Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Beauty and the Beast

Different Circumstances

Chapter 13: A Night to Remember part 2

As the pair entered the ballroom through their respective doorways each of them had their breath momentarily taken away. Vincent stilled as he caught sight of Belle, he was enchanted with her beauty but it was her eyes that made him pause. Her eyes were so full of warmth and love and pure happiness that it took him a moment to realise those emotions were directed towards him. Belle too had stilled as she made eye contact with the man-turned-beast before her. She didn't notice the claws, nor the thick fur that covered his body. No, all she saw before her was the man she loved and that brought a smile to her lips and warmth to her heart.

They descended twin staircases and met on the landing before Vincent offered his arm up and Belle took hold, letting him lead her own the last of the stairs and into the ballroom. Belle's eyes lit up further as she truly took in the sight of the room before her. Never before had she seen such a magnificent place, the ballroom looked like something out of a dream.

She was distracted as Vincent led her to the table set up for their supper. The evening passed in a blur for both Belle and Vincent, each so enraptured were they in each other. Vincent spent the entire night taking in Belle's every movement, every smile that graced her features, every kind word. Eventually the pair were spinning in one another's arms as the soft melody of the music coaxed them onto the dance floor. For this night they saw only the other, caring not for neither the outside world nor any other form of distraction. Both were now aware of their true feelings and let their hearts guide them in all that they did.

Eventually though the dancing had to come to an end and they parted from one another's arms reluctantly. Vincent took hold of Belle's arms once more to lead her to sit on the balcony. Though he was almost certain of her love for him, he still had to speak with her.

Belle sat on one of the carved stone benches on the balcony and Vincent paced for a moment before joining her. By this stage Belle had begun to worry, but pushed her fears aside and let her happiness over the past few hours wash over her once more.

Vincent breathed in deeply before he gathered Belle's hands between his own. At this action Belle's calm was once again shattered and she looked up at him questioningly.

"Belle," he began slowly, still unsure of what he wanted to say. At her encouraging smile he gathered his thoughts and continued on. "Belle, I need to speak with you, concerning certain…matters."

"What's wrong?" she looked from their entwined hands back to his face, which was creased in thought.

"I know you are concerned for your father Belle, and I would like to offer you something, something that I hope will ease your concerns. But before I give this to you I must ask you something else." Here he paused and Belle rubbed her thumb over the back of one of his hands. "Do you like it here?" he finally blurted.

For a moment Belle looked at him incredulously, only stopping when Vincent began to pull away and she realised he had misinterpreted her reaction. She smiled at him and nodded carefully. "Yes Vincent, I like it here very much. I like it here, with you," the last was said so softly that it was almost missed but Vincent caught all of her words and smiled warmly at her.

"Thank you Belle," he withdrew an ornate mirror from his waistcoat and handed it to her. "Now for your gift. All you have to do is look into and ask it what you would like to see, the image will then appear in the glass. Go on, try it."

Belle held the mirror carefully for a moment before nodding and asking in a strong voice that belied her true feelings, "I'd like to see my father, please."

An image formed in the glass surface of the mirror, that of a run down cottage, before another image took it's place, this time of an older man lying on a broken looking cot under some old blankets as well as anything else that had been lying around. Belle gasped at the sight before she began to cry softly.

Vincent looked at the scene in the glass with sadness in his eyes, both for Belle's father and the girl he ad come to love so deeply. He was sure he recognised the place too, and set to thinking of where he had seen it before comforting Belle.

He touched her shaking shoulder slightly and then finally drew her smaller frame against his own letting her sob into his chest. After several long moments his eyes lit up from within and he pulled away. "Belle I know where he is," it had come to him a moment before, he had seen the cottage before, it was on his own land, and while he wasn't sure of it's exact location not having been near it since he was a small child he did know it's general location. Belle looked up at him, her brown eyes wide and tears still running down her pale face, silently asking him where her father was.

"He's in an old cottage on my land, somewhere in the forest behind the castle but not too far in as it used to be servants quarters for the castle's groundskeeper. I'm not sure where it is exactly, but I know enough to start searching. We'll find him Belle, and soon. Come, I must go prepare to search; we'll get some of the servants to help as well."

"I'm coming too," the brunette said resolutely, standing as she did so.

"That might not be the best-"

"No, Vincent, I am coming with you. He is my father Vincent I have to help. Please."

He sighed inwardly but relented. "Very well, go and change while I inform Lumiere and Cogsworth of the situation."

Belle nodded once and began to head inside, but paused mid step and turned back around quickly returning to his side. "Thank you," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his larger form. Before he could respond she had released him and was gone back into the castle, heading to her room to prepare for what was sure to be a long night.

AN: I am so, so sorry for taking so long to update. Iknow I've been very bad with this,but for the last few months I've had problems in pretty much all aspects of my life, the worst of which with my boyfriend so writing a romance fic was kinda beyond me for a while there.
But anyway I shall try and update soon. Hope the chapter wasn't too brief, I did have a bit of trouble writing it since it's been so long since I've worked on it so i just hope that I can keep you all interested in this. Also I know the balcony bit was very much that from the movie but I did change it a bit and I felt bad for leaving poor maurice out there so long.
So on that note please let me know if I still have readers and I will get the next chapter out when I can.