Chapter Ten: Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Mal shivered slightly as she pulled the thick heavy dress coat tighter around herself, "How in the world can anyone enjoy this cold?" she demanded, hunching her shoulders slightly to try to stay warm, her breath forming a cloud in front of her.
Ben chuckled, kneeling down next to the six seater stroller he had bought, making sure that all five of the girls were buckled in despite the thick winter snow suits that they were wearing, "You've been living in Arendelle for the past two years, their winters are always this cold."
"This is the first time I've ever been out in the cold," Mal explained, "I used Magic to clear my driveway and path of snow, I mostly stayed inside with the girls."
"I see," Ben muttered, double checking gloves and hats on the girls, "Keep it on, it will keep you warm," he insisted, stopping Hadley from pulling her hat off before he could tie the strings down beneath her chin.
"Me no like," the girl exclaimed, tugging on the dark blue hat.
"Hadley," Mal insisted, shaking her head as she knelt down next to Ben, "here, I'll keep your hat, and if you change your mind, we'll put it on then."
Ben gave Mal a look before shaking his head, "I've never pictured you as a mother," he confessed, smiling softly.
"Neither did I," Mal agreed, "But I wouldn't change anything."
"I can think of a few things that I would change," Ben muttered softly to himself, "Like were you live and who the father was."
Mal gave him a strange look, before shaking her head, "So where are we going anyway?"
"The Festival of Light Tree Lighting Ceremony," Ben announced, "It kind of kicks off the whole Winter Festival."
"Ben has to give a speech and flip the switch," Belle said.
"It will be interesting to see what he says about Chad's arrest," Beast commented, "It's all over the news and someone is bound to ask about it."
"That question is to be addressed in a press conference not in the opening ceremonies of the Winter Festival."
…
Mal was surprised by how many people were out and about despite the cold, mingling about the Town Square where a large Christmas Tree had been decorated. She shifted closer to Belle and Beast, "How big is Arendelle?" she asked.
"Fairly large," Belle explained, "But people travel here from all around Auradon, look there's Aladdin and Jasmine."
Mal looked towards where Belle was nodding, sure enough, the Sultana and her husband were some ways off, huddled miserably in heavy thick coats. Mal shuddered just looking at them. Agrabah was a desert, warmer on a cold day than the Isle was on a hot day. They had to be absolutely miserable in this temperature.
"I'm sure that if you look around, you'll find your friends hanging about here somewhere."
"Evie probably, but I don't see Jay doing the cold, and Carlos never really liked crowds."
"Come back here!" a voice called out over the general hubbub of the crowd.
"Dude!" another voice called out, as a small dog burst out of the crowd and ran straight up to Mal.
"I knew I recognized that scent," the dog announced, sitting down with his tail sweeping the snow away from the ground behind him, "Now scratch my butt."
Mal glanced at Belle and Beast, eyes wide, "He stole a truth gummy I made for Carlos before I left. I honestly thought that it would wear off eventually. I guess not."
"Nope," Dude announced, "Jane told Carlos that you'll be here, and I thought I recognized your scent so here I am."
"Dude," a new voice called out as Carlos appeared, hands on his knees as he gasped for air, he was fast, but he still didn't like running through crowds, "Not cool," he insisted, before looking up to see who Dude had stopped at. His eyes grew round, "Mal?"
Mal chuckled, "Hey Carlos." she said softly, "I take it Evie didn't tell you that I was back?"
"No," he exclaimed, "Where were you? Why did you leave? Why didn't you come back? Are you going to come back now?"
Mal raised a hand, silencing the turret of questions from her friend, "I was here in Arendelle. As to why I left, it's complicated, and I've already had to talk about it way too much lately, maybe later. As for me coming back, at the moment I'm not sure. Ben would like me to come back, but I have five very good reasons to stay here," she said, gesturing to the stroller in front of her.
Carlos peered into it, before looking up at Mal, "Normally I'll start gushing about how cute they are, and what their names are Mal, but didn't you say that there were five, because there are only four here."
"What!" Mal exclaimed, rushing forward to look into the stroller, sure enough there were only four toddlers strapped into place, "Where's Bree?" Mal demanded.
"Dada!" a loud voice carried through the crowd, causing Mal's head to whip up and towards the platform, to where Ben was scooping up Bree in his arms.
…
Ben let out a mental sigh of relief as he finished his speech and stepped back to allow Elsa to take his place, only to bump into something with the back of his knees.
He whirled around, eyes widening as he saw a little girl in a pink snowsuit sitting on her little rump, her green eyes filling with unshed tears. "No, no, no," he muttered to himself, "Bree," he had spent the afternoon memorizing which girl wore what color, "I didn't see you, please don't cry."
Bree's lips quivered, tears slipped down her chubby cheeks as she lifted up her chin and bellowed as loudly as she could, "DADA!"
Ben quickly scooped the little girl up, hoping that Elsa hadn't heard the outburst, "Dada's sorry," he insisted.
There was an audible gasp through the audience, as Elsa said out of the corner of her mouth, "Your mike's still on."
"What!" Ben exclaimed, whirling around, the little girl still in his arms, only to be greeted by the flashing of the press cameras.
…
"Bree I didn't see you, please don't cry," Ben said, oblivious that his mike was still on.
Mal lurched forward, whirling around to face the stroller and did a quick head count, only four. How long had Bree been missing!
"DADA!" her missing daughter cried out, Dada the nickname they had given Ben, unaware of what it actually meant.
Mal felt her face burning as she turned to Belle and Beast, "I didn't even realize that she was missing," she exclaimed, as she heard Ben calming her daughter down. Why in the world would he refer to himself as Dada at all, let alone with his mike on.
"Your mike is on," Elsa muttered softly in the failed hopes that it wouldn't be caught by her own mike.
…
"Dada huh?" Carlos asked, smirking at Mal.
"Shut up Carlos," Mal growled, "It's because of a stupid picture book, okay," her eyes flashed green as she took a deep breath, "Just stay with the others, I'll be back soon."