Angelo/Aden - The confused time
When Aden's trial came up, Belle tried to convince him to talk about his abuse to explain his kidnapping of his father and Rachel. She succeeded in that and in an emotional scene he explained his abuse and was given a Community Order. In the aftermath Belle admitted to Aden that she still loved him. Despite her growing feelings for Aden, Belle tried to convince herself of her commitment to Angelo by sleeping with him.
In return for Belle's support in visiting his father, Aden agreed to help her uncover some evidence at the development site. When they were sprung staking out the site they pretended a passionate kiss to avoid detection. The kiss quickly became real.
Belle was even more confused and kept her kiss with Aden from Angelo. Aden stole blueprints vital for Belle's investigation from the site only to have them stolen back. Belle's feelings became clear when she was lured to the site by a phone call which told her of an accident to Aden. When she arrived home Aden was once again waiting in her bedroom. They kissed and collapsed onto the bed only to be interrupted by Angelo's arrival. He had been assaulted.
Unable to break up with Angelo while he was in hospital, Belle continued to cheat on him with Aden behind his back. This particular series of events really polarised fans and many found it difficult to forgive Belle for this. The true fans had no problem however.
Inevitably Angelo found out and publicly humiliated Belle in a town meeting. Later he also lost his temper and threatened her while throwing furniture at Irene's house. Later she was found brutally assaulted. Aden blamed Angelo but Police found no evidence to support this.
After all these events Belle became very depressed and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Aden (the second time) - Adelle
Rachel, who had become very concerned about Belle's anxiety in the face of all that had happened to her, prescribed anti-anxiety medication. Through all of this Aden's devotion to Belle never wavered and a different, much more caring relationship began to emerge between them. Aden invited her to be his partner at the School Formal. She initially refused but then decided to go making a real effort and looked gorgeous. However once again fate intervened and, while she helped Leah in the hall kitchen, she was trapped by Kane's car which crashed into the hall. After being rescued by Aden she once again ended up in Hospital with burns on her back.
This coincided with Jack's death and Belle became more depressed and afraid. She feared that her pursuit of the development site issue had lead to Jack's death. She became so afraid that she wanted to stay in Hospital as it was the only place she felt safe.
Aden made a huge sacrifice at this point and put aside his career ambition to look after her. He gave up his University place. Once again their relationship reached a new point. Aden persuaded Belle to leave the Hospital and move into the townhouse with him.
But at this point Belle was in real pain from the mounting accumulation of injuries and the pressure of her job. She found and took some of Larry's pain killers which were addictive. This was the start of a downward slide when events conspired to make the pressure on Belle unbearable.
Her development site research had proved inconclusive; Aden, at work on the trawler, was not as immediately able to support her, and a series of events at the paper where she was working saw her increasingly resort to painkillers. Eventually Belle's work suffered and when she was interviewing Liam, a visiting rock star, she accepted his offer of drugs and they both ended up high. Belle was hooked and ended up Doctor shopping for drugs when Rachel refused to supply more. Belle's work continued to suffer until she submitted an article that was totally unintelligible.
Aden attempted to cheer Belle and to break her depression by buying her a necklace to assure her of his on-going love and care. Belle was so desperate for drugs that she "hocked" Aden's gift as security for them. Aden found out and a furious confrontation took place where Belle finally told him the truth. Aden was unable to handle Belle's addiction after all that had happened with this Father but assured her that if she could get clean without him, he would be waiting for her - but he couldn't help.
By this time Belle knew that Aden was a huge part of her life and she used this incentive to endure several horrible weeks of cold turkey to get clean.
At this time we know of a scene which was filmed but never shown in which Annie reminded Aden of how Belle supported him through his court case. This made him think. Many of us felt that this scene would have explained events if it had been shown.
Once again pressure mounted on Belle when Irene decided to go away with Lou and Belle had the responsibility of looking after Geoff and Annie while still going through withdrawal. Aden visited and found her in a bad way. He decided to support her. He had realised what a huge part of his life Belle was.
To make matters worse Belle collapsed at work at the Diner and Annie discovered her addiction. Geoff was furious and refused to have anything to do with Belle.
Once again she felt her life had fallen apart and so at Rachel and Tony's wedding she ended up taking drugs mixed with alcohol and collapsed into cardiac arrest. She was revived but this time Rachel put her into Rehab as an involuntary patient. Aden couldn't cope and once again left her alone.
Belle was so ashamed at once again falling off the wagon that initially she refused to see anyone, not even Annie and Geoff. Pippa, on one of her visits to the Bay, persuaded her.
Liam - An Interlude
In Rehab Belle really missed Aden but formed a sort of mutual dependence with Liam, the rock star she had met earlier. In a series of chance encounters, Aden saw photos of Belle with Liam and Belle walked in on Aden who sought comfort in the arms of Nicole.
Aden realised it was Belle that he needed and visited her in Rehab. He told her he was sorry for sleeping with Nicole and that they weren't and never would be together. He helped her to be confident enough to leave Rehab and go home.
In a series of confused events and misunderstandings Belle tried to stand by her promise to be there for Liam and went as far as to invite him to stay with her. Aden disapproved.
Liam put on the pressure for a relationship with Belle and promised to leave his wife but Belle told him she just wanted space to deal with her recovery. She moved Liam out.
Once again Belle and Aden disagreed and their relationship stumbled. Because of this Belle decided to give a relationship with Liam a try provided they moved very slowly. She still felt uncomfortable about her feelings for Aden. Liam made a big play and gave an interview which helped Aden escape trouble.
It was at this time that Aden spotted Liam and his friends exchanging drugs and he told Belle. When Belle refused a "bombed out" Liam's demand that she go on tour with him he climbed onto a roof and threatened to jump. Aden rescued him, almost falling off the roof while he was doing so. Belle turned immediately back to Aden for love and support.
Aden - The Resumption
It had become obvious to Belle at this stage that her relationship with Aden was "different". It had become a supportive friendship built on caring through hard times as well as a passionate partnership. The basis for a long term commitment had developed. Once again Aden came to "the window".
Aden then asked Belle to move in with him at Roman's and we began to see the "settled relationship". There were some endearing domestic scenes with Belle coping with a messy Aden and talk of marriage and children. Aden decided it was time to commit and sought Nicole's help to find a ring so he could propose. After another confused time when Aden became involved with a loan shark and was beaten up, he finally confessed to Belle that he was going to propose. She got in first and proposed to him.
Once again Belle mysteriously collapsed at the Diner and we as the audience discovered to our distress that Belle was actually terminally ill. Belle couldn't bear to tell Aden about this so soon after their decision to marry.
Gibbsy helped out, Aden retrieved the ring, and proposed properly to Belle. Of course she accepted. Events then were increasingly sad and tragic as Belle worked with Rachel to bring her wedding day forward. The Bay residents became aware that something was wrong when it was revealed that Belle had not been drinking at her Hen's night and so was able to drive Rachel to Hospital when she went into labour.
Belle and Nicole strengthened their friendship when Nicole offered to fix Belle's wedding dress but while doing this Nicole discovered the truth about Belle's condition.
The wedding day was filled with drama as Aden discovered Belle's condition too and Belle was unsure whether he would go through with the wedding. In a tense episode on the headland the guests waited for the wedding to begin. Belle was uncertain what would happen and was finally just about to announce that the wedding would not go ahead when Aden appeared.
They were married in a beautiful ceremony on the headland.
They headed off for short honeymoon in Broome.
They arrived home from their honeymoon early and Belle told her family that she was dying and only had a month to live. Irene and Annie were unable to cope and hurried away but Geoff, at Belle's request, stayed with her.
Belle was very tired so Aden suggested a DVD night in. Belle replied with just a touch of her old spark. "Only if I can choose the DVD."
Irene appeared at the door and she and Belle fell into each other's arms.
The next day Nicole, at Aden's request, looked after Belle. They went to the beach and we saw a beautiful but heart wrenching scene of an extremely weak Belle floating in the sea with Nicole at her side. Belle pleaded with Nicole to look after Aden when she was gone. She felt she had little time left.
Belle was sinking fast and she and Aden sat on the couch reviewing the pictures Belle has taken during their time together. They finished with a picture of their wedding. Liam appeared and begged Belle for her forgiveness which she gave. Amanda appeared, with Ryan by her side, and for a time it appeared that she would thwart Belle's wish to die at home by having her taken to Hospital. However Irene, Sid and Rachel finally combined and arranged Belle's release. We saw her and Aden sitting on a bench at the beach as the sun went down. Belle tried to walk but was too weak so Aden carried her into the Beach House.
Belle made peace with Amanda and even acknowledged her unborn sibling with a "Hi in there" at Amanda's belly to assure her she would be a good Mum.
They took Belle to her old room and as she lay on the bed, she had a flashback of a drunken Aden climbing in through "the window". Aden went to shut the window but Belle said "Leave it open for me". They went to sleep and when Aden woke later Belle had died.
In a dramatically crafted following episode we had flashbacks to Belle giving gifts to all her family and friends. Her car went to Geoff, her camera to Annie with the advice "Don't let anyone or anything hold you back". The necklace that Nicole helped Aden choose for her went to Nicole to emphasise her request that Nicole look after Aden when Belle was gone.
Later at Belle's funeral, Irene summarised Belle's life in the Bay and Aden simply shared how much Belle's death "sucked".
As they emerged from the funeral Belle's final gift of balloons arrived. Only Annie recognised that Belle wanted them to laugh.