"You have to." Snow stamped her foot on the ground and Charming knew he was in for it. When she got in one of these moods, there was no telling what would happen. It wasn't exactly that her hormones were raging, but, well, it was that her hormones were raging. "David this is the first time that we've been able to go out since Neal was born. Emma will be over a little before seven tomorrow night. You got the reservations…"

"But I didn't know there was a dress requirement."

Snow ducked her head out of the bathroom. "David."

"Can't we just go to Granny's?" He tugged at the white shirt he was wearing.

"So you can dress like that?"

"Yes. Now you understand."

"No I don't!" She threw her hands up in the air and stormed back into the bathroom. "We go to Granny's all the time."

"And we can take Neal there." He hated the thought of leaving him alone with someone else, even his own daughter and grandson. He didn't want to let him out of his sight, still somewhat leery of what might happen to him if he did. He lost one child to time and a curse, only getting her back when she was nearly the same age as he was. He didn't want to lose another one.

"The whole concept is we have a night to ourselves," Snow pointed out from within the bathroom. She leaned back out and met his eyes. "I love our son with everything I am, David. But even I need a break sometime. We haven't been out alone since before he was born."

"It's only been three months," he grumbled.

"Yes, three months of dealing with a crying infant at Granny's, of being stuck in this house, of never having any time just for us. Oh David, can't you see we need that time?" Her eyes softened on the last and he nodded slowly. "Besides," she added grabbing the hanger that was hanging on the back of the door. "I'm wearing this." The little black dress she dangled in front of him almost made his eyes bug out. It had been a long time since he'd seen her wear such a thing and with the new curves that motherhood had given her…well…there were some things any red-blooded male just didn't pass up.

"Well, if you put it that way." He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her.

"So you'll go get fitted for a suit then?" Snow asked. "I want to see my man all dressed up."

He grinned. "I don't even know where to go for such a thing." Charming had never been a suit person. In their old world, he had much preferred comfortable leather pants, nothing too ostentatious. In this world, he preferred a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Suits were not his forte.

"I know someone who probably has a good idea of where to go," Snow pointed out and Charming groaned.

"You don't mean…"

"Oh but I do. Complain about him all you like, but Gold clearly knows his suits."

"He probably sleeps in the damned things," he muttered.

"Can you imagine?" Snow's voice bubbled with laughter as she spoke. "I'll have to ask Belle sometime."

Charming shook his head. "Something tells me you really don't want to ask about his nighttime habits."

"Perhaps so." They both paused, shuddered a bit. "But you should go ask him about his suits."

"I'll end up owing him a favor and you know those are never good," Charming muttered, his voice taking a bit of a dark turn.

"Last time he didn't charge you anything."

"Last time I'm pretty sure he'd just gotten laid."

"What?" Snow's eyes were wide.

"Have you ever seen him in such a good mood?"

"I…um…no?" Snow shook her head.

"Exactly."

Throwing up her hands, Snow shoved at him. "Just go see him. And no favors. Not if you can do otherwise."

"Got it." He disappeared out the door, dreading the next confrontation.

Charming wasn't sure how long he stood outside the pawnshop before the door suddenly swung open in front of him. Petite Belle French…no…Belle Gold, he reminded himself…stepped out and nearly ran into him. "David!" she exclaimed, putting up a hand on his arm to stop herself from falling into him.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"What are you doing out here?" Her voice sounded somewhat breathless. And he hoped it was from the surprise of running into him and not from whatever else might have been going on behind the closed doors of the pawnshop.

"I need to see Gold." The obvious answer, of course.

"Well, then go on in. I promise he doesn't bite." She gave a small bite of laughter. "Well, you anyway." And Charming desperately tried not to notice the mark on her neck as she turned and left him there in front of the shop.

"Back already sweetheart?" Charming almost choked at the words.

"It's me, Gold." Stepping further into the shop he let his eyes adjust to the dimness. For some reason Gold liked the place dark, the dragon guarding his lair of treasures and all.

"Ah, Charming," Gold said as he pushed the curtains aside and stepped into the main room of the shop. "And what might I be able to do for you?" Charming started to speak, but Gold held up one slender hand. "Just remember it might just cost you."

"Snow and I are going out tomorrow evening," he blurted out.

"How lovely." The words were dry. "Our handsome young king and his lovely wife out and about on the town." He held a hand up in a slight flourish.

"Quit it, Gold," Charming muttered, pushing past the smaller man and looking around what he imagined Aladdin's Cave of Wonders might look like. Except for those puppets. The Dark One's Cave of Horrors, perhaps?

"Well, then," Gold said and Charming can hear a bit of sarcasm behind the words. "What brings you to my humble shop?"

"I need a suit," Charming mumbles.

"Come again?" There was a bit of surprise evident in his voice.

"Snow wants me to dress up…"

"And she thought I would know the best place to go," Gold finished for him. "Well, at least she knows something."

"Hey that's my wife you're talking about!"

"No offense intended." Gold held up his hands in a gesture of placation.

"So can you help me?"

Moving slowly around Charming, Gold took his measure of him. "Tomorrow, you say?"

"Tomorrow," Charming confirmed.

"Never going to happen," Gold said and turned away with a dismissive wave.

Charming rushed forward and put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "There has to be some way."

"Suits take time, dearie," Gold pointed out. "Do you think looking this good happens overnight?"

And Charming could not help but shudder a bit, remembering what the man once looked like. "It seems the curse did make it happen overnight…dearie."

Gold let out a small huff of laughter at the. "Indeed it did."

Charming crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for Gold to give him some true response. "So will you help?"

"You'll owe me," Gold started to say but Charming interrupted.

"Why does everything have to come with a price with you?"

"All magic…"

"I'm not asking for magic."

"Then why are you here?"

Charming rolled his eyes. When it came to Gold, everything was about his magic. The man was smart as a whip, perhaps a little too smart for their little town. Devious, Charming thought. Manipulative. A bit of a bastard, really. But there was more to the man than just his magic, that much he was sure of. "You're the only one in town who regularly wears suits."

For a moment, Gold stared at him. "Alright then. You want a good suit? Come with me."

In a flash they're standing outside a shop that Charming has passed any number of times while walking through town but has never thought to actually go in. Gold stepped in, Charming following close behind. The shop is small. More a hole in the wall than what he would have expected. But the place is simply covered in suits of all kinds. From the dark colors Gold preferred to suits in light blue and was that pink? He reached out to touch the material and found it surprisingly soft.

"No." Gold's voice surprised him and Charming glanced up at the other man.

He dropped the material when he realized what Gold's smirk was about. "Never in a million years."

"I didn't think so," came the response.

There's little he and Gold ever seemed to agree on, but simplicity is one of them. At least in this world. Charming well remembered the flamboyant outfits of their old world, the tight leather, the brocade vests. It was sometimes hard to reconcile that image with the quiet pawnbroker he's come to know in Storybrooke. He has a strange sense, however, that this is more true to who Rumplestiltskin really is at heart.

The other was a showman.

And he really did put on quite the show. But Charming sometimes wondered if all the off-putting giggles and weird prancing were nothing more than an affectation.

"I'd like you to meet Mr. Tapfer." Gold's voice interrupted his reverie and so Charming stepped forward, reached out to shake the man's hand. The other man was small, not much bigger than Gold, trim and neat in his own suit.

He wouldn't say they were two peas in a pod, but the similarities were hard to ignore.

"Nice to meet you, sir."

"Tapfer is good enough for me. After all, it is I who should be calling you sir, isn't it?" The little man moved forward and pulled a tape measure off of his belt.

"Seven with one blow?" Charming read the words etched into the man's belt.

The little tailor smiled.

Gold smirked. "Never you mind that," he said. "Just measure him."

Tapfer was quick and efficient, that much Charming could say. He had measured his inseams, chest, neck, the whole kit and caboodle. "Do I pass muster?" he asked as the man turned away.

The tailor shot him a look, then glanced at Gold. "Yes. Yes I think you'll do quite nicely."

"He needs it by tomorrow," Gold said.

"Tomorrow?" Tapfer stopped dead in his tracks, turning to look at Charming. "Never going to happen."

"I can pay," Charming started to say.

"Remember that thing you wanted, Tapfer?" Gold spoke over Charming and suddenly Tapfer was staring at the sorcerer with interest.

"The thing that would do the…"

"Yes," Gold said. "That thing."

"Oh well then!" The little man clapped his hands together. "I'm sure we have something in the back that won't take much altering." He disappeared into the back of the store and Charming turned to Gold.

"What is the thing?"

"Just a bit of magic," Gold replied with, one hand making a small flourish in the air.

"A magical thing?" He supposed Gold could keep his secrets. He was offering to pay and he wasn't quite sure he wanted to know what the tailor would be getting as payment. Sometimes whatever Gold did was better off left unknown.

"Nothing that concerns you, dearie."

"And it won't come back to haunt me?"

Gold gave a small scoffing laugh. "It's more likely to haunt him."

Charming took a deep breath. "Alright then."

"Ah here we are," Tapfer said as he returned.

Charming and Gold both looked at the first thing he offered and without so much as a glance at each other spoke at the same time. "No."

"No?" Tapfer sounded disappointed.

"Definitely no," Charming said. "Snow wants me to look good and that…"

"Does not look good," Gold finished with, glancing sideways at Charming and seeing the other man nod in response. The outfit was plaid, clearly out of fashion, certainly not of the caliber of suits Gold usually wore. "I don't think you're going to pawn something like that off on him. Even Charming has better taste than that."

"Hey now," Charming responded with.

Gold smirked at him. "Remember, dearie, I did have to dress you back in our world."

Charming held up his hands. "Now by dressing me, you do know he means magically, right? Not…you know…"

The tailor simply stared at him.

Gold laughed. Genuinely laughed. Charming couldn't remember the ever actually hearing a real laugh out of the man. Sarcastic snicker? Sure. A bit of a scoff? Certainly. But a real genuine laugh? Never. "Well, that's an image," Gold finally managed to say.

Tapfer just gave the two of them a strange look and disappeared in the back again.

Gold glanced over at Charming.

"What?" Charming asked. "He was obviously thinking something else." Gold raised an eyebrow. "I had to clear it up," Charming muttered.

"Of course," Gold said as Tapfer returned with additional suits. Gold quickly sorted through them, discarding another one that he didn't like, putting a couple into a pile of possibilities. "These ones." He handed them to Charming.

"And?"

"And go try the damned things on?"

Charming gave a self-deprecating grin. "Right." Grabbing them he quickly made his way to the changing room.

The first suit Gold declared too severe. It was ultimately more his style than Charming's and Gold knew that right away. The man had a sense of style, that much Charming would give him. He was right, too. It really was too severe for a night on the town with his wife.

The second suit got an immediate reaction from Gold. He sat forward and steepled his hands beneath his chin. "Turn," he said, making a spinning motion with one finger. Charming did as he asked. "Yes yes. This one will due."

Tapfer was instantly walking around Charming, tugging on the charcoal grey suit, twisting Charming this way and that. "A little in at the hips. Sleeves are just a tad bit long." He paused and then finally made his pronouncement. "Yes. I can have this ready by tomorrow morning."

"Excellent," Gold said, clapping his hands together.

"For the thing, mind you," Tapfer said, giving Gold a look again.

"Of course."

Charming changed back into his jeans and t-shirt quickly, listening to the quiet murmur of Gold's and Tapfer's voices from outside the dressing room. Very quickly, he was back outside the shop with Gold, with the instructions to come by no later than 10:00am the next morning for a final fitting. Snow would be thrilled. He put up with Gold. He got a suit. And it didn't even require him to make any sort of nefarious deal with the man.

"So what is the thing anyway, Gold?" Charming asked as they made their way back toward the middle of town.

"Not telling." Gold smirked as he spoke.

"Oh come on. It's being traded to help me."

Gold stopped and looked at Charming. "Fine. It's just something that will help him in his business. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You're really not going to tell me are you?"

"Nope. Sworn to secrecy, you see…"

"By that little man." One of Gold's eyebrows rose. "You could totally take him," Charming said with a grin.

"I could," Gold confirmed and he wondered if he was thinking about the cane he used to wield as a weapon. He hadn't used it since they returned from Neverland and Charming had begun to wonder if he had ever really needed it.

"Except that thing he had on his belt…"

Gold smiled. "Seven with one blow?"

"Yeah. What was that about?" Gold didn't respond. "Ok come on. You have to tell me. Did he really fell seven men with one blow?" Charming couldn't see how it was even possible. The tailor was small, slight, and unlike Gold clearly did not possess magic and hopefully did not possess the man's notorious temper.

"Not men." Gold spoke with a slight smile playing about his lips.

"No?"

"No."

"Then?" Charming had to admit that curiosity was getting the better of him.

"Flies, Mr. Nolan. Seven flies."

For a moment Charming could think of nothing to say and then finally let out a huge laugh. "And to think he had it etched on his belt."

"Indeed," Gold responded with and didn't even flinch when Charming clapped him on the back.

They went their separate ways soon after that, Charming to his home, Gold stopping by the library to fetch Belle. The whole way Charming just shook his head at the whole crazy situation. Gold helping him, the strange little tailor, the magical "thing" that Gold still wouldn't speak of. The man had gone out of his way to help him and for what? Nothing. Sometimes he really didn't think Gold was as bad as people made him out to be.