Okay here's a fairly short one. Since no amount of preparation will keep Maurice from being rather shaken by Belle's condition, the reunion is rather...brief.

And I would be remiss if I did not suggest you might want to avoid eating while reading this chapter.

"Wait here," the Beast said just outside Belle's room. "Let me see how she's doing at the moment."

Garderobe, Lumiere, and Plumette were keeping vigil. Well, Madame de Garderobe was keeping more of a snoring vigil than anything else. You could say, if you were in the mood for a pun, that Lumiere was keeping a candlelight vigil. But when you're a sentient candelabra, that is a rather common occurrance. The two objects who were awake turned as their master padded quietly towards them.

"How is she?"

"About the same as when you left for breakfast," Plumette said.

"I think she is able to hear even if she seems asleep," Lumiere said. "I wondered, so I extinguished one of my hand candles and put it under her hand and asked her to squeeze if she could hear me. Which she did."

The Beast took Belle's hand in his paw.

"Belle, can you hear me? Can you squeeze my paw?"

She did.

"Your father does wish to see you," the Beast said. "He's outside the door now. I did tell him what to expect, and I think he's as prepared as possible and your idea of telling him about Paris did seem to help him be able to trust me a bit. I'm going to bring him in, all right?"

She squeezed his paw. He began to walk back towards the door, but was stopped by Lumiere's voice.

"Master?"

"Yes Lumiere?"

"You are confident that he trusts you enough for this, right?" the candelabra asked. "You did your best to prepare him but I'm sure he will still be quite shocked. Hearing a description and seeing it with your own eyes...well there's a level of preparedness that's just not possible. Do you think you can support him through the shock?"

"I hope so," the Beast whispered.

He walked back to the door, opened it, and nodded to Maurice. As Maurice stepped in, the Beast placed a paw on his arm.

"She's more asleep than awake," he said quietly. "But can hear and squeeze your hand when asked. There's a chair beside the bed."

With that, the Beast stepped aside to let Maurice in. He walked directly behind Belle's father. Maurice went slowly over to his daughter, stunned despite Beast's thorough description. He tentatively laid a hand on Belle's arm.

This proved to be a mistake. Belle flinched, gasped, and her eyes shot open. The Beast gently grabbed Maurice's forearm to remove his hand from Belle's arm.

"That's right on a bandaged wound," he said. "Just take her hand."

Maurice felt his knees start to give and staggered backwards. Beast put his paws on Maurice's shoulders and gently guided him to sit in the chair. Once this was done he again took Maurice's forearm and placed his hand over his daughter's left hand.

"Papa," Belle whispered weakly.

"Belle," Maurice said softly. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that."

"I know," she whispered. "I'm sorry you're having to see me like this. Now maybe you understand why I was reluctant?"

Maurice nodded. He found himself at a loss for words. After a few moments he pulled the rose rattle out of his pocket and set it next to Belle's head on her pillow. Then he found his voice.

"So I hear you did a little exploring," he said.

"That's right," Belle whispered. "I wanted to know...and I knew asking you would be too hard on you since you never seemed to linger long on the subject of her. So when Beast showed me the portal I figured that was a good place to go."

Before anything further could be said, Belle was asleep once more. Maurice surveyed her carefully. A wet cloth laying on her forehead to keep her fever under control, a nightgown obviously designed to allow easy access to her bandages, she spoke so weakly when awake and lapsed back into sleep without warning. Seeing her like this seemed surreal. As much as the Beast had tried to prepare him, it was quite stunning. And Maurice started feeling queasy.

"Are you all right?" the Beast asked, noticing that Maurice seemed to have the green-around-the-gills look about him.

Maurice didn't answer, fearing that opening his mouth would cause his stomach contents to come out. He swallowed the bile that rose up into his mouth. And swallowed again. And again. Realizing it was futile, he started looking around the room and spotted the chamberpot. He got up and tried to move toward it, but dropped to his knees as he couldn't hold it in any longer.

The Beast, seeing what was about to happen, quickly retrieved the chamberpot and moved it under Maurice's face just in time to catch his half-digested breakfast.

"Thank you," Maurice said after that episode had ended. "Sorry about that. That came on a little suddenly."

"Perhaps Belle was right," the Beast said, helping Maurice to his feet. "Maybe seeing her was too much after all."

"Perhaps it is best if you take your leave monsieur," Lumiere said. "I know you want to be with your daughter but we don't need two patients. We'll take care of Belle."

"Oh I'm all right," Maurice said. "Just got a wee bit nauseous for a moment is all."

He turned to Belle and started walking back over to the chair. And suddenly felt lightheaded. And started falling. The Beast caught him in his arms.

"I think it's best you do leave the room," the Beast said, guiding Maurice to the door. "Come. Before you become, as Lumiere pointed out, a second patient."

The Beast led Maurice down to the parlor and asked Mrs. Potts to get him some tea.

"How often do you change her bandages?" Maurice asked.

"Twice a day," the Beast said. "Since some wounds are infected we have to keep changing and recleaning to keep the drainage from being trapped inside her."

"Would you like me to help with the next change?"

"Not after what just happened," the Beast said. "You quite literally couldn't stomach seeing her for long. The whole tending to wounds business is quite traumatic on everybody involved. It hurts her...terribly. I can hardly stand to do it, but somebody has to and none of the staff has opposable thumbs. It's best that you stay well away when her wounds are being tended."

"I suppose you're right in your assessment," Maurice said. "I did have issues up there." He sighed. "By necessity I could not stay by my wife while she suffered. And now though I could safely stay by my daughter in her suffering I can't seem to handle it."

"If it's any consolation," the Beast said softly, "she is never left alone. There's always someone on staff keeping watch, and I am rarely away from her side. In fact if you don't mind my leaving you I'd like to get back to her."

"Go ahead," Maurice said.

The Beast offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile, then took his leave to return to the east wing.