Belle didn't know why she asked Mr. Gold to take a walk around the gardens with her. She decided that he was a grumpy man and that she would try to keep her distance from him while she was looking after her sister. Obviously, he really did not care for her from the comments of the dance from the other night. But as they stood in the hall together and she stared into his eyes, she could not get the image of those lonely eyes that she caught a glimpse of at the dance.

Her heart ached for a moment as he seemed uncertain standing before her like he did at the dance when she asked him to dance. But instead of denying her this time, he actually said yes. She could not lie and say that she was expecting him to say yes, she did think he would deny her again and she would have another reason for why she needed to avoid him.

But now that they made it outside, there was this awkward tension around the both of them. Belle held her hands clasped behind her back and tried not to look at him as they walked through a garden path that had red roses surrounding them. The only sound was the crunching of the gravel underneath their feet and some birds chirping in a nearby tree.

As they rounded a corner, she took a quick glance at him and noticed that his face was tense and looked like he regretted this decision as much as she did at the moment.

Belle sighed, frowned, and looked back towards the flowers. Why do I always give in and feel bad? This is why you always end up in these situations.

They continued to walk for a couple more minutes when she heard a muttered gasp and then a curse from beside her. Concerned and a little amused at his cursing, Belle turned her head towards him, and now was more concerned than amused. Mr. Gold was bent over, touching his knee, with a fierce look of pain on his face. Belle mentally slapped herself, forgetting about his bad leg. She knew that he was walking with the cane, but he seemed to be doing fine, but obviously, he wasn't.

"Oh, Mr. Gold! Are you alright?" Belle stepped towards him and started to grab his arm when she halted and took her hand back. She really did not know this man, and he would probably not welcome her help like that at all.

Mr. Gold looked up at her and those brown eyes that she felt bad for her suddenly turned mean as they glared at her. "Do I look fine!?"

Belle, taken aback by his harsh tone and words, took a step back and glared right back at him. "Well, sir, excuse me for being concerned. I will try not to do that again."

She wanted so badly to turn around and leave him to make a point, but she remembered how he reminded her of an old dog that she found that was hurt when she was little. Because he was hurt, he snapped at anyone that got near and showed concern.

Mr. Gold seemed to lash out if anyone wanted to help him and Belle thought about how sad that is to live a life like that. Belle closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she walked closer to him and held out her hand.

Mr. Gold looked at her hand in surprise and then back up at her face. He had a questioning look, as he did not understand what she was doing.

"If you would like, I can help you walk to that bench over there," she pointed toward a bench that was a few steps away from them, "or you can just try on your own, whichever suits you…sir."

Belle thought that Mr. Gold was about to ignore her altogether, but after a couple of seconds, he straightened up to put his hand in hers. As soon as their hands touched, there was almost this tingly feeling that went up her arm. Belle's eyes opened wide at the odd sensation and looked at Mr. Golds's face to see if there was any reaction from him, but he just looked at their hands with a puzzled look on his face.

Mr. gold seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in and coughed and looked at her through the corner of his eye. "Well…are we going to stand here all day dearie?"

His harsh tone sent her mind back to what she was supposed to be doing and she frowned up at Mr. Gold. Belle was going to snap back at him, but she remembered what Mary Margaret told her, that she could have a sharp tongue sometimes and needed to hold it. She took a deep breath instead and smiled tensely at him.

She shifted her hand, to grab hold of his arm and started to lead him to the bench. The walk over was hushed and over quickly, a thing that Belle was very happy about. She was ready to go back to the house and get away from some these cranky aristocrats.

How did I ever feel sympathy for this man, Belle thought as she helped Mr. Gold on to the bench. Or it was more like when they reached the bench Mr. Gold shoved her hand away and plopped on the stone seat, without her steady hand to guide him.

Mr. Gold wrapped his hands around the cane that was in front of him now and glanced up at Belle who was standing in front of him with her arms crossed. Belle could not take this tense silence anymore. It was not like her to be so insecure.

"How do you know Mr. Nolan?"

Mr. Gold jumped at her unexpected question. He cleared his throat and took a hand to smooth down one of his pant's leg. "Our families have been friends for many generations."

Belle looked down at him and frowned. That was a very vague answer to her, almost an automatic response that he seems to give to anyone who would ask him.

"That might be true, but is he your friend?"

Mr. Gold's head shot up to look at her with a shocked expression. He covered it up quickly, his open mouth closing to form a frown. Belle waited to see if he would answer her back, but before she could ever find out if he had an answer, they both heard voices coming their way.

Belle realized that she was standing very close to a seated Mr. Gold, and took a couple steps back. She noticed that he was looking at her like she was a certain puzzle piece that he could not figure out. Belle turned her attention away from him as she heard the footsteps approaching closer.

Miss Nolan and Mrs. Whale entered the little courtyard where Belle and Mr. Gold were. Mrs. Whale's eyebrows shot up when she saw the both of them and Ms. Nolan's eyes were wide with shock and then shifted towards gleeful.

"Why is it not Mr. Gold and Miss French," Regina remarked, "we were all just wondering where you two were, though we did not expect you two to be together." She said the last word as if it was sinful.

Mr. Gold stood up quickly to his feet and smirked at Regina. Belle seemed to be the only one that noticed that his hand clenched around his cane as if he was in pain. But you would never guess that he was having issues with his leg, from how he presented himself now. Belle had to admit that she was impressed by this but also felt a little sad that he had to hide his feelings from these people that he called friends.

"Miss Nolan, Belle was kind enough to instruct me about all the different types of flowers that are in this garden, something I know that you could not have helped me with, so I asked if she would walk the garden with me."

Belle whipped her head at him and now she was looking at him like he was a puzzle. That was a lie he just said, they never even talked about the flowers, and she was the one who asked him.

How can a man so cruel one moment, be nice to her in another?

Regina was looking furious at his remark and looked like she was about to say something until her sister Mrs. Whale interrupted. "Miss French, your sister is asking for you."

"Oh, I will leave now to attend to her." Belle turned towards Mr. Gold and was going to say goodbye, but he beat her to it.

"Thank you for your services, Miss French. I shall see you at dinner." Mr. Gold bowed and then walked towards the two sisters, away from her.

Belle stood there complexed. Was he implying that he was thanking her for helping him or for their fake flower lesson? She was even more confused than before.

I know it's been awhile since I have updated. I'm sorry about that, but life just got hectic. My computer with this chapter broke, and I lost it. And then I graduated college and started new jobs. But I went on here a couple of weeks ago and was reading all the lovely reviews that it inspired to me to start writing again. Thank you for reviewing this story, even if it has been awhile. I hope you will be happy to see I updated, if you are still following, and to new readers, I hope you enjoy this story. I hope to update soon again.