#group m

Helena Paparizou - My Number One

Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano

Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah

The Roop - Discotheque

Dschinghis Khan - Dschinghis Khan

The scene in his shop was seared in her memory. “I’m afraid I can’t help you, dearie. Your father’s debts are rather out of your price range, and I’ve wasted quite enough capital on him already.” “But if you’d transfer his debt to me, you know I’d pay you back.” She’d had to sigh when he raised that damn eyebrow again. “Eventually.” “Miss French, I find your filial loyalty admirable, but I know what your salary is. By the time you could pay me back, the interest alone would outstrip the original loan.” “I...I don’t mind…” He made a sound that sounded a little like a growl. “Are you really so spineless that you would bankrupt yourself to save that worthless father of yours?” He waved an impatient hand when she tried to retort. “Regardless, I am not interested in refinancing your father’s loan, and I really don’t have the time to discuss this further. Good day, Miss French.” And before she knew it, she’d been outside the shop staring at the Closed sign, which was still swinging from being turned. The worst part, of course, was that he was right. But he didn’t have to be such a colossal ass about it. Belle took another deep breath, released it slowly, and went to her computer. She’d started playing Fairytale Land a few years after its popularity had reached its peak, but she enjoyed the little community of online gamers she’d met. Some of the missions could take ages - one memorable session had lasted nearly twenty hours, with all the side missions and building challenges - but everyone on her team had agreed that it had been the most fun they’d had in years. There was one fellow player she preferred to the others, but she didn’t think anyone would blame her. She couldn’t possibly be the first gamer to develop an online crush. His username was SpinsAndDeals, and he was sweet and thoughtful and charming...and an excellent player, of course. He preferred finesse and stealth when carrying out missions, which complemented her own more impulsive style pretty well.

She smiled when she entered the in-game chat and saw his name in the list of players, and wasted no time sending him a message.

    >>Hey.

    His answer took a few moments. <<Good evening.

    >>Good day?

    <<Not really.

    >>Oh, I’m sorry. Was work bad?

She didn’t know what he did, as he refused to divulge any kind of personal information, but he must have some kind of job, right?

    <<A disagreement with a customer. Not normally something that bothers me.

    >>But?

    <<I know I was right. She knows I was right. She simply won’t admit it, and now...she’s angry with me.

Belle felt as if her heart were sinking down to her feet. She? He’d never mentioned a she before.

    >>Is she someone special?

    <<Very.

    Belle swallowed and clenched one hand, then relaxed.

    >>But...you said she was just a customer?

    <<Yes. And it’s likely that’s all she’ll ever be.

 Good. She decided against typing that, partly because she knew he wouldn’t appreciate it, and partly because she had no right to want him to be single. She didn’t even know if he was single.

    <<What about you? Good day?

    >>No. Argument with a stubborn ass.

    <<Really? How could anyone argue with you? You’re pure sunshine.

Belle grinned.

    >>Only to people as sweet as you. This guy, though - he’s arrogant and dismissive and sarcastic and sometimes downright cruel. He wasn’t always like that - we used to get along pretty well. I don’t know what I did to make him despise me, but lately every time I talk to him he treats me like dirt on his shoes.

There was a pause.

    <<Why do you keep talking to him?

That was the question, wasn’t it? Why did she keep talking him? Was she that starved for intelligent conversation? Was he really so attractive that she’d rather have him snarl at her than not talk to her at all? Was it because she sometimes caught him looking at her with an expression that seemed to belie his apparent contempt?

    >>I don’t know. I guess...I keep hoping he’ll go back to the way things were. There’s a good, kind man buried under all of that nastiness. I’ve seen him.

    <<And is he someone special?

Belle shook her head at the screen, tears unexpectedly springing to her eyes.

    >>I thought he might be.

They were both silent for a long time, and after a few moments Belle shook herself out of her reverie. It didn’t matter. If Gold wanted to be an ass and throw away what could have been a good friendship, that was on him.

    >>Oh, well. You’ll just have to be my main source of entertainment from now on.

    <<I wasn’t already? I’m devastated.

Belle giggled.

    >>One of these days I’ll get you to use video chat and you can do sock puppets or something.

    <<You would most definitely regret that.

Would she? If Gold wasn’t going to be what she’d hoped, couldn’t she pursue this little online flirtation and see where it went? Stranger things had happened than soulmates meeting online, after all. What did she have to lose?

<<Wanderlust? Are you there?

Oh, she’d been sitting and staring for ages.

    >>Yeah. Sorry.

But who was the she, and how much of an obstacle would she be? Belle bit her lip and thought carefully before typing her question.

    >>What did you argue with your customer about? Maybe I can help you figure out why she won’t admit she was wrong.

He didn’t answer for several seconds.

    <<She’s...a very good person. She’s brilliant and brave. Loyal. Too loyal, sometimes. Someone close to her is in debt to his eyeballs and she wants to bail him out. It would ruin her, and it wouldn’t stop the other person from borrowing more.

Well, that cut awfully close to home. Belle chewed her lip and felt a little guilty for chewing Gold out when he’d said more or less the same thing about her father. He could have been a bit nicer about it, but he had a point.

    >>And you told her that?

    <<Well. Perhaps not in those exact terms. My word choice might have been considerably more...colorful.

    >>Why do you care, though? Even if she’s a very special customer, she’s still only a customer.

Another pause.

    <<I may not have been entirely forthcoming. The person I mentioned is indebted to me. And the thought of her owing me money - I didn’t take it well.

    Wait. What? Belle felt her palms begin to sweat.

    >>Because…

    <<Because I’m an idiot.

    >>Oh, come on, you are not.

    <<I am. She’s young and beautiful and fascinating, and I’m - well, none of those things.

Belle rolled her eyes.

    >>I don’t know about the ‘young and beautiful’ part because you still won’t use video chat, but I find you plenty fascinating.

    <<That’s kind of you. But…

    >>So, what? You have a crush on her?

    <<That’s...fairly accurate, though I wouldn’t have used the word crush.

    >>Well, what word would you use?

    <<Infatuation, I suppose. A hopeless infatuation.

Infatuation. Well, that didn’t sound good for her.

    >>Okay, now you have to get on video chat. I have to be able to judge whether or not this ‘infatuation’ of yours is necessarily hopeless.

    <<Not likely, dearie. I’m not in the habit of humiliating myself.

She’d nearly typed out her response when a realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

    Dearie.

Belle stared at the word on her screen until it blurred.

It could be a coincidence, she supposed. Plenty of people said “dearie,” didn’t they? She only knew the one, but he couldn’t be the only person in the entire world who used that particular endearment.

    >>So...are you some kind of loan shark or something?

    <<Or something. I’m many things to many people.

    >>You realize that make you sound like a mob boss.

    <<Close. Pawnbroker. Also landlord and lawyer. General leech on society, I suppose.

Right. That was it. Belle leaped from her chair, slipped her feet into the nearest pair of shoes, and headed for the door.

If Gold was going to confess to being infatuated with her, he was damn well going to do it in person. That way she could tell him she was infatuated with him, too. No doubt there would be denials and hedging and accusations, but when the smoke cleared, maybe they’d actually be on the same page for once.

"What? How?" She and Rumple had been at odds all day over Gideon's burgeoning magical powers and now this had happened. Belle’s anger was eclipsed only by her fear for her family. "How are we going to get out? Gideon's all alone...” Tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

"Listen to me." Gold tightened his grip on her. "We're going to have to play the game and hope that it leads us back to Gideon."

Belle tried to pull away from him. "I knew his magic would lead to trouble,” she sobbed.

"Belle, it won’t do us any good to argue now. We're going to have to work together, as allies so to speak, for the next 10 minutes or 20 hours... however long it takes to find our way out of here. After that we can argue as much as you’d like."

Belle sniffled. She knew he was right. Now was not the time for blame. They had to find their way out and they had to do it as quickly as possible. Her poor baby was home alone, probably terrified over what had happened. She took a deep breath to calm herself. “OK… So what do we need to do?”

Gold cleared his throat. He was as worried as she was. “The object of the game is to find the item in each room of the castle that triggers the magic that transports you to the next room. When you find the final item, you win the game… For us, that will mean we return home to Gideon.”

“Got it.” Belle surveyed the dungeon while wiping the tears from her eyes. “There’s nothing here, Rumple, except for some straw and a blanket.”

“And the pillow I gave you to stifle your crying.” Gold retrieved it from under the blanket and handed it to her.

“You mean to make me more comfortable,” Belle corrected him. “You forget that I saw right through you from the beginning.” She smiled in spite of herself.

Gold chuckled. “Details…” He smiled back at her. “Now we have to use it in a way that will activate the magic to move us forward.”

He placed the pillow on the straw so that Belle could rest her head on it. When that didn’t work, Gold lay down beside her. As soon as his head hit the pillow, purple smoke surrounded them and carried them to the library.

“Your second gift to me,” Belle reminded him when she realized where they’d landed.

“One that you were supposed to keep dust-free.” He swatted the air dramatically and coughed.

She giggled and then turned serious. “There are so many books in here. How are we supposed to find the right one?”

Gold pointed to the settee where a copy of ‘Her Handsome Hero’ was resting. “I think that’s a good start.”

Belle scooped up her favorite book and held it close to her chest. She felt the tears forming again as she thought of Gideon.

“Why don’t you read me your favorite passage?” Gold suggested.

Belle nodded, turning to the paragraph that she’d read repeatedly to their beautiful boy. She fought back the tears as she spoke.

Her last few words, “…but Gideon was unafraid”, triggered the purple smoke that swept them away once again, landing them outside the castle door.

It took them several seconds to get their bearings. “Was this supposed to happen? We’re no longer in the castle.” Belle’s voice betrayed her concern.

Gold hesitated until he saw a rose lying on the ground. He discreetly picked it up and hid it behind his back.

“Belle.”

She turned toward him with a question in her eyes.

“Here.” He presented the rose to her. “If you’ll have it.”

Belle’s face lit up. “Why, thank you.” She accepted the rose with a curtsey while Gold bowed in return. Purple smoke appeared and whisked them off to Rumple’s tower.

They both groaned when they realized where they were. The room was a cluttered mess of books, vials, bottles, manuscripts, and other magical items. It would be a Herculean task to sort through everything.

“Oh, Rumple.” Belle sighed in defeat and frustration. “We’re never going to get out of here.”

“That’s not true.” Gold was determined to sound hopeful. “We just have to be smart about this. The video game is about you and me so the objects we’re looking for have to mean something to us.”

“You’re right.” Belle rallied her spirits. “But what can be significant to us in here? You never let me enter the tower.”

 “Let’s not give up so easily. Look around, Belle. There has to be something.”

They began scouring the room, sorting through an endless array of items.

“I think I found it.” Belle held up the gauntlet. “The item that almost ended us for good.”

“Yes,” Gold admitted, “but the gauntlet would have never lead to you, Belle. The dagger was my greatest weakness, but it wasn’t what I loved most. That was always you, Belle… only you’re not my greatest weakness – you’re my greatest strength.”

A mix of emotions flashed across Belle’s face as purple smoke engulfed them. They found themselves in the Great Hall when it disappeared.

Belle was still reeling from the revelation about the gauntlet when she was brought up short by the sight of shattered glass everywhere. “What happened here?”

Before Gold could answer, Belle squealed. “Our chipped cup!” She rescued it from the table and cradled it in her hands. “It’s the only thing that’s not destroyed!”

“I could never destroy this cup, Belle.” He took it from her and walked over to the pedestal where the Holy Grail still sat undisturbed. He removed the chalice, replaced it with the cup, and then turned to Belle. “It was my most cherished possession.”

A sob caught in Belle’s throat as she flung her herself into his arms and kissed him.

Purple smoke began to swirl rapidly around them. Belle broke the kiss to look at him.

“Kiss me again, Belle. It’s working.”

When they broke their second kiss, the smoke had cleared, and they were standing in the middle of their living room back in Storybrooke.

“Not bad… It only took you 112 minutes to find your way out.” Gideon’s words startled Belle and confirmed everything she had suspected.

“Gideon Gregory Gold! You gave your father and me the scare of our lives!” She attempted to berate him while rushing over to hug him tightly.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I just wanted the two of you to stop fighting.”

“Who said we were fighting?” It was true, but they were always careful not to argue in their son’s presence.

Gideon rolled his eyes. “You didn’t kiss or hug each other at all today. That’s not normal for you. You’re usually all over each other.”

Belle was appalled. She hoped they weren’t traumatizing their son with their constant displays of affection.

“I’m sorry, Gideon. I know kids your age don’t like to see their parents being affectionate.”

 “Nah… I don’t mind. I’m used to it by now. It lets me know that everything’s OK.”

 Belle was relieved. “Well, I’m glad, but we still have a lot to discuss about all of this.”

“Yes, mom.” Gideon’s eyes begged her for forgiveness.

“Your mother and I know you meant no harm, son, and your game was very clever,” Gold added, “but so much could have gone wrong.” He placed his hand on Gideon’s shoulder. “I do have one question about the game though… Did you forget about the ladder? You know how central it was to our story.”

“I know, papa. I didn’t forget... but I thought you were getting too old for that. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

The look on Gold’s face sent Belle into a fit of giggles. When she finally got her breath back, she drew Gold and Gideon into a big family hug.

 “Your father does alright for someone his age.” Belle locked eyes with Gold and bit her lower lip. “Now let’s celebrate that we’re all back together.”

“Does that mean I can have the ice cream sundae you promised me earlier?” Gideon asked.

“Yes, sweetheart.” Gideon could have his treat now… and Rumple could have his later. She’d let him prove to her that age was just a number. Any further discussion about Gideon’s magic could wait until tomorrow.