Chapter Text
“I won’t do it! I won’t go!” Baelfire yelled, finally coming to the realization that his papa wasn’t kidding. He was serious. “You can’t make me!” He yelled again, shoving the bowl of food in front of him across the table and onto the floor. Given, there wasn’t much food in it to begin with. That was one of their biggest problems.
“Bae… Calm down. Be reasonable with me.” Rumple pleaded with his boy. It broke his heart to have to do it, but it was in Baelfire’s best interest. “It’s the only choice I have. I can’t send you out there with the other children to fight, I won’t. You’ll surely die and I could never live with myself.”
“Then I’ll fight, and maybe I’ll die. The law says I’m old enough.” Bae retorted, crossing his arms across his chest and stiffening his jaw, though it didn’t have the effect he imagined it would. His face was still much too boyish to achieve the stoic image he had in his head.
Rumple shook his head. “I don’t care what the law says, Bae. I’m not sending my boy off to die. I’m doing this because it’s the best chance we have. The best chance you have. He’ll take you far away from here and you’ll never have to worry about ogres or wars ever again.”
Baelfire’s steadfast look broke long before he thought it would. “So your answer to everything is to sell me?” He asked, his voice cracking midway through. Rumple was quick to shake his head. “I’m not selling you Bae. I’m giving you a better life. You’ll have so much more than I can offer you when you’re with him than-”
“And in return for me, he gives you gold. That’s selling me.” Baelfire interrupted. Rumple slammed his fist down on the table, effectively doing nothing but hurting his hand. “Bae. Even if you don’t go to war, you’ll die. We have no money. I can’t feed you, I can’t clothe you. I can’t provide for you, and do you know how that makes me feel, Bae?” Rumple asked, his eyes filling with tears. “Terrible. The reason I didn’t go to the war was to give you a better life, one I knew you wouldn’t have if I went off and died. And I’m failing at it.” He took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure and talk calmly to his son. “He’s giving me enough to live out my life in peace. It won’t be luxurious, it’s just surviving. And this way, I know you’re taken care of. You deserve that, Bae.”
Baelfire still shook his head, but he remained quiet. He knew his father spoke the truth. They weren’t getting by anymore. Dinners were less and less each night and Bae’s clothes weren’t what you could call well-fitting. Spinners weren’t making any money, not with the war still going on.
~~~
Rumple rarely went to the bar. But it was late, Bae was old enough to stay home by himself and he felt like forgetting his worries for at least a few hours. It was there that he’d met Killian Jones. A man well-dressed and elegantly spoken, who wasn’t shy to show that he was well off by the way he bought rounds for the entire house. Rumple hadn’t meant to eavesdrop but with the captain and his crew sitting so close and talking so loudly it was hard not to.
Someone had made a joke, and they all laughed loudly, along with their captain. “That’s a cabin boy’s job!” One yelled, earning a few more laughs. “Well we haven’t got a cabin boy, have we mates? Looks like you’re stuck with the job.” Killian answered with a grin, picking his tankard up for another drink as the men laughed some more. After a few minutes Killian got up to return to the bar and order another round, and Rumple worked up the courage to speak to him.
“Did I hear correctly that you were looking to hire a boy?” He asked, barely heard over the noise of the bar but Killian managed. He did look puzzled for a moment, then realization struck him. “The cabin boy?” He asked, and Rumple nodded. “Well, we were just joking. I’ve no real need for one.” The captain shrugged. He caught Rumple’s expression, which fell at hearing that Killian hadn’t been serious. “Do you know of a boy that needs to be put to work?” Killian asked curiously, and Rumple nodded. “My son. He’s fourteen, almost fifteen. It’s been a miracle they haven’t collected him yet to make him fight in the war. But I fear even if he doesn’t go to war, he’ll starve in my care.” Rumple detailed, rather sadly.
Having a cabin boy around might not be such a bad idea, Killian thought after hearing the man’s story. There were jobs on the ship that even the smallest of his men had difficulty doing, tight spaces in the rigging and small corners in the hold that couldn’t be accessed by men. “Well, let me meet this boy. Maybe we can work something out?” Killian suggested, and Rumple looked up, his excitement at the prospect of Baelfire having a paying job almost breaking through the miserable disposition that had settled in so deeply in his expression. “He’s at home. We don’t live far, I could take you there now.” He said, standing up and grabbing his walking stick. Killian noted that as well. “I see we have something in common.” He said with a quirk of his eyebrow. He raised his hand, and with his other, turned it and removed it. Rumple was slightly startled as Killian replaced his fake hand and grinned. “Now, the boy?” He reminded cheerfully, taking a few coins from his pocket and dropping them on the bar to pay for Rumple’s drink. Rumple nodded and lead him to their home.
The house was a quick walk away from the bar, though it was a rather slow walk for Rumplestiltskin. Killian didn’t mind though, his men could do without him for some time and they weren’t leaving port anytime soon. “You say he’s almost fifteen? Has he worked before?” Killian asked, making small talk while they walked. Rumple shook his head. “No. Before the war I was earning enough to support us both. But now, spinners are lucky to have work at all, let alone work that pays well. I haven’t had much good fortune.”
When they arrived at the house, Rumple invited Killian in only to find that Bae was already asleep in his bed. “Should I wake him? He can’t have been sleeping for long.” Rumple suggested, and Killian shook his head as he looked at the boy. He was thin, their lack of money obvious in that and the state of their home and clothing. But even with the smudges of dirt left on his face from the day, the light from the fire eliminated his face perfectly and Killian thought to himself that he’d never seen such beauty before. And there it was before him, in the form of a sleeping boy, which was one he wouldn’t have expected. “Let us speak outside so we don’t wake him.” Killian suggested in a hushed tone, and lead the way back outside.
“I’ll take him.” Killian said once they were outside, and Rumple was ready to apologize, assuming that the captain was going to say he wasn’t interested. So this came as a bit of a surprise. “You will?” He asked, and the pirate nodded. “But, while I can guarantee he will be much better off on my ship than in the fields of war, I cannot tell you with any certainty that you’ll ever see him again. Our voyages are long ones, and it’ll be quite a long time between visits at each port.” He explained. He was the captain and could of course change this so that they did manage to stop by every once in a while, but he felt a sudden greed and possessiveness over the boy already. He didn’t even have him yet, and he already didn’t want to bring him back.
Rumple considered Killian’s words for a moment in silence. He looked at their house, and in the window to Bae’s sleeping form. Jones took the opportunity to speak again, hoping to encourage Rumple to say yes. “I understand that even though the boy will be taken care of, it does leave you here alone with no work. I can offer you gold, enough for you to survive while your boy is gone.” He suggested. That seemed to do it for Rumple, and though the guilt already gnawed at his nerves, he nodded. They would both survive, even though they wouldn’t be together. It was the best, and only plan of action where everyone was taken care of. So he had to take it.