Gold couldn't sleep that night and decided he would drive around Storybrooke to try and ease his troubled mind.
He turned the radio on and off and then on again, flipping the channels until he heard the beginning of Adele's Turning Tables, and decided to listen to the rest.
"Close enough to start a war. All that I have is on the floor."
He could relate to that, all he had was on the floor in the form of his shattered, enchanted, chipped cup. It had been a chance to return her memory and she destroyed it.
"So, I won't let you close enough to hurt me
No, I won't rescue you to just desert me
I can't give you the heart you think you gave me
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables."
He shook his head rapidly at what the song made him feel. He would try to rescue Belle, but she was just hurting him, and if he couldn't find a way to return her memory, she most certainly would desert him, for she didn't love him. Didn't remember him.
He turned off the radio by pushing down the button violently and almost snapping it off in the process. He drove around and around until he was nearly out of gas. He went back home and attempted to go to sleep, but sleep would not come.
He stood, stretched and went to the kitchen where he made himself a mug of warm milk with honey and cinnamon. Belle had adored the drink when he made it for her that night she awoke with nightmares about- Gold forced his thoughts to halt. He did not want to think about the horrid nightmares Belle endured after being imprisoned. It made him sick to think about it.
He stirred some Splenda into his milk and took a sip. He winced as the aftertaste settled on his tongue. He hated the disgusting stuff Belle had insisted on having after Ruby had introduced it her
"It is sweet like sugar, but has zero calories!" She had exclaimed as she tossed the yellow bag into their cart at the grocery store. He had protested, but Belle insisted so he caved in and had only been buying Splenda since then. Right now he wished that he had secretly bought some sugar, because the nasty Splenda aftertaste was still on his tongue.
Gold stood and put the red ceramic cup into the sink. Since he was awake he decided to do the rest of the dishes too. When that was finished he still could not sleep so he plugged his camera into the television to watch home videos. There were only three on the whole machine. The first was a tour of his pawn shop, the second was a video that Henry had made with Gold's camera when he was searching for evidence that his fairytale book was real life. Gold smiled at the antics of Henry. He actually quite liked the child, now that he began to think about it. Although he could be annoying, he was stubborn and Gold respected that. At some moments, Henry even slightly reminded Gold of himself.
Gold clicked on the third video absent mind-idly, forgetting what it was about.
He was leaning against the counter at the Pawn shop and Belle was taking the video.
"What's today?" She asked, and he could practically hear the smile in her voice.
"My birthday." He had responded, shyly glancing up at the camera and then back at the ground. He always had been camera shy.
"Mmmhmmm." Belle said. "And, what is special about this birthday?"
Gold sighed. "There's nothing special about it. If you're trying to get me to tell you how old I am, you're out of luck, Dearie."
Belle laughed and then playfully punched his shoulder with the camera-free hand.
"Rumple!" She exclaimed.
"It's the first birthday we've spent together!"
She jostled the camera around, blurring the video for a moment. When it came back into focus she was standing next to Gold and pointing the camera at them.
"Goodbye everyone!" She waved and then, because she thought the camera was off, leaned over and kissed Gold.
"I love you Rumple. You better not be a grouch on your birthday!"
He had laughed and kissed the top of her head. Then, noticing that the red light on the camcorder was still flashing, he took it from Belle and turned it off.
He sighed at the memory. It had only been a few weeks ago, but it seemed like a lifetime. And in a way, it was a lifetime ago, before the dream of a perfect life had shattered.
A/N Ok, how was that? I was thinking for next chapter maybe some Ruby/ Dr. Whale scenes. I really enjoyed their interaction in the last episode. Also I'm curious about Cora and Gold. That was just disturbing when she kissed him.
