The library was quiet apart from the sound of a page turned in a book. Belle sat at a table somewhere at the back of the library, hidden away from the world outside. The escape of the library had called to her, held its arms wide open to her and engulfed her into its sanctum. A book laid in front of her on the table, begging her to open its cover so she could lose herself in its contents. Her mind was elsewhere, restless from the night before. Belle did not have much sleep, tossing and turning in her bed, wishing she had done things differently, even though she knew she had done nothing wrong.
It was becoming a reoccurring event. She would get close to him and he would push her away. Going over the motions of the night, Belle knew exactly what had been his tipping point, a simple word, 'Bae'. That simple word, Belle considered, was a dagger straight into his cold heart. A reminder of a man, who had been unguarded against the hurt his ex-wife had caused him. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face with her hands, her thoughts swirled in her head.
Her phone in her pocket vibrated against her leg. Belle ignored it and remained with her hands on her face, leaning onto the table with her elbows. Normally, she had a plan for what she would do, but when it came to him, Belle was at a lost. Her mind told her he was not worth the trouble. Her heart cried for him, yearned for her to find him and pour herself out to him. The conflict between her head and her heart was making her tired. Being in the safety of her dear friend, the library, Belle was tempted to go to sleep where she was and forget her real life troubles.
Another vibration erupted from her phone. Sighing she dropped her hands from her face and dug her phone out of her pocket to hold it between her hands. The texts she had received lit the screen, but were not enough to cover the picture on her lock screen. Belle swiped her finger and unlocked her phone to access her texts, not dawdling on his picture. First, she opened the texts from Albert.
'Belle, I'm sorry that dad shouted at you.' 'Belle?' 'Belle, can we talk?'
Belle stood up from her chair and left the book on the table, and ambled her way out of the library whilst she read the text Ruby had minutes ago sent her.
'Belle, some guy is looking for you. Came into the diner. I don't like him.'
As she pushed the library door open, Belle frowned at the text from Ruby, stepping out of the library to the sidewalk outside. Her thumbs tapped a text message out to the Ruby, telling her she would be over to the diner soon. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at herself, as she tried to figure out who would be looking for her whilst she texted Albert, telling him she would be in the diner.
"Belle!" A familiar voice called. Belle looked up from her phone to the man crossing the street towards her. The last time she had seen him was when she collected the last of her things from their apartment. He had pleaded, begged and grovelled, trying his hardest to get her to forgive him and take him back. With a box under her arm and her hand on the doorknob of the door, Belle had told him she never wanted to see him ever again and had left closing the door on him and that part of her life.
"Belle." Gaston smiled at her coming to a stop a couple of feet away, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. "I was looking for you."
Belle frowned at him and shook her head in disbelief. "What the… How the hell… Gaston, what the hell are you doing here?"
"I just want to talk." He told her pulling his hands out of his pockets and held them up in surrender.
"I don't want to talk to you. I told you that." She said, fumbling to slide her phone into her pocket.
Gaston took a step towards her. "Yes, I know what you said. But that doesn't change the way I feel about you."
Her mouth dropped open in shock as she stared at him, astounded by his openness. A chuckle escaped her whilst she turned away from him, heading for the crossing furthest away from him. Belle shook her head forcefully at his words. The nerve of him astonished her. He had ruined her pure idea of what love was, by having a woman in their bed. And here he was, in the middle of Storybrooke, telling her he still felt something for her. It was cruel joke.
Belle swung round to face him when he tugged on her arm, his hand tightly gripped her arm. "Belle, please, I need to talk to you. I haven't stopped thinking about you."
"Haven't stopped thinking about me?" She questioned and tried to snatch her arm out of his hold. "Were you thinking about me, when you were with her? When you were in our bed with her? When you were kissing her?"
"Belle, please! Stop being so stubborn and listen to me!" He urged her desperately, shaking her arm when he spoke.
"I don't want to listen to you!" Belle shouted at him, trying again to break out of his hold but it was useless. His hand was big enough to engulf her arm in his grip, keeping her right where she was.
She struggled again as she said. "How the hell did you find me?"
"Facebook." Gaston informed her. "Olivia from college shared a picture of you and a girl to me. You looked so beautiful, Belle. I knew I had to come and find you. I was so grateful that the girl, who posted it, had tagged your location."
"Picture?" Belle stopped struggling and tried to remember what picture he could possibly mean.
"Yeah, the girl is the one I saw working in the diner." He told her, gesturing in the direction of Grannies. Now she knew what picture he was referencing. Girl's night out, last week. Mary-Margaret had sent the picture to Ruby, who must have put it on her Facebook and tagged Belle in it. When she had received the friend's request, she had not thought anything of it. Annoyance grew at the thought of all the trouble Belle had gone to, to make sure Gaston was out of her life, and a simple picture tagged with her in it had brought him back into it.
A hand touched her upper back, drawing her to look over her shoulder at Albert. "Belle."
"Hey Bae." Belle greeted and tried tugging her arm out of Gaston's hold, hoping with Albert's presence he would release her.
"Belle, we need to talk!" Gaston pleaded with his fingers tightening.
Albert grabbed hold of the wrist that belonged to the hand holding Belle. "Let go of her."
"Look, kid," Gaston said to Albert. "This is between Belle and me. Just run along."
"No." Albert said firmly, stepping towards Gaston to take hold of Belle's arm, which Gaston was holding. "Let go of Belle now."
"Gaston, please, just let go of me." Belle pleaded over Albert's shoulder at Gaston. She could not help as the corner of her lips turned up in a small smile. Proud of Albert's bravery as he tried to stand up for her. It was a sad reminder of how Mr Gold had intervened the night before, saving her from Milah attacking her.
A quick shoulder barge from Gaston to Albert sent Albert falling backwards onto the ground. "I'm not letting you go! I need to talk to you! Let's go somewhere and talk!"
"You okay, son?" Belle heard him talking to Albert before she saw him out of her corner of her eye. "Is there something, I can help you with, dearie?" Mr Gold drawled beside her.
"I don't need your help." Belle grumbled at him, glancing at him over her arm. The sight of him always made her breathless and sent a tingle through her body. He stood beside her in one of his three piece suits, minus his suit jacket. His gaze was not on her though. He was focused on Gaston in front of him.
Gaston pulled on Belle's arm, making her step towards him. "Look, pal, she just told you she doesn't want your help. This is a private conversation with my girlfriend."
Belle laughed. "I don't think so. I'm not your girlfriend." She looked at Mr Gold. "I'm not his girlfriend. He's my ex." Mr Gold showed no sign of registering what she said, but Belle felt as if she had to convince him. She needed him to understand there was nothing between her and Gaston anymore. Even though, a voice in the back of her mind reminded her of the promise she made to herself. 'Never going anywhere near him again', she had promised herself the night before as she left his house.
"Look," Mr Gold mocked Gaston's tone. "Dearie, let her go like my son and Miss French has asked, or you'll regret it."
At hearing Mr Gold's threat, Gaston finally released Belle and stood toe-to-toe with Mr Gold. "There's only one thing I regret. Whatever you have in mind, old man, bring it on."
Mr Gold broke out into a smile. "Oh, I don't need to bring it on, dearie. Little boys like you don't scare me. If you couldn't see, the most precious thing in front of you, when you had it, then you don't deserve it."
"Are you…" Gaston began to say, but turned to Belle. "Are you with him?"
"If I was, it's none of your business!" Belle shook her head at him. She had seen the look on Gaston's face before, when she had closed the door on him when she finally left their apartment. His heartbreak was evident over his face. When she saw the emotion on his face, Belle felt sympathy for him. With what he did to her, Gaston did not deserve it, but… She cursed herself for wanting to see the good in someone, giving people the benefit of the doubt and seeking to help those that needed it. She especially did not want her beast to get hurt.
As Gaston started to whirl around to face Mr Gold, his fist pose to connect with his handsome face, Belle lunged forward and captured Gaston's arm, clinging to it with all her might. Her sudden action surprised not only Gaston, but also Mr Gold, both of them sharing the same puzzled look on their faces. Looking between them, Belle lingered longer on Mr Gold, when there was a hint of something in his eyes, hidden behind his mask.
"Gaston, don't." Belle's voice was quiet as she spoke. The softness of her voice relaxed the muscles in Gaston's arm.
"Belle?" Gaston whispered to her over his shoulder.
Belle closed her eyes for a second and then said to him. "We'll talk. Just… Don't do this."
His eyebrows scrunched down over his eyes while he looked between Belle and Mr Gold. As he was pondering over her change of heart, Belle chanced a look at Mr Gold and their eyes locked in a secret conversation. The man that stood in front of her, coming to her aid was not the man she had seen last night. He was not the one that had ordered her to leave his home. She could see a softness about him, under the gruff exterior he was embodying for everyone else to see.
With Gaston's stance relaxing, the connection between Mr Gold and Belle was broken. "Okay."
"Belle?" Albert's voice was unsteady, his worry coming through his voice.
"Come on, Albert." Mr Gold put his arm out, protecting and stopping Albert moving away from his side.
"Albert," Belle addressed him over Gaston's shoulder. "I will meet up with you later. I promise." The promise eased the tension in Albert, but she could see it did nothing to ease Mr Gold's shoulders. He guided Albert away, using the arm that he had used to protect Albert to persuade his son to go with him. Belle watched as they walked away and crossed the street to Mr Gold's shop.