Catch Me
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Enchanted.
Holy poo, 59 reviews?! Yea it rhymed I know. I can't help myself, you are all so wonderful. I promise that this story has a plot and it's not just mindless fluff, so prepare! (I apologize ahead of time, there is some mild language in this chapter, I feel it couldn't be avoided, so I'm sorry if I offend anyone). Whew, this chapter got long! Enjoy!
Chapter 8: Beauty and the Beast
Robert hated him. He didn't need to know this guy to tell he was a disgusting lowlife. How dare he come in here looking all spiffed up in an Armani suit acting like he owned the place. Who said he could come in here and mess with their work environment?
Robert looked up from his paperwork for the millionth time that day. A representative from a local clothing store for kids was visiting the studio in the hope that they could feature some of Giselle's dresses in their store. He was a very young representative; a very young male representative, who just happened to be flirting shamelessly with his girlfriend.
At first he thought he was just being paranoid; that the guy was just being friendly. That is, until the guy started getting all touchy-feely with her. Come on, who goes into somebody's workplace and completely molests the people there? Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but Robert was absolutely fuming that this guy was putting his hands all over Giselle.
Of course, Giselle was absolutely oblivious to his advances, which was a gift and a curse really. If she knew what he was really after then she probably would have set him straight a while ago in her polite, unassuming manner. Since she didn't realize what he was playing at, she was just going along with it.
Robert had given up getting work done a long time ago, and was just shuffling papers around his desk and glaring at this smug little punk with his spiked up hair. This kid was smiling and standing too close to Giselle for his liking. Robert couldn't take it anymore; he had to let this kid know how things were around here.
Robert got up from his desk and made to walk over to Giselle and this insolent boy, but May intercepted him.
"Hey, Robert, would you mind if I clocked out a bit early today? My niece is having a birthday party and I promised I'd go" May said, looking hopefully up at Robert. He wasn't paying any attention to her at all; he was too busy watching this guy wrap his arm around Giselle's shoulder. That was the absolute last straw.
"Yea, sure, whatever," Robert said, dismissing May with a wave of his hand and stomping over to them. He slid up behind Giselle and wrapped his arms around her from behind; that got the hotshot's hands off of her. Just to really hit the point home, Robert reached a hand up and gently tilted her head back and kissed her soundly on the lips. When they both broke apart, Robert was grinning triumphantly and Giselle was blushing madly but couldn't keep the smile off of her face.
"Oh hey, Nice to meet you, my name's Robert. I'm kind of the manager of the place." Robert said, acting as if he had just noticed the guy and releasing one of his hands from Giselle to shake his hand.
"I'm Todd. I've just been checking out Giselle's…designs, and I think they're great; just what we're looking for." He said smiling at Giselle; he had kind of backed off when he saw their little interlude though.
"He's interested in featuring my dresses in his store." Giselle said excitedly, bouncing up and down a little. She was blissfully ignorant to everything except the prospect of people actually wanting to buy her dresses. Turning around in Robert's arms, she kissed him again. He was so glad PDA was acceptable in Andalasia.
"Oh, Robert, Todd invited me to dinner, so I'll be home a little later." Giselle said as they broke apart, looking up at him with her wide, innocent eyes. Robert could have sworn his heart had ripped out of his chest. Did she just say what he thought she said? No, there was no way, Giselle wouldn't...would she?
"What?" Robert said, holding her at arm's length to search her eyes to see if she was telling the truth, but she was just smiling up at him as if she had just told him she discovered where the water from the shower came from.
"Yea, we're going to go to T.G.I. Friday's to talk about my designs." Giselle was beyond excited, but that's when Robert realized it. She truly didn't see anything wrong with going out to dinner with this guy she didn't even know. She just couldn't see this guy was just trying to take advantage of her naïveté.
"Giselle, I don't think that is such a good idea." Robert said taking both her hands in his and looking her straight in the eye. He had to get his point across no matter what. He wasn't
going to let this man just come in here and sweep away with his princess. Robert couldn't let him take advantage of her innocence like that.
She looked at him questioningly. She was confused by Robert's reaction to this. After all, Todd was very friendly and seemed sincerely interested in her designs. All day Todd had complimented her dresses and truly listened to what she had to say. Did Robert really not trust her enough to go out to dinner without him there to take care of her?
"Robert, it'll be ok. I promise I'll be home by 9 to tuck Morgan into bed." She said, trying to put his mind at ease and made to leave his grip, but he tightened his hold slightly.
"Wait, can we talk in private about this? Please?" Robert said eyeing Todd, then turning his attention completely back to Giselle. This guy knew she was naïve, but he didn't want him to know exactly how naïve she really was. It was just one more weapon that Todd could use to work his charm on her, and Robert was not about to let anything happen to Giselle.
"Ok, Robert, but I really don't see why you're being like this. It's not like it's a date or anything." Giselle said as Robert led her off to a quiet corner of the studio.
"Giselle, this guy-," Robert started before he was cut off.
"Todd," Giselle corrected him.
"Okay, Todd is not…he's only…it's just…Giselle, I don't think you should go to dinner with him." Robert said trying to find the best choice of words. Robert knew he was jealous, there was absolutely no denying it, but it was so much more than that. He had experienced jealousy before, not to this extent, true, but he had still felt it. This feeling was stronger and much more urgent: fear.
"Why not? He's really nice and he just wants to talk about my dresses." Giselle defended. Ever since she had come to New York most of her social life was Robert and Morgan and her employees, of course she enjoyed their company more than anything, but she loved meeting new people as well.
"Giselle, seriously, this gu-, Todd, is interested in more than just your dresses." Robert said bluntly, trying to take her hands in his, but she pulled away, looking at him strangely.
"Like what? You've barely said three words to him all day. Do you not trust me?" Giselle finished quietly, the hurt evident in her voice.
"Giselle, it's not that at all," Robert once again tried to wrap his arms around her, but this time she completely stepped away from him, slowly shaking her head at him.
"Then what is it, Robert? Are you afraid I won't come back? How could you think that of me? I would never do that, I love you." With that, she turned away with tears in her eyes. That's one thing in this world she didn't like: the pain. It hurt her to know that Robert didn't trust her enough to be without him for just a little while. She had been in this world about a month and she had adapted so well, he had even said so himself. So, why couldn't he just have a little faith in her? Todd helped her into her coat and they left together. Giselle gave him one last tearful glance before shutting the door behind her.
Robert just stood there. His heart had swelled at her confession, just to be slashed to ribbons when he saw the tears in her eyes. He had done that, he had made her cry and he felt like the biggest jerk in the world.
"Where's Giselle?" Morgan asked when Robert came to pick her up from school alone.
"She went out to dinner with someone." He said simply, holding the cab door open for her.
"What? Who?" Morgan asked as Robert climbed into the taxi beside her. He looked over at her and saw her stunned expression. Giselle always picked Morgan up from school with Robert and always ate dinner with them. Morgan didn't understand what was going on.
"But Dad-," Morgan started but was soon cut off by Robert.
"Morgan, please, I don't really want to talk about it right now." Robert said as gently as he could, considering his nerves were shot. He reached up to massage his temples with his fingertips. How did this happen? The day had started out so well. Every day started out well with Giselle living with them. How did this day go so wrong?
Morgan had enough sense to see that her dad was upset, so she kept to herself the rest of the trip home. When they got back they had a quiet dinner and Morgan went to her room to do her homework by herself.
After dinner, Robert plopped down on the couch and buried his head in his hands. Who knew what was happening right now? That guy could have convinced her to go anywhere, do anything. He shouldn't have let her go. He should have made her stay, no matter how mad she got at him, at least she would have been safe.
Just as he was about to lose his mind with worry, he heard the front door open. Robert shot off of the couch and quickly made his way to the hall. Giselle closed the door behind her and was a little startled to see Robert behind her.
"Oh my, Robert, you scared me!" Giselle said holding a hand to her heart. Robert just stared at her, she looked the same, but he couldn't be sure.
"Did...are you...I mean...you're home early." Not exactly saying what he meant to but for some reason he was having trouble with words.
"Yes, I am. Turns out, Morgan was right." Giselle said smiling slightly and walking up to him. He wanted to just take her in his arms and apologize profusely and make sure she was all right. She seemed fine, anyway.
"About what?" Robert asked her. Finally, throwing caution to the winds, he pulled her into a tight hug and gently burying his face in her hair. He was afraid that she'd still be mad at him from earlier but she didn't resist. In fact, she wrapped her arms around him and gripped his shoulders. This was how things were supposed to be.
"That guys are only after one thing." Giselle whispered in his ear. Robert nearly choked as he leaned back to look in her eyes.
"What happened? What did he do? Are you ok? Where is he? I'll kill him." Robert was talking a mile a minute but Giselle reached up a hand to his face and cupped it, soothing him immediately. He looked at her; she was smiling, so that was a good sign.
"I'll explain everything, I promise." Giselle said. She slid her hand from his face and walked down the hall to Morgan's room. Cracking open the door quietly, Giselle slipped into the room.
"Hello, Morgan." She said quietly. Morgan looked up and smiled brightly at her.
"Giselle!" Morgan screamed, jumping into Giselle's arms and hugging her tightly.
"How was school today, sweetie?" Giselle asked balancing Morgan on her hip and looking her in the eyes. Morgan was really getting too big for this but Giselle didn't care.
"It was great! I got picked first for kick ball at recess!" Morgan said proudly.
"Wow! That's amazing! I bet you were great." Giselle was truly awed that Morgan had made so many friends; it seemed like yesterday that Robert had told her that Morgan didn't make friends easily. She didn't want to ruin the moment but she felt obligated to apologize to Morgan.
"Morgan, I'm so sorry I made you unhappy and didn't pick you up from school today or have dinner with you and Robert." Giselle said sincerely, hoping Morgan could find it in her heart to forgive her.
"It's ok, Giselle. I understand, but I don't know if Daddy does." Morgan was very understanding for someone so young, especially someone who had been through so much.
"Thank you, Morgan. I think I'll go talk to him now. I'll be back to tuck you in later though." Giselle set her down and left, closing Morgan's door quietly behind her.
She walked down the hall and was surprised to find that Robert wasn't in the living room, so she walked into the kitchen to find him with two steaming mugs.
"Oh, hey, I made you some hot chocolate since it's so cold outside. I thought it might warm you up a bit." He said handing her one of the mugs and walking to the couch. She sat down beside him, took a sip of her hot chocolate, and set it down on the coffee table. Turning to face him, she folded one of her legs underneath her to get more comfortable. Robert did the same and took her hands in his, softly caressing the top of her hands with his thumbs.
"What happened?" He asked quietly. After she had gone to check on Morgan, he had calmed himself down. Being rash is what got them into this mess, and the only way to make things right was to hear her out.
"Well, everything was fine until about the end of dinner. Then, he started acting weird and he kept touching my arm." Robert clenched his jaw but she wasn't done so he didn't interrupt.
"Then he asked me if I wanted to go back to his apartment, and I said 'no'." At this point Giselle was looking down ashamedly. This was killing Robert, what had this asshole done to her?
"He put his hand on my leg and leaned forward and tried to...kiss me." She continued uncomfortably. "I pushed him away and told him that I think he had the wrong idea. He laughed at me and said tried to kiss me again, but I stood up and was about to leave but he held my arm. He told me if I left then I could forget about my dresses being featured in his store."
Robert's rage was boiling over. If he ever saw that little shit again, he was going to kill him. He looked across at Giselle and his anger melted away. He tenderly lifted her chin so he could look at her face. She was really upset, but she wasn't crying. Being in New York was making her strong and it selfishly made him a little sad.
"So, what did you do?" Robert asked her softly.
"I told him I was sorry I wasted his time and caught a cab, and came back here." Giselle said simply. Robert smiled, why had he ever doubted her?
"Giselle, I'm so sorry. I...just..." Robert was once again having trouble saying what he meant. Giselle put her hand to his mouth, then removed it and replaced it with her lips. She kissed him deeply, running her fingers through his dark hair. I guess words are overrated, Robert thought happily, deepening their kiss. Finally, they broke off the kiss, panting heavily. He desperately needed to talk to her though.
"Giselle, I should have trusted you more. It's just...I just...wanted you to be safe. I should have known that you could take care of yourself." Robert kissed her on her forehead and looked her in the eye.
"Robert, it's okay, really. You were just trying to protect me. I should've listened to you." Giselle replied closing her eyes and leaning into his warmth. "I think we just survived our first fight as a couple." She whispered into his chest. He smiled, just enjoying being close to her again. He kissed the top of her head and said quietly,
"Yea, we did," Robert held her close and said, "and Giselle?"
"Yes, Robert?" Giselle asked looking up at him.
"I love you too."