"Vincent, oh my," Catherine placed her right hand over her mouth as shock and surprise filled her mind. It was impossible but it happened in front of her eyes.

"Catherine, I never meant to hurt you. Please believe me," he looked up at her, his eyes red with tears and full of regret.

"What?! How?! Beast?!"

He nodded and wished that she would accept him for who and what he was. All this time he feared that she would leave like before and that always was in the back of his mind.

"All this time?" She asked with a shaky voice and still in disbelief.

"I found you in the forest while I was Beast. You were badly injured when I found you."

"You are him, that my mother spoke of," Catherine fell to her knees and knelt in front of him. "You are him, the Prince that was cursed.

"I am no longer a Prince, not ever since this happened. At sunrise I turn to Beast and at sun down I return to being human."

"I hope you did not suffer long," she replied.

"Not since I found you."

"I am regretfully sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Vincent asked. He was the one that hurt her and kept a huge secret from her.

"It was my mother who has done this to you. For that I am truly sorry. You have suffered so much because of my family."

"Is she the witch that put this curse on me?!"

"No. My father was deathly ill and Mother went to find the witch for a cure. The witch gave my mother a potion for a young man and a cure for my father. I did not know nor was I sure until now. Please forgive me and Mother."

"I bare no ill will towards you or your mother. I have done this to myself. I have lied and betrayed many woman especially you. I should have told you sooner."

"Why have you waited so long to tell me?"

"I have never loved someone before and I was afraid you would leave once you found out that I was that thing. You left before and I thought, maybe, you would again. I was afraid of losing you."

She raised her hand to his cheek and gently stroked it. "I came back for you, because I love you Vincent."

"You are not afraid of me?"

"Beast is a gentle soul, not a monster. I can never be afraid of you and what you are."

"Do you still love me?" He asked his voice soft and low.

"I will always love you."

"I truly am sorry Catherine."

" I forgive you, Vincent. I am truly sorry that you have suffered so much."

"You do?"

"I love you Vincent, of course I forgive you. Have you forgotten already?"

"Forgotten what?"

"What you promised me before all of this, before you left?"

"Eternally." He answers. "I love you, now, always, eternally."

"And my love for you shall never falter. I promise to love you unconditionally, you and Beast."

Catherine woke with a startle. She sat up on her seat but was stopped by the seatbelt. She opened her eyes and looked around. Vincent was in the driver seat while she fell asleep in the passenger side. She didn't realize how exhausted she was but she quickly fell asleep as soon as Vincent started driving.

He immediately pulled over to the side of the road and shut off the engine. His action was swift and precise. He removed his seatbelt and looked over to the back seat of the car. "Private Lumière," he said in a commanding tone. "Outside."

"Vincent," she scolded him.

"It's okay, Catherine. That's actually him asking nicely. Been sitting too long anyhow. Need to stretch out my legs," Nicholas turned to Vincent. "I'll be outside, sir,"

"Thanks Nicholas. We won't be too long," she replied more nicely than Vincent.

Nicholas gave her a questioning look then realized Vincent must have told her his name. "You can call me Nick but Nicholas is fine, too," hearing his name made him feel normal again. He opened the car door and walked away.

Catherine turned to Vincent and hit him on his arm. "What's wrong with you? Why couldn't you ask him nicely?"

"I'm his commanding officer."

"Not right now you aren't."

"With or without my uniform, I am Corporal Keller to him."

"Fine," she removed her seatbelt and turned to him. "Why did you stop and order Nicholas out of the car?"

"You were dreaming or having a nightmare. We both heard it. You were murmuring."

"What do you mean?" She asked, usually he heard every word she said no matter how low she spoke.

"You were making noises, mostly gibberish. I couldn't make out what you were saying," he shrugged his shoulders. He wanted to know what she was thinking and what she had dreamt about

"You use to be able to."

"Ever since I changed back I haven't been able to. I can't hear your heartbeat either. I can't tell what you're thinking."

"Now you know how I feel when I can't tell what's going on with you and when you don't open up to me," she crossed her arms. A movement he hated, it meant she was either closing herself off or she was annoyed with him.

"You know that I can't," he tried pleading with her as his brown eyes gazed at her.

"I'm not talking about the classified stuff. I'm talking about how you're feeling but you just close yourself off then shut me out completely and expect me to understand."

"Do we have to talk about that right now? You'll get to find out more once we get to the base. Besides I stopped the car because of you. Are you okay?"

She sighed and looked down. "It was just a dream."

He placed his hand underneath her chin and nudged her to look up at him. "If it was just a dream then why does it have you so bothered?"

"It's nothing. We should go. I think we've made too many pit stops already," she turned away from him and faced the dashboard.

"Catherine, I'm trying here. Isn't that what you wanted? For me to be more like when I was Beast?"

She turned back to him. "I want you to be more open and honest with me. I was angry earlier. I didn't mean what I said about being better off with you as Beast. Besides it was just a dream," she didn't understand why it bothered her so much. She did say being in love meant unconditionally and eternally but somehow the dream felt real as if it were really happening.

"I may not be able to hear your heartbeat but I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to your feelings. You were clearly upset about something. Is it about what I said earlier? I'm sorry, Catherine. I never meant to hurt you. Give me one more chance," he reached for her hand and held it in his.

"It's not that, Vincent. I forgive you."

"You do?" He asked, completely surprised at her answer.

"I do."

"Oh," he replied.

"Oh? That's it?"

"I just thought you needed space and would make me wait. Wasn't that what you wanted, before I changed back?"

"It still is."

"I don't understand. You just said you forgive me," he said with a perplexed look on his face. Now he was more puzzled.

"I do forgive you but I still need some time to myself. Just because you changed back it doesn't mean my dad didn't pass away and that we both didn't screw things up."

"So it is about what I said earlier, about me fucking you. I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you." If he could take that moment back he would. Had he known it would complicate things this badly he would have thought with his brain instead of his erection.

"Vincent stop. We both used each other and yes we fucked but you didn't force me to do anything I didn't want. I just need some space from it all.."

"You're breaking up with me," he pulled his hand away from hers and backed away until his back hit the door panel.

"I'm not breaking up with you."

"It feels like it," his voice was low and coarse, the pain subtly coming rising.

"Vincent, I love you, believe me I do but right now a part of me is hurting and I don't want to take that pain out on you," she tried to reach out to him but he just stared at her hand.

"I'll let you use me anytime you want." All he wanted was one more chance to prove himself.

"As good as that was, I don't want what we do to be empty and meaningless."

"Is that what it felt like?" He asked. He hated the fact that he was partially at fault for her pain.

"Honestly?"

He nodded his head.

"At that moment it felt great but afterwards I felt more alone than ever. Suddenly there was this whole new side to you that I never saw and I never want to see again. I don't want to be the person that brings that out of you."

He leaned closer to her as close as he possibly can get with the console and gear shift in between them. "You won't," he pleaded with her. He had better control of himself as he did as Beast who couldn't remember who he was.

"I will. You don't know how tempting it is to just want to forget all the pain. I know you'll do anything for me as much as I will for you but I don't want us to bring the worse out of each other. It's ugly and more painful." Her eyes welled up with tears as she thought about that night and how lonely she felt even though he was next to her, holding her.

"Can I still see you?"

"That defeats the whole purpose of giving me some space," she sighed under her breath. They were going to have the same talk she had with Beast who made her second guess her decision about wanting space from him.

"How long?"

"I don't know. You can use the time to spend with your family. You haven't seen them in awhile and I'm sure they'll be happy to know you're alive."

"I think I'd rather have amnesia and be Beast. At least I'll get to see you." There was sadness in his voice. In many ways he still was Beast. He truly loved her with all his heart and never wanted to lose her.

"Vincent," she spoke softly.

"What do you want me to say? That it doesn't hurt? It hurts, Catherine. I want to be with you as me. Why can't you giveme a chance?"

"I don't want to fight with you but you have to see this from my point of view. How did you feel when your grandparents passed away?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"You have your own way of dealing with pain and I have mine."

"Why can't it be with me?"

"Vincent, I'm not asking space from you so that I'll go fuck someone else. Don't you trust me?" There was a hint of frustration in her voice. Did he really think she would have sex with someone she didn't love just to forget her pain.

"You got over me and moved on," he answered honestly. She was able to forget him and move on with Beast he thought to himself.

"You've been gone for over a year and even I struggled with it. I felt a connection with Beast the same way I felt a connection with you when we first met. Little did I know it was because it was you."

"You fell in love with Beast," he sounded sad as if she fell in love with someone else other than him.

"Do you know how stupid you sound? You're jealous of yourself," she replied.

"My point was you moved on but thanks for making me feel dumb."

"Vincent, there were moments, a lot of moments when Beast reminded me of you. I kept denying it because I thought I was going crazy. For all we knew you were dead but here's someone that kept reminding me of you."

"I don't even read books," he shook his head.

"I meant your personality, your brown eyes and amongst other things." Her cheeks felt hot and turned red as she blushed. "Please don't make me say it."

"Window sill at the abandoned warehouse?"

"Yea," she answered.

"So you knew it was me?"

"I had a feeling but I wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't until before we made love when you had brown eyes. I knew then."

"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked.

"What was I suppose to say? Hey Beast, you're my dead boyfriend Vincent but he's not really dead because you're him. Do you know how crazy that sounds?"

"Did you ever struggle with it, me not looking human?"

"At first but only because I wasn't sure if you were human. It wasn't until the second time that we met when Doc verified it."

"You really didn't care how I looked like?"

"Considering all the things we did in the warehouse and your chamber, do you really have to ask me that question?"

"About that, you kept telling me to take cold showers but with Beast you didn't hesitate one second to offer a helping hand, not that I mind. I actually enjoyed it," he grinned as he remembered that moment.

"I figured you'd ask this question. We were in an abandoned warehouse, it's not like I can say go take a cold shower and masturbate. You couldn't even do that."

"We need to change the subject now," he quickly told her.

"Are you serious?"

"I'm sorry. Once it was mentioned my mind went back to that moment. Just talk about something else. Tell me about your dream. What happened? Why were you so upset?" He gazed into her eyes and pleaded.

"That's not fair. You know I can't say no when you do that."

"Tell me. I want to know why my girlfriend was so upset."

Catherine hesitated at first but gave in. "Ever since we met, I keep having these dreams with you, in a castle. First it was with you and then you as Beast. I get them frequently even before you turned back. That's when I was sure it was you. My heart broke even more for you," she said as she fought back the tears.

"Wait, you too?"

"You have them as well?"

"It was a story my grandparents told me and JT. The story goes back generations. It was about my seventh or eight great grandfather. He was a rich and handsome prince but then he was cursed. He fell in love with Catherine and his loyal servant was Cogsworth and chambermaid Emma."

"Isn't your Sergeant named Cogsworth and the woman you saved at Central Park is named Emma. Do you think that it's just a coincidence?" Catherine's mind was spinning but it couldn't be. There's just no way that she would know about his story.

"I don't know."

"When you asked me what it meant to be in love, I didn't have much of an answer and then those two words just popped into my head. Vincent promised to love Catherine eternally and Catherine promised to love him unconditionally. She accepted the fact he was Vincent and Beast without a doubt in her mind."

"Isn't that what you did with me?"

Catherine nodded. It was in fact their story. It was one they lived more than once.

"I never loved anyone else but you," he confessed.

"I know."

"We'll get through this just like in our dreams. I love you, Catherine."

"I love you, too."