#celthicheartedfangirl

[therumbellehappyendingaward-blog]

Chapter 3 writer: @celticheartedfangirl

PROMPT: DEATH

AO3: HERE

“Sweetheart, you need to eat something,” Rumpelstiltskin said as they sat in their dining room at home.  After waiting at the shop for about an hour, they decided to return to the house and have something to eat.  Belle sat at the table picking at her food, barely taking a bite.

“I’m not hungry,” Belle replied.  

“He’ll come home.  I left a note at the shop, he knows we came back here.”  Belle set down her fork and looked up at her husband.

“How is he ever going to be a normal young man, Rumple? How?  After everything he’s been through.  He doesn’t know how to – how to have any kind of normal, adult relationship. Rumple, he’s a child in the body of a grown man and that’s all my fault.”  

“Belle, there’s plenty of blame to go around between both of us.”  

“Rumple, be honest with me – do you really think that this is something Gideon can overcome?  Being raised by that – that horrible woman.”  Rumpelstiltskin looked down and sighed.  Belle reached out across the table and took his hand.  “I’m sorry, I – I know she was your mother but –”

“She was the woman who birthed me.  I don’t have a mother.  Or a father.  I never did. But our child – our child will have both.”

“It’s just not fair to him.  This child will have everything Gideon should have had.”  Belle paused for a moment.  “Rumple, what about those children?  The ones in the Dark Realm?  Can we help them?”

“Belle, I – I don’t know how to tell Gideon this, but – when we stopped the Black Fairy, those children, they – Belle, her realm is gone.  And so are they.  I have no idea what happened to them, and finding them would be a futile task.”  

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Gideon asked, speaking up from behind.  Belle immediately jumped out of her chair and ran to him.  

“Gideon!  Oh, we were so worried for you.  Come on, have some dinner.”  Gideon gently pushed his mother aside and sat down at the table with his father.

“Papa – is what you said true?”

“I’m afraid it is, son.  I’m sorry.  I thought perhaps there would be a way to help, but – I’ve looked into it and – there isn’t.”  

“You mean they – they’re all dead?” Gideon asked.

“I don’t know.  I’m very sorry son, but – most likely – yes.”  

Gideon began to cry, and his father pulled the young man into a hug. “Maybe they’re not.  Maybe – maybe they went back to their rightful homes.”  Gideon stammered.

“That’s a nice thought.  It’s the best we can hope for.  Gideon, without their blood and belongings there’s no way to trace them or know their fate.  I’m very sorry.”  

“Gideon, please have some dinner,” Belle said, setting a plate in front of her son.

“You need to finish yours too,” Rumpelstiltskin commented. Gideon ate his dinner quietly and Belle finished hers as well.  

“So what do we do now?” Gideon asked after dinner was finished.

“We find a way to live our lives,” Belle said.

“Mother, how – how are you having a child so soon?  I don’t understand.”

“Gideon, this baby is – your twin.  Somehow when my pregnancy was accelerated – you were the only one affected.  We think it’s a fraternal twin, so – it could be a boy or a girl,” Belle told him.

“Gideon, your mother is going to be fine.  I’m going to arrange to have her seen by a doctor in Boston to make sure of it, I’ll make some calls tomorrow.”

“Boston?  Rumple, since when are we going to Boston?”

“Do you think I’m going to allow Dr. Frankenstein to give the sole medical opinion on the well being of a child that has already been through enough trauma in utero?  Is that really what you want, or would you prefer someone who was actually educated in this sort of thing in a non-magical realm?”  

“Papa, can I come too?” Gideon asked.  “I’d like to see Boston.”  

“Um – do I get a vote here?” Belle asked.

“Would you prefer New York?  Chicago?  I don’t care what city it is, but we are doing this.”  Belle sighed.

“I suppose you’re right.  Boston is fine with me.”  

…

“Well, everything looks fine, you’re about two months along,” the doctor said as she turned off the sonogram machine.  

“Good.  That’s good,” Rumpelstiltskin said as he held her hand.

“I knew everything would be fine, Mother,” Gideon agreed. The doctor gave Gideon an odd look.

“My – my son is very fond of his step-mother.  His mother left us when he was a baby and I didn’t – I didn’t really date much until I met Belle.  She’s really the only mother he’s known,” Rumpelstiltskin stated.  

“Okay,” the doctor said, a puzzled look remaining on her face. “Anyhow – you need to schedule regular checkups for the next seven months, they’ll take care of all of that at the front desk.”

“Oh – we’re not –” Belle began.

“We haven’t gotten fully settled in Boston yet,” Rumpelstiltskin interrupted.  “As soon as we do, we’ll schedule those appointments.”

“Alright – well make sure you check in with your other doctor then.  I’ll leave your paperwork at the desk.”  The doctor left the room, and Belle sat up on the examination table.  

“Papa – why did you say she’s not my real mother?” Gideon asked.  

“Gideon – they don’t understand magic in this land.  You are – not possible.  It’s not possible for your mother to have a biological son your age.”  

“Oh,” Gideon replied, unsure of what to say.

“Gideon, can you please go wait for us in the waiting room?” Belle asked.  

“Yes, mother.” Gideon left the room, and Belle took off the gown they had given her and started to get dressed.  

“You know, I thought perhaps we could settle here – at least until the child is born – but I’m not sure that will be possible with Gideon,” Rumpelstiltskin said.

“Why not?” Belle asked.

“Belle, he – yes he’s adjusting to his new life but – he doesn’t understand this world.  He’s had no real schooling, no real parenting – I’m not even sure he could find a job, what is he qualified to do?”  

“Well, I – I can teach him.”

“It won’t be the same.  Belle, what kind of life is he meant to have?  He doesn’t know how to have even the most basic interpersonal relationship.”

“Neither do you,” Belle quipped.

“Very funny.  Belle, maybe it would have been better if I had changed him back.”

“To a baby?”

“Yes.  Give him a fresh start, let him be raised right.  Let him be raised with his brother or sister, like he was meant to.”

“Rumple, don’t you dare do that to him.  You have no right, don’t you dare do that to our son.”  

“I didn’t say I would do it.  I just – I think it would have been easier.”

“For who?”

“All of us.”  As Rumpelstiltskin helped Belle finish getting dressed, Gideon stood outside the door, listening to every word.  He tried to stop himself from crying as he slunk out into the waiting room.  

…

Gideon was unusually quiet over the next several weeks. He went to the shop with his father during the day, and Rumpelstiltskin proudly taught his son the inner workings of his shop.  In the evenings, his mother worked with him on projects similar to what he would have learned in school if he’d been given a chance for a proper education.  He was eager to keep pace with every task they gave him during this time, but limited his conversation with them.  It didn’t bother Belle and Rumpelstiltskin for the first few days after their return from Boston, but after several weeks they began to wonder what was upsetting their son so much that he had become a bit emotionally detached from them.  

“Gideon did well on his assignments this week,” Belle said as she and Rumpelstiltskin snuggled into bed.  “He’s almost at high school level in reading.  He’s so smart.”  

“Just like his mother,” Rumpelstiltskin replied.  “He’s doing well with the business too.  He seems to like numbers very well.  I think by next month he’ll be ready to take over all of the bookkeeping duties.”  They were quiet for a moment.  

“Why do you think he’s so detached?  Ever since we got back from Boston – it’s like he took ten steps forward in adapting but twenty backward in communicating with us.  I think we need to have a talk with him.”  

“Perhaps he’s just worried about you and the baby and doesn’t know what to do with that.  He’ll open up when he’s ready.”  Just as Rumpelstiltskin said that, a knock came upon their bedroom door.

“Mother?  Papa? May I come in?” Gideon called out.

“Yes of course Gideon, come in,” Belle replied.  Gideon entered the room as Rumpelstiltskin turned on the light.  

“Is there something wrong, son?” Rumpelstiltskin asked.

“I – I need to talk to you about something.  It’s something I’ve been thinking about since we got back home.”

“Come on Gideon, sit down,” Belle said, as she and Rumpelstiltskin sat up.  Gideon sat down on the edge of the bed next to Belle.

“I – I know things are going to be different soon, when the baby comes, and – I don’t want to make it any harder on you than it has to be.”

“Gideon, what are you talking about?  You’re doing so well, you’re learning so many things, and you’re going to be such a big help to us when the baby comes,” Rumpelstiltskin said.

“Papa – I don’t want to be a help.  And I don’t want to be a burden.  I want to be your son.”

“Gideon – what are you saying?” Belle asked.

“When the baby comes – I want to go back.  I know that things have been getting better for all of us, but – it’s not enough.  I’m not sure it will ever be enough.  Papa – when the baby comes – I want to go back.  I want you to make me an infant again.  I want you to raise me with my brother or sister.  Can you do that, Papa?”