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She started noticing it about three months after Adam and the household became human again. Her father and Mrs. Potts interacting quite a bit: more than just friends type of interaction. It was innocent flirting, it was helping her out, and he sometimes ate with her and her son. It was intriguing to see when Belle would catch it. And, Belle was not sure that Adam had noticed, as she figured that he ignored the goings-on of the household staff. Of course, she was proved wrong.
One evening while they were preparing for bed (in bed, but both reading), he brought it up.
“You notice that your father is smitten with Mrs. Potts?” Adam asked, making it sound so casual.
She looked up quickly from her book and turned to Adam asking, “You noticed too?”
Adam nodded. “Of course,” he replied. “You don’t think I know my own staff, at least?”
“I just figured you didn’t,” Belle said. “Sorry.”
“Please, these people are practically my family. She’s the closest thing I have to a mother.”
That’s what made it more awkward for her. Her father was in love with the woman he called his mother.
Not that she did not want her father to be happy. He deserved to be happy just as much as she deserved happiness, and she really wanted him to be happy, and to love and be loved in return, like herself and her husband.
“Does it bother you, Belle?” Adam asked. “And, while I am aware of my staff’s personal lives, what they do is their business, to be honest.”
“He is my father. He’s been devoted to me alone and to his inventions since the death of my mother as a child,” Belle said.
“And Mrs. Potts’s (and Chip’s father) died before Chip was born (before I had been turned into a Beast),” Adam replied. “They both deserve a little romantic love, don’t you think?”
Belle nodded.
“Yes, of course,” Belle said. She briefly looked down at her book until the next thing Adam said.
“And just think! If they get married, Chip will be your stepbrother!” Adam exclaimed.
She looked up quickly.
“And you and I will be figurative stepsiblings,” Belle said slowly, and awkwardly.
“That’s true!” Adam said. He patted her shoulder.
“Are you trying to make me feel more awkward?” Belle asked.
“A little,” he replied with a smile.
“But you have to admit, it is a little awkward, right?” Belle asked. “She’s your mother, in a sense, and is a motherly figure to this whole household – even myself. And he’s my father.”
“Only as awkward as you make it, Belle,” Adam replied.
“Yeah, you’re right.”