Chapter Twelve

(Song in this chapter is "The Way You Love Me" by Faith Hill)

"Yes," said Skinner, "I'll be right back. I must make a call." He turned and walked back out of the kitchen.

"That was strange," said Remy as he prepared ingredients to make ratatouille, "Skinner never acts like that. His mind must be somewhere else."

Skinner returned with an odd smile on his face, and he went over to the cabinet, pulling out a bottle of wine and two glasses. "I must welcome our new recruit properly. She will be a very fine addition to our team."

"Thank you," I said with a weak smile, "But I don't drink."

"Come on," said Skinner shaking the bottle, "just one glass."

I looked over at Tiana, Rapunzel, and Remy silently begging for help. But they just motioned me away.

"Go on," said Tiana, "Have yourself a drink. We'll be fine without you for a few minutes."

Skinner grabbed me by the crook of my arm and led me out of the kitchen, and into another room that seemed to be some sort of dressing room to the kitchen workers, and on the opposite wall was a door with an exit sign above it. We sat down in a couple of chairs and he poured some wine into a glass and handed it to me. I stared at the purple liquid with slight distaste. Lifting up the glass, I niffed the wine; it was incredibly sweet. I took a small sip, and the wine burned my throat, but it was good! I had soon chugged down the entire glass. Skinner filled up my glass again, and I drank it all. After about my fourth or fifth glass of wine, my mind got a little fuzzy and everything was unusually shiny.

"How are you feeling?" Skinner inquired with a slight grin.

"I'm… fine!" I said then giggled. "The head chef is a rat! Haha! Rat. Ratta-tatta - Hey, why do they call it that?"

Skinner gave me a funny look and said, "What?"

I replied, "Ratatouille. It's like a stew, right? Why do they call it that? If you're gonna name a food, you should give it a name that sounds delicious. Ratatouille doesn't sound delicious. It sounds like rat and patootie. Rat patootie! Which does not sound delicious." I giggled again this time hysterically. The glass slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor, and I was vaguely aware of falling over before I blacked out….


Remy heard a crash and a thump and exchanged confused glances with Rapunzel and Tiana.

"What in the world was that?" Rapunzel inquired as they turned their attention to the door Skinner and Aralyne had gone through.

"I'll go check it out," said Remy leaving his station and scampering over to the door. There was a rat hole in the wall that led into the next room. After poking his head into the room, his eyes widened at the sight. Aralyne was unconscious on the floor, and Skinner was leering over her.

The exit door burst open behind Skinner. He turned to see the men he had called over: Honest John, Stromboli, and Sir Ector. They leered down at the girl and laughed maniacally.

"So this is the girl?" said Honest John twirling his cane in his fox hand, "Nice work, Skinner!"

"Yes, I thought having her intoxicated would make it easier to kidnap her," Skinner replied handing Stromboli the wine bottle. Stromboli drank what was left.

Sir Ector lifted up Aralyne's upper body and said, "Help me out here, will you, Honest John." Honest John lifted up her legs and the villains began carrying her out of the Benbow Inn.

Remy ran back into the kitchen and said, "Aralyne is being kidnapped!"

Rapunzel and Tiana exchanged alarmed glances and burst into the next room. The men were caught off guard, especially when Rapunzel hit Stromboli on the back of the head with a frying pan. He fell to the door unconscious.

"Drop her at once!" Tiana said also holding a frying pan. Then she shot Skinner a suspicious look. "What are you doing just standing around? Help her!"

"He's in on this," Remy snarled jumping onto Tiana's shoulder. "They must have been who he called when he had returned."

Both girls attacked, smacking the villains with the pans. Honest John and Sir Ector dropped Aralyne onto the floor. While Skinner tried escaping, Rapunzel used her long hair to tie up all four of the villains while Remy ran for help. Mrs. Hawkins arrived several minutes later with Sinbad, Danny, Eric, Jim, Melody, and Captain Phoebus. Phoebus arrested the villains and dragged them out of the inn after releasing them from Rapunzel's hair. Danny and Eric then tried to wake up Aralyne, but she wasn't really responding.

"What' wrong with her?" Danny inquired, "Why isn't she waking up?"

Eric lifted her up into his arms, and scrunched up his nose at the sickly sweet scent she emitted. "Ugh! Smells like she's been drinking."

"She has," Remy explained, "It was part of Skinner's plan to kidnap her."

"Take her up to her room," said Mrs. Hawkins. Eric carried her out of the kitchen and upstairs to her room, depositing her on her bed. Melody, Jim, and Danny had followed to make sure she was okay.


I woke up with a serious major headache. The sunlight streaming into my room hurt my eyes and I felt like throwing up. When my vision had cleared, I saw Eric, Danny, Jim, and Melody sitting around me.

"How are you feeling?" Melody asked.

"Sick," I muttered, "Wass going on? What happened?"

"We'll tell you later," Eric said brushing my hair out of my face and kissing me. "Get some sleep."

I wanted to know more, but I passed out once again.


Next day I woke up almost alone (Melody was fast asleep in her own bed) and I got up feeling nauseous. I changed into one of Aurora's dresses, and stumbled out of the room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

"Good morning, sugar," said Tiana when she saw me. She was standing at the stove cooking breakfast, "How are you feeling?" I just groaned taking a seat in a chair and burying my face in my hands.

"Perhaps she would like some coffee?" a woman asked with a French accent. With a slight frown, I glanced up to see two new people in the kitchen today. Then it dawned on me they were Colette, and Linguini. Colette said to me, "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, please," I croaked out. I watched as Linguini poured coffee into a mug, and handed it to me. "Thank you." I took a sip and nearly choked on how bitter it was. I really should have mentioned to add cream and sugar, but I didn't want to bother anyone so I drank it the way it was.

"It's almost time to get to work," said Remy running out onto a counter, "Are you ready, Aralyne?" I nodded, finishing my coffee, and throwing the mug into the sink.

"Don't worry, Remy," said Linguini taking my side, "I'll make sure she's okay today."

The morning rush started and at first I was helping Linguini and Mrs. Hawkins serve food, but once the dirty dishes started pouring in, I was stuck at the sink washing them. When everything had slowed down and I was on my last few plates, Ariel came into the kitchen clinging to Dimitri's arm.

"Hi, Aralyne," she said and I smiled at her. "I was wondering if you would like to accompany Dimitri and me to the beach once you're off of work?"

"Well, there is also the fair tonight," Dimitri said to Ariel, "We can go there instead."

I saw a flash of irritation in Ariel's eyes which made me raise my eyebrows in wonder. "But, I really want to go to the beach," she said.

"Aralyne should decide," he said and they turned their attention to me.

"Well," I said thinking about the choices, "I would really like to go to the fair. If you don't mind, Ariel?"

"N-No," she said with a forced smile, "Not at all. Maybe some other time then."

"We'll see you after work," Dimitri said, and he and Ariel left the kitchen. I stared after the redhead with a slight frown. Why does she want me to go to the beach so badly?

When we were on our break, I sat down and asked Tiana, Rapunzel, and Remy, "What happened yesterday? Eric said he was going to tell me, but I haven't seen him today."

"It was Skinner," Rapunzel said taking a seat beside me and taking my hand, "He had gotten you drunk, and called some villains to come kidnap you. But Tia and I took care of them. Remy called for Captain Phoebus, and they were all arrested."

"Thank you," I said giving the girls a small smile.

"Maybe you should stay near people that will protect you from villains," Linguini suggested.

"Yeah," I mused thinking of Danny and Eric, "I was thinking of asking a couple of… friends."


As soon as I was off work, I went out in search of the boys to ask them if they wanted to go to the fair with me, Ariel, and Dimitri. I couldn't find Eric, but I did manage to find Danny. Danny agreed to go along, which made me feel better. I was seriously disappointed not to find Eric. I guess you could say we were dating; it certainly felt like it, and he wasn't around for me to spend time with.

Danny and I met Ariel and Dimitri outside at the entrance to the fair.

"So, what do you girls want to do first?" Dimitri inquired.

"Oo! Let's go on some rides!" Ariel exclaimed looking around at everything. I gave her a funny look. Um, didn't you want to go to the beach? Weren't you disappointed in coming here? "That one!" she cried grabbing Dimitri's hand and running towards the Ferris wheel. Danny and I exchanged glances, shrugged, and we ran after them.

"Two at a time, please," said King Hubert who worked the ride. Ariel, Danny, Dimitri, and I waited in line for about half an hour before going on. Dimitri and Ariel got on one carriage together, and Danny and I got on another carriage.

As we were taken up to the top, I looked around the fair and saw the stage I had performed on. This time, the spotlight was on a fifteen year old girl with long red hair, wore a red shirt, and white skirt. Candace Flynn, I mused watching her take the microphone. She began to sing, and it was a song I recognized as well:

"If I could grant

You one wish

I'd wish you could see the way you kiss

Ooh, I love watching you

Baby

When you're driving me crazy

Ooh, I love the way you

Love the way you love me

There's nowhere else I'd rather be

Ooh, to feel the way I feel with your arms around me

I only wish that you could see the way you love me

Whoa, oh, oh

The way you love me"

Talk about embarrassing! Of course it would be my luck that Danny and I would be on the Ferris wheel as a romantic song is being sung!

"It's not right

It's not fair

What you're missing over there

Someday I'll find a way to show you

Just how lucky I am to know you

Ooh, I love the way you

Love the way you love me

There's nowhere else I'd rather be

Ooh, to feel the way I feel with your arms around me

I only wish that you could see the way you love me

Whoa, oh, oh

The way you love me"

I just wanted to hide! I loved this song and knew it by heart, and shot a wary glance at Danny during the next verse.

"You're the million reasons why

There's love reflecting in my eyes

Ooh, I love the way you

Love the way you love me

There's nowhere else I'd rather be

Ooh, to feel the way I feel with your arms around me

I only wish that you could see the way you love me

Whoa, oh, oh

The way you love me

Whoa, oh, oh

The way you love me

Whoa, oh, oh

The way you love me

Ooh, the way you love me

The way you love me"

When the song was over, Danny just flashed me a smile as if the song didn't affect him. I breathed a sigh of relief, honestly worried he would take this the wrong way and try to kiss me. Kiss…. Oh, jeez! What if Candace had sang Kiss the Girl instead? Talk about mortifying!

Once we had gotten off the Ferris wheel, Ariel, Dimitri, Danny and I went on more rides.