Four years had passed since last time we'd last seen Belle, Robbie, and Baelfire. At five years old, Bae thought himself very impressive. Mamma was the prettiest lady in the whole world, and Papa was the smartest man. He thought very highly of his parents.
In turn, Belle and Robbie were very attentive to their son's needs. He was very close to being their entire world, but they still made time for each other at least once a week. This story begins on one such night, where Belle and Robbie were seated across each other in the middle of Granny's. Baelfire was at home, being babysat by Ashley Greene.
"Mrs. Gold," Robbie said, bringing Belle's thoughts back to him. She smiled broadly at the address. "Yes, Mr. Gold?" she giggled, looking at him with the same utter adoration she had worn the past five years. God, had it really only been five years since her life truly began?
."I was just thinking," Robbie said mysteriously, and Belle felt a little shiver go down her spine, her smile never fading. "About what, husband?" Belle was still a little nervous about giving her husband pet names, because none of them seemed to fit him. However, 'husband' was the one title only he could manage.
"How beautiful you are." Robbie's words made her blush, and her stomach curl with happiness. "You're too sweet." Belle informed him, taking his hand and squeezing it softly. Robbie leaned forward, looking at her until she did the same, and then kissed her on the lips gently. "No, really. I'm the luckiest man in all of Storybrooke." he retorted.
"Well, I happen to think I'm the luckiest lady." Belle smiled, bringing his hand up to kiss it. "You're such a sap, Belle." Robbie said, pretending to be bored by it. She laughed at him. "You're a horrible liar," she replied. "I wasn't lying! You are a sap. I just happen to like it." Robbie defended himself.
Belle grinned, looking at him. "Whatever you say," She hummed, pulling back from his lips to lean against the booth. "What do you think Bae's doing right now?" She asked, looking at him. Robbie thought for a moment. "Most likely exhausting Ashley." he joked.
Belle giggled again, nodding in agreement. "Most likely, yes," she agreed. Belle sighed happily as their food appeared. Two sets of hamburgers and iced tea. "Hungry, love?" Robbie teased her. "Yes." Belle said bluntly, causing Robbie to laugh.
"Glad to feed you," Granny told her with a smile. "Thanks Granny," Belle said, looking up with a smile of her own. Robbie loved it when Belle smiled. He felt like it lit the whole damned room up.
Soon enough, their happy little bubble dissipated. It was the fault of neither in the couple, they were still talking and happily in love when the door to Granny's opened. A man entered, hobbling in on his cane. Robbie turned to look, as he saw how stricken Belle looked, and his mouth dropped when he realised who was at the diner.
"Hal Gold," Granny's cluck of disapproval rang out through the entire diner. "What business d'ye have here?" No one really moved, except for Belle. Belle was neither afraid of Hal nor completely innocent in the knowledge of his ways. She pulled on Robbie's hands, jerking him out of his daze and he went to her side of the booth. She snuggled up to his side, offering her husband her silent support.
"Came t'see m'lad." Hal's voice was rough, accented. Belle might have liked to listen to him talk, if he wasn't such a liar. "You had… what, twenty years now, to do that. Why now?" Belle found herself speaking up coldly. Robbie stroked the inside of her palm, the motion calming him.
"Who t'fuck are you?" Hal retorted, walking over to their booth. He sat down across from them, and for the most part the diner went back to their own business. Granny looked like she wanted to hit Hal with a frying pan.
"Don't you dare," Robbie growled. "She is my wife and will be treated with the respect you never gave me," Belle looked up at Robbie, unused to seeing this side of him. Yes, it did come up, but she never got to witness it first hand until now. She felt a surge of desire run through her as she realised it was her he was defending. He was angry because of the way someone treated her. She could have kissed him.
"So y'finally latched yerself to someone then," Hal chortled, looking between them. Something he saw made him pause, though. The way Belle tucked herself into his side, perhaps, or the way Robbie openly softened at her touches. Either option, Hal decided then and there he did not like the woman. His boy needed someone to beat sense into him.
"Yes," Robbie said evenly. "Belle and I married… What was it darling? Five years ago?" he asked Belle, turning his gaze to her. Belle nodded. "It'll be five on the dot in September, husband," she said happily. They'd gotten married again after school had ended, with their entire broken family in attendance. No courtroom drama this time around.
"And you never thought to tell dear old dad?" Hal demanded to know. "No, I didn't," Robbie retorted. "And even if I had, how was I to get hold of you? You left!" His hand slammed on the table in his anger.
"Easy now, lad," Hal told him. Belle glared at the man who could have once been her father in law, if he hadn't gone and left Robbie. "We should go," Belle whispered, leaning her head on Robbie's shoulder. "I want to check on Bae," she lied quickly.
"Who is Bae?" Hal wanted to know next. "Oh, Bae," Belle injected before her husband could speak. "He's the spitting image of his papa. Adores him, too," Her pride was perhaps a tad over exaggerated, but not by much. She loved to watch her husband and child play together.
"Yes, love, let's go." Robbie agreed, sensing how protective his wife felt of him. He felt his own surge of desire for it, knowing she valued him caused him to hold her even tighter every time.
"We'll be in touch, won't we son?" Hal pleaded. "Perhaps, if my little wife approves." Robbie said honestly, and with that they left.
Ashley was a little surprised to see them back so soon, but she did not ask questions. She told them how good of a boy Bae had been, and after she was paid, she left.
Belle and Robbie snuck into Baelfire's room, Belle giggling a little as they did so. Bae turned around when he heard his parents come in. "mamma, papa!" he shouted excitedly, struggling to sit up in his toy car bed.
"Stay still, Bae. We're coming." Robbie told his son with a smile, moving into his room. Belle followed close behind, a huge smile on her face as she prepared herself. She knew Robbie was going to tell Bae another story, to get him back to sleep, and she loved listening to her husband's voice.
"Once upon a time," Robbie began a few caresses later, sure enough. "There was a princess and a peasant." And Belle immediately felt the blood rush to her cheeks, blushing brightly. She knew this story; it was a play on their own. Robbie told it often.
"The princess was beautiful, son. Oh my, how beautiful she was. With brown hair and blue eyes, she looked just like your mamma." Robbie said, and Belle felt her son turn his gaze on her. "And what did the peasant look like, mamma?" he prompted.
"Why, just like papa." Belle said, making a hand gesture. "He was handsome as sin, with dark brown eyes and hair that begged to have fingers run through it." Robbie rolled his eyes, but did not argue.
"The princess and peasant were in love," Robbie continued. "They knew she was a princess, and could never be with a peasant - but they didn't care. They went on to meet in private, or he'd talk to her in a public setting. They were in love, son, and they didn't care who knew it."
Belle took up the next part of the story, "And soon enough, the princess' father, the king, found out about the peasant his daughter had fell in love with. Instead of casting him away, the king knighted him. The princess and the new knight were engaged within a fortnight." She said happily, looking down at her son. "A fortnight is two weeks, little love." she added in an aside.
Bae nodded. "I remember mamma. You taught me that the first time you'n'papa told me this story!" he exclaimed proudly. "What a good memory my son has," Belle said approvingly, reaching down and kissing his forehead. "Go to sleep now, love. We'll play in the morning, pinky promise." She held out her pinky as was the routine in the Gold household.
Bae stuck out his pinky, and glared at his father until papa did as well. They all pinky swore to play together the next day.
"Goodnight mamma, goodnight papa," Bae said sleepily, leaning back against his pillows.
"Goodnight my son," Belle said, standing up after kissing him.
"Goodnight big man." Robbie returned, standing up after Belle. They left the room, and went into the living room.
Once they had hot chocolate in their hands, they snuggled up together on the couch. "How was your day?" Robbie asked, even though they'd discussed her day at the diner.
"It was wonderful," Belle giggled, as she did every time her husband lavished his attentions on her. It made her feel so dear to him. "I went out to dinner with the most wonderful man,"
"Really, what was he like?" Robbie returned her teasing. Though in truth, he loved to listen to his wife describing him. It was like he saw himself in new eyes, her eyes.
"I just told our son about him, weren't you listening?" Belle's blue eyes danced with amusement. "No. Tell me again." Robbie joked, happily looking back at her.
"He's got brown eyes," Belle began, and Robbie abandoned his hot chocolate in favour of putting his head in Belle's lap contentedly. "His hair is brown too, and it begs for me to run my hands through it." She murmured, doing just that. She scratched his scalp.
"What else?" Robbie hummed with pleasure of her attention on his hair. "Hmmm," Belle thought for a minute, giggling as she continued to pet on her husband. "Well, he's very considerate. Of whatever I need, whenever I need it." Belle said after a minute. "When I was pregnant, this guy would go out in the middle of the night to refill my ice cream needs."
"Sounds perfectly capable of caring for you," Robbie said with a small smile. Belle nodded eagerly. "Oh all that and more," She agreed. "This guy…" she trailed off dreamily. "You love him," Robbie guessed playfully.
"More than I love anyone else in the wide world." Belle agreed, looking at her husband with an utter adoration that had not dimmed in their years together.
"I bet he loves you right back." Robbie murmured, brushing a kiss against her lips. "In fact, he told me he did." he smirked a little.
"Oh my," Belle giggled. "I have his love? That's so crazy. I can't believe that I'm that lucky!" she said, giggling against his lips. "You're such a dork, Belle Gold." Robbie informed her. "I'm your dork, Robert." Belle snarked back, giggling at her use of his first name.
Robbie smirked, taking the cup of cocoa from her hands and placing it on the table, before he pinned her playfully. He dipped his head down, silencing her muted gasp with a kiss. She softly moaned, pressing her chest against his.
"I love you," they muttered at the same time, causing Belle to giggle again. "Great minds think alike," she whispered, pressing a kiss to the hollow of his neck.
"I'm so glad to be your husband," Robbie informed her, rolling over so that he was leaning on her side. The pinned position, while it was very arousing, did not agree with his leg.
"I'm so glad to be your wife," Belle replied, her eyes sparkling happily. "You know that, don't you?" she bit her lip.
"Oh yes," Robbie assured her. He kissed her bottom lip where she'd bit it. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Belle Gold." he whispered.
"What, better than Bae?" Belle giggled, bringing her arms around his neck.
"Bae is a byproduct of you, my dear." Robbie said playfully. "Without you, I wouldn't have him." he pointed out.
"That's true," Belle agreed, nodding with a smile. "I'm glad you realise it," she teased him.
"Of course I do," Robbie retorted. "I know fully well that you're the reason I have any happiness at all."
"Oh now, don't be silly," She said, sitting up. They went to the sink and rinsed out their cups of cocoa before heading up to their bedroom. "You deserve all the happiness I can give you, Robbie," Belle said quietly.
"I'm glad you think so," Robbie said in response, kissing her cheek as they snuggled into the bed.