Warning: This chapter DOES contain mature material: Language, Sexual-innuendo, Passionate kissing, S&M. ~_^

This is where it really starts changing. So buckle up and enjoy the delicious chappies of discovery and struggles and whatever else my whacked-out mind comes up with. LOL!

A Salvation Called Love

-Chapter 8 - YOU WON'T WIN-

[Annabelle]

Some soft noise was what woke me from my sleep sometime early the following morning. I could feel Mr. Gold's body shaking and tiny cries were buried into his arm. I pulled away, still keeping my arm in a comforting hold. I used my other hand to gently push back his hair to peer into his sleeping face. He was dreaming and I don't think it was a good dream. Scooting back against him I gently ran my fingers through his hair and started to murmur gentle-nothings, trying to chase back what was troubling him. After a few minutes he slowly calmed down and snuggled further into the mattress. I could help but smile. I never expected to be taking care of a man like him. He wasn't as mean and cruel as he portrayed to everyone… and I wasn't heartless myself. I felt the desire to find a way to help him. How would I help him? That I had no clue of but as I lay there staring down at his sleeping form spooned back against me I knew I wasn't going to give up. My hate for being forced here was slowly disappearing into something I didn't understand. Two days and three nights was a short amount of time for me experience this change of heart but I didn't mind.

I gave a small sigh and shoved all thoughts of this problem out of my head as I curled back up against Mr. Gold's back. He was warm and smelled of something woodsy, something relaxing. I didn't know if it was naturally him or if it was some cologne he bought but it was comforting. Sleep didn't take long to find me again and I was slowly pulled into gentle darkness, my arm wrapped tightly around the man who had just changed from my boss to something more.

[Regina]

Striding into my bedroom I didn't waste time pulling the cloth off of my mirror. I gently ran my hand along the frame of it and called to my man in the mirror. He smiled gently down at me. He'd been my companion for more years than I cared to think about, too many hundreds to care to count. "Sidney, how are you today?"

His voice echoed like he was in a massive room. "I'm good, your Majesty. How can I help you today?"

"Can you give me access to Mr. Gold's house mirrors?"

He gave a huge grin. "I can do anything for you, your Majesty. Give me a second."

I nodded and walked over to my loft window. It looked out over Central Park and even though the sun was barely peeking over the horizon it was a beautiful sight. I preferred winter, but the beginning of summer was a wonder. It was Henry's favourite season so I tolerated it. There was a small chime from my mirror and I turned back to it to find the inside of Mr. Gold's house reflecting back at me. I grinned. "Thank you, Sidney. Can you go through all the rooms that have mirrors? I want to see what that sly bastard is up to and how he's faring after crushing that girl, Annabelle. I so enjoyed setting up that small incident." I again reached up and stroked the frame of the mirror. "And thanks to you, Sidney, I was able to find the girl. Who would have thought that the reincarnation of Belle would be in New York."

"You're welcome, your Majesty." Then his face disappeared and he began to show me the rooms with mirrors in them.

Going from room to room took a while because his house was massive but just as I was expecting to find nothing a scene that I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it popped up. Sidney almost passed it up but I grabbed the mirror and stopped him. "There! That's what I want to see, Sidney." He began to magnify the room, aiming towards the bed where two sleeping figures were curled up. It was Mr. Gold and that damn Annabelle. "Dammit!" I slammed my fist against the wall beside the mirror and glared at the image. "You're supposed to destroy her, Rumplestiltskin! Hate her for looking like your Belle!"

There was a small rustling sound from the mirror as one of the figures on the bed moved. It was Mr. Gold and he was staring straight at me through the mirror. His eyes lit with glee and he grinned, his voice taunting as he quietly called out to me. "You're little plan failed, Regina. I won't destroy anything. I still don't think I can love again, but I won't let you win. Ever. Again." He waved his hand and the mirror went blank.

I was angry now. How dare he make a fool of me. I growled out into the room and walked over to my purse, pulling out my phone. I dialed a number I never really wanted to dial willingly. The phone rang for a couple seconds before it picked up. "This is Emma Swan. How can I help you, Regina?"

I sat down on the bed and refrained from yelling at the woman who was fighting me for the rights to my son. Sure she was his birth mother, but he was mine. That's why I didn't want to rely on Emma. "Miss Swan. I have proof that one of my old associates kidnapped and is holding a girl against her will."

Her sharp intake of breath made me happy. "How do you know this?"

"No need to know how, I just need you to take action. Will you help me save that poor girl?"

I heard her grabbing some paper and a pen and then she was speaking to me quickly. "Name and address. If what you say is true then I need to get there as fast as I can and arrest him."

Chuckling, I told her Mr. Gold's address and the girl's name. If Mr. Gold wasn't going to go along with my plans then I was going to do something myself. Now that he had an attachment to the girl I could destroy him anyways. I hung up and dropped my phone. I lay back on my bed and smiled up at the ceiling. Never send a girl to do a woman's job.

[Mr. Gold]

Half an hour after the mirror had gone blank I sighed and slowly wiggled my way out from beneath Annabelle's arm. I couldn't stay in bed any longer. I turned and stared down at Annabelle and a small smile appeared on my lips as I remembered her comforting me last night. She was still deeply asleep and I didn't want to wake her up. I wasn't going to leave her just yet but I had to go to the bathroom and I wanted to take a quick shower before she woke up. I looked down at my suit and grimaced. I'd slept in it and now it was wrinkled. I silently padded over to her bathroom and turned on the light, closing the door behind me. I slowly started undressing myself, folding and laying my suit on the counter next to the sink. After relieving myself I moved over to the shower and turned it on, waiting for the water to get hot. I tucked a towel into the rack beside the shower and stepped in, closing the frosted glass door. While I moved to stand under the hot spray I looked back on what had happened a little bit ago. Regina had been spying on me and Annabelle. I knew she hadn't known I'd made a deal with Annabelle but I didn't expect her to spy on us in my own house. I needed to put up precautions to prevent her from doing that again. I was the Dark One, no one spies on me.

Looking at the selection of shampoo and bodywash that Annabelle had I didn't want to use any of it. It was all flowery and girly. It smelled good on her, or it did when I'd kissed her last night and slept with her, but I was a man after all. I waved my hand and my selection of shampoos and bodywash appeared beside hers. While I lathered myself up my mind wandered back to Regina. I knew she was going to retaliate but I didn't know how. Something drastic I'm sure, but whatever she threw at me I would overcome. She'd wanted to be more powerful than me ever since she'd become the Evil Queen a long time ago. Never going to happen.

I finished cleaning myself up and stood under the spray a little longer before I felt much better. I turned the shower off and reached out to grab the towel I'd put beside the shower door, wrapping it tightly around my waist and stepping out. I walked over to the other towel rack and grabbed another fluffy towel in order to dry my hair. I also waved my hand and a pair of my boxers and pajama bottoms appeared beside the sink. I didn't want to frighten Annabelle when she woke up so I'd at least dress in my pajamas. I wasn't planning on going into work today. With that thought I took one last look in the mirror, combing my fingers through my hair to untangle is and then I left the bathroom. While I walked over to Annabelle's dresser where her phone was sitting I saw that she had moved over to the spot where I had been laying and was cuddling the pillow I'd slept on. I felt a small joy swell inside of me.

Dialing the office I waited until Margret answered. "Hello, Gold Corporation. How can I help you this morning?"

I rolled my eyes. "Margret, it's me."

"Mr. Gold? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Margret. I'm just calling to tell you that I'm not coming in to the office today. I have some things going on that need to be taken care of. Can you handle everything today?"

I heard her mumble a few things to herself before she spoke up. "Yes sir, Mr. Gold. I'll reschedule your appointments and move them to other days this week. I hope everything gets settled."

I thanked her and hung up. I laid Annabelle's phone back on the dresser and padded back towards the bed. There was a cushioned chair close to the bed so I grabbed it and pulled it up beside the bed so that I could sit and watch her sleeping. She looked absolutely peaceful. Now that I think about this would be the first time I'd sat and watched a woman sleep since before my wife died hundreds of years ago. I slowly scooted my chair closer to the bed and turned it slightly so that I could gently pick up Annabelle's hand and lay it against my leg, holding it there. I didn't think that there would be any problem just sitting here holding her hand and watching her sleep for a few more hours. I gently ran my thumb in circles against her skin and lay back to relax, allowing myself an ounce of happiness. "I don't know how this all will turn out but I promise to attempt to be nice. Just be patient." My heart fluttered as she snuggled further against my pillow and a small smile pulled at the corner of her mouth.

[Annabelle – Three hours later]

"Annabelle."

I groaned and turned away from whom ever was calling my name. I'd been having a good dream. An insistent banging on the door downstairs was also another problem when it came to me wanting to sleep. "Go away." I mumbled it into my pillow.

I felt the bed dip just as I was about to slip back into sleep and a big, warm hand cupped my shoulder and turned be back over. "Annabelle. I need you to go answer the door."

I grumbled and blinked myself awake until I was staring up at a beautiful pair of dark honey brown eyes. "Dominic." I gave a tiny stretch and smiled up at him. "What time is it?"

"Close to afternoon."

I grumbled some more and threw the blanket off of me, which was something I don't remember covering myself with and sat up. That's when I noticed two things. The first was that Mr. Gold was only wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and his chest was bare for the world to see… or more like my eyes to see. I'd only seen it once before, a few nights ago, but that was in the dark. Now my room was light from the incoming sunshine and I could see it clearly. I blinked at him as I stared shamelessly. I couldn't believe that a 40 year old like him was hiding such a beautiful body under those suits. The second thing I noticed as I threw the covers back was that I wasn't dressed in the clothes I'd worn to bed. I was dressed in a black and gold lacy nightgown. Of which was showing an unreasonable amount of skin. I blushed and grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around myself as best as I could. "Damn, Mr. Gold. Why the hell are you half naked and sitting on my bed like a piece of succulent fruit ripe for the picking? And why the hell am I wearing this nightgown… no scratch that. How the hell did I get into this nightgown?"

He grinned and waggled his eyebrows at me. "Maybe the beast is tempted to ravish the beauty."

I glared at him and was fixing to say something smart back at him when there was another loud bout of banging on the front door. I looked up at Mr. Gold expectantly. "Who is that?"

He shrugged and reached forward to grab the edge of the blanket to pull it away from me. I held on with a death grip. "It's two police officers. I think they were sent by the same woman who hired your father. Probably something along the line of me kidnapping you and holding you here against your will." He finally successfully jerked the blanket away from me, leaving me back in sight with that damn scandalous nightgown on.

I glared at him and pointed a finger. "Did you put this on me?"

He grinned. "It's all for the show we have to put on."

"What show?"

His grin grew. "That I haven't kidnapped you and I'm not holding you here against your will."

"But you are."

He tsked at me and shook his finger. "No, we made a deal, remember? So you're working for me. And now I'm going to add to that story by making it look like we're sleeping together."

I gasped as he chuckled happily and I shook my head. "Like hell we are! You damn pervert!"

"Do you want to break your part of the deal then?" His smile was suddenly gone.

His sudden change in attitude made me swallow nervously and shake my head. "No.'

His grin was back full blown. "Good. Then I need you to come downstairs with me." He stood up and then pointed down at me. "With that on of course."

I blanched and my cheeks flushed as he stared at me intently. "Hell no."

"Come, Dearie. It won't hurt to put on a tiny show for the lovely police. I won't ravish you… well not at least in front of them anyways."

I gasped again and reached behind me to grab a pillow and throw it at him with all the strength I could muster. It just smacked him in the chest and he laughed. "I hate you, Mr. Gold. I swear after I do this I'm going to make you miserable!"

That only caused him to laugh harder and he backed away as I stood up and glared at him. "Anything you say, Dearie." He turned and offered me his arm. "Now shall we go greet our guests?"

I gave a huge sigh and finally walked over to him. Before I took his arm I reached up and tried to finger comb my hair. Surely it looked like a mess. When I was satisfied I didn't look like we'd just had sex I took his arm. "You own me, Mr. Gold."

"It's Dominic, Dearie. Don't forget that."

"Whatever." He laughed and we both trudged down the stairs.

By the time we got to the door, the pounding hadn't stopped for almost a minute. Mr. Gold gave me a little push towards the door and lagged behind a few steps. I glared at him but walked to the door and unlocked it. I slowly opened it and peered out at the two officers standing on the front steps. The sun was almost too bright to really see them right away. "Officers, sorry about the wait. I had to…" I felt Mr. Gold walk up behind me and put his arm around my waist. I tried not to blush as I continued on. "I had to put something on."

The tall female officer frowned at the both of us and slowly took off her shades. She was absolutely beautiful. She tucked the glasses up into her wavy blonde hair and crossed her arms. "Are you Mr. Gold?"

Mr. Gold grinned and tucked me in against his chest. "I am, Sheriff Swan. How can I help you?"

Sheriff Swan continued to frown. "And how do you know me, Mr. Gold?"

"It's my business to know who protects the great city of New York." He waved his free hand around expressfully. "I'm a leading businessman after all."

The male officer stepped forward and held his hand out to me. "I'm Deputy Graham." I just stared at his hand until he withdrew it. He gave a small cough before speaking again. "Can I ask you your name, ma'am?"

"Annabelle. Can I ask what this is about?"

Graham coughed lightly again and moved back. He expected Sheriff Swan to explain. "Would you please come with us, Annabelle?"

I narrowed my eyes and actually moved myself in front of Mr. Gold in order to wrap both of his arms around me. I didn't like that request and I said as much. "I'm sorry, Sheriff Swan but I don't want to leave. Why would you want me to leave?"

She frowned again. "Well… we were given a tip that Mr. Gold here has been holding you against your will after kidnapping you."

I tried to hold back my laughter at the absurdity of that statement but I failed. Even though I was here because of a 'deal' and because I very much disliked Mr. Gold at the moment didn't make this any less funnier. "Haha! That's absurd, Sheriff. Who would come up with such a stupid thing?"

"So… Mr. Gold didn't kidnap you?"

I leaned my head back against Mr. Gold's bare chest and grinned. He really was warm and comfortable to lean against. "No, Sheriff. Dominic happens to be my boyfriend." I was lying through my teeth but I was really good at it.

Deputy Graham stepped forward to catch my attention. "May I ask how old you are, Miss Annabelle?"

I arched my brow at that but it was Mr. Gold who answered for me. "She's twenty-four." He didn't sound too happy with that question.

Graham held his hands up and gave a small shake of his head. "Sorry. No offense meant. It's part of my job to ask."

I felt Mr. Gold's body tense against me and I knew he was struggling with his temper. I'm sure it was almost as bad as my own. "Well, as you can see, me and my legal girlfriend are very much happy together so if both of you are finished we'd like to get back to the rather exciting…" He paused and grinned as his fingers played against my ribs making me shiver. "… activities we were doing before you so rudely knocked on my door."

After Sheriff Swan and Deputy Graham offered their apologies and left, I moved away from Mr. Gold and closed the door. I followed as he walked back towards the stairs but he stopped when he got to them and turned to watch me walk towards him. "Now that they're gone… shall we proceed where we left off, with the beast fixing to ravish the beauty?"

I walked up to him with a sharp glare and smacked him hard on the chest. "Hell no, you bloody pervert. I'm going to change out of this damn thing you put me in and burn it!" I brushed past him and started moving up the stairs mumbling to myself. "First you're cruel and arrogant and such a bastard. Now you're being a freakin' perv. I can't handle these drastic emotional changes!"

Mr. Gold quickly followed behind me and caught up to me right as I got to my bedroom. Before I could open it he grabbed my arm and spun me around, slamming me back against the door. I reached up to smack him against the chest again, angry at him, but he just grabbed my wrist before I could strike him and pressed it back against the door. He did the same with the opposite hand. "Stop."

I glared at him and tried to pull away. "Do you hate me, Mr. Gold? Or do you just enjoy toying with me? I can't tell. After that kiss last night and you crying in my arms I'm pretty confused as to what you want with me."

"Just shut up, Dearie."

"Don't Dearie me, Dominic Gold! Tell me. Do you want me here as a caretaker or as something more? I've only been here three days now and it's gotten this confusing."

He growled and roughly pressed his lips against mine again, reminding me of how strong he was. I didn't fight back this time, instead I kissed him back, using my anger as fuel. He pulled back and stared down at me from inches away. His deep, dark honey brown eyes were almost drowning me as I stared up into them. "I don't know, Annabelle." He started kissing me again and pressed me harder against the door until it felt like he was trying to push his way through me. I groaned against his mouth. He pulled back again. "For so long I've had steel control. I've been a ruthless bastard. I thought I was free from confusing feelings like these. Then you came along and turned my world upside down. I demand that you take responsibility."

I swallowed loudly and wiggled one of my wrists free of his hold in order to reach up and thread my fingers through his hair. It was so soft. I grabbed a tight handful, much like he'd done last night, and spoke lightly. "I don't know how. I can't replace her, Mr. Gold."

"Dominic."

I leaned forward and whispered it against his lips, feeling the light bristle of his unshaven morning stubble. It felt good. I'd never kissed an older man before last night. I'd also never kissed anyone with any resemblance of facial hair. "Dominic."

He slowly released my wrist and trailed his hand down my arm, causing a trail of goosebumps to form beneath his rough fingertips. "I don't think I want you to replace her, Dearie. But… if you can be patience with this old man, then I believe we can both figure out what's going on between us." He gently nipped at my lips and my knees almost gave out. He chuckled. "Can you do that?"

I could barely breathe as my heart raced and my blood felt like it was boiling. "I thought you didn't want my body? I thought you just wanted me as your caretaker?"

He grinned and shook his head. I tightened my grip in his hair and kept him pressed against me, his face inches away from mine. "I lied."

It was my turn to grin. "If you say so." I pulled him forward and kissed him again, this time being the aggressor. He opened his mouth for me and I slowly slipped my tongue between his lips until I could gently play against his. He tasted absolutely divine; he tasted like a mix between clover and honey. Smooth. Addicting. He growled against me and I grinned as I shoved him back, making him stumble. "I have to go shower and get dressed in order to have lunch ready at a reasonable time."

He just stood there and watched me open my door as if he was in a drunken stupor. I knew he wasn't but it was cute. I gave him one last smile before I disappeared behind my door and closed it. I practically fell against it after it was closed and locked and I buried my face in my hands. "Damn." I groaned at myself. "I'm screwed six ways to Sunday." I was confused as to what I was feeling. I shook myself out of my thoughts and moved to do what I told Mr. Gold I was going to do. Just before I slipped into the bathroom I looked back and glared at my bedroom door. "Damn you, Mr. Gold. Damn you."

A.N. - *giggles gleefully!* Yes... yes it's true, Mr. Gold is going to try and figure out what is going on between him and Annabelle. He's going to try to be nice *shock shock* I personally think that Mr. Gold/Rumple isn't a bad guy. Just a mislead guy who let death make him an angry and hateful person. I'm going to break away at his heart until it's there, beating quicker and quicker. Bwehehehehe!

A.N. (2) - Thank you all sooo very much for reading this. You all are making me so happy! I hope I can repay that favour by making this as beautiful and moving as possible! Sorry if my sappy self is embarrassing you, LOL. I get that way once in a while. Kehehehe! Till next time, tahtah! *^_^*