[Disclaimer] I don't own anything OUAT
Chapter 7
Many people knew the price for everything but the value of nothing. Mr. Gold had taken advantage of this inconsistency all his life. He had worked his way up. Money was power and without power he never wanted to be again.
His bony fingers touched the watch around his wrist. There was a crack in the glass. He should have gotten it repaired a long time ago. But the crack was a constant reminder of his failure as a father. He had lost first his wife to another man and then his only son to his damn pride. Neal hadn't spoken a single word to him in over a decade. The last thing Gold had heard was a rumor he was living somewhere in New York now.
"Mr. Gold, I can't find the book you are looking for. It's not in the list. Maybe someone took it."
Gold smirked giving a one-sided grin to the young librarian. He knew exactly where on his desk at home, the requested book was lying.
"Maybe you put it into the wrong shelf and forgot about it. Can you look again? It's important."
Belle pulled her hair into a bun. This was frustrating. Why, was it that Gold always made her feel like his personal serf? He liked to come to the library almost every afternoon, making her look for books he urgently needed for tomorrow's classes.
"I will check the section in the back."
He acknowledged her effort with another smirk. When she walked off, he rose from his chair. Gold limped, supporting his weight on a polished cane. With only one free hand it wasn't easy to pull out the books. This shelf was filled with literature for children. He blew dust from a thick collection of Anderson's fairytales. This was a safe spot to hide something beneath. High school students weren't big on reading about princesses anymore.
Gold tapped the brick wall behind the shelf. He pulled one of the stones out. Then he placed a plastic bag filled with colorful pills into the hole and closed the wall up again. He put the fairytale book back into its place.
"Mr. Gold?" Belle called from the other side of the library. "I am so sorry, I can't find it anywhere over here either."
He chuckled. When Belle walked back he leaned against the back of the chair. "Thank you for your help anyway, Miss French."
"How often do I need to tell you to call me Belle?"
"How often will I have to remind you that I am a gentleman from a different time? I don't call unmarried ladies by their first name."
Belle laughed. He was a gnarly old man but she found him highly entertaining. Gold had even helped her to get the job here at the school library instead of working at the public library downtown. Working here meant she could see Elsa way more often. Inside Belle's chest her heart fluttered. Oh it was so exciting to be filled with so much love.
Gold took Belle's hand, pretending to blow a kiss on it. She was already nose-deep into her book when he left the library a few minutes later.
"Can I get a tour to see the forbidden section of the library?"
Elsa giggled. She placed her left hand against Belle's bare neck. The librarian flinched when cold fingers touched her skin.
"Your hands are like ice,"
"I can think of ways to warm them up soon."
Her hands move down Belle's collarbone and down to her chest.
"Please stop. We need to talk."
Belle wrapped her hand around Elsa's wrist to hold her back. Not that it wouldn't have been nice to make-out. They needed to be careful though. If they caught them here together in the heat of the moment, surely both of them would lose their job.
"Can I see you tonight? Please?"
The blonde sighed. She hated telling Belle no. Soon she would lose her patience with her. Why was it so difficult for her to come out? Why was she so afraid?
"I promised my aunt that my siblings and I would have dinner with her tonight. She is making homemade ice-cream for us."
"Great, that gives you an opportunity to tell her and Anna both at the same time."
Elsa stiffened. She pulled back from caressing Belle's hair. Instead she rubbed her cold hands together. This wasn't going to work. Belle would force a decision upon her that she was in no way ready for.
"I don't know how to tell them. Aunt Ingrid, yes, but Anna? No way. You don't know how my sister is like."
Belle exhaled through her parted lips. She needed to be patient with Elsa or the pretty blonde would panic and run away. Coming out was difficult for most people and Elsa felt like a late bloomer. For most of her teenage years, she had put her own needs aside to take care of her younger siblings. Belle was her first relationship. It was wonderful and scary at the same time.
"I'm scared to tell them."
Belle pulled Elsa closer. She needed to encourage her that everything was going to be fine.
"Your sister loves you very much. That will not change. You need to have some faith."
"You can't know that. It is what makes it so difficult. I don't want to disappoint her."
They kissed. Elsa's tongue swiped gently against the inside of Belle's warm mouth.
Behind them someone coughed.
"I'm not disturbing you, am I? What is going on here?"
Regina's voice had a pert undertone in it. All morning long the images of these two kissing had haunted her. She could replay it back and forth, like a movie she had watched too often.
"I was just helping Elsa to find a book that she was looking for."
The headmistress smirked at how the two of them jumped apart. She noticed the hints of blush on their faces. There was a small dab of Elsa's lipstick on Belle's neck. The librarian's hand was still on the blonde's hip. Had they wanted to fuck here? In the middle of the day for god's sake?
She remembered kissing Danielle in the stable after her riding lessons. She remembered how the sun had felt against the back of her head. She tried to shake the memory off. It was too painful. Everything that had to do with Danielle hurt. It would never stop hurting.
"French, did she bite off your tongue or what?"
"Calm down, Regina. We didn't know anyone would disturb us. The school library closes early on Tuesdays."
"This is inappropriate behavior. I won't have that on school property."
It filled Regina wish a strange satisfaction when Elsa and Belle stepped away from each other. Yes, Regina was miserable and she couldn't endure to stand by and watch others experiencing the joy she so painfully forbid herself to have.
"I could fire you for this and you know it."
"We were just kissing. Nothing happened."
Elsa's mouth was quivering. She stuck her jaw forward and crossed her arms in front of her chest. In her eyes tears blurred her sight.
"I am the only physics teacher for the lower classes here. You need me."
"Don't overestimate your value here, Miss Arendelle. If it wasn't for your aunt, the school board wouldn't have hired you in the first place."
Elsa nodded her head. She was young. This was her first teaching position. How would it look like if she got fired from it? Aunt Ingrid had been so supportive. Both of them shared a passion for academics. How often had Ingrid called her oldest niece her mini-me? Now, that pride would get destroyed. She couldn't let that happen. The risk was too high for Elsa.
"I left some papers in the teacher's lounge."
She rushed out, unable to grant her girlfriend a last look of goodbye.
Emma had spent her lunch break reading the copy of Romeo and Juliet only to notice that the pages with the third chapter had been ripped out of her copy. She had no other choice but head for the library and see if she could grab another book there.
She opened the door, bumping into a tall woman with light blond hair. For a moment Emma thought seeing some tears in the ice-blue eyes. Then the woman blinked and run off like the devil himself was chasing after her.
"What are you doing here, Miss Swan?"
Regina didn't want to see Emma unless it was in class. She had figured out it would be wisest to avoid the girl like door-handles in public restrooms. It stirred too many emotions in her and Regina couldn't trust her feelings. If the walls she had built up around her wounded soul would crumble, it would kill her. It had been years since she had felt drawn to someone. It was a cruel joke of destiny that now it was happening with someone who was almost still a child. What did that make her? A disgusting villain and nothing more!
"Miss Swan, you need to go back to your next class, girl."
"I need another copy of Romeo and Juliet first."
She waved with the book in her hands.
"Someone ripped out chapter three in this one."
"Oh no,"
Belle rolled her eyes. For her, hurting a book was the same as hurting a person. She took the damaged copy from Emma's hand and placed it on the table.
"I'll get you another copy. We must have some more in a box on the second floor. I'll be right back."
Emma pushed her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. It was awkward to be alone with Regina. The headmistress looked at her like she hated her. Of course, this thought was hideous. Mills was probably just frustrated with life in general.
"Aren't you happy I am taking your class serious?"
"You're reading a book that you should have read eight months ago. This doesn't look like taking things serious."
"I was busy. I have two jobs."
Emma bit her tongue. Crap, why had she said that? She needed to be careful with what she told anyone.
The tiny scar above Regina's upper lip quivered slightly. Two jobs? Why was the girl working so much? Was she in financial trouble somehow?
"You work two jobs?"
"Only during the summer,"
Emma looked down at her feet, rubbing the white tips of her Chucks against each other.
"You shouldn't neglect your education."
"I am not the academic type. When this year is over, I get a full time job."
Regina's eyes fell down on the copy of the book on Belle's desk. She read the title and a wave of memory spread through her brain. She remembered reading it with a flashlight and glowing cheeks underneath a blanket.
"You look down on me for it, don't you?"
Regina pouted her lips and shrugged her shoulders. Yes, she had been raised to believe that a high education separated fine people from the mob. But yet, hadn't her own grandfather worked his way up from a flour factory?
"Whatever you choose to do with your life, it's your decision.
"
"I know that."
"Why did you come here for the book then, if you don't care about your education?"
"I don't know."
Emma teetered back and forth on the carpet. She felt like the 48 hour deodorant she had applied this morning after her shower wasn't doing a good job. Why was she so nervous? She felt like she had too much caffeine in her blood.
Regina was right. It was her decision whether she cared about her education or not. What difference would it make to her life whether she read the damn Shakespeare book or not? Reading wouldn't pay any of her bills. So, why, did she care? And the truth hit Emma like a punch into the stomach, maybe even a bit lower.
She wanted to read the book for Regina's sake. Because for some reason, Emma didn't want the teacher to think she was lazy. It mattered to her what Regina thought about her.
It mattered and yet, she knew it shouldn't.
