"What did you do?"

Nolan. He had forgotten he had arrived with Nolan, the younger man shoving him into his truck and driving at a rather mad pace down the hills to get to the bar. He had been out of the truck almost before Nolan had stopped it, had been heading into the bar when he heard the sound of voices in the alleyway.

He couldn't really say what drew him there. Maybe it was that the woman sounded slightly frantic, the man's voice slurred and his words almost not understandable. Maybe it was that some part of him recognized the voice and knew Belle was in trouble.

When he had turned the corner and saw the big lout grab Belle by the neck and force her into a kiss with him, his vision had dimmed, the corners turning black and red.

He barely remembered what happened after that. He came to with Belle's hand on his arm and the bastard crawling about on the ground at his feet. His cane was raised and he realized that his right ankle hurt like a bitch and the handle of his cane had blood on it.

"Apparently I beat him half to death." Gold's voice was grim as he looked down at the man at his feet.

"Who is he?"

Gold shook his head. "I have no bloody idea, but he was attacking Belle…"

"Belle? Where is she?" Nolan looked alarmed, glanced around the alleyway as if he expected to find her dead at the man's side.

"She's gone back into the bar to find her friend Ruby."

"Ruby, good," Nolan said. "Why didn't you go with her?" And his voice sounded rather self-righteously accusatory.

"She…um…" He held up the cane.

"She didn't want to have anything to do with you," Nolan surmised.

"Exactly."

"But you saved her," he pointed out.

"Again," Gold said, his face set in a grim look. "But it seems that seeing my sort of rescue attempt was perhaps a bit too much for her." As it should have been, he knew. Belle was gentle. She was kind. She was not the sort of woman who would want her attacker killed. She would want justice done in the right way, not by a vigilante with a cane whose anger got the better of him.

She knew who he was now.

No wonder she had run for the hills.

Belle woke and for a moment she wasn't sure where she was. It was disorienting, that waking up in the dark and feeling like you're not where you're supposed to be. Something in the room seems off, the furniture not where you expect it. She rolled and dug out her phone and let it half-light up the room around her.

The Inn.

She was staying at Granny's Bed and Breakfast.

The night before came back to her suddenly and she shivered, though she was quite warm. She had known there was some sort of darkness to Gold. She could see it in his eyes, in the way he interacted with the world, in the way he closed himself off from everyone. There were layers there that she was sometimes afraid to get too deep into.

Last night she found one.

He had nearly beaten that man to death.

And it wasn't about Keith. Not really, at least. The man was abhorrent, a scourge. If Gold hadn't appeared when he did, Keith would have overpowered her easily and then where would she be? Weeping alone in an alleyway after he finished what he started.

Gold had saved her. Again. There was no doubt about that. He had swooped in like some sort of dark Prince Charming and had protected her with a fierceness she never could have expected.

But sometime during his protecting her, a switch had flipped. She had seen the moment it happened, the way his eyes turned dark, the way his snarling turned to a feral grin. And he had gone from simply protecting her to being out for blood. He had wanted to kill that man.

And he would have.

She knew that much.

But somehow she had been able to stop him.

That look in his eyes though. It had haunted her dreams, her nightmares. The Gold she had been getting to know, the Gold who had kissed her in his library, was sarcastic, sometimes rude, but always gentle with her.

The Gold she saw last night had been pushed over the edge and it frightened her. She could admit that much to herself, couldn't she? It had scared her so much that the thought of spending the night under the same roof with him was not something she could handle at that moment

She had gone in to find Ruby to take her up on her offer of staying at the inn. One look at Belle and Ruby knew something had gone on. Without even questioning her, she had brought her back to the inn, had gotten her a key. Belle hadn't wanted to talk about it and so she was thankful that her new friend seemed to be rather intuitive. Ruby had left her, making sure she would be ok, and told her she would check up on her in the morning.

Belle had almost asked her to stay in the room with her. She wasn't sure she wanted to be alone, but decided there was an awkwardness there she wasn't ready for. And so Ruby had left and Belle had climbed into the shower to scrub herself clean.

She had stayed in the shower until the hot water had all but run out, until her skin felt raw and tender from her need to practically flay it from her bones. She brushed her teeth three times that night and still she couldn't get that horrible taste of garlic and alcohol out of her mouth.

When she crawled into bed, it was Gold's face, screwed up in hate and anger, that she couldn't block out. Sleep had been hard to come by that night and she had woken up several times from nightmares where she couldn't get away from Keith, where Gold had turned in his bloodlust on her, where she had been running and couldn't escape, chased down, hunted like an animal.

Ruby called at exactly 8:00am that morning and though the phone ringing set her teeth on edge, Belle grabbed it and picked it up. It could have been Gold, she knew, but somehow she didn't think he'd bother to call. She had seen the look on his face when she left him last night, the way his eyes had shuttered and looked almost dead.

She had left him there to clean up whatever mess he had made.

It was unfair.

She knew it was.

He had saved her and she shouldn't forget that. But it was not easy to when she had also seen the bloodlust behind it all.

"Belle, you there?" Ruby sounded worried.

"What? Yeah…sorry. Just thinking I guess." Thinking about what to do, about where to go from there.

"Why don't you come down to the diner for breakfast? My treat."

Belle nodded, then realized that Ruby couldn't see the small head movement. "Right. Ok. I can do that. Just…give me a little bit?"

"Sure thing." She paused there but didn't hang up the phone. "I just wanted to make sure you're ok. After…things."

Belle sighed. "I'm fine. I think. I'll see you down at the diner in a bit."

Was she fine? Belle couldn't be certain. But she got herself together, took another shower, dried her hair as best she could, and got dressed in the clothes Ruby had left for her. They were warm, comfortable, a bit large on her, but Ruby was a head taller than Belle's rather diminutive height. She even did her makeup before trekking down to the diner. It was her armor against the world. She didn't look like the girl who did chores on Gold's farm. She looked Belle French.

And today she would put on a smile that told the world they could mind their own damned business.

Of course, that crumbled as soon as she saw Ruby behind the counter and Ariel sitting at one of the stools. "Belle!" Ariel cried out and rushed to her, enveloping her in a hug. "Ruby told me what happened."

Belle glanced at Ruby for a moment. "All of it?"

"Most," she responded with.

"I'm so sorry I abandoned you guys."

"No," Belle said, holding up a hand. "Never apologize for going after what, or who you want."

Ariel gave her a slightly watery smile. "Eric was great."

"Then good. I'm glad for you." Belle reached a hand out, squeezed Ariel's. "Honestly."

"Do you need anything today?" Ariel asked and thank God for people like her. She was sweet and kind and guileless. She would probably take the whole day off from the library if Belle asked her to. Which was exactly why she couldn't ask her.

"No…really. Thank you. I think I'll go visit my father." She had been told he was doing fairly well and a visit would be in order. It seemed there were less of those days than not lately. And her father was a proud man. He didn't want her to see him when he was brought low, when he was just a shell of himself.

She had promised.

No visits on bad days. She could talk to him on the phone, listen to his tired voice and hear the report from the nurses. But he would not have her see him like that no matter how many times she begged.

"You're coming back here afterward?" Ruby's question almost sounded more like a statement.

"I think so, yes." Her stuff was still up at Gold's. She really didn't know how to deal with that. "I need to get my stuff."

"I'll send David," Ruby responded with and Belle just nodded. Did she really want to move out of Gold's? Back to the inn? Try to find some other employment?

She really wasn't sure yet. There was so much to think about, so many thoughts swirling around in her mind. Of the Gold she thought she knew. Of the Gold she had seen the night before. She didn't think he would harm her, but the fact that he would have killed a man, no matter how truly awful that man was, gave her pause.

She had a lot of decisions to make.

And she wasn't quite sure she was ready to make them.

"Papa." Belle rushed into the room and reached out, squeezed his hand. Her father had been a large man in his prime, taller than Belle by almost a foot and larger than life. She always remembered that about him. When she had been a small child, motherless and feeling awfully alone, her father had seemed massive. And when he laughed, everyone laughed with him. He was jovial and kind.

His hand in hers felt frail, but he still managed to squeeze hers with some bit of strength. "My Belle." His voice was a little hoarse and she smiled, tried to hide the tears that always pricked at the back of her eyes when she visited.

"The nurses say you're feeling better today."

"So I am, my dear. So I am." His eyes closed for a moment and then he managed to focus on her.

"Good. I'm so glad." She finally released his hand to touch the side of his face lightly. "I don't know what I'd do without you Papa."

"You'd do plenty, my Belle. You'd get out of here and get on with your life." He coughed once, twice, and then took a deep breath. "Maybe you'd be better off…"

"Don't talk like that." She didn't mean to snap at him, to cut him off like that, but she didn't want the conversation to go there. She knew she was losing him. Little by little. There was only so many treatments they could do, only so many experiments and new drugs. He had held on this long, months longer than most with his type of cancer, but she still knew it was only a matter of time before she had to say goodbye.

She was sure she'd never be ready for that.

She'd be alone then, truly alone. Her mother had died when she was just a child. She had no siblings. Distant relatives still lived in Australia and she had had little contact with them over the years. In a new place with friends who she was only getting to know and a…well…whatever exactly Gold was to her…boss?...teacher?...maybe something more, though that might be getting a bit ahead of herself.

"Then let's talk about you, my dear." And there was a bit of the jovial father she knew so well in his voice.

"I'm making friends." She knew her father worried about that. Belle was rather introverted and had spent much of her time growing up and throughout college with her books. She was much like her mother that way, he had told her, always wrapped up in a story and forgetting about the world around her. Her father was the opposite. Gregarious and extroverted, he had always enjoyed being around people, gathering strength from them instead of finding them exhausting.

"Good. That's good. And your job?"

She bit her lip and looked away from him. "I fear I may have lost that." She couldn't imagine Gold wanting her back at this point. And to be honest, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go back right now.

Her father was silent for a time and when he finally spoke his voice sounded tight. "I've heard things about him, Belle." Her head shot up. "The nurses, they say things."

Belle sighed. "He's not as bad as all that."

"No?"

"No. I think they've created stories about him because he sits up on his hill and rarely interacts with anyone."

"So he's not a right bastard then?"

Belle let out a small laugh. "Oh no, he is. Or he can be at times. But he can also be really kind." She was going to put the word gentle in there, but then the image of him wielding his cane as a weapon, of his pummeling a man halfway to death, came into her mind and she choked the word down. He had been gentle with her, with the dogs.

But then there was last night. And all that entailed.

"Papa, I'm afraid something awful has happened." She felt the tears starting to choke her voice as she leaned over and touched his hand.

"You didn't fall in love with him, did you?"

"What? No." No, she didn't love him. She liked him. And she was attracted to him. And she still couldn't stop thinking about that kiss. But love? She wasn't even sure she knew what love was at this point. "I went to a bar last night…"

She hadn't planned to do it. She was going to remain cheerful and upbeat and not do anything to bring her father down. He didn't need to be brought down. But she couldn't stop herself. She watched his jaw clench when she told him about Keith's attack in the alleyway. She saw him consider speaking when she told him about Gold's arrival, like some sort of dark angel with a cane.

"Sounds to me like he saved you, my girl," her father pointed out.

"But at what cost? He beat that man nearly to death, Papa. And worst of all I don't even know what became of him. I left. For all I know he died in that alley with Gold standing over him, gloating." That was, perhaps, the truth of it. She hadn't cared about Keith, not really. He was a disgusting excuse for a human being and when she left, she hadn't really cared if he lived or died.

It was because Gold had inflicted those injuries. And she didn't even know how. He was a head shorter than the man, probably weighed a good eighty pounds less than him and still he was so fierce that he had taken him out in no time. The thought of watching a man's life drain from him made her want to vomit.

"Are you afraid of him?"

Her father always could get to the heart of things. "I don't know."

He nodded. "I think that's something you need to figure out."

Belle didn't return to the diner after her visit with her father. There was much to think about. Too much, really. Her father had hit a sore spot right there. Was she afraid of Gold? She didn't think so. She honestly didn't think he would hurt her.

He hadn't, after all, when she had broken his cup or when she had fallen from the ladder and injured him. He hadn't when she had made mistakes with Bandit. He hadn't ever really seemed to be angry with her. Just amused and exasperated. Even at his grumpiest, recently injured and back from the hospital, looped up on painkillers, he hadn't done much more than snap at her.

Not even when she hid his whisky, which she had finally given back to him when she got him to show her the empty pain medication bottle and the words "NO REFILL" written at the bottom.

Oh, he had been annoyed. But he had done nothing more than complain and shoot her dark looks. Both of which she easily handled with a smile and a comment shot back his way.

She didn't even know how long she had walked before she found herself standing in front of the town hall. The sheriff had his office there and she realized she wanted to know. Was the man locked up? Still loose? Or was he dead?

Bracing herself, she opened the door and found her way into the office. There were only two cells there, hidden somewhere in the back and while she could see someone in there, she wasn't sure who it was.

"Can I help you?" The voice that came to her ears had a certain lilt to it, similar to Gold's and yet different. She turned to find a man studying her, the badge on his jacket proclaiming him sheriff.

"Irish?" she asked, realizing she recognized the accent.

"Sheriff Graham, at your service, Miss…"

"French. Belle French. I'm new to town."

"And from as far away as I am, it seems," he said and his smile was a good natured one. He had the kind of face that one trusted almost instantly. Handsome, but not in a pretentious way. Down to earth and natural.

"Australia. But that's not why I'm here." She didn't even know where to start. Gee, you don't have a man here who was beaten half to death last night, do you?

"Yes?" Kind and patient, apparently. Belle found herself smiling at him.

"Last night there was an…altercation…outside The Rabbit Hole…" Her voice trailed off as she saw recognition on her face.

"Yes." He said no more.

"There was a man…Keith, he said his name was. He assaulted me."

"He assaulted you?" He sounded slightly incredulous.

"Yes."

"Were you the one who…"

"No," she said quickly. "He tried…" She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. "He tried to rape me. Someone saved me."

Graham held up a hand and picked up a notepad. "Do you need to make a statement?"

"Can you tell me if he's ok?"

Graham's eyebrows furrowed. "Your savior?"

She shook her head. "My assailant."

"Just what exactly happened last night, Miss French?"

Belle sighed. "Is this on the record?" This wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to get involved in an investigation. She just wanted to know if he was alive.

"It doesn't have to be…" His voice trailed off.

"But you want it to be." It was a statement, not a question.

"He tried to rape you, Miss. In all honesty, yes this should be on the record."

She took a deep breath and nodded. The words came out in a rush, a half told story of an attempted rape and the beating that followed. Her departure. She left out how scared she was. Not only of Keith, though that should be obvious, but also of Gold and the black rage he had fallen into.

"Who was this savior?"

"I can't tell you."

"We'll be able to get the video," Graham pointed out.

"Gold," she said quietly.

"Mr. Gold from up on the hill?" He sounded surprised and there was that much to keep her buoyed at least. She fully expected everyone she met to not be shocked at all.

"The same. I work for him, you see. And I have no idea why he was there." Why was he there anyway? That question had never been answered. Hell, it had never even been posed. He had simply appeared out of thin air and taken care of the problem. "But there he was and he stopped him, but then…" She didn't want to go on, didn't want to detail the vicious beating he had delivered to the man.

"That's pretty impressive," Graham said and Belle just stared at him. "Well, Gold's a pretty small guy. And Nottingham is not."

"Nottingham? That's his last name?" She didn't know. She didn't know if she wanted to know. "What happened to him?"

"He's alive." Graham hooked a thumb over his shoulder to the lump of man sleeping on the cot in one of the cells. Belle felt the breath go out of her at finding out he was alive, that Gold hadn't done that serious of damage to him. "He had a couple broken bones. A lot of bruises. The hospital fixed him up and he was brought back here."

"You arrested him."

"David Nolan made a report."

"David?" She hadn't seen any sign of the man that night. But her brain was fuzzy, tipsy with alcohol and half frozen with fear. She might have walked right past him without realizing it.

He nodded. "I couldn't quite figure out his involvement before. He said he saw the end of the attack, saw him collapse. And so he called it in."

But he had brought Gold there, she realized. She didn't know how or why, but David had been the one to bring Gold to her and Gold had been the one to save her. The night was still such a blur that she couldn't even put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Thank you," she finally managed to say. "I just needed to make sure."

"We'll contact you if we need you for anything further."

She nodded. "I'm staying at the inn."

With those words she took leave of Graham and the sheriff's office. She had more questions than answers it seemed, but she had at least nailed the answer to one question down. No, she was not afraid of him.

But there were still many more to answer and many decisions to be made, decisions she didn't feel like she could even begin to tackle before she had a meal and a hot shower.