As promised here is the interlude chapter featuring Belle/Gold. Just a bit of fun.

Chapter 10 will be pure Belle/Rumple in FTL and will focus on Belle's escape attempt.

Chapter 10 was going to be the conclusion but I'm enjoying writing so if you feel there is room for me to continue and you would like to read more let me know. I'm sure I can dig up other plots to follow lol!

The Courting of Belle

Henry

Little Henry Mills, now Henry Charming, had given Belle a daisy he had handpicked on his class field trip. The child had knocked on the door of their home and shuffled out of nervousness. In his fist he clutched the pathetic looking flower and handed it over to Belle with a boyish grin, lopsided and hopeful.

The damn kid was braver than the Dark One had ever been in the presence of Belle; he stood there and boldly declared: "It reminded me of you. You're pretty, like the flower." He held it up to her, "See?"

Standing by the stairs Gold had glared at the boy as Belle expressed more delight over the wilting plant corpse than she had over those shoes he got her last week. Shoes that cost as much as Granny's weekly rent. Shoes which came with a ridiculous name and were delivered in a box covered with ribbons and frills.

Prince Charming Jr it seems was courting the True Love of Rumplestiltskin, right in front of his nose.

And doing a better job.

Jefferson

The Hatted Hero talked to her in the street. Gold watched from his shop as Belle, dressed in a white dress perfectly symbolic of her innocent and purity, conversed with the idiot in the wonky top hat. The idiot who wore makeup and had, as Belle said, "An edge".

Edge.

Rumplestiltskin had the ultimate edge – he was the Dark One.

The Hatter had a hat. What was the big attraction?

He watched them talk. Belle seemed sympathetic to whatever line the fool was giving her. Her head was tilted showing that she was listening intently and her hand rested upon the man's sleeve.

Later, Belle told the pawnbroker that Jefferson was still unable to connect with this daughter. That would have appeased Gold if she hadn't added "So I'm going to visit him for tea tomorrow. We'll have a proper talk".

Why couldn't they talk in the street?

Dr Hopper

Belle saw him once a week. Gold paid him an additional extortionate amount to be on call for her whenever she needed. Dr Hopper's number was on speed-dial directly under his own.

Belle spoke to the man about everything: her capture, her father, her life in the other world, Regina, them.

Gold always waited in reception for her and was always perplexed when he heard the beautiful melody of her laughter from behind the closed doors.

He wondered what they were discussing. What would make Belle laugh in the way he thought was reserved solely for him?

As he groused in his chair a voice sounded next to him. "Laughter is a good sign, it's better than crying!"

He turned to look at the speaker – it was Ruby, the wolf girl. No doubt visiting Hopper because being a beast was a massive emotional inconvenience.

"Sorry, Dearie?"

Red Riding Hood nodded to the door, "At least she isn't crying. If I were her I would cry…" Gold raised his eyebrows at the implication and the girl gasped and suddenly retracted her comment. "I don't mean because you and her… no… I mean, if I had been locked up for that long, by Regina, I would be really sad. I'm sure she's really happy with you and… well… I wouldn't cry if I… you seem…" the girl sighed. "Whatever."

Gold cleared his throat and asked casually, "Do you laugh in your therapy sessions?"

Red looked down at her body, as if seeing her beastly appearance instead of her scarlet jeans and white tank top, and sighed "No, what's there to laugh about?"

Indeed.

Dr Whale

Belle was clumsy, in this world and the last.

She had burnt her wrist on the iron (and scorched his shirt in the process). She had been left with a livid red mark on my pale skin. Of course, Gold overreacted and took her to the hospital. They didn't wait in the waiting area and they didn't sign in. Belle was to see the doctor – now.

It was at that point Dr Whale kindly informed him that cold water would have been the only prescription necessary.

That wasn't so bad. The worst part was the doctor telling her that it wouldn't leave the faintest mark on her "pretty skin". This was after he had complimented her on her lovely dress which Gold knew was code for complimenting her on her gorgeous, bare legs.

The man was so transparent.

Peter

The final straw came when a tall, lean and blonde Adonis strolled into the pawnshop. A sandy haired, pretty boy who introduced himself as Peter. The lad couldn't have been more than seventeen but was muscular and tanned. He had a youthful grin and an air of playfulness about him that made him seem younger than his years. He was looking for a thimble.

As Gold scattered a collection over the counter he saw the boy look over at Belle who was sitting on a chair reading a book. Peter's blue eyes seemed to smile as he stared.

Gold slammed his cane on the floor to grab the boy's attention. "Pick," he said, pointing to the thimbles.

The boy plucked a battered one from the collection; it was a nice piece with a small W carved onto the metal. "This one," he said. Then he leant forward to whisper to Gold, "That girl over there… is she…"

"She's mine," Gold said firmly. The boy blinked and frowned and Belle looked up from her book with a gasp. "She's involved with me," Gold added. "She isn't single, she isn't available for tea nor does she need any flowers. Belle, who is a woman by the way and not a girl, is taken."

Belle looked furious; he could see her stammering and flushed out of the corner of his eye. The boy went from shocked to bemused.

"Mate," the boy said, "I was going to ask if she was reading about the Land that Never Was."

Gold glanced over at Belle who instantly held the book up so the title was visible: The Land that Never Was. She wore a look of consternation on her face. Looking back to the boy, Gold ensured his expression was passive. "It seems so."

Peter grinned and then gestured to the book. "It's a good story. A great adventure."

Then he left, clutching the thimble in his hand like it was the most precious thing in all the world.

"Well, that was quite a show," Belle said slamming the book shut and giving her lover a hard stare. "What on earth is going on with you today? You practically threw Archie out of here this morning and then told little Henry that we are too busy for him to stop and chat. Busy? We are never busy."

"Dr Hopper," he stressed the title, "was loitering, not shopping. Henry needs to go to school."

"It's Saturday."

"Belle…"

"Incidentally, Peter looked to be about fifteen!"

"He was in his twenties!"

"He was barely fifteen!"

"Enough," Gold demanded, holding up his hand. "Discussion over."

Belle shook her head, "It most certainly is not, Dearie."

Gold gaped at her. The word 'dearie' floated in the space between them, both comical and tragic. His word, used by her. Pretty yet insulting.

"Explain it to me, so I understand…" Belle stood up, placing the book on her chair. She approached her lover and stroked his arm. "Tell me, just be honest. We have an honesty deal, do we not?"

"The town seems to be courting you my dear."

Belle made a sound that sounded something between understanding and surprise. "I see. Well, I don't think little Henry and I will work out due to all the homework. Anyway, I think I remember finding my true love and promising forever so…"

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, bringing her into a side hug. "Belle I wish…" He breathed the words against her hair.

"What?"

"I wish I had courted you…" he muffled his voice against her hair, almost as if he hoped she wouldn't hear the words. "I should have given you flowers, made you laugh, complimented you…courted you."

Belle brought him into a proper embrace and tilted her head up to look at him. "You did. In our special way, we went through all that. You just don't remember the good times."

"Were there really good times for you Belle?"

"Oh yes," she breathed with true emotion.

"Who was that?"

He held a rose, one he handed to her with a flourish. "Just an old woman selling flowers. Here, if you'll have it."

She accepted the rose with a delighted smile and lowered herself into a curtsey. "Why thank you."

"New dress?"

Belle glanced down at the new blue housedress she had found in her wardrobe. "Seems so. Do you like it?"

His eyes flickered over her so quickly she almost missed it. He looked away. "Very nice. Suitable. Good for working. Nice. Lovely. Yes… lovely."

"Why do you spin so much?" she asked from atop the ladder. "Sorry it's just that you've spun straw into more gold than you could ever spend."

He paused his spinning. "I like to watch the wheel, it helps me forget."

"Forget what?"

"I guess it worked."

She laughed.

Gold smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair. "We did have our moments, didn't we?"

"Many moments," she said. "And we'll have many more."

The bell above the door jangled as the shop door opened. Still in her lover's arms, Belle smiled at the visitor. Dr Whale offered up a shy wave and just as he was about to speak Gold barked, "Closed."

Belle sighed and shook her head, burying her face in his chest. "Oh, Rumplestiltskin…"

"Get out," Gold said, loosening his arm around Belle to point to the door. "Out."

Despite herself Belle shuddered with giggles and hugged him closer.

"Gaston was bad enough," Gold said as the door slammed closed behind the retreating form of Dr Whale.

Belle tilted her head back to look at him. "I haven't seen Gaston in Storybrooke. Whatever happened to him anyway?"