A/N: In order to accurately express Hazel's emotions in this chapter, the first half is written in the first person, using her POV. The second half is happening at a counterpoint to the first and is written in my normal third-person style. It picks up right where Chapter 5 left off, with Jasmine making her...little announcement. The super short poem towards the end is mine, so if you want to use it, ask me first.

Chapter 6

I stared down at the city below as Carpet soared through the clouds, and laid back, letting the cool evening breeze wash over me as I drifted through the "endless diamond sky", as mother always called it. I always loved nights like this, when I could just release my inhibitions, truly feel free. When I flew on Carpet, I felt weightless, one with the sky, the stars. It was no wonder that it brought back so many memories for my parents, that it was on a magic carpet ride that they fell in love. With my mind so relaxed, my body began to relax as well, and without even realizing it I fell asleep.

Rather than take me home, Carpet must have known instinctively to go to Dad's old hovel, where I spent so much of my time. As children, it served as a sort of clubhouse for me and Hakim. Now it served as the one place where I could think, where I could share my most intimate thoughts with him.

Carpet must have lowered me onto the hovel floor, because that's where I was when Hakim woke me up later that night.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What are you talking about, I always come here," I replied, surprised he'd even asked me.

"Yeah, but this late?"

"It's not that late."

"It's almost midnight."

"MIDNIGHT! How long did I sleep!"

"I don't know, when did you get here?"

"Nightfall, I guess. And what are you doing here?"

"I looked for you at the palace, and when you weren't there, I knew you had come here. Why do you like this place so much anyway?" he asked.

"We've played here since we were little. Since when did I not come here?"

"Yeah, but you've been coming here a lot more often lately."

I sighed. "It's just...this place has a lot of memories for my family, you know? And I guess I like seeing the city, our home, through Dad's eyes. It helps me feel...connected to him.

Hakim nodded in agreement. "I can understand that. But if you really want to feel connected to your dad, why don't you just ask him about all this?"

"I don't know, I guess me and Dad are kind of on different wavelengths right now. I do talk to him, but not about anything important."

"That's stupid. You can't keep hiding from them the rest of your life."

"Oh, you're one to talk," I replied sarcastically. Maybe I wasn't always as open with my parents as I should have been, but at least when it came right down to it I knew they loved me. I knew they cared. Hakim's dad put the country before both his wife and son, and his mother was so quiet, so passive, that she avoided him, like he was some problem child or a mistake she'd rather forget. And now he was giving me advice on parent-child relations?

Hakim rolled his eyes, once again displaying his mother's passive behavior, trying to avoid an argument. Why did he have to be so damn sheltered? So unfeeling? Holding in his emotions and hiding from the world because he thought it was better than feeling something? I thought back to when I was little, back to when my life seemed like a fairytale and everything seemed so heartbreakingly innocent; so simple. Talking to Mom and Dad had seemed so easy back then – everything had. And then when I turned thirteen, it was like everything changed overnight. Everything suddenly became so secretive, so private, until finally it was like I couldn't talk to them at all. Was I really any better than Hakim was?

"I'm sorry. You're right – I do need to talk to them more – especially Mom," I said abruptly, already feeling the guilt over what I had just said sink in.

"It's okay. I'm used to it."

"Used to what?"

"You being a hothead."

I glared at him, but didn't say anything, determined not to prove his point.

I looked through the "window" and out into the horizon. The moon shone over the palace, bathing it in a silver light. It looked so...peaceful. How could so much drama have happened in a place like this? To look at it, you would never guess that so many life-changing events had occurred there. First kisses, weddings, funerals, make ups, breakups, children. All of the trials and tribulations of the past twenty years seemed to just disappear in the moonlight.

"Wow, isn't it beautiful?" I asked without turning to look at Hakim, still lost in my own thoughts.

"Yeah...beautiful," he said in a strange, dazed voice.

If anything could jerk me out of my reverie, that was it. A shiver went up my spine as I realized he wasn't staring at the palace...he was looking at me.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I guess for the first couple of weeks I was in denial. Then, when I knew for sure, I was trying to find the right way to tell you," Jasmine rambled. She was afraid this was going to happen. That she would end up blurting this out and making things worse.

Aladdin stared into space, looking more shocked than anything else. The silence was deafening.

"Please say something," Jasmine said in desperation.

"I'm gonna be a dad...again," was all he managed to get out. Jasmine heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, feeling for the first time in a month like she wasn't alone.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Aladdin asked.

"I thought back to when Hazel was born. What if the same thing happens all over again?"

In the few minutes Aladdin had known about the situation, he hadn't even considered that. Did he really want to go to hell and back again? If they did, would they make it out this time?

"But that are the chances of something like that happening twice in a row?" he said, maybe to convince himself more than Jasmine.

"I don't know. It just . . . scared me."

It's hard for me to be strong sometimes.

To smile through my tears

Sometimes I can't help

But succumb to my fears.

They held each other close for a while before going to sleep, letting the full impact of what they had said sinks in. It's different when you're young and barely even know what being married really means. Looking back, they realized they had been so naive then. Being in a position similar to the one they had been in sixteen years ago, both of them relieved that they were going into this with some experience, with some feeling like they knew what they were doing. And while Aladdin and Jasmine had their differences, the fact was they loved each other, and even if some argument might push them apart, their hearts would always bring them back together.

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