Author's Note: This is an AU where Belle was never locked in the hospital basement. Instead, Regina gave her the alternate personality of Izzy Gold, and slapped her into a loveless marriage with the most hated man in town.

Obviously, I don't own anything to do with Once Upon a Time. If I did, Belle would get way more screen time ;)

Isobel Gold loved her husband. At least, she thought she did. She must have at some point. It's just that recently, she can't quite remember why. They've been married for merely three years, but somehow it feels longer. Some days when she wakes up in the morning, she can barely remember a time before she lived in the big salmon colored Victorian at the edge of the woods. She knows she used to live in the cramped apartment above the flower shop with her father, but if she really wracks her memory, she can't come up with a clear picture of what her room there looked like. That isn't quite normal is it? But as always, when these strange thoughts enter her head, Izzy pushes them to the back of her mind and goes on with her day.

Maybe it would be easier to remember why she married her husband if he was remotely lovable. But Izzy can't even remember the last time he touched her. Andrew is twenty years her senior. Most people in Storybrooke figured he only married her because the fearsome Mr. Gold wanted a pretty young thing to warm his bed at night. Izzy wonders what the townspeople would think if they knew about her virtually sexless marriage. They'd probably be relieved for her. After all, it had been quite the scandal when little Isobel French eloped with Andrew Gold, the enigmatic pawnbroker and landlord of most of the good people of Storybrooke, Maine. Her father had owed him a frightful sum of money, so at the age of nineteen, Izzy had agreed to work as his shop assistant in an effort to pay off Moe French's debts. She'd been absolutely terrified the first day she walked into his shop, the lair of the demon of Storybrooke. Izzy had never been particularly brave, never had much control over her own life. She'd stumbled through life, constantly confused, and following the path that presented itself rather than the one she should have forged for herself. When Moe offered up her services to Mr. Gold in exchange for an extension on that month's rent, Izzy had been horrified. Luckily Andrew Gold was less of a bastard than anyone gave him credit for, and interpreted "services" to mean "shop assistant". Maybe that was the first time Izzy thought of Mr. Gold as more than just the monster everyone in town viewed him as.

Izzy wasn't stupid. She knew her husband could be ruthless, that his reputation was well earned. But she'd been vulnerable to him from the first day of their acquaintance, and he'd never taken more than she was willing to give. Was that enough reason to love someone? That he'd never taken advantage of a young girl in a bad situation? That he'd behaved like a decent human being? Whatever the cause, one Friday afternoon in the back office of the shop, almost three years after Moe offered her up on a silver platter, Izzy had kissed him. It was the first time in her life that she'd done something for herself. And when he kissed her back, Izzy felt something close to contentment for the first time in her short life.

Their courtship had moved quickly after that. Kissing in the back office of the shop had progressed to lunch time trysts when he'd flip the shop sign to closed, press her against the back wall and make her come undone with just his fingers. Finally, one evening after staying late balancing that quarter's figures, Gold suggested they go back to his place for dinner. Instead of dinner, he'd stripped her bare and kissed every inch of her skin. And when their bodies joined for the first time, Izzy had whispered she loved him.

He asked her to marry him the next day. He'd laid out a simple agreement stating all her father's debts would be forgiven, and he could remain in the apartment above the flower shop rent free upon their union. The silly man probably didn't realize she would have married him without the promises to her father. Moe was only too happy to agree to the terms, sending his only child off to wed a man he didn't trust and couldn't stand all for the sake of his own comfort. A week later they stood before a Justice of the Peace in the tiny courthouse and vowed to love and honor each other 'til death do us part.

And so Izzy had moved into the salmon house, she'd quit working at the shop, and people had started talking about her in hushed whispers when she walked through town. Otherwise, her life hadn't much changed. Three years later and she'd never repeated those words she'd gasped out in the heat of passion. And Andrew had never offered them to her.

Isobel Gold loved her husband. The thought ran through her head on a loop as she cleared the plates from their dinner, a quiet affair with only the barest of pleasantries exchanged. She repeated her mantra as she brushed her teeth later that evening. And it was her last thought before she closed her eyes that night.

"Goodnight, Andrew." She said into the darkened room.

"Goodnight, Dear." He replied, before turning away from her and settling into sleep.

Isobel Gold loved her husband. If only she could believe that were true.