Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time.
It's interesting to see how things have changed after finally being released from an asylum after 5 years. You appreciate more. Like, you appreciate how soft the sheets on your bed are after those gross, itchy ones. You appreciate how you're given a knife without asking at the dinner table.
The air is smells sweeter. The sun seems brighter. Grass greener.
Belle French noticed all of these things her first day back in the real world. But what she noticed the most was how much she'd changed.
She stood a little taller but her skin was paler. Sickly thin, but no more panic attacks. She smiled brighter, but missed a lot.
Most importantly, Lacey was gone and Belle was back.
The smell of bacon was what woke Belle up. She stretched in her bed, and opened her eyes. It took a second for her surroundings to sink in. She was in her room. Not her room at the hospital but her room. She no longer had to wake up to beige walls. She no longer had to walk on cold cement floors in too thin slippers.
She smiled at herself in the floor length mirror. Yes, it was good to be home.
She pulled on her new robe and shuffled into the kitchen, where her father was at the table eating breakfast and reading the paper.
"Morning, Papa," she said as she reached for the tea kettle. The tea was already made: Chamomile, her favorite. She poured herself a cup, and dished up a plate of bacon and eggs.
"Good morning, Belle," Moe said pleasantly, with a smile on his face. "How did you sleep?"
She sat down across from him. "It was good." A lie, of course. She had a terrible nightmare but she didn't want to tell her father that. Saying things like that was risking being shipped back to the hospital.
"Good, good," he said absentmindedly, concentrating on the paper in front of him.
She sighed. It stung, him not paying attention to her, but she was used to it. Even before, he never spent much time with her.
Stop, she told herself. Don't go back there. Here, now. Here, now.
She repeated the mantra in her head the way Dr. Hopper told her to as she took her pills. One pink one, two yellow. The first round of three she would have to take throughout the day.
There was a sharp knock at the door, making both Belle and her father jump. Moe looked at his watch and swore. "Damn. Forgot it was rent day."
He went to the door, but hesitated before opening it. He looked at Belle.
"Might want to move those," he said, nodding at her pills.
"What? Why?" she asked with a frown.
"Just do it, Belle," Moe snapped. His voice sent a chill down her spine and she quickly did what she was told, putting the newspaper over the bottle.
Once the pills were safely hiding from view, he opened the door.
"Mr. Gold!" Moe said. "You're early."
"No, actually I'm right on time," she heard a man say. "Like every month."
Belle sat up straighter at the sound of his voice, and held her breath. She knew who it was, of course. It was Mr. Gold, also known as The Town Monster, depending on who you were talking to.
"Right, right," Moe said nervously. "Give me a moment, Mr. Gold. Come in."
The man limped into view, with the help of the same cane he's always used. After 5 years, she was surprised to see he looked the same. Same brown hair streaked with gray. Same dark eyes. Same aura of power and authority. Mr. Gold was not someone to mess with or to even socialize with. No one in town knew anything about him, like his first name.
He seemed surprised to see Belle at the table, but quickly masked his features. He gave her a polite nod. "Miss French."
Moe nervously walked around the kitchen, looking for his checkbook. Belle felt a sense of fear as he walked out of her view, something she had not felt in a long time. She hadn't felt the need for her father to protect her since her mother died.
She swallowed hard. "Mr. Gold, how are you?"
"I'm well," he said with a hint of a Scottish accent. "I trust your studies went well."
Belle frowned. "Studies?"
Moe hurried back, clutching a check in his large fist. "College, Belle. For Library Science." Her father shot her a look that pleaded for her to go along with him.
"Right." She gave a fake laugh. "It was good, Mr. Gold. Thank you for asking."
Mr. Gold took the check from Moe and glanced at it. "I'll see you next month, Mr. French." He nodded to Belle. "Gooday Miss French."
She jumped up and opened the door for him. He gave her a twitch of his mouth as a thank-you. "Welcome back to Storeybrooke, Miss French," he said over his shoulder.
"Thank you, Mr. Gold," she said and shut the door behind him. She turned around to see her father glaring at her. "What?"
"Belle, what did I say about Mr. Gold?" he asked sharply.
"Don't be polite to him, apparently," she answered sarcastically, sitting back down at the table.
He shook his head at her tone. "A lot of things have changed since you've been gone, Belle, but he hasn't. He's still the Town Monster."
"He was nothing but pleasant, Papa. Maybe he isn't what everyone says he is." When her father didn't respond, she cocked her head. "Not everyone is who they appear, Papa. You know that."
Her father's face turned red. "But you've changed Belle. And he never will." He grabbed his keys. "I'm off to the shop. I've left you a twenty for lunch. I'll be back at five."
He left without giving her a hug or kiss goodbye.
"He might change, Papa," she said to the empty apartment. "But you never will."
Author's Note: My grand return to FanFiction! Please review, thanks!