Chapter Ten

10.1

Four months later and Belle had watched Adam suffer a little more each day. She knew that Gaston had spread lies about him that he couldn't defend himself against once the fur had covered his body. She knew that he had to spend hours at a time resting due to the strain on his body. However as Belle woke up she felt a heaviness on their bed and knew it wasn't due to her pregnant belly this time. She slowly and silently lit a candle before turning to face her husband. The curse was completed. He looked exactly the same as when he had let her return to her father, as before he transformed. She remembered him perfectly.

She didn't know how he would react to this, the last time she had seen him before the early hours of that morning were as a human-beast hybrid whose body was covered with fur, whose tail had become big and bushy, who had well defined horns and teeth that weren't human. Still the size and shape of his body had been human but now - now he was fully beast.

Slowly she blew out the candle and moved into him. He wouldn't hurt her or their child. She let her head rest upon his chest, happy to hear his heart beat. Her fingers moved into the ripped clothes and she looked at him through the limited light. She didn't want to wake him. She had never questioned her love for him during this entire transformation and now she knew she was correct. She couldn't stop loving him, she would always love him.

He coughed, it sounded painful and Belle's eyes widened as her breath started to race. She slowly and very delicately moved him over to his side so that she could place her hand against his back. His clothes didn't fit him any longer and so she could easily let her fingers slide into his fur where the wound would have been. She felt his back, his fur, his warmth but no blood, no injury, no stab wounds. He coughed again and Belle sat up and stroked his cheek and then kissed him on his head where his horn was.

"Belle?" he asked, his voice lower and sounding more like the beast she had met. She shook her head. No. Adam was human. Even in this condition she refused to think of him as any other animal than a man. He moved towards her and brought his paw to her cheek. "Are you okay?" he asked before blinking at the size his paw was, before it had only been slightly bigger than his regular hand but now, now it seemed massive.

"Remember how much we love you," she said before her eyes widened. Around one of his arm was looped a white rose that seemed to be sinking into his fur. He rolled onto his back, looking up at her. He saw her shadow and reached for a candle but he couldn't quite grasp it, let alone light it, with his changed body. Belle quickly lit one for him. She knelt down at his side of the bed, placing one hand on her belly and holding his paw with the other. "Adam," she said as he managed to see a reflection of himself in the window.

"Beast," he told her with a painful sigh. "You always used to call me Beast."

"That is something that I continue to refuse to do," she said as she stood up and let her hand cup his large cheek. "You are Adam. You are the man I married. You are my husband. You are the father to our child. You will always be Adam."

Adam reached his paw out to gently place it on her belly. "I can still be a father?" he asked her. Belle took his other paw and kissed it. She let her fingers go into his fur of the hand on her belly.

"Of course," she said as he groaned. "How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?" She didn't want to mention the white rose that had now sunk deeply into his skin. She would discuss that with him later.

"Do you love me?" Adam asked her and Belle sobbed, she hated being asked that because she hated him doubting that she would ever not love him.

"I love you more than anything," she said. "More than anything, I promise," she moved closer and kissed his much larger mouth. She could see his adoration in his eyes, the way that he still kissed her passionately and lovingly, the relief he received from that action.

"Can I hold you whilst we sleep?" he asked her and Belle nodded. She blew out the candle knowing that today would be very different from the previous years. She slipped into the bed and curled up close to him, her head resting on the fur of his chest. She felt his arm securely around her and she pulled it up and over her chest. She felt his chin against her forehead and smiled.

"I love you Adam and I always will," she promised him. "Now please try to get some rest." She was glad that they had prepared for this. She was glad that he now had clothes and soon he would have anything which he might need which they hadn't prepared for. Soup. They would have to eat a lot of soup. Although as she looked at his expression she could see his discomfort, the drain of energy of his transformation must have exhausted him because he was already asleep. "I love you, my prince," she whispered lovingly. She couldn't stop and she wouldn't no matter what Adam might request of her. He was her most treasured person. This didn't change anything.

10.2

Belle smiled weakly as she saw Adam emerge from the bathroom in his previous form. Since they had had time to prepare, they had actually managed to provide him with more clothes – humans could work faster than household objects – and so he could actually be standing there in front of her in a button up white shirt that was tailored to his body and black pants with a slit at the back for his tail.

Belle walked over to him and grabbed a towel so she could pat his fur down, it was still damp and she didn't want for him to feel even more uncomfortable. She kissed his larger mouth and then snout before gazing into his eyes. He had so much doubt and so low self worth right now. She wanted to remind him of how she had fallen in love with him before he had transformed back to a 'handsome prince'.

"Belle, do I look okay?" he asked her and she wrapped her arms around him as much as she could especially with her large, round belly.

"You're still so handsome," she said and he gave her an odd look but carefully held her back. Did she actually mean that or was she trying to make him feel better? At least she didn't appear to be running away in fear. Adam lifted his paw and gently pressed it against her cheek, he could feel the damp fur and saw that her cheek had a little moisture on it.

He started to pull it back but Belle grabbed it and pressed it to the side of her face. She knew that to others this would look odd. She knew that other people might run away in fear. She could already imagine the screams but she loved him. If they fled, they fled together.

"I want you, Adam," she told him and he looked at her again as if half doubting those words. "I want you. You are my husband. I married you and I won't forgive you if you leave without me." She kissed his mouth again. There was still that connection despite the obvious physical difference.

"Beast," he told her, "You always call-"

"Adam," she insisted. "I will never call you that again. I'm not going to pretend that our relationship hasn't happened. I'm not going to be okay with losing the most important part of my life so far. You are still Adam, right?"

He looked at her tentatively, "I mean, I still have my memories, my thoughts, my feelings, my love for you but this form…this body…this -"

"It's not the outside that matters," she told him before hugging him again. "Do you want me to inform the rest of the staff?" she asked and her nodded. "They'll still love you," she tried to remind him. "This doesn't change anything and if you're feeling angry or if that rage comes back, tell me and we'll go sit in the library or find a place to go outside and you can vent to me. We just need to communicate, okay? You can't be stubborn and silent with me, I won't let you."

Adam looked at her weakly and Belle grinned at him. She took his paw and slid it over her belly as his eyes widened. He felt the baby inside of her kick against him and the smile deepened, the love and affection in his eyes almost doubled. She saw the excitement and then he looked at his paw but she kept it there.

"Juliet or William need their Papa," she told him and he started to look uncomfortable.

"Can you really imagine me holding a baby in this form?" he asked her. "A small baby, someone so precious to the both of us."

"Of course," Belle nodded as she took a step back to face him. She then put both of her hands on his cheeks, making sure that the two of them were making eye contact. "The baby needs their Papa to love them and hold them and take care of them. I know that I'm here. I know that we have servants and friends who are more than willing to help but there is no replacement for their own father. You are their Papa. When a baby enters the world they don't know the way that people look, they don't have a concept of curses. They just know love. They know warmth. You are going to love our child so much that I doubt they will ever fear you."

"And are you scared of me…of my hurting our child?" Adam asked her wanting her honesty.

Belle kissed his lips again. She placed her hand over his mouth, not caring about the large teeth, the sharp bite he would now have. "Remember when I tried to run away and you saved me from those wolves?" she asked and he nodded, trying to avoid eye contact. "Adam, that is who you are. You have protected me and supported me and saved me ever since that day. That is who you are. That is the type of protection and safety that our child will receive from their Papa."

"A monster who -" Adam tried to argue and Belle placed her hand over his mouth again. Her hazel eyes showing her conviction to what she was trying to tell him.

"A Papa who loves their child unconditionally and would do anything within his power to protect them. I think that's a pretty good father, you know," she said and Adam let his head drop but he smiled. Belle could see that the words were starting to sink in again.

"Thank you," he said, "for saving my life."

"You saved mine more than you know," she hugged him. She didn't care that he was in this form other than for his own health and happiness. She could be an outcast if the rest of the world wanted her to be but as long as she had him, as long as they were together, it didn't matter. All she needed was him.

End of Chapter Ten

Thank you for reading

Thank you to Rachel for reviewing Chapter Nine