-Belle-
Polly and Vandy left them alone, but Belle barely noticed. The last time she held him like this, he was dead. The last time she touched his face, it was cold, and now he cradled her to his chest when the tears came.

His hand stroked her hair hypnotically reminding her that he was there. Her tears soaked into his shirt and her arms were trapped against him as he rocked them both back and forth. Nothing was said for a long while. He was murmuring sweet assurances in her ear that everything was going to be okay.

"You died." She said, her voice muffle into his shirt. She packaging every feeling she had into those two words.

"I know." He said softly. He loosened his grip on her so that he could see her. His hand reached out and his finger traced her cheek bone. She felt like a dream in his arms. Just holding her made him afraid that he would flinch and everything would fade away.

"The wolfmen, are they dead?" she asked, jolting upright.

His hand ran up and down her back, cherishing every moment he had with her.

"You don't have anything else to worry about. The blood moon is over and the wolfmen are beaten. What remained left of the hunting party is probably back to the human realm. It's all finally over."

She reached up and traced his jaw with her hand. He shuddered from her simple touch he wondered if she knew exactly how much power she had over him. Desire and hope combined to make her completely irresistible. She leaned up to him and pressed a reverent kiss to the corner of his jaw. Every touch and kiss brought back dark memories and healed them. She was the very embodiment of the kind of affection he had thought he was incapable of receiving.

All at once he felt pathetic. How reprehensible must he be when the only thing he needed was to feel wanted by someone. Overwhelmed, he stopped her kisses and pulled her into him tightly, trying to brand the feeling of her into his heart.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, muffled into his chest.

"No." He said, but his voice shook. It did not escape him how completely vulnerable he was to her.

"You died. I think it would be completely normal to have a few problems."

He remembered everything. He remembered fighting the Prince in rage fueled desperation, and he remembered the worst pain he'd ever felt eclipsed by horror. Horror that he had failed everyone he loved most, but especially her.

"You brought me back."

"It wasn't me, it was-" He pulled her away from him. One of the questions he had been agonizing with since he was brough back resurfaced.

"You brought me back Belle. No one could have done what you did for me. What did it cost?"

"Nothing." She did not even try to be convincing with her denial.

He snorted, "Unlikely. Magic cannot be wielded for free."

"I can't leave. I belong to the forest just as you do."

He stilled. His mind travelled down every path where she would come to regret that cost. "You shouldn't-"

It was her turn to cut him off. "You were dead. I would have given a lot more than my freedom to bring you back. It cost me nothing."

"I didn't keep my promise." Their parting words were a banner in his mind that reminded him of his failures. He detached his hands from her.

"You saved me."

Her reply was generous. There was something oddly humorous in her reply that made him chuckle darkly.

"No. I didn't. You're cursed."

"I'm not cursed."

"Yes, the sorceress explained it to me. Spells, curses, it does not matter. It's my fault you're trapped here."

Belle was angry. Boiling point, head exploding angry that took control of her in that instant. She was tired of him shouldering the blame for things he could not control. She could not listen to him for a moment longer.

She stood suddenly without warning, but he stopped her before she got very far.

"I never wanted it to be this way. I never wanted you forced to be here. I wanted you to have a choice"

"I did have a choice, and it was an easy one. What about your choice? Where was your choice Adam?" Her voice was raw, and she knew she must look like a hysterical mess.

He sighed, "It's different. This was my destiny since the day I was born. I'm the one who dragged you into this from the very beginning."

She shook her head.

"You haven't forced me into anything. You died Adam. Don't you realize that? You gave me everything. You gave your home and your heart, and your own life to protect me, and you did. I am the one who couldn't let you go. I did not sacrifice my freedom for the good of mankind. I did not sacrifice my freedom for you. I sacrificed my freedom because when you died and I realized what I lost, it was too painful to face. It was selfish, but I don't care. You are a better person than I will ever be."

He pulled her against him a cupped her face with his hands.

"That's where you're wrong." he told her. "It was always selfish with you."

She opened her mouth to disagree, but he continued.

"-no matter what you may say or think about me, the moment I saw you it was selfish. Every time I see you, I want you to myself. You make me selfish."

She closed her eyes, overcome with feelings. She didn't deserve this man. This man who was impossibly kind despite his past. This man who was impossibly gentle despite his nature. He was hers and she didn't have to share.

"Good. We can be selfish together then. You are mine." She said. She did not get the chance to say anything else. He kissed her. Her hand ran through his hair and he made a growling noise from the back of his throat. There was no more holding back. There was nothing left to create a wedge between them, until the door opened loudly with a crash.

They paused and Adam let out a frustrated growl.

"What?" Adam demanded. He had not bothered to step away from her and they were still inches away from one another. It was almost to tempting for her to pull him back to her.

Whoever was at the door didn't matter more than this.

"I'm sorry, but it's urgent. Belle's father has broken through his door and found a knife." Vandy said.

Belle instantly dropped her hand from Adam's neck so that the only thing holding her up was his arm around her waist.

"My father is still here?"

"Yes, he's in the kitchen waving the knife around and threatening everyone."

"Take me there." She said to Adam.

Adam took her hand and they all walked towards the kitchen. She could hear loud yelling as they got closer.

"I want my daughter here, now!" Her father shouted, and there was more crashing.

"What is he doing?" Belle asked, but her question was lost in the shuffle when the door opened, and chaos ensued.

-Adam-

This was not how he wanted to officially meet Belle's father. He had planned on letting Belle talk him down before letting him out of his room for this reason. Maurice had crazy eyes and was welding the knife like a madman with nothing to lose.

"Took you long enough you get them!" Polly yelled at Vandy.

"Get back you monsters!" Her father yelled sounding manic and out of breath. Adam tensed next to her and pulled her a little closer when Maurice took a lunge towards his daughter.

"Run Belle, I'll hold them off!" Maurice yelled.

He charged like a bull straight at Adam who made the decision let go of Belle in order to stop her father from impaling either of them with his knife. He thought momentarily about shedding his human form, but he decided against it. It might escalate the situation rather than solve it.

Belle blindly pushed into their struggle, and completely unaware of the danger and Adam twisted Maurice's arm painfully to keep his knife far from her. She was proving to be quite the distraction as she pushed herself in front of Adam, effectively stopping him from fighting with her father any longer.

"Stop." She ordered her father.

Her father let his knife hang at his side once he realized he was in no real danger of being immediately attacked.

"Belle, you don't understand, they're monsters. All of them. If you could see right now, you'd be fighting right along with me. Leave with me."

Belle laughed, but Adam didn't find her father's words even remotely funny.

"Could I speak to my father alone for a moment?" Belle asked.

It took everyone a moment to realize what she had asked and react to it. Polly and Vandy reacted quickest, corralling the kitchen staff to the door.

"We're leaving." Polly announced once they had all left except for Adam who stood stubbornly at her side.

"I would like to talk to him completely alone." She told him.

He did not want to leave her alone with her father, especially not with him still toting around the cleaver in his hand.

"Please?" She asked after a moments silence.

Adam sighed. "I'll leave, but if your father tries to kidnap you and drag you back home, you won't make it far."

She found his hand and squeezed it before he left the room and closed the door behind him.

-Maurice-
Once they were alone, Maurice was instantly at his daughter's side. He pulled her into a hug and held her close. As long as he didn't let go of her, they couldn't take her from him.

"What is the meaning of all of this?" She asked him.

"The meaning of all this?" Here they were, in the center of the Beast King's forest and he was the only one who seemed to realize the urgency of the situation. "I've been entrapped and mistreated for days by those Beasts." He spat.

Belle flinched at his last word. Her hands curled up against his chest.

"I love you father, but you are mistaken."

"Am I? The tall one can masquerade as a human well enough, but do not let him fool you. I saw him transform on that floor. That creature is the King Beast. So many people died trying to save you. Don't let those sacrifices be in vain."

Belle's hand reached up and found her father's face. He was not expecting it when she used the action as a target to slap him as hard as she could. Maurice dropped his hands from her instantly and one hand cradled his face.

"Don't ever speak about him like that in front of me. Every single one of us owe that man our lives. Especially the surviving members of your failed search party. You might think you know about what goes on in this forest, but you don't have the slightest clue."

"Belle, if you've developed feelings for these creatures to deal with the horrors of your imprisonment here, that's normal, but it doesn't change the facts. The facts are-"

"That facts are that you abandoned me in the forest!" She interrupted him, with angry tears falling from her eyes. "I wasn't abducted, I was tied up and left for dead."

Maurice took a half-step back. He had been too drunk and too guilty to participate in the ritual of taking her out to the forest. He could not even imagine.

"I'm sorry-"

"The facts are that you are wrong about them. If I wanted to be at home in my own bad back to my own life, I would be there. Do not suffer from any delusion that I am not exactly where I want to be."

"I put you here." Maurice said miserably. All of this could have just been avoided if he had acted like a real father should.

"A lot of things put me here, and I am grateful for everyone one of them. I would go through all of it and more to know that this is where I would end up."

"Do you really intend on making this place your home?"

Belle smiled, but it was a sad smile.

"There is something I need to tell you."