Part 3

Mal spent an hour drawing herself. When she was finished, she sat it on the table. It was almost two in the afternoon. She was hungry. Mal headed down the back stairs and into the kitchen. She snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a sandwich. On her way back up the back stairs, she came across Ben. "hi."
"Hi." She passed him with her sandwich and went back to her room. She was looking over the pictures she had taken, and was looking for a new one to sketch. She had just picked the one of her and Jay.

After grabbing a snack, Ben decided to see if she had cooled off. He knocked on her door. "Come in, Ben."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Really, who else would it be?"
"I guess. I…Oh, Hell I am so sorry Mal. I was wrong."
"Ya think?" Mal said, trying to act mad. "Look Ben, that really hurt, that you didn't even give me a chance to call her. You should have known I would have gotten to it as soon as I could, and I wouldn't have gone back in the past again until I did. I promised you I would do it and you have to believe that."

"I don't know what made me call her. I know you will do anything you promise me. I was stupid."
"Yes, you were." Mal left it at that, and went over to the desk and picked up a canvas. She sat back on the bed. Her pencil took on a life of its own. Ben just sat there and watched her. Every once in a while her eyes popped up and looked at her phone. Then back to the canvas. Soon the picture of herself and her very first friend emerged on the canvas. Mal put the canvas onto the desk. She looked around in one of the bags she had packed from her room. Her watercolors weren't in there. She knew where she had left them, the hidden room. "I have to grab my watercolors in the dorms, be right back." She popped away before he could answer. She had left behind her phone. Ben dared to look at the pictures. Mal and a long haired boy, he assumed it was Jay, a baby in a bed, a little girl with purple hair drawing. One of Maleficent holding what could only be a newborn Mal. Ben smiled, she had found some good memories. He put the phone down. He picked up what she was drawing, the picture of her and the boy. He really hoped it was Jay.

"It's the moment I met Jay for the first time." Mal said, she had come back and found him staring at the sketch. "My first day of school."

"This is great."
"Thanks."
"Where else have you been? What else in your past have you seen?"

"New born, a month old, three, and first day of school."
"Pictures?"
"Of course." She pulled out her phone and showed them to him.

"They are good memories?"
"I think so. Fairy Godmother said to just go see it for a minutes or two, take a picture and leave before it turns bad."
"Not a bad idea."

"Yeah." Mal said and went to her desk to start painting the picture of herself and Jay. She walked out to her bathroom to get water.

"Your still mad at me aren't you?"
"No, not mad." Mal thought for a minute, for the right word. "Disappointed."
"I deserve that. Please understand I was scared for you. That spell came out of her spell book, and it was too good to be true. I mean, you can visit the past, not be seen or heard, and then come back. And you even tempted fate with a video. You have to understand how frightening that is for me."
"I see your point, as I did last night, which was why I deleted the video, and didn't go back until I had permission. I got up, took a shower, and called her. As promised. But I was already too late, because you had already called her. Told her everything."
"Yeah." He walked out. Mal wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew she was right and she wasn't backing down.

Mal joined the Belle and Ben for dinner, Adam was at a meeting. And it was a quiet one. Ben stared at Mal, who stared out the window. By the time dessert had come, Belle had, had enough. "You two, my office as soon as we are done."

Mal nodded. "Yes Mom." Ben said.

"This will be settled tonight."

After dinner Mal and Ben sat across from each other, Belle had made them sit as such. "Now I have already heard both sides, and honestly Ben I am ashamed. Talk about rude."
"I know Mom, I do, but I was worried about the whole thing."
"Trust Ben. Mal is right, I understand why you were worried, but really, you showed no trust in Mal, by not even giving her time to follow through." She turned to Mal. "Now, you aren't out of this either. You know very well he did this because he loves you."
"I love him too, he just…"
"Disappointed you." He throws her words from earlier in her face.
"And me too, honestly Ben, let her finish."
"That was about it." Mal says.

"Mal, dear, I know what Ben did was wrong, but you're not talking to him, isn't exactly helping."
"Is that what you told her?" Mal glared at Ben. "I believe I told you a lot about how this made me feel. And until now I have been rather calm about the whole thing. I told you how hurt and disappointed you made me feel. That this was a huge deal for me that you can't trust me over something that I followed through with as soon as you asked, no questions asked. Well almost followed through on, since I didn't get to finish it."

"I messed up. I am sorry."
"I know you are. This is a big deal for me Ben. I don't know how else to get it across to you. Other than to say, you are the first person I have ever put my complete trust and faith in. The first person I ever loved, and this hurt." Mal could feel the tears forming, she stood and ran out of the room. Ben sat there, stunned watching her run off in tears.

"Benjamin, don't just sit there, go after her." Ben ran out and Lumiere pointed up the stairs. Ben ran up looking for her. He went into her room, and found it empty. Her phone gone. He opened the desk, the wand and spell book gone too. "Damn." He had no idea if she was in the past or the present. And if she were in the present, where could she possibly be.