accio-firewhiskey said:
Adoption prompt: Bae misses having enough alone time with Belle
anonymousnerdgirl said:
Adoption verse!prompt: Gold isn't sure when his nightly phone calls with Belle became a part of his routine, but he's never felt more alone than when they skip one.
It had been decades since Gold had given much thought to summer. He'd always been more of a fan of cool weather, and school years ran January to December back home. By the time he'd lived someplace where summer breaks had been a 'thing' he'd been married and crippled. He'd gone on vacations before, of course, early on in his marriage. But generally those were either early or late in the season, when attractions were less crowded and children were in school. He had absolutely not been prepared for the sheer amount of time Bae was available to him during the summer. It took all of his willpower to open his shop at all knowing that he could instead be visiting with his son.
Belle was really great about it, too. He suspected at least part of it was her relief at having a reliable place to leave him so she could work, but he decided not to question it when he was allowed to have Bae at the shop with him for a little while in the afternoons or spend an evening with the two of them.
He was even spending more time with Belle than before which had come as a bit of a shock. After their Father's Day weekend phone calls, they'd reached a new routine – the parent he was staying with would call the other one after his bedtime and discuss his day and any new developments. Belle was making a concerted effort to involve him more in Bae's life which he found he couldn't really express his feelings about because they mostly involved grinning like a loon.
Until one day, it didn't happen. He went through his day as usual, shutting up shop around five and returning home. They'd already planned on him not coming over for dinner that night, as Bae had a meeting with his therapist and an appointment with the tutor Gold had hired for his dyslexia that evening, but he had still assumed that Belle would call him.
He was on pins and needles waiting, but Bae's bedtime came and went with nary a sound from his phone (and he'd checked about once every thirty seconds). Nine came and went, then so did ten and as the clock crept closer and closer to eleven with no word from Belle he began to panic. What if there had been an accident? What if Belle and Bae were in the hospital right now? What if he never had another chance to see them again? Would anyone tell him? Was he listed on any paperwork?
His throat was threatening to close as he finally lunged for his phone, finding Belle in his contact list and hitting the call button. The phone rang twice before sending him to voicemail, and he damn near threw his phone against the wall before the text notification went off.
Sorry, I'll call back in a few to explain.
He stared at the text on the screen as though it would suddenly rearrange itself into something that made sense, but no explanation was forthcoming. It was another twenty minutes before the phone range and Belle's name flashed on his screen. He nearly dropped the phone in his haste to hit the talk button.
"Belle?" he said into the phone, rather than hello.
"Hey," she said softly. "Sorry I didn't call earlier, it's been kind of a weird night."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine," she sounded apologetic now. "I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to worry you."
He could feel himself beginning to lose his temper but he couldn't stop the explosion that was coming.
"Oh no, I wasn't worried at all," he snapped sarcastically. "Just because the mother of my child doesn't contact me all day and I have no way of knowing if they're alive or dead in a ditch someplace why would I worry? In fact, I've never been more relaxed in my life!"
The line was silent for a few minutes, and Gold felt the anger begin to drain from him leaving him simply sad.
"Are you finished?" she finally said. Her voice was lacking all the happiness that he had become used to hearing when they spoke.
"Yeah," he finally said. "Where were you today?"
"I was spending the day with Bae," she said. "In the car he asked me if I could keep a secret and then told me he missed spending time alone just the two of us. I didn't want to interfere with any of our family plans this week, so he and I spent the evening playing boardgames and eating pizza. He just went to bed when I called you."
"Oh," he put his hand over his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He was such an idiot, he'd been with them every day for months. Of course Bae missed his mother.
"Yeah," she snapped. "Is that a good enough excuse for you?"
"You still should have let me know when I didn't hear from you," he mumbled.
He heard her take a deep breath and let it out slowly on the other end.
"You're right," she replied. "I should have texted you. The thing is, I'm not used to needing to account for how I raise my child to anyone else. We're doing a good job with this coparenting, but it's still awkward as hell for me sometimes."
"I want to be more than a dinner and weekend dad, you know," he said finally. "I don't want you to have to explain yourself but I'd like to at least be involved."
"I know," he could hear the resignation in her voice. "Believe me, I do. I'm just not really sure how to go about doing that. I like you and all, and I'm glad you're his dad, but it's hard to be a team when I spend all day with him by myself."
"I could take him more often," he replied. "Split the custody up more evenly at least until school starts."
"But then we're still back to one of us being alone with him all the time," she pointed out. "And quite frankly, we're getting to a point in this where he's going to have to start living by regular rules at your house. I can't always be the bad guy, and you can't be the fun dad if you're going to be more than a weekend dad. That's not how it works."
They were both quiet for a long moment, Gold was tense and exhausted and just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a week. He and Belle hadn't had an argument since the first day he appeared on her doorstep, and he found he didn't like it at all. She'd somehow become his closest friend in the last few months, possibly the best friend he'd ever had. Having her upset with him felt like being stabbed. He searched frantically for an answer to their problem, some solution he could offer to solve this problem.
"What if we went away together?" he finally blurted out.
"What?"
"As a family," he clarified. "You, me, and Bae. A family vacation. We could share the parenting responsibilities for a week or two and come up with a system that worked for when we got back. He'd be with both of us all the time."
"Arthur..." she sounded unconvinced.
"This could really work," he insisted. "You wouldn't have to be the bad guy and I could get used to being in charge of enforcing rules but you'd be there if there was a problem. And I'd pay for the whole thing."
She sighed.
"All the same problems would just be waiting for us when we got back."
"Not necessarily. Most parents at least live together for a few years before they end up raising a child separately, we never had that. This would at least be some kind of foundation we could build on and it's a lot less pressure than one of us staying in the other one's home."
"Alright," she said after a minute. "A family vacation it is. We can work out the details tomorrow and then tell Bae at dinner."
"Thank you, Belle," he felt the relief flooding through him at her acquiescence.
"Don't thank me yet," she said. "You've never spent a week in a hotel room with a ten-year-old before."
"I'll get a suite," he suggested. "Bae can have his own room and everything."
"Wow," she said, her voice was back to cheerful but he could sense the slight exhaustion behind it that mirrored his own. "If I'd known you were going to offer a nice hotel I might have suggested you take us on vacation a few weeks ago."
"Anything for the mother of my child," he said a bit flirtatiously, hoping to get a giggle out of her and he wasn't disappointed. "But seriously, Belle, I would do anything for you. Even if it's just backing off for a little bit."
It would kill him to do it, but he would back off if she asked. As much as he valued his relationship with his son, he valued his son's continuing happiness more and that was entirely dependent on Belle.
"I wouldn't ever ask that," she said, sounding mildly affronted by the suggestion. "Bae loves you, and you love him. You should be in his life. I just think it's time we start acting more like partners and less like you're my babysitter. And that goes for my behavior, too."
"Well, when you put it that way who am I to argue?"
"Yeah," she said softly. "Hey, it's getting kind of late. I'll call you tomorrow at lunch so we can talk about this then?"
"Sounds good," he replied. "I am sorry I lost my temper with you."
"No, no it's fine. I'm sorry I worried you. I should have at least let you know I'd be calling late."
"Don't worry about it," he said. "We just have a lot to deal with right now."
"Yeah," she sighed. "We really do. Maybe I should make an appointment with Dr. Hopper for myself."
"I'm not even going to touch that one," he replied. "But anyway, you were going to bed. Sleep well, dearie."
"You too," and he could hear the smile in her voice. "Goodnight, Arthur."
"Goodnight, Belle."
