12 Years Ago
When Mr. Gold was told my his wife that she wanted to adopt, he had played her little whim. He knew that she was unhappy, ill content about the small town boring life that he'd taken her to. She'd been a Brooklyn woman when he married her. They'd met in a law office, both knew it wasn't love. IT was companionship and then they moved here. She got to be mayor, he owned the land she ruled. IT was a beneficial arrangement.
Regina bored easily though, which gave him no endless amount of frustration at her restlessness. He was not a sentimental man. If she was bored, she could leave and go back home. He had little care.
Until she got this idea in her head that she would be happy if she had a child. He made his calls, he got the papers she would need. The more the time passed, the more she talked about it. So he took other means that weren't so legal. He doubted Regina would care, but he kept it from her. The mother wanted nothing to do with the baby. No one would look for him. Somehow he ended up with an illegal adoption service. Gold paid an obscene amount of money to get him for his wife.
Anything to make her happy. If she was happy, she would stop talking about this over and over.
And if she got bored with him as fast as she got bored with everyone else, then he'd just sell the baby. He didn't want anything to do with this adoption business. At the least, he would be a distant father. This wasn't what he wanted, but it was what his wife wanted. They led separate lives practically anyway.
She brought the baby home, she named him Henry. It had taken Gold a long time to remember that it was supposed to be named after his father-in-law that he had never met.
Showed how much he cared.
Then the baby started crying. Constantly. Gold had forgotten they did that. Regina hadn't seemed to EVER realize they did that because she was surprised every time.
And it was a constant thing. Regina had blamed the baby at first, then she was in the belief that something was wrong with the baby. She wanted all the specialists. Gold ignored her. Babies were babies. They cried. He'd just spent 9 months inside a woman's womb only to be separated from her at birth. He was in an environment his tiny undeveloped brain didn't understand.
"I need sleep," Regina walked into the shop and put the baby carrier down in front of him.
Gold stared at the sleeping baby, "And what am I supposed to do about that?"
Regina huffed, "I need you to watch Henry."
Gold raised his eyebrows, "What am I supposed to do with THAT?"
"I don't know! Figure it out! He cries all the time! He never sleeps."
"He's sleeping now!"
"And so I'm going to as well!"
Gold huffed, "This was NOT our agreement. I was not to be involved."
"You're his adopted father, you're involved no matter how much you don't want to. What are you going to do when he's older and wants to play ball with his dad?"
Gold didn't care what he was going to say next, "I'm sure your sheriff or your journalist can fill in."
Regina stopped, and narrowed his eyes, "Watch him. Please."
She didn't give him time to argue, before she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.
Gold sighed and took Henry to the back office to sleep. He didn't want anyone coming in and seeing the baby. That would mean they would think he was softening up. It would mean they would think he could.
Twenty minutes after his mother left, the baby started crying. Gold considered taking him right back to his sleeping wife and putting him back in her care. He watched him. He did his job.
But that would mean having to walk in the cool weather. Gold wasn't in the mood for that.
So he unbuckled him out of the carrier and lifted him up. There was no bottle, Regina probably managed to feed him. He didn't smell, so there was no need to change his diaper. He was just crying to cry.
"There you are, little one. What's wrong with you?" Gold held the boy to his chest, "Do you just want attention?"
Henry cried louder. Attention it was, then.
There was a bed in the back, for when he wanted to nap in his office. He went to lay down with the baby laying on his chest..
Henry cried for about ten more minutes before finally settling down to sleep on Gold's chest.
And now he was stuck laying here with a baby he never wanted but bought to make a wife he didn't even much like or love happy.
What was his life?
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Present Day
In the morning, Rumplestiltskin got up before Regina and found Emma leaning in the doorway in their son's empty room. She was staring at the empty unmade bed. He watched as she chewed on her thumbnail and shifted.
He came up behind her, unsure of what to do until she leaned back on him. He wrapped his arm around her.
"He's spending a lot of time with Neal," was all she said.
"It IS his father."
"I know, it's just….feels like I just got him back yesterday and then he's running off again."
"Sharing is difficult enough for split parents. I know how you feel with having to share him with multiple partners."
"The time's flying, and soon he's going to be grown and I missed so much in his early life."
He held her tighter, he buried his face in her hair, "I wasn't a good father, Regina was….a difficult mother. But he was smart. He was exceptional. He survived in spite us."
"Regina doesn't talk about it too much."
"She's ashamed. She's just starting to understand what what she did meant."
Emma looked back over to the bed, "Was his life so bad?"
"There were happy times. He used to be at the opposite end of the house when he got here. I didn't want anything like him near me when he was a baby. But slowly…Gold wanted to pretend he softened….Regina moved him closer. His first word was book, you know. I was there for that. He pointed to the phone and said it. It took a bit of work. He was walking younger than most babies too. He smiled at me, you know. A lot. I was still a terrible father, I felt nothing for him. It was part of my curse."
Emma felt a tear run down her face, "He deserved better."
"Yes," Rumplestiltskin kissed her ear gently, "So did you."
Emma stared at the room as she felt her husband interlink her fingers with his and start to pull her gently. Emma followed. On the way, she slipped her feet into heels. Belle was finding out the gender of her baby. It was wordlessly decided all of them were going to be there.
After all, whatever Belle decided, they were all the mothers to a point
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For SOME reason, Whale had decided that all the wives couldn't be in the room, which was MOST offensive for everyone involved. Cruella even wore one of her better furs for this occasion. They were left in the waiting room giving their protests as Rumple and Belle were led to the back.
"This might be cold," Whale warned Belle as he put the gel on her belly. It was clear that he was uneasy about having to do this. Rumple had only wanted the best to handle his wives. That was not the nurses. The nurses had kept Belle shut away in the insane asylum for years.
So had Regina. That was something he was still working to forgive. He could ignore it, because it was the best for his marriages, but that didn't mean he was remotely okay with what she'd done.
Belle winced at the cold, Rumple nearly came out of his chair. She didn't want to be here as it was. Most of the time he made Whale come to the house to give her an examination. There were a lot of issues she still had with the hospital. Things that only he and Maleficent knew about.
Belle took his hand, "It's okay, Rumple."
It wasn't. But he settled down for her sake. He sat down and took her hand in his. She was there for the baby. He had to remind himself of that. And he was here for both of them.
Whale put the wand against her belly. Belle shifted a bit, Rumple went to put his hand on her face, "It's alright, sweetheart."
"I know."
Whale looked for a few moments, "That's the head, there's the heartbeat, it looks strong, it's healthy."
All things they wanted to hear. Rumple had already lost so much. He missed raising Bae and Lily, his own curse kept him from wanting to interact with his adopted son for years….and Belle, Belle had lost too much too.
Whale moved the wand down her belly, "It's a girl!"
The room was plunged into silence for a few moments as they both processed what was said.
A baby girl!
Rumple laughed for his wife, Belle met him halfway and kissed him passionately.
They were going to have a daughter! A beautiful baby girl, how could something like that come from something like him?
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too," Belle told him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
They were gonna have a baby daughter!
He wiped the gel off Belle's stomach gently and helped her get dressed. He held her hand as they walked down the hallway. Belle was discussing names. They would name it after her mother obviously, but there was the matter of the middle name. Rumple was NOT about to give his daughter his mother's name in any context but that didn't matter for now.
His wife pushed open the door that led to the waiting room. They were all there; his wives, his children. All dressed up to celebrate with them for whatever the turnout was.
"It's a girl!" Rumple beamed.
His family rushed forward. Mal and Bae both hugged him tightly. He returned the embrace and watched as the rest of them went to crowd around Belle. She relaxed at them surrounding her; a cocoon of safety making her forget where she was.
One by one, they went to hug Rumple as well. He returned their embraces. They left as a family; they were going to lunch at Luigi's. It was a time to celebrate.
"Your'e quiet," he told Cruella as they walked down the stairs.
"I feel there's something I have to tell you," she looked at him, "But I've forgotten."
"Must not have been important," he told her.
"I'm sure it'll come to me," she muttered.