A/N: Well, I didn't think everyone would remember so quickly. This is MY version about how Belle would remember Rumpelstiltskin...another one anyway. Enjoy!

Belle's Memories

Back there, he'd been the one to enforce his will. In this world without magic, Belle had a certain power over him, not that he rejected her in any sort of way. After a few weeks of their reunion, things had seemed to return to a sense of normality for him. This was something he could relate to, his relationship with Belle; something in the past to tell him that not everything had disappeared with the queen's curse.

Then again, that pawn shop of his should have already given him that condolence, however it didn't...because no matter how much Mr. Gold wanted it to, there was nothing that could relieve him of his regrets in the world's past. His past. But one thing he knew for sure: Belle made things a whole lot easier on him. Having something real for him. Someone to touch, to hold, and to care for as she slowly regained her memories of the past realm.

She would never tell him exactly what she had remembered; at least, not everything. As far as he knew, she remembered coming to the dark castle, the deal her father made for the ogre wars, which only he had the utmost power when compared to any other to cease them.

"Do you remember when I sent you to town to pick up some straw for the wheel?" Mr. Gold had asked her that night. He could not fathom her expression as she shook her head, and he wasn't one to press the matter or force anything on her. Although he knew something was bothering her, he never asked, just let her be, roaming about the house, staring at some of his collections and the lavish trinkets he'd kept.

Tonight, as he locked up the shop, an idea struck his mind. Staring at the ground as the bitter wind brushed against his contemplating expression, Mr. Gold heard his keys jingle as he placed them in his black velvet coat pocket. With the gentle breeze, his straight brown hair positioned itself swiftly in front of his face, though he did not make any attempts to straighten it. Lifting his head and comfortably shifting his right hand on the top of his cane, he decided that he would in fact execute the idea in his mind.

To perhaps jog her seemingly distant memories, he smirked at himself, shaking his head as he came upon the shop, second guessing himself. He stood outside for a few moments, knowing the shop would close all too soon and he had to make up his mind. After staring intently in thought at the signs, Mr. Gold took a deep breath and sighed, walking into the shop.

"Ah, Mr. Gold," a sweet voice cleared the air.

It was Melanie, the girl working with Mr. French in the shop for now. Her torn tan dress sagged a little from behind her as she lifted her bare and filthy feet just an inch or so from the ground with every step she took. Her strides were not large, rather dainty. Her hair was turning brown and black with all the work she'd been doing lately around the shop. Futilely fixing at her dress and thin, knotted hair, Melanie cleared her throat and appeared behind the counter.

"Is there anything I can get for you?" she asked, holding a steady smile on her face. For a brief moment, he sympathized with her, remembering the days when he had been living that similar life...back when he had Baelfire...

Those memories were far too painful and he did as he usually did: he shook them off as he swayed his head from right to left. He then looked Melanie straight in the eyes.

"Yes. I'd like a single rose. Just one," he requested. Melanie gave him a surprising look, a small smile lifting to favor the left side of her lips and causing her to show only one dimple.

"Just one rose?" she repeated in question, looking to the floor and turning around. "All right, I'll be right back."

She left him waiting there for a few moments as she trimmed the single rose from a bush in the back of the greenhouse. Accidentally, Melanie cut herself on the thorns, as she always seemed to manage to accomplish, for her clumsiness wasn't necessarily subtle to those who knew her.

"Would you like a small vase?" she questioned as she place the rose in from of him and bringing out some wax paper to wrap it in so he wouldn't cut himself as she had multiple times.

"No, that's all right. I'm sure I have something at home," he replied, analyzing her new cuts. "Did you cut yourself back there?"

Melanie looked down at her cuts, smirking and shaking her head.

"It's nothing," she told him in a soft voice, looking back up at him and smirking. "I'm used to it." Mr. Gold, knowing how much this may mean for Belle and he, thought that perhaps he could spare a little extra.

"How much do I owe you?" Mr. Gold asked, reaching for his wallet in his back pocket.

"Um..." she stuttered as she glanced at the chart on a clipboard in front of her. "Five dollars and seven cents."

"Hmm," he was thinking to himself, paying no attention to the price as he gave her a twenty dollar bill. "Keep the change, dearie. Get those looked at."

He took the wrapped rose into his left hand and once again, began his walk home. Melanie was practically speechless, staring at the twenty. Just before the man left the shop, she came back to reality.

"Have a nice night..." after she'd said that, he had already closed the door. "...Mr. Gold." Melanie took the twenty, exchanged it for the change and then put the rest in her pocket, staring confounded at the wall for a few more minutes.