Belle couldn't believe what she was seeing, she knew it was Adam she was staring at because of those glowing blue eyes of his, but...seeing what he had transformed into, she didn't know what to say. She saw Adam backing away from her, that's when she was thinking that he was worried about her reaction.

"Adam..." she said, but before she could say anything else, Adam turned around and ran off. "Adam, wait!" Belle shouted, but Adam was already gone. She walked through the rose garden, hoping that he didn't go too far, she had to find him. Belle probably wandered around for a few minutes until she realized that he was doing a good job on hiding from her, not to her surprise. When Adam was still the Beast, he would run off and hide when he felt sad, upset or scared. In fact, he would run off and hide whenever he thought he made Belle feel unhappy or angry.

Belle thought that she would never find Adam, despite the form that he was in, with those big moth wings of his. She was about ready to just go back inside the castle, but when she turned around...there was the little green moth that brought her here.

"You again." Belle said as she stared at the moth. The moth, Citron, flew into Belle's hair and started trying to pull it. Belle gently pulled Citron out of her hair and held Citron by her wings. "If you're trying to show me where Adam is, I get the idea. Please show me where he is." Belle said as she released Citron's wings. Citron pulled on Belle's pointer finger to try and show her the way, just like last time. Belle followed Citron, despite the few times that Citron would stop so that Belle would catch up with her.

Even though Belle was following Citron, her eyes were browsing through the different kinds of roses. To be perfectly honest, Belle wasn't expecting Adam would come to a place like this. From what she's seen and what Adam had told her, the rose that Rouge tried to give him was his timekeeper, like an hourglass, to break the spell. In fact, when he was the Beast and during the few times she's been in the West Wing, Belle would see that Adam would stare at the glowing rose with either anger or sadness. Belle thought that whenever Adam saw a rose; no matter what the color, he would just immediately remember the enchanted rose. She had noticed that there were no red roses, so maybe he didn't want the red ones around because it would remind him of the enchanted rose. Belle snapped out of her thoughts when Citron landed on her nose. Belle just stared at Citron as she flew off her nose pointed ahead. All Belle saw in front of her...was a very large white rose bush.

Belle raised an eyebrow as she looked back at Citron, but Citron continued to point at the bush. So Belle carefully walked up to the white rose bush, she was very careful about going near the thorns, but...when she pushed the some of the white roses away and looked through the bush, that's when she saw Adam again...sitting on the ground with his head on his knees and covered by his arms. Belle just slowly walked through the white rose bush and slowly approached him, she didn't want to scare him away again. As she was getting out of the bush, she was a little surprised that Adam didn't notice her.

Just as Belle came out of the bush, one of the thorns scratched her left hand. She let out a small yelp of pain, but it was only enough where the antenna on Adam's forehead stood straight up! That's when he lifted his head and saw Belle, about a foot away from him. He immediately jumped up and was about to run off again.

"Adam, stop!" Belle shouted as she was about to go after him again, but another rose thorn scratched her left forearm, enough where it opened up the skin. She quickly grabbed her pain to conceal the pain. When she groaned in pain, Adam looked back at her. She was on her knees on the ground, her eyes were closed and she was holding her forearm very tightly. He couldn't bare looking at Belle with such pain, he walked back over to her and sat on the ground in front of her. He reached out and touched her forearm, Belle's eyes opened up and looked at him. Before anything else happened, Belle grabbed Adam and held him. It was enough force that Adam fell backwards and Belle went with him.

"You tricked me!" Adam said not moving.

"I wouldn't say that." Belle said, still holding him, "One of the thorns did scratch me, BUT...I wasn't going to let you run away from me again. I just now realize how soft your...'fur'...really is."

"Belle, stop it." Adam said, trying to get her off him.

"Stop what?" Belle said. Adam then finally got her arms off him and he stood up.

"Don't try to hide it!" he said, "I look like a freak, don't I?! Something that shouldn't exist?"

"Where did you get that...?" Belle started to ask, until she realized that he was thinking about when he first transformed into the Beast...and the first time he met her. She tried to change the focus. "You don't look bad at all." She said, but she can tell that Adam wasn't convinced.

"Don't lie to me, Belle." Adam said, "This form is so...so..."

"Different?" She said, Adam just looked at her. "You're not...the other thing...if that's what you're thinking."

"What other thing?" he asked, a little confused.

"You know exactly what I mean." she said, "the 'M' word." Adam racked his head on what word she was talking about...until it finally hit him. Belle thought he was thinking of the word...'Monstrous'. To be honest, Adam actually was thinking that word, but he really didn't want to say it...and by the way Belle was talking and acting...she didn't want to say it either.

"It...wasn't exactly what I was thinking." He said, knowing that it was true. He was actually thinking of a far different word than that. It was the same word he told Rouge...'Girly'.

"It's not?" Belle asked, "Then what is it?"

"I don't want to say it because...I don't want to offend the love of my life." Belle could tell that Adam really didn't want to say it, so she just left it at that and decided to change the topic.

"How long have you been out here?" she asked.

"Since everyone fell asleep," Adam answered, "I didn't want to take the risk of anyone seeing me like...this. The better question is...why are you out here?" That's when Adam saw the pupils in Belle's eyes shrunk, she then folded her arms and turned away. Adam could tell that something was bothering her...and it was pretty bad. "Belle, what's wrong?" he asked as he walked closer to her. She just slowly turned back at him, but her eyes were still pointing downwards.

"I don't know if I can tell you." Belle said.

"Belle, I'm here to listen to you." Adam added, "You've always been there for me, now it's my turn to be there for you." He brought his hands up to Belle's face, he gently placed his hands on her face and made her look back at his face. "Tell me what's wrong." Adam could see the streams of tears falling from her face. Just out of nowhere, Belle just rammed herself into his chest and held on very tightly.

"Adam," she said, "you do know that you're the first person, outside my family, that I fell in love with, right?"

"Of course."

"I've never felt this way to anyone...but you...and it's because...you accepted me for who I am and...you didn't push me around." Belle softly said, "Unlike some other people I've known."

"Are you referring to...Gaston?" Adam asked.

"Partly, but I'm talking about someone more worse than him." Belle said, "I'm talking about...his older brother...Anton." Adam's eyes widen, the first time he heard about Anton was when he, Belle, Maurice and Tintement where gathering everything in the cottage so that Belle could move into the castle permanently. Someone had tried to break into the cottage and Tintement caught him, he said that his name was Lefou and he said that someone named Anton was looking for Belle. They managed to escape, but Tintement stayed behind because Anton and other men were coming to the cottage. Luckily that none of the men, including Anton, never knew that Belle was at the cottage. Tintement came back the day after with a broken arm, Belle was just happy that she was okay. The second time was on the first day his room was dark and black.

Adam didn't want to let Belle find out that he sort of knew about him, so he decided to play along.

"So...what you're saying...is that he was...somebody that you plain didn't want around you." Adam said holding her back.

"Anton...was more than that." She said, "He...stalked me...ever since the day I came to that village." When Adam heard that, he thought his heart stopped. He didn't know what to think; he felt anger and fury build up inside him.

"Belle...I know this would be hard for you to do," Adam said, "but...I need you to tell me what's going on...and why involves this man." Belle grabbed onto what was left of his torn nightshirt.

"It happened after I thought my mother passed away," Belle started to say, "papa couldn't stand being in our old home without my mother after two years, so he moved me away to that village that you saw. It was a nice place...until I ran into Anton and his younger half-brother, Gaston. My father and I were buying new furniture for the cottage. When we were done and brought the furniture back the cottage, papa said that we could go to the bookstore that was in town. We just turned around the corner and...I ran into him."

"Belle, I need to ask before you continue, how old were you when this happened?" Adam asked.

"It's hard to believe," Belle said, "even I can't believe it, but...I was only twelve."

"You were what?" Adam said almost loudly. Belle quickly threw her hands over his mouth, she didn't want anyone to hear him.

"Adam, calm down and be quiet!" she said removing her hands from Adam's mouth, "Do you really want to attract attention?"

"Sorry, but...you were twelve?" Adam asked again in shock.

"Anton was a year and a half older than me." Belle added, "As soon as I turned that corner and ran into him, it wasn't pretty. He said what was the big idea of running into him. My father got between the two of us before anything else happened. Anton's been after me ever since that encounter, but he didn't start trying to...touch me until I turned thirteen." Adam didn't know if was able to keep what he was feeling to himself, Belle then started walked around the other rose bushes. "When puberty came to me, that's when Anton couldn't keep his hands away from me. He would even do it when my father wasn't more than a two feet away from me. In fact, his father tried to convince my father...to consent to...an arranged marriage." Adam just couldn't believe what he heard, he tried to hold his fury within him as Belle continued to talk. "My father thought Anton's father was crazy himself and immediately refused. Anton said that I would be sorry, but...I didn't believe him...until he crossed a line...and that horrible night came."

"If you want me to be honest, Belle," Adam said, walking up to her, "your father sort-of told me...about his side about what happened, but I don't need to know the details. I also believe you told me enough, so you don't have to talk about it anymore, but I will tell you that I will never treat you the way he or his brother did to you."

"I know that, Adam, I really do believe that. It's just...as you once said, the past won't let go of me. Anton and Gaston have, well, sort-of ruined my life."

"I would say they really ruined it." Adam said, "Wait, didn't you say they were half brothers?"

"Yes, I did," Belle said, "They shared the same father, Anton's mother died from the flu. His father decided to go out and find a new wife and they had Gaston. Anton has never wanted anything to do with his brother, he would always call Gaston mean names and say he was worthless. Gaston would just try to match himself up to his brother, so that Anton would maybe appreciate him, but Anton would never say anything nice to him. I guess when Gaston found out that I refused Anton, he thought he would try his luck with me. I figured that out when Gaston tried to propose to me, he thought I would say 'yes' and immediately marry me on the spot." Belle then giggled, "It's still funny that when he fell out the door, he landed in the mud puddle. Now that was funny." Adam also cracked a smile when he heard Belle giggle, but it didn't last long. "But I know that you want an answer to why I came out here."

"I...already have an idea." Adam said as he held her hand.

"I was trying to go to sleep by dreaming...of our wonderful wedding, but I saw red on the aisle." Belle said trying to describe the nightmare, "Anton was staring at me with these...evil red eyes...and both you and Gaston were in front of the cross...dead." It was becoming harder for Belle to keep talking, Adam could sense it too. He released Belle's hand and embraced her, she just held onto what's left of his nightshirt. "He said that he got rid of the competition...and that I was his...and his alone. I woke up in a sweating panic, I took a bath to see if it would calm me down. It didn't work...I thought if I saw you...it would make me feel better, but then I saw the moths. Some of them landed on my windowsill, they flew off towards here and...I guess it was you I saw moving around, that's when I decided to go see what it was."

"Explains everything," Adam said, "feel any better now that you've seen me?"

"Much," she said, "but I must say, you did a wonderful show with those moths."

"You're sure that I...don't look that bad." he asked, Belle reached up and held his face.

"You're always Adam to me. It's doesn't matter what anyone says, nobody can change my mind about you." When Adam heard Belle say that, he just held her tighter. In fact, his own wings even wrapped around Belle. "Adam, don't get carried away." Belle added.

"I'm still learning about what I can do with my body, that's all." Adam said, Belle just rolled her eyes, pulled his face closer to hers and kissed him. Adam could feel Belle was less tense and upset than from before. He believed that Belle wasn't going to feel 'truly' safe until they exchange rings...and he knew that they probably won't be able to until he gets his family's crown. Adam decided to leave that part alone until his cousin comes, he just continued to return the kiss. At least until Belle broke the kiss.

Belle broke up the kiss because of the urge to yawn, Adam saw how tired she was, in fact, he was tired himself.

"Belle, hold on tight to me."

"What for?" she asked, but before she got the answer, she didn't feel her feet touching the ground. Belle looked down, she saw that she was up in the air, Adam decided to fly back into the castle. "Adam, don't you dare drop me!" she said as she held on tighter.

"I would never do such a thing to you." He said as he flew to the balcony outside his room. Belle never released herself from Adam until her feet felt solid ground again.

"Is it safe to let go?"

"Yes, my dear." Adam said, "You can let go if you want."

"I don't know if I can," Belle said, "if you want me to be very honest with you, Adam, I can't bear to be separated from you again. Not having you around for the past few days...and that miserable nightmare...took away my piece of mind." Belle sighed as she walked into the West Wing, Adam followed her until she sat down on the floor next to his armchair.

"You can sit in my chair, if you want," he said, "or you can sit on my bed." Belle slowly got up from the floor, went over to the bed and sat down.

"Adam," she said, "ever since I realized that I loved you, I would've given anything to have you back. To this day, I still feel like you're going to be taken from me. Gaston almost took you away, but...I...managed to get you back, but...because of how you treated me as myself and...not something else, I feel like I don't deserve to marry you." Adam couldn't believe what Belle was telling him, she didn't think that she didn't deserve him. He was feeling the opposite to her, he felt like he didn't deserve to be with her.

"Belle," Adam said as he sat down next to her, "I think...it's because we've had such hard lives is probably the reason we feel this way."

"'We'?" Belle repeated, "You...were feeling the same way?"

"Sort of...you managed to do so much for me, that...I don't deserve to be with such a strong and brave woman such as you. I've...done such horrible things to you and, yet...you chose to stay near me, you chose to move into the castle and...you chose...to marry me."

"Adam, I wouldn't say you've done horrible things." Belle said.

"Throughout the whole time I've been in the dark, I kept on seeing visions and nightmares of my own. They were all about horrible things I did to you when...I was still cursed. They were all horrible, but there was only one memory that I know that I'll never forgive myself for."

"Which one was that?" Belle asked, Adam then fell backwards and laid on his bed. "Adam?"

"Last Christmas." was all Adam said. That's when Belle remembered that she was trying to celebrate Christmas against his wishes, all she wanted was to make him happy. She didn't know how badly the pain was to Adam at the time. He would go to Forte, the former court composer and pipe organ, to forget about the horrible pain.

Forte didn't want the curse to be broken, he just wanted his master's attention. Forte convinced Adam that Belle didn't care about him or his feelings about Christmas. Adam was so angry with her when she left to get a Christmas tree that...he threw her in the dungeon; the very same dungeon that his father threw his mother in. Belle remembered that day vividly because when she forgave Adam for what he had done, Forte almost killed everyone with his loud music. The only way to stop him was to pull the keyboard off of Forte...and that's what Adam did, but pulling the keyboard off a piano is like pulling someone's heart out of their body; Forte then fell over and never moved again. Belle and Adam never saw his human form when the curse was lifted, that was enough proof that Forte had died.

Belle had guessed that Adam hasn't forgiven himself for throwing her in the dungeon without any explanation from his or her side.

"I know it's a hard memory to get past," Belle said, "but I did forgive you for what you did."

"It doesn't excuse my behavior to you before that." Adam said sadly, "I was just...blinded."

"I wouldn't say you were blinded, Adam," Belle added, "more like...going down the wrong path, but it wasn't your fault, Adam. You need to keep telling yourself that if you ever think about that Christmas again. It wasn't your fault!"

"It feels like it." he said, "The past just won't let go, no matter how much I try."

"We may have a hard time with the past letting go of us," Belle said, crawling up to Adam's side, "but as long as we keep our focus towards the future, it's sure to let go, as long as we keep fighting it. We just need each other to remind us that no matter what happens to us, it's our decision if we want to stay with each other. I know I want to stay with you, Adam. Do you feel the same towards me?" Belle didn't hear anything from Adam for a few minutes...or at least until he surprised her by being right above her. He quickly sat up went over to Belle and leaned over her, his legs were on her right side, but his hands were on both sides of her shoulders. The antenna coming out of his forehead bent over and went into Belle's hair.

"Belle, I want nothing more in this world...than to have you stay here with me. I don't care about the differences between you and I or if someone doesn't think we should be together, nothing could express how much I love you...that's why...I asked you to marry me." All Belle saw were Adam's big blue eyes, she knew that Adam was being honest. It's hard to let go of the past, but it's even harder for the past to let go of you. Belle no longer could contain herself, she grabbed Adam's face and kissed him once again, but this time when she closed her eyes, tears started to fall.

Of course Adam wasn't expecting it, but he knew that this was going to come one day...or one night...and Belle wasn't going to be letting go anytime soon. So Adam closed his wings, grabbed the blankets and covers, threw them over him and Belle and continued their 'little' moment.

Okay, tell me what you think about this chapter. I put a lot of work into this one to make it special, as you might be able to tell. Anyhow readers, you need to take the chapters as they come. I'm going to be very busy with college, so the next chapter won't be coming any time soon.