Unconventional Chapter 6

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold

Characters: Belle (Once Upon a Time), Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Gideon (Once Upon a Time), Original Characters

Additional Tags: A Monthly Rumbelling (Once Upon a Time), Camping, Family, Missing Years, Travel, Chicago, A Monthly Rumbelling February 2020 (Once Upon A Time)

Series: Part 1 of Rumbelling Shorts</a>, Part 3 of Growing Up

Summary: Inspired by the February and April Monthly Rumbellings. The Golds have left New York and begun their tour of the United States. Their next stop is Chicago, where Belle and Gideon have chosen to do something that might push Rumple's comfort zone. An eventual chapter of Growing Up.

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Chapter 6

Rain was fun when it was gentle. It meant running around outside with his Papa and stomping in puddles until they were all wet and muddy. It meant making his mother look surprised when they came in with wet clothes. It meant sharing a wash with his papa to get all warm again.

Gideon liked rain like that.

What he didn’t like was when the rain got harder. Hard rain meant not putting pots on the fire for breakfast or for lunch and having to eat plain things all day. It meant not walking anywhere and after lunch he found out that it also meant no playing with the throwing plates because that wasn’t something that could be done inside.

Books were good, but not for all day long, so Gideon tried different things. He tried stacking the plates, but they weren’t good blocks. Instead he put them all around the room like rocks in the creeks they walked by. Then he took his stuffed animals and placed them around too. Sometimes they were in the water, swimming, sometimes they were on the rocks. That took some of the day, but not enough, so when Gideon woke up from his nap, he decided to find something else to do.

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Unconventional Chapter 5

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold

Characters: Belle (Once Upon a Time), Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Gideon (Once Upon a Time), Original Characters

Additional Tags: A Monthly Rumbelling (Once Upon a Time), Camping, Family, Missing Years, Travel, Chicago, A Monthly Rumbelling February 2020 (Once Upon A Time)

Series: Part 1 of Rumbelling Shorts; Part 3 of Growing Up

Summary: Inspired by the February and April Monthly Rumbellings. The Golds have left New York and begun their tour of the United States. Their next stop is Chicago, where Belle and Gideon have chosen to do something that might push Rumple's comfort zone. An eventual chapter of Growing Up.

Read previous chapters on AO3

Chapter 5

Belle woke the next morning to find Rumple’s bed empty and the tiny cabin they were renting to be completely still. She took a deep breath in and stretched her body wide over the mattress, luxuriating in the knowledge that her husband had let her sleep in. Outside of their small window, birds were chirping and a light breeze nudged at the branches of nearby trees. The warm glow of the morning’s sun promised another beautiful day, if only she would rouse herself to enjoy it.

Turning her head, Belle glanced at the book that she’d put on the room’s small table and contemplated picking it up to read. It was an adventure tale, like so many that she enjoyed, this one full of hunters and exploration, but the longer the silence persisted, the less she thought of reading and the more she felt like going on an exploration of her own. By now she would have expected to hear Rumple or Gideon laughing outside as the rattling movement of pots and pans mingled with the sounds of the crackling fire. Yet the outside seemed as still as the inside.

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Unconventional - Chapters 2 & 3

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold

Characters: Belle (Once Upon a Time), Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Gideon (Once Upon a Time), Original Characters

Additional Tags: A Monthly Rumbelling (Once Upon a Time), Camping, Family, Missing Years, Travel, Chicago, A Monthly Rumbelling February 2020 (Once Upon A Time)

Series: Part 1 of Rumbelling Shorts, Part 3 of Growing Up

Summary: Inspired by the February and April Monthly Rumbellings. The Golds have left New York and begun their tour of the United States. Their next stop is Chicago, where Belle and Gideon have chosen to do something that might push Rumple's comfort zone. An eventual chapter of Growing Up.

Chapter 2

“Turn here.” Belle glanced up from her map just long enough to point down the road before turning the paper to properly read the text. “We want…” Her breath caught and she suddenly broke into laughter.

Rumple shot her a sideways glance as he slowed the car. “Something funny?”

“Quentin Road.”

He almost forgot he was driving and had to shake his head to bring himself to reality. What were the odds of the road’s name being the same as the main character from the book Gideon was reading before he was returned to them? Rumple smiled once he realized she had to be joking. “You’re pulling my leg,” he told her through a chuckle. “Really, which road?”

Belle pointed again as the car came up to their turn. “Quentin Road,” she repeated. “I told you.”

Behind them, Gideon babbled away, completely unaware of the significance of his parents’ discovery, or that it was a discovery at all.

“Shame he’s not old enough to appreciate it,” Rumple mused as he made the turn.

“We can tell him when he’s older,” Belle said, then tipped her chin up as a means of pointing while trying to fold the map. “It’s just there. See the sign?”

Rumple nodded and slowed the car when he noticed the small red sign surrounded by artfully stacked white bricks. It was set further from the road than he expected, but the white campfire image over large letters that spelled out “camping” in all capitals was a noticeable enough marker for their destination. Beyond the drive stood a large building made of reddish wood planks that were just the right color to seem purple in the shade. As they pulled up to it, he eyed Belle suspiciously.

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[Chapter 1]  [Chapter 3]

Unconventional

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold

Characters: Belle (Once Upon a Time), Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Gideon (Once Upon a Time), Original Characters

Additional Tags: A Monthly Rumbelling (Once Upon a Time), Camping, Shopping, Family, Missing Years, Fluff

Series: Part 1 of Rumbelling Shorts

Summary: Inspired by the February Monthly Rumbelling. The Golds have left New York and begun their tour of the United States. Their next stop is Chicago, where Belle and Gideon have chosen to do something that might push Rumple's comfort zone. An eventual chapter of Growing Up.

This is complete to a point, but will be expanded on as the next parts of the Growing Up series are completed.

Unconventional

Bell plucked yet another shirt from the wrack in front of her, judged it, and found it lacking. She returned the thing with a pout and huffed playfully at her son, who was babbling his opinion on the garment from the seat of their shopping cart. “I think it was easier finding the pants,” she told him cheerfully, her tone drawing one of Gideon's big smiles.

The boy reached for another cluster of shirts, pointing as he jabbered, “Puhpuh,” being one of the words that was distinguishable from the rest.

“You want to try those?” Belle pushed the cart over and examined the cloth first, her pout turning into a thoughtful frown as she went through the extensive checklist of objections that she knew her husband might have with the garment. “He might actually wear this one,” she told him, beaming proudly. “And if he resists, we'll just tell him you picked it out.”

This made Gideon laugh as if he knew exactly what she was accusing him of. He was her husband's pride and joy. The man would hang by his ankles from a tree limb if his son asked him to and today Belle was counting on that. She gathered up three of the shirts, one in white, one in black, and one in a rich red color that almost matched the shade he used to wear in the Dark Castle. These were all added to the pile of clothing and various bags from other stores before Belle began to stroll away.

Gideon, however, wasn't having their departure. He frowned and pointed back in the direction of the shirts, letting out a slew of frustrated sounds that were almost words.

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