"Papa can we go to the library after lunch?" Bae asked his father as he slurped on the last of his chocolate milkshake.

"We were only there this morning" His father complained as he nibbled on a chip that he'd not so subtly taken from his son's plate as the young boy had complained that he was full, something that was becoming impossible these days as he was a growing young boy so it seemed only granny's burger and fries would do.

"But Belle might be missing us" the boy almost complained.

"Or" Gold started, leaning across the booth, his elbow on the table "She might be getting sick of us?" he suggested half teasing and the other half were his real insecure surfacing.

It had been almost a year since Mr Gold and his son had moved to the town of Storybrooke after the elder Gold had discovered the sleepy mining and fishing village while being on a road trip with the beautiful women in the golden dress.

It had almost been a year since she had joined them in the little town and she and Gold had been in a relationship since. Bae and Belle had instantly hit it off and the little boy had been smitten ever since, splitting his time after and out of school at the library, pawnshop or with his best friend Emma Noland.

Gold was worried though, with all the time Belle spent with he and his son that perhaps it was too much, that she might be bored, might have felt tied down. He'd grown to know her and one big part of her was that she liked to be free, she wanted to travel, to decide her own fate. He just felt guilty that he might be hindering her chance of doing so.

"Nah!" Bae's almost musical giggle brought him back to reality. "Belle loves us" he assured his father, a hint of laughter still in his voice.

"You think?" Gold asked as he took the last sip of his cup of tea.

"She told me so" Bae assured his pap. Gold couldn't help but smile, had she really told her son that she loved him? what else had she told the eleven year old?

"So can we go to the library?" Bae asked once again.

"Sure" Gold nodded, "Why don't we bring her some lunch?" he suggested.

"Yeah!" Bae leapt up from his spot in the booth and made his way to the counter to make Belle's order.

...C\_'/...

"Bless you" Belle mumbled as her two favourite boys walked into the library. The library had slowly been growing in popularity since she'd finally opened seven months ago and now it was busier than ever, sometimes she wished she could hire an assistant, just someone to take over so she could have five minutes to herself, to grab something to eat or to breath.

"Belle!" Bae beamed as he made his way over to his father's girlfriend, his arms open for a hug. The brunet beauty hugged the little boy close, he was just so sweet, so good natured but also so brave, so like his father.

Belle looked over to Gold, he gave her an uncharacteristic soft smile that he saved for just her and his son. "We brought you lunch" he spoke, offering her the brown paper bag from Granny's.

"Bae" the little boy turned to find Emma running towards him from in between a stack of books."I found the comic book you were after" she said grabbing the boys arm and dragging him in the direction of where she had just been.

Gold snickered to himself before going to stand next to Belle "Long day?" he asked her.

"Very" Belle sighed as she opened the bag of food he'd bought her "Thank you" she smiled "How's the shop?"

Gold sighed "Slow as usual, people only come in when they want me to do something for them"

The beauty shook her head "It's just the dark reputation you seem to have acquired" she told him.

"I do not have a dark reputation" Gold almost laughed. in response the librarian just realised a perfectly manicured eyebrow, "Maybe a little one" he then added.

"At least Bae and I know what a bug softy on the inside" she grinned, running a hand don his shirt covered chest.

He caught her hand and brought it to his lips "Now I wouldn't want you to go spreading rumours' of such things around town" he told her with a grin.

"Well how will you stop me from doing so?" she grinned, leaning up on her tip toes so that her face is millimetres from him.

"Oh I think I have some powers of persuasion" he said suggestively moving so his lips covered hers.

"Papa can I get this book?... I mean I know you let me take one out this morning but I really want it" Bae's voice made the two adults jump apart from one another.

Gold cleared his throat a couple "Of course Bae" he gave him a small smile before turning to the librarian "That's okay...right Belle"

"Yes, I'll just check you out...I mean the book" she smoothed down the creases in her dress before taking the book that the little boy offered before doing her magic on the computer.

"Thanks belle" Bae grinned as she handed him back the book.

"Come on Son, we have to get back to the shop and you have homework to do" Gold told his son with a smile as he tried to lead the boy out of the door.

Just as they were about to walk out of the door Bae turned to the brunette beauty "See you this evening Belle" he called to her.

"Well I..." Belle began, she had dinner with the two Gold men and stayed over often enough, in fact she found herself at the pink house more than she did her own apartment but it still felt weird, she didn't live there but she did, it wasn't home but it was in so many ways.

"He's making lasagne and you know how good that is" Bae almost begged.

"I'll bring dessert" she suggested.

"Ice cream?" the boy asked with big eyes.

"Of course" she grinned ruffling his hair. she then leant forward and did the brave thing and kissed Robert Gold on the lips in his son's presents. Gold was shocked by the peck on the lips so he almost forgot that Bae was present. The boy in question just giggled before dragging his father away. After all he had homework to do.

...C\_'/...

"He plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg went in; and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard with both hand that he tore himself in two" Belle finished reading before closing the leather book in her lap.

"Thanks for reading me a story" Bae said stifling a yawn as he snuggled further into his bed, the one she'd just tucked him into "You always know that the story of Rumplestiltskin is my favourite" he spoke once again yawning.

"Any time Bae, you know that" she told him, getting up from her place at the end of his bed, moving so she could kiss his forehead good night but his voice stopped her.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked.

"Mhmm" she replied as she tucked the blankets around the boy so he was comfy.

"Are you sick of Me and Papa?" his big eyes were deep brown, like a pool of chocolate, so dark but then with just flickers of light, just like his father's. Normally she couldn't resist their charm but she could see the genuine worry and sadness behind the darkness and it worried her.

"Of course not, never" she brushed his hair back from his face.

"You sure?" he asked her with a slight pout.

"More than sure, I promise that no matter what, I will always love you, both of you, forever" she assured pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"I love you too" Bae assured Belle. Since going to live with his dad a year ago he hadn't seen his mother, he'd spoken to her on the phone and got cards for his birthday and Christmas but lately Belle had been so much more of a mother to him and also had made his dad happy, something that hadn't truly happened in a long time.

"What made you ask such a thing?" she wondered, looking at him with warm, soft blue eyes.

"Papa said that if we kept spending time with you that you'd get sick of us" he told her innocently.

"Well I'll be sure to let him know so he never thinks something so foolish ever again" she assured "Now you sleep tight" she told him as she made her way to the door, turning on his night light on and shutting the door just as the boy fell asleep.

A few moments later and Belle found Gold sitting in the living room, flicking through the channels but coming up empty so turned the TV off and threw the remote on the coffee table. "How many stories did you want you to read him?" He asked as she came and sat down next to him on the leather sofa.

She admired him for a moment, he looked so much better with the jacket, tie and waste coat discarded and with his top button undone. So much more relaxed and at home, she wished more people than she and Bae got a chance to see him in his natural state.

"Just one" she told him as she leant against his shoulder.

His arm snaked around her shoulders so his thumb could rub up and down her arm in a soothing manor. "You ok?" he asked, the feeling that she had something on her mind, something she wanted to say.

"Yeah" she gave him a sigh, "It's just something Bae said" she began, her eyes meeting his "He said that you thought i was getting sick or bored of you both" she continued.

"Ah" Gold leant his head back for a moment "I just meant that...Well... you...I don't want you to be tied down by me and Bae" he took a breath "It's my fault that you're here...That your stuck here...I just assumed..." he was rambling like he did so often around her, his track of thought never clear around her. "My point is that I understand if you want to leave, to see the world...go on another adventure"

Belle shook her head "I don't want to leave... to go on an adventure" she told him as she shifted from his side to straddle his lap, her hands braced on his shoulders. "I love you" she finally admitted it to him "You and Bae are more than enough of an adventure and your what I want, both of you" she assured him, pecking him on the lips quickly.

Gold smiled, pulling her into a hug, relief leaving him, all his doubts washing away, "I love you too" he assured her.

"You saved me" she told him as she shifted once more to sit in his lap "I knew when I saw your Cadillac parked there that it was meant to rescue me, that you would take me from the life I almost had and show me the light"

"Oh Belle" He shook his head "You don't understand, i lost everything that day, my house, my job, my money, most importantly my son...I almost drank from that bottle of whiskey, I was in such a dark place and then when I was back there again on the dock, you kept to you promise and stopped me from going back and becoming the man I once had been" he confessed, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

"We are both different people than we were then" she told him "We are both chipped, but the best things are" she grinned as she looked at their chipped cup on top of the mantel piece.

Belle once again spent the night and did spend many nights after there under the same roof as he two favourite Gold men. Eventually maybe he would ask her to live with them perhaps even ask her to marry him, maybe Bae would get a sister and perhaps Belle and her father would reconcile. No one knew for certain what the future held but they were sure it would be full of fun and adventure. All they were sure was that the world would just keep spinning.

AN: Thank you all for reading, I hope you liked this story and were satisfied with the ending.

Also I'd like to say that the story that Belle reads to Bae actually belongs to the fairy tale of Rumplestiltskin that I got from the leather bound edition of the grim fairy tales I got for christmas.