He just grins.

"What do you usually dream about, if it's not that?" Belle asks idly, after a few moments more of page-turning and note-taking.

"...I don't know," he says. "Other things. After all the time I've been here... there's a sense of this place in everything, you see. And there was nothing like this castle in that dream at all."

"I dream about places I've never been all the time," murmurs Belle. "It must have gotten very tiresome not to be able to escape the castle even sleeping."

"I hardly remember what it was like to dream of anything else."

"Well," says Belle, "now you have. I wonder if it will happen again."

"I'd like that."

Belle reads on for many hours. And finally she says, "I need some air. Want to come with me for a walk and see how far the forest will let us get?"

He perks up. "Yes!"

"It's never let me get even this far before," he says. "That was why I broke the gate."

"It'll turn us around inside of a few minutes, maybe sooner, but I can usually get that far," Belle says.

"I love you," says the Beast.

Belle laughs. "This is an odd time to mention it, why just then?"

"It's not odd at all, why is it odd?"

"It's not - topical. Is it?"

"The castle lets you out. The castle let me out, with you."

"...And?"

"...And I love you."

"I don't see how the things are related," laughs Belle.

"Well, I don't know how to explain," snorts the Beast.

"Fire," says the Beast.

"Yes - has this happened before - is the castle safe? -"