Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Once Upon a Time. They belong to the show creators and ABC.

Fractured Memories

Awake

The air seemed warm, unseasonably warm, but that didn't seem to stop anyone from going about their daily business, especially Mr. Gold. He made his way towards Granny's Diner, the last stop on his weekly rounds collecting money. He figured a nice cup of tea and maybe a bite before going to his silent shop would be the perfect way to end the morning. Walking through town, he passed the library and stopped. It felt as though someone had been looking at him. Turning he peered up at the clock tower, finding no one. Shaking his head he continued on his way.

When he reached the diner, he found it pack. This didn't seem unusual for seven thirty in the morning. People were getting coffee or having breakfast before going to work. He sat down at an empty booth, one essentially reserved for him, being the town owner and all. After ordering tea, he browsed the menu for anything appealing. He settled for an omelet and immersed himself into an invisible bubbles, ears tuning themselves to catch the latest news being uttered about the diner. Before he could catch what the latest gossip was, the bell above the door rang as Mary Margaret and Emma walked in like two tornadoes. They were in a deep discussion about something, it seemed like something much more exciting than who left with whom from the bar the night before, so he listened.

"So Nora's awake?" Mary Margaret asked as she sat down at a table. "She's only ever been slightly responsive in all the time that I've volunteered there. They were just waiting for her parents to decide to end the life support."

Mr. Gold found intrigue in this. They were talking about Nora Dawson, a girl that had spent the better part of her twenty years in the coma ward living off of a machine in a vegetative state. He reminded himself how strange this world seemed to be if the closest thing to magic was a machine keeping you alive.

"They've been calling it a miracle." Emma yawned as she sat across from the school teacher. Of course they would call it a miracle. "I'd take the miracle of sleep right about now. I've been there since four o' clock. Regina didn't want another repeat of what happened last time."

Mary Margaret gave her a feeble smile before ordering coffee from Ruby. Mr. Gold caught the slight flush that slowly crept up her neck. Emma also ordered coffee, a rather large coffee, before turning to look around the restaurant, and locking eyes with Mr. Gold. To his utter misfortune, she excused herself from the table with Mary Margaret and walked over. She sat on the empty side of the booth and stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Good morning, Sheriff, what can I do for you?" He asked, taking a bite of his omelet.

The blonde tilted her head to the right. "Tell me how you managed to swindle your way out of an attempted murder charge." She had that serious look on her face, the one that said I-can-find-out-your-secrets-if-I-want-to.

Mr. Gold sighed. "As I told you, dearie, I own this town." He smiled at her before turning back to his breakfast. "I'm sure Regina would want you spending your time on the paperwork of Ms. Dawson than interrogating a man you will never get into a jail cell again."

Emma narrowed her eyes at him before leaving with a slight huff. Mr. Gold bit back a chortle as he watched her leave. Finishing up with his breakfast, he paid Ruby and left the diner. His mind began its work on whatever awaited him at his shop. He found that immersing himself into business helped him forget about her, if only for a short while. It didn't help that there were a few belongings that reminded him constantly of his ultimate mistake. He had obtained custody of her father's delivery van, in this life. He even had several books that she had read during her time in his castle, and of course there was the chipped cup, but those were just a few of many things.

Upon entering the shop he searched for something to fix his attention on. He found an instrument, a pan flute in desperate need of polishing. Carefully taking the pieces apart he set them down side by side as he began the tedious work of polishing the wood. Humming a song of old to himself, he seemed to fade away into the background of the shop as his mind wandered elsewhere. He swayed back and forth to the song as he hummed and closed his eyes, forgetting about his work on the flute. He traveled through time and space to the dining hall of his castle where he spun next to the fire as Belle lay upon the rug reading a book, her elbow propping up her chin. It seemed a perfect memory, one not riddled with sadness and regret, one that should have happened if he hadn't been such a coward. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the door open, and only stopped when he heard the cough of someone clearing their throat.

"I can come back later, if you're busy." A young woman spoke. She had shoulder length brown hair that had been cut into layers. Sweeping bangs off to the side framed her face and seemed to illuminate her hazel eyes.

"Ah, just in my own little world, dearie, can I help you with something?"

She looked around the shop for a moment before fixing him with her hazel gaze. "I'm looking for someone." She finally stated.

Mr. Gold let out a laugh. "I'm afraid I deal in antiques, not people." He put down the cleaning rag and began to put the flute back together. Perhaps if he focused on this she would either find something to buy or leave.

"Do you have a spinning wheel?" It seemed an odd question that came out of the blue and left him slightly taken aback.

"A…a spinning wheel? I used to have one, but I got rid of it long ago." He watched as she walked around the store occasionally picking up an object and studying it. "Do you have an interest in spinning? I'm sure I could scrounge up one somewhere."

The girl stopped and looked at him. "I just look from a distance, sharp spindles and all."

He started to feel a bit agitated as she continued to make her way slowly through the shop, eying every item with a keen look. "Is there anything you are looking for specifically?" Annoyance filled his voice. "I can help you if you tell me what you're looking for, dearie."

She turned and looked at him with an impish smile. "I think I'm the one who should be helping you, dearie."

Gold let out a frustrated huff and set his hands down on the counter. "Tell me why you are in my shop, and I might not see the need to ring the sheriff and have you taken for loitering."

She let out a laugh. "If you really want to know what I'm doing in here, I'm trying to hide from my mother. Apparently spending a few years asleep warrants a mother/daughter shopping spree."

Gold smiled and pointed at her knowingly. "You're Nora Dawson, there's been quite a bit of talking going around about you." He turned his attention back to the piece together the flute.

Nora walked closer to the counter and leaned against the viewing glass. She studied him for a moment as he tied the parts of the flute back together with the leather straps. "I'm sure you know that Nora isn't my name, just like Mr. Gold isn't yours either." She said this casually, almost like the two of them were having a cup of tea.

He stopped what he was doing and stared at her, his brow furrowed. "Is it now?" He set the flute down and stared at her with intrigue. "Then enlighten me on the subject of who I really am."

Nora smiled smartly at him and leaned away from the counter "It's simple really, you're the man that everyone makes deals with, deals that always have a way of bending in your favor, Rumpelstiltskin."

"Now how did you come by this knowledge?" Curiosity tingled to his very core. How did someone, other than himself, find a loophole in Regina's little curse? Surely this girl had had a bit of magic on her side. "How does Sleeping Beauty know things that no one else does?"

Her smile widened as she leaned closer as if she were about to reveal the secret of the world. In a way she was. "Most people have to inhabit their body when a curse is cast upon them." She nearly laughed when his brow knitted with confusion.

Before Mr. Gold could question her further, the door to the shop opened once more. This time an older woman walked in. She was tall with honey blonde hair and wore the clothes of someone well off. Upon her aging features sat a look of anger as she glared at the girl. That look turned to a sneer of distaste and distrust as her eyes fell upon the shop keeper.

"Nora," Mrs. Dawson sighed, "You just can't go off on your own willy nilly. I've seen you in the hospital for far too long to have you return."

Nora looked at her mother with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Mother." Her tone was airy. "I just felt so intrigued by this shop that I wanted to ask Mr. Gold if he might be hiring." She turned to look at him with a Cheshire grin etched on her face. "He said that he'd love to have an assistant, someone to check the books and tidy things up a bit."

"He did?" Her mother questioned.

"I did?" Mr. Gold echoed. He looked at Nora as though she were the most evil thing on the planet. No one outsmarted Rumpelstiltskin and got away with it, not in the past life or this one.

"He did." Nora grinned.

Mr. Gold caught onto to her ploy and decided to play along. "Yes, I did offer her a job." Mrs. Dawson looked surprised. "Nora's a bright young girl, you should be very proud."

Mrs. Dawson smiled and puffed out her chest. "She's always been that way." She looked him up and down, not bothering mask her snobbish sneer. "Thank you for offering her a job, but I'm sure she would like to look at her other options before committing to this one."

Gold nodded. He watched as Mrs. Dawson grabbed her daughters arm and drag her towards the shop door. Before the two could leave Mr. Gold called after them. "Can you start Monday?"

They both stopped. Mrs. Dawson looked at him angrily, while Nora beamed. "Certainly." She turned to leave and stopped. "I've found some interesting things around the west side of the hospital…it might be a worthwhile place to look for lost items."

Before Mr. Gold could question her on that, Mrs. Dawson pulled her out of the shop and down the street. Biting at his lower lip, Mr. Gold put away the flute and grabbed his coat. He left the shop, locking the door and heading in the direction of the hospital. What could she have meant about the west side? Maybe he could find answers to why and how she managed to keep her memories of the Enchanted Forest. Before he could get very far, he ran into Regina Mills.

"Mr. Gold," she said with a smile.

"Madam Mayor," he replied, "Warm morning, isn't it?"

"Indeed, it is." Regina responded looking around. "Strange don't you think?"

Gold nodded. It seemed even stranger to be discussing the weather with the woman who had been the root cause of him ending up in a jail cell the night before. "I find it even stranger things just don't seem to be going your way, your majesty."

Regina sneered. "I hardly take the fact that some sniveling little tart wake from a coma to be worth my worry."

Mr. Gold smiled and let out a small laugh. "Then you must not have spoken with her. She seems very bright, and a bit knowledgeable."

Regina raised a perfectly shaped brow. "Knowledgeable?"

"I seemed to be stumbling upon more than one loophole with your grand plan." He gave her a small grin. "In time, I will end you."

She smirked at him. "We shall see about that. Good day Mr. Gold."

~O~

The last thing that King Stefan and his wife, Francesca, wanted for their beautiful daughter, Aurora, was to be cursed on the day of her christening. However, Leah's older sister Maleficent, a broody woman who dabbled in black magic, stormed into the palace and gave the child a curse. She would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a deep sleep. Naturally, being the protective parents they were, the two demanded that all spinning wheels in the kingdom be destroyed in the hopes of beating the curse. As Aurora grew older, the curse seemed to be forgotten by the entire kingdom. King Stefan spent his days drawing up war plans for the Ogre Wars that were slowly encroaching upon the kingdom. Francesca spent her days trying to teach her daughter to be a young lady, planning extravagant balls, and finding suitors. Three things that Aurora had grown very bored of.

"Aurora," Francesca sighed, "Please, the seamstresses need you for a fitting for the ball!" She walked down the hall and sighed. "Where is that girl?"

Hidden down a hallway that her mother would never think to look stood Aurora and her friend, Belle, the daughter of Lord Maurice, one of her father's courtiers. The two giggled and set off down the hall on a grand adventure, something their mildly suffocating parents would never allow them to do. They found secret passage ways and rooms, got into sword fights with the young lords and knights in the courtyard, and dreamed away their days with fantasies of being heroes.

"How I'm going to miss this," Belle sighed, leaning against the wall.

"Why? It's not like you're going to be moving somewhere far away after some arranged marriage." Aurora retorted. When she turned and saw the sorrowful look on Belle's face, she felt her heart sink. "Who is he?"

"Sir Gaston." The name rolled off Belle's tongue as though it were poisoned.

Aurora laughed. "You mean that ape that's been following us around since we were eight? Didn't he use to ask if we were in need of rescuing?" Belle nodded painfully and they both snorted. "What is your father thinking?"

Belle turned to look out a window at the mountains. "That perhaps I'll be far away from the Ogre Wars and protected."

Aurora bit her lip. The Ogre Wars were taking a toll on many kingdoms. Lord Maurice owned a small duchy on the border of King Stefan's kingdom. In the event that the wars made it to the kingdom, theirs would be one of the first in an attack. For the time being they were safe, but with each passing month it grew closer to coming towards their door. The two friends had always fancied themselves becoming heroes and walking out the doors of their castles and fighting the Ogre's one on one and taking them down.

"Promise me, that if you get the chance, you'll run away from this arranged marriage." Belle looked at Aurora in question. "You're always saying how we should make our own decisions and think for ourselves. Going through with this marriage, you'd be giving in to the image that everyone has of girls, of women. My father always makes the choices for the kingdom, even though he considers my mother to be his equal." She crossed to the window where Belle stood and took her hands. "We should promise each other that we will find an adventure, absolute true love, and take it."

Belle smiled. "I promise, just so long as I don't have to go to any more of your mother's silly balls." They both laughed, hushing when they heard the sound of the queen's voice, and took off down the hall before she could discover their whereabouts.

~O~

Mr. Gold walked towards city hall on his way to the hospital. He paused and watched as Mrs. Dawson walked out talking animatedly with Regina, who had a look of boredom on her face. The pair continued down the street. About to leave himself, he noticed Nora walk out of the door and in the opposite direction of her mother. Curiosity killed the cat, or so the expression said. Ever since their meeting earlier, Gold had wanted to find out exactly what this girl knew. He had tried to get to the hospital earlier after she left his shop, but had gotten sidetracked by the run-in with Regina and then the sudden appearance of Sheriff Swan. He followed the girl, lagging behind just enough so that she wouldn't notice his presence. Their trek ended outside of the hospital, outside the west wing, just like Nora had spoken about before.

Gold stood a distance away, studying her for a moment. She stood in the yard just in front of a row of windows leading to the basement of the hospital. Storage is what he and every other inhabitant of Storybrooke had been led to believe was down in the bowels of the building. He remembered her saying something about finding interesting things on this side of the hospital, did she mean medical records? Had she found some sort of door from the outside? What would he need medical records for?

"You're mother made it seem like they were done with tests." He said casually, walking up to stand beside her acting as though he had been on a stroll and happened across her presence. He had hoped that she would flinch, like most people would when he snuck up on them. However, she didn't respond for a moment. With a furrowed brow, Gold moved closer and tapped her shoulder. "Ms. Dawson?"

"Yes?" She looked at him as though she snapped out of another world, hazel eyes unfocused. "Mr. Gold, I see you are taking me up on my advice about the interesting things in the west wing." She stared at his close proximity to her. "Although you have managed to find your way into my bubble."

He took a step back and stared at her. "Yes, that advice." Looking about he saw nothing but a building and a yard that could use a bit of a trim. "What exactly is it that you'd have me looking for here? You don't expect me to go looking for lost treasure, do you?"

Nora laughed. "I suppose you could say a friend is a lost treasure." His brow knitted in confusion at her words and she grinned. "You and I have a mutual friend, who I was just trying to visit."

Mr. Gold looked at her as though she were crazy, perhaps she was. He didn't know much of her story, just that she had been cursed by her aunt, at least he thought it was her aunt. It was a sleeping curse, something that Regina had borrowed to use on Snow White. Nora caught on to his glance and her smile faded to a look of sorrow.

"We've had so many years in this life with nothing ever changing, except for the secrets in the past." She turned to look at the building, eyes falling upon the windows of the basement. "We both have something in common Mr. Gold. We were both told that people we loved dearly were dead, but it seems only one of us has been lied to…so far at least."

"What do you mean?" His own eyes followed her gaze to the windows. Whatever she was looking for, whoever, seemed to be locked away in the basement.

"Did you know that she used to send me letters?"

Mr. Gold looked up at her with confusion. "Who?"

Nora ignored his question and continued with her story. "She told me stories of the adventure she had. Of finally being free from her father's protective grasp. She wanted to see the world, but the farthest she got was a dungeon in your castle." Mr. Gold's heart began to pound in his chest as he realized who she spoke of. "It was okay though, you were a companion and she grew to know you, even love you." His throat seemed dry as the memories rose of the person he had spent the past twenty-eight years trying to forget. "When you rejected her, she tried to write me, to find comfort, but my own adventure had just begun. While I slept, her father disowned her for her acquaintance with you, locked her in a tower-,"

The pain that the memory caused bit at him like the bite of a rabid dog. "Yes, yes I know. He sent in clerics to cleanse her and after a while she jumped off the tower. She…she died." He began to turn away, but stopped. "Whatever game it is that you are trying to play, Ms. Dawson, is one that you best not begin."

Nora smiled sweetly at him. "Jumping so quick to the end of the story?" She let out a small, haughty laugh. "I thought you had manners, at least that is what I was led to believe." He curled his lip as he turned back to listen to her. "As you put it, we thought she died, but Regina got you to believe in her little game. When Belle left your castle she went on that adventure she always dreamed about, an adventure we both had dreamed about, that is until the Evil Queen caught up to her. She imprisoned Belle in a dungeon where she could keep an eye on her, something to use against you at a later time." Nora walked toward the windows and sank down to their level. "When she cast the curse, she put Belle in the last place you'd ever look." She tapped the glass with a finger and rose with a knowing smile.

Gold stared at her with disbelief. "So you're saying that Belle is alive and is being kept prisoner in the basement of the hospital?"

Nora nodded and looked at him with a painful expression. "She's trying to drive her mad, but Belle is fighting it." She walked back toward him. "I know you want to push her away, keep your pathetic power, but I know you can't. You've finally decided to give that all up, to become a man again and live happily ever after." He started to argue but she held her hand up. "I've showed you where that chance is, now it's your choice as to whether or not you chase it." He stood silent and wide-eyed as he stared at the building. Nora began to walk away, pausing to look over her shoulder at him. "You broke her heart once Rumpelstiltskin, and she left. Do it again and you'll lose her forever."

Gold, heeding her words, walked towards the hospital a little more and stopped. He turned to say something to Nora, but discovered she had vanished. Could she be telling the truth? Could Belle really be held captive inside? The only person he could think of to aide him in finding this out wouldn't be too keen on helping him, especially since just a mere eighteen hours before she had arrested him for attempted murder.

A/N: Whew! Seven pages of pure awesomeness! That sounds conceited…sorry. I must say that I did change the meeting outside of the hospital quite a bit. In the original story I posted, they spoke of how Belle "tried to commit suicide." Well seeing as how we are now in the fourth season of OUaT, I wanted to try and keep up with that a bit. So I mentioned Belle's adventures, I didn't really go into detail because I'm not sure if I'm going to discuss the whole Prince Phillip being cursed into a dragon thing…mainly because the show's Prince Phillip is a completely different kind of person from my idea of Prince Phillip *cough*douchebag*cough*….not that it was entirely his fault, Aurora was asleep for twenty-eight years and it sort of left him to explore his options….off topic. Well, as always, please review. I will try and update as soon as I can, it is a busy time at work and I don't really get a lot of days off (something that totally sucks).

Oh did anyone see the latest episode? My heart broke at the town line. :( However, I am always cheering for them!