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
- 4
- 5
- 6
It had almost been anticlimactic, the way Rumplestiltskin had just up and left. Not that Hook wasn't relieved. Not when he had been expecting even more violence, one or all of them dead before the night was through. But cooler heads had prevailed, Belle getting through to Rumplestiltskin. To that spark of goodness she claimed he had inside him, somehow making the monster see reason. Frankly Hook was amazed by that, finding it a prime example of the saying that beauty doth soothe the savage beast.
Not that Rumplestiltskin was in any way calmed. Oh he had put on a good enough show, but Hook could see right through him. Could see the lies Rumplestiltskin was trying to tell himself, the way that monster tried to shut down all feeling, act as if his heart wasn't breaking because of Belle. Because of the bargain she had made, the trade Rumplestiltskin had found absolutely unacceptable. A trade Rumplestiltskin had known was the only way, the monster in no way able to forgive Belle should she have let the scarf be destroyed.
Oh Rumplestiltskin had tried to lie to them both, but Hook had seen the way the monster had shifted his guilt ridden gaze away at Belle's questions. And from the sad way Belle had reacted, she had seen and known what that avoiding look had meant too. The poor girl really was stuck between a rock and a hard place, Hook having maneuvered things in such a way that Belle wouldn't have been able to make the right choice no matter what.
Hook supposed that made him as big a bastard as Rumplestiltskin, but he didn't care. Hook was too busy celebrating the fact that he was alive, albeit battered and bruised from all the beatings he had taken at Rumplestiltskin's hands. And it wasn't like he was any worse off, sustaining a few cuts and bruises, but otherwise fine if winded. His ribs probably weren't even broken, just a bit bruised, maybe cracked. He was fine, Hook ready to live, to fight, to love another day.
Belle on the other hand, looked as though she was suffering worse than Hook. Rumplestiltskin may not have gotten the chance to lay a violent hand on the woman, but the emotional fall out of what went down, had taken it's toll. The dear girl looked as though she was struggling not to break down, her hand still held out, reaching for someone who was not there. Hook wondered if she was mentally willing Rumplestiltskin to come back for her, but the pirate knew the monster would not.
Frankly, Hook didn't think Rumplestiltskin would be returning. Not any time soon, if ever at all. The monster was probably off dredging the harbor, searching for his son's scarf. He probably wouldn't allow himself any time to lick the wounds dealt to him by Belle's choice, and most likely his distaste of the results of that choice would keep him from trying to fight for Belle.
A pity for Rumplestiltskin, but a fortuitous turn for Hook. Because unlike the crocodile, Hook wasn't about to turn Belle aside, no matter the circumstances. Aside from the fact his keeping the girl would only twist the dagger deeper into Rumplestiltskin's broken heart, Hook found he LIKED Belle a little more than anticipated. Especially when she continued to impress, not only honoring the bargain she had made, but refusing to allow Rumplestiltskin to free Belle from Hook through the killing of him.
It spoke of her loyalty, one of the very things Hook wanted from her. Oh she might not be feeling particularly loyal towards Hook, but Belle had enough honor to hold to the bargain at least. It was a step in the right direction. Hook was sure given enough time, the other qualities he had admired and envied Rumplestiltskin for, would soon be diverted towards him, and him alone.
All in all, it was proving to be a good day. Wonderful even, despite the beatings. Hook had gotten to relish the effects of his revenge on Rumplestiltskin, even as the monster had tried to shut down his feelings. But more than that, Hook was alive, and actually looking forward to what might come next. Be it Belle in his bed, or knowing Rumplestiltskin was continuing to suffer from the loss of that woman.
Of course the one downside was the innocent caught in the crossfire of all this revenge seeking. Belle. She truly looked heart sick, grieving in the moment. She hadn't yet started to cry, but she looked woefully small and pale, trembling besides him. Hook gave her a side long look, Belle seeming unaware of him, as she knelt there waiting. Waiting for a man--monster who wasn't coming back. Not for her, and not any time soon.
Hook started to sigh, almost feeling a twinge of guilt over Belle's clear hurt. That breath bought pain flaring, Hook's ribs protesting. Still worth it though, Hook thought, and slowly pushed up off the floor. Belle didn't react to him, not until Hook lay a gentle hand on her bare shoulder. He wasn't sure what emotion he was feeling for her, some kind of pity or empathy most likely. It wasn't nice to have your world turned upside down, your heart hurt in the process. Hook could imagine Belle felt a similar kind of pain to the one he had felt, the day Rumplestiltskin had so coldly slaughtered Mila. And for that pain, Hook WAS sorry.
But not sorry enough to let her go, to free her from their bargain. "Belle." He said out loud, managing not to grunt in pain. She didn't immediately react, not until Hook shifted closer to her. He didn't know what the woman thought he was going to do, but suddenly she was shrugging off his hand.
"Belle?" He questioned, watching as she rose up off her knees. Her hands made sure to check the blanket, to make sure it was still securely in place around her. "Darling?"
No spoken answer, Belle moving almost listlessly to his bathroom. He heard her lock the door behind her, but surprisingly, Belle didn't immediately start crying. Hook knelt there on the floor, listening to her move around, no doubt rummaging through the chests and the drawer over the sink. He even heard the splash of water, thinking perhaps Belle was washing her face.
Hook was worried, but didn't think Belle the type of woman to actually hurt herself. She was stronger than that, having endured time not only as Rumplestiltskin's slave, but as the Evil Queen's prisoner. She would survive this latest difficulty, be all the stronger for it. Not to mention better, Hook thinking a life spent with him was far better than the fates Rumplestiltskin and the Queen Regina had intended for the girl.
Now to only convince Belle of that, Hook thought, allowing a grimace of pain to cross his face. He'd slowly rise to his feet, actually grabbing onto a nearby table for support. His eyes would assess the room, noting there wasn't much damage, aside from the door, and a part of the wall where Rumplestiltskin's magic has slammed Hook into. The impact of Hook's body had left the wood damaged, splintered in places. Easy enough to fix, but for now Hook was more interested in numbing his own physical pain.
He got a hold of the brandy bottle. Not bothering with a glass, Hook collapsed onto the nearest chair. Actually slumping partway, drinking directly from the bottle. He didn't even get to guzzle down half the brandy, before Belle came out of the bathroom. She still looked so pale, so sad, but there was a determination in her movements. Hook sat up straight, watching her warily as she approached him, carrying what looked to be the small first aid kit he kept inside the bathroom's medicine chest.
"What's this?" Hook wondered out loud. "An angel of mercy approaches?"
The look Belle gave him wasn't exactly friendly, but she didn't falter in her approach. "You've been hurt." She understated what had happened.
"That I have, love." Hook agreed. He almost didn't object when she took the brandy from him, setting it aside on the floor. "Your man Rumplestiltskin isn't exactly known for his gentleness."
He almost missed the way she flinched at that. "He was always gentle with me." She murmured.
"Was he now?" Hook asked, hardly pleased to hear it. "Well I suppose it makes sense. The monster wouldn't want you to see any side of him but the best one possible."
A withering glare was her response, Belle shaking her head no so hard her unbound hairs' curls bounced over her shoulders. "He let me see the real him."
"Or what you think was the real him." Hook countered. He chuckled, though the laugh kind of made him hurt in the sides. "Love, face it, he probably never let you see any of his bad sides if he could help it."
"Why would he do that?" Belle demanded, her expression fierce. "Why would you even think that of him?"
"It's the only way it makes sense. The only way a woman like you would fall in love with a monster like him."
"He's not a monster!" Belle protested, and Hook inwardly applauded her passion.
"Call him whatever you like. But the fact remains he purposefully cultivated your good opinion of him, making sure you never saw what everyone else was privy too."
"And why would he do that?" Belle demanded. 'Why would he go to so much trouble just to fool his servant."
"Slave." Hook corrected her. "You were his slave. And why not? You are beautiful. Exceedingly so. Even Rumplestiltskin is not immune to an attractive woman's charms. I bet he enjoyed having you dote your love on him."
"It wasn't like that." Belle insisted, still too pale to properly color in response to what Hook was saying. "He wasn't even looking for love...."
"Then what was he looking for?" Hook demanded, with an arch of an eyebrow. When she said nothing, Hook shifted forward in his seat, reaching to touch one of her arms. "Sounds like he wasn't that far from me after all, bargaining for a woman's affection."
The slap turned his face to the side, Hook's cheek stinging. He probably deserved it, though that was something he'd never admit out loud.
"Rumplestiltskin is nothing like you." Belle said, visibly shaking with her anger. "Do not try to pretend otherwise, and do not try to taint my memories of that time I spent with him."
"Can't taint something if you do not have doubts of your own about it, pet." Hook answered, locking eyes with Belle. "I'm sure you've had plenty of time to think about it, even if you won't admit it out loud."
"There is nothing to admit." Belle retorted. Hook just smiled in reply, almost laughing when she let out an indignant huff. "You're wrong about him. And about me!"
"I think I'm very much on the mark, but if it comforts you..." Hook attempted a shrug, then exaggerated the amount of pain he felt, just to see how Belle would react. She didn't quite soften, though her eyes showed just the tiniest bit of worry.
"Where else are you hurt?" She asked.
"I've a few scrapes and bruises. But nothing so serious that they can't be kissed better." Her lips pursed together in a disapproving frown, Belle not liking his glib manner of teasing. "Do lighten up, pet." He advised her, then couldn't quite hide the surprise when Belle began attempting to remove his shirt.
"I admire your eagerness, love." Hook said, chuckling. "If you just give me one moment, I can have us both naked in ten seconds flat."
Another dirty look, Belle annoyed. "I don't need to be naked for this..."
"That you don't, but I LIKE looking at you."
Her gaze now troubled, Belle still managed to glare at him. "I am trying to HELP you." She informed him in a withering tone.
"Then by all means..." Hook stopped teasing, and helped Belle to slide the shirt up over his head. He then sat back in his seat, watching her face as she stared at him. He felt warm just watching the way Belle's gaze slid over his bare skin, the woman seeming to examine every inch of him, including the dark trail of hair that started low on his navel and disappeared into the waistband of his pants.
"Seen enough love? Or should I remove these as well?" His hand was already reaching to undo his leather pants, Belle quickly jerking her gaze upwards.
"Don't bother." Belle said, her tone dry in it's embarrassment. "I've no interested in that part of you."
"You seem interested enough when I had you on my bed." He managed to catch her wrist this time, when Belle tried to slap him again.
"I didn't once look and you know it!" Belle hissed, angry.
"Something to be amended at the first conceivable opportunity." Hook told her, realizing he wanted her to see him. Wanted Belle to do more than look, but also to touch. To admire him, to participate even more in the sex, Hook having enjoyed what little touching she HAD done before.
"Now, if you're done fussing over me...." Hook was already trying to reach for her waist, wanting to pull her down onto his lap.
"Hardly." Belle said, chasing his hand away. "And I'm not fussing, just being practical." She then set to opening the first aid kit, finding the antiseptic liquid, and pouring a generous amount on a white cloth. Hook braced himself, and still hissed when the cleansing liquid touched the cut over his eye, the ripped flesh stinging in sharp pain.
Belle's lips seemed to twitch, as though she was hiding a smirk at the way he reacted to the pain. A pain she was causing, even if it was done to help tend to the worst of his injuries. Hook managed to hold his tongue for the next swipe of the wet cloth, watching Belle as she studiously devoted herself to cleaning is wounds.
It was actually kind of nice, Hook realized, to have Belle playing his nurse. Even if her concern had nothing to do with him, Belle more interested in using Hook as a distraction from the pain she herself was feeling. He didn't mind being that distraction, preferring her eyes be focused on him, rather than full of tears that fell over Rumplestiltskin.
So he tried to behave, sitting as relaxed as he could be, considering she had put the cloth away, and was now running her hands over him. Hook watched her through hooded eyes. seeing the determined look in her blue gaze, envying the way thick ringlets of curls brushed the bare skin of her shoulders.
His eyes drew to the way she moistened her lips, Belle's fingers holding a tremble to them as she caressed the tips of them over the front of his throat. The frown she unwittingly gave him, let him know Belle was troubled by the bruises she found there. The bruises they both knew had been made by Rumplestiltskin's cane, that black and blue flesh a stark reminder of how close that monster had come to crushing Hook's windpipe.
Hook wasn't nice enough to lie and say it wasn't as bad as it looked, that he hadn't come close to being brutally killed at Rumplestiltskin's hands. Instead, he held himself still, enduring the tentative caress before Belle seemed to gain hold of herself, and attempted to pull away. Hook quickly caught hold of her right hand, guiding it to his side, where his grimace wasn't all feigned.
"What do you think, love?" Hook asked her. "How much damage is there?"
Belle didn't immediately start trying to feel up his ribs, her gaze locked with his. Whatever thoughts she was having, they obviously disturbed her. Hook could tell by the look in her blue eyes.
"He....He didn't break anything." Belle said, when she finally began moving her hand over his side. Her left hand touched him too, Belle touching firmly and surely over his ribs. He couldn't help but react to her touches, Hook enjoying her soft hands stroking over his skin. It was nice to be the focus of Belle's attention, to have someone, anyone actually care for him. Especially a woman like Belle, who was taking seriously her attempts to tend to the injuries that she could.
It had been too long, Hook realized. Too long since he let anyone near him, too long since he had had anyone to care, or even to pretend to care about what happened to him. It was a nice sensation to lose one self too, Hook thinking it was almost worth going through another beating, to be treated this way again.
Hook was in effect starved for affection. For a woman's tenderness and care. It had been years since Mila had been killed. Years since he had let a woman close enough to him for anything other than a quick tumble among the bed sheets. And now he HAD a woman, and not only was she caring for him, but Hook realized he had a future to look forward to. A future with Belle, no matter what their paths might ultimately lead to.
He wasn't expecting another Mila. Never that! Belle wasn't meant to be a replacement, instead existing as a tool for his revenge. A tool he enjoyed, and might even grow fond of. And she him, if Belle could only let go of her own doubts and suffering.
Feeling like the future was brighter than he had ever anticipated, Hook smiled at Belle. She pretended not to notice, more focusing on pulling a binding tape tight around his torso. He let her tape up his sides, giving his battered ribs some much needed additional support. But more so he enjoyed the view of her bent over him, Hook staring down into the valley of her cleavage that was barely being covered by the bed sheet around her. In fact he could see just a hint on one sweet nipple, Hook wetting his own lips as if in anticipation of brushing them over it.
Mere seconds later, he stopped thinking about her breasts, and actually moved to do something. Gripping her waist with his hand, pulling Belle off balance so that she tumbled down into his lap.
"Hook!" She exclaimed, in startled dismay. But he was already kissing over her cleavage, mouth hungry and laving attention all over the top part of her breasts. Belle's shifting only made her situation worse, the bed sheet starting to unravel, to slip down and expose her breasts more fully.
Hook was most definitely appreciative of the sight, his mouth working double time to pay equal attention to both nipples revealed. It was an impossible task he set before him, the two destined to be neglected in his quest to worship both at the same time. He finally muttered an curse filled oath under his breath, before happily settling on the right nipple.
Already both had ripened like berries, little stiff protrusions of flesh Hook delighted in touching. Belle was making protests, shifting against him and putting her hands on both his shoulders. Hook growled when Belle tried to shove free of him, his arms around her waist holding her prisoner on him.
Gasping, Belle then tried to reason with him. "Hook don't, your ribs..."
"Will be just fine." Hook insisted, right before he began a determined laving of his tongue on her flesh. Even as Belle made a muffled sound, she tried to argue. Pointing out that this was too vigorous an activity for his ribs to endure. He didn't immediately answer, too busy doing a repeated flickering of his tongue to her nipple.
"Hook!"
He really liked his name on her lips, even if it was being said in strangled annoyance. One more flicker of his tongue, and then Hook focused enough to actually speak without growling.
"This can be done as long as we're careful."
"Careful?" Belle's expression of doubting disbelief, could be read in several ways. Ultimately Hook decided that she didn't have any faith in his ability to hold back and do a careful love making.
"Just follow my lead, love..." Hook said, shifting her in his arms. Belle's expression only turned more troubled, Hook cupping one of her breasts. Kneading it, and mourning the fact he only had one hand in which to do this with. "We'll go about this nice and slow, gentle even."
"Slow and gentle? You?"
Hook hid a smile with a kiss on her shoulder. "Don't be so surprised, love. There's many ways to do this, and while I'm not yet an expert, I do know more than a few."
"It was not your knowledge in this that I was casting doubt on." Belle managed to mutter. She then colored at the sound of his laugher, Hook downright grinning at her. Belle tried to explain, but anything she attempted to say only made the situation worse, until Hook slowly silenced her with a kiss.
As amusing as it was to see Belle flustered, there was a sobering reality in her observations. Was Hook capable of holding back, even injured? Or would he be all over her, just as hands on enthusiastic and vigorous as the first time? It really depended on his partner, and Belle was as sexy and erotic as they could be. Surprisingly so, the woman exciting him to new depths of desire, his blood boiling over with lust for her. For Belle, the woman an unexpected treasure he had been given.
"There's only one way to find out." Hook spoke out loud, after pulling back from the kiss. He brushed his lips over the line of her jaw, his tone husky as he spoke words that made Belle shiver. "Let's go back to bed."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Be Continued....
So...I'm liking this chapter much more than the previous one. To a point anyway. First it surprised me, cause originally I imagined Belle being pretty quiet, silently thinking thoughts and trying not to mope as she distracted herself with tending to Hook's injuries. But I like how the talking, the conversations happened, so yay!
I do kinda feel like the little bit of naughty isn't that good here at the end. I'll blame that on I got very sleepy by the end of this chapter, and it was like....do I keep writing, or stop for sleep. Aw man.....I kinda didn't want another sex scene this soon detailed, so now I am debating if I will do another intimate scene (Which is tempting, what with Hook wanting Belle to look at him!) or go with what I thought would happen, and be a Belle POV on a new day. We shall see what I decide tomorrow.
Also...too tired right now, but I've been fighting new ideas. Well rather the return of two ideas I had a few weeks ago. Tonight's new episode, made me think about them. maybe cause I was disappointed by the lack of Belle Hook interactions in the show. I had an idea that Hook and Belle (who still doesn't know who she really is) escape from the hospital together. Tonight's episode only fueled it. The other idea, which I don't know how it could work for Hook and Belle, is well...I've been thinking on a story where Hook kills Rumplestiltskin, and finds out the price of that action. He becomes the new Dark One! :O
But I'm feeling too groggy to write, and really been resisting starting a new idea. Was hoping to get more written today, but then I kinda slacked off. Wanted to get restraint or broken heart new chapters written, but this fic keeps demanding one more chapter written before the ideas will calm down and let me work on a different fic. Oh boy. XD But it's fun for the most part!
----------Michelle
- 4
- 5
- 6
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