Yesterday my mom downloaded this new virus protection software and GUESS WHAT! It fixed my problem!!! I hope you're happy that the new chapter is up! (I know I am!)

I own none of the characters. The idea for Enchanted is completely the work of Walt Disney studios not me.

Chapter 3

"Cooper!" Morgan scolded as her brother wriggled in her arms, trying his hardest to get out of her grasp, "Mom, I'm gonna drop him!"

Giselle whirled around on the sidewalk and took the redheaded baby from her daughter. She stood up straight again, and with her free arm she attempted to flag a cab down, unsuccessfully, to her dismay. Looking down at Morgan, Giselle let out a deep sigh, "Subway it is."

"I don't like the subway," Morgan sighed along with her.

"Me neither, Sweetie." Giselle turned and headed the other direction. One disadvantage to the apartment they were currently living in was the distance between it and Giselle's studio. It was close to Robert's office though, so it did count for something. Though she really had enjoyed being able to walk to work before they moved to Tennessee. Of course, she could still walk there if she really wanted to, it would just take much longer than she had time enough for—especially with Morgan and Cooper in tow.

On the subway, Giselle couldn't find a seat and had to stand, holding Cooper tightly with one arm and the overhead rail with her other. Both of her arms were aching considerably by the time they reached the stop closest to the studio. Cooper hadn't seemed to mind, poor thing didn't sleep well at all the night before and was exhausted. It only scared Giselle having him on a packed subway like that with so many strangers and people that looked like the polar opposite of her definition of "trustworthy", and therefore held onto him as if he were a sack of pure gold straight out of Timbuktu. Morgan had her arm fastened around Giselle's waist, traumatizing memories of a certain experience with untrustworthy strangers always reminding her to make sure she never let her mother out of her sight, even if that meant latching herself onto her. Although Giselle was definitely feeling the results of being squeezed so hard for that long, it was definitely reassuring to know that Morgan wasn't going anywhere.

Once they were above ground and out on the sidewalks again, with Morgan grasping her right hand, and Cooper barely awake in her left arm, Giselle headed toward the studio. Great, only a block away. It was only about nine o' clock in the morning and Giselle was already feeling stressed and disgruntled from the subway—never her choice of transportation. As they came within two buildings of the studio, Giselle heard her phone start ringing, the song "Beating My Heart" by Jon McLaughlin blaring from her purse.

She groaned and stood close to the building they were by, so as not to be bumped into by the rush of people on the sidewalk. Carefully handing Cooper to Morgan, Giselle dug through her bag until her fingers found the hard surface of her cell phone, "Mia, I'm like almost there!"

"Jesus! How long does it take?" Mia exasperated, and then said—away from the phone, "Are you almost done?"

"What?" Giselle asked, cocking her head.

"Nothing! Just get here!"

"Well, hang up and I will," Giselle sighed, hanging her own phone up instead, "My goodness! Come on, Morgan."

Giselle started walking again, leaving Cooper in Morgan's arms since they were just feet away from the studio. As she pulled the glass door open and held it for Morgan, Giselle looked around the high-ceilinged room. The lights were off and it was silent, in an eerie way that made chills run down her spine. The bell on the door still seemed to be ringing, although the door was already closed. She put her arm out the keep Morgan from moving, her heart thumping in her chest.

"Mia? Sarah…?" Giselle took a step forward and tripped on something—though she hadn't seen anything there a moment ago. She was falling hard and fast, and then she stopped and the lights turned on and things were falling around her. She slowly lifted her head to see who or what had broken her fall, and her knees buckled when she saw the face.

"Is this a habit of yours? Falling off of stuff?" an all-too familiar voice quoted.

"Only when you're around to catch me," Giselle finished and threw her arms around Robert, kissing him as if it were their wedding day all over again. Flower petals fell all around them, landing on their heads and shoulders. Her fingers were on his face and in his hair. The romance of the moment making her forget all about how scared she had been only seconds before.

When their lips parted, Giselle felt tears in her eyes again for the second time that morning as Robert held her against his chest. The difference this time was that she was laughing. She was laughing like she hadn't remembered laughing in a long time. And it was the strangest feeling, like she was floating in a cloud of flower petals. And she looked into Robert's smiling eyes as she laughed, and everything was right.

"Bet you didn't see that coming," Robert said, a sly grin on his lips.

"Oh my goodness! Robert, you scared me so bad!" Giselle laughed hysterically.

"I love you," Robert whispered, swaying with her in his arms.

"I needed that, I really did," Giselle giggled, pecking his lips, "What a wakeup call!"

"And all I had to do was stall you all morning, get here, and set that trap for the petals up in the ceiling," Robert chortled.

"You did that yourself?" Giselle gasped.

"You bet I did!" Robert kissed her again, "I thought of it last night after you finally fell asleep."

"What gave you the idea, huh?"

"Well, after you woke me up and one thing led to another until Cooper started up again, I realized how much I miss kissing you," Robert whispered as he kissed her. "So, I decided that I would get you by surprise at just the right time so I could kiss you all I want."

"Mia was sooo in on this," Giselle grinned, running both of her hands up into his hair as he kissed her again.

Sarah had taken Cooper from Morgan who was now sitting toward the back of the studio close to the racks of fabric talking to Mia. If anything, they agreed that this was definitely a good thing. Of course, Morgan giggled at her parents because it was weird, but she secretly hoped this meant things were going to change for the whole family. The only thing she was careful to do was not let her hopes get too high.

"Thank you," Giselle sighed, now resting her head on Robert's shoulder, his arms still snuggly around her, "I really mean it, thank you, honey. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Don't you worry about it," Robert stroked her long hair, twisting a curl of red hair around his finger, "But…as much as I hate to have to go--."

"What?" Giselle interjected, flying backward, though his arms still held her close.

"I was saying that--."

"I know what you were saying, I just can't believe you're saying it!" Giselle shook her head vigorously, as if it were a figment of her imagination that she could just shake away.

"You know that my boss is difficult, I had a hard time taking just one hour off this morning," Robert sighed, almost as if he knew this would come, but hoped that she would let it go. He tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her nose.

"Alright, go if you have to," Giselle smiled at him weakly, "Thank you so much for doing this for me."

"I love you, happy anniversary, babe," Robert planting one last kiss on her forehead before dropping his arms and heading out the door.

"Happy anniversary," Giselle's eyes fell to the floor, to all the petals. A tear fell down her cheek and sank to the floor, taking a handful of the multi-colored petals. She looked around at all of the silly things that she had loved so much a few moments ago. It all seemed like a wonderful dream that she was forced to wake up from. Now she was awake, and everything was exactly the same as before.

"No," Morgan whispered to herself, slowly shaking her head, "No!"
"Morgan, just stay here, she'll be fine," Mia laid a hand on Morgan's knee.

"Why is Mom sad again?" Morgan asked quietly.

"I don't know, hon, I don't ask, it's not my business," Mia wouldn't let

herself look into the little girl's heartbroken eyes.

"You do know! Why won't anybody tell me anything? Daddy is never home and Mommy is always sad! Why?" Morgan asked in her normal voice.

"I really don't know, Morgan, I don't know if your mom even knows," Mia shrugged.

"Everyone acts like everything is okay! When he's around she acts normal! She acts like there's nothing wrong at all when he's around! But then he says goodbye like always and she's sad! Why?" Morgan's voice rose, and Mia hoped Giselle wouldn't hear.

"Maybe when he's around your mom acts like everything is okay because she wants it to be okay," Mia said. She watched the little girl's eyes well up.

"What's wrong?" Morgan persisted. But Mia wouldn't respond, only looking on the little girl with pity, unable to say any more.

A sick feeling sank in her stomach as her chest heaved, forcing herself to breathe. Giselle felt like the world was slipping out of her grasp. She thought of running out after him the way she always thought of doing. But she never did. Suddenly anger rose within her and she scattered the petals, throwing them away from herself. Hot tears rolled down her face as petals fluttered to the ground again, only to feel herself harden more. They wouldn't go away. They were there, reminding her that he was gone, again. Stupid, stupid, stupid petals. "Please," Giselle sobbed, "go away."

"This is bad, go get her, Mia," Sarah said; almost pleaded.

"I've seen her scream and yell—anything but cry," Mia whispered. It was true. This was a whole knew level of her that they had never seen, especially not in her professional appearance. This was a whole new broken level of Giselle that her employees didn't believe existed.

Morgan flew out of her seat before Mia had a chance to move. She threw herself onto the floor by her mom, tearing petals from her hands, "Mommy! Stop it! Please! Please…."

"C'mere," Mia took Giselle's wrists and hoisted her to her feet, "You're okay, come on."

"It's not fair, it's not fair…," Giselle cried, allowing Mia to lead her toward the back.

"I know, don't worry, he'll be back, it'll be okay," Mia reassured her, pushing her down into a chair.

"No it won't! It's been three months, and he's never home, and he's…he's never home," Giselle cried, mascara and eye-liner running down her face all over again.

"Wait, three months since…?" Mia trailed off, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes! Threes months since that!" Giselle buried her face in her hands.

"You don't think he's messing around on you, do you?" Mia narrowed her eyes.

"Of course not! He would never do that! I think…," her sobs suddenly renewed, "He is, isn't he?"

"Come now, let's not jump to conclusions. Besides, a man so obviously in love wouldn't do that. And after seeing what I just saw between you two, there's no doubt he's still insanely in love with you," Mia said thoughtfully.

"Then why?" Giselle cried.

"Why don't you ask him?" Sarah said.

"Ask him?" Giselle sniffled.

"Yeah, I mean, why not?" Sarah shrugged.

"I love him too much," Giselle sighed, wiping her eye, "I can't say anything because I—I love him too much and I trust him."

"Well, you obviously don't trust him, otherwise you wouldn't be caterwauling like that," Mia snorted.

"Caterwauling?" Giselle's brow furrowed.

"That's beside the point. What matters is that you're miserable and this is affecting Morgan and Cooper--."

"And your work," Sarah added in, solemnly.

"I'm not miserable," Giselle insisted, looking away from Mia's eyes.

"You certainly aren't yourself," Mia sighed, gently laying a hand on Giselle's shoulder.

Giselle shook her head, meeting Mia's eyes again, "Well, then, you tell me, who am I?"

I was told that Giselle overreacts. But it was what I felt fit. Let the woman have a breakdown for crying out loud! Haha, well, I guess it's not my opinion that matters. It's really yours. So review please! I'd really like to know what all of my readers think!