accio-firewhiskey said:

Prompt: they go on a short trip and everyone assumes they are a biological family/married couples

Belle hadn't been on a real vacation since spring break in college. She and Bae took trips every couple of years, usually going to the lake or maybe a weekend in the city, but with her job and their lack of extended family they rarely took proper vacations. Their last one was probably the year he was six and they went to Disney. Not that they spent their summers doing nothing – Bae always went to summer camp for a few weeks in August and they would spend at least one long weekend away.

It was just hard for Belle to take time off, although she'd probably been taking too much recently. She was so lucky to have Anton (or as Bae called him, 'Uncle Tiny') stick around after her father died. He'd been the only employee at the time, and since Belle had so little experience running the shop he'd been more than happy to take over as assistant manager. Sometimes she thought it might be a good idea to ask him to buy in as a partner, then she could do what she was good at (keeping the books, managing the business side of things) and let him do what he was good at (everything else). She'd never really been able to afford to sell part of the shop, though. He did definitely deserved a bonus after all the time she'd had to take for parenting related things this year, though. She'd have to figure something out.

As they walked into the lavish hotel on the Jersey Shore that Arthur had made reservations at, all thoughts of business evaporated. This was far nicer than any hotel Belle had stayed in, and definitely nicer than any building that Bae had ever even set foot in. She had the overwhelming urge to remind her son of his manners, but he seemed spooked enough by the fact that there was a doorman to be on his best behavior.

"Good morning, sir," the perky blonde at the front desk said as they approached. "Can I help you?"

"Checking in," Gold replied. "The reservation should be under the name 'Gold.'"

The girl typed something into her computer, the polished customer service smile never leaving her face.

"Hey Mom," Bae whispered loud enough to be heard by everyone despite his best efforts at subtlty. "Can I go look at the fish?"

He pointed over towards a massive aquarium in the middle of the lobby. Belle looked over at Arthur before nodding to Bae.

"Don't get your fingerprints on the glass," she called after him as he bounded off to the elaborate display.

"How many key cards do you need?" the concierge broke in.

"Two should be fine, thank you," he said after flashing a quick glance towards Belle.

"Alright," the blonde replied, typing some more things into her computer and then presenting two hotel key cards to Arthur.

He handed one to Belle before putting the other into the inner pocket of his jacket. He then signed a few papers that were set out in front of him, and the blonde summoned a bellhop to take their bags up to their room.

"Have a great visit, Mr. and Mrs. Gold!" the girl chirped as they walked off to reclaim Bae.

Arthur nearly tripped over his own feet, paling and shooting a horrified glance at Belle. For her part, Belle had to cover her mouth to prevent the laughter from bubbling up out of her. She was actually a little surprised neither of them had thought of this happening sooner. They were on friendly terms and shared a child – the obvious conclusion to draw was that they were married or at least together.

Arthur's eyes had gone huge and he seemed to be searching for some way to inform the girl that she'd misread the situation, but Belle decided to just leave it be.

"Thank you," she said over her shoulder. "We will."

She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the waiting bellhop as Bae returned to her side, eager to see their room and also to tell his mother about how cool the fish in the tank were.

"You didn't have to go along with that," Arthur muttered into her ear once they were in the elevator. "I'd have set her straight."

"There was no need," she replied. "What's the harm in letting her think it? We're only here a week and I wasn't really planning on picking anyone up by the pool on a family vacation."

He gave her a strange little smile.

"She's going to think you're a trophy wife," he replied and she smirked at the teasing note in his voice.

"And a damn good one," she said smugly.

He did laugh at that, loud enough that both the bellhop and Bae looked at them. Luckily, they arrived at their floor before either could ask what was so funny, because Belle wasn't entirely sure she wanted to explain it to them. The bellhop led them to the correct room, swinging the door open and letting them in before the cart containing their luggage.

The room was beautiful and huge, and the bellhop took a few moments to go around explaining the various amenities. There were three bedrooms, two of which overlooked the beach and the third looked out towards the pier. It also had two bathrooms, a kitchenette, a sitting area, and a balcony that stretched all the way across the two ocean view bedrooms and the sitting area. Bae immediately lay claim to the pier view room (most likely due to the Ferris wheel clearly visible in that direction) and hauling his bag into it excitedly, leaving Belle and Gold to the other two.

The bellhop also made sure to note that there was a complimentary babysitter on-site should the two adults want to see anything without a ten-year-old underfoot. Gold handled this one a little better than he had the concierge, but he still seemed uncomfortable with the idea that the two of them were an item. Still, he tipped the young man generously before shutting the door and leaving the small family to their own devices.

"Well, you definitely know how to show your fake wife a good time," she teased as she walked to the window. "This hotel is fantastic."

He grimaced before joining her.

"It's not really funny," he sighed.

She frowned, glancing over to him.

"Does it bother you?" she asked. "Having people think we're together?"

"It should bother you," he insisted. "For one thing, what if Bae hears?"

"Then we'll explain it to him," she replied. "It's not going to stop happening because you want it to, so we're going to have to deal with it one way or the other. Personally, I'd rather make a joke out of it."

"I just don't want him thinking that's what this is about," Arthur said softly. "I don't want him to think that we're going to start dating and either get his hopes up or get upset about sharing you."

"We can talk to him about it tonight if you want, let him know exactly what's going on. He's a smart kid, he'll understand."

"You're right," he said after a pause. "We can talk about it tonight. As a family."

She smiled at the subtle change in his voice at the word family. He was so desperate to have a family and to be loved. From the first time he'd come to dinner, she'd known he wanted to remarry and yet in the ten years since his last marriage ended he hadn't. Had he even dated in that time, or had he just been alone? Maybe, she realized, it wasn't just worry for Bae that caused his discomfort with the idea of them as a couple. Maybe it was something he hadn't even known he'd wanted.

She opened her mouth to try to offer him some kind of comfort, an assurance that he had them now one way or the other, but she couldn't quite think of the words he needed to hear. Bae, however, chose that exact moment to make everything better.

He dashed back into the sitting area wearing his bathing suit.

"Mom! Dad! This place is the best!" he effused. "Can we go swimming now?"

"Maybe you should have asked before you changed into your swim trunks?" Belle teased him. "We could have had plans to go to a museum or the aquarium or something first."

"But you don't have any plans!" he insisted. "Or else you'd have said something in the car."

"I can have plans I don't tell you about," she replied. "But...if your dad doesn't have a problem with swimming right now I don't either."

She glanced over at Arthur. This had been part of their arrangement for this trip. She was going to defer to him in matters of Bae for the duration of their vacation, at least in front of their son. In return, Arthur would be the one to do any behavioral corrections that arose. Any disagreements were going to be handled out of earshot.

Arthur fidgeted a little bit at Bae's expectant (and maybe slightly confused) look at him, before finally nodding.

"Yeah, absolutely," he said. "We can go to the beach. Just give your mother and I a few minutes to get changed."

"You can get a start on your sunscreen while we change," Belle told Bae. "It's in my beach bag by the door."

Bae looked at both of them with the biggest smile on his face she'd seen in years as he went to retrieve the bag.

It didn't take too long for Belle and Arthur to change, and it took him a little less time than her, but Bae was still impatiently stomping around before it was finally time to leave. Arthur was wearing a simple pair of trunks with a tropical pattern on them, along with a white linen shirt. She'd never seen him look so casual, but she liked it. He was still leaning on his cane, and she wasn't entirely sure how well he was going to handle the sand, but vacations seemed to suit him.

Belle's bathing suit was brand new (she'd really not had one worth wearing to a nice hotel) but she liked its 40s style nautical theme. She also had a giant floppy sunhat and a sheer white coverup because Belle was pale and didn't fancy also being pink.

"Alright, are we ready to go?" she asked, and Bae nodded enthusiastically. "Did you get sunscreen on?"

"I got my entire front," he replied. "And Dad got my back. Can we please go down now?"

Belle glanced at Arthur, reminding him that this was his responsibility today.

"Yeah, I think the grown-ups can deal with sunscreen on the beach," he replied, glancing discretely at Belle to make sure this was the right answer.

She replied with a quick nod and he relaxed visibly. Bae was looking between them suspiciously, but didn't bother to ask any questions and risk delaying beach time any more than necessary. Belle took her beach bag, handed Arthur the one containing the sandcastle making supplies (just in case the waves lost their luster), and they were on their way.

Once they reached the beach itself, Bae ran off in the direction of the water, only waving absently at his mother's shouted reminder to stay where she could see him.

"Do I have to remind you about sunscreen, too?" she teased Arthur where he stood next to her.

"No, no," he replied. "I'm Scottish and have been outside before, I am quite familiar with the need for sunscreen."

"Excellent," she set her bag down, spreading out towels for each of them to sit on.

He got down onto the towel much the same way he'd gotten onto the blanket for their picnic and she once again pretended not to notice how much harder it was for him. He had his pride.

"I uhh, may need help with my back," he said softly.

"How about I do yours if you do mine?" she replied, sliding off her coverup and offering him the bottle of sunscreen. "Bae usually helps, but he's otherwise occupied and also not very good at it."

"Well, then I'll try to do as good as a ten-year-old who wants to hurry up and go swimming," he promised her.

They sat in silence for awhile, splitting the bottle of lotion between them and watching Bae frolicking in the waves.

"If that boy gets to be twenty without breaking his neck I am going to throw a party," she grumbled as she watched her son flopping around in the surf. "I swear he's trying to give me gray hair."

"I was the same way at his age," Arthur said softly. "He'll be fine."

"I know," she sighed. "And you'll notice how I'm not making him stop. But I'm his mother, I'm supposed to worry."

"That's true," he replied thoughtfully. "Want me to go play with him?"

"Up to you," she said with a shrug. "However, if you're going to go keep an eye on our son by yourself then I have to let you know I will be sitting here quietly enjoying the sunshine and reading a book. Also possibly taking a nap."

"It's good of you to make that sacrifice for me," he said drolly as he got back to his feet. "I'll keep you in my prayers."

"That's sweet of you, but I'm sure I'll be alright. I'm a big girl, after all."

She winked at him before putting on her sunglasses and stretching out on the towel on her stomach so she could watch them for a little while. He rolled his eyes and limped down to the waves where Bae played.

The two seemed to have a good time, moving into deeper water where Arthur could move with less pain and was less likely to get knocked over by the breaking surf. Bae didn't seem to mind, instead getting his father to toss him out into deeper water before swimming back, begging for it to happen again. She smiled and watched them awhile longer over the top of her book.

One way or the other, they were a family now. Maybe not in the way everyone was going to assume, but she wouldn't trade this family for any other one in the world.