The following week proved to be challenging. The gossiping hadn't simmered down in the least. It was sunday night, and Belle was curled up against Gold on his couch, head rested on his shoulder. She had fallen asleep about half way through the movie, but he didn't have the heart to wake her. He turned off the television and adjusting the pillow behind him, laid down pulling Belle with him. She stirred a little, but settled right back against his chest with a smile on her face. He pulled the blanket they'd been sharing over her and kissed the top of her head.

Belle woke that following morning to a loud knocking on the door. She looked down at Gold who was still in a deep sleep. She rolled off the couch as gently and quietly as she could. There was another knock. Belle searched around for her jeans but couldn't find them anywhere. All she had on was Gold's shirt. Another knock had Gold groaning and rubbing his eyes. Belle ran to the door to stop whoever was disturbing him from his sleep.

When she opened the door she saw Graham. "Is there a problem sheriff?" she asked him.

She could tell Graham was trying very hard not to look at her bare legs. "The neighbors called, said that Gold had forced you into his house. They said you were trapped all night and needed help escaping."

Belle just rolled her eyes. She knew that Graham didn't believe the neighbors. "You know that's not true. Why didn't you tell them that?" Belle was irritated. She had put up with a week of these incessant rumors and the people she had thought were on her side, weren't helping to stop them.

"I tried, Belle." he tried to tell her. "I really did, but they were very adamant about it. I thought it would be better if I woke you up, rather than them." Belle crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly feeling very exposed. "I'm trying to convince the town that what you have with him is a genuine relationship."

Belle could sense there was something else he wanted to say, "But?"

Graham clenched and unclenched his fists, wiping the sweat off on is pants. "But, I think part of the reason why everyone keeps insisting that he's..."

"Paying me?"

Graham nodded his head, very uncomfortable with the situation. "... is that your relationship did move a bit fast." His words caught Belle by surprise. "One minute you were his employee and the next you have a very open sexual relationship. The town is just worried about you."

"How fast or slow our relationship is moving is nobody's business. It's our relationship, and you can tell them that." she said as she slammed the door in his face.

"Who was that?" Belle turned around at the sound of Gold's voice. He had clearly just rolled off the couch. His hair was tousled and his shirt was wrinkled. He still had on his suit pants, since they had never actually made it to the bedroom.

"It was the sheriff. The neighbors thought that I was in trouble." she huffed and he laughed.

He limped over to her, his ankle not doing so well this morning. He wrapped his free hand around her waist and yanked her closer. "Do you want to be in trouble?" he asked her heatedly. He trailed kisses along her neck and jaw-line and she moaned at the contact. "I could lock you in my bedroom for the rest of your days and have my wicked way with you."

Belle laughed heartily, pulling away from him slightly. "You don't think we're moving too fast do you?" she asked him, turning the conversation into a serious one.

Gold suddenly became very nervous. "Why? Do you?" his voice was a little panicky and Belle immediately regretted bringing this up.

"No." she said urgently. "God no, I just... Graham said the reason the town has been so, obnoxious is that we went from co-workers to lovers overnight." Gold's eyes were unreadable and she reached up to stroke his cheek tenderly. "I have no problems or objections to that at all. None. All I want is to be with you." That seemed to calm him down.

He leaned in to kiss her and she responded instantly, lightly sucking on his lower lip. "Would you like some breakfast?" he asked against her lips.

"I'd like that very much." After breakfast, they each showered and got dressed. Then they made their way to the shop. They opened the blinds and turned the sign to open. "Is the delivery man coming today?" Belle asked.

Gold made his way behind the counter. "I believe so, yes." He went behind the painting on the wall that hid his safe and unlocked it to pull out the necklace he'd been working on for the past month.

Belle leaned against the opposite side of the counter, admiring its beauty. "Are you ever going to be done with it?" she asked him.

He smiled fondly at her. "Never." he whispered to her. When Belle looked up to him she noticed that he wasn't looking at the necklace as he spoke, he was looking at her. "I'll never be done with you." he told her. Belle sucked in a breath, startled slightly by his confession. She knew that she felt the same way, but what graham had said earlier was still ringing in her ears. What if they were moving too fast. "I know you're still thinking about what the sheriff said this morning. I know that we are moving rather quickly, but... I don't need to move slow to know how strongly I feel about you. This isn't just some fling for me, Belle. This is real."

Belle was sure she had a tear in her eye. Whatever fears or doubts she might have had about him were washed away with his words. She reached across the counter to grab his hands. "I feel the same way." They shared an intense look, staring into each other. They stayed there for a few moments, leaning across the counter. Not speaking, not kissing. They just held onto each other, they didn't need to exchange words in order to know how they felt.

After their shipment form the auction had arrived and they had unpacked and organized everything, Belle left to grab their lunch. Shortly after, Moe French walked in. "Gold?" he called out, luring the pawnbroker out from his office.

"Mr. French. Belle told me you would be stopping by to have a chat at some point." his voice was calm and collected. Moe just nodded. "Would you like to sit down?" he asked, trying to be polite.

"No, this won't take long. I just wanted to tell you that I've never seen my daughter happier than she's been this past week. She told me you were the reason." Gold smiled, hearing how happy his Belle was. "I don't know how much she's told you, about our life, but it hasn't been easy. If you hurt her, Gold, I will end you. I don't care how powerful you think you are."

Gold held up his hand, "If I hurt her Mr. French, I'll help you destroy myself. I care deeply for your daughter and the only intentions I have are to treat her as best I can and give her everything she deserves and more."

Moe reached out his hand to Gold, "I suppose we can both agree to put our differences aside, for her sake then." Gold grabbed his hand and they shook.

"Why don't you join us for dinner this weekend. Does Saturday work for you? Around seven?" Moe genuinely smiled at his offer.

"I believe it's the father who's supposed to have the boyfriend over for dinner." The two men laughed.

"I'll see you Saturday then? Your place?"

Moe took his hand back and stuffed it into his pocket. "Which one of us is going to tell Belle?"

Just then the bell on the front door rang, "Tell Belle what?" the woman in question asked. "Dad? What on earth are you doing in here?"

Belle gave her father a hug then walked over to the counter to lay their lunch out. "We were just having a little chat." Belle raised her eyebrows, looking back and forth between the two. "We'll be having Mr. Gold over for dinner this Saturday." Belle looked to Gold, surprised.

"Why do you look so shocked, dear?" he chuckled at her.

"No, reason" she smirked. She reached into the to-go bag and pulled out a small container, "I got you extra pickles."

He immediately reached for the container. "Why, thank you." she smiled at him and when he brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes, she leaned into his touch. Moe looked on at the small display of affection. This was a whole new side to Gold. He was being tender and sweet. His daughter had truly found a man beneath the monster.

"I'll see you at home Belle." he said, leaving the shop.

Belle opened one of the containers, revealing a grilled cheese sandwich, she then opened the container of tomato soup and dipped the sandwich into the broth. "So, did he threaten you?" she asked nibbling on her sandwich.

Gold laughed as he munched on his pickles. "Not too terribly. Nothing I couldn't handle anyway."

Belle hummed and took another bite of her sandwich. "So, Ruby invited me to a girls night..." she let her sentence trail, silently hoping he would object.

"You should go. I don't want to keep you from your friends." He eyed her carefully, waiting for her response.

"You don't!" she told him. "I love being with you, all day, everyday. It's tonight... the girl's night. We're going to the Rabbit Hole."

Gold put his container of pickles down on the counter, wiping his fingers on a napkin. "It sounds to me, like you're trying to use me as an excuse to leave this little party, early." he said mostly amused, slightly thrilled that she'd rather spend her Monday night with him, cuddled on the couch doing nothing.

Belle bit her lip nervously. "I might be" she mumbled. "I wanted to say no, but she just kept staring at him with those puppy dog eyes and I couldn't say no. So, I told her we had plans, and that you would be picking me up at around ten."

"I guess I can come save you from Ruby's crazy partying." he teased her. "Will you be having dinner with me then, or no?"

"I'll definitely be having dinner with you, and desert" she told him, putting on the sexiest face she could manage without bursting into a fit of giggles.

Ruby came to pick Belle up at around 8:00 from Gold's house. She put a little black dress on, that was very tight and showed off her curves perfectly. She hid it from Gold with her jacket, hoping to thoroughly seduce him later. She got into the front seat of Ruby's car and they were off. "So how's Gold?" Ruby asked, starting up a conversation.

"He's wonderful" Belle sighed. Ruby glanced over at her devilish grin, and then putting two and two together reflexively gagged.

"You just had sex with him, didn't you?" Ruby was shocked and a little jealous.

"Well, not completely..." she trailed off. "It's really none of your business what we do behind closed doors" Belle teased her, knowing it was making her squirm in her seat.

"Ugh. I don't want to here about what Gold's like in bed anyway." They pulled up to the Rabbit Hole. "No guy talk tonight. It's girl's night." Ruby instructed her.

They walked in and sat down at a table that Mary Margaret, Ashley Boyd, and Emma Swan were already seated at. Belle recognized Emma immediately and sat down next to her. "Hey, Emma. How have you been?"

Emma smiled over her glass. "Fine. I decided to stick around for a while."

"That's good. I'm sure Henry's thrilled. You must be dying to get to know him." Belle inquired.

Emma shrugged her shoulders sadly. "I'm afraid Regina is putting up a bit of a road block around that possibility."

Ruby interrupted their conversation with introductions. "Belle, you probably remember Ashley and Mary-Margaret." The two woman waved at her and gushed over how sexy her dress was.

Belle looked at them closely before truly recognizing them. "Oh, of course. I haven't really seen much of you two since I've been back."

The five of them gossiped and laughed for a couple of hours. When Belle noticed the clock had struck ten, she told her companions that Gold would be waiting for her outside and that it was her time to go. Just as she stood up from the table, she Gold enter the bar. He was searching the crowd for her, but even when she waved he didn't notice since it was so crowded. She said her goodbyes and started to cross the room, when Garret stepped in front of her.

He was clearly drunk off his ass and Belle tried once again to get Gold's attention but he was completely blind to her. She looked back to her friends but they were busy taking another round of shots. "This is where we first met" he slurred out. His breath reeked of whiskey and Belle gagged on the smell.

"Get out of my way Garret." she told him firmly, trying to push her way past him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. Belle pushed away from him but he was over powering her. "Nick!" she screamed out, hoping he would hear her over the music.

"Just one kiss Belle. Then tell me that old cripple is better than me." He ducked his head in crashing his lips against hers and she yanked back, spitting on him.

"Nick!" she screamed again trying to pull free. Garret tried to lean in to kiss her again but she used her free hand to punch him square in the jaw. He stumbled back from sheer surprise, still keeping his vice like grip on her arm. Then without warning he drew his arms back and slapped her hard across the face. Belle would've fallen over if he hadn't been holding her up. The crowd went quiet at the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

Belle brought her hand up to cradle the side of her face that he had hit, she could already feel it bruising and winced as she blinked her eyes. Then he released her. Then she heard him crumple onto the floor. She lifted her head up to see Gold standing there, staring down at an unconscious Garret, his cane raised in one hand. He looked over at her and offered his hand to her. She ignored his hand and opted for falling into his arms instead. He wrapped his free arm around her, holding her tight against him. "It's alright, dear. I'm here now, you're safe." he whispered into her hair. "He's never going to come near you again. I'll make sure of it." he promised her.

"Can you just bring me home?" she asked in a small voice, without lifting her head from his chest. He lead her out of the bar, sending death glares to anyone that even bothered to look in their general direction. He opened the car door for her and she reluctantly let go of him and slid into the seat.

He was about to go around to his own seat when Ruby stopped him. "Mr. Gold!" He stopped moving and turned to face her. "Is Belle alright? What on earth happened?"

He tried to stay calm but his temper got the best of him. "Next time you invite Belle out with you, why don't you at least pretend you care about her! You knew she didn't want to go out with you lot! This was just some sort of plot to break us up wasn't it? Well, sorry to break it to you dearie, but that's never going to happen! I love her!"

The car door opened behind him and the realization of what he just said hit him full force. He was afraid to turn around. His body was stiff as a board until he felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned slowly to face her, mentally preparing himself for her rejection. He looked at the light bruising already appearing near her eye and he couldn't help himself. He let his fingertips trail along the bruising, light as feathers, as if he could magically heal her.

"You love me?" Belle asked him timidly.

He gulped, "Well that depends..."

Belle smiled at him, "On what?"

Looking into her eyes, he knew there was no way he could talk his way out of this. He admitted he loved her. After a month of working together and a week of dating, he loved her. "On nothing." her smile stayed in place. "I... I love you, Belle."

She stared up at him with wonder for a moment before pulling him down into a soft kiss. Her lips moved beneath his, warm and loving. When he ran his tongue along her lower lip she shivered and opened up to him, letting him explore her mouth. Her hands grasped at his hair, tugging him closer. She let her tongue dance with his, enjoying the little battle they had going on. When she pulled away, she was panting hard, still centimeters away from his mouth. "I love you, Nick."

From that moment on everything seemed to move in slow motion. The car ride back to his house was a blur. The shedding of their clothing was a blur. All that mattered was skin against skin. Lips moving against lips. Their hearts beating in time with one another, creating a connection that hadn't been there before. All that mattered was them, loving each other into the night.