Dilly Dilly

By: RosexKnight

Belle and Rumple share some fluffy domestic times after their wedding.

"Easy, Ruby. Not so tight."

"Sorry." Ruby said with a frown as she laced up the corset. "I forget."

Belle gave a giggle as her friend tied the knot, stepping back to survey her handiwork. Belle's hair had been braided softly, letting the back fall in soft curls. The corset was tied loosely with a silk ribbon, but was still form-fitting. The skirt cascaded down in petals, making Belle herself look like a beautiful rose.

The princess worried her bottom lip. "Think he'll like it?"

Ruby laughed. "A bit late to be wondering that isn't it?"

Belle gave her a playful swat on the shoulder as Ruby giggled. She had a point though. The wedding day was not the time to question the dress.

"In all honesty I think you could appear in rags and he wouldn't mind." Ruby said, adjusting her own skirt.

"If it were up to him we would just elope." Belle said, moving away from the mirror to sit on the bed.

"It worked for Gaston and I."

"My father would have killed me."

"Well I think-"

Just then there was a knock on the door, and Ruby went tense for a moment before relaxing. "Come in."

The door opened and Baelfire bounded in, Granny shortly behind him. The boy was dressed in his formal wear, and that alone almost brought a tear to Belle's eye.

"Mama you're so pretty." He said, coming to hug her. "Everything is ready outside."

"Good." Belle said with a sigh of relief.

"How are you feeling?" Granny asked. "Any sickness?"

Belle shook her head, running a hand over her stomach. "I'm queasy, but I don't think it's from the baby."

Ruby barked out a laugh. "You look like you're expecting him to bolt from the altar the moment he sees you."

"He might." Belle muttered. "He's run before..."

"He thought you'd say that." Bae said, digging in his pocket for something. He produced a blue handkerchief. "I'm supposed to give this to you. Something blue."

Belle gasped softly as she ran her fingers over the silk. Embroidered on the fabric was a perfect "B & R, the letters and symbol linked around each other, becoming one.

"He did this?" She asked, running her fingers over the smooth thread. Unlike his last attempt at embroidery, the thread was perfectly smooth, the letters crisp. "No magic?"

"No magic." Baelfire said, and Belle pulled him in for a hug, trying not to let the tears fall. "You ready, mama?"

"Yes. Always."

This, Belle could get used to. She stirred lightly, snuggled up in bed with a strong arm draped over her, husband curled around her, protecting her from the outside world. From anything. Husband. The thought still made her smile, even a month and a half after the wedding. He felt her stir, pulling her closer. It was not yet light out. It must have been the middle of the night, and yet…

"Rumple?"

He hummed against her hair, a hand splaying across her tummy where a small bump was already forming.

"I'm hungry." He hummed again, this time the end pitching up in question. "Chocolate pudding."

"As you wish, princess." Rumpelstiltskin teased, lifting his hand.

Belle felt the twinge of magic she'd grown accustomed to months ago and shook her head. "No magic. Makes it taste funny."

Rumpelstiltskin frowned. "Chocolate pudding?"

Belle nodded, turning to face him in the bed as she looked up at him with a smile. "Please?"

One of these day he'd be able to say no to her. Truly. Probably not. "Anything for my wife." He said, kissing her on the forehead and getting out of bed.

Belle hummed happily and snuggled back into her pillows, drifting back off to sleep.

The moment his feet hit the floor, Rumpelstiltskin realized just how tired he was. That was odd. He almost never got tired. Perhaps it was sleeping with Belle at his side. He hadn't slept through the night, but the sleep he got with her in his arms was the best sleep he'd gotten in years.

Once again he found himself thinking that girl must be charmed.

The kitchen was not something he was incredibly familiar with, but the magic of the castle had already thought ahead, supplying him with the necessary ingredients to make chocolate pudding. This, at least, was one of Belle's more tame cravings. Where in all the realms had she tried a star fruit before anyway? It was no wonder he was so tired with having to run around at all hours of the night fulfilling Belle's cravings. Not that it was a bad thing. And she often made the excursions most worth it. But honestly how did she expect him to get half these things with no magic at all?

As the concoction in the pot started to take form, Rumpelstiltskin heard the pad of footsteps on the stairs. His son appeared at the doorway of the kitchen.

"Papa?" He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Making chocolate pudding." Rumpelstiltskin deadpanned.

Baelfire blinked. "But it's not even light out. Why are you making chocolate pudding?"

"Because I've lost control of my life."

The tower was often Rumpelstiltskin's safe haven. Had been for quite some time. He was able to think up there. Focus. Wasn't distracted by his son or four-month pregnant wife. Wife. Somehow it was still unbelievable, even to him. Belle had married him. And yet, there was still a niggling in the back of his mind that she'd leave. Even now, with his ring on her finger and their child growing inside of her the doubt was able to squirm its way into his mind, its voices whispering that he'd make up one day and she'd be gone, their child with her.

A soft voice drifted into the tower. Faint, but absolutely unmistakable as a song. Putting down his potion bottle, Rumpelstiltskin was powerless to do anything but follow it down the stairs and into the library where Belle was sitting lack on one of the many sofas there, stroking her growing belly with Baelfire beside her, eyes looking fascinated as his hand rested on it as well.

"Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue…" Belle was singing. "If you love me, dilly dilly I will love you. Let the-"

"I felt her!" Baelfire exclaimed happily, just a bit of wonder in his eyes. "She kicked!"

And all at once the spinner was frozen in place, realizing the gravity of his doubts. Even if she left he'd never be able to let go. He'd hunt her down. Drag her back. Make her-

"Rumple?" Belle's voice snapped him away from his dark thoughts, his eyes clearing and falling on Belle, who was already reaching out to him. "Do you want to feel your daughter?"

"How...how do you know…?"

"Snow White sent us a gypsy charm." She explained. "It wasn't wrong with her daughter."

"I'm gonna have a sister, papa!" Bae beamed.

"You...She's moving?"

"Come feel." Belle beckoned again.

Rumpelstiltskin stepped forward, taking a seat beside Belle. She took his hand, positioning it on her belly. He'd touched it countless times, of course. Wasn't able to keep his hands off of her. Yet now, with the baby moving, it all seemed far too real.

"Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green…" Belle began to sing, softer than before, the moment made all the more intimate. "If I am king, dilly dilly you shall be queen. Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so? 'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly that told me so…"

Belle continued the lullaby, and by the third verse the baby had kicked his hand twice. Rumpelstiltskin was frozen with awe, body trembling as he felt the tears trickle at his eyes. Belle's hand moved, stroking through his hair comfortingly.

"Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue. If you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you." She leaned over, her forehead touching his head, her hands resting over his on her belly and in his hair. Baelfire moved, coming under Belle's arm to rest his cheek on his new mama's chest. The Dark One had never felt more whole. "Let the birds sing, dilly dilly and the lambs play. We will be safe, dilly dilly, out of harm's way…"

"No." Belle said simply.

"It's a perfectly good name." Rumpelstiltskin defended.

They were sitting across from each other in The Great Hall. A rather lengthy list of names was stretched between them. Rumpelstiltskin's latest suggestion had just been marked out.

"Your family had a perchant for odd names don't they?" Belle teased lightly, "I don't see what's wrong with 'Colette,'"

"She'll be the daughter of The Dark One. She must have a name befitting of that. 'Colette' is far too plain. No offense to your mother."

Belle rolled her eyes. This seemed to be the only thing they couldn't agree on. And the longer it dragged the more prickly her husband got.

"Well which one do you suggest?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

Belle sighed, looking over the list once again. The dozens of names had been narrowed down to only three, and it was a tough decision. She wanted the name to be unique as well, of course, but also sweet. Feminine. Giselle, Colette, something of the like. And yet there was one name from his half of the list that stuck out to her. One she always seemed to come back to.

"That one." She said, pointing to the name layed out in his handwriting.

"That one?" He asked, eyebrows quirked, as if surprised by her choice.

She smirked, leaning forward. "Do you have any objections, my spinner?"

Rumpelstiltskin chuckled, shaking his head. "Of course not, my princess."

And then he was moving, stepping around to her side of the table and kneeling before her. This was one of his favorite positions. It gave him the perfect view of her. Of their child. And even though a darker part of him hated being on his knees before anyone, with Belle's fingers in his hair he was able to push those thoughts away. He leaned forward, pressing his lips against her tummy. Only three more months and he'd have a daughter.

"You stay safe in there. Come see us when you're ready." He whispered. "Your Mama and Papa and brother love you so much already, my dear Eilonwy..."

Belle smiled, tugging him up, beckoning him to her for a kiss. "I love you, Rumpelstiltskin."

"I love you too, Belle." He said against her lips, kissing her once again.

And even if his leg began to hurt from the kneeling, he paid it no mind. Because any pain was worth it, for her.