I wanted to get this updated last week but I just got a new job and midterms are being a pain right now but getting there. :)

Delighted to Meet You

As Gold began looking over the Snow file, his thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door revealing it to be his secretary, a sarcastic blonde in her late twenties by the name of Rose Tink who then placed a wrapped emerald package on her boss' desk.

"Yes?" He waited for her to response on her point.

"Can I to assume there is a ring in here?" she studied the box again seeing as most of it did feel hollow in certain portions. "Maybe it's a necklace because I can't see you ordering an engagement ring at Tiffany's. It is too cliché, even for you."

"Do you have a point to this?" Irritated at the girl.

A sudden smirk appeared on her face, "You said and I quote 'Miss Tink, the minute the package arrives stop whatever I am doing and sending it to me right away." She said in a cartoony Scottish accent amusing Gold leaving him to place the phone back onto the receiver taking off his jacket and dark blue tie.

"Touché Miss Tink. Will you please get me the green tie in the wardrobe before I decide to fire you on the ground of butchering a proud dialect?" She complied rolling her eyes at him, heading towards the spare wardrobe her boss installed three months prior containing a week's worth of spare clothing and toiletries. She found the tie he meant handing it to him but also included a fresh black waistcoat.

"If I was meeting my wealthy boyfriend after he cancelled on me twice, then I would hope he looks as sharp as his wallet." She smiled with Gold becoming annoyed taking the waistcoat and exchanging both items to her.

"Shouldn't you have a memo to type up or meet up with those friends of yours to gossip over margaritas about how much of an ogre I am being to you?" There were times Gold wondered why he had not fired Miss Tink but then he remembered she was good at her job and he did consider her practically a surrogate daughter, even though he wouldn't tell her this but he suspected she knew.

Tink nodded her head smiling back at him. "Nah, I'm enjoying this too much." She took the package from the desk handing to him as he finished with his tie. "You best wait until dessert if you are going to either dump her or propose since no likes to cause a scene at Daniel. Gold ignored his secretary heading out of the office. "Also Jefferson wanted to know if you were going to his Halloween party on next Saturday."

He then turned back towards Miss Tink who began to get her purse. "He knows I'm going, but is there anything he specifically said?"

Tink looked at her notes hesitate to read the message where her boss who was waiting for her. She took a deep breath as she read the message, "He also said if you are going, don't bring Miss Green because she is not invited."

Typical Jefferson, "Please go home Miss Tink and don't worry, I won't reprimand you for this." Gold escorted Tink outside the building as he headed into the parking garage counting on the traffic intake in order to be purposely late to his date with Zelena Greene.

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Belle gazed at her eyeshadow palate for nearly five minutes debating on what colour would suit best for her appearance. Already becoming nervous that her cell phone could ring any moment when she felt a something moving around her foot followed by a whine.

"Mickey, stop it!" playfully scolding Bailey's puppy as he continued nuzzling her leg. The cocker spaniel looked at Belle with his huge brown eyes raising his claws on her ankles causing her to laugh at the black ball of energy.

Belle had not planned on getting a dog for Bailey, but when a frequent customer of Ruby's; a friendly couple who went by the Dears were giving away their dog's recent born litter, Belle began thinking about it as Ariel pointing out over during the next three weeks how a pet around the apartment wouldn't be a bad idea since the place was big enough and Bailey was an active child already where he would be responsible in taking care of it. The proposition had not seemed terrible and it resulted in making sure Bailey wasn't aware he would be getting a dog by moving many of the items towards the Nolans home including the puppy the morning of the party. Belle still remembered the embarrassment of Mary Margaret coming to the apartment the next morning after the party reminding her she had forgotten the puppy at her place as the original plan had been to hide him at the Nolan's house for the day and then present the dog during the gift exchange, but between the kids enjoying themselves and the parents arriving earlier than anticipated, Mary Margaret and Belle had forgotten there as a puppy in the nursery until Mary Margaret went to tuck Neal to bed ten minutes later finding some of the nursery ransacked and a happy Emma scolding at her parents for not telling her about the puppy. It wasn't until the next day the Nolans dropped the puppy at the apartment with Belle apologizing over and over about not answering her messages the previous night which everyone seemed to play down when the kids were too busy playing with the new member in which Bailey became instantly taken by the ten week old dog that rather than sleeping in the living room as the women expected, they would find him curled up in Bailey's bed sleeping on the next pillow.

Already the puppy became a fixture in the apartment as he would go over to the adults whenever he would demand attention where Belle normally complied by joining Bailey to the park on a now daily basis but as she began to get ready, Mickey only made the process slower. "You look pretty mommy" stated Bailey as Belle turned around seeing the boy looking at her glistening in her sapphire dress; her chestnut hair had been in an elaborate bun that looked carefully messy and black high heeled shoes. "A real princess," he said bowing to her as he grabbed the puppy.

"Why thank you" she curtsied to him. Turning herself back into the mirror, Belle smiled at how elaborate she went. The dress covers just one of her shoulders, leaving the other uncovered flowing down into a graceful semi-sweetheart neckline which was a tight fit for her accentuating her curves with a thin waistline and a bow wrapped around her resting gently on her belly reaching all the way down to her feet. She also wore sapphire peep toes matching her dress allowing her to wear a small necklace as to not go over the top. "Although I need to still get my face on to become a princess." She then picked her palette handing it to him. "Which colour do you like?"

He pointed to the teal shade which Belle noticed it would give her a smoky look; she nodded and began putting on the rest of her make up. "Where are you going tonight?"

"Mr. Booth is taking me out to a restaurant." Through the reflection, Belle noticed Bailey's face formed a scowl when she mentioned August. "What's wrong, I thought you liked Mr. Booth."

He kept quiet leaving the bathroom passing through Ariel who looked confused when Bailey had not heard her greeting him lightly coughing as went into the living room. She then stared at Belle giving her a poorly attempted wolf whistle. "Hola sexy mamacita. Should Bailey and I not expect you to come home?"

Finishing her makeup, Belle gave out an unladylike snort at Ariel's remark. "It's not a date so expect me coming home at a reasonable time?"

All of a sudden, Ariel's expression went from jovial began to show concern. "Whatever my professors needed to meet with me to discuss my work, it was usually in public or in their office before five in the afternoon; not at a romantic restaurant where I needed to put on a dress that screams "ready to be deflowered."

Shocked by the admission, Belle turned around becoming more annoyed at Ariel; "the restaurant has a dress code. August and I are just colleagues, he is only taking me out to discuss my dissertation. Besides, if I wanted to date someone I would have told Bae about it first before sneaking around."

"Belle I love you, but sometimes you can be a bit dense. He totally wants to sleep with you that it is not even funny to the point where becoming your advisor would give him the perfect excuse." Just as Belle was about to flinch towards Ariel, the doorbell rang leaving Ariel to head by the kitchen where Belle rapidly ran towards the front door giving herself one last approval before opening the door.

"Good evening August, just give me a moment to get my bag" she smiled back at him. He continued to look professional with a stylish 6 buttons vest harbouring a narrow v-line allowing for the top to remain visible even when the suit's jacket is buttoned up with a went at the back and two pockets on either side and there's a breast pocket which contained his pocket watch an loafer to match. He walked into the apartment carrying a red gift bag seeing Ariel in her short and sports bra and Bailey sitting on the couch watching television with his puppy sitting next to him.

"Ah there's the birthday boy." He said getting the child's attention as he politely said hi to his mother's friend. August handed his present to Bailey taking it as he looked at his mother who smiled at him in approval. "How you have grown."

Bailey immediately looked into the bag discovering it to be a collection of fairytales in a red leather cover and elegant gold lettering. He even looked around the book finding watercolour illustrations in pivotal moments in some of the stories. "Thank you, Mr. Booth."

August smiled back at the boy quickly turning his attention towards Belle, taking her arm as they headed out the door and into his BMW Z4 Roadster India.

They drove to a restaurant on East 65th St called Daniel where Belle was glad to have dressed correctly as she was soon taken aback by the romantic and warm atmosphere. The dining room was engulfed in red furnishings surrounded by pink and champagne coloured roses giving a glow due to a combination of the chandelier lighting and the bar setting. The pair was seated into the back corner allowing Belle looking across from her table seeing her reflection as she began to take a sip of water. The waiter arrived asking them for their order, in which August began replying in broken French their orders where Belle tried so hard not hide the smirk forming across her face. It became fun to listen to her companion speak until he ordered for her a Daurade which she was lucky to have checked the menu in advance as to avoid eating shellfish. She quickly signalled at August not to order the dish where he opted out for a salad for her causing Belle to take a deep breath as she was unable to change her order...

August looked at her nonchalantly taking a sip of his glass of D'Oliveiras Boal given to them."I apologize, but some of the staff can sometimes be vindictive whenever they hear broken French..." He pointed out.

"Je suis sur que nous ne voulons pas d'offenser quiconque" she replied back stunning her dinner companion who stood silent drinking his wine. "French was my language requirement in primary school, not exactly a language you can forget easily."

"My apologies, you should have mentioned something." he pointed out to her leaving Belle more annoyed.

"You appeared to be having fun." She sarcastically pointed out drinking a bit of the wine enjoying the sweet taste. Although I would have appreciated it you had asked me first.

Changing the subject, August quickly placed his hand over Belle's. "You look lovely tonight Belle, not at all your usual style which I am impressed." Belle began fidgeting as she looked at her mentor noticing the difference in the way he looked at her.

"Thank you although this dress was a last minute decision my friend Ruby suggested when we were looking through the Labour Day sales." She leaned back on her chair maintaining her composure, "You still look…the same."

Making a feign gasp, "I am insulted, this is a new jacket. I couldn't have had been wearing the same one for it to have been not given a second glance." Belle and August began to lightly laugh at one another when their appetizers arrived as they sipped their wine.

"The manuscript is going well" she declared, easing herself as she soaked in the atmosphere around her. "It is not close yet to the intended goal I had set, but I am confident in the direction its going where polishing won't be as difficult as I had originally expected."

"Excellent news Miss French, I would advise you to not worry about the deadline since its several months away." He began caressing her wrist then her knuckles putting Belle on alert. "Let us not talk about your manuscript tonight, you have been rather stressed lately where good night out would do you some good."

This news startled Belle; she had been looking forward for the past few weeks in discussing the recent updates for her manuscript since it pertained weeks of analysing different text and several nights of little sleep, perhaps she had not hid the dark circles under her eyes very well if she was being asked to not deal with work anymore. Belle resigned to the idea, eating her salad while August continued talking where she began to tune out most of the discussion with the occasional nod and shoulder shrug which did annoy her when realizing her dinner companion was prattling on not even noticing or caring if she was sleeping as long as the spotlight was on him.

I hate it when Ariel is right…..

"Belle" quickly getting her attention seeing August staring directly at her then lowering his head down as he looked back up at her. "I have been wondering…"

He was interrupted by the waiter arrived with no entrees telling August a piece of news causing him to get frantic. He then looked at his phone raising his hand onto the desk causing some attention to the tables close by as he threw a few hundred dollar bills onto the table. "Forgive me, but I have just been informed my car has just been towed."

The news shocked Belle, "Oh my god, I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault; apparently I might have overlooked the parking limits." Belle began to get up when August grabbed his coat, "you don't need to come with me, since this is my own stupid fault." He then handed her a fifty dollar bill leaving her to raise an eyebrow some tables were still watching them.

"I can't accept this." She tried handing it back to him.

"The least I can do is pay for your cab fare. I can make this up to you soon." He kissed her hand taking off before apologizing once again. Belle sat down drinking the remainder of her wine glass looking at her watch, she wasn't done with the wine bottle, so it was better to cut her losses and stay for another few minutes before she would go home and hear the scolding Ariel give her after saying "I told you so" for nearly ten minutes.

A few moments later, she received a beautifully displayed vanilla crème brulee with cinnamon sticks as the garnish. "I didn't order this…." She said to the waiter but he explained to her it came from the gentleman at the bar; Belle was pointed to the gentleman who raised a glass at Belle getting her attention in which she smiled back at him. She then noticed he took off from his seat and began heading towards her table; Belle got a better look at the gentleman appearing to be early forties with big dark brown eyes and grey streaks on his long hair which she was impressed to see he could pull it off, especially with an expensive three piece designer black suit with a dark green tie as the only source of colour and a cane on his right arm with a curved gold handle.

He went towards her side of the table, taking her hand and gently kissing it as he gave her a piercing stare leaving Belle fluttering. "Good evening Miss, may I keep you company for a while?"

Charmed from the Scottish accent, Belle offered the chair to him placing his cane to the side. Perhaps she wouldn't be scolded after all.

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Walking into Daniel, Gold expected to see Zelena Greene greeting him with her signature Cheshire cat grin followed by an endless display of flattery. To Gold's surprise, he found no one waiting for him, not even a note stating she was on her way.

Although at a second glance, it made sense for Zelena to be currently absent since she always enjoyed being fashionably late in order to attract the most attention. A trait which Gold could admit to himself was one he found rather amusing about Zelena when there was little he could think of.

For nearly a year and a half, they have had a semi-causal relationship involving dinner, a show, the occasional weekend trip to the coast, gift exchanges either on holidays or for no reason and sometimes spending a night mainly at expensive hotels or a private night at apartment. There were times Gold questioned his motivations for staying in the relationship as it included the constant criticisms from his law partner and close friend Jefferson Carroll. Despite the frequent hints Zelena occasionally gave over her dream wedding, he knew she didn't love him no matter how many declaration she made after several orgasms while at the same time, he was not fully ready to be in a commitment no matter how hard he aunt, Cora Mills would bring up the idea of an advantageous union often leaving Gold sympathizing for both Zelena and Regina as they continued living under the domain of the formidable matriarch.

About ten minutes after Gold arrived, he received a phone call from Tink frantically explaining she had accidently made an overbooking in scheduling his appointments, scheduling the date with Zelena for the following Thursday instead. She apologized several times were Gold secretly suspected Tink deliberately sabotage his schedules for fun where he would need to give her a reprimand her if she was willing to pulling off such an immature stunt. As it happened, Gold began laughing at this fortuitous piece of news ordering another scotch at the bar.

Biding his time, Gold noticed the patrons around him, appearing to be fairly normal where one side pertained to a group of friends enjoying a dessert tray, another was a couple unable keep their eyes off of one another which was exactly what to expect to see.

Straight ahead from him, Gold glanced at another couple who looked out of place in terms of mind-set. The man was in his mid-thirties who looked like a stereotypical academic with his black rimmed glasses and tweed jacket and the girl appeared to be very lovely perhaps a bit in her early to mid-twenties if he could make a correct estimate. A second glance, he noticed the girl appeared to annoyed or upset although he didn't blame her from the way her dating was carrying on it with his exaggerated hand gestures.

It would say something about their relationship if a complete stranger noticed the girl's body language, she began to squirm and look around the restaurant as though she was were waiting for something to happen. In her cerulean eyes, Gold also noticed they were beginning to look heavy giving him an idea. It took all about five minutes to discover the bill was under the name August Booth in which he made a few phone calls causing Booth's car to be sent into the city impound within the next twenty minutes. He began laughing as he saw the gleam from the girl's face when her date made pitiful excuses even handing her money but it caused him to become the centre of attention rather than being a typical couple.

Her date left leaving the girl sulking as she sipped her wine, at part Gold felt sympathetic in seeing her looking at her phone. Gold hadn't expected she would accept his dessert offer until she made eye contact with him smiling back where he got to see a better glimpse at her; she was a beautiful woman where her light blue dress brought out colour her eyes.

All of a sudden, he got up from his table heading over to hers offering some company, she happily agreed allowing him to sit down as he asked the waiter for another menu in which Gold ordered himself a Cerf de Boileau while recommending Belle try the Caille.

""Thank you, I was really planning on leaving before you presented the treat. August was being too much of a pompous snob." Belle's nerves were lowered at seeing her new companion where she noticed he was quickly studying her almost predicting her actions.

"It was telling from the far end." Pointing out to Belle from the length he was at the bar where she blushed at the thought August practically made them into a spectacle. "Have you been seeing him long?"

"No, he's not my boyfriend" declaring it abruptly. "August is just my Doctoral Advisor. He wanted to meet me today where I thought it presumed would pertain to my manuscript I guess he had other ideas in mind as he ignored most of what I had said." Thinking about it further, Belle began debating about either crying or laughing at the fact she felt like the dumped prom date at this point. Another mention about August and she was certain the gentleman would have left were this time she would have felt more humiliated.

"Victoria correct?" he asked reverting Belle's attention back.

"No, my name is Belle."

"I meant your accent; the way you pronounced those 'ls', I would guess you were from Melbourne."

Giggling at his correction, "Oh, I'm surprised you caught that because I thought it was easily covered."

"You are covering it up fine, one of my roommates at the university was from Melbourne and would never shut up about how the differences. I was left with the impression Melbourne was the London of Australia from the way he carried on, I always assumed Sydney held this title."

She leaned closer to him where he helped in leaning towards as she whispered into his ear avoiding enjoying the scent of his cologne. "It's still Sydney; your roommate was just a wombat." She winked back at him as he smiled back at her.

"That was why we were mates for one semester." They received their entrees where Belle enjoyed the look of the food to the point where she was almost afraid of eat it because it was presented beautifully until the smell overpowered her tempting to take smaller bites.

"What part of Scotland are you from?" Belle inquisitively asked.

Gold began over enunciating his dialect, "Glasgow, wee lass. Ever been?"

"No, sadly I haven't, but I would love to visit the Highlands one day." Belle said absently having a mental picture of the terrains based on what she has seen in photos where she is interrupted by the sound of a clear throat quickly opening her eyes and frantically trying to appear calm. "Anyway…umm…anyway, so what about you? Waiting for someone as this isn't the type of restaurant I could imagine you showing up just for a drink and become a one-man audience."

"As it happens, I had a previous engagement, but it seemed she must have gotten the days mixed up when my secretary set up the appointment. It appears good help is incredibly hard to find nowadays."

Hearing this piece of news made Belle giddy to know someone else was probably having a worse time than she was where she began to notice he companion did not seem as broken-hearted over it as one would expect to be. "I'm sorry to hear that, I hope she wasn't too disappointment

"It's not matter, perhaps my secretary made a mistake when I requested the booking."

This caught Belle off-guard, "I mean no offense, but you don't seem to be the type of person who would let a minor incident slide."

It appeared even though she had no idea who he was; his reputation came off with how he presented himself. "Maybe I am Father Christmas, but having the face of Vulcan hides my generosity."

Before Belle could make a counterargument, her phone began to ring. She began hearing Ariel going hysterical stating Bailey was throwing up alarming Belle to get up from her table in grabbing her coat. Gold immediately requested the check and a box for her. "Is everything alright?"

"No it's my son, he's throwing up. My roommate thinks he has that bug that was going around, it was nice talking to you, but I have to go." Belle quickly ran out of the restaurant waiting on the curb as she hailed a cab. None of the cabs were able to answer her which began to frustrate her with each second.

"If you would like, I can give you a ride home and we can also stop by at the drug store to pick up some medication." Belle turned around finding Gold outside with his coat along with a take-out bag leaving her relieved.

"That would be great, thanks."

Belle followed her new friend out of the restaurant as he headed towards his Cadillac parked in the corner. Helping her into the car, Belle could not help but enjoy how roomier this car had been in contrast to August's BMW which became more evident as they drove on where Gold placed the heater on full blast allowing Belle the ability to relax onto the seats.

"How old is your son?"

Belle took out her phone showing the recent photo of Bailey and Emma in their face paint leaving Gold amused at the sight of the children. "Bae just turned six, can sometimes be handful whenever he isn't too energetic."

Gold looked at the photo closely seeing something familiar about the boy with his eyes but he quickly dismissed it when seeing Belle and the boy again to get a better view. "He's appears to be an adorable child."

"He is, I could brag about him all day. Do you have any children?"

Belle worries over Bailey left her unable to view her surroundings leaving Gold's expression to change when asked the question. "No, I don't have any children. Although I have a goddaughter whose the same age and she is constantly spoiled the little imp."

They drove off to a pharmacy finding the medicine they needed in which Belle nearly cleaned out the entire children's cough drops, they next stopped at an opened Chinese restaurant to buy soup at Gold's insistence where Belle became more than happy as they drove back.

He parked towards the side of the apartment where Gold was impressed to have seen she lived in a better neighbourhood than what someone of her age could have afforded. Quickly Belle grabbed her items getting out of the car. "Thank you so much for helping me. You didn't have to this."

"It was no trouble Miss Belle; I hope your son gets well soon."

"Thank you sir, it's probably going to be a week's worth of coughing and having tell cut down on the video games."

"It was my pleasure; I hope to hear from you sometime with a proper dinner." He kissed her hand leaving Belle to blush as she wanted this to have gone differently. "I would love to." She smiled back. They each said their goodbyes with Belle going inside with all thoughts on the handsome dinner companion gone when she heard the sound of coughing.

As soon as Belle made into the apartment, all her thought went into heading into Bae's bedroom finding the boy lying in bed with his pyjamas. "Hey Bae, how are you feeling?"

The boy continued coughing with Mickey staying in the floor pointing the direction of the bed leaving Belle to check his head finding it to be warm. "Not well enough to go to school?" he spoke in a hoarse voice where Belle realized Bailey wasn't faking this to get out of going to school.

"Yes Bae, I will call your headmistress in the morning and call you absent." A phone call she was not looking forward to since it meant dealing with the Mother Superior more than what was necessary. She grabbed her bag getting the medicine giving it to a reluctant child who began squirming as she raised the spoon towards his mouth. "Please?" she pleaded

Bailey still had a defying expression until Belle placed the spoon close to her pretending to take a sip of the medicine. Seeing the expression on his mother's appear to be the same as whenever they would eat something pleasant such as sweets or favourite foods, Bae took the spoon and drank the medicine absorbing the bitter aftertaste of grape. "Yuck!" he shouted leaving Belle to laugh as she took his temperature finding it to be 100 and insisting he go to bed right away.

"Mommy, can you read me a story?" Bailey pleaded as he coughed nearly every other word.

Belle looked at the pale boy grabbing one of the books from his desk then padded on the bed for Mickey to join in snuggling between mother and son leaving Belle the opportunity to recite from the book. "When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen….."

Next Chapter: A sick baby and a few inquiries