"Mal," he said, offering a hand to her. "I wanted you to introduce you to my parents. . . and, well, my family."
"Oh, okay," she said, holding onto Ben's arm nervously. Great. Belle and Beast. Wait-who else is there?
Indeed, she turned to see a man who looked almost identical to King Beast and a dark-haired woman who seemed in actuality pretty plain. With them were two little girls.
"This is Mal, from the island," Ben said, oblivious to the outraged looks of the royal family. Mal couldn't help but notice how Belle faltered and tried to put on a smile. "My girlfriend. Mal, you probably know my mom and dad?"
"Hi," Mal said nervously, not liking at all how the dark-haired woman was glaring at her.
"I thought we should have lunch together," Ben added eagerly.
"Really?" the dark-haired woman raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, sorry," Ben said. "Mal, this is my Aunt Elise. Uncle Grant is, well my dad's brother."
"Oh," Mal said, stalling for time as she filtered out the rude, snarky options that were in her head. "How. . . nice. And are these your cousins?"
She gestured to the girls who were looking at her with combinations of curiosity, fear, and disgust.
"Well, actually, this is my little sister," Ben said, gesturing to the dark-haired girl with Beast's steely blue eyes. The princess curtsied. "Lori, surely you've met Mal?"
Now Mal remembered- she was the girl she'd 'accidentally' shoved when trying to get to Ben before the match.
"Hi," Mal repeated lamely.
Lori said nothing, not even smiling.
"And this is my cousin, Faye," he said, gesturing towards the red-haired girl with nice gray eyes like a storm.
"Hello," Faye said, sounding curious. "Is it true that you're a fairy?"
"Um, yeah," Mal replied, not sure what the child was getting at. "Well, half a fairy. My dad wasn't exactly fairy kind, if you get my drift."
"Can you do magic?" Faye asked eagerly.
"Faye!" the adults hissed, looking around paranoidly.
"We should have lunch together," Belle agreed quickly, trying to diffuse the situation.
"Any friend of Ben's," Beast began, but Mal cut him off.
"Oh, that's okay," Mal said, thinking quickly for an excuse to get out of one awkward lunch with people who so clearly hated her. "I came with my friends-"
"You can bring your friends," Belle said, sharing an uneasy glance with her husband. "The more the merrier!"
"Alright," Mal said, feeling somewhat better at the prospects of bringing her friends. "I'll go get them."
Before she could turn around to do so, Beast spoke.
"Why don't we have a croquet match before lunch?" Beast asked.
"Alright!" Ben grinned. "Game on, Dad."
"Game on," Beast replied, awkwardly returning the fist bump.
Ben came to her after the fiasco.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"What do you think?" Mal demanded, bristling. She then forced herself to calm down, feeling guilty. This was Ben. Calm, patient, caring Ben. A real Prince Charming, one she would never deserve. She felt a lump rising in her throat. "No."
He took her hand gently and smiled at her, a sympathetic smile.
"Don't worry about my family," he said in a low voice. "They'll come around."
Mal shook her head. "I doubt that, Ben."
"Even if they don't," Ben admitted, hesitating, "what do they know? I'll still love you, no matter what they say."
"R-Really?" Mal couldn't help but feel even more about him when he said things like that. Of course, she felt terrible, considering that she caused this, except-moments like these made her wonder if he'd genuinely fell in love with her.
"I said that I'd teach you what love is," he said with a sad smile. "This is what it means. Still loving you, no matter what they say."
"Um, thanks," she said. "I don't know what to say."
He just embraced her, and she embraced him back, memorizing what she was about to lose.