As they drove up and parked in front of the diner and Gold turned off the car, Belle sighed quietly. He couldn't help but hear the sound of defeat in her voice; he wondered if like him she would never feel truly comfortable around people.

"No one will say anything to you, I promise I'll protect you. If you think I don't want to be seen in here with you; or anywhere for that matter your wrong. To hell with anyone who thinks you don't deserve to be here, alright?" He tried to cheer her up; after all it wasn't that bad. If anyone approached her for any reason he had resigned himself to choking them out with his cane.

Belle nodded once before she got out of Gold's car and followed him inside, she felt very under dressed still in sweatpants while Mr. Gold dawned a nice suit. The bell announced their arrival like a fog horn at Granny's but to Belle's amazement no one gave them a second glance. Only a few people sat in the booths, and one guy sat at the bar stools drinking coffee; he didn't even look up. Ruby was the only one who noticed Gold shuffle Belle to a booth at the far corner and then take a seat across from her.

Ruby had seen Belle before, knew who she was; she felt sorry for her. Every once in a while Granny had sent food over to the shelter that the Nolan's ran and Ruby had spied the girl there a time or two, she wondered what she was doing with the creepy pawn broker. She grabbed a few menus and made her way over to them. When she stopped at the table Belle glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the waitress had a barely there skirt with a halter top; this woman looked more like a whore than Belle ever had, she smiled to herself, maybe she didn't seem so obvious to everyone as she had originally thought. She had half expected pitchforks and torches considering she had serviced more than a few unsuspecting women's husbands over the last few years; most right under their noses. It wasn't the life she had wanted; especially since she had left her father's because of the same thing, but it was the only thing she knew;untill now. Now Mr. Gold was offering her a chance to become something else, she looked over at him as he looked stone faced at the half dressed waitress, it was obvious neither liked the other one.

"What can I get you to drink" Ruby said as she set down a menu in front of Belle. Gold cleared his throat before picking up his menu that Ruby had layed down on the table; Belle noticed that it was not in front of Gold. Ruby kept her eyes nailed to the girl looking for any signs that Gold was somehow keeping this girl there against her will, if Ruby suspected that was the case she would take great pleasure in calling Graham; she had never liked the smug antique dealer and the feeling had always been mutual.

"I'll take a lemon water" Gold replied; Ruby ignored him. They both looked at Belle who stared at the menu but not making a move to pick it up.

"Go ahead Dearie, you can have whatever you'd like; coffee, tea?" Belle nodded her head, she wanted more tea, it was delicious.

"I'll take tea, thanks."

"Hot or iced?" Ruby stood ready with her pen.

"Um, I guess hot; I never had it iced before." Ruby looked a little surprised.

"It's really good iced; you should try it sometime." Without another word she whirled off to go fix their drinks.

Belle glanced around, thankful that Gold had picked a secluded spot to sit. "So you were going to tell me a bit about why you're so sure you are the town monster instead of me." Gold chuckled.

"That is a title my dear that I'm afraid you'll have to work hard for." Ruby came back with their drinks; sitting them each down before pulling out her little receipt book to take their order.

"So what'll it be?" Gold spoke first; he always ordered the same thing, after all he was nothing if not a creature of habit.

"I'll have a BLT, wheat bread, no mayo and make the bacon crisp this time if you don't mind; it was undercooked last time dearie." Ruby snorted as she jotted down what should have been his order but instead she was scribbling what she would have nothing better than to call him if she didn't think she would have caught ten kinds of hell from her granny for doing so. After all Gold did own the building that the diner was in; which meant that remarks like bastard and cantankerous old fucker could result in their rent being raised significantly; so she had to be satisfied with just writing it down in her little pad.

"What would you like sweetheart?" Belle looked over the menu, everything looked delicious but she seemed confused to Ruby, as if she had never been in a restaurant before.

"The BLTs are very good here" Gold offered a suggestion to her; Belle nodded at him.

"I'll have what he's having" she said handing the menu back to Ruby. Gold handed his over as well.

As the waitress that seemed to not like Mr. Gold left Gold called out to her; "Don't forget the pickles this time" Ruby didn't respond, she just kept walking. Belle took her spoon and swirled it around in her tea, removing the little bag and laying it on the saucer. "So?" Belle waited patiently.

"So What?" Gold replied. He now wished he hadn't volunteered to tell her the story of his life; maybe if he left out a few dirty details she wouldn't think he was such a...a..well, he just didn't want her to think of him as the rest of the town did.

"You were going to tell me something about yourself."

"Theres not much to tell really." Hoping that might detour her from asking any real evasive questions. "Where should I start? I was born I grew up." Belle smiled at his attempt at humor.

"Well, how about we play 20 questions?" He frowned at her before taking a sip out of his water.

"How about 10." He offered before sitting his glass down; twenty just seemed like a little too much.

Belle giggled, "Alright ten; but I get to go first. Oh and no avoiding any, we both have to answer honestly; got it?" Gold agreed.

"Well, o.k, tell me Mr. Gold, what is your first name." She looked at him expectantly, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth.

Gold let a blast of air out through his nose, he didn't like his first name and he certainly didn't want anyone overhearing it as he tried to lower his voice before mumbling.

"Lachlan." Belle had to strain to hear him.

"Lachlan? Hum, I wouldn't have figured you for a Lachlan; it's a nice name."

"Only when it's not yours dearie." Gold retorted. He had always detested it since he was a young boy in Scotland. He had been a smallish lad as a child and there was a bigger boy who had called him Lochness which in turn had made the other boys laugh and of course much to his horror the nick name had stuck.

Belle fiddled with her spoon again; now it was his turn. Maybe she should have suggested five questions instead, ten did seem like an awful lot.

"What were you doing on the road the night I uh, accidentally bumped into you?" Belle frowned; She bit her lip and stared into her tea-cup. She had really only wanted to know his name; she didn't want to tell him that she was walking back from a client's house hoping that someone would give her a lift back to the shelter.

"You know what twenty questions is a stupid game, I changed my mind, enough of this getting to know you shit, let's just get our food to go and go back to the shop?" Gold's mouth fell open.

"I think not. It was your idea to play twenty or ten questions and it's my turn, so answer the question dearie." Belle narrowed her eyes at his smug grin.

"I was on my way back to the shelter." There, that wasn't so hard, and she hadn't lied either.

Gold coughed, he knew there was more to that story and that she obviously didn't want to tell it so he let it go. Ruby showed up seconds later with two plates, sitting them down she leaned over slightly in Gold's direction, "The pickles are extra." Gold just kept his eyes focused on Belle as he made a noise that indicated that he heard her but was unwilling to complain about it.

Belle took a bite out of her sandwich, it was fantastic. She licked the crumb of toast off her bottom lip before speaking with her mouth full. "Guess it's back to me then" she said before swallowing.

"Hum, well; why did you move to America because it's obvious from your accent you weren't born here. Scotland am I correct?" Gold took a bite of his sandwich as he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Nothing gets by you does it." Belle shrugged her shoulders as she dug into her sandwich before adding a pickle.

"To put it simply; Money, power. I wanted to give my family everything I never had as a child growing up, so we moved to the states when my boy was little; unfortunately it didn't work out quite like I expected it too."

The look on Belle's face told Gold that he had just probably opened up a big can of worms, just from her expression when he mentioned that somewhere he had a family he could guess what her next nine questions would be.

Belle opened her mouth to speak but Gold lifted up his hand to silence her, which surprisingly worked."Uh, Uh dearie; my turn." Belle closed her mouth promptly and took another bite, hoping that whatever he was going to ask a full mouth might muffle her reply.

Gold took a drink of his water; he was thinking of what to ask next. With Belle it seemed that everything with her would be a touchy subject. He decided on a different route.

"I've never heard you mention your mother, is she alive?" Belle felt a sigh of relief run through her. Her Mother; that was a tad easier.

"Well, she died when I was around nine. I think it drove my father insane. Our family was never the same after that; I was never the same after that."

"How did she die?" Belle drummed her fingernails on the table with a smile; she just caught him at his own game.

"Uh, uh; my turn." Gold smiled and gave a nod of his head as he took the last bite of his sandwich; she was right.

"Where are your family now?" Belle secretly wondered if something tragic had happened to them; she didn't have to wait long.

"Well, the last time I heard from my son they were living in California. I'm pretty sure they are still there." Gold wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Why don't we continue this little game back at the shop." Belle nodded, she was all funned out with the question game herself but was interested in finding out more about Lachlan Gold; the name suited him she thought as she finished off her tea. Mr. Gold layed money down on the table to pay for the meal.

Suddenly a man appeared at their table giving them both a small startle. "Belle French?" Belle looked up at a dark haired man staring at her as if he recognised her; she didn't know him but he acted as if he obviously knew who she was.

"Ah, yes; who are you?" Gold didn't denote any particular threat from the boy and Belle didn't seem upset or frightened by his approaching her but it was obvious that she had no idea who this young man was. He smiled at her with large dark eyes. He was tall and dressed nicely. He glanced over at Gold for a second, nodding his head in greeting before turning his eyes back to Belle.

"Garrison; we went to school together. Well it's been a long time but I'd know you anywhere, how are you?" Belle thought the name sounded familiar, He was in a few of her classes in middle school; it had been a long time.

"Oh, yes Garrison, how are you?" She glanced over at Gold to gauge his reaction; he was watching the man.

Garrison turned to Mr. Gold, "Are you her father?" Gold picked up his cane and scooted over and got out of the booth, he was ready to exit the building, he had answered enough questions for one afternoon.

"Certainly not, I'm her employer." He turned to Belle, "Lunch time is over, are you ready to get back to work?" Belle nodded her head; she looked back at the young man who stepped back to give Gold room to stand.

"Well, it was nice to see you again Garrison; I have to get back to work." Garrison held out his hand to Belle, she let him assist her in getting to her feet.

"Where do you work if you don't mind me asking?" Belle swallowed; unsure if she was ready to divulge information to someone she barely remembered.

"Belle, are you ready?" Gold asked; seeing the look of hesitation on her face, offering her a way out of the nosy boy's questioning.

"Yes Mr. Gold I'm ready." She turned back to Garrison, "It was nice to see you again Garrison." The dark-haired man nodded as he watched her leave with her employer; the ringing of the bell announcing their departure. So she worked for Mr. Gold Garrison thought, well, she shouldn't be too hard to track down.