Author's note: Reviews are appreciated – very much so in fact. Anyone who reviews this story 4 times between chapters 21 and 30 will get a bonus chapter. Pinksakura271's is being a wonderful help in integrating her OC character into the story.

Things weren't going so well for Ben. Well, things were fine for Ben, the man. Not so much for Ben the King. He'd learned pretty quickly that it was necessary to separate those parts of his life. The entire school was still obsessed with rumors that Mal had cheated on him. Very few people believed them, and he was very thankful for that. Especially now that Jamie had admitted in public that she'd been a total idiot to distrust Carlos and that it had all been a big misunderstanding. She'd emphasized her point by nearly jumping Carlos right there in the courtyard. The stunned look on Carlos's face had been priceless though. He'd looked like he was still somewhat confused, a little bit annoyed, but obviously had no intentions of stopping his pirate wench from having her wicked way with him. Ben had found watching them kiss and make up extremely amusing right up until he had realized that Jamie appeared to have no plans to stop kissing… or making up… or whatever else she could think of to do. Ben had finally needed to intervene and suggest that they might want to find a little more decorum and a lot more privacy before they continued their discussion. If he had just been 'Ben, the man', then that would have been the end of things. He could have just ignored the rumors, knowing that they would eventually fade away.

Unfortunately, ignoring a problem didn't work for 'Ben the King'. Despite Jamie's sincere attempt to salvage the situation, the damage was already done. He had already heard from a lot of the other nobility in the kingdoms that they believed Mal was unfit to be queen. It wasn't even the affair rumor that was the real issue. It was that it permitted so many of them to pull out their prejudices and state that once you were a villain, you were always a villain. It didn't even seem to matter to them at all that Mal had never actually done anything wrong. They just tarred her with the same brush that they used for everyone else. Even if she wasn't guilty this time, went their logic, it was just a matter of time until she was. How exactly did he answer that accusation? There wasn't any way to 'prove' that Mal would stay good. He knew in his heart that she would, but other Kings, Princes, and other royalty weren't going to take his word for it. They wanted him to publicly separate from Mal. 'Just until things calm down.' Said the nice ones. 'Find a new girlfriend' is what the others said. His father was philosophical about the problem. "Just give them time." He had said, barely taking his attention off of the tiny model railroad that he had started building in his retirement. "Eventually the next scandal will make them forget about this one. And there's always another scandal." Ben didn't want to tell his father but that 'next scandal' worried him even more. Because his beautiful and charming girlfriend had just done the strangest thing without even telling him about it.

She'd made dessert for the entire school. Dessert for a meal that she conveniently didn't show up to.

He loved Mal and knew that she had a wonderful heart under her tough exterior but her doing that much work for the entire school without another motive was, well, unlikely. Especially when you considered her other experiments in cooking. If she'd made scones or pies or apple turnovers then he would have just made sure that he got a piece and later complimented Mal on her work. But she hadn't made any of those things. She'd made cupcakes. Or, as was far more likely, magic cupcakes.

Oddly, the fact that is was cupcakes was the only reason he wasn't panicking right now. If she'd baked cookies for the entire school, then he wasn't quite sure how he would have handled it. Over a hundred teenagers randomly falling in love with the first person they saw… That would have been a monumental disaster. But cookies were for love spells and cupcakes were for breaking them so he wasn't sure what to think about it all. "Where was the harm in it?" part of him thought. "It's no different than everyone going swimming at the lake and that happens every summer." But the rest of him knew that there was something going on. There was some sort of reason that Mal was making sure that no one in the school was influenced by a love spell.

He'd considered going to find her when the helpers had started passing out the purple frosted cupcakes. But Ben rushing out of the dining hall to find her would have made a strange occasion even stranger. It didn't help that Jay was very much in attendance and seemed to be paying a lot of attention to who ate one. In fact, he'd even convinced a couple of girls who seemed more interested in watching their figure than eating a chocolate cupcake that it was time to 'live a little' and enjoy one. The girls had been excited to do it for him and then, somehow, sad once they'd eaten it.

Ben groaned. With everything going on in the rumor mill, it was imperative that no one find out that he'd been enchanted when he asked Mal out. If powerful people in the court found that out, then they'd have the perfect reason to force him to step down. His musing was interrupted by a quiet voice from the door.

"Hi." Said Mal, easing herself inside. She wasn't her usual feisty self and that, more than anything else, convinced Ben that she was indeed up to something. He turned and held out his arms to her. Mal walked across the room with every step feeling like a death sentence. She walked into his arms and just let him hug her; she didn't try to put her arms around him or anything. Ben breathed into her hair and Mal took a moment to just let go of all of their problems and be with him. They stood their together for a long moment before she spoke again. "Did you get a cupcake?" she asked.

"No." replied Ben. "Did I need one?"

"Probably not." Said Mal. "Not unless Jack has been plying you with hot chocolate in the wee hours of the morning."

"What?" replied Ben, startled.

"Jack managed to get his hands on a few of the left over cookies that I made. They were dried up and crumbly which meant that the magic was weaker but it was still there. He's been slipping crumbs in the drinks of pretty girls so that they would kiss him."

"What?!" replied Ben again but this time he sounded angry. "And Jay? Jay's been with Jack a lot lately and I know I've seen them with a lot of girls…."

"Jay didn't know… In fact, Jay was the one that caught him at it… The crumbs and cookies are gone. Destroyed. And I'll never make any more again. After he found out, Jay came to me and we came up with the plan to make sure no one was still under his power. Jay watched to make sure that every girl he'd ever seen Jack with had eaten a cupcake and I went down to the village and passed out some more. It's done with."

Ben's fury was still up. "What about Jack?"

"He's been dealt with." Said Mal delicately.

"But he should be arrested. Brought up on charges! Brought in front of me for judgment…" Ben finished darkly.

"I agree but you know that wasn't an option. If he went before you, then he'd have smeared your name and how you were enchanted all over the kingdom. He'd have told everyone where the cookies came from and why I originally made them. Your authority as King would have been destroyed. I couldn't let that happen."

"I don't care about my name or reputation. What I care about is those girls…" interjected Ben.

"So do I. Luckily, it wasn't any more than kisses although Jay thinks that was only because Jack hadn't worked up the nerve for more yet. When I found out, I truth spelled Jack to make sure that was all that had happened. And even then, Jay and I watched the eyes of everyone who ate one of those cupcakes. If Jack had done anything worse to them, we'd have seen it in their eyes when the spell broke."

"And if he had?" asked Ben, trying to hold his temper.

"Then I'd be with him right now making sure he regretted every terrible thing that he's even considered doing in his life."

"Doesn't he already regret them?" asked Ben, knowing that his Mal wouldn't have been gentle with Jack for even such a little thing as enchanting a girl to kiss her.

"He'd regret them more. A lot more."

"But still.." Ben tried to say.

"It's over. I've dealt with it. If anyone ever finds out, I'll confess to the whole thing. Your rule will be safe."

"I don't care about that." Protested Ben.

"I know you don't. And that's why you're going to be a great King. Look, I'm sorry." Mal said quietly.

"For what?" asked Ben.

Mal was a little sad that Ben's tone didn't sound so much surprised as resigned. "For love spelling you in the first place. For losing that stupid bra. For being such a bad friend to Evie and to Carlos. And for screwing up your life and your being King."

"It's not that bad…" Ben tried to say.

Mal interrupted. "They want you to dump me, right? The court… the other kingdoms, your parents…"

"Not my parents." Said Ben quickly and then realized that by answering that way, he'd admitted that the rest of hit had been true. "Look, they'll all get over it. Eventually, when the next scandal consumes their attention. That's what my dad says."

"Eventually…" said Mal but her voice betrayed her by cracking. "Look, I should go. And I mean like, really go. Not back to the Isle but maybe find somewhere else to live. Somewhere that I won't hurt all the people that I love." She pushed away from him. "I love you. Goodbye." She said and turned to leave.

"You're not leaving Mal." Said Ben smoothly.

A bit of her fire came back as she whirled to face him. "Do you think you can stop me?"

They looked at each other for a long minute. "Yes." He finally answered.

"What are you going to do? Force me to stay? Call your guards?"

"Nope."

"Then how?" asked Mal exasperated.

"By asking nicely." Replied Ben.

They looked at each other for another long minute and then Mal started to giggle. "That's it? You're just going to ask me? What if I say no?"

"Then I'll ask again. Even nicer."

She giggled again. "That's your plan? Just get nicer and nicer and nicer?"

Ben nodded. "Is it working?"

Mal mock stomped across the floor and shoved her head into Ben's chest. Then she reached and pulled his arms around her snugly. "Yes. You're crazy. You know that, right?"

"I'm not crazy. I'm dating you which is almost but not quite the same as being crazy."

Mal's arm unwrapped from Ben long enough to punch him in the arm, then went back around him. "So what do we do now?"

"We start facing our problems. I'm going to start standing up to all those people who think they can decide who I love. That isn't their decision to make. If they decide they don't want me to be King, then that's fine. But I'm not giving you up for anything." Ben smiled to himself, realized that for once, Man and King were united. It was time to stop being the punching bag for the entire kingdom. He needed to convince everyone in the kingdom how wonderful Mal was and that she was always going to do the best thing for the kingdom. Even if it wasn't what he'd have chosen. If he didn't convince them, then he and Mal would be plagued by doubts for the rest of their lives. Better to take a chance now and settle thing than to live under the axe forever. It's not going to be easy to face all of that doubt but I'm going to do it. But you, Mal, have something even harder to do."

"What?" she asked.

"You need to apologize to Evie and Doug. And Carlos, for that matter."

"What if they don't forgive me?" asked Mal. "I don't have a lot of experience with apologies."

"You apologized to me." Said Ben. "And that went okay."

"True…" admitted Mal.

"Did you meant to hurt them" asked Ben.

"Of course not!" replied Mal.

"Then they'll forgive you. Call it Advanced Goodness 201. When someone sincerely apologizes, you just know. And that helps you to forgive them."

"But what if they hate me now? What if they flunk your so called Advanced Goodness class?"

"Are you kidding?" replied Ben. "Doug or Evie? Flunk a class, even a made up one? Never. And Carlos? He got his Jaime back. I guarantee all is right with his world."