AU. After the fight with Gaston, Belle is just in time to save the Beast's life-but too late to break the spell. Can they manage to find some happiness anyway?

The Beast just wants Belle to stay, to delight in the apple blossom blush of her cheeks. But he is a monster and cannot keep her. Belle doesn't really want to leave. It is safe and warm in the castle. The Beast, she is learning, is more man than monster, more Prince than Beast. Rated T for now, but deliciously T.

Belle muses on the forlorn longing and beautiful melancholy of her love, Beast. In this momentary exploration of character, she dwells and marvels at the wondrous creature who has befallen her. Be warned: dreaminess ensues.

This story was corrected and posted again. Belle came back but she was too late to break the curse. But was she too late to save her Prince?

Belle is saved from the wolves by the Beast, but is injured and becomes ill as a result. Because of this, though, Belle is unknowingly able to find the chink in the Beast's hard heart and begin their odd relationship. A larger look at Belle and the Beast's lives with expanded movie scenes and original chapters beginning from just after the wolf chase and past the movie's end.