Craving Crisis
A/AN: I wrote this for annagingil on Tumblr! She prompted "Candy", so I decided to add my own spin to it! Enjoy, dearie!
Belle Gold had various cravings while being pregnant. One of her most reoccurring ones was ice cream, and her husband was more than eager to oblige her of those cravings by treating her to an ice cream cone at Ingrid's former ice cream shop, Any Given Sundae. There was nothing that whet the Dark One's sweet tooth like a double scoop of mint cookies and cream. Belle preferred a simple vanilla cone with a light coating of strawberry syrup, but the baby seemed to favor pistachio. Pistachio won out every time. It was a Monday afternoon, and nothing unusual was going on in Storybrooke. Regina's Evil Queen counterpart had burned a couple of squad cars and put the dwarfs in a fritz, and he hadn't lifted a finger to help them. Ice cream dates with his wife won out every time over the sanctity of the town. The sundae shop was relatively quiet that evening and for this he was thankful. They ordered their usual desserts, and he paid the young raven haired teen standing behind the counter. Her eyes lit up when he handed her an extra twenty which she slipped inconspicuously into her pocket. He and Belle sat down at a vacant booth with their treats. The booth was circular and allowed them to set close together.
"This is so delightful," Belle laved at the cone, relishing the taste of earthy nuts exploding on her tongue.
"You're absolutely right, sweetheart," he sighed euphorically as the dark chocolate and mint flavors minced exquisitely with his palate.
Their ice cream date was going splendidly until three irate pedestrians stormed in. Gold rolled his eyes irritatedly as the posse stopped by their table. "Gold, we need you to stop the Evil Queen! She's terrorizing the town and just turned Sneezy into lawn ornament!" Emma Swan, the 'savior' of Storybrooke lamented.
"Not interested, dearie. Can't you see were busy?" Gold snapped, pointing to his half eaten ice cream cone.
"You're joking right? The towns being leveled as we speak by-" Regina cut in, only to be interrupted by the librarian.
"You, if we really want to get technical about it. Why should my husband keep cleaning up the messes you keep making?" Belle countered, wishing they would all just leave. Disturbing their outings had become a reoccurring annoyance. On occasion, the band of 'heroes' would impulsively magic themselves right into their bedroom if they had a crisis. It hadn't happened since Emma received an eyeful of them lost in throes of passion. She snickered at the thought of the savior having to drink a forget-me-potion to burn that image out of her brain.
"Look, it's just this one thing, and then we promise to leave you both alone," Charming reassured them.
"Until the next big catastrophe you mean," Belle corrected him, groaning in displeasure as she realized her pistachio ice cream had began to melt. It trickled down her cone and dripped onto her white chiffon top, her favorite maternity shirt that her husband had gifted her with.
Tears gathered in the beauty's eyes as she gazed down at her ruined blouse. She normally would have been much calmer during an episode like this, but the pregnancy hormones had her emotions in cahoots.
"GET OUT!" Rumpelstiltskin thundered, pointing towards the exit. The cashier cowered behind the counter as bits of mortar sprayed from the ceiling from his outburst. The trio compliantly left, wise enough to realize they didn't want to fall victim to the Dark One's wrath.
His gaze softened as he diverted his attention to his wife. "Are you all right, Belle?" he inquired, taking the melting desert from her hands.
"I'm fine, but my shirt is ruined," she groaned, pointing to the green stain discoloring the fabric.
"A bit of dark magic will take it right out, " he reassured her as an ethereal blue glow emitted from his fingertips. The stain vanished as pristine fabric reappeared in its place.
"I'm surprised you didn't scold me for using my dark powers, " he teased, wiggling his eyebrows playfully at her.
"I had a fashion emergency. It's not like you murdered anyone," she smirked, leaning in to brush her lips softly against his.
"I could if you wanted me to," he returned, his gaze darkening.
"Don't tempt me. These pregnancy hormones are unpredictable after all," she chuckled as he placed an affectionate kiss against her brow.
"Let's go home, and I'll conjure us up another another frozen treat, " he replied, standing up from the booth.
"Is ice cream another worthy crisis we can expend your dark magic on?" she taunted with a mischievous gleam in her eye.
"Certainty! Have you ever tried ice cream made from light magic? It's bland and disgusting!" he scoffed, looping his arm through hers as they made their way out of the parlor.
"I found another reason for you to use it," she announced as they stood on the sidewalk.
"And what reason would that be?" he quizzed, giving her a puzzled look.
"Magic us home! My feet are killing me!" she lamented before a crimson smog engulfed them. They both collapsed happily on the sofa with bowlfuls of their favorite ice cream and no one to disturb them.