Chapter 7...
A week had passed, and Saturday had arrived. Fair Day.
Mr Gold awoke early that morning and was downstairs in the shop, sorting all of his paperwork out and who owes him rents.
"He owes me rent, they owe me rent, they owe me two months of rent" He grumbled to himself as he glared down at the list of residents before him and pointed at the name of every single one that owed him.
His temper was even worse today than usual, because he knew today was fair day and he was completely dreading it. All of the hustle and bustle of everyone crowding everyone, kids screaming, probably the odd one or two adults screaming and shouting too. It was even worse now that he was going alone, his hopes were that Belle would accompany him to make him feel more at ease but unfortunately his invitation was too little too late.
He gripped at the pen he held in his hand almost snapping the thing in half as his anger and frustration grew at the thought of his day ahead.
Without realizing it, He had been downstairs all alone for almost 3 hours. When he glanced at the clock it chimed 12am. Mary Margret was going to declare the fair open for the town at precisely 5pm.
Without realizing it, Belle had made her way downstairs wearing her working clothes and began to polish up all of his antiques.
"Morning, Or should I say afternoon?" she giggled, and he almost jumped out of his skin at the sounds of her voice behind him.
"Afternoon indeed" He smiled back at her.
"Whatcha doing?" She peered over his shoulder, being extremely nosy.
"Just some paperwork etc...nothing to worry about..." He replied flipping his big black book shut..
She nodded, and carried on with some polishing.
"What are you doing?" He questioned, "You don't need to work today dearie, you've got the fair to look forward too" He gestured a sarcastic finger, bigging up the fair mockingly.
"It's not for another 5 hours yet, and I don't have anything else to do" She smiled back, then placed the ladder in front of the tallest shelf in the shop to be able to reach the top antiques.
She climbed up humming a tune and he smiled at how perfect she was.
"So...what time are you heading up to the fair Mr Gold?"
"I'm not sure, I don't particularly want to go if i'm honest" he sneered.
"Hmm..." she turned to look at him. "I'm sure it won't be so bad, It'll be fun" she smiled at him.
"For you maybe" he laughed.
"So I've been wondering, I've been here almost 3 weeks now and I don't even know your real name..." She said as she carried on cleaning, trying to make conversation.
His eyes widened at her statement, she was right, she didn't even know his real name. But he couldn't tell her it was Rumplestiltskin because she would think of him a crazy man. He needed to think of something and fast.
"No one in this town knows my real name dearie, Mr Gold sounds much more professional" He teased.
"Mr Gold, I hate to remind you but I do currently live with you, and work for you, surely I can know your name?" She giggled and turned around to face him.
That's when it happened. The heel of her shoe caught in the step of the ladder and it sent her tumbling down. Luckily, Mr Gold had rushed over just in time to catch her but instead of being the regular hero and catching the damsel in distress, his knee buckled from underneath him and they both ended up tumbling to the floor instead.
"I'm sorry!" Belle sounded shocked.
"No matter dearie" He laughed.
She leaned herself up on the palm of her hands realizing that she was lying on top of him.
They both stared at one another for a few seconds before blurting out in a fit of laughter.
"Sorry" she stuttered again nervously, pushing one of her stray curls that had fallen in front of her face, behind her ear. He looked up at her. He thought that in this moment in time, she looked amazingly beautiful and he couldn't take his eyes off her.
Belle noticed the way he looked he looked at her, and she was surprised by the amount of love she could see in the chocolate pool of his lovely brown eyes.
"I uhh...I'd better go and get ready" she giggled nervously at how close they were. She finally pulled herself away from him and stood up, reaching a hand down to help him up which he took willingly.
"Thankyou" she said shyly. He gestured his hand nodded as an answer. He couldn't speak. Being so close to Belle even for that brief moment had taken his breath and his voice away.
She smiled at nodded just the once and then headed upstairs.
She jumped in the shower.,smiling uncontrollably to herself. There was something about Mr Gold that made her heart flutter and she had no idea why.
The moment she got out of the shower he cell immediately began ringing.
"Hello?"
"Hey Belle!Still up for tonight?"
"Yeah of course, I'm getting ready right now"
"Great! I do have something to tell you though, Ashley, Tiana and Ariel have all invited themselves along with us" Ruby didn't sound happy about this, and Belle wasn't best pleased either but there was nothing they could do.
"Oh great!" Belle said sarcastically and Ruby laughed.
"Anyway I'll pick you up in an hour!"
"See you soon!"
Belle rummaged through the clothes she had recently bought for herself out of the wages she received from Mr Gold.
She had no clue what to wear though. But she finally decided on the cream coloured skater skirt with brown tights and boots, and a lovely brown silky kind of low cut top that complimented the skirt perfectly, and she topped the outfit off with a lovely brown blazer too.
She had decided to straighten her hair, instead of curling it. She thought she always wore it curly, so she encouraged herself to do something different and she liked it a lot.
In the mean time, Mr Gold was also getting ready in his room, into one of his usual dazzling suits and he decided on a dark green coloured shirt.
It was now 4.30 and funnily enough they both emerged from their rooms at precisely the same time, it looked exactly like the scene from the Disney Beauty and the Beast movie, just before they were heading to their own ball.
They both giggled.
"You look beautiful Belle" He said nervously as he played with the sleeve on his suit jacket.
She smiled consciously, her cheeks beginning to turn a crimson red from blushing.
"Thankyou, You look rather handsome yourself" she smiled.
"Why thankyou" he laughed.
The door bell rang, knocking them both out of the moment.
"That must be Ruby...I guess I'll see you later?" She questioned gleaming a smile at him.
He nodded. "Indeed".
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Belle was mesmerized at the sight of how amazing the fair looked.
"Ruby! Belle!" Mary Margret called out.
"Hey. This all looks amazing!" Belle complimented her.
"Thanks!" Mary Margret gleamed with happiness. "I'll see you guys later, I've got to go and find David and Henry".
"See you later!" They both said in unison.
"Right come on then...Dodgems first!" Ruby dragged Belle by the arm like a little child so excited. Belle laughed and followed trying to keep up with her.
As They sat in the dodgem cars, Ruby's gaze worried Belle. Ruby's eyes widened with horror but tried not to let Belle catch on.
"What is it?" Belle question.
"Nothing" Ruby smiled, "Just getting ready to whoop your ass on these things!" She laughed and Belle rolled her eyes. Ruby kept quiet, not telling Belle who she really saw.
After the dodgems, Belle found the cotton candy stall and she couldn't help herself. She bought one for herself and one for Ruby.
"This is the tastiest thing ever made!" Ruby commented.
"HmmMmmhhh"" Belle mumbled as she placed a large amount of Cotton Candy into her mouth.
"Ruby?" Ruby spun around to find Victor Whale standing behind them.
"Hey Vic" She smiled coyly.
"Hey Belle" He acknowledged her too.
"Hey" she waved slightly with a smile feeling slightly third wheelish.
"So..Ruby...I...Uhh...I was wondering if you want to ride the ghost train with me?" He asked nervously, twiddling his fingers together.
Ruby's gaze turned to Belle, she didn''t want to leave Belle.
"Go..." Belle told her.
"But I don't want to leave you" Ruby pulled a sad face.
"I'll be fine here, I've got my cotton candy to keep me company" She giggled. "Just go..." Belle nudged her forward, "I'll be fine."
"Belle...just be careful okay? I didn't want to tell you earlier, but Gaston is here, I saw him...he's with Jasmine, his new girlfriend" Ruby rubbed Belle's arm up and down soothingly.
"I'll be fine Ruby, honestly just go have fun" Belle smiled and made her way over to the bench that was just below the large Ferris wheel that had been placed in the centre of the whole fair.
It was getting dark now but the lights of the fair, widened Belle's eyes with amazement.
"Belle?" A deep voice acknowledged her.
"Urcchh... What do you want?"
"Belle I'm sorry for everything...Please take me back, I love you, I need you" Gaston pleaded with her.
"Aren't you here with your girlfriend tonight? I think you ought to go and find her and stop wasting your lies on me".
"She's pregnant"
"Oh there's a surprise" Belle said sarcastically with the image going through her head that it could have been her carrying his child. It disgusted her.
"I don't want her Belle, I want you" He placed a hand onto the top of her leg but she quickly shuffled away from him.
"Sorry Gaston, but I don't want you" She began to say, and that's when she seen him. It was like he was the only person at the fair. The only one she make out in the crowd and it made her smile. She got up from the bench, turning to face Gaston and saying, "I'm sorry Gaston...It's over" ...She smiled knowing Mr Gold was soon approaching and turned once more to face Gaston, "congratulations on the baby" She said almost sarcastically and he snickered at her almost glaringly
She turned and away from him and finally ended up face to face with Mr Gold.
"Hi" she said shyly, brushing her hair behind her ear. .
"Hi" He laughed.
"It's a success, and it's all thanks to you" She smiled at him.
"I guess it is dearie" He grinned.
There was an awkward silence for a moment and she looked up at the Ferris Wheel.
"Care to take a ride?" He asked.
"Oh I don't know, It seems pretty High" she said nervously.
"Come on I'll hold your hand if you get scared" He said jokingly and she laughed and nodded.
She followed close behind him..
"Two please" Mr Gold said to the ride attendant and they both jump into the tight spaced carriage and the ride attendant closed the bar shut on them.
Belle smiled at him. "Thankyou". She whispered and he nodded in acknowledgment.
The ride began to move and Belle gripped onto the bar in front of her when they reached the top and began to make their way down towards to the ground.
"Wow it's high" she commented, and he noticed her hands gripping the bar so tightly it was almost making her hands turn blue. He laughed and placed his hand reassuringly on top of hers.
"It's okay...nothing bad will..." He began to say until suddenly they came to a halt right at the very top of the Ferris wheel. They heard a loud -CLINK- and the ride stopped moving.
"You were saying?!" her heart started to beat a lot faster with worry.
A man using a loud megaphone from down below started talking but they could barely hear him.
"We've had a technical difficulty but we will fix the problem as soon s possible"
"Oh great" Belle gazed down below and her heart began to beat even faster.
"Just don't look down sweetheart, it'll be okay".
She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes.
They had been up there for roughly 10 minutes already and he just kept talking nonsense to her trying to take her mind off of the plunging drops either side of them.
The night was drawing on and it was becoming darker and colder.
Belle shivered and rubbed her arms up and down trying to warm herself up.
"Here...take this" He began to take off his suit jacket and helped her put it around her shoulders for warm.
"Thankyou" she shivered, snuggling further into his lovely warm jacket.
"So...I seen you talking to Gaston earlier?"
"Ahhh yes, all the usual rubbish, he wants me back blah blah blah...but with a new twist this time, his new girlfriend is in fact pregnant" She stated.
"And how do you feel about that?" He asked shyly and she sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm being nosy, I'll just shut up" He nodded.
-She doesn't want to be up here with you, you silly fool!- His mind began yelling at him.
"No it's fine, I like talking to you" She turned her head and smiled at him, shifted an inch towards him so she was leaning up against his shoulder. It felt right.
"To be honest, i never really cared much for Gaston, I don't even know how our relationship survived to the engagement stage" she laughed.
"So you've never loved him?" He said as he shyly lifted his arm and placed it around the back of the carriage and placed it onto her shoulder.
She smiled at his gesture.
"No, It was more of an arranged kind of relationship, my father and his father were close friends and always had plans for us, but I could never care for someone as superficial as he".
He began to draw spiraling circles on her shoulder. Almost 40 minutes had now passed.
"To me, Love is...Love is layered, Love is a mystery to be uncovered"
He looked down at her, and his flashback hit him. Those were the exact words she had said to him Fairytale Land. If only she knew that.
She looked up at him with a smile. "I'm glad it's over, and I wanted to thank you for saving me" She placed her hand on top of his that was placed in his lap.
He looked down at her and she looked up at him.
"It's Robert by the way"
"Pardon?" She looked confused.
"My name, It's Robert" he smiled at her, "But the deal for knowing my name is that you are not allowed to tell anyone" he joked, "I need to kep my reputation in tact dearie"
She laughed at him. "It's a deal" She gazed at him.
"Belle..." He said breathlessly, mesmerized by her beauty.
She leaned into him a little, and he did the same until their lips finally met in a chastise kiss.
They both smiled into the kiss. Both of them receiving an amazing amount of butterflies that made them feel like they were on top of the world, or at least on top of the Ferris Wheel.
Belle pulled away and smiled at him, leaning her head against his shoulder and biting her lip nervously with a huge grin on her face. His face practically did the exact same thing as hers.
The carriage began to jolt forward and the ride was finally working again.
They both felt happy, especially Belle after everything she had been through, but that's when it had hit him. True Loves kiss hadn't worked...
-TRUE LOVES KISS ALWAYS WORKS!- he gritted to himself inside of his head.
He needed answers.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A pretty long chapter compared to my other chapters. I hope all of my readers have enjoyed this chapter? Please Please please review and let me know what you think, I really appreciate reviews on long chapters because I like to know if I'm doing a good job so far?!
Anyways...I'd like to say thankyou again to all my readers and for those of you enjoying this fic so far, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. There'll be an update soon! :)
.