A/N: This has been formatted from a Tumblr post, my apologies if this is a bad format for it. I tried! Anyways, enjoy!

"Mr. Gold?"

He turned, "Miss French." He turned to face her, eyes grazing over ever inch of her ivory skin and warm brown hair. She was a beautiful girl, his Belle.

Belle blushed, that anxious feeling rising up in her stomach. "I finished dusting your office and I made you a fresh cup of tea." He'd given her her first job, being a maid. More of a caretaker for his office and his home - but no one used "caretaker" like they did elsewhere.

"Thank you Miss French."

She chuckled softly, "Oh, Mr. Gold, you can call me Rose! It slips off the tongue much easier than 'Miss French'."

Mr. Gold gave her a smile, his eyes lighting up. "Ah, but Miss French won't the citizens of Storybrooke think that it is quite strange for me to call my maid by her first name. It is uncharacteristically me."

"They already think it's quite strange that I enjoy every moment here-"

"It's a fine house I could see why-"

"And every moment I spend here with you." Rose stepped towards him.

"You enjoy your time with me?"

"Yes."

She might not remember that she was Belle, but she remembered something about that time. Something about who they were. The love that they - no. They couldn't be in love then because it would destroy him. Regina - the Queen knew that she was his weakness.

Rose stepped closer again, he could see that she was trembling as she stood just mere inches away from him. "Rose." He reached out and brushed his fingers down her tender cheek.

She rested here hand over his, not wanting him to flinch away or leave her standing there awkwardly. "Mr. Gold." She breathed, looking up into his dark eyes. He was closer than he had ever been. She could feel the heat radiating off of him, feel the warmth of his hand against her cheek, beneath her own hand.

It was wrong and it was right on so many levels. He shouldn't have done, shouldn't have let himself feel. But she was Belle, that's all he saw. Storybrooke was the world that they came from, it would be harder for them to be together here. Part of the curse no doubt. Much like Mary Margaret and David suffered because he was married to another woman here.

He leaned forward to kiss her, half expecting her to turn away in horror. But instead she leaned towards him, meeting him half way. Her hand moved to his shoulder, pulling him into the kiss. The hand that had clutched his cane, moved to her waist. The cane fell against the floor, an after thought. His hand that had been on her cheek, tangled into her mess of dark hair.

It felt like perfection to be kissing her. A feeling he had longed for, for what felt like an eternity. She didn't know she was Belle, but she knew that she was in love with him.

"Excuse me."

The voice shattered their moment, they both stumbled apart from each other. Mr. Gold smoothed his hand through his hair, watching as Rose flustered and picked his cane up for him. She desperately pressed her hands against her rumpled skirt, combing fingers through disheveled hair.

"Ah, Regina, what a lovely surprise." Mr. Gold coolly stated, eyes darting between the mayor and the scared looking girl.

"Could you excuse us Miss French?"

"Of course." Rose rushed for the door, anxious to be rid of the situation. With a hesitant look back at her employer - her would-be lover - she left his office.

"How old is she Mr. Gold? I am quite certain that you would not like a scandal to tarnish your already tarnished name."

How old was she? That was something he'd failed to ascertain. It didn't seem a necessity when he knew who she truly was.

"She has just turned seventeen this month." Regina answered for him. "She is a child. You are a middle-aged man. Would you like to be seen as a lecher? The miser that hires young girls and romances them?"

"It is not like that." Mr. Gold gave her a sly smile. "Could you please, excuse me? I don't feel like talking about this."

Regina stared at him, "Yes of course." He might not wish to talk about it, but she was prepared to act on it. The poor little maid would go crazy if the scandal leaked to the wrong people.

~o~

"What are you doing back in here?" Mr. Gold questioned, gripping his cane tighter at the sight of the young maid. "If Regina catches you here-"

"She's not going to catch me here. She thinks I'm at my appointment."

"What appointment?"

"With the psychiatrist."

Mr. Gold softened, "What do you mean? Why would you be going to a psychiatrist? Why would she have you going to one?"

"She says that I have obviously acquired Stockholm Syndrome from working with you." Rose stepped closer towards him, "But it isn't true. Whatever I feel for you isn't because of some ridiculous syndrome. What I feel for you is strange and new and… you're not like any of the boys I go to school with."

"And that is why we cannot be together, Rose. It was an error of judgment. You're a child. You're a girl who deserves a boy. Not a man."

"But I lo-"

"No, Rose. You don't. Please, I don't want you caught in the crossfire between Regina and me."

"But-" Rose stepped closer to him, stopping him from moving past her. "Please, Mr. Gold. When I kissed you, I felt.. different."

"You're seventeen and I am well old enough to be your father."

"But you aren't my father." Rose reached out and touched his cheek, relishing the fact that he leaned into her touch.

"That's right, I'm not, but I'm your employer."

"I thought you'd fired me."

Mr. Gold shook his head, "I can't possibly handle never seeing you again." Rose dropped her hand away from his cheek, moving to walk to the door. "W-where are you going?"

Rose didn't respond, instead she locked the door wordlessly. She turned back and looked at him. Blue was a beautiful color on her, it brought out her ivory skin and her red lips.

"Rose-"

"Just forget how old we are. Forget this ridiculous fairytale we live in." She had to know, her words seemed to dance upon the fact that they were merely hindered by the curse. "Forget an evil mayor, forget the mob that would come to take down beastly man that's seducing beautiful young belles." She took his cane away from him, leaving him standing and watching her.

"Belle-" He stopped himself, "Rose."

"What did you call me?"

"Belle." He breathed, stroking his fingers along her porcelain cheek. "My Belle."

Rose smiled up at him, but he couldn't tell if was because he was calling her beautiful, or if was because she remembered. "Mr. Gold." She leaned up and kissed him, their lips meeting in a hesitant touch. It reminded him of how tender and cautious she had been when she had kissed him by the spinning wheel.

But they couldn't do this, no matter how much she made him burn, they couldn't be together like this. She was twenty years his junior. This world was no so kind about large age differences in relationships. They shuddered at the very thought of two years of difference, let along twenty. It wasn't the same as his world. Their world. But even there they couldn't be together because the Queen had used her against him.

His hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her soft body to him. She was his, they both knew it, but they both knew that this was going to be one of the last times they ever saw each other. They could feel it. Something would separate them. Every time they kissed, something bad happened.

He loved his Belle, but even the strongest love can crack like a tea cup.

~o~

"Rose, dear, you have a card with your name on it sitting on the counter."

"Thanks daddy." Rose called back to him, reaching for the letter on the counter. It wasn't marked with a return address. The envelope was golden, one of her favourite colours. As she opened the letter she quickly realised who it was from. "Mr. Gold." She breathed, reading the finely written letter. Hadn't he been the one to say this was a dangerous game to play?

"Who's it from?" Mr. French popped around the corner of the kitchen.

"It's from.. er, Jasmine." It was a friend of hers from school – it seemed plausible. "She never gave me a card for my birthday so she sent me one. A belated card."

"Happy seventeenth year, sweetie." Mr. French planted a kiss on his daughter's cheek. "I hope it's a good one!" He glanced over her shoulder at the letter, unable to read it as she slammed it close.

"She wrote some private things in it."

"Oh girls!" Mr. French laughed, "I wish your mother could be here to handle all of the girl stuff."

"I know daddy." Rose smiled, stuffing the card back into its envelope. Her father could not see what Gold had said about their feelings. Yes daddy my employer sent me a romantic birthday card – happens all the time.

"I'm off to work, I'll see you this evening."

"I'm going to head over to Mr. Gold's."

"I thought this afternoon was your day off?"

Rose blushed, "No, he needed me to come in today and help with organizing his pantry." What was she doing? Lying to her father to see Mr. Gold? It was wrong.

~o~

She arrived at his door as quickly as she could, anxious to see him today. It had been a few days since they'd last kissed, a kiss she knew was one of their last. They had to stop and yet she kept going back to him.

"Rose… What are you doing here?"

"I got your card-"

Mr. Gold furrowed his brows. "What card?"

"The birthday-" Rose stopped, her mouth falling open. "I thought.."

"Rose come in here before someone catches you standing on my front step in a very peculiar fashion."

"We've been set up." Rose gasped, stepping inside and shutting the door. She leaned against the heavy door, her breathing increasing. "What if someone saw me coming here? What if they know? What if-" She started to sink to her knees.

"But you do work for me, it's not so unusual to think that you would come to my house to work." Mr. Gold reached out and stroked her cheek. She was so young and so beautiful.

Rose reached for him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. She needed his support to keep her from breaking down. She'd fallen for the trap. She'd been lured to his house and no doubt the Mayor had had a private eye taking photos. She'd set them up to take them down.

"It's going to be alright Rose."

"They'll take me away from you!"

"Of course they won't." Mr. Gold lied, knowing that they would separate them. That was their fate. Their destiny. They were not meant to be together. Not here, not now. He had never hugged someone quite like this, it was different and strange. His hands gently caressed her back, holding her to him. "They're not going to take my Belle away from me again."

"Again?" Rose pulled back and looked up at him.

"Do you remember Rose? Do you feel like you've known me longer than you have."

"I feel like I've always known you." Rose smiled. "It's strange. It feels like a past life- I remember." A knock interrupted her, the door suddenly swinging open.

"Mr. Gold you're under arrest for the corruption of youth."

It was the last time they would ever see each other.