A Red, Green, and Gold Christmas

A Once Christmas fic

Snapegirlkmf

Disclaimer: Don't own, dearies, just playing

Dedication: In loving memory of my mother—have a Merry Christmas Mom in heaven!

A/N: Takes place right after Once Upon a Thanksgiving, so please read it before you read this one, or else you'll be really confused. Thanks!

1

In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning

It was still dark as pitch outside when Rumple left Belle alone in their room and pulled on his white sneakers and tugged his black overcoat over his black T-shirt and sweats before he went outside in the backyard to walk about and think about Belle's startling revelation. He left the outside lights on so he didn't trip and fall in a hole and break his ankle, though with the way he was feeling, that would just be par for the course.

"Startling" was one way to put Belle's news that his babies had been affected by pixie dust, he thought as he walked across the patio and towards the pool and gazebo, passing by Alina's treehouse. He paused then and stared up at the large wooden structure, with its rope ladder and balcony and two windows to let in enough light to see, the structure wrapping lovingly around the huge oak tree. He'd had the best woodworker in Storybrooke, Marco, build this treehouse for his daughter, sparing no expense on its construction or safety.

Because Alina meant everything to him, and he would never risk her life if he could help it. She had been all he'd had back then, before the curse was broken, before Belle had returned to him. Some might have called him vastly overprotective, but Rumple preferred to think of it as the outer expression of his love for his child, whom he loved as much as he did Baelfire.

He'd sought as much as possible to give Alina all the love and affection he'd been denied by his own father, who'd run off when he was five, abandoning his impressionable son, wife, and making a dreadful deal with Baba Yaga to save his own skin that would result in the witch stealing away his little daughter. He recalled the many times Alina, Henry, and now Regina had played in this tree house, made to last for years and years. It would most likely still be standing when Emma and Bae's new baby was old enough to climb into the old oak's branches and play within it.

And his own twins.

He set a hand upon the rough bark of the oak tree, and his eyes grew misty as he imagined his twins playing there . . . his babies . . . who would most likely have altered genes due to the pixie dust and fairy powers.

His and Belle's true love babies, whom he'd loved from the moment he knew of their existence.

Yet his beloved wife had been afraid to share with him her secret that their babies might have been affected by pixie dust . . . and now that was most likely a foregone conclusion, according to the Blue Fairy.

Belle's intentional omission cut him deeply, tearing into him like a thousand sword slices, leaving a gaping hole in his heart.

She didn't trust you enough to tell you because she was afraid . . . afraid you might hurt your babies . . .like some kind of monster or a crazed animal.

He wrapped his arms about himself then, shivering wretchedly, as if he might mend the terrible throbbing wound she had put there.

Belle . . . oh, Belle . . . God, I thought we were done with mistrust and misunderstanding when I was free of the Dark One's curse. Now that I'm just Rumple again, just a former spinner with magical powers, the good man you saw in me when I was the Beast in the Dark Castle once more, there was nothing for you to fear. I'd never harm our children . . . I'd die before letting anyone do so . . . and yet you didn't trust me enough to tell me they could have been affected by the dust . . . because you thought I'd hate them or something.

He shook his head sadly. He knew that his prejudices against fairies were deep and even now he hadn't managed to exorcise them from his psyche, but still that didn't mean he would ever despise his children!

He began walking again, because he needed to move, couldn't bear standing still. He paced across the lawn, the grass slick with dew and making his sneakers squelch as he walked through it.

His jaw clenched as he thought of the Blue Fairy, one of the worst of her ilk, straightlaced, unbending, and hypocritical. Who had been so quick to judge him when Bae had fallen through that portal, who had refused to help him even though he'd been wallowing in regret and self-loathing enough to drown in, still she had judged him unworthy and refused to even offer him a possible alternative to finding his son. When she had been quick enough to give his son, a mere child, a magic bean and tell him the only way to break the curse on his father was to travel to a land without magic, thereby starting the terrible cycle of separation.

Oh, Rumple knew well enough that he was to blame for his broken deal, yet that did not exonerate that bloody fairy from her part in the affair! According to legend, the fairies were supposed to be beings of good, and supposed to help any who asked. Rumple supposed that stricture only extended to people the fairies deemed worthy of help, and it didn't extend to dark wizards, no matter how or why they asked for aid.

Damn fairies! And now they've gone and meddled in my life again . . . he thought resentfully. He could almost think Blue had done it deliberately, for though she had warned Snow White about possible side effects, she hadn't put it in a way that had revealed to Belle or Mary Margaret just how the dust might affect a fetus. Only that it might affect one.

He knew logically the two women had had very little choice but to use the dust thanks to the damn Fabrizios and their need to revenge themselves upon him and his family, that using it had probably saved all their lives aboard the plane on that fateful trip. He didn't blame Snow or Belle for doing what they'd had to in order to save them all.

But a part of him blamed the Blue Fairy for risking Belle's and his unborn children like that. It was illogical, perhaps, but nevertheless it was how he felt.

And now his children would be . . . what? Humans with fairy powers? Part-fairy? Did they even know how the dust affected a developing fetus' DNA? Rumple doubted it. And it frightened him down to the marrow of his bones to think he couldn't predict if his children would be born healthy or not.

He thought about what Blue had told Belle about how the dust might affect the babies . . . and not once had she mentioned anything physical . . . saying there was a possibility that one or both might develop wings, but what about other . . . fairy characteristics? Like pointed ears, slanted eyes, translucent skin? What if, God forbid, they were born deformed? Like with a bird's foot or something? There was really no knowing how the dust could affect them.

So far, Belle had told him that according to the sonograms, the twins were both lively and healthy and developing normally, like any other fetus. But what if that changed?

The possibilities scared him witless.

He had been prepared to have babies with magic, that was not even a shock, considering whose children they were and that they were the product of true love. He'd have been more surprised if they hadn't inherited magic. But this . . . this was a whole different kettle of fish.

He didn't know much about the way fairy magic was used, save in a few instances, like with their wands. He preferred to let their magic remain a mystery to him, and they preferred to keep it that way.

Except now their paths had collided.

And for the first time in a long long time, Rumplestiltskin was unsure and uncertain of himself. Worse still, he was bereft of his greatest support and ally, his wife, at a time when he needed her more than ever.

It made him feel utterly isolated and alone, as if he wandered in a fathomless gray mist, smothering his cries for help and preventing him from seeing a way out.

Damn fairies! Damn them all! He thought agitatedly one moment, and in the next moment he snarled at himself for cursing them because now his own offspring were like them.

All I wanted was for them to be healthy and for Belle to be as well, and for a smooth uncomplicated delivery, he thought in anguish. And instead I find out my wife has been keeping secrets from me, shutting me out when she should be telling me about what's been going on, because they're my babies too, dammit all! I have a right to know, especially when it concerns something like this, something magical. I mean, I am a sorcerer, and anything concerning magic should have been brought to my attention as soon as possible.

Then another, even more dreadful thought occurred to him.

What if Belle blamed him for having to use the dust? After all, it was his defeat of Donato Fabrizio which had caused the family of necromancers to retaliate against him and his family. His humiliation of the dark patriarch that had caused him to seek vengeance against Rumple, and by extension his family. What if there was more to Belle's reason for not telling him than she would say? What if she resented him for causing this vendetta, and putting his unborn children at risk?

My God, what have I done? Me and my damned pride. And now my children are paying the price for it.

Guilt stalked him now, hissing and snapping at his heels like a Fury, tangling him in its unforgiving web, adding yet another layer of misery to his already wounded and aching heart.

He made his way over to the padded bench inside the gazebo and sat down upon it, rubbing his leg absently, for he felt an almost phantom throbbing in it now, despite its being totally healed by Alina after the confrontation with the Tyrannosaurus Rex at the Museum of Natural History.

Conflicting emotions of guilt, hurt, loneliness, and anger swirled through him, bubbling like a maelstrom within him, until he feared he would explode like a star gone nova.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break

Belle huddled in the middle of their huge bed, clutching her belly, and sobbing into her pillow, utterly distraught. Her emotions ran the gamut from guilt from how she had hurt her husband, to fear that the Blue Fairy might have been keeping something from her, and the babies might have more than just the ability to use fairy magic, to anger at Rumple for jumping to conclusions and thinking she didn't trust him, to guilt that she had actually lied to her husband . . . well, not lied exactly, but withheld the truth until she'd had to tell him, resulting in the quarrel they had just had. Why didn't you tell him right away? Why did you wait? You should have known better . . . Snow even told you to tell him four days ago . . .

She recalled the look upon Rumple's face when she'd blurted out . . . stupidly . . . that she was afraid to tell him because he might have resented the babies, the look had been akin to one seen upon a person's face after being run through with a sword. Shocked agony.

Oh, Rumple. I'm so sorry I hurt you. She sobbed harder, despairing that she could ever fix the mess she'd made. She rubbed her belly and thought wretchedly, My poor babies! I've hurt your papa so badly with my poor choice to wait and tell him about the pixie dust. I didn't mean to, but everything I said tonight just came out wrong. And now . . . now I don't know what to do . . .

It was almost, yet not quite, the same desperate broken feeling she'd had the last time they had quarreled, when she had fled from the Dark Castle back to Avonlea. Only this time she didn't have the luxury of running away. Now she had to stay and face up to her mistakes, and now she found that her bravery was a sham, because she was so ashamed that she didn't know how she was going to face her husband in the morning.

Tears soaked her pillow and she sat up and rolled over to Rumple's side of the bed and buried her face in his pillow, smelling the familiar scent of his spice aftershave and mountain frost scented herbal shampoo. The familiar scent that usually comforted her made her cry now, and she wept for the breach she had created, and her fear that he might never forgive her for it.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break

Snow woke up abruptly, from Regina kicking her in the ribs. She was about to move over, thinking she was in her own bed at home, when her hand reached out to open air, and she opened her eyes.

Goodness, I almost fell right off the couch!

Blinking, she sat up cautiously, careful not to disturb her sleeping daughter, since Regina was notoriously cranky when woken up from a sound sleep.

For a moment, Snow was disorientated, and then she recalled how she had fallen asleep on Gold's couch, while reading Regina a story. Yawning, she looked around, and saw David still snoozing in the recliner. She wondered what time it was, and glanced at her white leather wrist watch.

2:00 AM.

Rubbing her eyes, she rose and sought out the bathroom downstairs.

As she emerged from it, as it was right off the kitchen, she noticed that there was a light on the patio, and she peered out the sliding glass door, wondering why it was on.

It was then that she saw . . . Rumple walking.

What on earth was he doing walking outside at this time of night?

Biting her lip, she frowned and some instinct made her walk upstairs, traveling down the hallway, where she heard muffled sobbing coming from Belle and Rumple's room.

Alarmed, she noticed the door was open a crack, and she peered inside.

She saw Belle curled up alone on the bed, crying hysterically.

It didn't take a genius to put two and two together, not knowing what Snow did about Belle's condition, and how she had been going to tell Rumple about the pixie dust affecting the babies that night.

Oh no. Something's gone wrong. Really wrong.

She almost ran into the room then to comfort Belle, but then she recalled that perhaps Rumple might be in need of some comfort too.

She hurried back downstairs to wake up David and tell him what she thought had occurred between the two and ask him to speak with Rumple. Then she ran back upstairs to comfort Belle, who had become like her sister, the way David had become like a brother to Rumple.

Clearly they both needed some comfort and advice, and Snow hoped Charming and she could provide what both of them needed to help them heal.

A/N: So, what do you think Snow and Charming will tell Belle and Rumple to do? Also, would you like me to include Christmas recipes like I did for Thanksgiving? Review and let me know!

I wanted to get a chapter up for you all before the holiday, since I know you've all been waiting anxiously for one, and hope you like the start of this fic. There will be many more moments with all the family in it, especially Regina, as they go through the Christmas holidays, including some moments with previously absent family members, like the Sparrows, as well as a few unexpected ones as well. But I probably won't be updating this until after Thanksgiving, so please be patient!