smelling-rumple-leatherpantsu prompted:
Incapable of have own children,Belle adopts a child called Bae, ten years later, his father returns to fight the custody of the child, like biological father. Thank you.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Belle sat stiff as a board across from this Mr. Gold who had come to ruin her life. "He is my son."

"The problem, Miss French," he said so casually she wanted to reach across the table and slap him, "is that he's my son first."

"I adopted him," she glanced through the window to see where her darling Bae was practicing free throws in the driveway. He was her child. She had raised him, dammit. "Where were you then, the first ten years of his life? He's been my son since the day he was born."

"I never knew he was alive until last year," he supplied. "His mother never asked my permission to give him up for adoption, nor did she obtain my consent."

Belle was suddenly lightheaded. Oh god, she was going to faint in front of this man and he would steal her son. She suddenly had to touch Bae, there was a bone-deep need to wrap her arms around him and reassure herself that he was still hers and did not belong to this stranger who shared his chin and eyes. She just knew that if she could get outside and lay her hands on him and smell the scent of him, breathe in the smell of his hair as she had done every night since he was a newborn, then her blood would stop draining out of her face and her breathing would even out.

She couldn't make it that far, though, before blackness enveloped her.

When she came to again, she could smell her son and that was what convinced her to open her eyes.

She was relieved to see the familiar brown eyes looking down at her with relief.

"Mom, you're okay!"

"I'm fine, sweetheart," she tried to sound encouraging. "I was just lightheaded is all. I'll be fine."

Bae looked at something towards Belle's feet, which was when she realized her legs were slowly lowering to the floor. It took all her willpower to look away from her precious boy to see the monster who would steal him away, the same man who had held her legs up when she fainted.

"I'll take care of your mother, son," he reassured the child. "We're almost done."

Bae didn't look like he believed this stranger, glaring at him as he sat near his mother's head protectively.

"It'll be alright," she said as she leveraged herself into a sitting position, and Mr. Gold offered his hand to help her to her feet again and then to a chair. "Go upstairs and start your homework and I'll be up to help you soon. I promise."

It was only then that he finally nodded and retreated to the stairs, one last glare leveled at the strange man who had upset his mother.

"He's quite protective of you," Mr. Gold observed solemnly.

"Yes, well it's always just been the two of us here. He's a good boy."

"I don't mean to take him away," he seemed to be trying to reassure her. "I just want to know him. I'd like us to be friends in this, but I will get a court order if I have to."

Belle had a choice then. She could fight to keep her son to herself, but looking at Mr. Gold and his fancy suit and gold tipped cane she would lose. Her days of having her son all her own had come to an end. But perhaps he wouldn't be entirely unreasonable if she went along with it.

"You can come to dinner," she said finally. "Tomorrow. We can tell him the truth then and play it by ear from there."

He smiled at that and she was surprised at how much his face changed when he did so.

"Thank you, Miss French," he said, rising from his seat and shaking her hand. "I promise, I want to know my only child, but it wouldn't be fair to take him away from the only parent he's ever known."

"And it wouldn't be right to keep him from the only blood relative he has," she said with a resigned sigh as she rose to escort him to the door. "As long as you have his best interests at heart, you'll be welcome here."

"Thank you again, Miss French," he said with the same goofy smile on his face he'd had since she agreed to let him come to dinner.

"One more thing, Mr. Gold," she called out and he turned to face her. "If you ever do anything to hurt my child there won't be enough of you found to identify the body."

She swung the door shut with a finality.

It seemed she had to figure out something nice to make for dinner tomorrow, but first she really just needed to see her child.