A/N: I love you guys so much! Seriously, reading the reviews for this story is honestly the best part of my day. Thank you all so much for that.

This chapter was not pre-written, so it's all done right off the bat. Hope you like anyway!

CHAPTER 8

"It's not a silly little moment, It's not the storm before the calm. This is the deep and dying breath of
This love that we've been working on."-Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, John Mayer

Belle stands behind the bar, waiting. 7:58...7:59...the suspense is killing her.

She has no idea what to expect. She doesn't know what he's thinking, whether or not he really does care. Ruby had said that if he showed up tonight it meant he loved her, but he's not here. A dark haired guy waves in front of her face, shaking her out of her thoughts. She jumps a little at the motion.

"Hey there," he says.

Belle smiles, nods, and bites her lip. "Sorry," she says, wiping off the bar with a rag, "Um, what can I get you?"

"4 beers," he says, holding up his hand and indicating the number. She looks off distantly, but she must have had a strange look on her face because he says, "Not that they're all for me," like that's what she'd been thinking.

She reaches under the bar saying "No, I know. I see your friends come here a lot." She glances over at the bar. The blond man and the brunette girl aren't even looking at each other which makes her sigh in frustration. For the love of God, why can't the just admit that they love each other? She hands the beers off the the dark haired guy.

"Thanks," he says, nodding at her and carrying the beers back to the table. Belle places her hands on the table and looks behind her at the clock. It's...8:03. What? She feels a lump rising in her throat but swallows hard and clears her throat. He'll be here. He will.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Get out of here, Regina. Honestly, I have places to be."

She narrows her eyes. "Oh, I'm sure you do. Places like that bar down the road. Hm?"

Gold blinks and does his best to keep his composure. "Look. I meet her there every day at 8:00, and it's nearly 8:15. At least let me go to tell her I won't come back." He's lying through his teeth, obviously, he's much too far gone to ever simply stop going there.

Regina shakes her head and smiles wickedly. "Oh no. This is a far easier solution."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Belle blinks up at the ceiling and swallows again. It's 8:15. Mr. Gold is never late. Either a meteor has hit his house, or he really doesn't care about her.

This is just easier than manning up and telling her that, she supposes. She closes her eyes tightly and tries to calm herself. This is meant to be. She knows that. And when there's that strong of a connection between two people it can't be one sided. She's seen it with Ruby and Archie, she sees it with the two people sitting feet away from her. She's not crazy. He wants to be here.

She tries to console herself with possible reasons he wouldn't be sitting in the empty barstool in front of her. Maybe he cab got t-boned on the way. Maybe there was a car accident and they wouldn't let anyone pass. Maybe he got kidnapped, drugged, and trapped in some crazy guy's house. Maybe it's the meteor thing...

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, Gold. I'm prepared to offer you a deal."

"I thought you didn't do that anymore," Gold says in a voice colder than ice.

Regina ignores the comment. "I'll let you go right now, provided you tell her that she's nothing to you. Provided you never see her again. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you?"

Gold glares right through her and for a moment he sees pure and simple fear jet across her face. "Why does this matter to you, Regina?" he asks, "You're not in love with her."

Regina laughs—actually it's more like a cackle—loudly. "Oh, and you are?" she asks, and it actually causes him to look away from her.

"Even if I accept your offer," he whispers, "How would you know if I followed through?"

Regina leans in close and says. "The same way I found out you were seeing her. I have eyes everywhere, Mr. Gold. So. The choice is yours. Because if you do love her," he swears he sees her grimace at this, "then you have to let her go."

He mulls this over for what feels like an eternity. He would rather die than never see Belle again. Hell, going for a day without her was basically impossible. But at the same time, Regina is an is an idiot, and even if he goes back on the bargain, what's she going to do?

But then there was her argument. If he loves her, he should let her go, and even though Mr. Gold has never been one to play by the rules, but with Belle it almost seems like the right thing to do.

"Fine."

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Would you look at that poor girl? She looks like she's about to break down crying," the redheadded girl sitting in the booth across the bar tells her friends.

The tall brunette turns around and takes a look at Belle, who's leaning on her hands and blinking rapidly at the ceiling. "I give her five minutes," she says.

The dark haired guy across from her looks at her oddly. "Five minutes till what?"

"Five minutes before she breaks down sobbing," she responds.

The blond man beside her scoffs at the idea. "Why would she cry? She doesn't have anything to cry about."

The redhead's eyes bug. "You're kidding, right? She ignores everyone in here for that one guy every day and he's not here. Poor thing."

He rolls his eyes. "That's crazy. If I started crying every time the girl I cared about wasn't around then I'd-"

He breaks off the sentence, realizing that his eyes are locked with the brunette's next to him. It's silent at the table for only a second before the dark haired guy says, "Here it comes.." and they all watch Belle take of her apron and fling it behind her before storming off through the tables and into the bathroom.

"You win," the tallest guy at the end of the table says to the brunette, "She was crying."

The redhead shakes her head and sighs. "Hope she's okay..."

The dark haired guy looks at her and says, "Are you kidding? She'll be fine. I'll bet you anything that guy'll be back here tomorrow. He's always here."

"I sure hope so. She looks so crushed."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Belle looks in the mirror and wipes her eyes. She knows she's being ridiculous, and that August is quite literally going to kill her for just getting up and leaving, but she also knows that she couldn't have stood another second staring at that damned empty barstool and knowing that he didn't show up. Ruby was wrong. Archie was wrong.

And Belle was wrong.

That's what really hurts. The fact that she'd finally convinced herself that he'd be here, that he cared. And she was wrong. He's probably sitting at home right now laughing about how fun it was to have banged the hot bartender.

Unless of course he didn't survive the meteor.

She laughs and her own stupid joke and hears the door to the bathroom open, and sees that tall brunette walk in. "You know they miss you out there," she says to Belle.

Belle laughs and sniffs. "Yeah. I just...I just..."

The girl smiles at her. "I know. It'll be okay. Trust me."

Belle nods. "Of course. I mean, you would know."

She takes a step back. "What? How would I know?"

Belle smiles through her tears. "That guy you sit with every day. I see how you look at each other."

The girl squints at her. "Ted? No, I-"

Belle laughs and shakes her head. "No, not him. The blond one who always looks at you like you're the only thing that—that matters to him," her voice cracks as she says this.

The girls looks away for a long moment. "I-I just came to tell you that your guy's here. He showed up, and he's sitting where he always does."

Belle looks up at her with watery blue eyes. "What?"

"Yeah. So you'd better get out there."

Belle's smiling so hard it hurts, and it's making her cry again. "Thank you," she says, "Thank you so much." she hugs the girl tight, which makes her jump for a second before returning the gesture.

"You're welcome," she says, "Now go. Don't keep him waiting."

Belle rolls her eyes. "Why not? He did that to me."

The girl laughs at her and Belle grins back at her and hurries out of the bathroom. She races past the tables and smiles when she sees Mr. Gold sitting in front of the bar.

At first, that's the only thing she sees, but then she notices August looking irritated behind the bar. Belle scampers over races behind the bar. "Sorry, August," she says, not even looking August as she does so, "I just needed a break. Won't happen again." she picks her apron up from the ground and ties it around her wait.

Whatever shit August says next goes unheard by Belle. All she can see is Mr. Gold, staring off and ignoring the one-sided argument between her and August. Nothing else matters to her in this moment but the fact that he's here.

"Mm-hmm," she mutters in response to whatever it is August is saying, and for once he's the one who storms off in the other direction.

Belle listens to the sound of her own breathing for a long time before she says. "You came," slowly and breathily.

He gives her a small smile. "Of course I did. I told you I'd keep coming back."

"You're late," she says with a laugh.

"I apologize for that."

"Why are you late?" Belle asks.

Gold sighs. "I'm late because my psychotic colleague told me that unless I told you that I didn't love you and never saw you again, then I would never get down here tonight."

Belle blinks slowly. "Oh. So, are you going to listen to them, then?" she asks.

Mr. Gold laughs softly and shakes his head. "Belle, I could hardly survive a single day without seeing you, how on earth could I survive the rest of my life?"

She exhales quickly and nods, looking straight into his eyes.

Then she kisses him. And if she loses her job because of it, it'll be worth it. Because true love is worth it, and more than that, he's worth it.

And Belle swears that somewhere in the bar, she hears a chorus of "awwwws".

XXXXXXXXXXX

It was C.S. Lewis who once said: "Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives."

And if Belle and Mr. Gold are any indication, he was dead on when he said it.

After that Monday, life passed in a blur. The only thing either of them were sure of is that they were happy. Really happy. Not only did he still show up at the bar each and every day at 8:00, she'd usually wind up finishing her shift early (much to August's dismay, but he had to admit, it was nice to see her so happy.) and going home with him almost every night. She'd also spend her weekends with him, something that she'd made happen all on her own.

It was Saturday, and he'd been at the office all day (Belle wasn't a fan of his job, she always complains about how insane the hours are, and that on weekends and in the middle of the night, he should be at home.) so Belle had decided to go out shopping with Ruby. After all the craziness had happened, Belle actually had money, because even though she finished her shifts early, her bubbly attitude was earning her generous tips, and her happiness must have been rubbing off on August because he was giving her nice paychecks every month, instead of half the time because "she spends the paycheck before she even gets it."

Belle knew exactly why she was here, and Ruby knew it too, even though she acted all surprised when Belle pulled her into a Victoria's Secret, giggling all the while. For once in her life, Belle had been the one who'd begged for a shopping trip, claiming she wanted to the make up for the one she'd missed last month, the night she'd been with Gold for the first time. Ruby had known what she was up to right away, but it was still funny to see Belle try to pick out lingerie, a skill she obviously didn't possess.

"No, you're doing this all wrong!" Ruby had said, taking the boring, beige piece from Belle and hanging it back up on the rack. She circled around for a while before handing Belle and incredibly flashy black, lacy bra saying, "This is what you want. He'll be on his knees begging for you."

Belle had blushed and said. "Okay. Okay. Anything else?"

Ruby grinned devilishly. "Yes. Your apron from the bar."

Belle turned completely scarlet at the thought. "Oh God August would kill me."

"August Shmogust," Ruby says, waving off the idea, "Wait for Gold like that and nothing else will matter."

It had taken Belle a long time to decide that it couldn't hurt. So after buying the highest pair of heels Ruby could find, she sneaked into Gold's house using the key she'd seen him hide under the doormat. (something she deemed extremely cliché and uncreative, but he just called it 'classic' and waved her off.) She'd changed into the ridiculous costume Ruby had suggested and sat on his countertop with her legs crossed, waiting for him.

She hadn't had to wait long. She'd started doubting this decision as soon as she heard his key in the door, but when she saw his jaw drop, she grinned from ear to ear and hopped off the counter. "You know," she said, "I've been incredibly lonely every weekend by myself, and I really needed to see you."

He was at a complete loss for words so she just continued talking. "And I just figured that you'd be so...tired after work. I'd need to get your attention."

She walked up and kissed him hard on the mouth. "Did it work?" she asked.

"Oh yes," he growled, wrapping his arms around her and unhooking that lacy black bra she'd blown her wages on.

He'd fucked her on the counter and it was better than anything she'd ever experienced. She made a mental note to thank Ruby later.

After that she spent every weekend with Mr. Gold, and he'd somehow gotten out of working. She was suspicious, but decided it wasn't worth it to press the issue. She was just happy to have him there with her.

Belle's father had demanded to know where she'd been going every night and every weekend, claiming she was never home. She'd told him she was seeing someone, and he's demanded to know why he's never met that someone.

"Because you're never here!" Belle had said.

"Neither are you," he'd interjected, "You practically live with this man, and I've never even met him. Are you ashamed of me?"

"Yes," Belle said fiercely, "Yes I am. You a druggie and a drunk, and quite frankly I don't want you to meet anyone I love."

He'd been completely taken aback by the sentence. "I'm sorry, Belle, but you have to let me meet him someday."

"Yeah," Belle scoffed, "You can meet him when we get married!"

After that argument, Belle had shown up at Mr. Gold's house, crying. He'd talked to her and held her all night, and when she woke up in the morning she'd looked up at him and said, "I don't want to back," in a tiny voice.

"Then don't."

Belle nodded. "Kay. Do you mind if I stay here for a while?"

Gold smiled and her and withdrew a silver key from his pocket. "Actually. You can stay as long as you'd like."

She'd kissed him softly and thanked him under her breath.

Her father didn't say a word as she cleared all her things out of the apartment. He didn't even bother to say goodbye when she left.

But honestly, after a week of living with Mr. Gold, she didn't even think about her father anymore. It was wrong, and she should have felt bad, but it was nearly impossible to feel bad when she was so happy.

She was through trying to make other people happy. At this point, there was only one most important person in her life and she was lucky enough to have him all to herself.

A/N: Sorry if I got a little too crossover-ish in this chapter, I can't help myself when it comes to HIMYM and Swarkles. Anyway, I really hope you liked. Told you Sparkles believes in happy endings! There is only going to be one more chapter and an epilogue (I know! I'm so sad it's ending!), and I will give 20 bajillion imaginary points to anyone who can guess the ending I've had planned for weeks. I love you all so much! XOXO