Sorry for the wait. My beta went on vacation (lucky...)

I looked at Mrs. Potts. "Are you sure?" I asked.

The teapot sighed. "Master, I wouldn't be saying it if I wasn't certain. You can thank the curse for keeping you from catching it," she replied. "I think poor Belle may have influenza."

Influenza. My grandmother had had influenza and then caught pneumonia before she died. I must have looked panicked because Mrs. Potts was quick to add, "It's not the worst case I've ever seen. She should be feeling much better in a week or so. She'll be awfully tired but she'll be fine, Master. Now, why don't you go visit her? I left Madame talking to her and knowing her she's started singing by now!"

I nodded and left my wing. Before I reached Belle's door I could hear Madame singing something in a language I never learned. If the influenza doesn't kill her, I thought, then she'll end up deaf! I opened her door.

"Beast!" Belle sounded tired and a little congested but glad to see me. "I was hoping you'd come!"

Belle lay in her bed, looking just the same as she did when I left the previous night, if a little messier. A chair pulled itself up to her bedside, motioning for me to sit down. I did.

"Mrs. Potts told me she thinks you've got-" I began.

"Influenza, I know," Belle finished, sneezing. "Well, it's not the first time and it probably won't be the last. At least my fever isn't very high."

I grunted in agreement, looking around. Just thinking of Belle, my Belle, sick with the same disease that had caused my grandmother's death made me incredibly uncomfortable. What if the same happened to Belle?

"Beast?" Belle asked. I turned to face her. "Is something wrong?"

I sighed. I didn't want to go into it. Belle saw that and added, "I…heard some the servants talking about your grandmother…is that what's wrong?"

I nodded. "When I was a lot younger my…grandmother caught the flu and then pneumonia. It ended up killing her," I explained, inwardly wincing at the pain the memories brought back.

Belle gasped and took my paw. "Oh, Beast…I've been sick so many times and I've never caught anything more serious than the flu! And that was in a slightly drafty cottage in a country village! Mrs. Potts is a much better doctor than the village's doctor, trust me. I'm going to be fine."

I looked at Belle, still a little worried. She noticed and smiled. "Besides, I'm still young. I'm not going to die anytime soon," she assured me. Reassured, I nodded.

"You're right," I agreed. Belle grabbed Midsummer Night's Dream from a bedside table.

"On the bright side," she pointed out, "we'll have plenty of time to get this done!" "We're already through the first act and nearly done with the second. Now, it was my turn to read…" Belle flipped to the right page and started reading.

Belle may have been fine the first two days, but on day three when I went to see her, she was worse. I didn't even get in the door; Babette met me outside.

"Non, Master. Mrs. Potts won't allow it," she said. "Belle needs to rest and she won't get it with you in there with her!"

I glared at the feather duster, ready to order her aside when Mrs. Potts came out of Belle's room.

"I just don't know what to do with that girl!" she exclaimed. "She's insisting on letting the Master in!" The teapot noticed me. "Well, at least I don't have to go all the way to your wing and then all the way back. You might as well go in."

I muttered my thanks and brushed past Babette and Mrs. Potts. Belle was propped on several pillows, sneezing. I hurried over. "Do you need anything?" I asked.

Belle nodded. "A new body," she replied, closing her eyes. "I feel so horrible…" She coughed. "Being sick is not fun."

"And you won't get any better if you don't rest." Belle and I turned to see Mrs. Potts and Chip on a teacart. "Belle, please try to get some sleep." She continued when Belle tried to protest. "For your sake."

"It's bad enough I'm stuck in bed for at least a week," Belle complained. "I don't to be cut off from Beast too!"

I stood there, silently watching this argument go on, elated when she mentioned she wanted to be with me. I turned to Mrs. Potts.

"I'll take care of her if you want," I said. Mrs. Potts looked at me and sighed.

"As long as Belle does not get up," she stipulated. "Walking about will not help her at all."

Belle coughed. "I have no desire to walk, Mrs. Potts. I'm too tired right now."

Chip, sitting on the cart with his mother, piped up.

"I'll keep you company too, if you want, Belle!"

Belle smiled. "Would you?"

Chip smiled hopping off the cart and up to Belle's bedside table. "Sure!" he said eagerly. "I got new tricks to show ya! Watch!" He took a deep breath and whirled around, spraying bubbles around. "Oops…sorry." The little teacup smiled bashfully.

"Chip! That's enough. It's time for your bath anyway. You can visit Belle and the Master later," Mrs. Potts reprimanded. "Come along now." Chip muttered his goodbyes and hopped off. I waited until the two pieces of pottery had left before sitting down.

"Do you need anything?" I repeated. "Blankets, books, soup?"

"No soup. I've been drowned in soup for three days," Belle complained. "Cogsworth sent a few new books up, though." She motioned to a pile of books by the door. I went over and picked one up.

"Have you ever read this one?" I asked, showing her the cover.

"Haven't ever heard of it," replied Belle. She held her hand out to take it from me; I pulled it out of her reach and shook my head.

"You need rest, and you won't get any if you read this aloud. I'll read it to you," I informed her, sitting back down.

Belle sighed. "You're worse than Mrs. Potts," she muttered, but lay back and waited for me to begin. I flipped open the book and started reading.

It was a collection of stories, tied together with a plot involving a king who married a new girl each day, bedded her that night, and killed her the next morning. The stories were being told by his latest wife to keep herself alive.

"Schera…Shera…Sherazade…what is this?" I muttered, studying the name of the storyteller. Belle looked over my shoulder.

"Sch-ehe-ra-zade," Belle sounded out. "Interesting name," she commented.

"If you could pronounce it," I added jokingly and continued reading, stumbling on all the names.

We got to one tale, about a young thief who'd fallen for a magician's lies and ended up with a magic lamp and something called a genie. Belle asked me to re-read it several times before continuing on with the rest of the book.

We didn't finish the book. Belle fell asleep after the story of a cursed sailor and Mrs. Potts came in to shoo me away. I marked the place in the book we'd stopped and left.

I looked outside over the grounds when I returned to my balcony. It was nearing the end of winter; Belle had arrived at the end of November. Almost five months had passed since Belle's father had invaded my privacy. It seemed like only a few weeks.

Belle…she looked a little better when I left…maybe my reading had helped…or maybe it had just tired her out. I sighed. I was worried about her and not knowing when she'd be better was starting to make me crazy. I missed spending hours together in the library, just being close to her.

"When Guinevere heard that Arthur had been slain by Mordred," Belle read a week and a half later, fully cured, "she joined a convent, and no one could ever make her smile or laugh again." She looked up at me. "That's the end." She had tears in her eyes that she quickly wiped away. "I always cry at the end of that book."

I looked at her. "What a beautiful story," I murmured, taking the book and putting it away on the high shelf it had come from. "Thank you for reading it to me."

"You're welcome," Belle replied. She cleared her throat nervously before continuing. "I'd like to ask you for something."

I turned to her, confused. "What is it, Belle?"

She shifted her weight nervously. "I'd…like a second chance. Would you have dinner with me in a few nights?" she asked, smiling shyly.

I stared at her, speechless. Did she really ask…? "Dinner? Me…with you…." I was stuttering. "Well…that would be…I mean…" Out with it, man! "Yes, Belle." It took all my willpower not to cry out in joy.

"Wonderful! I'll let Lumière know right away," she said, smiling. She hurried off, the skirt of her pink gown, the one I couldn't compliment before, trailing behind her. I waited until I was sure she was gone, then hurried out to find Mrs. Potts.

I found her in the kitchen (Belle had had to show me the way a few weeks earlier, much to her amusement), coaxing one of the teacups into a tub of soapy water. "Mrs. Potts, I need to speak with you," I muttered, feeling uncomfortable under the stares of the other servants. "In private."

"Certainly, Master. One moment." She tossed the last cup into the tub and hopped out after me. "What is it?"

I explained Belle's invitation and told her that I wanted the ballroom cleaned. "And…I think I might need something different to wear," I added. I had worn shirts since that first day, but something told me more would be needed in a few nights.

Mrs. Potts beamed. "Of course, sire. I'll get right on finding you something decent to wear, and I'm sure Cogsworth will organize a cleaning crew! Oh, this is such wonderful news!"

"Don't go spreading it around the castle," I warned. The last thing I needed was for some servant who couldn't keep quiet to accidentally mention the spell in Belle's presence. Mrs. Potts nodded knowingly and hopped back into the kitchen.

In the following days, the whole castle buzzed with activity. Lumière had informed me that dinner would be at seven in three days' time, and the ballroom would be ready in two. By some magic, Mrs. Potts had found a blue and gold satin suit that hadn't been eaten by moths or other insects. Where my servants were finding clothing that fit my…unique shape still eluded me.

"I have to wear a suit?" I asked for the third time, looking at it. Cogsworth, Lumière, and Mrs. Potts sighed.

"Belle will be wearing a ball gown," Cogsworth reminded me. "It's only proper for you to wear a suit."

I looked at Mrs. Potts, who replied, "You asked me to find you something, and I found this. The only thing I could find, actually," she added as an afterthought.

"Think of it this way, Master. Belle will be so entranced at the sight of the marvelous dinner, courtesy of Lumière, and the ballroom, she will not notice you!" offered Cogsworth. I thought about telling him that the point was, for me at least, to get her to notice me, but decided against it.

"Very well, I'll wear it," I sighed. Lumière's hands lit up.

"Excellent. Now, all that you will need to do is bathe and do something about your fur!"

Bathe? No one had mentioned anything about bathing. I hated getting my fur wet. I opened my mouth to say no, but then I thought of Belle. She deserved a companion who was clean.

I'd do it for her. And only for her.