A/N: Hi guys, I'm back again and with an actual chaptered fic, woo! I've been wanting to do a chaptered fic for the longest time now, even though I'm working on like five different chaptered fics right now lol, but I finally got one that I feel inspired to work on and post! Most of the inspiration of this fic came from caskett-case on tumblr through a post she had written tags on that made me want to write a fic about them. The whole fic takes place in an AU, and things have been changed around as I see fit for this fic. Also, it's very obvious that I have my own headcanon of Gold's first name being Calder lol Thank you once again to Megan, Morgan, and Vanessa who have looked over this whole thing for me. I seriously love you guys so much ;3; I should probably also start mentioning that I don't own Once Upon A Time because if I did, I would be super rich and rolling in money.
"Perfect." A satisfied smiled spread across Calder's face while he stared at his latest completed project. He ran his slim fingers over the refurbished wooden chest. The piece before him had been giving him trouble for the past week, the latches that kept the chest shut being the trickiest to finish, but it was finally perfect. The pawn shop owner took a step back, mindful of his bad knee, to fully admire his project.
Calder had always found relaxation in his refurbishings, especially as of late. In his earlier years of owning the pawn shop Calder hardly spent any time on refurbish projects, telling himself he'd get around to them eventually. Though as time passed, what with his failed marriage and Baelfire entering his teen years, Calder found more time to work on refurbishing antiques for the shop.
Lately he found himself stealing away to work on more and more projects, turning out five difficult projects alone within one month, as Baelfire delved deeper into the dreaded teen years. As his boy grew older, Calder found it harder to connect with Baelfire. His son was always replying with short answers and getting into trouble with somebody. It was enough to give Calder an aneurysm with the amount of trouble his son got into at home.
There was no real answer Calder could pinpoint as being the root cause of Baelfire's attitude change, he had never been a difficult child until as of late, but he knew whom he wanted to blame. Killian 'Hook' (as Baelfire referred to him) Jones. The moment Calder had met him, he could sense he was trouble, but he didn't voice his thoughts because he assumed it would only pull Baelfire further away.
A sudden ringing pierced through the silence, pulling Calder out of his thoughts. He looked around in a daze, eyes bouncing around the room to find where the sound was coming from, before his eyes were focused on the shop's phone. Sighing heavily, Calder hobbled over to table with the phone on it, bypassing the newly refurbished chest, and picked up the receiver.
"Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop."
"Hi, is Mr. Gold in?"
"You're talking to him dearie. May I ask who's calling?"
"Oh, uhm, Mary Margaret Blanchard, Baelfire's homeroom teacher. Ms. Mills wanted me to call you in for a conference this afternoon at three."
"And why exactly would I need to do that?"
"Well, Baelfire's been caught up in a little bit of trouble again."
"Again?" This was news to Calder, never hearing of any indication for Baelfire. He knew for a fact Baelfire was becoming a handful at home, he could easily vouch for the multiple screaming matches the two stirred up in their house, but at school now too? The pawn shop owner was beginning to think he didn't know his son like he thought he did.
"Uh yes Mr. Gold. Baelfire was in the boy's restroom today during class, spray painting the stalls with graffiti."
"Has this happened before?" Calder was hoping this was a first time thing for Baelfire, but he knew in his gut that the reply he'd get was the answer he wasn't hoping for.
"No Mr. Gold, it's not. This is just the first time we've had to call his parents."
"Parent." he corrected, his voice hardening as more information came forth.
"Erm, anyways, he's been warned multiple times about cutting classes in the past, and today another staff member found him and another student acting out."
Calder's blood grew chill and then quickly began to heat up. "Let me guess, Killian Jones?"
"Yep, that's the one."
"Are his parents getting the same phone call too?"
"Uh yes Mr. Gold, they are, don't worry." the woman stuttered out.
It wasn't Mary Margaret's fault that this was happening, she was just the messenger, but damn it all if Calder wasn't able to take his anger out on someone. His grip tightened on his cane while his rage seethed through him. Baelfire was in huge trouble when he got home tonight, which would end up with the two screaming at each other and Calder breaking something.
"Mr. Gold? You still there?"
Calder hadn't realized that he had spaced out for a moment, quickly calming himself down enough to reply.
"Yes dearie, tell Ms. Mills I'll be there after I close up shop."
"Alright. Thank you Mr. Gold, I'll let her know. Goodbye."
The pawn shop owner was still clutching onto the phone as the line went dead. One day. Just one day without interruptions was all Calder Gold was asking for. This had been the first day in awhile he was able to actually sit down and work on a project, and the moment he had gotten back into his momentum it had been shattered. Baelfire was going to be in big trouble the moment they got home. Calder wasn't sure how he would punish his son, taking away privileges had stopped working a long time ago and he would never dare to think of laying a hand on his son to teach him a lesson, but he had to think of something.
His eyes spotted the clock on the opposite end of the room.
"One forty." He breathed out.
That left him only roughly an hour until he had to leave for the school. Calder took in a deep breath, an attempt to calm his anger, and gently replaced the phone back to its cradle. He clutched tightly onto his cane handle, and moved back to where the finished chest sat. Looking at the completed object calmed the man down a bit. It brought him back down to his bearings enough for him to think clearly. Calder only had to keep his calm for a few hours, it seemed an easy enough of a task with the right implements in place, until he returned home with his son. Until then though, the pawn shop owner decided look over the chest once more for any finer details he had missed with a new vigor.
Within a few moments of looking over the newly refurbished chest, Calder Gold felt himself growing frustrated. The interruption from the previous caller had been on his mind, leaving him little room to focus on finding the final minute details he wanted to look over on the refurbished chest. He eventually gave up with a sigh on figuring out the last necessary details, and to move on to a bigger project that didn't require as much attention to detail.
That's how Calder found himself working on a faded tea set that had been sitting in his backroom for the longest time. He had no idea as to how long it had been sitting there, or who had even brought it in, but it had been a project Calder was waiting for the right time to work on. When his eyes first glanced over the set, he hadn't been quite sure at first. Yet now was as good a time as any other because he desperately wanted to channel his anger into something more productive, as opposed to the usual breakage of items within his vicinity that usually happened when there was no project to work with.
After he brought the delicate tea set from the backroom and up to his workbench Calder felt himself beginning to lose himself within the project. The tea set hadn't been in too bad of shape, it mostly needed a little love and a good paint touch-up, except for one of the cups. The one cup had a small chip missing from it Calder noted, not really noticing it when the set had found its way here. He carefully picked up the tea cup and examined it over. For some reason, Calder found the chip to be fine the way it was and couldn't bring himself to try and find a way to fix it. Apart from the touch-ups of paint he could give the cup it was perfect in his eyes.
He set the tea cup back down on the tray with the rest of the set.
'Well, I can't sell it if that cup has that chip. I could put it in the shop, but it doesn't feel right with that cup missing...' Calder ran his finger over the rim of the chipped cup while he thought. He figured he could keep the set for himself to use in the shop until there was a better use for it.
With that final thought, he picked up a matching blue paint to touch up the intricate branch design that was found all over the tea set. Once his paint was out on a plastic pallet, he looked over the set to begin working until it was time for him to leave. Calder's eyes instantly landed on the chipped cup and picked it up.
"Guess you're first." he said, a tiny smile on his lips.
The pawn shop owner dipped his brush into the small mound of paint on his pallet and hovered his brush above the cup. His paint-loaded brush moved smoothly and steadily over the designs on the cup. As he continued to paint over the small branch design, smiling as the color became more vibrant, he felt himself slipping into the task.
Calder looked up from the tea set he had been working on in a daze. He looked at the clock on the opposite wall that was indicating it was now two forty-five. The pawn shop owner could've sworn he had only been working on restoring that cup for a few minutes, ten minutes tops, but the clock told him different. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear the haze from his mind. He recalled having to go in for that meeting with Baelfire's principal soon.
Sighing, Calder set the cup down with the rest of the set, deciding to come back to it later, and stood up from the workbench. He took his time walking out of his shop, making sure he turned the sign over from open to closed, to his car. Calder wasn't looking forward to this meeting at all and wanted to avoid the whole ordeal all together. Though the sooner everything was taken care of, the sooner Calder could come back and continue working on that tea set. He walked over to his Cadillac that was parked just outside his shop, deciding a long time ago it was easier to park here than out back for his bad leg, and slipped inside the car.
Calder didn't think much as he drove over to the school, his own attempt at avoiding the problem until it was right in front of his face, and was there before he realized he was already parking his car. He took a deep breath, collecting his nerves and putting his most menacing face on, before stepping out of his Cadillac. His watch told him it was now two fifty-five when he looked at it, and he reveled in the fact that he would be a few minutes late to the meeting. Any other occasion Calder would've showed up promptly ten minutes prior, but when the occasion called for Regina Mills to be present, well Calder couldn't help but show up a bit late just to ruffle her feathers a tad.
Once he was in the school building, Calder immediately spotted his son sitting outside the school's main office. He walked as fast as he could, his cane clicking on the tile the whole way, before he was standing in front of his son. He looked down at his son and tried to read his body language. Calder hadn't remembered his son always slumping in chairs, hands stuffed into his leather jacket (Calder wondered when his son started wearing leather jackets and why he hadn't even noticed), and his face looking so hardened. Baelfire was still a child and shouldn't have that kind of an expression, Calder thought.
Baelfire looked up at him, his stare cold. Calder opened his mouth to say something to his son, but was interrupted by the door next to them being flung open.
"Oh thank god you're here Mr. Gold, Regina was about to have my head." the petite woman, Mary Margaret, said.
"I'll be sure to apologize to the queen for my lateness, dearie." Calder replied sarcastically with a flourish of his hands.
The small woman looked like she didn't know what to say in response, so instead she quickly ushered the pair through the door. Calder waited for his son to stand up first before entering, trying to comprehend what his son was thinking. He watched as his son walked through Regina's office door and wordlessly plopped himself down in a chair.
"Don't worry Mr. Gold, they're difficult at this age. Emma's going through the same thing."
Calder looked over at his son's homeroom teacher puzzled by her statement.
"I can assure you Ms. Blanchard, my relationship with my son is far better than it appears to be." he said.
He knew she knew he was lying, but Calder appreciated that she had done the polite thing and nodded towards him instead of calling him out, and led him into the office. After the door was softly shut behind him, Calder moved so he'd be able to sit down in the chair beside his son.
"Nice of you to show up Mr. Gold, I see where your son gets it."
"Oh now, now, dearie. You know we have far more important things to be discussed."
He smirked at the woman across the desk, folding his hands over his cane handle. There was no other thing that could satisfy Calder like undermining Regina Mills.
"Yes, we do." she said while picking up a file. "Baelfire's been having difficulties in school lately."
"I can assure you Ms. Mills, I make sure Bae does his homework every night. His grades are fine."
"That's not what I meant. Your son's been having behavioral issues, Mr. Gold. He's been skipping classes, defacing school property, and has multiple tardies and detentions."
This news took Calder by surprise. Regina had to be looking at some other kid's file, most likely that Killian Jones' file, his son was a good kid. At least, that's what Calder Gold had thought up to this point.
"Bae, you told me you were staying after school to work on school projects and studying."
Baelfire shrugged in response, leaving Calder in a stupor. How could he not have seen the signs sooner, he thought.
"Hmm, it seems your son's had the wool pulled over your eyes this whole time, Mr. Gold. That explains why you didn't know about the warnings we'd given him previously when Ms. Blanchard called you today." she said with a short laugh.
He felt the smirk Regina had on her face branding itself onto his skin. This whole situation was becoming an embarrassment for Calder. Specifically the bit where Regina Mills, of all people, was proving how far his son and him had grown apart.
"Looking as your father seems a tad flustered at the moment, what do you suggest we do Mr. Gold?" she asked, the question directed at his son, her voice becoming icy. She knew she had the upper hand here, and Calder hated it.
"Like I'd know..." the young boy replied coolly.
Calder looked over at his son, his eyebrows furrowing. He couldn't remember his son ever talking back in this manner, granted it was towards Regina and almost everybody who came into contact with her would do the same, but maybe he hadn't truly been paying much attention to what was going on with his son. At the thought of not knowing his son at all caused Calder to quickly push the thought away, wanting to avoid thinking about it all together. A feat he was all too familiar with performing.
"That's not the answer I had in mind Mr. Gold." she replied, her eyes narrowing at both of them.
The pawn shop owner bowed his slightly due to the glare he was receiving from Regina. He internally cursed himself for indulging his cowardice, a slight gesture nobody who knew him could truly pick up as such, but he didn't want his son to see him in that state again. The last time it was because his mother had up and left them, leaving Calder in a state of array while he tried to pick himself back up again. The week he was knocked down was the equivalent of hell on Earth for Calder, at least the parts he could remember that he hadn't blocked out. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly had prompted Calder to bring himself back up, but whatever it was it had worked. In that moment of clarity Calder decided that his son would never see him like that again, even if it meant the continuous growing distance between the two.
An uncomfortable silence had taken over the room, Calder feeling Regina's eyes boring into his skin.
"Well, if neither of you have any suggestions, I think it'd be best if your son saw a counselor Mr. Gold."
Calder's head snapped up at that. Counseling was the last thing he was going to put his son in. He knew how to deal with his son on his own accord without any outside help, he just wasn't sure yet how to go about it.
"Bae's doing fine, aren't ya Bae?"
His son looked over at him with hardly a readable emotion. Calder stilled at that, thoughts surfacing again of how he truly didn't know his son. It was true that both of them didn't really talk like they used to before his mother left them, but Calder was sure he could get them through this rough patch eventually. Especially without the help of some counselor.
"Mr. Gold, this is exactly why I'm making this suggestion."
Silence passed over the room while Calder shifted his gaze between his son and Regina. He knew Regina was right, but he wasn't ready to admit it to anybody, let alone himself.
"Fine, if he were to hypothetically see a counselor, who would he be seeing?"
"That's up for you to decide Mr. Gold. I want him to see a counselor outside of the school's staff." she replied, folding her hands together under her chin.
The statement struck him as odd. First he had to let his son talk to a stranger about problems the two of them could work out in their own time, but now he'd have to find that person for his son to talk to when the school could simply provide the counselor they paid to do the job.
"Why can't he see a counselor here, dearie?"
"Because Mr. Gold, I'm suggesting family counseling in addition to regular sessions for your son. Our school counselors don't offer family counseling, at least not in the depth that you two need, and it'd be easier for your son to see the same counselor who's familiar with the whole situation."
"Why the hell would I agree to that?"
"Language Mr. Gold, we are in a school setting after all. I'm merely suggesting the idea. It's clear by just looking that you two haven't been on the friendliest of terms lately. You'd do anything to fix that, right?" she said with a smirk.
Calder knew that any smirk from Regina was bad news in the make, but he knew she was right in her observation. He would do anything at this point to help lead Bae back to the right path, to help him avoid making similar mistakes he had made, and help mend their relationship back together. If this counselor would help bring Baelfire and himself back to a level where they could actually talk and not scream over each other, Calder decided they could attend a few sessions. At least enough until they were able to speak normally, and after that he'd stop the sessions.
"Here," Regina began, breaking the silence that had swept over the room, "talk to this counselor. She's a bit bookish, not exactly my first choice of a counselor, but she helped my son and me. I think she'd be good for you two." He watched as Regina unfolded her hands from her chin to begin writing on a slip of paper.
The action shocked Calder a bit, knowing that Regina was the last person to offer any kind of help. He had half expected her to throw them out of the office with so little of a statement of finding their own counselor as opposed to freely offering information. It was obvious she was up to something, that there was some dark intent behind her words, but he couldn't tell what. He eyed her suspiciously when she was looking up at him again.
"I better not see your son in here again once you start seeing this counselor or I'll have him expelled, understood?" she said, sliding the piece of paper over her desk.
"Loud and clear dearie."
Calder pried the slip of paper from between her hands and the desk, folded it in half, and slipped it into his front suit pocket, never for a second taking his eyes off of Regina. His eyes narrowed slightly, unsure of what exactly her ploy was. She had nothing to gain from this, and he knew she sure as hell didn't care about whatever happened between his son and himself.
"Come on Bae." he said, pushing himself up out of the chair with the aid of his cane. Calder watched as his son reluctantly stood up from the seat he was sprawled out across. The pawn shop owner had never noticed his son sat like that, maybe having sessions with a counselor would help them both out.
"I hope to see some improvement for the both of you, don't forget to call that counselor."
"We heard you already, sheesh." Baelfire muttered. Calder smiled at his son's remark, pleased that at least on some twisted level the two of them could handle Regina through words.
"I can still hear you Baelfire. Control your son Mr. Gold."
"I'll be sure to do that dearie." he said over his shoulder as he guided his son out of Regina's office.
"Goodbye Mr. Gold. Shut the door on your way out."
Calder chuckled to himself while he pulled the door behind him, and made sure to leave just enough space so the door would be left ajar in hopes it would annoy Regina in the slightest.
"Dad I don't want to see this stupid counselor. We're fine without someone poking their nose into where it doesn't belong."
The tone of his son's voiced almost made Calder's heart break. Baelfire and he may have been out of synch lately, but he could always tell when his son was nervous about something. Especially when his son tried to hide it through indifference.
"I don't either Bae, but we haven't been on the nicest of terms recently. I want to fix that." he replied, a smile he reserved for his son only making itself present.
"Whatever."
Calder watched as his son took off first, noticing the way he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. This wasn't the same boy Calder had known before his mom left. The boy walking in front of him was someone completely different that Calder wasn't familiar with. A sigh escaped his body while thoughts of uncertainty clouded his mind. It was guaranteed that this counselor would be able to help them, Calder highly doubted anybody could help the two of them out, but he felt himself desperately clinging to the hope that they'd be able to. This was the last option Calder had at reconnecting with his son, and he'd do anything to know what his son was thinking again.
His mind wandered to the slip of paper in his pocket with the information of the counselor Regina had recommended. Anything Regina advised was always followed by terrible happenings, but if what she said was true about this counselor helping the principal and her adopted son connect, Calder couldn't take any chances. He slipped his fingers into the front pocket on his suit, pulling out the scrap paper. Calder scanned his eyes over the scribblings, trying to figure out who exactly this counselor was.
"Belle French." he read aloud.
'Pretty name⦠Well, whoever this counselor is, she better not be a waste of time.'
