51: Night Birthday.

Mal arrived back to her home precisely ten minutes in time. She had told Weston and Sadie to just go inside the house if she wasn't there. The party should of started ten minutes ago so she expected them to be there.

However when she arrived, she saw that none of them were here. Sadie, Weston, Alex and Henry weren't here. "Strange." Mal said.

She walked into her house to only find it bare empty. "Sadie? Weston?" She called out, putting Penelope on the ground to roam around. "Guys?" Mal called out again. She walked over to the phone (yes, this old house still had telephones on the wall and sitting on tables) and saw the answering machine blinking three messages. She pressed one of the buttons and listened to the messages.

"You have a dentist appointment with Brink Davidson, tomorrow at nine thirty. Please call two hours in advance if you are unable to make the appointment."

"Hey Mal, it's Sadie. Henry's mom fell off one of the reindeer last night during a race and his dad is still out of town for the dentist convention, so I'm helping out with her while Henry does her work in the shop. I'll be back in town not tomorrow, but the day after. Sorry! Tell Penelope I said 'Happy Birthday!' I'll call you later Mal!

"Mal? It's Weston, it's like...three fifty right now, I guess? Hey so I got a call from my cousins ex-girlfriend, who happens to be the sister of Alex's best friend during freshmen year of college, so she, Alex, his friend and I are going over there to hang out with her. Mal, I haven't seen this girl in, like, fifteen years! I'll make it up the day after tomorrow I promise! Happy Birthday, Penelope."

Well sucks that they couldn't make it to the party, but at least this was the first time they would be unable to do so. And Penelope would understand. Actually, this turned out fine for Mal since she needed to relax a bit and over think about today's events. "Nelly," Mal sang out as walked to where she had seen last Penelope walking into. She saw the little girl putting cat food into a bowl. "Is that for Shadow?"

"Yeah." Penelope said.

"After that let's get you down for a nap." Mal said. Here comes the tantrum.

"No! I don't need a nap!" Penelope snapped. She hated taking a nap during the day.

"Yes you do."

"No!"

"You're cranky because your tried. You need a nap."

"No!" Penelope yelled. There was a raincloud that appeared over her head and growing darker with the seconds.

"Penelope, you're going to take a nap whether you like it or not." Mal said a bit sternly. Penelope was such a sweet little girl, but she did have a temper. Something Mal had at that age, of course. At least this time it was just trying to get Penelope to take a nap.

"No!" Penelope yelled again. The rain cloud above her head released heavy rain above her head. Penelope wasn't getting soaking wet from the rain though. "I don't wanna nap! I wanna play with Shadow!"

"Penelope, you can either take a nap now or go to bed early tonight. Your choice." Mal said.

Penelope stared at her mother. What? Go to bed early? Never. "Fine." She said, but the rain cloud was still lingering.


After Mal settled Penelope into her bed for a nap, Mal walked down the staircase and walked to a closet. She opened the closet and pulled out a box from the top shelf. She brought it over to the couch and sat down on the couch, opening the box. It held a couple of old pictures from her Auradon days. She looked through a few of them, smiling at the memories, until she found one of her and Ben at his coronation. Though they had been going out for about a week at that point, Ben officially asked Mal to be his girlfriend.

Looking at the picture was wonderful, until that stupid flashback of Gasper and her caused her to drop the photo to the ground and for the next five minutes be haunted by that revolting memory. Once over Mal dried her tears and rubbed her forehead. "Stupid Gasper." She whispered.

Her phone rang and the I.D said it was Sadie. "Hi Sadie." Mal greeted.

"Hey! Did you get my message?"

"Yeah. It's fine. Weston is busy too so he's coming here in two days with Alex."

"Oh good." Sadie giggled. "How's the birthday girl?"

"Super tired. She's taking a nap right now." Mal said, relaxing back on her couch. "How's Chrissy?"

"She's fine. A little sore, but she's fine. So anything interesting or fun happen today?"

Do I tell her? She's just going to harass me more than ever. No, probably not. She's just going to harass me until I decide to go. Or arrive at Ben's castle. "No."

"Oh well that's too bad."Sadie replied.

"Yeah." Mal said. She then heard footsteps and looked over her shoulder, finding Penelope walking to the kitchen. "Hold on Sadie." She said. "Penelope? What are you doing?"

"I'm getting water Mommy." Penelope called out. "I got it."

A couple of minutes later Penelope was back into the living room with a cup of water. "Who that Mommy?"

"Auntie Sadie." Mal said. "Wanna say hi to her quickly?"

Penelope nodded. Seconds later she was holding the phone. "Hi Auntie Sadie."

"Hey Penelope. Happy birthday! Sorry Uncle Henry and I can't be there today."

"It okay. Wanna hear something fun that happened today?"

"Of course."

"I went to town alone and I met this funny guy named Ben who lives in Auradon," Oh shit! "We played all day today and then mommy came 'round and she and Ben acted as if they knew one another." Penelope was silent for a moment as she listened to Sadie. "Yeah, he was nice to me. He was nice to mommy too. It's his birthday too. I know. He looked really happy when he learned that when we met. No, I didn't tell him. Mommy told me to not give out where we live or her name. I said my name was Penny. Okay. Love you too. Bye." Penelope said then handed the phone back to Mal. "Auntie Sadie wants to talk to you mommy."

Mal cringed, she knew what would be coming, but smiled and took the phone back. "Go back to your nap now honey. I'll be up in a little bit."

"Okay." Penelope said and turned back to the stairs.

Mal gulped. "Hey Sadie." She said with a nervous tone.

"Oh nothing interesting happened today, Sadie Butcherson!" Sadie mimicked Mal's voice.

"Um, well, really nothing did happen today." Mal said. "Like, we talked, then I left."

"Um, did you tell Ben ANYTHING specific about Penelope's being?"

"Well duh, she met him this morning after she left the house while I was taking a nap." Mal explained. "So he knows about her being."

"I mean...ugh, I hate his name or even to bring it up in any case...how Gasper was involved in bringing Penelope to your life. What he did?"

"No. And I'm...I don't really plan on telling him. He won't find me."

"Mal, was he mad when he found out you had a child?"

"No. A little shocked, but he seemed generally good about it." Mal said. Then, remembering his exact words, she said, "I asked him if he was mad and he replied, 'Of course I'm not mad, Mal. I could never be mad at you.'" But that was when I was just about to explain what happened that gave Nelly to me."

"Just about to explain?"

"I had sort of a horrible flashback to the night...after that I seriously just wanted to get out of there because being near Ben was hurting me. Because of, well, that happening and then having a baby that is not Ben's child."

"Mal, he's probably going to go beast on Gasper. But I doubt he'll be pissed off about what happened. Only cold heart jerks are like that." Sadie said. "Hey, I've got to get going now. But I'll call tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye Sadie." Mal said, then hung up. She leaned all the way back and she rubbed her temple. "Good grief."


- Hours later Mal and Penelope, sitting on Mal's lap, were sitting on the floor of the living room with a small birthday cake in front of them; vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and purple icing and pretty flowers. A candle lit in the center with the number 5. "Okay, all ready?" Mal asked. Penelope nodded. "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Penelope. Happy birthday to you."

"And Ben." Penelope added. "He's the only person I know with the same birthday as me."

"And Benny Boo too." Mal laughed. "Blow out the candle."

Penelope blew out the candle and Mal cheered then kissing her daughter's cheek.

- Hours later after Mal had given Penelope a bed time story, one that Mal loved, she went back downstairs and began clean up. Her phone rang and saw it was Sadie again. "Hi Sadie."

"Hey. I just realized something right now."

"What?"

"Is there a chance that Ben would tell anyone about you being alive. Like, your friends?"

"Yeah. I told him to assure Evie, Carlos and Jay that I was fine."

"Carlos, as in computer wiz who can use the computer and do anything like search for things?"

"Uh, yeah. Like if someone gave him an address." Mal stated.

"And Evie, as in the girl with the magic mirror who can say stuff to it like, oh, I don't know...Mirror, mirror on the wall, where is Mal located in this land and all? Thereby Carlos finding you with his computer skills for the geographic locations."

Mal paused. "Mirror, mirror in my hand, where is Mal in all this land." She repeated the words that could be used. "Well shit."