Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters and storylines in the show. This is just a fanwork made for fun.

So, I wasn't supposed to be starting another fic, but I had this crazy dream and I just had to write it down. I have such a cool story in my head now and I really hope everyone can enjoy it with me!

It all started like a dream. She came into his life out of nowhere, impossible as it was, bringing the magic with her. Ian Gold was never the same again. He used to think about his time with her as a blur, too fast and too overwhelming to be true, the kind of perfect period of life that you can't believe existed if you don't have anything to prove it was real. Gold would think himself delusional if he didn't have two beautiful proves to assure him every single day that everything he lived with Belle wasn't a product of his twisted mind.

He missed her. For weeks after she disappeared his life was condemned to searching for clues that could lead him to his beloved, but Belle was never found and then, came the curse. Ian wouldn't have noticed, if Rose hadn't started acting strangely. She had always been a sweet girl, very bubbly and cheerful, just like her mother, but when she started to get quiet and stay near to the water tank on their backyard, he knew something had changed.

Gideon was the next to start staring at it as if he was hypnotized and then, one day, all of the sudden, he found them laying inside of it, eyes fixed on the sky above them. For a moment, he freaked out, until he noticed the gills on the side of their necks and the purple light surrounding them that he understood what was happening. He tried to wake them from the spell, many, many times, but it was only when the sun was set that both his children were released from it.

They talked about the amazing palace in which they had spent the whole day playing and about the beautiful doll that couldn't talk but that held their hands and looked after them whist they played. Rose then related that came a woman and told her that she and her brother must stay in the water from lunchtime to sunset every single day of their lives otherwise, they would die.

He couldn't let that happen, of course, so he made sure that his sweet five-year-old girl and two-year-old boy would be in the tank as the sorceress – or whatever that woman was – instructed. That, unfortunately meant that he spent all the day without his children, trying to find an answer that could reunite his family and break that curse. However, Gold was only a normal man, he didn't know this magical world in which his Belle lived and he didn't have much resources. He had fallen in love with a mermaid, now he was paying the price of it.

Six years ago.

Gold had never been a fan of the sea. He didn't know why he found himself sat by the water that day, but maybe it had something to do with the fact Milah, his ex-wife, had called him drunk in the middle of the day to brag about how wonderful her new boy-toy was in bed. Way better than he ever was, she made sure to remark. It made Gold feel sick, he wasn't missing her even a bit, but he also didn't want her to keep calling just to bother him now that their relationship was over.

His trousers were full of sand and he had taken off his suit jacket and tie, something he very rarely did in public. Gold threw his head back, allowing the sunlight to bath his face, the new warmth, giving him some kind of hope he hadn't felt for a long time.

"Are you alright?" A strange, but lovely voice asked from somewhere near him.

When Gold looked back, he saw that a beautiful brunette was standing there, wearing only a blue bikini and a pair of sunglasses. She was like a vision from Heaven. He had never seen her around town, never, and Gold knew everyone, so he wondered when that ethereal goddess had arrived town and why he had missed it.

"Aye," he answered. "I was just thinking."

The woman smiled fondly at him, taking a seat by his side. No one enjoyed his company, no one. Usually people would never approach him if they didn't have to, this was very new for Gold. He was pretty sure that he was staring at the young lass like a fool, but the way she kept grinning so sweetly at him didn't help Ian to get any less spell-bounded.

"Oh, I know how is that, I like to get alone to think very often too. I hope I'm bothering you."

"No! Of course, not," he said, way too quickly. "You know, I have never seen you around… I'm Ian Gold, the landlord of most properties in this town, so if you need a place to stay, I could help with that."

Tilting her head, the girl took off her sunglasses, revealing a pair of gorgeous blue eyes of deep and dark colour, the same one he was seeing a minute ago when he stared at the sea. Gold couldn't' look away from her, it was like she was a siren and he was a stupid pirate, enticed by her spell.

"I can't go very far away from home, but I would love for you to show me this beautiful town," she answered. "I'm Belle, by the way."

"Belle," Gold said slowly, testing the sound of her name in his lips. "I would love to show you Storybrooke."

She touched his cheek then and, for a moment, her eyes seemed to show some sadness that he didn't really understand where could have come from, but Belle was touching him, so Ian was too distracted to keep wondering too long about that. The brunette caught a strand of his hair between her fingertips and leaned forward, smelling his scent.

"You're not going to tell anyone about me," Belle whispered. "They will forget they saw us, you won't, but you also won't speak."

"Yes, sweetheart," he agreed like a fool. "Anything you want."

Belle pulled away from him and stood up, holding out a hand for Gold to take. He didn't quite know what he was doing and he would have no idea what he was getting himself into for a really long time. For now, he was only going to get more and more bewitched by that strange woman, until he found himself helplessly in love with her, willing to do anything to have her in his life forever.