Summary: Gold sees Belle through her divorce. Quite a few people were interested to see this one.

Note: I do apologise for the recent lack of cupcakes; my muse has been elsewhere. This offering is slightly shorter than usual but hopefully it should satisfy the tastebuds for a little while until I get back into the groove. There are many more cupcakes in the oven. ;)

Chocolate Chip Cookie

It was rare for Belle not to come over on a Monday evening after she'd finished work. Even after they'd started living together, the Monday-night-Tuesday-morning ritual had remained in place. Yes, it was rare enough that it made Gold wonder if everything was all right as he locked up Guildhall and walked the few steps over the way to collect Belle from the café. He peered through the glass to see her polishing the top of the cake display vigorously, her mind obviously elsewhere. Having spent a few minutes watching her abstraction, Gold decided to knock on the door to get her attention.

The noise made her jump and she dropped the cloth with a little squeal before recovering herself and coming round to let him in.

"If you polish that glass any more, you'll wear a hole in it," he said.

"I know, I know. I…" She paused, defeated. "I was miles away," she said eventually.

And not in a good way, Gold added mentally. Something was worrying her.

He took her hand in his free one and led her over to the bench seating at the back of the café, hidden from view behind a forest of upturned chairs.

"What's up?" he asked once they were sat down together.

Belle sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I…" she began. "I'm divorced. Officially. Absolute came through today." She reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a heavy, expensive looking cream envelope, taking out the letter inside to hand it to him. Gold had seen hundreds of such letters in his time; his own signature could be found at the bottom of many. He didn't say anything, simply looking at the pretty jargon that was practically meaningless, and waiting for Belle to speak again.

"It's silly really," she said at length as he handed the letter back to her. "I just don't know what to feel. So I've been keeping busy, trying not to feel anything. I'm just numb. Part of me feels like I ought to be happy because that part of my life is over and I can truly draw a line under it and move on. But the rest of me feels like this isn't an occasion that should be celebrated. This is a reminder that something went wrong, something wasn't right. All these people who throw parties when they get divorced…. It seems a bit perverse to me unless you absolutely loathed your spouse. Which I didn't. So I feel sad, because even though I've moved on – I moved on a long time ago – it was still a huge part of my life and it's a shame that it didn't work out. But then I feel guilty about feeling sad about it because I'm so happy with you and I shouldn't be thinking about Gary, and I'm just incredibly confused."

She sighed, and Gold pulled her in closer.

"You feel whatever you want to feel," he said. "There's no right and wrong. There's no handbook for it; there never is. Nothing's changed, in the grander scheme of things. You haven't changed your name. Tomorrow you'll wake up and you'll still be the same person that you were this morning."

"It feels like it should be momentous, life-changing. You know, like I'm walking around with a great big flashing sign above my head saying 'something big has happened'. But it doesn't. Everything's still the same. I had a perfectly ordinary day at work. Nothing's different to yesterday except the fact I'm not legally married anymore."

Gold nodded. "I know what you mean. Nothing's different, but you feel like it ought to be."

Belle paused.

"How did you feel? After yours was finalised?"

"Relief, mainly." Gold sighed. It was so long ago that he'd put it to the back of his mind; it wasn't something that he thought of often. He remembered that it had been a Thursday, when he'd received a letter so much like Belle's, over fifteen years ago now. He'd been in the middle of a complicated case and it hadn't really registered on any kind of deeper level until about a week later. "I was just glad it was all over. Mine wasn't acrimonious, but it had taken a long time and I was glad there was nothing else to do, no more forms to sign or things to negotiate. I mean, it was different for me; there was a house to sell and assets to split and Bae to think about. But yes, mainly I was relieved that the process was over."

Belle fidgeted a little, nestling in closer to his side.

"So what happens now?" she asked.

"Now you just carry on living your life," Gold replied. "You mentioned baking chocolate chip cookies this evening."

Belle laughed, and Gold considered that a suitable small triumph in the grander scheme of things. He could try to help her make sense of her confused emotions, but ultimately only Belle could dictate what she was and wasn't going to feel. But he could be there if she wanted to talk, and if she didn't, and if he could make her smile, then that was a bonus.

"Will you be wanting to sample the mixture?" she asked playfully.

"Don't I always?" Gold growled in response.

"I don't know." Belle sighed. "I'm not sure I'm in the right frame of mind to make cookies tonight."

"Not even the famous giant cookie?"

"That was an accident!" Belle protested. "I didn't know how much the mixture would spread," she added. "That they all ended up sticking together to make one large cookie is in no way my fault at all."

"Imagine what would have happened if you'd actually been intending to make a large, baking-tray shaped cookie," Gold mused. "I dread to think of the possible consequences."

There was a long, companionable silence, broken only by the rustling of paper as Belle turned the letter over and over in her fingers. Finally she seemed to take action, stuffing the paper back into the envelope and putting this in turn back in her apron.

"Right," she said firmly. "That's that. It's done. Over. So let's go home to make chocolate chip cookies and carry on life as normal."

Belle pulled him off the bench seating before going over to get her jacket and switch off the lights. "Where've you parked?"

"Behind the library. Bit of a trek, but it's a mild enough night."

"Why there?" Belle asked, ushering him out of the café door so that she could lock up.

"Fox was entertaining some clients," Gold said drily. "They took all our usual parking spaces. Regina was most put out. Her rage was absolutely beautiful to behold. She didn't say anything, of course; ultimately he's her boss and she'll take the senior partner position when he retires. But her face was a picture. I'm surprised Marina didn't try to capture it on film actually. Oh yes. Fox's retirement can't come a moment too soon for Her Majesty."

Belle slipped her hand round his arm and curled her fingers into the fabric of his jacket.

"How was your day other than Regina nearly exploding in silent rage then?" she asked. Gold gave her a run-down of everything that had happened that day; not much interesting if he was being honest, but he could tell that she wanted her mind taken off their previous conversation with the banalities of everyday life. It was almost as if she wanted to reassure herself that everything really was still the same as it had been the previous day.

Suddenly she stopped dead, pulling him back.

"What is it?"

Belle didn't answer, instead reading a notice in the library window.

"Gold?" she breathed. "Do you believe in fate?"

Gold read the notice. The library was recruiting for a new trainee librarian. He raised an eyebrow at Belle.

"I mean," she continued, "I've been feeling like today should be a turning point all day, and maybe it is. Maybe, as one door closes…" She pressed her hand against her apron pocket where her decree absolute resided.

"…another one opens," Gold finished for her.

"What do you think?" Belle asked.

"Go for it," Gold said simply. "You've got nothing to lose."

Belle smiled up at him, the first genuine smile that he had seen from her all evening. It was a turning point in her life, there could be no doubt of that, and it was an emotional rollercoaster. Everything had changed and everything was still the same, and it was a confusing journey that her feelings were going on. But this was something new, something positive that she could focus on as she let go of her past once and for all. The divorce signalled the absolute end of something. Now, this could be the beginning of something new.