I do not own Once Upon a Time

Chapter 6 The Winds of Change

For the next three weeks, he had never seen Belle look so happy. She came in everyday with eyes sparkling, voice bubbling, feet nearling dancing, threatening to knock over glass trinkets and highly valuable collections. He didn't mind as long as she continued to be just like that. He had a strange desire to bottle the joy that filled Belle's soul-surely a drop would make every cloudy day one of sunshine and roses.

For the next three weeks, he listened as she mapped out what needed to be done to achieve her dreams. She spoke of the need to take classes online, so that way she could work her way through. After hearing of her desired college, he may or may not have used his connections in the city to make a donation to a specific scholarship that said connections would make sure only Belle could achieve. She had already started writing essays for it, and was bubbling over to tell him how she had already picked classes for the winter/spring semester (since fall was in full swing and winter was threatening to pounce upon Maine with a vengeance).

He had been only too happy to hear that she had quit her grocery job. She really wasn't cut out for that line of work, anyway. Her manager was as annoying as a crow, and constantly berated her gracelessness, which he supposed was a real problem when trying to stock shelves.

He had heard her groan that there was no public library in Storybrooke. The closest one was about thirty miles away, and although she could commute easily, she just hated to leave the town that held so many memories for her. To abandon her mother's shop, once her dreams were established, had felt like betrayal enough, but to leave the people and the way of life that she had always known seemed too much for even a strong Belle French.

'I've always wanted to travel. But when you say the word 'travel' you think of returning home. That's the goal, right? You return to friends and family,' She sighed so forlornly at the word family. 'And you tell them of all the adventures you had.'

This comment sent Robert into another tenzy of research and string pulling. It would be a few years before Belle would be qualified for such a position, but it would take a while before he got everything in place anyway. Robert liked puzzles and challenges. He liked being able to analyze the weaknesses and strengths of others and twist them in such a way that the results went his way. That was one of the main reasons he had become a lawyer, and while he rarely used that role in the same capacity he had in Boston, the lessons he had learned continued to help him achieve his goals-and his main goal in life right now was to help Belle French reach hers.

Life was out of his control, as he had so aptly put it to Moe French. It was what had sent his busy life to a screeching halt all those years ago. The realization that you can scheme and plan but life will throw you things that you can't scheme your way out of. Like a crushed car that takes your family and shatters your leg.

Or a beautiful woman's infuriating father.

It was a Saturday, a month after Belle's declaration that she walked into his shop and her eyes didn't sparkle. Her smile didn't reach those beautiful blues, and she went about quietly about her work when for the past month she hadn't stopped talking once she arrived. She normally was punctuating her word flow with phrases like: 'sorry, Mr. Gold, I know I'm rambling.' 'Robert, you know you can stop me if I'm being too much', or even ones like 'I saw you yawn, I am boring you! Don't tell me you were gaping at some interesting artifact, I know what I saw!' that would send him into assurances that he found what she said very interesting, or that she just simply didn't understand how amazing the antique was he was fascinated with. Sometimes he even ventured an 'Are you speaking still, dearie, I haven't been paying attention'-and she would giggle, eyes dancing, and continue with some tidbit of information she had gathered.

However, the quiet that settled on the shop, the ticking of every old clock that inhabited the small space screamed through the silence. After about three hours of the calm, he had determined to figure out what exactly was going on.

After working behind the curtain, in the back of his shop for a good thirty minutes he walked in to find Belle mindlessly cleaning a glass cabinet, picking up each ceramic carefully, yet it was as if she wasn't actually seeing what she was doing behind her glazed eyes. He walked silently behind her, barely putting weight on his cane to keep it silent.

'Funny story behind that collection, you know.'

Belle's hands went flying in the air, ceramic figurine and all. She normally would have given him a sly look for scaring her, as he quite enjoyed doing, and then giggle at whatever comment he would make.

Robert caught the ceramic before it became shattered fragments on the floor, was about to give a quip, when he noticed Belle's red rimmed eyes and the single tear that had found its way down her cheek, despite her quick attempts to hide any distress. This caused any witty comeback to run completely away and he only wanted to battle any fiend that would be the cause of her distress.

'Belle, what's the matter?'

She looked down at her shoes, while he placed the figurine back in the glass case. She fidgeted with her clothes for a good minute, trying to compose herself and fight back the emotional edge to her voice.

'Nothing really.'

'It's not nothing if you are distressed like that. Won't you tell me? I'm not the best at comfort, but I'd like to try.'

Belle smiled at that, looking at him with those eyes deep with kindness. 'You're a good friend, you know that?'

'You have told me that before, but I'm afraid you are the first and only one to say such nonsense. I'm afraid there are a lot of other words that people like to use to describe me, that are probably more fitting. Now, what is going on?'

'I-I hadn't told Dad about my new goals until this weekend.'

A lot was said in just that one sentence. Her trepidation, never eager to let someone down or hurt anyone. It was natural that her father would be the last to know about her goals. He had no idea what she would say next, and yet his first response was the desire to go over and shake the man.

'As distant as he's been since Mom died, he's the only family I have left. How could I tell him that I wouldn't be helping at the shop as much, or walking in Mom's footsteps. Sometimes I think he looks at me and sees Mom, but I'm just the shadow of someone who keeps him here.' She meant out of a drunken stupor, he imagined and in the land of the living. 'Not enough though, and that's why I've got to do this. Didn't make telling him any easier.'

'He didn't take it very well, I gather?'

'You could say that. Told me that I was spitting on mom's memory. That I didn't care about what mom would have wanted. He-He told me that if I wanted to be gone from the shop that badly then I could find somewhere else to stay. I could stay under his roof and do what mom wanted, or I could leave.' Her shoulders slumped and her body wracked with sobs, breaking down her emotional barriers. Suddenly she flung her arms around Robert and sobbed into his shoulder. He wasn't about to freeze up now, not when Belle needed him.

'Oh Belle.' He said at first, not really knowing how best to tell her that her father was a complete moron and she shouldn't listen to him. Also, could he get permission to suffocate him with his cane? But Belle was confiding in him. What her father told her affected and hurt her, which meant, as idiotic as the words were that came out of that oaf's mouth, they meant something deeper to Belle.

'He's speaking out of fear, Belle. You have worked hard to keep him comfortable and he sees it as a threat to that. It's not about your mother, Belle, I hope you see that.'

Sniffing now and pulling back from the tight hold she had on him, she nodded without much passion. 'I suppose so.'

'I know it doesn't make those words hurt any less.'

'Ruby was happy for me, Jeff was happy for me, you've been nothing short of a miracle letting me babble on as I have. I didn't expect him to jump for joy, I suppose I was even prepared for a shoulder shrug and a 'whatever'. Neutral would have been preferred to anger.' Her voice was so small that it sent a shudder of panic over Robert as he feared something else.

'He didn't hurt you physically did he?'

'No, no, he isn't as bad as all that.'

'He's bad enough!' The words escaped without his being able to bathe them in a layer of calm. His fist had long since balled up at his side once Belle was no longer crying against him. 'He has you work yourself sick, does nothing to try to help you keep the shop, and yet when you dare want to make something of yourself, he throws you out of your home! Where will you stay now?'

Belle fidgeted with her clothes yet again. 'I'm not sure yet. I think Ruby will let me. I just feel bad to be a bother to people.'

Belle a bother! What a novel idea. If it wouldn't completely ruin what little reputation his poor Belle had left he would gladly invite her to stay at his house. Working for the town monster was one thing, to stay in the same house, no matter how innocently done, would equivocate her name to mud. He couldn't do that to her. He could do something else though.

'First, you have done so much for Miss Lucas, that having you stay would be a pleasure for her, I am sure.' She smiled sheepishly. 'Secondly, I propose an amendment to our prior deal.'

He had gotten her curiosity. Good. He much preferred that to the devastation that marred her face before.

'Since you no longer live and work at the shop, I propose you work for a different rent. Continue on Saturdays in exchange for a lease of my properties that I own. And since I imagine that you will need to find a different mode of employment, you don't have to worry about coming in for lunch, on the promise that you will actually eat lunch.' He smirked, trying to carry an air of indifference, though her face was in a state of shock, and his own eyes betrayed his soul plea that he be allowed to help, and devastation that his beloved lunch hour would be gone.

Her voice wanted to protest, but it turned into fresh sobs instead. 'I-I don't know what to say. It hardly seems a fair trade, but I am too tired to argue, and you are too wonderful for words.'

He couldn't help it. He knew she could never feel anything for him but kind friendship, but her words softened his heart so much so that he reached out and caught a tear with his thumb.

'I would hate for the shop to get filthy again.' He smiled softly, causing the beautiful chuckle he loved so much to break through her sobs.

'No, I suppose not.'

Jeff had offered to help her move, Miss Lucas had foregon her normal routine of pampering herself on the weekend to make sure Belle was welcome and situated in their shared spaces. This left Robert feeling very cripple and useless. He did have Jeff on strict orders to not let Mr. French bully his daughter and to let him know if there were any altercations. Jeff seemed highly amused at such thoughts but when it concerned Miss French's safety, he easily took the teasing and sighed in relief that Belle would at least be surrounded by friends.

While Belle's friends were doing things that whole, young, and energetic people could do, he did what a cripple landlord could do, by going through his inventory of properties and finding something suitable for Belle. It couldn't be too large and raise suspicion on how she could afford such a place, yet big enough for it to feel like a home. She needed something that wouldn't take much maintenance as she would be working and studying. He finally found a one bedroom bungalow with a small yard and situated in a comfortable neighborhood. He fit it up exactly how he felt Belle would if she were picking for herself, but of course, she couldn't know he was furnishing it himself, as he had advertised the place as coming fully furnished-not really a lie. It had just been only very recently furnished to suit her own tastes. Furniture should be one less expense that she had to worry about.

'You are a hard guy to figure out, you know?' Miss Lucas had caught him waiting for Belle to come downstairs from her apartment to go and inspect the house he had propositioned.

'If you insist, Miss Lucas.'

'I mean, you are Mr. Grouch on rent day, and basically every time I've ever met you not in the company of our mutual friend.' Her eyebrows arched suspiciously his way. 'But right now, you are almost being sweet. How did Belle do it?'

'I don't know what you're talking about, dearie. I assure you I am consistent in my dealings.'

'No' he assured her when she wanted to protest. 'even with Belle.'

'I don't believe it.' Ruby insisted hands crossed as they both saw Belle smiling down the stairs. Ruby looked back at Robert and caught his pleased expression.

'Nope, I don't believe it at all, Mr. Gold.'

A/N: This chapter was difficult to write at times, but it turned out pretty nearly how I wanted it. Its more of a transition chapter to take us to the next part of Belle's journey, and yet see Mr. Gold struggle with his realization of his love for Belle. I hope you enjoy it. As always thank you so much for the likes and comments. you make my day!