"Tell me what's the problem." Mrs. Potts said as she poured a cup of tea for Maurice. They were sitting in a room that the servants didn't use very often, just a spare room in the servant quarters.

"For so long," Maurice started, "I thought my brother and his family were dead. In fact I knew they were dead."

"How did they die?" she asked, Maurice just stared at the ceiling.

"Somehow their house caught fire...my brother and his wife...were caught in the blaze. They...never had the chance." he said, Mrs. Potts could hear his voice breaking, "I also thought their daughter, Tintement, also died in the blaze. I thought the fire turned her body to ash...I couldn't believe at first, but...she managed to survive."

"Survive?"

"Yes, I just found out sometime ago," Maurice still couldn't believe what he was saying, "Tintement showed up at the cottage, I didn't want to believe it at first because...I thought she was dead for so long."

"Sometimes...Miracles can happen when we least expect it." Mrs. Potts said.

"I couldn't believe that I had a piece of my brother back," Maurice said, "and now...I can't believe that I lost it again."

"Lost it again?" she asked.

"Last night, we left the cottage without her." he said, "That village exiled my daughter and me...we had to get out of there before...he...showed up."

"He?" Mrs Potts asked, "Who's he?" Maurice struggled to say his name, he brought some much pain to Belle when she was a teenager.

"Anton." he said with such anger in his voice that Mrs. Potts almost took a step back.

"Sounds like someone you don't like." she said.

"Don't like? I loathe him just like my daughter loathes him." Maurice said as he looked out the window. "Gaston's brother was nothing but a true monster. If you thought Gaston was bad when he came here, Anton is much much worse." Mrs. Potts swallowed her tea before she spoke.

"How so?" Maurice scoffed to himself.

"Anton has had his eyes on Belle ever since she turned fourteen, he would bother her every time we had to go into town. He would also...do things that he would do when I wasn't more than a few feet away."

"What kind of things?" she asked.

"Things that would invade a lady's privacy," Maurice basically said, Mrs. Potts almost dropped her cup of tea when she heard that, "Belle always felt violated when Anton was near. One night, he crossed a line."

"What did he do?" Mrs. Potts asked, Maurice just stared right into her soft brown eyes.

"Believe me, you don't want to know that detail." he said, "It was that horrible, ever since that night, I made sure Belle stayed inside the cottage until Anton would leave for his hunting trip during the fall and winter seasons. Belle, of course, didn't like the idea of being locked in the house all the time, but she understood why I did that to her."

"So Belle wouldn't come out of her cottage during the spring and summer?" she asked, "It must've been hard."

"It was, but Belle told me she would rather be in a dungeon than be out in the open where Anton could find her." Maurice said, "But every time Anton wasn't around, his equal pig-headed brother of his would go after Belle. At least he didn't violated her...until she refused his marriage proposal. Belle has the same problem Veronica had."

"What problem is that?"

"Veronica had always...had some strange ability to attract men." Maurice said, "I always got angry or jealous when a man tried to convince her to marry one of them instead of me. But...she refused to hear what they had to say...she told me that no matter what the other men tell her...she wouldn't give them a chance because their words were false. I guessed that she meant that they were lying to her."

"By the sounds of things," Mrs. Potts added, "Belle is just as wise as your wife."

"I just wish she was here to see...how great of a woman Belle has become."

"I think she knows herself." Maurice stared at Mrs. Potts' smile, he smiled himself.

"You're right," he said, "talking about things can make it better."

"I have some good advice," she said, "but I'm not that wise. We might as well head to the parlor, that's where everything from your cottage is waiting."

"I don't know what to do with the furniture and my inventions." Maurice said as he opened the door for Mrs. Potts.

"The master didn't tell you?" she asked.

"Tell me what?"

"We have a workroom here in the castle, it's never used. So when the master found out about your inventions, he wanted to give you the workroom so you can keep working on them." Nothing could express how excited Maurice was, his own workroom.

"How big is it?" he asked as they walked towards the parlor.

"Very large," Mrs. Potts answered, "plenty of ventilation and large enough to hold a couple of horses."

"I can't wait to see it!" Maurice said, with with excitement.

"I wonder why the master didn't tell you." Mrs. Potts said, "I would think he would've told you by now."

"I think it's because he's still nervous around me." Maurice said, "I've forgiven him about what he's done in the past, it must be because I'll soon be his father-in-law."

"Too bad the queen passed away when the master was a child." Mrs. Potts said in a sad voice, "She would've adored Belle."

"How come no one here ever mentioned his parents?" Maurice asked, Mrs. Potts stopped in her tracks and looked at Maurice. He could see and sense that it was a very sensitive topic.

"Don't ask that again," she said in a very serious matter, "especially in front of the master. We don't want him to go into a state of depression again. His parents are a very sensitive issue."

"At least tell me why?" he asked, Mrs. Potts could see that Maurice just wanted some answers. She sighed and looked around, she had to make sure that nobody was near, especially Adam.

"Because of what his father did." she whispered, taking more precaution. "The master's father was a very abusive man, not just to me and the other servants; he was also very abusive towards his wife and son. The master's mother killed her husband in order to save her son, but a couple of years later, she went into a burning mansion to save Adam. She died two weeks after the master's ninth birthday. After she died, the master wouldn't allow anyone to mention his parents...because of the horrible beatings and who knows what else his father gave him and the...sacrifices his mother did to protect him." Maurice couldn't believe what he heard, what man beats his wife and his own child?

"Make sure that you don't tell the master or Belle about what I've told you!" Mrs. Potts added, in a very serious tone of voice. "If the master finds out, he'll go into his hole of depression!" Maurice couldn't speak after hearing what she told him, he just nodded 'yes' so that Mrs. Potts knows he won't talk about it with anyone. "Good," she calmly said, "now let's get to the parlor."

"This trunk can go in my room."

"Very well, Mistress." Belle was turning pink when a servant called her 'Mistress'. She, Adam and a few other servants were helping sort everything in the trunks; weather they should go in Belle's room or her father's room.

"I wonder where papa is." Belle said.

"That's a a good question," Adam said, helping sort out the trunks. His muscles were getting sore from moving things around in cottage, trying to escape the village and moving things today.

"I saw him with Mrs. Potts earlier," Lumiere said, standing back up before picking up a trunk. "He might still be with her." Belle didn't know what to feel about her father spending time with Mrs. Potts, especially when she found out the truth that her mother was alive.

"I think I'll go look for him." Belle said, "I know there are certain things in these trunks that only he knows where he wants them." She walked over to the parlor door and opened it, but before she took a few steps out, she saw her father and Mrs. Potts coming towards her. "Never mind, here they come." Belle left the door open for her father and Mrs. Potts. When they came in, Maurice looked through some of the trunks.

"Sire," Mrs. Potts said, "why haven't you told Belle's father about the workroom?"

"Workroom?" Belle asked, she looked at Adam. He slapped his forehead with his hands and slid them down his face.

"Mrs. Potts, it was meant for a surprise!" Adam said, being a little disappointed knowing that the surprise was spoiled.

"Oops," Mrs. Potts softly said, "sorry sire. I didn't mean to spoil it."

"Did you tell him everything?" Adam asked.

"Not everything," Mrs. Potts said, "only how big it is."

"When were you going to tell me?" Belle asked, Adam made a small groan to himself.

"I was going to tell you when your father got in here so I could tell both of you." Adam answered, still sounding disappointed.

"Well," Maurice said, "I do appreciate such a gift, Adam. I'm sorry that I found out this way, but I do thank you."

"When can we see it?" Belle asked.

"Once everything in here is put somewhere." Adam replied, "Can't have everything on the floor."

"Good point." Belle said. Just then, there was a ruckus going on outside. There was a knock on the parlor door, Adam opened the door. One of the guards came in and quickly closed it behind him, the guard had a nasty black eye and was having a hard time catching his breath.

"What happened?" Adam asked.

"Sire," the guard said, trying to catch his breath, "there's a woman...trying to come onto the castle grounds. She looked like she was just in a nasty fight. When we stopped her to ask what she wanted, she started fighting us. You can see the evidence already, she's on her way to get inside the castle."

"What does she want with us?" Mrs. Potts asked. Suddenly, they all heard the woman's voice shouting.

"Get out of my gosh-for-saken way!"

"That's Tintement's voice!" Belle said in shock, she went to the parlor door and ran out.