A.N.- 98 follows now, thank you guys! And I'm sorry this is so short. Please review and enjoy. I'd like some helpful and/or kind feedback if anyone as any :) thanks again

Song: Imagine Dragons - Demons

It starts as a rising feeling of fear, then pain - agonizing pain. She can't tell which is worse. "Stop, please!" she screams at the top of her lungs, begging for someone to listen to her. But no one does. She's screaming so loud her voice starts to strain.

The hits come one after the other, each hurts worse than the one before. At first it's just her hitting, but then he joins in at her demand. He's angry. "You have disgraced our family! I had such hopes for you." The emotional pain becomes stronger, now more unbearable than the beating. She knows she's failed them.

Somehow she breaks away from the torture - a flash of darkness - and finds herself in a small cottage. The lights are dim and all she can see is a small woven basket. There's something in it; whatever it is whines quietly. She approaches the basket and looks down. There's a baby with jet-black hair and brown eyes, a girl. The child looks up into her eyes and smiles, reaching out a tiny dimpled hand. Belle smiles and reaches in to pick up the baby, but it's gone in the blink of an eye.

Frantically, she searches for the child - her child - but finds nothing.

Belle was roused from her nightmare when Klaus grabbed her gently by the shoulders, pulling her to his chest. She quickly realized that she was crying. She wrapped her arms around his back and held him close. "You were screaming." He stroked her hair as he tried to comfort her.

"Was I?" She scoffed, pulling away to wipe her tear stained cheeks.

He frowned. "You've had nightmares every night since you went to see them, since you saw her." With the hem of his t-shirt, he wiped the leftover tears off her face. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, not really," she said. Her eyes drifted to the window where the sun was starting to rise. She was nearly overcome with exhaustion, but she was afraid that if she went back to sleep she would have another nightmare. "Go back to sleep. I'll be fine, Nik. Really." She forced a small, reassuring smile.

Unconvinced, he shook his head. "You're not a good liar, love. And if either of us needs to sleep it's you."

Her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. She wasn't giving in. "I don't want to."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "You're so stubborn." It was difficult not to notice his eyes playfully raking from head to toe and back up to her eyes. Sometimes he acted no better than a teenager. "If you don't want to sleep, what do you want to do?" He smirked.

She rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Well..." Her eyes looked him over like he had done to her. A light laugh slipped through her crooked lips before she rolled in the opposite direction, got up and padded across the floor. She peered at a clearly displeased Klaus as she rummaged through her closet.

"What are you looking for? Anything interesting?" She ignored his question and everything it implied as she continued her search.

At last she found what she was looking for - a sketchbook and some drawing pencils. She smirked and turned to fave him, supplies in hand. "I'm going to draw you " she said, pointing a pencil in his direction.

Belle blended out a few harsh lines to finish off the drawing. She had always wanted to draw him. Not just because he was handsome - which he was - but because she wanted to capture everything about him and display it on a piece of paper for everyone - mainly him - to see. She wanted him to see himself as she did.

"Why won't you tell me what you were dreaming about?" he asked.

Her eyes momentarily flickered to him, drinking in his expression. "Because you don't need to know. My demons are my demons, not yours." She kept her eyes on the drawing, picked up a pencil, and continued drawing.

He sighed, his expression hardening. He reached over and took everything from her hands.

"Hey," she protested, shooting him a dirty look.

"You love me, don't you?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" she snapped.

He was getting agitated. "Just answer it."

"Yes. Of course I love you."

He put the paper and pencils aside before taking her hands in his own. "Then let me in. I want to help you, if I can. Please."

She bit her thumbnail. "Fine," she mumbled. As it always had been, she couldn't refuse him. She sat up and looked mindlessly out the window. "I keep dreaming about the night my parents found out I was pregnant, when they beat me and kicked me out. That's how it starts. But then it changes, and I see her." She cleared her throat, trying to distract herself from the tears that sprung to her eyes, threatening to spill over.

"Lilith?"

She nodded. "She's a baby, and she's so tiny and helpless. I try to pick her up, to hold her and comfort her, but then she's gone. I think it's my subconscious's way of reminding me that I'm a failure." A rogue tear slipped down her cheek to her chin.

Klaus reached out and caught the tear with his thumb, wiping it away. He caressed her face. "You aren't a failure."

"Yes I am," she whispered. "I failed my family and my daughter. I failed myself." Abruptly, she pulled away from his soft touch and got out of bed. "I can't do this right now. I can't afford to be weak right now." She turned to him and sniffed, wiping away the remnants of tears.

Her lips parted like she was about to say something, but she didn't know what to say. Her mind was racing. She needed to figure out what to do about her family, her mother more importantly. After running everything Claudia had said over in her head dozens of times, Belle still couldn't figure out what the old hag's plan was. No one comes back from the dead without one. All she knew fore sure was that, in the end, either she or Claudia would end up dead. The concern at hand was which one. She hoped for the latter.