He still couldn't believe it, he was wearing jeans and an untucked white shirt and he wasn't even sitting in his car, he was in public, or as public as a late night diner could be. Gold scanned the menu for the fourth time, though he'd already made his mind up what he was having.

Being as inconspicuous as he could he looked over the menu at the women opposite him. Belle sat in her blue dress and cardigan he'd bought her earlier, she too stared at her menu intensely, her perfectly manicured nail tapping against the corner of the plastic covered menu making a light drumming sound.

Neither had said much to one another after the incident with the Zelena earlier on in the day. He wasn't sure why exactly it had become awkward, Belle had just helped him out of an uncomfortable situation with an unwanted female attention. Perhaps it had been something he'd said or done, he just hoped he hadn't ruined everything. That she would demand he take her back home to her unloving father and fiancé, this experience of driving around with her as his companion was one of the most freeing experience of his life.

Belle too felt the uncomfortable air that had fallen over the couple. She knew it was her fault, that he was only feeling awkward because he felt her anxiety, her sadness. The incident with the shop assistant, she'd just seen him talking to a pretty women and it had sent a strange sense of jealousy over her which had then sent her marching over to him, to stake a sort of claim she knew she didn't even have. It scared her.

Peering over her menu at the man opposite him, she noticed the sadness in his eyes, the worry, he looked uncomfortable, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. she wanted to reach out and grab his hand, to tell him that whatever it was that troubled him was okay and offer to face whatever it was, with him, at his side. Her company would probably be denied though, why would he be even remotely interested in her. He probably didn't even want to be on this trip with her, he was probably just waiting for her to ask him to take her home, perhaps she should just do that, let him move on, just move on herself.

"Can I get you guys anything?" A waitress in a bright red dress and white apron asked them as she stood beside their table, pad and paper in hand.

Belle and Gold shared a quick glance before he ordered "I'll have a burger and ice-tea"

"I'll have the same" Belle replied closing her menu and handing it to the waitress who scribbled down their order before walking away.

"So" Belle stared at Gold "Your jeans comfy?" she asked awkwardly.

"Yes and your clothes, they fit okay?" he asked her, both trying to keep their tone light and airy.

"They do...and thank you again" she gave him a genuine smile "I really appreciate all that you've done and I will pay you back every cent" Belle assured, Gold just nodded as the waitress came with their ice tea.

"Can i borrow your pen?" Belle asked the women nicely, she nodded before handing her the pen, then Belle began to scribble down something on a napkin from the napkin dispenser.

"What are you doing?" Gold asked her, trying to read what she was writing.

"You're a lawyer, you like words and contracts" Belle continued "So I'm writing one for us" she finished writing something before turning the napkin to face him. "sign it" she told him.

Gold sighed before reading what she'd written "that's too much" he took the pen from her and crossed out the end amount and wrote a lower number next to it before signing and spinning it back to her to sign, she did and gave the waitress back her pen before handing it back to Gold.

Gold took the napkin and folded it neatly into squares before bringing his wallet from his pocket and slipping the napkin into one of the empty card holders. "I've been meaning to ask you" Gold started "Is there anyone that you'd like to call. to tell that your okay, I mean I'm sure you're family are worried about you"

Belle hadn't even thought about the fact that her friends might be worried that she kind of ran off with a stranger at the drop of a hat. "I'd like to call one of my friends...if I could borrow your phone?" she asked, knowing the exact person she needed to talk to.

"Of course" Gold reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone "No international calls" he teased with a smirk as the pretty brunet took his phone with care before slipping out of the booth.

Belle felt her eyes on him as she crossed the diner and walked out the door. The cold air nipped at her as she walked out onto the concrete car park, she pulled her cardigan around her more to protect from the cold. She took a few deep breaths of the chilled air before pulling his phone out of her pocket and dialling a familiar number.

"Hello" A familiar female voice answered the other end.

"Mulan it's me" Belle answered after a few minutes.

"BELLE!" Her friend almost screamed so much that Belle had to pull Gold's phone away from her hear "Are you okay? Where are you? I'll come get you" she began to ramble.

"No, I'm fine" Belle assured her as she began to wander the car park, crossing her feet over one another as she spoke. "Honestly you don't need to worry".

"Worry" Mulan almost yelled "You ran away minutes before your wedding and were last seen being driven away by some strange guy and no one's heard from you in almost two days" she exclaimed.

"Look I'm sorry, really but..." Belle ran a hand through her brown curls "And he's not strange, Roberts...well he's a gentlemen and I'm the one that asked him to drive me away"

"I...I just don't understand Belle" Mulan spoke after a moment "Do you realise how worried your father is?" she asked.

Belle felt sick to her stomach, she didn't give her father much thought, he'd been so pushy lately, wanting her to marry Gaston as soon as possible, she didn't think he'd actually care that she was missing.
"Belle are you there?" Mulan's voice brought her back to reality.

"Yeah. I'm still here" she replied, her voice laced with sadness and a hint of regret, "Can you do me a favour" she asked after a moment.

"Sure, what?" Mulan asked.

the brunet sighed "I'm going to send you two letters, one for my father and one for Gaston, could you give them to them and could you get some of my stuff from Gaston's place?"

"Of course" Mulan told her "You can stay with me when you get back" she added.

"Thank you" Belle sighed, feeling like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, she turned on her heels, she spotted Gold through the window of the diner, he still sat by himself. He looked lonely, heartbroken almost, like he needed a hug, someone to help him find what he'd lost.

"Belle..." Mulan began bringing her friend back to the conversation "You are coming back right?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah" the brunet assured "I just need time...we all do" she added after a moment, her eyes not leaving Gold for a second. "I have to go, I'll send the letters tomorrow"

"Okay, take care" was all Mulan could manage to get out before the phone line went dead.

...

"Everything okay?" Gold asked as Belle returned to their booth.

"Yeah fine" Belle assured him with a small smile before sliding his phone across the table for him to take "Thank you for that".

Gold just shrugged his shoulders at her as if to tell her that it was nothing, "So there are no police man coming to arrest me for kidnapping?" he only half joked.

The beauty smiled at him "Don't worry, I called them off" she quipped back in return. The waitress approached putting their burgers in front of them.

"You folks enjoy now" she told them before walking off.

Belle watched as Gold picked up the ketchup and the top half of the burger bun and squirted it inside, Gold's gaze lifted from the burger to the women sitting opposite him before pushing the tomato sauce towards her.

"Something the matter?" he asked her.

"No..."Belle assured "Just...Well... I haven't had a burger or anything like that in years" she confessed.

Gold looked at her like she was mad "Why on earth not?" he asked.

"Needed to watch my weight" she confessed as she nibbled on a French fry, it tasted like freedom.

"Who the hell told you that?" he asked, sounded almost outraged.

"Gaston...Gaston's mother...Gaston's sister...the wedding dress designer..." Belle explained almost casually as she copied Gold's actions with the ketchup on her own burger.

Gold couldn't believe that the man that had claimed to love Belle, to want to marry her, to be with her , was so concerned about how she looked that he obviously didn't see the wonderful personality underneath. "Well they're wrong...you perfect" he almost whispered before focusing on his burger, finding himself all of a sudden hungry. Belle meanwhile had a little blush on her cheeks, having heard what he said whether he likes it or not.

Belle took one bite of her burger and was in heaven. For the rest of the meal the pair enjoyed quiet conversations about his life as a boy in Scotland and her life in Australia. Belle spoke about her love of reading of which Gold found himself surprised at how she and he had such similar taste in literature. Gold told Belle about his secret love of antiques and of his spinning wheel which his grandmothers taught him how to use, something Belle found so interesting and unique. She was sure she was only just pulling back the layers of man who sat opposite her.

Both had almost forgotten the awkwardness from the earlier encounter, that was until they found themselves in a motel, sharing a room once again but this time the room had two single beds.

They lay in their separate bed's in the darkness, neither could sleep, both just stared at the ceiling above them. Gold's mind kept replaying the situation with Zelena, of how Belle came over, as cool as anything, saying she was his fiancé, helping him out of an awkward situation with women who couldn't be far from his interests.

Meanwhile Belle's was playing the very same moment in her mind, she didn't understand why it affected her so much. She saw Gold was in trouble so she helped him, just like he would do to her, it meant nothing, it was nothing, so why did she keep thinking about it?

The brunet rolled over and groaned into her pillow in frustration, forgetting that she wasn't alone in the room.

"Belle...Are you okay?" Gold asked, sitting up in his bed and twisting his body to look at her before reaching out to switch on the lamp between them.

Belle shot up, "I'm fine" she told him, her eyes brimming with tears.

"You don't look okay" he spoke, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Just can't sleep" Belle mumbled.

"Something bothering you?" Gold asked after a moment.

The beauty sat up in her bed, looking over at the man who sat in the bed opposite her, he looked so different than he had when he first met her, the suit was gone, the well groomed face was gone, replaced with sleep trousers and a Johnny Walker whisky advert on a top and light stubble on his face, had she changed him so much in the last two days, did he realise how much he'd freed her.

Do the brave thing and bravery shall follow. Belle took a deep breath "Earliar with when the shop assistant was talking to you..." she began taking a deep breath before truly being honest "Pretending to be your fiancé for that mere minute... it felt better than having been Gaston's for the past year and half" she admitted.

Gold felt a mixture of flattery and awe at how open she'd been with him "Well then it's a good thing you didn't marry him" he told her "It doesn't sound like he deserves you in the slightest"

"Thank you" Belle smiled feeling better than she had all day. she sighed before deciding to be brave once more "Earlier when you were paying for the clothes, I noticed in your wallet...there was a picture of a boy" it was something that had caught her eyes and she wondered that now she'd been so open to him, he might be a little open to her.

Gold felt a cold shiver go down his spine, should he tell her, she'd been brave, perhaps he could harness that and stop being a coward. "He's my son" he told her, looking away into the dark corner of the room. "He's eleven, his mother and I divorced and she won sole custody and refuses to let me see him" he admitted.

The older man didn't even realise that Belle had got out of her bed until she laid down beside him and held him, he jumped a little in her arms but then soon relaxed "I'm so sorry" she spoke as she rested her head next to his.

Both were silent for a long time, before they knew it, they'd fallen asleep in each other's arms, squashed in the single bed. Although they were still strangers to one another, both felt safe, free and hopeful that the morning could only hold good things in store for them to help them forget their gloomy pasts.

...

Hope you liked this chapter. I decided to use Mulan instead of Ruby as i'd like to use Ruby later in the story. Sorry if it was all out of character i had a bit of writers block with this chapter but am happy with how it ended. Hopefully you wont have to wait so long for the next update.

Suggestions always welcome, i have a few more ideas and the ending is sorted but any road trip stuff would be much appreciated.

-OhMyGold