I awoke to the sound of someone breathing deeply. Gaston, I thought. I gasped for breath and kicked, seeing his face before me.

"Belle," he said, and I began to punch his chest.

"BELLE!" I opened my eyes and saw Adam hovering over me, brushing the sweaty hair out of my face. In that instant I didn't know what to do. So I simply broke down in a fit of trembling and dry heaving, sobbing tears of angst, fear, and pain. Adam pulled me to him and held me to his chest, rocking me back and forth on the bed, the way a mother would hold her nightmare ridden child. "It's okay. It's okay, I promise. I'm here, okay? No one is ever going to hurt you ever again."

Adam pulled the bedspread around me and picked me up in his arms. I was in the fetal position now, scared that if I opened up my body at all it would be defiled all over again. I convulsed into his chest, and he rubbed my back in an attempt to comfort me. "I…" I started to speak, but Adam said, "Shhh…" and looked into my eyes. "You don't have to say anything, okay? Not until you're ready. Just know that you're safe."

There was something beyond soothing about his voice. It was usually so deep, so loud, but right then, it was calm, quiet, and tender. The room started spinning around me, just for a moment, and I woozily reached up and touched my forehead, feeling a big bandage on my forehead. I touched the side of my eye, flinching with pain at the touch, and, upon running my fingers down my neck, felt a burn that made me jump out of my own skin.

"Stop, stop, stop…" Adam cooed, gently taking my hand and holding it to his chest. "Just rest, for now...you need to regain your strength."

I fell asleep shortly thereafter, and awoke a few hours later to a concerned Mrs. Potts dampening a washcloth and taking my arm into hers, wiping away some mud and dried up blood.

"You're awake, Deary," Mrs. Potts said, relieved, as I flinched at the stinging of the white cloth meeting my wounds. "You gave us quite a fright…" she said simply, her voice cracking.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, fighting back tears.

"Dear, there is nothing to be sorry about. This is not your fault in the slightest," She said sweetly, her eyes doing most of the talking.

I closed my eyes briefly, attempting to breathe deeply, and then looked back at the darling older woman still tending to me so gently. She had become a mother to me, a figure that I had lacked for so long, as my birth mother died in childbirth.

"Just try to relax, Deary," she said lovingly, and I closed my eyes again. Pain between my legs. A trickle. A warmth. No. I was raped. The re-realization hit me like a bullet and I shot up in bed with no warning, startling Mrs. Potts.

"What's wrong, Belle?" She asked, worriedly.

"I want to take a bath. Please. Let me take a bath. I need to get clean. Please. Let me wash," I begged, looking deep into the old woman's eyes.

"Of course, but are you strong enough to walk?" She asked, as I eased my legs over the side of the bed.

"I don't know, I just want a bath," I said determinedly. There was no way I was going another moment without washing away the remnants of the man who had so ruthlessly taken away my most precious gift, the gift that Adam would no longer rightfully receive. I was ashamed. As I stepped out of bed my ankles practically laughed at me and gave way, causing me to crash to the floor.

I heard a bustling and in came Lumiere, concerned beyond belief. "Is she okay? What happened?"

"She wanted to take a bath. We thought she was strong enough," Mrs. Potts said, regrettably.

Loud and fast paced feet rushed into the room and soon Adam was bending down, scooping me up into his arms. "Why would you let her get out of bed?!" His voice boomed, the voice I was familiar with. The soothing sound of a comforting man had gone away, and instead was replaced with a protective, angry fiancé whose love had fallen to the ground.

"It's not her fault! Please, Adam…I demanded that I take a bath," He looked at me with sad eyes, and then turned his gaze to meet Mrs. Potts, who seemed frightened by the way he spoke to her. Adam had changed for the better, but his temper remained ever so present sometimes, and I don't think the staff ever truly stopped fearing him, just a little.

Adam grunted and pushed Lumiere out of the way, whisking me into the connecting bathroom and closing the door behind us. I heard Lumiere and Mrs. Potts walk swiftly out of the bedroom and shut the door. I looked up into Adam's piercing blue eyes.

"Please, Adam, let me bathe…I need to get clean…" I whimpered, begging him to help me rid myself of anything having to do with that night.

He placed a soft kiss on my forehead, and lowered us onto the ground. He cradled me in one arm, and with the other hand turned on the water and began filling the tub.

It was then that I noticed that I wasn't in the same clothes I was in when the attack happened. I hadn't paid much attention to anything except where I was since I woke up in the bedroom, but it dawned on me that I was in my nightgown. So somebody changed me, I thought, feeling slightly violated but knowing that it was necessary. "Adam," I started, "Did you change me into my nightgown?"

"No, sweetness…" he assured me, "Mrs. Potts and Babette did. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to see you bare yet…I thought we would wait for our wedding day for that."

He doesn't know. And how would he? He hadn't undressed me, and I doubt that Mrs. Potts or even Babette would want to be the bearer of such bad news. I wasn't ready to tell him. I couldn't tell him. I was perfectly content with this man thinking that I was simply beaten. I didn't want him to know that I was no longer pure yet. I looked at him in terror and he brushed a wisp of hair out of my face.

"What is it?" He asked, nervously.

"I think you should go," I replied honestly. "I think I should take this bath alone."

He hesitated, and nodded, shutting the water off and testing the temperature. "It's warm. Are you sure you don't need help, Belle?"

"I'm sure, just please…leave me be," I turned away from him. He exhaled, defeated, and walked towards the door. "I'll be in the bedroom. If you need anything, yell and I'll be here, okay?"

I nodded quietly, fiddled with my fingers as he shut the door behind him. I reached behind me and unbuttoned my nightgown, gently slipping it over my head and laying it down beside me. I pulled down my bloomers and kicked them off gently. Bruises covered the insides of my legs, and my entire private area was cut up and damaged. I pulled myself onto the sink and forced myself to look in the mirror at the girl staring back at me. I didn't even recognize her. A bandaged covered the majority of the left side of my forehead. A black and blue bruise engulfed my right eye and cheekbone, and another bruise ran from my temple to my mouth. My neck had a purplish-red mark around it, where he had so ruthlessly choked me. There were bruises on my chest, all over my breasts. Marks were all over my ribcage and stomach, and I flashed back to when he kicked me to keep me silent. I shivered. I braced myself over to the tub, and gently lowered myself into the warm water. Every ounce of me hurt. My entire lower half protested and burned, and I let out a soft, "Ow…" trying to keep quiet. I knew that if I was too loud Adam would make good of his promise and rush back to me, and that was the last thing I wanted.

I reached for the bar of soap on the shelf next to the tub and began lathering my arms. The more I lathered, the more I felt the need to lather. I scrubbed my arms furiously, increasing the speed, and then moved down to my legs. I lifted one leg out of the tub, and scrubbed that one, and then I lifted the other leg out of the tub, and used the soap even more generously on that one. I took a deep breath and placed the soap gently on the place he had hurt me the most. It hurt like no other, but I scrubbed more feverishly than I had with any other part of my body. It was then that I started trembling. I dropped the soap into the tub and lifted my hands to my mouth, in an attempt to keep my broken self from making noise. Tears sprung from my eyes and I convulsed as I began to sob.

I picked up the soap and began washing myself again, raising it to meet my ribcage. I pressed too hard, and, without any control, let out an agonizing, "owwwwwww…."

"Belle? Are you alright?" I heard from right outside the door.

I couldn't even answer him. I dropped the soap once more and hugged my knees to me, sobbing into them.

"Belle, I'm coming in," I heard, before he burst through the door, eyes darting around. I sat up and tried to cover my body. He grabbed a towel and I instinctively reached for it, forgetting that I couldn't let him see me. He stepped back, upon seeing my bruised and scratched up breasts. "Belle…" he whispered. I gasped and crossed my arms over myself.

"There's no point in covering them up, I already saw them," Adam's eyes had a fire to them that I had not seen in a while.

"Can I just have the towel please?" I sheepishly asked him.

"No," He responded, "Belle who did this to you? What happened? Why is your chest that harmed?"

He approached me slowly, and reached for me.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I practically screamed.

"Just let me help you out of the water. Please just let me help you," He said calmly, although his eyes suggested his true emotions were a lot less calm. He scooped me up into his arms and laid me on the rug next to the bathtub. I felt exposed, and gross. He grabbed two towels and wrapped them around me, but paused when he got a glimpse of my thighs and special place.

"Oh my god." He said simply, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't believe…Somebody did this to you and I want to know who. WHO?" He raised his voice as he covered me up the rest of the way, taking me by the shoulders and looking deeply into my eyes.

"WHO, BELLE?" He got louder still.

"GASTON." I blurted, pausing afterward, averting my eyes from his. I looked back at him and hatred filled his face. "Gaston…raped me."

Hey guys! Thanks for reading the first chapter of my story. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review so I know what to improve and let me know what you thought! I hope to be able to post more chapters within the next couple of days.

I'm looking to make this a LONG fic, probably like 10 or 15 chapters. Please let me know if you have any plot things that you would like to see added to this story.

Thanks so much