It had taken longer than Chip would have liked to both find his mother and wait for her to finish giving his brothers and sisters a bath, but now he was sitting next to her on their usual wooden cart, it rolling swiftly along behind Belle as they searched for the saddened plush mouse that was their friend.

"She didn't say what it was that was bothering her?" Mrs. Potts asked her son who shook his head and she frowned slightly in worry "Oh dear. That's never a good sign."

"You'll be able to fix her though, right Mama? You always make people feel better." Chip gazed up at his mother hopefully, wiggling slightly in apprehension.

"I'll do my best to cheer her up dear. Perhaps all she needs is someone to talk to." Mrs. Potts replied with a soft smile at Chip, nuzzling him gently in the closest thing they could get to a hug.

It was quiet for a moment before Belle spoke, tilting her head slightly to the side as if listening to something "Do you hear that?"

They all stopped moving for a moment and listened, straining to hear whatever it was. Faint and quiet though the sound was, they could still make out what it happened to be. "Somebody's singin' Mama!" Chip chirped, bouncing slightly in the hope that they might have finally found Rosalie. They followed the sound of the signing until they reached a doorway leading into one of the many empty guest bedrooms. They silently inched forward so they could hear better and looked inside to find that it was in fact Rosalie doing the singing.

She was looking at the floor and wandering with slow, paced steps around the middle of the room, oblivious to everything except whatever she was feeling and the words she was singing to voice those emotions. Belle bit her lower lip slightly when she saw one tiny teardrop drip off the small plush nose and onto the hard floor that two pink paws were treading upon over and over again in a mindless walk.

"Yeah you, you got that something
I think you'll understand.
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand.


I wanna hold your hand,
I wanna hold your hand."

Belle and Mrs. Potts cast each other a glance, both suspecting that it was Rosalie's heart that was the cause of her melancholy. Chip, however, was not as well learned in reading into people's emotions as the two women and, though he could tell she was still sad, he had no idea why. Which still bothered him quite a bit because he wanted to fix whatever it was to make his friend happy once more.

"And when I touch you I feel happy inside
It's such a feeling that my love
I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide."

Rosalie didn't bother singing the rest of the song, instead leaning her back against the foot of the bed and hanging her head, exhaling forlornly. Belle decided it was as good a time as ever to go in and gently picked up Mrs. Potts while she told her son "Chip, you stay here."

"But Mama-" Chip began to protest, hopping in a useless attempt to try and get Belle to come back and pick him up as well. Mrs. Potts silenced him with a firm shake of her 'head' before Belle stepped into the room. Chip settled down to wait with a small annoyed huff, pouting though there was nobody around to see him do so.

The plush mouse's head snapped up in surprise when someone came into the room and was taken aback to find Belle carrying Mrs. Potts, both of whom were looking at her with concern. Rosalie probably would have heard them sooner had she not been so wrapped up in her own thoughts. She realized Chip had most likely told the both of them that she'd been acting strangely and grimaced inwardly. She was quite sure that if she even tried to voice what was wrong she would lose the battle against keeping herself together. Besides, what would they think of her?

Belle knelt down onto her knees in front of the stuffed mouse, carefully setting the teapot she was carrying down on the floor. Mrs. Potts hopped over to Rosalie and said kindly "Now now dear, Chip tells us you've been down. Whatever could be wrong?"

Shaking her head, Rosalie quickly tried to come up with a plausible excuse "It's nothing, really. Just… tired. That's all."

"Well it certainly doesn't seem like nothing." Belle said softly, chocolate-brown eyes bright with compassion "And I don't think it's being tired either."

"She's right Rose, there must be something more than that to make you so sad." Mrs. Potts gently leaned into the mouse in a sort of hug "Tell us what's on your mind dear, we're you're friends. You can always trust us."

Rosalie looked downward uncertainly before looking back up at them with glistening eyes, looking slightly desperate "You can't tell him, okay? Please don't tell him."

Belle bit her lower lip ever so slightly, considering something, before venturing "Is this about Lumiere?"

Dark eyes widening in surprise, Rosalie gaped at the brown-haired beauty momentarily before stuttering "How-… how did you-…?"

"I'm afraid it's not as much of a secret as I'm sure you'd like it to be dear." Mrs. Potts said with a gentle smile "We've all seen the way you look at him sometimes. He's one of the only people who doesn't know."

Truthfully, Mrs. Potts had suspected it when on the night following Rosalie's first day she began asking questions about the alluring maitre d'. She said it was purely for curiosity's sake, but her expression upon finding out about Fifi did not look like one who was merely inquisitive. Mrs. Potts hadn't said anything about it, feeling that the young woman would tell her if she wanted too, but every time she'd caught Rose casting Lumiere a longing glance, she felt a twinge of sympathy.

Rosalie hung her head, embarrassed and not feeling particularly better from finding this out. Belle reached over and carefully patted the heartsick mouse on her small arm, saying soothingly "Why don't you tell us what happened?"

While Rosalie relented and told her two friends of the events of that morning, something else was going on in a different part of the castle. Several somethings actually. But a particular one was causing a certain clock a great deal of stress. He was a tense man to begin with, but trying to both make sure the castle was running properly and keeping the master happy so he would not be fired or something even less pleasant was wearing on him.

"CogsWORTH." Boomed a snarling, gravely tone sounding as if a furious grizzly bear that had awoken from its slumber had been given the ability to speak "Hurry UP!"

"Don't worry master, I-I'll find her and when I do I-I'll give her a stern talking to about-" stammered the startled clock, backing up cautiously just to make sure he was out of reach of his master's lethal paws.

"NOW!" roared the voice, the force of it sending Cogsworth reeling and nearly knocking him head over heels.

"Y-yes master, right away." Cogsworth fled from the room before anything worse happened and sprinted off down the hallway as fast as he could, which wasn't all that fast as he was a bit of a portly fellow just as he'd been when he was human. He muttered to himself as he searched for any sign of the teapot who was currently supposed to be serving the master his afternoon tea and was obviously not doing so "Is she insane? Is she trying to get us all killed? Or perhaps it's just me she's trying to be rid of. Just because I told her she couldn't leave before making sure all the dishes were well-dried doesn't give her the right too-"

He stopped in the middle of his grumblings and skid to a halt when he saw the familiar golden figure of another source of the clock's stress. Had Cogsworth not been quite so flustered by getting yelled at by the master and the missing Mrs. Potts, and had he not been in such a hurry to find her, he might have noticed that the candelabra was not his usual smiling self. But as it was, Cogsworth's mind was plagued with other, what he thought was more important, things and he had no time to even detect this. "Lumiere, please tell me you've seen Mrs. Potts! The master is furious!" Cogsworth panted, out of breath even though he had not run all that far.

"She and Belle went zat way." Lumiere gestured slightly with a hand and, once more, had Cogsworth been paying any attention at all he probably would have observed that Lumiere's flames were out and his voice did not hold its typical suave confidence and cheer. But of course, none of this even registered in Cogsworth's preoccupied mind. Without even so much as a thank you, Cogsworth pelted off in the direction the Lumiere had indicated.

Back with the three women, Rosalie was just finishing up her tale of what had caused her current depressed state. She was actually quite proud of herself for managing to keep her voice from breaking and holding back the tears that kept threatening to escape from her eyes. "I-I know it's a stupid thing to get upset over, I shouldn't have let myself… fall for him in the first place." Rosalie finished, rubbing at her eyes with her dainty pink paws.

"Love isn't something any of us can control dear, it just happens. It's nothing to be ashamed of." Mrs. Potts consoled kindheartedly, offering the young woman a warm smile.

"And don't blame yourself for getting upset over what happened; of course you'd be upset." Belle added, giving Rosalie's back a calming stroke.

Rosalie finished rubbing away any residing tears and looked up at Belle, her slim pink tail twining agitatedly about her legs "What should I do?"

"I think you should tell him." Belle answered firmly, her tone showing she felt it was the only logical answer to the question.

"Tell him?!" Rosalie squeaked, caught off guard by Belle's resolute response, and starred up at the pale, slim face in disbelief "I can't just tell him!"

"Well, why not?" Belle inquired, not at all agitated by Rosalie's reaction, calm as ever as if this were quite simply the right thing to do, simple as that.

The plush mouse seemed even more flustered by what her friend had said, stumbling over her words. "B-Because of Fifi! I mean, he's already with her, I can't just-… do that when they're… you know." Rosalie realized she was babbling a bit and tried to make a better argument "Besides, all it'll do will make things awkward between us and I don't want that. I don't want to ruin our friendship over-… over whatever it is."

"It's true that he is already with Fifi… but I still think you should tell him. So he knows how you feel and can… well, take it into consideration. You never know what could happen." Belle replied determinedly.

"She has a point dear." Mrs. Potts spoke up with a nod, looking rather solemn "It wouldn't hurt to try."

Before Rosalie could come up with an argument against this, Cogsworth burst into the room looking frazzled and very irritated. He was huffing and puffing, apparently having run for a ways, and bent over slightly to catch his breath before glaring at the three women and panting "What-… in the world-… are you doing-… here?"

"Rosalie here was a bit dreary so Belle and I are trying to cheer the poor girl up." Mrs. Potts answered, watching the clock with an almost dubious expression.

"Ch-cheering her up? I nearly got killed because the master was so furious over you being late and your reason is that Rosalie was sad?! Are you completely-…" Cogsworth trailed off in his rant when he noticed how truly dismal the plush mouse looked and that she was hanging her head at his words, looking even more bleak. He cleared his throat uncomfortably then tentatively stepped forward and awkwardly patted the young woman on the shoulder. "Eh, there there Rose. Surely it can't be all that bad, can it? I mean-" he emitted a slightly fake laugh while blurting the first preposterous notion that came to his mind "I-it's not as if you're in love with Lumiere or anything dreadful like that."

Rosalie's furry shoulders slumped and she emitted a small moan before sliding down a little farther against the foot of the bed. Cogsworth's brow furrowed at the reaction then, taking in Belle and Mrs. Potts' expressions he put two and two together and stammered in disbelief "Y-You're in love with Lumiere?!"

"Shut up!" Rosalie hissed, straightening and looking past his shoulder in a vain attempt to make sure nobody had heard his cry "I don't want the whole castle to know!"

"We're trying to convince her to go talk to him and tell him how she feels." Belle added, glancing at Rosalie before her deep brown eyes rested upon the clock.

"Tell him how she feels? Are you mad?!" sputtered Cogsworth incredulously "She can't just waltz up to him and-"

His barely started rant was stopped dead in its tracks by twin glares from Belle and Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth gulped nervously then tried again "I-I mean yes, yes, that's a fantastic idea. Of course she should tell him how she feels, it only makes sense."

"No, no, Cogsworth is right. I can't do that, I can't risk our friendship. I don't have a chance against Fifi anyway…" Rosalie murmured quietly, gaze locked on the floor.

She could still remember quite well the first time she had laid eyes upon Fifi. Luscious mink-brown hair pulled up in a bun with the typical maid cap snuggly atop her head, her deep-brown eyes flitted over the shelf she was dusting. Full red lips set beneath a slim, pointed nose were curled in a beautiful smile as she hummed some tune or another as she worked. Her face was slender, angled and glowing with life and cheer. She moved to the melody she was humming, curvy form swaying back and forth gracefully. She was a beautiful woman, nobody could doubt that.

Even when she was cursed, she still held onto her natural attractiveness and grace. She may be a feather duster, but the presence of her beauty still somehow resided even in the feathery form. She was still in some way… striking, duster or not. Whereas Rosalie on the other hand was just a plain, plush mouse. She had fake fur, a tail, and could easily be mistaken for a rat. And anyway, in her human form she hadn't been all that pretty to begin with; at least she didn't think so. Her pear-shaped body was no match for Fifi's prominent hourglass figure.

"I will not have that talk from you Rosalie." Mrs. Potts scolded immediately, well aware of the young woman's lack of self-esteem and disagreeing with it completely "Think about why we're here, why we're all objects instead of humans. It's all about the beauty within dear, which you have."

"Mrs. Potts is right Rosalie; looks on the outside have nothing to do with what's on the inside. I knew a particularly piggish and horrible man in my town who was handsome, but inside was nothing of the sort." Belle wrinkled her nose slightly at the memory of her old courter.

Rosalie shook her head slightly "I-I don't know, I don't think I can just say it to him. I couldn't even say it out loud right now if I wanted to."

Belle and Mrs. Potts both looked to Cogsworth for support who coughed slightly before trying to build up the heartsick mouse's bravado "Come now girl, show some courage! Take charge of things, make yourself known! Are you a man or a mouse?"

Rosalie looked at him, raising a furry eyebrow incredulously and Cogsworth realized his mistake and stammered embarrassedly "Ah yes, well I suppose that's rather, erm… well you know what I mean."

After a moment of considering everything that had been said and thinking over all of the years she had spent wishing the one day he might finally notice her more than just being a friend, she pushed herself off from the foot of the bed "Alright, I'll do it."

"Wonderful!" Belle beamed proudly, happy that her friend had built up the courage enough to proceed, brown eyes alight with enthusiasm.

"You'll feel much better with it off your chest dear, you'll see." Mrs. Potts smiled warmly while Rosalie gave the teapot a quick hug in thanks, the plush toy often considering Mrs. Potts very much like a mother, as many of the residents of the house did.

"Splendid, splendid, off you go!" Cogsworth waved his hands at her to try and shoo her away then gave Mrs. Potts a stern look "You've been slacking off your duties. Now I suggest that you get to the master as quickly as possible before he gets any angrier."

"Cogsworth, it's not her fault that she was late. She was just here for me. Please don't blame her for this." Rosalie said softly, gazing pleadingly up at her, and everyone else's, incredibly stern boss.

The clock put his hands on his hips and glowered at the mouse, opening his mouth to undoubtedly lecture her on something. But he paused, remembering the bleak expression that had been on her furry features moments before and felt the slightest twinge of guilt. He exhaled deeply in an annoyed fashion, though it was mostly aimed at himself for being soft. "Oh alright. But don't let it happen again. Go tell Lumiere everything right now before any more trouble is caused by it." He growled, doing his best to sound like his usual gruff self.

"Thank you Cogsworth." Rosalie gave him a quick hug before scampering out of the room to find Lumiere before she worried her way out of telling him the truth. Cogsworth blinked, vaguely stunned at the action, and Belle and Mrs. Potts giggled at his expression before Belle stood and picked up the teapot.

Cogsworth snapped out of his momentary shock as Belle went into the hallway and sat Mrs. Potts down on the cart. Chip had fallen asleep waiting for them to come back, having snuck out of his cupboard the night before to pretend he was an adventurer in search of treasure and wandered about the castle and was quite tired from his late night excursion. Bustling out after the two women, Cogsworth issued instructions brusquely "Mrs. Potts, report to the master immediately, it will be my head to pay if you don't! And don't you give me that smile!"

Author's Note: Once again a sort of 'modern' thing, I realize that 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' was not around back then, but the lyrics fit how she was feeling as did the melody of the song. I forgot to mention that Rosalie's voice, in my head at least, is done by Alexa Vega. Think Repo! The Genetic Opera. x]

What's wrong with Lumiere you ask? Read on to find out~

Also, I don't own Beauty and the Beast or 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'. Not owning BatB goes for all of the chapters. :P