truerumbelle said:
Adoption!verse prompt. Can we have a reversal now? Arthur runs into a former co-worker that he has a friendly (just friendly) relationship with. Maybe someone who supported Arthur as a friend through his breakup with Milah, and the discovery of Bae. The affection they show each other leaves Belle a bit jealous.
As awkward as it felt to be going to court with (not against, and she needed to remember that – they were in full agreement on everything) a man she considered to be her best friend, a part of Belle was glad that it would soon be over. It had always been in the back of her mind that this could come, and being able to handle it amicably was such a relief that even the presence of two attorneys couldn't sour her mood – although perhaps one of the attorneys could.
No, that wasn't fair. Regina Mills had done nothing to Belle. In fact, the taller woman had been unfailingly polite. Regina was the consummate professional with her, and damn close to friendly with Abigail. Unfortunately, she was very friendly with Arthur. Belle had asked him once (as casually as she could) how he'd met Regina. She'd interned for him in law school, and afterward he had apparently sought her out, taken her under his wing, and generally groomed her as his successor. There was – if not affection between them then there was certainly respect and camaraderie. It was the kind of relationship Belle had never known him to have with anyone, and closer than she'd seen him be with anyone but herself and Bae.
The jealousy was a new sensation for Belle. She'd been jealous of things before, of course, but never people really. Her ex, George, had been the sort to attract a lot of female attention but for some reason it hadn't really bothered her. She hadn't had any reason to suspect him of wandering, and if he had she'd never felt like he was an integral part of her life no matter how serious they'd ben. Being jealous of Arthur (and for such a silly reason) was extremely uncomfortable for her, especially given that he and Regina had a purely professional relationship and he and Belle weren't together by her own choice – so what right did she even have to feel this way?
Arthur and Regina were speaking in low tones when Belle and Abigail approached them, only breaking apart when they were within a few feet of each other. Arthur looked pleased with himself, and Regina looked inscrutable. Belle wasn't really sure what was going on, but she wasn't really comfortable with it.
"Good morning," Abigail greeted the two.
"Indeed," Regina replied with a shark-like smile. "Any time I'm getting paid for everyone to agree is a very good day."
Abigail and Arthur both chuckled, and Belle felt like the odd man out for not understanding the joke. Well, no, she understood it, she just lacked a cultural reference point for why it was funny. This was a little like being a tourist in a foreign country where she knew the language but had no idea of the culture. It made her feel small.
Eventually, Arthur's eyes landed on her sullen face and he cleared his throat.
"Shall we?" he said finally, gesturing towards the office where they would be going over final documents in preparation for Belle's appearance before a judge in order to adopt Bae again. It had been a stressful few weeks.
Regina and Abigail preceded Belle into the room, and as she walked in she felt Arthur's hand hovering at the small of her back but never actually touching her. Something about the heat of his body seeping into her skin propped her up a little bit, though, and she was glad for it. She could do this, they were so close to having all the complications worked out at which point she could deal with the rest of this far more easily.
"Alright," Regina said, suddenly all business. "The custody agreement I drafted has been signed by both parties, so we've only got a few more details to work out."
Abigail shot Belle a look, she hadn't been happy on finding out her client had signed the agreement without reading it first – thought she'd begrudgingly admitted (after reading her own copy) that it had contained exactly what Arthur said it did.
"As far as I know," Abigail interjected. "The only thing remaining to discuss is my client's new adoption."
"That," Regina said calmly, "and the child support."
Belle startled a little bit, looking over to Arthur. He had a reassuring look on his face, but she was suspicious. They'd never talked about this before.
"I assume you have a proposal?" Abigail said smoothly, Belle had known the other woman long enough to know that she didn't like surprises and especially not ones that took place in a meeting.
"Of course," Regina replied as she slid some papers across the table towards them. "I'm sure you'll find it's quite generous."
Belle leaned over to read the paper as Abigail did. Most of the legalese was beyond her, but she certainly knew that she was the Plaintiff and he was the Defendant, and that he was basically proposing to double her annual income out of his own pocket.
"What is this?" Belle blurted out.
"It's far more than you'd get from a court order," Regina replied, turning towards Abigail. "Which your attorney will tell you, I'm sure."
"Give us a minute," Abigail answered, leaning to whisper into Belle's ear. "She's right though, in this state you'd probably get about eight-hundred dollars plus the cost of child care and health insurance."
"I don't need his money," Belle replied sharply, affronted that anyone was suggesting such a thing. "Any of it. And certainly not this much."
"Belle," Arthur said from his side of the table. "Just think about it, please?"
"No!" she exclaimed, clenching her hands under the table and feeling the opal ring he'd given her dig into her skin. She had half a mind to rip it off and throw it at him. "We've talked about this, Arthur. And my mind hasn't changed!"
Arthur sighed, turning to Regina and Abigail finally.
"Can we take a break?" he asked.
"Good idea," Belle replied grabbing her purse.
"I meant, I'd like them to leave so we can talk."
Regina raised her eyebrows at Abigail and Belle was fighting the urge to slap the look off her face. Regina was beauty polished to a fine point, and Belle suddenly felt small and poor and frumpy.
"Belle," Abigail said, pulling her aside for a minute. "We've known each other a very long time and you know I love the both of you, but you need to seriously think about why you're turning this down and whether it's really in your best interests."
She nodded as the other women left, leaving her alone with her son's father.
"What was that all about?" she said to him as soon as they were alone. "How dare you spring that on me this way?"
"How dare I?" he parroted her. "How dare I what? I am offering you help...for both of you, not just Bae."
"I don't need your charity," she fumed. "We got along just fine without you."
"It's not charity, Belle," he replied. "It's child support. And I never said you didn't get along fine without me."
"Then why are you trying to give us this money?"
"Because he's my son," he said incredulously. "Because he's my son and I want to help him. Just because you can support him by yourself doesn't mean you have to, Belle."
"We don't need your money," she insisted. "What you're doing is just to make yourself feel better, not me."
"I'm not doing it so that anyone feels better," he said as calmly as she'd ever heard him. "I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do."
She was livid. She knew it was unreasonable, she knew he had a point, and she knew (though she'd never admit it) that she could use the money. A child was expensive, it would give her the ability to work less, it would let her do more for her son, it would do so many things. She couldn't help her pride, though.
Belle had done her best for Bae. She had opened her home to him, she'd opened her heart to him. She'd sacrificed dreams and grad school and countless nights of sleep assuring that he would have the very best she could provide. To have this man who had never had to give up a god damn thing for him come along and act like he could have done better...
"He's my son!" she shouted, slamming her hand on the table finally. "He's mine and I raised him."
He was dumbstruck at her comment, staring at her as though she had grown a second head.
"I did everything I could for Bae," she continued. "He has always had everything he needed. He's been loved and protected his whole life. I did that. I was up with him when he couldn't sleep, I nursed him through every fever. I did the best I could do with what I had and you can't take that away from me. You can't buy him away from me."
She didn't realize she was crying until she was done, but her face was hot and wet from tears and he was clenching and unclenching his hands on the table as he stared at her. She felt empty now that she'd finally said it. She'd been bottling this up for months, hating herself for even thinking it.
"He is still my son, too, Belle," he said finally, his voice hard. She wasn't afraid of that anger, though. Never afraid. "He's my son and I will see him taken care of."
"He's always been taken care of," she shot back. "And I never needed help to do it."
"Well you have help now," he replied angrily as he stood and came around the table to stand next to her. "Whether you want it or not. I have a claim to his well-being too, Belle."
She bristled at his tone, backing away from him so she could look him in the eye again.
Belle wanted to be angry at him, but he was right. Damn it all to hell, he was right.
"I'm sorry," she said finally, relaxing her shoulders by sheer force of will. "I know he's yours, too. I know you didn't lose him on purpose, and I know you would have been there. I do, really. But that almost makes it worse."
"What do you mean?"
"If you were evil, then I'd be the clear winner here," she said, hating the tremor in her voice at this little insecurity she'd barely even admit to herself. "But you're not. It's like a fairy tale for him, isn't it? The little prince destined for greater things than his peasant mother."
"Oh Belle," he said with a sad little smile that shattered her heart into a million tiny pieces.
She wasn't sure if she fell into his arms or if he grabbed her to him, but the next thing she was aware of was his arms wrapped tight around her as she sobbed into his chest.
"He loves you, Belle," Arthur whispered into her hair. "He loves you more than anything. I can't compete with that, and I won't even try."
"I know," she whimpered. "I know you won't."
"Bae will never have another mother," he promised her. "He will never love someone as much as he loves you. You've done such a good job with him, Belle, I can't believe how lucky he's been."
He shushed her as she cried, whispering little words of nonsense as she sobbed until her face was hot and sticky and she had no more tears to cry.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Belle finally mumbled into his soggy coat.
"I'm sorry I didn't ask you about it before," he said softly. "It wouldn't have changed my mind, but I still should have warned you."
She shook her head a little and pulled away from him to wipe her face.
"If you had it would have only meant we'd have had this fight sooner," she admitted. "I was going to react badly no matter what."
"Will you accept the child support at least?"
He sounded close to begging her, and as much as it stung her pride she knew that Bae deserved a mother who could spend more time with him, a mother who wasn't always juggling things, and a mother who wasn't constantly distracted by the knowledge that at any moment it could all come crashing down around her.
"I don't have to be happy about it," she warned. "You owe me nothing, Arthur. You really don't."
"If Milah had kept him," he said idly. "How much do you think I'd have paid for her to care for Bae? Alimony plus child support, after all. Not that I'd have expected her to be able to provide the same level of care as you did, mind. Even at her best I don't think she'd have been capable of it."
"That's different," she interrupted, though she couldn't have explained how it was different.
"I'd have happily done it," he continued. "I'd have happily paid any amount of money to make sure my son had whatever he needed. Even if he were living with a woman I hated more than anything in the world, I'd still have done whatever it took to make sure they had a comfortable life. Why would you expect me to want to do anything less for you?"
"Alright," she said finally. "Call the lawyers back, I'll take it. But you have to get something, too."
"I already do," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her forehead softly. "I know he's been loved. That's all I needed. All I ever needed."
They were both quiet a long moment, and if he was waiting for an answer he didn't get it. Instead, he stepped backwards, opening the door and calling the other two women back in. They were clearly in the middle of a conversation, laughing at some joke Belle didn't know and would never hear. They both saw her puffy red eyes, but both were polite enough not to stare. Abigail mouthed are you okay? As she sat, accepting Belle's nod as an answer.
"So," Regina said finally. "I take it you've worked out the child support issue?"
"We've come to an agreement, yes," Gold answered, glancing towards Belle.
"We have," Belle replied. "I'm going to sign."
"Excellent," Regina replied. "So that just leaves the adoption paperwork and this can all be filed with the court."
"Indeed," Abigail said, shooting a glance towards Belle as she passed the paper across the table. "Although hopefully this will be a little more straight forward."
Arthur looked at the paper, before his face went slack and he turned towards Belle with a question brewing behind his dark eyes.
"Bailey Neal Gold-French?" Regina read out loud. "I didn't know you'd planned on changing his name."
"It was supposed to be a surprise," Belle admitted to the room as she turned to Arthur. "Bae and I were talking about it, and we thought that since we had to go through all this again that we might as well make all of us a family in name, too."
She knew he wanted to hug her again, but he managed to hold it together as he signed the paperwork that would put his name on their son. This was all he wanted, she realized. To be a part of their lives and to have a right to be there. She could give him that, at least, if nothing else.