Author's note: To all those who have read and reviewed: thank you so much for the feedback and I'm glad you're enjoying this AU. In terms of updates: I really only have weekends to focus on fic, so god-willing, this fic will be added to on a weekly basis. Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait: the much anticipated first date is included in it ;)

Part Three: Open Your Heart

"No."

Aurora's outright dismissal of Maleficent's choice in apparel was accompanied by a nose scrunch that was equal parts annoying and endearing.

Unfortunately: the lawyer's patience was wearing very thin since they were currently in the tenth store that her god-daughter insisted on dragging her into to find something appropriately date-worthy to wear.

So far, despite the fact that she had tried on at least fifty outfits; Aurora had yet to approve of any.

"What's wrong with this one?!" Maleficent resisted the urge to throw her hands up in the air in frustration.

"It's too…mature looking. And black again? Seriously, godmother, if it weren't for your style I'd say that you look like you walked straight out of Hot Topic."

She bit her tongue in order to keep the fact that she sometimes went into said store in order to buy "lounging around" tees from surfacing. "But black goes with everything!"

Aurora gave her a withering look. "I am not letting you go on your first date in sixteen years looking like the mistress of all evil, okay?."

Maleficent rolled her eyes and made an irritated sound, but didn't continue the argument.

Her god-daughter went back to shuffling through dresses, skirts, and tops. "So: this date…it's with Diaval, isn't it?"

Maleficent went entirely still. She hadn't mentioned to Aurora that Diaval was her would-be suitor, which begged the question: "How on Earth did you figure that out?"

"Oh come on, it's practically written on your face! Besides: he's all you talk about lately."

She continued to gape at her companion. "I…don't talk about him that much, do I?"

Aurora merely arched an eyebrow. "Trust me. You do. The last time we talked on the phone you went on about him for almost three hours."

She tried to think of a snarky reply to that, but failed to come up with something decent, so she settled on: "Three hours of complaining about what an ass he can be doesn't count."

"Sure it does. It means he's left you with an impression."

"Well if that impression is that he drives me up the wall…" Maleficent sighed and tried to focus on finding something in a hue other than one that matched Diaval's hair. "I don't know why I'm doing this."

"Because you like him."

"Trust me, beastie, I do not like him. I can barely tolerate him."

"Okay so maybe like is too strong a word for now…but you are attracted to him," Aurora turned to face her and crossed her arms over her chest. "And don't you dare try to deny it."

Maleficent sighed. "And what, pray tell, makes you think that I'm attracted to him?"

"Because I've seen him on TV and that man is fine."

"Then why don't you date him instead and put me out of my misery?"

"Because it would land him in jail. Also he's not really my type."

"Then why'd you say he was attractive?"

"Because he is. I'm 16, godmother, not blind! And you know the other reason I know you're attracted to him? It's the way your ears turn red when you talk about him."

"My ears do not turn—

"They're turning red right now."

Maleficent cast a quick glance in a nearby mirror and was horrified to realize that her godchild was right.

The ear to ear grin that Aurora was sporting certainly did not help matters either.

The divorce attorney glared at the high school student. "Just…help me pick out something that isn't black, all right?"

Aurora giggled and nodded, and thankfully: that particular conversation drew to a close.

When Maleficent arrived at Diaval's apartment building that evening, it was roughly ten minutes till seven, and she had never felt so nervous in her life.

It was a highly unusual sensation, as hardly anything got her rattled. Except, for some reason: the prospect of being alone with an admittedly very attractive and charming man.

Self-consciously, she toyed with her hair, which felt in soft, loose curls around her face and shoulders.

She was dressed in dark blue jeans and a billowy, light green floral-printed blouse. A simple silver necklace in the shape of a feather was placed around her neck, and, per Aurora's suggestion, she had completed the outfit with a pair of dark grey ballet flats.

She felt extremely out of her element while not wearing a hint of black, but she did her best to appear casual as she strode towards the elevator.

A full three minutes later, she knocked on Diaval's door, and inhaled deeply to calm herself when she heard his familiar rasp call out: "Just a sec!"

The door swung open, and immediately, Maleficent's breath was stolen from her.

He was standing there wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, his dark hair damp and falling carelessly into his eyes.

Nearly every inch of his pale, leanly muscled form was on display and still gleaming with water, but that wasn't all that caught her attention.

His otherwise smooth skin was littered with scars, the most obvious being two medium-sized ones on his neck, and a rather large on across his chest. There were also two tiny ones that stretched from the top of his brow to his cheek, but she had never commented on them.

Upon seeing just how much he was covered in scars, she couldn't help it when she blurted: "What the hell? How did you get all of these?!" Forgetting propriety (and the nerves from before disappearing entirely), she moved forward and startled him when she ran her fingers along the one on his chest.

"You're early," was all he managed, his breath catching in his throat when her nails trailed over a smaller scar beneath his navel.

"I took a shortcut." She muttered, preoccupied with mapping out the raised tissue.

He caught her hand when it began to stray over what was exposed of his hip. "As much as I'm enjoying the fact that it took nothing at all to get your hands on me…it might be a good idea if you came inside and I put some clothes on."

She looked up at him, and they engaged in a brief staring match before she nodded. "Right. Clothes. Clothes are good."

He couldn't help chuckling, and then he tugged her inside by her wrist.

It was far less distracting when Diaval had clothes on, and Maleficent had to admit that the soft-looking, light blue sweater that he combined with jeans did suit him well, but she was still curious about the scars she had seen earlier.

"So…how did you get all of them?" she asked as he brought her a glass of wine and sat next to her on the couch as they waited for the pizza he just ordered to arrive.

"That's a little heavy for first date talk, isn't it?"

She took a sip and shrugged. "Small talk isn't exactly our thing. Might as well start with something interesting."

He let out a soft, resigned sound and leaned back into the cushions, their shoulders touching as he sampled his own glass of wine. "Well…most of them date back to my days growing up in Ireland. I lived in a pretty small town, and I was what you'd call a bit of rebel in my youth. I got into a lot of fights."

"And the ones that aren't from those times?"

His eyes locked with hers, and he reached for her hand.

She blinked at him curiously, but then he brought her fingers to the scar that ran along the right side of his neck. "This one was from protecting my little sister from an abusive boyfriend. If the knife he used had been any longer, I probably would have been decapitated and not sitting here with you now."

Maleficent paled and brought her free hand up to her mouth to stifle a gasp. "I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what happened or sorry that you asked?"

"Both."

He searched her gaze for a long moment, and then whispered: "Don't be. It's what made me decide to become a lawyer, and it's a reminder every day that I can truly help people."

She studied him seriously, trying to figure out the puzzle that he was. "Perhaps I've misjudged you, Mr. Corbeau."

"Most people do," he confessed, leaning closer. "But I'm glad that you're finally warming up to me."

"Perhaps that's just what I want you to think," she teased, hoping to lighten the mood slightly "To throw you off your guard before I attack in earnest." Deliberately, she leaned forward, mentally noting that perhaps Aurora had made a good point about the attraction thing earlier. Then again, it could have been the wine at work.

He cupped her chin tenderly. "Something tells me that I'll enjoy this attack of yours."

She was torn between wanting to continue their repartee and just throwing caution to the wind and kissing him. (She definitely blamed alcohol for the latter idea).

The doorbell rang before she could ultimately figure it out.

Diaval politely excused himself and returned minutes later with a large box, which he then opened to reveal a delicious-looking pepperoni pizza.

"I have to say: I was very impressed when you told me to order something with meat," he stated, carefully choosing a slice and offering it to her on a paper plate.

"What's pizza without pepperoni?" she chuckled and accepted it from him.

"Ah so you're a carnivore. I'll stash that information away. Anything else I should know?"

She plucked a stray pepperoni from the bottom of the box. "Chocolate beats vanilla."

"Doesn't it always?"

Laughing, she brought the pizza slice to her mouth and took a small bite to test it out.

It tasted as good as it looked.

They ate in companionable silence until Diaval went into the kitchen to grab the second bottle she'd brought with her and refill their glasses. "So…I believe it's your turn."

"Excuse me?" she cast a confused look in his direction.

"I told you a rather personal story earlier. It's your turn now."

Reflexively, her shoulder blades ached as a painful memory entered her mind. It was her darkest, most secret pain, and yet she felt the urge to tell him about it.

He noticed her melancholy expression and his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Mal?"

She sighed, and decided that it was time to take a chance. "It's only fair…since I asked about your scars."

He was about to ask her what she meant when she turned around and lifted the back of her shirt.

There, only slightly hidden by the straps and hooks of her bra, were two painful looking scars. They ran along the edge of each shoulder blade, and he couldn't stifle the gasp of horror that emerged when he saw them.

Placing their wine glasses aside, he sunk to his knees and gingerly ran his fingers along both. "How?"

"I didn't have a protective big brother to defend my honor," she whispered, looking over her shoulder at him. "My ex was a bastard, basically."

Understanding dawned in his eyes. "Is that why you're so closed off?"

"Can you really blame me?"

He shook his head, dark feathers of hair falling over his forehead. "No."

She sighed quietly and reached over to smooth the errant strands away from his face. "Some first date I turn out to be…"

He caught her hand with his and shook his head, pressing a brief kiss to her palm. "Don't say that. We can still salvage this."

Her heart fluttered at his consideration. "How about chocolate sundaes and a Disney movie? Something to lift our spirits and make us forget about all these old wounds?"

"Sounds perfect. Are you okay with Sleeping Beauty?"

"How'd you know it was my favorite?"

"Your name is a dead giveaway," he smiled sweetly and rose to his feet, offering her a hand to help her up. "I'll go grab the blu ray if you make the sundaes?"

"Deal." For the first time that night: Maleficent grinned.

It was during the "Once Upon a Dream" sequence that Maleficent risked leaning her head against Diaval's shoulder, smiling when he rested his chin on top of her hair and draped his arm around her back.

She laughed out loud when he made a squawk of indignation upon seeing her namesake's pet raven turned to stone.

But it wasn't until the dark sorceress turned into a dragon that she decided to make a leap of faith.

If Diaval was surprised when Maleficent turned his face towards hers and initiated a kiss, he didn't show it.

And considering the fact that he was the one to deepen the embrace, it was evident that he'd been waiting all night for the right moment.

She pulled back first, both to gauge his reaction and mutter: "If you tell anyone at my firm about this…"

"My lips are sealed," he replied.

"Good. Now put them to better use and kiss me again."

"Yes, mistress." He chuckled from low in his throat, and then his mouth was preoccupied with hers once more.