Aftermath--A 3rd Season Adult Beauty & The Beast Novel

By Vickey Brickle-Macky

They were eating their breakfast -lunch when Father came up to them very cheery and full of smiles. Devin eyed him suspiciously but made no comment as he waited to see what his father had on his mind.

"Ah, Devin, I've been looking for you. I've got great news," Father said as he came up and stood by the table leaning on his heavy walking stick.

Lena glanced up, too, wondering what was up. "What is it, Father," Devin asked cautiously.

"You mentioned something about chambers--larger quarters for you and Lena and Cathy?"

"Yeah, . . . hers might get a little cramped for three of us."

"Vincent told me of a large three room suite down from him that's available.

I wondered if you'd be interested in taking a look at it?" Father inquired.

"Wasn't that Old Mark's rooms? If they're the ones I'm thinking of?" Devin asked, trying to remember the chambers in that section.

"Yes, they were. Mark was telling me that he didn't need all that room any more for just one person. He thought they'd be good for a family. He's basically proposing a trade since he wants to be nearer to some of his old friend's that live near Lena's chamber. It's the perfect solution," Father said happily.

Devin looked at Lena who seemed to be frowning and chewing on her lower lip. "Lena, what do you think? It's more your decision than mine," he said gently feeling her upset.

"We can look at them. I just hate the idea of moving. I've got kind of attached to my room. I mean, Cathy was born there. I know we need more room and there's no way to expand my room. I just got to think on it and get used to the idea," she said graciously to both of them.

"That's perfectly understandable, Lena. I do sympathize. If someone asked me to move, I wouldn't even know where to begin. The idea of moving all my books. . . I don't even want to contemplate that," Father sighed. "Anyway, I just wanted you two to know that the rooms were available and that you can look at them at any time."

Devin saw his father's sincerely and was touched by it. "Thanks Dad, we'll check them out and talk it over and then let you know. Anything else?" Devin asked knowing his father had more to say.

"William wanted me to ask you if you two would like a small reception say here, tonight? He wants to do something for you, we all do. Nothing fancy, or elaborate, just something to let us honor yours and Lena's new marriage."

Devin was surprised and so was Lena. "Sure, I guess so. We weren't expecting anything. More like we've been afraid everyone was mad at us for just running off," Devin said candidly, feeling his father out as to the local atmosphere.

Father coughed and cleared his throat embarrassed. "Well, . . . initially, people were upset because you and Lena had run off--they didn't know where or why. Then you two were gone for hours and hours and then when you returned and Vincent met you they found out what happened--sort of. I got things sorted out finally. Yes, they were mad, but now they're not. In fact they are very pleased.

That's why they want to give you this reception," he explained.

"Sorted out?" Devin questioned wondering what had been said.

"You can't believe how scrambled up things got on the pipes since a lot of people aren't aware of you, Devin, being back or even of having been here, or who you were. They knew who Lena was but you were a complete stranger and unfortunately, Vincent didn't make things too clear when he first sent his message to me. The gossips picked it up---it took a while to put things to rights," Father said with a heavy sigh.

"I noticed. I heard the chatter all night. I was afraid to leave my chamber because of all that was being said last night," Lena said and Devin cocked his head in question. "I didn't want to upset you," she told him. "Some of it was pretty funny, but some people were downright nasty."

"They have been talked to, I assure you," Father reassured her. "I will not have such chatter on the pipes again for any reason. I'm sorry they upset you. They won't --ever again."

Devin decided he'd ask her later in private what had been said. He sensed that now was not the time to pursue it. He made a mental note to brush up on the current pipe codes so he could hear all of what was being said. In fact he realized he had a whole lot of catching up to do in a lot of areas. His previous trips had been in and out, but if he was going to stay here permanently he needed to know where things were and how things functioned now. His knowledge, he realized was twenty plus years out of date.

"Father," Devin asked getting his attention, " do you have any idea where Cathy might be and if she knows if her mother and I have gotten married yet?"

Father looked thoughtful for a moment, stroking his beard. "I believe she's with Diana and Jacob at Vincent's. I know she's been upset because Lena was gone. As to any one telling her, that I can't say or whether she even understand what has happened. It's going to be a real shock for the child, so take it easy," he warned.

Devin nodded, he had planned to already. He hadn't really planned what they were going to say or how they were going to tell her. He was just going to play it by ear and see how it went. "I will, Dad. We better be going and go see her before she thinks she deserted for forever," Devin replied.

"Good luck, Son. And I'll tell William to go ahead and let everyone know, if that's okay?"

"Sure, fine. See you later," Devin said as he helped Lena up and they carried their trays back to be washed.

Lena noticed that Devin was sort of subdued, thoughtful as they left the kitchen area. "What's up now?" she asked as they were leaving to go to Vincent's.

He shrugged, and then sighed. "The Old Man how he's changed. It's hard to get used to. He's actually treating me like a human being, a person, an adult. Last time I was still a scuffy snotty nosed kid, now . . . it's just kind of weird. Have I changed that much or has he?"

"Maybe a little of both. What Vincent went through changed everyone down here. Father had to do a lot of letting go. Then when Vincent brought Jacob home there were more changes. Diana also helped too. Maybe what you went through with Charles changed you. I know what I went through to have Cathy changed me.

Life does that to you. Just accept that your Father wants to make peace and he's trying to reach out to you and you have to let him," she said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just that when he's so nice to me I keep looking for the other shoe to fall and wondering when it is. Just like it's going to take time to work out things between me and Cathy it's going to take time to heal all the old hurts I got buried all deep inside. Everytime I see him they're there just below the surface and I hurt all over again. I don't want it but its there, it's real. I guess I just have to live with them and find ways to work them out," he told her.

She nodded and gave his hand a squeeze as they walked. "It's not going to be easy, but you can do. Just give yourself time."

He smiled, getting more and more amazed at her her ability to understand him and her good advice. "How did one so young, get so smart? Lady of mine, you're wonderful," he told her and reached over and gave her a kiss and a hug.

They arrived at Vincent's chambers and before Lena could say 'hello', Cathy was running up to grab and hug her mother.

"Mommy, where have you been?" the little girl asked with big frightened eyes, holding on to her mother's legs through her skirts with a death grip.

Lena looked down at her and saw that the child was very upset. "It's okay, Cathy, I'm here. Nothing bad happened. I went Above with Devin. We have something very important to tell you, okay?" she said calmly.

"Okay," the little girl replied looking puzzled and then saw Devin standing behind her mother and glared angrily at him.

Diana came from the room holding Jacob and looked them over. Her expression was carefully neutral. "Vincent told me what happened. I haven't said anything to Cathy except to say you had to go somewhere and would be back. And that you were alright and safe. She was very worried about you when she saw you go after Devin yesterday. She didn't understand and it was kind of hard explaining the situation to her. We thought we'd leave that up to you to do," Diana said cautiously looking from the child to Lena and back.

"Thank you, Diana, for taking care of her. We admit it was very unexpected for everyone, but its over and done. We do know what we're doing and it'll work out," Lena said determinedly, soothing her child, her hand running through her curls.

"I hope so, for Cathy's sake," Diana said giving Devin hard look, letting him know she was not pleased with him or what they had done. He flinched, and knew he deserved her anger. Though this was not the way he wanted to start off with his soon to be sister-in-law.

"Diana, I know I'm not making a very good first impression with you. Heaven knows what you've heard about me, but I want you know I do love Lena. I didn't believe in love at first sight until I met her. I admit it was an impulsive thing to do, but it felt right for both of us. I think its a little better to be married than just . . . , you get my point," he said remembering there were children present.

"You win that one. Although a little warning or telling someone what you were up to would have been nice. Especially, you could have told Cathy before you took off what was happening," Diana told them both sternly.

"We would have if we could, alright. It's complicated and it's personal why we didn't--just leave it at that. I thank you for watching Cathy, and I think we better get going," Devin replied, trying not to lose his temper and say something he might regret. "Come on. Lena," he told his wife as he headed for the door.

Lena felt a little flustered at the exchange between Devin and Diana. It was not going well. She decided a stragetic retreat was in order too. She gathered Cathy up in her arms then sat her on her hip. "Thank you, Diana, I really do appreciate it. and I look forward to watching Jacob when you and Vincent go off on your honeymoon. Please don't worry, it's going to work, it really is," the young woman assured her.

Diana was still skeptical but she smiled and gave her a hug. "I hope so. Good luck, Lena. If you need me to watch Cathy or to talk to, I'm here, okay?" she said with a smile.

Lena nodded and then turned and left to met Devin waiting out in the corridor.

He was quiet, sulking and smarting still from Diana's criticism and remarks. They walked along in silence for awhile with only Cathy babbling at her mother.

"She always that self-righteous?" he asked when they were well out of earshot.

"Not usually. I'm not sure what her problem is either. Diana's been a good friend. She worries about me, I guess. She doesn't know you, except from whatever she has heard and our disappearing didn't help whatever opinions she had formed," Lena told him truthfully.

"True. It just left a sour taste in my mouth. I'll get over it. By the way where are we heading he asked, nothing they were going in the opposite direction from her chamber.

"I thought we might check out Old Mark's chambers while we were over this way. They're just a little further," she said trying to distract him.

"I had forgot about doing that. Good idea," he said, trying to get into a better mood. Then noticing Cathy staring at him hard and then at her mother as if to say, 'why is he still with us', he had to ask, "When do you want to tell her?"

"After we look at the chambers. We go to the waterfall. We can sit and she can play," she suggested and he agreed.

Old Mark was in when they announced their arrival. He welcomed them happily and congratulated them on their marriage. Cathy frowned but she didn't say anything, she just listened and watched. The suite of chambers was huge. Each room alone was double the size of her own chambers or Devin's guest one.

The rooms were interconnected with little alcoves and crannies. Two of the chambers were unused except as storage areas. It even had its own private bathroom. A marvel since most were shared. The chambers close to the waterfall cavern and one wall had windows overlooking it and its soothing sounds could be heard in the distance.

They were in love with the set of chambers. It was perfect. There was more than enough room for a family to grow in. There was even a fireplace set into the wall where one could have not only a fire but could also cook on if they wanted.

"Yeah, the fireplace still works. Haven't used it in a while. Martha used to cook for me on it. She wasn't too happy about the way they fixed food over in the main kitchen so we'd eat here. Used to catch fish and other critters out of the river down there and bring them home for her, but that was years ago," Old Mark said conversationally as he finished showing them around.

"You sure you want to give all this up?" Devin asked him.

"Told your Dad I did, didn't I? Too much room for an old man like me. Too many memories. Since Martha died . . . it's just too damn lonely being off this far.

I don't cook and going to the kitchen is a far piece for me--- these old legs ain't what they used to be. No, this a young person's place. It suits you so take it," he said with a smile sitting back in his old chair.

"If you really mean it, we'll take it. When do you want to do the switch?" Devin asked seeing that Lena was agreeing with it.

"Today, tomorrow--whenever you want. I'm not particular," The grizzled, white haired old man said with a friendly smile.

Devin cocked his head. "Alright, I'll talk to Father and see what can be worked out and when. We got a deal," Devin said coming over to shake his weathered hand.

"That we do, boy, that we do," he agreed shaking on it. "Now you go on and go let that youngin' play. She's been eyeing that water out there, and she's ready to go. We'll talk later," he said dismissing them.

They said their goodbyes and left. The path down to the cavern was near the door. It was one of several paths into the cavern and one not used a lot because there weren't that many chambers or community tunnels on this side of the cavern.

The path sloped down gradually to end in a large cleared field. In one corner near the towering back wall was a playground. Playground equipment had been both brought down and built for the children to play on. It was a lot fancier than Devin remembered having as a kid but it was the same place he and his friends had played when they were kids. The field was big enough to play baseball on and he had many fond memories of doing so. They kids Below played Above whenever they could but when they couldn't then they had this place.

Cathy immediate took off for the playground and they let her go. They walked near the edge of the river, feeling the rocks and small pebbles underfoot as they made for a large boulder to sit on and watch Cathy.

"So what do you think? You didn't say anything when I told Old Mark we'd take the place," he asked picking up some rocks and throwing them across the water.

She sighed. "I like it, it's beautiful. It's the first place I've seen down here with a real view of something besides a rock wall. I'm glad its' got bars on the windows. I'd hate for Cathy or someone else to fall out. Look how far it is up," she said pointing to where the window slits were high up on the sheer face of the rock wall. "I never noticed them until now. Just never thought of a chamber having a view."

"I Don't know of any other either. Vincent's always seem like it did because of the window but it's not really. My dad's sure determined to keep me here. He knows I get claustrophobia staring at nothing but rock all the time. This makes it seem like I'm outside, not inside," Devin commented skipping some more rocks across the bubbling river.

She looked at him surprised. "Being down here bothers you?"

"Yeah, I start getting uptight and find it hard to breathe. I got caught in a cave in when I was eleven. Had nightmares, and had problems going down some of the narrower passages after that. Father couldn't keep me home, I kept going Above and staying out longer and longer. The only place I could really handle being for any length of time was here, this place, because it was like being Above."

"It doesn't show."

"It's better now than it was. Night's the worse because the candles are out. I'm not exactly afraid of the dark, it's more like I'm afraid of being buried alive again," he told her wanting her to know. "Cathy looks like she's having fun," he said switching subjects. "Want to see how she's doing?"

She nodded, and they walked over to where Cathy was throwing a ball through some hoops. She looked up and eyed them with a frown especially after she noted that they were holding hands.

"Why are you holding my Mommy's hand? She can walk," the little girl asked Devin.

"Because I like her," he said sitting down on the ground to get more on her level.

"Why did you take her Above? Above is bad place--everyone says so."

"It can be a good place too. It's not all bad up there. Some of it is nice and it can be very beautiful too. We had to go somewhere very important," Devin tried to explain.

"Then why is everyone mad at you? What did you do?" she asked keeping her distance from him and watching Lena sit down next to him.

"Do you know what getting married means?" he asked.

She nodded solemnly. "Yeah, a man and a woman live together, like Vincent and Diana are going to, or Stevie's parents," she answered.

"Well, sweetheart, that's what your mommy and I did when we went Above, we got married. Your mommy is now my wife and I'm her husband," he said slowly and carefully.

Cathy got a horrified look on her face, and shook her head. "No!" she screamed and then bolted and ran.

"Cathy, what did I say?" Devin asked in shock as he tried to grab her as she ran past him.

"Cathy!" Lena yelled and sprang up and ran after her, she was heading for the waterfall and the deeper parts of the river. Devin quickly followed.

"No! No marry my mommy!" they heard her cry as they followed her.

Finally they caught up with her on a large flat boulder that over hung the river. She was trapped between the river and them, but she kept backing towards the river, her eyes wide with fear and pain. Devin backed up and let Lena go forward to get her before she slipped and fell into the icy cold deep water. She let her mother approach and finally hold her. Lena took her into her lap and Cathy began to cry. Both adults were puzzled and confused.

"Cathy, what is wrong? what is so terrible," Lena asked, stroking her daughters hair as she cried.

"He's my Daddy!" she wailed angrily, and Lena and Devin were really confused.

"Yes, he is. Why does that upset you?" Lena asked trying to get to the bottom of it.

"Can't be Daddy. Daddy dead. He's a ghost! Like Jacob's mommy is a ghost!" she wailed more.

"Huh?" both adults said in unison.

"Devin isn't a ghost, he's a real person, see? He's not dead he's alive." Lena said motioning Devin forward so she could touch him.

She did carefully, but she wasn't convinced. "You said my Daddy was dead. So how can he be my Daddy?" she asked her tears wet on her cheeks and her eyes still big with fear and suspicion.

"Devin isn't your real Daddy. He's your new Daddy. Like Diana is going to be Jacob's new Mommy. His real mommy is dead like your real daddy is dead. Do you understand?' she asked.

"Not real Daddy, fake one?" Cathy asked.

Devin inwardly cringed at the word fake, but it was an accurate description. "Yeah, fake one--not ghost. Your mommy is my real wife but you are my step-daughter--almost daughter. Do you understand now?" he asked keeping his distance just in case.

She sniffed and nodded yes. "Like Diana and Jacob. Vincent told me. You will live with Mommy and me here Below?" she asked remembering that he came from Above.

"Yes, here Below with you and your Mommy. Remember the chambers we just looked at? The ones with the windows? We will be living there. That's going to be our new home," he said hoping that that wouldn't set off another explosion.

"We have to move?"

"We need to. Your mommy's room is too small for all of us. You'll have your own room and can see the waterfall and you're just down the hall from Jacob," he told her seeing her digest this information.

Her eyes lit up. "Jacob will be down the hall? My own room?"

Devin looked over Cathy's head to Lena and grinned. "I think we're winning," he said to her. "Yes, your own room, all to yourself," he reassured Cathy.

"Okay, we can move. You sleep with Mommy like Stevie's parents do?" she asked.

That question floored him, he looked to Lena, and she just smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess, like Stevie's parents," he answered not knowing who Stevie or his parents were.

"I get little brother or sister soon too?" she asked innocently.

"Maybe, we'll see," Devin replied carefully, wanting to ask Lena what to do now.

The answer he gave seemed to satisfy her and she smiled happily. "Okay, you can be my Daddy. Can we go eat? I'm hungry," she informed them..

Devin laughed. "Sure kid, let's go eat," he replied liking that idea himself, helping Cathy up and then Lena.

"Not so bad was it?" she asked as she followed him watching as Cathy bounced across the rocks to the pathway to the common tunnels.

"That's a matter of opinion. Though it did go better than I thought it would at first. By the way who is Stevie and what was all that about his parents?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Stevie's one of the new kids. He and family came down here three months ago. His mother is very pregnant. Cathy thinks if a man and a woman sleep together in the same bed they'll have a baby," she smiled.

"Smart kid. I know I kind of hedged when she asked me about us. I wasn't sure how to answer her. That was not among the topics we have discussed yet."

"Us having kids?"

"Yeah. I'd like some, but not quite yet," he told her as they made their way down the path following Cathy.

"It could be already late for that."

"I know, I'm usually more careful. So if it happens, it happens," he said, and squeezed her hand. "We'll just have to see."

With Vincent and Diana's wedding coming up swiftly, they postponed their move until after it. As it was it took two days to get them moved to Old Mark's chambers and for the old man to get moved to Lena's. Finally, they were all sorted out and could begin settling in. Old Mark had left them some furniture and they got other pieces from the storage rooms to fill in the gaps. The cold bare chambers soon took on a lived in look as Lena decorated and made it into a real home.

As soon as they got their new home together Devin began his teaching assignments as both a fill in for Vincent and as the new Geography teacher for the older students. He soon got to know all the children for good or for worse. After awhile it was hard to tell who was getting the most education him or his students. He may have been teaching them geography and literature but they were teaching him what children were really like, and it was very instructive for his role as a new parent.

Two months after he and Lena had been married, she told him she was pregnant. He had been suspecting it for some time because of her queasy stomach and other signs. He had Father check her and confirmed it. Father was delighted, Devin on the other hand had mixed feelings about it. He wanted a child but he was also aware that he and Lena had incompatible blood types. Her pregnancy with Cathy had been rough on her and she kept telling him she was sicker now than she had been then. He had never gotten over his mother dying in childbirth and feared the same would happen to Lena. Despite Father's protests he went and saw Peter Alcott and started making arrangements for Lena to have the baby in a hospital Above.

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