Title: give me a reason to love you
AUTHOR: obisgirl
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Belle, Mr. Gold
Summary: Belle finds out about Mr. Gold's attack on Moe French and she confronts him about it.
A/N: Sequel to "a bit of air"
Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time characters are property of Disney and Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis. This fanfic is for pure entertainment.
Belle meets her father accidentally one day while on the way to George's bookstore. Moe French is outside of his flower shop, selling roses, slightly limping. She picks a rose from his display and takes pity on him, wondering aloud how he injured himself.
He says he doesn't wish to talk about it but that doesn't deter Belle because even though Moe French may not remember her, Belle knows he is her father and still loves him.
Moe relents because he doesn't wish to be rude to her, so he tells her about that dark night some months ago when Mr. Gold kidnapped him, brought him to the cabin in the woods and beat him repeatedly, ranting on and on about a 'her' he supposedly hurt.
It's clear to Belle who the 'her' is but she can't get the image of her Mr. Gold continually beating her father. Belle says that she's sorry, pays him for the rose and quietly leaves.
Belle spends the rest of the day at work, her heart breaking into pieces, thinking how someone she loved so much could hurt her father. She's confused, hurt and angry but Belle is willing to give her love the benefit of the doubt. But something else tugs at her to feel differently.
~~
The feeling gnaws at Belle and she feels blessed when she returns home, their home, that she's the first one there. Belle needs time to figure things out on her own but the more she thinks about how her lover could have hurt her father, the angrier she gets. She knows there has to be a good reason why he acted the way he did but she can't rationale what that reason might be.
Gold arrives home an hour later. Belle sits alone at the dining room table, meal already prepared but visibly disturbed.
"Hello my darling," he greets her, walking into the kitchen. Belle doesn't look at him or even stand up to kiss him on the cheek. "How was your day today?"
"Interesting," is all she says, refusing to make eye contact with him.
Dinner continues in silence and Belle parts ways with Gold, shutting herself in her old room. Gold shrugs, figuring that she had a bad day at work and retreats to his room. It isn't until before he turns in and he realizes that Belle hasn't slipped into his room that he seeks her out.
And that's when he finds that she's locked herself in her old room.
"Belle?" he cries, "Belle, please open up,"
She doesn't respond.
"Belle, please talk to me!"
"Why should I?" she shouts back. "I thought I knew you but I guess I was wrong,"
Gold sighs. "What are you talking about? Belle, of course, you know me – whatever's bothering you – we can work it out together," he says.
"I don't think we can," she offers back.
"Well, why not?"
Belle opens the door suddenly, glaring back at him. "You hurt me," she cries.
Gold frowns. "How?"
"Oh, you know how you hurt me!" she retorts.
"Sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," he says, "Please Belle, talk to me,"
She rolls her eyes, crossing her arms defiantly. Gold doesn't know what she's talking about, making her even more furious. "Belle, please?"
"How could you do it?" she cries finally, "My own father?"
And Gold knows exactly what she is talking about: his attack of Moe French in the cabin. Gold hoped that incident would never come up and can't figure out how she found out about it…
"You're a monster!" Belle continues to cry, storming away from him.
"Belle!" he calls after her, following her. "You don't understand,"
"You're right, I don't understand how you could hurt him like that," she shouts back, "My father, Rumple – he's my father and you hurt him. You may as well have beaten me in that cabin!"
Gold recoils. "I could never hurt you," he whispers.
"Never hurt me?" she retorts, "What about screaming at me that I could never love you, throwing me in the dungeon and then kicking me out, claiming that your power meant more to you than my love?"
"That was different,"
"Is it?" she challenges.
"What happened with Moe French is different - you don't know the whole story," he defends.
Belle shakes her head, tears swelling in her eyes. "I don't think I want to know the whole story," she cries.
"I'm going to tell it to you anyway," he counters, "Your father had defaulted on a loan, so he took his revenge by stealing some things of mine,"
"So you beat him for stealing your stuff? Boy am I glad, I never thought about doing that," Belle seethes, "you might have done a lot worse to me since I live with you,"
Gold ignores her snarky remark. "But it wasn't really him, Regina coaxed him into stealing because she needed to talk to me about something," he continues. "She kept your chipped cup as an excuse to talk to me because I refused to talk to her earlier that day after she witnessed me take away your father's van to satisfy terms of his loan,"
"So you beat him because you thought he still had the cup?"
"Yes – and I regret it now," he pleads, "Please Belle, you have to believe me,"
Belle shakes her head. "You beat my father over a chipped cup?"
"I know it seems ridiculous but you have to understand – that cup – was the only thing I had left of you. If there was even a possibility of loosing it forever…it felt like loosing you all over again," he says.
Belle doesn't know what to say but her anger simmers down. She understands that Moe took something precious from him but it still doesn't excuse his actions. "Leave me alone," she whispers instead.
Gold feels like breaking and her words cut him like a knife but he understands.
~~
They sleep in separate rooms but Gold can't sleep knowing his love is in a different room, thinking the worst of him and possibly contemplating leaving him. He doesn't blame her. Her love brings out the best and worst in him. But he hoped since her return, that being with her, made him a better man.
Gold feels his eyelids become heavy and he can't stay awake a moment longer, letting his dreams bring him back to happier times: reuniting with Belle, the countless nights they'd made love in his bed, eating breakfast with her every morning and seeing her face light up when he comes home.
How he wishes she could feel her arms around him right now, whispering that she understands but he knows it's going to take a long time for her to forgive him for this.
He wakes up suddenly and finds Belle standing at the foot of his bed, a determined but soft expression on her face.
"Have you paid?" she asks.
Gold thinks he's paid enough with her silence but he knows what she means. "No," he says.
"Then you're going to pay, reimburse him for every paid medical bill, visits to the hospital, physical therapy, everything," Belle continues, "Because you owe him,"
"I'll pay," he agrees. It's not in his nature to be lenient in his deals but for Belle, he'll do it.
"And if he ever asks why you're doing this for him, say it's because a close friend asked you to,"
"What if he refuses my help?"
Belle sighs, idly walking closer to the bed. "Tell him that you won't let him refuse," she says, "Because this is your repentance,"
"What's your real reason?" he asks.
"When I saw him today, he didn't recognize me and I'm his daughter," she cries. "I know that's because of the curse, because of her but I can't treat him like a stranger because he's not. He's my father, I love him and I need to help him remember that. But I can't help him if he knows my connection to you,"
Gold smiles, grateful that she doesn't recoil when he reaches out to touch her cheek. "I'm sorry Belle," he offers.
"I know you are," she sympathizes. "But it's going to take me some time to get over this. I hope you understand that?"
"I do," he whispers.
Belle gets into bed with him, kisses his cheek and goes to sleep. Gold sighs, realizing that love isn't easy but it is forgiving. Gold understands this because love has taught him to be a patient man.
The End