Chapter 25: Surprise

"Where are you taking me?" Mal asked as she carefully put one foot in front of the other.

Ben had come to her room for what felt like the millionth time saying that he had a surprise. Most times these would be small presents or announcements, but this time he had taken her to the royal limousine and blindfolded her before they took off. After a ride of what felt like twenty minutes, Ben had cautiously helped her out of the car and they started walking.

"You'll see, and you'll love it." Ben answered. Mal could just hear the smile on his face as he obviously enjoyed this. Mal hated getting surprised like this, she just didn't like the tension and being the one not knowing what would happen. Ben loved surprising her though, and even Mal had to admit that at the end of it all she would be happy with what he had gotten her.

"How much further?" Mal whined, feigning grumpiness.

"You ask too much questions." Ben said with a chuckle.

"I thought you said I was perfect?" Mal teased.

"I didn't say I didn't like it." Ben answered and Mal suddenly felt a brief peck on her lips.

"Did you just kiss me?" Mal asked.

"Yeah, what else did you think?" Ben sounded confused.

"Well, I can't see, so it was either that or we would both have something new to worry about." Mal said.

Ben laughed. "An invisible stranger going around kissing my girlfriend, I shall raise an army at once."

"You should do it if it would ever happen." Mal said before tripping over a loose cobble in the path.

Ben caught her though and started laughing. "Still learning to walk after all this time?"

"It's your fault!" Mal complained as she hastily stood back up. "Seriously, how much further?"

"Actually, just a couple of steps." Ben said.

Mal sighed and begrudgingly took the last couple of steps before she felt Ben gently grab her by the shoulders and turn her sideways.

"Here we go." He said as he removed the blindfold.

Mal blinked in the sudden brightness of the Auradon sun before being able to focus on what was in front of her.

She saw a large building, two stories tall and quite wide. It was beautiful, with bright red roof tiles, half-timbered walls and a large wooden gate.

"What am I looking at?" Mal asked. "Your new vacation home? I believe you already have enough of those."

"No, no. It's not that." Ben said smiling. "Check what's under there." He said as he pointed at a large white sheet covering something.

Mal gave Ben an exasperated look before lazily walking over to the sheet and pulling it off.

Underneath, she saw a sign. Decorated in purple and green and words wrote in a similar way to her trademark long live evil signs. It read; Mal's isle kid orphanage.

"Do you like it?" Ben said as he went to stand next to her. "All the kids we'll bring over from the isle will be able to spend time here when they're not at school, at least, until we're able to find families to adopt them."

Mal still stood there with an open mouth, alternating her stare between the building and the sign.

Ben scraped his throat. "The building is large enough, I made sure of that. The kids will have every imaginable convenience as well as plenty of room outdoors. I've been asking the people to send in any toys they would like to donate for the children, but the idea caught on and a toy store has donated nearly a quarter of their stock. Supermarkets have organized care packages to be send every week and numerous people have already signed up to volunteer as temporary foster parents."

Mal moved her mouth, but nothing came out.

"Do you like it?" Ben said now hesitantly. "I've been working really hard to implement some isle ideas into the structure. It's almost fully operational, I just wanted you to give some final input, you know, some counseling. Mal, come on. Say something."

Mal finally turned around to look at Ben, her green eyes wide open and tears started welling up. She jumped Ben and fiercely hugged him. He needed a moment to steady himself but then eagerly hugged her back.

"It's amazing! I love it! Oh my god, how did you even do this? This must have taken you forever." Mal rambled as kept hugging Ben.

"It was no trouble. No trouble at all." He reassured her. "When the cause is just it takes no effort."

"Oh Ben." Mal said heartfelt before kissing him hard on the mouth. "I love it. I love you."

"I love you too." Ben replied with a kind smile. "Do you wanna take a look inside?"

"Yes! I want to see everything!" Mal replied enthusiastically.

"And criticize it all?" Ben said cautiously.

"Maybe, I guess you'll have to wait and see. We will need a new sign though." Mal said with a serious face.

"Why?" Ben asked as he admired the sign. "I did it in your colors and all."

"They butchered it!" Mal said as she stood beside Ben. "It's all off, I'll just have to redo it."

"It's like we're already living together." Ben said with a slight groan.

"Nonsense, if that was the case I would have never let you pick anything in the first place." Mal replied before grabbing Ben's hand and dragging him inside.

They walked through the wooden gate and entered a small courtyard. It was decorated similarly to Auradon prep's one, with small hedges, colorful flowers and a fountain. The courtyard was surrounded by colorful walls on each side, all with paintings of animals and plants and large windows. Across the courtyard was a large door, through which they could enter the main building.

Ben gave Mal a tour, showing her the reception at first, where she met some of the staff that had already been hired.

"How did you choose these people?" Mal asked after they had met the staff. "Did you just put an ad in the paper or something?"

"Something like that. I looked for people who did not have a job, in order for them to be able to fully focus on this. We had interviews with all of them to make sure they're not biased towards villain kids and are capable of working with them. Trust me when I say I put my all into trying to make this work."

"I believe you, and I really hope the place works out." Mal replied as she put her head on Ben's shoulder.

"I haven't even shown you the dorms yet, come on." Ben replied.

The dorms were several large rooms with numerous bunk beds. Ben wanted the villain kids to have as much comfort as possible, but naturally did not have unlimited money to spend, but Mal thought shared rooms would actually work well for the kids and make them bond faster.

Besides the dorms, there were also numerous common rooms, all equipped with comfortable chairs and couches and indoor games. There was a large dining hall with an adjacent kitchen, where some staff was currently placing a large stove. There was an art room, an indoor sports center, a library, an indoor pool and even a computer room.

With every new aspect of the building Ben showed to Mal, she couldn't contain her joy and she hugged and kissed him more times than either of them could count, and that was before they even went outside.

Ben insisted that Mal would close her eyes again before he would show her the outside, and she begrudgingly agreed to it. When they eventually got outside, she was stunned all over again. Right in front of the exit was a large field, perfect for any sport to be played on. In the corner was a small shack containing balls, racquets and goalposts for the children to do with as they would like. A little further was a large playground, with everything from swings, slides, jungle-gyms and sandboxes. All the equipment was brand-new and Mal just couldn't resist trying some of them out.

She and Ben eventually spent a little longer than intended cuddled up on one of the swings, where they softly discussed everything they planned for the place, occasionally interrupted by a small make-out session.

Mal got even more excited when Ben showed her the gardens, which resembled a park more than anything else. There was a large pond filled with lilies and frogs. Multiple gazebos looked out over the water. There were flowers and plants of every color and multiple trees happily swaying in the wind. There was even an adjacent garden where the children could grow their own fruits and vegetables. Mal got excited when Ben showed her the numerous bags of seeds and garden equipment, and together with Ben she planted the garden's first plant which was naturally a strawberry plant.

"I had plans to also put in a small petting zoo, but there was sadly not enough ground to work with and the workers were concerned that having certain animals live so closely to the place could bring health concerns." Ben told Mal.

"Will they be able to have pets?" Mal asked.

"Certainly. Well, small animals of course. You know, cats, dogs and stuff. I would rather not have them show up with crocodiles or whatever." Ben said with a smile.

"This will be like heaven to them." Mal said with a dreamy expression. "Compared to the isle I mean, they really have it all here Ben. Everything they need."

"I'm really happy that you like it, I hope they will as well. It's sort of an apology for all those years of neglect." Ben replied.

"How many times must I remind you that it's not your fault, you do not need to apologize. No matter what other people say, or what you say to yourself." Mal said as she snuggled into Ben.

Ben just sighed and softly stroked Mal's back.

"What's up? What are you thinking of now?" Mal asked.

"Just- I don't know how I could have ever gotten so lucky. With all this, with you." He said heartfelt and he looked into Mal's eyes. "You've given me everything I could have ever wanted and so much more. I love you, I really, really do."

Mal couldn't help but tear up when he said that and hugged him even tighter. "I love you to, so, so much." She replied.

"The orphanage will open in a week, right before our exams and when the younger kids have their week off. Mom and dad will be there, and I hope you and the other VK's will be as well." Ben said.

"Of course, we will. This is huge! Oh, and Evie will love this for Dizzy, it's a lot closer to Auradon prep than the junior school." Mal smiled.

"Just imagine, we'll have the entire day to spend with the kids and show them around the place." Ben said.

"Already thinking about kids?" Mal teased.

Ben tensed up a bit when she said that, but immediately calmed when he looked at her again. "One step at a time, we're not even married yet." He grinned.

"Wasn't cotillion basically to be engaged to be engaged or whatever?" Mal asked.

"Not officially, though it's indeed kind of seen like that." Ben shrugged. "When I do eventually ask you, you will know, trust me."

"WHEN you ask me?" Mal asked. "Not if?"

"There's no one else I would even think about asking." Ben said.

"Well, I can't wait." Mal replied.

Though she was lying in bed and it was extremely late, Mal couldn't sleep.

That evening, Mal and Ben had told the rest of their friends of the orphanage and the official opening that would occur next week. Naturally, everyone, especially Evie, was excited about the project and happily agreed to attend the opening.

Mal had been a bit off during the entire conversation but had simply waved it off to Ben as her just being tired from the long and hectic day.

Actually, she hadn't stopped thinking about the conversation she and Ben had had right before they had left the orphanage. Ben had so casually mentioned he would propose to her at some point and Mal couldn't help but feel freaked out.

In the conversation she had played it off as simple banter, but the more she thought about it, the more the panic boiled up inside her.

She felt similarly to how she felt when she first found out about the importance of cotillion. Back then, making her relationship with Ben so official had scared her because she thought that he might not have loved her for who she really was. She now knew of course that Ben did love her, with all his heart even, but the responsibility of maybe having to become queen of Auradon was enough to alarm her all over again.

She tried to calm her nerves, but only managed to twist and turn in her bed for about fifteen more minutes before she decided to act on her panic.

She carefully got out of bed as not to wake Evie, put on a robe, and quietly exited her room. Thanks to the curfew, the dark hallways of Auradon prep were deserted as she made her way through them.

She eventually got to a room at the other side of the building, where she carefully knocked on the door. In the abandoned hallway it might have well been as if she's shot a gun. There was no answer from the other side, so she carefully knocked again. This time she heard some soft rumbling, shuffling and the eventual sound of someone fidgeting with the lock.

"Who is it?" Ben asked as he opened the door, in his pajamas and his hair messed up. His sleepy eyes went wide when he saw Mal. "Mal, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

Mal made a sound as if she tried to speak, but instead just let herself fall into Ben's arms and started sobbing.

"Mal!? Wha-?" Ben was confused at first but acted quickly when he pulled Mal into his room and closed the door.

Once inside, he quickly walked back to his bed with Mal in his arms and they sat down together.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked again as he carefully removed a strand of Mal's purple hair and looked at her tear-stained face.

Mal tried to steady her breathing, which took some time. "It's just- I'm- Ben, you know I love you, right?" She eventually said.

"Of course, I do." Ben said mildly shocked. "And I love you to, with everything I have."

"Ben, I'm not ready to get married. I'm not ready to become queen. Not yet anyway." Mal said as her breath stocked.

Ben looked astonished for a second before speaking. "Why are you telling me this? Why now?"

"This afternoon, at the orphanage, you said that you were gonna propose to me some time. But Ben, I'm sorry, but I can't do that yet, I can't do that right now!" Mal rambled.

Ben softly shushed her as he rocked her in his arms. "Don't worry. Please don't worry. I didn't mean that I would be proposing to you tomorrow or next week or whatever. But I do love you, and someday I do wish to make you my wife. But the last thing I wanted to do is pressure you, so I'm sorry that I made you feel like that."

Mal rapidly calmed as she heard Ben's words. "Thank you." She said.

"For what?" Ben asked.

"Understanding. I was afraid it would be like it was with cotillion, but you know me. You know what I needed." Mal said.

Ben placed a kiss on top of Mal's head. "Don't ever hesitate to come to me if you have any problem. I'm here for you, whenever and for whatever."

"I know that." Mal happily said as she snuggled into Ben. "I know that I love you, I know you love me and I know that one day we'll get married. On that day I'll be ready, and nothing will stop me from proving that to everyone."

The smile that appeared on Ben's face was probably the biggest Mal had ever seen. He leaned in to kiss her and she eagerly responded. They kept on kissing for over ten more minutes, before they finally broke apart and looked at the time.

"It's getting really late actually." Ben said.

"I know, I should head back." Mal said as she moved away from Ben to stand up.

Ben grabbed her by the wrist. "Actually, I believe that it's so late, that you should probably stay here." He grinned.

Mal gave a feigned gasp. "King Benjamin! You know visitors after curfew are forbidden!"

"Pff, I'm king. I'll change the rules." He said as he pulled her back in bed.

"Taking advantage of your position, how wicked." Mal said with a twinkle in her eyes as she put her arms around Ben again.

"I know plenty more ways to be wicked." Ben replied as he pulled the covers over them.

Thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with the story so far.

Please review if you want to, I appreciate all feedback.