A/N: While Adam's head wound isn't graphic, there are a lot of blood mentions in this chapter, so just be warned.

Chapter 12

"Cogsworth!" Belle slammed her fist against the door again, hardly caring about the pain smarting through her knuckles. She still had one arm wrapped tightly around Adam's waist to stop him from falling; she'd had to haul him up and drag him all the way back to the dorms, on her own, in the driving snow. She was lucky there hadn't been any cars out, Belle reflected as she pummeled the small door again. "Cogsworth, let me in!" Adam started slipping out her small grasp again, and again Belle had to awkwardly grab for his belt and pull him up over her body, her nails digging into the soft flesh of his hip and the thinner skin of his wrist as she pulled his left arm over her shoulders again. His bloodstained head rested on her shoulder, and Belle noticed with some relief that the bleeding appeared to have stopped. A few crimson drops had fallen on his coat as they had walked, turning the dark blue a deeper purple in spots, and Belle noticed that her own blue hoodie had a large brown-red patch where Adam's head had kept falling. "Cogsworth!" she yelled again. As a last resort, she kicked the door. Finally it opened, to reveal a significantly paler, trembling Cogsworth.

"Belle," he gasped, "what on earth -"

"I don't have time for questions right now," she interrupted, barreling past him and depositing Adam on the nearest chair. "I need you to boil some water and pour it in a bowl - make sure the water is boiling hot when you pour it in. Are Lumière and Babette here?"

"No, Belle - but -"

"Okay," Belle said, pushing Adam's hair out his face and wound, "that means you'll have to go down and get Mrs. Potts for me - I've been taking to her a bit over the last few weeks and she said she used to be a nurse, so we'll need her in case Adam has to go to the hospital." She glanced up at the overwhelmed man, and noticed the panic in his eyes.

"Cogsworth," Belle said urgently, "I need you to focus. I know it's a lot of blood, but head wounds do that. We have to clean him up so I can tell how big the wound is, okay?"

"Okay," Cogsworth gulped, turning to the little kettle and flicking it on, before loudly searching the kitchen for a bowl.

Forcing herself to walk through her ever-increasing state of exhaustion, Belle hurried to her room, grabbed the first hair tie she could see, and swished back into the main living area, tying Adam's long, ginger hair out the way. The kettle grumbled, and Cogsworth paced over, careful not to let a single drop fall out of the ceramic bowl.

"Thank you," Belle smiled, and the older man seemed to relax a little. "If it's not too much trouble, could you pass me a clean towel, please?"

"Of course," Cogsworth said, dashing in and out of the bathroom in a trice. "I'll go and get Mrs. Potts then," he added unnecessarily, and he quietly shut the door behind him.

Belle let out a deep breath. She swirled her fingers through the water a little, checking that it wasn't scalding hot, before dipping in a small corner of the blue hand towel and dabbing at Adam's forehead. She stood over him, letting the light shine on his face, and as the blood was washed away, Belle noticed absently that when he wasn't scowling, Adam actually looked . . . nice. As if he wasn't the same person who had screamed at her a grand total of three times, but rather the little boy in the photo she had seen.

Looking back, Belle mused as she soaked a different part of the towel, the photo had probably been something important to him for Adam to start yelling even before she even said anything. From what she could remember of it, Adam seemed to have the piercing blue eyes of the man and the flaming red hair of the woman there. So, definitely his parents, Belle mused as she started wiping the crusted blood off his cheek. But why was he so upset? It's not like they had -

Adam's breathing shifted slightly, and Belle took a half step back. She wasn't afraid of him, but regardless of the fact that he had saved her life, she still didn't like him. He groaned quietly, and his eyes fluttered open, screwing themselves up against the light. Belle was glad, now, that a lot of the blood had been washed away. It had been bad enough for Cogsworth to see his cousin coated in his own blood - Belle could hardly imagine the terror felt waking up with your own face covered in blood.

Actually, she remembered, you can.

"What - what's going on?" His voice was small and frail - surprisingly so, Belle thought - and he reached up to touch the medium wound on his head.

"Don't touch that," Belle said quickly, lightly grabbing his wrist. "You were thrown into a wall, and I've not finished wiping the wound clean." Surprisingly, Adam was obedient, letting his hand fall to his lap with no further protest.

"How long have I been out?"

"About half an hour," Belle said, glancing up at the clock to verify her statement. "You might be concussed; Cogsworth's gone to get Mrs. Potts in case you need to be driven to the hospital."

Adam closed his eyes again, his brow furrowing.

"Mind telling me your name?"

"You know my name," Adam muttered, opening his sky-like eyes to look into Belle's earthy ones.

"Yeah, I know your name, I just want to make sure that you know your name." She swirled the towel around the pink-tinted water, and frowned. "One second," Belle said, and in a swift motion she poured the bloody water down the sink and clicked the kettle back on. "So," she rejoined as the kettle bubbled, "your name."

"Adam Darensbourg," he sighed.

"Age?"

"Twenty."

"Birthday?"

"Has it occurred to you that since you don't know me all that well, for all you know I'm a raving lunatic just pulling these numbers out of nowhere?" The kettle clicked off, and Belle turned away again.

"I can always check the accuracy of your statements with Cogsworth when he comes back," she said as she refilled the bowl. "Okay," she hummed, saturating the towel again, "I'm going to try and wash the wound. This might stung a little." She dabbed experimentally at Adam's cut, and he let out a roar of pain, flailing his hands and knocking the towel out Belle's hand.

"That hurt!" he yelled reproachfully, in response to Belle's look of utter hatred.

"For the love of God will you stop being such a baby!" She grabbed the towel from the floor and started wiping away again. "It wouldn't hurt so much if you'd just hold still!"

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't run away," he grumbled as Belle's surprisingly strong fingers held his head in place.

"If you hadn't frightened me I wouldn't have run away," Belle rejoined, still being as gentle as when he was unconscious.

"Well you shouldn't have been looking at my things," Adam argued, trying had failing to not sound like a petulant teenager.

"Well you should learn to control your tempter!" Belle said, holding his angry gaze. His jaw set, and for a moment it seemed to Belle he was going to start yelling - again - and they would argue - again. He half-rose from his seat, but Belle pushed him down again.

"I haven't finished," she muttered. "I need to clean this." Adam relaxed back into the seat, but his eyes never left hers. "By the way," Belle added, "thank you. For saving me." Flushing, she deliberately focused on the (relatively) small cut instead of Adam's piercing blue eyes.

"You're welcome," he said stiffly. "Belle - I meant what I said, earlier. I do think we, uh, got off on the wrong foot. And I realise that was my fault. Do you want to start over?"

"Sure," Belle said. "That'd be nice." She smiled quietly, and took a step back. "That's you all cleaned up. I'll get a plaster."

A/N: Yay Belle and Adam don't hate each other any more!

The dialogue from "This wouldn't have happened if" to "control your temper!" is taken from the movie, which I do not own.

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