When Rumpelstiltskin told the Queen that she would have an emptiness inside her and that someday she would come to him to fill it, he didn't tell her that she wouldn't be able to fill it and that all magic comes with a price.
Henry:
Mr. Gold is doing his best to ignore Regina's snappishness; honestly, he was doing the woman what nearly counted as a favor. Getting her to be adopted son transferred to Storybrooke's hospital, and having all the paperwork already signed by the judge, simply needing her to give the pertinent information, such as a name, and it would all be done, then he and Dr. Whale would need to sign as witnesses.
So here they are, at the hospital, Regina has finally told him 'Henry' as the boys name, and he is writing it done, then he hears Regina gasp. Mr. Gold turns around quickly, wondering what's wrong, when he sees Regina holding her hands out defensively towards the crib.
"No, no, no, I can't, oh gods, I can't." Regina is nearly hysterical now, and Dr. Whale rushes over to her to try to calm her.
When Dr. Whale returns, minus Regina, they have a moment of 'what do we do now?' both of them gazing in confusion at the tiny bundle in the crib.
Before anything can be said, the baby begins to cry and he finds himself lifting the little boy up, cradling him in his arms as though he's done it before.
"It's okay Henry, he says, lightly rocking his arms, its okay, Papa's here."
Thus Mr. Gold became a father.
Annella:
Around two years later, Regina tries again. The looks that cross between longing and hatred, depending on whether she's looking at Henry or and him, have finally settled into determination. So here they are, Dr. Whale, Mr. Gold, Regina, young Henry, and yet another small Bundle of baby tucled into the same crib as before.
Mr. Gold hesitates to write down the name 'Victoria' as Regina says it, wanting to make certain this time that she's actually going to keep the child.
Once again she can't even touch the child, almost as if there is a force field around the baby and Regina breaks down, leaving on Dr. Whales arm.
Gold sighs and looks at Henry, who has been sitting patiently in the stroller watching everything with his curious little eyes.
"Well Henry, what do you say to a little sister?"
Henry smiles and raises his stuffed crocodile. "Sisa, Papa, sisa!"
"Right you are son. A sister is a grand idea."
He still doesn't write anything down though, not until Whale comes back again, shaking his head, and giving Gold a wry look.
Gold smiles, and carefully write Annella Gold, onto the correct line. There, a good Scottish name, Annella.
He goes over to the crib and lifts the small bundle, memories of when he had done the same for Henry echoing in his mind. Though Henry had been crying and little Annella simply stares at him, her eyes nearly focusing on his face. He smiles.
Maisie:
It is another two years and Regina is becoming terribly predictable. Here they are again, the same players on the stage, though now Henry stands at his side, a solemn but happy four year old, and Annella occupies the stroller, while another baby coos and wiggles in the crib.
Dr. Whale looks resigned and Regina looks blackly determined.
It goes much the same way as the last two times, but for Regina nearly over turning the crib if he hadn't been standing beside it.
He wrenches his leg badly but the baby is safe and Dr. Whale escorts Regina out of the room quite forcefully.
Scooping up the baby, whose sounds have gone from cooing to frightened wails, he presses her against him, even as he has to sit down, Henry quickly gets the stroller over to him, and tucks himself against Gold's side.
In an hour or so, when he has caught his breath, and his knee is no longer killing him, he will get up, make sure that Annella is okay, she usually is, have Henry fetch Dr. Whale, and take the birth certificate, and write the name 'Maisie Gold' on the appropriate line.
For now though, he will sit and comfort a freighted baby, and let the comfort of his son's presence soothe him.
Mary:
Only a year later and they are in the same room, Regina however, is absent. After her display last year, he very firmly told her he would not seek out anymore children for her. No, today he is here fro himself and his family.
The woman who had given birth to Annella has had another baby that she wanted adopted, and the agency contacted him, hoping to place the little girl with her other sibling. Gold already has three children, but his house is large, and it will be another little girl who, if she is anything like his little Annella, who becomes more and more a fierce but loving little household dictator, than he cannot turn her away.
So here his is, Henry, Annella, and little Maisie all in tow.
He doesn't even hesitate when he enters the room to pick the baby up out of the crib. There is no need for anyone to reject her. She promptly gets a good grip on his nose and won't let go until he slides the little stuffed puppy he'd brought with him under her arm, she happily begins gumming to death.
Mary already has the same red/brown hair as her sister, but where Annella's eyes are brown, Mary's are blue.
He bets anything she'll have freckles though.
Isabelle:
Regina is nothing if not predictable. He only agrees to go along with her next attempt at adoption if certain precautions and promises are made. He's a hard man, and can be quite cruel, but he will not tolerate someone hurting a child. She's also doubled the fee and paid it ahead of time, along with signing an agreement that even if she won't accept the child, the money is his. With four, possibly going to be five college funds, every penny helps.
This time Dr. Whale attempt to hand her the baby, and as before, her arms drop and she looks like she's been stabbed. She runs from the room again, her screams of frustration and fury echoing through that hall, waking little Mary, who is in a frontpack on his chest, and frightening Maisie and Annella. Six year old Henry merely leans against Gold's good leg, reaching for Annella's hand, which prompts her to grab Maisie's.
They stand there for a few minutes like that, the Gold family united. The Dr. Whale turns to Mr. Gold, looking more irritated than anything else.
"This needs to be the last time Gold, she's killing herself doing this and she refuses to see Archie about why she won't let herself accept any of the kids."
Mr. Gold nods in agreement. "I've already gotten her to agree to try for no more adoptions if this one didn't work out. I only need so many children and she's gotten to the point passed ridiculous. "
Later that evening, Mr. Gold eyes the bassinette beside his bed. This morning it had held only little Mary, but now, curled together as though born that way, Mary curls into her new sister.
Mr. Gold doesn't know why he picked Isabelle for a name; it isn't one of his usual traditional Scottish names but he likes it.
Intermission: Ashley:
He has recently changed his deal with Ashley Boyd. She'd looked so downtrodden, after her idiot boyfriend left her and sitting there, in the dinner, the free tea Ruby had given her cupped in her hands. He'd sat down at her booth and asked her one very important question.
"Do you want to keep your child?"
"Yes." She had answered. And so, along with his own children, Ashley lives with him helping maintain the house and keep track of the children. Especially with a four year old and two rather rambunctious three year olds, this is not a simple task.
He isn't entirely certain how it happens, especially in what seems to be both a long and short amount of time, but one day, as Ashley is sitting at the table helping Mary eat, while he's trying to get Isabelle from lobbing her mash potatoes at Henry who keeps making faces at her, their eyes meet.
There is no spark or fireworks. Yet, there is a feeling of contentment.
Thus, three weeks later they find themselves down at the courthouse, Ashley in a simple white dress, all the children in their best clothes and he in his nicest suit, and Archie and Ruby and Granny (who doesn't hate him as much as she used to since he lets her dote on his children all she wants) and the Sheriff as witnesses. The simple, chaste kiss he gives Ashley may very well be the only one they ever exchange. He doesn't know. But at least now his children have a mother, and her child will have a father.
As they leave, Regina is standing outside, looking smug, with Ashley's erstwhile ex-boyfriend standing beside her looking crushed. Ashley barely looks at him, though her chin trembles and Gold puts his arm around her back, providing as much support as he can.
They go home and have a lovely dinner, all the children, even reserved little Henry calling her 'Mommy' at the beginning and ending of each sentence.
Nothing happens between them that night, other than Ashley moving into his room. He's old, she's nine-months pregnant, and they aren't in love. He fairly certain they aren't even in lust. It feels good, to have someone occupy the other side of his bed though, even if she does start using him as a body pillow.
Adair :
Things are going well, but Henry, after learning the Ashley is going to have a girl, has gotten it into his head that what they desperately need is another boy in the house.
When, for his ninth birthday all he wants a little brother, Gold turn's talks to Ashley and they agree that one more baby won't hurt anything, they're already insane, why not complete the descent into utter madness by getting a sixth, seventh if you counted Ashley's unborn child, to the mix.
Once again they find themselves in the nursery of the hospital.
Little Adair sleeps on in the crib, even with all the children crowding about him, staring in curiosity at the newest addition to their family.
It is odd he thinks, as this time as both he and Ashley sign the birth certificate. Adair stirs sleepily in the crib and he picks him up. His boy, he looks at Ashley and hands her the baby, their boy.
Ashley's chins wobbles again as she looks down into the child's sleeping face.
"You know;" she says looking up, "I saw a movie, 'Where the Heart is', and in it the main girl has a line that goes "How can you love someone so much, that you only just met?", I thought the line was kind of cliché you know? But now, oh, I get it, it's a perfect line."
Gold smiles, contentment filling his chest. "Shall we take our children home then, Mrs. Gold?"
Ashley smiles back at him and nods. "Yes Mr. Gold. Let's all go home."
Dinadan and James:
He and Ashley had agreed that they had plenty of children now, and that when Ashley's baby was born, that would be the end of their family growth. At least until the grandchildren arrived. They'd shared a rather soppy look over that thought.
However, fate had other plans and the same woman who had given birth to both Annella and Mary was pregnant again, this time with twin boys.
He couldn't help himself and Ashley just looked more amused than anything else, hitching little Adair up her hip, and saying two more wouldn't hurt anything and what was the pint of having such a huge house if they didn't fill it? Ashley and Gold as well, both found children filled the house much better than the useless junk he's had it stuffed with before. Though Annella had commandeered the piano, and Henry had already made off with the cello. Gold was very careful to never get a set of drums.
So for what they both swore again was the last time, they made their way to the hospital signed the papers and brought their new twins, Malcolm and James, home with them.
Three months later, Henry and his book would disappear, only to come back that same day with his birth mother in tow. While Ashley and Annella were scolding the boy, Rumpelstiltskin found himself trying to come to terms with the fact that he was a father of nine, and married, however chastely, to Cinderella.