Anonymous said:

Hey! Don't know for how long our lovely adoption!verse family will be on vacation but I figured this prompt will fit either way. I would like to see Bailey asking his father sth like: "mom is pretty, isn't she?" while Belle is in the earshot.

Woodelf68 said:

Don't know if this could work, but adoption 'verse prompt: There's a mix-up at the next hotel & only one room is available. With one bed, & they can provide a roll-away cot. Belle refuses to let Gold take the cot, because of his bad leg; Bae says he'll take it 'cos he's the smallest and will be the most comfortable on it, while they share the bed.

"What do you mean you lost our reservation?" Gold said harshly. He could see the poor girl at the desk was beginning to become nervous, but he just couldn't accept this. "I made them weeks ago."

"I'm very sorry, sir," she said apologetically, clicking frantically through her computer. "We've been insanely busy with the holiday."

"The holiday happens every year," he reminded her. This was not good at all.

Belle was kind enough to take Bae off to examine the lobby once he had begun to lose his temper. Bless her, he didn't want to scare his child but this was insane. It took a little arguing and the summoning of the manager, but finally a room was located that would work – two queen beds and a cot – it would be awkward, but for one night it could work.

"Well, I have good news and I have bad news," he told Belle and Bae as he approached them after hashing things out with the manager. "The good news is they've found a room."

"And the bad news?" Belle asked.

"We'll have to share. It's got two queen beds, and they can lend us a cot."

"Oh, that's not so bad," she said with a shrug. "We've slept in tighter quarters."

Bae nodded in agreement. The room wouldn't be ready for another hour or so, but they were able to leave their shopping bags with their suitcases and go back out for further sight-seeing. He was itching to see how Belle liked the museums, and the fact that he was desperate to impress her with this trip was a very unwelcome thought which he was certainly not going to dwell on.

Still, though, it was nice to be able to share this with them. Bae was as well behaved as one could expect from a little boy on a family vacation, which is to say he did not get them kicked out of anything (for which he was handsomely rewarded with souvenirs), but Belle seemed to find everything fascinating. She was pouring over the guides, trying to engage Bae in discussions of the paintings, and generally seemed to be having a brilliant time of it.

Even Bae seemed to pick up on his mother's good mood, and his behavior improved dramatically as the time went on. Instead of fidgeting, he took to standing back by his father watching his mother as she enjoyed the art. He was indulging her, Gold realized. The boy was taking his father's cue and letting his mother spend as much time in her reverie as she wanted.

Gold squeezed Bae's shoulder affectionately as both watched Belle lecture them on the history of another painting, her eyes lighting up joyously as she pointed out brush strokes and techniques. He couldn't help but think back to her telling him that she'd envied people with a passion, and he wondered then if she even realized how much she really enjoyed this sort of thing. Maybe she'd like to take painting classes, if he could convince her to take one night off a week, anyway. Perhaps if he said they were from Bae...

Still, though, maybe it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to come back for Christmas. Maybe get a babysitter for Bae again and let her spend an entire day running through the museums and lecturing him on the difference between Rococo and Baroque styles.

Bae wasn't stupid. He might just be a kid, but he could tell something weird was going on with his dad and his mom. He just didn't know what yet. He was pretty sure his dad liked his mom, at least a little. That made sense, though – Mom was kind of pretty in a mom-like way (Nick and August thought she was pretty, anyway, and Bae'd had to punch them a couple times each for saying things like that), and he knew his dad was kind of lonely. Mom was lonely, too, she just handled it differently. When Dad was lonely (which was all the time) he wanted to come over and do things together, but Mom liked to pretend like she wasn't lonely at all. She just worked too much or would suddenly want to rearrange the living room or take up baking (that one he didn't mind so much). Still, though, Bae could tell she was lonely.

He was pretty glad she was happy right now, though. Something had changed over vacation and he wasn't really sure what it was yet and of course nobody was going to tell him because he was ten. But he could figure it out. He just had to keep his eyes open. For example, Dad was way too interested in watching Mom look at the paintings right now. Bae was watching her, too, she wasn't that interesting. She was just talking about history and artwork and symbolism and stuff. Plus Dad had this weird dopey smile on his face. He was pretty sure he knew what that meant, he'd seen it in movies a lot. That was the face they always made when the girl showed up the first time.

It was kind of weird thinking about his mom as a girl, but he then again she probably was to his dad. They were about the same age, he guessed. He didn't really know how old his dad was but they were both old enough to be his parents, so that was pretty much the same age. They were going to be really difficult about this, he could tell. Well, there was still a week of vacation left. They had time.

His mom was looking at his dad now, and she was smiling and they were talking about the artist, and it was pretty dull. But she was still smiling, and it was weird because she didn't smile at guys like that. She didn't smile like that at all. Maybe, Bae realized, it wasn't just Dad liking Mom anymore.

After they watched his mom look at some more pictures, Dad said it was time for dinner and Mom agreed. It still took another half hour to get out of the museum, though. Mom kept getting distracted and wanting to show both of them new stuff all the time. Still, she was his mom. He had to love her.

"Hey Dad?" he whispered once when she was turned and looking at a statue of a lady with no clothes on.

"Yeah?" his dad said, leaning down so Bae could whisper in his ear.

"Doesn't Mom look pretty?"

He thought his dad's eyes might have popped out of his head but he didn't say anything. He just kept looking back and forth between Bae and his mom with his mouth hanging open, like he couldn't quite figure out what Bae had meant.

Yeah, Dad liked Mom. He might just need a little bit of encouragement to get his nerve up if anything was going to happen.

Belle and Bae saw fireworks every year, but she'd never seen them over the Statue of Liberty and that, she had to admit, was pretty neat. The water reflected the lights beautifully and Arthur had, of course, gotten them a seat on one of the boats that went out towards the statue. She should have guessed, nothing was ever too much for him to splurge for Bae. It was kind of sweet, actually. Still, with the crush of people and the boat needing to dock and Arthur's limp and their exhausted child (and getting lost once or twice), it was really, really late by the time they finally got back to the hotel and saw their room for the first time.

There was only one bed plus the cot.

Well, shit.

"They said there was a second bed," Arthur said dumbly. "There were supposed to be two beds. I can go back down and get them to move us."

Belle knew that was the right call, but her entire body protested. It had been a long day, Bae was near to collapsing, all their bags were here, and she just wanted to go to sleep.

"Don't bother," she finally said. "They barely had this room available. And it's late. I doubt there are any that aren't being used."

"You're right," Arthur agreed. "I'll sleep on the cot, you two can share the bed."

They both looked at the cot, which was shorter than the bed and had a thinner mattress. He'd been limping worse than usual on the way up, and leaning more heavily on the cane. He still had to drive them up to the cabin tomorrow and there was no way he was going to be able to do that if he slept on that thing. He'd been pushing himself too hard already.

"No," she stopped him. "I'm shorter than you, I'll take the cot."

Except that left the matter of where Bae would sleep. As much a family as they were, it still felt a little awkward having her ten-year-old share a bed with a grown man they'd both only met a few months ago. Arthur seemed to agree, glancing back and forth between them as if trying to put that exact thing into words.

"I'll take the cot," Bae mumbled sleepily from his position leaning against her heavily with his face buried in her side. "I'm the smallest, so I'll be the most comfortable. You two share the bed."

"Oh, sweetie," she said. "That's really nice of you, but your dad and I can't share a bed."

"Why not?"

"We're both grown-ups," she explained. "Grown-ups don't really share beds unless they're married."

"You share a bed with Aunt Ruby whenever we go anywhere with her. And Aunt Ruby shared a bed with her last boyfriend."

The kid had a point, but still. How could she explain the various types of relationships adults had and which ones were 'allowed' to share a bed? That wasn't even getting into same-sex relationships and oh God it was way too late to be having this conversation. She was just so damn tired.

"Your mom is right," Arthur interrupted. "It's not really appropriate for me to share a bed with either of you."

And now they were back to him sleeping on the cot, which frankly was not an option at all.

"No," she said softly. "It's fine. We can share the bed. I'll sleep over the covers or something."

"Belle," he tried to argue with her, but Bae put a stop to it by wandering over to the cot and dropping onto it like a stone. He barely even kicked his shoes off before he was snoring. That kid could sleep through a tornado.

"Honestly," she said. "It's not a big deal. It's just a bed, right? And it's certainly big enough that you'd never know I was there."

He smiled a little at that, staring intensely at the bed as though he were a little afraid it might suddenly sprout teeth and bite him.

"I don't think that I'd forget," he muttered. "I'll sleep on the floor. I don't mind."

"I do," she said reassuringly. "You and I both know you've been pushing yourself all week. If you don't sleep in a bed there's no way we're getting up to the cabin tomorrow, which means another day in this hotel room. Anyway, there's no room on the floor with the cot."

He didn't try to argue that point, but she could tell he wished she hadn't noticed he was hurting himself.

"Really, Arthur, we're both adults. I think we can handle one night in the same bed."

He nodded finally, accepting her logic even though he obviously still wanted to argue.

"One night," he agreed.

Thank God for matronly nightgowns, Gold thought to himself as Belle tentatively climbed into the bed. She was covered from breastbone to knees with a thick cotton jersey material. It was sleeveless, but honestly she was more covered in that than in most of her sundresses. Plus this was entirely shapeless, leaving the swell of her breasts and the curve of her waist largely to the imagination. That might be his one salvation tonight if he wanted to get any sleep at all. He hadn't shared a bed with another person in a long, long time and he was willing to bet that, aside from sleepovers with her friend Ruby and Bae climbing into her bed after a nightmare, it had been even longer for Belle.

After he took his turn in the bathroom to change and brush his teeth, there was really nothing to do but get into bed with her. It was the longest walk of his life. He felt like he was on his way to the electric chair. How the hell was he going to get any sleep with her being soft and warm and in bed with him? It just didn't seem possible at all.

True to her word, Belle had settled on top of the sheets but under the quilt. He didn't know why, but the thin barrier between them made him feel a little better about the whole thing. And why on Earth was he so worried? Was he afraid she was going to molest him in the night? Oh, no that was not the direction to take his thoughts in. Not at all.

They could have fit a third person between them, both as close to the edge of the bed as they dared.

"Do you have enough room?" she asked timidly, glancing over at him across her pillow.

"Yeah," he said. "Do you?"

She nodded.

"That's good," he said. He felt so stupid.

He turned the light off, hoping if she couldn't see him he'd feel a little bit less like an idiot for even agreeing to this plan.

"Arthur?" she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for taking us here," she said and he could hear the smile in her voice. Her hand was moving across the blankets, and it found his and gave it a squeeze.

He closed his eyes tightly and forced his thoughts back to the present. They were just friends, he reminded himself. They had a family and they were just friends. She loved him the way she would have loved a sperm donor who suddenly appeared at her doorstep. That was the thought to focus on. They were nothing else to each other and this meant nothing.

"You don't have to thank me," he replied. "I like taking you two places. You're the only family I've got."

"Still," she said. "You don't have to do these things. But you still went out of your way to make this a really memorable trip for both of us. Thank you."

He wanted to laugh. She was thanking him for taking her on a boat and to a museum. As if he wouldn't do literally anything she asked him to, take her anyplace her heart desired. It was surreal, the entire situation was beginning to take a toll on his sleep deprived brain.

"You're welcome," he finally said for lack of anything else to say.

She squeezed his hand one last time and then pulled hers back to her side of the bed. He could feel her roll over, but tried not to notice the way the bed sagged a little on that side or the tantalizing hint of warmth that was coming from over there. His son was in the room, after all. And she was Bae's mother.

He wasn't sure how he finally fell asleep that night, but thankfully he eventually did.