There were dreams. There were good dreams and bad dreams and dreams that didn't mean anything but left her with a nostalgic feeling. One by one, they flit past her eyes like feathers under her nose, and she watched each go with a light sort of amusement. That amusement faded, however, when she felt the sunlight hit her skin in a very particular way, and she felt a very specific type of chair supporting her. Even in her dreams, she couldn't escape her meetings.
Mal could practically feel her brain dribbling out of her ears as she slumped into her chair, bored out of her mind, listening to Chad Charming drone on and on and on. She couldn't even hear what he was saying - she could only hear the sound of his voice. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hear him. The table she was sitting at was surrounded by countless other people whose faces her brain had blurred out from sheer boredom. The air tasted like rot. She could feel people's attentions slipping away, one by one, until something took her hand.
She turned and met Ben's eyes. he was squeezing her hand and staring at her with a still gaze. Then, the corner of his mouth crooked up and he shook his head. "We're done," He announced.
Chad stopped abruptly, and people woke up a little as Ben pushed his chair back, got to his feet, and took her hand to help guide her out of her chair. "We're done," He repeated.
"Done?" Chad frowned. "The meeting still has twenty minutes."
"I know," Ben nodded. "But you misunderstand. We're done." He waved a finger back and forth between himself and Mal, and reached up to take the crown off his head. With a thud, he dropped it on the table. "My dad can have that back."
Ben turned and put an arm around her shoulders, leading her away from the table. "Let's run away," He told her, not bothering to keep his voice down as others around the room stood up, raising their voices to call out: "Your Majesty! Wait!" Their protests seemed dim and unimportant as Ben squeezed her shoulders a little. "I'll buy you a small house in the middle of nowhere, where you can do magic and keep away from the public. We can set up a studio where you can paint to your heart's content, and I'll never have to leave home again."
Mal felt her heartbeat picking up in excitement as they exited the room. Already, she could see it. Somewhere like the cottage that Evie had first set up Evie's Four Hearts in, or someplace equally secluded and special. "What about Auradon?" Mal asked, feeling like she was floating as Ben took her down the hall and straight to the elevators. "Who'll be king?"
"I abdicated," Ben announced. "Dad's got the country now. Maybe he'll turn the country into a republic and the rulers can elect who they want to be king. We'll retire and spend the rest of our days together, never having to go anywhere or do anything."
"They'll never get anything done." Mal laughed, leaning forward to push the button on the elevators and then reaching down to pull off her shoes.
"Not my problem." Ben scoffed. He picked at her outfit. "Let's go to our room, and you can get your Isle clothes on. I'm sick of all this official stuff."
"Me too!" Mal laughed, dropping her head back as the doors opened in front of them. They stepped inside and Ben moved his arm from around her shoulders to around her waist. His hand squeezed her hip in a way that honestly made her want to sing.
"Mhm," Ben exhaled. He released her and then stepped towards her until their chests were touching and kissed her in a way that made her eyes want to roll into the back of her head. "We deserve this," He whispered. "We'll grow old together and never have anyone else who needs our looking after. And I'll be all you need. No more dignitaries and ball gowns and heels. You can spend your days running free through our home and our land, spray paint whatever you think needs to be marked, and the nights we'll spend doing fun things together." He wrapped his arms around her and began to pepper her face with kisses. She closed her eyes as his lips landed near her eyes, brushing her eyelashes.
"Where?" She asked with a smile. Fuzzy lights danced behind her eyes. Ben grimaced.
"Well, you know I like our bed, but if you want to do outside or in the shower, I can compromise." He shrugged.
Mal giggled. "I meant the house, silly," She corrected him. "Where? I want a place with a shorter winter so I can spend more time outside."
"You like DunBroch, don't you? They have short winters," Ben suggested, putting his hands back on her hips. The doors slid open, and they stepped outside, heading towards their bedroom to quickly change.
"And horrible rainy seasons," Mal sighed. Ben began fishing for the room key in his pocket. "Arendelle's weather is like, half-winter. What's New Orleans like?"
Ben let out a laugh. "You don't want to go there." He shook his head and thought for a second. A broad smile spread across his face. "I have just the place for you!" He announced, procuring the key and then pushing it into the lock.
"Where?" Mal asked, but she had to wait a second as Ben opened the door and began to unbutton his suit as he walked to where his t-shirts and casual wear was. She, too, began to hunt down something darker and edgier and more herself. Ben tossed his suit onto the floor, which made her giggle, and shut the door with his foot before taking off his shirt and flipping his outfit.
"The Summerlands," He proclaimed when he finished changing into blue jeans and a yellow and blue striped shirt. The royal crest was still on his chest, but hey, he had been raised royalty. She herself was now sporting one of her old dragon outfits, which made her feel like she was going back to the Isle. "They're still mostly unpopulated – almost no one lives there. It's warm, and flowers grow year-round. I could have a cottage commissioned with a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room, a studio, and maybe a place for your friends to come to stay from time to time."
"That sounds wonderful," Mal sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning into his shoulder. She inhaled his cologne and smiled as he fumbled the knob behind him. The door opened, but neither of them moved. A little sense of despair fell over Mal. "I wish we could actually do that." She whispered.
"Why can't we?" He asked, resting a hand in the small of her back.
"Because," She looked at him carefully. "You don't run from responsibility. You were raised to rule Auradon, and if you don't do that, you'll feel guilty and unfulfilled." She tapped his nose. "I know you will." She whispered.
Ben grumbled in agreement. "I'm sorry," He sighed, dropping his hands to his sides and looking dejected at the floor. "You know I want to give you the world, right?"
"The world is overrated." Mal chuckled. "So long as I get to be with you, I'm okay." Though she looked at their open bedroom door sadly and thought about how nice it would be to walk through that door and away from his politics and job and mess together.
Ben wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. "You'll always have me." He whispered. "Until the day you or I die, I'm never leaving you."
"And I'll stay with you." Mal murmured, running her hands along his shoulders. "Whatever you need from me, I'll do it."
Ben put his hands on her shoulders in a violent, jarring motion that completely broke the moment, and shook her hard. "I need you to not leave me." His voice came through in an urgent tone. "Don't you dare leave me, Mal."
Mal blinked in shock. Was that an order? What? He'd never demanded something so absurd of her before. But abruptly, she felt herself falling through the floor and then she couldn't feel his hands on her shoulders and the vision of him in front of her was fading. "Don't leave me, Mal. Don't die on me," He begged through the darkness.
"I won't leave," She promised. "I'll die the day you die, and not a day sooner."
There was no response. Only a muffled mumble of a conversation by people she had never heard before, and some heavy breathing. She tried to curl her fingers and found her body was just... gone. Everything was gone.
Then, through the darkness, there was praying.
"Dear God, if you're out there if you can hear me, don't let her die," Ben begged with a hushed tone. She looked all around, but there was no sign of anyone. "I still need her. I'll do absolutely anything. Please, don't let her go. Please don't take her."
She listened to the sound of breathing and got the impression that the dream was coming to an end. Things continued on in a dizzying haze, but nothing could stop the churning in her stomach or the tiny pain that was pulsing in her torso.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. On the fifth beep, her eyes snapped open. For several seconds, all she saw was grey. Then slowly, lines appeared, defining everything. She realized she was staring at a ceiling. A heart monitor was calling shots for her, watching her vitals carefully.
She tried to roll over, but her arm stuck fast. She examined her bindings and realized that half a dozen IV's were stuck into her arm. She carefully rolled back over, and it was around this time she realized she was very sore. Every muscle in her body – even the ones she hadn't moved yet – was aching. Her back was itchy and uncomfortable.
Mal was lying in a bed, connected to dozens of machines in a corner of a room that was about the size of her closet or of the general amount of space one needed to park a car. The walls were beige, and the carpet was a horse brown with, fittingly, dark horseshoe patterns. A few dried daisies sat in a vase on a very low windowsill, and a long row of chairs extended around the room on two walls. Sat in one of these chairs was someone she immediately recognized, staring at her with soft eyes as he watched her take in her surroundings.
"Ben," She whispered, trying to sit up. She winced. That obviously wasn't a good thing to try.
"You're awake," He murmured, standing up and stepping towards her. He fiddled with the buttons on her hospital bed, and the bed began to sit up on its own accord. He lowered her legs and then adjusted the seat pressure for her to the setting he knew she would want it on. "Don't move too much. You just went through almost eighteen hours of surgery."
"Eighteen hours?" Mal gasped, staring at him incredulously.
Ben nodded. "Well, they had to stitch you up where the knife went through," He shrugged. "And… not everything is the same."
Mal curled her hand around her stomach and swallowed. "Is it… is it gone then? Officially?"
Ben nodded and brushed a hand onto her shoulder. "It's gone," He confirmed. "They removed it, but I didn't see anything. They just told me it was gone and out of you."
"Boy or girl?" Mal asked.
Ben shook his head. "You never know this early on" He told her.
Mal blinked at him and brushed her bangs out of her face. "How long was I out?" She mumbled.
Ben blinked slowly down at her. "Don't you want me to start with what they weren't able to save?" He asked.
Mal stared at him. What they weren't able to save? She pressed her free, non-IV'd hand to her belly. "Did they… Did I lose…" She stared at him in growing horror.
"Lose what?" Ben asked with a furrowed brow, getting on his knees and taking her hand. "And hey, don't prod too much. You're healing, remember?"
"Did you approve a hysterectomy?" Mal demanded, growing a bit frantic. If she couldn't have any more children, then what would happen to her marriage? Before, when she'd had her spat over children, she hadn't been married. Now she was married and coronated, and if she had to say goodbye to Ben after all that, then-
Ben's face fell as he realized her worries. "No," He shook his head. "You were… damaged but they didn't need to remove it. They did take out one of your ovaries. Here, let me show you what happened." He reached forward and removed the covers from around her chest, folding them down and across her lap. She was wearing a large white shirt, she realized. She picked at it a little and frowned. Ben lifted up her hemline and Mal covered her mouth at what she saw. No wonder she hurt so much.
Her entire body was black and purple, with eerie shades of green tinging around some areas. Stitches held her skin together where the knife had gone in and where they had opened her up for surgery. Mal twisted carefully and reached behind her, trying to feel where the stitches were on her back. Ben stopped her. "They're there," He promised. He helped her lean a little and then carefully ran his fingertips along the area to demonstrate the location. Mal squeezed her eyes shut as pain flooded her head.
She relaxed back into the mattress and Ben gestured to the stitches. "That's obviously where the knife went in," He hummed. "And when she twisted it, she did a lot of damage. That's a lot of blunt trauma. Your ascending colon was jacked up, and she shredded through some of your small intestines. We managed to fix the problem of sepsis okay. Your colon will be fine, and as for your intestine you'll have to be careful what you eat for the next month, but both those organs will eventually work as if they were never hurt. Just don't overdo it."
Ben cleared his throat and carefully laid his fingertips on her stomach. She winced, but his touch was so light she didn't mind it all that much. "A bunch of your back muscle was shredded. Not so much your stomach because people generally have fat there and yours helped save your abs, but your back muscles were… really bad." He exhaled. "They managed to almost completely put everything back together. It's just going to be a long recovery process involving lots and lots of physical therapy. The problem is your nerves. Your L3, L4, and L5 lumbar spinal cords were all hurt." Ben let out another painful exhale and took his hand back.
"Don't those never heal?" Mal asked.
Ben nodded. "Almost never," He affirmed and swallowed. "You, um, won't ever recover from that."
Mal stared at him for a few seconds and then exhaled. "Will I walk?" She whispered.
"You'll walk," Ben nodded. "But not for far distances. Physical therapy can help with that too. You'll… probably not run for a very long time, if ever."
Mal closed her eyes in pain. She imagined leaning on Ben drunkenly, running ahead of him in the gardens, sliding on the banisters to get down the stairs quicker. No more. "Okay," She nodded, looking up again. "Okay."
Ben put his hand down on top of hers and pinched his lips together. He swallowed and met her eyes. "We've already arranged for a wheelchair for you," He admitted.
Mal's eyes grew wide. "No," She told him firmly. "No. I'm not going to use it."
"Yes, you are," Ben told her, just as firm. "Or, at least for the first few weeks. I don't want you walking up and down any steps or even out of the hospital." He picked up her hand and squeezed it carefully between his two. "Let me take care of you, at least until your back is healed."
Mal looked away bitterly. "I'll think about it," She grumbled, though she knew she'd end up giving in eventually. "Isn't there a magical anything that can help with this?" She asked.
Ben shrugged. "I don't know," He whispered. "And, speaking of Magic…" He narrowed his eyes at her. "You used your magic when Uma attacked you, didn't you?"
Mal frowned at his dismayed attitude. "Yes, why is that a problem?" She frowned. "I was being attacked."
Ben let out a sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Listen, I know you were upset about being pregnant, but that's really no reason to endanger yourself at all. That was… reckless."
Mal furrowed her brow. "What?" She asked, absolutely baffled.
Ben looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "Magic. When you're pregnant," He prodded. Mal blinked at him with a blank expression, and Ben's mouth fell open. "Your magic doesn't work right when you're pregnant. At all. If you use it, you can seriously hurt yourself. Women have ended up paralyzed."
Mal's mouth fell open. She'd had no idea. She moved her arm carefully and examined her hands. "I-I think I'm okay" Then she looked at him. "How did you know I'd used it?" She asked.
Ben pulled his phone out of his pocket and found something on it. He turned it around to show her. It was her back, as taken by one of the doctors. She could see the beginnings of the stab wound in the bottom right-hand side of the screen, and up on her shoulder blades were two dragon markings. Mal raised her free hand up to her shoulder in shock. "Are they still-" She began, gasping a little in shock.
"They're still there," Ben nodded, looking much more relaxed. "Like tattoos. And you've actually got two unresponsive areas right above them that they tested. Here, let me show you." He carefully slipped a hand behind her back and traced his fingertips up to her shoulder blade. As he neared the top, the feeling disappeared completely. She couldn't feel his fingertips.
Mal covered her mouth in shock. Unresponsive. She'd killed an area of her body. Ben let his hand rest on her shoulder for a few seconds, then cleared his throat. "You didn't know, though?"
"I had no idea," Mal shook her hand. "I tried to use it, and I got my fists to light on fire, but then they burned me, and I couldn't control it, so I stopped."
"I thought you were hoping it might hurt the baby," Ben mumbled, running his hands through his hair. "It doesn't, by the way. For future reference, you can perform all the magic you want, and you will die quicker than the baby will."
"I wasn't going to kill the baby. I thought we agreed on that," Mal frowned. She wrapped her one free arm around her midsection.
"Well, I thought that too," Ben sighed. "But that was before you were chugging alcohol at every event even knowing it wasn't safe for them."
Mal furrowed her brow. "I was just trying to prove I wasn't pregnant to your family and prove to myself that I could still do the things I liked to do."
Ben scoffed. "You barely get drunk off alcohol anyways. If you'd wanted to get drunk, you could have waited till we got home, and you know I would have kissed you till you couldn't see straight. You could have knocked out like a light the easy way, and never known the difference. And forgive me for not believing that bit about fooling everyone that you weren't pregnant. That first night you started throwing up alone, you grabbed at least four cans. Now, I don't know how many of those you actually ended up drinking, but that's about four too many to convince my parents that you're not pregnant. You could have always played the stressed sick card instead of chugging the cans." He fixed her with a frigid look. Mal wilted.
"Yeah, you're right," She admitted, looking away. "I'm sorry."
"You're not," He rolled his eyes.
"No, I am," She insisted. "I'm sorry I went behind your back and reacted so horribly, and I'm sorry for not communicating as well as I should have." She reached over the side of the bed and patted his hand. "Can you forgive me?"
Ben exhaled, leaned over, and squeezed her hand before he kissed her quickly. "Next time," He whispered against her cheek, "We won't be like we are now."
Mal nodded. She felt her stomach, tried to feel some remorse for the little life that had ended so quickly, and honestly couldn't find it in her. All she could feel was relief. "I'll be more ready next time," She whispered. Then she swallowed and cleared her throat. "Is the kingdom… mad?"
"I'm on probation by order of the courts," Ben sighed, putting his head in his hands. "But… only as a formality. I'll have a few restrictions for a month or two, and then everything will be back to normal."
"Why?" Mal gasped. "Don't they understand… the accident was Uma's fault!"
"But I got a girl I wasn't officially married to pregnant," Ben shrugged. "I actually… showed Anna our official marriage license to prove we married long before we said we were, and she lessened the sentence on the reason of confidential business, but she had to uphold part of it since you weren't coronated at the time, and that was the problem in the first place." He ran a hand down his face. "And as far as Uma goes… she and Harry are in prison awaiting trial for official treason against the crown. At most, they're facing a death sentence, and at least fifty years in prison each."
Mal swallowed. "Which are you going to push for?" She asked.
Ben shrugged. "I'm not allowed. Part of my probation insisted that I hand over any matters regarding you to the courts to uphold and sort out. And anyway, if I ask for their executions, I'll look biased. If I don't, they'll get off too easy and I'm worried it'll pave the way for future problems."
"Let the courts handle it," Mal shook her head. "It'll all be okay." She swallowed. "But… if anything else happens while you're on probation…?"
Ben nodded. "We're going to have to pray for the best of luck with your public image for the next few months," He whispered. "I've been forbidden to meddle."
Mal nodded. "What else are we forbidden to do?" She asked, lying back and closing her eyes.
"The usual," Ben laughed. "No rough or raucous behavior while you're healing, neither of us are allowed to leave the palace except under specific circumstances, things of that nature." He sighed and shook his head before he hesitated. "The doctors told me to make sure to tell you it's not safe for you to get pregnant for at least another eight months, though waiting a year would be better."
"I'm fine with those numbers," Mal smirked. Ben rolled his eyes and dragged a thumb down her cheek. She watched him stare at her. "Does my face look as bad as my chest?" She asked.
Ben shook his head. "No, and you reminded me that I forgot to tell you that you broke two ribs."
"Harry," Mal nodded. Ben dragged the tip of his finger around her earlobe. "Am I bruised anywhere else?"
Again, Ben shook his head in the negative. "True Love's Kiss healed most of your small things. It's just the big, permanent and semi-permanent things it didn't. And Evie came in to clean off all your makeup, so, yeah."
"Where is everyone now?" Mal asked.
"Outside, luckily," Ben stood up. "They slip in and out, but always come back to wait on you. There's just… a lot of us and new palace rules dictate I can't be alone with them unless there are two guards around me, so they decided to wait outside, and I would bring them news if you woke up."
"That rule for me too?" Mal asked.
"That rule is because of you," Ben corrected with a smile. "No one except other members of the royal family can be alone with us now. It's going to be a lot harder to find alone time." He leaned forward and rolled her shirt down before he brought the covers back up just a little. "Want me to go get everyone?" He whispered.
Mal reached up and rested her fingers underneath his chin for several seconds. Ben drew nearer to her, and their mouths brushed each other's. "Yes," She whispered. "You can go get them."
Ben nodded. He walked towards the doorway and opened it. Mal heard the safety features clicking off on the guard's guns outside. "She's awake," Ben called down the hall. "You can come in now. She asked for you."
He reappeared, and almost tripped over a bag of work stuff he must have brought from the palace. Two guards followed him in, at attention, and then slowly, everyone else made their way into the room. Mal raised her hand a little. "Hey, guys." She whispered.
"How're you feeling?" Jay asked, leaning over the hospital bed and extending a hand for her to fist bump.
"Exhausted," Mal frowned. "But… relieved." She let her hand fall around her midsection.
Jane swallowed. "Are you… sad about it?" She asked.
Mal shook her head. "It wasn't the right time," She decided, looking up at Ben, who nodded encouragingly without meeting her eyes. "I was actually really, really scared" She sniffled. "And, in a twisted way, I'm glad this happened because now I'm safe."
"But your stomach," Doug whispered. "There's so much damage… aren't you worried at all how hard it'll be next time?"
Mal glanced back up at Ben and shook her head. "I'm not worried," She assured them. "In fact, I have a really good feeling about the future." She let out a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry for not telling you guys."
"Did no one know?" Adam asked, rubbing Belle's shoulders as she stood, observing Mal with a sad smile.
"Evie did. She argued until I broke," Mal chuckled. "But I forbid her from telling anyone."
Carlos took Jane's hand and let out an exhale. "How far were you?" Jane asked.
Mal looked at Ben, who rolled his eyes. "She was coming up on two months," He informed the room. "I'm sure you all noticed her alcoholism problems."
Adam nodded. "I knew something was amiss," He mumbled.
Lonnie set her hand on the base of the bed. "Mal, what exactly happened on the balcony? Why were you up there?"
Mal picked at the scratchy grey hospital blanket that covered her legs. "I… was about to have a panic attack. Because of the baby. I've been… seeing therapists and taking medicine because I just couldn't deal with the stress and…" Her eyes filled with tears. "So Ben walked out to get my anxiety relief for me, and I walked up the stairs because I thought I'd be alone."
"It was your medicine, then?" Jay asked. He elbowed Lonnie. "I told you he lied to the cameras. You owe me." Lonnie sighed and rolled her eyes.
"And Uma was up there?" Carlos asked Mal, prompting her to continue.
Mal nodded. "I drank my champagne because I wasn't feeling well, and I knew it'd make me throw up. And as I was throwing up, she actually came and brushed my hair out of my face and made me think it was Evie. She attacked me and then Harry and Gil appeared, and I managed to hold my own until Gil swept my feet away, and then they punched and kicked me a lot until they threw me into the railing. The rest is history." She hesitated and examined her friends. "Was it bad? Is everyone traumatized?"
"You can see the knife go through you on live footage," Doug informed her. "And the announcer who was saying the whole thing… he's kind of screaming in the background about everything. It's not as scary as being there in real life was, though."
"When the knife went through you," Jay started slowly, "Your body gave this horrible sort of lurch, and I thought you'd died right there."
"It didn't hurt" Mal confided. "It just felt really, really warm." She held out a hand to squeeze his. "I'm okay now" She promised and hesitated. "Did they… say at all what killed the baby? Was it the knife?"
"You already know it was," Ben hummed. He put his hand on her shoulder. "But next time, we'll be careful. Next time, everything will work out."
"I'm sorry for scaring you all," She whispered. "I really did my best to fight back, but she twisted my ankles by stomping on them before I could get them away. After that, I couldn't keep up with the three of them."
"Don't be sorry," Ben shook his head. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there. You just be proud that you managed to fend off the three of them as long as you did. It was freaking glorious. And in that dress and shoes, too."
All of her friends nodded along to his words, and Mal stared at them. "Is there… footage?" She asked.
"There is," Carlos nodded. "A balcony view. We can see everything from you jumping over them up to Harry and Gil grabbing your ankles and hands. You were spectacular. You've still got the Isle touch, Mal."
"Or, at least, I did," Mal hummed, wrapped her arm back around her waist. "I want to see the footage, please."
"Later," Ben patted her hand. "For now, just rest. You'll have to stay here for a while longer."
"Will you go back to the palace?" Mal asked. "Well, you probably have to, right?"
"No," Ben shook his head. "I've been here ever since you came in and I can stay as long as I want. Or, at least until January the sixth."
The date buzzed around Mal's head for a few seconds. "We missed our plane," She realized in a hollow tone. Ben nodded sympathetically. She swallowed. "How… many days has it been?"
"You were out for thirty-two hours after your surgeries," Ben whispered. "Just over fifty hours in all."
"This is the third day?" Mal gasped. Ben nodded in silence. She slumped back into her pillows and swallowed. "Wow," She whispered. "And you've just… been here?"
Ben nodded and shrugged offhandedly. "It's not as impressive as you're thinking," He rolled his eyes. "People have been bringing me small assignments from the palace – busy work – and the first day was just a lot of the doctors asking me for paperwork and permission to do different medical techniques."
Mal nodded, and closed her eyes, letting out a breath. A thrumming pain, like someone strumming a guitar chord or a small heartbeat against her back, had begun. She grit her teeth and forced her poker face. "Okay," She nodded. "Okay."
The door to the room opened and the guards readied their weapons. "Just me, gentlemen," A doctor with a smooth, deep voice and pepper-black hair grumbled as he rounded the corner. "Goodness, there's a lot of people here. Sorry, I'm here to disconnect a few IV's now that she's awake, and King Ben, we have more things for you and Queen Mal to decide."
Mal almost choked. Oh, right, she was a queen now. That was going to take some getting used to.
Ben sighed irritably as the doctor handed him a clipboard and pushed Mal's bed off the wall a bit. He took her arm and slid one, two, three needles out of it, one by one and taking great care. Immediately, Mal felt more wakeful, hungry, and very, very hurt. "Oh, God!" She hissed, wrapping her free arm around the edge of the bed and squeezing her eyes shut as stabbing pains began pulsing around her body, even in areas like her fingertips and toes, which weren't hurt. Everyone took a step back as she let out a swear word that Belle flinched at, and then she bit her tongue while the doctor went to a cupboard and pulled out a syringe that was apparently waiting for her.
"You'll be in pain, well, for a while. Your husband made the decision to let you come up by yourself and then begin easing you off of stuff. He said you wouldn't want to stay down as long as we want you to, but that does mean we can't chalk you up with all the painkillers we wanted to because then you'd be unconscious."
Mal nodded in understanding and directed a semi-grateful look to Ben. She could deal with pain. Pain was manageable.
The doctor moved past everyone and flicked the needle a few times before wiping it and her arm off with an antiseptic wipe. Now that it was close to her, it suddenly seemed a lot bigger and scarier. He procured a black strap from under the table and wrapped it around her arm carefully. Mal's hands were trembling as she stared at the needle. "No!" She demanded, inching away as he began to search for the vein in her arm. "No, I don't want that in me!"
"It's a painkiller," The doctor furrowed his brow. "Now that we've taken you off the sedatives, you need to have it, otherwise the pain will be too much for you to handle."
"I can handle the pain," Mal decided, staring at the needle. "Don't – no!" She ripped her arm out of the doctor's hands and tried to unfasten the strap without the use of her disabled arm.
"Mal," Ben stepped forward. "It's a painkiller. You need it. Look, you're already in pain and it'll only get worse as those other drugs move out of your system."
"No!" Mal shrunk away. "No! No… knives."
"It's not a knife," Ben argued, though his eyes had softened. Mal pushed her head back into the pillow in frustration. Her brain was screaming at the rest of her body, telling it to get away from the long, silver object, and it was only her own force of will keeping her in one place. Ben stepped up beside the doctor and took her face, trying to tear her eyes away from the doctor. "It's not a knife," He promised. "It's going to help you. You've just got to stick through it for a few seconds."
"I can't," Mal hissed. "My brain… my head isn't working!"
Ben pinched his lips together. Behind him, Jane looked very green. "I-I'm going to step out," She mumbled. Belle, Lonnie, Jay, Evie, and Doug all followed her to the door, making the room considerably colder. With this change of temperature, Mal realized that she'd broken out into a sweat and she was breathing heavy, staring past Ben's shoulder at the long, silver object in the doctor's hands.
"Lean the table back," Ben told the doctor, keeping a firm hold on Mal's face. He put the needle down on the bed beside Mal, and her legs gave a spastic jerk.
"Away… away… away," She sputtered. Ben pulled her head up to tear her gaze away from the needle, and as the bed continued flattening out, pressed a kiss onto her lips.
Oh, god, the pain relief. She almost sighed in relief as her eyes closed. Her head calmed down, stabilized, and she considered the needle beside her without much thought. After several seconds, she couldn't even feel the shooting pains in her back. Then, the foggy feeling clouded her brain and her breathing became sloppy and she knew she wouldn't be able to see straight if she had her eyes open. A swaying feeling, like she was on a boat, overtook her as her thoughts disintegrated into meaningless sounds and a muted jumble in the back of her mind.
Someone took her arm. She could feel Ben swaying heavily above her. His hands left her face as someone else took her elbow, presumably to stabilize himself. Mal continued spiraling into a drunken state, nearing the point of passing out. She barely noticed when something pricked her arm because the pain was gone in an instant anyways.
Ben released her and promptly collapsed against the wall with his eyes spinning in his head. Mal couldn't focus for several seconds as her head lolled on her shoulders. The doctor removed the strap from her arm. They leaned the table up again, and her first thought was: "Where did Ben go?"
"Wait, I want him back," She slurred, looking around to see if she could see him. "Why's he hid?"
The doctor hid a smile as he cleaned the needle off and put it in a disposable bag. "I love patients who are True Love's," He sighed happily. "It always makes things easier."
"Hey, hey," Mal called for him, nearly unintelligible as she almost bit off her own tongue trying to speak. "Where'd he go? I want him back."
The doctor patted her arm. "You did very well," He told her, trying to keep from laughing out loud. "Do you want a sticker or a sucker?"
"I'm gonna make you a sucker if I don't get him back," Mal threatened, trying to sit up and almost dropping her head into her knees. The doctor and Adam both rushed forward to press her back into the sheets.
"Careful," The doctor frowned. "You'll pull your stitches," He patted her hand. "Just calm down and sit tight. Ben's recovering from sedating you."
Mal let out a tortured groan. "Ben's always seducing me," She complained, letting her numbed arm flop off the bed. She smacked right into Ben, who let out a noise of protest. Carlos burst into laughter and began to walk for the door, presumably to go relate to all their friends what he'd just witnessed. Mal, meanwhile, felt along Ben's shoulder until she found his head. "That's you," She grumbled. "Stand up."
"No," He declined, batting at her hand a little. "My head is pounding now, and I still have to finish paperwork."
Mal let out another groan and closed her eyes. "Fine!" She growled in a huffy tone. "I'm going to sleep without you, then." She turned her head away from the sound of his voice. The doctor chuckled as he bid them farewell and walked out of the room. The two guards followed, as now only royal family members were in the room.
"There's only one spot!" Ben protested as Mal started to fade in and out of consciousness. Adam held out a hand to help him up and their shadows fell over the bed. "Stubborn girl," He muttered. "What was the point of taking her off the stuff if she's just going to go back to sleep?"
"Just let her be," Adam whispered. "You did good. That was fast acting. She barely noticed." There was a long hesitation. "Did you tell her about everything?"
"Everything." Ben nodded. "She took it well, but she was still on medicine. I might have to explain things again later." He stepped towards her and dragged a thumb down her cheek. "Sleep well, Mal. It may be a long time till you can do it again."
Mal laid on her stomach in her and Ben's room, squeezing the headboard with white knuckles and grinding her teeth together. Another random stab of pain shooting up her spine forced her to squeeze her eyes shut as she slammed her face into the pillow underneath her chest.
Two months. You'd think this would still be painful after two weeks, but two months and four additional surgeries and sixty-seven total hours of various therapies to this. Her fingers going numb, her toes curling up, and her back in flat-out agony.
The door to the room opened, and Mal almost cursed. "Evie's here with some things for you, and-" Ben cut himself off as he glimpsed her, sprawled out on their bed and not turning to look at him at all. "Did you skip your dosage again?" He asked, tossing his tie and coat onto the table in the center of the room and rushing over to her.
"No," Mal grumbled in response, but Ben was already checking the bottles beside her bed to see which ones had been moved.
"Liar," He declared, pulling nine separate bottles out from among the rest. He began to hurriedly uncap them as Mal pressed her face deeper into the pillow.
"I don't want them!" She protested. "I'm fine!"
"I'm not listening to you," Ben snapped, curling his lip in disappointment. "Come on, Mal, you know better."
"I don't want the stupid pain treatments!" Mal exclaimed, squeezing the headboard tighter. "I can go without them."
"You can't!" Ben exploded, gesturing at her frame incredulously. "You can't function! You can't move!" He sat down on the nightstand, counting dosages like he was her doctor instead of just her overseer. "Listen, I know you have this thing where you want to prove: 'nothing has changed', 'I'm not an Auradon girl and I don't need to rest', and 'I'm going to be my own miracle', and you can't, Mal." He continued grumbling as he leaned down and pulled her head up off the pillow. "Open," He commanded.
"I don't want them," Mal grit her teeth.
"You have permanent nerve damage," Ben snapped. "So shut up and take your stupid pain medicine."
Mal grit her teeth. She carefully unwretched her hands and took the pills from Ben. Her entire body shook as she carefully held the colorful tablets to her mouth, wincing as she swallowed them. Then she buried her face back in the pillow as stabbing pains continued racing up and down her spine. It would take a few minutes for the medicine to start to kick in. Ben went to shut the door and then wandered back over to her. He carefully took the hem of her shirt and dragged it up to examine the heavy bandages completely wrapped around her torso.
"How long have you been lying here?" Ben asked.
"Since my last meeting," Mal mumbled into the pillow. "I don't think I have anything for a few hours."
"Well, Evie is downstairs right now," Ben sighed. "I'll text mom and have her entertain Evie for a few minutes while you recover."
Mal made an incoherent sound of agreement. Ben rolled his eyes and began to run his fingertips up and down the bandages on her back laterally. She bit her lip and focused on the light touch. Ben traced light patterns across the white bindings as he pulled out his phone and sent a message to Belle. Then, he glanced through Mal's schedule. "You actually have therapy tonight," He told her. "And a meeting via phone call at five-fifteen."
Mal nodded and slowly began to loosen her fingertips as the stabbing pains began to lessen. "What kind of therapy?" She whispered.
"An hour of physical and an hour with your family counselor," Ben sighed. He shut his phone off with a shake of his head. He began to comb his fingers through Mal's hair. "Sweetheart, you can't keep doing this to yourself. How are you going to get better if you can't move? The pain relief is there so you can keep moving around – getting stronger."
"I'm plenty strong," Mal growled. "I just want to be better already. How long does it take muscles to heal anyways?"
"Mal," Ben exhaled, and crouched down beside the side of the bed, shaking his head. "You will never, ever be able to move without pain. I'm sorry, love, but for the rest of your life, there's always going to be pain there. Nerves don't heal, Mal."
Mal squeezed her eyes shut and turned away from his voice. The pain had faded substantially. "Can you get me some water, please?" She whispered.
Ben sighed and got up. He took a glass from the nightstand and walked into the bathroom. She heard the sound of running water and carefully got to her elbows. Her back screamed in protest, but she kept going, slowly pulling herself up and then pushing her feet off the bed. She made her way to the mirror, stumbling every step, and collapsed on a chair that had been dragged there from the table. There, she pulled up her shirt more than it already was and tugged down the corner to see the color of her skin. It was pasty blue and purple. She tried to stretch her arms above her head, and the skin pulled.
Ben paused in the bathroom door holding a glass of semi-cold water. She put her arms down and stared at him. "They look a little better, actually," He whispered.
Mal shook her head. "I see no difference," She mumbled and began to work her shirt back down under the bandages. She bent down and began rubbing her knee. The tender muscles were still stiff, even after two months of casual exercise and physical therapy.
Ben pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked over to her. He helped her up, re-exposed her torso, and peeled the edge of the bandages down. Then, he showed her his phone screen. On it was a picture of her in a sports bra and leggings before she'd come home from the hospital. The bruising still stretched all the way up her sides and across every inch of skin surrounding her stomach, but now there were only faint pink marks across her ribcage and most of the blues and purples remained hidden under miles of bandages. Mal let out a hum of acceptance.
"Now that," Ben laughed, "Is progress." He put his phone away and put his hands on her ribcage. "Soon enough, you and I will be able to start doing fun things again."
Mal wrinkled her nose. "I honestly don't know how you can think of me like that when I look like this," She sighed.
"It's easy. I turn my gaze on you, and suddenly I'm turned on," Ben laughed, kissing her cheek. "God, you're beautiful." He moved a hand behind her and began running it up and down her spine in a comforting manner. Mal snorted and patted his hand on her ribcage.
"I want you too," She sighed. "I miss… us. I wish I'd enjoyed it even more than I did in the moment."
Ben made a sound of agreement in the back of his throat and then squeezed her hand. "You're amazing," He whispered.
Mal hummed, indifferent to his compliment, and tugged her shirt down. She glanced at her wheelchair, which had a purple seat, and sighed irritably. "I really, really don't want to take that down," She sighed.
"You're not strong enough to walk very far without it," Ben reminded her with a frown.
"Can I lean on you?" Mal asked.
Ben nodded after a brief hesitation and slipped his arm around her shoulders. She wrapped hers around his back and together they began to walk downstairs. Two guards were waiting to escort them into the proper room. Evie was with Belle in the library, showing off ultrasound pictures that, to be honest, still made Mal a bit queasy. However, the long months of therapy weren't leaving her without hope. She could look at Evie, smile, and was actually happy for her best friend, which helped their relationship a lot. One day it'd be her, and she would be ready for it. Just not right now.
"Hey!" Mal gasped, stumbling a little as she unwrapped her arm from Ben's. Evie and Belle both turned, and Evie's mouth dropped open.
"Oh my goodness, are you walking?" Evie gasped, standing up from where she'd been sitting on the couch and hurrying over to give Mal a big hug.
"I'm leaning." Mal gasped. "Oh – I think I need to sit down now." She carefully took a few steps forward, grabbed the back of the couch, and used it to guide herself onto the cushions. Her back ached in protest. As she shifted a little to try and stretch it out, Ben stepped forward and began running his hands up and down the area that had snapped when she'd fallen.
"That's incredible," Evie commended her. "And it's only been two months!"
Mal shrugged and nodded as she caught her breath. "How's the baby, Evie?" She asked.
Evie's face broke into a bright smile as she wrapped her arms around her bump. "I have to show you something," She gasped dramatically. She leaned down and picked up one of the ultrasound photos from off the couch. Evie held it in front of Mal's face as Mal examined, from a careful distance, the black and white picture. "We found out the gender," Evie explained.
"I bet it's a girl," Mal pinched her lips together. "It is, isn't it?"
Evie's smile, if possible, grew brighter. "A girl," She confirmed. "A beautiful little girl."
"I hope she gets your blue hair," Mal hummed. She closed her eyes as Ben began rubbing little circles on her spine. "If she doesn't, we'll have to send her back and ask for a refund."
Ben laughed. "She's Evie's daughter," He reminded Mal. "Even if she doesn't get the colorful hair gene, she's bound to be an absolute doll."
Mal nodded and chuckled in agreement before a frown passed over her face. She took a deep breath. "Are you going to try and tell your mom?" She asked.
Evie hesitated and swallowed. "Doug and I… talked about it," She sighed.
"So… no?" Mal prodded.
Evie shook her head. "No. At least not until she's actually born," She rubbed a hand over her belly, looking a bit sad.
Mal cleared her throat. "Well, I think that's a good idea. Anyways, Ben told me you had some things for me?"
"Yes!" Evie got to her feet and beckoned Ben to follow her. "I'll be right back with them." She and he turned and headed back to the hallway, leaving Mal alone with Belle. She sighed and leaned back into the couch, pushing the ultrasound pictures away with the tip of her fingers and closing her eyes as her chest constricted.
"You took a while," Belle hummed. "Was everything alright?"
"Everything is peachy," Mal sighed. "Ben and I just got to talking – that's all."
Belle hummed and leaned her head back. "He takes good care of you," She whispered.
Mal nodded in agreement and then heard a sound from the hallway. She turned and watched Evie and Ben carry in an array of clothes heaped over their arms. They dropped everything on the couch, and Evie turned to Mal with a breath. "Happy late birthday," She announced. "I fixed all your old clothes that you didn't wear much anymore so that you can get dressed by yourself, without Ben's help in the mornings." She held up a black leather jacket, whose collar had been edited to be long enough that she didn't have to close it all the way up for it to cover her entirely. She only had to do the fastenings up to her ribcage. In her other hand, Evie held up a shirt with a clever array of elastics that she could put on without having to raise her hands above her shoulders. Ben couldn't stop a smile from rising as he picked up a pair of jeans whose waistline had been fixed and added to, to keep from poking on top of her stitches.
Mal raised her hands to cover her mouth. "Oh, my goodness!" She exclaimed. "You did all this? There must be one hundred outfits there!"
"Only twenty, actually," Evie shrugged. "But hopefully it'll help you in your quest to become independent."
"This is amazing!" Mal exclaimed, trying to struggle to her feet. "How long did this take you?"
"Well, where do you think I've been the last few weeks?" Evie laughed. "It was a lot easier to focus on though, since you don't exactly need any more massive gowns for a while."
"No kidding," Mal laughed. Ben hooked a hand under her elbow to support her as she leaned forward and brushed the top layer of the outfits. "I'm the luckiest person in the whole world." She sighed. "Greatest best friend ever, loving husband, fabulous in-laws…" She shook her head. "God, I don't know how to thank you enough, Evie." She used her free arm to hug Evie tightly. "Thank you so, so much."
"Anytime," Evie smiled. "And, also, I hoped it would help me apologize? I have a lot to be sorry for. After you came back… I realized you were right. You knew what was best for you the whole time, and I should have been a more supportive friend." Evie wrung her hands and watched Mal's eyes for any hint of anger or animosity.
"It must have been hard," Mal sighed. "I mean… we were at very different ends. You were looking forward to welcoming a new family member, and I had waited so long to start my life with Ben that I really didn't like the idea of that adventure." She chewed her lip in thought. "I'm sorry I hurt you."
"I shouldn't have let myself be hurt," Evie shook her head. "What you did with your body and in your relationship really wasn't any of my business."
Mal stuck out her hand. "Truce?" She asked.
Evie wrapped her arms around Mal's shoulders. "Truce," She declared. Mal buried her face in Evie's shoulder with a wide smile and felt like it might be possible to return things to the way they'd been before.
Mal snapped her binder closed as she carefully pushed her chair out. Two princes of Arendelle were at her sides to help her stand up, and a guard was standing at attention to help her back to her room when she finished bidding farewell to the members of the royal court.
"Feeling well?" Chad asked, leaning across the length of the table to shake her hand.
"As well as I can be," Mal shrugged, wincing as she straightened out her leg and tried without success to move her back. "We're calling in a chiropractor to examine my back and make sure it's still aligned next week."
"Are you in pain right now?" He asked, furrowing his brow together.
Mal straightened up. "Not particularly," She lied. Really, her back muscles felt like they'd been fed through a sausage grinder still, but she wasn't about to let that show in front of the court members.
Mal's phone buzzed. She glanced down and skimmed the screen. A message from the royal guards read: "Guests from Auradon City Hospital have arrived; Times, are you available to meet with them?"
It wasn't exactly often the guards reached out through messages rather than alerts. And when it was, there were, for once, more rules for them than there were for the royal family. They were only allowed to message all members of the family at once – never on an individual basis. They weren't allowed to describe the royal family or use their names, weren't allowed to send them to any location, even in the palace, and weren't allowed to add any flourishes to their messages. 'Times' was her codename, based on translating her name from a different language. 'Fair' was Belle, 'Just', was Adam, and 'Follow' was Ben.
Mal slid the text to respond and typed: "Did they request me?"
"Queen Mal- whoa!" Mal's head snapped up as Princess Anna tripped over the leg of a chair and crashed at her feet. She yelped and narrowly managed to avoid falling over as the hap-hazard princess got to her feet, blushing. "I'm sorry!" Anna chorused, "Are you hurt? I-I mean, did I hurt you again? Or more?"
"Oh, no," Mal took a deep breath. "I'm fine. What did you need, Anna?"
Anna took a deep breath and held up two large, sealed envelopes. One was blue, and the other yellow. "These are for Ben," She gasped. "Sorry, I thought he'd be here and didn't realize you were covering this meeting. Can you pass them on?"
"Of course," Mal nodded, taking them and examining them carefully before slipping them into her binder. She shook Anna's hand and then glanced back down at her phone. 'Yes', a new message read, 'are you available?"
Mal sighed inwardly. 'Send them to my office. I'll meet them there.'
Her phone buzzed with a message from Ben. "I'm doing office time now," He told her. "Can I hang out in your office in case you need any help?"
"You're not going to focus," She rolled her eyes. "But go ahead. You'll just have to play catch-up later."
She picked up her binder and inclined her head to Chad, who was looking at her concernedly. "Sorry, I was just scheduled for an immediate walk-in meeting," She told him. "I have to leave now. Thank you for your concern."
She walked carefully to the door, stumbling with every step. Her left knee – the one that had been busted – didn't exactly extend perfectly yet, though she was improving. The crowd parted with inclined heads as she made it to the door and laid a hand on her guard's shoulder for balance. She took a few deep breaths, and then cleared her throat. "Change of plans," She told him. "I have people waiting for me in my office. Can you still escort me there?"
He nodded and offered her his arm without a word. Mal took it carefully and walked beside him to the elevators to get onto the next floor down, where her office was. He helped her to the door of her office and waited as she unlocked it. Now that she was coronated, her doors all had to be locked when she was out-of-office.
"Ben will be joining me," Mal told her guard as she stepped into the room, put her stuff on her desk, and turned on the lights. "We're expecting guests from the Auradon City Hospital."
"You will require another guard," He reminded her, to which she nodded sadly as she took a seat. Hopefully Ben brought one of his own, so she didn't have to send for another.
Five minutes later, her husband appeared in the door, holding a small tower of finance books, notices for upcoming events, and other unopened letters. He kissed her cheek as he stepped inside, and three guards took garrison along with her one outside.
"Wow, you brought a cavalry," Mal laughed.
"No, I brought you another guard," Ben rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to be as equally protected as I am. The kingdom rests on us equally, now."
Mal rolled her eyes and began pulling out her patient files that were always kept on hand in her desk now that she had medical people in the palace for her on a regular basis. "Do you know why the hospital people are coming up?" She asked Ben.
"I didn't summon them, if that's what you're asking," Ben shrugged. "They did mention coming up to check on how you were healing a few weeks ago, but I'm not sure on anything."
"That's probably it," Mal nodded. She briefly considered texting the palace guards to find out how many she should be expecting, then decided she would be finding out in a few short minutes.
"Princess Anna gave me two letters for you," Mal recalled suddenly, flipping open her binder and finding them sitting on top of a stack of things to do. She picked them up and handed them to Ben, who squinted at them inquisitively.
"Do you have a letter opener?" He asked, patting his pockets as if he expected to find something there.
"I do," Mal confirmed, reaching towards the top drawer of her desk. Before she could open it, someone cleared their throat outside the door. Ben immediately got to his feet and held out a hand to help Mal to hers. Three men, two of whom Mal recognized, stood outside the door, all dressed in similar white garb. The first person she recognized as "Dr. Pepper", with the black and white hair, from the hospital. He'd been the person who'd first diagnosed her with PTSD and had been more than happy to let Ben drug her to the point of oblivion. She wasn't exactly thrilled to see him again.
The second person she recognized was the man who would have been her obstetrician had she not been stabbed and almost died. The third person was a man she did not know.
"Gentlemen," Ben inclined his head.
Mal waved them into the room. "Come in, come in," She invited. Two guards, one from Ben's duo and one from Mal's, stepped into the room behind them and shut the door. As soon as the knob clicked, Mal let go of Ben's hand and took a seat. "Find a place to sit. You all should know Ben, my husband, he asked to sit in here and work while I spoke with you, but I have a feeling he'll be doing his fair share of nagging as well." The three doctors laughed as they took seats along the south wall. Mal closed her binder from her meeting and folded her fingers together. "How can I help you, gentlemen?" She asked.
"We've come to evaluate your wounds and give you some long-term diagnoses based on what's changed," The new doctor spoke. He had a small, square face with large eyes and a circular nose. "I'm Doctor Brown, and you should know Dr. Holt-" He gestured to Mal's hospital doctor, "-And Dr. Horsley." He gestured to the man who had confirmed Mal's first pregnancy.
Ben met Mal's eyes with an: "I told you so," look and opened a binder, setting the two letters from Anna at the bottom of his stack.
"Right now?" Mal asked. "In my office?"
"If you don't mind," The doctor shrugged. "We need to see the wounds around your torso specifically, though I understand you have some back and knee problems."
"My bet is those won't go away," Dr. Holt yawned. "She won't walk right for a long, long time."
Mal curled her lip. "I walk just fine now," She huffed.
"But with a limp, I presume?" Dr. Holt asked. Mal turned away her face.
"Okay," She agreed after a few long seconds. "Do you need my patient files?"
"Yes, madam," Dr. Brown nodded, casting a sideways smile to his companions. "And then, if you could lean forward or stand, so we can remove the bandages?"
Ben dug his fingers into his knees as he watched Mal withdraw her general patient statement that the palace now updated every week, and then set it on her desk. She slowly pushed herself up using the desk and began to roll up her shirt so they could access the white wrappings.
Doctor Horsley and Doctor Holt stepped around the desk. Doctor Horsley helped her continue standing as Doctor Holt began to unwrap the white synthetic coverings that Ben had helped her wrap around herself that morning. Mal winced as the familiar scent of ointments and pus wafted around her. Slowly, the coverings loosened, and then pulled away completely. Doctor Horsley helped her sit back down on the edge of her chair and examined her body with a deep frown. Doctor Holt, meanwhile, walked away to examine her back and nodded in approval.
"No sign of infection," He announced. "And the skin above her… 16th vertebrae isn't bruised over anymore. Just red. Those muscles that were shredded by the knife twisting are swollen and still very, very bruised, but they're healing nicely."
"I can see from here that the initial entry point of the knife still hasn't closed entirely," Doctor Brown nodded with a furrowed brow.
"It's healing," Doctor Holt shrugged. He walked around to examine her front and put his hand on her ribcage, prodding lightly. A stab of pain ran through her chest. He glanced up. "Does that hurt?" He asked.
"No," Mal denied, balling her fists up a little. Dr. Holt rolled his eyes.
"That's her way of saying: 'yes, but I'm not going to admit it.'" Dr. Holt explained to the newcomer; Doctor Brown. He laughed. Mal's mouth pinched together in indignation.
Dr. Horsley continued furrowing his brow, stroking his chin as he examined her bruising. "That's a lot of scar tissue," He hummed. "Even those surgery wounds… you'll have those till you die."
"She still looks beautiful," Ben mumbled as he scribbled through something in one of his books. His eyes flicked up to run over Mal's torso, and then he looked back to his work.
Doctor Brown walked back around and began to examine Mal's back. Carefully, he ran his finger down the knife's exit point and shook his head. "You're very lucky," He commended her. "Very, very lucky."
"I don't feel lucky," Mal grumbled, picking at her waistband a little as it started digging into her exposed wounds.
"Oh, no, you're lucky," Doctor Holt laughed. "The situation… the placement… the fact you received immediate magical healing…" He shook his head. "Anyone else, and I mean anyone else, from five to one-hundred, male or female, bodybuilder or severe alcoholic, anyone else who took a knife where you did and then dropped twenty feet and didn't have their freaking True Love in the room twenty feet away would have died almost immediately on scene."
"And if they'd lived…" Doctor Brown shook his head. "Well, assuming they didn't die of hypovolemic shock, any spinal damage from a fall of that height might have resulted in becoming brain-dead, the shock may have brought on cardiac arrest, You're already past the effects of the sepsis that would have occurred. You wouldn't have been able to sit up in the hospital if your back hadn't been healed after that fall, and your knee would still be recovering from now until the… well, rest of your life. That's too much time without use, so your leg muscles would have withered away, and you'd never have walked again without therapy."
Mal's mouth dropped open. But then Doctor Holt continued. "And if the knife had gone an inch in any other direction, you might have needed a colostomy bag. You're lucky you can still use the restroom the normal way."
Mal swallowed. "So, what have I for sure lost in life?" She asked.
The doctors exchanged careful looks. Doctor Holt finally shrugged. "The fact you haven't needed to call the hospital means your insides are probably okay. You can always schedule an X-ray to check, but it looks like you've mostly got that under control." He bent down and put his hands on her knee, rubbing around the joint a little bit. "Does that hurt at all?" He asked her.
"It… tingles," Mal shrugged. Little tickles raced up her leg.
Doctor Holt shook his head. "Lucky girl," He whispered and straightened up. "You might walk normally for short periods of time in a couple of months. As you get older, you may find that the limp will return, and you may need a cane in your later years of life."
"Don't corrective surgeries exist?" Ben asked, clicking the top of his pen several times as he watched Doctor Brown continued examining Mal's back.
"They do," Doctor Brown answered for Doctor Holt. "But I wouldn't focus on that for several years. If she wants one years after all this is healed, then fabulous, but we want to keep her off of an operating table while the rest of her heals." He ran a finger down Mal's spine lightly. "I'm not a back doctor, but everything seems to be in line. Can you move your back at all?"
"I can sway," Mal answered, proving her point by leaning from side to side. "But I can't rotate around."
"That'd be the nerve damage," Doctor Brown nodded. "Don't expect to be whipping around to throw punches ever again." He clasped his hands together. "I don't think you'll ever run. Stairs will forever be your enemy. Dancing, jumping, climbing, doubtful. You'll forever have pain problems in your side, there will be good and bad days, and this intensive scarring, but overall you will recover." He shook his head. "It's a bloody miracle, but you will recover."
Mal furrowed her brow and bit her cheek. She would run, one day. She would jump. She would climb. She would fight.
Doctor Holt nodded. "I agree with that," He nodded, still shaking his head. "By this time next year, the bruising will have faded. Maybe a few sparse marks will remain, but the worst is definitely behind you."
"A year?" Mal frowned incredulously. Doctors Holt and Brown nodded simultaneously and then turned to look at their last companion, Doctor Horsley, who was still looking bitter as he examined her. He picked up the patient file she'd set down, looked back down at her, and let out a deep, heartbroken sigh.
"You know I am primarily an obstetrician," He began. "While you may walk and stand and live almost normally again, my main concern is for when the time comes you and Ben need to have children together." He pressed his fingertips to his brow. "This is… not going to be fun."
"Is she able to?" Ben frowned, finally closing his binder. "They only did a partial surgery, so shouldn't she-"
"Oh, she'll still be able to get pregnant," Doctor Horsley nodded. "Probably not as easily, though every woman is different. Fertility treatments are, of course, always an option. But you forget, your majesty, which nerves were damaged, and where they lay in proximity to the uterus." He turned Mal's chair towards Ben and made a gesture to the area between her ribcage and hip bones. "The baby, as it grows, will be in near-constant contact with those damaged nerves. Unless something changes, by month three or four of any gestation from here on out, she will be in intense pain."
Ben's shoulders slumped. Sweat broke out down Mal's neck. "What of the birth process?" She whispered.
"Oh, excruciating," Doctor Horsley shook his head. "I can't think of any combination of painkillers that would subdue the pain without knocking her out. A cesarean section may be recommended, but even then, the moment her pains start, she will be in excruciating pain. You will probably find that she will not be able to be moved. And if the pain gets too bad or lasts too long, there may be brain damage."
Ben's mouth dropped open in shock. Mal clenched her fists in a quiet panic. "What can we do to make it… easier?" She whispered. Ben's eyes skimmed her face. They both knew she was panicking.
"Not a whole lot more than what you're doing now," Doctor Horsley shook his head. "Therapy, take it easy, keep up your painkillers and anti-inflammatories….there's prenatal everything, you might find something like yoga helpful…" He trailed off and then continued. "Frequent doctor visits, no stress, and lots and lots of prayer."
Mal swallowed.
Ben closed his eyes and looked away, wincing. His posture and everything about him screamed: guilt. Mal ducked her head and nodded slowly. "Can you help me rewrap the bandages?" She whispered.
Doctor Holt nodded and held up the white rolls, which he had wound as they'd undone them the first time. Doctor Brown helped keep Mal's arms aloft as they carefully began to cover up the ugly wounds once again. Mal watched them disappear underneath the soft white, but she could still see them imprinted behind her eyes.
They replaced her shirt after the wrappings were secure around her frame and Doctor Holt patted her shoulder. "Any sarcastic comments before we go?" He asked.
"I thought you came to talk to the queen, not her evil twin," Mal replied glumly. The doctors, despite the terse tone in the room, laughed. Mal felt an involuntary twinge at her mouth as she got to her feet. Ben stood up as well. "Thank you for coming up," She whispered, shaking each other their hands without meeting their eyes.
Ben opened the door and exchanged handshakes as the men stepped out of the room. "Have a good drive back," He whispered. "Can you find the way back by yourselves? I can have someone follow you down."
"Oh, no," Doctor Brown replied. "Have a nice day. Please, call if she has any problems."
"Wait, actually, I do have a question!" Mal remembered suddenly. "Am I allowed to do things and go places again? Or am I still not allowed to overdo things?"
"Well, you shouldn't overdo things," Doctor Holt frowned, pausing in the hall alongside his companions. "But I don't really see a reason you have to stay in the palace. I'd say I'd leave it up to you, but we all know how far you can push yourself." He patted Ben on the shoulder. "We'll leave it up to Ben. That way it's his head, not ours."
Mal burst into laughter as Ben sent an offended glance over his shoulder. Her chest immediately rejected the action, but she laughed as Doctor Holt waved, and the soldiers cleared out of the room behind him. The door shut.
Mal immediately slumped back into her chair and winced as she pulled the skin on her back at an odd angle underneath her bandages. Ben put his stuff down on the chair he'd been sitting on and walked behind the chair to rub her shoulders comfortingly. "Lots of good news," He whispered.
"And lots of bad news too," Mal grumbled, covering her face with her hands. She concentrated on Ben's hands beside her collarbone and internally winced every time he skimmed the dead areas that she had no feeling in. "What are we going to do?" She asked.
Ben made a guttural sound in the back of his throat. "Do?" He asked.
"What's our plan?" Mal asked.
Ben let out a sigh. "Wait," He whispered.
"Wait," Mal agreed. He let her go and she leaned forward, inch-by-inch, onto her desk. Ben returned to his stack and retrieved the two letters she'd handed him earlier. He opened her desk and procured a purple-tinted letter opener, and quickly slit the tops of the two to open them up. He pulled out the yellow paper first.
"I'm off probation," He announced, skimming the contents of the letter. Mal turned her head to the side and shooting pain ran up and down her spine.
"Really?" She asked, sitting up.
"Yeah," Ben nodded. He pulled out the second paper, out of the blue envelope, and began to skim that one. Almost immediately, his face darkened.
"Let me guess," Mal sighed. "You're being summoned to some sort of hearing. Or you're in trouble for, I don't know… putting your fork on the wrong side of your plate."
"Harry and Uma are being executed," Ben corrected her. Mal's mouth dropped open.
"For real?" She whispered.
Ben cleared his throat and began to read aloud. "For crimes of treason, attempted assassination, attack of Royal Auradonian guards and Auradon citizens – that'd be Jay, Carlos, Lonnie, and Doug – Uma, daughter of Ursula, and Harry Hook, son of Captain Hook, are sentenced to death by… firing squad." He put the paper down and swallowed.
"Firing squad," Mal repeated. "I honestly didn't think the court would do an execution."
"There's a first time for everything," Ben hummed. "Treason is technically a death punishment. It has been since Auradon was first formed. We've just never had anything reach that stance before."
"You've never done an execution?" Mal stared at him.
Ben shook his head. "It's an extreme sentence," He explained. "We've never felt the need. But, really, they deserve it."
Mal swallowed and tapped her fingertips on her desk. "What's the classification?" She asked.
Ben glanced at the bottom of the document. "Secret," He announced, then paused. "Is that right?" He whispered.
"They're going to execute Harry and Uma and not tell the public?" Mal whispered.
"Apparently…" Ben frowned, rustling the papers around to find the official statement. "Yeah. It's secret. They're relabeling the case as General Information in three weeks." He examined the letter. "Harry and Uma are being executed in…" he took a breath. "Two days."
"Two days?" Mal sat up, mouth dropping open. They were going to execute Uma and Harry and then tell the public afterward? Ben shrugged and replaced the papers back in the envelope.
"I guess they want to hurry it," Ben sighed.
"No kidding," Mal grumbled. She tapped her fingertips on the table and sighed. "When do you think we can be together again?" She asked.
Ben stared at her with his mouth open slightly. "Is that seriously why you asked the doctors what you could do now?" He deadpanned.
Mal frowned. "What's wrong with that?" She demanded. "I want you."
Ben twiddled his thumbs together and stared at her. "Aren't you afraid?" He whispered.
"Yes, I'm afraid," Mal bit her lip as Ben shoved his hands down, deep into his pockets. "But I'm not even allowed to – are you shaking?"
She pushed herself up, feeling her spine twist in agony, and held a hand up to his cheek. He turned and looked away. "Hey. It's going to be okay."
"I am so sorry," He whispered, running a finger under his eyes to wipe tears out of his ears.
"It's not your fault," Mal whispered back, running her fingertips down to his jaw. "It isn't – I promise."
"It is my fault," Ben shook his head and pulled his head away. "Every bad thing in your life is because of me, one way or another."
"That's just not true," Mal shook her head. But Ben continued, balling his fists up in his pockets as he spoke.
"If I hadn't been King, then there wouldn't be any meetings or dignitaries or stupid rules that keep you from running away and from leaving the palace. You'd never have had to put up with the media and then I could have proposed to you without the drama. On top of that, you'd never have been stabbed at that stupid, stupid party." Ben squeezed his eyes shut in real, palpable pain. "All this pain you're going through now, everything in the last eight years… everything would be different if I wasn't king."
Ben got off the desk, picked up one of his thick books, and considered it for several seconds. Then he raised it above his head and slammed it to the floor in a fit of sudden rage. The spine split as it hit the floor, dividing the book evenly into two.
"If I hadn't gotten you pregnant, though, it wouldn't have mattered. You had a miserable month of December where you were suffering literal panic attacks, you couldn't even enjoy being coronated and becoming, arguably, the most important person in Auradon, and because you were pregnant you couldn't even use your magic to defend yourself. Essentially, I set you up to be executed, and then, like a fool, I left you alone."
"There is no way you could have known that would happen," Mal sighed. "It was a bad situation. It wasn't your fault."
"You deserve a better true love," Ben concluded. "Someone whose work doesn't literally change your entire life and relationship, who has more time to spend with you. Someone who doesn't completely shut off at the idea of you having an abortion."
"Me getting pregnant was something we did together," Mal snapped. "It takes two to tango, Ben. I make decisions with you, Ben, not because of you. I chose to be queen and to stick around and I chose to work for the courts and I did what I needed to do. And who's to say you don't deserve someone who's not as clingy, who already knows about politics, whose mom isn't literally the mistress and embodiment of all evil!"
She used a hand on her desk to help guide herself back and around the desk, taking careful steps to him and grabbing onto his coat for balance. Every step felt like she was walking through a hailstorm of baseball-sized ice pieces. Ben took her elbow to help her balance as Mal huffed. "I take you as you are, with the stupid crown and your idiotic rules and your horrendous sense of responsibility, and you take me even though I'm reckless and I hate children, and I'm really one of the worst people to put on a throne. We make those choices together, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise."
Mal leaned up to try and kiss him, but Ben flinched back and turned his head away. "No," he told her. "I… don't deserve you. I don't deserve for you to take this pain away."
"Ben," Mal whispered.
He kept facing away from her for several seconds, and then Mal brushed his jawline with her knuckles and pulled his chin back to her. She leaned up and kissed him. He leaned into her, and when they disconnected, he let out a sigh.
Ben drew his thumb down her cheek in a cool, soothing motion. "You're incredible," He whispered. "I don't deserve you."
"No, you definitely deserve better," Mal hummed, leaning her head on his chest. "But I'm sure glad you're letting me stick around anyway."
Ben hugged her, careful of her back, as Mal leaned into his touch. She ran her fingers up and down his back and ignored the growing discomfort of her own frame. Some of the medications were wearing off.
Ben's phone buzzed, and across the room so did Mal's. He pulled his out of his pocket and held it at an angle as he skimmed the screen. Mal read the text alongside him. Chances were it was on her phone anyways.
"Follow, did you forget something?" A message from the palace guards read. Ben squinted at the text in confusion, and then his mouth fell away into shock.
"Oh! I have a meeting! It starts in-" he glanced at his watch. "Ten minutes ago. Shoot! I have to go!" He picked up the book and his binders and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "Bye, I love you, I'll see you later," He promised, and then twisted the knob of the door. His two guards appeared as he waved, and then disappeared from view, leaving the door swinging open behind him. Mal picked up her phone and some work and stumbled to the door. Her guards exchanged glances and watched in concern as she fumbled the light off and hastily locked her door.
"I need to go up to my room," Mal gasped, squeezing her eyes shut as pain began to mess with her head. "Now, please."