Warning: Will eventually contain mature material. Language. Lemons. Some spicy limes. Maybe full-blown things. ~_^

A Salvation Called Love

-Chapter 17-

-Dinner Mishaps & Bedtime stories-

[Mr. Gold]

I was finished with what I was doing for the night and it was time for dinner. I wanted to find Annabelle before we ate because I had a present for her, a tiny teardrop pearl necklace. I made my way downstairs and peeked into Annabelle's room but she wasn't there. She was probably in the kitchen so I made my way downstairs to the first floor and walked slowly down the hallway towards the kitchen. Halfway there I could hear some clattering going on, like someone was charging through it. I hurried my pace as I heard Annabelle cursing loudly. I slammed the door open and stopped when I saw her sitting on the floor near the stove surrounded by pots and metal bowls. She was holding her hand and curled around it like she'd hurt herself. I made my way past the pots and bowls to kneel beside her. "Annabelle, are you ok?"

She peered up at me through her hair and shook her head. I could see the tears staining her cheeks. "No."

I reached out to gently touch her hand to see what she'd done but she pulled away from me, curling around it even more. "Annabelle, show me."

"I just…" She nodded her chin over towards the direction of the stove. I turned and saw what she'd wanted me to see. The oven door was hanging open and carrots and onions and potatoes were spewed around a huge chunk of meat. Roast I presumed. "I was pulling it out and I guess my mind wasn't with me today. When I went to put it on top of the stove it slipped and spilled back on me, burning me. Then I bumped into the dishes I'd just washed and tripped over them and pushed them onto the floor."

I gave a tiny sigh and reached out again for her hand. "Let me see, dear-heart."

She shook her head but when I reached to grab it she allowed me. "Be careful... please."

I sat completely down on the floor and gently laid her hand against my leg. It was red on top and along her arm where the roast juice had hit her. There were a few blisters forming across her skin and I knew she was probably in a lot of pain. "Come."

When I stood up and reached for her uninjured hand she just stared up at me. "What are you doing?"

I found myself doing what she did to me quite frequently. I rolled my eyes. "Fixing to patch you up, dear-heart. What else would I do when you're hurt?"

She gave a small laugh and finally took my hand. I pulled her up as gently as possible and then instead of having her walk I scooped her up into my arms, ensuring that her left arm was facing outwards so that I wouldn't hurt it. She clung to my neck like a lifeline. "I can walk, Dominic."

I grinned down at her and started walking out of the kitchen to make my way up to my room. "Can you? I didn't know you could, Dearie."

I laughed when she huffed and buried her face against my jacket. I could still feel her body trembling from the pain and I knew she was still crying. When she spoke her voice was muffled and rough from crying. "Thank you… I know I'm always a burden."

I started walking up the stairs and gave a tiny laugh, holding her tighter in my arms. "You're no burden to me, Dearie. Not at all."

She turned her eyes up at me and I struggled to keep watching in front of me so that I wouldn't get distracted and stumble on the stairs. "Liar. Ever since I came here I've been causing trouble, you just won't admit it."

I snorted. "Dearie, the only trouble you've caused me is your sass and driving me mad with temptation."

She laughed lightly and snuggled back in against me. I stepped off the top of the stairs onto my floor and walked down the hall towards my room. She frowned up at me. "Why are we going to your room?"

I grinned. "So I can ravish you."

She gasped and gave a fake attempt at wiggling out of my arms. "Pervert! Put me down, I can walk on my own."

I gave a deep laugh, something I found I'd been doing a lot of lately, and kept walking. "Calm yourself, Dearie, your virtue is safe… for now." I winked down at her and watched as she blushed and buried her head against my jacket again. I flicked my hand so that I could open the door and not have to put Annabelle down. It slowly opened in front of us and I walked through as if I'd left it open the whole time. Annabelle didn't seem to notice. I walked over to my bed and gently sat her down. I pointed a finger at her as she looked up at me. "Don't move."

She gave a small nod so I turned away and walked away, disappearing into my bathroom. I had some salve that I kept in one of my cabinets. It held magic in it, for fast healing, and herbs to make it smell good. The herbs were also used to disguise the fact that it contained magic. I also grabbed some gauze to wrap around her arm so she wouldn't see the magic working. I returned to the bedroom and found Annabelle wandering around, looking at all my books. She turned when she heard me walk up behind her. "Have you read all of them?"

I figured she wouldn't have listened to me. I'm just glad she hadn't wandered over to my desk. The journal I'd been writing for her was sitting in front of my computer. I walked over to one of the couches I had around the coffee table in my room and sat down, patting the area next to me so that she would sit down. "Yes."

She sat down and slowly offered me her hand. I gently took it and laid it back down against my leg. "Have you read all the books in the library downstairs?"

I opened the jar holding the salve and the smell of cedar and mint filled the air, both meant to calm. I very gently started rubbing it against the burn and the blisters, ensuring to cover all of it. "I enjoy reading and I've been collecting those books for a very long time. Each time I collect one I read it and then put it either in the library or up here."

She sucked in a small breath as I picked up her arm to start wrapping the gauze. "Do you have a favourite book?"

I finished wrapping the gauze and gently sat her arm down again. I leaned back against the couch and stared at her. "In a sense I do."

She scooted closer to me and peered up at me expectantly. "So, what is it?"

I sighed and wrapped my arm around her, pulling her in so that she could cuddle against me. I absently played with her ponytail as she laid her head against my chest, curling her legs up onto the couch. "It's an old story about Beauty and the Beast." It was true. A writer a long time ago had gotten a majority of the story right and I still owned one of the original copies. I wouldn't brag about it, not even in the least, but it had been Belle and I that had inspired the story. She had been the beauty taken away from her family by a beast and locked away from the world. Except for the most part she had been happy with me… until I'd become afraid to love her and thought she'd betrayed me. The only difference about our story and the writers was that he'd given Belle and the Beast a happy ever after. Something that hadn't been true.

Annabelle leaned back and stared at me. "I would never have pegged you for someone who would like fairy-tales like that."

I gave a small shrug and sat up. Now was a good time as any to give her the necklace I'd been on my way to give when she'd hurt herself. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small chain. I turned and held it out to Annabelle. "I was going to give you something earlier, but then I got distracted by taking care of you."

Annabelle gave a tiny squeak as she gently took the chain from my hand, our fingers brushing together. "Wow… it's absolutely beautiful, Dominic."

I gave a small nod and watched as she unclasped it and put it on. "It was Belle's… before she died. It's very special to me and I wanted to give it to you."

She leaned forward and gave me a gentle smile as her fingers played against the pearl. "I've never been given something this beautiful before, thank you. I'll cherish it along with her memory. Always."

I smiled back at her and moved to the edge of the couch. Annabelle moved with me and when I stood I offered her my hand again. "Come. If we're going to eat tonight I'll have to start cooking."

She slowly took my hand and blinked up at me in surprise. "You… cook?"

I gave a deep chuckled and pulled her up against me. "Of course I do, Dearie. How do you think I survived on my own all of these years?"

"Well… I thought you'd hired a maid or a cook or just gone out to eat all the time."

I snorted. "As if. I think anyone else but you in my home would drive me mad, though I think that's already happened for the most part."

She gave that cute gasp of outrage that I'd come to love and smacked me on the arm with her unhurt hand. "How dare you say such things to me, Mr. Gold! I haven't driven you mad, you were already mad to begin with!"

I chuckled and pulled her along with me as we walked out of my room. I closed the door and locked it behind me, then took her arm in mine and started walking down the hallway. "I'll tell you a secret, Dearie, all the best people are mad."

She rolled her eyes at me as she kept step with me. "Are you quoting Alice in Wonderland to me, Mr. Gold? Cause if so you surely are mad. Bonkers. Off your head."

I chuckled and brought her hand up to my lips to kiss it gently as we headed down the stairs towards the kitchen. "All the above, dear-heart, all the above."

Dinner turned out to be good. I was able to save half of what Annabelle had cooked and made some pork chops and caramelized onions with it. We ended up having the pork chops, scalloped potatoes with honey, and of course some carrots which were saved from the dumped roast pan. It was very good and Annabelle had been surprised that I could cook so well.

"Who taught you to cook, Dominic?" She looked at me as she popped the last piece of her pork chop that I'd had to cut for her into her mouth. "You're pretty good at it."

I shrugged and scooted my empty dessert plate away from me. I'd had a piece of Annabelle's homemade blackberry pie with a spoonful of ice-cream, another favourite. "Before I left home my mother taught me how to cook. That was before she'd gotten sick. That's when I had been forced to get better at cooking. Then I had to cook after my wife died so I took some cooking classes and it helped I suppose."

I watched her sit her fork down beside her now empty plate and her expression go from intrigued to sad. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"They're not all bad memories, dear-heart. Just sad ones."

She stared at me silently for a few seconds before giving a small nod of her head. "I suppose so." She then stretched back in her chair, arching her body as she yawned. I heard a few of her bones pop as she did so. She looked absolutely beautiful stretching like that and I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath as I pictured what she'd look like stretching and writhing beneath me as we made love. She must of mistaken my expression on my face for pain or something because when she reached out to touch my arm I wasn't expecting to see her staring up at me from where she knelt in front of me. "Are you ok?"

I licked my lips slowly and nodded. Her blue eyes were so intoxicating up close. "I guess I'm just a little tired."

She grinned and propped her arms on top of my knees, being careful with the burned one. "How about you read me that Beauty and the Beast story you said you liked and tuck me into bed."

I arched a brow. "You want me to read to you?"

She nodded. "And then I want you to stay with me tonight."

"Stay with you."

"Yah. Sleep with me so we can cuddle. I sleep better when you're with me."

I blinked down at her for a few seconds before giving her a tiny nod. "I suppose I can."

She smiled brightly up at me. "And you'll read me part of the book?"

I nodded again. "A few chapters." I stood and helped her up. "I'll finish up the dishes so why don't you go upstairs and shower and get ready for bed. I'll be up with the book when I'm done."

She nodded. "Ok. I'll be waiting." She gave me a small kiss on the lips before leaving to head up to her room.

I sighed and collected the dishes. I could just rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher and then use my magic to clean the remaining pans.

It took half an hour to finish everything before I headed to my room to but on my pajama bottoms and grab the very old book from the bookcase closest to my desk. It was the one that held my most important and beloved books.

When I returned down to the second floor and walked into Annabelle's room, she was flopped out on the bed waiting for me. She grinned at me when she saw me. "Bout time you showed up."

"Patience is a virtue, Dearie." She laughed and scooted up so that she could pull the covers back for the both of us. I walked around the bed and kicked off my slippers, sliding into the bed next to her. She propped herself up with a few pillows and wiggled closer to me as I got comfortable. I gently opened the book up to the first page, the prologue. I looked down at her. "Are you ready?"

She nodded and laid her head against my shoulder as I began to read.

Once upon a time there was a young prince. The prince was the most handsome man in the entire land. He was sought after by many but he accepted none. The prince was a breaker of hearts. He loved to tease and only thought of himself. He was a selfish young man. On the night of his 16th birthday and the night of his coronation there was a knock at the castle door. No one but him seemed to hear it so he went to go send whoever it was knocking on his door away. When he answered the door he saw a haggard, wizened old woman carrying a single rose. She begged for a warm place to stay for the night. The prince asked her how she would pay to stay in his castle and she offered the only thing she could, the single beautiful red rose. The prince scoffed at her and told her off, telling her no one would want a rose as payment for anything. Just as he was closing the door to the castle she called out, warning him not to be deceived by appearances. He laughed and closed the door. When he had only taken a few steps back into the castle the doors flew open and a strong wind began to swallow him. He turned and found himself face to face with a beautiful young woman who was as pale as the moon and glowed with power. Her long, midnight locks blew in the wind created by her power and the prince bowed before her begging to be forgiven. He desired the woman for himself but the enchantress wasn't deceived by his apology. She knew he had a heart as cold as ice and consumed by darkness. In payment for his ugly heart and actions the enchantress turned the prince into a beast as ugly as the inside of him. She then cursed his entire castle and all of his servants. The beast begged the enchantress to forgive him and to turn him back but she refused. She gave him the rose she had previously offered and told him to cherish it because it would grow and bloom until his 21st birthday. If he hadn't found someone to accept and love him, someone who didn't judge him because of his appearance by the time the last petal of the rose had fallen, then he would be forever cursed to live as a beast. She left him then and he locked himself in his castle. For four years no one stepped foot onto his land for fear of being eaten by the beast said to live in the cursed castle. The prince resigned himself to forever living as a beast because who could ever love a beast?

That was the end of the prologue and Annabelle smiled up at me sleepily. "I've never heard that version before. It's very sad."

I gave a small nod. "The prince deserved his punishment." I knew the words to be true. I had been consumed by power and hate and anger at the world and the people around me. I had to watch the world change and I had to watch as the people I had once called family or friends died away and left me alone. I was despised by the world but sought after by many for the power I possessed. I was a beast. Who could have ever loved me? "Are you ready for chapter one?"

"Yah. Go ahead." I smiled and knew that she wouldn't make it too much further into the book before she fell asleep. She was already fighting it but she wouldn't win.

In a nearby village there was a young woman named Belle. She was very beautiful with long flowing auburn hair and many men desired to court her, even if she was reclusive and a bookworm. Her father was crazy, or so the townsfolk said. Belle loved her father dearly. He was all she had left after her mother had passed away. Most of the time Belle's father spent his time in the basement trying to invent things that would help support them and feed them through the upcoming winter. Belle was always in the local library checking out books and never paying mind to anyone and no time for men. But despite all of this there was one man in town that was bound and determined to make her his. He'd approached her many times but each time he was turned away, Belle saying she had no desire to marry. She only wanted to remain with her father and take care of him. Gaston didn't like this. He kept telling the village that Belle would be his soon. One evening, a few days before the neighboring fair, Belle's father was working in his basement when a loud explosion brought Belle down to see if her father was alright. He laughed and said that he had to get his invention to work. Belle helped him as much as he could for the rest of the evening until it was time for dinner. Giving on final try to the invention, Belle's father was surprised that it worked. He proclaimed his joy and swung his daughter around and around. He told Belle he couldn't stay for dinner because he had to travel quickly to the neighboring fair. Belle was worried because it was getting dark out and it looked like it was going to storm. Belle's father told her not to worry because he knew the way. Belle sadly helped her father load up the wagon with his invention and hook up their only horse in order to pull it. Before he set out for the fair, Belle's father told her that he loved her and that soon they would be living better than they had been. He left and the storm clouds slowly closed in. Belle was frightened for her father but knew she couldn't do anything to stop him. He had a mind of his own.

A few hours after leaving Belle's father noticed that the storm was coming faster now and he had no shelter. He tried to hurry as fast as he could but got confused as a fork in the road, choosing the wrong path. When the rain started falling that's when the wolves started howling. Belle's father tried to calm the horse but it spooked and took off at a maddening pace, running blindly through the woods. He was thrown off and left in the dark and the rain without light or shelter. He prayed that the horse would find its way back to Belle. With the wolves closing in on Belle's father he made his way through the dark forest until he happened to stumble upon a large, seemingly abandoned castle. He tried to open the gates as the wolves stepped out of the trees, circling him, but they wouldn't open. He cried out begging for entrance, begging for someone to be there. The gates magically opened and he fell through, landing face first in the mud and rain. The gates clanged closed and the wolves snarled at being denied their prey. Belle's father gathered himself up and trudged on towards the castle where it stood dark and imposing in the dark. Lightning flashed above and lit the castle up, making it look even scarier but Belle's father didn't frighten away. This castle, even if abandoned, was shelter from the rain and the wolves which were still howling outside the gates. Stepping inside, dripping water as he walked, he made his way through the great hallway trying to find a room. For being abandoned it looked clean enough. He was halfway down the hallway when a voice called out to him. He stopped and tried to find who it was but there was no one. The voice called out to him again telling him to come to the table beside him. There he found a clock and a candlestick that could talk. Belle's father freaked and was tempted to leave but the objects begged him to come with him and warm up, otherwise he would get sick. He decided to trust them and allowed himself to be taken to a large room where a roaring fire was. It was warm and he quickly pulled up the massive chair in the room until it was as close to the fire as he could get. He was served tea and given a blanket, all which he was grateful for. Soon he was drowsy and was about to fall asleep when there was a loud, echoing roar through the castle. The doors slammed open and the fire was blown out. Belle's father woke up and peered around the edge of the chair only to come face to face with the eyes of a huge beast. The beast didn't give him time to explain why he was there. The beast took Belle's father and locked him away in the dungeons to die.

The following day Belle was walking through the field watching the sun rise. Just as she was heading back to the house she spotted her father's horse running full out with the wagon bumping behind him. Belle ran towards it and grabbed the horse's reins, find that her father was not with him. She quickly unhooked the wagon and saddled the horse up, begging him to show her the way to where her father was. She didn't care if she would be in danger by being alone, she had to find her father. It took her a few hours to find where her father had fallen. His had was laying there, soaked by rain and mud. She found his footsteps in the mud and followed them, the horse trailing behind. She soon came upon the castle that had sheltered her father and now was his prison. Making her way through the gates and into the castle she tried to find her way around. That's when she spotted a light leading down a hallway. She begged whomever it was to stop and she quickly followed. When she got to the bottom of the stairs there was no one, she grabbed the candlestick lighting the stairwell and walked further into the dark hallway. When she was halfway down the hall someone called out to her. It was her father. She cried and went to him asking him why he was locked up. Belle's father knew that the beast was coming back soon and he didn't want his beautiful daughter to be here. When he begged her to leave she refused. That's when the beast arrived. His roar echoed through the castle again as he stopped close by Belle, hidden by the shadows. He asked why she was here. Belle begged him to release her father. The beast refused at first but then when Belle stepped into the light to try and see the beast better he decided to make a deal. Her life for her fathers. She agreed, saying she would stay forever as long as her father was taken home and saved from this cruel fate. The beast released her father and sent him home by way of magic. He then locked Belle in a cleaner, warmer cell and left her there for the night. He had no clue what he was going to do with her now, but hopefully she would be the one that could help break this curse.

Annabelle's light breathing as I stopped reading told me that she was finally asleep. I smiled gently down at her before wiggling off the bed. I walked over to the dresser and lightly put my book on top of it. I didn't want it sitting on the floor. I then walked over and turned the light off before wiggling my way back into bed. I gently scooted Annabelle down until she was laying like she should and I then I did the same, pulling her against me so that her head rested in the crook of my arm. I smiled in the dark and pressed a kiss against her forehead before closing my eyes and allowing sleep to wash over me. It took only a few minutes before I was joining Annabelle in dreamland.