-Vandy-

Vandy was finally enjoying the first bit of quiet since Polly flew into a fit after the King left. She nearly had the kitchen staff riled up to march to go find him and bring him back, then she loudly packed her things and declared she was finally quitting, but ultimately she listened to reason and everything had calmed down.

For almost exactly twenty minutes.

"Vandy! Oh you won't believe- Vandy!" Polly yelled from the entrance hall.

Vandy had half a mind to ignore her, hoping that maybe she would calm herself down, but she persisted.

"Vandy!" She shouted in a half strangled cry.

Vandy stood up from the book he had been reading with a sigh. It was a good thing the blood moon was almost over. It always created a certain kind of chaos that interrupted his daily routine.

"Polly, if your bags are packed I'll just let you leave this time." Vandy said cooly as he rounded the corner, but he Polly wasn't packed and waiting. Polly was crouching down below the window near the doors barely peaking her head over the ledge.

Vandy dropped down suddenly. If the werewolves were there they were sitting ducks.

"What is it Polly?" Vandy asked, his heart rate had spiked. He was planning escape routes in his mind as he crawled towards Polly.

"You have to look for yourself!" She whispered.

Vandy crawled from the hallway over to the window and Polly moved over to allow him to look over the ledge. The Beast was standing on the front steps of the castle with Belle in a conversation. Vandy's heart began to calm down and Vandy pulled himself off the floor, disappointed in himself for falling for Polly's hysterics.

"What are you doing?! Get down, they'll see you!" Polly whispered urgently.

"What are you doing?! You scared me to death! I thought we were being attacked!"

"She's back Vandy! I knew she'd come back!" Polly said, smiling and still trying to catch glimpses of them discreetly from the window.

"Try not to be sitting there when they finally do make it inside!" Vandy said, turning to get started on all the extra work that would need to be done now that Miss Belle had come back.

He heard Polly rush after him after he turned around and left.

"Don't pretend you aren't happy! I can see right through you Vanderwall, I think you're more happy about this than anyone. You're a hopeless romantic at heart, especially when it comes to that boy." Vandy looked away from her trying to hide a secretive smile. She was right of course, but he'd never admit it.

"She's back. That doesn't mean a whole lot. We're still in trouble from the werewolves and we have no way of knowing if her people are still coming for her. We're not out of the woods yet."

"All the better reason to enjoy every moment we have now." She said, her voice trailing off suspiciously.

"What are you planning Polly?"

"Nothing you would disapprove of! Just a little celebration to celebrate the end of the blood moon, and maybe Miss Belle's return?" Polly had a mischievous glint in her eye that Vandy didn't like, but he just let out a long sigh.

"Be my guest."

-Belle-

"We have a problem." Adam whispered as they finally made it up the stairs and through the grand doors. Her arm was intertwined through his and he held her hand to his chest.

"What is it?" She asked, everything sounded normal so it had to be something unseen.

"Vandy and Polly aren't here." She laughed at his conspiratorial tone.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but everybody else in the castle has a life outside of waiting around for you."

"That doesn't hardly seem fair." he said

"Your privilege is showing through your highness. There's a lot of things that aren't fair in this world."

"Tell me about it." He said, with so much longing she blushed.

"Besides, what's so wrong with them being gone anyways? I'm sure they're busy doing one thing or another."

"That's exactly what I'm scared of. If it was Polly here without Vandy then it would mean that Vandy was simply busy. Vandy here without Polly meant that she was upset with me over something, but with both of them gone it must mean that they're tucked away scheming together and that means that I need to be looking around every corner for a surprise."

Belle laughed, "I'm sure Polly is somewhere in the kitchens, and Vandy is probably dusting the library or taking a nap."

"That's exactly what they want us to think."

"Do you really think those two are plotting against you?" She asked.

"They're always plotting against me. Do you remember the last dinner when they both retired to bed at the same time? I've never seen either of them retire to bed that early, but all the sudden they both left me alone to make a fool of myself."

Belle smiled and grabbed his shoulder with her other hand, making sure that he was looking at her. "I'll have you know, that was one of the best nights of my life."

"Even though I made a right fool of myself?" He asked.

"Even though you made a fool of yourself." She replied.

They were no longer walking, but she could feel his eyes on her. His attention made her feel nervous. She was scared of Adam. Mostly because she was falling in love with him and she didn't know how to handle it.

There was a tense moment between them that held all the things that they both refused to say to each other. Belle was the first one to break the silence.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything."

She paused on purpose to make him suffer a little longer before finally putting him out of his misery.

"Can you take me to the kitchens because I am starving."

"Of course. I should have thought to go there first!" He said. "Plus, if I leave you in the kitchen with Anette I'll have time to go find Vandy and get your room straightened out."

"I don't need my room to be freshened up. I'm sure not a lot has changes in two days!"

Adam led her down the hallway towards the kitchens "I actually- uh- it's locked and Vandy's got the keys."

"I thought this was your castle. Don't you have keys for everything?" She asked teasingly.

"Usually, but not to yours." He said sheepishly.

"You locked up my rooms?" She asked incredulously.

"yeah."

She wanted to wrap her arms around him again, but she restrained herself.

"You have got to figure out a new way to deal with problems."

He laughed, "I'll work on that." He led her into the table at the corner of the kitchen. "Sit tight and I'll go find Anette and send her this way and then I need to hunt myself down a key."

"Adam" She said, catching him before he could leave the kitchen.

"Yes?"

There was a lot she wanted to say. New feelings created a new awkwardness of not being able to express how she felt.

"Thank you for saving me in the forest again, and I'm sorry."

"What could you be sorry for?" He said with disbelief.

"Well, if it wasn't for me there wouldn't be a hunting party coming to kill you tomorrow."

Adam crossed the room in two steps and pressed a short sweet kiss to her forehead and for a moment they just stood with a silent understanding settling between them. There was nothing to forgive.

"This is all going to be over with the fall of the blood moon and after that we are going to have some very serious conversations."

"Well in order for that to happen you've got to survive those men and I have to survive a very serious bout of starvation that is plaguing me."

He laughed and she couldn't help but smile. It was good to be back.

-Gaston-

"She was whisked away into the night by some great evil I just know it!" Maurice said.

Gaston was beginning to realize why he was commonly known as crazy Maurice around town. Her father was wild, unkempt, and was now wasting everyone's time by filling them with his crazy superstitions.

Gaston looked at Lord MonteVerde out of the corner of his eye trying to see how the Lord was taking the news that Belle was gone. This could either be really good for him or really bad.

Lord MonteVerde remained stoic on his small throne and Gaston brought both his hands to his head in a display of horror. He waited a moment for her fathers comment to really set in on the men and women in the room and Gaston decided to play his hand.

"No. It can't be true. It had to have been the Beast. Not only have the monsters have attacked one of the fair daughters of this city, but it was my sweet Belle. I have to go rescue her back from this pit of despair she's been dragged back into!" Gaston said, to no one in particular.

Lord MonteVerde stood at Gaston's speech, shaking.

"That monster has harmed the last woman in this town!" Lord MonteVerde said, "You have every last one of my men with you Prince Gaston." Lord MonteVerde stood from his throne and moved towards Gaston, placing his hand on his shoulder. "We will get her back. Don't lose the faith."

Gaston nodded steadfastly as the men around him erupted into cheers. They were going to go kill themselves a king beast.

-Adam-

He sent Anette over to the kitchens for Belle and then went to find Vandy who was lazily reading a book in the library on a lounge chair.

"You're back" Vandy said in exaggerated disinterest.

"Oh, are we pretending that you and Polly weren't peaking at us from the window?"

Vandy had the trace of a smile and sat up straighter. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Adam chuckled and moved over to the lounge chair to sit next to Vandy.

"We're going to need to prepare Belle's rooms again." He said and Vandy's face split into a wide grin.

"Already done."

"All the furniture is moved back to where it was?"

"Some of the footmen are working on it as we speak if they haven't finished already.

"Perfect." He said, letting out a deep sigh and allowing himself to lean into the lounge more fully.

"You've got a story that Polly would kill for." Vandy said, returning part of his attention back to his book.

"Thank you for the warning. I'll be sure to watch my back."

Vandy usually began to grind his teeth whenever he was trying to think of the proper way to phrase something. He was grinding his teeth now which was interrupting the silence an turning into a torturous wait before finally he stopped.

"She'll stay this time won't she?"

"I don't know." Adam said, managing not to sound half as miserable as he felt.

"She loves you." The words hung out in the air floating without a home.

"You don't know that."

"I do."

" She told you?"

"No, but she does love you."

Adam didn't have a response. There was a chance she returned his feelings. He thought of the way she kissed him back outside the village and the way she marched all the way out to the forest for him.

"You love her." Vandy tried.

"Yes." Adam said, letting all the air out of his lungs. That one confession released tension that he didn't even know he was holding. "I love her."

"Well you've got to do something about it."

"I can't. It's not a very good time for this kind of thing."

"You've kidnapped her twice now and you're about to go fight off her kinsman in the forest so that you can keep her here. I think it's a little more weird if she doesn't think that you love her."

He had a point there, but Adam did not want to admit he was right.

"I don't think I could handle it if she rejected me."

Vandy laughed at that, "If the worse thing that happens to you in life is a few women turning you down, you've got a better life than I thought you did. I won't tell you what to say and I won't tell you when, but you're making a mistake if you go off to fight for her without telling her why you're fighting for her."

Adam nodded he could deal with werewolves anytime he wasn't afraid of them. The men from their villages inspired no fear, but the idea of laying everything out in the open scared him to his very core.