Chapter Text
SUMMER 2002
It was about two in the morning in Storybrooke, Maine and the only sound that could be heard on the college campus was that of a very drunk Belle French singing her heart out as she made her way to her dorm room.
“I’m coming up so you better get the party started” she sang happily the last song that had been playing at her friend’s birthday party. She stumbled up the steps and almost tripped over something someone had left on one of the stairs. She made it to her floor without incident and headed down the corridor to her room, she was just fishing her key out of her clutch bag when she almost fell over something – make that someone – sat on the floor outside her door “hey buddy move along, you can stay here” she nudged the figure with her foot and then realised when he moved his head who it was “oh my god Cam I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognise you under your hood”
“Belle?” he looked up at her with bleary eyes.
“What’s wrong” she knelt down beside him and could immediately smell the scotch on his breath “woah you smell like a brewery”
“So do you” he jabbed a finger at her.
“Let’s get inside” she stood on her own wobbly legs and wondered how she was going to get him up onto his own feet. She held out her hand and he looked at it for a moment before placing his hand in hers. She gripped tightly and heaved him up, it took some doing with them both being drunk but eventually he was upright and leaning against the wall for support while she opened the door. She pulled him toward her and helped him inside, after depositing him on the sofa she went into the kitchen to make some coffee. He needed to sober up if he was ever going to tell her what was wrong.
When she went back to check on Cameron he looked as though he had passed out, his head was lolled back and his eyes were closed. She took a moment to study him, he was her best friend but she loved him. Had since the moment they had met at the start of the year, but he had a girlfriend, the horrible Milah.
“Rude to stare” she heard him mumble and she smiled.
“Sorry I thought you’d fell asleep” she proceeded forward and placed the mug of coffee in front of him.
“Coffee? I want scotch” he scowled at the mug.
“I think you’ve had enough scotch Cam” she pushed the drink toward him urging him to try it. He picked it up and took a sip, flinching at the temperature “it’s hot”
“Coffee usually is” she replied sarcastically “so are you going to tell me what happened?”
Cameron shook his head “I fucked up”
“I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be fixed” Belle tried to soothe. This wasn’t like the Cameron she knew, this Cameron seemed broken.
“Can’t be fixed” he mumbled and remained quiet for a while before he spoke again “Milah pregnant”
Belle felt the air leave her lungs “pregnant?”
Cameron nodded and broke down “I can’t be a father Belle, not now, not with her”
Belle wrapped her arms around him and let him cry, they stated together like that on the sofa until she felt him begin to calm down “it’ll all be ok Cam”
“Liar” he pulled back to look her in the eye “but thank you for saying that”
Belle smiled “you’re welcome, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, I don’t want to be with Milah” he sighed.
“I know” she nodded.
“I want to be with someone else” he informed her.
“You do? Who?” Belle asked intrigued, although her stomach was churning at the idea of him being in love with someone else. It was hard enough watching him with Milah.
“You really are dense sometimes French” he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She scrunched her eyebrows at him; he couldn’t mean what she thought.... could he?
“I.... you mean” she stuttered.
“Oh for God's sake” he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her so his lips crashed against hers. He pulled back and chuckled at her stunned face “does that explain things?”
“I don’t know” Belle grinned when she came back to her senses “I think you might need to explain some more”
Gold smirked and leant forward until his lips met hers again, but this time much gentler. Belle kissed him back this time, she knee in the back of her mind she shouldn’t be kissing him, he was drunk and upset and confused. Those thoughts were like a bucket of cold water over her head and she pulled back abruptly, Gold reached for her but she grabbed his wandering hands tightly.
“You’re drunk” she pointed out “you’re not thinking clearly”
“I may be drunk, but so are you” he bopped her on the nose earning s giggle from Belle “but my mind has always been clear on who I want to be with, it’s always been you Belle, I was just too much if a coward to do anything about it and now I’ve completely screwed everything up”
“Cam look at me” she gripped his chin gently so he faced her “you haven’t screwed anything up, I admit that things are not ideal but I love you Cameron Gold, we can get through anything”
“You love me?” he asked
“You really are dense sometimes Gold” she threw his own words back at him and he laughed.
“I’m so in love with you Belle” he whispered.
“Why couldn’t we have told each other sooner” she moved and rested her forehead against his
“Because we’re idiots” he chuckled.
“True” she smiled and then looked sad “what’s going to happen now?”
“I don’t know sweetheart” he took her hands in his “but can we just for tonight, pretended that nothing outside of that door exists”
She looked at him sceptically, she knew that someone was going to get hurt, but if all they ever had was that night then she as determined to make the most of it “ok” she agreed.
He kissed her again then, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer, his hands rested on her hips But became tighter as the kiss intensified, eventually kissing just wasn’t enough and Cameron pulled her up until she was straddling his lap
“Much better” he mumbled against her lips. She gasped as his lips began to travel down her throat and he sucked on her pulse point and her hands tightened in his hair
“Cam” she moaned his name “take me to bed”
He didn’t need to be told twice and immediately grabbed the backs of her thighs and stood with her in his arms. She tightened her legs around his waist as he began to walk and decided with a smirk that she could drive him crazy while his concentration was on getting them to the bedroom. She ran her tongue up his neck and swirled it around his ear before nibbling softly on his earlobe.
“Fuck Belle” Cameron groaned. He kicked open the door to her bedroom and he deposited her on the bed with a bounce.
“Cameron” she scolded with a laugh, he stared down at her, her hair was fanned around her and he thought she had never looked so beautiful.
“Sorry” he chuckled and moved to crawl up her body so he could kiss her again. They shed their clothes slowly, neither wanting to break apart for long, this wasn’t about sex, this was showing each other how they felt, no matter what obstacles were waiting for them in the morning, tonight it was just them.
When they were completely bare to one another Cameron looked down at Belle, her lips were swollen from his kisses and her cheeks were flushed.
“What are you looking at?” she tried to cover her face and he grabbed her hands and held them down on the mattress either side of her head.
“You’re so beautiful Belle” he breathed “I love you so much”
Belle blushed “I love you too”
He reached between them and guided his now achingly hard cock inside of her and began to thrust gently at first “you feel so good”
“So do you” she moaned “faster Cam” she then begged.
He sped up his thrusts and continued to kiss her “Christ Belle”
She tightened her legs around his waist, keeping him as close as possible “so good...... don’t stop”
“Couldn’t if I wanted to” he groaned and moved his hand between them in search of that sacred spot that would make her see stars. He found the little bundle of nerves and rubbed it all the while keeping his thrusts going.
“Oh my god........ Yes......... I’m gonna” she screamed incoherently.
“Come for me Belle” he pleaded. He was struggling to keep himself in check.
“Cameron!” she screamed his name as her whole body convulsed as her orgasm ripped through her.
“Oh belle” he groaned as he came inside her.
The both breathed heavily as they came down from their highs, Cameron rolled to the side as he felt his limbs turn to jelly and he could no longer support his own weight.
“Fuck” Cameron blurted out and Belle laughed
“Yeah that about sums it up” she grinned.
“Why haven’t we been doing that the whole time” he asked.
“Because we’re idiots” she mirrored his words from earlier.
He rolled onto his side and lifted his hand to brush her hair away from her sweaty forehead “definitely worth the wait though”
She smiled warmly at Cameron before she had to stifle a yawn, she was exhausted.
“Go to sleep” he kissed her forehead and pulled the blanket up and over their bodies. She snuggled into in and wrapped an arm around his torso; he wrapped his arms securely around her naked body “sweet dreams”
“Goodnight Cam” she whispered sleepily. Her breathing soon evened out and Cameron watched her sleep, she was everything to him, his best friend, and the love of his life. She deserved to be a mother in her own right, not a step mother at the age of twenty. But he was selfish; he couldn’t let her go now, not now that they had finally admitted their feelings for one another. Eventually he felt sleep trying to overtake him, the alcohol and the nights exertions finally taking their toll.
The morning came around far too quickly for Belles liking and she squinted at the sun steaming through her window, they had been far too busy to remember to close the curtains the night before. She smiled as the memory of her night with Cameron came back to her and she rolled over to face him, only to be faced with an empty bed.
“Cam?” she sat up straight and looked around, his clothes were gone and the pillow he had been sleeping on was cold. She looked at her cell phone and noticed it was ten in the morning; he must have waked early and gone to deal with things. She decided there was no hard in calling him; it rang a couple of times before disconnecting. She thought it strange but decided that he wouldn’t purposely ignore her so she got up and got on with her day.
By the time the sun started to set Belle was worried, even if he had been talking to Milah all day he should still have been able to send her a text. She couldn’t stand it anymore and got up to and look for him. She searched all the places she thought he might be starting with his house that he shared with his other best friend, Jefferson – Jeff – Madden. The house was dark and his car wasn’t in the drive so she moved on, she searched the park, Granny’s diner and eventually she found herself in The Rabbit Hole, the bar he visited frequently.
She didn’t find Cameron but she did find Jeff.
“Jeff have you seen Cameron?” she asked as she took the stool next to him.
“Cameron?” he looked at her confused.
She rolled her eyes “Gold?”
“Oh Gold” he laughed “You don’t know?”
“Don’t know what?” She asked worriedly.
“He’s gone” Jeff told her.
“What do you mean gone?” she pushed for more information. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“He came home this afternoon and packed a bag, told me I could stay at the house for as long as I needed and said he’d send for the rest of his stuff” Jeff explained “something about Milah and the baby and he had no choice but to go with her”
“But” Belle could feel her heart breaking “he can’t have left”
“I’m sorry flower” he put an arm around her shoulders “I know you guys loved each other”
“He didn’t even say goodbye” she broke down then, the tears fell freely “he said he loved me”
“He does petal” Jeff assured her.
“He can’t if he’s willing to leave without so much as a word” she felt anger replacing her sadness and stood from her stool “I’ve got to go” she didn’t wait for Jeff to say anything and stormed away. As soon as she was outside she learnt against the brick wall and let the tears come. He had left her, all that he had said the night before had been lies, and if he had loved her he wouldn’t have left.
She eventually calmed down and pushed away from the wall and headed back to her room. She wanted to wallow in her misery with a tub of ice cream and a bottle of wine – or two. She shuffled up the steps and down the corridor toward her room. She passed a woman on her way who gave her an odd look but Belle didn’t care, she was devastated and couldn’t pretend otherwise. Her best friend, the man she loved was gone, without even a goodbye or an explanation he had just left her. Cameron Gold was gone.
15 YEARS LATER
Belle looked up at the dark building, the windows were covered in old newspapers and the door had a huge chain covering the handles, this was her new work place, Storybrooke Library. Or at least it will be when she receives the keys from the mayor. Her eyes drifted higher to the apartment windows above the library, her new home or more specifically their new home.
“Are you ok mother?” she turned and saw the concerned face of her son, Gideon.
“I’m fine sweetie” she smiled. Truthfully she didn’t want to be back in Storybrooke, she had escaped the town as soon as she had finished her exams and she hadn’t looked back. She became a mother, and had raised Gideon alone, he was all she needed. But her father was sick, and she loved her papa, even though she hadn’t made much of an effort to visit him she always skyped or called, every day.
“Do you want me to start taking the boxes upstairs?” Gideon asked.
“Yes please” Belle nodded “be careful with the heavy boxes”
“Yes mother” he rolled his eyes with a smile and kissed her cheek before he climbed into the moving truck. Belle stood on the sidewalk, she was waiting for the keys to the library to be brought to her, which should’ve been ten minutes ago. She watched the people passing by and took a look at the buildings along the street. Not much had changed in the art fifteen years since she had lived in Storybrooke. Granny’s diner still seemed to be the place to be, Dr Hoppers office was still located across the street, the ice cream parlour and the pharmacy still remained also. Her eyes stopped when she came across a new store, right across the street from her library, the name on the sign hanging above made her heart pound MR GOLD ANTIQUITIES AND PAWN BROKER. It couldn’t be him; last she heard he lived in Boston, with his wife and child. It must be another Gold.
“miss French?” she turned at the sound of her name and saw a man holding out a set of keys for her
“I’m Sidney Glass, Mayor Mills instructed me to bring you these” he gestured to the keys in his hand. Belle reached out and took them from him.
“Thank you Mr Glass” she smiled warmly.
“If you have any questions about the building just call the office and ask for me, I’ll be happy to help” he said and then turned on his heel to head back to the mayor’s office.
Belle watched him go, and then looked at the library, she was itching to get inside and see what awaited her but first things first, she needed to help Gideon get their belongings upstairs and unpacked. Work could wait until Monday.
A few hours later and all the boxes were in and the movers were just bringing in the last of the furniture. She instructed them where to put the sofa and then sorted out their payment for the day.
“I’m starving” Gideon complained as he flopped down on the couch.
“Well until I go shopping tomorrow we have nothing in so how about I treat you to a burger from Granny’s” she offered. Gideon nodded enthusiastically “ok well you finish unpacking your room and I’ll go get our food”
He groaned but agreed anyway if it meant getting fed and headed back to his new room. Belle grabbed her jacket and headed down the steps and out onto the sidewalk. She glanced over at the pawn shop, still feeling a niggling uncertainty about the owner of the shop. It couldn’t be him.
She sighed and headed down the street to the diner, just as she got there and rounded the corner to walk up the path to the steps she collided with another body.
“I am so sorry” she apologised and looked up at the person she had run into. The air left her lungs as she looked into brown eyes she thought she would never see again “Cam?”
“Belle?”