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Everyone knew Mr. Gold. He was the rent collector, the owner of the antique shop, and the town's pariah. He was rich, old, and cruel. In fact around Christmastime, it gave the residents of Storybrooke the perfect opportunity to refer him as a wicked Scrooge. It didn't help that the man detested Christmas. His enormous pink mansion was devoid of all lights or inflatables, no cheery Christmas tree shone through his windows, and no relatives showed up at his house. Even the enthusiastic Storybrooke carolers knew to never approach the door of his house. Ever.
They had all learned their lesson the hard way when an embarrassed Celina West had scuttled back to her house after an offering of green Christmas cookies. Grant it, Celina was a very... Unique woman but that certainly hadn't meant she'd needed to receive one of Mr. Gold infamous rants! Though, no one really knew what had happened. They had all heard Celina's side but no one had bothered to hear Mr. Gold's...
On another note, Mr. Gold's house was the very house a group of carolers were strategically avoiding on a cold December night, ironically, twelve days before Christmas. In this group of cheerful folks full of the Christmas spirit were all seven of the Brevis Brothers- coerced by the school teacher Mary Margaret, Mary Margaret herself and her charming husband David, Ruby who was dressed like she was in seventy degree weather instead of twenty, the increasingly tongue-tied Archie, and Belle French- Storybrooke's new librarian who had recently moved into town.
Now, Belle French was cold.
In Australia it had never really been cold, just under fifty degrees at the worst. Other than that it was usually hot, dry, and hotter. She'd never seen snow in her life! Now, it was twenty degrees Fahrenheit and there were huge mounds of snow piled up on the streets while even more fell. At first it had been wonderful, but after a few days she was miserable. No matter how many quilts or coats or scarfs she wore, she was still freezing!
Belle didn't know how she'd allowed herself to be coerced into caroling, but she knew she was regretting it now. It baffled her how Ruby was still prancing around in summer clothes! The tall woman had given Belle a wolfish grin in the face of her astonishment and declared that she never wore long sleeves for anything higher than ten degrees.
Belle immediately knew that Ruby was going to be a good friend.
However, she was still cold.
As the whole jolly troop of Christmas carolers marched along the sidewalk towards the next house, Belle paused and asked, "Mary Margaret? Why are we skipping that house?"
The woman stopped, "Oh, well..."
Leroy, the grumpiest of the seven brothers, stepped up. At his side the petite Astrid smiled happily. Belle had heard that she was a former nun who'd quit to be with Leroy. It had caused quite a buzz in town, usually no one went up against Mother Superior. However, Astrid was much happier for it.
Leroy answered Belle's question instead of Mary, "No one carols there, sister. No one. That's Mr. Gold's house."
Belle knew she paid rent to Mr. Gold and she knew the town was afraid of him, but she didn't really know why. Her confusion must have shown because Astrid offered her a slight smile and nodded at her fiancé as she took his large hand in hers.
Leroy's face softened at Astrid's gesture before he explained, "The last person who even mentioned Christmas around him sorely regretted it. He's a beast."
Ruby nodded, her arms folded, "He's a real Scrooge, Belle. I wouldn't go near it."
The young woman looked up the sidewalk towards the quiet and bare house. Something nudged her forward. No one should be alone near Christmas, not even the town's most hated resident.
"Belle, where are you going?"
She'd started up the sidewalk, but she half turned back and smiled at Archie warmly, "I'm going to see if Mr. Gold would like to hear some caroling."
Ruby shook her head, "Belle, don't do it!"
Mary Margaret's husband spoke up, "Come back, Belle. Just- don't do it."
Belle shook her head and smiled at them nervously, "Sorry, why don't you go on without me? I'll be fine."
The group murmured discontentedly, but slowly they congregated over to the next house. Belle looked back and watched Ruby stand there for just a little longer. The brunette sighed discontentedly but she did eventually leave, her bright red shirt standing out starkly next to the soft blanket of white.
Belle turned back to the suddenly forbidding mansion. She felt very small all of a sudden. She had no idea what Mr. Gold was like. All she had to go on was the horror stories the townsfolk had told her. She took a deep breath and continued forward as her mother's words came to her, "Do the brave thing and bravery will follow."
Before she knew it, she was knocking on the wooden door. Belle stood back.
The door didn't open.
Hesitantly, she knocked again. This time, the door unlocked with a click and slowly opened to reveal a slight man with soft graying brown hair. His nose was slightly crooked and he was leaning on a cane. Belle might've said that he looked timid and small- if it wasn't for the scowl etched on his face.
"Yes, what do you- Ms. French!"
He'd practically been snarling the words at her, but when he'd seen who it was, his eyes had widened in astonishment.
"Hello, I wondering if you would like to hear some caroling, Mr. Gold."
Belle didn't know that she looked a bit like an angel. She was dressed in jeans and boots with a dark blue peacoat over it all. A thick gold and blue scarf was tucked around her chin, making her look extremely cozy. Her brilliant blue eyes were sparkling, her nose and cheeks was red because of the cold, and her silky brown hair escaped in wisps from under her golden knit cap.
In short, she looked as if she was a small fairy that had arisen from the fresh soft snowflakes to taste the many wonders of the human world.
He opened his mouth, closed it, and then began, "I... Uh, I..."
Belle knew that being speechless was not something he was known for. She frowned, "It's alright if you don't want to hear anything, Mr. Gold- it's just that-"
He found his voice and with it a frown, though she didn't seem to be the cause of it, "No, no. I... I wasn't excepting anyone, do come in, it's cold."
She gave him a beaming smile, "Why, thank you. It's hard getting used to this weather."
The door shut behind her and the carolers at the neighboring house stared at the doorway she had gone through with awe. Belle had just willingly and easily walked into the lions den.
Inside the great house, the first few moments of conversation were slightly awkward. Then, gradually, they began to become more comfortable and the subjects of their conversation more enjoyable. In the end, Belle spent about an hour chatting and drinking hot tea with Mr. Gold.
He was sarcastic and snarky and it was wonderful. Belle's former love interest had been... Well, to put it politely, Gaston had been an idiot. He hadn't been bright and he'd believed that women shouldn't be, well, educated. It was a very outdated style of thinking and Belle hadn't the faintest idea why she hadn't left him sooner.
In the end, Belle left the mansion with Mr. Gold's promise to visit the library sometime that week. She smiled and waved goodbye to the man before trotting down the steps, the cold seeming to be not quite as forbidding as before.
The next day when she stopped at Granny's diner, Ruby had pounced upon her, asking all sorts of questions and half expecting her to be in tears after the incident. Belle had laughed it off and said that 'Mr. Gold isn't half as bad as all of you seem to think he is.'
Belle may or may not have taken in a bit of pride that she'd managed to leave the bold woman just a little speechless. That wasn't the best part of the day, though. The very best part was when she found Mr. Gold waiting for her to open up the library with a shy smile and a sprig of holly pinned to the lapel of his suit.
Belle didn't know that this was the first bit of Christmas Mr. Gold had allowed into his life in twenty-eight years.