Suddenly his tie was choking him, his clothes smothering despite the cool air. It felt like the walls were closing in on him and he couldn't breathe. He didn't know how she could stand it, he was suffocating.
Gold reached up and loosened the trussed up noose around his neck before undoing the collar of his shirt and pulling in a deep breath, stretching his neck from side to side, reveling in the new found freedom.
Belle completely ignored him in favor of coloring something that rested against her knees. She'd been perfectly silent since he'd walked into her room in the hospital, only offering him a cursory glance and refusing to acknowledge anything he said from that point on. Not that he could blame her. If she remembered him why would she talk to him? He'd thrown her out after breaking her heart. And if she didn't remember him she still had no reason to talk to him. He was a stranger with no right to her memories or her company.
What finally caught her attention was the necklace now lying exposed around Gold's neck. He froze as her saw her gaze lock on the bit of jewelry, her hand stilling over whatever she was working on. She reached for him, her too thin hand drifting feather-light through the air until her fingertips rested gently against the small pearl attached to a delicate gold chain that circled his neck.
"My mother had a necklace like that." Belle didn't know if she'd spoken the words or thought them or if they were even true. She liked to think her mother had owned something so beautiful once and decided that she had. After all, if she was crazy she could believe whatever she wanted right?
"Where did you get that?" she whispered, her eyes lifting to Gold's whose lips twitched at a painful memory. Regina had dangled the necklace before him after telling him Belle had thrown herself from a tower. He should have thrown it away, but he couldn't bring himself too; he'd worn it even since, in memory of her he'd thought, but now he knew otherwise. Regina had lied to him. She would pay for that.
"From someone I hate." His voice was tight with pain and Belle's hand fell away from the necklace at his tone.
Gold's own eyes dropped to the ring he always wore with the blue stone; the same blue as her eyes and he twisted it out of habit.
"It belonged to someone I loved once," he said slowly.
Belle glanced at him through her tangle of hair, her curiosity piqued when he didn't elaborate. "What happened to her?"she asked.
Gold laughed but it was breathy and bitter. "I was told she died."
Belle watched his face carefully, something like recognition flickering behind her eyes. "What did you do then?" she asked softly.
Gold shrugged but the line of his shoulders was tight and a wince hid in the curve of his jaw. "I moved on." What other choice did he have?
"So you forgot about her?" Belle asked, an odd sadness lingering in her face and her voice and Gold wondered how much she remembered of her life before the curse, or if she remembered anything at all.
He leaned towards her, the necklace hanging between them, glowing in the sunlight.
"If I'd forgotten about her, would I still be wearing her necklace?"