Chapter 10

Aladdin was surprised that Belle took to his suggestion of putting on a blindfold so readily—well, readily for her it seemed. After she stepped onto Carpet, he handed it to her with as innocent a smile as he could produce—especially after their previous misunderstanding regarding what they could do on Carpet.

"Would you be okay putting on a blindfold?" he had asked her.

"Why?" she prodded. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No," he said sheepishly as he ran his hand through his hair. "I know that you are familiar with the geography of the world. I figured that you would be able to guess where we are going just by looking out or over. For everything you've done for me, I had hoped I could make this as genuine a surprise as possible."

Aladdin felt the color rise in his cheeks. After he finished speaking, he knew he had let on too much. He had probably revealed in those few words how he had spent hours thinking of where to take her after they parted ways that afternoon. He called upon Genie for advice, as he had taken to traversing the world—and possibly the universe—since his emancipation.

When that didn't work, Aladdin even asked Abu for help by perching the him on top of a spinning globe and waiting for the monkey to point his finger to a random place.

Every suggestion seemed lackluster to Aladdin.

"No, she's been there," when Genie suggested they travel to Paris.

"What?! You know how cold it can get there!" Aladdin said when Abu pointed to the North Pole.

"What am I going to do?" he said with his face buried in his hands. He plopped back onto a sofa in his sitting room. Genie floated next to him with a contemplative look on his face as he stroked his cobalt chin. "She probably won't be impressed with anything."

"Al, is the goal here to impress her or to thank her?" Genie asked suspiciously.

Aladdin caught the hidden meaning of his words. "Don't start. Yes it is to thank her."

Genie responded with a single raised eyebrow.

"Fine," the young man said as he threw a pillow that Genie easily dodged. "Maybe I do want to impress her. What's so wrong about that?"

"Nothing, little buddy. I just didn't realize you had recovered from…you know."

"I honestly don't know if I am yet," Aladdin said quietly as he stared up at an ornately decorated ceiling. "But I won't know for certain unless I try to move on."

"Well, all the luck in the world to you," Genie said. "Even if Belle isn't the one for you, always remember there are plenty of fish in the sea."

Aladdin jumped up.

"Genie! That's it!"

"What? What's it? What did I say?"

"The sea. I know exactly where I will take her."

"Al, the sea is not that far away…and I'm pretty sure she came here on a boat."

"No, no!" Aladdin said waving his friend away as he went into a room he seldom used: the library. He lit a few lamps and pulled down a book he had once perused before.

"This!" he said turning to his blue friend and pointing to a picture in a book. "This is where I am going to take her."

Genie gave Aladdin and thumbs up while Abu chattered on his shoulder in agreement.

"So, will you put this on?" Aladdin asked Belle again as they floated above Agrabah. Carpet had meandered a few hundred feet above the city, waiting for Aladdin's go ahead before taking off.

Belle let out a sigh. "Fine. But only because I trust you," she said pointing her finger at him.

She wrapped the fabric around her eyes and tied it behind her head. Aladdin waved at her to see if she would respond. He then made a silly face to be sure she wasn't just faking. Thankfully, she didn't do anything.

"Carpet, you ready?" he asked looking down at the richly decorated fabric beneath him. A tassel gave a thumbs up. "Belle, you might want to grab on to my waist."

"Might I?" she said incredulously folding her arms. Even blindfolded, Aladdin could still see the arch of an eyebrow peak out from under the fabric.

He shrugged his shoulders though she couldn't see it. "Your funeral," he muttered.

"WHA-" Belle began to say (and eventually scream) as Carpet took off into the night. Aladdin chuckled as he felt her grope around behind him. Eventually, two slender arms wrapped themselves around his torso. Her bent knees fell beside his thighs as she scooted closer to him. Of course, it was not close enough to be improper—just enough to ensure security, which produced a surprising amount of dismay in Aladdin.

"When will I know where we are going?" she said into his ear. The warmth of her breath tickled his skin in a surprisingly pleasant way.

"Um," he struggled to find the words with her proximity clouding his thoughts. "I can't tell you yet. It has to be a real surprise."

Looking over his shoulder, he could see Belle's pursed lips. "Fine," she responded like a petulant child.

"I could take you back if you'd like," he suggested.

"No!" she shouted quickly. "No. I am excited to see where you will take me. I'm just a little impatient."

Aladdin chuckled. "I can tell. Don't worry. Carpet will have us there sooner than you think."

And with that, Carpet sped off even quicker into the night sky.

Belle wasn't sure if she was imagining it or her eyes were growing accustomed to the darkness of her blindfold, but she could have sworn that the light behind it was growing brighter.

"Is the sun rising?" she asked Aladdin. She was still gripping onto his waist, though not as tightly now that she had become accustomed to Carpet's speed.

"I guess it technically is," he said to her.

"What do you mean?"

"I would say that it's more that were are rising toward the sun."

"So we are headed west."

"Dammit," he said to himself.

"Why the need for language?" she asked poking him gently in the ribs with a laugh.

"Because I gave something away."

"That we're heading west?" she said. Her legs were beginning to cramp.

"Yes," Aladdin said crestfallen. Though she was blindfolded, Belle could imagine the exact look on his face as he said it. She smiled to herself. Though she and Aladdin had only just met, she felt as though she already knew so much about him—his moods, his expressions, his laugh—and yet so little all at the same time.

"For all I know, you're taking us around the world and back again. Were we to head east or west, we could still end up in the same place after a certain amount of time. So, in reality, you've given nothing away!"

"I guess you're right," he said, somewhat relieved after she made her point.

Belle's legs were really beginning to hurt her. She was trying hard to keep them where they were, but it was becoming too painful. Pins and needles began to prick her feet from within and she was pretty sure that she had lost feeling in all of her toes.

She audibly winced at one point, which prompted Aladdin to slow Carpet down.

"Are you okay?" Aladdin said as he turned around. Belle still could only see into the darkness of her blindfold.

"I'm fine," she said, not wanting her pain to be known. After all, they hadn't been flying that long and she did not want to be a poor travel companion.

"Tell me," he said. It wasn't a command so much as a gentle and firm request.

"My legs hurt," she said with a chuckle.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Aladdin said exasperatedly. "You know there's plenty of room to move about on this thing!"

Belle scooted back from him, again not sure if he realized the double entendre beneath his words.

"No!" he shouted. "No, it's not like that. Ugh. Here."

Soon Belle was blinded by the light of the rising sun before her. "Ow!" she said. "Thanks for the warning."

"Sorry," the dark haired man replied as she rubbed her eyes. When they adjusted to the light, she looked up at him.

"I'm not making any suggestions, I promise," he continued. "There's plenty of room here for you and me. In fact, you sit in front and stretch out your legs and I'll sit right behind you. I promise, there won't be any deceit on my part."

He crossed his heart and looked at her with puppy dog eyes.

Belle was not sure if she bought it. There were quite a few men who would take advantage of a woman in this situation. Is Aladdin one of them? she briefly thought. She shook her head. Of course not. He's too kind for any of that. Belle smiled at him. "Okay."

With that, she took Carpet's helm. Spreading her legs out sent instant shots of pain followed by soothing relief as her legs uncramped before her. She leaned back to put her hands behind her, only to find Aladdin's legs right there next to her hips.

Her hands slipped off his muscular thighs leaving her head right in the middle of his lap.

She looked up at him with flushed cheeks while he just looked down curiously.

They both laughed.

"How are we going to figure out our seating arrangement without running into improper situations like this?" Belle asked without moving.

"Maybe I was wrong, but I thought you weren't one to care about what other people thought was proper, what with your profound knowledge of everything, your passion for adventure, and the fact that you are alone with a man so late at night." He said the last bit was an overly licentious tone.

She sat up and hit him in the arm. "It's not like that and you know it."

Aladdin seemed hurt by not just her slap, but by her words, too. Belle couldn't figure out why. That, or she didn't want to admit to herself that maybe she was in the company of a man who would have preferred there be romantic implications in their situation.

And maybe you just don't want to admit that you want to be in the company of this particular man and want him to want romantic implications to this situation, a small voice in her mind suggested. She shook that from her head.

"As I said before, there will not be any deceit on my part. I respect you and will treat you as such. However, I also want you to be comfortable and safe. So, I propose that you just lean back. You can rest upon me. My hands will stay at my side and will only touch you if our travels get bumpy," Aladdin suggested.

Belle was touched by how much he considered her wishes and how much he respected her desire to keep their arrangement proper—or as proper as was possible. He was a true gentleman, unlike so many she had met in her life.

She quietly nodded in acquiescence and leaned back into Aladdin's chest.

He was warm. His body felt solid and strong. She had no doubt in that moment that should anything go awry on their journey, that he would protect her. Before she knew it, she had relaxed even more and rested her head back on his shoulder. It wasn't until she heard him say, "We're here," that she even realized she had fallen asleep in his protective care.