favored her left foot, had Hook at her side in an instant, the man lifting her up off the floor. Startled, Belle pushed at his chest, issuing a protesting exclamation.
"I can still walk, you know!"
For one brief instant, both of them tensed, Belle's hands having touched upon Hook's chest. She was made aware of how warm his skin was, and of how this was the first time she had truly touched him in his bare state. It wasn't a loving or sexual touch, but it made her nervous all the same. It probably had to do with the tension that had overtaken Hook's body, the lazy, relaxed way he had been holding her, becoming stiff and unyielding.
"Hook?" Belle asked, nervous as she let her hands fall away. Something showed in his eyes, Belle confused by it. She couldn't know how much Hook had been craving for her to touch him, how earlier he had been almost desperate for it, even as he had known it wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
She didn't know any of it, and yet Belle knew enough to be wary. Holding herself absolutely still, rather than do a frantic squirming to get free of his arms. Daring to not to so much as breathe, knowing it would take very little for this to escalate towards the bed.
There was on more thing that Belle didn't know. One more thing she wouldn't have been able to comprehend where Hook was concerned. And that was that he was honestly struggling, torn between concern for Belle, and his desire to bed her. It was completely unlike a pirate to even for one second considering choosing the former over the latter. It put frown lines by his eyes, Hook standing rooted to the spot, with a Belle who was noticeably NOT squirming in his arms.
It was a wise move on her part. To have a blushing, squirming, practically naked Belle in his arms at this moment? It would have ripped the choice from him, Hook moving to act on the desires this delectable female wrought in him. It was a hard enough decision without any prompting from her, leaving them frozen in a moment that could go either way.
When Hook finally took a step forward, it was with noted relief, not to the bed. Belle found herself being lowered into a worn but comfortable chair, the hem of her borrowed shirt riding up high on her thighs. A hurried movement from her had the shirt tugged back into place, but not before Hook had gotten an eye full.
Pink even though Belle knew he had seen more than that during the past night, she wasn't expecting him to tsk. "Not only have you hurt your ankle, but you've gone and done a number on those lovely long legs of yours."
He stepped away from her, and Belle swore Hook's tension grew worse, even as he let out a deep breath. The glass of still warm tea would be given to her, Belle noting on the first sip that it was flavored with something strong. She'd nearly choke on that potent brew, when the pirate dropped down to his knees before her, his strong hands reaching for her legs.
"What....?" Belle managed to speak a word without sputtering. "What are you...?"
Her flesh seemed to break out into goose bumps, Hook looking up at her, while rubbing her left leg. It was a eerily familiar scene. reminiscent of the moment leading up to the first time they had had sex. Hook had been on his knees then too, his hands confidant as they caressed and rubbed over her legs.
This time however, his touch was lighter, Hook rubbing his fingers over one of the many scratches on her leg. The scratches weren't deep enough to have bled much, unlike the scraping of her knees which had hurt something terribly even hours later. But the worst was her ankle, Belle fighting and failing to not flinch when Hook brushed fingers over it in a determined way.
"Swollen..." He murmured, still watching her face. He applied slight pressure to her ankle, turning her foot this way and that. It hurt but not as much as it could have, proving to them both that it really was just a sprain, and nothing more serious than that.
"You were lucky." Hook said, still holding onto her foot. "It'll heal on it's own soon enough." The tea hadn't been the only thing he had brought with him, Hook unwinding a cloth bandage. He'd then proceed to secure it around her ankle, using it to provide some additional support to her ankle.
Hook talked while he did that, every so often looking up from Belle's ankle to meet her curious gaze. "It's strange, Belle." He said. "Today is proving different from my expectations."
"Different?" She asked, and Hook let out an easy going laugh. "Different how?"
"Oh the company, the situation, even the circumstances that brought us together. Take your pick, pet. It's all things I hadn't planned for."
"Then what were you hoping for?" Questioned Belle. "What did you want to happen after you got your revenge on Rumplestiltskin."
"Truthfully?" He had finished wrapping the bandage around her ankle area. "I wasn't wanting much of anything."
She was confused. "What, nothing?"
"It made it easier." Hook answered, staying kneeling on the floor. "To accept that I was going to die soon after I settled with Rumplestiltskin."
Belle shivered then. "That sounds terrible." She meant it too. "How could you live your life that way? With no hope for the future?"
He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "It's easier than you think. Especially if you have no one left, no one to be close too."
"But surely that was your choice." Belle protested. "Rumplestiltskin may have killed Mila, but what about friends, family?"
"It wasn't hard to drive away my friends. And trust me, love, I was pretty terrible in the years that followed Mila's murder." Hook practically sighed then, his eyes almost regretful. "I was bitter and heart sick, angry with Rumplestiltskin, with the world. I took out my pain on others, hurt people, even killed, furious that I lacked the ability to do those things to the man responsible for my loss."
"But surely they understood..."
"Understanding will only get you so far." Hook retorted. "Especially when you've lived for as long as I have."
"You make it sound as though you are an old man." Belle pointed out, watching as Hook went from serious to teasing with a smile.
"Just how old do you think I am?"
"Um." Belle looked at him carefully, noting how he lacked any lines on his face. "I wouldn't much put your age pass thirty."
"Thirty is it?" Hook chuckled then. "I like that." His hand touched her leg again, a light caressing motion that could become so much more. "But I'm afraid you're wrong, love. Because I'm much older than that."
"Then how old are you?!" Belle demanded, her peevishness having more to do with him stroking her leg than anything to do with his true age.
"I'd say I'm only a few decades younger than Rumplestiltskin."
"Only a few decades..." Belle murmured, than shook her head. "You can't be nearly as old as him! You're not immortal."
"No, I am not." Hook agreed. "But remind me to tell you about Neverland some day."
"Neverland...." Belle echoed with surprise. She had heard of the land, a realm thought to be only a myth. And with that myth came fanciful tales, including one about how the people there never aged so much as a single day older.
"But if Neverland is real..."
"Oh it is." Hook assured her.
"That would mean....you've held your grudge against Rumplestiltskin for years."
"HUNDREDS of them at least." Agreed Hook without smiling.
Belle was quiet a moment, processing this. "That is a long time to live in pain...." She said softly, sympathetically. "And an even longer time to live expecting to die."
"Some days knowing an end to the pain WOULD happen, was the only thing that kept me moving forward. That and the idea of perhaps avenging Mila."
"You've succeeded in that, haven't you?" Belle couldn't help but sound bitter than. "So what keeps you going now?" He was quiet, but Belle couldn't tell if Hook was considering a possible answer.
"A few things, I suppose." He finally said. "Chief among them you."
"ME?" She squeaked out, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"Don't look so surprised, sweet." Hook chided. "Not when you worked so hard to keep Rumplestiltskin from finishing me off."
"I didn't do it for you...."
"I know. You thought you were protecting whatever goodness you think exists in him. But the fact remains, I benefited from your belief in him. A belief so strong, even Rumplestiltskin wants to behave because of it."
"It is strong because it is the truth!" protested Belle. "There IS good inside him."
"It'll take a lot more than words to convince me of that. Not after what I've seen him do." Hook told her, then smiled. "We're never going to agree on this, both of us too deep in our opposing beliefs about Rumplestiltskin."
"So we what.....agree to disagree about him?" Belle wondered, and Hook nodded. She sighed then. "So what is the other reasons?" But his expression turned teasing, his eyes glimmering with a playful shine to them. It let Belle know Hook wasn't about to be serious in whatever he told her next.
"You are quite the woman, Belle." Hook said. "In and out of bed, you're proving to be a delight. How can I not stick around to enjoy you some more?"
Her faced burned, this time anger warming her cheeks. "That's not something I want to hear!" She snapped.
"But it's true all the same." Hook retorted. "And if by being with you, I continued to twist the dagger in Rumplestiltskin? Why it makes it all the better."
Belle considered throwing the remains of her tea in his face. "You are despicable."
"But honest enough." Hook countered. "Face it love, we're in this together. This is the first day of the rest of our life together, a fact that should be celebrated."
Belle had barely heard the part about celebrating, having gone still and pale. She hadn't liked what Hook had had to say, how he had talked about them having a life together. It was the together part that bothered her, Hook speaking as though he meant it. As though he truly intended to keep this farce of a relationship going indefinitely, as though Hook expected Belle to spend the rest of her life playing at being his woman.
For a woman who had been counting on Hook to eventually tire of relationship born of so twisted a beginning, it was unsettling to think he might really intend to keep her. It left an uneasy feeling inside her, Belle staring dismayed as Hook lifted her right leg, to press a kiss over the top of her foot.
By the look in his eyes, Belle could tell just how he wanted to celebrate too. And though she had been resigned to it earlier, now she felt a fierce urge to rebel against it, Belle trying to jerk her foot free of his grip.
"Hook..." She began, with a nervous lick of her lips. "Do...don't..." His eyes had gone hooded in response to that glimpse of her tongue, Hook laying his hand on her thigh.
"Don't what?" He asked in a husky tone, fingers kneading at her skin.
"Just...just don't..." Belle started to say, giving a little shake of her head. Hook made a shushing sound, dropping down to place a kiss on the thigh he had been massaging. She shivered at that, and tried again, louder this time. "Don't do that!"
Hook outright ignored her, giving her several nibbling kisses on her thigh. Lord help her, but Belle reacted to that, to his nearness, and the feel of his facial hair rubbing against her skin. Her breath caught inside her, Belle not actually gasping just as another voice spoke.
"I believe the lady asked you to stop."
Startled, Belle whipped around to see Ruby and the Charmings standing in the broken doorway of the ship's bedroom. Their expressions were all murderous, the prince actually reaching for a sword that was not there on his belt. Ruby had a shirt in her hand, the fabric still wet from the storm. Belle realized it was one of Hook's, and that Ruby had most likely been using it to scent and track him all over town.
Hook had tensed a moment, before rising to his feet. "Swan." He said, locking eyes with Emma. "I would expect you and your family to know better than to barge uninvited to a place you're not welcome."
"You're on my turf now, pirate. We play by my rules." Emma retorted.
"Oh do we now?" Hook asked, his tone decidedly cool given how annoyed he seemed by the interruption. "This is my ship, not yours. I'm the captain here."
"As long as your ship is in Storybrooke waters, you answer to me." Swan countered. "Now leave Belle be, and come here."
"And if I don't?" Hook asked, sounding bored.
"Then I won't be responsible for how hurt you end up getting." Emma said, an unpleasant smile on her lips.
Hook let out a long suffering sigh, holding up his hand in mock surrender. "All right, all right." He grumbled, before turning to touch Belle's cheek with his hand. "Sit tight love, this shouldn't take more than a minute." A low growl was heard, Ruby sounding wolfish and feral in response to Hook's words. All hell would literally break out seconds later, Ruby charging forward to punch the pirate in retaliation for the sexual promise Hook would attempt to voice to Belle.
All but screaming, Belle tried to lurch out of the chair, not sure who she was more worried for. Ruby WAS a werewolf, but then the pirate had that deadly sharp hook in place of his left hand. Either could do great damage, and neither were holding back in their attacks.
Shouting broke out on the ship, the Charmings rushing forward. Belle glanced at the prince who charged into the fray, and any hope she had that he was there to break up the fight, faded when the prince punched Hook right in the face.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Be Continued....
I had a difficult time with this chapter, hence it was so many days without an update. The first attempt at the start, was....I guess too rambly and repetitive, and well I trashed it, and made a better attempt at the shower scene for Belle. But then my mind kinda shut down on what to write for the conversation between her and Hook. It wasn't supposed to get sexual either.....it just sorta happened by accident. Still haven't been able to get Belle in the frame of mind I wanted/feel I need for the three day time skip either. Hoping next chapter will go well, and then fourteen will be the three days later time skip. *knocks on wood* Not really feeling into writing the Charmings and Ruby tonight....but glad to have this chapter over with. X_X
----Michelle
- 11
- 12
- 13
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Trade Off