Belle loved the way Cam would hold her after sex, he was warm and loving and Cam made her feel like he couldn't live without her. Cameron was coming to believe that he couldn't. They lay there in the dark, arms wrapped around each other, their naked bodies slotted together like they were made for one another.

"I love you Cam."

"I love you too, my sweet Belle."

She rested her right hand on his chest and cuddled her face into his shoulder. He was warm and smelt of...well him; Belle could never get enough of that smell. Her heart fluttered with happiness and she wished that he would never let go of her.

"Belle, I need to tell you something." Belle propped herself up so she could look into Cameron's dark eyes. "I...I'm going to go up to Chicago with Bae. Milah, her parents died in a car crash and she was an only child. I em...I need to plan her funeral, Bae needs to say good-bye to her."

"How long will you be gone?" Belle whispered.

Gold was beyond pleased that she hadn't argued, if she had asked him to stay wrapped up with her forever, well, Cam probably would have.

"No more than a week, I promise. I and Bae where all she really had other than a few friends and that on again off again boyfriend of hers."

"You don't have to explain to me, Cam. She was Bae's mother, he should say goodbye. Promise you'll call me right? I don't want to sit around doing nothing."

"Don't worry, I think Bae will refuse to go to sleep without wishing you a goodnight. That and if you don't want to 'sit around doing nothing' I'll make sure to weight you down with essays and research projects." Cam chuckled.

"Professor Gold, how mean." Belle's voice was teasing.

"Well, Miss French I am a cruel man. Ask anyone in your class, I thought Miss Blanchard was going to run away for a moment earlier."

The two smiled remembering how Mary Margaret's eyes had widened with fear. She had always been so timid and she had to admit his teasing of the snow white skinned girl had been amusing.

"Oh don't let me forget to take Kubla's dog bed."

Belle sat up, looking down at him her face a little upset. Gold sensed something was wrong and gripped her a little closer pulling her back to him.

"You're taking Kubla too?"

"I know its silly, but Kubla's my best friend and Bae loves him. I can't leave him."

"Yeah, I guess." She sighed.

"Belle, Sweetheart. What's wrong?" He brushed a loose strand of auburn hair back behind her ear.

"It's just, I've gotten used to there being a dog around. My Papa is allergic to dogs, cats too so I never got a pet."

Cameron smiled and pulled her closer still, her body warm and soft against the silk bedsheets. Even though it was dark the blue of Belle's eyes shone out like a lighthouse on a stormy night.

"Dearest I will not be gone long. I don't want to leave you either, but I must. You have Ruby, Victor and..." He tried to remember the name for a moment. "...and the other one, to talk to."

That made Belle laugh, like all her worries evanesced. She pressed a loving kiss to his cheek.

"His name is Jefferson." Cam just nodded. "At least they don't smell like dog."

"That's it, look on the bright side, dearie."

XXXX

Just like he said Cameron left his class with a large research project to do on Dracula since they were moving from Shakespeare's tragedies and onto Gothic novels. Belle was secretly thankful that she would have something to concentrate on while he was away, everyone else just wanted to kill him for the gargantuan task. Professor Gold had dismissed his class early so as he could go get his son from Ashley and catch his flight, sensing Belle's misery Ruby had insisted they go home and watch a movie with 'ten ton of popcorn' as she put it.

When they had moved in Belle and Ruby had spent days decorating so that the apartment was just how they wanted it, the walls had original been a bright orange that was almost blinding but after a lick of paint and a lot of laughing the room had become a forest green that worked wonderfully with the black couch and white tiles of the kitchen. The place was small, the couch had its back to the door and looked over to the television opposite. To the left of the living room was Belle's bedroom while the right held the small open kitchen, once in the kitchen there were two more doors right next to each other made of white painted wood. The one on the far right held the little bathroom while the one on the left revealed Ruby's bright red bomb sight of a bedroom. There wasn't very much in the main room, just a pot plant by the front door and obviously the couch and television, and a large black fury carpet between the two topped with a coffee table covered in Ruby's magazines. Simple, but they called it home.

Belle clicked her heels along the hardwood floor, a large glass bowl of popcorn in her hands as Ruby set up the movie, The Bourne Legacy. Ruby had a little obsession with Jeremy Renner and to be honest so did Belle, he had beautiful hands and such big gorgeous eyes that even rivalled Cameron's. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Belle had a thing for older men; Jeremy Renner, Norman Reedus, Misha Collins and of course Cameron Gold.

"Come on, hurry up." Ruby insisted, gesturing with both hands for her friend to speed up.

"Fine, fine." Belle set the bowl down on the dark coffee table and took a seat beside her friend.

The two munched away on toffee popcorn and sipped their root beer while they drooled over Jeremy Renner without a shirt on that was, until a knock came on the door. Ruby paused the film and watched as Belle stood and walked over to the door; opening it she found Cameron with a paper bag larger than any she had seen before, it was almost half his height and Belle could easily fit herself, Ruby and Cam into it with space to spare, there were also a few smaller bags.

"Cam, what are you doing here?" She asked looking at her watch. "Doesn't your plane leave soon?"

"Yes it does, just a quick stop here and then I , Bae and Kubla are off to the airport. I have a present for you." He leaned across the threshold of the door and kissed her softly.

"A paper bag, what I've always wanted." She teased him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Well if you're going to be all sarcastic I will just take it back."

Gold turned as if to leave, but Belle grabbed hold of him and pulled the older man to her, giving him another love filled kiss. Her soft auburn curls tickled his face but Gold didn't mind. Belle eventually pulled back partially for air, but mainly because she wanted to know what her present was.

"So, what's in the bags?"

"Oh that, that's to go with your present. Your real present is..."

Cameron was cut off by a bark and Belle's eyes widened, she pushed him backwards a little, causing him to stumble slightly, and jumped out the apartment into the corridor where she saw an oh so fluffy white dog; Belle squealed in delight and turned back to Cam.

"You got me a dog?!"

"You said you never had a pet, and I didn't want you to feel odd and lonely without Kubla."

Belle dropped to her knees before the animal and looked at its dark eyes and nose with awe; she had never been so happy.

"Do you like her?"

"Like her?" She didn't look away from the animal. "I love her. What breed is she? What's her name?"

She couldn't see it but Gold had a pleased grin on his face and had planted his feet a little apart with his fingers laced over his cane.

"She is a year old Samoyed and as for her name, why don't you look at her collar and tell me, dearie?"

The collar was fine leather with two rows of silver studs that went around the whole collar; it matched Kubla's perfectly only his was black while her new pet's was sky blue. In the middle was a bronze plate and in capitals engraved into the metal above her cell number was the name 'Cordelia'.

"Cordelia, as in my favourite King Lear female?"

"But of course, there was a male I debated over for a while. I would have called him Edmund."

"Ahh the bastard son. My favourite." She stood and pulled Cam into a tight loving hug. "I love you."

"I love you too. And I am glad you like her." Mid hug he gestured towards the bags behind him. "I got her a dog bed and some toys, food, other bits for her too. Everything you need for a while."

"Thank you Cam. She's perfect, I love her, I love you." Her words came out far faster than she had planned but it just made him smile and eventually she released him.

"I would love to stay longer, but I..."

"Have to catch your flight." She interrupted. "I know, go on I need to find places for all her things." Belle's grin was brighter than the high noon sun.

"Alright, you go play decorating. I'll see you next week. I love you."

"I love you too."

With one final kiss Gold left and Belle ushered the dog into her apartment. As she gathered the bags, that were nowhere near as heavy as they looked. Suddenly Belle heard Ruby let out an 'aww' that just made her smile.

"Where did the dog come from?" Ruby asked as Belle shut the door behind her.

"Cameron. I said some stuff about never having a pet and how I liked Kubla being around and well, he got me a dog." She sang the last part of her sentence then set the bags down before speaking again. "Ruby, this is Cordelia."

Cordelia looked over to the television where the movie was still paused on a shirtless Jeremy Renner and then padded over and sat down in front of it as if telling the humans to 'press play'.

"She likes Jeremy Renner so she has my vote." Just like that Ruby bonded to the animal.

It didn't take long for Belle to find a place for the large dog bed that was very similar to Kubla's only it was white and had 'Cordelia' sewn into it that had gone into her bedroom while a smaller blue one had been placed next to the coffee table while the toys found their way into a large pine box that up until then had just been decorative.

XXXX

That night Belle lay awake with Cordelia curled up on her bed rather than were she was meant to be, just thinking about Cam and Bae and if they where alright. Belle didn't like being away from them, not after their dinner and how deeply she had fallen in love with the two-year old. Cordelia was more than a dog to comfort her, she was a symbol of how much Cameron loved her and with the Samoyed so close she would never forget it. The animal was perfect and Belle knew that with Cordelia the next few days wouldn't be so lonely.