tinuviel-undomiel prompted: Rumple tells Belle he's going to get her a potion, she assumes he means to get rid of the pregnancy so she sets him straight, that she is having his baby and he can go the hell if he doesn't want it. Then he explains the potion is to cure her morning sickness, nothing more.


Rumplestiltskin hadn't moved since the realization that the baby was his. His hand was still splayed across Belle's flat belly, belying the new life growing inside her. She thought he might be catatonic.

"Rumple?" she asked. In truth his behavior was scaring her. "Say something."

He stared at her for moment in horror before collapsing to his knees.

"I'm so sorry," he gasped raggedly. "I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry I did this to you."

Belle rolled her eyes. She was pregnant, and they were going to have to deal with this. The last thing she needed was Rumplestiltskin curling into a ball of self-loathing for the next seven months while she carried this baby to term.

"You never would have done anything to me that I didn't want," she said, gripping his chin and forcing him to look up at her. "Neither of us remember the particulars, but I know that much is true. You would never hurt me."

Rumple shook his head. "This isn't right. You shouldn't be forced to bear my child. That wasn't part of our deal."

"No," Belle agreed. "But neither was providing your maid with her own personal library. I think we've fudged a bit on the particulars of our deal."

Rumple just continued staring at her as if she were a madwoman.

Belle was shocked, to say the least, to find herself pregnant with her master's child. Most of all because she couldn't even remember the conception of the child in the first place. Part of her was terrified. She'd never given much thought to being a mother, knowing it would be expected of her when she married Gaston. But it had always been a far off nebulous thing. When Rumplestiltskin had come for her, she had assumed that part of her life was closed off. It had almost been a relief. Her own mother had died in childbirth and she had often feared the same fate. But Rumplestitlskin was the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms. Surely he could keep her and their child safe. She had nothing to worry about on that front now.

But there was another niggling part of her mind that was put out for reasons that had nothing to do with fear of impending motherhood. She was faced with the unthinkable. She had been with Rumplestiltskin, her cheeks colored at the thought. She had had him utterly and completely, and she couldn't remember a thing. She'd known for a while now that she desired him, finding his strange features and neat form enticing rather than off putting. To know that she'd had the object of her desire in her bed and not being able to relive the memory was the most frustrating thing of all.

Rumplestiltskin still looked vaguely sick, like hope and horror were warring inside his body for dominance.

"You don't have to go through all this," Rumple said grimly, standing and waving his hand at her. "I'll get you a potion to clear it up."

Belle stumbled back at that. To think that he could speak so cavalierly of ending her pregnancy as if it were nothing more than a cold!

"Like hell you will!" she cried. "You don't get to make decisions about my body, Rumplestiltskin!"

His eyes widened in alarm as he stood frozen to the spot, watching her nervously.

"This baby might be yours, but it's mine too. And I'm not getting rid of it. If you don't want it, that's fine, but I'm keeping my child and there's not a damn thing you can say about it. The day we met I told you that no one decides my fate but me, and that includes you."

She ended her tirade, breathless and shaking. She wasn't sure she had realized how much this pregnancy meant to her until he had offered to take it away. But how could she ever get rid of the tangible proof of their connection, that some part of him had loved her even if it was just for a night.

"I – I didn't mean…" Rumple stuttered. "I only meant to lessen your discomfort. A potion for the morning sickness."

He looked so abashed, so cowed by her that Belle wasn't sure what to do.

"Morning sickness?" she asked.

"The nausea, dear," he explained. "It's a common symptom of pregnancy."

In her panic over the pregnancy followed by her fury at the idea of terminating it, she had completely forgotten about her initial illness that had prompted all of this in the first place. Belle blushed, looking down at her feet and feeling suddenly awful.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have assumed –"

"I'm not a monster, darling," he interrupted. Belle let the new term of endearment go without drawing attention to it. "Well, not in that way. I would never force you to – I'll help you through this."

Belle nodded, still staring at her feet, too embarrassed to meet his eye. Of course he would never force her to do anything against her will. She was a fool for even contemplating it.

"I'll go get to work on that potion," he said quietly, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together nervously. "You should stay off your feet. No more cleaning for now, I think."

He turned on his heel and disappeared from the room. Belle sat down heavily at the large dining room table, her head spinning. She had so much to think about, but all she could focus on was the sad look on his face as she'd berated him.