Merry Christmas to jenitosam on Tumblr! This story was written as part of the Rumbelle Secret Santa for the prompt fake dating, just met, awkward.

I may have gone a little overboard, but I loved the prompt so much I couldn't help myself!

fake dating, just met, awkward

Dominick Gold was having a pretty good night. He didn't go to bars often, but an unexpected rainstorm had driven him inside a local pub where he'd ordered a pint and set about waiting out the squall. It didn't seem like a particularly busy evening, likely due to both to the inclement weather and the fact that it was a Tuesday, but there was a decent enough crowd for him to sit quietly in the corner and people watch. Most of the other patrons were in groups — a couple by the bar making eyes at each other, a group of men shooting pool and loudly telling jokes, a man chatting a girl up at the bar, and what looked like a college study group at a table in the back corner. Dom drank his pint and let his eyes wander to the stained glass window. It was really coming down outside now; it seemed that he'd come in just in the nick of time and he was going to be stuck there for a while. Hopefully he could get a sandwich or something while he was waiting for the storm to clear up, or else it was going to be a very long night.

"Sorry I'm late!" he heard a feminine voice say, and when he snapped back to reality, the girl from the bar was dropping into the seat next to him. "I got held up at the bar."

Her eyes were pleading with him to go along with her, and a glance back to the bar revealed the man who she'd been talking to watching them like a hawk.

"It's no problem," he said evenly as he realized what was going on. "You're always worth the wait."

She shot him a relieved smile and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, at which point the man at the bar took his drink and joined the group at the pool table.

"Sorry," she said as soon as the coast was clear. "Keith tends to be a little… persistent. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"Don't worry about it," he replied. "I'm not meeting anyone here and if anything, this can only improve people's opinions of me."

She smiled and laughed louder than the comment really required, but she was probably still trying to continue the illusion they were on a date.

"Can I buy you a drink?" she asked him.

"I already have one," he replied, taking a sip of his beer.

"I'll get the next round, then," she said cheerfully. "It's the least I can do."

"The least you can do is tell me your name," he said with a wink.

"Sorry about that," she said. "I'm Belle. You?"

"Dominick," he replied. "You can call me Dom."

"Well, Dom," she said as she gestured to the waitress to bring another round. "It's nice to meet you."

Somehow, the night just got better and blurrier from there. Belle ordered them a round of shots, then he had felt compelled to pick up the next one and things had progressed at a rate that would have made the Letters to Penthouse editors doubt his veracity. He wasn't usually the sort to have drunken one-night-stands with beautiful women, but before he knew it they were both completely hammered and Belle was in his lap with her lips on his. He'd completely lost track of how much they'd had to drink, but they never had gotten around to dinner.

It was still raining and somehow his hand had gotten under the hem of her skirt and was resting on her inner thigh when the waitress strongly suggested that it was time for them to settle up and get a room. Belle mentioned her apartment was just down the block which seemed like a really good idea considering the downpour, and somehow between them they managed to make it up the stairs to her apartment even with his limp and the fact that every few steps they'd stop in the stairwell with her hands working under his clothes and his mouth on her neck. At one point he had her pinned against the wall and his hand in her panties and he was fingering her in the hallway and he was vaguely aware that this was totally unlike him and probably a terrible idea but she was kissing him like she couldn't get enough and he couldn't for the life of him remember exactly why this was such a bad idea.

The slamming of a door and outraged shout reminded him and she laughed and made some excuse to her neighbor before dragging him the rest of the way to her apartment by his tie. He had a vague sensation of regret that he was probably too drunk to remember all the details afterward, but that was quickly pushed aside by the way she sashayed into her bedroom, shedding clothing as she went. He had no idea where his own clothes ended up, but that was an unimportant detail compared to the way she squirmed and arched her back and dug her nails into his shoulders when she climaxed and how good it felt to be inside her as his own orgasm hit.

He landed beside her, warm and satisfied and sure that it had been the best day of his life.

Belle wasn't usually the sort to pick up strange men in bars, but there were exceptions to every rule. Anyway, it had been too long since she'd had really good sex and she felt like she owed it to herself. The hangover maybe wasn't a great addition to the experience, but she'd had worse and he'd still been there when she woke up, which was nice of him.

"Good morning," she said, squinting against the sunlight.

"Hey," he replied. "So that wasn't a dream, then."

"Nope," she said, rolling onto her side. "You ready for round two?"

"God, yes," he said, reaching over and drawing her towards him.

She sighed, bringing her leg up to press against his cock, which was now at full attention and pressed against her hip. He groaned and thrust against her before kissing and biting his way down to her breasts. Belle yelped as he drew one nipple into his mouth and dragged his teeth against her skin carefully. It was almost a pity that they weren't going to see each other again, because damn did he know how to make her squirm. His fingers were inside her now and she saw stars and heard her blood pounding in her ears. No, that was the door. Who the hell would be banging on her door on a Wednesday morning?

"Belle!" she heard her father's voice from the living room now and she cursed herself for having given him a key.

Dom had jumped away from her faster than she'd thought possible and was staring at her incredulously.

"It's my father," she muttered before he could get the wrong idea, throwing on a nightgown and a robe. "I'll get rid of him."

She was swearing under her breath as she walked from the small bedroom into the equally small living room to see her dad standing there surveying the damage from the night before. Her dress was in a puddle by the sofa and she'd left her panties at the door to the bedroom, so she kicked them in before shutting the door.

"What the hell, Dad?" she asked. "Do you realize what time it is?"

"What's this I hear about you having a boyfriend?" he said.

Maybe it was the early hour, but she was having a hard time figuring out exactly what the hell he was talking about. What boyfriend?

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Leroy called me last night and said Keith told him you had a boyfriend," her father replied triumphantly. "Said you were just about in his lap in the bar."

Oh, fuck. She hadn't even known Leroy had come in last night, but it made sense. He was a regular and he definitely would have spoken with Keith if nobody else was available. He also happened to be one of her father's regular poker buddies and the biggest gossip in the entire town.

It was on the tip of her tongue to reply that she was thirty and he should mind his own business, but then she realized his eyes weren't on her anymore and when she followed his gaze she saw a suit jacket and a tie on the floor next to her bra and goddamn her luck.

"Is he here?" her father asked her and Belle had absolutely no idea what to say to that. "Can I meet him?"

Yeah, totally. Let me just call my one-night stand out of the bedroom real quick so you guys can chat and he can get back to fingering me.

"It's not even seven," she exclaimed. "You can't just come over here first thing in the morning because Leroy said I had a boyfriend!"

Her father was on the verge of saying something else, but at that moment Dom came out wearing his trousers and his shirt and this was officially the most awkward encounter of her entire life.

"I should probably go," he said, glancing between her and her father.

"Yeah," she replied. "Okay."

"Is this him?" her father broke in. "I understand, you were embarrassed because he's older, weren't you?"

"Dad," she replied. "That's not…"

"Maurice French," her father said, extending a hand to Dom. "Nice to meet you."

It occurred to Belle that this would be the first time Dom heard her last name. This was a disaster.

"Dominick," Dom replied, sounding dumbfounded as he shook her father's hand.

"There, see?" her father said, turning back to Belle. "That was perfectly civil. There was no need to be worried!"

This had to be some kind of nightmare and any moment she was going to wake up and then never, ever drink that much before bed ever again. Her father and her one-night stand were both staring at her and oh good God Dom hadn't washed his hands since he'd been fingering her earlier and they shook hands and she was going to die. She was literally going to die. There was no way a human being could survive this much mortification.

"I'm just going to use your bathroom and then be on my way… dear," Dom said, looking at her intensely like he couldn't quite figure out what was going on. At least that made all three of them.

"Dad, you need to call before you come over," she said as firmly as she could once Dom was in her bathroom and out of sight. "And stop letting yourself in if I'm home!"

"You didn't answer the door," her father replied. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Not come in!" she was doing a decent enough job pushing him toward the door, considering her father was tall and bulky and she was neither. "Now, go home and I will call you after work and we can discuss this then."

She had no idea what to tell him about it, but she'd find something. She had to. Something that didn't involve getting drunkenly debauched by a stranger who was definitely older than her but she had no idea how much older because she hadn't exactly checked his ID before climbing into his lap.

"I still don't see what the problem is," her father protested. "How else am I supposed to find out about your life if you won't tell me anything?"

She was on the verge of telling him the reason she didn't tell him anything was because he was constantly overstepping her boundaries, but Dom came out of the bathroom having put himself somewhat together and picked up his remaining clothes from the pile on the floor.

"It was… nice to meet you," he said to her father and hesitated before kissing Belle on the cheek and slipping out the door as quickly as humanly possible.

"You should invite him to your grandma's for dinner next week," her father said as soon as Dom was out of earshot. "Let him meet the family."

"Dad, I'm going to take this at my own speed," she said firmly. "I'm not going to bring the whole family into this. We can talk after work."

Her father protested a little longer, but he eventually let her shove him out the door, which she promptly locked behind him before finally letting out a sigh of relief. She was going to have to get a deadbolt or a chain lock. Or both.

It was a long day at the library where she worked. Belle had planned to call her father after she got off at five to explain what he'd walked in on; she just wasn't really sure how exactly to say so you just shook the hand of a man who had been in the process of giving your daughter an orgasm without actually coming out and saying it in so many words. His heart was in the right place, but he'd always been a little bit overbearing. After her mother died, Belle had acted out — drinking, staying out past curfew with boys — and her father had turned his considerable attention towards filling the hole left by the loss.

Eventually, Belle had gone away to college and cleaned up her act, and while her relationship with her father had gotten better, he'd still been overbearing — a near constant presence in her life. She'd tried to establish boundaries; she'd gotten her own place, found a job at the library, and tried to set up her own life. But her family was nearby, and it had been so easy to just give her father a key in case of emergencies which had snowballed into him dropping by randomly to drop off things he thought she might need. Sometimes it would be an extra gallon of milk, or maybe there'd been a sale on hamburger meat so he picked up some for her. On occasion, it was just 'popping in' to say hello. No matter what, though, it was incredibly annoying and she promised herself she would eventually learn to set some boundaries.

Her plans, however, changed suddenly when she went on her lunch break and checked her phone.

y didnt u tell me u had a new bf?!

The text message was from her cousin, Ariel, and it actually took her a half second to figure out what was going on before her heart plummeted into her stomach.

Oh. Oh no. No, he couldn't have. He totally fucking couldn't have.

Who told you? she sent back, already knowing the answer.

my mom...ur dad called her to say u were bringing him to dinner grandma's this Sun

Belle's life was officially over. She might as well go ahead and become a nun, change her name to Sister Mary Charles, and start a new life in a convent somewhere in South America, because there was absolutely no getting out of this any other way. She was the only one of her cousins who was still single (three of them, in fact, had kids already), and her grandma had made no secret of the fact that she'd like to see Belle settled before she died. She'd done a pretty good job so far of putting the entire lot of them off of nagging her about it being 'her turn,' but this new boyfriend nonsense was going to just fan the flames all over again.

And now there was absolutely no way to bow out of this gracefully. She couldn't tell her eighty-five year old grandmother that the man her father had met was a stranger she'd picked up in a bar. That was not an option at all. It was bad enough her Nana had to know that Belle was sexually active; letting her know that she was sexually active with men whose last name she didn't know was absolutely beyond the pall. If it had just been the suit jacket and her father hadn't actually seen Dom then it would have been an easy enough fix. Her friend Will was usually up for mischief and she was pretty sure his wife Ana would have lent him out for a couple weekends until she could reasonably have said they broke up. But no, her father had to have shown up while she was still in the arms of the stranger in her bed and now her life was over. She didn't even know Dom's last name to ask him if he could help. She didn't know anything about him except that he could hold his liquor and had introduced her to a shooter that was a combination of Rumplemintz and Fireball whiskey that had tasted like Listerine.

What the hell was she even going to do?

Before she could second guess herself, she was grabbing her coat and her purse and mumbling something to her assistant about a family emergency and needing to take the afternoon off. That probably wasn't what the city had in mind for her personal days, but her family was causing her an emergency and she needed to fix it.

She didn't have any idea what her plan was until she found herself standing outside the pub from the night before. He wasn't a regular, because she hadn't recognized him, but she had a vague memory of him laying down a credit card to pay for their drinks the night before so there was a chance she could talk her way out of it.

Luckily, Ruby was behind the counter and Belle was pretty sure that she'd been their waitress. She and Ruby weren't exactly friends, but they recognized each other on sight and if anyone was going to be sympathetic to her plight it would be the leggy brunette.

"Hey Ruby," Belle said as she slid into one of the many empty barstools this time of day. "How are you?"

"Probably better than you after last night," the other woman replied, coming over to where Belle sat. "What can I get for you?"

"Actually, right now I think I need a favor," Belle admitted. "Do you still have the credit card receipts from last night?"

"Yeah, they won't be going to the bank until Tim gets here at four," she replied. "Why?"

"Can I see them?"

"You know I can't let you do that," Ruby said. "Why would you even ask?"

"Because," Belle said, deciding brutal honesty was her best bet here. "Last night I went home with a stranger and my dad showed up this morning and thought he was my boyfriend. Now my entire family — including my grandmother — think I've been seeing someone and want to meet him. And I don't know his last name and I'm really hoping I can pick out his credit card receipt."

The waitress was sitting there wide-eyed with an amused look on her face.

"I'm telling the truth," Belle continued. "I couldn't make that up if I tried."

"Wow," Ruby said at last. "That's definitely not what I expected, I'll give you that."

She looked around the room, taking in the fairly empty state of the bar.

"C'mon," she said. "Let's make this real quick."

Belle wasn't about to argue with the first solid lead she'd had all day, so she quickly hopped off her barstool and scrambled after Ruby, who led her to a small and brightly lit office in the back. Ruby went to a drawer and pulled out a plastic bank envelope, unzipping it and pulling out a handful of receipts.

"If he paid with his card, it'll be in here," Ruby explained, returning the cash and envelope to the drawer and locking them in. "There's a timestamp at the top so you can narrow it down, and the last names and first initials are at the bottom. I've gotta get back out front, so when you finish let me know so I can put it all away afterward."

"Thank you so much," Belle said, looking at the pile in front of her. "I promise I'll be quick."

Ruby nodded and said something that sounded a lot like 'good luck' before walking back out and leaving Belle alone in the office. She started by pulling out all the receipts from early on in the evening, since she knew about what time they'd left. That cut things down by a substantial amount. Her next step was simply flipping through and looking for the first initial D. That left her a choice of two receipts, one of which had only spent fifteen dollars. The other was a hundred and fifty-seven dollars, and Belle actually felt a little flattered he'd thought so much of her company before remembering that they'd both been seriously drunk and it was entirely likely he was regretting that choice this afternoon — or at least would be by the time she tracked him down to his house like she was Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. Oh, God. Was he married? She didn't remember a ring, but then she didn't really remember a whole lot about him besides his hair and his hands being in her panties. He couldn't be married, married men didn't spend the night with strange women… unless their wives were out of town.

Oh, hell. He probably was married. He was married and she was an idiot but at least now she was pretty sure his last name was Gold so hopefully that narrowed it down enough to find this guy before anyone else heard about it. She'd track him down, find out what his deal was, and maybe save her life.

On her way out of the bar, her phone buzzed at her. It was her cousin Mary Margaret wanting to know if her boyfriend liked apple pie and if so should she bring one to dinner on Sunday for him. It took all of Belle's self-control not to throw the phone in the nearest mailbox and start her life over again in Spain.

Dom could think of worse ways to start the day than in a beautiful woman's bed, though the surprise arrival of her father had put a bit of a damper on the occasion. He was just thankful he'd gotten out before it had gotten too uncomfortable. If her father was the sort to show up at her door first thing in the morning, he could probably safely say he didn't want to get involved in whatever situation she had going on.

It still made for a long day at work, though. More than once he had caught himself in the middle of remembering what she'd felt like when he'd kissed her and the way she'd looked in the throes of passion. The entire night had a strange dreamlike quality (probably from the massive amount of alcohol they'd both imbibed) which made it all feel like a strange sort of adolescent wet dream. He'd half expected to wake up alone afterward, and the idea that she had been willing to go again was just more than he could have expected. Finally, it was time to go home and his car had never felt more confining than it did on his way back to his overlarge house in a generally stuffy neighborhood.

There was a strange car in his driveway, and a brunette on his porch, and how the hell had Belle French found where he lived? She was still sitting on the stairs leading up to the porch and tapping on her phone when he got there. What the hell could she possibly be doing? What could she possibly need?

"Can I help you?" he asked, not quite sure what would drive her to his door so soon after their last encounter.

"Oh thank God," she said, standing up. "It's you. There are four other D. Golds in the phone book."

"And how many of them have you already spoken to?"

"You're only the second," she replied. "And Deborah Gold is an eighty-seven year old widow in an active senior community, so that stop didn't take too long."

He couldn't help smiling at the idea of her tracking him down, but a thought occurred to him.

"I don't recall giving you my last name."

"You, uh, didn't," she admitted. "I went to the bar and got them to show me the credit card receipts."

"All that trouble for a second date?" he asked wryly, more sure than ever she had some ulterior motive here.

"Something like that," she admitted. "Can I come inside?"

He nodded, passing her on the stairs and unlocking the front door.

"I like your place," she said as she walked into the house.

"Thank you," he replied, leading her into the kitchen. "Can I get you anything to drink? Coffee? Water?"

"I'm fine, thank you," she said, standing nervously at the bar and fidgeting with her fingers.

"So why don't you tell me why you're here," he said at last. "I have to admit, I didn't think I was going to see you again."

"Partially I wanted to apologize for my dad," she said. "He's a great father, but he just has a hard time letting go. I'm an only child."

"Don't worry about that," he said. "I know all about how that goes. What else did you want?"

She bit her lip for a second and looked away.

"I need a favor," she admitted slowly.

Not that he would ever admit it, but Dom had a brief moment of disappointment. There had been a part of him (albeit a small one) that had hoped she had wanted to see him again.

"Oh?" he said as soon as he managed to get his emotions under control. "What would that be?"

"I need you to come to my grandma's on Sunday," she replied, still not looking at him. "I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend."

It took him a moment to decide if he'd even heard her right.

"I beg your pardon?" he exclaimed. "You need me to what?"

"My dad told my aunt we were dating," she said, sounding miserable. "I was going to call him after work to explain, but...my aunt told all my cousins. And my grandma. And now they all want me to bring my 'new boyfriend' by so they can meet him."

"No!" he said. "Why would you even ask me that?"

"Because it was either this or tell my grandma I had casual sex with a stranger last night," she replied. "And all my cousins, and my aunts and uncles. And once again I can be Belle, the spinster librarian who should really just go ahead and adopt a dozen cats and call it a day."

He did feel a little sorry for her, but hadn't he just decided she had too much baggage?

"So I take it you never did tell your father the truth?" he said finally.

"I meant to," she replied. "But I thought it'd be best to wait until you weren't in walking distance, and he must have called his sister right after leaving my apartment."

They stood there awkwardly for a few moments. He barely knew this woman's name and didn't know much else except her waxing preferences. And now he was being asked to meet her family and maintain the illusion of being her devoted boyfriend for… how long, exactly?

"How many dinners would I have to go to?" he asked, and she turned toward him with wide eyes. "I mean, if they think you have a boyfriend, wouldn't it be a little odd if he only showed up once and never again? Or are you going to pretend I'm a submarine captain?"

"I hadn't really thought about that," she replied. "I honestly hadn't gotten much further in this plan than finding out your name."

"Well, you should," he said. "For starters, you can't just have a boyfriend show up once and be done with it — they'll keep inviting him, er, me to events. Then you'll have to stage a breakup at some point, too."

"How do you know so much about this?" she asked, staring at him openly.

"My ex-wife used to watch a lot of sitcoms," he replied defensively.

"Oh," she said almost too brightly. "You were married?"

There was a slight emphasis on the word "were" that he didn't quite understand, but he nodded in acknowledgment.

"That's the sort of thing you'd need to know about your fake boyfriend," he said. "This will never work."

"It has to," she said, coming around the counter and taking his hand. "Please, you have to help me. I'll do anything…"

It took her just a second longer than him to realize the many ways 'anything' could be interpreted in this situation, and she dropped his hand almost instantly once he saw the light of recognition in her face.

"I mean," she continued. "I can help out with your house. I can clean or… do your taxes. I don't know, there has to be something you need help with."

He was very much going to regret this, but it had been so long since he'd had a woman look at him like he was her hero.

"Fine," he said at last. "You get four weeks and then we break up. And I'm sure there's something around here you can dust in exchange."

"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him.

He was too stunned to hug her back, but she didn't seem to mind particularly and by the time she pulled away he was mostly wishing she would do it again.

"Yes, well," he said, trying to straighten himself out. "We can work out the details later. Figure out a few personal details, that sort of thing."

"Dinner tomorrow?" she asked. "I'll buy. We can swap life stories and work out a cover."

"Alright," he said, nodding. "That sounds good. Let me get you my phone number."

"I uh, already have it," she said. "It was in the white pages listing."

"Right," he replied, feeling foolish.

"But I can give you mine," she said cheerfully. "I'll text you the details later?"

He nodded, and handed her his phone so she could program herself into it.

"We can take some pictures together tomorrow," she said as he walked her to the door. "Thank you again. You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"Don't mention it," he replied, watching as she practically skipped down his steps and out to her car.

What the hell had he just gotten himself into?

"Favorite food?" Belle said as they pulled into her grandmother's driveway.

"Meat pie," Dom said. "And yours is… hamburgers?"

"Right," she said with a sigh of relief. They'd been quizzing each other on their personal lives for two days now via text message and it was officially time to put this deception to the test.

They had decided that it was in their best interests to stick as close to the truth as possible, so they had met in the bar two months ago and been dating since then. They'd also settled on being a 'couple' for about a month before faking a breakup — just enough time to prove Belle could be in a relationship but not long enough for any of her family members to get too emotionally attached to him.

"Favorite movie?" he quizzed her. "Yours is Bridget Jones' Diary."

"Oh shit," she said, wracking her brain. "It's one of the old World War Two ones… The Magnificent Seven?"

"That's a western," he corrected. "It's The Dirty Dozen."

"The Dirty Dozen," she repeated, disappointed with herself. "Right. I remembered there was a number in it, at least."

She still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to get out of this deal (they'd never gotten quite as far as her payment for this service) but whatever the cost, it was worth it. Even if he hadn't been her fake boyfriend, it'd be nice to have somebody on her side when she faced the overwhelming wave of how settled everyone was. Belle was barely thirty, but sometimes being with her family felt like being in high school all over again. It was like adulthood hit when you got married and not a moment before, and if she had to listen to her cousin Philip's twenty-three-year-old wife tell her one more time how she'd understand something when she had children of her own, Belle was going to set the house on fire and dance in the ashes. It was no longer a matter of 'if' but 'when.'

"Are you ready for this?" she asked him as he put the car in park and she wasn't sure herself if she was asking if he'd studied enough or if he was having second thoughts about going at all.

"I'm as ready as I'm going to be," he replied with a shrug. "Might as well get it over with."

"Right," she said, nodding affirmatively. "Might as well."

Her chest was tight as they got out of the car, and when she glanced to the house her heart sank. There was already a cluster of people lurking at the windows waiting for them to come in.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she said with a giant smile on her face to cover up the words. "I don't think I can do this."

"It's your family," he replied with a gracious smile. "But if you want me to drive you to the airport so you can hop a flight to the Philippines and start over, I'm all for it."

"I don't know," she said as she knocked on the door. "That's sounding pretty good right now."

The door swung open and her cousin Mary Margaret was standing there with the baby on her hip and Belle fought the urge to run.

"Hey!" Belle exclaimed as cheerfully as you could, leaning in to hug her cousin. "Sorry we're late!"

She would have offered an excuse for her tardiness, but nobody believed them anymore. She was late because she didn't really want to be there, and it was a lot easier to pretend that she was just a flake than it was to explain that.

"Don't worry, we're used to you," Mary Margaret replied affectionately, turning to face Dom for the first time. "And who's this?"

"Mary Margaret," Belle said, preparing for the introductions. "This is Dominick Gold. Dom, this is my cousin Mary Margaret and her baby, Neal."

They shook hands as soon as Mary Margaret was able to switch the baby to the other hip.

"It's so nice to meet you," Mary Margaret said. "Belle never brings her boyfriends over."

"Boyfriends?" Dom replied, turning to Belle teasingly. "Are there many of them, then?"

Mary Margaret laughed and Belle felt a little relieved this was going well.

"Not as far as I know," Mary Margaret said. "We were beginning to wonder if she was ever going to settle down."

"Well I'm not settled yet," Belle replied as lightly as she could, putting her arm through Dom's and following her cousin into the house.

As far as relatives went, Mary Margaret wasn't really so bad. She spent most of her time wrangling her children and always did all the holiday baking, which came damn close to making her Belle's favorite cousin.

Somehow, the entire family had managed to make it into the living room in order to act casual, but the chorus of 'hellos' began as soon as Belle and Dom walked into the room. Belle tried to smile as sincerely as she could as she walked him around the room to meet everyone.

First up was Mary Margaret's brother Philip, his wife Aurora (who Belle couldn't stand), and their baby Philip Jr. After that was her cousin Sean, his wife Ashley, and their twins Alexander and Alexandra (which Belle had always thought was ridiculously tacky, but whatever nobody asked her opinion on it). Then came Mary Margaret's husband David and their oldest daughter Emma (who had been the reason that Mary Margaret and David got married right out of high school, not that anybody liked to talk about that). Finally, Sean's sister Ariel — who had been the only other unmarried cousin besides Belle — and her fiance Eric. After the cousins, she introduce him to her twin aunts Carol and Diane (twins tended to run in her family), and Dom had already met her father but he still had to shake his hand. By the time she got to the kitchen to introduce him to her Nana, she was already ready to go home.

"Why are there so many babies here?" Dom whispered to her as she led him into the kitchen.

"Phil and Rory had a destination wedding," Belle whispered back. "And an open bar. Ashley and Sean came back pregnant, David and Mary got pregnant a couple months later, and Phil and Rory didn't want to be left out."

"That is the most convoluted series of reproductive events I've ever heard," Dom replied.

"I'm pretty sure Neal was planned," Belle replied. "And I'm pretty sure Ashley was off birth control when the Alexes were conceived, so they weren't unplanned."

He shuddered, and she knew the feeling. They had all successfully nested, and she was spending her prime reproductive years on a barstool and bringing strangers home to meet her family. After this was over, she should seriously consider finding a closeted gay friend who needed a girlfriend to show to his family at holidays. It would make all of this so much more bearable to have somebody else to get buzzed with and snark about a life of minivans and soccer practice.

Belle's grandmother was a matronly widow in her early eighties who had raised three children in Australia before moving to the US for her husband's job. Belle's father had already been married, but Diane and Carol had been sixteen and gone with their parents. Belle's father had only immigrated with her once she started getting in trouble after her mother died. It had been a bit of a rude awakening to move to suburban Maine from the outskirts of Sydney, but at least she'd always had her Nana, who still spoke with the same accent she'd been raised with. The other cousins were fully Americanized with accents to match, and even her aunts had lost most of their accents trying to blend in with their high school peers. So it was really just Belle, Moe, and Nana who kept the warm tones of their home country. Maybe that's why it had always been so hard to be such a disappointment to her.

"Nana!" Belle exclaimed as soon as they entered the kitchen.

"Bells!" Nana replied, coming to hug her tight. "I was beginning to despair of ever seeing you again!"

"I'm not that late," Belle teased, letting her grandma fuss over her for a minute.

"Oh my girl," Nana said, holding Belle's face in her hands and tsking over her. "You are entirely your father's daughter. I'm going to have to start telling you that things start an hour earlier and see if that doesn't make you show up on time."

"One of these days I'll be here early and you'll have no idea what to do with me," Belle said, pulling away to introduce Dom. "Nana, this is Dominick Gold. My new boyfriend."

The word boyfriend still felt alien on her lips, but Nana didn't seem to notice as she turned towards Dom with a smile.

"So this is the mysterious Dominick," Nana said. "I'm Belle's grandma Ellen, but you can call me Nana. Everyone else does."

"Right," Dom said. "It's lovely to meet you."

"And you!" Nana replied, turning back to stir the sauce sitting neglected on the stove. "I didn't think Belle would ever bring another man home. Not after what happened to the last one."

"What happened with the last one?" he asked.

"Nothing," Belle replied too fast. "Absolutely nothing. Do you need any help cooking, Nana?"

"No no," she Nana said, brushing Belle's hands away. "You two go back out and talk to your cousins! I'm sure they're dying of curiosity!"

Yeah, and curiosity killed cats, Belle thought unkindly. She wasn't particularly excited about the prospect of sitting in the living room and listening to everyone talk about chapped nipples and Ariel's wedding plans, but she'd brought Dom here to socialize with her family and hiding away in the kitchen would be counterproductive to that point. He was supposed to be here to prove that she could in fact get a boyfriend — a real one and not just a picture she found on the Internet and some fake love letters to herself (a gambit she'd tried in grad school which had not actually worked very long).

Dom was relieved when dinner was finally over and they could leave. He had a fairly good understanding of why Belle had been so desperate to not tell them she'd had a one-night stand. Her family was… interesting. Belle had seemingly taken it on herself to have too much to drink, and was currently staring out the window of his car and swaying a little.

"So what happened with the last guy?" he asked her.

"What?"

"Your grandmother said you didn't bring men home," he reminded her. "After the last one. What happened?"

"Oh," she replied. "That would have been Gaston. We dated for about a year towards the end of grad school, and I was so excited to take him home. Real tall, good prospects… perfect for this kind of thing."

"Sounds wonderful."

"Yeah, he was fine," she continued. "So he slept over at my place the night before so we could leave early and be there on time because I was trying so hard to make a good impression. And first thing in the morning he got a little frisky so then we had to rush out the door and I barely had time to glance at myself in the mirror. When we got there, Ariel looked at me and said 'what is that on your neck?' which, of course, was a giant hickey."

"Oh, damn," he said. "I bet that was fun."

"So much fun," she said sarcastically. "Everyone saw and they would not drop it. It was nothing but jokes about what a good night we'd obviously had. Which would have been fine, except every single time they saw him again they would stop and check me for hickeys and then laugh about it."

"I imagine that got a little old," he replied, though it sounded absolutely insufferable. "How long did that go on for?"

"About six months," she said. "That was three years ago."

"No other boyfriends since then?"

"Not that they ever met," she replied. "Too much drama. Thanks for coming with me, though."

"Don't worry about it," he said, before a thought occurred to him. "Doesn't it bother you when they talk to you like that?"

She looked at him intensely for a moment, and he was starting to regret asking.

"They're my family," she said at last as though that explained it.

And maybe to her it did, and either way it wasn't any of his business. He pulled up outside her apartment without another word.

"Thanks for coming," she said as she opened the door and she waited for a second. Maybe she expected him to kiss her, but she eventually just smiled again and got out of the car.

Apparently, her family had liked him more than he thought and Dom had been invited to the annual family camping trip after two weeks of faking their relationship.

"You don't have to come," Belle offered weakly over the phone. "I can say you had to work or… something."

Which, of course, would leave her alone in a tent in the woods with her family for a week.

"If I don't come," he said. "You're going to end up in jail for murder."

"That's a distinct possibility," she replied. "But fewer witnesses would mean I'd have a better shot at getting away scot free."

He couldn't suppress his smile at that idea.

"I'll come," he said. "I told you four weeks, so it's four weeks."

"I still don't know what I owe you," she said. "The longer this goes on the more nervous it makes me."

"We can work that out later," he said, though to be honest he had no idea what he even wanted from her or why he kept doing this. It was taking up incredible amounts of time, and he couldn't say he was getting much out of it. Well, he did enjoy her company. He sometimes regretted agreeing to the whole arrangement, because he did like spending time with Belle French. He'd have liked to ask her out on a proper date and see where things led, but instead here he was pretending to be her boyfriend with no hope of anything else. It was silly, but he didn't date much and finding a woman he liked was a bit of a rarity. It was a shame to waste one that he did on this crazy scheme.

At least his son was visiting his mother, so he was free to be at Belle's beck and call. He still hadn't told her about Bae, and the longer this went on the more awkward that fact became, but it just felt like letting her in on that part of his life would make it almost too real and it would be even harder when this ended.

"You keep saying that," she said finally, cutting through the quiet that had been on the line. "But it's strangely not comforting."

"Look at it this way," he replied. "No matter what it is, you'll have already gotten what you wanted from me. It's not like you can be forced into something."

"I guess," she said. "But anyway. So you're coming on the camping trip."

"It almost sounds enjoyable," he quipped. "It's been awhile since I spent much time roughing it."

"It's tents," she said. "Tent city, actually. Nana and our parents don't go anymore, but it's basically something that we've done every year for as long as I can remember."

"Anything I should be prepared for?"

"Not really," she continued. "It's at a campground, so there's a horseshoes pit and a place to do archery and stuff. There'll also be drinking around the fire, swimming in a lake, and a lot of family togetherness."

"You never struck me as an outdoorsy type," he said, trying very hard to imagine the petite librarian in six inch heels on a hike.

"I'm not," she replied. "But it's… tradition. I don't know, I can't really explain it."

"I can't wait," he said with a smile. This was going to be very interesting either way.

Belle actually didn't mind the camping so much, actually. It was one of the most fun things her family did together. There were plenty of bugs that she didn't like, and it was always miserable the years when she was the only single one. When they'd all been single, it had been the most fun. Just drinking and gossiping and singing ridiculously loudly. Even the addition of David hadn't been awful. He and Mary had been dating since as long as anyone could remember and by the time they got married he was practically one of the family. But then Emma had been born, and a few years later Sean had brought home Ashley and from there it was all over. Suddenly it had been the adults and the children, and as time went on the other children had all abandoned her.

She was the last holdout, and in a way she grieved for the family she'd had before marriage and baby fever had taken root in it — she just wasn't ready to be that kind of grownup yet (and wasn't entirely sure she ever wanted to be). Belle had worked hard for a career as a librarian;it had taken her four years of school plus grad school to get her Masters of Library Science. She was only just now getting her footing, and she was proud of how far she'd come.

At any rate, at least she had a guest this time. She and Dom could spend the weekend drinking heavily and talking shit. It was really the best part of being outside as far as she was concerned.

"You look… different," he said to her when he picked her up that Friday. She looked down at herself but didn't see anything too much out of the ordinary.

"How so?" she asked at last, wondering what he saw.

"Your shoes," he said a little sheepishly. "You're a lot smaller."

She was wearing hiking boots as a concession to the terrain, foregoing her usual heels.

"I can kick you harder in them, too," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him. "You're not exactly in your usual clothes yourself."

He was wearing jeans and a simple long sleeved t-shirt and it was strangely attractive. She liked his suits, too, but this was practically naked. And she'd seen him naked, so this was just bringing back some memories better left to when he wasn't doing her a huge favor.

"I didn't think my usual clothes would be appropriate," he said easily, opening the car door for her. "Although if you think I'm underdressed we can go back to my house."

She wasn't sure if he was flirting with her or not, but going back to his house honestly sounded a lot better than dodging questions about when she was going to settle down for five days even if all Dom had in mind was playing canasta.

"Don't tempt me," she finally said once they were both in the car. "I've still only ever seen your kitchen, after all."

His hand slipped on the gearshift and he looked over at her quickly. She just shrugged; he'd started it, after all.

The drive to the campground took about an hour and a half, and it turned out that the one thing she didn't like about Dom was his taste in music. They'd spent the entire ninety minute drive arguing over radio stations. She'd had him pegged as a classical guy, or at least classic rock, but instead he apparently liked to listen to talk radio in the car. Belle would have preferred literally anything else and spent the first half hour of the drive arguing with the presenters about school funding until he finally switched it over to a station playing 80s music.

"I didn't know you were so passionate about ballot initiatives," he said as the familiar chords of Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic filtered through the speakers.

"I'm not," she replied. "But I work at a library. I deal with the schools a lot and a lot of our funding comes from the same place."

"Ah yes," he said. "I'd forgotten about that."

"Yeah," she said. "It's a whole lot of bureaucracy. You're lucky you don't have to deal too much with it."

He shrugged, but didn't say anything else. So she just counted her lucky stars to be listening to Billy Joel and started drumming on her thighs as he drove them further and further away from town.

Eventually, she got bored enough to pop off her seatbelt so she could turn around and fish a can of soda out of the cooler in the back.

"Do you want anything?" she asked, then glanced over her shoulder when he didn't immediately reply. "Are you looking at my butt?"

"No," he said far too quickly, and she could see him looking back from the rearview mirror. "I mean, no I'm not looking at you. And yes I'd like a drink."

She reached back and pulled out another soda, making a point to wiggle her hips while he could still see she was doing it. They'd taken to flirting a little bit since this whole farce had begun and Belle wasn't quite sure if it was just because they were playing at being in love or if there was something else going on there. She couldn't really be sure because things were completely backwards with all of this.

"So…" she said, trying to think of some topic of conversation.

"So?" he said.

Luckily, right at that moment she heard the opening strains of Total Eclipse of the Heart began and she shrieked and turned the volume up.

"Oh no," he said. "You're one of those."

"I don't know what you're — turn around…"

She couldn't help it. She loved that stupid song, and if she didn't sing the whole thing she'd feel sad when it ended. It was a weird compulsion she'd had since she could remember, and he was laughing as she sang both the lead and backup vocals. It was a little bit of a performance, but he'd seen her naked and sat through one of her aunts drunkenly explaining what was wrong with politicians today and still came back the next week with a smile on his face so there was really no sense in being embarrassed about anything anymore.

"You're a terrible singer," he said with a smile on his face as she sang the final verse. "I mean, enthusiastic as hell and charming as I've ever seen, but wow."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I don't want to brag, but I have shut down the bar at multiple karaoke nights on that one."

"I can imagine," he said, looking impressed all the same. "I really don't think I've ever heard that particular interpretation of that song before. Good job."

She smiled at him and settled back into her seat. It was entirely possible that, despite all expectations, this was going to be a fun week.

The campsite that Belle's family apparently preferred proved to be a pretty nice place as far as Dom was concerned. There was a bank of showers and toilets nearby, so no need for bathing (or otherwise) in the lake. There were a few adjacent camps with campers or tents in them, but her family by far made up the largest group.

He and Belle were among the last to arrive. Only Ashley and Sean weren't there, as they'd been in charge of providing food and had been held up at the store. Luckily, nobody jumped up to tease her about their tardiness since they were too busy assembling tents and preparing the fire bank. Belle had packed a tent for them to share. It would have been a little bit too suspicious if they slept separately, and it's not like he hadn't slept in bed with her before — he'd been inside her before, so sleeping in separate bags shouldn't really register as uncomfortable.

There were greetings exchanged with cousins before they selected a nice flat spot to pitch the tent, which involved a little bit of arguing, but soon enough it was put together and they were able to put their bags in it.

"That went a lot easier than usual," Belle said. "Usually one of the boys has to help me."

"'One of the boys?'" he said. "And what am I?"

"Not a boy," she said with a quirk of her lips and for a split second he wasn't sure if she was teasing him or not but he couldn't detect anything in her bearing suggested that she was anything but serious.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he finally said.

"Good," she replied. "That's how I meant it."

He was a little dumbstruck, but then her redheaded cousin whose name he could never remember came over and Belle jumped to her feet to embrace her and left him alone and confused about her exact meaning. What did 'not a boy' even mean? The obvious continuation of that thought was that she thought of him as a man rather than a boy, but it could also be argued that she was merely compartmentalizing him from her cousins as well. Or maybe it was something else he wasn't thinking of. He was probably overthinking it by now, but once he got started, he had a hard time stopping. She was walking arm-in-arm with her cousin and chatting with her. Occasionally, she'd cast a little glance his way and he was trying really hard not to go follow her around like a lost puppy. Jesus, he was acting like a teenager with his first glance of a pretty girl. He needed to be a grown man.

"How ya doing?" he heard from behind him and turned around to see her cousin's husband David standing there.

"I'm good," Dom replied, unable to keep his eyes away from Belle. "Very good, actually. How are you?"

"Good, good," David said as he came to stand next to him and observe the general chaos of the campsite. "We're doing well. Margaret and Emma are someplace around here."

Dom chuckled a little bit at that and looked around casually taking inventory of the people. He didn't see the little blonde girl or her mother anywhere. He didn't even want to know what had happened to all the infants, but then they presumably wouldn't get much out of this trip.

"So a few of us were talking," David continued.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," David said. "We were just wondering how things are going with you and Belle."

"Were you?" Dom asked, glancing over to the other man. "Things are fine."

"Just fine?"

"I'm sorry," Dom said, turning to face David. "I'm not sure it's any of your business."

"Don't shoot the messenger," David said with a charming smile on his face. "Her cousins are pretty protective. Trust me, you'd rather have this conversation with me than Sean or Thomas… or Mary Margaret. We just want to make sure she's being taken care of."

It was a surreal moment. He'd never had a family ask after his intentions before — at least not since he was old enough to drink — and she had such a contentious relationship with her family that he'd definitely not thought to expect it here.

"Belle's an adult," Dom finally said. "She can decide whether or not I'm good enough for her."

"True," David replied. "But she's been through a lot."

"Is this the part where you tell me if I break her heart you'll kill me?"

"No, no," David said simply. "If you break her heart, if she doesn't kill you then Mary Margaret or Ariel will. Or both."

"Duly noted, but unnecessary."

"That's good," David said. "Hey, we're all going swimming once the tents are set up. You should join us."

"Sounds thrilling," Dom said. "I'll ask Belle when she returns."

He'd also be sure to mention this little encounter as well. It was simply too strange.

"Great," David said. "I'll see you then!"

With that, the other man wandered off with the baby to do… something. Soon after, Belle returned with a smile on her face and drove all thoughts of the strange encounter from his mind.

"Hey," she said, stopping just in front of him. "They're going swimming. You wanna come?"

"David just invited me," Dom replied, debating whether or not to tell her what else David had said before ultimately deciding against it. He might still mention it to her later, but he wasn't quite sure what she'd make of the thinly veiled threat and he didn't want to rock the boat.

"Is that a yes?" she asked.

"It is," he said. "I just need to change."

"Me, too," she said. "We can change in the bathrooms I guess?"

They both looked around a little and he knew she saw it, too — all the other pairs were changing in their tents. They were going to blow their cover before the first night.

"I can change in the tent," he said at last. It wasn't like they'd never seen each other naked before, and they were going to be sleeping together on this trip. They needed to get used to it pretty quick, or they were going to be in big trouble.

"Right," she said, kneeling to unzip the tent flap. "That's probably a good idea."

It took some doing with his stiff knee, but Dom was in the tent by the time Belle had dug her bathing suit out of her bag. She sat there for a few moments while he started fishing around in his own tote before she finally sheepishly turned around to face the side of the tent and took her shirt off.

This was so stupid, Belle decided. She'd seen him naked before and he'd seen her, and this would not be the last time they had to change like this together before this week was over. Still, she felt a pink blush on her neck as she tied her bikini top behind her back, took a deep breath and stood as much as possible to pull off her shorts and panties before pulling on her bottoms. She knelt back down and glanced over her shoulder to see how Dom was doing. He was in the process of putting his trunks on and she got a pretty good eyeful. Her first reaction was to turn back around and give him the privacy he'd afforded her earlier, but he had been watching her when she'd been fishing around in the cooler earlier...and turnabout really was fair play, wasn't it?

So she angled her body to look at him and leaned back casually as he pulled up his trunks and turned around. He was so startled to see her staring at him that the poor man almost fell over, but that just set her giggling.

"Sorry," she said. "That was for watching me in the car."

"Duly noted," he replied wryly. "Though if we're going to start playing that game I would remind you that the showers here aren't exactly private."

"Bring it on, Gold," she said, letting herself out of the tent. "Don't forget, I get handsy when I drink and that's about all we'll be doing this weekend."

He didn't say anything as he followed her out of the tent and down to the lake to join her cousins who were already splashing around. Belle wasn't sure if she'd actually won that round or not, to be honest. He hadn't come up with a retort, but she'd also basically said she wanted to have sex with him. There really wasn't a reason not to have sex with him, but there were emotions involved now. They were kind of like friends and she didn't want to complicate this fake relationship any more than they already had.

She was excused from most of the more physical activities her cousins had planned because of Dom's bad leg; she could simply swim around and keep him company while they had water fights and chicken fights and whatever other kinds of games they usually played. Occasionally, little Emma would swim over and Belle would play with her before she got bored and returned to her parents. Mostly, though, it was just swimming and chatting and catching up on each other's lives. This was where the intensive study sessions with Dom would prove themselves worthwhile, really. It was really just lucky that Ariel's engagement and the babies all reaching the teething phase was able to take some of the heat off of Belle. If they were careful, they should be able to pull off their deception.

Eventually, Sean, Eric, Ariel, Ashley, and Phil decided it was time to jump off the cliff that overhung the lake. It was something that had been a rite of passage when they were teenagers. Every year, they would jump from the rocks into the waiting water below, and every year Belle had watched as husbands and (and Ashley) had done it, and every year she had promised herself she'd give it a try...and every year she panicked and backed down. Mary Margaret and David had stopped after Emma was old enough to understand what was going on, so at this point it was just Belle and Rory left who hadn't done it. All signs pointed to little Emma taking the plunge before Belle got up the nerve, and it galled her that she'd never quite pulled this off.

She stayed close to Dom as one by one the people assembled on the cliff jumped. Some of them did flips (Sean had always been the best at those), but mostly they were just plummeting into the waiting water to the cheers of everyone else. Belle had only made it on the cliff once, the first year after she'd moved to Maine. She'd gotten all the way up, determined to be the bold one until she'd gazed down at the water beneath her and suddenly realized she was so very afraid to die. She'd had a mild anxiety attack and stayed in her tent the rest of the day out of humiliation. To their credit, nobody had ever mentioned it again after that, and aside from inviting her up with them the next couple of years it had become a non-issue. It was perhaps the thing she was the most grateful for from her family.

"What are they doing?" Dom whispered into her ear, feigning an affectionate hug to go with his question.

She leaned back into his chest, intensely aware that all eyes were on them now.

"Just watch," she said.

Phil was the first off the cliff, diving head first before surfacing and swimming back to his wife and tackling her, dragging her under. They both came up a moment letter, gasping and giggling and Rory slapped his chest. Belle and Rory didn't get along too well sometimes, but Belle had to envy their obvious affection for each other.

Ariel and Eric went down together, holding hands as they plunged into the water and surfacing in a chorus of laughs. Belle always thought Ariel had been a mermaid in another life; she was practically born for the water. Eric wasn't quite as natural in the water as she was, but he was still a skilled swimmer and it didn't take long for them to clear the area for the next jumper. Ashley kissed her husband quickly before taking her leap and surfaced happily right after. Of course Sean wanted to go last, he always liked to go last — it gave him more time to set up his flips. Ashley was cheering as he took a running leap and did two flips on his way down.

"Have you ever done that?" Dom asked her once Sean had surfaced to a round of applause.

"The flips?"

"Any of it," he said.

"No," she admitted. "I was always too scared."

He didn't say anything after that, and they watched the others laughing and cheering and talking animatedly about the experience and reliving their childhood escapades… and suddenly, Belle was sick of being on the outside.

"I'm gonna do it," she said before she could second-guess herself. She'd been afraid for far too long. "I'm going to jump."

She was preparing a series of rebuttals to any argument he might have offered her, but it turned out to be for naught.

"Okay," he said. "I'll be right here when you get back."

Belle nodded, still a little dumbstruck by her sudden burst of bravery as she swam across to the little path that led up to the cliff. She'd only walked this route once, but it was easy enough to find her way anyway and before she knew it she was standing poised at the top of the cliff looking down into the lake. She knew from being down below that it wasn't too high — maybe fifteen feet — and the water below was plenty deep to catch her with no large rocks or anything else to risk falling on. It was perfectly safe, or at least as safe as it could possibly be. She'd seen her cousins dive into it hundreds of times over the last fifteen years, and all of them were here and healthy and reproducing. She could do this.

She edged closer to the drop, leaning out and wondering how it could look so much higher from here than from down there. Belle's vision started to go dark around the edges and she felt the same cold fist of fear in her belly the same as she had all those years ago when she'd first stood here. It was a terrible idea, what had she been thinking by coming back up here? She couldn't do it, she should just back away and go back down and pretend it hadn't happened. Nobody knew she'd planned to jump except for Dom, and he wouldn't tell anyone that she'd ever meant anything more than looking around. She could run away and nobody would know. But Belle was so, so tired of afraid. It was time to be brave. She took a deep breath, looked straight ahead, and jumped.

It had taken her longer to jump than Dom thought it would, but her cousins had been cheering before she even surfaced and she had an exuberant smile on her face when she finally came back up for air. He'd only known her a couple weeks, but he'd never seen her smile so wide, and for a moment he wanted to kiss her - except he wasn't actually her boyfriend, he was her alibi. She was beautiful and happy, and he was happy for her.

She lifted her arms in a little mock cheer, and he realized instantly something was wrong. Her cousins hadn't yet caught on (and apparently, neither had she), but the top of her bikini was completely gone. Dom quickly swam to where she was while her family resumed their conversations with each other. When he reached her, she was still shaking a little bit from the adrenaline and letting out little giggles, and he wrapped his arms around her from the front.

"I did it!" she exclaimed, hugging him back. "I really did it!"

"You did," he replied. "However, now your bathing suit is gone."

Belle drew her arms back from around him to feel for her straps and her eyes went wide the moment she realized he was right.

"Oh shit," she muttered, looking around quickly and not pulling away. "Where did it go?"

"It must have fallen off when you hit the water," he replied, looking around with her while still trying to cover her body with his.

"Bells!" a voice came from behind him. "You did it!"

Belle's red headed cousin had come over, presumably to offer congratulations.

"Thanks Ariel," Belle said, burying her face in Dom's chest. "You uh, don't see the top half of my bathing suit anywhere, do you?"

It took Ariel a second to register what Belle had said, but her expression went through the most remarkable series of changes Dom had ever seen.

"Ohmygosh," Ariel exclaimed. "That's too funny! I'll help you look, though!"

"I think I'm gonna get out," Belle said. "Let me know if you find it?"

"Sure," Ariel said. "You need help getting back to your tent?"

Belle looked up at Dom and he took her meaning instantly.

"I'll escort her," he said. "My knee is starting to ache anyway."

Ariel grinned and nodded, swimming back to the group to tell them what was going on while Belle stayed close to Dom's back as they made slow progress towards the shore. Once they were where she had to stand, she was pinned to his back while they made awkward progress up out of the water. A cheer went up as soon as they were safely on shore and she was hiding behind him. They turned as one towards her family where they were smiling and laughing and cheering. One of the guys whistled loudly and for a moment Dom was offended on her behalf, but she just smiled and waved and he thought she might even have taken a bow except for the fact that if she'd done so she would have been completely exposed.

It took some maneuvering to get her to the pile of towels, but once she was wrapped up in one he walked her back to the tent where she promptly sat down clutching the terrycloth to her chest and practically vibrating with nervous energy.

"That was so much fun," she said. "I've been wanting to do that for years."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he said, trying hard to keep his focus on her face and words and not her half-exposed breasts that were escaping their half-hearted cover with every breath.

"Thank you for coming with me," she replied, sitting up on her knees as he sat down nearby. "It really means a lot."

"I'm having a good time," he said. "It's been awhile since I did anything like this."

"Yeah?" she said, and he saw her pink tongue dart out across her lower lip quickly. "Like what?"

"Camping," he said as his heart skipped a little beat. "Lake swimming… spending time with a beautiful woman…"

He probably shouldn't have said that last part, but her blush was such a pretty color on her and it swept across her face to the top of her breasts. Was this really even a deception anymore, if he liked her this much?

"You think I'm beautiful?" she said, letting her arms (and towel) fall away from her chest. "You're such a flatterer."

"Maybe," he said, trying to think of what to tell her to cut through some of the tension. "But be that as it may —"

He didn't have time to finish that thought, though. She pounced on him, springing from where she sat, and threw her arms around his neck to press a long kiss to his lips. Her tongue brushed against his, and by instinct he wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her close. Her skin still had the slightly damp feel of having spent too long in the water and she was pushing him down onto his back while she straddled his hips. Her mouth never left his, and it took him a little while to think to put his hand over her breast and squeeze it gently. Her nipples had been erect since she'd gotten out of the water (and boy, didn't he know it) and were easily taken between his fingers. He longed to have one between his lips, but she was still kissing him and he was almost painfully erect beneath her. God, this was probably a terrible idea but she would be gone in a week - and what did he really have to lose?

There was a loud flop noise directly above them and Belle practically catapulted off of him.

"We found your swimsuit!" he heard from outside and he couldn't tell which of her damn cousins had said it but he was seriously considering strangling each and every one of them. Belle was looking straight up and he followed her gaze and realized the noise had been the errant bikini top being thrown onto the tent.

She was still breathing heavily and his eyes were drawn to the rapid rise and fall of her chest when she turned her gaze back onto him, and then to his tented swim trunks.

"Damn," she muttered and when he finally looked back into her eyes, her pupils were blown wide with arousal still. "Sorry."

"No, no," he said, sitting up so as to at least offer himself some concealment. "Don't apologize."

"It was the adrenaline, I think," she said. "I wasn't really thinking clearly."

He nodded, but wasn't sure what to say to that. They'd had sex when she was drunk, they'd almost had sex again because she jumped off a cliff…

"Maybe we should just, I don't know," she continued, rubbing her face. "I mean, we have to at least kiss this week, right? I mean, we're going to be around them all the time."

"I guess," he said slowly, not entirely sure what she was getting at and not wanting to interrupt her. He was pretty sure he had never been more interested in a woman before than he was at that moment.

"Should we maybe just… see how it goes?" she asked. "Not like, to date or anything. But I mean… if we have to pretend all week, then do you want to just say that whatever happens on the trip happens? Like, a free pass."

"For… sex?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Whatever happens this week just happens. We're going to be in close quarters and forced into faking intimacy. It's really only logical for something to happen so if it does, we can both just know it doesn't mean anything."

That made sense. It was a game of proximity causing the thick sexual tension. It had to be, because what else could possibly explain what the hell was going on?

"Alright," he said, still studiously avoiding talking to her nipples. "So, just so I'm clear, nothing that happens here counts? We go back to Storybrooke as awkward strangers no matter what?"

"Right," she replied, visibly relaxing. "No strings, no feelings. Just making out. Or sex. Or whatever."

"I can live with that," he said, a wicked thought crossing his mind. "So, that means if I were to, say, kiss you so hard you saw stars that would just be friendly banter?"

She seemed a little stunned for a second and she inhaled sharply at his statement. He liked teasing her, and this arrangement was just going to make it easier to do.

"Or if I pointed out you're still topless," he continued when she didn't reply, "and said I'd been thinking of sucking on one of your nipples?"

Belle flushed again and he wanted to follow the pinkness of her skin from her cheeks down to her breasts with his lips and see if he could make it go any lower if he was even more outrageous, but she wasn't afraid of him and didn't stay shocked for too long.

"Perfectly acceptable," she said at last. "In fact, I'd be disappointed if you hadn't been, frankly. Just like how if I tell you that I could ride you until you couldn't feel your legs anymore that's basically the exact same thing this week as saying 'I like your tie.'"

His erection hadn't quite abated from her earlier attentions to him, but the mental image she'd given him had it standing back at attention and he knew she could tell and somehow that just made him more aroused, dammit.

"Are you okay?" she asked him in a sweet little sing-song voice that had him gritting his teeth not to just drag her down and eat her alive. "You seem sort of tense."

"I'm fine," he replied. "Just wondering what you taste like. In a totally casual way, of course."

That one finally shocked her into silence and he couldn't help feeling a little smug about it. She was always so damn bold and outgoing, and he loved this little game they played. He was really going to miss it in two weeks when she was out of his life for good.

"I think I need a shower," she said. "Can you get my top off the tent for me?"

He nodded, unsure if this was a come-on and he was invited to the shower or not, but he was starting to think he needed to take a few minutes to himself anyway to get under control, so he unzipped the tent and retrieved the soggy scrap of fabric — how she'd ever thought that thing would survive the jump into the lake was beyond him — and offered it to her. Instead of taking it, she turned her back to him and swept her hair over her shoulder, inviting him to put it on her.

Dom's mouth was completely dry when he came up behind her and wrapped his hands around to cup her breasts gently. She moaned so quietly he could barely hear it and leaned back into him. He rolled her nipples between his fingertips and tugged lightly on them before releasing them and going back to massaging her chest. He hadn't really had much time to spend on this sort of thing the one time they'd had sex, so it was an exercise in finding out what sorts of noises she would make and what she liked and didn't like. When she clapped her hand over her mouth to drown out a whimper when he pinched her nipples, he knew he'd hit paydirt. He grinned and did it again a little harder this time, and she arched her back and wriggled in his arms. One of his hands went down to her stomach to hold her in place and he left the other where it was, alternating soothing her nipple with his palm with the occasional pinch to keep her on edge. She had her thighs pressed together tightly and he wondered idly what she'd say if he took the bottom of her bathing suit off and spent the rest of the night with his face buried between her legs. He didn't need to breathe, he just needed to make her scream his name.

But they weren't really alone — the tent didn't cover any sort of noises she wanted to make and there were people milling around outside, and they would be missed soon. So he reluctantly picked up her bikini top and covered her breasts with it, fastening it in the back and then tying the straps around the back of her neck before moving away.

Belle sagged a little and turned to face him with a look of vague disbelief on her face. Suddenly, she lunged forward, sliding her hand down his trunks and holding his cock in her hand. She stroked up and down once before stopping.

"You are a sick son of a bitch, Gold," she murmured before kissing him on the lips and pulling away. "I'm going to get you back for this later."

"I look forward to it," he managed to say, although he had no idea how since there was no blood in his body that wasn't below his waist and his mouth felt completely dry.

She winked and let herself out of the tent. He heard the zipper as she closed the doorway again and the sound of her walking away towards the bank of showers, but he was too busy laying on the floor of the tent with his eyes squeezed closed as he tried to get ahold of himself. Holy shit. Holy shit what was he thinking? He was in so far over his head with her and he had no idea what he could even do to get back on even footing.

Belle could barely walk. She just had to get to the shower without anyone figuring that out and she'd be okay, but it felt like she'd let a genie out of its bottle and she wasn't sure she could get it back in. Her skin was on fire and the water was too cold on her skin as she stripped out of her bathing suit and left it hanging over the curtain that separated this stall from the rest of the room. He had really good hands.

She reached between her legs, unsurprised to feel herself. Damn, it was a shame he'd stopped when he did, she was so ready she could hardly stand it. She reached her fingers into herself, coating them with her own wetness (teasing her g-spot in the process) and moved back to her clit which was almost throbbing from the lack of attention as she worked her fingers across the tender nub. It was the work of maybe thirty seconds to work herself into what should have been a screaming orgasm if she weren't holding her breath to keep from making any noise. She gasped as she shook with aftershocks, still not feeling fulfilled as she drove herself over the brink again and again until she was practically in pain from the repetition and it still wasn't enough.

She imagined him following her into the shower, pressing her against the cool tile wall and kneeling in front of her with her leg over his shoulder. In her fantasy, he ate her out until she was boneless and limp in his arms before standing and fucking her back against the wall until he finally came deep inside of her. That would have been enough, she thought. But he hadn't followed her, and her imagination would only carry her so far.

Finally, she finished her shower and rinsed her bathing suit — paying extra attention to the bottoms — before wrapping herself in a towel and making the walk back to the tent. Dom was still there and the air was still thick with the smell of her arousal. He practically jumped when she came in, and grabbed his own shower supplies and a change of clothes and scurried off to the showers. That was probably for the best, to be honest. She needed some time to get her thoughts back in order before she saw him again.

It hadn't ever really occurred to Belle how much she wanted Dom until she had offered him no-strings-attached sex for the week. Maybe it would work, though. Maybe they could clear out some of the sexual tension and get it all out of their systems once and for all. It had been awhile since she'd spent a lot of time with any man in particular, and she was getting a little old for hookups to be satisfying anymore. Maybe this would do it.

She dressed quickly in clean clothes, and when she left the tent, she left only the mesh part of the door zipped to air out some of the stuffiness. Her cousins were already building a fire to cook dinner on, so she joined them. Their comforting banter faded into the background and Belle sought out Ariel to braid her hair for her while everyone else talked. Emma was intensely interested in the construction of the fire and Belle watched as she and David carefully built up kindling and branches and logs to create a nice, sturdy base for the fire. Dom appeared at some point, sitting a few seats away from her and looking a little calmer than he had when he'd left.

When Ariel finished her hair, Belle got up and grabbed a couple beers out of the cooler before going to Dom and offering him one, which he took gratefully. She settled on the chair next to him as the evening wore on. Dinner was fish and potatoes cooked in the cinders, finished with s'mores - much to Emma's delight. As the night progressed and Emma was put to bed the adults broke out the beer and wine. Somehow, Belle ended up perched in Dom's lap and she wasn't really sure if it was for show anymore or not, because she was tipsy as hell and she liked the way his arm felt around her waist as they watched the fire burn down.

Eventually, the others began to wander back to their tents and Belle followed suit. She didn't fall asleep right away, and eventually Dom came back and laid down next to her. She moved silently to spoon behind him and reached down to draw the hem of his shirt up so she could trace her fingers along his stomach. He flinched a little, so she paused and rested her palm on his stomach. His hair smelled like woodsmoke that filled the air outside mixed with the sandalwood scent that always followed him around (was it shampoo, perhaps?). She just wanted to forget anything besides this for a little while, she wanted to touch his skin and have it not be for show.

"Did you masturbate earlier?" she whispered into his ear, wondering if she pushed him too far.

"No," he said. "Did you?"

She nodded and darted her hand down under the waistband of his boxers.

"You should have," she whispered as she wrapped her hand around his cock. "You'd feel better."

Dom groaned as she stroked him up and down firmly. Turnabout was fair play, after all, and he'd all but got her off this afternoon. She would take her time.

It felt like a dream. Dom wasn't so drunk that he couldn't make choices, but he was drunk enough that there was a strange unreality to the feel of her hands in the dark as she touched him.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Roll over," she said in response, moving away from him so he could lay down on his back.

Rather than climbing on top of him like he'd half expected, she snuggled into his arm and continued her ministrations. It occurred to him that she was planning on giving him a half-drunk handjob in a tent in the middle of the woods and none of it felt quite like it was actually happening. She was stroking him hard and fast and he was starting to thrust into her hand a little.

"You're going to make a mess," he said, hoping he didn't sound too desperate for her.

"That's an easy problem to solve," she replied easily, kissing the side of his neck and sitting up. "Be really quiet, okay?"

She took her hand off of him and slid his boxers down and he tried so, so hard to follow her instructions, but when she leaned over him and took him in her mouth it was so hard to focus on anything but the feel of her hot, wet mouth sliding up and down his length. He didn't know what to say or do. She was bobbing her head up and down and sucking him in and it had been so long since anyone had done this for him and he knew it was polite to warn her ahead of time but he was trying so hard to be quiet that he didn't even realize he was coming until it was too late.

Belle held him in her mouth until he was finished, drinking him down and pulling his boxers back up affectionately before settling back down next to him.

"What was that for?" he asked her, feeling a little dazed with his good fortune.

"Because I wanted to," she whispered. "Do I need a real reason?"

He couldn't think of anything to say to that besides rolling over and putting his hand into her panties. She reached down and slid them off as he slid his fingers inside of her, finding her already wet.

"Did you touch yourself earlier?" he whispered into her ear. He curled his fingers a little bit and was rewarded with a gasp and a nod in the affirmative.

"When?"

"In the shower," she replied, clearly enjoying his attentions. "It was your damn fault, I couldn't help it."

"That's good to hear," he said, teasing inside of her some more. "But you have to be super quiet right now or everyone is going to hear what I'm doing. Think you can manage?"

Belle was breathing in thready little gasps already, and when he put his thumb on her clit she covered her mouth with her hand and he could hear a little unintelligible mumbling. Oh, this was going to be too damn much fun.

Dom moved down to kneel between her legs, continuing to thrust his fingers in and out of her. She really was trying so hard to be quiet it was somewhere between hilarious and unbearably erotic, and she was so aroused it probably wouldn't have been too hard to get her off if that's what he'd wanted - but he really wanted to see how far he could take this before she'd crack. There was no way to make her scream his name without risking discovery, but that didn't mean he couldn't drive her absolutely crazy instead.

He watched her face as he alternated strokes to her clit with curling his fingers inside of her - she had her eyes shut tight and she was most certainly not breathing regularly — she actually seemed to be holding her breath as long as she could, letting it out and then gasping again and it was pretty sure that was just her way of not making any errant noises. She was arching her back and her hips were bucking wildly as he moved his fingers. His cock was twitching and wishing he hadn't already come, but that was no reason he couldn't have a different kind of fun.

Belle did finally let out a gasp when he lowered his face between her legs and scooped her thighs over his shoulders. She was still bucking her hips a little, but he wrapped his arms over her abdomen and held her still while he swiped his tongue up the length of her vulva and drew her clit between his lips. She tried to arch her back, but he held her firm as he sucked and nipped the sensitive nub, licking it languidly before drawing away and turning his attentions to the rest of her. She tasted divine, like nothing else he'd experienced. And she was so responsive to his ministrations, he couldn't think of any better way to spend the night than teasing her mercilessly for hours.

Apparently, though, she had other plans. One of Belle's hands came down, threading through his hair and it was pleasant at first — almost affectionate — until she tangled her fingers into it and used her grip to pull him back to her clit with a noise that was just this side of a growl.

"Patience, darling," he chuckled, returning his attentions to her clit, working harder and with more determination than before.

Once he was actually trying to bring her off, she came easily. Her legs shook and her grip on his hair tightened as she twitched and finally fell limp. He didn't stop teasing her with his lips until the last of the aftershocks, at which point he finally moved away, pushing a finger into her quickly and sucking on it obscenely once he was back at face level. She watched him, glassy-eyed, and his only warning that she was about to strike back was a quick flash of something across her face before she pounced and rolled him onto his back underneath her. She was straddling his hips, but her upper body was resting against his with her lips next to his ear.

"You're an asshole," she whispered into his ear without any malice. "A fucking perverted asshole, and I think you like it."

"You started it," he replied, making a show of licking his lips. "And anyway, I'm not the one who had to get off in the shower… how many times?"

"I'm not the one wearing you on my face," she shot back.

"I could fix that," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"And I could just sit on your face next time," she replied sleepily, reaching a hand up to tangle in the ends of his hair a little bit. "But I think you'd like that."

"Probably," he admitted. "Not as much as you, granted, but I have been told that I'm a pervert."

She made a little purring noise and seemed close to dropping off.

"This was a good idea," she said. "I'm glad I thought of it."

He didn't respond, and within a few more minutes he heard her breath even out, and she was asleep. He'd never actually slept underneath a woman before, but it only took him a few more moments before he was asleep as well.

It was honestly the most fun Belle had ever had on one of these trips. She and Dom spent the daylight hours making a spectacularly good show of being devastatingly in love. He was attentive and affectionate, and she truly enjoyed his company. The hardest part of the deception was going to be convincing everyone they'd broken up after this, but Belle would cross that bridge when she came to it. Their nights were spent in a weird little power play that had her toes curling in the effort of not making any sounds.

She was beginning to think he was some kind of wizard who only practiced sex magic, and any moment where he wasn't between her legs in some capacity was starting to feel wasted since this arrangement expired at the end of the trip. It was entirely possible he'd be up for extending it after, but she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go there. If they were sleeping together and hanging out together and he'd met her family… that was damn close to dating for real. They were already blurring the lines between reality and fiction - going much further with it seemed like a dangerous game to play.

Not that there was really much of a reason to not want to date him. He was handsome and funny and hadn't required much prompting before he agreed to fuck her in the shower at three in the morning so she could actually make some kind of noise. He'd given her a gigantic hickey on her breast (and apparently another one on her inner thigh that she just really had to take his word for) and she had come twice while saying his name, every repetition of the syllable seeming to goad him into going harder and harder before he was finally spent. It was kinky and beautiful and how in the hell was she supposed to stop wanting to fuck him, dammit?

There were times she thought he might like her for more reasons than the illicit sexual encounters, but that wasn't really something she wanted to linger on. If he liked her, she'd have to figure out how she felt about him, and that just seemed way more complicated than she was ready for. She hadn't wanted a boyfriend — that had been the reason for this entire little scheme in the first place, hadn't it? Because she was happy with her single life?

Either way, she didn't regret any of it. If nothing else, she'd really needed a week away from her real life and this was a suitable distraction. And she could always really, really use distractions. As much as Belle loved her cousins, they could occasionally be gigantic pains in the ass. They'd been sitting around the campfire one night after dinner and swapping college stories. It was a safe enough topic of conversation - she'd certainly contributed a few of her own misadventures - before things took a turn.

"Remember your fake boyfriend?" Phil said after what Belle was reasonably certain was a few too many beers.

Of course she remembered the fake boyfriend, nobody was ever going to let her forget him. She tried to ignore the comment and listen to Mary Margaret talking about going streaking with her sorority, but Phil just couldn't let it drop.

"Of course you do," he continued. "Remember? When you were in grad school you started telling everyone about a guy you met at a football game you were dating."

"Oh yeah!" Sean exclaimed. "God, what was his name? It was something really weird."

"Oh man, I can't remember," Phil continued, trying once again to get her attention. "What was it, Belle?"

"Apparently completely unimportant," Dom broke in. "Since she seems not to want the story told or I can't help but think she'd have told it herself."

Everyone completely froze at his outburst, including Belle herself. She should probably tell him to stop making waves and just let them be, but she couldn't do anything but just stare.

"We were just teasing," Sean said after a minute. "She knows we don't mean it, right, Bells?"

Belle couldn't even begin to explain her own thoughts on the matter, because she couldn't quite put together a logical series of thoughts about it. She'd never had anybody stand up for her before.

"I haven't known you that long," Dom continued. "But as far as I've seen, you never do anything without teasing her. Jesus, give it a rest. Maybe she doesn't want to relive every bad thing you've ever thought about her all day every day."

Everyone was dead silent now, and they were looking at her for confirmation or denial of what he'd said and she couldn't think. It was too much pressure, too many ways for it all to go wrong and not enough time to think. So she did the only thing she could do, she jumped to her feet and walked to the tent in a daze. She could feel the weight of everyone's eyes on her back and she heard Dom following her but she didn't slow down until she was inside the tent.

"What was that about?" she said as evenly as she possibly could.

"You can't tell me you actually like the way they talk to you," he said sharply. "Wasn't that the entire point of this endeavor? To keep from giving them more ammunition?"

"You still shouldn't have said it," she replied. "They're my family, I can deal with them."

"They shouldn't talk to you like that," he said. "Aren't you sick of their condescension?"

She was, dammit. She really, really was — and that was the point. He wasn't here forever and she was and they were too, and she just had so many things running through her head and she couldn't focus on any of them.

Finally, she lunged forward and kissed him hard on the lips, dipping her tongue into his mouth and scrambling to get her hands under his shirt. She needed a distraction before she could think about what was going on, and she didn't know of a better one than this. He didn't question it, letting her strip him of his shirt before reaching down to fiddle with the fly of her shorts. She took her shirt off while he pulled off her shorts and panties before moving to take off his own jeans. It was awkward maneuvering in the dark tent, but once they were both stripped bare she felt some of the urgency melt away.

They kissed, and it was softer than any time she'd ever kissed him before, tender and affectionate and delicate. She tasted him and fell into him. Belle wrapped her arms around him and he laid her down on the floor of the tent. Dom broke away to trace kisses down her neck. For a moment she thought he might be going to eat her out again (which was nice, but not what she wanted at the moment). Fortunately, he didn't let his mouth travel further than her collarbone and she stroked his arms as he left little kisses across her shoulders and her throat. Her breath was coming harder and there was a tightness in her chest when he finally lined himself up with her and thrust in.

She felt full in a strange way that she hadn't felt before when they'd had sex, and content now that he was inside of her. Belle clung to him, digging her nails into his back and wrapping her legs around to pull him in deeper and deeper. She wanted more, she wanted to draw him into her. He withdrew slowly before thrusting back into her hard and fast and then pulling out slowly again. Dom was resting on his elbows and she sought out one of his hands with hers, using the other one to pull his face down to hers for another kiss.

Nobody had ever treated her so well before, and she hadn't ever wanted someone this much. He put his other hand between them and he was stroking her as he thrust; she felt the desire coiling in her belly and threatening to burn her alive. The dam burst and she had to bite her lip to stop from screaming, but there were stars behind her eyes as she came down. She felt him shudder above her and he collapsed with his face buried in her neck.

It took her a little while to come back to herself, but she realized she was crying a little bit and she didn't know why. He didn't say anything to draw attention to it, he just rolled off of her and kissed her eyes and cradled her while she curled into him and let the tears come.

She liked him. She really, really liked him and she was doomed because in a week he would be gone and he would continue with his life and she didn't know what to do because she couldn't figure out how to go on afterward.

When Belle woke up the next morning, he still had his arms around her and she wriggled away to grab her clothes. She had to figure this out before she spoke with him, and a walk sounded like exactly what she needed.

She put on fresh clothes and quickly brushed her hair into a ponytail before exiting the tent. It wasn't like her to sneak out on a guy before he could wake up, but there was absolutely no way she was facing Dom yet — or her family, for that matter. Luck was on her side, and she was the first one awake. She quickly found a familiar hiking trail and set off on it. She needed desperately to clear her mind and decide on a course of action. Dom was great, and she really, really liked him. But this was a deal. They had made an arrangement and when it was all over she was going to be cleaning his house or raking the leaves or something else equally ridiculous to make up for all of the effort. They weren't even really friends, were they? They'd met because she needed a favor, and their entire friendship was built entirely on sex. She barely knew anything at all about him. She didn't know his middle name; she knew he'd been married before but not his ex wife's name; she didn't even know why he'd gotten a divorce. She could list off his favorite things because he'd literally given her a list. She'd never discovered anything about him, or had that breathless moment of wondering what the answer would be to some new mystery she'd discovered about him.

Beyond that, she didn't really know what his feelings were. Dom was definitely friendly with her, and he'd stood up for her. Those were certainly good things with lots of potential for them, but they weren't exactly a declaration of tender feelings complete with roses and candy and candlelight. She should probably just ask him about it, but she didn't really know how, or even if that's what she wanted.

She liked him, but that didn't mean she was in a place in her life to want a relationship. Her job had just settled, and that wasn't nothing. It had been a long road to get this job, and she'd given up a lot for it. Once she'd settled on becoming a librarian, she knew she had a hard road ahead of her. Funds were cut all over and full time positions were hard to come by. She'd finished a bachelor's and a master's and come back home just in time for the head librarian to retire. It had been hard work and good luck that got her there, and she still had a lot of work to do. There were afterschool programs she had to run and community outreach programs and fundraisers… boyfriends didn't really factor into her life. She didn't have time for a boyfriend. And there was a spiteful little part of her that didn't really want to date, because dating meant that her family had won and she really did need a man.

So, she really had no damn idea what to do. She didn't know what she wanted, she really didn't know what he wanted… and it just seemed so complex. She was nowhere near settled when her path wound back to camp. Her family was milling around by the time she got back and she made a beeline for the shower, hoping to avoid them just a moment longer.

"Belle!" Mary Margaret's voice stopped her in her tracks. "Can we talk for a sec?"

Belle turned around and smiled as well as she could, watching as Mary Margaret and Ariel and Sean and Philip approached her. Spouses seemed to be left out of this one, at least. Thank God for small miracles.

"We wanted to apologize," Sean said a little sheepishly. "For last night and, well, all of it."

"It's fine," she said instantly. "Don't worry about it."

"It's not fine!" Ariel said. "Your boyfriend was right. We do tease you a lot, but we didn't know it bothered you. And we're sorry. We'll try to be better in the future."

She felt herself about to cry because she'd never known how to tell them this bothered her and now they were apologizing for it and promising to try not to do it and what could she even say to that?

"Thank you," she said at last. "I mean it. I should have said something earlier, I just didn't know how to do it."

"Well," Philip said. "Feel free to tell us to fuck off next time. We promise not to take it personally."

"Okay," she said. "I need to take a shower, though. I've got nature all over me."

"Alright," Mary Margaret said. "Just remember, though, we're your family. We want you to be happy."

She nodded and made her way to the showers. A couple of them were already in use, but she found one that wasn't and turned it on. She didn't even care so much about getting clean, but she needed a place to cry where nobody would see her and a shower stall suited her purposes just fine. She wasn't even sure why she was crying anymore, except she was just so relieved and sad and everything all at once. How could she want so many things and still have no idea what it was she really wanted?

Belle was gone when Dom woke up, but he'd kind of figured she'd want to talk to her family or something anyway, so he hadn't worried. He'd stayed in the tent as long as possible, wanting to give her time to deal with whatever it was she had to deal with and by the time she came back she was dripping wet and wearing a towel.

"Good morning," she said, pulling a change of clothes out of her bag. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did," he replied. "Did you?"

She nodded and proceeded to quickly get dressed. She was acting a little strangely and he didn't really know her well enough to know how to proceed from here.

"My cousins apologized," she said dispassionately. "So, thank you again for that."

"Good," he said. "Are we happy about that?"

"We are," she said. "They promised to try to do better. I don't think that would have happened if it weren't for you."

"Then I'm glad I came," he said.

"Me too," she replied. "This has been the best one of these trips I've ever been on."

He smiled and she smiled back, and then she focused on getting changed - but she still seemed distracted somehow as she pulled on her clothes and started combing her hair.

"This is still just friends, right?" she said at last. "Like, you don't like me, right?"

He was stunned into silence. Was this a test? They'd agreed on no feelings. It didn't matter that she was beautiful and intelligent and the most interesting woman he'd ever met, or that he'd never had better sex in his life. None of that was important in a world where she'd already told him her interest in him lasted a full four weeks.

"Of course not," he said. "We agreed no feelings."

"Right," she replied, her face settling into an inscrutable expression. "I've been thinking. Tomorrow we're going home and you've already done so much more for me than I can ever repay. I don't want to put you out any more than I already have."

His mouth felt dry and he couldn't quite move his tongue. He'd thought he had another full week. He wanted to tell her that it was no trouble, that he enjoyed her company and looked forward to it, but that was going to come dangerously close to admitting more than he wanted her to know when she obviously didn't feel the same way.

"What are you saying?" he finally asked. She was going to have to say it.

"Let's just call it quits after we get home," she said. "I mean, at this point they clearly believe you exist and I need to start faking the beginnings of a breakup anyway."

"Fine," he said. "That's… fine. I don't mind spending time with you, you know."

"I do," she said. "But I've taken up far too much of your time. You're sweet, but I already owe you a debt I can't repay, even if I don't know what it is yet."

Her debt. Right. He still had to come up with something she could do to make it up to him. She leaned forward and kissed him a little — just a brush of her lips on his, but it felt like a punch in the gut. It was a kiss goodbye, and after tomorrow he knew he'd be lucky to ever see her again.

They parted ways with a handshake, and Dom went right back to his house and his life like nothing had ever happened. Work was the same as it had always been; his house was empty; he was alone. She texted him, once, asking what he'd decided she could do to hold up her end of the bargain but he'd just looked at the phone and ignored it. There wasn't anything he wanted from her that he could ask for in exchange for services rendered.

When he hit the day his arrangement with Belle was supposed to have ended, he got drunk alone in his office. He'd liked her more than he'd wanted to admit to, and even knowing it was temporary and she'd be going back to her real life, he still missed her. He was absolutely hopeless, an old fool with a crush who had let his imagination and libido run away with his heart at the first sign of attention from a pretty girl.

A few days after that, his son came home. Bailey had been visiting his mother for the summer, and his presence shocked Dom out of most of his bad mood. Belle didn't know about Bae, he realized. He'd never told her about his son because he'd known that she wouldn't be around long enough for it to matter. Anyway, it was damn near impossible to focus too much on missing her when there was a thirteen-year-old boy who needed to be fed and woken up at a reasonable hour, and who had a nasty habit of asking his father if everything was okay if he looked too sad while he was making breakfast in the morning.

Belle was listless. It had been the right choice to back out of the fake relationship, because if it hurt this much to be on the other side of it, another week could only have made it worse. She'd waited a few days until her father had called to invite her out before dropping the news that she and Dom had a fight and broke up. A couple hours later, her phone was nothing but texts from relatives asking if she was okay and offering to beat him up for her. She didn't respond to any of them, it was too much work.

She went to work, she went home, and she ate ice cream and watched shitty movies and sulked. She was burning through the romantic comedy section of her Netflix account pretty quickly and she wasn't really feeling any better. God, she was an idiot. She was a pathetic idiot who should have just bought a damn deadbolt when she moved in and saved herself all this trouble.

It didn't even come as a surprise when her father showed up without knocking. She'd been incommunicado for almost two weeks, so she was honestly surprised it had taken him that long to arrive with a bag of groceries that he promptly went to put away in her kitchen without so much as a greeting. Whatever, she was completely out of food anyway.

"How are you holding up?" her father called from her kitchen.

Fucking fantastic, I always look like this when I'm happy.

"Fine," she replied, trying to bury herself further into her blankets. Maybe if she tried hard enough she could become one with the blanket nest and not have to have this conversation anymore.

"You know," he said, coming into the living room and sitting on a chair nearby. "There's no shame in being heartbroken."

"I'm not heartbroken," she snapped. How could she be heartbroken? She knew this was coming, and it had been her idea to begin with. "I'm just tired."

Her father looked at her disapprovingly and she felt her anger beginning to rise.

"I am!" she said. "I'm sick and tired of you involving yourself in my life, okay?"

"It's okay," her dad said indulgently. "It's the most natural thing in the world to be angry after a heartbreak."

"Of course I'm angry," she replied. "But I'm not heartbroken!"

"Belle," he said, gesturing to the pile of fast food wrappers surrounding her and her new home on the sofa. "Look at yourself. Have you even been sleeping in bed, or are you just falling asleep out here?"

She hadn't been in her room for more time than it took to get clean clothes in the morning, but that really wasn't any of his goddamn business.

"It wasn't even real," she shot back. "I'm not heartbroken, because it wasn't a real relationship."

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Of course it was."

"No, Dad, it wasn't," she said with a sigh. "It was a con, okay? He was doing me a favor."

Her father was looking at her incredulously, but once she'd started her confession she couldn't really stop it.

"We met the night before you met him," she said. "He pretended to be my boyfriend at the bar because some guy was bothering me, and I took him home. Then you showed up the next day and it was so awkward and before I could tell you the truth you'd told everyone else and I was totally stuck. So he did me a favor and pretended to be my boyfriend and not one more thing that would make you disappointed in me, okay?"

She hmphed and buried herself back into her blankets so she wouldn't have to watch her father as he realized his daughter was still doing the same shit that had made him move her out of Australia — still drinking, still sleeping around, still lying. The only thing she'd stopped was smoking.

"I'm not disappointed in you," he said at last, sounding almost affronted at the charge. "Is that what you think?"

She wasn't going to answer that, because she couldn't. It felt so damn childish to be worried about whether or not her dad was proud of her but she was. She was his only child, he was her only parent, and she wanted to make him happy.

"I'm so proud of you, my girl," he said softly, reaching out and putting one of his hands over hers. "You went through your whole program at the top of your class, and you're doing such a good job with the library. Everyone says so. I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy," she said softly, letting the tears that had been threatening her for two weeks finally fall. "Or I was, anyway."

"Well," Moe said. "That's the heartbreak."

She wanted to protest that she wasn't heartbroken, but he was right. She was sitting in a tangle of blankets wearing sweatpants and she had seen the entirety of Hugh Grant's filmography — that's exactly what heartbreak looked like.

"It was never real," she replied instead. "None of it."

"Sure it was," her father said. "Look at you, you really loved him."

"He doesn't feel the same," she said. "If he did, he'd have said something."

Moe sighed indulgently, and leaned back with a smug smile on his face.

"If he didn't like you," her father said. "He wouldn't have done it in the first place. Why on Earth would a man put up with me and all your cousins and your aunts for a girl he didn't care about?"

"It was a trade," she replied. "I owe him a favor."

"What's the favor?"

"I don't know," she said glumly. "I sent him a text about it about a week ago but he still hasn't gotten back to me."

"So he's gotten nothing?"

Well, unless you counted the tent acrobatics she'd performed on the vacation, but she wasn't going to tell her father that part so she just shook her head.

"Give him another chance," her dad said. "You at least owe it to yourself to let him know how you feel, yeah?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to say that she had told him, but no, in hindsight she'd asked him if their relationship was still just friends. She'd never once mentioned where her feelings were going… was there a possibility that she'd misread everything?

"I'm going to take a shower," Belle said at last. "And I'm going to clean this place up, and I'm going to call you tomorrow evening, okay?"

Her father smiled at her and nodded, patting her on the head on his way out.

"And stop coming in without knocking!" Belle called after him, but she was unable to put any real venom into her voice, so he just smiled and locked the door. Whatever, they'd talk about that tomorrow. She had a lot of work to do and step one was going to be brushing her hair.

She'd put on a nice dress, heels, and lipstick in preparation to go see Dom, armor to protect his good opinion of her. Now that she was standing outside his house, though, her bravery fled. What the hell was she even going to say? Hi, I know we'd agreed to keep this purely platonic but guess what? I'm kind of in love with you and if you're okay with that then I think we should probably make out a lot. Yeah, big gestures had never been her thing.

Belle still had no idea what she was going to say even as she was knocking on the door, but whatever ideas she had fled when the door opened and she was looking into the face of a boy in his early teens. Her first instinct was that she had the wrong house, but this was definitely the one she'd been to before.

"Um, hi," she said. "Is Dominick Gold here?"

The boy blinked at her a few times, looking her up and down quickly.

"Dad!" he called out, looking back into the house. "There's someone here to see you!"

"I'll be right there," Dom's voice called from somewhere in the house and Belle almost collapsed from a combination of relief and shock. He had a son he'd never told her about. Shit, was it too late to make a run for it?

She was still debating when she heard Dom's distinctive footsteps nearby and it was officially too late.

"Belle," he said dully as soon as he saw her. "What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk?" she asked him.

"Of course," he said. "Bae, dinner will be ready in a little bit. Can you give us a few minutes?"

The boy he called Bae looked at her skeptically, but nodded and took to the stairs.

"Please," Dom said, stepping back from the door. "Come in."

"Can we talk out here, actually?" she asked. Anything to avoid dealing with this new reality for just a few minutes longer.

Dom nodded and came out onto the porch, shutting the door behind him.

"So to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked.

"You have a son," Belle said. "You never told me you had a son."

"You never asked," Dom said with a shrug, but he seemed to instantly realize that wasn't really the right answer. "It didn't seem relevant. He was staying with his mother for the summer and I thought you'd be gone before he'd be back."

"You should have told me," she replied, feeling agitated. Suddenly, he was a package deal. Dom and his child. Was she really ready for this? "His name's Bae?"

"Bailey," he replied. "Bae, for short."

"That's a nice name," she said. "I like it."

"You didn't come here for this," he said and she knew it was time to own her choice.

"I didn't," she admitted. "I talked to my father today."

"Oh?" he said. "What does Moe have to say?"

"He said…" she began, before taking a deep breath and changing course. "It doesn't matter what he said. I don't think I ever told you why I needed you to come with me. I mean, not the whole story, anyway."

"I'm all ears," he said.

"I had a little bit of a rebellious streak when I was a teenager," she said. "My mother had just died and I started sneaking out and drinking and spending too much time with boys. Then I moved here and I kept acting out for a little while. I didn't really get my act straightened back out until college, but even through all that my family was always there for me. Yeah, they're assholes sometimes but they love me and they were there for me when nobody else really was. I just didn't want them to think I'd gone back to my old ways, you know?"

"I can imagine," he replied, glancing back towards the door. "Losing a parent is always difficult."

"And the thing is," she continued. "I was so focused on making sure that they weren't disappointed that I completely missed out on making sure that I wasn't disappointed in myself. And I am. I'm so damn disappointed in myself right now."

He licked his lips and looked at her nervously.

"Why would that be?" he asked, seeming to fear her answer almost as much as she did.

"Because I didn't even realize that I want you," she said softly. "And I don't just mean sex — even though I really do enjoy that — but I want you. I miss you so much now that I'm not talking to you every day. I want to have meals together and talk about things and meet your son and I didn't even know he existed until right now. I love you, and if you don't love me that's okay. But… I just thought I should come here and ask, because if I didn't, I'd never forgive myself and…"

She didn't get to finish. He had his arms looped around her back and his lips pressed against hers before she could finish her rambling speech. She kissed him back hard, wanting to keep feeling him forever and not let him pull away because she still didn't know his answer but for right now he was hers and that was okay. That was really, really okay. But he pulled away after a few moments, though he didn't let her out of his arms.

"You really love me?" he asked incredulously.

"I do," she admitted. "I have for a while, I just didn't realize it right away."

"I love you too," he said, smiling gently and brushing her hair back from her face.

She smiled and kissed him again, pulling him into another hard kiss and trying desperately to make the moment go on forever.

"Dad?" Bailey's voice came from the now open door and they pulled away, both blushing.

"Yeah, son?" Dom said with an adorable little smile on his face.

"The timer went off," Bailey said, looking back and forth at his father and Belle. "I think the food is done."

"Can you take it out of the oven?" Dom asked. "We're um, almost done here."

"Okay…" Bailey said, still looking confused as he shut the door.

"I think that's my cue to leave," Belle said.

"No, no," Dom replied. "Stay, please. There's plenty for three."

"Who are we going to say I am?" she asked, taking his proffered hand.

"I thought we might try 'my girlfriend,'" he said with a shy look on his face. "Unless you don't like the way it sounds."

"I think it sounds perfect," she said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

It was time for a fresh start.