A/N-This is a sequal to Father's Day, written on the recommendation of a reviewer TheScaryLittleGhostGirl who suggested I continue it to show the child.
Rumplestiltskin paced.
If it were possible for vinyl to wear out, the cafeteria floor in the Storybrooke Hospital would have a long track winding down along the windows and back up towards the coffee bar. Gold walked down to gaze out the window, a hot coffee clutched in his hand, and meandered back with a stone cold coffee to get a refill.
Rumplestiltskin was a coward.
He had walked away, rather than try to take back Milah. He had let his son go; had chosen his powers of the Dark One over his child. He had chosen his powers over finding true love with Belle.
Despite it all, fate had been kind to him. It had given him back both Bae as well as Belle. In fact, it had given him back Belle twice. It was far more than he had deserved for all his sins. He had sworn, after all this, not to play the part of the coward again.
And yet he was. This was not where he should have been.
It could be that he just didn't like hospitals.
The last time he was here had been when Belle had been injured, with no memory of what had happened. Before that, because of the curse, the stasis had left everyone with fair health. Except for falls and broken bones, the hospital had been very underutilized.
His skin felt electric, as though sparks would fly from him. A very likely thing to happen when he wasn't paying attention to controlling his magic. He noticed that the cup in his hand was trending more towards the cold side of the spectrum, and so he turned and walked back up to the concession stand to get a refill.
Neal was waiting for him at the coffee machine. "You do realize you're wasting perfectly good coffee there, Papa?" He arched an eyebrow. The endearment sounded strange coming from the mouth of a 30something year old man, but to Rumple, it was a beautiful sound.
"You make it sound like a crime," he said, amused.
"Well, if you're wasting coffee for the sake of avoiding upstairs, then it almost is." Rumple sighed at his son's words.
"I know Bae. I know where I should be, and it isn't here. I just…I can't watch it. She's in so much pain and its…."
"It's not entirely your fault. I'm fairly sure she wasn't saying no at the time," said Neal in dry voice. Gold looked at him out of the corner of his eye. It was remarks like that which reminded him that Bae was no longer a child.
"But I know," Neal continued. "I would give anything to reverse time and be there for when Henry was born."
The words of the son caused the father to recall how he had been absent for the birth of his first child. 'What the Hell am I doing?' He wondered to himself. Dumping the lukewarm coffee into the sink beside the coffee maker, he turned and, leaning on his cane, left the cafeteria.
"You're welcome," Neal called out, before helping himself to a coffee and a chocolate milk for Henry, who was in the waiting room.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
After stopping at the gift shop for something, he made his way to the elevator up to labour and delivery. When he stepped off the elevator, onto the third floor, his stomach immediately clenched. He could hear her.
"WHERE IS HE!?" For such a petite woman, Belle had certainly been blessed with a set of lungs. Rumple winced as he heard her continue. "TELL HIM IF HE DOESN'T GET HIS ASS UP HERE I WILL KILL HIM." This was punctuated by a wail, and a flurry of activity in her room.
Rumplestiltskin hurried forward, as fast as he could. "I'm here now my sweet. I'm sorry; I went to get you this." He set the vase on the table next to her head. In it, a beautiful fire and ice rose, frozen in the moment of its most perfect beauty, with the deep red fading to a pale pink, with white at the center of the flower.
"I don't want a rose," growled Belle. Her beautiful brown hair was plastered to her bright red face, and her baby blues were glazed with pain, and narrowed in anger. "I want you to BE here while I GIVE BIRTH TO YOUR CHILD!"
"Yes, I know. I'm sorry Belle, I shouldn't have left." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, allowing some magic to spread from his kiss, over her body. The numbing magic was meant to soothe her jangled nerves, and remove some of her pain.
"I feel what you're doing," she growled. "But I won't argue with you this time. It feels nice."
One of the Sisters from the convent waited at the end of the bed. She spoke up now. "Ok Belle. You need to push. I can see the head."
"You're lucky you made it back in time," she growled, before taking a breath and pushing. He noticed that her hands were balled into fists. Instantly he reached to take one of her hands. As soon as she felt his skin, she reflexively grasped his hand and squeezed. She continued to push as the nurse, Emma and Ruby all shouted encouragement. Rumple remained silent, leaned down and whispered into her ear. "You can do this Belle. You're bringing our child into our lives, and she is going to be just as beautiful as her mother." Belle's groan turned into a scream.
The scream blended with a tiny, but powerful cry.
As soon as he heard that sound, Gold whipped his head around and looked towards the base of the bed. Belle stopped screaming and looked up as well, tears running down her face from her exertions. He could feel his own tears welling up. The infant was tiny, and bright red from being exposed to air for the first time. A tear slipped down his face. He could feel his love shaking with sobs as she saw their child for the first time.
He leaned down and wrapped her in a fierce hug. "You did it, my dear." He pressed a kiss to her temple, to her cheek and to her mouth. "I don't think I've ever loved you quite as much as I do in this moment."
"I love you too, Rumple. I'm sorry for what I said."
"I don't blame you. If I were in that much pain, I would probably be yelling my head off too."
While the mother and father had been sharing this moment, baby had been cleaned and now the nurse brought the swaddled babe to lie in Belle's arms for the first time.
Belle held her as though she was going to break. Rumple rested one hand on his love, and one hand on his little daughter. At that moment she opened her eyes, and his breath caught in his chest. Belle's beautiful blue eyes, copied perfectly into his daughter's face.
"She needs a name," Belle said.
Gold just looked at his daughter. When the name came to him, he knew in an instant it was perfect. "Amira. It's from a middle Eastern language for precious."
She giggled quietly. "Precious. It's perfect. Hello my precious Amira," she cooed. Rumple kissed his tiny daughter gently on the forehead, before kissing his Belle.
"I'll be right back. I want to go tell Bae."
She nodded, enraptured with her daughter.
Before he left, he looked back. It was as she had said. He had never loved Belle as much as he had seeing them together.
Fate was being kind to the coward Rumplestiltskin. He was getting a second chance at a family.
He was still a coward. The thought of having a newborn terrified him. He was afraid he would make the same mistakes he'd made before. But he wouldn't run this time. This time he would do things right.
A/N-Thanks to Woubazoid for betaing this piece.