The Storybrooke Chamber of Commerce's annual Christmas party was a notoriously weird affair. The combination of a full bar with a bunch of stodgy business owners and any local public servants with an interest in the historic downtown could result in the sorts of events that made up small town gossip for the whole rest of the year. Two years previously, the mayor had been caught in a broom closet with the local sheriff. This year, though, the gossip was going to be the librarian Belle French and Eli Gold who owned an antique shop right across the street from the library.

She'd never really paid much attention to Mr. Gold, to be honest. Her apartment was provided by the city, so she'd never had many dealings with him outside of the general consensus around the town was that he was cold and calculating, and she'd never had any reason to question it as they had never spoken beyond simple pleasantries. At least, not before tonight. Maybe it was the many, many, many drinks she'd had, but he was extremely witty! He had a sharp sense of humor that she found she really liked, and he was so charming, too. Or at least he'd bought the last few rounds, which at this point was basically the same thing. And she should definitely tell him that.

"You're so funny," she said, brushing her hair back off her face. "I didn't know you'd be this funny! I really, really like that in a guy."

"You're too kind," he replied a little unsteadily. "But I knew that because that's what everyone says. 'Belle is very sweet,' did you know that? You're pretty, too."

She giggled and tapped his shoulder lightly. God, he was so funny!

"I'm gonna get us more drinks!" She wobbled on her feet as she got out of her chair and teetered off towards the bar. Shoes had been a mistake tonight, and she should probably take them off after she ordered.

"I need another rum and Coke and a whiskey with water," she said to the bartender as she leaned on the bar. "Please."

"Sorry, ma'am," he said. "I'm afraid I have to cut you off."

"No, I'm fine," she said, forcing her eyes to focus through sheer force of will. "I am fine. I'm totally fine. And one of them is for Mr. Gold, you know."

"He's cut off, too," the man said. "You have both had enough."

"Is there a problem?" She heard Mr. Gold ask from behind her.

"Sheriff Swan and Mayor Mills have both told me to stop serving you two," the bartender said. "You can have water or soda but that's it."

She was so disappointed. She'd been having such a good time and she wanted to keep going.

Eli was arguing with the bartender which was just ruining her good mood when suddenly a thought occurred to her.

"Wine!" She exclaimed. "I have wine at home! Do you want wine?"

"Yes, perfect!" He replied, turning towards the bartender. "We will leave and have wine."

She was still regretting her choice of dress shoes as she giggled her way out the door clinging to his arm, especially when the valet couldn't give them his keys (which she actually did understand because they'd had quite a lot to drink) so they were going to be walking the three blocks to her apartment and then the stairs up to the single bedroom apartment above the library the city had set aside for her use.

They never actually got to the wine. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her, but she was on him as soon as they were through her front door. Maybe it was just that she hadn't had sex since she moved to town over a year ago, or maybe it was just the liquor doing her thinking for her. Either way, he was right there and apparently just as eager for it as she was. They barely made it into her bedroom, shedding clothes all along the way.

Consciousness hit Eli Gold like a freight train the following morning, followed shortly by the reality of the situation. It hadn't been a weird dream, he'd actually gone home with the librarian. The same librarian who was still out like a light in the bed next to him. This was not a good idea in the slightest. Setting aside that he only had the vaguest of memories of the previous evening, mostly vague images of a pretty brunette and long legs.

Belle French was certainly pretty enough, but a pretty face couldn't do much to alleviate a dull personality, and he hadn't ever seen much evidence that she had much more to her than the love of books he would expect from anyone who made a career out of them. Or, at least, he hadn't before last night when she had proved that at the very least she was quite adept at holding her liquor, which was certainly...something.

He wasn't much for one night stands, but he was fairly sure that sneaking out before she woke up would be fairly uncouth, and anyway the choice ended up being taken from him when she suddenly roused herself with a bit of a start.

"Mr. Gold?" she blurted out, staring at him with something akin to disbelief on her face. So she evidently didn't remember much more about the previous evening either, then.

"Good morning," he said for lack of anything else to say. He was no happier about any of this than she apparently was, which did at least give them something in common.

"How much did we drink last night?" she asked, and he knew it was a rhetorical question but he felt compelled to answer it anyway.

"Too much, I'm afraid. It's been quite a long time since I indulged like that, and hopefully I won't be doing it again anytime soon."

"I haven't had that much to drink since college," she replied before sitting up with a groan. He joined her in being upright, forcing himself to go slow as his stomach revolted at the idea of movement – and he would not vomit in a stranger's apartment, he would do it in the privacy of his own home, or at least in an alley outside.

By the time his body had adjusted to its new, vertical lifestyle she had already pulled on a light blue robe with pink roses over it and made a go of standing and he was suddenly very aware that he was the only naked one. Luckily, his boxers were easily located on the floor near her bed where he suddenly remembered having thrown them the night before in his haste to be inside of her. He cringed at the memory, he'd been far too absorbed with the idea of having sex for the first time in a depressing number of years, and he had a suspicion that he hadn't exactly covered himself in glory after getting his clothes off.

"I can make breakfast if you want," she said from the other side of the bed and he had to admire her willingness to put a good face on for him.

"No, thank you," he replied. "My son is home from college and I should probably be heading back before he gets worried."

"I didn't know you had a son," she said, sounding more shocked than anything else.

"Just the one," he said as he gathered her clothes and trying really hard not to wonder exactly how long it had been since she was in college. It did finally occur to him that the son part of that may not have been her biggest cause for concern. "No wife," he continued. "Not anymore, anyway. She lives in Fort Lauderdale."

She visibly relaxed at this little bit of biography and he mentally kicked himself for climbing into bed with her prior to providing it.

"Oh. Well, I hope you have a good visit."

They almost certainly would not, Bailey would have preferred being almost anywhere else but his dorm was closed and he needed to do his laundry, so he kept coming back.

"Thank you."

She shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he dressed before she finally turned and walked through a door that presumably went back into the living room. He got his pants and shirt on as fast as he could, though his shoes and jacket had apparently been dropped out in the living room which required him to follow her out. His socks may just be a lost cause, and as much as he hated to go out without them he would also very much like to just get home and get this awkward encounter over with.

"Did you find your stuff?" she asked him once he'd gotten his jacket on and he nodded, feeling in his pockets to ensure his phone, keys, and wallet were at least still there.

"Thank you for…" He trailed off, unsure of what he was thanking her for, just not knowing how else to get the hell out.

"Yeah, sure. Well, it was nice to meet you."

"You too."

And then he was out the door to the hallway and breathing a sigh of relief. Sweet, sweet freedom. It was far and away the most awkward encounter he'd ever had with a woman, and his ex-wife had attended their son's high school graduation with a new live-in boyfriend who worked as a sailing instructor.

He found the stairs down easily enough and let himself out through a door just outside the library into a damn blizzard. The snow was easily up to the middle of his thighs and still coming down heavily. Mailboxes and cars were simply larger piles of snow, and Eli had no idea what on earth to do. He'd known there was snow on the forecast but he had not realized that there was apparently another ice age on the horizon though. There was no way he was going to make his way home, even if he walked down to the Civic Center that the party had been in and managed to dig himself into his car, the streets were completely covered in snow still and anyway, he wasn't really dressed for the weather. He briefly considered trying to make his way to the antique shop down the block, but aside from the cot he kept in the back room he didn't have any real provisions or anything. He briefly thought about dialing 911 and faking a medical emergency, but even that would probably be a crapshoot as to whether or not he'd freeze to death before the one ambulance in town made it to him.

There was absolutely nothing for it, he was going to have to go back upstairs and impose himself on her hospitality. Again. But first, he had to throw up in her alley.

Belle breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she had the door latched. She had never done anything like that at all. She hadn't known he had a kid or that he'd been divorced, and honestly she wasn't entirely certain she remembered his first name correctly. Elliot? Eli? Something like that. She was just relieved it was over and she could hopefully pretend like it had never happened.

She picked her dress up off the floor before it got too much more wrinkled and it had been such a pretty one with the illusion netting on the halter top and the full skirt with a tighter fitting layer beneath it. Maybe she'd get another few uses out of it, if she ever went anywhere nice. The rest of her clothes could just stay there until she felt less like crawling into a nearby hole and dying. Step one would be to take a shower and clean herself up, step two would be eating something, step three would probably be taking a nap. But first, her shower.

There was a knock on the door before she even managed to get the hairbrush off her vanity, and she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was really only one person who might need to knock on her door right now. Her fears were confirmed when she checked the peephole and found Mr. Gold on the other side of the door. looking just as awkward as she felt. And she couldn't even pretend like she wasn't home, because where would she have even gone? She braced herself and opened the door.

"Is everything okay?" she asked before he could say anything.

"Yeah, there's just...there's a blizzard outside. I can't get out."

She had to let him back in. She couldn't just leave him outside to freeze, so that meant she had to let him stay in her apartment. While she was there.

"Come in." She stepped back to let him in and returned to her living room, digging her phone out of her purse so she could check the weather report for him. "Oh, damn. It's supposed to be snowing the rest of the day."

"Do you have a television? I'll check the report."

"I actually don't. But I do have an emergency radio."

She went to the closet where she kept her flashlights, batteries, and the little radio that she had for natural disasters and power outages. She flipped to a local station but it was just playing music, so they'd have to wait for a DJ to get on and let them know when snow plows would be out and what the plan for them was. The city wasn't extremely big, and Belle knew her street usually wasn't a high priority since it was mostly businesses and government offices rather than emergency services and residential areas. She was basically the only person who lived within four or five blocks. It was basically the worst place to be snowed in.

"I can go ahead and make eggs or something if you're hungry," she offered. She could postpone the shower to be polite. And maybe they'd get an answer about when he'd be able to leave.

"No, no, I'll cook," he replied, looking at her robe and then quickly away. "It's the least I can do for imposing.

"It's not an imposition," she said, realizing all at once she was still largely naked. "Anyway, it'll be easier to do it myself than tell you where everything is."

He looked a little reluctant, but seemed to accept her reasoning.

"You're right. I need to call Bailey anyway and let him know where I am – or ah, at least that I'm safe."

"Good idea. Let me know if you need anything?"

He retreated across the room and dialed while she went to the kitchen to contemplate breakfast. Coffee was an easy first step. She also had bread and eggs, but no bacon or anything which pretty much meant French toast. Good enough, it only took a few minutes to make mediocre French toast and hopefully he'd be out of her hair soon enough. After a few minutes of him being too quiet for her to effectively eavesdrop he finally hung up the phone and returned, sitting on one of the two dining chairs she had.

"How is everything at home?"

"He's fine," Gold replied. "He asked that I not ever tell him where I am, but said he'd be fine."

"Well, you said he's in college. As long as he has electricity and food I'm sure he can take care of himself."

"I know, but still. I worry."

"You sound like my dad," she blurted out before instantly regretting it. Wrong thing to say on either side of a one night stand. "I just mean, he likes to call me to check up."

She finished her cooking quickly, setting it on the table before pulling down a pair of mugs from the cabinet.

"How do you like your coffee?" she asked.

"Black is fine."

He'd taken his coat off again and rolled his sleeves up a little bit, which helped her feel a little bit more comfortable sitting across from him in her robe. She filled his mug and then hers, finishing hers off with a splash of milk and some sugar before bringing both to the table and joining him for breakfast. He thanked her, but they ate in silence after that. This was so awkward she could hardly stand it.

Finally, the emergency alert noise came on the radio and both of them turned to face it as one.

"The Storybrooke emergency services are asking all non-essential travel be postponed during the blizzard. Snow is anticipated to fall throughout the day and crews will begin clearing the streets this evening once it's slowed. No power outages are expected, though residents are advised to fill water jugs they have available with water just in case. We will be updating throughout the day as the situation progresses…"

"Oh dammit," she said under her breath.

"My sentiments exactly."

She didn't have enough alcohol to get through this. He'd been hilarious when she'd been drunk, and now they were trapped together in her too-small apartment while they waited for the apocalypse to finish up outside.

"I think I'm going to take a shower," she said at last, pushing away from the table.

He nodded and she turned quickly and retreated to her bathroom, making sure to lock the door after her. Not that she thought anything bad was going to happen, but still. She didn't know much about him at all besides his name and where he worked, and that he had a kid. And that he was, for lack of a better word, handsy. Very, very handsy in a very, very good way. God, she really needed to check if there was a used condom someplace in her bedroom. She really hoped there was.