The past two days had gone without incident. Rumpel had kept himself in his shop and had avoided going anywhere he thought that Belle would visit. There was no need for him to chase her like a puppy dog, begging her to pay attention to him. He had not done anything wrong. For once, it was not him. He took a small amount of pride in that fact, but did not let it go to his head, remembering all the times he had actually been up to wrong and she had caught him out. She was winning.

Sat at his dining room table, Rumpel listened to Gideon and Lilly going over everything they had organised for their party. They had organised to have the party at the mansion. It seemed to be the go to place now for having a celebration. He had to admit, it was the perfect venue. Grannie had agreed to supply the food. They were going to use the same DJ that Snow and Charming had used, who worked at the Rabbit Hole. Rumpel did not care what they wanted as long as they were happy, giving them free range with his credit card. Fathers were usually good for something: money.

Rumpel chuckled at the thought and sipped at his whiskey as Lilly showed Gideon a dress she liked in a magazine. "I would love that dress."

"If you want it, babe, have it." Gideon told her.

"Gideon, it's a four hundred dollar dress." She scolded him and carried on turning the pages in the magazine.

"If you want it, dearie, you can have it." Rumpel told her putting his glass down on the table.

Lilly touched his hand. "Thank you, Mr Gold. But… you've done enough for us. I couldn't ask you for this."

"First things first." Rumpel lent forward onto the table and laid his hand on top of hers that was on his other hand. "You have to call me Rumpel, not Mr Gold. Second, my dear, money is never a problem in this household. You two will have whatever you want, as long as I am alive. If you want that dress, by money or magic, you will have it."

His words touched her. He knew they would. Growing up as they had, with no parents and fighting for everything, it was touching for someone to be so giving and expect nothing in return. Lilly squeezed his hand and drew her hand out between his to flick back to the dress she liked in the magazine.

"I don't think it would get here by Friday." Lilly stated to them, her finger tracing the picture of the dress.

"I can't have that." Rumpel said and clicked his fingers. The dress she had been looking at in the magazine appeared at the other end of the table. It lay in a plastic sheet to protect it. Lilly jumped up from her chair with surprise and soon forgot it as she picked up the dress from the table.

The doorbell rang. Gideon excused himself and disappeared off into the rest of the house to answer the door. Smiling, Rumpel watched as Lilly laid the dress against herself, seeing how it looked against herself. It reminded him of their honeymoon, when he had changed Belle's outfit into the long flowing gold dress. Lilly face was an exact match to Belle's. It was nice to see that he bring some happiness again with his magic. He could hear raised voices coming from the hallway. Nothing though, was going to break this moment of happiness that he had given to Lilly. She swished the dress about, mimicking how it would look when she was dancing. Rumpel knew that she had never really experienced moments like this.

Lilly looked up from her dress to Rumpel. "Thank you so much, Mr Gol… I mean, Rumpel."

"You don't need to thank me, sweetie." Rumpel stood and took his glass from the table. "You make him happy and that's enough for me." She smiled at him as he left to go into the kitchen. Coming around the corner into the kitchen, Rumpel could hear Gideon talking to someone at the front door. He finished his drink and put the glass on the counter as he passed it heading to the front door to join Gideon.

Nearing the hallway, he could hear who was at the door. "Why don't you come home!"

"Mother, please." Gideon implored his mother.

Rumpel placed his hand on his son's shoulder, causing the young man to look at his father, and said. "Gideon, go to Lilly. It really suits her."

Belle's brow furrowed. "What does?"

"Nothing, Belle, you'll see later." Rumpel said as Gideon ducked pass his father to re-join Lilly in the dining room.

"Are you keeping him from me?" Belle questioned, her finger pointing the accusation at him.

He chuckled. "Nope. They are free to come and go as they please. He is old enough to make his own decisions."

"Not if he doesn't know the whole truth!" Belle raised her voice at him.

"Look, swee… I'm telling you you're wrong about what you saw. It was innocent." Rumpel told her as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. He wanted to touch her. Her cheeks were red from her temper. The vein on her neck was pulsing with her temper getting the better of her. The temptation to nibble it was becoming too much.

"I don't understand this." Belle touched her forehead as she spoke. "I know what I saw, because I saw it!"

"No, dearie, you saw what you wanted to see." Rumpel took a step forward towards her. He fantasied about grabbing her and pining her against the doorframe, kissing some sense into her. He knew that was impossible. Belle would probably beat him to the floor.

Belle squinted her eyes at him. "I want Gideon to come home with me now. He shouldn't be around you."

"Gideon!" Rumpel called, leaning against the doorframe.

Lilly and Gideon came from the dining room and stopped in the opening to the living room from the hallway. "Yeah?"

"Your mother wants you to go home with her." Rumpel told him, looking at him from the corner of his eye over his shoulder.

"I'm not going home." Gideon moved closer to the doorway, so he could see Belle better. "Mother, please, this is not…"

Rumpel shushed his son with a wave of his hand. "Just come to the party on Friday, Belle. And like I said, you'll be begging me to call you sweetheart."

"Fine. If you want to celebrate the fact your father is cheating on me, then don't let me stand in your way. I'll be there on Friday and we'll see whose begging who." Belle told him and then stomped her way down his porch steps, disappearing into the night. He closed the door and waved his hand again to give Gideon his voice back.

"You should have let me tell her!" Gideon touched his father's shoulder to stop him walking off.

Rumpel turned to his son. "If she wants to be stupid, then let her carry on. At the end of it, she will be shown that she can trust me and that I don't do everything for myself. I would rather she think I was the devil, if it meant that my kid..." Rumpel paused and looked at Lilly. "My kids were happy. I am being selfless, something your mother prides herself on."

"Just as long as you know what you're doing." Lilly moved closer to Gideon, her arm snaking around his waist.

"Don't you worry your pretty face about it, dearie. I always have a plan." Rumpel said with a grin. Whether he was convincing himself or them, he did not know. A word that Snow had seemed to coin for herself, kept echoing at the back of his mind: Faith.