Hey everyone, sorry it took so long for me to finish this, I got a little distracted over the holidays but school is starting tomorrow (EEK!) and that should take me out of lazy mode and back into work mode. As always, let me know what you think!
Many long and lonely years had passed for Stefan and Leah, but as the day of their daughter's sixteenth birthday drew near their hearts were filled with hope. They knew that so long as word continued to come of unrest in Camartene, the small non-extradition country Maleficent had fled to, that Maleficent's plan had not been fulfilled.
Maleficent sat perfectly straight behind her shiny mahogany desk, her hands neatly crossed in front of her. At first glance she might be thought calm and collected, but only a second look would be needed to catch the fury burning in her eyes as she stared down the stocky henchman before her.
"It's incredible really, nearly sixteen years and not a trace of her." Maleficent lunged forward, slamming her hands onto the desk. The assembled goons all started back, they had all been on the receiving end of Maleficent's anger often enough to have a healthy fear of her.
"She couldn't have just vanished into thin air!" The woman shouted throwing her hands in the air, leaning forward again she fixed the leader with an intense gaze, "You're sure you looked everywhere? Monitored everything? Cities, towns, phone, email, television?" She spouted off a quick list of the areas she'd been watching for any sign of the young 'princess'.
The brute nodded, "Cities, towns, phone, email, and television." He ticked off the items on his fingers, as if the short list was almost too much for his tiny brain to handle, then quickly added, "And all the cribs and cradles." He smiled, as if pleased at his ingenuity with this last item.
Maleficent smiled at once, "Cribs?" She threw back her head and laughed then turned to Diablo, her ever present assistant, "All these years they've been looking for a baby." The two shared a knowing smirk before Maleficent burst out laughing again, all of the assembled musclemen joining in.
Then, in the flash of an eye Maleficent's countenance darkened and she stopped laughing and started shrieking, "You fools! You idiots! You imbeciles!" She punctuated each phrase by hurling the nearest objects at the men. They all ran for the door, some of them practically crawling after being struck by heavy objects hurled from her desk.
The moment the room was clear Maleficent dropped into her chair with a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose in an attempt to stem her growing migraine. "Oh Diablo," she said without looking up, "It seems you are the only person left I can truly count on. Go," she looked him in the eye, "search for a girl of sixteen with hair of gold and lips red as blood. Do whatever you must, just find her."
Diablo nodded then silently left the room, leaving his mistress to brood in silence.
Back in the cottage
Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather all watched carefully as their niece strolled down the path into the forest. "I wonder if she suspects us." Merryweather eyed the willowy girl suspiciously. Flora giggled and waved off her youngest sister's concern, "Of course she doesn't, she's going to be so surprised!"
With that all of them scurried about pulling out the items they had hidden haphazardly earlier that morning, when they'd heard Rose coming down for breakfast. They found most of their supplies fairly quickly but then they had to spend several minutes looking for the cookbook, finally Merryweather pulled it from the oven, Fauna accepted the slightly warmed book with a sheepish grin, "Oh dear, I'd completely forgotten I put it in there."
"This is going to be such fun, a real birthday party with a real birthday cake!" Fauna exclaimed.
"Yes, and a dress a princess could be proud of." Flora added, digging around in her sewing chest.
"I'll go get our phones; we'll need to call the caterer and the florist and a seamstress." Merryweather began ticking off items on her fingers but Flora stopped her almost at once.
"Oh, no no no! We can't do that! We can't contact anyone we used to know, Maleficent could trace it."
Merryweather pushed out her bottom lip in a pout, "It's almost time, besides, she's never baked a fancy cake," she inclined her head towards Fauna, "and you don't know how to sew." She gave Flora a pointed look.
As usual Flora waved off her little sister's concerns, "Oh don't worry about it, that's what the books are for." She assured.
Merryweather still looked suspicious but she went along with it anyways, she had learned long ago not to bother arguing with Flora.
"I'm going to make it fifteen layers, with pink and blue forget-me-nots!" Fauna exclaimed, stacking up all the things she would need and dumping them on the counter.
Flora leaned in and whispered to Merryweather "She's always wanted to do this and this is her last chance." Merryweather nodded reluctantly and accepted the sewing notions her sister dumped into her arms.
"Stand up here dear, you can be the dummy." Flora practically lifted Merryweather onto a stool and started to wrap fabric around her in a haphazard manner. How any dress made for her stocky frame would fit the slender Rose was beyond the blue clad woman but she supposed Flora did know best.
Merryweather held the fabric away from her, trying to keep her sister from smothering her, "This is pink! I wanted blue." She pouted, crossing her chubby little arms.
"Oh don't be silly dear, we agreed that pink was the better choice." Flora pulled the fabric tighter around her 'dummy', completely covering her head.
Meanwhile, Fauna was trying to read the recipe. "Three cups of flour," she grabbed three drinking glasses and used them to measure in the first ingredient, "1 cup of milk, and 1 cup of sugar." She added those ingredients to the flour. "Fold eggs in gently. Fold? Oh well." Fauna added three eggs, shells and all, and began to use her hands to mix the dough.
"Now then, one tisp yeast, tisp?" Fauna stared at the book with confusion.
"One teaspoon." Merryweather corrected, her head finally freed of the pink fabric. She looked down at herself, "It looks awful."
"That's because it's on you dear." Was Flora's only answer.
"Gracious how that child has grown." Flora commented, looking at the measuring tape in her hands.
"Seems like just yesterday we brought her here." Merryweather added, staring off as if she could see the three women and their baby that had arrived here almost sixteen years ago.
"She was just a tiny baby then." Fauna reminisced, subconsciously cradling her cake batter.
A loud sniff sounded in the center of the room, prompting Flora to ask, "Why Merryweather, whatever is the matter dear."
The younger woman sniffed again, using the dress sleeve to wipe away a tear, "Tomorrow she'll be a celebrity, she'll be Aurora, and we won't have our Briar Rose anymore."
A soft sob came, from the kitchen now. "Oh Flora." Fauna moaned.
"Now now dears, we all knew this day was going to come." Flora blinked rapidly trying to hold back tears of her own.
"Why did it have to come so soon?"
"Well, we've had her for sixteen years." Flora replied.
"Sixteen wonderful years." Merryweather added in a bittersweet tone.
"Yes, well think of Stefan and Leah, it's been years since they've seen her, they haven't even been able to contact us so they don't even know for certain that she's safe. Think of how awful that must have been. And at least we'll still get to see her." Flora brushed off the dark mood as soon as she had spoken, "Now then, we're acting like a bunch of silly old ninnies, she'll be back before we've even started."
The younger sisters reluctantly agreed, returning to their duties.
So, how many of you thought something big was going to happen because of the chapter title? Anybody?
Also, I'm still considering how I'm going to make last part (the spinning wheel, the kiss, etc.) work out, I have a general idea but if any of you have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.
