A Good Bit of Business
Early Saturday was not known for being one of the busier times for Gold's Pawnbroker and Antiquities, lunch times especially not. The morning had seen Gold mending a watch for Mary-Margaret or Queen Snow White, depending on day, date and circumstance, but he had finished, and was cleaning away his work surface in preparation for the arrival of his love and his lunch.
This Saturday afternoon arrangement was both well known in town and responsible for it being such a quiet time for him. Rumplestiltskin didn't mind one bit. After one too many trivial interruptions Snow White, Charming and, surprisingly, Sheriff Emma Swan (who had, in fact been trying to talk them out of it) had barged into his shop. Ignoring the closed sign (as usual) they had walked straight into his office with barely any warning, where they had found him enjoying his lady and his desert, or rather his lady as desert.
While he had been angry at the time, he was not particularly embarrassed about it. Why would he be? He was still a man, and despite his over three hundred years, he was most certainly not past it, especially not with a woman as beautiful as his Belle. Except for the brief moment when Charming had seen parts of Belle he wasn't in the habit of sharing with anyone, and between him throwing his discarded jacket over her, and Snow immediately putting a hand over his eyes, it wasn't too bad. Emma Swan and been traumatised by it, but it wasn't the first time, and he was wearing his trousers.
So it was a surprise when he heard the bell in the shop ring at ten minutes before twelve. It wasn't Belle, she finished up at the library at twelve noon precisely, and would have come in the back door anyway. Whoever it was better have a good excuse, or be in one hell of a hurry, or preferably both, he thought, cursing slightly under his breath. "Just a moment," he growled quickly and made his way to the front of the shop, only to find...no one.
The main part of the shop appeared to be empty. He looked at the door, wondering if someone had stuck their head in and then changed their minds. Then he heard it, the soft cough from the other side of the counter. Standing there was a small boy, at least he was pretty sure it was a boy, though at the age of six or seven it could be hard to tell. He had a head full of blond hair, blue eyes, and a expression that was somewhere between terrified and hopeful and he twisted his hands in his pockets.
"Mister Dark One, Siwr?" he asked with a bit of a lisping hiss not uncommon to children, especially if, like this one, they were at the stage of missing front teeth. He hadn't the foggiest idea who the child was, though he looked vaguely familiar. Either Belle or Mary Margaret would know but except for his grandson Henry, and Henry's friends, he was not all that familiar with the town's children. People had stopped hiding them when he walked down the street, but that was as far as it went.
"Yes, I am. Who are you?" he asked not ungently as he moved around the counter slowly.
"John Robert, they call me JR. I reeeeaally need your help!"
"Very well, that can I do for you?' he asked. The boy, he vaguely knew the name, belonged to one of Robin Hood's men, he thought. JR had been very brave but he could see that the boy was barely holding together. Best to get this sorted quickly and not the least because Belle was expected.
"I lost Angus! I didn't mean to, but my brother trusted me and I lost him. He's going to be soooo mad and he'll never..." The boy was on the edge of a break down, and Rumplestiltskin had enough vague memories from Baelfire's childhood to want to avoid that, wet, snotty bawling and all.
"Who is Angs and why did you think I could help you?" he asked calmly.
"That's what the grown ups say and Henry, that you can fix things when no one else can, that's what you did before, with Peter Pan and the other thing... He said you make deals." JR said all in one breath. He paused and before continuing slightly slower. Angus is our puppy. I'm only supposed to play with him in the yard, and I took him out but I didn't know the gate was open and he ran into the forest."
"Enough, I think I understand," Gold said, with just enough force to cut JR off but not to scare him any further. How the might Dark One has fallen, finding a lost dog for a child, he thought. But then in this child's eyes, the puppy was probably as important as any of the bigger threats they had faced, possibly bigger. Of course, he could and would. The boy was brave, he admired that, besides, it was such a little matter.
Belle French came in the back door of the shop and set the basket down on the work surface. She could hear the quiet sound of voices from the other room and hoped it was nothing big. Still she stuck her head through the curtain just in case she needed to hurry someone along.
What she found was Rumplestiltskin down on one knee to bring himself eye to eye with JR, one of Will Scarlett's two boys, and a regular at the library.
"Why not call on the Blue Fairy?" he was asking, just a bit of his old, high pitched titter in his voice, enough to impress but not enough to be frightening.
"Fairies are for wishes. I don't need a wish, I need to find Angus," he said giving him a look as if it was silly question. "Besides, my brother says fairies are sisies and for girlsss who want to grow up to be princesses and things like that, or get married and stuff. This is important, I need a proper wizard!"
Belle could barely contain her laughter and she knew it was taking a whole lot of will for Rumplestiltskin to keep from laughing as well. Oh, what the Blue Fairy would say if she heard that.
"Very well," Rumplestiltskin said with the utmost seriousness. "I can find Angus for you..."
"For a deal,"the boy said, nodding with all the wisdom and gravity a six year old could muster.
"Err, yes, a price. All magic comes with a price, JR. Never too young to learn that." Belle could tell he had almost forgotten himself for once. "And what do you have to trade for this important piece of magic? I don't suppose you would be interested in trading a first born child, still a little young..."
"That's for after you get married, and I'm never doing that, girls are yucky. I don't suppose I could trade my brother either, Papa would be mad. I have my pocket money...it's not much. Or this," he said cautiously pulling something from his back pocket, clearly a cherished possession, an old fashioned sling shot of the kind children in the Enchanted Forest used for scaring birds out of the berry bushes or killing rats in the field. It wasn't new, probably his father or older brothers, possibly both as she was pretty sure that Will's other son had gotten big enough to learn the bow now.
"Well dearie, I make gold, so your pocket money isn't very useful to me," Rumplestiltskin said, leaning over to examine the sling shot. "This is a lovely sling shot," he said. "But I'm afraid its not really what I need."
The boy's face fell but before he could get upset, Rumplestiltskin opened his mouth. "You know, now that I think about it, I have an idea." JR's face lit up with hope. "Angus is still a puppy, yes? But one day he will be a dog, what kind of dog?"
"A sheep dog," the boy answered promptly. "Papa says a dog should be useful."
"Sheep dog, I've always liked sheep dogs. Very well, so rather than your first born child, I will take Angus' first born puppy, once he is old enough to have them."
"You will?" the boy said, clearly surprised at the deal. "But what if he never has them?"
"Then I suppose I will have made a bad investment. But it's Angus's puppy or no deal," he said, trying to look stern, but only for a moment. "Can I tell you a secret?" He asked, leaning towards the boy conspiratorially, as if someone might overhear.
"Of course," JR answered, clearly overwhelmed by the honor.
"You know Miss Belle, the librarian?"
"Of course, she is really nice, for a girl," he finished quickly, lest the sorcerer get the idea that he thought girls were alright.
"Yes, she is. She and I are getting married. I've been thinking of getting her a dog. But right now she is very busy with the wedding and all sorts of things. But if I have a deal for a puppy later, then I don't have to bother her with it now, and she will get her present when she can properly appreciate it."
Belle had to slip back behind the curtain to contain herself. She had always known Rumplestiltskin had a soft spot for children, that he actually liked them for all he tried to pretend otherwise. But watching him with JR made her long for the day when they would have children of their own.
"Do I have to sign a thing? I forgot what you call them, but in the stories you always have to sign a thing. I can write my own name," he reassured the Sorcerer with pride.
"Yes, of course, we should do this properly." Rumplestiltskin stood and gestured the boy to come with him behind the counter, and waved him to the stool there. With a flourish and a puff of purple smoke he held a contract, much smaller than any she had seen him produce before.
The boy let out an awed "wow". He would probably be entertaining his friends for weeks with the story of how he braved the infamous Dark One's lair to get his puppy.
"Would you like to read it yourself?" Rumplestiltskin asked.
"Miss Belle says we should always read things before we sign them, that's what she said when I got my library card. But I'm a slow reader, and Angus could get into trouble..." JR said regretfully. "Could you..er..."
Rumplestiltskin leaned over the contract, reading it quickly to the boy (it was probably the simplest contract Belle had ever heard, certainly from the infamous deal maker). She couldn't help but peak through the curtains and watch as the young boy gravely affixed his name (in large, first grade letters) to the paper before handing it to the old Sorcerer. Rumplestiltskin then took out his keys and opened the locked drawer, placing the contract in carefully with his others.
"Now, Angus..." he said. "I always keep my word. But perhaps I should make it so that this can't happen again..." With a flourish of his hands and the usual purple smoke, a leash appeared, which he handed to the boy. "Go outside, and call the puppy. This leash is magic. As long as you have this, anytime you call him, he will come. Make sure you take care of it. It's a very important part of the deal." He wagged a finger at the boy, trying to look stern.
"I will. Thank you, Ssir," JR said. For a moment, Belle wondered if he was going to hug Rumplestiltskin, and wanted to desperately to pull out her camera phone. Instead, he stuck out his hand. Barely suppressing a smile, the man shook it and watched as the boy slipped off the stool and ran out the door. After a moment, he followed him, watching out the window for a moment before he locked the door and turned towards the back of the shop, only to find Belle watching him.
"Yes, love?" he asked. "It's a perfectly reasonable deal."
"You know that Angus is a boy, right? Not likely to have any puppies."
"Ooops," he said with a shrug. "Guess he got the best of me. How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough that you'd best have locked that door. After that deal, you deserve an extra special treat." THe look on her face was full of pride, love and something else, something just a bit naughty that made him more more quickly.
All in all, he thought as he slipped through the curtain into the office, a good bit of business indeed.