"Wow, this is huge!" Maurice said as he looked around the workroom. Nothing could express how large the workroom was, Belle, Maurice and Tintement looked all around the place while Adam was standing by the workroom door. There were large windows for ventilation, the walls were made with hard rough rock and it was big enough to hold multiple horses.
"Adam, how did you get such a large room?" Belle asked as she looked at him.
"It was originally built as indoor horse stables," Adam answered, "but my mother couldn't stand the foul odor coming up from the ventilation shafts, so the servants built a another set of stables that were separated from the castle. Once the stables were built, the horses were taken out of here and this room was cleaned multiple times to get rid of the smell."
"I believe that." Tintement said, looking at the ventilation windows, "It must've stunk down here!"
"It did," Adam said, "Mother wouldn't allow me or herself down here until this place was cleaned out, which took about a month."
"So...what was this place used for after the horses were moved out?" Belle asked, she saw Adam frown when she asked that.
"Mother...never figured out what she was going to do with it." He basically said, Belle figured that Lydia died before she made up her mind about that.
"Well...at least it's being used now." Belle said, trying to make Adam feel better. Adam could see that she was trying, he smiled at the response.
"Well, I only told the servants to bring your tools in here, Maurice." Adam said as he looked over at his future father-in-law, "We weren't sure if you wanted the furniture in here or not. There are sketchbooks and charcoal over on that desk."
"I can see that." Maurice said excitedly, Belle (and Tintement) could see that her father was getting very excited to get started.
"Papa, we can see you want to get started with everything." Belle said, "So why don't you go back to the parlor and tell everyone you want the furniture in here...just leave mother's rocking chair alone!"
"Don't worry, dear," Maurice said, "I don't plan to mess with that and you're right, I'll go back to the parlor." Maurice left as soon as he said that, Belle just shook her head in the air.
"Haven't seen him this excited for quite sometime." Tintement said.
"You can say that again." Belle said, "At least this time we won't have to worry about any explosions he'll have."
"Explosions?" Adam asked as his eyes got big.
"Don't worry, Adam," Belle said to calm him down, "there are only very little ones. There isn't much to worry about!" Adam breathed a sigh of relief.
"Little huh?" Tintement asked, "They better be little, we don't want a repeat of what he did to Aunt Veronica's basement." Belle almost giggled because she remembered what her mother told her about that day.
"What?" Adam asked.
"Well, this happened before I was born," Belle said, "but mama always talked about this incident to prove her point to my father. My father was working on an invention that could cut hair, but he put in the wrong kind of fuel for it and...the machine exploded."
"It was bad enough to create a hole in the basement ceiling," Tintement said, "which was also the kitchen floor, almost right where Aunt Veronica was standing. Too bad I wasn't there, I would've burst out laughing."
"Was your mother angry?" Adam asked.
"Yes," Belle said laughing, "she was more mad than a wolf losing its dinner. Mama wouldn't allow him to build anymore inventions until he fix the kitchen floor and the stove. Turns out the explosion also melted a part of the stove. He fixed the floor, but he had to buy a new stove because he couldn't fix the stove."
"He better not do anything like that." Tintement added as she was about to lift her right arm, but she forgot about the sling. She quickly put her arm back in its position in the sling, "Both of us will have his head if the servants don't get to it first."
"If you like, Tintement," Adam said, "I can take you to your room in the castle so you can rest your arm."
"Mrs. Potts said you should take it easy with that arm." Belle added.
"I know," Tintement said, "I'm not used to doing what others tell me what to do. Even with this busted arm of mine, I can still do what I can do. I don't need special treatment."
"But you sleeping outside and working with heavy things aren't going to help!" Belle urged, Tintement rolled her eyes and said;
"Do you have to make your point about everything?"
"Not everything, but with you, yes." Adam certainly didn't want to get between Belle and Tintement, they didn't need his input. It didn't take long for Belle to win the argument, Tintement finally said 'fine' after twenty seconds of talking.
After that little scuffle between Belle and Tintement, Adam showed Tintement her room. It was a little smaller than Belle's, not by much, and was covered in green and silver. Tintement walked in and closed the door behind her.
"I wished she gave you a 'thank you'." Belle said, shaking her head.
"It's all right," Adam said as he started walking down the hall, "I'm starting to get used to your cousin's way of...'manners'."
"I was wondering," Belle said, following her fiancee, "since we got everything done today, with all our packing and putting things away, maybe we could spend some time in the library?" She knew that there was some matters that Adam had to attain to, but she missed reading with him so much. Out of nowhere, Adam grabbed her waist and spun her around twice. When he was done, their faces were no more than a breath apart.
"Believe me, Belle," he said smiling, "even I wanted to spend time with you rather anything else. I would love that more than anything, just...let me do one thing and...I'll meet you in the library." Belle just grabbed his shoulders and kissed his right cheek.
"I'll meet you there then," she said, "just don't forget." Adam released Belle as she started her way down the hall. Belle's hand slowly slid out of his own, he continued to watch Belle until she turned around a corner.
"Can I do this?" Adam asked himself as he walked into the West Wing. He wasn't sure if he had the courage to write a letter to his cousin, Sagittarius. "I haven't heard from him in twelve years. What if...what if he doesn't want to talk to me?" He was starting to doubt himself, he didn't even know if his cousin was even alive. Sagittarius is ten years older than himself. "He would be 31 this year, he's probably starting to look his age." Adam said as he sat down in an armchair in front of his fireplace. He couldn't help but doubt himself about Sagittarius. He didn't want him in his life anymore because of, what might have been, an accident.
Adam's eyes wandered over to the table that the rose was, the rose and glass dome was still covered by his white handkerchief. He got out of his chair and walked over to the table. He pulled off the handkerchief, the rose was still the way Rouge left it, alive with sparkles falling off the petals like water. Adam started to remember that horrible Christmas, that night he became...the Beast. He also remembered how much he wanted Sagittarius there, he wanted him so much.
"I made such foolish mistakes." Adam said to himself as he stared at the rose, "I wonder if...Sagittarius...still thinks of me." A tear escaped from his eyes as he placed his hands on the table. Just then, there was a green glow that caught his attention.
Adam opened his eyes and saw that the glow was coming from the enchanted mirror. It was starting to do its magic, Adam grabbed the handle as the mirror started to fog up. He watched the fog disappear, his big blue eyes widen as the mirror showed him...his cousin.
Sagittarius was sitting in an armchair in front of a fire as he was looking at something in his lap. Adam couldn't believe it as he stared at the picture, Sagittarius was alive! He also couldn't believe how Sagittarius looked, he didn't look like he aged at all! Sagittarius still had his black hair and his dark indigo eyes, that he inherited from his father. Adam started to recognize what was in his cousin's lap, it made him start to cry. What Sagittarius had in his lap...was a scrapbook.
Adam made that scrapbook for his cousin because of how much they missed each other when they were apart. It was also the last thing Sagittarius got from Adam before Lydia, Adam's mother, passed away. Adam saw tears falling from his cousin's face as he flipped through pages of the scrapbook. When Sagittarius closed the book, he held it to his chest and looked up at the ceiling.
"Oh Adam," Sagittarius said, Adam couldn't believe it as he listened to his cousin, "this is all my fault. Why did she had to come and ruin our lives?"
'She?' Adam thought, 'Who's she?' Adam didn't remember a girl being around when he was living in his cousin's castle.
"I can only hope that you're safe and...happy." Sagittarius continued to speak, "Oh, what am I saying? Adam hasn't seen me in so long, he probably doesn't want me in his life anymore. I figured that out when he threw that table at us." Adam couldn't stand it anymore, he put the mirror face-down on the table. The magic faded away when he put the mirror down.
"I want you in my life now, Sagittarius." Adam said as he raised his head, "I'm going to prove it to you now!"
Belle waited quite sometime for Adam, she really hoped that she could spend some time with him...alone...before the day was out. She sighed as she held a book in her hand, it was 'Romeo and Juliet', the same book Adam was trying to read back to her when he was still a Beast. Belle greatly missed how she and Adam would spend so much time together, she knew that she had to get used to it since Adam is trying to receive his role as 'prince'.
Belle stated to remember when Adam confessed to her that he couldn't read. Nothing could express how Belle felt for Adam, she couldn't let Adam feel beneath her. She helped him regain his reading abilities, he was starting to get better before...the night she left. The memory was very painful for Belle because...she still felt like it was her fault that Adam almost died. Belle laid across the couch and closed her eyes, trying to push the horrible memories away. She couldn't stop the tears that escaped her eyes, she didn't like the fact that she would start crying when such horrible memories would enter into her mind.
"Belle, are you okay?" Belle opened her eyes, she saw Adam leaning over the couch. She quickly wiped her eyes away as she sat back up, Adam came around the couch and sat down next her.
"I was starting to think you weren't going to come down." Belle said as she smiled and wiped the rest of the tears away. Belle could see the small bit of concern on Adam's face. "Don't worry, Adam, I'm fine." Adam knew that Belle was telling him that so he wouldn't be worried, it was hard for him not to be worried every time he sees his beautiful Belle cry. He decided to let it go...this time.
"All right." Adam said, Belle pulled out the book and opened it where Adam left off.