Note: First and foremost, thank you for everyone who has taken the time to review. Your thoughts are very much appreciated. Secondly, for those of you who are concerned, I have taken some liberties with a few of the names in this fiction. I realize that the Beast's real name is Adam, Terrance is just the name that my brain supplied me with while still half asleep. Use of creative licensing: switched on! Now, back to the story.

The first thing Belle saw when she opened her eyes was the ripped canopy over her head. Strange, did I do that? She couldn't have had more than two glasses of wine last night, but the events of the celebration were slow in coming to her. If she concentrated though, she could remember parts. Visions of dancing, dancing with Lumiere, Cogsworth, Chip, and… Terrance. Kissing Terrance, holding his hand, supporting him. She remembered feeling so heavy, and then; blank. She must have fallen asleep at that point. Somebody had carried her to her room then. But who…

Terrance mumbled beside her, shifting so that he slung an arm over her.

That explained the second question, then.

The first one still bothered her though. Raising herself up on her elbows, she surveyed the catastrophe of the room she was in. In the center was a small round table with a glass dome over it, sheltering a now dead flower that had once been alive with magic. So this was Terrance's room, not hers.

Now why would he go taking her to his room when she had a perfectly good one? One that was empty; bereft of an occupant on the opposite side of where she slept, vacant of the clothes of another in her chest of drawers or personal cleaning items in the bathroom.

So he wants me to…

"Oh!" Belle blushed as the prince tightened his arm around her in his sleep.

She couldn't very well lie and say that the thought of doing that with Terrance never crossed her mind. She had thought about it a few times, but mostly she would push those thoughts away, assuming that what she wanted would happen at a far later date.

Far, far, later.

She took a deep breath and drug a hand through her hair. Ewww. If it felt this bad there was no way it could look any better. She should probably try to look her best anyway in order to please the prince. After all, that was what sex was all about, right? Pleasing your man? At least that was what she had heard from the gaudy girls around town.

Trying to move slow enough not to wake him, she returned the arm to its owner and got out of bed, leaving Terrance to curl up into a ball. He looked cold, so she pulled the blanket up around him to make up for the absence of her body heat.

Treading lightly around the debris, she made her way into the grand adjoining bathroom. The marble room was cool, nipping at her skin and making the hairs on her arms stand at attention. She turned the tap in the bath tub on, cheering at the steam that rose from it. It would have taken her ages to heat water bucket by bucket for a bath back at home. Remembering her home brought thoughts of her father to mind. She missed him so much; maybe now that the spell was broken he could come and live with them. Assuming that she would become married to the owner of the castle, of course.

Slipping out of her clothes and into the water, she sighed in contentment and poured in some fancy looking soaps and fragrances. Judging by their abundance, the prince didn't use them at all. After sniffing at the contents she determined that he would like them on her because they were pleasing to the senses. Above all else, she wanted to please him. She wanted to marry him. But what if he only wanted to love her and leave her? Should she deny him physical intimacy until their wedding night? A wife was not supposed to deny her husband, and as his perhaps future wife then maybe she shouldn't deny him.

Holding her breath, she dunked her head into the water and then rose up, working the soap in with her fingers. She wouldn't say no then. And in truth, she didn't want to. The humming through her veins was unfamiliar to her, but it spoke of an urge to do something strange and bestial, yet enjoyable. She shouldn't think about all this now, though. Bathing was often enjoyable to her; it was something special. She let her mind go blank and started humming till her thoughts were clear and her heart was high again. The slow melody rolled through her and vibrated in her chest, turning a shy transformation into words as fragile as baby birds.

"Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flow'rs are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh, Danny boy, oh, Danny boy, I love you so.

And if you come, and all the flowers are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
I pray you'll find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warm and sweeter be
And you—"

The door burst open and Terrance walked in; bare-chested and with his eyes glowing. Belle stopped her song mid-sentence, marveling at the picture he made. In all the time she had spent looking at them, she could never understand the color of his eyes. They would shift constantly from a piercing blue to a stormy one, with every shade in between. Her gaze lowered, taking in his thick frame and cords of muscles. His human form was well toned; not a bit of him could be described as lanky or lacking. Definitely not lacking…

"Belle?"

"Hmm?" Her eyes snapped back up, cheeks darkening.

"Don't stop your song, I rather liked it. Would you sing the rest for me?" The honeyed tones of his voice were inviting, reaching inside of her and settling somewhere inside her stomach.

"Uh…I…" What were the words again? She just had them a minute ago! Where had they gone?

He only raised an eyebrow at her.

If she could just remember where she left off, there it was! "And you shall bend…" Her words trailed off as Terrance came and bent over her, spreading his warm breath over her ear and neck. "Keep going," he whispered. She struggled to remember, but caught back onto her thread of thought.

"… and tell me that you love me"

"I love you, Belle."

She gulped and finished the song until her stream of conscious was gone entirely. "And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me."

And there it went; gone. She said farewell to her rational thoughts, not knowing when she would get them back. Her breathing was erratic as the prince trailed his warm lips along her skin. "Does this mean…that we are going to be married?"

Idiot! Why did she always have to say the wrong things at the wrong time? Now was not the place for that question.

He only chuckled though. "Whatever you want my love, you shall have. Belle, beautiful

Belle. Come to me and be my wife."