Hey all, sorry it took me a while to update, I have been in the midst of semester busyness and writer's block. I wrote this last night, but I really wanted it beta'd, so thanks to threeishere for giving me loads of constructive criticism. This is the first time I've really had my stuff beta'd and it makes it so much better and it's easier to take it from someone I know, I guess. Anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer: All mentioned characters belong to Disney.
After they had finished cleaning the ballroom, Cogworth went straight to his room and attempted to sleep. Unfortunately, he was plagued with nightmares. After the third time he woke with a start, he decided to give up on sleeping. He got up, pulling his robe on and headed down to the kitchen.
He retrieved a small loaf of bread and sat alone at the servant's table. He slowly picked at the bread, not paying attention to his surroundings. "You mind sharing?" He jumped at the sound of Adelynn's voice. "Sorry," she apologized sheepishly, sitting down next to him, "having trouble sleeping?"
He nodded, holding the loaf out to her, "help yourself."
She smiled as she picked a piece off, "I couldn't sleep either. It's still so overwhelming being human again."
"How is your foot?" he asked.
"It's feeling better," she replied, wincing slightly.
"May I?" he asked, already kneeling by her foot. She complied by slipping her foot out of her slipper. "That may be getting infected…" he said slowly, "I'm going to clean it out again, alright?" She gave him permission and he left to get the needed supplies.
While he cleaned it, Adelynn took the opportunity to observe him. His face was filled with concentration; his brow was furrowed and his tongue stuck slightly out. Adelynn stifled a giggle at his expression. He looked up at her with a look of confusion, "Sorry, I really appreciate you helping me," she said.
"Oh," he replied, "well, I couldn't just leave you to get infected overnight. If I have the capability to help it would be wrong not to."
"Right," she responded, then went silent. When he finished, he wrapped it in a bandage. "Thank you, Cogsworth."
"You're welcome, Adelynn, I will check that again in the morning. I think it should heal well now."
"Good night, Cogsworth," she walked away. When she returned to her room, she wondered what was going on inside Cogsworth's head. She knew there wasn't a chance he felt the same exhilaration she felt around him, but she was flattered that he was willing to help her with her injury. She was still surprised that he was willing to help her individually, especially since it wasn't his job. He could have easily called the doctor of the castle, but he hadn't and said he would check on her in the morning. Adelynn was so confused.
With the pain in her foot, it took a while to walk up to her room. Once she got there, she went straight to bed and curled under the covers. She thought of Cogsworth and how kind he was. She slowly drifted into a peaceful sleep.
The morning, she awoke and pulled on a work gown. Adelynn decided that she was going to help around the castle more. Upon befriending Belle, she realized she hadn't been close with anyone in a while On top of this, she realized she was lazy in comparison to Cogsworth and wanted to do better, so maybe she wouldn't seem as irresponsible in his eyes. She had decided that she would help the servants with their work and build better relationships with the others in the castle since she had been trapped in one room for most of the past ten years. She could leave the room, but it was quite difficult, so she hadn't done it often. Now, she desired a closer relationship with the other servants—but especially Cogsworth.
She went down to the lounge area of the servant's wing and sat on a chair. "Adelynn, what are you doing up so early?" Babette asked.
"I have decided to help around the castle more," Adelynn replied.
"Oh, it will be great to see you around more!" Babette replied with a sincere smile, "I heard about the plate incident, how is your foot feeling?"
"Oh, I haven't even thought about it this morning, so I guess better."
"Adelynn?" she heard Cogsworth say, "I wasn't expecting you to arrive before me."
Babette left Adelynn's side to greet Lumiere, leaving them relatively alone. "Did you ever get any sleep?" she asked.
"A little bit," he replied, "how is your foot?"
"It hasn't hurt today so far."
"Oh, that is a good sign, let me see it," Cogworth said, sitting on a chair next to her, motioning for her to put her foot up on his knee.
They heard a collective gasp around the room. They both looked up and saw everyone looking at them, Cogsworth blushed, but immediately went to work at dressing her wound. Adelynn smiled at his calm reaction.
That afternoon, Cogsworth was walking around the castle checking the progress of different jobs. They were doing many renovations to make up for the new lack of furniture. Belle's father had offered to build some of the new furniture, while the servants were working on a variety of tasks including cleaning, cooking, tearing down and rebuilding, among other things.
Lumiere saw Cogsworth walking past and grabbed his arm, "Cogsworth, may I talk to you about something, mon ami?"
"Yes, of course, Lumiere, walk with me as I do my rounds," he replied. Though he often was irritated by Lumiere's more carefree lifestyle, Cogsworth trusted him like a brother and highly regarded him, he just didn't always vocalize it, but he usually appreciated his company.
"What was happening with Madame Adelynn earlier? I know how you don't like to use your medical knowledge…why was last night and this morning different? For last night, I just assumed that it was because you could not locate the castle doctor, but now I am not so sure. Do you have a soft spot for her?"
"What?" Cogsworth was surprised, though when he thought about it, he should not have been surprised with Lumiere making romantic assumptions. "I was just helping her, Lumiere, she got hurt last night and then it was getting infected in the middle of the night—"
"The middle of the night?" Lumiere asked, rubbing his hands together with a smirk.
"We were both having trouble sleeping and both went to the kitchen and I checked her foot and it was showing signs of infection, so I cleaned it again. It only made sense for me to check it again this morning, since I was the one who wrapped it last night…" Cogsworth trailed off, sounding less and less sure of himself with each word.
"Cogsworth, it would not be wrong for you to take a little time away from work for a little bit of romance."
"I don't know, Lumiere. Getting back into medics a bit has been enough to keep me up all night; I don't think I could get involved in a romance or I'd be up all night worrying about that too."
"Think about it, mon ami," Lumiere replied, with an encouraging hand on his shoulder, "life moves on, you know."
"Not always…" Cogsworth replied bitterly.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. I know what the back stories are going to be, but specifics are still up in the air. Thanks for reading!