Author's Note: This chapter was revised by my beta, Ethereal Wishes.
You'll notice that this AU is completely divergent from the canon, but it is so to adjust to the request.
And, if you're reading The Bookshop Owner and waiting for the weekly update, I promise it will be pubished soon.
The baby was laying quietly in the crib while his father just stood there, admiring at how perfect he was, meanwhile, Belle was sleeping peacefully on the bed, exhausted from the childbirth, her breath deep and constant. Rumplestiltskin was amused with the fact that this tiny pinkish creature was his son, because he seemed too pure and beautiful to share his blood.
Hesitantly, he stretched his hand to stroke the baby's chubby cheek, receding when Baelfire moved in his sleep, his eyelids opening and his face contracting in a grimace which showed that he was about to start crying. Not wanting to wake Belle and disturb her rest, Rumplestiltskin picked up the baby, even though he had been avoiding touching the child, afraid to do something wrong or maybe simply realise that he had been dreaming this whole time and he had no son. However, the heavy weight of Baelfire was too real to be a mere product of his imagination. The infants wails started to get louder, turning into cries as Rumple sat in the rocking chair, cradling him.
"There is no need to cry, wee one," he whispered softly. "We don't want to wake mama, right?"
Baelfire was still a little fussy, but starting to calm down, his tiny hands moving in the air and making the Dark One smile, grateful for the fact that he appeared not to have inherited anything from him, and was his mother's son in every single way possible. He thanked all the gods for it, because he had been afraid for months that he might pass his curse on to an innocent child.
It was a fact that Rumplestiltskin was marvelled by his wife's pregnancy. He had followed her around the castle for months, trying to make her comfortable, bringing her all the food she craved and making sure that everything she needed was right in her reach. Now, he had a little bundle of joy on his arms, and kept playing with the baby's small hands and feet, stunned with how tiny and helpless he was.
The imp had held babies many times during his life, mostly when he made a deal for one of them, but he never stopped to pay much attention to them, because none of them mattered to him, but this one did. This was his son, and he was certain that he would die for Baelfire if it need be.
"Papa will protect you, sweet boy. You'll never want for anything," Rumplestiltskin muttered as a promise.
"Can you please calm down?" Neal asked, gripping Emma's hands as he observed her fighting back tears.
They'd been fighting for about twenty minutes. He was full of a new hope he hadn't felt since he was a child, crawling into his mother's lap, feeling her caress his hair as she read a book to him. Emma was about to break down, full of a new fear that she had never felt before.
"Calm down?" Emma gasped. "Neal, look at us. Everything we have is a stolen car and some money we've got from stealing stolen watches!"
"I know, but that's why we got the money, to find Tallahassee, remember?" He said, caressing her skin in an attempt to make her less tense. "We were going to make a home there, so why not start with this?"
He pointed at the positive pregnancy test laying on the nightstand, a reminder that they were going to put their lives back together.
"Because I'm scared," she mumbled, finally allowing the tears she was holding back to stream down her face.
"But it already happened," he said, pulling her closer and hugging her tight as she trembled within his arms. "We've got to do our best for this kid, Emma. We can't let it end up like we did. Or would you like our child to end up in the system as you did?" Neal queried.
"No, never," Emma assured him. "I'm just afraid we can't do this, that we don't know how to do this. I don't have a clue how to be a mother, Neal, because I never had one." Her tone was so helpless, he thought she might break.
Touching her cheek, Neal looked deep into her green eyes, wishing for their child to inherit them. There was a lot of things he hoped the child got from her, but he wouldn't mind if in the end it didn't, because all he wanted now was to raise their child and never let it doubt their love for it.
"Hey, it didn't matter that you never had a mother, because what this kid needs comes from your heart," he assured her. "We will work this out, Emma. I promise."
Those words didn't take her fears away, but the fact she knew that Neal was willing to go through all of this with her made her feel more secure. She had no idea of what crazy things the future held for them, but Emma was certain they would face it together.
Belle had an utter adoration for her child, and Rumplestiltskin couldn't say that he didn't feel the same. Most days he didn't even wish to go on his deals anymore, because he wanted to spend hours soothing Baelfire or just trying to make him giggle as this sound had become one of his favourites in the whole wide world. But things had gotten more difficult for him now that they had a baby in the castle, mostly because people came there to seek his deals all the time and Belle always had to hide away with their child.
The common desperate souls were not exactly a problem, but people like the Evil Queen certainly were. She had arrived early that day in her black carriage, talking nonsensical things about Snow White as she followed him around the castle while he collected all the things he needed to make the potion she requested and send her on her way. He dropped the ingredients inside the cauldron, mixing them together, when a loud squealing sound came from the floor below them.
"Is it a baby that I am hearing?" Regina asked with narrowed eyes.
He knew that the question was redundant, since she already knew the answer to it, and he would have tried to distract the Queen with a lie if it weren't for how insistent his son's cries sounded, which both made it undeniable and made him worried.
"Yeah, I'm making an exchange for it tonight. Unless my wife has decided to kill it first," he answered in his most impish tone. "If you'll excuse me, I need to check on this."
Lighting the fire, he walked out of his laboratory, following Baelfire's cries to find the place from where they were coming. Regina was behind him, and he knew that there was nothing he could do to make her go away now, but he didn't care a bit for her in that moment, mainly after he opened the door of the chambers where Belle was hidden with Bae, to find her crying desperately while trying to soothe the baby and stop his screams.
"What happened?" Rumplestiltskin questioned, taking Bae from her arms, and analyzing his son carefully, finding a large red bump on his forehead.
"He tried to stand up," Belle sobbed, "but then, before I could do anything, he fell down. I - I'm sorry, Rumple!"
"Your wife is quite an annoying thing," Regina mumbled behind him, watching the scene with curious eyes.
"Go away, your Majesty," the imp commanded, glancing at her irately. "I'll send your potion later, but now I need to take care of this deal before the merchandise is too damaged to be exchanged."
The Evil Queen decided to keep quiet about the matter, though she was going to hold that small moment against him the first chance she had, but for now, she just waved her hand and vanished in a cloud of smoke. Belle stood up, reaching out to stroke Bae's cheeks, still whimpering, but glad that his squealing had ceased.
"I'm so, so sorry," she whispered, "I am a bad mother."
"No, sweetheart, you're certainly not," Rumplestiltskin guaranteed, bending to press a kiss to her lips. "These things happen all the time, so please don't blame yourself for that."
Baelfire had his head resting on his father's shoulder, a healthy eight-month-old baby surrounded by everything he needed. The imp covered the bump on his head with his hand, letting the magic work, taking it away, and showing Belle a healed forehead.
"See? It is not even there anymore," he returned with a smile.
And if he could heal everything with a simple touch of magic, Belle would be grateful, but not all things could be mended that way, and they would eventually find out the hard way.
It should be humiliating enough to have to work as a giant chicken in front of a stupid snack bar, but seeing Emma almost losing her breath with all those guffaws was making him feel even worse. Tallahassee wasn't exactly what he expected it to be, but at least it was a place where nobody knew them or the crimes they had committed, and it was perfect for a new start. They had promised to live normal lives and do nothing wrong that could end up separating them from their six-month-old baby, a little boy, named Henry.
"Stop laughing!" Neal protested.
"I'm sorry, I can't," Emma said with a chuckle, attempting to contain them because she was holding Henry.
"Alright," he mumbled with a grimace, "from now on, I'm doing this for him, not for you."
Emma kissed him while the big chicken's head wasn't on yet, but she couldn't stop laughing, because they had worked on the most stupid jobs ever since they moved to Tallahassee, but they hadn't yet gotten to that point. Well, at least she hadn't. She had been home without a job from the moment she reached her last few weeks of pregnancy, and was only going to go back to work when Henry was old enough for preschool. Until then, they needed to fill their lack of income, so Neal was taking every job which fell in his lap, including this one.
"Henry thinks his daddy looks ridiculous too," the blonde smirked.
"No, he doesn't," Neal countered.
Neal approached his son, waving the big wing in his direction, and Henry busted into a giggling fit.
"Your little traitor," he muttered.