Chapter Nine

Cogsworth groaned with aggravation as he ran towards the foyer. As if he did not have enough to do, now he had to worry about answering the door! Heaven forbid anyone help him by doing so; that would be much too difficult, he thought sarcastically. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath, and opened the massive door, trying to appear relaxed.

"May I help--?" he asked, but 'you' never crossed his lips. Before him stood a young woman, appallingly dressed, if one could even deem her as such. The dress she wore would be best kept under another, and it had certainly seen better days. Even with a cloak draped over her shoulders, Cogsworth blushed at how much skin she permitted onlookers to view.

When he was certain he could speak again, Cogsworth stepped aside to permit her entry and continued, "To what do we owe such a visit, mademoiselle? It is not often we receive visitors so unexpectedly."

She grinned, as if pleased to cause him a momentary loss of speech. "I was sent here, monsieur, by the Vicomte de Bontecou; he was told that you have a position open for a maid."

Cogsworth's brow furrowed, puzzled. "He was? By whom, if I may ask, mademoiselle…?"

"Babette, monsieur," she answered in a manner of introduction, holding out her hand to him.

Cogsworth eyed it for a long moment. Surely she did not expect him to kiss it; this girl was obviously a far cry from a lady! To oblige her, however, he accepted it, offering a slight bow instead. "Very well, Mademoiselle Babette. But again, I must ask who informed the Vicomte of the opening?"

Babette opened her small handbag, and handed him one of two letters that were inside. Lucien had intelligently folded them differently for her to tell one from the other, as writing names on them would have been pointless.

Cogsworth silently skimmed the letter, grimacing as he did. "To whom it may concern…make a fine, hardworking addition to his majesty's staff…give my thanks to Monsieur Lumière."

Restraining his oncoming fury that threatened to peak too soon, Cogsworth forced himself to smile as he led Babette to the sitting room. "If you would please wait here, Mademoiselle Babette, I will be right with you."

Babette nodded, making herself at home as he left by sitting in the large armchair. The moment she found herself completely comfortable, however, she jumped, startled by Cogsworth's scream as it carried throughout the castle from the foyer.

"Lumière!"


"Try as you might, ma chérie, you will not escape me."

Lumière threw back a tapestry with one hand, grabbing his latest captive—Veronique, one of the scullery maids—by her wrists with the other. Snugly hidden behind the cloth, he buried his hand into her thick blonde locks, forcing some to fall loose from the ribbon she wore, and hungrily accepted her kiss.

"I have waited all morning for this," he whispered, breathing heavily as he broke away. "Seeing you every time that back door opened, not being able to do anything more than gaze upon such an attractive vision. It was pure, agonizing torture."

Veronique pressed herself closer, just as anxious as he was. "Let's not wait any longer then."

"My thoughts exactly," Lumière replied eagerly, pinning her against the wall as he leaned in to gather her in his arms and resume their kiss.

"Lumière!"

The man in question pulled away, a disturbed look in his eyes with the mood unquestionably ruined. "Please say that you have not only learned to throw your voice, but also do a marvelous impression of Cogsworth as well."

"Lumière! Get out here!"

Veronique took a deep breath, still raging with need. "Unfortunately, non."

As Cogsworth called for him a third time, Lumière growled a curse under his breath before he whispered quickly. "We must wait a little longer, I'm afraid; later tonight perhaps."

"If we must," Veronique sighed.

"Très bien," Lumière agreed. "After dinner, in the washroom, I swear. For now, wait here until I can lead him away, and then back to the kitchen with you." When she nodded in understanding, he kissed her farewell, twice. "Until tonight."

"Lumière! For heaven's sake where are you!"

Lumière winced as he moved to Cogsworth's side, the man's latest call echoing in his ear painfully. "Mon Dieu, must you scream like that?"

Cogsworth scowled at him. "When it is the only way I can capture your attention, absolutely. It should not take my calling four times for you to make your presence known."

Lumière raised an eyebrow in mock surprise. "Only four this time? Well well, I have broken my record."

Cogsworth rolled his eyes; the man was impossible. Gesturing Lumière to follow, he began to walk back to the foyer. "You have a…visitor downstairs," he muttered, openly irritated and very displeased.

"Who?" Lumière asked.

"A woman," Cogsworth replied, and in such a tone that Lumière expected 'What else is new?' to follow.

Lumière looked at him, a little worried. "She does not have a pram with her, does she?"

Cogsworth stopped short, almost causing Lumière to trip over him as the Englishman frowned. He decided against speaking, however, deeming the answer to such an inappropriate question pointless. Moving on, they soon arrived at the sitting room where it was Lumière's turn to stop short.

Staring at Babette as she rose from the chair, Lumière conjured up every curse known to man in his mind. There were only a few reasons why a woman of her sort would come to the castle, and whatever her motive was, the possibility that it was a good one was not likely.

Babette, on the other hand, smirked at the familiar sight of the 'gentleman'. "Ah, Monsieur Lumière is it? It has been quite a long time."

As Lumière was rendered speechless, Cogsworth spoke first, his seething temper just barely kept under control.

"This young…lady has come in response to a certain 'maid position'," he said accusingly. "Apparently, you informed the Vicomte de Bontecou about it, and he has sent her. Care to explain?"

Lumière closed his eyes tightly for a moment, then sent a fierce look in Babette's direction. She in turn took the other letter from her handbag, and offered it to him.

"Surely you remember, monsieur," she said, subtly pleading with him to play along. "The Vicomte said you would probably forget, and sends this, along with his gratitude."

Taking the hint, Lumière accepted the letter, quickly unfolding it to read silently.

"My friend. If you are reading this letter, you are most likely quite prepared to have my head served to you on a platter. Please, I beg you, convince them to accept Babette and then see to it that she is placed on your staff. I know that under your watch, she will be well taken care of. I am so sorry for any trouble this may cause, especially since I could not send you prior notice, but it is the only way I can feel at peace. Many thanks, appreciation, and apologies. Lucien."

Lumière must have read through the letter about fifty times, hastily attempting to come up with a plan. Lucien owed his very life for this favor. As often as Lumière pushed himself to the limits without any serious trouble, his position was still on the line; this would surely be his downfall if he did not think fast.

Only when he felt confident did Lumière look at Cogsworth rather seriously.

"I have no idea," he said, calm and collected. "Truly no idea how in the world I could have forgotten. I am guilty as charged, mon ami. I desperately needed more members on my staff, especially with the banquet in a few weeks, and I wrote to the Vicomte, asking if he knew of anyone. Clearly he did."

From the expression on his face, Cogsworth was still playing the role of a detective. "Why was I not told of this?"

"I honestly forgot all about it with so much work to do," Lumière responded, not missing a beat. "Besides, the last thing I would do is trouble you with such a trivial request until I knew I had someone in mind. It would have been impolite, with all the much more important things you have to do. Saved you a lot of trouble, I think."

Cogsworth sighed in defeat. "Very well, I suppose we could give her a chance. But never make any decisions without informing me first from now on, understood?"

"Never again," Lumière agreed.

"And know this," Cogsworth continued sternly. "She is your charge. Any mishaps or funny business at all, I am holding you personally responsible. Teach her everything she must know about kitchen and dining room serving etiquette, and as she will be a maid, she is to know the cleaning schedule as well. All of this is on your shoulders, and yours alone. Is that clear?"

"Absolutely," Lumière said with a nod. "I would have it no other way."

Cogsworth frowned. If anything might have convinced Lumière to change this foolish decision, it would have been that speech. His mind was made up and there was no changing it. Cogsworth could only hope that he was not making a mistake.

"In that case, see to it that she is settled in as soon as possible," he concluded, and with a respectful nod to Babette and a last look of warning to Lumière, he left, muttering something about losing his mind.

The moment he was gone, Babette breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much; for a minute, I thought he was going to send me away."

"What are you doing here?" Lumière asked, cutting right to the chase.

Babette looked at him, puzzled. "You read the letter."

"I mean, what was the real reason you agreed to this?" Lumière continued. "No show girl in her right mind would ever accept being a maid."

"Why not?" Babette asked, indignantly. "Considering how most people view a show girl, this is certainly a more honest living."

Lumière glared at her. "This is not as glamorous as I am sure you think it will be; you will not last one week here."

Babette shrugged casually. "I clean a little, do whatever you tell me, and on top of that, enjoy the luxury of living in a palace. How bad could it be?"

Lumière took a deep breath. "Fine. You start tomorrow at dawn."

"Dawn?" Babette cried. "No one is awake that early!"

"A member of my staff most certainly is," Lumière retaliated with a smirk. "Tomorrow at dawn, and we shall see how long you last."


Reviews Time...

TrudiRose: Well there you have it, her official arrival; did it work:-) It's all downhill fun from here! Thanks much as always for your help!

Tinkerbell: Lucien will have his last moment with Babs down the road, so you'll see. :-) As for school work, itdefinitely comes first; wouldn't have it any other way! Look forward to the thought of chatting, and good luck with finals! Thanks for sticking with the story!

Nadiil: Of course I leave everyone hanging; I'm the diva of cliffhangers! Remember the last few chapters of Light? LOL And yes, Phantom is definitely a see more than once film! As for the boss, I'll see him tonight so I can warn him about becoming an addict:-) Thanks!

Knux: Yeah, I know I didn't respond, and I'm so glad I fixed that. By the time I wanted to, I was so into the stories and figured what the point was. After I started this, I was determined to make it a good point to do so. :-) I do love the idea of keeping in touch with readers I can't talk with on a daily basis. Thanks much!

FairlyOdd: Aw, short and sweet is better than nothing! Thank you!

ShortStef: And so it begins! Like I said to Trudi, it is all just downhill fun from here! I have been looking forward to the castle bits ever since I started writing this. I'm just as excited, trust me! LOL Thanks much!