AN: I wish I owned ONCE, but alas...

Mr. Gold stared at the clock intensely. No matter what he did, he could not get the stupid door to pop open when the hand struck the hour. It instead, opened up every 45 minutes or so, singing a warped version of "Three Blind Mice". He sighed, as once again, it refused to open. Perhaps he could take it to Marco and his boy to fix it.

He heard the front door chime, and reached for his cane. It had been a rainy week, which made his bad leg hurt even more than usual. Today, however, the sun managed to peek through the clouds. He brushed aside the curtain, and entered the front of the store.

Belle was standing at the counter, by the register, smiling her sweet smile.

"Belle," Gold said, a little breathlessly. He couldn't help but stare at her. She was wearing new, better fitting clothing that made her look more radiant than usual. She was wearing a short black skirt that showed off her legs, which were clad in sensible, warm tights.

Gold heard a pointed cough from the other side of the store, which tore his eyes away from his former employee.

Moe French had his arms crossed, and was tapping his booted foot impatiently.

Gold turned back to Belle. "Good thing you're back. The windows are getting dirty."

Belle smiled at him, making his heart do a stupid flutter. "Are you happy I'm back, Mr. Gold?"

"I'm not unhappy," he said softly, without thinking, making Moe clear his throat. Gold ignored him. "Why are you back? I thought I was to never see you again. Especially in such a toxic environment." Gold threw Moe a pointed look, a scowl on his face.

"Something -or someone- changed my mind," Moe said gruffly. "Let's make a deal, Gold."

Gold rolled his eyes, and gestured around the room. "Well, deals are my specialty."

"The library," Belle broke in. "Archie told me you owned it. I was wondering..." She trailed off nervously.

Gold was nothing if not smart. He had a knack of telling what people wanted. He could spot a desperate soul anywhere. "You want to run the library."

Belle looked at him hopefully. "I do."

Gold gave her a tiny smile, and bent down behind the counter. He took a small key out of his pocket to open a small cabinet. On the inside of the door hung a key marked "library". Gold locked everything back up and straightened up. He dangled the key in front of Belle. She reached out eagerly, but he snatched his hand back.

"Here is my deal," Gold said. "You can run the library; do whatever you want with it. On one condition-"

Moe cut him off. "No."

Belle smacked her father's arm. "Papa."

Gold struggled not to smile. "You have to come here once a week to clean the shop."

Moe opened his mouth to respond, but Belle cut in quickly with an enthusiastic "Deal!"

Gold held out his hand, which Belle shook with her own small soft hand. "Then the deal is struck, dearie." He looked at Moe. "And no one breaks deals with me."

Moe scowled at him, his face a deep red.

The front door opened again. A young boy ran into the shop, followed by a young man. "Grandpa!" The boy called, but stopped short when he saw the people crowded in the shop. "Oh, hi!" He looked at Belle. "Who are you?"

Belle looked from the boy to Gold. He shifted uncomfortably, but she smiled at the young boy. "I'm Belle. What's your name?"

Gold went around the counter to put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Belle, this is my grandson, Henry." He gestured to the older man, who hung back from the group awkwardly. "And this is my son, Bae."

Belle's blue eyes widened. "I didn't know you had a son. Or a grandson."

Bae laughed. "Are you that ashamed of me, Pops?"

Gold smiled at him. "Never, Bae. It just never came up."

Moe put his arm around Belle. "We need to go, Belle. No one's watching the shop."

"Right," she nodded. "It was nice meeting you both."

The Frenches left, leaving Gold's tiny family alone.

"She's pretty, Papa." Bae nudged him.

"If I remember correctly, you're taken," Gold said dryly.

"Yeah, but you're not."

"She kind of looks like Belle from Beauty and The Beast," Henry commented.

Bae laughed again, one of Gold's favorite sounds. "Does that make Grandpa the Beast?"

Henry smirked at his grandfather. "I guess we'll see."

Gold tried to scowl at the boy, but couldn't quite make it. "Let's go to Granny's."

The trio walked the short while to Granny's. They moved rather slowly due to Gold's leg. Bae slung his arm over his father's back to help stabilize him. The thought of his old injury made Gold's cheeks warm against the chill in the air. Even after all these years, the memory of the incident embarrassed him. Gold didn't like to be reminded of his cowardliness.

Henry eagerly pushed open the door into the warm diner. It was pretty empty inside, just the way Gold liked it. There were only a couple tables full, one of which Doctor Hopper was sitting at, reading a newspaper.

"Order me a tea, will you?" He asked Bae. "I'll be right back."

Without waiting for a response, he made his way to Archie, who looked up at the sound of his footsteps.

"Mr. Gold!" Hopper said with a surprised tone. "How are you?"

"Good," Gold said stiffly. "Can I speak with you a moment?"

"Of course, of course." Hopper put away his paper, and gestured to the seat across from him. Gold sat down, grateful for the rest.

"It's about Belle," Gold started.

"Oh?"

"I was wondering..." Gold shifted in his seat. "How is she doing? I haven't really spoken to her after the, er, incident."

"Um, she is doing fine. Dealing."

Gold nodded. "I was also wondering if she ever really talked about what caused Lacey to appear."

"Mr. Gold, I can't say. I'm sorry." Archie really did look sorry.

"Lacey told me. Has she told you?" Gold asked. "It was quite unpleasant."

"Ah, I see. Mr. Gold," Hopper sighed. "Lacey isn't exactly known to be entirely truthful. She exaggerates easily."

Gold shook his head. "I don't think she was."

Hopper bit his lip, unconvinced. "I'll look into it, Mr. Gold."

Gold took that as a cue to leave, and stood up. "Thank you Doctor Hopper."

The men shook hands, and Gold made his way to Bae and Henry. He sat down next to Henry, across from his son.

"What did you talk to Archie about, Grandpa?" Henry immediately asked him.

"Oh, it was nothing, Henry." Gold scanned the menu in front of him. "Nothing at all."

Thank you very much for all the lovely reviews, and I'm very sorry it's been a while. I kept forgetting to upload it. Oops!

Also yay Henry and one of my favorite characters has arrived, NealFire! I struggled with what to call him, but eventually decided to go with Bae because, honestly, I hate the name Neal. Any guesses on who Bae is taken by? ;)

SPOILERS FOR 3B

I will not let NealFire die in this. His death on the show wrecked me, and I'm still not over it. If for some strange reason, I do let him die, you all have my permission to beat me over the head with your computers.