Belle looked at the clock for the 12th time in the last 10 minutes. She still had an hour before she could leave. The clock stuck its tongue out at her, mocking her anxiety to get home. There was a time she had liked the clock; she had thought it a fun and playful addition to the children's section of the library. Today, however, she hated its mocking face. She had a great urge to make faces at the clock; to show the inanimate thing how it felt to be made fun of. Before she could give in to her urge, she was distracted by a child from her reading group.

The reading group was the only reason she was in today. If it wasn't for them, she would have stayed home. Thank the gods that Rumpel ran his own business, so he could take as much time off as needed. They had woken up this morning, still tired from the poor sleep the night before. It had been decided not to push Sarah, but to let her come down from her room on her own. This plan was backfiring, as she hadn't made an appearance for supper. They were sure by morning she would be down for breakfast, but they had not taken into consideration that the child was used to going without meals. Rumpel had even made pancakes in the hope that the smell would lure the child, but to no avail. The pancakes were still on the table, uneaten, when Belle had left for work.

Once she had helped the child, she could not help looking at the clock again. The clock again stuck it tongue out at her. This time she didn't resist the urge, and returned the mocking face. A little boy laughed at her antics. She was a little embarrassed, but it was too late now.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

Place a book back on its shelf, sign out a book, sign in a movie…

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

Sign in a book, re-shelf a CD, answer the phone…

Tongue in, tongue out, tongue in…

Finally… Finally she locked the door after her last visitor. The day was done. Deciding that slacking off on her after hour chores one time would not make a difference; Belle grabbed her bag and headed for the door. Giving the library one last scan, she stuck her tongue out at the clock; then giggled as she rushed out the door, finally heading back home.

Coming through the front door, Belle paused. Something was off inside the house. Everything looked normal, but it was quiet; very, very quiet. The house was often quiet, but this quiet seemed different… dense… suffocating.

Looking around Belle could not see anything amiss; so she removed her jacket, then headed in search of Rumpel.

As she entered the living room, the reason for the unease became apparent.

The floor of the room was littered with shattered pieces of ceramic, glass, and crystal. In the middle of it all, was Rumpel; on his hands and knees, picking up the chaos around him.

Wide eyed, in shock and surprise Belle startled the man on the floor when she exclaimed: "What happened?"

Moving off his hands and onto just his knees, Rumpel refused to look at her. He kept his eyes on the mess surrounding him.

"I lost my temper," the sham was apparent in his voice, and in this body language, "I think I scared Sarah."

Belle had to take a few deep breathes to calm the anger that had taken her at his words.

"Where is she?" Her voice was even, and cold.

"In her room." He responded, still not looking at her.

She left him to his cleaning, not even offering a second glance.

Why did he always have to be so… so… emotional?

Her heart wanted her to burst into the child's room, but her head told her to respect the child's space. Following head, she knocked softly.

"Sarah?" She wrapped quietly on the door.

"Yeah?" Came the quiet answer from within.

"Can I come in?" She asked softly.

"Sure." Was the morose response.

When she entered the room, the little one was sitting curled up on the window seat. Belle sat across from Sarah; she didn't reach out for the child, or ask any questions. She waited. She waited for Sarah to make the first move.

"He smashed the crystal vase." Belle would have liked to believe that she stayed quiet out of some instinct to allow the child to talk, but in reality she didn't know what to say. Rumpel had a temper; everyone knew that.

"I smashed one of his lady statues," the child continued, "so he smashed the crystal vase, then I broke his coffee mug, and he broke that glass thing that is always full of candy."

Sarah took a deep, shuttering breath.

"He yelled at me. He told me…" At this point the emotions were too much for the child and she started sobbing; great, loud sobs. The kinds of sobs that make you wonder how the person creating them was getting enough air to breathe.

Heart wrenching from the sight, Belle pulled the child onto her lap, wrapping her arms around her, speaking passionately into her curls.

"I am so sorry sweetheart. Rumpel has a temper, but he is not a bad person. He just gets too emotional sometimes. I am so sorry you had to witness that. I am so sorry he scared you."

At this, she felt the child pull suddenly away from her. Looking down, Sarah looked up at her. Her expression giving Belle the impression she had missed something important.

"You don't get it." Sarah admonished.

Her crying had halted, and she moved so she was sitting across from Belle once more.

"I'm used to being yelled at;" she was still looking at Belle in an almost disappointed way; "being yelled at doesn't scare me."

The child's words would normally have saddened her, but right now she was more curious than anything.

"Ok?"

"He broke his trinkets." Sarah stated, as if that explained everything.

Seeing that the adult was not understanding, Sarah rolled her eyes in exasperation, and tried again.

"He wanted to talk about my school and my marks. He was mad about my tests and stuff. I didn't want to talk about it, so I broke the statue. Then he broke the vase, so I knocked his coffee mug off the table, then he took that bowl thing off the fireplace and threw it right across the room."

It sounds like a situation that would scare any child, but Sarah claimed she wasn't scared. She certainly didn't look scared right now.

"I don't understand." She admitted.

"He broke his trinkets." Sarah repeated. "He loves his trinkets, and he broke them for me."

It still didn't make sense to Belle, but then something clicked from before, what had started the tears.

"What did he say to you?" She asked.

"He was mad about my marks." Sarah told her. "He said…" Belle could tell the tears were threatening to start again. "He said I shouldn't hide. That I am a smart, amazing girl, and I should never hide that. Especially for some pathetic adults who wouldn't recognize a jewel if it was served up to them on a silver platter. He said I was special, and amazing, and beautiful. No one has ever… no one…"

But the child could not finish as her sobbing started again. Crying as well, Belle pulled the little one back onto her lap.

For a while the two just hung onto each other with tears soaking Belle's shirt, and Sarah's hair respectively.

After a few minutes, Belle finally had calmed down enough to ask.

"And you two broke trinkets, while he yelled at you?"

"Well," Sarah admitted guilty, 'I may have yelled back at him."

This caused Belle to burst out laughing.

"Of course you did."