Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed and read my story. Please review. It's the only way I know if I should continue.

I'll try to make the chapters shorter now. I thought Chapter 2 was way too long but couldn't figure out a good way to break it up.

I don't own any characters from Once Upon a Time.

Chapter 3

When he finally drove home to their large salmon colored house, Lee sat at the kitchen table filling out the usual myriad of paperwork to keep the licenses for the few weapons kept at her place of business up-to-date. His breath caught in his throat when for the first time in almost thirty years he looked at her and saw the woman he met at the tavern. Taking her by the hand he pulled her up from the chair and smoothed back the hair on either side of her face. The look in his eyes, as if he saw her for the first time, surprised her.

"Are you OK?" were the only words she spoke.

"Have I told you how much I love you?"

A confused smile touched her eyes and made them glow with a pleasant warmth.

"Not for a while but this is a good start."

He pulled her to his chest and held her in a tight hug.

"I am so sorry, Lee. I should have told you I loved you every day that we were together. I promise things will be different now, I promise."

"Hey, it's OK. I love you too."

He stopped her speech by taking her mouth in a passionate kiss, his hands diving beneath her shirt to gently massage her back.

They made love slowly and with infinite care as he tried to make up for all the days they should have shared in the old world and all the days that had gone by unappreciated in the past twenty eight years. More than anything he wanted her to say she loved him and wanted to share his life once the curse was broken, even though he knew how unlikely that was to happen.

The next day, when he walked into the Game of Thorns flower shop, Isabelle French welcomed him with the same bright smile and happy greeting that brought back customers to her father's shop time and time again.

"What can I do for you today, Mr. Gold?" Her beautiful voice with its unique accent was music to his ear and while she put together a bouquet of flowers that Gold told her he was buying for his wife, he stood there basking in the relief and happiness of knowing that Belle was alive.

"Please let your father know that the due date for his loan is coming up and I would like to go over the terms of the agreement. He can come by my shop at any time and bring a copy of the documents."

"Yes, of course. I'll let him know Mr. Gold." She replied with a concerned look on her face.

Gold hoped that look would be replaced by a smile when he told her father that he was willing to allow the extension Moe French so desperately needed on some of the due dates of his loan. He felt the warmth and sense of friendship that he remembered in Belle's presence. He knew that she was the one person who may still care for him when she regained her memories, who had the kindness and generosity to forgive him once she found out the part he played in creating the curse that was now upon them.

On his way to the pawn shop, he found himself thinking of ways to spend more time with her. Asking her to pay off some of her father's debt by working with him in the shop was the first possibility that came to mind. He could bask in her warm presence, enjoy her beautiful smile, and make sure that she was never in danger again. He wanted to touch her long hair, to prove to himself day in and day out that she was indeed alive and well and that his grief over her fate after he cast her out of the castle was unfounded. As he unlocked the shop door something made him glance across the street and catch a glimpse of the building housing the karate studio. The ripple of fear that coursed through his body chased away all other thoughts as fragments of a long forgotten conversation from some years ago floated unbidden and unwelcome in his mind.

"Why do you have this man's card, Lee? Why would you want this person's address in Boston?" He held the offending piece of cardboard between two fingers. The response was a tinkle of laughter as Lee came into the living room from the kitchen.

"For goodness sake, Kyle, the man gave me his business card in case I ever thought about taking a job in Boston."

"What kind of job?"

A serious look he did not think boded well for him came into Lee's eyes.

"The kind that requires the use of my fighting skills, Kyle. It's not anything I would ever consider."

"Do you ever think about it Lee?" He probed deeper, "do you want to do that kind of work?"

"Do I want to know if I am good enough to work in the field? Do I think about proving myself in the real world? Of course I do." He felt a cold hand squeezing around his heart as she talked.

"However, I also know that in order to do this kind of work a person has to be alone and have nothing to live for. They cannot have anyone waiting for them to come home. I would never do that to us Kyle." He realized that he was now breathing a little easier. "As long as I have you, my life is here and I wouldn't want it any other way." She kissed him, took him by the hand and led him to the table where dinner was waiting. The relief she saw in his eyes made her embrace him again. As he held her, he remembered feeling whole again as if a piece of himself that was in danger of being torn away remained a part of him still.

Now, standing on the sidewalk outside his door, he realized that if for one moment Lee thought their marriage was no longer on solid ground, she would have no reason to resist the power and challenge those men offered her. She could slip away from him like the morning mist before the sun and he would never see her again. He locked the door of the pawn shop once again, walked across the street, and opened the door to the studio so the site of her could reassure him that she was still very much there.