Hello, everyone! I'm sorry this took so long. I haven't had any motivation in weeks and college is definitely keeping me busy. Thanks for sticking around, though!

I hope you like this chapter! The beginning is a flashback.

Enjoy!


It was pouring rain. Thunder crashed as lighting lit up the sky.

Mal hated the rain. She used to be one of the many people who was lulled to sleep by the pitter patter of the raindrops on her window, but not anymore. Rainy nights were her worst nights.

There was the contstant drip, drip, drip from the water coming through the leaky roof and splattering onto the floor. It was very soft all things consdiered, but to Mal it sounded like pots and pans being clanged together.

She had pressed herself into the corner of her room and she clutched a thin blanket around her shivering body. She wasn't sure if she was shivering from the cold or her fears or both, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until the rain stopped, so it was pointless to try.

On bad nights, Vivian had encouraged her to bring Melanie and come spend the night with her, no matter what the hour. Mal had taken up the offer several times, but the rain was just coming down too hard for her to even consider taking Melanie out in it or even herself- she hated to be wet. It was coming down too hard for her to even think straight.

A particularly bright flash of lighting lit up the room followed immediatkey by a loud crash of thunder shook the room. Mal squeaked, clapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut to try to hold her tears back.

Mal started as she felt a tiny hand on her arm. Her eyes flew open only to see Melanie standing beside her, concern written all over her little face. "Mama?"

Mal silently cursed herself for waking up Melanie, but forced herself to smile a bit at her little girl and she pulled her hands away from her ears."I'm fine,"

Melanie shook her head furiously. "No,"

Mal put her hand on Melanie's cheek. "Go back to bed, Melanie. I'm fine, I promise. Mama's okay."

Melanie did go back to the bed, but not to sleep. She tugged on the other blanket with her little arms until it came off the bed. When it did, she dragged in over to where Mal was sitting and plopped down next her, trying to put the blanket over both of them. Mal teared up again, but this time because Melanie was being so sweet. Mal pulled the girl into her lap and pulled the blanket over both of them.

Melanie turned a bit in Mal's arms to snuggle against her more and Mal only held her tighter.

"I stay until it stops raining, Mama." Melanie murmured. "So you're not scared no more."

"Thank you, baby." Mal replied before leaning down to kiss the girl on the head.

"Why don't you like the rain?" Melanie questioned.

"The thunder is too loud." Mal lied. "It scares me."

Melanie bought the lie, though. "Don't worry Mama, it goes away."

Mal kissed her again.

Before long, the three year old was fast asleep once more. She looked so innocent and peaceful in her sleep, something Mal wished her life could be. It wasn't. It was far from it. It was unstable and awful.

She promised herself when Melanie was very small that she would do her best to never lie to her, but she could never tell Melanie the real reason she hated thunderstorms. But everytime she closed her eyes when it poured like it was, the only thing she could see was the face of Melanie's father. It terrified her.

It also terrified her that the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her whole life came to her because of some terrible events. Because maybe one day, Melanie could wake up and turn into a terrible person. It was scary. Mal was scared of what the future would bring for Melanie, for both of them.

Mal rested her head on the wall and looked down at the beautiful child in her arms. She hoped she cared for Melanie at least half as much as the girl cared for her.


Mal and Melanie were sitting in the corner, trying to make themselves as small as possible as Ben spoke amiably to their friends.

"So you're here because you want to help us?" Jay asked. He had shown up not long after Evie and Carlos had arrived with Ben.

"Yes. My father meant well, I suppose, but much of what he did is just awful. I'm king now, and it's now my job to fix it. I figured that the best way to help all of you here on the island is to listen to you."

Carlos, Evie, and Jay nodded pensively.

"How long will you be here?" Evie questioned.

"As long as it takes."

Evie smiled a bit, looking hopeful.

Carlos looked confused. "Well then who is, you know, running the country?"

"I've appointed several people to several different areas, but I asked my mother to keep an eye on all of them."

"Not your dad?" asked Jay.

"No. My mother... I think my mother is a better leader in some respects." Ben replied. "I do love my dad, but Mom... I think Mom understands me and what I'm trying to do more than he ever will."

"Do you miss them?" Carlos asked.

"Yes." Ben said, before laughing a little sheepishly. "I'm too old for it though, I suppose. Especially because I've only been away for a few hours. I'm eighteen. I don't need my mom and dad too much anymore."

"Do they miss you, you think?" Jay wondered.

"I'm sure they must. I'm their only child."

The three Isle residents looked at each other for a moment, wondering what it would feel like to be loved enough that your parents would miss you when you were gone.

"Do you guys have any siblings?" Ben asked with a kind smile.

The three of them shook their heads.

Ben looked to Mal and spoke in a gentle voice. "So it's just you then? Do you like having a little sister?"

Mal looked at him, perplexed. Melanie was sucking her thumb and leaning against Mal's arm.

Jay, Evie, and Carlos looked at each other with wide eyes. What should they do? They weren't sure if Mal would reply to Ben or even speak to him at all. New people, especially new males, seemed to make her mute from anxiety sometimes. But certainly they wouldn't tell him anything without her permission.

Mal surprised her friends by replying to Ben, though her sentence came out as a whsiper. "She's my daughter."

Ben's face flushed pink from embarrassment, but he scratched the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "My apologies. She's a beautiful girl. How old is she?"

Ben was mortified. How on earth was Mal old enough to have a daughter, especially one who looked like a preschooler? Evie was eighteen, Jay was closer to twenty than nineteen, and Carlos was going on seventeen soon. From her size and demeanor alone, Ben had thought Mal was thirteen or fourteen, maybe fifteen. But certainly not old enough to have a child. Was it possible Mal was the oldest? Did people have children young on the Isle? And just who was the child's father then?

Mal looked as if her words failed her when she tried to reply, and Evie was about to tell Ben, but someone beat her to it.

"I'm this many." Melanie announced in her soft voice, holding up four fingers. Melanie didn't like talking to strangers ever, and sometimes she wouldn't even speak to Jay or Evie or Carlos. This behavior was startling, but not bad really.

"Wow, you're a big girl then, aren't you?"

Melanie shrugged.

"Are you going to start school soon?" Ben was actually curious about the process of schooling on the Isle, maybe he could find out a little about it now.

Melanie shook her head.

"Oh?" Ben wondered. "Why not?"

Melanie didn't have an answer, so she ducked her head into Mal's side. Mal put her hand on the girl's back. Ben heard a tiny cough.

"We're just going to teach her here." Evie explained.

"Is the school system here that bad?" Ben asked, not wanting to believe it.

"That's part of it." Carlos said.

"We think the four of us could teach her bettwer here, yes. But also Melanie is very... delicate. Especially her stomach." Evie explained. "She needs people who know how to help her."

Ben glanced back to the little girl. "What's wrong with her stomach?"

"Most things she eats make her sick. Something that didn't make her sick yesterday could make her miserable today and the other way around." Jay answered. Mal nodded slowly in the corner, a sign that they could continue if they wanted.

"What kind of sick?"

Carlos frowned. "It can depend on the day, but usually she can't keep anything down."

"Oh..." Poor little thing.

"Also the school here won't take kids who aren't potty trained. We're still working on that." Evie added.

Ben nodded. He could not imagine being a parent on the island, no matter how old he would be. It sounded rough. The four of them clearly had made raising Melanie a team effort, yet it was clear it was still very hard.

Melanie coughed again.

"You okay, kiddo?" Jay asked her. "You need some water?"

Melanie looked at Mal, who whispered something to her, and then Melanie nodded at Jay.

"Mal?"

Mal shook her head. "No thanks."

"You stay there, I'll be right back." Jay got up to get the water. He returned in a moment and handed a little cup to Melanie.

"Thank you,"

"Of course, kid." Jay ruffled her hair before returning to his spot next to Carlos on their ragged couch.

"Remember, slow." Mal said softly to Melanie, smoothing the girl's hair back as she took a sip of water.

Part of Ben wondered if Jay was Melanie's father. Evie and Carlos clearly harbored a lot of affection for the two girls, but Jay seemed particularly doting to both of them. Ben decided not to ask, not yet anyway. It was remarkable that these four young adults were so close no matter how their individual relationships with each other worked out. They were not leading an easy life and they were all so different from each other, and yet they cared for each other a lot. So much.

Many people back in Auradon could learn from them.


A/N: Ben, our sweet bumbling boy. He's too cute.

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Please leave me your thoughts in a review!

Talk to you soon!