Love Of A Rose

Chapter 14- Eighteen Years

"Our daughter's on the Isle," Belle said quietly, still in disbelief. "Our daughter's on the Isle and she's been there for her entire life."

"Mom-" Ben started.

"In all honesty, Belle, we didn't know she was your daughter until Ben had told us about her," Mal defended Ben.

Belle looked at Mal. "You knew her on the Isle?" she asked.

"She went by the name Blair Hearts. The Queen of Hearts took her in and we were best friends until we left for Auradon. Mom told her she wasn't evil enough to come to Auradon, and she hasn't talked to us since," Mal explained.

Ben cleared his throat and went into the other room. He picked up the package Claire had given him and unwrapped it carefully. His eyes fixated on the mirror as he delicately turned it over in his hand, careful not to smudge the glass.

"What is it, Ben?" Beast looked over at him. "Wait, how do you have that?"

"Claire gave it to me, trying to pretend she was someone else. She ran before I could get an explanation out of her," Ben explained.

Belle delicately went over to Ben and delicately took the mirror from Ben. She softened her gaze at it, remembering what had happened with the mirror. "I'd like to see my daughter, please."

The mirror surrounded in green before an image of Gaston showed, startling Belle. Belle heard beautiful singing in the background.

"We're a thousand miles from comfort. We have traveled land and sea. But as long as you are with me, my heart continues to beat," she sang softly.

"Boo," a boy said.

The mirror shifted to a girl, her eyes glowing yellow as she turned around to face him. She sighed in relief when she saw him, her eyes flickering back to a greenish-hazel.

"Junior," she acknowledged, then turned to continue wiping down a table.

"Claire," Junior said in a mocking tone.

"I've told you that if you have a problem with me, you could just ignore me," Claire said.

"I could do that. Or I could annoy you out of my brother's life," Junior said innocently.

Claire huffed, finishing the table. She walked away from him, over to Gaston. She cleaned another one as she continued to sing. Gaston looked up and smiled at Claire.

"What is she doing with Gaston?" Adam asked.

"She's friends with Uma, I know that," Mal pointed out. "But that's not the shoppe."

"Anything else, sir?" Claire turned to Gaston.

"No, that's it. Although, I want to see that trick that Junior had told me about," Gaston said.

"It's a work in progress," Claire said nervously.

"Try," Gaston insisted.

Claire nervously flicked her wrists, then waved her hands in a circular motion. A stem formed with thorns on it. A rose formed and Claire sighed in relief. She held it carefully in her hand, trying not to prick herself.

"Amazing." Gaston smiled. "Now, go find Gil. He said something about practice."

Claire smiled back and nodded. "Will do."

The mirror flickered and went black. Belle and Beast looked at each other as the mirror started up again. It showed Claire walking up a hill to find two boys sword fighting. Well, practicing sword fighting.

"That's our daughter," Belle whispered. "After eighteen years."

"Yeah, and did no one seem to acknowledge the fact that she had a ring on?" Mal paced.

"Whose do you think it is, Mal?" Adam asked.

"For all we could know, it could be Harry's or Junior's!" Mal exclaimed. "No, she hates Gaston Junior. I don't know."

"I think we should all sleep on this tonight and meet again in the morning," Fairy Godmother interjected.

Belle nodded in agreement, actually wanting to look at the mirror a bit more. She wanted to find out more about her daughter.