VERY important a/n at the end of this chapter - please read! :)
Chapter 24
Gold entered Belle's room and found her crying, with Mary Margaret Blanchard sitting next to her.
"Belle, it's alright – it won't always be easy." Mary Margaret assured her.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Gold asked, immediately moving to her left side. Belle leaned against him and continued to cry.
"I can't do this, Ian." Belle said. Gold looked up at Mary Margaret.
"She had a hard time with therapy today. We tried some more difficult exercises and she struggled. It happens." Mary Margaret said. "Why don't you relax, I'll get you one of your pain pills, alright?" Belle nodded, still snuggled up next to Gold. Mary Margaret left the room. Gold gave Belle a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"It's alright, darling. Everyone has bad days. You haven't even been here a week, and you're doing wonderful. Hey – you should have seen me in rehab with my leg, the first few weeks I thought I was a hopeless cause. It's just one bad day." Gold assured her. "Are you hurting?" Belle nodded. "Did you tell them that?"
"I thought I could get through it." Belle said.
"Belle – you're still going to have pain now and again, and they don't like you working through the pain, especially not this early. I think you just need to get some sleep, and not worry about any of this. Tomorrow it'll be better." Gold said. Mary Margaret entered the room.
"He's right – we'll try again tomorrow and we'll keep trying until you get it right." Mary Margaret said. She handed Belle a glass of water and a pill, which Belle took without argument. "I'm off in an hour, I'll let the night nurse know what happened today."
"You going out with David Nolan again tonight?" Belle asked, settling back against her pillow in bed.
"Yeah. I really like him." Mary Margaret said.
"Don't distract him too much, he has work to do for me." Gold commented.
"You have fun." Belle said.
"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. Get some rest." Mary Margaret said, and she left the room.
"I think she's already planning their wedding in her head." Belle commented to Gold. "I guess when you know, you know, right?"
"I suppose – some are just a bit stubborn to admit right away." Gold said, and he took her hand and kissed it.
"Will you take me out on a date? I mean – when I get out of here." Belle asked. Gold hesitated for a moment.
"Um – where did you want to go?" Gold asked.
"I don't know. A nice dinner. Dancing." Belle suggested.
"Dancing? Sweetheart, it's one thing to do that in my dining room with no one watching, but a complete other thing to have me gimping about on a dance floor in public." Gold said.
"You can slow dance just fine." Belle said.
"I'd prefer not to. How about a movie?" Gold suggest.
"Oh, that's a good idea, you'll pay ten dollars to fall asleep in a movie theater instead of on your sofa." Belle teased.
"I only fall asleep during the movies we watch because YOU always pick them." Gold said. "Maybe if you let me make the selection once in awhile I might find something worth staying awake for."
"You saying I have bad taste?" Belle asked.
"Of course not, no. Just – the movies you want to watch, I don't need to stay awake for them, I can tell you what happens fifteen minutes in, they're so bloody predictable." Gold commented.
"Well how about the theatre or the ballet?" Belle asked.
"Why can't we just have a nice evening at home as our date?" Gold asked.
"Because you need to get out of the house." Belle said.
"I am out of the house." Gold said.
"Right. And you're here with me. You haven't gone anywhere, Ian. You were at the hospital, and now you're at the rehab center, and then you go to this new house you had the agency set up. You make phone calls and have everything delivered to you, or Emma or Gwen get it for you. That isn't going anywhere, that's moving from one isolated situation to another." Belle said. Gold looked down sadly. "We have to start somewhere."
"I know." Gold replied. "I'm trying, Belle."
"Have you found anyone to talk to yet?" Belle asked.
"Um – Gwen and I have been quite busy setting up surveillance for Emma – I'll make some calls soon." Gold said.
"You're not just avoiding the issue, are you Ian?" Belle asked. "You still haven't looked all that well – are you getting enough sleep?"
"What have I told you about worrying about me? YOU need to get some sleep. Here, I think we can manage this, this is a much bigger bed than the one in the hospital." Gold removed his jacket and tie, then sidled up on Belle's left side and motioned for her to snuggle into him. "How about we both get a bit of rest." Belle cuddled with him.
"Who's paying for all of this, by the way? I mean – I do have insurance with my job at the library – not that I'm certain I HAVE that job any longer." Belle said.
"You have a very generous benefactor." Gold replied.
"Ian – I can't expect you to pay for all of this. My papa has money, I'm sure he'll gladly reimburse you after -"
"Belle – please stop worrying about me and medical bills and everything else and just sleep, love. You can't stress over all of these things, you'll drive yourself mad." Gold said. "The only thing I want you worrying about is getting well. I told you – I'm managing. It's overwhelming but - I'll be fine. And you don't worry about any of these bills because none of this is your fault, you won't pay one dime of it, nor will your father."
"Alright. Can you stay with me tonight?" Belle asked.
"Of course, sweetheart." Gold whispered. Belle sighed contentedly and fell asleep in his arms. Gold realized that he had nothing with him to drink, nor any opportunity to get anything without leaving Belle.
It was going to be a long night.
"Yes. Thank you." Regina said before hanging up the phone. She and Jones were in the office in her new residence in Boston.
"You do realize what they're planning, right?" Jones asked.
"Do you really think I'm stupid enough not to?" Regina asked. "Everything is going exactly as I want it."
"Yes, well you seem to forget that – what you want isn't necessarily what you're supposed to be doing." Jones said.
"I thought it was made clear that you work for me while you're here. If you want to tattle on me to the boss, you go right ahead. In the meantime – I have something for you to do – something that might actually be a bit more – up your alley in terms of doing things right for a change." Regina said. She logged onto her computer and printed something, then handed it to Jones. He looked at the paper.
"Pretty. What am I supposed to do with this?" Jones asked.
"Her name is Ruby Lucas. She recently left Storybrooke and came to Boston – which is a bit of a coincidence, don't you think? Given the other recent events. I want to know if she's working for them. If she is – she's likely not a fed or an agent which means – she'd be easy to crack." Regina said. "She's been spotted at this address. See what you can find out." Regina wrote something down on the paper and gave it back to Jones.
"Well – that's an assignment I think I can handle. But in the meantime – what are you going to do about – well, the other thing? You're usually long gone by now." Jones said.
"I'm approaching things a bit differently this time – as are they. Just trust me. I know what I'm doing." Regina said.
"Okay. Yeah, I'm just picking up some lunch, I'll get that to you and then I'll go run those errands. See you in a bit, Belle." Ruby said, and she hung up the phone as she entered the restaurant. Ruby approached the bar.
"Can I help you?" the bartender asked.
"Yeah, I had an order to go for Ruby." Ruby said.
"Oh, yeah – about ten more minutes." the bartender said. "Did you want something to drink while you're waiting?"
"No thanks." Ruby said, and she sat down just as Jones, who had followed her from her apartment unbeknownst to her, sat down next to her.
"This seat taken?" Jones asked.
"What? Oh – no, go ahead." Ruby said.
"So what's a pretty thing like you doing here all alone?" Jones asked.
"Oh, I um – I'm just picking up lunch for me and a friend." Ruby said.
"Boyfriend?" Jones asked. Ruby blushed a bit.
"No – just a friend, she's – in the hospital." Ruby said.
"Well, that's too bad, I hope she gets better soon. Lucky to have a friend like you." Jones said. The bartender walked up to Jones and asked for his drink order.
"Rum and coke." Jones replied, then turned back to Ruby. "So – what's your name?" Jones asked. Ruby was quiet. "Oh, come on – I don't bite. I'm Jo – Joe. Smith." Jones said.
"Joe Smith? Right." Ruby said.
"Don't like my name then?" Jones asked.
"It's fake. How stupid do I look?" Ruby asked.
"You don't look stupid at all, love. So – can I buy you a drink while you're waiting?" Jones asked. Just as he did so, Ruby's order was brought to her.
"Sorry – gotta go. Next time you run into me, you can buy me that drink." Ruby said, rolling her eyes as she walked away.
"Oh, you can count on that." Jones said, and he took a sip of his drink as he watched her walk away.
Gold entered the grocery store nervously. He could do this, he told himself. He worked for the bloody CIA, and this was a grocery store, for heaven's sake, not the Pentagon. He used to go shopping for himself and Bae all the time. Belle was right – he needed to start doing things like this. Getting out there on his own. He'd been ordering something for Belle every day since she entered the hospital, having someone else get things for him. He was a grown man, he was fully capable of running his own errands. Belle loved flowers – he was going to pick out a nice arrangement for her; he was hoping to go to a floral shop but it was getting late and all of the ones nearby were closed. The cab driver told him that this store sold flowers and had a nice selection.
Gold took a deep breath as he made his way into the store. He wanted to turn and leave within seconds. The music playing on the speakers was loud. The store was crowded and noisy and he was struggling to maneuver the cart he had taken with his bad leg. He bumped into several people as he moved through the store; they all glared at him and one of them uttered a few choice expletives. Gold saw the floral department and breathed a sigh of relief; he just had to get there, get what he wanted, and leave this god-awful place.
He didn't expect the most direct path to the floral department to be through the liquor department.
Gold tried to avoid looking at shelf after shelf of alcohol. He hadn't had a drink in almost forty-eight hours. He also hadn't had much sleep in that amount of time, either. And he hadn't kept his promise to Belle. He promised her that he would find someone to talk to when they got to Boston. He had been there nearly a week, and still hadn't done so. Gold did not let people in easily, and his experience with Archie Hopper had left him wary of the entire counseling industry.
And then there was the issue of the fact that he still hadn't confided all of his secrets to Belle. He knew he had to do that, and hope that she wouldn't leave him. He hoped that she wouldn't think him too damaged to even bother with.
He just needed something to take the edge of, he told himself.
Gold picked out a beautiful bouquet of blue orchids and white daisies in a vase. Blue was Belle's favorite color, and he knew that she would love them.
On his way to the register, he grabbed a bottle of scotch from the shelf and put it in his cart.
Gold approached the register and the checkout girl began to ring him up.
"Do you have a rewards card?" the girl asked.
"A what?" Gold asked.
"It's a card that gives you a discount." the girl told him.
"I don't believe I do, no." Gold replied. He fumbled through his wallet and took out a card to make his payment.
"Debit or credit?" the girl asked.
"What?" Gold asked, becoming annoyed.
"Is this a debit card or a credit card?" the girl asked.
"What does it look like?" Gold asked, becoming angry and flustered.
"Just swipe it, please." the girl said.
"Excuse me?" Gold asked.
"Mr. Gold?" he heard a familiar voice chime in next to him. It was Ruby. "What are you doing here?" Ruby asked.
"I have no bloody clue." Gold replied, his voice beginning to tremble.
"Here – you swipe your card here, like this." Ruby said, taking the card from him and swiping it through the credit card machine on the counter. "Then you sign your name."
"On that?" Gold asked, looking at the machine.
"Yeah – you use the stylus, it's not that difficult." Ruby said. Gold followed her directive.
"So are those for Belle?" Ruby asked, looking at the flowers.
"Of course they are. Picked them out myself." Gold said.
"Well, she'll love them. What have you got in the bag?" Ruby asked. She nosily peeked inside before Gold could stop her. "I hope that's not for Belle." Ruby remarked as she looked up at him. Gold just glared at her angrily, not saying a word. "Did you take a cab here? I'm getting some stuff for Belle that she needed, if you wait you can ride back with me."
"I don't think so." Gold replied. "Oh and – you didn't see what's in the bag, is that understood?"
"You're lying to Belle." Ruby said.
"I'm not lying." Gold said.
"A lie of omission is still a lie." Ruby said.
"Mind your own business, Miss Lucas." Gold said, and he turned to walk away. Ruby frowned a bit as she watched him leave. Ruby grabbed a cart and as she turned it around someone bumped into her.
"Sorry about that." the man said. Ruby looked up at him – it was Jones.
"You. Are you stalking me?" Ruby asked.
"Now why would I do that? Coincidence, I suppose. I do live near here and – well, I do need to shop. And I believe you promised me that you'd let me buy you a drink." Jones said.
"Changed my mind." Ruby said, and she turned to walk away.
"Oh, come on. As you might figure – I'm new here in town. Just looking to – make some new friends." Jones said. "Come on – like I said earlier – I don't bite. Unless you like that sort of thing." Ruby giggled a bit.
"I really can't right now, but – oh, what the heck." Ruby said. She reached into her purse, took out a pen, and reached for Jones's left hand. He immediately pulled it away.
"Use this one instead." Jones said, holding out his right hand to her. Ruby shrugged and said nothing, and proceeded to write her phone number on the palm of his hand. Jones looked down at the number on his hand.
"No name?" He asked.
"Jane. Smith." Ruby replied.
"Alright then. So is this a real phone number or simply a ploy to get rid of me?" Jones asked.
"I guess you'll find out when you call it, won't you?" Ruby commented.
"I suppose I will. I'll see you soon then – Jane Smith." Jones said. Ruby smiled at him as she walked away.
Gold entered Belle's room at the rehab center, carefully balancing the flowers he purchased in his left hand. Belle was sitting up in her bed reading something on her kindle. "Hey." Gold said as he entered. Belle looked up at him and smiled.
"Hi. Oh, Ian they're beautiful – you don't have to keep buying me things, though." Belle said. Gold set the flowers that he was carrying down on the nightstand.
"But I want to. I saw these and – thought they were perfect for you." Gold said. "I, um – I went into a store today. Picked them out myself. You were right – I need to start doing things like that."
"You didn't have to do that all by yourself, were you alright doing that? Come here, sit down." Belle said, moving her Kindle aside and tapping the left side of her bed. Gold happily complied, and gave her a kiss upon taking a seat next to her. "I do like this Kindle, by the way. I mean – I miss having an actual book, but – well, with my arm as it is I don't have to worry about turning pages, it makes it so much easier. Thank you."
"You're very welcome, and I'm glad you like it." Gold said. "You feeling better today?"
"Much better. I did better in therapy, too. Let me show you." Belle said, and she demonstrated how she was able to move her right wrist and fingers. Gold put his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead. "I get my stitches out in five days; they said they'll start doing more work with my full arm once that happens."
"The doctors were worried about nerve damage in your arm." Gold said.
"I know – they told me." Belle said. "But everything is alright; Mary Margaret said that I will recover one-hundred percent."
"Of course you will. That's my brave girl." Gold said, and he gently pulled her into a kiss.
"Hey Belle, I got your – sorry." Ruby said as she entered the room. Gold looked up at her menacingly.
"As always, Miss Lucas, your timing is impeccable." Gold remarked.
"Hey, my timing was good an hour ago, you didn't know what the heck you were doing at that store." Ruby said. "I ran into him at the grocery store. He was completely stymied by the credit card machine at the register." Ruby said.
"I haven't been in a store in twenty years, Miss Lucas, excuse me for not being up to date on shopping etiquette." Gold said.
"I thought you spies kept up with modern technology." Ruby said.
"Only those that are a necessity." Gold said.
"Well, I'm proud of you, sweetheart. That you're trying." Belle told him.
"I'll just put your things in the bathroom then." Ruby said.
"Thanks Ruby." Belle replied. "You know, you don't have to stay here, Ian will be spending the night, right?"
"Um – actually, I – I have some work to do tonight." Gold said, sounding a bit nervous. Ruby glared at him.
"Really? Work?" Ruby said.
"Yes, Miss Lucas. Work." Gold said.
"Ian keeps odd hours at times, especially recently. You don't have to stay, Ruby – it's pretty secure here." Belle said.
"You sure you can't do your 'work' here?" Ruby asked Gold.
"Ian has an entire set-up where he's staying, he needs that." Belle said. "Just make sure you get some rest, sweetheart. You still don't look like you've been sleeping very well."
"I wonder why that is." Ruby said under her breath. Gold glared angrily at Ruby.
"Miss Lucas – you may go." Gold said. "That's not a request." Ruby looked at Belle.
"Ruby, wait – you know something, what is it?" Belle asked.
"I – I can't say anything, I'm sorry." Ruby said.
"Why? Because Ian told you not to? I told you not to be frightened of him, he's not going to hurt you." Belle said. Gold continued to glare at Ruby. "Ian – will you tell me what Ruby is upset about, or should she tell me?"
"Belle – you don't understand -" Gold pleaded.
"No, I don't, because you're keeping things from me, I figured that out in the hospital. If something is wrong I want to know." Belle insisted.
"Nothing's wrong." Gold said, becoming anxious.
"Tell her what else you bought." Ruby said. "She deserves to know." Gold hesitated for a moment.
"It was just a small bottle of scotch, I just wanted to have a drink tonight, that's all." Gold admitted, his head down in shame.
"You have been drinking then. I thought I was imagining things at the hospital, but -" Belle began.
"I should probably go." Ruby said.
"No – you stay, Ruby." Belle said, and she looked at Gold. "Were you drunk in my room at the hospital?" Gold nodded his head yes. "More than once?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, Belle." Gold said.
"You've been here for almost five days, have you even made an attempt to contact someone regarding what we spoke about?" Belle asked. Gold shook his head no. "So this is your way of managing then? You lied to me."
"Belle, I'm sorry." Gold said again, not knowing how else to respond.
"You don't need alcohol, Ian. You need courage to let me in." Belle said. "You could have told me all of this, you could have talked to me, I would have understood. When have I ever given you any reason to think I wouldn't understand?" Gold didn't say a word. "I think you should go."
"I'm sorry, Belle." Gold said once more.
"So am I." Belle replied. Gold sadly turned and walked out of the room. He cringed as he heard Belle begin to cry when he closed the door.
"Well?" Regina asked as Hook entered her office.
"I got a number from her. Unfortunately, it – was fake. Don't worry, I'll keep at it." Jones said.
"Sounds like somebody's losing his touch." Regina remarked.
"She did admit that she was visiting a friend in the hospital, that could be the French girl, right?" Jones asked.
"That's your job to figure out." Regina said. "You should probably go – I don't want you spotted here. I better have a location on her by tomorrow."
"Or what?" Jones asked. Regina glared at him.
"Don't cross me, Jones. I've handled men far tougher than you." Regina said.
"If anything happens to me – well, you know who you'll have to answer to." Jones said.
"I can handle her as well." Regina said. "She needs me far more than she realizes."
That same evening, Mrs. Potts and Emma set up a surveillance spot in a car near Regina's house. "You sure you're ready to do this?" Mrs. Potts asked.
"I'm getting my son back. Tonight." Emma said. "Gold has it all plotted out, I should be fine." Emma looked at Mrs. Potts. "You think he's okay, right?"
"I think if she'd have want to harm the boy she'd have done it by now." Mrs. Potts said. "You do realize that she knows you're coming."
"I can handle her." Emma said, just as Mrs. Potts' phone rang.
"Hello?" Mrs. Potts said, answering the phone. "Alright, calm down, dear. He what? Are you sure? Alright – no, I'll take care of it. He'll be fine. You get some rest, I'll call you as soon as I get to the house." Mrs. Potts hung up the phone and looked at Emma. "I need to go back, we'll have to do this tomorrow."
"No. No, I'm getting my son back tonight." Emma said.
"Ian is in trouble. That was Belle – he's been drinking. She got angry with him and asked him to leave and – well, she's worried for him, and frankly, so am I." Mrs. Potts said. Emma simply rolled her eyes.
"So he goes on another bender, what's the worst that he'll do? Break a bunch of crap in the house?" Emma remarked.
"He's been drinking quite a bit since Belle got hurt. He promised me he'd stop, but – well, apparently he hasn't." Mrs. Potts said. "I need to go to him."
"The hell with him! How many chances does he get?" Emma asked, becoming angry.
"You don't know the whole story, Emma – only what he's told you. There's far more to it than you realize." Mrs. Potts said.
"I don't give a crap! My kid is with that crazy woman and I need to get him out of there, I need to save my son!" Emma shouted.
"And I need to save MY son!" Mrs. Potts shouted back, then gasped at her admission.
"What?" Emma said, stunned. "Gold is -"
"My son. Ian is my son." Mrs. Potts admitted, fighting back tears.
Important A/N: I have to have surgery on my right hand on February 17. I will try to get at least one more chapter posted by then, but cannot promise as I have to work extra hours until the 17th. Once I have surgery I doubt I'll be able to write much again until mid-March - it just depends on how fast I heal. I hope you'll be patient and still be reading when this story returns! Thank you all so much for reading - I WILL be back, just can't say when for sure, my guess is March. If you follow me at 'charmedrumbelle' on Tumblr I will post updates regarding my healing progress. I appreciate all of your feedback and support for this story and I look forward to continuing as soon as I'm able!