Chapter 76
Khan: "And in the end, the seeds of hatred destroyed themselves, as they always do, as they always will."
"Okay, what we have to tell you will be clearer if we show it to you," Chloe says as soon as they've settled onto her couch with glasses of iced tea.
Kamen reddens. "Well, in the interest of full disclosure–considering you're one of us now, we need to be completely upfront with you—showing is more effective a manipulation technique than telling."
"Show us, then," Belle grants her permission.
"One thing, though: it could be intense," Chloe informs her.
Kamen nods. Glancing at Gold, he elucidates: "It involves divination."
Belle's eyes widen and brighten, leaving Gold no other answer but "Proceed, Kevin."
Won-Que and an elderly woman whose name in this world, as Gold recalls, is Rosa approach Gold then, the woman holding out her hand. "Then it is time for us to go to work," she says. "We require both of you, too, for this effort."
"We'll retreat to the study; the work will be easier in a more private setting," Won-Que leads them into the spacious office, large enough to hold Gold's entire shop. The furniture has been shoved back against the walls and the only lighting is provided by the waning moon, peering in through the open floor-to-ceiling windows. Paintings on the wall depict planets, comets and stars. The thick carpet absorbs their footfalls as Won-Que and Rosa direct their guests to the center of the room.
"Rumplestiltskin." Rosa gives him a moment to adjust to the reduction of light before taking his hand. "We intend to look into the future, yours and Belle's. Moreso, we intend to project the images we find there into our circle so that we all can See."
"It will be unsettling for you. It always is, the first time, but for one who's lived a life of secrets, as you have, until recently, it will be a struggle," Won-Que adds. "You've just begun to trust, and we must ask you to take the biggest leap of trust a mage can take: we must ask you to allow us in. Into your mind, into your heart, into your magic."
Gold stiffens. Rosa's grip is warm but firm, lending him confidence. "Won-Que and I have done this many times, with many non-Seers," she assures him. "We will intrude only as much as necessary, and we will take from you only as much as you willingly release to us."
"You will be taking from us as well, drawing upon our power and connecting to our Sight. Between the three of us, we will examine pieces of your future," Won-Que says.
Gold purses his lips. "It's been many years since I've called upon my Sight. And never in this world. In my land, magic works differently. . . ."
"We'll guide you," Rosa volunteers. "And your wife will complete our circle. Her presence will anchor your magic to the Will Be, instead of the Could Be."
"Oh, but I'm not magical," Belle begins to protest.
"To him, you are," Won-Que grins. "That gives you as much power as any of us."
"Join hands," Rosa instructs, reaching out to Won-Que with her free hand; in turn, the monk takes Belle's hand. When Gold grasps Belle's free hand, he feels a small shock, as if he'd stuck his finger in a light socket: a circuit of magic has been completed and power is flowing from him and into him. The magic feeding into him from Rosa and Won-Que is distantly familiar; it's been so long since he tapped into this pool, he's almost forgotten how it feels, but he's comforted by the fact that it's all the same, his Sight and Rosa's and Won-Que's. For this moment, their magic, like the blood of siblings, makes them family.
The tension leaves his body and he concentrates, closing his eyes when Rosa instructs them to. The room is so silent and still he can hear Belle breathing, and that comforts him too, so familiar it is, Belle pressed against him, just breathing. In the long moments of stillness he can almost convince himself he's alone with her and at home.
He feels Rosa's and Won-Que's magic—he can't differentiate between them; their signatures are identical—touch his skin gently, then hesitantly, it asks to be allowed into his mind. He lowers his guard. It's the same, all the same, their magic and his; no stranger, no intruder, this magic, just more of the same magic all flowing together like tributaries flowing into a river. He imagines it so, as a single slow-moving river, a lazy summer breeze rifling the leaves of overhanging trees; and when he imagines the magic—theirs and his—in this way all resistance passes from him and he lets them in to his mind and his heart.
It's then that he Sees. A tremble in Belle's hand causes him to open his eyes even as the inner Sight overtakes his mind. Transfixed, Belle is staring into the center of their circle, where the same image that's filled Gold's mind has taken form. It floats there, shifting and turning, transparent and luminescent like a hologram: Blue, Bernie and Astrid, but in their fairy state, hover over a crib (carved by Marco; somehow Gold knows this). At the foot of the crib stand Belle, her waist still thick with post-pregnancy weight, and Gold, his arm draped over her shoulders. The vision doesn't show the occupant of the crib, but it doesn't have to.
"Adelena," Belle gasps.
It's the blessing of a royal newborn, traditional in the Enchanted Forest and many other lands, though not always delivered by fairies; in lands with longer histories than Misthaven's, it's the responsibility of a royal sorcerer. In this Land (Not) Without Magic, the scene being played out within the circle of Seers is a first; and in this democratic country, it has nothing to do with royalty.
It has everything to do with friendship.
Gold can't hear the blessings his friends the fairies are bestowing on his daughter. It doesn't matter: he knows their wishes all issue from the best of intentions—and now that he knows magic exists in this land, he knows the fairies' wishes will come true.
The vision shimmers and fades, then is replaced by another: a television newscaster reading the evening news, as an announcement scrolls across the bottom of the screen: "At age 30, Mills is the youngest governor in Maine's history."
Then another vision: a gray-haired woman in an evening gown approaches a podium and when she arrives at it, a stately gent in a tuxedo presents her with a velvet case lying open to reveal a gold medal. Somehow Gold knows the medal is the Nobel Prize for Physics, and the recipient's name is Professor Rachel Carson Gold-Carruthers. When the professor has made her acceptance speech and returned to her banquet table, the first of her family to congratulate her with a hug is her younger sister, who snaps a few quick pictures. Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Adelena Gold, the magic whispers. The Photog Who Taught the World to Care, she's called (her sister has been dubbed the Scientist Who Taught the World to Think).
Five others swarm around Professor Gold-Carson, offering kisses and hugs and proud smiles: her brothers, Jin Gold, an oceanographer, and Angelo Romano, an LEED-certified architect; her parents (Belle's hair is cut short now, and has turned white, and Gold is nearly bald); and Kevin Kamen, who, oddly, hasn't aged a day. He's cheating with magic, Gold suspects.
The four siblings put their heads together to plot across the banquet table. They've done this since they were old enough to talk–shutting their parents out, usually, but Belle and Gold are too proud of them to feel hurt. After all, the siblings have had a tremendous responsibility, of which they've been aware since childhood, and that knowledge has forged of them a tight and effective team.
Then a succession of quick visions:
Jin taking a group of well-dressed (Browning-Gold suits? Gold wonders) execs out on a boat; he's at the prow, shouting over the ocean waves, and these hardened businessfolk are listening intently. Gold recognizes the gleam in Jin's eyes: he's got them sold; checkbooks will be whipped out as soon as the boat returns to shore. Gold has no idea what they're buying, but he's sure it's something philanthropic. Jin hasn't an ounce of selfishness in his entire body. What he does have are his mom's do-gooder passion and his dad's dealmaking prowess.
Angelo, hunched over the floor plans for a new, water-conscious home for the Vice President of Zimbabwe. An older Angelo, speaking in Zulu to South African school kids, teaching them about xeriscaping. Of the four, he's the one who's taken up Gold's interest in plants.
"Where are his parents?" Gold calls out. "Show me Angelo's parents!"
The magic obeys: they are shown a car overturned in a snow-filled ditch, then the magic brings them the Sight of Angelo in a hospital bed again, held tightly in the arms of his old magician friend. "Can I go home with you? Please, Mr. G.?" And that image dissolves into Gold, bent over a sorry-looking lump of clay that's supposed to be a science fair volcano, while a tweenage Angelo struggles to coax lava from it. When Angelo sighs, "We better ask Rach to help" and scampers off, Gold blasts just a little magic into the volcano and suddenly the lava bubbles up. A whiny "Da-a-a-ad!" makes Gold reverse the magic with a hasty "Sorry, son."
Then another quick vision: a graying Angelo, blowing raspberries on a giggling infant's belly button. Gold wonder if the baby is Angelo's grandchild or belongs to one of Rachel's or Jin's kids. Not that it matters: they're all Golds.
Belle's sobbing breaks his concentration. He releases Rosa's hand to take Belle into his arms, and the circle is broken. The magic drains from his body and from the room. "I don't know why I'm crying." Belle snatches the handkerchief from his pocket and blows her nose. "I'm happy. I really am."
Won-Que pats her shoulder. "It can be overwhelming."
Rosa turns the lights on and fetches a glass of water for Belle. "From the original ten–your four, Emma and Bae's three, the two Nolan children, and a Hopper child–and the people these ten will influence, will spring solutions to problems of water conservation, overfishing, red tide and energy production; from the next generation–for from the original ten, ten more will rise who will devote themselves to this work–will come solutions for overpopulation and wise land use; and in the third generation, solutions for waste disposal and pollution abatement."
"There will also be wonderful stories written, breakthrough art created, beautiful music composed, to inspire the public and government leaders to take action," Won-Que adds.
"And now you see why we've been waiting and hoping for you," Rosa says. "In all of magic, you are uniquely qualified for this work. You, with your kindness and perceptiveness, Belle, will raise children whose values and compassion drive them toward service. And you, Rumplestiltskin, already unique as both a Seer and a sorcerer, your devotion to Baelfire leaves no doubt you would give these children all they need."
"You don't understand. I'm not the father you think I am. I failed Bae."
"And he forgave you. If you were the father you think you are, he wouldn't have."
Won-Que looks out at the moon. "The first child will be born in thirty-two hours. He will be left at the Bailin Zen Monastery. My brother monks will take him to an orphanage."
"Jin," Gold guesses, his heart swelling with pride for a child that isn't his. To hold a swaddled wee one in his arms again and promise him that his papa will never leave him–it's a grand blessing.
"Rumple," Belle speaks urgently, "it takes a month to get a visa for China. Our passports are still valid."
Won-Que informs them, "The typical waiting period to adopt a Chinese child is three years, but I can reduce that by half with a little magic and a few phone calls, if you decide to accept–"
"Yes!" Belle exclaims, and at the same time Gold blurts, "Of course!"
The doors to the study fly open and Kamen sweeps in, arms open wide. "Belle! Rumple! I'm so happy!" He lifts Belle in his arms and swings her about, then sets her down and bear-hugs Gold. "You see how special you are? You see how much we need you, and how much you need us? Aren't we damn lucky we found each other? Now, let's go eat!"
Before they can catch their breath, the Golds are swept into a Maserati with Chloe at the wheel and Kamen riding shotgun, and the rest of SEMS bidding them goodnight and farewell until next month's meeting.
As she undresses for bed that night, Belle keeps glancing at her phone. Gold catches her at it. "What is it, sweetheart?"
"Just thinking. If I called the Romanos. . . ."
"if you convinced them to quit driving, now and forever more, do you think that would save Angelo from being orphaned?"
Her jaw tightens. "From what I've learned from you about Destiny, probably not."
He squeezes her shoulder. "There would be something else. I wish we could save Angelo the suffering, but Destiny has plans we can't alter. His suffering, like yours when your mother died, like mine when my father abandoned me, will make him the person he's meant to become. To change that–if we could–would be to take away the future he's meant to have, the lives he's meant to touch."
"I think I'd do it anyway, if I could spare him that pain. I understand that pain."
"You'll help him through it."
She falls silent, brushing her hair slowly, and he goes off to shower. She'll do the right thing, however hard it is. When he returns to the bedroom, she's in bed, staring at the ceiling. He encircles her with his arms.
"Rumple," Belle says as they dress the next morning, "I'm going to be a mother." She stares at him, stunned.
"Of four," Gold answers. "I'd better call Josiah. I have a lot of bedrooms to paint." He combs his hair. "Belle, did you know the name 'Jin' means 'gold'? Gold Gold. That must be lucky."
The next meeting of SEMS is held at Kamen's new home in Los Angeles, where he's enrolled in the Wink Martindale School of Game Show Hosting and trying to hire an agent. With time on his hands, he's also reading a lot of cookbooks, he reports, though he hasn't gotten around to cooking anything yet. He has Wolfgang Puck Catering provide hors d'oeuvres and drinks for the meeting. "How are you adjusting to the idea that you're about to become a mom?" he asks Belle as he offers her wine.
"A dangerous question to ask," Gold warns. "Unless you've got an hour with nothing to do."
"Fantastic!" And she's off, rambling on about the books and clothes and toys she's bought already. When she pauses to catch her breath, Kamen asks the same question of Gold–and he's off, rambling on about paint and light fixtures and window treatments and shelves and the Mandarin characters he's been cutting out with Marco's jigsaw.
Rosa sits down beside Belle. "I understand this may be a bit too much at once, but sometimes Destiny can't afford to wait for us to catch up. Belle, another of the children is on her way."
"What do you mean, 'on her way'?"
"We found her in a foster home in Augusta."
"Rachel," Gold guesses.
"That's her first name, but Belle will give her a middle name."
Belle grins. "I've been reading Silent Spring."
"It will be overwhelming sometimes, having two small ones at the same time," Rosa warns. "Rachel is two and just recently stopped wearing diapers."
"We'll have help. There are plenty of babysitters in Bell's Corners. And Jo and Rumple will have the bedrooms ready by the end of next month. We can handle it," Belle says confidently. "These children are meant for us."
Satisfied, Rosa then turns her attention to Gold. "Rumplestiltskin, this situation may prove a particular challenge for you, but you can rise above it. Just focus on the child and not her genetics."
"What is it, Rosa?" Gold frowns, wondering if he's being manipulated again.
"Her birth parents are from the Enchanted Forest, by way of Storybrooke. Her mother has since left town and you'll likely not ever hear from her. She was, and is, what was called in the Enchanted Forest a 'public girl.'"
Belle is perplexed, so Gold explains in a clipped tone, "Prostitute." Leaving that subject hurriedly, he asks, "The father?"
"Rumplestiltskin, just as you would not blame the child for her mother's occupation–"
He interrupts more forcefully, "The father?"
"You will not hear from him again either. He will not return to Storybrooke."
Gold glares now at the Seer. "And her father?"
"Albert Spencer."
Silence drops like a heavy curtain. The knuckles of Gold's right hand whiten as he grips his cane tighter, and a muscle in his cheek twitches. But Belle shakes her head slowly. "Poor baby. Poor baby, to not even have been conceived in love. When she comes to us, Rachel will never know a day without love."
Gold remains silent.
"Will she, Rumple?" Belle presses. When he says nothing, she pushes, "You saw her. You saw what she will become with us: the Scientist Who Taught the World to Think. You saw what she will become for us: our eldest child. A role model for her sister and brothers. Our beloved daughter." Still he says nothing, and she raises her voice, "Rumple. When I thought I'd miscarried Jo's baby, what did you say to me?" He doesn't answer. "What did you say to me?"
"It's not the same, Belle."
"Yes it is. Forget about Jo being your friend. What did you say about the baby?"
"I said I would have loved her." He grits his teeth. "I said we would have made it work so that we could be together."
"This is Rachel. Not your enemy's daughter. Our Rachel. Jin and Adelena and Angelo need her. We need her, you and me, to make our family complete. Paint her room, Rumple. Paint it green so she'll grow up in green, a child of this Earth. And say it now, just like you would have to Jo's baby."
He lowers his face, ashamed of his petulance. "I'll love her. She's ours and we'll be together. I do love her."
It's Gold this time who makes some phone calls to speed the adoption process. Judge Fairfax oversees the case and when she learns who the birth parents were, she pulls mightily on her many strings and in five months, instead of the typical fifteen for an in-country adoption, Fairfax is hosting an "adoption papers signing party" at Fran's bistro. Across the table sit the beaming new parents, Belle in a new Stella McCartney, Gold in a new Browning-Gold three-piece suit. Most of Bell's Corners have come, bearing gifts for the toddler; a pregnant Snow and her husband attend too. Gold has been making an extra effort with them these days, now that he knows their children will be part of the Ten.
As for the star of the program, she's been sitting relatively quietly in her new dad's lap, rolling his tie up and down, up and down. He doesn't slap her hand away; he just pats her back and gives her sips of his iced tea. Mom's tried to take her a few times, but she shakes her stubborn little head and grabs Dad with an iron grip. No one can figure out why; Rachel's been like that from the day the Golds went to the foster home to claim her.
When they ask him about it, Archie just shrugs. "Some kids are daddy's kids, some are mommy's kids. Probably the next one will favor mommy." Belle brightens: "That'll be Jin, our oceanographer." The lad's adoption is still a year away.
But man plans and Destiny laughs: Belle is proven wrong.