That Genius Girl:

Summary: Who said Belle was a 'funny' girl? Whoever said that didn't know that the correct term was genius. It seemed that no one in that village had seen a dictionary in their life...

The Beast watched her from afar as she kneeled down and inspected the water system from an old fountain. What a funny girl indeed, that Belle. The Beast sighed and turned his attention back to his copy of 'A Tale of Two Cities'. But he could not concentrate. The funny girl was a distraction. Ironically enough, he was trying to use the book to distract himself from Belle. It seemed that the girl was starting to consume his thoughts like a plague; a good plague, mind you. A pretty one too. And smart, very smart.

He silently cursed and forced himself to read the book with little success. Giving up, he decided to place the book at his side and just focus on Belle. He watched the girl kick a certain part of the fountain, but what it seemed like an act of rebellion, the fountain water tube exploded and sent her flying backwards. Beast was about to go help her when he noticed that she stood up with an angry look on her face and started to look through a tool box he had let her borrow. He decided not to interfere.

Mind, at first he didn't know what she was going to with it until she explained she was bored and wanted to fix something. This had taken him by surprise. What kind of woman did hard labor instead of taking care of the house? Especially one that was usually reserved for men? At this point, he didn't know why he was surprised.

He watched as Belle took out a hammer and hit the metal tube as hard as she could. To add to his surprise, it stopped pouring water. Belle smiled and placed the hammer back into the tool box. But suddenly, the tube started to shake and shoot mud directly into Belle's face and chest. The Beast winced. The impact alone must have hurt. Again, he was about to go help the girl when he noticed that she took off the mud from her face and tapped her chin. She took some other tool (he was a prince, he didn't need to know these things) and walked towards the now empty tube. She stared down at it with determination. Glancing back at her tool and shook her head, obviously deciding that it was not going to do its job.

The Beast arched an eyebrow when he saw her muddy hands search around the box and she found a rope and a piece of metal. She stood up and looked around the bushes until she found a leafless branch. She wrapped a piece of cloth at the end, dripped oil on it and lit it up with a match. Confused, the Beast kept staring, wondering what kind of funny thing that girl would do now.

Belle flexed her shoulders and stabbed the torch safely on the snowy grounds while she took the piece of metal and rope towards the tube. The Beast sighed. Boy, did the girl made a mess on his yard. Mud everywhere, a broken fountain tube in the middle of a ground hole, scattered tools, a torch and now rope and metal. 'Mon Diue...' he thought as he watched.

She placed the metal over the great crack on the tube and wrapped it in place with the rope. She walked back towards the tool box and grabbed the hammer, followed by the torch. She placed the torch near the metal and waited until it was starting to look red. With brute strength Beast didn't know she had, Belle started to hit the metal, molding it to the shape she wanted it to be. With a quick move, she untied the rope and continued burning the metal and molding it to her will. This was a blacksmith's job! Beast could only stare and hope he will never be on the receiving end of that hammer.

About half an hour later, Belle turned off the torch with the snow and stared at the patch of red metal. She threw the hammer back in the tool box, filled a bucket with cold water anand snow and threw it at the hot metal. She repeated the process several times until the metal was cold, hard and grey like the rest of the tube. With a satisfied nod, she started to throw the dirt back in the hole to cover the tube. After that, she stood above it and and tried to harden the dirt with her feet. In a minute, the fountain was up and running, good as new. As soon as she was done, she picked up the tools and trash and left unaware of her audience.

The Beast felt his jaw was about to hit the floor. He had never met a girl like Belle.

"Child! Why are you so dirty!?" He heard Mrs. Potts scream. He didn't need enhanced hearing to hear the tea pot from a mile away.

"But-" Belle tried to speak, but could not.

"No buts, you're bathing before dinner and please take off those shoes. The floors were just cleaned an hour ago!" The victim sighed and Beast could only assume she did as told.

He smiled. He didn't know why he felt this way. All he knew was that he felt like a love sick puppy, no pun intended. He felt like this was the One. But did she feel the same?

He didn't have time to ponder on this thoughts when Lumiere aproached him.

"Master, dinner will be ready soon and I suggest a bit of soap won't do any harm. Especially when it comes to impress a certain mademoiselle." The suggestive tone was not lost on the Beast.

He groaned. "Fine, fine." He took the book and followed his servant back into the castle. He stopped and looked back at the fountain, now working properly. He smiled. He not only liked her personality or just admired her beauty. He had found he loved her intelligence.

Who said Belle was a 'funny' girl? Whoever said that didn't know that the correct term was genius.

It seemed that no one in that village had seen a dictionary in their life...

"Master! We will be late if you don't hurry!" Lumiere called from inside.

Beast rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'm coming. Don't burn the curtains."

Lumiere stopped on his tracks. "Monsieur... Did you just made a joke?"

Beast growled. "No. Now hurry up. I'm hungry." He really wasn't. He just wanted to see Belle...