Disclaimer: I own nothing.
AN/Dedication: Dedicated to FaerieTales4ever...I hope you enjoy dearie! Thanks to TMich from AO3 for betaing! Love you, Auntie!
Christmas Miracle
By:
Ladybugsmomma
The weather had turned cold, and it seemed colder inside the Dark Castle than it was outside. The grounds were blanketed in a sheet of white; winter had come. Belle gasped at the sight of the snow covered grounds. No matter how dark the Dark Castle seemed, there was still beauty to be found there.
"What are you doing, dearie? You should be getting back to work," Rumplestiltskin said with a giggle.
"I was just looking at how beautiful the grounds were. I'm sorry."
Belle moved away from the window as she gave him a small smile. Rumplestiltskin shrugged.
"See that it doesn't happen again."
"I won't. I…uh…I wanted to ask you…"
"Yes, dearie?"
She sighed and then shook her head. "Never mind. It's not important."
"Are you certain? The look on your face says otherwise."
"Well, it's just that…I won't be able to celebrate Christmas with my family this year, and…"
"No! No, no, no! I can't stand the infernal holiday, and we're not decorating my castle in all that garb! Have you taken leave of your senses as to think I might actually let you do that?!"
"I…I'm….sorry."
Belle ran from the room as tears fell down her cheeks. Why did he always act that way? She just wanted to brighten the place up a bit. She sat down on the stairwell and leaned against the wall as she brushed angrily at the tears that kept falling down her cheeks. That man…beast…whatever he dared to call himself…was impossible to reason with sometimes. Maybe if she struck a deal, he'd let her do it, but she had nothing to barter with. Why did he have to be so stubborn?! She decided when he left on a trip again, she would decorate anyway and maybe once he saw how beautiful and bright the castle could be, he'd be okay with it.
A few days later, he informed her that he was headed out, and wouldn't be back for another couple of days. He gave her the usual warnings and bluster, and she smiled and nodded as he vanished from her sight. She rubbed her hands together as she planned on how to do all her decorations.
She gathered some strands of gold he'd spun to use as tinsel about the castle. She grabbed some holly out of the garden and made a wreath to hang on the front door. She went out to find the perfect tree to set up in the great hall. She wasn't allowed to leave the grounds, but she found the perfect one in the far west corner. She then contemplated how to go about cutting it down and bringing it inside. She got a cart from the far side of the castle and began chopping at the base of the tree. It finally gave and landed on the cart. She then took the saw and trimmed the trunk up. She pulled it into the castle.
Once it was in the great hall, she then searched for something to stand it up in. She found an old tree stand in one of the rooms and brought it out. Setting the tree up took several tries before she finally got it positioned just right. She fixed the branches as best she could before preparing herself something to eat. She headed to bed with a head full of ideas of how to decorate the tree.
The next morning, she awoke and fixed her breakfast before heading to make ornaments to decorate the tree with. She made the clay and tried out making some gingerbread men, but they turned out lop sided and disfigured. She grabbed the book on clay making from the shelf in the library. Once she tried a couple more times, she finally made a gingerbread man. She let them all cool, including the one she had made especially for Rumplestiltskin, before she set about painting them and decorating them.
She took beads and strung them along to create some garland for the tree, and found some gold dust to make the tree shine. Everything was all ready to decorate with, so she made her way into the great hall.
She started with the garland, wrapping around the tree from the top to the bottom. She then put the ornaments and some of the gold thread as tinsel. Then she doused the tree in gold dust and stood back to admire her work.
She smiled until she looked at the tip and frowned. There was nothing at the top to bring it all together. She thought about what she could do to make it look complete. She remembered a wooden tree topper in one of the bins in one of the many rooms she cleaned. She searched high and low before she finally found it.
It was a carved sheep standing below a star. She smiled at it as she ran her fingers over the soft wood. She noticed an 'R' carved at the base. She smiled brighter as she realized that she'd found something that Rumplestiltskin must have carved himself. She took it in, set it atop the tree, and stood back. She smiled widely at the finished product, satisfied with how complete it looked.
She then set about baking and cooking all kinds of delicacies for tasting. She baked several batches of cookies before finally crashing on the couch in the great hall near the tree. That was where she was when her master came home to find his castle thoroughly changed.
Rumplestiltskin grit his teeth at the well-wasted trip which brought him no closer to his son. He poofed into the great hall and took in the sight and smells around him. He saw that his maid had taken it upon herself to decorate for the one holiday he could not stand, due to the loss of his son. He nearly broke down into tears before the rage took over.
"WHAT IN THE FRESH HELL IS THIS?"
Belle jumped awake and fell off the couch as she tried to scramble to her feet to get away from her master.
"I…I…I…uh…I…"
"SPIT IT OUT!"
"I just….I wanted to decorate."
"AFTER I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO? TAKE IT DOWN!"
Belle shrunk away from him, but didn't take a step back. She stood taller and put on her brave face.
"No. I want to celebrate."
"WHAT?! DID I MISS THE PART WHERE YOU BECAME THE MASTER OF THIS CASTLE?!"
"I'll thank you to stop yelling at me, and to treat me civilly. Just because you're grumpy and such a….scrooge about the holiday doesn't mean that everyone else is. This castle could use some brightening up. I hope you're hungry because I made a feast. Tea?"
She walked away casually, leaving a stunned Dark One in her wake. His ire ebbed as he became perplexed as to what had just happened. He looked closer at the tree she kept glancing at. At first, he wanted nothing more than to banish the thing to the pits of hell, but once he noticed the tree topper, he paused. He walked over to it and ran his fingers over the wood. He felt the tears prick his eyes. Then he glanced down to one of the handmade ornaments that hung from the delicate branch. It was a clay spinning wheel painted gold. It sparkled as if imbued with his own gold. He turned it over to see an inscription: "Our First Christmas." He ran his fingers over it. She must've put in a lot of hard work in order to make all of this. Gah, he couldn't be getting soft now! Not when he was so close to his son! He had to maintain his demon in order to flesh out what he needed, but he was so touched. No one had ever made him anything like that before.
Belle walked out of the kitchen with the tea service in hand. She paused as she saw him at the tree, admiring her hard work.
"Did you make this for me?"
She looked at him as she set the service on the table and began fixing their teas to their specifications.
"I did."
"Why?"
"Everyone needs something special on the tree."
"No one…no one has ever done…anything like this for me."
"I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to have one thing that reminded me of home. I'm sorry. I'll take it down."
"No, no…leave it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Come to the table and I'll serve dinner."
He walked over and sat at the head of the table and admired how the tree seemed to fit perfectly with the décor and the fire. It brought the room to life.
Belle walked out of the kitchen with a stuffed duck and all the trimmings. She had gravy in a bowl off to the side. She set it down and made her way back to grab the potatoes and corn. She filled their plates and sat down to eat.
"Belle, why did you do this, even though I told you not to and that I hated this holiday?"
"Well, I was determined to celebrate, and Christmas is a time of happiness and togetherness, and I believe that you needed both. I didn't see the harm in trying to lighten your dark world."
Rumplestiltskin's mouth dropped open at the honesty coming from his maid's lips.
"Merry Christmas, Belle."
"Merry Christmas, Rumplestiltskin."