Chapter 4
It had only been two days, but it felt like Belle had been living with them for weeks already.
In the evening she helped Bae with his reading and each time he caught them sitting closely together, two dark heads bend over a book, his heart squeezed with an unfamiliar tug of longing.
One of her co-workers from the library had stopped by to visit and had, upon her request, brought half the library worth of books that would interest a six year old just starting to read. They poured over the books together, her gentle coaxing and guidance making Bae even more enthusiastic for the subject.
Once they'd finished reading together he would take over to help Bae with his maths homework, feeling it was more up his alley, acutely aware of her eyes on them as they worked on the assignment.
During his lunch hour he drove home so that they could eat together. Moving around was still difficult for her, so he fixed them both a sandwich or soup while he listened to her chatter.
He quickly discovered she could talk about anything and be completely captivating while doing it. They talked endlessly about books - once she was more recovered he had to show her his rare book collection at the shop - but also about movies, music, traveling, food, current affairs, random things that happened around town or nothing particular at all.
No matter what they were talking about, the hour always flew by.
That afternoon however, it was obvious almost from the moment he stepped inside that she was rather upset. There were red spots in her neck and she seemed fidgety and agitated.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked, his insides instantly tightening with worry.
To his relief it took little to no effort on his part to coax the reason for her distress out of her.
With a deep sigh she told him how she'd received a phone-call from Mayor Mills, informing her that her request for sick leave was denied and that the mayor would assign her alternative tasks until Dr. Whale cleared her for work in the library again.
He was already almost jumping out of his skin with fury when she pondered out loud: "I could go into the library tomorrow. As long as I'm bodily present there, Mayor Mills cannot object. I could do some administrative work or some shelving."
She was barely able to make it up the stairs. If she sat in one position for too long her movements were stiff and haltingly for an hour afterwards. There was no way she'd be able to return to work the next day, no matter how easy she took it.
With great effort he pushed his anger down for the moment and focussed on making lunch, but inwardly he kept seething.
She couldn't even stand up long enough to butter a sandwich. There was no way in hell he would allow Mayor Mills to bully her into going back to work, not until she was completely healed and received a clean bill of health.
"Don't worry," he reassured her, putting down the plate in front of her and sitting down across the table. "Mayor Mills has nothing on you. You've passed your ninety-days trial period, have you not?"
Belle nodded, her eyes still fraud with worry. "I have, but the Mayor says I won't be able to take sick leave until I've been employed for a year."
"She's bluffing," he replied with more confidence than he felt. "Mayor Mills wanted to close down the library, but was outvoted by the rest of the council. So instead she had to hire a new Head librarian. She's just trying to use this as an excuse to fire you and close down the library after all."
"But she does have a point," Belle countered. "It's going to take another two weeks and a half before Dr. Whale clears me… I don't have that many sick days. She's well in her right to lay me off, even if I offer her to take unpaid leave."
"Don't worry," he reassured her once again, his mind already running a mile an hour. "Mayor Mills won't be able to lift a finger against you."
Not if he had anything to say about it.
Straight after lunch he drove to the Mayor's Office, demanding to see her right away.
Regina Mills was seated behind her desk and the loud, garish interior of her office instantly gave him a migraine.
"Gold?" She asked in her cool voice, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow raising up. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Good afternoon, Regina," he replied smoothly. "How are things?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary…" she replied, suspicion growing in her voice. "Are you here for a social call?"
"More or less," he answered, advancing the desk and calmly seating himself down in one of the god-awful black velvet, pseudo baroque chairs. "I merely stopped by to inquire if you've heard about the dreadful business with young Nottingham."
"You mean the guy arrested for drunk driving last week?" Regina inquired, her face blank. "From what the Sheriff told me, he will be transported to Boston by the end of the week to stand trial."
"That he will," Gold agreed. "But I'm also worried about the ramifications this will have for our town."
"How so?" Regina inquired, freezing slightly at his words.
"Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how Keith Nottingham got hammered at two o' clock in the afternoon," Gold said with a calculated smile.
"Over the past two years there have been numerous complaints about the loose alcohol policy 'The Rabbit Hole' enforces. Pouring drinks at all hours of the day.., not really limiting the intake of already inebriated customers… From what I recall, you never thought it necessary to put some restrictors on the place, did you?"
"We only have limited funding for the Sheriff's department," Regina replied, immediately becoming defensive. "I want to spend that on the general safety of the town, not babysitting a few adolescents with too much preference for alcohol."
"Unfortunately, when one of those adolescents starts driving around the town like a maniac, it does become a matter of public safety. I am sure Miss French can attest to that."
"Yes, well… that was a very unfortunate incident," Regina said impatiently. "But Mr. Nottingham will face the consequences of his rash actions."
"He will, but unfortunately, so will Miss French," Gold answered. "And to think all of this could have been prevented with just a little bit more of a pro-active attitude regarding The Rabbit Hole. When are the elections again, Regina? For I assume you want to serve a second term as Mayor?"
"What do you want, Gold?" Regina asked flat-out, all pretense gone.
"Well, it hardly seems fair that Miss French should have to suffer from this incident any more than she already has," he began.
"Since she has started at the library, she has performed her duties admirably well, so there should be no set-backs for her job-wise, since the accident occurred without any fault of her own. Even more so, because of her quick thinking she saved a child from being hit by Nottingham's car."
"Yes, Miss French is quite the hero," Regina replied with a slight sneer in her voice.
"Considering it was my child that she saved, you'll forgive me for agreeing a great deal more whole-heartedly with that statement," he answered coolly.
"So here it is, Miss French will be allowed to recuperate from her injuries for as long as she needs, without loss of pay. Once Dr. Whale has cleared her for work again, she can return to her position."
"That's a rather generous settlement," Regina said, eyeing him with some surprise. "And what's in it for me?"
"If you agree to these terms I won't issue a motion of no-confidence at the next town council meeting against you," he replied, playing out his trump card.
"Because that would be most inconvenient so shortly before the elections."
Regina paled at his words. "You wouldn't dare!" she hissed.
"It could have been my son being hit by that car," he shot back, some of the anger he was feeling breaking through his calm facade. "If it hadn't been for Miss French, my son could have been dead. So if you don't back off and let her recover in peace, then believe me Regina, I dare!"
For a few moments longer the mayor held his gaze, but then slumped back in her chair and he knew he'd won.
"Do we have a deal?"
"Fine," she agreed grudgingly. "Since this could be considered special circumstances, Miss French will be granted sick leave."
"Thank you," he replied smoothly, getting to his feet. "I'm glad we were able to resolve this."
"You know Gold," she called after him while he was heading for the door. "I'd be careful if I were you."
"How so?" he asked puzzled, turning around to face her.
"A young woman staying at your house for weeks on end… People will talk about that," Regina raised her eyebrows suggestively and gave him a knowing look. "They will assume all kinds of things."
"Have I ever given the impression that I care about what the town is saying about me?" he snapped back, riled by her words.
"No, but it's your own assumptions I worry about. Your wife has been gone for a while now, so it's only natural that you start looking around. But going after a pretty, young girl half your age?"
Regina gave him a patronizing smile. "Don't become a cliche, Gold."
Her words set his teeth on edge, but he managed to keep his composure.
"If this is the level of sense we are to expect from you, I fear for your second term Madame Mayor," he sneered before exiting the office.
The implication of Regina Mills' words nagged at the back of his mind for the rest of the afternoon. Of course he had expected that his rash decision of offering the librarian to stay with him would send every old bitty in the vicinity into a flutter of indignation.
But since nothing noteworthy had happened in Storybooke since a virtuous schoolteacher was discovered to be having an affair with a very married veterinarian technician three years ago, he had assumed he was doing them a bit a favor actually.
Because in spite of their suspicions, his sole reason for offering Belle to stay with him was because he wanted her to be comfortable when she was recovering from the aftermath of saving his son's life.
That she turned out to be wonderful company and that his son adored her was just a very pleasant extra.
And despite what Regina might think, he wasn't looking for an affair, let alone a romance or a permanent relationship. One horrendous marriage was more than enough to cure him of the notion for the rest of his life.
He had his son and that was enough for him and the Mayor's insinuations were just too ridiculous to contemplate.
Pretty, young women with a sweet disposition didn't fall for grumpy old monsters and if his marriage had taught him one thing it was that he wasn't even remotely cut out to be a good husband.
He was merely repaying a debt. That was all there was to it.
That evening, after Bae had gone to bed, he told her as casually as he could manage that the whole matter concerning her sick leave had been sorted out.
Of course, no matter how nonchalant he pretended to be, she quickly caught on to the fact that he'd had quite a hand in convincing the Mayor and her relief and gratitude made him feel highly self-conscious.
"Really," she insisted. "You've done so much for me… you've visited me in hospital, you're letting me stay in your house and you're taking care of me… and now you have persuaded the Mayor to grant me sick leave… it's really too much."
She had pushed his son out of the way of a car driven by an idiot that had been drunk as a skunk, at the risk of her own life.
He could spend the rest of his life catering to her every need and it wouldn't be enough.
"Nonsense," he waved away her objections. "I'll take any opportunity to outdo Mayor Mills. And Bae and I both like having you here."
"I like it here too," she admitted with shy smile that caused his heart to skip a beat.
"It's good for Bae, really," he said quickly, trying to cover up his own confusion. "He doesn't really have a female role-model."
"What happened to his mother?" Belle asked quietly. "If you don't mind me asking."
He didn't necessarily mind, but Milah was still his least favorite topic to talk about. Nevertheless, her question made sense and if she was going to stay with them for a lengthily period of time it would perhaps be better if he told her the basics concerning his divorce.
"Milah, Bae's mother and I separated five years ago," he began carefully. "She left us… she left Bae when he wasn't even a year old and took off with another man. For over a year I didn't hear from her until she returned on the day of Bae's second birthday."
"She didn't want to see her son for more than a year?" Belle asked, incredulity clear in her voice.
Gold nodded. "Well, when she did return, she immediately demanded full custody of him, but yes, for a year it seemed like she had disappeared from the earth."
"How did she even…" Belle started, before biting down on her lip. "Sorry, it's not my place to judge. But why did she not tried to contact her son for a year?"
"Bae's birth wasn't exactly planned," he told her. "And I don't think that at the time Milah was really prepared to be a mother."
Suddenly, the story came spilling out as if inside him some kind of internal dam had broken.
"I first met Milah twenty years ago. We were together for a couple of months, but soon it became clear that we both wanted very different things. I was ready to settle down and start a family, but Milah wasn't, so in the end we broke up. Seven years ago we met again and we got together for old time's sake. Not my brightest decision and I didn't believe at the time that it would lead to anything serious, but then Milah contacted me about six weeks later and told me she was pregnant.
I…" he took a deep breath and briefly glanced up, only to find Belle looking at him with a warm, encouraging look on her face.
"I wanted to be a father more than anything in the world," he confessed. "I wanted a family and I thought I was running out of time. When Milah told me that she was pregnant I offered her anything I could think of, just to ensure she would stay and keep the baby.
In retrospect, perhaps that was stupid. As a couple, we never stood a chance, but for my boy… I'd do it all ten times over again, because Bae made it all worth it."
Belle smiled softly at him and he was relieved not to find any judgement in her eyes.
"I can imagine that. Your son is absolutely wonderful, Rowan."
"He is," he agreed with a soft smile. "The first time I held him in my arms, he looked at me with those clear brown eyes of him and reached out and grabbed my nose. I was sold instantly. I could hold him for hours… barely wanted to put him down.
Milah had a harder time adjusting to being a parent. It took her a long time to recover from the birth and Bae always seemed more fidgety when he was with her.
To be honest, I liked it that Bae seemed to prefer me over MIlah and that probably made it even more difficult for her to bond with him. She grew more and more unhappy. With me, with her life, mostly with me though… when Bae was almost a year old, she met a man. He was young, adventurous, handsome, in short everything that I was not. He offered her freedom and she took it."
That was it, the whole sorry tale of his dream family that in the end had been nothing more than a castle in the clouds.
After a long moment of silence, Belle sighed deeply.
"For what it's worth, I don't think either of you deserved to be abandoned like that," she told him softly and he was taken aback by the genuine look of hurt on her face.
"Well, Bae certainly didn't," he replied.
For a moment she looked like she was about to answer, but then she apparently thought the better of it.
"Do you share custody now?" she asked instead.
"No," he replied instantly. "Bae belongs to me."
He then proceeded to tell her about the grueling custody battle, the long months he had spend separated from his son, his worry for his wellbeing and the endless frustration and desperation of the court hearings and by the time he had finished, Belle's eyes were bright with unshed tears.
They had started out at opposite ends of the couch, but somehow, while they'd been talking, she had scooted closer towards him and now their knees were touching and her hand was on his lower arm, rubbing gently.
"How horrible for the both of you," she said softly, her voice thick with sympathy. "You must have missed him so much."
"It was hell," he agreed whole-heartedly. "Not having him near me, but also constantly having to worry if Milah was taking care of him, if she was feeding him properly, if she didn't leave him alone when she went out partying…"
"I can't imagine someone turning their back on their own child," Belle mussed. "Especially one as wonderful as Bae. He's very lucky he has you."
"Belle…" he began with difficulty, searching for the right words. "You saved his life. After everything we've been through, I could have lost him if it hadn't been for you. Ensuring you get your sick leave, you staying here while you recover… it pales in comparison to that. The last thing I want is to make you feel uncomfortable, it's just want you to know how grateful I am…"
The next moment she had wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a loose hug and more out of reflex than anything else, his own arms went up around her back.
"I understand now," she said smiling, her breath ghosting his neck. "And in return, I'm very grateful for everything you do for me."
His nose was still filled with the scent of her hair, his insides reeling with the feel of her in his arms.
He was already liking Belle far more than he had any right to for the kindness and affection she showed his son, but having that same kindness and affection directed at himself unnerved him more then he dared to admit.
With Milah he had always felt inadequate and lacking in many respects.
With Belle…
Better not dwell on that, he decided firmly. It was a far too dangerous path to contemplate.
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