Despite being tired and having a knack for sleeping in, Lumiere was up about an hour before he needed to be. Even so, he swung his feet over the side of the bed and yawned loudly, stretching his arms and back, hearing them pop as he did so. He might as well get up now, as there was nothing worse than drifting back off to sleep only to be awoken again, in what seems like moments later. He had a good feeling about today. Now that everything was back to rights, everything seemed fresh and new, he had even started a relationship with Cogsworth, which he almost couldn't have dreamed would have been possible.

"What to wear, what to wear?" he pondered aloud and, as he opened up his personal closet, he was disgusted to find many moths flying about his belongings. "What are you doing in there, little pests, those are my clothes! God, I hope you little buggers left me something wearable." That seemed quite unlikely, as a lot of his clothes were quite old and/or worn now, some even being more holes than cloth. Many of the workers here would have the same problem. But none of that mattered; after all, all that they had to do at the moment was clean. With this in mind he pulled out a red billowy shirt that looked as though it would hold and a pair of pants that had…well, a few patches on them anyway. There was not much to be done about it until the Master came back with his new bride, then they could go out and buy what they needed.

Lumiere figured that it wouldn't matter much if he arrived for lunch a touch early, surely some would be up by now to keep him company. As he slipped through the door, however, he saw only one, his Cogsworth. He was about to extravagantly prance over (as he usually did), wrap his arms around the shorter man and give him a warm 'good morning, Mon Cher!' But something held him back. Cogsworth looked a mess, and it wasn't because of the state of his work clothes either. He had his head in his hands, staring into his preferred earl grey tea as though hoping it would swallow him. Not a good sign for so early in the day. Occasionally he sighed and pulled at his hair which, Lumiere realised, was actually his own hair. It was currently shoulder length and wavy, though it was tied back in a simple ponytail so that it wouldn't get in the way of hard work. Lumiere would have been all over it if his beloved didn't look so…lost.

Instead, he walked up behind him and gave his stiff shoulders a squeeze, earning a slight jolt of surprise. His shoulders were even stiffer than they had been last night on the balcony, he could tell instantly that something had gone wrong.

"Mon Cher, please don't keep all of this stress to yourself, let me help you. Tell me what's happened," he pulled up a chair beside Cogsworth's, who took a shaky breath before saying in a voice filled with tiredness and worry,

"They're gone. They just up and left early this morning and all they left was a note." Lumiere kept a reassuring hand on his lovers shoulder and picked up a stray piece of paper with the other. This had to be what Cogsworth was referring to.

We apologize for our sudden departure but, we believe, our time here has come to an end. During our time here we have worked hard and been through a lot more than the average servant. We will enjoy the rest of our lives elsewhere.

Yours sincerely- staff members.

Below that was a list of signatures belonging to all those who had decided to leave at such short notice.

"My god, that's nearly everyone!" Lumiere gasped.

"I know! What are we supposed to do know? We have a whole castle to take care of before the Master returns in two weeks and we only have ten or so servants left. This is impossible! Of all the times to leave! How am I supposed to explain this to him when he comes back!?" Lumiere felt Cogsworth's shoulders sag in defeat and, he had to say, he understood entirely. It was Cogsworth's job to maintain order in the household, but now nearly that entire household had abandoned their duties. It left his sweetheart in a dreadful position.

"Who do we have left?" he asked, squeezing the tired shoulders occasionally to reassure him.

"There's you, me, Mrs Potts and her children, the cook and his two assistants, you know, the married couple." Lumiere nodded, they were nice and they wouldn't be leaving as they had planned to bring up a child here. "Charlie the coachman and his stable hand, those twin maids; they're young but have no family to return to," Lumiere almost chuckled, he knew them and had to admit, they were a little odd and tended to keep to themselves, but they were good workers. "The old groundskeeper Kevin and his family…and the dog, apparently he doesn't belong to anyone in particular." Cogsworth sighed, looking quite tempted to bang his head on the table. Lumiere suddenly saw the seriousness of the situation. Many of those that remained were old and well past retirement, others barely of working age, practically children. On top of all that, there was so few of them. But…

"You are forgetting Mon Cher, those who have stayed and loyal and hard working. They will not slack off when it comes to taking care of this old place. It may take a little longer and we will all need to take up more jobs in a wider range of areas, but I'm sure that we will be just fine. As for how to explain this to the Master, I'm sure he will understand as well as any what we have all been through. We could always hire some fresh blood, who know, it may be just what this place needs. Chin up, Mon Cher," Lumiere placed a fingertip under Cogsworth's chin and raised his head. "Everything will work out," Cogsworth smiled weakly, but it was a smile nevertheless.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooo

As they still had a hour to go before what remained of the workers showed up, Lumiere busied himself with preparing a couple of trays of sandwiches for everyone, ("You cannot have everyone work on an empty stomach and, let's face it, my sandwiches are the best.") whilst Cogsworth brought out paper, his quill and inkwell to start planning how they were going to complete such a large amount of work in such a short amount of time. Lumiere could make sandwiches with his eyes closed, so he often stole glances over at Cogsworth who was either scribbling furiously or pulling his hair in stress and confusion. Lumiere would have to get him to stop that if Cogsworth wanted to keep all of his hairs. It was times like these that he was happy to have the job he did. It made him happy to work with food and to see how that, in turn, made others happy. Lumiere simply couldn't see the joy in organising … everything. So Lumiere asked,

"Say, your job is so hard and complicated and you don't seem to enjoy yourself at all. Why put yourself through all this stress?" Cogsworth looked up from his work and gave Lumiere a look.

"Oh, I do enjoy it; I do, even though it must not seem like it. To be in charge of so many things and to know that my opinion matters- well, it makes me feel important, like I'm worth it. Besides, if work wasn't a little complicated I'd get bored. Some puzzles can be good for your mind, no?"

"I never thought about it that way. But, you know… to me, you will always be worth it," Lumiere flashed a sincere smile. Cogsworth blushed deep red before giving a small cough and continuing with his scribbling.

Soon everyone, which was obviously a lot less than they were used to, turned up for the meeting before lunch. The many confused looks seemed to burn holes into Cogsworth until he finally explained the sudden lack of people, Lumiere squeezing his hand under the table the entire time. Once he had finished his explanation the table erupted with all manner of complaints and bad mouthing though all, thankfully, to do with the people who left, not anything Cogsworth had done.

"Don't worry dear; we'll all make up for what's been lost. None of this is your doing," Mrs Potts said, laying a gentle hand on his arm.

"You got that right!" Kevin called out, followed by agreement from everyone else. Cogsworth looked grateful and Lumiere felt heartened at everyone's good will towards him. Soon everyone was tucking into their sandwiches and, even though the mood had improved, Lumiere couldn't help but notice that Cogsworth hadn't touched anything other than his stone cold tea.