Disclaimer: To my heart's dismay, I do not own any offspring of the creative minds at Disney.

"Whoa."

It was all she could say. From the minute Adam turned onto a private road to when he pulled into the driveway, Belle was amazed. She had never seen anything like it before, not even on those TV programs that show what celebrities' houses look like. Adam parked his car in front of the door and a valet came to park it for him, while Belle stood marveling at everything. The mansion looked almost like a castle, complete with turrets and ivy that climbed up the dark stone walls and there were even gargoyles with monstrous faces perched here and there as if guarding the property. Everything was dark and it seemed like there were dark clouds hovering above. Funny, Belle thought, because it was sunny earlier. The whole effect on the place was a bit frightening, she had to admit, but it was still beautiful in a strange way. She looked around to the side of the house and into the courtyard that had small stone benches covered in snow and short manicured bushes shorn of their leaves aligning the paths. But something amazed Belle even more than the house itself; all of the plants and greenery were bare except for the roses that grew in a patch in the centre of the courtyard. They were not in bloom, but even from where she was standing she could see the blood-red colour of them. It was as if the cold had frozen them that way, and they were beckoning Belle to go and touch them.

"It's a little gloomy right now because its winter, but in spring it's not so bad." Adam said, breaking her trance from the flowers. He followed her gaze to where she had been looking and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh. Those have always been like that, even before I was born so I'm told. I've never seen them in full bloom...not once. So," He motioned to the front door and Belle followed him, "what do you think?" There was amusement in his voice and Belle had to smile.

"It's incredible. How could I have missed this place?" Adam chuckled as he opened the large, dark wooden door and led Belle inside.

"We like our privacy."

Is it possible to have walked into a dream? Belle felt like she had when she saw the inside of Adam's home for the first time. She couldn't believe that something so beautiful even existed. The floors were made of a gold-coloured marble and two matching columns of the same marble stood by the staircase that had a railing that looked like it was made of gold. There was almost a glow to the room, and Belle wondered how it someone would even know what was real if they were standing where she was. And this was only the entrance! Adam lightly tugged on her arm and led her away from the dream room into a string of other rooms, each one seeming impossibly more beautiful than the last one until they were all one big blur. There wasn't enough time to see every single space in the house so he just settled on showing her the west wing of the house.

"I'm confused about something," Belle stated as they were finally making their way to the study. "No offense, but why are you so grumpy all the time?"

"What? I'm grumpy?" he said sarcastically.

"I'm serious. If you live in a place where you're constantly surrounded by beautiful things, how can you be so angry with everyone and everything?"

He didn't answer her, but instead opened the doors to a room that was draped in dark green velvet with a big cherry wood desk by a large window. There was a large fireplace lit on the other side of the room, and Adam's books were scattered on the floor in front of it. It looked so inviting that Belle forgot all about the question she asked and walked right in, placed herself in front of the fire and began searching through his various notes. She didn't notice he was still watching her from the door until a few minutes later.

"Are we going to start, or what?" she joked.

After a few hours or so of reviewing and studying, both Belle and Adam agreed that they needed a break. He left to get refreshments while she waited in the study and she sighed as soon as he closed the door. What an amazing place, she thought as she stretched put on the floor, a little scary but amazing. She inhaled and her nostrils filled with the heady scent of the burning wood from the fire, when suddenly her bladder gave her that familiar feeling indicating that she needed to go. She tried to ignore it at first, but it soon got so bad that she started to squirm and not bothering to wait for Adam to get back, she got up, opened the door and quietly made her way down the hallway. There were at least 20 doors in that wing of the house and no one was around to help her, so finding the bathroom was going to be a challenge. She opened each door only slightly to get a look inside, but none were the room she was looking for. When she reached the last door at the end of the hallway, she thought for sure she had finally found it.

Through the small crack of the door, she felt cool air on her face and there was only a single shred of light coming from what looked like a window with the curtains partially closed. Belle knew she shouldn't be there, but her curiosity was peaked when she saw something glinting in the almost total darkness and she opened the door wider and stepped inside. She was mesmerized by her new discovery, and began to make her way over to the window to let some more light in the room when she heard a cracking noise underneath her feet. She tried to maneuver to the side but the same thing happened. She finally reached the window and opened the curtains and gasped at what she saw.

The entire floor was covered in shards of broken glass and shredded paper. What once must have been expensive looking furniture was practically destroyed and the blanket on the large bed was torn to shreds, feathers lightly flying about. There were holes in the walls and she lightly traced over them with her fingers as she pushed some glass away with her foot and picked up different pieces of torn paper. On the other side of one that was still wholly together, there was a picture of a young Adam laughing in the arms of a much older man with dark grey hair. Although they looked completely different, they looked the same as well; they had the same masculine chin, the same strong forehead and large blue eyes. She almost didn't recognize him at first, mainly because she had never seen him smiling that much before. She grinned as she set the picture back in its place and her eye was caught by another one. This one had what looked like a family portrait. Adam and that older man were in it (she figured he must be Adam's father) and a woman with intense red hair and steel gray eyes whom she figured to be Adams mother. Everything about her looked perfect; her outfit, her hairdo, her makeup, her pose, everything. And her resemblance to Adam was uncanny; they had the same cold look to their face and Belle instantly got a bad vibe just by looking at her image. It gave her shivers.

"Find anything interesting?" Belle shot her head up and saw Adam standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. She stood up quickly (which made her a little dizzy) and stared at him.

"I'm so sorry. I was looking for the bathroom and I thought I saw something shining in this room. I didn't mean to snoop...I don't even know which room this is!" Belle half lied about that last part. She had a hunch it was Adam's room because of the pictures, but how could someone actually sleep in here? Her heart beat loudly as she awaited his wrath, but he was surprisingly calm.

"This is my room, or was my room. I sleep in another room now because I kind of destroyed this one, as you can plainly see."

"You did this? Why?" She watched him as he ran his hand through his hair and he brushed some feathers away and sat on the bed in front of her.

"I don't really feel like talking about it."

"Are these your parents?" She held up the picture to him, thinking she was changing the subject. Adam stared at the photo in her hand for a long time before he reached for it.

"If you can call them that. She left my dad when I was 13. She just walked out of my life...didn't even say goodbye to me. She didn't know I was listening when she told my dad that she was running off to Europe with another guy. When he brought up the subject of me, she told him that she was going to send me away to school somewhere eventually and she didn't really care if she never saw me again. I haven't heard from her since." Belle saw his knuckles turn white as his tone became angry. Not once did he reference to this woman as his mother.

"What about your dad?"

"Dad?" he chuckled, but there was no emotion in his voice when he spoke. "Dad's always going on business trips and stuff. He kind of ignores me now...I guess it's because he's busy with work."

"Was it always like that?"

"No. Me and my dad were always pretty close. I guess he kind of got depressed after she left." He got up and looked out of the window not turning back to look at her. "I haven't looked out of this window in a long time," He spoke now with a far away voice, "It's kind of like I grew up with a lie surrounding me for my whole life. There I was, thinking I had it great. Then everything just fell apart in the blink of an eye. That woman who I had called 'mom' for the first 13 years of my life was never there for me, just like my dad isn't here for me now. I've never had anyone that could say that they loved me, or even cared a little.

"I don't know my parents, I don't know anything except that no one cared then and no one cares now. I could be dead and no one would even notice I was gone." Adam turned to look at her finally, and saw her sitting at the edge of the bed, her large brown eyes glazed with unshed tears. He stared at her for a moment, wondering why he was pouring his heart out to her and thinking why she hadn't stopped him. "Sorry. You don't want to be hearing about my sad life." He said as he leaned his back against the window and crossed his arms again, casting his eyes downwards. He heard her get off the bed and move towards him and place her small hand on his arm.

"People do care for you, Adam. Don't you ever think that you aren't surrounded with love, because you are."

"Oh yeah? Prove it." He challenged. She looked at him with determination.

"Lenny and Charlie care. Lia cares. Chip adores you! I can also tell you care about him too."

"Yeah," Adam smiled a little at the thought. "I love that little guy."

"Even Mr Klein cares about you! Do you think he would have forced me into tutoring if he didn't care? Open your eyes, Adam. People care about you...and that includes me too." He was startled at what she revealed. Belle was the first person to actually tell him what they felt for him, whereas with everyone else he assumed their feelings were a given. Adam turned to look into her eyes to see any hidden meaning, but saw only truth in them. She wasn't just saying these things to make him feel better, she had actually meant it. He had to keep from breaking down at her feet when she smiled up at him, the ice around his heart beginning to melt away. She sees me as me, he thought, and she doesn't care. For the first time in his life, Adam felt like a whole person.

Someone had finally been able to see the man beneath the Beast.

"Guys, I have a problem," Adam told Lenny and Charlie when they sat at lunch Monday morning. They immediately noticed a change in Adam's behaviour; he was actually smiling in public and there was something in general about his manner that was different. "I think things are changing."

"I'll say," Charlie told him, "you're actually eating your food like a human being today."

"What's the matter?" Lenny asked.

"Well, it has to do with Belle. But before I say anything I want you two to know that if either of you repeat what I say, I'll break your necks. Got it?" The two friends across from him gulped and nodded in understanding. "Okay. Well, whenever I'm with her there's a tugging where my heart is and I can't really think straight. I'm thinking about her all the time lately and …I think I'm starting to get feelings for her." Lenny and Charlie exchanged knowing glances and smiled. "I've never felt this way about anyone before." Adam said softly, more to himself than the other two. It was true; Adam felt things for Belle that he never even thought he was capable of feeling for another person.

"Adam, you have no idea how great that is!" Lenny exclaimed. Being the romantic that he was, Lenny always suspected something was blooming between them. "Does she feel the same way?"

"She told me that she cares about me, but I know that it's just as a friend." He told them, slightly disappointed. Even thought things between them had been getting better, he knew he'd never have a shot in hell to be with someone like her.

"That's a start, I guess." Lenny said approvingly, "But you can't expect her to fall in love with you overnight. You have to kind of court her, make her see the guy that you want her to see."

"I'm not expecting her to 'fall in love' with me. It's just that she's done so much for me lately, with helping me with school and stuff. I want to do something for her, but I don't know what."

"Well," Charlie piped up while clearing his throat, "there are the usual things you can give her. You know, flowers or chocolates-"

"No, no! Shut up Chuck, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Let the expert handle this. Belle is different; she's smart and creative. She deserves something that'll spark what she's interested in, something really special. What do you know about her, Adam? Is there anything in particular that she likes or does?"

"Well," Adam thought out loud, "I noticed she likes to read a lot…she spends all of her time in the bookstore even when she's not working there. Or she's at the library."

"I've got it!" Lenny exclaimed.

AN: I'll leave you to guess what they came up with. ;)