I wrote this under the name 'Goblet of Doctoberfest' as part of the 2016 Rumbelle Showdown on Tumblr. This entry did NOT appear in the showdown because I was exempt from participating that round, but I wanted to keep my momentum going so I randomly selected one of the given prompts and went with it. Please note that I'm keeping this open-ended as a potential Tumblr prompt verse.

A Night to Forget

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Gold groaned as he awoke; the sound of the clock was pounding at his aching head. The more awake he became, the louder the sound was.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

He opened his eyes slightly and looked around the room, immediately realizing that he had no idea where he was. Gold tried to sit up, but quickly recognized that would take more effort than he was ready to attempt, so he simply did his best to focus on his surroundings and assess the situation.

It was a bedroom; that much was clear, as he was lying in a bed. A bed with pink sheets and a comforter with a design of roses. He then looked at the nightstand. That bloody clock – mocking him. There was also a photo on the nightstand; he squinted at it – in the photo was a young girl with two people that he presumed were her parents. That girl – he knew her. She was younger in the photo but – that was the girl he met at the bar the night prior, the resemblance was clear. What the hell was her name? Betty? Brenda? Belle – yes, that was it, Belle. She sat down next to him at the bar and started talking to him and – somewhere during the conversation his memory of the night became fuzzy. How much did he drink anyway? Did they – no, he couldn't have, not in the state he must have been in. Could he? Gold noticed his suit folded neatly on the chair next to the bed, and his cane propped up against it, and suddenly realized that he was wearing nothing but his boxers. Oh good god, what had he done? He moved to try and sit up a bit more just as she entered the room. Gold couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful she was. He may be hungover but he wasn't blind.

"Hey, you're awake. How do you feel?" Belle asked, plopping herself down on the edge of the bed.

"I, um – I'd feel much better if that damned clock would stop taunting me."

"Oh, I'm sorry – it was my mum's, I'm kind of used to it. I find it soothing. But you probably don't right now, do you?" Belle picked up the clock and removed the batteries, and the ticking stopped. "Better?"

"A bit," Gold replied.

"You know, I have something else that'll make you feel better, I'll be right back." Belle flitted out of the room and came back in less than a minute later with a glass of some unidentifiable beverage. She sat down on the bed again. "Can you sit up? Drink this, it's amazing."

"What is it?" Gold asked as he slowly sat up, leaning his back against the headboard.

"Hangover cure. Family recipe. It really works, try it." Belle handed him the glass. Gold took a sip and then made a face. "I know it doesn't taste the best, but I promise it's worth it." Gold took another sip.

"I do apologize, I – I remember meeting you at the bar – Belle, right?" Belle nodded. "I just don't remember – how I got here."

"I didn't think you would, you were pretty drunk. I offered to take you home, but – you couldn't really recall your address. I asked to see your license and you told me you didn't live there anymore, so – what was supposed to do, leave you passed out on the sidewalk? I figured the best solution would be to bring you to my place. I was going to have you sleep on the sofa but you wanted to use the bathroom, and it's attached to my room. I went in after you to get ready for bed and when I came out you had taken off your clothes and passed out on my bed. Figured it was pointless to ask you to move at that point."

"You – you slept here with me?"

"It's MY bed, I'm entitled to sleep in it. Don't worry, you stayed on your side. How's that hangover doing?" Gold had been slowly taking sips of the concoction Belle had given him.

"Better. I think."

"Good. I washed your shirt, by the way. You spilled a drink on it." Gold blushed in embarrassment. "I'll go get it, it should be dry by now, I'll be right back." Belle left the room and came back a few minutes later with Gold's shirt and a bottle of water. "Here you go," she said, handing both of them to Gold. "You should probably try to drink some water, too."

"Thank you," Gold said, and he put his shirt on and took a drink of water. "So, I um – I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here. What, exactly, happened last night?" Belle smirked at him.

"Well – I was supposed to meet my friend Ruby for drinks last night, and two minutes after I got to the bar, she texts me and tells me she's canceling because this doctor she's been mooning over since forever asked her out. So I thought, fine, I don't need a friend there to have a drink or two, so I sat down at the bar, and – you were sitting next to me. You'd already had a drink or two."

"I do recall that part, yes. Go on."

"Well, you looked really sad, so I started talking to you. You seemed suspicious of me at first -"

"I'm suspicious of everyone at first," Gold interjected.

"Yes, I gathered that. Anyhow – after a few more drinks you were a bit more talkative. You told me about your ex-wife, your son, the fact that she wants to take him off sailing with her new boyfriend whom you clearly can't stand, and your son doesn't want to go, and now you'll have to go to court to fight this, which will be difficult because you don't have primary physical custody because your wife hired one of your ex-lovers who also has a vendetta against you as her attorney. You also said that you're not sure which of them is the bigger bitch, and you're quite positive that one if not both of them slept with the judge in order to pull off the ruling in her favor, because your son does NOT want to be with his mother. You had just spent an entire day in court, things were not going well, and so you decided to hell with it all, and you went to the bar. And now you're here."

"Told you all that, did I?"

"Yes, you did, Callum."

"I told you my name, too?"

"Well, it was only fair, I told you mine. Anyhow, after our very long conversation, by the end of which you were quite drunk, as I said, I offered to take you home, you couldn't really explain exactly where that was, so I said you could stay at my place. And here we are."

"Yes, here we are. Did I – I mean, did we -"

"Callum, you were far too drunk for that. Plus, I um – I don't do that on the first date. You did kiss me though, so – there's that." Gold was quiet for a moment.

"I have to admit – I don't know where to go from here. You seem like a lovely girl, and – you're probably far too young for me anyway, although I would love to see the look on Milah's face if I walked into court with you on my arm, especially if you were wearing those yoga pants and that 'I Believe in Fairies' t-shirt." Belle smiled a bit. "Perhaps it would be best if I just got dressed, said 'thank you,' and – left."

"I'm not too young. I'm twenty-eight, and you can't be more than your late forties, right?" Gold chuckled.

"Now you're just humoring me."

"Maybe I like you."

"How? I didn't exactly make a good first impression. I'm probably not making much of a second one, either."

"How about this? I'll take you to get your car, you go home, get cleaned up and get a bit of rest, and we'll meet for dinner tonight. Let's say six at Granny's. We'll just pretend last night didn't happen. Consider it a night to forget. We can even pretend we're meeting for the first time if you'd like. See what happens."

"What if nothing happens?" Gold asked.

"What if something does? What have you got to lose?" Gold hesitated for a moment as he thought about it.

"Honestly? I can't think of a damn thing." Belle smiled at him.

"I'll let you get dressed then. You up for me taking you to your car to drive home?"

"I think so. You were right – that cure works wonders."

"Told you it would," Belle said, and Gold sighed as he watched her leave the room. She was going to be trouble; he could already tell. And she'd be worth every bit of it.