Golden Miracles
A Once Gold Standard fic
Snapegirlkmf
A/N: Dedicated to all the Rumbelle fans who hope this happens. . . and Robert Carlyle and Emilie de Ravin, of course!
Don't own, dearies!
1
False Alarm
Belle was resting with her feet up on the couch and her head in Rumple's lap about three days after the incident with Rumple and Regina in Clark's Pharmacy when she felt a twinge in her lower back. She was very comfortable with her head on Rumple and snuggled underneath her quilt made for her by Nonna and the Tessaro women and so she ignored the pain at first.
There was a fire crackling in the grate and Nala was purring happily on her chest like a furry carburetor, her little body vibrating with purrs. The Christmas tree was still up and lit with the 1200 lights Belle had placed on it, making it so bright that Rumple almost didn't need a lamp to read by. Their collie puppy, Freya, was asleep on the hearth, with a blue ball beside her little nose.
The old Victorian was very quiet, since Alina and Jimmy were with Henry down at the stables, helping him groom and feed his buckskin horse, Arion. Rhea, Jack, Will, and Jess Sparrow had gone back to the Black Pearl for three days or so to make certain the ship was not under attack or worse from the Jolly Roger and to get some things from Rhea's tower to fortify Storybrooke against the invasion by Cora Miller and her zombie army.
That being so, Rumple and Belle were taking advantage of the quiet to relax with each other and Rumple was carding Belle's hair while reading aloud to her from The Crimson Thread.
Belle found her husband's hand and his voice so soothing that she felt her eyes start to close, despite the fact that she wanted to hear what happened in the story. She had just slipped into that twilight state between awake and asleep when her back twinged again.
Hissing softly, she shifted slightly, or tried to, but it wasn't easy with Nala atop her and her belly with its double burden weighing her down.
"Something the matter, dearie?" her husband asked solicitously.
"Just . . . a cramp in my lower back," she muttered. She was about three weeks from her official due date and was getting tired of being so huge and uncomfortable.
"Want me to massage it?" he asked softly.
"I don't know if you could reach it," Belle sighed.
"Maybe not with my hand, but I could with magic," he suggested.
"No, it's okay, Rumple. It's just a twinge. Keep reading, please."
Rumple nodded and kept on reading.
Fifteen minutes later, Belle was grimacing as the twinges kept getting more pronounced. The pain was starting to move around her back to her abdomen. In regular waves.
Frowning, Belle shifted again. It had been a long time since she had been pregnant, and couldn't really recall much of that time when she'd been carrying Alina because most of it had been focused on trying to keep her zealot father, Maurice, from locking her up or arguing with her about getting rid of her unborn child. But she thought her labor had begun just like this.
When the contractions kept coming with distressing regularity, she nudged Rumple and muttered, "Rumple . . . I think I'm in labor."
At first Gold didn't quite register what she was saying, involved as he was in reading the story, but then the word "labor" intruded into his narrative. "What did you say, Belle?"
"I said . . . I think I'm in labor."
Rumple's eyes widened in alarm and a frisson of anxiety shot through him like a jolt of lightning. "Umm . . . are you sure?"
Belle nodded, putting a hand on her belly. "They're . . . pretty regular, Rumple."
"How far apart are they?" he asked, trying to remain calm and recall what he had learned in their childbirthing classes.
"Umm . . . let me time them . . ." Belle looked at the blue leather watch on her wrist and started trying to do so.
On her chest, Nala woke and began kneading her sleepily.
Strangely, Belle didn't seem to mind the cat doing this. She concentrated, then said about fifteen minutes later, "Rumple, they're about fifteen minutes apart."
"Okay, dearie. Let's call Dr. Jo and tell her," he said, and summoned his cell.
Two minutes later he was speaking with their OB/GYN's answering service, who told them to go to the hospital for a labor check, since the doctor was on call there.
Gold gently removed Nala from Belle and put her on the couch, then helped his wife up and into her coat. He summoned her overnight bag from their bedroom and put it into the car, it had already been packed just in case days before. He warmed up the Cadillac and was glad that Jimmy had re-shoveled the driveway and the walk so he didn't have to worry about Belle falling when he helped her over to the car.
Ten minutes later he helped Belle into the passenger side and backed out of the driveway. Luckily the hospital was only ten minutes away, like everything here in Storybrooke from his house.
They arrived at Storybrooke General and went to the ER, where they were quickly ushered into a room and several minutes later they were seen by Dr. Jo, who was in her green scrubs, having just finished a case twenty minutes before.
"Hello, Belle! Hello, Rumple!" she greeted them. "My service tells me you think your twins are making an appearance rather early."
"I've been having pains for about half-an-hour now," Belle told her.
"Hmm . . . let me check and see if you're dilated," Dr. Jo said, and went to pull on some gloves.
Rumple looked at Belle uneasily. "Perhaps I'd better step outside for a minute, dearie." He usually wasn't present in the beginning of Belle's exams, only for the sonograms.
"Go on," Belle waved him away. "Things won't really start happening yet."
"When they do, let me know," Rumple said. "I'll be right outside here." He left the curtained room and stood in the ER hallway, fighting the need to pace up and down.
Five minutes later, Dr. Jo came out and said, "It's okay, Rumple. You can go back in and take her home."
"Why? Isn't she in labor?"
"No, it was a false alarm, honey. Those were Braxton Hicks contractions, false labor pains that women get a few weeks before they deliver. She's stopped having them, and she's not dilating any. Your babies have decided to wait a bit longer, I'm afraid." She patted Rumple's arm soothingly. "Sorry, Papa."
Rumple sighed. "Oh. I was sort of hoping . . ."
"I know. But all babies come in their own time."
He nodded. "You'd know better than anyone, wouldn't you?" He had a great respect for Dr. Jo, who had been a sorceress midwife back in Fairy Tale Land, and had lost a daughter to the Ogre Wars.
Dr. Jo chuckled. "Yes, I sure would. Call me if you need me, Rumple."
"I will. Have a good evening, dearie," Rumple bid her good night and then he and Belle returned home.
"I'm so sorry, Rumple," Belle apologized as they drove back. "I really thought I was in labor."
"Don't be sorry, dearie," Rumple soothed. "It happens. Sometimes your body can fool you. Next time we'll just wait a bit longer before we call Dr. Jo and go over to the hospital."
They arrived back home and Rumple went upstairs with Belle and gave her a soothing massage with some lavender oil, rubbing all the kinks out of her lower back with his sensitive fingers.
"How's that? Good?"
"Mmm . . ." Belle groaned as she lay on her side while Rumple worked his magic with his touch. "That feels so great, Rumple!" She tucked her arm under her head and closed her eyes, reveling in her husband's deft touch on her muscles there, which seemed extra sensitive as her time drew nearer.
Rumple continued massaging, using the tips of his fingers and the heel of his hands to ease all the stress from his wife's back, which he knew was often sore these days, though she rarely complained to him about it.
When he halted about ten minutes later, he saw that she had fallen asleep. Smiling tenderly at her, he wiped his hands on a towel and gently pulled down her nightshirt—it was the one Alice had gotten her that said Nerd? I prefer intellectual badass on the front of it. Then he pulled the sheet up over her and kissed her cheek, murmuring, "Sweet dreams, angel of mine. I'll join you in about an hour. I just need to check up on Alina and Jimmy."
He returned downstairs to walk the puppy and wait for his daughter and Jimmy Jones, who though not technically related to him, was sort of like a foster son to him now, as he was Bae's half-brother.
Half-an-hour later, the two children returned home, tired and hungry, they said hello to Rumple and then went into the kitchen to fix themselves plates of leftovers from the food on Christmas Day. Since it was Friday, Rumple didn't bother telling Alina not to stay up late, simply bid her and Jimmy good night before going upstairs.
When he arrived back in his bedroom, he found Nala curled up on his pillow, as usual, and Belle still asleep, though her skin seemed to gleam with a pearlescent sheen, and faint motes of golden dust sparkled in the air above her.
Rumple went to pull on his pajamas, eyeing the manifestations of fairy magic warily, wondering if that were a sign that Belle was nearly ready to deliver. He picked up the book Rhea had gotten him for Christmas and began to read, but had to set it aside after a few pages, as he too was falling asleep.
He curled up around Belle, putting a hand on her belly, because he loved to feel the twins moving beneath his hand. He imagined what they would look like and he couldn't wait to meet them and hold them in his arms. It had been eleven years since he'd held an infant, and he was eager and excited to do it all over again.
He'd always felt that being a father was something special and magical, the most magical thing ever, and despite what the Blue Fairy thought, he wouldn't love these children any less because they happened to be gifted with fairy powers or traits. They were his children, true love babies, the tangible expression of Belle's love for him and his for her, and he would love them forever and always, no matter what.
He fell asleep with a smile on his face, and in his dreams he hugged two babies with dark blue eyes and his hair, rocking them back and forth and humming an old lullaby to them that he could recall singing to Bae and Alina at that age.
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleep my wee bitty babies
Gloaming draws nigh, rock-a-bye
My wee bitty babies.
The sheep are in the byre, the hearth is warm
And you are safe from harm,
Here in my arms, my wee ones.
Down in the glen, where the heather grows
Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, my wee bitty babies.
