Something was buzzing in the room, crying for someone to pay attention to it. Opening his eyes, Rumpel found a mass of brown curly hair in front of him and a bare shoulder that erupted from the curls. His smile eased its way across his lips, memories of their night together made his skin tingle in anticipation of more. The buzzing that came from somewhere behind him stopped. Its task of waking him was completed.

He leaned up onto his elbow and peered over her shoulder to see her relaxed face, still sleeping deeply with the steady movement of her chest. Slowly Rumpel slid his hand out from underneath her own, which had been resting over her side, so he could carefully get out of her bed. Reaching down to the floor, he grabbed his boxers and pulled them on slowly, watching her for any signs he had disturbed her. Quickly glancing around the room, Rumpel located his pants, thrown to one side in their hurry, and put them on.

The buzzing started again and vibrated against his leg. Hastily Rumpel pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it, whispering a greeting while he ducked out of her bedroom to close the door behind him.

"Good morning, Mr Gold." Laura greeted.

He smiled at her voice; it felt like a long time since he heard her voice. "How're you?"

"I'm good, thank you, sir. And you?" Laura replied.

"Couldn't be better." Rumpel said padding across Belle's apartment to one of the windows.

"I'm sorry to call you so early." She told him. Rumpel swept the room for a clock before bringing the phone away from his ear to see it was half seven in the morning.

"No, no, it's fine." Rumpel replied returning the phone to his ear. "What's up?"

"Berbank has requested your presence at the next negotiations between him and Furlack."

Spying through the blinds to the street below, Rumpel said. "I swear he has an obsession with me. What does he think I am his personal negotiator?"

Laura giggled down the phone at him. "Maybe, he thinks you're his lucky charm. You have made him a lot of money, when you're involved in his deals."

"Hmm…" Rumpel moved away from the window and went into the kitchen area. "When and where?"

"Tomorrow, midday, in Texas." Laura informed. "I've got you booked on a flight at ten thirty tonight and a room book at the usual hotel."

"Can you send all the relevant information to my penthouse, so I can look through it later?" He asked pinching the phone between his ear and his shoulder, filling the kettle at the sink.

"Already done, sir."

"Laura," He placed the kettle back on its stand and clicked the kettle on to boil. "What would I do without you?"

"You would hire someone else." She stated and added. "But you would be cursing them because they couldn't make your tea properly."

Nodding his head in agreement at her, Rumpel said. "Probably. Thank you, Laura. I'll speak to you later."

He ended the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket. Opting not to search her cabinets for cups, Rumpel grabbed one from the stack on the drying rack beside the sink and grabbed the nearest dishcloth to dry the cup. He could hear the water in the kettle begin to boil as he served himself the necessary ingredients to make a cup of coffee for himself. The kettle clicked and he poured some water into his cup, stirring the hot black liquid. Placing the kettle back into its stand, Rumpel took his cup from the side and went to the couch to sit down.

Blowing over his coffee, Rumpel hesitantly took a sip of the hot beverage and placed it down onto the coffee table. He took his phone back out of his pocket to go through the emails and messages his phone had received. There were texts from Baelfire and status emails from Laura. Collecting his cup from the coffee table, Rumpel sat back into the couch and drank from his coffee as he composed a text to Baelfire. He asked that his son meet him at Rumpel's house at about eleven and sent the text.

"I've never known you to be an early riser." She said from the doorway of her bedroom. Smiling Rumpel turned his head in her direction and put his phone back into his pocket. The sight of her walking across to her kitchen, dressed only in his shirt, made him breathless. She was always beautiful to him, no matter what she wore. The sight of her in his shirt, stirred a manful feeling: mine.

"As I keep pointing out to people," Rumpel began to tell her, lifting his feet to rest on the coffee table, whilst she was in the kitchen behind him. "People can actually change."

"Yes, they can." She agreed walking round the couch, dropping into the mass of cushions beside him with a steaming cup. Tilting to the side, away from her, Rumpel held his arm up to draw her into his side, slumping back against her with his arm draped over her shoulders. Belle flicked some of her hair out the way of his arm and cuddled against him, bending her knees up beside her on the couch. An ease he had never felt came over him as he sipped his coffee, watching her free hand trace lightly over his stomach.

Lifting her head to look at him, Belle asked. "Did I hear you're leaving today?"

"Just on business." He told her, playing with the ends of her hair over her shoulder.

"What about us?" She questioned turning her gaze to her drink.

"As far as I'm concern, sweetheart, I'm yours." Rumpel stated as he balanced his cup on his thigh. "Whatever you want to happen, I will make it happen."

"But you'll be in New York and I'll be in Storybrooke." Belle's voice conveyed her worry. Rumpel also got the feeling she had spent a lot of time thinking about this insignificant problem.

Lurching forward and taking his arm from around Belle, Rumpel dropped his feet from the coffee table and put his drink on the table before he turned to Belle beside him. "Look at me, when I tell you this." He instructed her, moving on the couch to face her, and clasped her hand. "It doesn't matter if I am in New York and you're here. It's only distance. I can come here anytime and you can come to mine. This can work, if you want it to work." His hand reached up and stroked her cheek. "I want nothing more than to be with you."

"Why don't you just move back here?" Belle inquired as she put her drink on the table.

"I could never move back to Storybrooke." He told her firmly. "There is too many reminders of the old me and I don't want the temptation to go back to that beast."

"I understand." She said sadly.

Rumpel shook his head at her, clasping her hand in his tightly. "No, I don't think you do."

"What?" Belle frowned at him.

"I told you once that my power was more important to me than you." Rumpel reminded her. "If I move back to Storybrooke, then my darkness will want that power. As much as Storybrooke is bright for you, it is a dark beacon for me."

She pursed her lips at him in thought, mumbling. "I never thought of it like that."

"You told me, there was good in me. I have been trying so hard to live up to what you said and I can only do that, Belle, if I'm not here in the darkness."

Nodding her head at him in understanding, Belle slid her arms around his neck and hugged him. Grateful for her understanding, Rumpel closed his eyes and nestled his face into the nape of her neck, losing himself in her sweet smell. He promised himself silently that he was going to take this chance with her and hold onto it until his dying breath. His father may have spoken the truth about Rumpel failing to take the chances presented to him, but that was the old him. The new Rumpel was not going to make the same mistakes.