I'm so, so sorry this took so very long. I had a huge slump in writing for awhile, and of course the holiday season is always a crazy time. I hope this story was worth the wait! Happy Holidays!

Belle's POV

"All right, I think that's everything," Belle said and put her hands on her hips, surveying the small pile of bags at her feet.

"Do you have to go, Maman?" Brigitte asked from where she sat on Belle's bed, watching Belle pack a few last-minute items.

"I'm afraid so, my darling. Goodness knows I'd rather stay here with you and Edmund, but we should keep good relations with the other members of the court."

"That's just nonsense," her daughter scowled.

"I agree," Belle replied with as much frustration as her daughter. "These parties are silly and frivolous. I would much rather spend my time doing some good around here. And your father feels the same way."

"Then why do you have to go?"

"Because we are members of the royal family, and there are expectations we apparently have to fulfill. But don't worry, we'll be back before you know it," Belle said and reached forward to tuck a lock of Brigitte's unruly hair behind her ear. She didn't want to go, not if it meant having to pretend to have a good time with strangers playing silly games, and especially not if it meant leaving her children behind. "In the meantime, look after your brother."

"Oh, Maman," Brigitte sighed expressively. "Nearly all he does is read and draw. It's not like he gets into any trouble."

"Even so, spend some time with him. You both like to read, read together. And I know for a fact he does enjoy playing pretend with you," Belle said with a smile. The five years that separated her two children created a wide gap for them, making it difficult for Brigitte to want her brother to hang around with her, but they were siblings and it was important they be kind to one another.

"All right, I will," Brigitte promised begrudgingly.

"Thank you, my darling," Belle said and kissed her forehead. "Now your father and I will only be gone for a few weeks. We'll write every night, but you know you can go to Grandpapa, Aunt Clarice, or Mrs. Potts if you need anything." This was the first time both she and Adam would be away from their children, and Belle was finding it difficult to swallow. Especially for something as frivolous and silly as a few parties.

"I know, Maman. We'll be fine," Brigitte sighed and looked at her mother expressively.

"I know you will, I just would rather stay here with you," Belle said, touching her daughter's cheek. Brigitte smiled at that, making Belle feel a little less like she was abandoning her children.

"Are you ready, Madam?" Cogsworth asked, coming cautiously through the open door.

"I think so," Belle said and bent to gather a few of her bags. Cogsworth protested, but Belle merely smiled at him and raised an eyebrow. "Really Cogsworth, if you don't know I like to do things myself by now, I don't know what we're going to do."

"I know, Mistress, I know," Cogsworth sighed. "Will you at least allow me to help?"

"Very well," Belle laughed. "Thank you."

"You too, young miss. Your father is waiting to say goodbye downstairs," Cogsworth added to Brigitte. The girl hopped off the bed and took up one of the lighter bags a small ten year old could manage, skipping out of the room ahead of them.

"You'll look out for her while I'm gone?" Belle asked Cogsworth nervously. "You know how spirited she is."

"You don't have anything to worry about, Mistress. We'll all take good care of her." Belle nodded but still worried; she knew all the servants would do their best, but she couldn't help but think of how they had allowed Adam to run amok as a child, ultimately bringing an enchantress down on them. She shook her head, driving such thoughts from her mind; they had all learned better, it was only a mother's fear that brought those thoughts to her now.

"Ready to go?" Adam asked as the three of them approached the castle's front doors. Edmund was standing beside him, Adam's hand gently on the back of his son's head. Edmund looked upset. Of course he did, her sweet Edmund was only five, and his parents were going away. It broke her heart and made her anger towards these court nobles grow. But if good relations were to be maintained, it was important that she and Adam show up at court every now and then. A ten year absence since their first and only visit had been noticed.

"As ready as I can be," Belle replied with a smile. "I already want to come back."

"It'll be all right. It's Paris. We'll bring back beautiful presents for our beautiful children. If they're good," he added with a significant glance to each of their children. "And you'll be able to talk about your school systems and get some new books for the library. Cheer up, my Belle."

"All right, all right," Belle laughed at his attempts to make her feel better. "We'd better go if we want the light."

"Listen to your sister," Adam said, bending in front of Edmund. "And be nice to your brother," he added to Brigitte, stretching his arm out to embrace them both. "We'll be back before you know it."

Brigitte's POV

With her parents gone, Brigitte decided she was free to do as she liked, as lady of the castle now. That first day without them, she helped her brother get dressed and had breakfast with him and her grandfather, as well as Aunt Clarice and her two girls. Little Henry was in trouble and was staying in his room in a time out and Uncle Henry usually ate in his workroom; he was always busy and Brigitte rarely saw him. After breakfast she usually went to school with the other children in the castle, but the early autumn day was just begging her to go outside. So when she left the table on the pretense of getting her books and writing tablet from her room, Brigitte instead snuck down another hall and down towards the nearest door.

"Hold on there, miss!" Cogsworth called. Brigitte skid to a halt just as she reached the side door and turned back to face him. Drats! She thought. Almost made it!

"Yes, Cogsworth?" she asked, clasping her hands together and looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"Don't try that on me, young lady. Aren't you supposed to be at your lessons right now?"

"Well. . . yes, but it's so beautiful out I just couldn't stay inside today," she insisted.

"The other children manage it well enough," Cogsworth pointed out. "And let me tell you, you could've been stuck with a tutor in a room all by yourself, as most little princesses are. You're lucky you get to learn with the other children in the castle."

"I know, I know," she grumbled. Monsieur Dupont was a nice teacher and she didn't hate him exactly, but she's much rather play outside.

"Come on, I'll bring you there myself," Cogsworth said, placing a hand on her shoulder to lead her in the opposite direction. "I know the minute you're out of my sight you'll just scamper off again."

"Why, whatever gave you that idea?" Brigitte asked, resuming her sweet, innocent voice once more.

"You're father was young once, too. He tried all the tricks, so I'm afraid he spoiled it all for you," he replied without hesitation.

"You're no fun, Cogsworth," she said with a huff, crossing her arms in front of her.

"I haven't the time to be, chasing after little princesses," he replied. When Brigitte peeked up at him, she noticed he was looking out the corner of his eye at her, a rare twinkle in his eye and a small smile that suggested he was teasing her. She grinned and almost forgave him for stopping her. She loved when Cogsworth teased her; he did it with no one else, and it made her feel special that she could bring out that side of him.

"I believe you're missing a student, Monsieur Dupont," Cogsworth said as he brought her into the classroom. The children giggled and Brigitte grinned, refusing to be embarrassed.

"Ah, Brigitte. Nice of you to join us. Please take your seat," Monsieur Dupont said disapprovingly, motioning to the empty bench beside Chip. Brigitte skipped to her seat and grinned at Chip as Monsieur Dupont went on with his lesson.

"You shouldn't do that, you know," Chip muttered to her.

"I know, I couldn't help it," she whispered back. "Besides, you always let me know what I missed."

"I won't be able to anymore. This is my last day."

"What?" Brigitte said too loudly.

"Brigitte, do you have something to say?" Monsieur Dupont asked, obviously annoyed.

"No, sorry," she mumbled and looked down at her desk.

"I'm going to start working," Chip continued when the teacher had gone back to the lesson. "Cogsworth is going to train me to take over for him eventually."

"He is?" she was impressed; Cogsworth had a very important job at the castle and he must have had a lot of trust in Chip to want to train him.

"Yup. He says I'm old enough to start learning and my mother and your parents agreed." Chip seemed excited, proud even, and Brigitte was proud of him too, even if that meant she would loose her bench-mate. But she couldn't tell him that as the teacher forced her concentration.

"C'mon, let's go play outside," Brigitte begged Chip when school was finally let out.

"Why don't you play with your brother?" he suggested. "I'm meant to go find Cogsworth."

"You're starting your training now?" she protested. "But you just got out of school. Isn't your brain tired?"

"Well my brain is almost six years older than yours. It can handle more than your tiny ten-year-old brain," he teased, poking her head.

"My brain can handle plenty," she retorted, catching his hand. "And at least my brain let's me have fun!"

"All right, I'm sorry," he apologized, laughing. "But I really do have to go."

"All right," she sighed. "Good luck."

"Thanks," he said and ruffled her hair before striding down the hall.

"Hey, Edmund!" she called to her brother who walked out of the classroom and down the hall opposite her. He sat with the young kids at the front of the room and did completely different work than she did; simple, little kid work. Chip did much different schoolwork than her, too, but after the age of seven, the children pretty much sat wherever they wanted in the school room. Her brother stopped and turned when she called and waited for her to catch up with him.

"Do you wanna go play?" she asked when she drew level with him.

"You just are asking because Maman and Papa are gone," he sighed.

"No, that's not it," she protested. "I like playing with you. C'mon, we'll play pretend in the library." Edmund loved playing pretend, so she knew she had him. Besides, it was one of the more active things he did which suited Brigitte.

"All right," he agreed reluctantly, but she could tell he was looking forward to it.

"Excellent. Let's each go get blankets and we'll build a fort. That way we can play Aladdin finding the treasure."

"No, I wanna play Perseus and Medusa! You can be Medusa," he said with a smirk.

"I don't want to play that," Brigitte said slowly, trying not to let her temper get the better of her.

"Why? It's a fun story."

"No, it's not. It's a horrible, mean story!" she declared, feeling herself get upset. "If Perseus just tried talking to Medusa he wouldn't have had to kill her! Monsters aren't always monsters, you know."

"She was so a monster. She turned people to stone!" Edmund retorted.

"You just don't understand!" Without another word, Brigitte turned and fled down the hall. She shouldn't have yelled, she shouldn't have gotten so upset. But she hadn't been able to read, let alone play, any stories that had to do with slaying monsters, not since her parents told her the story of the enchantment over a year ago. She couldn't help but put her father in their place. But she couldn't tell Edmund that, so she ran.

Safely in her room, her door closed to the world, Brigitte sat among her piles of books and parchment. She had begun a small library of her own, borrowing books from her mother's in the sake of research for her own little stories. They weren't very good, not yet, but she would get better.

She was still glad she knew her parents' story, and it wasn't like she didn't have people to talk to about it, but it changed the way she saw things. Instead of cheering on the heroes who slew terrible monsters, Brigitte endured the stories and tried not to picture her father in the form of the Beast as the monster being killed. But she wouldn't voluntarily play at those stories.

Brigitte sprawled back on the floor and sighed. She felt bad for yelling at Edmund; it wasn't his fault he didn't understand. She would just have to apologize later, when she calmed down enough. One thing was for sure, she wasn't doing a very good job looking after him as her parents asked.

Several minutes later, Brigitte still wallowing on her bed in self-pity, someone knocked on her door, prompting her to stand, adjust her dress and mussed hair, and pull herself together.

"Edmund!" she cried when she opened the door to find her brother there. "Edmund, I'm so sorry I yelled at you. I'm really, really sorry." She dove forward to pull her brother into a fierce hug.

"It's all right," Edmund said, his voice muffled. Brigitte realized she was smothering him and eased off, trying to see if he was mad at her.

"Really?" she asked carefully, skeptically.

"Really," he promised and smiled. Her little brother was so even tempered and so forgiving, it was amazing.

"You're a pretty good brother," she said, grinning. "Do you want to maybe go read?"

"Sure," he said, his smile widening.

"I can't wait till Maman and Papa get home," she said as they made their way towards the library. "But I'm glad I have you to keep me company."

"Me too," Edmund said and her little brother reached up to take her hand.