This is the longest chapter yet! I was considering splitting it in half, but I don't think there's a good spot to do that.

I'm gonna start trying to weave some Descendants 2 characters into the background when appropriate.

There's a lot in this chapter.

Dark subjects and language warning.

If there was one thing Mal didn't quite understand, it was socializing. She wasn't very good at talking to people. At least, not anymore. Not since she had Melanie.

It could be argued that she really didn't really know how to do that before Melanie's birth either. She was mouthy and loud when she was younger, and though Uma and Maddy and Jay could be considered childhood companions from various points of her young life, most of her relationships with others consisted of bossing other kids around, yelling, fighting, and stealing from others. But, as a child, especially one who lived on the Isle, that sort of behavior was acceptable so it wasn't anything concerning. Evie had said once that Melanie came along at a crucial point in development, so Mal's own development had been put on hold to care for the little girl as best as she could manage.

Mal was essentially five years behind where she should have been mentally because of all the traumatic things that had happened to her. After hanging around with them for a few years, she was able to tell when Carlos, Jay, and Evie spoke to her like she was thirteen and when they spoke to her like she was nineteen. They were never quite certain what kind of response they would get either way, but they did switch back and forth based on Mal's recent behaviors, whether they knew it or not. Sometimes, it was obvious that Mal wouldn't be able to handle something a 19 year old should be able to, sometimes it was. But sometimes, they'd say something and Mal would fumble for words, or look at them confused, or ask them to explain because the question they asked 19 year old Mal went to 13 year old Mal instead. Less often, but sometimes, one of them would say something middle schooler appropriate, only to receive an astoundingly articulate and/or quick witted response.

Mal couldn't really control how or what her brain would process at any given moment, but she was very aware that she flip flopped between what sometimes seemed like two polar opposites. And it drove her crazy. She tended to think through things like an adult, but her behaviors, actions and words, were ofen that of a child. Once, trying to express her frustration about her own predicament to Evie, Mal had said "everything gets all squished up in my head" and that her body wasn't always "listening to my thinking". Evie had nodded a bit, trying to follow her words, but Mal, frustrated from her words not coming out the way she had intended, retreated back into her corner, as it was the only thing she knew how to do.

Jay had said once that Mealnie had made Mal soft. She didn't yell about anything anymore, she wasn't bossy, nor was she comfortable being noticed. She was quiet and rather shy. "Twelve year old me wouldn't recognize her," Jay had insisted to Evie.

Truth be told, Mal lived in an almost state of fear at this point her life, and staying quiet and sticking to corners let her observe her surroundings. Hugging walls allowed to feel somewhat safe, but she was always, always looking for a way out. Trying to explain that to her friends seemed like it would be more difficult than it was worth, so she had never tried. Soon after Melanie was born, she was still a bit of a spitfire, but within the first few weeks of having a baby, she had closed in on herself and it was entirely out of her control.

Since Ben had come, her brain had been more all over the place than usual. She wasn't sure why. And she didn't know why she wanted to talk to him. Most people, especially males, frightened her. But Ben really didn't. He was very nice and he never got too close to her or Melanie. Melanie was curious about him, but she wasn't scared either. It was surprising.

Mal had decided on a whim to draw Ben's family crest and give it to him after he compimented her drawings. She wasn't sure what he did with it, but she hoped he liked it.

Melanie hardly left Mal's lap the day after Mal gave Ben the drawing. Her cough was worse when she woke up and she was completely exhausted. Unfortunatley, there wasn't too much they could do for her except have her rest and drink water. Vivian had unfortunately left years ago when the nursing program fell apart and took the ability to get medicine with her. Mal was rocking Melanie a little and it seemed as if the little brunette was fighting sleep hard, her thumb in her mouth. Mal herself was a little out of it from her recent string of nightmares. The previous night had been kind to her, but she was still drained.

Carlos hadn't come by the house yet, Jay had woken up early and gone back to his father's shop, and Evie was also yet to come by. It was just Mal, Melanie, and Ben. Ben was reading, but every time Melanie coughed, he looked to the little girl and her mother. It broke his heart that he couldn't do anything to help. A coughing little girl was not worthy of pressing that blue button on the remote and he knew that, but part of him still wanted to.

Evie knocked before she entered the house, bringing both Mal and Ben's attention to the door.

"Good morning," Evie greeted quietly, having noticed Melanie was close to sleep. "How are you, Mal?"

Mal shrugged.

"And Melanie?"

"Worse," Mal replied, looking down at her daughter.

"Does she have a fever?"

Mal shook her head.

"That's good at least. Let's hope it stays that way."

Mal nodded.

"Is Jay here? Or Carlos?"

"No, why?"

"A boat with some art stuff is set to come in soon. I was going to ask if you'd come with me, but they aren't here to keep an eye on Melanie."

"I... can watch her if you want." Ben offered hesitantly. "You should go see what's on that boat. I can keep an eye on her."

Both Mal and Evie looked to him, looking as if they didn't quite believe him.

"If it's okay, of course. I-I've babysat before..."

Mal looked to Evie.

"I think we can trust him. But it's your choice, M. She's your kid." This was a huge thing if Mal chose to leave Mealnie with Ben. She rarely left Melanie with even Evie.

Mal looked back to Melanie and to Ben. "Would you?"

"Of course,"

Mal looked at Melanie. "Is it okay if I leave you with Ben, baby? Evie and Mama will be right back."

Melanie nodded a little before coughing.

"Okay,"

Melanie stood up slowly, out of Mal's lap and Evie frantically tried to grab her so she wouldn't topple over in her state of exhaustion, but Melanie slowly made her way over to Ben, who was putting his things away. He didn't even notice her coming over until she pulled on his sleeve. He looked up in surprise and she sat right in his lap. Ben was surprised, but greeted her with a cheerful hello and leaned back against the wall.

Mal and Evie were absolutely dumbstruck. Evie chalked it up to Melanie being sick, but Mal was flat out surprised by her daughter's behavior. Mal came over to Ben and kissed Melanie on the head and thanked Ben, promising both of them she would be back soon. With another glance over her shoulder, Mal left with Evie.

Melanie started coughing again and Ben sat her up a little, in hopes it would help some. He wasn't sure if it did or not. After she recovered from her coughing fit, he started to rock her like he had seen Mal do and shortly after, she fell asleep on him. Her breathing sounded a little ragged, and he felt terrible for her. She was very cute though, regardless of being sick. She was rather tiny for four, soft brown waves fell past her shoulders, and she was wearing a pale green nightshirt that she swam in. Her thumb had made it's way back to her mouth. He felt very content with Melanie asleep on him. He had always wanted kids, and as he was getting older that want did nothing but increase. He absolutely adored children.

He couldn't keep himself from trying to find Jay in Melanie's features, but as hard as he tried, he simply couldn't. She looked almost like a little clone of Mal. It frustrated him that he still didn't know for sure either way if Jay was Melanie's dad and he wasn't sure why, except he kind of did. If he had done his math right, Melanie was born when Mal was fourteen. And Jay was older than her. The idea simply didn't sit right with Ben. Fourteen was very young, young enough for decsion making skills to not be the greatest. And Mal was small. Strong as she may have been, Jay was bigger than she was.

Perhaps it wasn't a decision at all.

The very thought made Ben sick to his stomach. Jay seemed much too nice to do something like that, but he couldn't be certain. How twisted if he made her stay, make her keep Melanie, and only sort of help her but be nice to them anyway. Maybe Jay wasn't usually this nice to Mal or anyone. Maybe it was because Ben was there. Maybe his apparent protectiveness over the girls and was possesiveness instead.

That would account for Mal's cautious and timid behavior.

Ben shook his head to try to clear the thoughts. He wasn't about to jump to conclusions from a loose possibility. He had no reason to believe any of that. The only thing he knew for sure was that Mal had been the age of an eighth or ninth grader when Melanie was born.

The door opened and Jay stepped into the room, Carlos just behind. Jay's eyes narrowed as they fell on Ben holding Melanie.

"Where are the girls?" Jay asked in a hot whisper.

"Evie took Mal to a boat that came in. It's got art stuff on it."

"And why do you have Melanie?"

"You guys weren't here, so I offered to watch her while they went." Ben replied calmly.

"Mal hardly trusts Evie alone with that baby most days. How did you manage to convince her to leave her with you?"

"I asked, she said yes."

"Well, we're here now."

Ben nodded.

"That means, I'll take her."

Carlos spoke up then. "You really wanna wake her so you can hold her? Evie will kick your ass if she finds out you woke her up for no good reason."

Jay sighed. "You're right, dude." He looked back to Ben before sitting, "I'm watching you."

Carlos rolled his eyes. He went over to whatever he had been tinkering with the previous day and started to work on it again.

Around an hour later, the girls returned, both smiling widely. They came bearing almost new paints and pencils and sketchbooks and Evie had loads of fabric and thread.

"Successful, I see." Carlos said to them in greeting.

"Best boat in a long time," Evie agreed, setting things down. She started looking through her haul.

Mal put her things down and immediatley went to where Ben was holding her little girl.

"She slept the whole time," Ben told her quietly.

Mal smiled softly and crouched down to stroke her daughter's hair back from her face. Melanie stirred and woke with a cough. "Mama," she said quietly, holding her arms up.

Mal pulled Melanie into her arms. She curled right into Mal's side.

"Thank you again," Mal told Ben.

"Of course," he replied.

Mal carried Melanie to their corner and set her down on her feet, still holding her at the waist. She murmured something to Melanie, who nodded, rubbing at her eyes. Mal took her by the hand and led her to the other room.

"Well that's a good sign." Evie said, looking after the mother-daughter pair.

"Hm?" questioned Carlos.

"Mal just took Melanie to the bathroom."

"Oh, good."

"Is that... not normal?" Ben asked curiously.

"Melanie is a little reluctant to uh, well..." Evie trailed off.

"Let's just say, it's a bit of a celebration around here everytime there's no need to change a diaper." Carlos said.

Ben nodded. He did remember that, actually. They said one of the reasons Melanie wasn't in school was because of that. Four was typically plenty old enough to be out of diapers, but such a stressful, frightening lifestyle could definitley mess with that. And besides that, if Ben didn't know Melanie was four, he probably would've guessed she was three, maybe even two, just based on size alone. She was very small.

A few moments later, Mal came back into the room with Melanie on her hip.

"Well?" Evie asked.

Mal bounced Melanie once, making the little girl laugh. Mal kissed Melanie's head. Ben wasn't sure he had heard Melanie laugh before that.

"Yeah?" Evie asked.

"Yeah," Mal replied.

"Yay!" Evie cheered, clapping her hands together. She held her hand out to the little girl for a high five, which Melanie eagerly returned. Melanie reached out for Evie, who took the girl into her arms.

Carlos came up and ruffled Melanie's hair and Jay tickled her.

Melanie looked much more awake now. Evie waved Mal away and asked Melanie to pick her favorite fabric. Carlos returned to his tinkering, Jay returned to sorting stolen trinkets. Mal went to test her new paints.

Evie was chatting away to Melanie about sewing, and Carlos and Mal were totally engrossed in their projects, and ben was reading when Jay came up to him. "Can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

Ben nodded and out his book down. He followed Jay outside.

"Listen bro, I don't know if you noticed but Mal isn't in the best place mentally and, well, I think it'd be best if you left before she gets too attached to you."

"What?"

"She clearly is comfortable enough to leave her kid with you, Ben. She talks to you and stuff. She's getting attached. She doesn't get attached to people easily, but when she does, it's... it won't be pretty if you leave once she gets to that point."

"But-"

"And I'm not an idiot. I see the way you look at her and I think she does too. And I..." Jay took a deep breath. "I'd really like it if you didn't break her heart."

"I'm confused."

"C'mon, Ben. I know Mal's a pretty girl. I know you think she's pretty too."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jay wasn't following a cohesive train of thought and Ben was kind of lost.

"You can't... I don't want you to get any closer to her. I don't want you to break her heart, Ben. She's not... she might be almost nineteen on the outside, but she's like thirteen in her head. I don't want you two to get close enough that she thinks something's going to happen, or something does happen, and then you leave her. She's not capable of handling that. She'll be heartbroken if you hurt her. You being here... it's not good for her."

Ben was kind of angry. Why on Earth did Jay seem to think Ben had intentions of starting something with Mal? Ceratinly she was pretty, but he wasn't ready to date yet. He had broken up with Audrey, daughter of Aurora, just a few weeks back. And he certainly didn't want to hurt Mal by doing just what Jay seemed to be suggesting he would do. Why was it bad Mal felt comfortable with him? Wasn't that a good thing? Unless... unless he was being possesive.

Ben couldn't help his reply from tumbling out of his mouth. "What gives you the right to decide what's good for her or not?"

"Excuse me?" Jay's tone was harsh.

Ben instantly regretted his words, but now, now he couldn't stop. He had his father's temper sometimes. "You heard me. You said yourself she's nineteen. She's grown. Say I had intentions of dating her or something, which I don't considering I've only known her for a week, she's old enough to make her own decisions."

"She's old enough but she can't! She's got the brain of a kid."

"Do you know that for sure?"

"Of course I do."

"Does she really have the mental capacity of a child or do you just want to keep treating her like she does so no one else can get close to her?"

"What are you implying?" Jay got closer to Ben, very close. He was very threatening when he wanted to be. And he was done being nice.

"That you aren't trying to protect her. You're trying to keep her away from the rest of the world."

"I am trying to protect her. She had a kid at fourteen! She's had it rough and I don't need some snot-nosed prince telling me what to do about my girls."

"King,"

"What?"

"I'm your king,"

Jay snorted. "You aren't my king."

"Whether you choose to accept it or not, I am." Ben replied, hating how snobbish he sounded. "And what makes Mal and Melanie your girls?"

"Because they're my girls."

"So Melanie's yours?"

Jay narrowed his eyes. "You think I'm that screwed up that I'd touch that girl at the age of four-freaking-teen?"

"I don't hear you denying it."

"I'm not some monster. Melanie is not my kid and I've never touched anyone like that, least of all Mal."

"Somebody had to and considering how possevive you seem to be over her, I figured it must have been you."

"You sick fuck!" Jay shouted.

Ben's pride would not let him back down. "Why don't you let Mal make her own choices instead of cooercing her into what you think she can handle and treating her like she's a little kid?"

"She's... she can't function as an adult. She's not capable!"

"How is she going to if you don't let her?" Ben knew he was over-exagerating, but king or not, wrong or right, he was eighteen and he didn't take kindly to being called names.

"She's a fucking kid, Ben! A baby. You think she can function here in the real world alone? She can't deal! She can't process stuff like we can! Sometimes she can't even answer questions! She can hardly take care of herself, let alone Melanie. She's a kid herself and you think she can manage without help? Tough luck. We lost the real Mal years ago. That girl in there? She's not Mal. She hasn't been Mal since she had that baby. If I could go back in time and kill the kid, I'd do it in a heart beat. It'd be better if she were dead. At least I'd only have one baby to take care of instead of two! That worthless little brat took my only friend away from me and I'll never forgive her for it. She took my friend and left me a nineteen year old baby! And I think I happen to know what's best for her, considering."

"I'm not a baby," said a firm voice.

Ben and Jay both turned to look at the door of the little shack. There stood Mal in the doorway, looking extremely angry. Her hands were balled into fists and her expression was one Ben didn't she was even capable of making. Beside her stood Evie looking stormy and behind them, Carlos stood baffled, Melanie's face pressed into his shoulder, hands over her ears. Had they been that loud?

Mal walked over to Jay. "Nobody asked you to take care of me. I never asked. I never said I needed you. I was fully prepared to manage just fine on my own. I was going to figure it out, just as I managed to figure everything out before my daughter was born. I never asked for your help."

Jay's eyes were wide. Mal had heard everything he said.

"And if you say one more thing about the little girl who saved my life, you'll be wishing someone saved yours."

"Mal, I-"

"You don't get to talk about her like that," she growled. "You don't get to talk about wanting her dead and expect me not to be pissed at you."

"I didn't mean it like that! Ben was... he-"

"He was asking questions. You were the one screaming at him. You said it'd be better for you if my kid was dead, if you had killed her. And what about me then, huh? Why don't I get a say in my life? Why isn't it important to you that that little girl you called a worthless brat is the reason I'm still here? Do you know how many times I got close before her? Do you know how many times I stood at the edge of the cliff, looking at the ocean, how often I stood in the doorway to my kitchen looking at the knives, how often I tried to take Melanie with me? Do you know how many scars I have on my arms?" Mal pushed up her jacket sleeves, revealing jagged scars and what looked to be old scratches. Ben's heart absolutely shattered. Jay looked close to tears. "You know what I haven't done since that little girl was born? Anything. I've thought about it, sure. I still do. But I haven't acted on a single thought since she was born. She... she became my reason to live..." Mal was facing away from Ben, but he heard her voice shake. She was near tears. "I need her, Jay. I did then and I still do. She's the only good thing that's ever happened to me and I'm sorry that her existence is such a huge inconvience to you, but she's everything to me."

Jay looked down to his shoes. Ben was afraid. Afraid of this side of Mal he didn't know was possible. Afraid of all the things Mal had ever done to herself. Afraid of what would happen if Jay opened his mouth to Mal. Afraid of what he himself had started.

"And for your information, I am quite capable of making my own choices and I'm not stupid. I'm an adult and wha t I choose to do, or not do, involving Melanie or ben or anyone is none of your business." And sarcastically she added, "But I appreciate your input."

Jay took a deep breath, looked up and Mal, and then turned and began to walk away. Mal stood like a statue for a moment, before absolutely crumpling to the ground. The sound of her sobs made Ben feel like he was about to break in two.

Evie rushed to her friend and enveloped her in her arms. After a few moments, Mal's sobs turned to sniffles. And then it was quiet. Melanie had looked up from Carlos' shoulder, tear tracks down her face. Carlos looked stunned. Ben couldn't move.

Evie whispered something to Mal. Mal nodded, wiped her eyes and stood up. She turned to Ben. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course," Ben replied, shaking himself from his state of shock.

A/N: Well, goodness. That got a lot darker than I anticipated. I would really appreciate your thoughts and feedback on this one.

I've noticed that when people argue, things go out of proportion quickly. Jay's a little cocky and Ben probably has some of Adam's temper. Not a good mix. And what'd you think of Mal this chapter?

Thank you so much for reading!