I rushed over to where Mallobarb and Buzzflower stood over Briar Rose. I was still getting over the thrill of defeating those dragons, and I was out of breath.
"What happened?" I said.
The second I stopped running, Mallobarb stepped away and revealed Briar Rose on the ground, crumpled and broken. I hoped with all my heart she was just unconscious.
"She's gone, Jacob," Mallorbarb said.
I felt my face become pale. All at once, I felt the wind being knocked out of my lungs, and I collapsed to the floor, reaching for Briar, and holding her fragile body in my arms. I didn't feel the usual warmth, just cold death. I buried my face in her hair and wept, not caring who saw. "No, no, no."
I heard Mallobarb and Buzzflower sobbing as well. I felt them fall on their knees beside me, but I couldn't look at them.
A million thoughts rushed through my head: I should have come sooner, I shouldn't have left without her... I thought of a million things I should of done. Then I remembered the dragons. I remembered who was responsible for the dragon. The Master of the Scarlet Hand. Anger bubbled in my chest, and I felt like screaming.
I'm not sure how long I was there crying. But, I soon felt Daphne's arms around me, and she gave me a kiss on the cheek. I remembered that someone existed besides me and Briar, and studied Daphne's face. It was clear she had been crying. I now felt the slightest bit ashamed that they saw me like this. Sabrina hugged me next, and we all just stood there gazing on at Briar's dead face in silence. I really thought that I would never live to see this. I never thought I would be the reason the life was sucked out of her.
I felt so angry and frustrated. But the worst of these was the sadness that was overwhelming. It felt like my heart was being twisted, punched, anything.
I wanted to marry this woman.
That night, after we told Charming and everyone who needed to know, I went to the room in my cabin and laid down in the dark. Images of Briar alive and laughing flooded my mind. Then images of her dead flooded my brain, and my heart twisted in agony. I almost started sobbing again, but I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that this was all a dream. But I opened my eyes again, and I knew that this was far too real to be a dream.
Angry and bitter, I punched the wall next to me. This caused my fist great pain, but I hardly even flinched, I was so angry. I stared at the roof for a long time, just remembering her.
I stepped into Briar's house after no one responded to my knocks. I came to surprise Briar and take her out to the movies.
I saw Buzzflower and Mallobarb sitting on two chairs in the living room. They were both reading thick books. When they saw me, Buzzflower said, "There is a reason we refrained from opening the door, Jacob."
"Yeah? What's the reason?" I asked, enjoying how I was getting on their nerves.
Buzzflower noticed, and looked furious. "You insolent human!"
Mallobarb closed her book and rolled her eyes. "Both of you, close your mouths before I turn you into pigs."
"Always in a lovely mood, huh, Mallow?" I asked, grinning.
Mallobarb glared at me, but then said to Buzzflower, "Come hither, Buzzflower. This man is determined to drive us mad."
"Hither?" I asked. "Who uses that word anymore?"
Mallobarb narrowed her eyes at me. "Would you like to test me, boy?"
"No, ma'am!" I said.
They "hithered" up the stairs, but not before Mallobarb told me that Briar was in the kitchen.
I walked in to see Briar's enormous kitchen filthy. This kitchen was like a sanctuary to Briar. It was where she came up with all her recipes for her coffee shop,
Sacred Grounds. She would never let it get this filthy. There was flour on the floor and frosting on the counter, and milk was spilling into the sink. There were also pieces of cakes scattered everywhere on plates.
"Briar?" I called, astonished. I picked up the milk so that it wouldn't spill anymore.
I heard a groan, and Briar raised one arm. It came from underneath one of her counters (Briar's kitchen was like the size of a persons living room. I went over to where she was, and I found her with her knees pulled up to her chest, and her arms wrapped around her knees and her head buried in her arms.
"Briar?" I asked, sitting down next to her, and putting an arm around her shoulders. As I did that, she raised her head, and relaxed her arms and knees. She looked at me with despair on her face, then she rested her head on my shoulder.
"Babe, what are you doing here?" She asked.
"What, are you not happy to see me?" I said, pretending to be hurt.
"I am, I just..." She paused, and made a puppy dog face.
"What?" I asked, putting a finger under her chin and lifting her face to mine.
Tears streamed down her face. "How could you possibly interested in a girl like me! One who can't cook!"
"What?" I said. "You think you can't cook? What's this all about?"
"It's just that..." She paused, looking down at her lap. "I wanted to make you a really good cake for your birthday, because it's coming up and...nothings good enough!"
I grinned from ear to ear. "You wanted to make me a cake for my birthday?"
"Well..."
"You love me!"
She groaned. "That's not the point!"
"So you do!" I said.
She glared at me for a second, then broke out laughing. "The point is...I stink."
"Briar. Come on. People don't wait in line forever at your coffe shop for stinky coffee cake."
"Okay, well..I have chef's block, I guess." She crossed her arms and stared at her lap. I stared at her. She looked at me, and we both started laughing at how childish she was pretending to be.
"Come on, let me try something. I'll be honest and tell you how it is." I said. She sighed, then reached over and grabbed a piece of cake on the counter.
"It's strawberry cheesecake. I know how much you like it."
I put some in my mouth, and my eyes widened. I can honestly say that was the best strawberry cheesecake I ever had in my whole life. "Briar, this is amazing."
She smiled, and put her arms around me. "You really think so?" She said, her face inches away from mine.
"I know so." I said, looking in her green eyes.
She looked back for a moment, before she kissed me. I tickled her through the kiss, and she broke away, laughing, and fell on her back. When she stopped laughing, we looked at each other for a moment before she said, "Can you help me clean up, Jake?"
"Sure, sweetheart." I said, helping her up.
Briar took out all the cleaning utensils, and we began to clean. I quickly swept some flour under a counter, and said, "Done!"
Briar raised and eyebrow, and went over to where I was. She smirked and pointed to where the flour was and said, "Nice try, Grimm."
"Your gonna start calling me by my last name?" I said, teasing.
"Whatever, Jake." She said, fighting a smile.
"Come on, you know you like my last name, if you know what I mean." I said, grinning.
She smirked and walked over to where I was and leaned in really close. "Keep teasing." She leaned in so that our lips were almost touching. "And you'll know what it's like to be teased." Then she stepped away.
I was a little taken back to see this side of the modest and quiet Sleeping Beauty. "So, is this how you act when no one's around? I could get used to this."
I saw Briar smirk, and she turned on the radio. The song "Supar Pie, Honey Bunch" by the Four Tops was playing. We looked at each other and chuckled. She shrugged. "It makes cleaning easier."
After a few seconds of sweeping and mopping in silence, Briar began bobbing her head with the music and singing. She winked at me, and I said, "You really like this song?"
"I love this song!" She said, and began to shimmy towards me.
We started jumping up and down and dancing, and singing into the broomstick. We started singing to each other at the top of our lungs. We were both freakishly off key, but we didn't care. When that song ended and another came on, we just kept dancing and cleaning. We were laughing and having a better time then we would have had at a movie. I sneaked in bites of sample pieces of cake, and by the time we were done cleaning, I was completely full.
When we were done, I felt Briar jump on my back and chuckle in my ear. She sprinkled small kisses from my ear to my cheek then down to my neck. I walked over to the living room and set her down on the couch.
She smiled at me, "Thanks for helping me clean up, Jake."
I kissed her lips gently. "Anytime."