Note: Credit must go to my brother for being the first to suggest a cupcake entitled 'Fairy Cake' featuring the nuns-who-are-not-nuns-in-this-AU. So, here it is! Introducing Tinkerbell, very imaginatively renamed Tina Bell…

Summary: Belle learns to knit with Tina and plans for the future.

Fairy Cake

There were two things in Miss Tina Bell's life that she held in higher esteem than anything else. The first was books. Tina had worked at the library for the entirety of her adult life and she had never held any desire to do anything else for a living. She had never found anyone else with quite the same passion for books as she had until Belle French (now Belle Gold, Tina loved a good storybook romance) had joined the library. The two women had immediately hit it off over a discussion of Anna Karenina. Although their opinions of the classic text were about as polarised as possible, Tina and Belle had become close friends, and on Tuesdays, when the library closed early, they could often be found in Granny's, discussing literature and waiting for Mr Gold. (Or Mr French, as Tina called him privately, because there was no doubting who wore the trousers in the marriage. When she'd learned that he was Scottish, her theory was further confirmed although she had yet to see any pictorial evidence of his owning a kilt. She'd been most disappointed when he'd been married in a three piece suit.)

The time spent in Granny's gave Tina the perfect opportunity to indulge in her second passion – knitting.

She had first joined the Nutty Knitters' Stitching Circle three years ago, and she had not looked back. The group, originally led by an uptight young woman named Fae Blue, met in Granny's once a month to drink tea, knit, chat, and swap patterns and tips. They had gone through a rocky patch about a year after Tina had joined when Astrid, the bubbly, absent-minded glue that had held the group together, had left, but they had pulled through. Tina missed Astrid sometimes, missed the way that she would drop every other stitch and the fact that she would knit everything (including sweaters for her husband) in varying shades of pink. Whilst Leroy had always claimed to love the garments Astrid made for him, Tina had never actually seen him wear any of them, and she couldn't say she blamed him.

Relations within the group had become much easier after Fae had left – or rather, after Fae had walked out in a huff. When Ruby Lucas had revealed to the group that she was expecting, the idea had been mooted to knit some baby clothes for her new arrival. Tina always reckoned that it was a knee-jerk reaction in women who knitted. Whenever a pregnancy was announced, their thoughts immediately turned to baby clothes and knitted toys. (Tina's certainly did. Although she had yet to emulate Connor's giant stegosaurus in woollen form, she was determined to do it eventually.) Fae, whom Tina was convinced was an undercover nun, had taken umbrage at this fact, since the Lucas-Hopper baby was being born out of wedlock, and she didn't want to encourage young people to live in sin. When half the group had looked at her with 'you've got to be kidding me' expressions and the other half had simply burst out laughing, Fae had gathered her needles and yarns and stalked out of the café, and the Nutty Knitters had not seen her since. Needless to say, Connor Hopper now owned more knitted items than any six month old boy could ever need, including Tina's own pride and joy, a miniature woollen Pongo.

Even after Connor's birth, Tina had continued to make him things, and she was finishing sewing up another item on the day that Belle asked if Tina would teach her to knit.

Tina agreed with gusto.

She always had several projects on the go lest she get bored, and she dived into her knitting bag and took out an extremely large ball of bright yellow wool on chunky needles.

"You can start on the scarf," she said, handing the ball over to Belle. "Everyone I've ever taught to knit in the past couple of years has started on the beginner's scarf."

Belle looked down at the winding scarf, covered in haphazard bits of pattern with no rhyme or reason to it, with the occasional patched hole or place where something had obviously gone very wrong, and Tina saw her raised eyebrow. "It's very simple really. Needle in, yarn round needle, needle out to make a knot, slip old stitch."

Belle took the needles from Tina and tried it herself, making slow progress along the row. Tina watched her work for a little while until she got into some semblance of a rhythm, then returned her attention to her own needlework. She had just finished a pair of little socks for Connor and she was putting the final touches to them, making sure there were no loose threads or loops that might catch his tiny toes.

"What are you making?" Ruby asked, bringing over a pot of hot water to top up their tea. Six months after Connor's birth she had just started working again, the odd afternoon here and there when the café was short staffed and Granny was on hand to babysit. Tina held up her socks.

"For Connor. Stripy socks like his dad wears."

Ruby smiled.

"I hate to say this Tina, especially when I can see the love and care that's gone into those little socks, but I don't think they're going to fit Connor. He's growing every day. I think he grows every time I take my eyes off him."

Tina looked down at the little stripy socks and the pattern that she had knitted them from.

"Ah," she said, on realising that she had been using the measurements for a newborn, rather than a six-month-old infant. "Ah well, never mind. I'm sure there'll be another baby coming along sooner or later."

Belle picked up one of the socks and cradled it in her palm.

"It's so dinky, it's perfect. I could never make something so fiddly." She paused. "Can I keep them?"

Both Ruby and Tina turned to Belle.

"Belle, is there something you should be telling us? Like, are you going to be needing those in nine months?" Tina asked.

Belle laughed and shook her head.

"No, I'm not pregnant. They just look so sweet. And well, you never know. Never say never."

Tina took out her smallest sock needles and striped yarn and began to cast on for a slightly larger sock, one that would hopefully fit Connor when it was finished. She wouldn't say anything to her friend, but she was secretly hoping that Belle would be announcing the arrival of tiny feet to wear those socks soon. After all, they'd been married two months now and were, if Belle's blushes when asked about the lovebite on her neck that her collar did not quite cover were anything to go by, still very much enjoying being newly-weds. As much as she loved knitting for Ruby's ever-growing son, it would be nice to make tiny hats and blankets for newborns again. Perhaps she was getting broody herself. Pairing up and settling down had never really been high on Tina's list of priorities; she was perfectly happy by herself with only her knitted creations and her nutty friends for companionship.

It was at that point that Gold arrived with one of his colleagues from the law offices, and Belle waved him over to show off her knitting progress on the beginner's scarf. He caught sight of the miniature socks sitting on the top of her handbag and raised one eyebrow.

"Have you been making clothes for dolls?" he asked.

"No, no, Tina made those. The extent of my knitting experience is this one row I've just done. They were for Connor but they won't fit. So I've kept them."

Gold raised both eyebrows.

"Well, you never know." Belle said. "They might come in handy in the future. We can use them as little egg cosies if nothing else."

"You want to be careful, Gold."

Tina looked up from her socks to see the other lawyer leaning on the cake display, smirking.

"When women start hoarding very small items of clothing, it's always a bad sign," he continued.

Gold closed his eyes and pressed one palm to his forehead. "Jones, don't say another word."

"Well, I'm just saying. You're not getting any younger, mate, and if someone's pining for the pitter patter…"

"Jones, shut up," Belle said conversationally. "Anyone would think you were the one pining."

Jones dutifully mimed drawing a zip across his lips and locking it. As he did, his eyes caught Tina's and he winked at her. Tina smiled back.

Maybe companionship other than her yarns and crochet hooks wasn't all that bad a prospect.