Chapter 23 - Something There

Beast and Belle arrived back at the castle before she could catch a cold. Belle sat wrapped up in his jacket by the fire, cosy and warm. He then asked Mrs Potts if she'd go and give Belle some tea, which she happily went and did so.

Whilst she was warming herself up with a steaming cup of tea and a roaring flame, Beast went into the library and took out a stack of books and carried them upstairs to his room. They were quite short, so that he could start off small, after not reading a single book for over a decade. Although he had come across Hamlet, and couldn't help but pick it out, so that he could read it last if he got through the others well enough.

He took the time to take hold of a page with the tips of his fingers and delicately turn it, so that it wouldn't tear. It was a slow process, but if it stopped him from damaging the book and allowed him to enjoy it, then so be it.

He was halfway through the first book he brought up when someone came knocking on his door. "Who is it?" He called out.

"It's me." He heard Belle's muffled voice reply.

"Come in." He told her.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside. She was now adoring a red dress, with a red cloak to go along with it, which seemed like a much more fitting outfit for the cold weather. How did she manage to look good in everything she wore?

"What can I do for you?" He asked.

"Nothing." She replied. "I just came to give you this back." She stated, holding up his jacket that she had folded over her arms.

"I almost forgot about that." He commented, as she walked over and handed it to him.

"Thank you for letting me borrow it." She said gratefully.

"No problem." He replied, slipping it back on. "Are you warmer now?" He asked.

"I am." She responded. "I see you've taken up reading again." She commented, picking up one of the stray books he had left on the bed.

"I thought I may as well seize the day. No time like the present." He replied.

"Do you still think you could read to me?" She asked.

"If you really want me to." He replied.

"I would. Whenever you're ready, I'll be there to listen." She told him.

"Well, then I'll have to find my favourite book for such an occasion."

"Your favourite book, huh? What is it?" She asked.

"I couldn't say." He replied with a smirk.

"Oh, it's a secret." She twigged on. "Fair enough." She added, putting the book back on the bed. "I was also wondering if you'd like to come and meet Philippe?"

"Who's Philippe?" He questioned.

"My horse. I couldn't have saved you from the wolves without him." She told him.

Oh, of course! The horse. Who else would she have been referring to? "Well, I'd definitely like to meet my other saviour. I wasn't formerly introduced to him when I was on the brink of passing out." He said half-jokingly.

She smiled "I'm sure he'll love to meet you too. He's a big softie." She stated. "I have to go tend to him, make sure he's fed and watered. You could help me if you like."

"Sounds like you're tending to a plant." He commented wittily.

She let out a small laugh "Horses are a little different." She replied.

"I know. I'd liked to help you with him." He responded. "Lead the way."

Belle nodded and turned, walking out of the room. Beast sped up so that he could walk alongside her.

They headed downstairs and out the front door together. But once they reached the stables, Belle told him to wait. "He might get spooked by you." She explained.

"A lot of people do." Beast sighed sadly.

"That's not what I meant, horses just frighten easily."

"It's alright. I know what I am." He responded. "You just bring him out here."

Belle went quiet as she headed into the stable. There was just no avoiding it was there? It was hard for them to dance around the subject of what he was. Belle was trying her best to not draw too much attention to it.

He hoped she didn't think he was offended by it, that she had hurt him in some way. He wondered if she was anymore used to him, now that she understood him a little more, and had heard bits and pieces about his past. It still had to be at least somewhat strange for her whenever she looked at him.

Belle emerged from the stable along with Philippe. He was unshackled from his reins and bridle. She walked him out in front of Beast and left the horse's side for a moment to join him.

Philippe remained where he was, sniffing and pawing at the ground with his hooves. "He has everything he needs in there." She stated. "Would you like to pet him?"

"Can I?" He questioned.

She nodded, urging him with a small gesture to go ahead.

He hadn't petted a horse in ages! It would be just like old times, with Candide or Jean. He took a step towards Philippe, his arm outstretched.

Philippe saw him approaching in the corner of his eye and cried out in alarm, backing away. Beast's eagerness and the fact that he was being too forward with his approach had frightened him. Not to mention Philippe had no idea what to make of the large, ferocious creature striding towards him.

Beast quickly backed off, as he too was a little startled by Philippe as he became jittery and began to neigh fearfully in a state of panic and unrest.

Belle went up to Philippe and placed her hand on his nose, whilst stroking his neck with her other hand and hushing him. Beast lowered his head sadly and looked away. Even animals were afraid of him, whether he was trying to be menacing or not. No matter what he did... He could never do anything right. Instead, he had done the one thing Belle had wanted to avoid, startling her poor horse.

Maybe he should just go back inside and continue reading, that was the one thing he was managing to do correctly. Now his confidence had been shot all over again, just when it had started to be built back up with Belle's help.

Philippe's nerves had been calmed by Belle soothing him. She then turned and reached out to take Beast's paw in her hand. They connected, and in that moment, Beast felt some sort of spark between them. Her hand was warm to the touch, so tiny compared to his paw. And yet, he wanted to hold it, to give it a gentle squeeze and rub his thumb over her delicate skin.

She held his paw in her hand, cupping her fingers round as much of it as she could grasp. His fingers spilled over her palm.

But despite that his paw was clearly too big for her to hold... It just felt so right.

She moved his paw for him and placed it on Philippe's neck. Her hand lingered on the back of his for a moment, as she silently helped him.

Philippe's grey and white fur was so silky and soft, not to mention smooth. He couldn't believe he was actually touching him, that Philippe hadn't ran away at the sight of him. He was actually doing it! For once, his body hadn't made a mess of things.

And he had Belle to thank. He looked at her, and she nodded at him, moving her hand away from his paw. He knew from that simple nod that she trusted him to pet Philippe on his own now without her aid, that he could handle it.

Beast nodded back at her in thanks, and drew closer to Philippe, placing his other paw on his neck and stroking his fur. Belle walked away and left him to it.

Philippe seemed perfectly fine with him now, which Beast was pleased with. The horse lowered his head and snorted, shaking himself. Beast grinned and copied him, doing his best horse impression and shaking his head. He used to copy Candide, and to a lesser extent Jean, all the time. He enjoyed doing it, as it always made him feel... Well, silly. But silly in a good way.

He patted Philippe's neck again. "You're a good boy." He told him, giving his nose a gentle stroke. "See, I'm not so big and scary, huh?"

Philippe snorted again. "No, I'm not." Beast agreed.

All of a sudden, something whizzed through the air and made impact with his shoulder. Philippe moved round in slight alarm, but Beast managed to hold him steady as he glanced at his shoulder, and noticed that his jacket was covered in snow. He had been hit with a snowball.

He heard laughter coming from above, and quickly found the culprit. It was Belle, sitting on the staircase, her red hood thrown up over her head. She was laughing and grinning at her own surprise snowball attacked.

Beast frowned. Two could play at that game. While she was distracted, he gathered up as much snow as possible from a nearby bush and packed it together into a big snowball.

He turned round and Belle's laughter was cut off, and her smile dropped when she caught sight of the massive snowball he was carrying. She knew it was headed her way, and in that moment, he could see that she had realised her fatal error. She picked the wrong person- creature to have a snowball fight with.

He leaned back and threw it over arm at her. The snowball met its target and hit her square in the face, knocking her down.

Beast burst out laughing, his cheeks were stretched out in a huge, toothy smile as he chuckled. But his laughter died when he noticed she wasn't getting back up.

Oh no. Had he knocked her out? He didn't know his own strength, and he hurled that thing pretty hard. What if she banged her head the floor or something?

He quickly hurried passed Philippe and up the stairs, and found Belle lying sprawled out on her back, snow covering her face.

"Oh no, Belle! Are you alright?!" He cried in alarm, kneeling down beside her. "God, what have I done?" He breathed. "Belle, can you hear me?"

Her eyes shot open and she shoved a fist full of snow in his face. "Aaah!" He cried, standing up and moving back, attempting to remove the snow from his eyes.

He could hear Belle laughing hysterically. "Got you!" She said through sharp intakes of breath and more laughter.

"It's not funny!" He exclaimed, finally getting the snow out of his eyes. "I thought I had seriously hurt you."

She shook her head and giggled "No, I'm fine."

He clenched his fists and glared at her.

"Don't be like that. Come on, it was a little funny." She said, still giggling to herself.

He couldn't keep a straight face and keep up the serious act. Her laughter was too infectious. Not to mention a complete joy to hear. "Yeah, it was quite funny." He agreed. "You got me good."

"I sure did." She chuckled.

"You may have won this round, but I'll get you next time, with an even bigger snowball." He warned.

"I'd like to see you try." She replied. She then glanced down at Philippe, and he followed her gaze, noticing that the horse was beginning to wander off. "I better go catch Philippe before he starts eating some of your flowers. I'll see you at dinner though."

Beast nodded "Yes, dinner. I'll see you in the dining room in a few hours then."

"I'll be in the library if you need me." She told him as she hurried down the stairs and went after the runaway horse. "Philippe, come back here!" She called after him.

Beast chuckled to himself as he headed back inside. As soon as he entered the castle, he noticed that the servants were gathered by the window, staring outside. "What are you doing?" He questioned.

"Nothing!" They all cried in unison, before jumping out the window sill.

"Were you watching us?" He asked.

"Would you be mad if we said yes?" Lumiere responded with his own question.

"No, not really." Beast replied.

"Oh, well then yes, we were." Lumiere told him.

"But it was all in good taste." Cogsworth chimed in. "We wanted to see how you two were doing."

"We're doing just fine." Beast replied.

"We've never seen you look so happy when you're with her." Mrs Potts commented.

"I detect romance." Lumiere said.

"There's hardly anything romantic about mucking out a horse." Beast protested.

"You didn't actually muck out a horse, did you?" Cogsworth questioned.

"No, but that's beside the point. There's nothing going on between us. You're looking too deeply into it." Beast responded. "I'm going back to my room for a bit. Belle will be joining me for dinner." He stated, before walking off and leaving them to it.

He found himself thinking back to earlier, when Belle had touched his paw. He glanced down at it for a moment. She didn't flinch, nor did she shudder... She wasn't even afraid to hold it. She seemed to look at him in a certain way now, he couldn't fully describe it. But no one had ever looked at him in that way before. She hadn't looked at him that way when they first met for that matter.

Was she falling for him too? No, she couldn't be. She saw him as a friend at the very least, maybe even less than that. He'd just ignore it.

But... He couldn't shake the feeling he got when she touched his paw, and the way those brown orbs gazed at him.

Maybe there was something there after all.

A/N - I decided against actually having Belle and Beast sing the song 'Something There', not because I don't like the song, it's actually one of my favourites from the movie, but because the song is a montage of scenes of them bonding over several days, which I have split over several different chapters, so I couldn't really make the song work, as each verse would take place in a completely different chapter, plus I don't think having it in story form would have done it any justice. Instead, some of the lyrics were converted into Beast's thoughts. I hope you still enjoyed it nevertheless.