theladyofthedarkcastle said: *ahem* okay. For real prompt time: Adoption!verse: Belle catches wind that Bae wants to invite his dad for Christmas dinner, or holiday dinner, and/or Belle catches wind Arthur was going to be alone and invites him. Bae goes to bed and MISTLETOE. If that's not too cheesy. heh. Maybe not a full blown hooking uppppp.. idk how smutty you wish to get, but yeah like kiss leading to hook up. If that's prompty enough, and not all over the place like my brain currently. ha. You rock.

Christmas with a child was a vastly different experience for Arthur than any of his previous holidays had been. Shopping had been an absolute nightmare, but that was all behind him as he pulled into Belle's driveway early on Christmas Eve. Her house looked like a Norman Rockwell painting with snow blanketing the yard and reflecting the little multicolored lights that she had somehow strung all by herself. There were lanterns shaped like candles in all the windows and Bae had built a snowman at some point. Arthur took a moment to take in the wholesomeness of the scene before the door swung open and his son came barreling out of the house to hug him.

"Merry Christmas, Dad!" Bae chirped. "Did you remember the presents?"

Bae smelled like cinnamon and gingerbread and Arthur took a moment to breathe in the combination of warm sweetness and the crisp Maine air.

"Of course I did," he replied, ruffling his son's hair. "Are you going to help me get them inside?"

Bae nodded and waited for his father to open the trunk of his car as patiently as a ten-year-old could reasonably be expected to be on Christmas Eve. Arthur took one bag and let Bae carry the other one as they walked towards the house.

"Mom said we couldn't decorate cookies until you got here," Bae said. "But she's been baking all day."

"Have you eaten any yet?" Arthur asked his son. Bae smiled a little guilty smile and hurried ahead of his father into the house.

"Mom!" Bae called out. "Dad's here."

Belle leaned into the living room from the kitchen and took his breath away. She had her hair pulled back off her face and a Christmas patterned apron on and there were flour smudges on her face and arms. Arthur honestly wasn't sure he'd ever thought she was more beautiful.

"Hey," she said when she saw him. "I've been baking."

"I can see that," he replied. "It smells amazing."

It wasn't a lie. The entire house was rich with the same spicy scent that had followed Bae outside. She must have been at it for hours.

"Thank you," she replied. "There's gingerbread men and sugar cookies to decorate, shortbread cookies cooling on the counter, and some spiced cider on the stove. I also have the stuff to make eggnog in the fridge if you want to give me a hand."

"Are you expecting company?"

"No," she said. "Just you. But nobody ever says no to leftover Christmas cookies."

"I'll be in to help in a minute," he replied, holding up his bag of gifts. "Just let me put these under the tree."

"Take your time," she said, giving him a knowing little look that had his stomach doing flips as she retreated into the kitchen. "Bae, you ready to start icing cookies?"

Bae didn't need to be asked twice, setting his father's bag down on the sofa and darting after her into the kitchen.

Arthur took a moment just to breathe before he could focus on the tree. This Christmas could not be more different than the last one. Last year, he had spent the holiday at home alone. It had been just another day, albeit with fewer things on TV. This year, by contrast, felt like something that he'd have dreamed up in a drunken depression. He had a son – he'd always desperately wanted a child and now he had one. There was a beautiful woman in the kitchen waiting for him to come make eggnog and help decorate cookies. Everything was full of love and life and warmth and he just wanted to never leave. He'd been invited to spend the night so he could do presents first thing in the morning with Bae, but he suddenly realized he didn't think that would be long enough. He didn't want to go home after this.

By the time he joined them in the kitchen, Belle was juggling a spatula covered in white frosting and a pastry bag and somehow had managed to get some of it in her hair. Bae was watching his mother with anticipation all over his face.

"Do you need help?" Arthur asked her, trying very hard not to laugh at the scene in front of him.

"No, thank you," she replied. "It's too late for me, but you're still clean."

"Shall I get you a drink, then?"

"Please," she said eagerly, spooning more of the frosting into the bag. "The rum and everything else are in the fridge and there's a recipe on the counter."

Arthur began mixing the drinks as Belle finished scooping her frosting out and began setting Bae up with a variety of candies and sprinkles and set him to work.

"Do you think you made enough cookies?" he asked her when she went to the sink to start washing her hands.

"I don't know," she said cheekily. "I made a dozen for each of us – do you think that's excessive?"

"I'm sure it's fine," he replied, handing her a glass of eggnog which she took gratefully. "So is this a tradition for you two?"

"What? Making too many cookies for him to decorate while I drink?"

"Well, I wouldn't have put it in so many words, but yes."

"Sort of," she said. "I mean, we always do this stuff but we may have gone a little bit more overboard than usual."

"Oh?"

"Well, yeah," she said. "You're here."

There was nothing she could have said to make him love her more than that.

Christmas Eve with a family was like nothing Arthur could have expected. They had dinner and then watched movies and made popcorn. Bae sipped his cocoa and he and Belle had cider and eggnog. It was the best day Arthur ever remembered having, even as Bae was poking gifts and begging his mother to please just let him open one.

"The sooner you go to bed the sooner you can wake up," Belle said simply. "This is the one time of year I can use that."

"But there are so many," Bae whined. "And Dad's here!"

"Your father will be here tomorrow, too," Belle replied. "And you can open everything you want then."

It took surprisingly little prompting before she actually managed to talk Bae into going to sleep. Usually, he went off by himself and settled himself into bed, but tonight after changing into pajamas he came back downstairs. Belle got up, then, and followed her son to the stairs.

"Are you coming?" she called back to Arthur. "It's tradition."

He nodded, following her to Bae's bedroom, where she sat on the foot of her son's be and gestured for Arthur to join her.

They talked about nothing for a little while, talking about what Bae hoped he got the next morning and which cookies he was especially proud of. It was a sweet routine and Arthur was so happy to be there for it. Eventually, though, Bae was yawning and Belle got up and kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," she said.

"Goodnight, Mom," Bae said with a yawn. "Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, son."

Belle waited until Arthur was in the hallway before she flipped the light off and shut the door, leaving Bae to his Christmas dreams.

"We've done that every year since he was a baby," she explained from the safety of the hallway. "It's silly, but he loves those little traditions."

"It was fun," Arthur replied. "I don't blame him for enjoying it, either."

"He's loved having you here," she said. "I have, too. It makes it a lot more special with three of us instead of just two."

There wasn't much to say to that, really. It was better for him as well – so, so much better.

Belle's eyes were fixed on a point just slightly above his head and she had a little smile on her face. He followed her line of sight to see a sprig of mistletoe dangling on the roof of the hallway above their heads.

"I didn't tell him to do that," Belle said. "I told him to help me decorate, but I didn't even know we had mistletoe. I wonder where he got it."

"Oh," Arthur replied. "Well, I'd hate to risk the bad luck..."

"Would you?"

He leaned in to kiss her, his lips pressing against hers and his arms wrapping around her waist. Belle clung to him, pressing against him and deepening the kiss. Kissing Belle was intoxicating in and of itself, but he hadn't meant to let himself get carried away. She was beautiful and he wanted to never be apart from her. It wasn't enough – it wasn't ever going to be enough.

Belle's hands were on his chest and she was pressed flush to him. He could feel every inch of her warmth through his clothes, and he wanted nothing more than to feel even more of her. It felt like she was devouring him, and his last coherent thought ended with her pressed against the wall with her fingers in his hair. Arthur slid one hand up from her waist to ghost across the rise of her breast when she pulled away and for a second he thought he'd gone too far.

"Not here," she whispered, her cheeks flushed from her own excitement. "Come on."

He followed her like a puppy as she took his hand and led him down the hall and past the bedroom he usually slept in when he visited. At the door to her bedroom his nerves found him again and he paused, but she just cupped his cheek in her hand and kissed him again. It was just barely a brushing of her lips to his, but it set him on edge in an instant.

"Are you sure?" he asked her, unable to silence the voice in his head that told him to stop.

"Emotional involvement, right?" she replied, trailing kisses to his jaw.

Something in him snapped at that and he stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. Belle smiled wickedly, walking backwards to her bed and leading him with her. There was no doubt about where this was going anymore. It was a place he'd never dreamed of her wanting to go, but now here she was pulling him down onto her bed and touching him frantically.

Arthur let his hand skim across her breast again, reveling in the softness of her. She was teasing his shirt buttons open with quick fingers and sucking gently on his neck as he touched her and suddenly it just wasn't enough anymore and he had to feel her skin. His hands were underneath her shirt before he could stop himself and instead of stopping him she was moaning and arching underneath him. God, he wanted her so badly.

"Belle," he gasped. "You're so beautiful."

If he'd ever doubted she wanted this, then the look on her face at that moment would have convinced him otherwise. She wriggled out from under him, pinning him on his back and shedding her shirt in a rush.

He traced his fingertips up and down her bare sides and let her finish unbuttoning his shirt. She slid it open carefully, skidding back a little bit to brush her fingers through his hair. She paused straddling his waist and just watched him lovingly for a few moments and Arthur knew in that moment that he wouldn't ever love another woman again as long as he lived.

Belle leaned down to to kiss him again, and this time he didn't let her go.