Rumold Gold lay awake in the dark, quiet of his apartment. He thought, as he had many times in the past month, how lovely it would be to have company in his large quiet rooms. But now the only one he could imagine spending his time with was slipping through his fingers.

Belle. As he began to dream, he could feel her, nuzzling his throat, leaving little kisses in her wake. Her body pressed against him, pretty little hand snaking down between skin and trousers to grasp his length, gently stroking him so as he thought he'd go mad.

"Rum," she whispered, warm breath on his skin.

He moaned with pleasure as her clever hands quickened their pace. His own hands pulled her closer, one hand twisting in her hair, pulling her head back to leave red welts on her throat. With a grunt and a cry into the curve of her neck, he came, ruining his pants.

And with a jerk he awoke, alone in his bed.

Two weeks, she had to give her two weeks. He had at least that.

The next morning Belle was in a gloomy mood. This was unfortunate, considering that Gold was in a foul mood. He expected her to resign at any moment, but instead she stared dejectedly down at her tea.

"Well?" he snapped, "Out with it!"

"What?"

"You've been moping into your tea all morning, dearie, it's making me sick."

Belle glared at him and clutched at her cup, "You're a bastard."

"Careful, dearie, you do you want to get fired?" he sneered, and when she gasped he added, "So what is the matter?"

"My dad has a lot of debt that he can't pay off, I'm paying it. And our debtor just upped the payment, by a lot," she took a deep breath, looking out the window, "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do it. It's going to be tough."

"Don't I pay you enough?"

"Oh no! It's not that! You pay me plenty, more then I'd expected a secretarial job to pay! Without this job, I'm not sure I'd be able to afford housing."

He was silent, thinking about the temperature of said apartment when he'd been there.

"I'm sorry, I've said too much. I'll go fetch the mail," she said taking the tea tray.

He waved dismissively as she left.

She must not know of Mallory's offer yet, he mused, leaning back in his chair. Well, it would come soon enough, and like the summer wind, she'd be swept away from him.

Hours later, Belle clicked the comm, "Mr. Gold, there is a Ms. Cora Mills here for you. I told her that she would need to make an appointment but she insisted-"

The office door burst open and in walked his second worst nightmare.

"Rumold! How good it is to see you!" Cora Mills cheered.

She was a tall woman, with dark hair and fair skin, but there was something sinister in her eyes. She was, after all, Regina Mills' mother.

"Cora," he replied, terse, "I could say the same, but it would be a lie."

"As honest as always, I wish I had your virtues," she sneered.

"What do you want?"

"What, no hello kiss? All work and no play makes Rum a dull boy. Well. There was some play, years ago. And that's what I want to talk about," Cora dropped down into a chair.

"Belle! Belle!" Gold yelled, "Close the door!"

"What a charming girl," the older woman smiled but said no more on the subject.

"You got your wish, you have my attention," Gold glared, "What do you want."

"A little birdy told me that you plan to leave this whole operation to your heir," Cora said, "But your son is dead."

"Thank you for reminding me, Cora. I had forgotten."

"So obviously, Gold Books is going to your daughter."

"I don't have a daughter," he snapped.

"Mr. Gold, Regina Mills here to see you," Belle's voice came through the comm, "Shall I tell her you are in an appointment?"

Gold stared at Cora who was grinning like a cat.

"Reschedule my appointment with Miss Mills, her mother is here," he barked before shutting the comm off, "Are you telling me that Regina is my daughter?!"

In the outer office, Regina Mills gasped, and clutched at Belle's desk for support.

"I take that as you don't get along well with your mother?" Belle asked.

"I haven't seen her in years, I thought she was dead," Regina breathed.

Belle nodded, "So this is quite unexpected, then."

"Very. But why is she here to see Gold? Does that thing turn on so we can hear what's going on inside?" Regina gestured to the comm, but Belle shook her head.

"Rumold- er, Mr. Gold, shut it off. And even if it was on, we wouldn't be able to hear anything unless he opened a connection on his end."

Regina groaned, "Whatever is going on here isn't good. Take some advice from me, Miss French, watch yourself. Gold might be a bastard, but he's fair. My mother? She's a whole other story."

The Vise-president was about to depart when the office door opened and Cora waltzed through.

"Mother!" Regina cried, "What are you doing here?"

"Just some unfinished business with Rumold," the matriarchal Mills said, "It's a pity we don't have time to catch up though; you never call or come to see me!"

"I thought you were dead. You disappeared," in this moment, Regina was far from the composed business woman Belle was so used to avoiding and instead was the timid daughter.

"Oh darling! How you kid! It was a pleasure seeing you!" Cora called over her shoulder as she walked out.

Regina slumped against the desk again.

"Are you alright, Miss Mills?" Belle asked quietly, "Do you want some water?"

The other woman was still for a minute, then composed her self, and the regal persona was back, "No thank you Miss French, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern. Have a nice day."

Meanwhile, Gold still hadn't turned the comm back on and was reduced to yelling for her, "Belle! Belle! Get in here, now please!"

"Yes Mr. Gold?"

"Get Mendell and Lily Investigator's on the phone, I need them here as soon as possible!"

As it turned out, no matter how much Gold was willing to pay, Greg Mendell and Tamara Lily were not available for consultation until Friday, meaning he'd have to wait two more days.

Wednesday was a bad day. Gold did not want to take tea, and he also stopped all calls and appointments for the day. In the evening, Belle had begun to worry. She knocked on the door.

"Mr. Gold? Is everything alright?" she called.

There was no answer.

She tried again, "Mr. Gold!"

"Go away!" was the call from inside, and there was a crash, the sound of glass breaking, and a, "Damn!"

"I'm coming in!" she called. What if he was hurt? What was wrong?

She found Rumold slumped on desk, a broken decanter full of amber liquid spilled on the floor. He lifted his head to glare at her.

"What are you doing here?" he slurred, "Get out."

"You're drunk," Belle stated, "That's why I'm in here. I heard the crash and wanted to make sure you didn't hurt yourself."

"Why do you ever care?" he stumbled towards her, "You're just going to leave me like the rest of them."

Belle reached out to steady him, steering him to the couch, they sat down, "I'm not leaving, silly, we're going to get you home, okay?"

Gold wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her throat, causing Belle to bite back a sigh. She reached around him to the phone on the table.

"Dove? Can you bring the car around then come up here? Mr. Gold has had a little too much to drink,"

"M'fine," he grumbled, "I can hold my liquor, M'scottish."

She patted his head, "I know, Rum. What brought this on?"

He didn't reply but simply tighten his grip around her waist, "Don't go."

"I won't," she promised, "I'm not going anywhere."

It took both her and Dove to untangle the CEO from her and bring him down stairs to the car. Once they had gotten him into the apartment and Dove had departed, Belle tried to get him out of his suit and into bed.

"Come on, now, sit on the bed," she ordered, "You can't sleep in your three piece suit."

Coat and tie were easy to remove, next came shoes. When she stooped in front of him to unbutton his shirt, he reached out to touch her face. He traced a finger across her check and down her throat before trying to unbutton her shirt himself. Belle pushed his hands away.

"None of that now, need I remind you you're drunk? Not to mention my boss?" she said as she tossed his shirt aside, "Lay back, I'm just tiring to make you more comfortable, by the way."

She pulled off his trousers as he grumbled, "M'not drunk."

"Rum, I highly doubt you'd let me undress you if you weren't drunk," she comment as he crawled under the covers.

"I might," he caught her wrist, "You're not leaving, yeah? You said you'd stay..."

Belle sighed, "Rum, I'm not sure-"

"Please stay," he whispered, not dropping her hand.

"Let me change, okay?" she pulled away, "I'll come back, I swear."

He dropped her hand and she disappeared into the bathroom to undress and quickly grab one of his oxford shirts to wear instead. She slipped under the blankets next to Rumold. He immediately pulled her close , resting his head on her chest.

She though he had fallen asleep when he said, "My son, it's his birthday."

"You have a son?" she asked quietly.

"He left, ran away. I looked for him but-" he let out a strangled sob, "He died."

"Oh Rumold," she stroked his hair, "I'm so sorry."

"I was such a bad father he left! Everyone leaves!"

"Shh, shh, I'm here, Rum, I'm not going to leave," she soothed against his hair. He snuggled closer, obviously calmed by her presence, and after a few moments he'd fallen asleep.

Belle lay awake in the darkness listening to him breathe. Poor thing, he blamed his son's death on himself, when Belle was sure that wasn't the case. She kissed his forehead and let herself fall asleep too.