accio-firewhiskey said:

Adopt prompt: Belle tries on a ring in Gold's shop

Anonymous said:

Gold wants to give Bae some sort of very expensive gift for his birthday. Or Christmas if Bae's birthday isn't before then.

Gold was almost relieved that Belle knew the truth about his former career now. It wasn't something he'd ever truly meant to keep a secret, there had just never been a good time to tell her. It had gotten out of hand and he was just happy to have it out in the open. The other thing, perhaps, he was less enthused about her knowing. Or did she know? He'd never come out and said it, after all, and neither one had said anything about it afterward. Maybe in the stress of it all she'd forgotten or hadn't noticed. Was it possible that he was that lucky?

It had been a few weeks since the parent's night, school had started, and Bae's birthday was rapidly approaching. Attorneys had been contacted and there was paperwork to be done. Thankfully, with both parents in agreement on everything this was pretty straight forward, but it always took time when lawyers had to be involved – which was one of the reasons he had gotten out of the game in the first place. The other reason (which was far more painful to think of) was that after Milah left and then he lost his second chance at a family with Cora his heart just wasn't in it anymore. Watching families fall apart had taken too much out of him and he'd had to stop while he still could. The real estate investments were making enough by then that he hadn't needed the income anyway, so he had purchased a pawn shop and quit his day job. A pawn shop that Belle was currently standing in idly poking around in a jewelry case and waiting for him to finish up writing out a receipt for a watch before they could discuss Bae's birthday.

As his customer was finally out the door, he turned towards the case she had been fiddling in to see she had pulled out about half the contents out and was now wearing them. She flashed an innocent smile as he took in the necklaces she had draped around her neck and dangled over her hair like tiaras, as well as the bracelets lining her arms and the numerous rings on her fingers. He was stunned, but doubted it was in the way she anticipated. This seemed to have been intended as a prank, but she looked like a pagan princess and he was struck by the urge to fall at her feet. Instead, he decided to pretend he hadn't noticed, coming to stand next to her at the case.

"So," he said as casually as possible. "What do you usually do for his birthday?"

"We'll have some of his friends over," she explained, pulling a beautiful antique opal ring out of the case and sliding it onto her right hand ring finger. "Just a pizza and cake party, really. Probably some movies and then they'll go outside and destroy my yard with Nerf guns. He's eleven, that's what they do."

"And during all this, you'll be doing what?"

"Herding them from room to room, feeding them, and looking forward to when they all go home and I can have a drink and a bath."

"Which means that I'll be..."

"Doing exactly the same thing as me," she said with a sly grin (presumably not realizing she'd just implied he would be taking a bath with her). "Aren't you glad you're a dad now?"

Well, yes he was but when she put it like that it certainly sounded ominous.

"How about presents?" he said instead of answering her question. "What are you getting him?"

"There will be presents," she assured him. "His friends will all bring one each and I was planning to talk with you before I got him anything to make sure we didn't accidentally duplicate."

He thought for a few moments.

"I was thinking maybe a laptop," he said.

A handful of bracelets she'd been toying with clattered onto the glass top of the display case and Belle nervously snatched them back.

"Unless," he continued. "You think that's a bad idea."

"No, no," she didn't look at him, just kept rearranging the bracelets. "I think that he would really like that, actually."

She was upset, but he wasn't sure why and he wasn't sure how to ask her, either.

"So what are you getting him?" he asked, hoping to redirect the conversation someplace safer.

"Just some games," she said with a shrug. "Nothing special."

He felt himself wince at the change in her tone, but he wasn't sure what else to say to her.

"Anyway," she was changing the topic and her voice reflected that. "I didn't just come to talk about his birthday."

"Oh yes," he replied. "The papers."

His attorney, Regina, had drawn up a custody agreement for Belle to go over. Basically it was laying down the arrangement that they had already been practicing – Bae would live with his mother during the week of the school year and his father on the weekends. Holidays would be alternated, and during the summer there would be two week blocks switched between the two of them. Nobody had any real plans for this to be followed to the letter, but this had to be filed after Belle's adoption went through. He'd already taken a paternity test, so at this point it was simply a matter of filing all the correct paperwork and getting everything rubber stamped by the judge.

He fetched the custody papers from the desk in his office, and by the time he'd returned Belle had shed half of her jewelry, laying it neatly on the counter as she pulled pieces off. Frankly, she could have walked out with it still on if it would have put a smile back on her face. He didn't give a damn about the pieces themselves – just about her.

"Here it is," he said as he handed the packet to her. "You'll probably want Abigail to look over that before you sign it, just to be safe."

She took a deep breath and looked at him for a long time, searching his face for something. He started putting away her pile of jewelry as she studied him just to have something to do with his hands. Seeming to like what she saw, she reached over and grabbed a pen, initialing a few places where Regina had indicated and finally signing the last page before handing it back to him.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said softly. "This could say literally anything, Belle."

"I trust you," she replied. "This doesn't work if we don't trust each other."

"You're right," he agreed. "But you still shouldn't sign something without reading it first, at least."

"Is there anything in there I didn't want?"

"No," he admitted. "It's exactly what we talked about."

"Then I trust you."

"Fine," he sighed. "But please don't do that again."

"I'll keep it in mind next time we have a child together," she said flippantly as she continued pulling off rings.

He had been putting away a necklace as she said that, but the comment itself and all that it implied startled him so badly he ended up knocking over the display he had been working on as well as the two next to it.

"Please do," he choked out, hurriedly righting the case. The image of Belle carrying his child had seared itself into his brain and he was having trouble functioning now that it was there. Belle with her hand on her growing belly. Belle letting him feel as the child kicked the first time. Belle picking out baby names. Belle holding their baby for the first time. Oh God, getting Belle pregnant.

"Oh damn," she muttered and he looked up at her for the first time. "This one's stuck."

She was pulling on the opal ring he'd watched her slide on earlier.

"Let me see," he said gently, and she held her hand out to him. "Is it uncomfortable?"

"No," she said after a minute. "I don't think so."

He wiggled the ring on her finger. There was room, she wasn't in any danger of losing circulation, it was just caught on her knuckle.

"Why don't you just keep it?" he finally replied.

"I couldn't," she blurted out. "It's too much. I just need to get it off, is all."

"It's not too much."

"Then how much is it?" she challenged.

He looked down to her hand (which he just realized he was still holding). That particular piece was an art deco design from the 20s in white gold, with a large central stone surrounded by a circle of small pearls and two larger pieces of white jade on the top and bottom. There was some lacquer the same blue as her eyes inlaid on the band in a geometric pattern. The craftsmanship was incredible, and it was worth about seven-hundred dollars. There was absolutely no way he could tell her that.

"I could probably get a couple hundred dollars for it," he fibbed. "It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal," she insisted, pulling on the ring again until the skin of her finger was red and irritated.

"It's really not," he insisted, grabbing her hand back to stop her from hurting herself. "For one thing, if you're going to do that then I have a jar of lubricant specifically for getting rings off, but honestly I want you to have it."

"It doesn't fit," she whimpered a little and he could see tears coming up in her eyes.

"If it's hurting you I'll get the jar and we can take it off," he said softly. "And then I can resize it and you can have it."

It was strange how badly he wanted her to have it, now that he'd thought of it. He needed Belle to have this ring.

"It doesn't hurt," she replied. "I can barely feel it."

"Then why don't you want it?"

"It's just...it's too much," she said. "You give us too much. You give me too much. I can't take it."

She was still wearing a necklace on her head with the charm resting between her eyes and he could barely focus on what she was saying from the beauty of it.

"So?" he finally said. "Why does it bother you? What's the difference between the ring and the trip and the game system I bought him when we met?"

"The trip was for Bae," she bristled a little. "And so was the game. This is for me, and we're not...you don't owe me things."

"The trip was for both of you," he replied. He was actually a little stunned, he hadn't realized she felt that way about it. "And if you want to get technical, this is ultimately Bae's anyway – whether I keep it or you take it."

"You're twisting the facts."

"Not really," he replied. "What other heirs do you think I have? Either Bae gets the few hundred dollars from this ring, or he gets one more ring in the inventory. Or you take it and he gets his mother's ring to give to his wife or daughter. Which do you think is really more valuable?"

"What about what you would do with the money?"

"What do you imagine I do with myself and my money?" he asked her earnestly, this was something he'd wondered about for awhile. "What am I possibly spending it on that isn't you or Bae? Everything I have or ever will have is going to go to one or both of you. Everything."

She didn't reply, and she was still staring him down, but she didn't look as upset now so he knew he was making headway at least.

"You still shouldn't give it to me," she said softly. "This is the kind of ring you give to a wife or girlfriend. I'm neither of those things."

"So I'm giving it to the mother of my child instead," he said with a shrug. "I don't have a wife or a girlfriend, Belle, and I don't know that I'll ever have one again. I have you and that's enough. This is enough."

He could see the moment she decided to believe him, her shoulders sagging a little as she nodded.

"Alright," she said with a smile. "But only for Bae."

"Only for Bae," he agreed, but his heart wasn't really in it. He wanted her to smile at him again like she had at the pier when he'd given her the bracelet. "But if you want to keep the necklace, I'm going to have to insist you pay for that."

He said the last bit with a teasing lilt to his voice that did get her to smile as she reached up and untangled the chain from her hair.

"I'd forgotten about that one," she confessed as he put it away. "I always used to play with my mother's jewelry like that when I was a girl. I'd cover myself in it and pretend to be a princess."

"I'm sure you were lovely," he said and he meant it. She would have been beautiful. Her daughter would be beautiful, too, if she'd had one.

"I looked ridiculous," she admitted. "But it was fun."

"You're welcome to play dress-up in the shop anytime."

"Careful," she giggled. "You may never get rid of me."

Well that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, now was it? But he couldn't admit to that so instead he smiled and inclined his head to her.

"Anyway," she said as she gathered her purse. "I should go get Bae. Practice should be over soon, thank goodness. Thank you for the ring, Arthur."

"You're very welcome," he answered her as she stepped out the door into the street on her way to gather their son, leaving him alone with his money.

He had some calls to make.