queueingtocomplain said:

Maybe for later in the adopted!verse, but Belle and Gold go to a parent's evening for Bae together, and everyone assumes that they're married.

Anonymous said:

Hi! I love your Adoption series and wanted to send you a prompt. I hope you can use it :) It's ok if you can't, I imagine you're sitting on dozens and dozens of ideas! Ok, prompt: Bae invites Gold to a parents event at his school and Gold discovers how hard Belle has had to work to give her son the best education she can. Or something along those lines...Love this story, thanks for sharing it! X

endangeredslug said:

Has someone prompted Gold attends his first parent teacher meeting yet?

Or parent's night at school. That's also when a lot of volunteer signups happen.

anonymousnerdgirl said:

Adoption!prompt: Belle introduces Gold to Frederick Knight and his wife Abigail. The four of them talk easily until Abigail remarks on what a good couple Belle and Gold are and invites them on a double date. The awkward moment is interrupted by Bae's boisterous argument with his teammate- a little blonde girl. (sorry it got long)

In the weeks since their return from family vacation, things had settled into a comforting sort of chaos that, while not exactly routine, was still a nice change. Bae was sleeping at either parent's house nearly interchangeably, which Arthur seemed wholly delighted by. Belle wasn't as enthused, but she did enjoy having a little bit of alone time for the first time in ages – at least at first.

Initially, she'd relished having some time to herself and chances to engage in long abandoned hobbies. She hadn't quite realized though how very few hobbies she had to begin with. Motherhood had so wholly consumed her life that it took until Bae had other things to do that Belle realized that she didn't. On the plus side, she was getting a lot more work done. Anton hardly knew what to do with himself when Belle was actually there all day every day. The office and the storefront had never been cleaner, and the books would have put any accountant to shame.

They were talking more about him buying in as a partner, too. Belle wasn't entirely sure how she'd afford it, but she was beginning to grow weary of the flower shop and if she was supposed to be part of a bigger family now she needed to have more free time. She'd have to redo her home budget. Maybe Arthur could help her pick some investments as well to make up the difference. Either way, it all boiled down to Belle's heart not being in her father's shop anymore. It was somewhere else.

She'd hoped whatever feelings for her son's father had developed over vacation would have cleared up once they were living in separate houses again, and it had definitely helped, but it hadn't solved the problem either. Belle had been surprised by the strength of her feelings toward Arthur. She wasn't used to feeling attraction to anyone, and this was all just so very new. A bit alarming, really. She'd dedicated herself to pretending like everything was okay, because everything had to be okay. There was just way too much at stake for her to develop feelings for her son's father.

She'd invited him to parents' night at Bae's school in mid-August. It was an annual event a week before school. Essentially, it was a volunteer drive, but it also doubled as a chance for the parents to meet the teachers and each other (and since the school provided free childcare for the event, it was one of Belle's favorite nights). For Arthur, it would be his official introduction to the school. He'd met a few of these parents at Bae's basketball games, but this was an entirely different beast. Here, he'd be expected to socialize and discuss the matters of raising a child fluently with people who had been parents for the last eleven years. She wasn't sure if she'd ever seen him more nervous, and she'd seen him the day he'd met his son.

"You'll be fine," she reminded him again, taking his arm and leading him into room 212B – Mrs. Blanchard-Nolan's fourth grade classroom. "It's not like anyone here will be waiting to judge you. And Mary Margaret's daughter is one of Bae's friends. It'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say," he huffed. "You actually have met these people before."

She rolled her eyes at him as they crossed the threshold into the classroom. It was a bright, cheerful room with an assortment of educational posters and bulletin boards bearing the names of all the children Bae would be sharing a room with this year. His teacher, Mary Margaret Blanchard-Nolan (and didn't they tease about that mouthful of a name?) was a pretty woman about Belle's age with black hair in a pixie cut.

"Belle," she gushed on seeing them walk in. "I'm so glad you made it! And this must be the father I've heard so much about!"

"Yes," Belle gestured between them as she spoke. "Mary Margaret, this is Bae's dad Arthur Gold. Arthur, this is Mary Margaret Blanchard-Nolan. She's Bae's teacher and her daughter Emma is one of his friends."

She could see his cheek twitch at her name but bless him, he kept it together.

"It's so good to meet you," Mary Margaret said earnestly, shaking his hand politely. "When I heard about the whole situation I was so excited for Bae. And for you, of course!"

Belle could practically feel Arthur relaxing at Mary Margaret's easy acceptance of him. She hoped it eased some of his worry about people judging him for only just now finding out about his child.

"It's been a busy summer," Arthur finally said. "But rewarding."

"I can't even imagine," Mary Margaret said cheerfully. "My husband, David, is around here someplace. He was dying to meet you. He's just desperate for another dad to volunteer, though."

She said the last part in a conspiratorial whisper that Belle could tell Arthur wasn't sure what to do with.

"By the way," Belle broke in. "You haven't told me how your trip was?"

"Oh, Florida was wonderful," Mary Margaret replied. "Dad's doing alright, but it's been hard on him since my mom died. Emma had a blast, though."

Belle nodded and gave Arthur's arm a gentle squeeze as Mary Margaret launched into a recap of the trip. Her mother had passed unexpectedly a few years earlier and her father had relocated afterward. It had been a bit of a touchy issue, with Mary Margaret not being sure her father was making the right choice, so she'd spent a significant portion of summer vacation living down there with Emma and her dad. David had been left largely to his own devices until he was able to fly down to join them for two weeks and collect his wife and child.

Fortunately, it was technically Mary Margaret's open house and soon enough she was called away to meet some other parents, leaving Belle and Arthur alone.

"She seemed nice," he begrudgingly admitted.

"She's very nice," Belle assured him. "And she's known Bae since preschool."

"It's a very tight knit group, isn't it?"

She shrugged.

"I suppose so, most of these kids have been together at least a few years. The town isn't that big."

He smiled and began scanning the room a little. Belle joined him, trying to see it as he had. He would, of course, recognize Michael Tillman who was talking to a handful of other dads – including David Blanchard-Nolan – in a corner. Belle hadn't spoken to him since their date, she realized. It was an odd realization, because in the past they had been the two third wheels of the classroom parents and as a result had been thrown together on more than a few occasions. She also suspected at least a few of the other mothers thought that they should get together just to even things out. It was awkward.

"Anyone else I should know?" Arthur asked her as she glanced around the room.

She hummed a little as she glanced around.

"Oh, that's someone!" she exclaimed as she saw Abigail and Frederick Knight entering the room.

She seized Arthur's arm, pulling him over to the couple. Unlike most everyone else here, Abigail and Fred didn't have children. Fred was the gym teacher and would be making the rounds to all the classes tonight, and Abigail was an attorney. More specifically, she was Belle's adoption attorney.

"Abigail!" Belle called to the other woman even as she was pulling Arthur over. "How have you been?"

The two women exchanged cheek kisses in greeting.

"Belle, it's been too long!" Abigail said, glancing over to Arthur. "And who's this?"

"This is Arthur Gold," Belle explained. "He's Bae's birth dad! Arthur, this is the gym coach Frederick Knight and Bae's attorney Abigail."

"My son has an attorney?" he said with an amused smirk.

"I handled the adoption," Abigail explained, shaking Arthur's hand. "And I was also his advocate in the custody dispute with your ex-wife."

There was something strange in Abigail's demeanor that Belle couldn't quite put her finger on, but luckily Fred jumped right in.

"So that sounds like an interesting story," he said with a smile on his face. "How'd that all go down?"

"Basically, my ex-wife didn't tell anyone he was my child," Arthur explained. "And it took me ten years to figure it out. So now we're making up for lost time."

"That's great," Fred replied. "Bae's a great kid. Star of a few of my teams."

"So I've heard, though I've only had a chance to see him at basketball."

"He's got real promise," Fred continued – boy did he know how to talk to dads. "But he's really dedicated, which in this age group is the most important thing."

"Oh God," Abigail said with an indulgent smile. "Come on, Belle, I can see exactly where this is going and I'm not going to interrupt the recruitment speech."

Fred chuckled and launched into a conversation about the developmental milestones in team sports as Abigail took Belle aside, pulling her into the hallway as soon as they were out of earshot of the men.

"Belle," she gasped. "What the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why didn't you tell me his bio dad was in the picture?"

"It didn't seem like a big deal."

Belle was so confused she wasn't sure what to say. Wasn't it a good thing that Bae's father wanted to be involved in his life?"

"Bio dad who never lost his parental rights trumps adopted mom every time, Belle," Abigail said. "He could get custody tomorrow if he asked for it."

Belle's blood ran cold as the import of Abigail's words worked its way into her brain.

"Tell me you at least have a custody agreement in place!"

"I...no," Belle admitted. "We've basically been swapping every day or two."

"Oh my God, Belle," Abigail had her face in her hands. "Do you know who that is? Aside from being Bae's legal parent, I mean?"

She liked to think she knew who Arthur was, but wasn't sure what Abigail meant so she simply shook her head.

"That is Arthur Gold. He used to be the family law attorney in this part of the state. They called him Rumpelstiltskin because he was so good at getting children."

"I don't know what you want me to say," Belle sounded calmer than she felt. Her stomach had fallen to her toes and she felt light-headed but somehow her voice was even. "I don't think he wants to take Bae away from me."

"Listen to me," Abigail said firmly. "You need to get him to agree to a legal custody agreement as of yesterday. I'm so, so serious."

"How do I do that?"

"He obviously likes you," the blonde said. "Use that. Do whatever you have to do. I don't care if you have to sleep with him first you do it."

The blood that had drained from Belle's head now rushed to her cheeks in a blush.

"That was hyperbole," Abigail said apologetically. "What I mean is, he obviously likes you. Use whatever he feels for you and get him to agree to you having some rights."

"I can't take advantage," she protested.

"It's not taking advantage," Abigail argued. "He's known all of this all along and he didn't tell you. I'm not even charging you for this advice, that's how serious I am that you've got to do this."

Belle's tongue felt heavy in her mouth and she couldn't swallow, but she nodded anyway. Somehow it hadn't ever occurred to her that she could lose her son in all of this. Why hadn't she called Abigail the moment Arthur arrived at her door? Because that would have put him on the defensive, that's why. He'd backed off and so had she.

Belle trusted him, though. He'd been nothing but good to her, and he'd had months in which to make his move and hadn't. But then, now that the idea was in her head she couldn't shake it. She somehow walked back into the classroom, even as she wanted to run into the gym, grab her son from whatever game he was playing with his friends, and escape with him. But she was too involved now to leave, and a part of her didn't want to.

The fact remained, though, that Arthur had lied to her. Not that he'd ever told her a falsehood, but he'd lied by omission. If what Abigail said was correct (and Belle had no reason to doubt it was) then he'd known all along that he could take her son away from her at any moment, and he'd had the ability to do so the entire time. He hadn't. He could have. Why hadn't he told her?