Disclaimer: Princess and the Frog belongs to Disney, not me.
THIS STORY IS RIFE WITH SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE, YOU PROBABLY WON'T WANT TO READ THIS.
But if you have seen it, please read and review.
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"Mama! Daddy! Come quick!" She tore into the kitchen, her pigtails flying. "You'll never guess what I done sawed!"
"What you saw, baby girl," her mother corrected. Tiana adjusted the baby on her hip; the little one babbled happily as she patted out gingercake dough with one hand. "So what is it, Lina?"
"I done saw a frawg," Lina gasped, clutching the neck of her pink ruffled nightdress dramatically. "It was this big, Mama!"
Tiana laughed. "Where did you see this frog?" she said.
"On my bedroom window ledge," Lina reported. She clambered up onto the stool by the kitchen counter. The warm yellow light of the winking chandelier made her dark hair shine. "Ooh, Mama, are the cookies done?"
"Not yet," Tiana said. "And remember, these are for Santa Claus." Lina leaned over the flour-dusted counter and stuck her finger in the bowl of gingercake dough. "So what happened to the big ol' frog?"
Lina stuck her finger in her mouth and pulled it out with a loud pop. "Raymond got it," she announced.
"Raymond did what now?" Tiana said, bouncing the baby on her hip. Lina reached for the bowl, but Tiana slid it out of the way with her elbow.
"I just wanted to see if it was a pwince!" Raymond protested.
Naveen strolled into the kitchen with his son slung over his shoulder. "Look who I found," he said cheerfully.
Raymond wriggled to the floor, skidding across the floor in his striped pajamas. "Mama, Lina found a frog, and I-"
"I heard the story," she said gently. Raymond flung his chubby little arms around her legs. "So what did you do with the frog?"
"He was gonna make me kiss it," Lina exclaimed.
Naveen laughed and picked up his daughter. "And you are thinking that is a bad thing?" he said.
Lina made a face. "Frogs are icky, Daddy," she said. "They're all slimy."
"Not slime," he corrected. "Mucous. It's mucous, little Lina."
Tiana brushed her sticky, floury hands off on her apron. "Raymond, babycakes, I can't put the cookies in the oven if you're holding onto me," she said. He scooted away and she popped the tray of gingercakes with one hand.
"Are they almost done?" Naveen said eagerly.
Tiana kissed the tip of her husband's nose. "Be patient," she chided. "That's the first tray. And things would go faster if you held the baby."
"Then give me the little angel," Naveen said. He beamed foolishly at his youngest as Tiana handed him the baby. "Hello, Princess Dora Mae. Oh, look! Look! She's smiling at me!"
Dora Mae babbled and grabbed her father by the nose. "Is she big enough to play with yet, Mama?" Lina said as she climbed up to sit on the counter.
"She's just a baby, honey," Tiana smiled.
Raymond wrinkled his nose. "Why did it hafta be a baby sister?" he complained.
Tiana picked him and set him beside Lina. "Because God said so, that's why," she said. She stroked a dark curl out of his eyes. "Now why don't you tell me about that frog?"
"It was big and sticky!" Raymond said. "I was gonna make Lina kiss it, so she could have a pwince."
"Well, that was very nice of you, but I don't think it's a very good idea to throw frogs at your sister," Naveen said, his eyes twinkling. "I don't think the frog liked it very much."
"Neither did I!" Lina said.
"Don't you remember the story your daddy and I told you about frogs?" Tiana said.
Raymond shook his head. "Tell us again!" he begged.
Naveen bounced Dora Mae on his knee. "Well, it all began when…"
"Oh, no, no," Tiana said. "You've got to start it right, honey."
"Ah, that's it," Naveen said, snapping his fingers. "Once upon a time there was a handsome, dashing, charming, clever-"
Tiana cleared her throat.
"Ahem. Yes, well, you get the idea," he said. "In any case, once upon a time there was a prince. And despite his many excellent qualities…he was a little foolish." Dora Mae grabbed his knuckle and gnawed on it sleepily. "He was bamboozled by the Shadowman."
"Bamboozled?" Lina repeated.
"Tricked, baby girl," Tiana explained. She peeked into the oven, then turned to the icebox and pulled out a glass bottle of ice cold milk. "Dr. Facilier tricked the prince and turned him into a frog."
"A big slimy fwog!" Raymond giggled.
"A big mucousy fwog," Naveen corrected. He paused. "I mean, frog."
"So now the frog prince had to find a princess to kiss him and turn him back into a human," Tiana continued. She poured milk into two small tumblers. "So he kissed a very nice girl that he thought was a princess…but she was really just a waitress."
"Just like you, Mama," Lina said.
"Just like me," Tiana smiled.
"So did the fwog tuwn back into a pwince?" Raymond asked, popping his thumb into his mouth.
Naveen gently tugged his son's thumb away. "He did not!" he said. "Actually, it did just the opposite. The pretty waitress turned into a frog instead."
"No!" Lina gasped, just like she did every time she heard this part.
"Yes!" Naveen said. "She turned into a very pretty frog."
"Frawgs aren't pretty," Lina retorted.
"Ah, but she was the loveliest of frogs," Naveen said, smiling at his wife. Tiana smiled back.
"So what happened?" Raymond asked eagerly.
Tiana took the tray of gingercakes out of the oven. "The two frogs traveled all over the bayou, looking for a way to break the spell," she said. She took two warm cookies off the tray and handed one to each child. "But they couldn't find a way to do it, because they needed to find a princess to kiss the prince."
"Why didn't the prince get you, Mama?" Lina asked. "You're a princess."
"Because," Tiana said, wiping crumbs from her daughter's round cheek. "They found a princess, but she was only a princess until midnight. She didn't kiss the prince fast enough, so the spell didn't break."
"Why was she a pwincess only till midnight?" Raymond asked.
"That's another story. Eat your cookie," Naveen said.
"What happened next?" Lina said. She took a long drink of milk.
"The prince decided it didn't matter if he was a frog," Naveen said. "He loved his wonderful waitress frog, and he married her anyways. And on their wedding day, as soon as they kissed, they both turned back into humans."
"Why?" Lina and Raymond breathed together.
"Because now that the waitress married a prince, she was a princess," Tiana said.
"And they all lived happily ever after," Naveen finished. He looked up at his wife. "I finished it properly, didn't I?"
"You did," she said. "And now it's seven-thirty, and you two know what that means."
"One more cookie?" Lina pleaded.
"No, babycakes," Tiana said. "It's bedtime for both of you, Raymond and Evangeline." She kissed both children, brushing away crumbs and milk mustaches. "Go get into bed, both of you."
"But we wanna stay up," Raymond said as his mother picked him up off the counter and set him on the floor.
"If you stay awake, Santa Claus will not come to our house," Naveen said.
Lina scooted onto one of the kitchen stools and slid to the floor. "G'night, Mama, g'night, Daddy," she said. Naveen kissed his children before they ran up to their bedrooms.
"Let me take the baby," Tiana said. She picked up Dora Mae, her little head bobbing against her mother's shoulder.
"Mm, gingercakes for me!" Naveen said. He picked up two, one for each hand.
"Do you think they'll ever get tired of that story?" Tiana said.
"They ask for it at least once a week," Naveen smiled. "Apparently it's fascinating."
Tiana rocked the ten-month-old baby. "Do you think we should tell them the truth?" she said.
Naveen brushed the crumbs from his chin. "You mean, that we were the frogs?" he said. He leaned the small of his back against the counter and grinned. "I do not know. I almost like the idea of keeping it as our secret."
Tiana leaned against him, her head against his shoulder. Naveen kissed Dora Mae's round cheek and the drowsy baby yawned. He smiled and bent to kiss his wife on the lips. She kissed him back, tasting nutmeg and breathing in the spicy scent of his cologne.
"I know I'll never get tired of hearing that story," Tiana said softly, and she kissed him again.
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Author's Notes:
I saw Princess and the Frog today, and thought it was amazing. So beautifully done- story, music, art, everything. I definitely fell in love with Naveen. He was just too adorable, even as a frog.
And the end of the movie was just incredibly satisfying. All I wanted was to see them with some precious, cuddly babies. So I decided to write about them. Lina is six, Raymond is almost four, and Dora Mae is ten months.
TOO PRECIOUS FOR WORDS.
(Also, I make gingercakes every Thanksgiving and Christmas. They're sweet and spicy and delicious, and it seemed like something Tiana would make. PM me if you want the recipe. :) )