Chapter 20 What's in a Name?
As Belle began to mix batter for pancakes she looked up in surprise to find Neal the first one up.
'You're an early riser?' Belle wondered, smiling. Neal rubbed at his face, assumingly to wipe away sleep and nodded.
'Yeah, I always have woken up before everyone else-even George and he normally has to go into work early.' He gave a small smile, his smile was not exactly like Mr. Gold's but his eyes were illuminated in exactly the same way that it made her blurt out.
'Your da-' She caught herself. Neal was Mr. Gold's son, and she had been thinking of Mr. Gold being Neal's father for over a month now, that she almost forgot that to Neal, Mr. Gold was just as much Mr. Gold to him too. She swallowed. 'Mr. Gold' She corrected herself, Neal didn't seem offended by the mistake. 'Is the same. He normally is down fairly early.'
Neal's face went into something unreadable as he watched her start to pour the batter onto a hot pan.
'How long have you known him-um, Mr. Gold, and what's his first name, anyway? When he sent me that letter it had R. Gold written on the bottom-do you know what that stands for? Seems so formal to call my birth father-even if I don't really know him-'Mr. Gold' doesn't it?'
Belle rather liked his inquisitive nature, now that it seemed that some of the shyness from the day before had worn off.
She turned around, spatula in hand and gestured with it as she spoke.
'Alright, first question-I've known Mr. Gold for several years now-he is my Dad's landlord, however, I didn't start working for him until March of this year. For the second-your guess is as good as mine. When I signed the contract to work here, I also saw him sign everything R. Gold. I think he would answer any question you put to him, even if it was his name, but for me, I've come up with my own name for him.' She smiled mischievously.
Neal leaned forward, interested.
'Rumplestiltskin.'
'Like the fairy tale story?' He laughed.
'Yes! Exactly like! You know, he makes the princess make wild guesses about his name, and it's something that on their own they cannot guess at all-the name starts with an R, and he spins straw into gold. Gold! Don't you think that's fitting?' She had been waving the spatula, giggling at herself once she finished, then bit her lip, thinking that it might not be best to have Neal laughing at her antics about Mr. Gold before he got to properly know him-what would Mr. Gold think?! Neal was laughing and nodding his head.
'Rumplestiltskin is a really big mouthful though, isn't it? I don't think I could call him that.' Neal was truly smiling now, and now that the smile went all the way to his eyes, she couldn't regret sharing her silly musings.
'That's why I call him Rumple.' She bit her lip again, Neal's brown eyes went big.
'He lets you call him that?'
'No, this has been quite news to me.' Mr. Gold's voice startled them both.
Belle's heart lurched and she dropped the spatula on the floor, leaned down to get it back to wash it, while turning as red as the stovetop. She wished the floor would swallow her whole! What must he think of her? What would he say after she had made teasing remarks about him in front of his son. She looked up hesitantly, wondering, no dreading that she would see hurt or anger on his face. Instead, to her surprise, it was an impish smile.
…
Coming down to voices in the kitchen was such a novel thing to Gold. Belle's hums and soft noises that had occupied the house for the last few months were still new and wonderful to him, but to have other people actually speaking to each other! He was glad to note that the voices didn't belong to the boisterous family still most likely sleeping upstairs, but to a voice that had become the dearest sound to him, and to another that he so very much wanted the chance to get to know.
As he got closer, the voices became clearer, and he realized that he was the subject. Neal had asked her enough of an open-ended question that she could have told him how she was forced to work for him to pay off debts that belonged to her father-to paint him in every way cruel, yet, she did not. She was warm, and happy and, well, quite silly and wonderful.
Rumplestiltskin
Somehow, Belle had come up with a name that was even worse than the one he was born with, yet did so in such a way that made him want to laugh instead of shout at her for it. She had even gotten a laugh and a smile out of Neal-them coming into view, yet not quite noticing him being the scene he wanted imprinted in his memory for the rest of his life. Of course, Belle would set Neal at ease. If she could warm his heart, and he was everything cold and sharp and ugly, then gaining the smiles of a young boy of fifteen would be easy.
'He lets you call him that?'
Gold was now close enough to be seen, so he thought it best to interrupt at that point.
'No, this has been quite news to me.' He always had the great knack of causing Belle to jump at his approach, but this particular time was his favorite. She was red all over, her spatula thrown out of her hand from the shock, and he couldn't help but smile at her-he wanted to laugh, but didn't know if that was exactly the thing he wanted to do in front of Neal quite yet, so he settled for being completely amused instead.
Neal seemed surprised as well, and his smile vanished into something more neutral. Gold wondered if it would be better if he just left… Belle was really the person who could worm her way into anyone's heart, how could he even approach him? It seemed all the warmth left the room once his presence was acknowledged. No. This was his chance. He had been yearning for it for the past six months, and he would not throw it away and hide in his study and hope that Belle could manage for them both. He cleared his throat, Belle now focused solely on the pancakes that were now burnt on one side from her neglect and her ears were still visibly red hot, even though he was standing several feet away.
'Does that make you the princess in this scenario, Belle? Shall I give you three tries to figure out my true name?'
Oxygen flooded the room once again. Belle turned around, her eyes glowing and smiling, Neal seemed relieved and almost back to the relaxed state he was before.
'Will you still tell me your true name at the end even if I get it wrong?'
He looked as if he seriously contemplated it for a second, Neal's face showed signs of curiosity, though he managed to hide it quite well under his hair and blank expression.
'I might-if the names are sufficiently ridiculous. However, you shall both be sworn to secrecy once it's revealed.'
Belle made a large motion of crossing her heart, Neal smiled at her antics. Gold only hoped they could actually keep it a secret. It was a secret that very few knew, and most that had known it were now dead. He would have told Neal eventually, anyway, so he supposed that it would just be a matter of time. Better to do it in fun than to show just how much he hated it.
They were then interrupted by a great noise that seemed to have tumbled downstairs. Belle was then accosted by the boys as they told her that they didn't want pancakes, much preferred cold cereal, did they have any?-no they didn't like the non-sugary kind, and then proceeded to take their plates piled high with pancakes to the den where there was a TV, just to bicker about what each wanted to watch and finally settle on nothing, yet eat every single bite of the pancakes they didn't want in the first place. Neal sighed and stuck around the kitchen, only glancing towards the direction of the den when there was a significant distressed sound, and apologized at least once. Belle, kind Belle, wiped her tired eyes with the back of her hand and declared it nothing at all, though those same eyes glanced at his as if in apology. He shrugged.
'I didn't leave anything over a hundred years old in there, there's not a whole lot they can do, I don't think.'
Neal chuckled, though still a little nervous and wouldn't gain complete eye contact with him.
'I wouldn't say that just yet. They are really good at destroying things.'
Just then they heard a crash and Belle went darting in to see what had happened, and Neal looked at him with an 'I told you so' look-Gold was so happy that Neal was now actually looking at him that he smirked in response causing the faintest of smiles to come from Neal. Perhaps the summer wouldn't be so bad after all…
The Darling's did not leave until almost noon, and Gold wondered if there would be anything to salvage when they left. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as all that, but he wondered if a hurricane coming through would have done less to wreak havoc on the Victorian. In fact, the moment the guests had left, Belle went into setting everything back to rights with gusto. That left him and Neal in the den straightening, for like a very well behaved young man Neal had volunteered to help straighten things after the two tornadoes left. It was strange to see a teenager seem so responsible but he would not discourage him, though he wistfully wondered if it was because (especially after his conversation with Belle the night before) he had been burdened with the raising of his brothers. Neal was quiet-Belle's comforting presence was upstairs stripping sheets so it left the two of them stranded in awkward silence. He decided to take a page out of Belle's book and be brave.
'I-I want you to know that any question you might have of me, I am willing to answer. I know this is a lot to take in, a lot of change has been sprung on you. I hope you'll be happy here…'
'You really didn't know about me?'
Neal's question caught him off guard. It had been said in a determined whisper-as if it had to be asked but he feared the answer. He was looking at him again, but this time it wasn't as pleasant.
Gold set down whatever trinket he had been in the process of saving from the floor and gave Neal his full attention.
'I truly didn't know until seven months ago.'
'You knew seven months ago? I thought you found out last month?'
Gold swallowed nervously. Answering questions without going about them in a roundabout way that wouldn't bring only his own advantage was still a difficult task.
'No, I-You see, I've been scared. Scared that you wouldn't really want anything to do with me, or that perhaps you were better off without me. That's rather selfish of me, I see that now, but I was too scared to see it then. I hope you can forgive me, eventually.' He scratched the back of his neck-Neal's lips were a thin solid line before he spoke.
'I thought-My mother-my birth mother that is, sent me a picture with the adoption papers. She was with this guy-navy uniform, tall-' Gold cringed at each description. 'And even though it didn't have his name I thought he was my father for so many years. I thought he wanted nothing to do with me. All my life I wondered what I did that was so bad that they wouldn't want me.' Neal wasn't crying, but his voice cracked with emotion. It was certain that many tears had been shed over it before and Gold now wanted to throw something.
'You didn't do anything, Neal, I…'
Neal went on.
'So you see, I've blamed you for abandoning me, without knowing it was you, all this time. You're going to have to give me time to come to terms with the fact that you're not in the navy, you're not tall, you aren't the same person in the photograph that wanted my birth mom without wanting me. So-please, just-give me time.'
'Of course!' Gold was close to breaking down, as this was closer to forgiveness than he ever thought he would get, and sooner than he thought he would ever receive it. He nodded his head for emphasis and reiterated that he could take all the time he needed.
Gold announced that he was picking up burgers for everyone that evening, as he didn't want Belle to work any more than she had already, and it was a way he could escape for a moment and allow the thoughts of the day to process. He came back to an exhausted but happy Belle giggling with Neal, their red faces when he walked in a sign that they either had a secret or they had been talking about him-he imagined the latter. He was proved right when Belle spoke out.
'So we've come up with our first guess-Rodrigo!'
Gold groaned-he already regretted this deal.
Author's Note: For those wondering what Gold's name is-it's coming soon! I had a blast writing this chapter. While there are some heavier subjects (Neal's feelings of being abandoned), it was mostly fun fluff to write. Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance if you leave a comment!