Belle locked the front doors of the library amid the rapid buzzing of her cell, still tucked into the pocket of her blazer. After her mass text, she'd received even more messages from all her girlfriends who were in no way satisfied with the promise of an eventual explanation.
They wanted to know everything, right now.
Another day of suspense won't kill them, Belle thought lightly.
Shane and Marcus had had the good sense to back off, but she knew they were just as curious.
Pocketing the library keys, Belle stood out on the front steps, waiting for Mr. Gold to come for her as he'd promised. The weather hadn't improved much since the morning. The air smelled damp and the darkening clouds above threatened a downpour. The wind had picked up as well and the woman was glad she'd secured her hair into a tight twist above her nape.
Glancing up, Belle froze.
Ruby had just stepped out onto Main Street, easily catching her eye as the sidewalk was deserted for the moment. Belle groaned inside as she watched her friend turn and head her way from the diner.
Belle bristled. Why can't we be left alone for just a little longer?
She worried her friends would only complicate things now and Belle didn't feel her friendship with Mr. Gold could take much more complication.
They had made up just days ago, everything was still delicate between them.
Thankfully, before Ruby could cross the street and begin her interrogation, Mr. Gold pulled up to the library.
Belle stood, feeling torn between the two of them.
Mr. Gold, simply waiting for her to slide into the car with him, and Ruby no more than thirty feet away, her expression impatient, silently demanding just what the hell was going on.
Belle locked eyes with her friend, and shook her head.
Not yet.
Ruby threw up her hands and huffed as she turned around, heading back home as Belle opened the door and slid into the seat beside Mr. Gold.
He had witnessed the exchange between the two women, but, wise man that he was, said nothing about it as he drove them back to his house.
After a quiet but companionable dinner of the leftovers from their signature dishes, Belle and Gold retreated to opposite ends of the house just as they had the night before. They did not do so with the intention of turning in early, however.
Belle had gone upstairs to the guest room to let her hair down, plug in her cell (just brimming now with ever more impatient texts from her friends), take off her shoes and pick out her clothes for work the next day. A limited wardrobe meant the decision took less than a minute - slacks, blouse, blazer. She would wear her signature necklace too, as soon as she found it.
Turning to the window bench, Belle took her orchid into the bathroom where she dribbled water over the little pot - just enough to wet the soil. She was going to put it back before the window, but she changed her mind and took it downstairs instead.
Belle set her orchid on the kitchen table, thinking it'd be better if they could both enjoy it rather than keeping it upstairs in her room. The flower had been his gift to her, but gifts were best when shared.
Share and share alike. She thought, remembering one of Snow's classroom creeds.
Just then, Belle heard a muffled grunt of effort and followed Mr. Gold's voice to the front of the house. The man had been busy, shedding his jacket and tie and breaking out a toolbox. When Belle found him in the living room there was already a rich suede loveseat in the center of the floor, and he was struggling to secure a new flat screen television to the wall.
"Mr. Gold, let me help you." She said, rushing forward to steady the other end of the TV.
"No, you don't have to-"
"It's all right, I've got it, I've got it." Belle cut him off when he would have refused her help.
Gold bit the inside of his cheek, irritated that she would think him so weak that she had to rush in and help him lift the flat screen. He shook off the flash of resentment. No. Belle had never pitied him his injury.
The man was more irritated that he had wanted to invite her in once the room was pulled together, not have her help in setting the scene.
In any case...
Together, they lifted the screen, securing it on the hooks he'd drilled into the wall just minutes prior. Taking a step back, Gold narrowed his eyes at it. "Does that look straight to you?"
Belle moved to stand directly before the mounted television, looking carefully. "Yes, it's straight."
Gold retook his cane and tapped it on the floor, pleased. "Good. I'll need you in the coming days, Miss French."
She raised a brow at that, expecting an explanation.
Gold spread his hands, encompassing the bare room around them. "The place could use a woman's touch."
So could I, he thought, watching as Belle swept her hair over one shoulder, exposing the length of her throat. He would like to kiss her there, tonight, right that moment.
Belle, wholly unaware of the turn his thoughts had taken, looked about the living room. But for the television on the wall and the loveseat in the center of the floor, the space was empty. She gave him an ironic smile, "Your living room already looks like my apartment."
"I can appreciate your minimalist tastes."
Belle shook her head, "Somehow I doubt that. What makes you think I'll be any good at decorating your house?"
Gold shrugged. "You're a woman."
"The last time I checked." Here Belle made a show of glancing down the collar of her blouse. They shared a soft laugh at her joke. "But I also can't dance and you've seen I'm no good with babies, so what does that tell you?"
He quirked his lips at that. "Only that dancing is overrated, and the child can be difficult around strangers. Your special talent may rest in decorating a house. I could go it alone but I am not a patient man when it comes to this."
"I believe you, when did you find the time to buy the loveseat and the flat screen?" Belle asked.
"I bought the television this afternoon, around two or so. I left it here before going back to the shop so I could wire it up tonight."
The memory of what she'd found in her father's house nagged at her; she should have told him sooner, but it'd slipped from her mind with all that had happened between them during the past few days.
"Mr. Gold, when I went back to my father's house on Sunday, I saw your television there. I can go tomorrow and get it back for you-"
"No." He said flatly.
"But you could return the new one and get your money back."
"No." Gold shook his head, refusing the idea. He would have Belle stay away from her father for years if he could. "I took back the only thing he stole that was worth anything to me."
The man did not elaborate further.
Gold shook his head, tapping the arm of the loveseat with his cane. "This I moved from my study, a stand-in until I have a proper sofa again."
"You moved it by yourself?"
"I'm not helpless, Miss French." He bit out, but went on in a softer tone. "I've learned to manage. And I want my house restored as soon as possible."
Belle nodded, understanding him perfectly.
"I'll do what I can." She promised quietly, careful not to stir his prickly mood.
"Good, then you can start tonight." He said, and handed her the television remote.
"What do you mean?"
"We never finished All About Eve." He reminded her with a smile as he moved to turn off the overhead light. "Why not tonight?"
The woman felt her pulse quicken and she smiled at him, remembering that night of sweet comfort they'd shared in April. It was clear now that he wanted more of the same.
He would not be disappointed.
Once the room fell dark, Belle used the remote to input the Netflix command, and joined Mr. Gold on the sofa. This time, as they shared a blanket over their laps, Gold felt no guilt at all over holding Belle against him once she'd fallen asleep.
Friday came over Storybrooke, even greyer than the day before, the summer storm just overhead. It would break within days, flooding the streets and washing it all out to sea. Even with the weather the way it was, Belle decided that she would walk to the library rather than ride with Mr. Gold.
It wasn't that she disliked riding with him, she only wanted to use the time on the walk to think. It had been nearly a week since the man had brought her into his home, and her friends would not leave her alone until they knew why.
She wasn't upset with them for being curious - as far as they knew, she and Mr. Gold were barely more than strangers, yet now she was openly sharing his house. If she hadn't known Mr. Gold herself, but it'd been Ariel or Jasmine who was suddenly living with the man, then yes, Belle would be doing the same thing as they had for the past several days and demand an explanation.
Her friends would not give her another day, Belle knew.
The woman broke from thoughts of her friends at the tap of Mr. Gold's approach to join her in the kitchen. He came in, well-suited in pinstriped navy and smiling to see her.
This was fast becoming a ritual between them.
Belle would rise for the day first, start a brew of tea and then Mr. Gold would join her for a bit of breakfast. It was different, but familiar to her as well. This was not so far a step away from her visits to his shop over the past year. She had often brought sodas, new tea blends and occasionally lunch for them to share; his home had replaced the shop as their sanctuary.
"Good morning."
"Good morning Mr. Gold. Breakfast?" She asked, gesturing to the refrigerator.
"Oh, no thank you. I'll just have a cup of tea." He started toward the stove where the kettle rested, but Belle headed him off, and waved him away to the table so that she could serve him.
For a moment he appeared ready to argue with her, but then backed away, taking a seat as she busied herself with the tray. Belle brought it over to the table and sat across from him so they might help themselves to tea, sugar, honey, lemon and shortbread cookies.
"Thank you, Miss French." He said politely.
"You're very welcome Mr. Gold." Belle sipped at her tea, but her mind wasn't on the man before her, more than anything it was what she would tell her friends about him instead.
"How do you expect it will be at the library today?"
"It'll be fine, I'm more worried about what comes after." She confided.
No reason not to tell him, she figured. This had to do with him too.
Gold set down his cup. "Hmm?"
"The news over us is out, and has been for a few days already. My friends have been texting me constantly."
"Ah. And what have you told them?"
"I haven't told them anything yet."
Gold lifted a brow. "Why not? Trying to draw out the suspense?"
Belle smiled at that. "I'm not that diabolical." She grew more serious as she explained her reasons behind keeping quiet for the past several days. "I...I wanted to give you and I more time to get comfortable with each other again. Everyone knowing so soon after it all happened was going to complicate things and I didn't want that."
Gold nodded. "I understand. But we are better now, don't you think?"
"We can stand to be in the same room without pulling each other's hair, so I'd call in a big improvement from a few days ago." Belle joked, but Mr. Gold was still serious.
"You had every reason to be upset." Gold held his cup before him, tapping it with his fingertips. "I was just being...myself."
Belle shook her head. "When are you going to stop that? My father broke into your house and wrecked it, Mr. Gold. I saw everything he ruined, and yes, they were just things, but they had to have meant something to you - why else did you leave on Sunday, if it wasn't because you couldn't stand to see all the damage in broad daylight?"
"I've no talent for housework," Gold dismissed, slipping on his mask of indifference to hide just how unnerved he was by her clear perception of him.
Who are you, Belle French?
"You've no talent for lying, either. At least to me. I see you, Mr. Gold. You're not the monster you pretend to be."
"Fine. Let's say I'm half the monster I pretend to be, is that fair?"
Belle slapped her palm down on the tabletop, rattling the tray, the harsh sound startling him in his seat.
"Stop trying to distract me." She ordered him. "I'm trying to tell you that I don't blame you for how you reacted that night. My father violated your home and so violated you. You could have killed him, but you didn't. Any other man would have done much worse than just ask that I stay, but you didn't. I know you. Stop trying to build yourself into such a hard bastard with me, it's too late for that."
Gold bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from snapping back at her. He was unused to being scolded like this and he wasn't sure he liked it, not even from her.
"What will you tell your friends?" He asked instead.
"I plan to meet with them at Granny's after work, and I'll tell the truth then."
"It may reflect better on you if you don't tell the whole truth."
"What do you mean?"
"People have already been talking about us. If you tell your circle that I forced you here, or that I am as beastly to you as anyone else, they may sympathize rather than judge."
Gold was again presenting her with free reign over the narrative of how they came to be together like this. If Belle were to keep quiet on the subject, she would be viewed as a woman who'd jumped at the chance to warm a rich man's bed. However, if Belle spun the story in a certain way, she would emerge as the hero - the young woman who offered herself in her father's place and suffered every day for it.
She would be Belle French, the beautiful martyr of Storybrooke.
The woman sneered at the idea.
She wouldn't tell lies just to gain sympathy. The man had so little faith in people that he thought her friends wouldn't stand by her if they knew she had agreed to stay with him.
Well, she would work to open his eyes.
"No. I am not going to lie about you like that." She shook her head. "I hadn't planned on telling them about our friendship yet, but I will now. I'm going to tell them everything, right from how this all started. It's time for us to let go of the secret, Mr. Gold. There's no reason for it anymore. Once I tell them the truth, they'll see you as my friend."
There's no end to this woman.
Gold reached across the table to take her hand, stroking his thumb over her knuckles. "On your head be it, then, Miss French. But I should tell you, two of your friends haven't been so patient as to wait for your call."
"What do you mean?"
"Your Mr. Garrison and Mr. Sawyer paid me a visit at the shop yesterday."
Belle set down her cup, surprise all over her face. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I knew you would learn about it soon enough on your own."
"What happened?"
"Well, they didn't make this look any worse, so I'd say it was a productive visit." He said, tracing a fingertip over the cut on his lip and gesturing to the bruises that still colored his face, courtesy of her father.
Belle looked down into her cup at the reminder that his home hadn't been the only thing damaged that awful night. She still hadn't seen Moe, but she hoped Mr. Gold had been able to get a few hits in - it was only fair after the offense done against him.
"They came in about an hour before I left to pick you up last night." Gold went on, still stroking her hand. "I told them the truth."
"Did you explain how we've known each other?"
"No. I left that out. I kept things short. All they know is how you came to be staying here."
Gold felt that he'd reached a point in his life where he didn't have to explain himself to anyone. He would leave all that to her.
As Belle departed for the day with a happily borrowed umbrella, the man finished his tea and thought over his encounter with two of her most loyal protectors...
The day before had been a slow day at the shop, slow enough that Gold had slipped out for an hour to purchase a new television for the living room. He didn't mind. He wasn't much in the mood for dealing, he was content to wait out the clock by catching up on paperwork. Once the time came, he would pick up Miss French and hopefully entice her into watching a film with him after dinner that evening.
He knew it wouldn't take much.
Small steps toward a repaired connection, but the man would take any step forward he could gain with her. Belle was worth everything to him now.
And not only me, he thought as the bell above the door chimed and he saw who had just come in.
He was surprised to see the young men, but he was not worried. Having done good business with them both before, he knew them to be level-headed. They wouldn't be threatening him over Belle, so he relaxed his grip on the cane and decided that, no, he would not need to reach for the pistol he kept concealed under the counter.
"Gentlemen."
"Hi, Mr. Gold." Shane said as the pair made their way to the counter and stood across from him.
Gold did not move. "What can I do for you?"
"We've been hearing rumors about you and Belle." Marcus began, and Shane's expression sank into one of annoyance.
Clearly, Shane hadn't wanted to open on the subject so quickly and Marcus was jumping ahead of him. Interesting.
"Rumors about Miss French and I?" Gold asked them.
"Yes, sir." Shane said.
"Salacious gossip?"
"Yes." Marcus nodded.
"All foul tales, you think?"
"We hope that's all it is."
"Should I guess what the stories entail?" Gold asked, wishing they would just get on with it.
"These stories we've heard, they should concern you."
"Why should they? I'm not bothered with the gossip of bored housewives."
"Well, we are when it involves our friend." Marcus asserted.
"How noble." Gold deadpanned. "Now, the rumors you've been hearing involve me, Miss French, her father and some violence, I'm sure."
"It depends on who's telling the story." Shane said flatly.
The pair had heard several versions of the same story, all of them ending with the one piece of truth the town could agree on, that Belle had spent the past several nights with Mr. Gold. What they sought now was the truth straight from the source.
"Enlighten me, then." Gold urged him. "I love a good story."
Shane shifted his weight, unsure of what he should tell the older man. Offending Gold now could mean that Belle would suffer for it later.
Rumors of abuse against her had made their way all about town as well; of course, if there turned out to be any truth to that, then he and Marcus would deal with Gold themselves. Right here, right now.
"We've heard that you and Belle have...that she's with you now."
"With me. And how do you mean that?" Gold asked, openly enjoying the distinctly uncomfortable expressions that crossed their faces.
"We've heard that Belle's been staying with you for the past week."
"Now, that much is true."
"Sleeping with you?"
"Technically."
He and Belle did sleep together in the same house, after all.
"Damn it, you know what we're asking!" Marcus snapped, done with his games.
Gold wasn't intimidated by the flash of temper.
The men were here for Belle, they cared for her. He could never fault them for that.
He supposed he was finished toying with them for now.
"All right, then. Ask me what you want to know, not if every different rumor you've heard is true, otherwise we'll be here all day and I haven't the time for that."
He couldn't be late in picking up Belle from the library, that wouldn't do at all.
Marcus had calmed, remembered the Mr. Gold he knew, not the sinister lech of the gossip mill. "Mr. Gold, will you please explain what happened over the weekend, how Belle came to be staying in your house? Everyone has a theory but like you said, it's all gossip, and Belle won't talk to anyone yet."
Gold nodded. "She'll talk when she's ready, I expect. I'll tell you how it all went from my end."
Shane and Marcus both leaned in slightly, eager to learn his side of things.
Mr. Gold smoothed a hand down the front of his suit jacket, and began. "Sometime during this past Saturday evening, Mr. French broke into my house."
"Why?" Marcus asked.
Gold shrugged. "I'd had a confrontation with him earlier that day. The break-in was retaliation for that, I expect. I'd been in with the mayor that evening, so I hadn't known of the damage until I returned home late that night."
"What were you doing with the mayor?"
Gold raised a pointed brow at the pair. "Guess."
Both Shane and Marcus backed off the question, and Mr. Gold went on. "I knew it was him who did it, who else? I've crossed paths with him before."
The men knew all too well what Mr. Gold was referring to; the famous night that Moe had had a late night drinking and wandered into the Mayor's backyard, trashing the flower beds that his own florist shop had planted that week. When questioned, Moe had slurred out some angry words of how the flowerbeds hadn't been planted the way he'd wanted, that someone at Game of Thorns had it out to undermine him.
Thankfully Gold had been there to stop French from doing further damage to the yard or breaking into the mayor's house. The men had fought, and once it was all finished, Mr. Gold had walked away with a black eye and Moe had narrowly escaped prison.
Shane and Marcus remembered how humiliated Belle had been, so mortified that she'd not left her apartment for days, hiding from the shadow cast by her father.
"So what did you do?"
"What does anyone do when they've been robbed? I looked through all the damage to see what had been taken. Mr. French tore through the two front rooms of the house, and he stole something precious from me. I was...upset."
"What did he take?"
Gold resisted the urge to turn around and check the wall safe to reassure himself that it was still secure inside. He shook his head, "It hardly matters now, I took it back. I drove to his house, forced the door and found him with friends inside, gloating over what he'd done. I think you can fill in the blanks about what happened next."
Marcus and Shane nodded, silent. They could well imagine the scene, Moe bragging to whatever pack of barfly friends he'd had staying over that weekend, and then Mr. Gold storming in, furious wrath in a tailored suit.
Mr. Gold could be stirred to a level of violence that belied his formality and generally calm indifference to everyone in town. They'd never seen it themselves, but people talk.
He went on, "He and I had an altercation."
"I'll bet." Shane said. He couldn't blame Mr. Gold for going after French if it was true that he'd broken into his house - if French had done the same to the apartment he shared with Marcus, they would have done the same thing. "But where does Belle fit in?"
"Yeah, why's she staying with you if her dad's the one who broke in?" Marcus asked.
"Mr. Gold, if Belle told you she helped with the break-in or something like that, you need to know it's not true." Shane told him, thinking that Belle might have jumped to take the blame from her father, paying for his crime on her back with Mr. Gold. He couldn't believe she would sell herself in that way, but Belle had a long history of going above and beyond in covering for the man.
"That's right, she couldn't have been with her dad breaking into your house on Saturday. She worked her shift at the library and then we picked her up with Ruby to go to The Rabbit Hole right after. We were together all night." Marcus agreed. "I dropped her off myself."
Gold nodded, "No, I know she wasn't involved in the break-in. She is many things, but she's nothing like her father."
If the men could agree on anything, they could agree on that.
"So how does Belle fit into this?"
Gold looked to Marcus. "I should thank you for dropping her off, Mr. Sawyer. You delivered her right to me."
"What do you mean?"
"She came in and found her father and I...in an argument." Gold explained, gesturing to the new bruises and cut that marred his face.
"She found you fighting?" Shane asked. This story kept getting better and better.
"It wasn't much of a fight." Gold boasted lightly.
It was classless to be fighting anyone at his age and position, but he couldn't help it; the man knew he wasn't much of a threat at first sight - he was in his middle years, the grey of his hair perhaps aging him further, there was his limp to consider and he wasn't tall or very broad. Even now, he was dwarfed by the two men in his shop, but there was something to be said for experience and skill. Of course, the rage that had taken him over that night had been an asset.
"In any case, Miss French stepped in and asked that she and I discuss things in private." Gold explained, fudging the facts a bit here. "So I took her to my house and asked that she clear the mess."
"All right, see, that all makes sense." Marcus said. "But it's been almost a week. Why is she still staying with you?"
Gold shrugged. "Just cleaning up after her father hasn't balanced the scales. I'm keeping her."
Marcus and Shane stared at him, incredulous. "What - you're keeping her?"
"Yes."
"Like, you're just keeping her at your house?"
"As I said, yes."
Shane didn't think of himself as a stupid man, but something in what Mr. Gold had just told him wasn't computing in his mind. "How do you mean that, exactly?"
"I mean Miss French will be staying with me. Moe French took something precious from me, so I took his daughter."
Marcus felt as dumbfounded as Shane at Mr. Gold's simple reasoning. "You took Belle? You just took her, like, you just decided you were going to take another person and keep them - Mr. Gold, that's kidnapping!"
Gold rolled his eyes. "She isn't tied up in the basement, is she? Better she's with me than back with her father, I should think."
"Wait, so she cleaned up your house after her father broke in, and she's actually agreed to stay with you?" Marcus asked, clearly shocked.
The man frowned slightly. "I'm not sure I appreciate your tone, Mr. Sawyer, but yes."
Shane narrowed his eyes. "For how long?"
"Until I say otherwise."
"What have you been doing these past few days?"
"After the damage her father did to my home, it's taken some time to repair things." Gold said, and that much was true. All he cared about repairing was his relationship with Belle.
"And what about the rumors?" Marcus demanded. "I appreciate all you've done for me, Mr. Gold, but I swear to God if you're making Belle sleep with you-"
"I haven't touched her." Gold bit out, his voice cold in the face of that accusation. "It's not that kind of arrangement. Now, I've told you what you wanted to know. We're done here."
Gold shook off the memory of Shane and Marcus and their questions. He'd shared the truth with them, and they would learn Belle's account of their situation later in the day.
He didn't mind.
Belle had a talent for honesty that he did not share. By night's end, all in her circle would know of the friendship they'd enjoyed for the past year, and with any hope they would accept her as being his captive guest for the foreseeable future.
Gold thought on that.
Captive guest.
A strangely fitting title for Miss French.
B: I'll be at Granny's in 1 hour
The mass text Belle sent out was met by immediate affirmation from her circle - the girls were excited to finally learn the truth.
Belle was silently reciting to herself what she would tell them, even as she locked up at the library and walked her way down Main Street, smiling politely to those she passed on her way.
She did notice one woman who gave her a strange look, but who knew why that might be? Belle hadn't met her, there was no reason to jump to conclusions about the entire town knowing where she slept.
Belle did not cross the street to check in with the man at his shop, though the lights were on and she could see him moving about inside as he wrapped up for the day. Belle would miss visiting with him there, but she wouldn't miss having to duck into the back whenever someone came looking for him.
No more need for secrets, now.
Belle sat at one of the picnic tables on the patio of Granny's diner, silent until all her girlfriends had arrived, eager for the truth. She draped her blazer over the back of her chair; despite the dark clouds overhead, it was still summer in Storybrooke. The air was hot and humid.
She considered going into the restroom to put up her hair, but chose to stay put as her friends began approaching her table. One by one, they came. Naturally, Ruby had been waiting there already, Ashley was next to arrive, then Mary-Margaret, Ariel and then Jasmine was the last to arrive.
Ruby had brought Belle an iced tea with extra lemon, a soft bribe to get her started.
Belle took a deep breath, knowing there was no way out of this now. If she were to try bolting from the table, Ashley was ready to tackle her, and Jasmine wouldn't hesitate in tying her to the chair to get her to stay put and finally talk to them.
Belle opened her mouth to speak, and everyone at the table leaned in to listen. "This past Saturday, my father broke into Mr. Gold's house. After Marcus dropped me off at home after The Rabbit Hole, I walked in and found Mr. Gold with my father. They had been fighting."
Soft gasps of "No way!" and "You're serious?" made their way around the table, but Belle went on, wanting to tell the hard facts first.
"Mr. Gold was...I couldn't see a way to keep him from coming after my father, so I offered to work with him, find a way to balance things. He agreed, and drove me to his house so I could see all the damage my father had caused. It was awful."
Here she paused, sipping her tea. "He hadn't just picked the lock and stolen a few things. He broke windows, he sliced up the furniture, broke everything he could get his hands on and on top of that, he spray-painted the walls. I'd offered to work for Mr. Gold in his shop or with one of his other businesses, but he refused."
Belle cleared her throat. "He wanted to send a message. He wanted me to stay with him."
Ruby was the first to speak after Belle dropped the bomb of truth on why she'd been staying with the cagey Mr. Gold. She reached across the table and took Belle's hand into both of hers. It was cold from holding onto her glass of iced tea.
"Belle, tell me the truth. If Gold has hurt you, there are guys I know at the docks who are crazy enough to go after him, you just say the word."
"No!" Belle pulled her hand from Ruby's grip. "Please, don't do anything like that. God only knows what he'd do if someone else came after him now."
"You've been with him for almost a week, what have you been doing all this time?"
Belle stirred her tea with the straw before sipping at it.
"The first day, Sunday, I cleaned up the mess after he'd left the house. It took me half a day, there was so much that my father ruined..." Belle blinked, banishing the memory of the violated home. "We only spoke for a few minutes on Sunday, and it didn't go well. We were both angry, but more angry at the situation than at each other. I left to go back to dad's house to get my things. Jasmine, I was heading back to Mr. Gold when we bumped into each other." Belle said, locking eyes with her friend at the end of the table.
Jasmine raised her glass toward Belle in acknowledgment. "I thought so."
Belle went on, "When I got back to his house, he had already gone. I didn't see him that night, and only for a few minutes on Monday. I didn't know what to do, so I just did my laundry and stayed in the guest room. I'd forgiven him, but he was avoiding me. I didn't want him to think I hated him. So, on Tuesday, I invited him to dinner."
"What did you make?" Ariel asked.
"Ziti."
Ashley made a hmm sound in the back of her throat before asking, "And did you talk about what happened?"
"Yes...he apologized for how he'd acted over the weekend. He'd been so upset over his house, and he was sorry for demanding that I stay with him." Belle said, trying to be careful in what she revealed here.
She didn't want to blurt out everything, she wanted to tell her story one chapter at a time.
"And that was on Tuesday. So he apologized for making you stay, but he still hasn't let you go." Ashley confirmed.
"He's not forcing me to-"
Ruby narrowed her eyes. "What has he done to you?"
Snow's expression was concerned as well, "Mr. Gold hasn't...you know, tried anything?"
Belle rolled her eyes. She'd expected this, and though Mr. Gold regretted his terms in their arrangement, it would be an uphill battle to convince her friends of that. Gold was a man of great authority, and so of course there were people who resented that, but it was so unfair for her friends, women who'd barely even spoken to the man, to insinuate that he'd done anything to hurt her.
"Nothing like that, he hardly ever even calls me by my first name."
Ruby scoffed, "What, you really expect us to believe that he only wants you around to keep house for him?"
"Is it really so hard to believe?"
"It's just...this isn't adding up, Belle. There's something you're not telling us. He's not a kind man." Snow put in.
"And you know him so well, right?" Belle challenged. "Have any of you ever even spoken to him for more than a few minutes?"
A round of noncommittal murmurs flowed over the group.
Snow shrugged. "The longest I've talked with him was probably when he offered me the terms on my apartment lease."
"He does business with my father, not me." Jasmine said, not terribly interested. She didn't know Mr. Gold, but she believed Belle's story. Humiliating as it was to be brought on to keep house for the man, her friend was fortunate that'd been all he'd demanded of her.
Ruby completely dismissed the question, "The quiet ones who keep to themselves are always the biggest perverts. Have you checked your room for cameras? And the bathroom too - in the shower and the toilet."
"Ruby, that's sick!" Ariel squirmed in her seat at the idea.
Belle scowled bitterly at her, but Ruby wasn't finished.
"What? Belle, you don't know what he's trying to pull in making you stay there! I mean, he's European." Ruby finished her point, as if his heritage was any point at all.
Belle had had enough, and abruptly stood from her chair. "That's it! Experience doesn't make you an expert!"
Ruby raised her brows, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean that just because you've dated half the town doesn't mean you're in a position to judge what Mr. Gold wants from me, and Snow, you're no better!" Belle said, turning on the demure teacher.
Mary-Margaret's eyes widened, she was the doe facing an angry lion. "What?"
"How's Katherine? Haven't heard from her lately, it's a lucky thing she's away for business so often because we all know you haven't backed off from David. But yes, Mr. Gold is so horrible because he asked that I stay and help repair the damage my father did." Belle took her blazer off the back of the chair, getting ready to leave, but not done with defending one friend to a group of another. "Instead of letting me tell you you're just jumping to these sick ideas - cameras in the toilets, Ruby? What's the matter with all of you?"
At all these home truths, Ruby and Snow thankfully fell silent, while Jasmine, Ashley and Ariel had been wiser to keep their overt opinions on Mr. Gold to themselves.
"Mr. Gold hasn't taken anything from me, but would you like to know what he's given? A beautiful room, and he's never set foot inside it since I've come to stay there. He's given me a safe place to stay. That's more than I can even say for my own father!" Belle fought past the tightness in her throat to go on, "He's been a wonderful friend to me, none of you know anything about him."
Belle turned away, satisfied she'd defended the man and stood up to her friends' suspicions. She hated it when they were upset with each other but she couldn't let their accusations go on - it wasn't fair that there was never anyone on Mr. Gold's side.
The woman ignored Ruby calling after her as she stepped off Granny's patio and turned down the street.
"Belle, wait! Come back!"
Snow put a hand on Ruby's arm to stop her from following Belle into the wealthy neighborhood that stood adjacent to Storybrooke's Main Street.
"No, Ruby, let her go...she's right."
Ariel raised a brow and stirred her Coke. "About Gold? No way. She just admitted he made her stay with him."
"Yes, but that's not all she said, and we didn't let her finish. She's right, we didn't listen to her. Belle's been staying with him for days, if she's so sure of him then there has to be a good reason for it. Maybe we've misjudged all of this." Snow reasoned to the table.
Jasmine wasn't convinced, but she could see the wisdom of a 'wait and see' approach here; as Snow had just said, Belle had been with the man for days, which already gave her more insight into him than any of them could claim. If Belle was sure, then who were they to argue?
"What do you think we should do?" She asked.
Ashley had already texted an apology to Belle, along with a plea for a talk in private. No response yet, but then it had been all of two seconds since tapping 'send'.
"The only thing we can do, just give her time."
Belle stalked through the neighborhood, hot blood throbbing through her with every step. She was angry with her friends - not only for their suspicions over Mr. Gold, but because they hadn't let her tell the whole story. If they had only listened, Belle would have told them everything; how their soft friendship had begun, the secret sides of the man that no one had ever seen.
No one listens to me.
Her father had never listened when she'd tried to talk to him about getting help, and there had been days when she'd begged.
She'd begged her mother, too.
Begged her to stay, and then begged to take Belle with her before she'd left.
For all the good that had done.
And now, her friends hadn't wanted to listen to the truth about Mr. Gold.
Again, if she'd traded places with any one of them, she might be just as skeptical...but she knew she would have listened.
Belle's thoughts were interrupted by the unmistakable thrum of Marcus's car. She stopped on the sidewalk, turning as he pulled up to the curb before her. She approached the car and leaned her elbows on the door to look inside. "Marcus."
He smiled at her from behind the wheel. "Rough night?"
"You could say that."
"Girl talk didn't go well?"
"How did you know about that?"
"I see all and know all in Storybrooke."
Belle rolled her eyes, "Sure you do. Anyway, girl talk turned into a big girl fight at Granny's."
"Oh, yeah? Were you pillow-fighting in panties?" He asked, raising a brow at her.
Belle stood up and began moving down the sidewalk. "Goodbye, Marcus."
He honked at her and began to roll the vehicle to keep pace with her stride. "Belle, hang on! Come on, come back and talk to me."
Belle stopped and approached the Mustang again. "I know that you and Shane visited with Mr. Gold yesterday."
"Yeah, we did. Sorry. I mean, you weren't talking, and with all the rumors flying around...he told us why you're staying over there now."
A truck had turned down the street and was approaching them. Belle huffed and slid in beside him so he wouldn't be stuck holding up traffic just to talk to her. Grateful that she was being reasonable, Marcus turned the corner, taking them back into town.
Belle stiffened, "Don't take me back to Granny's. I can't deal with them all over again tonight."
"All right. Can you deal with Shane? He's just closed up shop for the night."
She sighed. "That's fine. After we get him, will you take me back to Mr. Gold's?"
Marcus nodded and put on his right blinker after stopping at an intersection. "If that's what you want."
Belle rubbed a hand over her face, so frustrated she could only laugh. "All I wanted for tonight was for them to understand that there's the Mr. Gold that the town sees, and then there's the real person behind all that. I could barely tell them anything before they started with all these suspicions, and I'm sure you can guess what Ruby opened with."
"What, Ruby asking wild questions about your sex life? I'm shocked." He said flatly. "Don't worry, I won't ask you since Mr. Gold already shut me down when I asked him the same thing."
"Oh, no! What did you ask him?!" Belle demanded.
"Dont snap at me." Marcus warned her. "Out of concern for you, yes, I asked if he'd forced you into anything. Belle, you kept quiet about this for days and let the story get out of control. We were stuck with a hundred different rumors, and I got sick of waiting for you to come around with answers. So, yes, I asked him."
Humbled, Belle asked, "What did he tell you?"
"He just said that your situation, whatever it is, it's not one of 'those arrangements'." Marcus told her, making an attempt to copy Gold's accent and failing miserably. "We get it now, you're just sleeping over, not sleeping with him. It looks like you two are playing house from the outside, though. You have to know that."
"We know. That's what he wanted, at first. His home had been violated, Marcus, and he was reacting, trying to make a statement. He wanted to use me as a way to warn against anyone planning to make a move against him." Belle groaned and closed her eyes briefly. "He wanted to take it back the next day, but it was already too late. I'd made my choice to play into it."
"You're really okay with this?"
"I know the truth, and I want my friends to know the truth too."
"Yeah, but what about everyone else?" Marcus asked.
Belle shook her head. "I'm not worried about them."
Her assertion, true as it was, was incredibly short-sighted. In time she would learn how unforgiving a small town could be, but Belle didn't have the luxury of planning very far ahead. Her life had been upended just days ago. She could only deal with one issue at a time.
Marcus pulled in front of Shane's family jewelry store, and he slipped into the Mustang to join them. He greeted them both, but one look at Belle told him what he needed to know, so he didn't ask. He was satisfied with the answers they'd gained from Mr. Gold the day before.
Shane put an arm around Belle's shoulders, grateful when she leaned into him. She sighed, still upset with her friends, but grateful in a way that he and Marcus had already spoken with Mr. Gold so she wouldn't have to try explaining things all over again.
The short ride was silent but for the radio as the car turned into Mr. Gold's neighborhood and after a few turns, pulled over to park in front of the notorious house. Together, the trio existed the car. Belle climbed the stairs to the front porch, her friends trailing behind her.
She didn't have a key, so pressed the doorbell. They didn't have to wait long.
Mr. Gold answered the door, taking in the sight of Belle's red eyes and the concerned faces of the men. Clearly her evening hadn't gone as she'd planned, but then, what ever does?
How can you give God a laugh? Tell him your plans.
The man knew the truth in that all too well. He'd had plans, once, plans for his family - and God was still laughing.
Gold stepped back to let Belle inside, then turned to Shane and Marcus. "Nightcap?"
Grateful to be invited, the men stepped into the house, the first in a parade of guests to visit the house of Mr. Gold in the next few days.
Saturday, and the skies were still dark with the pending storm.
Gold could feel it in his bones, a soft ache that he'd learned to live with the past several years. The rain would come for a day or two and then it would be bright skies over Storybrooke again, all summery breezes and colorful flowers.
The man tightened his grip on the handle of his cane at the passing thought of flowers, and remembered Game of Thorns. The florist shop had been struggling for well over a year, but it was thanks to Belle that he hadn't had cause to foreclose.
She was too damn loyal to her father's business, a venture that Moe French had let fall into neglect but refused to part with. Gold imagined it had something to do with Belle's mother, the shop being the symbolic torch Moe fought to keep burning for her in the hopes that his wife would return.
Now, there was a thought.
He could arrange an accident that left Game of Thorns burnt to the ground, and Belle free of the anchor that was Moe French.
Hmm...
He'd never done anything so drastic (that he would admit to in open court) but the thought was tempting. In keeping Belle with him, he was keeping her away from her father and by her own admission, she refused to work at the florist shop. When he'd asked her about it the other day, she'd seemed almost empowered by her decision to avoid the place.
Good.
Let her taste the power of control, let her seize the life she'd wanted but had had to turn away from to tend to her father. Yes, let her live free of her past...so long as she could live out her future with him.
Selfish, to be sure, but Gold was who he was.
He had seized Belle to his side the moment he'd seen the opportunity to keep her. It hadn't been his plan to force her into his bed, of course, he'd only wanted her close. Days had passed since she'd agreed to stay, and Gold had made efforts to make her comfortable.
Despite her protests, he wasn't finished yet.
Gold didn't want her to leave, but it also wasn't enough that she just went along with his want to keep her.
He wanted Belle to want to stay with him.
Unfortunately, I can't stay. Gold thought with some irony as he checked his watch and broke his own train of thought where Belle was concerned.
"Miss French." He greeted as he stepped into the kitchen to find her with a magazine at the table.
"Good morning."
"I have to step out to pick up a bit of precious cargo."
Belle raised her brows. "Do you need any help?"
"No, I can manage the heavy lifting. No wild parties while I'm gone." He warned teasingly.
"I'll try to keep the rave contained to my room, Mr. Gold."
The man nodded with a smile and left her at the table, confident that she would be there when he returned later in the day.
He wasn't gone for more than half an hour when Belle looked up from her magazine at the doorbell chimes sounding throughout the house. She didn't think twice about answering the door even with Mr. Gold away.
She was surprised to find Ruby and Mary-Margaret outside on the porch, however.
Surprised and irritated.
"What's this? Round 2?" Belle drawled, crossing her arms.
Mary-Margaret put up her hands in a placating gesture. "No, Belle, please. We talked too much last night, if you want to talk I promise we'll listen. We'll just listen."
Belle nodded, accepting her friend's plea for another talk, and waved them on into the house. She looked at Ruby, who still appeared skeptical, and more than a touch uncomfortable at being invited into the lair of the mysterious Mr. Gold.
"Ruby? You sure you want to hear this?" Belle prompted.
Her friend nodded, "If it'll help things make more sense, then yes."
Belle nodded in return, and lead them past the bare front of the house, back into the kitchen. Belle began to make coffee, silently laughing at the pair of them. They appeared so awed by the house - she'd been just as impressed by the house on her first visit, only a little over a week ago now, but it was amusing to see it in others.
"You can sit down, I promise he's not hiding in the shadows waiting to attack or anything." She teased. Belle was a forgiving woman, and they had been her friends for years.
Relieved, both Ruby and Mary-Margaret sat at the table, nerves settled, and they waited for the coffee to brew.
The robust scent filled the space and within minutes, Belle had lifted the coffee pot and poured a cup for each of them, loading a tray with sugar, flavored creamers, napkins and cookies that she set on the table so they all might help themselves. "I should probably start by letting you both in on a secret."
"You're pregnant!" Ruby burst out.
Belle rolled her eyes, "No! God, what happened to listening?"
Ruby put up her hands in a placating gesture. "Sorry, I jumped the gun on that one."
"Well, to stop that happening again I'll start by saying that Mr. Gold has never touched me. But we have been seeing each other for over a year." Belle confessed as she added sugar to her cup.
Unbeknownst to Gold, Belle had found two cups from the teaset he'd bought for her in Sunshire. One of them was miraculously undamaged, while he other she kept up in her room. A little longer with some superglue and it could join the other in the cupboard.
Ruby bit her tongue to restrain her shout of surprise.
Snow furrowed her brow, "How've you been dating? No one ever saw you together before."
Belle shook her head, sipping. "No, not dating. We have been friends, though."
"You never said anything."
Belle cleared her throat, readying herself to tell the whole truth.
"When I met him, it was right after the library first opened. He came in for a book and we got to talking. It was only for a few minutes, and at the time I thought he was interesting. I knew who he was, but it'd been the first time I'd ever spoken to him. A few days later he came in again and we talked for a little longer. Mr. Gold tried baiting me about the books at the library, testing to see if I could answer his questions. I had fun with it. We had our own inside game the first time we met. It just grew from there."
Belle sipped at her coffee, a little amused that Ruby and Snow were so focused on her every word.
Why is our friendship such an impossible thing to them?
"It went like that between us, but then he mentioned something he had at his shop, and he needed a rare book for research that wasn't even available in the U.S. at the time. I didn't tell him, but I had put in a special order for it and brought the book over to his shop once it arrived. Mr. Gold was just going to pay me for it, but I named my price instead: I wanted to see the piece he was working on." Belle shrugged. "After that, it became our routine that whenever he had something new, some sculpture or piece of artwork, I would go to see it during my lunch break...sometimes he would invite me over to the shop after hours so we wouldn't be pressed for time when he had something new. And sometimes I wouldn't even see anything, I would go over there and bring tea or sodas for us to share. We'd just talk or play games. We even spent a day together in Sunshire a few weeks ago."
Belle smiled down at her chipped teacup the way an engaged woman might look down at her ring. "No one ever knew because we kept our friendship a secret. He doesn't like people knowing much about him, he's told me that before."
Ruby, silent throughout Belle's confession, seemed to suddenly piece things together. "So that's why he acted with you in the kids play, I could never understand how he ended up involved with that."
"It was because I asked him. I still owe him a favor for it."
Ruby bit her tongue to keep from making some smart comment on that; it wasn't Mr. Gold she was insulting anymore, it was Belle's friend. And, as strange as it was to realize, any friend to Belle was a friend to Ruby, which meant that she was now, in a roundabout way, friends with the man.
Strange world.
Mary-Margaret leaned in even closer, almost afraid she'd miss a detail now. This revelation was just too interesting to her, this friendship that had blossomed without anyone the wiser.
Impossible!
"What else?"
Belle shrugged, "Well, there was that time we shared breakfast at Granny's just after the New Year. He'd invited me to make up for disappearing those few weeks in winter."
"I was wondering why you kept asking around about him, I just thought you were short on money."
She shook her head. "No. I was trying to find out if anyone knew where he'd gone. I was worried about him. He'd gone away for nearly a month and I hadn't known anything about it. That morning, I'd found him just after he got back, and he took me to breakfast though he didn't tell me anything about why he'd gone or what he'd been looking for."
"Men. So typical, I guess he is human after all." Ruby shrugged. The way Belle talked about him, this entire situation could almost sound normal, as if she'd been speaking about Marcus or Phillip.
"He's just a man. But he does have a beastly temper. That's why I'm here." Belle shrugged.
"He's using you as a pawn in this head game with the town, Belle!" Ruby said.
"He he didn't give me much of a choice that first night, but he did give me the choice to stay. He regrets it now, but when he tried to take it back, I'd already played into it. And really, gossip has never bothered me."
"I don't know how you can be so calm when you talk about this - if it was me I would've killed Gold the second he came up with this idea. He knew how it would look to everyone else but he just didn't care how it would come back on you! I mean, do you know what people are saying?" Ruby had almost slapped a woman at the diner the other day after overhearing her opinions on Gold's 'little tart'.
"You weren't there that night. You never saw what my father did. I'm not trying to excuse what Mr. Gold did, but it's important that you know he regrets it. He just wanted to keep me, he was never going to hurt me. Once we'd finally talked about it he apologized, several times. He wasn't himself that night. He's made an effort to make up for it." Belle added, thinking of the gifts she'd discovered in her room.
The gifts had been thoughtful, but Belle had been more grateful for the openness they'd shared that week. They had been more honest with each other in the past week than they had in the last year.
"You're seriously all right with everyone thinking the worst? I mean, there're only two versions of the story that anyone will believe - either Gold is forcing you to sleep with him, or you're sleeping with him because you want his money." Ruby insisted.
Belle set down her cup, her irritation showing through. "I know that, and no, I'm not thrilled with it, but you know people would assume the worst no matter what happened. That's why we kept it a secret that we even knew each other. I mean, the first time I had breakfast with him right after we met there were people sticking their noses into it from both sides." Belle shrugged, "But you know what? I think I've grown numb to gossip thanks to my father. I don't care what anyone else thinks of this, but my friends, the people who really know me - I care what you think."
Ruby took a deep breath. "I think...I think you should have said something about this sooner. I think it's strange you made friends with him in the first place, let alone that you actually seem to like staying with him, even knowing what everyone is thinking about this...but you're right, Belle. I can't say that I know him. Hell, he's been a customer at the diner and my grandmother's landlord for as long as I can remember, but I don't know him any better than he knows me."
"Neither do I." Agreed Snow, who had been the quieter of the two. "Belle, if you're sure you can trust him, if you're sure you're safe here...well, we can't ask for more than that."
"Thank you. I do trust him, and I know I'm safe here. If he wants me, he'll show me." Belle said, accidentally letting a bare trace of longing slip into her voice.
"You almost sound..." Ruby's eyes widened in realization, shocked and happy to figure out her friend's best kept secret. "Oh, my God - Belle!"
"What?" Snow asked, still in the dark
Ruby could barely contain her excitement. "You like him!"
Belle took a breath to answer her, but all three of the woman fell silent and turned to face the front of the house on hearing the front door open and swing shut again.
"He's back earlier than I expected." Belle told them quietly. "Stay here."
She left the table to go greet Mr. Gold, some tension stirring inside her. The night before, he had invited Shane and Marcus to join them but this was different. The man might be less than happy to know that Belle had let in two more friends while he'd been away from the house.
Crossing from the kitchen toward the living room, she found the man inside, having just set down a colorful tote bag on the loveseat, and the toddler Belle recognized from his pawn shop was asleep and tucked securely against his chest.
Gold looked up as she stepped closer, and motioned for her silence.
Belle approached him, her voice a whisper. "Mr. Gold, I need to let you know, I've a couple visitors with me in the kitchen."
"Who have you brought here?"
In truth, Gold was only mildly curious. He took it as a sign of progress that Belle would bring visitors to the house; he wanted her to be comfortable here, this was to be her home now.
The man tightened his hold on the toddler, a sly smile quirking his lips. Evening had fallen over Storybrooke, yet it wasn't too late for a bit of fun.
Belle wrung her fingers together, "It's Ruby and Snow, we're just having coffee."
"Ah, it's a gaggle of women, is it?"
"You could say that."
"Do as you like." Gold's attention was more on the child he clutched to his chest. "We're just going to rest in my room for a bit."
Belle nodded, reassured that the surprise visitors hadn't upset him. "Of course, and I'll make sure we keep the noise down for you."
Gold inclined his head and moved toward the back of the house. Belle took a few steps ahead of him to reach the kitchen first. She made a reassuring gesture to her friends at the table, noting the relief on both their faces.
They stood up when Mr. Gold came into the kitchen after Belle.
"Ladies, good evening." He greeted them, his voice low.
"Hi." Ruby greeted, her eyes fixed on him for anything suspicious in his behavior.
Snow was watching him as well, but her greeting was polite enough. "Hello, Mr. Gold."
Ruby relaxed a shade as she noticed how at ease Belle was. Her friend didn't seem surprised at all that the man was carrying a child, which was just about the last thing Ruby or Snow had expected to see tonight.
But, in a show of effort to her friend, Ruby approached him with a smile. If Belle had found enough reason to look past the gossip and see the man, then why shouldn't she?
"Who is that, Mr. Gold? She's adorable." Ruby said, reaching forward to stroke a chubby little thigh.
He hummed lowly when the baby opened her eyes and lifted her head to take in the new faces in his house. As she had when she'd first seen Belle, she burrowed her head into his chest to hide.
"She is the daughter of a man who cannot pay his bills. Do you know what that makes her?"
Gold looked at their expectant faces.
"Mine."
Ruby drew back from him and Mary-Margaret audibly gasped from where she stood at the table. Belle rolled her eyes.
Gold stroked the child's back as she stirred, settling her. "I think I'll name her...Collateral."
At their horrified looks, Gold tossed them a smile and disappeared into his room.
"He's joking." Belle said, turning to her friends the second he'd shut the door. "I'm almost sure he's joking."