A/N: Here is Chapter 2!

Disclaimer: Descendants is property of Disney Channel. I make no claim to own the characters, and have only written this only with love for Descendants and its characters. Thank you.

Ben was trying to do paperwork on a Saturday morning. Yes, that's what came with being king. Technically, he didn't need to have this done quite yet, but he wanted to have as much of the weekend free to spend with Mal as possible. He put aside the latest agricultural report when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Ben?" Lonnie shut the door behind her, and Ben looked up to see tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "We need to talk."

"Yeah, what happened?" Ben asked worriedly. Is someone hurt? Did I do something?

"Has... does Mal talk to you much about her life on the Isle?"

Startled, Ben said, "Well, not really." He ran a hand through his hair. "I tried to ask after Cotillion, but she got really nervous, and I didn't want to push her. After seeing the Isle myself, I can see why she wouldn't want to talk about -"

"Hey, Ben." Doug walked into their room, and set his trumpet case on his bed, before walking to the closet to grab a change of clothes. "Oh, hey, Lonnie. What's wrong?" Seeing the tears in her eyes, stopped what he was doing to join her and his roommate by their desks.

"Um," Lonnie wasn't sure what to say. "Do- do Mal and Evie ever talk to you guys about their moms?" Doug was silent and looked at Ben, nodding at him to go first. I wonder if she realized- Doug thought before Ben answered.

"I know Mal doesn't have the best relationship, but she does love Mal. She shrank to the size of the love in her heart, but she didn't disappear altogether. That love has to be for Mal, right?" Lonnie looked unsure, and Doug solemnly nodded, trying to think of what to say.

"Although Evie's told me a little bit about her mom, it's more about what she doesn't say," he started. Lonnie nodded again, remembering how Jay left out what his dad did to give him that scar. "She doesn't need to tell me what her mom was like, because I- I've seen it." Ben and Lonnie both stared at him, dumbfounded. Okay, wrong choice of words. "I mean," he sighed, "I mean that I've seen how it affected her - Evie. I wish I could stop her from hurting, she is so incredible and sometimes she doesn't even see it, but the best thing I can do is just be there for her when she needs me." Doug's brow furrowed in uncertainty, and he looked at Lonnie. He wondered if she noticed what he did. "Did- did Evie and Mal tell you something? About how their parents treated them, maybe?" Lonnie shook her head, unsure if she should say anything. Jay probably didn't want her to tell anybody about his scars, and telling Ben and Doug might betray his trust. But- on the other hand- Ben needed to know because he was the king, and Jay had said that others had it worse than he did. That could even mean Carlos, Evie, who's Doug's girlfriend, or Mal, Ben's girlfriend. Okay. It was now or never. She looked down at the floor.

"I saw Jay with his shirt off. He's got some bad scars." She looked up again at Ben. "That's why he never took his shirt off after Tourney practice with the rest of you guys." Ben frowned.

"You mean..." Lonnie nodded, and Ben's eyes widened. "Carlos never takes his shirt off either, and neither of them change in the locker rooms. I thought it was just weird for them since they never had to do that before, but..." he blew out a breath of air. "Are you sure about this?" Lonnie looked nervous, but Doug nodded.

"It's true, Ben. You should know." he said sadly. Ben turned to him in surprise.

"Did you know about this?" Doug shifted on his feet uneasily.

"I- well- I had my suspicions. I kinda thought you knew, too." He grimaced as he started to ramble. "They were kind of scared of personal contact when they first got here, and they got really tense when someone mentioned punishment. Jay and Mal always step in front when they feel threatened, and-"

"Oh! How could I not have seen this!" Ben put his hands up to his head. He grabbed his keys from his desk, and Doug looked at him.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go talk to Fairy Godmother," he said as he closed the door behind him.

"Doug," Lonnie said panicked, "what if Jay's mad I told you and Ben? What if he doesn't trust me anymore?"

"It's okay," Doug said. "I should have told Ben and Fairy Godmother about my suspicions months ago. This is partially my fault." I don't know how I'm going to explain this conversation to Evie, he thought. "Whatever happens, it'll all be okay." Eventually, he added in his head. Doug glanced at his watch. "I'm supposed to pick up Evie for lunch," he looked to Lonnie nervously. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah," she smiled half-heartedly. "I'm gonna meet Jay there. He's probably already waiting for me." She turned to leave. "Thanks for the advice, Doug. I hope you're right." She left for her room to go change. At least then she wouldn't have completely lied to Jay. That didn't mean she didn't still feel guilty.