AN: Thank you to Foreverandtrulyyours for saying that they wanted to see Juliet's reaction to Cow-Belle so that'll be in the next chapter =D Also Belle will soon start going under cover to learn more information, well, when Adam allows for her to venture into town.

Chapter Thirty

30.1

There were dozens of books which Adam had located dealing with magic and although he hoped that he would never come across anything dangerous, he hated seeing Belle so hurt. Seeing her as a cow was still incredibly painful but seeing the blood on her body haunted him. He couldn't allow that to happen again. He knew nothing about magic though, well compared to Belle he knew nothing, compared to Antoine he was quite intelligent on the subject.

His eyes glanced over a page on communicating with animals. It wasn't as good as, how to turn your significant other aka the love of your life back from cow to human but it might be helpful. He read it further and frowned, this was for talking with animals that were just that, animals, it didn't say anything on a human who had been cursed as an animal.

He sighed and closed his eyes trying to work on the breathing techniques which he had benefitted from over the years. He looked to his wrist where there was still the scar of a rose and thought back to when his own humanity had been stolen from him. He didn't even have his own account of the situation but he had been told that he was docile and timid, much different from him all those years ago.

He slid a piece of parchment onto that page and continued to read, flipping through the pages in an attempt to find anything that had a chance of working. These beings were coming after him and Belle was involved with him. If she hadn't married him then she would never have become a cow. He bowed his head nervously before feeling his heart beat quicker and pushed a pile of books from the table.

He had to calm down. He couldn't feed into his rage. He had to just remain calm.

He counted to ten before exhaling and just let his beastly head stay bowed. He had failed her. It was because of him that she had been caught in this trap that he referred to as life. If he hadn't done this then…he looked through another book before his paw rested next to the word 'Soulmate Desire'. He looked it over and found that if he were to remove some of his own stone, his humanity, and give it to Belle then he could share his strength with her – that was if he was her soulmate. He had to be, right? She was the one who had broken his curse so that must mean that they belonged together.

He just had to figure out how to get into his skin to uncover it. Still, it didn't say it would remove the curse from her but provide her with some of his strength and he would have to build back that strength if he even could.

"So, Ms. Enchantress, where are you now that I need you?" he asked with a weak laugh. She was the only connection to magic that he could somewhat trust other than Belle and he certainly didn't know about this. He was only able to shift back and forth without it being unbearably painful because he had taken that deal to have to do that for the remainder of his life. How could he even be selfish and turn into a human now when he might be needed to be human later.

"Belle," he whispered before looking around for a knife. Maybe if he cut his arm then he could get to it, uncover those glass shards that the book was mentioning. It said just a small piece so if he could fracture that then maybe he could get Belle to ingest it and she would be able to speak or to act like herself. They had said that Belle would be able to free herself but him giving her his strength wasn't taking that away, she would just be able to be aided in that task.

Adam sighed and then felt something break the knife and looked at his arm where the glass was shown fixed in his skin. He put his paw to it but he couldn't grasp at it. He then saw a gold box on the table and stroked the fur on his wrist. He looked at the box and then behind him to where the enchantress was.

"I can't come to you every time that you ask, I'm getting to be busier," she said and Adam sighed before holding up the box. He opened it and saw that it was a golden ear stud with a topaz gem. He lifted it to the enchantress and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I think you should wear it."

"I'm not sure that it's my style," Adam told her and the enchantress gave him a look telling him to try it.

"You want to communicate with your wife without hurting her, don't you?" she asked and Adam thought of the tag in Belle's ear, the one that had turned into a necklace when she was human and he looked at the topaz gem, it did remind him of her eyes.

"So there's no chance of her turning back," Adam said and the enchantress watched him.

"Soon, soon she'll be able to be an undercover spy of the barnyard society. I think she's smart enough to solve it. Besides, it might come in quite handy to turn into a cow by choice," she said and Adam frowned before nodding. Yes, maybe that was right. He was a beast but what good did that do for him if he was to be feared and hunted. No one would fear a cow but hunt, kill, eat, maybe they'd be more interested in that.

Adam placed the stud in his ear feeling foolish that he was doing this as a beast. He looked back at her. "So, you're not going to come visit?" he asked her trying not to sound sarcastic in saying that.

The enchantress laughed a little, "Let's just say that I don't want to come as much. You're never going to learn to survive if you keep calling me in at the last moment for all of your problems to be solved, you need to solve them yourself."

Adam sighed, he nodded wanting to disagree with that but all he could do was agree. He held up the box. "Thank you," he told her. "For this."

"Just don't do anything to your arm, took me a long time to be able to craft all of that."

30.2

Adam approached the barn where he had taken Belle when she had looked uncomfortable and in need of milking. It was still very strange to him that he had to touch her like that but he had read that cows could die if they weren't relieved and he wasn't going to let anyone else touch her. He put a paw up to the stud in his ear.

"Hey," he said as he approached her and saw her relief.

"Adam," she said as she woke up and Adam could hear her voice but he didn't know if that was because she had gotten used to saying his name with force or whether it was the earring. She gestured to his ear with her head, her expression showed that she didn't expect him to understand her mooing. "What's that?"

Adam smiled in relief as he heard every word, "This is a special magical item I just received," he told her and Belle nodded. "It's so that we can communicate a little easier."

"I don't think it'll work. I'm trying my best but…." Belle looked down sadly, "all you hear are moos, right?"

"No," Adam cupped her cheek and lifted her head to look into her eyes. "No, I hear your beautiful voice. I know that you're trying. I do know and I am so proud of you," he said as he kissed her nose. "So, you can save your energy."

"You really can hear me?" she asked with relief in her eyes before she started nuzzling his fur with her nose and licking him with her tongue. "Adam, I wanted so badly to talk with you to tell you what I had learned in -"

Adam shook his head and stepped away from her, he put a paw up to her mouth. "Not another word, okay?" he more ordered her than asked. "I don't care. They already turned you into a cow to keep you from speaking, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to do anything that may lose you or make your situation or condition worse."

Belle nodded and then looked away, "I suppose I'm not beautiful to you anymore."

"Are you kidding," Adam laughed as he guided her head back in his direction. "You know what, the enchantress said that she believes in you, she believes that you might be able to comfortably live a life as a half human, half bovine. We'll have to be patient, okay, princess."

Belle nodded and closed her eyes, she started to cry and Adam wrapped his furry arms around her front and held her close. She pushed her head into his chest and allowed him to comfort her. Adam looked at her nearly full teats and took a step back. He turned himself into his human form and let his head rest against hers. He kissed her again before stepping back.

"I'm sorry. I have to milk you again, is it okay if I do that, my love?" he asked and she nodded, taking a step forward and opening up the area between her legs. Adam grabbed a stool and a couple of buckets before getting the liquid out of her udders. "I know it won't be that far off in the future," he told her with a sad smile on his face. "We'll just have to be patient. I'm sure that the time will pass faster than you think and I love you. I will always love you." He switched to the second bucket and then turned to look at her, she looked back at him. "This," he said as he showed her his hands, "It doesn't feel as if I'm violating you, right?"

"No, not you, never you," Belle replied. She looked down sadly, "You're helping me…it's just…"

"Too much? Am I going too hard, too fast?" he asked as he tried to be a little bit gentler but knew that would slow the process down.

"No. You were fine before," Belle said and Adam smiled to her before going back to the pace and force he was before. "It's just that…" Adam nodded to show that he was listening to her. "I miss her. I miss my daughter. I haven't seen her since the transformation. I want to see her."

"I'm sorry about that," Adam said as he finished with the milking and tenderly wiped the area with a warm towel. He kissed her lovingly before going to sit in front of her. "I wasn't sure what to do. I think she's sleeping now but as soon as she wakes up, I can bring her down for you. I don't think she'll understand you but then I don't think she understands me," he tried to laugh and Belle looked at him with love still in her eyes.

"Adam," she asked as he turned back into his beast form, "What do you see when you look at me as I am right now?"

"I see my gorgeous, intelligent, amazing wife trapped inside of another form but still beautiful, still intelligent, still so strong. It's just as you told me about my condition. It's not like you're changing when you go through different vessels, the you that I love is still there. I'm just sorry that I couldn't protect you."

Belle looked at him with hope in her eyes, "You don't just see cow."

"I see Belle," he told her. "With my eyes, yes, I do see you in a cow form but I see you as my Belle, my love, my wife, my heart. So yes, I do see a cow but it's not a regular cow, it's you as a cow. I know that right now you see Adam in Beast form just like before you saw Adam in human form."

Belle laughed weakly, "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Adam replied. "You will never understand how much I love you. I love you unconditionally."

"I do know," Belle replied. "Because my heart beats in time with yours."

End of Chapter Thirty

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty Nine

Foreverandtrulyyours, KathyMesser, Savannah246810