Excuse the clichéd title. This is a series very short little scenes of various BatB characters and their mothers(or their own children). I use several original characters (including two that haven't been introduced yet) from my other story Crimson Threads, but you don't have to read that in order to understand this(except for the part with Adam).
"Mama? How long will Papa be gone for?" asked Belle, staring sadly out the window.
"A whole week, Belle," Sofia told her daughter.
"One whole week?" repeated Belle, devastated. "I miss him already and he's only been gone for three hours."
"Don't be sad, Belle. While he's gone, we can have a slumber party together."
"A slumber party?" Belle repeated, confused.
"The two of us can have a nice little party up in my room," said Sofia. "We can make cookies, heat up some milk, and snuggle up in my bed."
Later that night, Belle sat on her parents' bed with a mug of warm milk in her hands and a plate of cookies in front of her. Her mother sat opposite her, holding a mug in her own hands.
"What do we do now, Mama?" asked Belle, wiping the cookie crumbs off her cheek with the sleeve of her nightgown.
"Do you want me to read you a story?" asked Sofia.
"I've read all my stories a million times," said Belle. "I want to hear a new one."
"Well, I suppose I can make something up," said Sofia. "There was once a little princess called-"
"No, Mama!" exclaimed Belle. "Stories are supposed to start with 'once upon a time'!"
"Once upon a time, there was a little princess named Armelle-"
"I don't like that name, Mama," said Belle, frowning.
"What about Florentine?" suggested Sofia.
"That's even worse!" exclaimed Belle.
"Gigi?"
Belle looked disgusted.
"Then what name do you suggest, treasure?" asked Sofia gently.
Belle thought for a while.
"Noemie," she said finally.
"Once upon a time, there was a little princess named Noemie. Noemie was a very pretty girl with long brown hair and forest green eyes. One morning, as Noemie was walking through the forest, she came across an ugly troll. The troll asked Noemie to bring him some milk. Noemie thought this request to be rather odd, but she obliged…"
"Come on, Gaston. It's time for your lessons," Amelie-Rose called to her four year old son.
"Why can't I go hunting with Papa?" asked Gaston, tearing himself away from the window.
"You're too young, Gaston," Amelie-Rose told him. "Come on, it's time for some reading practice."
"I hate reading, Mama," Gaston whined.
"Come on, just read a few sentences then you can go out and play," Amelie-Rose promised him.
"Papa says reading is dangerous," said Gaston.
"Despite what your father says, learning to read is important, Gaston," Amelie-Rose told him. "Now sit down next to me."
Gaston climbed up onto the chair next to his mother. Amelie-Rose quickly scribbled down a sentence on a piece of paper.
"Read," Amelie-Rose ordered.
"Tee," Gaston began, staring down at the piece of paper.
"The," corrected Amelie-Rose.
"The dog jumped over the fenk," Gaston continued.
"Fence," Amelie-Rose corrected again. "Keep going."
"My head hurts, Mama," Gaston whined.
"Okay, maybe that's enough reading for today," said Amelie-Rose, frowning with concern. "Remember, not a single word of this to your father, alright?"
Gaston nodded and ran out of the room. Amelie-Rose sighed and tore up the piece of paper.
If Adam could turn back the clock, he definitely would have tried to be closer to his mother. When he was younger, he had resented her for destroying the relationship he had with his nanny out jealousy. Now, after learning more about her life, he had nothing but sympathy for her. She had been forced into a marriage with a man who clearly didn't love her. Her only friend eventually ran off with her husband. And, to top it all off, her own son had despised her.
But there was no use dwelling on regret. The only thing he could do now was make sure he had a good relationship with his own children. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder to spend time with them. He spent most of his time attending balls and meetings. In fact, he was on his way to a ball at this very moment.
Belle hated attending these balls. Adam could understand why, too. He had never heard a single upper class woman say a kind word to her that wasn't a veiled insult. For the first few years of their marriage, when he was still getting used to life outside the castle, she had accompanied him for support. However, when their first child was born, Belle had chosen to stay home more often.
Were these balls really necessary? He spent most of them sitting at a table, staring morosely into a glass of wine. They were nothing but an excuse for gossipy noblewomen to make scathing remarks about other noblewomen. He took a gold watch out of his pocket. It was five o'clock. If he skipped the ball, he could make it home before midnight. He stuck his head out the window and called to the driver.
"Hebert, take a left here! I've changed my mind."
"Chip, it's almost twelve o'clock!" barked Mrs Potts from the top of the stairs. "Where have you been?"
"I-I was visiting Rosie," Chip stammered.
"Oh, my little boy is growing up," said Mrs Potts fondly. "Remember when you were six and you had that enormous crush on Belle?"
"Rosie is just a friend, Mama," Chip murmured, blushing.
"And that's why you were visiting her at eleven o'clock in the evening?" asked Mrs Potts, raising an eyebrow. "As much as I like to see two people in love, I'm going to have to punish you-"
The castle doors opened and Adam came running in.
"Ah, Master, you're home early," said Mrs Potts. "I thought you weren't getting back for another three days. Belle and the little ones are up in your bedroom," Mrs Potts. "They're having a slumber party."
"The next day, Noemie brought the troll a glass of milk. To her surprise, he asked her to come again. The same thing happened when she returned to him the day after. On the tenth day, she gave him the milk and, in a flash, he turned into a handsome prince. They got married and lived happily ever after."
Belle looked down at her two young daughters, who were finishing up a plate of burnt cookies.
"What did you think, girls?"
"Mama, why do so many stories end with something turning into a handsome prince?" asked Sophie, the eldest of the two.
"They're just fables, darling," said Belle. "Fables use fantastic elements to teach you real life lessons. In this case, it was that if you're nice to people and you look past their appearances, you will eventually be rewarded."
"I wouldn't want a prince, though," said Noemie, a rambunctious four year old with perpetually messy brown hair and forest green eyes. "Not if they're anything like the princes I've met. I'd rather get a new dress or a toy."
Her older sister nodded in agreement. The girls heard the door of the bedroom opening. They turned around to see their father enter the room.
"Papa!" the two girls yelled happily. They jumped up and attacked Adam with hugs.
"I thought you weren't getting back until Friday," said Belle, planting a kiss on her husband's lips.
"I have better things to do than waste my life attending dull balls. I don't want to miss another second of my girls' lives."
"Did you bring us any presents, Papa?" asked Sophie excitedly.
"Sophie!" Belle admonished. "Don't be greedy!"
Adam chuckled.
"I'll give them to you tomorrow, darling," he said, picking both girls up in his arms and carrying them to the bed. "It's almost midnight. Way past your bedtime."
Belle climbed into bed with her little family and laid her head down on her husband's chest. Sophie snuggled up next to her and rested her head on her breast. In that moment, she couldn't help but feel that she was the luckiest woman in the world.