I'll Be In Scotland

I do not own Once Upon a Time, or Au Pair. Please Rate and review! I live on those and they give me inspiration!

Chapter 1: Young at Heart

Belle looked over at her father, Moe French. He was grilling hot dogs and hamburghers for their guests at her graduation party. She had just gotten her degree in Business Management and couldn't wait to get out in the world and use it.

A motorcycle pulled up into the driveway. Belle grinned and ran over to the man atop it. "George! I'm so happy you could make it!" She cried, throwing her hands around his neck and pecking him on the lips.

George Gaston smiled back at her. "Like I would miss my own fiancé's graduation party? Really, Belle?" Belle giggled and grabbed his hand as they walked toward the party.

Mr. French looked warily at George as they approached. He wasn't sure whether he should trust that man or not. He was nice enough, handsome, well built, very tall, at least 6" 4', while his little Belle was a mere Five-two. But there was something off about George that he just could not place. Sure, he was a father and all fathers had doubts about the men their daughters chose to live their entire lives with. But eventually they accepted that the gentlemen in question had their daughters' best interest and happiness at heart. But Moe French sometimes heartily questioned if the same was true for this George Gaston…

Belle had said goodbye to George at the airport. He was going to Europe to try out his photography business there, and she was going to to try to find an internship here in the States. It was a good thing they had invented Skype. Belle knew she would miss George, but such was life. That was one of her favorite sayings, actually… "C'est la vie." Her last name was not the only French thing about her. ..

Her father was a pure blood Australian who had moved to the states to open his florist shop there. After all, America was the land of Opportunity, was it not? When he arrived, he had quite literally bumped into Belle's mother, when he accidentally spilled his coffee all over her.

Marie Gagnier's parents had both been born in France and had immigrated to America when Marie was still a little girl. When Marie was nineteen, she had met Maurice French, a young Australian, and the two fell in love immediately. They were married a little after Marie's twenty-first birthday, and Belle was born a little over a year later.

Moe's floral shop did very well, and the Frenchs visited Australia often. As a result, Belle had a slight Australian lilt to her voice, not quite as thick as her father's, but still there, none the less.

When Belle was ten years old, her mother found out that she had leukemia. By the time Belle had turned eleven, Marie had lost her fight to the cancer raging in her body. Belle and her father had been devastated.

Now here she was, twenty seven years old, with her Masters, living with her father, and with no job. She had to start looking for jobs… Belle started scouring the Web, the newspaper, anything she could find to see if there were any jobs whatsoever that called for a degree in business management.

Finally, one day she got the chance to be interviewed at the very prestigious Gold Industries in Boston. Luckily, her and her father lived in little Storybrooke, Maine, which wasn't too far from Boston at all. Belle was certain that with her Resume she would surely have a great chance of getting the job. She rehearsed all the answers to the questions she thought they would ask her. She was more than ready for this interview.

When Belle arrived at Gold Industries for her interview, she was shown right into Mr. Gold's office, the CEO and President of Gold Industries. The man himself didn't even look up when she entered the room, let alone stand, like any true gentleman would. He did not shake her hand, either. It was like she was not even there.

Finally, he looked up. "You must be Miss French. Impressive Resume, Miss French, but I don't see how it has anything to do with the job. At any rate, you have the best resume I have seen so far, so you have the job. Congratulations. We will be leaving in the morning to go to Scotland. Be at the Boston airport tomorrow morning at 7am. Thank you, you are dismissed."

Belle staid rooted to the spot. She was shocked. How did her resume not have anything to do with the job? It was Gold Industries, for goodness sake! Of course, she was glad that she had gotten the job so easily. And what was all this about going to Scotland? Of course, she knew that Mr. Gold was from Scotland, she had done her research, and his Scottish Brogue when he spoke was fairly thick. But she had thought most of his business was done in the United States… Maybe she was wrong.

"Something wrong, dearie?" Mr. Gold sneered, breaking Belle's reverie.

Belle shook her head. "Of course not, sir! Thank you, have a good day." She scurried out of the room as if her life depended on it. Her new boss was a real piece of work…