Back at the castle, when everyone else had finished their duties for the night, Remy and Lumiere were playing snap on the stairs in the main foyer with Remy's cards, his most precious possession that he had inherited from his father and it had ended like it usually did..
'Snap!' Remy shouted, as he used his stump to slam the winning card down on the pile.
'Ha, ha, I won again, Lumsie! You gotta do better than that if you are to beat me in any of the card games that we play because I am the MASTER and no one has EVER BEATEN ME!' he boasted arrogantly.
'Oh, well done, Remy,' Lumiere said sarcastically as he threw down his pile of cards, 'considering that you don't have any hands to hold the cards and had to use your stumps, although I suspect that you used one of the spoons to help you deal them,'
'I did not, Lumsie, there were no spoons around that you could see and if there were any, you didn't see anything!' said Remy. 'You're just a poor loser who doesn't like playing cards and can't handle defeat especially to someone who is younger and more vibrant than yourself!'
'Don't start, Remy,' Lumiere hissed at him, 'How about two out of five? Maybe this time the tables will be turned! We'll see who will have boasting rights then!'
'You're on, old man!' Remy said and the two started another game, not saying much to each other, except for the occasional 'Snap!' when one had made a match.
'Isn't it great that the boy and the mistress are getting along so well now?' Lumiere said after a while, 'I'm glad they are not fighting and enjoying each other's company by reading to each other in the library.
I've heard them read fairy tales and Shakespeare to each other and today they were reading A Midsummer's Night Dream and they were laughing so much that Cogsworth got all fussed and told them to keep it down!
I dare say, it won't be much longer before the spell will be broken and we're human again, free from this awful curse.'
'You said it, Lumsie, they're getting on like a house on fire as Kitty Kat would say,' Remy replied,
'And from I heard from the laundry room since it's near the library, they were also reading the Canterbury Tales and doing it in bad British accents that poor old Cogsie, who was being nosy as usual and had spied on them, took offence and thought they were mocking him!
So much for the English and their sense of humour, he seriously can't take a joke and has to be such a fussy busybody!'
Both men laughed, which was strange for the enemies and even stranger for Remy, as he was talking to and laughing with someone other than George and Rebecca, even though she always rejected him and it was the one person that was the target of his jealousy, pranks and bets.
'I miss being human and being able to enjoy a cup of coffee and holding cards in my hands, to walk on two legs again rather than waddle like a penguin on these stumps.
I also want to be able to hold Becks in my arms when she comes to her senses and realises my love for her,' Remy said, slumping down on the steps.
'Same here, Remy,' Lumiere said, putting a candle on his 'shoulder', 'but I do believe that this boy will break the spell. It may be too early to tell but I have a feeling that he will and the mistress will be happy that she will have someone who loves her and she loves back.'
'Wanna bet on it?' said Remy, which spoiled the friendly moment between the two and they were soon back to being enemies.
'Oh no, Remy, I'm not going to be the hapless victim of your stupid and ridiculous bets just so that you can get the pleasure of seeing me be humiliated!' said Lumiere, 'Don't you remember the last time you did this?'
'Oh, come on Lumsie, we haven't placed a bet since the day the mistress was born and I had so hoped she would be a girl and it wasn't just because I wanted to see what you looked like in Babs's dress and to get a few laughs.' Remy said.
'Don't remind me, I was the laughing stock of the castle for seven horrible days and I'm NOT going to place a bet with you so you can take money from me or make me do embarrassing or demeaning things again!' Lumiere said, not wanting to make the same mistake he made the last time.
'Just for old times' sake, Lumsie? Please? Go on, be a pal and play along and I promise that I'll never bother you, pick on you or barge in when you and Babs have your nauseating lovey-dovey sessions!' Remy said.
'No, Remy, I'm not doing it! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see Babette and I'm NEVER making a bet with you again and here's a new card game that you can play by yourself!' Lumiere said, picking up the cards.
'Fifty-two PICKUP!' as he flung them all over the bottom of the stairs, smirking triumphantly at seeing Remy's horrified face as he saw his precious cards scattered everywhere and couldn't pick them up himself.
'Lumiere, you rotten sod, those cards are MY MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSION!' he yelled, 'They belonged to my father and you have gone and flung them on the DIRTY FLOOR and I CAN'T PICK THEM UP SINCE I DON'T HAVE ANY HANDS!
I'm gonna get you for this, Lumsie and to think we had a friendly conversation with each other earlier!'
His rants fell on deaf ears, as Lumiere made his way up the stairs towards where Babette was waiting for him and they both snickered at the washboard as he tried to pick up his cards to no avail.
'What a spoilsport that fool made of wax is, backing out of a friendly bet,' Remy muttered to himself.
'That Remy sure is an idiot,' Lumiere and Babette said, watching him from the top of the stairs in each other's arms.
'I'm glad that Rebecca has the common sense not to get close to him,' Babette said, although Remy didn't know this but the ragdoll had been acting strangely when someone mentioned him or if she was near him.
It was like she was having feelings for him that weren't annoyance or disgust and it was like Leon and Rose's growing friendship was having an effect of her but seeing Remy carry on about his silly cards would make her think differently.
Not everyone in the castle was disturbed by Remy's hissy fits about being pranked by Lumiere and his cards possibly being ruined, for Rose was still wide awake in her room, sitting near the rose, which was wilting faster every day as yet another petal fell, as she watched it land on the growing pile.
But she was not thinking about that as her mind was focused on Leon and the stories they had read in the library that day.
They had read more fairy tales and moved on to Shakespeare by reading A Midsummer's Night Dream which gave them the most terrible giggles and they laughed so much that Cogsworth came in and told them to keep it down.
The little clock was then unintentionally agitated even further when Rose and Leon read the Canterbury Tales in bad British accents and he felt that they were mocking him.
It made Rose smile as she still thought of the giggles and mock British accent she shared with Leon and how much she was starting to enjoy his company, as was he when he read with her.
He didn't shudder and flinch at seeing her beastly form laugh with him and weep at a sad scene in a book and her bad eating habits when she tried to eat that strawberry cream cookie. He was seeing her as the friend he never had and she was feeling the same way as well.
He was truly the only person, apart from her parents, Chip and Sophie, that could really make her smile and forget that she was a beast, that she was almost..human.
If only if she could feel like that, as she was concerned that it wasn't coming back to her if her clumsy attempts were anything to go by. It was like her humanity and animal instincts were competing against each other and humanity had been on the losing side but was clawing its way back.
'I wonder what he is up to now, he must be knackered after all that reading. I hope he hasn't lost his voice, he'll need it for tomorrow when we finish reading the Canterbury Tales,' Rose said to herself, as she picked up the mirror and said,
'Show me Leon,'
The mirror obeyed her and showed Leon in the art studio with Sophie in the art box who was supposed to be going to bed but instead was pestering Leon to read her more stories which made Rose chuckle, as she used to be like that with her mother before bed time.
'Read me another story, Leon!' said Sophie, as he finished reading Sleeping Beauty, 'Read me The Snow Queen!'
'Sophie, you've had four stories already and it's time to go to sleep! Besides, that's not how we ask for things and poor Leon has read enough stories for one day, so no more pestering him, little lady,' said Amelie.
'Please, Leon, just one more story? Please?' said Sophie giving him the cute, eager and pleading look that many people weren't able to resist saying no to her.
Leon smiled at the little paint bottle who looked at him with puppy dog eyes and it was impossible to refuse her another story.
'Okay, Sophie, I'll read you The Snow Queen, but you have to promise that you will go to sleep after this one, otherwise you'll be very tired and grumpy in the morning and your mama won't be very happy. Promise?'
'I promise, Leon,' said Sophie, as she settled down in the art box and listened to Leon reading, but fell asleep after a few chapters.
Trust Sophie to use her cuteness to persuade people, Rose thought as the image disappeared and the mirror returned to its blank state as she put it down.
She felt guilty about her friend, who was unfairly trapped in a curse she did not deserve, taking years off her childhood, much like Rose and resenting her for still having her parents with her, who could help and support her when Rose didn't.
She had also shut her out when she of all people had bravely gone into the West Wing the morning after the curse to cheer her up only to be growled at and have the door to Rose's room slammed in her face.
Yet Sophie had always remained positive, happy and chirpy despite this and still hoped that Rose would be her friend and to find the boy who would love her and break the spell.
But it would be fair to say that she did have some moments that she wished that she was a girl again, which was the very thing that everyone was thinking, that they wanted to be human again and it added to Rose's guilt.
Not wanting to look at the rose any longer, Rose got up from the one chair she hadn't destroyed and waded through the debris still littered on the floor and went over to her vanity table.
She sighed as she saw her beastly reflection in the one mirror she hadn't smashed, trying so hard to ignore it but noticed her long, tangled hair, badly needing a wash, brush and a cut.
She had let it grow over the years and saw no need to take care of it, since her paws couldn't hold a hairbrush properly and didn't bother, merely tying it up in a sloppy ponytail with a pink ribbon to keep it off her face at least when she went hunting.
But it was now driving her crazy and she would have to get the castle hairdresser to cut her hair but the least she could do now was to brush it and get rid of all the tangles. Hesitatingly, she picked up the brush and took a few deep breaths.
'Come on, now,' she urged herself, 'you could do this when you were seven and you can do it now. How hard can it be?'
As soon as she ran the brush through the mass of tangles, it soon turned into a battle, a battle in which Rose was coming out second best as she struggled to tame her hair, grunting in frustration, as the bristles bit into the tangles, getting caught up in them.
She tugged and tugged impatiently, roaring in pain as the brush pulled on her hair roughly.
After a few attempts, she managed to smooth down one half before the brush handle snapped off, curling the head in her hair, the side that was still tangled.
She growled in frustration as she looked in the mirror, seeing one smooth side of hair and an untamed one with the brush head stuck in it. It looked ridiculous and she knew it.
'Arrgggh!' she said, 'what was I thinking? I actually look MUCH WORSE than before!' She threw the handle down on the vanity and slumped down on the seat, trying to contain her temper.
'Mistress, are you alright?' Katrine's voice said from the hallway, 'I have your new clothes for you, so can you please open the door for me so I may enter?'
'Just a moment' said Rose, composing herself before going over to the door and opened it.
Katrine entered holding a bundle of dresses, shirts, skirts and capes she had just finished making and tried not to grimace at Rose's half-smooth, half-tangled hair.
'Well, look what the cat coughed up,' she said,'were you actually trying to brush your hair? You should have used this brush instead; it has wider bristles for getting out stubborn tangles,' tilting towards it while Rose was trying to untangle the brush head out of her hair and not succeeding.
'I was since it was driving me mad, but it looks like I'm on the losing side,' she said, 'I didn't realise that brushing hair as a beast was so difficult,' as she kept tugging at her hair.
'Careful Mistress,' Katrine said, 'you don't want to pull any hair out,'
'Oh, let me help you,' she said, sighing at seeing Rose struggle with the brush and she did the best she could in helping her but eventually they were able to free the offending object without pulling out a huge chunk of hair.
'That's got it,' Katrine said, as Rose picked up the wider brush and started on the other side.
'Thank you, Katrine,' she said.
'Don't mention it,' Katrine replied, 'You see, Mistress, you just need to give it a little time, patience and care and soon it will all be beautiful and everything will be coming up roses for you.'
Rose just thought that Katrine was speaking metaphorically as usual and not making much sense but she knew that her devoted handmaid was talking about more than just her hair.
'You've been a beast for so long that you have forgotten how to be human and yet you've expected everything that you have taken for granted to come back to you and be the girl that you once were overnight.
Well it doesn't happen like that, it takes time and if you let us and Leon help you, it'll come back if you give it a little time..'
'Katrine, you already said that,' said Rose, 'but it's not just about my hair, isn't it? You were talking about something else.'
'Yes, Mistress, for the first time I was not speaking metaphorically. You may have thought it was about something as petty as messy hair that refused to be tamed but it was about you and Leon.
What I said relates to you two and if you give your budding romance time and patience, it will blossom like a beautiful rose in the spring.' Katrine said.
'But Katrine, time is running out!' said Rose, 'The rose is wilting faster every day and more petals are dropping from it! At the rate we're going, we won't make it to spring!'
'Like I would forget,' said Katrine, her tone colder than usual and Rose had realised that the rose was not only a time bomb for her but her servants as well.
But with this newfound hope they had regained with Leon and Rose becoming friends, they believed that they still had a chance.
They just had to make it happen and Katrine had an idea deep within her that could make the two grow closer, something that her aunt had told her had worked well with Rose's parents in the first enchantment and she was hoping to convince the others to do it again.
'Katrine,' Rose said, which got the mannequin's attention and she turned around to see the beast with her previously untamed mane of hair fall effortlessly past her shoulders in a smooth dark auburn waterfall.
'Your hair looks so lovely now that you've managed to brush all the tangles out. I'll see if Monique is still around so that she can cut your hair to make it look more tidy, possibly tomorrow morning at the latest.' Katrine said.
'Now what did you want to say to me, Mistress?'
'Do you think Leon likes me?' said Rose, 'He hasn't said so, but he doesn't shudder when he looks at me or touches my paw and he enjoys reading with me. Does that mean that he likes me?'
'Well Mistress, I'm no expert on relationships and how the male mind works, but I think he does but he's keeping his feelings inside as he may be conflicted about them.
He may not have been in a friendship with a girl or even in a romantic relationship before and it may be overwhelming for him, so he might not know how to express his feelings because let's face it; men aren't one to show their emotions.
But I believe deep down, he likes you, Mistress now that you've stopped being beastly towards him and us, he just has to admit it when the time is right, as do you.
Just keep doing what you've been doing before and enjoying your reading and very soon, I'll convince everyone that we should something that will bring you two even closer, like your parents had done during the first enchantment.
If they could do it, so can you.' Katrine said, smiling as she remembered the girl, who was coming back even if she was a hideous monster, who she had dressed every day and night, did her hair and worked day and night to make beautiful garments for her, like the very ones that were lying on her bed.
There may be something there that wasn't there before, she thought to herself.
'I hope that you like the new dresses I made for you,' she then said to Rose, 'along with some shirts, skirts and capes that took me a few days and two all-nighters to complete, anyway it's not like mannequins need sleep.'
She giggled slightly, as Rose felt the familiar pangs of guilt about the curse, but kept her eyes on her new clothes, admiring them and Katrine's attention to detail.
'They're lovely, Katrine, thank you,' Rose said, looking at the dresses, shirts, skirts and capes in various colours and rose patterns, 'and thank you for the advice you gave me, you're the best handmaid I've ever had and I'm sorry that I had condemned you to be a mannequin.'
She then gave Katrine a hug, which surprised her and wished she had arms to return the hug but she smiled, glad that she was being appreciated again.
'You're welcome and thank you for being kind to me again, I've missed that,' Katrine said, 'and I forgave you for that a long time ago. Now you better get some sleep and I'll try and find Monique to give you a nice haircut in the morning. Goodnight, Mistress.'
'Goodnight, Katrine, and thank you,' Rose said, as she watched the mannequin leave the room only to get stuck in the doorway, as per usual.
'Little help?' she said. Rose chuckled as she pushed Katrine out and watched her leave down the West Wing.
She looked at the rose again and thought to herself,
I can do this, I know I can. The last petal will not fall on us just yet. I won't let it happen.
Rose wished that she believed what she had just thought but for the first time in forever she was feeling happy, like she was being lifted from a thick fog she had been surrounded in and she knew that Leon wasn't just a tool to break the curse.
He was her new best friend, who she cared most about now and if they played their cards right, it would blossom into love. She could only hope it would be sooner rather than later.