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  (Imagine they're looking at each other ;))

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(Imagine they're looking at each other ;))




Pain. That was all he felt. Pain and nothing more.

As his eyes slowly stretched open he found himself staring up at the familiar dull ceiling of his bedroom at the tavern. How had he gotten here?

Suddenly, something obstructed his view of the ceiling, not that he minded for the ceiling was boring. Then he realized it was someone.

"Shhh," she said softly, smiling down at him. He felt her gentle fingertips brush his hair out of his eyes.

"Belle?" He must be dreaming. How else could she be here with him? She was gone, wasn't she, left town with her father.

She smiled. "Yes, I'm here."

That was when he realized, no, it wasn't a dream, she really was here with him. With this realization his eyes shot open and he made a sudden movement to sit up, instantly regretting it. His head swam and pain flared up through his body like flames. He fell back down onto the pillow with a groan, his head spinning.

"Easy," she said softly.

He squeezed his eyes shut until the spinning in his head slowed some. Then he looked up at her, this time only raising his head.

"How do you feel?" she asked gently.

"Like my limbs are made of stone." He groaned dramatically.

She chuckled. Leave it to Gaston to be dramatic, although she felt that in this case, his reaction was appropriate.

Then her expression turned serious. "You are lucky, so, so lucky. I hope you know that. For a while there we - we didn't know if you were going to make it."

He managed a chuckle. "Of course I did." He was about to add, "I've had worse," but then thought against it. Perhaps that wasn't quite true. Now, memories of the battle with the beast came flooding back. No, no, on second thought, he hadn't had worse.

"Would you like to try sitting up?"

He managed a nod and she helped guide him up into a seated position so that his back was resting against a pillow. He saw now that she was wearing her simple blue dress with an apron over top, her hair messily tied back. She looked very tired, with large bags under her eyes, but she was still smiling.

"How long has it been?"

"Just over a week."

That long? No wonder he felt so awful. "How bad do I look?" he asked after a moment.

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