Disclaimer: I don't own Once a Upon a Time or the characters involved. This work is intended as a fan work only. Season 2 spoilers kind of.
Author note: This is my first fan-fic in able 10yrs (since high school.) The theme is voyeurism, and is a test of skills between myself and another new author Nuriodo and her story "Longing" so please read both and Vote in the review boards.
**Edited for grammar and slight continulatity issues for next chapter.
Setting: Between the curse being broken and Belle being hurt.
At Best, Only a Man.
Mr. Gold had placed a small digital camera in the bookshelf facing his front door. After Hook's attack on Belle he needed to ensure his home would be safe for her. He needed to know if who came and went. He told himself over and over that what is was doing was protecting Belle but he couldn't shake the guilty feelings over not wanting to tell her. Belle was kind, honest, and trusting she might tell someone else and that would compromise his ability to keep her safe.
He checked the view on his laptop, adjusting the angle before leaving the room to wake Belle. She had seen it in her kind loving heart to spend the night with him. Not really with him, not in his bed or safely in his arms were he would most like her, but at least in his house under his roof where he could check on her in the night as he used to in the Dark Castle. He often wondered if she knew he had gone in a sat on the foot of her bed when he grew too lonesome to sleep, wondered if it bothered her or how she would react to waking up and finding him there.
The world without magic was different, he knew all too well. Men and women didn't behave in the same manner. They kissed openly, in public where others could see, he had heard they even slept in the same beds before being married. They would have many lovers during their lives not just husbands and wives, in some cases people they had just met! Emma Swan even had a child with someone out of wedlock, true it hadn't seemed to work out very well for her as far as he had seen but it was more proof of the changes in this world without magic.
"Well" he thought as he slowly made his way up the stairs to Belle's room, "It has magic now!" Mr. Gold had no intention of treating Belle like anything other than the princess she was. No matter how he longed to hold her closer to him in public, or kiss her over and over again, or feel her pressed against him as they made his bed into theirs. He would be strong, it was true that at best he was only a man, but he would be the man she deserved, if it killed him.
At the top of the stairs he found her room empty, after a quick search of the top floor he was irritated to find she had already gone down stairs without him knowing. If he hadn't been day dreaming about her and paid more attention to what the real Belle was doing he might have saved himself a painful trip up and back down the stairs. He was happier to know that maybe the camera was in fact a good idea, if she was able to move around the house that much without him knowing, fairies only knew what could and did go on here while he was away.
Turning the corner into the kitchen his heart skipped, she stood there, she back turned to him in a silk and lace night gown, the slight shine to its rosy color made her long wave brown hair glow more than ever, he longed to reach out and touch it. To run his hands over the soft curves of her body, to feel the warmth of her skin under the cool silk. But seeing her there so sweet and pure, he knew he couldn't. No matter how true their love, how deep and strong, a good man should respect a lady, and Gold wanted so much to be a good man for Belle. As she turned she saw him and gasped," Rumple! You frightened me! How long have you been standing there?" "Not long at all Deary, not long at all" He managed to say after a long pause, letting his eyes slide quickly over her. He knew she had gone shopping with Ruby again after seeing the front of the gown. Lace met silk lovingly mid-thigh and failed to cover her beautiful shoulders with its plunging neck line. He would have to have a word with the wolf, for there was far too much milky soft, pale skin showing, ever more than the last garment his sweet Belle had brought home after a shopping trip with Ruby. Seeing a matching Robe on the table he held it out to her, hoping his voice didn't betray him as her bare arms brushed against his hands and she laid her back against him slightly, donning the robe " You look a little chilled Deary, why not wear this as it was meant?" His eyes rolled up ever so slightly has her hair brushed against his face before she stepped away. "Thank you, Rumple, you're so kind to me" She purred as she kissed him lightly on the cheek. "and only to you, Belle." He said turning away, "I have to go to the shop early this morning, please make you're self at home but please lock up if you leave." " I hope it's alright that Ruby is coming over, I had forgotten till now to ask you, and my place is a little too small to have company over" "Of course!" He said with his back turned so she wouldn't see him rolling his eyes. He had wanted a chance to have a word with her before she saw Belle again, " Have as many friends over as you like, I want you to feel at home here." He paused slightly to pick up his bag and laptop before leaving.
Belle was slightly hurt yet again, she had heard, that men and women were freer here, that being in love meant you could be lovers as well, even before marriage, sometimes without marriage at all. As far as she knew Rumple didn't want to marry her, at least not yet. They hadn't known each other all that long really. She knew she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life, and the idea of marriage here sounded perfect for that, a legal paper saying they couldn't be kept apart, that they belonged together and were a family. A wedding, maybe getting to have her new friends there to wish her well, if they knew that she'd married him they would stop asking if she was alright, if he was mistreating her, if he was hurting her. She had even had a row with Ruby, her best and dearest friend about how and why she would love a monster. In the end Ruby had understood, she had to, she also knew that sometimes "monsters" were more than they seemed. Afterwards, Ruby had starting helping Belle to get more of Mr. Gold's attention but he never seemed to notice, always seemed to keep her away. She had thought that maybe he didn't want her in that way, but Ruby had told her, it wasn't possible for a man not to want a woman he loved in that manner, at least not in this world. So every time she tried harder. Slinkier nightgowns, pressing against him tighter, trying to kiss him longer , but he seemed to break away every time she felt they were nearing the thresh hold. Picking up her cell phone she called to ask Ruby over, they clearly needed to step up her 'game.'
At the shop, Mr. Gold set up his laptop, ensured a stable connection and live feed before he began going about his normal day to day activity only slightly hampered but the thought of Belle so scantily clad, he could almost swear she knew what she was doing. If anything, it had to be Ruby he thought, trying to trick him into doing something, something he wanted to do but wouldn't, so she could claim he had hurt Belle. The thought made him sick with worry as he hobbled back over to the counter his laptop was set on. He woke it out of sleep mode to see Belle welcoming Ruby into the house. "No good can come of this" he muttered to himself before returning to his task. However much he disliked Ruby he wouldn't stop her from seeing Belle. She needed a life outside of him, away from him, her own life, he wouldn't lock her away like the Queen had. If it lead away from him then maybe it would be for the better. In truth, his restraint wasn't only out of respect for Belle, but fear. What if he gave into temptation and she rejected him -what if she felt trapped -what if she would regret the limited contact he allowed between them already -what if she simply didn't think of him as a lover? He was a hard man to love he knew, but what if that was all they shared? Perhaps and most likely in his mind, she simply wasn't attracted to him, as he was to her, she loved him, allowed him to be near her, to touch her lightly, to even kiss her, anything more would be too much to ask. Belle was already too much to hope for, he might try to push for more and be left with nothing. Just because she loved him, didn't mean she was in love with him, it didn't mean she felt the same. After all she was a goddess of beauty and kindness and he was at best, just a man. A man, in reality more than a 300yrs older than her, more that 20yrs at least in this world, who had never really been that attractive to even the girls in his home village, much less a princess. No! He was more than happy with what he had and would never think of wanting more.
Once again he checked the screen, just because she would never fully be his didn't mean he wouldn't protect her, with his life if need be. He was shocked to find her standing in front of the door, in a long heavy coat, her back to him as in getting ready to leave. A cold pit filled his stomach, he had been correct, she had a lover, clearly not him, but a reason for the nighties and perfume. She only wore them to see him because maybe she hadn't have time to change before returning. Well, she felt safe there and that was all that matter, wasn't it? He told himself as he stared at the screen tears building under his eyes. The coat slowly slid off her shoulders and down to a puddle on the floor, revealing a long tight fitting black dress. Was she meeting her lover in his home? Gold growled low in his throat, he'd kill him. Whoever it was, he'd find a way and Belle would never know, but he never took his eye from the screen and when she never moved to open the door he became more and more transfixed on the images. Slowly, carefully, as if being told how she ran her hands the tight fabric coving her own body, lingering where Rumple, himself longed too. Belle lifted her hands through her hair lifting the curls from her back as if to display her body for a better viewing. Slowly Gold looked around the screen, the small items he had placed on the bookshelf had been removed, clearing the vantage to the door that his sweet Belle now stood in front of. She had found the camera! She knew how he felt, and was punishing him for spying on her! Showing him what he would never be welcomed to have. He swallowed hard trying to rid himself of the lump in his throat. He had ruined everything, she thought he was spying on her because he didn't trust her, he had only meant to keep her safe and he was watching as he lost everything else he cared about. He trusted and loved her, if she had told him of the other man, yes he would have been angry and hurt, his first wife Milah had left him and Bae for another man, and while in the end he had crushed her heart like she crushed his, he knew Milah never loved him. Maybe things would have been different if she had spoken to him in the way Belle tries.
Gold still transfixed on the screen as he watched wide eyed as Belle reached behind her and slowly unzipped her dress. it fell to the floor along with the over coat, after a quick pause she stepped out of the growing puddle of fabric and once again ran her hands along her slender frame. Turning toward the camera he was able to see more of the black lace teddy she had on. It made her pale skin white and shocking. Her eyes drifted from the camera to someone out of view and the spark of jealousy flared again. Someone else was in the room with her, watching her. Gold felt wretched, he had begun to think the display might have been for him that maybe she did want him, but now he thought he was invading a private moment between her and her lover. His raising heart fell even farther. He saw her reach for something. Her phone, she smiled at the camera, before punching in a number.
She held the phone to her ear, just as his phone began to ring. Why would she be calling him during such a person intimate show? He forced himself to relax before answering his phone, "How can I help you Belle?" Her voice sounded nervous which surprised him. "Rumple? Was it what you were hoping for?" he swallowed again " I-I don't understand" Belle sounded hurt, he had misunderstood something and now she was hurt. " R-Ruby found the camera, and said some men enjoy ... they enjoy watching, and she -she was helping me, but I'd like for you to come home now, so maybe we could talk, and maybe I could continue in person..If -" before she could finish Ruby suddenly appeared from out of view and grabbed the phone away from her. "Look, I'm leaving now, but I may or may not have told your little Belle some other things that you will owe me for later tonight, when you finally get the hint through your head she's been trying to seduce you. I'll call in those favors later.." She handed the phone back to Belle before slipping out the door. Belle held the phone to her ear once more." Now that we are alone. Should I continue or will you come home first?" "Rumple had already closed the laptop and with a wave of his hand the shop was locked. In a puff of smoke he stood before her and took her into his arms "I think this may be more suited to the bedroom Deary."
Emma shut down the video and auto bugs she had hidden in Gold's home and shop, while sometimes, she knew she had to keep an eye on the Dark One, she felt she knew what he was doing well enough to not to need to. "'Bout time too " She sighed to herself as she opened the live feed in Granny's Diner.