Synopsis: Following directly on from All Hallow’s Fall. Due to the events of Halloween, Storybrooke finally becomes aware of Gold and Belle’s relationship and small towns can be vicious places. Gold fears it will tear them apart, but adversity can lead to strength not just ruin, and maybe even one day – a happy ending.
Note:
I am so sorry, and kinda embarrassed, that it’s been over a month since I last updated this. I had RSS and other excuses, and I don’t know where the time went, but well oops. Thanks to @woodelf68 for the frozen turkey prompt, and to @mariequitecontrarie for explaining about the football and the traditional thanksgiving fare. Anyway, no apologies for how fluffy this is – this is the fluffy fic 🙂 Enjoy!
On Tumblr: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four
Belle didn’t
regret a second of the previous day. From the talk she’d had with Alistair,
leading to the sort-of proposal, choosing the ring, the promise of a ‘proper
proposal’ and then celebrating their ‘almost’ engagement all night. Yesterday
had been wonderful. However, if she could have a do-over then she would change one thing. There was only the three of
them for thanksgiving, their first thanksgiving as a family, so the bird was
only small. Unfortunately the size of the turkey didn’t help, given they’d
forgotten to get it out of the freezer last night and it was still frozen
solid.She had been so
frazzled this morning, with packing everything up to transport to the cabin,
that she hadn’t noticed the turkey’s state. Now, it was sitting on the counter of
the cabin’s kitchen, and she was staring at it with absolute panic. This was
thanksgiving dinner, and thanksgiving was all about the food and the turkey was
the star. Belle felt sick, the horror show in front of her playing out live and
in technicolor. She was a complete failure, their first thanksgiving as a
family albeit unofficial at this point, and she had screwed it up.Her hand
automatically went to her cellphone. The reception was patchy out here, and all
the stores were going to be closed, but maybe Alistair could think of
something. Belle frowned, and chewed on her lip, contemplating both the turkey
disaster and Alistair’s mysterious errand. She wished that he was here, and
that they had faced the revelation of the frozen turkey together. Alone she was
instinctively panicking which was making it hard to think logically. She had
just wanted today to go well.That was the best proposal ever. AND I ABSOLUTELY HATE FOOD PACKAGES THAT DON’T OPEN WITHOUT THE AID OF SCISSORS OR KNIVES. ‘TEAR HERE’ THEY SAY. HAH! YOU COULD STARVE TO DEATH SURROUNDED BY FOOD.
*Ahem* Pet peeve of mine, there. It actually worked out really well with Moe. Belle gets time to prepare for his presence, he gets to go home and watch football, and the turkey gets to thaw. I fully support flexible holidays.
Heh well having just had a flexible Christmas, I suppose “moving parts of the holiday around” was on my mind. Also, it’s thanksgiving in the fic – not the correct time of year for that due to the unexpected months hiatus – flexibility all around 🙂 I’m so pleased you liked it, thank you very much!
leni-ba replied to your post “I Love the Way (Chapter Five)”
*melts into happy puddle* I loved all of this, from the little details like Bae asking for help opening the potato chips bag (didn’t we all, at that age? lol), to Moe’s reaction at being told there was no dinner that day after all.
Poor Belle, lots of stress, but I really loved to see the two of them handle everything.
And then of course the proposal… awwwwww! *hugs fic* This is so good!
At that age? You mean I shouldn’t ask for help opening stuff now? To be fair my family kinda swap things around. The rules seems to be if you can’t open something, pass it to the nearest person. If they can’t open it, then you need to go find the scissors.
Yeah I think Moe was a bit suspicious of the invitation in the first place, and then thought that Gold had pulled a fast one on him. Moe’s theory was that Gold had asked him to score brownie points, knowing full well he couldn’t stay. However, Belle cut Moe off before there could be a fight. Yeah the proposal *cough* that was so fluffy but hey, some extra fluff right before New Year seems like a good idea to me 🙂
I’m so glad you liked it, thank you so much!