A/N – I'm so sorry about all the trouble we had accessing Chapter 13! I'm not sure if the problem was with ff or with my account. A lot of you were unable to read it and I'm told that a few of you had tried to leave reviews but they would not go through. So if you couldn't access it then, I encourage you to go back and read it now. It was the first chapter dedicated to Belle.

Chapter 14

Granny sat at the crowded blackjack table in the velvet roped VIP section of the casino and pondered her next move.

She had been counting cards for the last hour and knew there were some low ones due to come up. Her current total was a respectable fifteen but she knew she could do better. Tapping the table firmly, she signaled her desire for another hit.

She received a five, giving her twenty while the dealer got an eight, giving him twenty-three. "Dealer busts and the lady wins again."

She smiled brightly as her stockpile of chips doubled in size and she took a deep drink of her Tom Collins in celebration. She had purposely lost a few hands to throw off any suspicion, but she still managed to accumulate more than fifty thousand dollars so far.

Not bad for an old lady!

Speaking of old, her chest contracted painfully and she quickly reached for the prescription bottle from her Prada purse.

"Weak heart, Mrs. Lucas?" asked Victor Whale, the handsome blond man who sat next to her.

"I don't believe in weakness," she replied grimly. "It costs too much. I don't believe in questions either."

"Oh really?" laughed the younger man. "Well, let me give you a little advice, free of charge. I wouldn't be mixing that particular medication with too much alcohol. As Storybrooke's finest doctor, I could easily perform CPR on you, but since I'm on my fifth or sixth whiskey, it would not be a pleasant experience."

Granny huffed and took another swig of her drink. "While I'm sure your parents are very proud to have a doctor in the family, I have absolutely no use for you. Unless, of course, you're interested in marrying one of my dozens of eligible grand-daughters; in that case we can talk." She tossed back the last of her alcohol and slammed the glass down on the table. "I've managed to outlive twelve husbands and I'll outlive half a dozen more before it's my time to go!"

"Not if you keep winning Regina Mills's money, you won't. Trust me on this. You don't want to get in too deep with her."

"You know her well, then?" she asked as she signaled the waitress for a refill.

Dr. Whale smiled lazily into his liquor. "Oh, you might say she's come in for a physical once or twice…a week."

Granny raised her eyebrows and looked at the doctor in disapproval. "Isn't it against the physician's code or something to sleep with your patients?"

"I never do what's expected of me. It keeps life interesting." He rose from his seat and tossed the dealer a ten dollar chip. "Remember what I said about Regina, though. She doesn't take kindly to people she feels has wronged her. She can be a real witch sometimes."

Granny smiled impishly. Messing with Regina tonight should be fun!

~8~8~8~

Regina's heels clicked rhythmically as she marched purposely across her little empire. Business was booming thanks to the upcoming televised boxing match that was to be held in her convention center; so much so that every room at her hotel was filled, spa services were booked solid for the next week and a half, and the restaurant had a three hour seating wait.

And Leopold had thought it would never work!

First her blundering husband had made the grave mistake of asking her to step down as the main spokesperson for Fairest Inc., a company for which she had worked tirelessly for years! She was the Fairest, no matter what the media said about her idiot step-daughter.

That meddlesome girl had to go!

Dousing Mary Margaret's drink with anti-psychotics had been almost too easy. In the course of one evening, the beautiful young woman had gone from America's sweetheart to a shaved headed, suspected drug addict now known around the world as Nutty M&M. Her life was in ruins!

Regina had even made a scrapbook of all the media coverage. It was always good for a laugh after a hard day.

Then the fool had made mistake number two; he laughed at her idea of expanding the company. Laughed! Like she was some brainless arm candy not capable of contributing to the organization! She knew he had never truly loved her. She had merely been the re-bound girl after the death of his beloved wife.

Well, Regina was not as heartless as her reputation may suggest.

All Leo wanted was to be with Eva again. With a simple cut to his brake line, she made her husband's wish come true.

Then she was free; free to do as she pleased with her dead husband's vast fortune.

With a devilish glee, she had watched as Eva's beloved vacation home was bulldozed to the ground to make way for something truly spectacular!

Now, after only one year of opening its doors, Storybrooke Hotel and Casino was not only the New England destination, but also the most profitable one.

"Excuse me, Regina," said Gaston as he rounded a corner and caught up to her. "I got a call from Jones. There is a guest in the VIP room that would like a word with you."

Regina looked at her diamond encrusted watch to check on the time. "I can spare a few minutes. You go on ahead to the restaurant. Belle will be waiting."

Gaston snorted and fell into step beside her. "So let her wait. I'd rather be dealing with drunken, self-indulgent tourists than listen to her drone on about Shakespeare again. She would not shut up about that stupid book!"

"Trouble in paradise, Mr. Chevalier?" asked Regina mockingly.

"Paradise? Purgatory is more like it!" Gaston lowered his voice as they passed through the crowds playing at the slot machines. "I can barely get through a conversation with her without you talking into my earpiece telling me what to say, quoting poetry and shit. She's getting suspicious. I don't know how much longer I can do this."

Regina turned around and focused an icy glare at her casino manager. "You will do continue to do as you are told or you may just find yourself unemployed! Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, Regina. But if I'm going to continue with this then I should get something in return." His gaze wandered over the swell of her breasts peeking through her low cut black dress. "I want our…meetings… increased to twice a week."

She chuckled coldly. "What's wrong, darling. Is our precious little Belle too vanilla for you?"

"She does nothing for me," he growled. "Literally."

Regina stopped just outside the velvet rope and frowned. "Nothing? The ink has been dry on her divorce for almost six months now! How have you not sealed the deal yet?"

"She wants to take things slow! That annoying prude you have me courting wants to wait until we're in love. Can you believe that?"

"That's disgusting!" Regina sneered and shook her head. "Tell her what she wants to hear tomorrow then. She has the self-esteem of a snail; she'll believe you. The sooner you get into those ugly skirts of hers the better."

"Are you ever going to tell me why I'm doing this?"

"It's on a need-to-know basis and right now…you don't need to know!"

She marched into the high rollers section and made her way over to Jones, now sporting a new ID card. "You have something for me?"

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded his head towards the second blackjack table. "The mature woman in the second seat. She said she needs to speak to you personally."

"What do we know about her?" she asked, critically studying the older woman's wardrobe. Between the stylish outfit, shoes and jewelry, the guest was wearing close to ten thousand dollars.

"She is Mrs. Olivia Lucas and she checked into the Presidential suite yesterday. Apparently she's an arms dealer; one of the biggest. Deals primarily with high end hunting rifles but rumor has it that she may have her hand in various other…markets."

"Lucas?" asked Gaston, frowning. "Never heard of her, and I do a lot of hunting."

"That's why I don't doubt it," replied Killian smugly, rolling his eyes. There was no love lost between Regina's two pets. "People in that line of work want to remain as inconspicuous as possible." He pointed his finger right in Gaston's face and sneered. "Besides, what you've never heard of could fill the entire ocean!"

"Put your hand in my face again and you'll lose it, sleazebag!"

"That's enough!" snapped Regina. "Bring her to me, Jones. Chevalier, head back to the restaurant and stay there."

She watched as Killian made arrangements to get Mrs. Lucas's substantial winnings cashed in and guided her to the private corner where Regina waited patiently.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Mills," said the older woman as she took her hand in a death grip and shook it firmly. Regina tried hard not to wince.

"Likewise, Mrs. Lucas. You requested a meeting with me?"

"I did. The fight is Saturday, is it not?" she asked quietly.

"Yes." She inwardly rolled her eyes but kept her gaze steady. "Would you like some tickets?"

Lucas snorted and shook her head. "Hand to hand combat doesn't interest me. Now give one man a crossbow and the other a five minute head start and then you might have my interest. No, I'm inquiring because I have an important package arriving Saturday, the contents of which are very valuable to me."

"I'll see to it that it gets safely stored in the House safe."

"That is unacceptable. The House Safe is for old Scotch and grandmother's pearls. I need something a bit more…secure."

"I can assure you, Mrs. Lucas, that the safe is more than adequate."

"And I can assure you, Ms. Mills, that your cooperation in this matter will not go…unnoticed."

Regina had always been good at reading between the lines, especially when there was a threat hidden underneath. The result of not cooperating would definitely be noticed…and remembered. "Now. What can you offer me besides the safe?"

~8~8~8~

The maître'd personally escorted Belle to her seat at the restaurant's finest table where she knew there would already be a bottle of decanted red wine waiting for them. It was the same seat she claimed every night and the same wine she drank before every dinner. Every evening had been the same from the moment that she came to this quaint, New England town.

Regina was a stickler for order and hated diverging from her time tested routines. It was almost like that ridiculous movie she had watched with Gaston; Groundhog's Day. Sometimes it felt as though she were cursed to live the same day over and over again.

It got to be very lonely at times.

She stared forlornly out the window to watch the waves of the Atlantic Ocean gently crash upon the wharf. Several sailboats and yachts glided peacefully across the calm waters, perhaps to travel to far off places to find adventure. Most likely they were just out for a pleasure cruise across the bay and would be returning before dark, but Belle liked to use her imagination to pretend otherwise.

A warm hand grasped her shoulder and she forced a smile on her face. "You guys are thirty seconds late. I was about to send out a search party."

She looked over at the fingers that gently squeezed her and gasped. The ring that encircled the index finger was shockingly familiar.

"Hey," said Daniel Gold, his eyes twinkling in warmth.

He looked exactly the same, down to the high-end suit and coordinating tie and handkerchief. The hair around his temples was grayer than the last time she had seen him, but it somehow made him look all the more dashing and worldly.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, too shocked to say anything else.

"I'm out," he replied simply.

"Out?"

"Of prison." He pulled out Gaston's usual seat and helped himself to a glass of wine. "Remember when I went out for ice cream and never came back?"

Belle looked at the restaurant's entrance in a panic. If Regina and Gaston were to see him…

"Don't worry about your dinner companions," he explained, taking a sip of wine. "They are otherwise engaged for the next few minutes."

"Daniel, you can't be here!"

"And yet here I am. I was given early parole for good behavior. They said I've paid my debt to society."

"Funny, I never got a cheque." She was shocked at her sudden boldness but he simply grinned appreciatively at her quip. She had always felt braver around him, something that she had been woefully lacking since her very public fall from grace.

His grin slowly turned into a frown and he reached for her hand. "I'm so sorry, Belle, for the trouble I put you through."

"Trouble?" she sputtered, pulling away from him. "I had to leave Boston! I was forced to sell the shop, our beautiful home, my books! I lost everything! Thanks to my association with you, no one wanted me anymore! My career was over!"

They fell into an awkward silence, their eyes conveying more pain than words ever could.

"You're not wearing your ring," he commented sadly as he twisted his own around his finger.

Her right hand automatically covered her left to hide it from view. She squeezed her eyes shut and sighed. She couldn't bear to look him in the eye. Not now. "I sold it. I no longer have a husband or didn't you get the papers?"

"Aye, I did," he replied dejectedly. "I must say they took me by surprise."

"I told you I'd write." She poured herself a drink and took a long sip for courage. "You were sentenced to ten years, Daniel. I thought our love was enough to get us through it but it was just too hard to do it all on my own. Can't you understand? I needed a fresh start."

"You still had Bae," he said quietly.

Belle laughed humorlessly. "Sure I had Bae. I just never knew where he was! He disappeared like you told him to, changed his name to God knows what, started a new life. We had email but that was it. It was all just too much; too painful. We lost touch."

"And then last year you moved here…to Storybrooke."

"I'm friends with the owner. Regina was the only one who didn't look at me like I was scum. She picked me up, gave me a new life, entrusted me with her museum. She's the best friend I've ever had."

"And yet she's the reason I was went to prison in the first place," he said matter-of-factly.

Belle choked on her wine and Gold handed her his handkerchief. She waved it away. "What are you talking about? She doesn't even know you! I met her long after you were arrested."

"She's playing you, sweetheart. That's what she does. She's incredibly deceptive, stretches the truth to suit her own twisted needs and ruins lives."

"Sounds like someone else I know."

"I'm not joking, Belle."

"I'm not laughing, Danny."

Gold ran his hand through his long hair and sighed. "She's wanted revenge on me for almost two decades now. I was once in business with her mother, Cora. A job was botched and we lost a good man. Regina was in love with him. Her mother hadn't approved of the match and I believe she put him in harm's way on purpose. Unfortunately, Regina blamed me and still does to this day."

"So you're saying that she laid in wait for almost twenty years and what? Hired you for a job just so she could catch you at it? And what the Hell were you doing pulling off a job anyway? You told me you were done with it all. You promised me!"

"And I was done!" he growled. "But she knows me, Belle. She knew the best way to get to me was to threaten the ones I love most."

She frowned into her wine. "Bae."

"Aye. She hired him to do the job. He had no idea who she was and why would he? My past with Cora and Regina is not something I'm proud of and, as you know, I don't volunteer information easily. It was suppose to be an easy job, in and out. But something went wrong the day before and his crew got picked up. When he told her he couldn't do it alone she threatened to have him killed. So he called up his old man to help him out. How could I refuse him?"

"You think this was all some elaborate set-up, don't you?" Belle shook her head and made to get up. He placed his hand on her shoulder, silently asking her to stay. "Being locked up has made you crazy and paranoid."

"Of course it was a set-up! She planned for everything! She had his men arrested because she knew he would call on me. The police were waiting for us when we arrived. I told Bae to run, to get away as quick as he could. I couldn't bear to see my boy locked up. So I took the fall, just like she knew I would."

"You're insane, you know that? I met her completely by chance! She didn't know who I was."

Gold snorted bitterly. "Let me guess. She happened to run into you in a public place, started a seemingly innocent conversation and gave you some friendly advice? You began to trust her. I'm guessing she's the one that put the idea of divorcing me into your head."

Belle shifted uncomfortably in her padded seat. "No one chooses my fate but me."

"No, but they can manipulate the circumstances so you feel as though you have no choice but to choose the path they laid out. I know I haven't always been as honest with you in the past as I should have been, love, but you have to trust me on this. Regina is a bad person and I had to protect my son from her." He entwined his fingers with hers and squeezed. "Deep down, you know that I'm a good man who makes bad choices for all the right reasons."

"You're a liar and a thief."

"I only lied about being a thief and I don't do that anymore."

"Steal?"

"Lie."

"Well, I'm with someone now who doesn't have to make that distinction."

"You mean the brainless oaf Regina is paying to sleep with you?"

The palm of her hand connected with the side of his face with such force that all eyes in the restaurant turned to them. "How dare you!"

"I'm sorry, Belle. I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

"Of course you did! You toy with words like you do people. You've basically just told me that the only two people in this world that give a damn about me actually don't! Do you have any idea how small that makes feel? Besides, what I do or do not do is no longer your concern."

"You will always be of concern to me, Belle. And there are a lot of other people out there that still love and care for you too. You don't love me…fine. You want to make a new life for yourself…do it. But not here. And not with him."

"Spoken like a true ex-husband." She raised her glass in a mock salute and took a drink.

"Does he make you laugh?" he asked quietly.

She was temporarily taken aback by the question. Did her make her laugh? The truth was…no, he didn't. He didn't share her sense of humor and neither did she get his. But he was kind, thoughtful, and tried to make her happy…at least, he did some of the time. She decided to take another approach. "He doesn't make me cry."

"Excuse me, you're in my seat."

Gaston towered over their table and glared daggers at Gold. He, in turn, looked as calm as ever. Looking up at the giant casino manager, he gave him his signature smirk and relaxed into the seat even more. "I'm sorry. I don't see your name on it."

Belle saw her boyfriend's nostrils begin to flare. "Gaston, meet my ex-husband, Daniel Gold. He was just walking across the restaurant and happened to see me."

"Really?" he asked sarcastically. "Of all the gin joints in all the world?"

Gold smiled menacingly. "Something like that."

Gaston must have realized that Daniel was not going to remove himself from his seat anytime soon, so he took the chair to Belle's left and took her hand between his two. "So this is the infamous Mr. Gold. I take it you were recently released from the penitentiary?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was."

"And how does it feel to be out."

"About the same."

Belle cleared her throat loudly and looked at her ex-husband beseechingly. "Danny was just leaving."

While she was sure that Gold's pride screamed at him to stay, she also knew that he would do anything she asked of him, even if it was to leave her forever.

He quietly grabbed his cane and raised himself up without protest. Gaston, not one to let things go, cupped his hand under Belle's chin, bringing her eyes up to meet his gaze. "I take it we won't be seeing anymore of Mr. Gold anytime soon?"

"You never know," replied Gold quietly, standing next to her chair.

"Ah! I know everything that goes on in this Casino," Gaston stated with pride.

"So I take it I should put those towels back."

"No." Gaston raised Belle's knuckles to his lips and kissed them gently. His eyes then sought out Gold's. "The towels you can keep. Goodbye, Mr. Gold."

"Goodbye, Daniel." She watched as her beloved ex-husband limped away, his fingers bone white from tightly gripping his cane in either frustration or hurt. Most likely both.

It broke her heart to see him in pain.

"I think I'll have my usual tonight," said Gaston, picking up the menu. "How about you?"