Disclaimer: So I guess I'm supposed to do a disclaimer thingy...ok well the books that are mentioned here are NOT mine, although they are so well written I sure wish they were. And sadly, I don't own any of the Once Upon A Time characters. At least not yet ;)

"Thank you. I'm Mr. Gold. Rumplestiltskin Gold, actually."

Belle cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "You're Mr. Gold?"

Mr. Gold cleared his throat. "Yes. Is there a problem?"

Belle shuffled her feet, realizing how awkward she had just made the situation. "I, uh, no. There isn't a problem. I just expected you to be…different…" What she expected was a grumpy old man who didn't care about his appearances, didn't care about much of anything. She thought he would be a lot uglier, and a lot more aged. But what she really saw was something much different. She saw a man who held himself up. He actually seemed to care about how he looked, as his tie matched the color of the handkerchief in his front pocket. He was much more approachable than she had pictured.

Mr. Gold leaned on his cane. "Different, hmm? Did you really think I was some grumpy old landlord? Because I'm afraid that's not really who I am, dearie." He winked at Belle.

At this point, Nicholas was becoming extremely uncomfortable. He started to reach for his things.

"Leaving, Nicholas?" Belle turned to face him. Nicholas blushed, and dropped a couple of his books.

"Yea. I gotta get back home, my mom might wonder where I am. Nice talking to you." He rushed out, but stopped when he got to the door. "Oh yea. See ya round old man." Nicholas mumbled. With that, he rounded the corner and headed for home.

Mr. Gold chuckled at Nicholas' last remark. "Me? Old? He said that as if I was 400. Ha!" He laughed again, and pulled up a chair over to where Belle was sitting down.

When Belle didn't say anything to his rather clever comment, he continued. "So who is that boy, anyways? Your boyfriend?" He nudged her knee with his.

Belle blushed. "Heavens no! Just a boy, like you said. Nicholas. I help him with his school work." She looked up at Mr. Gold to see what his reaction would be.

Mr. Gold had a subdued look on his face, but then rolled his eyes and smirked. "Oh come on. I saw you two holding hands."

"Wha—? Oh! No, he grabbed mine. I think he may have a thing for me. But no, I am definitely not interested in a teenager." She smiled. "How old do you think I am? 15?"

Mr. Gold forced a laugh. He did not want Belle to be interested in Nicholas. Not at all. It would be…a terrible disaster. And not just for him. For Belle, too. Getting together with an inexperienced teenager? He almost felt sorry for her. But it was more than that. It was more about what he wanted. And what he really wanted, desperately, was for Belle to be interested in him. He had seen her in town for a while. He had watched her acquaint herself with the town, but not in a stalkerish way….more like a guardian angel way. Whenever anything didn't seem to go how she would want it, he would be there to fix it. In the shadows, of course. Surely she would be weirded out to know that a 50 year old man had been following her around.

Once again it was silence in the library. Mr. Gold's mouth twisted into a frown. "Mr. Gold, what is it?" A look of concern formed on Belle's face.

Mr. Gold shook his head. "Nothing dear. I just remembered that I am supposed to be meeting someone right now." Mr. Gold stood up and started to walk away.

"Wait! Mr. Gold." Belle grabbed Mr. Gold's hand. This shocked Mr. Gold a bit. He turned around and raised his eyebrows.

"Are you going to be back tomorrow?" Her eyes were practically begging him to return, but he couldn't make it that easy for her.

"I'll see what I can do." Mr. Gold said cockily and then took his hand away from hers. As much as it hurt him, he couldn't show he was interested in her. Not yet, at least. He still wasn't sure if she was into Nicholas, and he didn't want to give her the wrong idea. Even though it was actually the right idea. Very right.

Mr. Gold walked away slowly, not wanting to leave, although he knew he'd be back. Tomorrow, definitely. He would see her beautiful face again. And again, the next day, too. He would win her over. Screw Nicholas, I'm Rumplestiltskin, he thought to himself, and closed the door behind him.

Belle desperately wanted to call Mr. Gold back. But how desperate would she seem then? She couldn't do that. I barely even know the guy, she thought. She sat down and opened her book, but she could hardly focus on what she was reading. That rarely happened.

Mr. Gold was on her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about him. And it wasn't just that she liked him, which she did. It was the way he presented himself. He acted so mysterious, so, hidden, yet he was easy for Belle to read. She could see right through his mask. She knew that he wanted to stay. And she knew that he would be back tomorrow.

She smiled at herself and continued to read.

Thank you all for the feedback! I really appreciate it. So some of you were wondering who Nicholas is in the show, and he is Hansel from the episode True North. I thought I would make him older, and in case you didn't notice, he wanted to check out Hansel and Gretel. So what do you think? Will Belle and Mr. Gold get together? Also for those of you wondering, I will enter some magic into the mix soon, but not yet :) Thanks for reading, and please favorite and follow!