Sorry it's been so long, I had finals and then holiday stuff with my family. Hopefully I'll be posting quite a few chapters over the rest of break though. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, Hanukah, or whatever you celebrate at this time. Enjoy!

Cogsworth~

The next week was incredibly busy around the castle. Although I was occupied the majority of the day, I was distracted by the knowledge of Eveline's past. I wondered how anyone could be so cruel as to try to force anything about of a young woman, especially sweet Eveline. The nerve of someone to mistreat such a precious person was beyond me. I internally fumed over it the entire week and lacked on my duties on a few separate occasions. "Cogsworth," the sound of Prince Adam summoning me interrupted my thoughts. It was the morning of the coronation.

"Yes, master?"

"Please, Cogsworth, aren't we past formalities?"

"I—I suppose so, sire…oops."

"Please, Cogsworth, I'm just Adam."

"That will take some getting used to…" I replied honestly.

"What's been going on with you? You've been distracted this past week…I've never seen you make this many mistakes before, Cogsworth…" he said honestly. This was what I was afraid of.

"I know, mas—Adam, I apologize …"

"What's going on? I'm worried about you…"

"Oh, it is nothing of that sort!" I said.

"Then what is it?"

I knew he would refuse to let it go and as the prince, it was my duty to answer to him, "I am just worried about someone…"

"Eveline," he said knowingly.

"Yes," I replied, "something she told me the other day really shook me up…"

"And you miss her?" he questioned, though by his expression it was obvious he understood what I was feeling.

"Yes."

"I feel the same with Belle. With all of this duty it's hard to spend time with those you care about. Just a few more hours, Cogsworth, then we'll have time with them. What do you say about taking next week off?"

"Oh, I could never do that!"

"How about just tomorrow?"

"Well—alright, I will take tomorrow off."

"Good. Enjoy it, Cogsworth."

The coronation went swimmingly and the next day, I went to search for Eveline. When I found her, she looked distressed. "Eveline, are you alright?"

I looked up at me and smiled, "Oh! Bonjour Cogsworth."

"What's wrong?"

She smiled lightly at me, "It's just been a long week…I'm so glad it's over."

"You should be relaxing," I pulled the cloth she was using to clean out of her hand, "There is nothing that we need to clean the dining room for. You have cleaned it every day."

"What are you saying?" she asked skeptically.

"Come on a walk with me?" I requested.

She smiled, "Let me go ask Mrs. Potts…" A minute later, she returned with a smile, "Let's get going." I smiled in satisfaction; I had already known that Mrs. Potts would let her go.

We walked the gardens. At first it was in a peaceful silence until I turned to her, "I feel as though you should know as much about me as I know about you…"

"You don't need to tell me anything that makes you uncomfortable…" she replied slowly.

"If I never said anything that made me uncomfortable, we would not be here because we never would have gone to the ball together," I stated knowingly. She giggled in acknowledgement of the truth in that statement. "The reason I have been so nervous is based upon my past as well…" I started, taking a deep breath, still not sure how much I was planning on telling her, "Her name was Geneviève. We were best friends growing up until I started having feelings for her. I was twenty at the time and unknowledgeable about a great many things…"

"I can't imagine that, Cogsworth," she said with a smile.

"I went to her attempting to get her to feel the same…which bothered her a great deal. When I finally mustered up the courage to tell her how I felt, she rejected me and told me that ever since my obvious feelings blossomed I had been acting immature and unreasonable….I lost hope in ever finding happiness again…that is why I get so worked up with my job…because I need to have something work out for me…" I sighed, "You remind me of her, actually. Spunky, charismatic…except I see an elegance of self in you that she never possessed…" I trailed off, trying to convey how much more fond of her I was than I ever was with Geneviève without telling her in so many words.

"I suppose my running off that one day added to your stress and nerves…" she replied guiltily.

"Please don't feel guilty, Eveline…I had no intention of making you feel that way."

She looked up at me, "Only if you admit it."

"Alright, it added to my nerves."

"Thank you…" she said and from her tone I could tell it was about more than just admitting she was right.

"Excuse me?" I said quietly.

She met my gaze with her deep brown eyes, "Thank you…for not giving up on me."

I smiled as I took her hand in mine and gave it a squeeze, "I would never dream of such a thing, ma chérie."

We walked in silence for few minutes hand in hand. I smiled and turned to her, "Eveline?" I had no idea how to express my desires to her, but I knew I had to try.

"Yes, Cogsworth?"

I took a deep breath and turned to face her, "We have clearly been interested in each other for some time now and I was wondering if you would do me the honor of courting me?" It came out much smoother than I had expected. I sighed of relief; then I awaited her reaction.

Her face went from curiosity to confusion, which made me apprehensive. Then her expression turned the brightest I had ever seen it. Her radiant features were exemplified by her joy. She seemed at a loss for words. After what seemed like an eternity of this, she took a breath and hugged me, "Oh yes, I would like that…" then she backed off, embarrassed.

I put a hand on her arm with a shy smile before pulling her into a hug, "Wonderful…" I whispered into her hair.

Eveline~

I stayed in his arms for quite a while. I was comfortable in his presence. Our silence filled the air with a comfortable mood. We eventually continued our walk as our silence continued. He then gently pulled me toward him and motioned for me to sit down. I sat on the ground, waiting for him to join me. He sat beside me and took in a breath of the fresh spring air, "Do you know the story of the young boy who went on an adventure?"

"What kind of adventure?" I asked as I looked around the garden in awe.

"Well, he stole his father's biggest horse and rode out to the woods alone…" he started.

I looked up at him to see he was gazing at me, I blushed, "Please continue…" I requested.

"Well, once he got into the woods, he ran into a bear—"

"Wait, how old was this boy?"

He stopped to think about it for a second, "Hm…no older than eleven." He then continued, "The boy was so frightened by the bear, but the horse quickly neighed and went on its hind legs. The boy fell and the horse ran in the direction they had come from. The boy started to run too, but the bear was too fast. Then when he thought all hope was lost, an arrow hit the bear. His father came and helped him up, scolding him along the way….you know who the boy was?"

"A cousin of yours?" I replied sarcastically.

"It was me!" he proclaimed proudly, though it was quite obvious. I giggled, finding his pride in this story humorous and quite cute at the same time. "What?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing, you're just sweet…" I replied.

"Oh—hum—alright…" he said sheepishly.

I giggled, "So, what changed?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"What made you go from rebellious Cogsworth to current Cogsworth?"

"I thought I already explained that," he noted.

"Yes, but that's a dramatic change….I know it must have hurt with Geneviève, but was that all that did it?"

He took in a deep breath of air, "I suppose there was more to it. That was the factor that made me act on all of the things telling me to be a hard worker."

"What else was there?"

"My father, mainly. Also the fact that I got fired a couple of times for doing things my way rather than the proper way…"

I turned to him with my jaw dropped, "You?"

He chuckled softly and I embraced the feeling of his slowly moving shoulders with his chuckle against my back. "Yes, me…I suppose the bad things in my past have molded me to my current state."

"Was it worth it?" I wondered aloud.

"Was what worth it?"

"Your past worth who you are now?"

He smiled at me, "Well, being that I am sitting here with you, yes, yes it was worth it."

I giggled, "Was it before?"

"Yes, it was. I was more stressed before, though. I prefer it this way."

"So do I…"

We stayed in the gardens chatting until the sun started to set, "Oh, it's getting so late! We've been here for hours; I didn't even realize it had been that long!"

Cogsworth chuckled, "I suppose it has been quite a while, but I am strangely okay with that," he replied with a wink.

"Mrs. Potts is probably wondering why I've been gone so long…"

"What is another ten minutes to watch the sunset?"

I looked at him in shock, "I think a bit of the old Cogsworth is coming out!"

He laughed, "She will not mind, ma chérie. I know her well enough to be certain of it."

I returned to my previous position of my head on his shoulder and sighed with contentment, "Do you think things will always be this way?"

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone in the castle being so happy, us going off for hours and it only seeming like minutes…all of it."

"I dearly hope so."

I hope you enjoyed the nice long chapter:)