A/N: Thank you all for the kinds words and reviews! I very much appreciate them!

Belle didn't even know why she bothered showing up to the lunch date. Well, lunch whatever it was with Mr. Gold. It wasn't a date. It was clearly not a date. She had contemplated simply leaving him there alone, wondering if she would show, wondering if she would even continue to work for him after what he said. His parting shot the day before hurt, there was no doubt about that. But it also left her so very confused over his actions. One moment he was kissing her hand, treating her as a gentleman would. The next he was treating her as if she were his whore, bought and paid for when he swept in to take over the studio..

The script he had handed her had gone untouched in her purse. She hadn't had the heart to even so much as glance at it after their little…well…their little whatever that thing was in his office. She had put it away, found a good book, taken a soak in her bathtub and pushed her worries out of her mind as best she could.

The man was an enigma, a mystery with more layers than she could even begin to contemplate. She wasn't sure if she was intrigued or if she wanted to simply run from the infuriating man. He had walked into their lives not more than a handful of days ago and already she felt like everything she had ever known had been sent into a tailspin. Gaston was out of her life for good. Oh, she knew he would find his way back into the adult industry. The industry loved him after all, so it wouldn't be difficult for him to approach another studio with some sob story about how Gold had let him go and be taken under wing quickly. Without Belle to hold him back, she was sure he could go as crass as he wanted to. But she wouldn't have to have anything to do with him, something she had thought would occur much further down the line than it had.

So despite all her misgivings, despite her anger and confusion, Belle showed up to the Thai restaurant Gold had invited her to. She refused to go down without at least a little bit of a fight, however. If he thought he could insult her and get away with it, really, the man had it coming.

She stepped in and saw him there already and was pleased to see him looking incredibly impatient, perhaps even a little bit haggard beneath the sharp-dressed exterior. She paused to study him before he noticed her, and was pleased to see him drumming his fingers on the table and glancing down at his watch. Good then. Let him worry if she was going to show up or not. He deserved that much and far more after what he had said to her. Really, he deserved for her to dump his drink over his head and be done with him.

With a confidence she hoped he couldn't see she was faking, Belle swept in toward the table. Gold quit his fidgeting as soon as he saw her, standing as she approached. "Miss French." He bowed somewhat formally and reached out for her hand. She snatched it back. Two could play at this game. "Of course," he said with a nod. "Won't you join me?"

"That's the plan, isn't it?" She slid her coat off and had to fight back a grin as she heard the strange choking sound Gold made. Sitting down, she crossed her legs and leaned forward. "Are you ok, Mr. Gold? Should I call for an ambulance?"

He glared at her as he took a sip of water and finally seemed to find his voice. When he spoke, it was a little more raspy than usual, the brogue just a tiny bit thicker. "What the bloody hell are you wearing?"

It was only then that Belle allowed the smile to creep across her face. She could be just as feral about her smiles as Gold was, if the occasion called for it. "I thought I'd dress the part." It was her only concession to how much his words had bothered her since she walked out of his office the day before. They had had made her feel dirty. And she had never felt dirty, not the entire time she had been involved in the industry. So instead of showing that ire or not showing up for lunch at all, she decided to defeat him at his own game.

"The part." His voice was flat when he spoke.

"Exactly," Belle said with a bright smile. Skirt so short that if she bent over everyone would have a view of thong she had worn for the occasion, tight corset, low cut blouse. She was almost falling out of it and if she leaned forward just so she knew that he would catch a glimpse of her nipples. The outfit was so revealing it was almost ridiculous and under normal circumstances, Belle would have felt embarrassed to be seen in it. But not today. Today she was enjoying the way Gold's eyes could not focus on her, the way he swallowed convulsively, the way he kept licking his lips. She leaned back in her seat. "Shall we order?"

"Order." Still that same flat voice.

Belle bit her lower lip and smiled. "Yes. We are here to eat, aren't we Mr. Gold?"

"I…yes…"

"Well, good then." And she raised her hand, waving the waitress over.

The woman gave her a look. She knew the look. She knew it meant no good. Then her eyes fell on Gold and they narrowed even more. "We don't serve your kind here."

His eyebrows shot up. "Pardon me?" The words were tight, but his eyes did not move off of Belle's rather brazen form.

"Your kind, sir." The woman gave a rather emphatic nod at Belle. "If you would kindly leave…"

Gold refused to move and so Belle stood, glancing around the room. She was almost enjoying the show…almost. If it didn't cut so close to home, she might have truly enjoyed it. Was a porn star really all that much better than a prostitute, after all? She certainly had her doubts about that. "You heard her, Gold." Belle's voice was almost sickly sweet as she spoke, but still loud enough to carry. "They don't serve porn stars here."

Gold was suddenly on his feet and she could see the flash of fire in his eyes. His cane was in hand and she waited for him to use it. On her, on the waitress, on the patron who let out a snicker at the situation. And then he stood taller, turned far more gracefully than she thought someone who needed a cane would be able to, and walked out.

Belle followed behind, wrapping her coat tightly around herself, head held high. She had this moment at least. She fully expected it to blow up rather spectacularly in her face soon enough.

Gold had offered her a ride back to the studio and they had done so in silence. Every time she glanced over at him, his lips were pressed together, hands gripping the wheel tight, eyes staring at the road. He was angry. Oh, was he angry. She didn't know him well, not yet, but every line of his body screamed with rage.

As they made their way back to his office, she tried not to smile. Actually, she knew she shouldn't smile. That little stunt might have cost her this job, but still. It was over and done with. She hoped her point had been properly made.

"Won't you follow me to my office, Miss French?" Gold finally said as they approached the intersection that would lead them in opposite directions.

"Of course," she said. Sweet. She was going for sweet, though she wasn't sure if she succeeded entirely in that endeavor.

He opened the door and waved her into his office. Belle stepped through and started to turn back toward him. No sooner had the door closed than she found herself pushed up against the wall, one of Gold's hands hitting the wall near her head, the one holding the cane helping to trap her there. "Now just what was that about, Miss French?"

She took a breath, shallow, a little more rapid that she wanted it to be. She could feel the heat coming off his body, could feel his breath across her face. He was dangerous, his eyes dark and slightly crazed in the dim office. "You know," she finally managed to say. He didn't respond, just glared at her. "You want to treat me like a whore, then you're going to have to deal with me in public looking like one."

"You're not a whore," he finally said and released her, turning his back on her. As he walked away, gripping his cane hard, she could see his other hand shaking slightly. When he got to his desk, when he had something stable to lean on, he turned back toward her. "You're not."

"You seemed to think so yesterday." She gave him a pointed look.

He shook his head. "My words were…"

"Rude?" Belle interrupted him with. "Disgusting? Horrifying? Abhorrent?"

"I was going to say unfortunate," he said with a small wave of his hand. "But those are rather apt."

"Why?"

His eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"Why did you say it? If you didn't really mean it, that is."

He sighed. "I didn't mean it."

"Then?"

"I don't know." He looked away from her and she knew. She knew. It wasn't like she hadn't seen it before. She had seen friends throw walls up like this more often than she'd like to. It was common in the industry, really, where many people had come into it with some serious baggage. People didn't talk about their lives outside, didn't often talk about where they came from. Standard defense mechanism stuff. Even Belle hadn't told many how she had come to be in the industry and why she stayed in.

There were so many walls around Gold's heart and mind she wasn't sure anyone could get through them. She wasn't even sure she wanted to try, though a part of her, a teeny tiny little part of her heart went out to someone who had to keep enclosed in such thick walls. He had been hurt before. She was sure of it.

Belled backed away, found the doorknob behind her. "If you don't want to say, then I'm just going to go."

"Belle…wait." He raised one hand up as he stepped back around the desk. Standing alone, leaning on his cane, without the desk as a barrier, he suddenly looked small and almost fragile.

She hesitated, raised one eyebrow, and just waited silently for him to continue.

"Please…just…look at the script I gave you."

She felt deflated at his words for some reason, realizing she wanted something else in that moment but not quite knowing what she wanted. She nodded, just a small movement of her head, and then slid out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

Belle wasn't generally one to blow off steam, but sometimes that really was required. The aborted lunch date, if one could call it a date, with Gold, their argument, his nastiness, her reaction. And that moment where something exploded inside her as he pushed her up against the wall and she could feel him pressed far too close to her. A something that she couldn't quite remember ever feeling with Gaston. Heat had curled around her and hadn't let her go until she had left his office and had a chance to breathe in some fresh air.

That was where Leroy found her, leaning up against the building, taking in a few great gulps of air. The corset she had chosen to wear that morning still felt tight around her and though she had her coat on, covering most of her up, she felt cold and exposed.

The gruff older man stopped as he was just about to enter the building, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What did that bastard do to you?"

Belle met his eyes, just for a moment. "I don't know what you're talking about"

"Come on, sister." Leroy took a step toward her. "I know that look."

"Do you, really?" Belle couldn't help the smirk that broke out on her face.

"Hey," Leroy said and she could hear the slight hurt in his voice. "Ol' Leroy may not be much to look at, but I've had the occasional luck with the ladies."

She smiled then. "Any lady would be lucky to have you, Leroy." She meant it too. The studio's handyman was short and stout, but he had a heart of gold. He would defend any of "his" girls to the death, if needed, probably wielding a wrench or hammer as he did so.

He shuffled his feet. "So you need to talk about it?"

Belle let out a small snort. "No."

"Forget about it?" Leroy asked and she almost laughed at the hope in his voice.

"That's actually not a bad idea." She gave him a slight conspiratorial grin.

"Good. I know just the place."

"Plenty of alcohol?" Belle wasn't the type to drink much, not usually at least, but she definitely needed to unwind and a bit of alcohol to numb the system seemed like it was the best medicine at the moment.

Leroy leaned forward slightly and winked at her. "Definitely."

Belle had changed quickly, wanting to get out of the constricting reminder of her disastrous lunch date with their new director, and met up with Leroy at the exit of the studio. She had never been to The Rabbit Hole before, had always thought it was a bit of a dive bar, but Leroy assured her both plenty of alcohol and anonymity.

"Wait for us!" Belle turned and saw Ruby rushing down the hallway, Ariel closely at her heels. "You can't have a girls' night out without us."

"It's not a girls' night," Belle pointed out, nodding her head toward Leroy.

"Close enough!" Ariel said. Her voice was bright. Come to think of it, her voice was always bright. Belle couldn't remember a time when Ariel was anything but upbeat. And that was rather ironic, really, because Belle was usually considered to be pretty bubbly. She didn't know when some of that disappeared. Perhaps it was when her father's business went under or when he jumped on some lousy investments that bankrupted him. It was certainly before she found herself in this industry.

Sometimes she missed those days, back when she was happy and carefree and her whole life was ahead of her. But at least she had good friends here. And those good friends were exactly what she needed that night.

"So dish, Belle." Ruby was the first one to speak when they got their table at The Rabbit Hole. The place was noisy, not yet totally packed, but the loud music was slightly overwhelming.

Belle shook her head. "Dish?"

"Oh come on. Mysterious meetings with Gold, storming out of his office, this whole thing with me auditioning men for you? What's going on?" She waggled her eyebrows and Belle tried to laugh it off.

"Nothing, I swear."

"Belle." Ruby clearly tried to make the word a warning, but the big grin accented by the bright red lipstick she was wearing made her seem rather less fierce than she probably hoped.

"I don't know," she finally said. "I really don't." She quickly rehashed the story of his offering her the new script, the disastrous lunch meeting. She left out some of the more interesting parts. They didn't need to know how her heart raced when he drew near her. They didn't need to know how she had felt hot and cold and confused and something when he had shoved her up against the wall in his anger.

"A new script, huh?" Ruby asked, a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"I suppose that makes sense," Ariel tossed in. "I mean, Gaston had basically one thing he did over and over again. New guy, new script."

"No more burly football players!" Belle said with a laugh. "I was so sick of that script."

Leroy made a harrumphing sound. "Why not short burly men? Why aren't those ever featured?" He had a sour look on his face, but Belle scooted closer to him and wrapped an arm rather awkwardly around his shoulders.

"Well, you never know Leroy. Maybe that's what Gold's looking for." She winked at him before releasing him and scooting back. Leroy blushed to the tips of his salt and pepper hair and glanced back down at his glass. Belle almost felt bad for embarrassing the man, but she knew he gave as good as he got.

"Oh I doubt it's short and burly he's after." One of Ruby's eyebrows was raised as she spoke and she had a knowing smirk on her face.

"No?" Ariel asked. Belle never could quite figure out how Ariel could sound so guileless after being involved in the adult industry for a few years, yet still she managed it.

"Can we talk about something else?" Belle interjected.

Ruby ignored her entirely, as she expected her to, really. Once the woman got something in her mind she simply would not let it go. Even if she should. "Oh no, not at all. I suspect he's looking for short, skinny, and…"

"Just stop," Belle muttered.

"Crippled?" Ruby continued with. "Is that politically correct/"

Ariel's face scrunched up. "I don't think so."

"Well, either way, I think Gold wants Gold to star in this little film." She elbowed Belle not quite gently in the ribs.

"Ruby." She tried for a warning note to her voice, but came off as indulgent as ever.

"You know I'm right."

"I know nothing of the sort," Belle shot back.

"Really?" Belle could hear the sarcasm in her voice.

"Yes…"

Ruby shook her head. "Let's just see this new script then, shall we? See what Gold's up to once and for all." She leaned over and Belle pulled her purse out of range. Ruby gave her an assessing look. "You haven't even looked at it, have you?"

Belle grumbled something that was entirely incoherent in the loud bar.

"You didn't?" Ariel asked on a gasp.

"Can't blame her, sister," Leroy spoke up. "I probably would have thrown it in the trash."

"I thought about it," Belle admitted. She had, really, for approximately two seconds. She still needed to work. But more than that, she was curious. He had fired Gaston and she suspected it was about more than just his insolence. Gaston had simply made it easy to get rid of him right away. He was not asking her to participate in auditions. He had something new for her, something different.

"Well, you have it here now, so hand it over, woman. I want to see this thing." Ruby held out her hand and Belle sighed. There wasn't really going to be a good way around this. Ruby was truly demanding when she wanted to be.

"Fine." Belle pulled the new script out of her bag and tossed it at Ruby. Within moments, both Ruby and Ariel were bent over the script.

"Ooo," Ruby said, glancing up at Belle for just a moment.

"What?"

"Ghost of a Chance. This could be pretty kinky." Belle shook her head. Ariel giggled. Leroy just rolled his eyes.

"I did not need to know that." Kinky was not really what Belle specialized in. But he did say… "Oh God."

"What?" Ruby leaned across the table. "Come on, girl. Tell me."

"He told me I 'deserved better' at our first meeting." She thought about letting her head sink onto the table.

"Deserve better than what?" Ariel asked.

"I assumed Gaston."

"Well, maybe he thought you really deserved better porn?" Ruby's eyes were bright with excitement. Belle just groaned as her friend set to flipping through the script. It was strange watching her as she did so. Ruby's eyes were narrowed as she started to read, a slight furrow between her brows. Then she skipped a few pages, then a few more. As she quickly flipped through the pages to the end, her eyes got wider and wider.

"This does not bode well," Belle whispered to Leroy.

"You said it, sister," the older, gruff man responded with.

"Belle," Ruby finally said and her voice was somewhat breathless.

"Do I even I want to know what depraved things this man wants me to do?" This time she did allow her head to fall on the table, a dramatic gesture she didn't usually make.

"Oh Belle." There was something in Ruby's voice. A softness, a sort of awe. Belle wasn't sure what, but it caused her to look up and meet the other woman's dark eyes. "This isn't porn. This is a real script."