It'll Be Us

by WanderlustandFreedom

Mal worked eight years to be queen and gave up countless experiences in the name of love. But Auradon never seems to like her, and things only get harder instead of easier. Revolt is coming to the palace and her mom's name has been branded on top of hers. And not only are people out for her blood, they're out for her family's, too. In the end, all she wants is her own Happy Ending.

7. Chapter 7

Harry and Uma were executed, cremated, and then their ashes were spread in the ocean. Ben and Mal were not permitted to see it at all. For several weeks, all was peaceful, and then the proceedings were released to the public.

On the first day of the proceedings being released, palace approval rates dropped lower than ever before in Ben's reign. People were shocked to learn that, for the first time in Auradon history, an execution had taken place.

"This is the beginning of a dark age for Auradon," Mal heard a reporter announce as she paused in the doorway of Ben's office.

Ben was sitting at his desk, watching his computer screen, tight-lipped with rage. Mal heard the fuzzy sound of someone calling in. "My biggest thing is how the first execution was on behalf of the queen. I mean, really, are we just going to execute anyone who crosses her?"

"She was stabbed," Another reporter interjected. "By all means, the palace is within their rights to execute them. Assassination attempts are a form of treason. For me, the issue is not that the execution occurred, it's that the palace did not release those details until now, despite the execution occurring on the eighth of February. It makes me feel like the palace was trying to cover it up."

The caller made a few sounds of agreement and then continued: "Well, I totally get what you're saying, but I still feel like the execution mainly happened because it's Mal. King Ben-"

"Of course it's because it involves Queen Mal," The second reporter interjected. "That's part of the definition of an Assassination. It wouldn't be treason if they hadn't attempted to kill the reigning Queen of-"

"Mal," Ben flipped off the screen and exhaled. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were there." He stood up and went to help her inside.

"They're blaming us?" Mal asked. "We didn't have anything to do with it. You were on probation – how would you have known?"

"I couldn't have," Ben furrowed his brow. "But they still think I pulled strings to have them executed." He guided her to a chair and helped her sit down. "I'll… do something about it later." He slumped into a chair beside her and ran a hand over his face. "I wonder if the courts will say anything on it." He grumbled.

"They should! We're the ones taking their fall for them!" Mal frowned. A sudden stab of pain ran through her back and made her wince.

"Shh," Ben hushed her, running his fingers up and down her spine carefully. "Your back still hurting?"

"Yeah," Mal grumbled, leaning forward and rubbing her knee as he carefully rubbed his fingers soothingly around the wound. "But what else is new? Nervous damage – yay!"

"Kiss?" Ben asked, watching her rub the heels of her palms into her knee. The joint was getting better, and the more she worked with it, the easier it got to move. Mal hummed and then turned to steal a quick peck. Then she straightened back up and leaned against his side.

"I wish True Love's Kiss really could heal everything," She mumbled. Ben nodded in agreement and kissed the top of her head.

"I have something for you," He whispered, and stood up. "Evie sent it to the palace."

He picked something up off his desk and brought it back to her. It was in a sealed envelope, though he'd already opened it, and addressed to 'Ben and Mal'.

Mal slid the paper inside out. It was an invitation to Evie and Doug's home for a baby shower. Mal's stomach turned a little as she skimmed the details. "She's due in two months," She gasped. "That's… insane."

"You okay?" Ben frowned, leaning against his desk and watching her turn colors from a distance. Mal shook her head a little.

"It feels like yesterday I was crying because I thought I'd ruined everything with you, and she was telling me she was having a baby," Mal mumbled. "I am… not ready for my best friend to be a mom."

"It's not you," Ben pointed out. "Does it still disgust you?"

"A little," Mal admitted, not meeting his eyes. "I can't look straight at… her. God, she looks like a balloon. A fashionable balloon, but…"

Ben nodded sadly as he watched her shudder like she had a bad taste in her mouth. Mal watched him as his eyes traced her legs and her spine. She cleared her throat. "I never asked you something," She began. "Our baby… that I lost… what do you think of how it all ended?"

Ben's eyes flew downcast, and he let out a heavy sigh. He didn't say anything for about a minute. Mal began to fidget and twist her fingers.

"I'm mixed," He mumbled finally. "Mostly, I was worried about you. You were so upset and worried, and I didn't want you to feel sad. And yeah, Auradon weighed on my mind a lot, because any child of mine is going to be their future leader, but I was just so, so worried with how self-destructive you suddenly were. I felt helpless because I couldn't help you."

"But you still couldn't stand an abortion?" Mal asked. Ben shuddered and twisted his eyes closed.

"God, those disgust me," He hissed. "No, I couldn't. That has honestly always been a worry in the back of my head – that my future wife would end up doing one of those. I can't stand them, but it's not like I can say anything bad about them without people coming and screaming at me for being against their body rights." He grumbled and hid his face in his hands. "Can I be honest with you?" He asked.

"Of course," Mal confirmed, putting her hands on the sides of the chair and trying to struggle to her feet.

Ben waved her back down. "Don't get up," He requested and took a deep breath. "Honestly, for a few minutes, every so often, I was excited. Worried for Auradon, yes. Terrified for your sanity and safety, absolutely. But it was so, so amazing to know that you were pregnant because of me, and I couldn't wait to see what our kids would look like, and I was excited to meet them."

Mal's shoulders slumped as guilt filled her. "You want a large family?" She asked. She'd guessed five on their way to be married, but...

"I have a large family," Ben shrugged. "I'm the king of an entire nation." He put his hands in his pockets and stood up. "I'm basically the father of lots and lots of angsty teenagers."

Mal chuckled. He wasn't quite wrong. "How many kids did you want, growing up?" She asked. She wondered if it had been different over time.

"Is this something your therapist told you to do?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "You don't usually ask about this."

Mal shook her head, and Ben nodded as he accepted that. "More than you've ever wanted," He admitted. "I always thought I'd have four or five."

Mal expected herself to cough or choke a little at that fact. Instead, the guilt only settled in deeper. She exhaled. "Can I compromise with at least two and then see if I can handle more?" She asked.

Ben's face twisted in pain and he turned away. "I don't want you to have any, now," He sighed. "Everything the doctors have been saying… I'm too afraid to even touch you because I don't want to put you through that."

Mal's mouth fell open a little. "But… Auradon," She began, taking a deep breath,

"I know," Ben cut her off. "I know. It's inevitable. Non-negotiable. The kingdom has to have an heir – that's just the way a monarchy works."

"I think I can handle one or maybe two," Mal considered, biting her lip. "I mean, I have all the doctors and then there's medicine and maybe… maybe someone like Fairy Godmother could use magic to help me even more."

Ben exhaled, staring away from her and towards the door. "We'll figure it out and make a plan of some sort. But not now. You've still got bandages and a limp and all your other things. If we're going to do this, we're going to make sure you're as safe as possible. The longer we wait now, the better off you'll be."

The intercom on Ben's desk beeped. "Sir, I have representatives from the Knights for Freedom group here requesting an audience with you?"

Ben's shoulders slumped in absolute disgust. He sighed and pressed the receiver button down on his com. "Right, fine. You can send them up. Can you have them escorted? I don't currently have any guards up here, and I can't meet with them until I do."

"Yes, I can do that, and if I'm reading the map right, then Queen Mal should also be in the room with you? Please remind her she needs to have her paperwork for Corona's Royal Wedding completed by next Thursday, and you need to clear use of the Cathedral, again," Debra sighed in exasperation.

"Got it," Ben confirmed, and let Debra go. He glanced up at Mal. "You probably don't want to be here when they get up. They're quite brutal."

"You've met with them before?" Mal asked. "Aren't they the people who were angry when you proposed to me?"

"One of them," Ben rolled his eyes. "And yes, I've met with them before. That meeting ended in me throwing them out of my office when one of them started calling you all sorts of names, so we'll see how well this one goes." He went to Mal and helped her up, out of her chair. She straightened up carefully and then he walked her to the door.

"Your limp is going away," He mumbled. "That's amazing."

"I was able to rotate my waist the other day," Mal confided with a smile. "It was the day after the chiropractor came, and then during therapy, they helped me rotate around. It hurt, but it was also, like, a milestone."

"That's awesome," Ben smiled, kissing her forehead and tangling their fingers together.

"Soon, this will all be a bad dream," Mal hummed. Ben pinched his lips together.

He ran a hand down her hairline and hummed. "You're always going to live with some effects," He reminded her. "Don't be too heavy on yourself."

Mal's smile twisted into a frown. She ducked away from his hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know," She sighed. "Okay. Good luck with your meeting. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah," Ben nodded. "Oh, hey, is your Saturday one to six free?"

"I think so," Mal frowned, pulling out her phone. She opened the calendar and glanced through her schedule for Saturday. "I'm not scheduled for anything. Why?"

"I have an event at Auradon Prep," Ben smiled. "If you want to tag along, you could hang out with Carlos and Jane, and get out of the palace."

Mal's mouth fell open a little. She hadn't been out of the palace since she'd been released from the hospital in January. "That sounds amazing," She smiled. "I do need to have the gardeners begin bringing the gardens back to life as March is starting, but that honestly sounds lovely."

"Fabulous," Ben exclaimed. "It's a date." He held out a fist, and she tapped it with a little laugh.

"Kay, I should probably go before trouble arrives," Mal decided. "Bye."

"Bye, Mal," Ben laughed and waved as she left.

---

Auradon Prep was a party. It was Family day, so, not exactly the happiest memories were there, but Ben got to give a little speech to the upcoming graduates, and Jane and Carlos were in charge of the food, meaning Mal could steal as many strawberries from the dipping station as she wanted, and they wouldn't stop her.

"Are you going to be at Evie's shower?" Jane asked, rolling her eyes as Mal angled a little bowl to fill it with chocolate and followed her to a chair, dipping her strawberries as she went.

"I dunno," Mal responded before swallowing. "Ben's fighting the guards for me a little. I'll have to have an entourage if I go. And there have to be at least two protectors every single time I'm in the room with another person. I feel like having two heavily-armed men in black who stand at attention wherever I go would be a bit of a downer." She gestured to the outskirts of the party, where she and Ben's entire emergency personnel had spaced themselves out around the circumference of the area. She was pretty sure others were patrolling the grounds of the school.

"I don't honestly think Evie would mind. Especially if the alternative is her best friend missing out on her baby shower," Jane replied. She held out a hand to help Mal sink into a seat. Mal's posture slumped as she sighed a little, wrapping an arm around herself.

There were chairs laid out in long lines around a croquet field, where small children who'd tagged along with their parents for family day ran back and forth squealing happily. Dude the dog was running beneath their legs, sending toddlers tumbling to the ground before licking their faces to make them laugh.

Mal felt a loose edge of a bandage begin to poke her and straightened up so she could correct it. She peeled the hem of her shirt up, knowing that she'd make national news if anyone caught a photo of her, and pressed the adhesive strip that kept the wrappings tight against her skin down.

A small girl in a purple dress flopped down in the seat next to Mal and sighed dramatically. "Everyone here is so boring!" She declared, throwing her head over the back of the chair.

"Tell me about it," Mal laughed, straightening up and pulling her shirt back down.

"Why do you have that under your shirt?" The girl demanded in a loud, bossy tone.

"It's like a giant band-aid. It's protecting my skin because I got hurt a while ago," Mal explained as the girl's head tilted in astonishment. She had long, fly-away hair and dirt under her fingernails.

"How long ago?" The child asked, reaching over, picking up Mal's hem, and examining the bandages. "Does it go all the way around you?"

"Yeah," Mal laughed. "It was a few months ago, but it's still a little hurt."

"What did you do?" The girl asked incredulously.

"I got cut," Mal's smile faded a little bit. "I had a bad cut, and I had to go to the hospital, and I still have lots of doctors who have to come to see me almost every day to make sure I'll get better."

"Oh," The girl slumped back into her chair as Mal smoothed her shirt back down. "Once, my Mom cut her hand on a glass in the kitchen, and my older brother drove her to the hospital, and the doctors sewed her hand up! Can you believe it? What were they thinking?"

"I had to have that too," Mal laughed. "Lots of sewing. Some of the sewings were inside of me too. And the doctors had to take a few things out of me."

The little girl's eyes grew wide. "Did they put them back?" She exclaimed.

Mal shook her head. "They didn't work anymore," She explained.

"What kind of things?" The little girl demanded.

"They weren't important things," Mal shrugged. "One of them was supposed to help me have a baby one day, and the others were just parts of other things that will grow back." Jane put a hand on Mal's arm.

"Trinity!" A woman exclaimed in an exasperated tone, rushing over. "Your majesty, I'm so sorry, I hope she didn't-"

"Mommy, show her your hand," Trinity demanded as her mom helped her down off the chair. "She was cut just like you! Except with her, the doctors took things out of her!"

"Trinity, shh!" Her mother begged, wincing as she tried to cover her daughter's mouth. Trinity kept blabbering though.

"She had to get stitched up too – inside of her! And the doctors, they took out something that was helping her have a baby!"

Mal's cheeks flared up as she realized, too late, her mistake. The area went quiet as everyone's heads swiveled around and they stared at the commotion. Trinity kept talking. "She said that they took out things that would grow back and something to help her have a baby! Isn't that crazy?"

"Trinity, shush," Her mother groaned, covering her face and scooping up the little girl into her arms. "Queen Mal, I am so, so sorry for her and this. I swear, she just runs off and she has no filter-"

"It's fine," Mal squeaked a little. "Just, um, yeah."

Trinity's mom turned away and took her daughter with her, who was still babbling, a little softer now, about the lady with the hurt stomach. "Her band-aid goes all the way around her, mom-" was the last thing Mal heard.

Mal buried her face in her hands. Jane let out a breath. "That was dramatic," She mumbled.

"Everyone here is going to think I'm infertile now," Mal grumbled. Jane took in a gentle hiss of air. "Just after everyone thought Ben pulled strings to get Uma executed, and everyone was speculating I was trying to kill my father-in-law, and – I'm just sick of rumors."

A weight fell into the chair Trinity had just vacated. "What just happened?" Carlos whispered.

"She was asking why I had my bandages," Mal mumbled. "God, I should have – where's Ben?" She looked around and tried to find her honey-haired husband in the crowd.

"Come on, let's go find King Beast," Carlos sighed. He and Jane helped Mal up and they began to walk back through the concessions area. As they passed through onto the school area, Ben appeared, out of breath.

"What happened?" He whispered. "I heard whispers – what happened?" He took her face as Jane and Carlos released her arms. Mal took the front of his jacket, breathing a little heavy from hurrying so quickly.

"Oh, it's fine, people just think I'm unable to get pregnant," Mal grumbled and sighed. "I was sharing what happened to me to this small girl, and she kind of started shouting things. I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's fine," Ben shrugged. "That's – people have already been talking." He kissed her cheek. "Okay, we can handle that."

"People have already been talking?" Mal gasped. Ben looped his arm through hers.

"Small, silly things," Ben shook his head. "We haven't addressed it at all."

Mal stared at him and then began to calm down. If the palace hadn't addressed it, it couldn't be that important.

"They're just words," Jane hummed. "Embarrassing words, but words all the same."

Mal nodded. Eventually, when she was ready, it would become obvious that she wasn't. It wasn't an important battle to be fighting quite yet.

---

Evie and Doug's new house was grey in color with blue shutters. Doug had hired a groundskeeping crew to come through, clipping the grass evenly across the lawn and trimming the thorn bushes in front of the house. Evie's flowerbeds were full of bright colors, and the shutters had been painted her signature blue. A little sign hung from her mailbox reading 'Evie and Doug' and the same sign hung from above the front door.

Mal had never seen the house before. They'd moved while she was bedridden in the palace. Ben had come down to help them move things, but she had been left behind so that she wouldn't get in the way of the people helping Evie and Doug move in.

"So… how is this going to work?" Mal sighed, looking out the limo's window at the little house. Her fingers twisted the ribbons on the present in her hand. Mal had picked out a tiny little bassinette, and Belle had wrapped it to keep Mal from ruining it.

The senior guard in the back of the car straightened up. Her entourage of ten was mostly in the back with her, and all she hoped was that they didn't expect to follow her into Evie's living room. "Your husband and the palace officiator put their heads together and determined a one-time system for this."

Mal drummed her fingers with a little sigh. "Am I going to have to stay in one room the entire time?" She asked.

"No," The guard responded. "We're posting two guards at each entrance and the rest will stand guard on the perimeters."

Mal's mouth dropped open. "Are you… for real?" She asked slowly.

"Well, we have to escort you up and back," He shrugged. "And you may not leave the house, and we have to secure the entire area before you can enter."

"So… I sit out here for ten minutes, and then you escort me up, and then I'm… okay to hang out with my friends for today?" Mal clarified. She blinked slowly.

"We have to be back at the palace by four," The guard shrugged. "But yeah, that's about it."

Mal leaned back into the chair in amazement. She couldn't believe the palace was going to let her go. The car paused in the driveway and all of her guards moved towards the door. The senior guard brandished a finger at her. "But, remember, if you get shot or stabbed or bombed or anything, we're not going to let you be alone anywhere except your room at night for the next three years."

Mal snorted, but the senior officer's face didn't change. Her mouth dropped open. "You can't be serious."

"That's the deal." He held up his hands, and then followed his fellow companions out of the car. Mal watched eight guards travel up to the door and realized the last two must be in the front seat still, guarding her against any imaginary evil they could conjure up.

Two passing kids on their bikes stopped on the sidewalk to watch her armed personnel travel to the door, and one of the guards directed them not to enter in on the property. Mal wondered if everyone who came in from this point on would have to be searched. And that thought sparked the question: How many people had Evie invited that wouldn't know the expectant mother's best friend was a national figurehead?

Doug opened the door, listened to their spiel, and put his hands behind his head with a heavy sigh and a nod. He stepped aside as the guards entered the house and then Mal watched the door close behind them. She sighed and was tempted to text Evie in advance to apologize, but she knew they'd only confiscate both her and Evie's phones if she did.

Ten minutes passed, and then six guards emerged and gave the all-clear to the car. Her final two guards got out of the car, came around, and opened her door. They had to help her out since she still couldn't maneuver her back very well, and then set her on her feet. Evie and Doug were waiting by the door, shaking their heads as the guards spread out around their property, taking up guard at the front door, at the opening to the garage, and all four corners of the lawn. The two kids on their bikes shrieked. "It's the queen!" They bellowed and took off down the street. Mal let out a deep sigh, and her last two guards, the two who would take up a position in the back yard, took her up to the door.

"I'm sorry," Mal apologized, reaching forward to hug Evie. "But on the bright side, they're leaving me alone for the entire day."

"It's fine," Evie laughed. "I'm glad they let you come. Are they, um, going to search everyone else who comes? We're only waiting on one now."

"Probably?" Mal asked, glancing to her left. Her guards were nodding. She sighed. "Sorry. Everything has been crazy since I was stabbed."

"I get it," Evie nodded. "Well, you did warn me. Anyways, come on in. Everything has been searched, so you should be safe."

"Okay," Mal nodded. She turned to one of her guards. "Could you please take the limo out of the driveway and park it on the street? It's just so… big and it's kind of rude for us to take up that much space. And anyway, if anyone pulls in behind us and I have to return to the palace earlier, we'll be able to leave quicker."

The guard nodded at her reasoning. Mal stepped inside. Her two followed her, and one of the guards standing beside the door went back to move the car. Doug led the last two guards through the house, and Mal heaved a sigh of relief. "I am so, so sorry," She mumbled.

"It's fine," Evie waved her off. "Need help taking your jacket off?"

Mal frowned down at her heavy jacket. She handed Evie the wrapped present, with all the ribbons and pretty layers of paper. "That's for you," She told her and then began undoing buttons. As she got to the buttons closer to her neck and had to raise her shoulders and elbows up, her spine protested. She bit her lip and unhooked the last button before letting her arms drop. She managed to shrug off the slick leather and then turned back towards the door. A beautiful coat hanger had been screwed into the wall. It had a wrought iron shelf with decorations hanging on it. Mal grit her teeth, hung up her coat, and turned back to Evie with a little half-smile.

"You're getting there," Evie smiled. "That's pretty cool."

"Oh, yes," Mal agreed. "I can hang up a coat now."

Evie directed Mal's attention to her right. Mal took a few steps forward and peered inside. About ten other women were inside. Mal only recognized Jane, who was sitting on a couch wearing a blue sundress with a pink flower pattern, and who waved when she saw her. Everyone else looked up, still unsteady and in shock over the guards coming through and searching everything. As they saw her, mouths dropped open, and one girl let out a swear word as she ran her hands down her skirt. Someone's gum fell out of her mouth, and she hurried to pick it up with a napkin, blushing.

"Everyone, this is my best friend Mal," Evie announced. "Sorry about all the security. I wanted her to come, and it's very important she doesn't get hurt for a few months."

Mal let out a breath and let her shoulders slouch. She waved her fingers and stepped over the threshold into the room. It was very nice, with hardwood floors and a large blue rug protecting everyone's feet from the cold. A strong scent of vanilla filled the room. The walls were cream-colored, but Evie had been painting beautiful swirling patterns of gold and silver along the corners of the walls. Black leather couches and low glass side tables furnished the room, which Mal recognized from Evie and Doug's townhouse, and pictures of the core four, of Evie and Doug, and Evie and Mal and others of their achievements and good times.

"Hi," She breathed, waving to the others in the room. "I'm Mal."

Jane sat up and patted a spot on the couch beside her. "Need to sit down?" She asked. "How are you feeling?"

"Good, good," Mal nodded. "They're taking me off of another painkiller this week, so this will probably be the most I'll be able to walk for the next few weeks." She sat down beside Jane and another young woman who looked like she was about to blow up. She turned and held out a hand to the young lady. "Hi, what's your name?"

"I, uh, I'm Martha," The lady stuttered.

"Cool. Nice to meet you," Mal smiled.

"These are some of my coworkers," Evie explained with a smile. "Martha, Miranda, Lily and Sofi, and then my neighbors Chloe and Amelia. Guys, Mal is my best friend from the Isle of the Lost, and Jane and I are old school friends. And then Lonnie is on her way, but Jay had a problem at work, and she needed to help him out with that."

"Cool," Mal nodded. "What were you guys doing before I showed up?"

"Listing baby names," One of the women who had warmed up to the fact she was in a room with the queen much quicker than the others proclaimed. She held up a clear clipboard with a long list on it. "So far we love Charlie, Claire, Debbie, and Josie, though we have about twenty others."

"Charlie? That's a unisex name," Mal pointed out. She raised an eyebrow at Evie. "You'd give your daughter a unisex name?"

Evie pouted. "I thought it was cute," She frowned.

"Do you have any suggestions?" Jane asked, poking Mal in the arm.

"Isabella," Mal responded immediately. Silence reigned throughout the room, and then Evie sucked in a breath.

"Oh, that's super cute," Evie huffed. "Write that one down." Mal folded her arms smugly across her chest, ignoring the pain in her stomach. No one had to know that it had been Ben to suggest it.

"So, I know this day is all about Evie, but I have to know: what's it like being the queen of Auradon?" One of the girls leaned forward as the girl with the clipboard mumbled: "Isabella Gibson."

Each of the girls turned to Mal with an expectant eye, who rolled her eyes. "Horrible," She answered immediately. Everyone looked immensely disturbed, aside from Evie and Jane, who'd had this spiel many times before. "I have been out of the palace exactly once since coronation before this, the love of my life is never around, and I'm drowning in paperwork whilst still recovering from almost dying."

Evie chuckled lightly, but she was the only one. Mal rolled her eyes again. "Yeah, I used to want to be a queen," Evie scoffed. "But that was before Mal had to base her entire career around Ben's career and before everyone smeared her name in the tabloids."

"And before you met Doug," Mal added. "But, one day it won't be like this. One day I won't be the reigning queen and Ben won't be the reigning king. We'll grow old together, we'll travel together, and all of this will just be one big, long, bad dream."

"Who's married here?" Jane asked, raising her hand. Evie, Mal, both of Evie's neighbors, and two of her coworkers raised their hands with giggles and sly smiles. Jane hummed. "Do you guys already have kids?" She asked.

"I have two," The girl with the clipboard laughed. "A five-year-old and a three-year-old."

"I have a fifteen-month-old," The girl at Mal's side giggled.

"That's one year," Mal deadpanned. "Just say one year."

"It's young enough that there are still monthly accomplishments," Evie explained with a laugh.

Mal hummed and rolled her eyes. "I have about seven-hundred-fifty-million children, all of them angsty, rebellious teenagers who hate my guts and backtalk me whenever I try to say or do anything to help them."

The room burst into laughter, and Mal couldn't stop a smile. "Maybe one day they'll grow up and I'll get some peace," She laughed.

A sudden crash from outside drew their attention. Everyone's heads snapped to attention to see where it had come from. A groan came from outside, and Mal winced. "Lonnie," She mumbled, ducking down and sighing.

"Hi, Mal!" Someone – Lonnie – screamed from outside. "Just saying hi to your guards and I'll be in!"

The girls all burst into laughter. Doug appeared in the hall, shaking his head, and opened the door. After a long pause, Lonnie stumbled into sight. "Where's the party?" She gasped.

Doug gestured to his left. "Straight on," He laughed and nodded to the guards outside. "Thanks, guys."

Lonnie stepped into the room, looking frazzled. In her hands was a collection of teething toys and binkies. She skimmed the group, still breathing hard. Her eyes landed on Mal, and she let out a laugh. "How's the stab wound?" She laughed, handing Evie her gift and hugging her friend around the shoulders. "Congratulations, Evie," She whispered.

Lonnie took a seat in an empty chair. She made a gesture to Mal. "Can I see it yet?" She asked.

"You don't want to see it," Mal shook her head. "It's all black and purple. Even my ribs still have red marks from where the bones snapped."

Everyone winced, except for Lonnie, who only looked more interested. "I bet Ben thinks it's sexy," Lonnie declared.

The statement hit a little too close to home. Mal's face contorted, and for a few seconds, she felt irrationally hurt. Then she swallowed. "No, but that's okay. Hey, this is Evie's special day. Have you started counting down the days yet?"

The day, though it started slow, ended up fun enough. Mal won the "who knows mommy best" game, where they all guessed things about Evie and Evie's childhood(so maybe she had an unfair advantage, but whatever,) and then one of Evie's coworkers won the "Was this Mom or Dad" game. Evie had put cupcakes, punch, more candies than Mal had ever seen outside of a store, and two very lonely-looking vegetable trays in the kitchen for them to snack on. Evie was craving sweets. Mal got to know the other women a little once they warmed up to her(her slouching into the back of the couch and frequent jokes helped).

Around three, Evie stood up. "Hey, can I get you girls to help me pull something down upstairs? I can't lift anything and it's a bit high up."

"I got you," Lonnie jumped up. Evie's friend Miranda, who was very tall and lanky, also got to her feet. They walked out into the hall, following Evie, and then disappeared upstairs.

The girl who had sat next to Mal tapped her shoulder. Her name was Sofi. "I know I shouldn't keep asking you questions," she began, blushing a bit. "I mean, it's Evie's day and everything, I just don't exactly get to talk with the queen every day. So, what happened when you were hurt?"

Mal furrowed her brow. Surely everyone knew she'd been stabbed, right? If not from the explosion of news after the event itself, then from the downfall of palace approval in the wake of the executions. "Are you talking about recovery?" She asked.

"Yeah," Sofi nodded. All of the remaining people in the room focused on Mal as she pressed her fingertips to her ribcage.

"It's just… lots of doctors and painkillers. The hospital originally wanted to keep me under aesthetics for two months before they let me out, but Ben told them no, and so three days after the event they took me off the sleeping drugs, and then, later on, I went home with close to fifty varieties of supplements and painkillers and stuff," Mal explained, drumming her fingers on her ribcage.

"Why didn't Ben let them keep you longer?" Another woman, who was named Lily, asked with a frown.

"He knew I wouldn't want to stay," Mal shrugged. "Also, it gave him more time to spend helping me, because if I hadn't have gotten to the palace quick enough, he would have had to balance my workload and then there wouldn't have been time for him to see me since he'd be on eighteen-hour shifts trying to get everything done."

"Does it still hurt a ton?" Sofi asked, glancing cautiously down at Mal's ribcage.

Mal chewed on her cheek. She didn't like admitting this to people. "The, um, painkillers help. It's kind of a precarious balance because I can't overdose on painkillers and I have to be coherent enough to work, but it also has to help." She dragged a finger up her side. "I have permanent nerve damage, and my muscles are still healing. My back was shattered in my fall, but Ben healed that mostly himself with True Love's Kiss. It's just very stiff."

"That's horrible," Lily breathed. "But lucky that he was there." Mal shrugged, and then Lily asked: "Was it awful to lose your baby?"

Mal took in a little hiss of breath and Jane shifted uncomfortably. "Not… not really," She swallowed. "I was just really scared. And Ben and I had to figure out how to protect Auradon. We knew everyone would be mad at us since I hadn't been coronated and really, it was way too stressful for me to be happy with anything." She twiddled her thumbs together and took a deep breath. "The night I was stabbed, I started having a panic attack. Ben went out to the car to get me my anxiety medicine. No one else – not even the guards – knew that I'd been taking them. But that's why I left the party, and why he wasn't with me when Uma showed up."

"Why did Ben lie about that?" Jane asked, hooking her hands around her knee.

"The… medicine?" Mal asked, furrowing her brow. "He didn't want me to take the fall. He was afraid people would think I was unstable. So even though he's the ruler by right of inheritance, and he's not supposed to be taking anything without a doctor's order and supervision, he still let it be printed so people wouldn't go off on me. And he got into trouble for it, but it did work as far as keeping people from exploding."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "Do you guys do that a lot?" She asked.

"Not really," Mal shook her head. "But Ben already knew people would be upset at me for being pregnant, and then the fact I had been stabbed, and so he decided to take that burden rather than add to the press's fuel, and honestly, it was barely noticed since everything was so centered on me."

"What was waking up after everything like?" Amelia, who was one of Evie's neighbors, asked. "I remember – and this isn't nearly as extreme a case – when my husband had surgery on his appendix he was disorientated afterward."

"I wasn't, but I don't normally get loopy. I was pretty coherent." Mal put her hands on her belly. "Ben was the only person in the room when I woke up, and he came and knelt by my bed and he told me about the surgeries and how long I'd been out, and that we'd lost the baby, which we'd both kind of already known." She exhaled. "I remember at first I started freaking out because I was worried, they'd taken out… that they'd done a hysterectomy. I mean, I didn't want to have to lose Ben after all that. But it all worked out, and so my marriage was unharmed."

"What?" Lily blinked, looking disgusted.

"She has to be able to have a baby to be queen," Jane supplied. "The crown and courts would make Ben file a divorce if she couldn't."

Sofi covered her mouth in shock as Mal nodded along glumly to Jane's statement. "They would… that's awful."

The lights flicked off. Everyone looked up and glanced to the doorway, where Lonnie was standing, holding a very heavy book and smiling wickedly. Evie held a black light and stood at her side, with Miranda standing beside them, drumming her fingers in excitement.

"New activity," Evie announced, bringing the light over and setting it on her coffee table. Lonnie took the book over, put it down on the table, and opened it up to a page with a paper taped in. Mal sat up a little, raising an eyebrow as she watched Evie carefully pull the blacklight away from the book.

"This person is married, but with no children," Lonnie announced. "They enjoy the color blue, still live in a school, and hate homework. Her favorite smell is lavender. They hate being in the center of attention, which is why we started with her, and her life goal is to visit Arendelle."

"It's Jane," Mal blurted out, turning to look at her blue-clad friend, who was looking a little pink. Lonnie laughed and nodded, and they put the book into Jane's lap before dragging the light close to her. Jane giggled as tons of previously invisible scribbles came into view. Some were pictures that Evie had drawn of her in invisible ink, but others were notes and even memories that Evie and Jane had had together. Jane laughed and read aloud how she had once complained she'd never get a boyfriend before Mal historically declared that boyfriends were 'overrated' and 'a waste of time." Jane turned the page and then began to read about the next person.

"This person is not married and would like to have four children when she's older. She works in the clothing industry and is a little too obsessed with sequins," Jane began. Mal didn't know who it was, so she tuned out as everyone guessed and laughed.

Evie's two neighbors were guessed in a row before Evie herself was read: "This person is the only one in the room(we think) who is pregnant. She grew up on the Isle of the Lost, started her own business, and is married to the love of her life."

"I don't think anyone here fits that description," Mal declared. "Are we missing anyone? Did someone not show?"

Everyone laughed as Evie took the book. "My mother isn't technically a princess. I learned to sword fight when I was three and I speak three languages. I'm engaged to my Prince Charming, and my wedding date is yet to be determined. My favorite color is pink, my go-to hairstyle is down, and my dream vacation is hanging out around the Great Wall of Northern Wei."

Mal watched everyone guess each other, with the odds becoming increasingly slim and then noticed who exactly was left. It was only her and one other girl who hadn't been guessed yet. She wondered if Evie had conducted this in a random order, or if she should be preparing herself for a surprise.

The other girl was read next and then Evie took the book back and glanced around. "Who hasn't been read?" She asked, glancing coyly at Mal. Mal raised her hand and the room exchanged looks as Evie cracked the book open with a flourish. "This person is Evie's best friend. She's the daughter of the evilest villainess in the world, and she grew up on the Isle of the Lost. She dated her husband for eight years before they finally got married. She's the queen of Auradon, and – fun fact – she and her husband are each other's literal True Love's, meaning that she gets wasted when they kiss. Who is she?"

Everyone laughed, and Evie passed the book to Mal, along with the blacklight. Mal angled it above the book, and her mouth dropped open. Instead of any notes or pictures or memories, the page was decorated, and in large letters blocked in the center of the page was the request: "Will you be Godmother?"

Everyone shrieked as they looked at the page around her. Mal stared incredulously at the book and looked up at Evie in shock.

"Ben would be godfather," Evie told her. "And I know it's a lot, and you both have the kingdom, but I can't think of a couple more caring, more devoted, and more determined than my best friend and her husband. I want my kids to grow up with role models like you guys."

Doug appeared over her shoulder, leaning against the wall with a smile. Mal's mouth was still open, and her brain seemed completely empty as she stared at her best friend. Everyone held their breaths. Then Mal nodded. "Okay," She squeaked.

The room erupted into screams. Doug hugged Evie from behind as Mal handed the book to Jane and struggled to sit up. Evie got to her feet and together they shared a hug.

"I gotta tell Ben," Mal gasped, withdrawing from Evie and patting her pockets for her phone. She withdrew it and fumbled the screen before she managed to open his contact. Her hands were shaking so hard she couldn't tap right.

"Oh my gosh, it's calling!" Sofi yelped. All of Evie's friends stiffened. Mal put it on speakerphone, hands still shaking, and took a deep breath. The line clicked.

"Mal?" Ben asked. The sound of a door closing filtered through.

"Hi, Ben," Mal gasped, a smile spreading across her face.

"Hey, sweetheart," Ben laughed. Miranda and Sofi pressed their hands to their hearts. "You sound like you're out of breath. Is everything okay?"

"I have something to tell you," Mal laughed. Ben gave a little hum of questioning. "Evie asked us to be Godparents."

Ben began to laugh. "I hope you said yes."

"I did," Mal confirmed through a smile. "And you?"

"Yes – yes! I'd love to be," Ben exclaimed. "That's fantastic. Tell her yes."

"Ben says yes," Mal relayed to Evie needlessly. Evie laughed.

"And I'm on speakerphone," Ben sighed. "Well, congratulations Evie. Have the guards been annoying?"

"Not especially. Thank you for having them back down," Mal laughed. The girls in the room exchanged bewildered looks. One of them mouthed: 'back down?'

"Well, I'm glad. You'll have to tell me everything when you get back. I'm – uh – in a meeting now, so I have to let you go," Ben explained.

Mal's smile faded considerably, but she still felt exhilarated from what had just occurred. "Okay. I love you. Good luck with… Weselton?"

"It's Weasleton," Ben laughed. "Yeah, I love you too. Take it easy and have fun."

"Bye Ben," Mal hummed.

"Goodbye," He bid her, and then the line clicked again.

Mal glanced at the time. "Oh. I called him in the middle of that meeting. I can't believe he picked up," She put her phone away. "Now you can all technically say you've been in a phone call with the king of Auradon." She looked back up at Evie with a bright smile. "Thank you, E," She mumbled, putting her arms around Evie's sides again and squeezing her tightly. Her back twanged in protest, but Mal ignored it.

Doug clapped his hands together. "Let's move into the kitchen for more food," He declared. "Mal, do the guards want anything? We have plenty of stuff."

"I don't know," Mal shrugged. "You can ask them if you want, but I doubt they'll want to leave their posts." Doug nodded and disappeared towards the backyard.

Evie looked around the room as everyone began to get up. "Where did the list of names go?" She asked.

"Here," Miranda proclaimed, picking up the clipboard and passing it to Evie.

Evie took the board, angled in the crook of her arm, and linked her arm through Mal's to help her into the kitchen. "Emily," She mumbled. "I like that a lot."

"Call her Emily if you want, but 'M' is my nickname, okay?" Mal laughed.

"I think I might use it for a middle name. Maybe I'll go with Isabelle Emily Gibson," Evie hummed. She helped Mal into an empty bar stool.

"That's a mouthful," Mal rolled her eyes.

"Just wait until you have kids with Ben," Evie laughed. The conversations around the table died a little as the other girls began eavesdropping, but Evie continued talking. "Crown Prince Benjamin – um" she glanced down at her clipboard "Benjamin Charlie the second of Auradon."

"Did you just name my future child for me?" Mal deadpanned, squinting at Evie as she laughed. "And, for the record, I'm not going to let Ben put his name on a child. They deserve their own name, Evie." Mal hit the table lightly with her fist, annunciating every syllable.

"Let's be real here," Evie laughed. "Who's going to be ninety-seven percent responsible for naming the royal baby?"

"Me," Mal insisted, before rolling her eyes. "No, you're right. Ben is better cut out for that entire ballfield." She sighed and slumped into her chair, gazing off into the distance over Evie's shoulder.

"Did the doctors say anything?" Jane asked, wandering over and leaning on the table with her punch cup. She swirled the liquid inside lazily as Evie picked up a celery stick and snapped it so she could pop it into her mouth.

Mal swallowed and glanced down at her hands for a fraction of time before looking back up. "Yeah, um, they did. The person who was coming to see us – me before I lost the baby at coronation… he gave me a once-over with my injuries back in February."

"And?" Evie hummed, watching Mal's face as she wrinkled her nose up and continued staring vacantly at the ceiling. Doug wandered back into the kitchen from the backyard and paused at the incredibly thick atmosphere. Mal drummed her fingernails on the table.

"Well, with my nerve damage and everything… I – um – he thinks that…" Mal exhaled and wiped a sudden, spontaneous tear from her eye with a tiny sniffle. "I can do it, but the pain will be intense, and during labor, if it gets to be too much, there's a chance I'll suffer brain damage."

Evie choked on her celery. Jane's glass hit the counter with a thud, spilling drink out onto her knuckle a little bit. "What?" She gasped. Mal nodded wordlessly and reached out to pick a cupcake up. She focused on peeling the paper back and avoiding Evie's wide stare.

"That's… for real?" Evie exhaled. Mal continued nodding.

When silence had reigned in the room for too long, Mal began to talk again. "Well, the nerves that are damaged are my column nerves. Luckily, most of the pain waves during those first stages of childbirth are carried by the-"

"T-10 through L-1 nerves." Evie breathed.

"Right," Mal agreed. "So I missed it by one nerve. After the first stage though, I'll have to deal with the nerve damage. And pregnancy will still hurt a ton because any baby inside of me will be pressed up against those nerves from month three onwards, and, well, my doctor doesn't think I can handle that sort of pain." She broke the cupcake up in her hands and popped pieces into her mouth, bit by bit.

"That's awful," Evie breathed.

"Yeah, it probably won't be the best part of my whole life," Mal sniffed. "But it'll be okay. We just have to be careful and go about things slowly, and in the end, everything will be fine. Happily-ever-after, right?"

Evie swallowed hard and stared at Mal like she was worried.

"But… how can you have a happily ever after if you get that sort of severe damage?" Sofi asked, wrapping her arms around herself as if she were cold.

"I have to believe," Mal squeezed her eyes shut. "All this time… all this work…. The only reason I get up in the morning and my entire career and my life, really, is just so one day, he can retire, and we can have our happily ever after. That's all I want."

Silence filled the room. Jane leaned over and squeezed Mal's hand. "Well, you made it this far," She mumbled. "It's only… twenty more years, right?"

"Sixteen as soon as I have a baby," Mal winced, squeezing her eyes shut. "And then this mess will be over, and I don't have to wear a crown and be escorted by ten guards everywhere." She exhaled.

Evie swallowed. "Just focus on getting better first," She advised. "And… you're not going to be young forever. Enjoy it. You're a newlywed, you have your one True Love… everything will work out."

Mal nodded and slowly the conversation started back up around the room. Lonnie put down a glass of pink punch beside her arm and Mal picked it up and studied her reflection in it. "You know," She hummed. "We don't look the way we used to."

"You have a knife wound," Lonnie deadpanned, leaning over Mal's shoulder to steal a couple of carrot sticks. "And yeah, that happens as you grow up."

Mal hummed in agreement and set the glass back down. "Maybe I'm not afraid of aging, but I am a little afraid of the time I'm losing. I just… never feel like I'm going to have enough."

Evie nodded. "I get that," She murmured. "I worry that I'm letting things pass that I'll miss later on."

Mal nodded without a sound and glanced around the room, feeling nostalgic. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. A message from Ben read: Love you lots. You'll have to tell me everything when you get home. Have fun and stay safe.

A smile spread across her face, and the weird feeling was gone.

---

"Straighten up," The physical therapist's voice rang in her ears, sending even more goosebumps down Mal's arms. She took a deep breath as the woman's cool hands traced her ribcage and carefully began to help her remove the bandages. She closed her eyes tightly as the wounds were exposed to air and then straightened up even more. The therapist – Dr. Palevsky – made a noise of approval and Mal peeked an eye open. She let out a breath.

Odd patches of yellow stretched down, across her ribs, and onto her torso a little. Odd groups of blue bruises remained, but there was no more black, and only the absolute faintest signs of purple. Her cuts were raised a little and were white against the skin surrounding them, but closed completely, with no scab.

"Wow, I… almost look normal," Mal sighed, glancing down and then taking a finger and tracing a finger down the surgery wounds on her stomach.

"Yes, that's progress," Her therapist nodded with a smile. "Can you put your arms above your head yet?"

Mal immediately began to raise her arms. Her hands and elbows were fully mobile, but as she moved her shoulders, extending them upwards so she could stretch her protesting muscles, the pain set in. She kept until she had her elbows by her ears and her limbs were shaking from the effort.

"That's good," The therapist told her, putting a cool hand on her bicep and pressing Mal's arms down carefully. "You're able to go higher than last time. I think that that and your back will be a work-in-progress, but you're able to move your knee more now, right?"

"Right," Mal confirmed. "I've been trying to lean more on it as I walk, and that helps."

"Gives it practice," Dr. Palevsky nodded. "Okay. I want to focus on your back for this session. Let's keep the bandages off so your skin can get stronger, and used to being in the air again."

Mal nodded, tracing her fingertips over the patterns that the wrapping had let imprinted in her skin. The touch felt foreign. Then her therapist helped her up and onto a clean mat they'd laid on the floor, where she began to guide Mal through a series of stretches that were meant to help Mal's back as much as possible.

At the end of a grueling hour, Dr. Palevsky picked up the bandage rolls and brought them over to Mal. Mal hesitated when she saw them. "Could I… not put them back on?" She asked.

"We don't want lint or anything getting stuck on the healing tissue," Dr. Palevsky frowned, examining Mal's torso tactfully.

"Only for a few hours, and then I'll put them back on?" Mal pleaded. "I'll even call the hospital after you leave and put them right back on if they tell me no."

Dr. Palevsky slouched her shoulders and then nodded. She set the rolls in Mal's hands. "Call them," She reminded her. "And I'll be back next week. Try and do some side-to-side stretches on your back, but don't jam it or anything."

"Got it," Mal smiled, pulling her shirt down and relishing the tickling feeling of the fabric against the wound. She held her arms out a little, and turned her chest slightly to the left, and then slightly to the right, with only minor pain. Her smile grew even broader. "Thank you so much!" She gasped, smiling at Dr. Palevsky as her therapist picked up her bag of tools and rolled up the mat.

"Not a problem," Dr. Palevsky nodded. She waved with a cheery smile of her own. "Till next week."

Mal left the room, walking normally though she still found herself short of breath occasionally, and if she went too fast, then her side would start to hurt. She paused to call the hospital, and Doctor Holt gave her over-the-phone permission to keep them off sparingly until he got the chance to come up and examine her. She wanted to go show Ben, but he was stuck in a meeting for another twenty minutes. She had one coming up this evening, but for now, she was supposed to be in her office completing paperwork. Instead, she went to her room to take her dosage of vitamins that she'd neglected by an hour and a half and then flipped on the TV.

Nothing much was on. She stopped, by habit, on a newsfeed that was displaying a bridge collapse by the seashore in Ariel's kingdom. No one had been hurt, but people were talking more and more of the relative danger that existed there.

She half-listened as she requested one of the servants to bring up a bowl of strawberries and a pitcher of water, and then changed her outfit into purple leggings and a white, airy shirt. She opened the windows halfway to let in the spring breeze and looked down on the palace grounds, where she could see gardeners hard at work prepping the gardens for spring according to the directions she'd given.

On the wall hung a calendar. Mal crossed over to it and began counting back the days. It was the tenth of March, Saturday, and she'd first been hurt on the fifteenth of December. That was three months, and she was finally able to rotate a little in each direction.

The news changed, as it always seemed to do, to her. "New on Royal News, King Benjamin released an official statement regarding recent executions of Treason Participates Harry Hook and Uma, daughter of Ursula. The statement reads as follows, quote: 'While I expected the sentence and preferred it over the long-term incarceration of the aforementioned, I was unable to push for any set decision as this was a court-only trial, and I was not allowed to be involved in the proceedings. When I received word of the court's decisions, this occurring before the date of death, I received all of their findings and reasonings and found them to be within perfect order and accordance with Auradon national laws.' This is the first the palace has had to say on Queen Mal's attackers since December."

A knock came at the door with her strawberries and water. She thanked the servant who'd brought them and then put them on her nightstand. Mal turned up the television a little and pushed herself up onto her and Ben's bed. She slumped back into the pillows and began snacking as she watched the reporter continue to speak.

"While no medical information has been released, Queen Mal was pictured with King Ben at Auradon Prep on the twenty-fourth of February and appears to be on the road to recovery. She walks with a slight gait and can't fully turn around, but the progress is obvious to anyone who looks at her. That event marked the first time Mal had been seen since she was transported out of Auradon City Hospital via armed car squadron," The reporter continued. She was a tall, slightly overweight woman with curly blonde hair and pink lipstick. Mal watched her mouth move as she talked about some of the other places she and Ben were set to appear in the next few weeks.

The door to the bedroom opened and Ben wandered in, dropping his briefcase by the dresser. His eyes fell on her and he glanced surreptitiously at his watch. "You're not supposed to be in here," He frowned, furrowing his brow. "You're on office time right now."

Mal glanced at her watch. "You're not supposed to be here either," She pointed out. "Debra wanted to see you to go over some meetings people want to schedule with you for the next three weeks."

Ben sighed and plopped down on the bed beside her, where he began removing his shoes. "I won't tell if you don't," He grumbled before throwing his head down onto the mattress. Mal reached out subconsciously and began running his fingers through his hair.

"Aren't you supposed to convince me I need to not blow off national responsibilities and try and get me off the bed and back into my office?" Mal asked. She began stacking used strawberry stems on her nightstand.

"Do you want me to start?" Ben asked, closing his eyes and leaning into her touch. Mal hummed in disagreement and watched as his breathing grew slower. The reporter began to talk about entertainment news.

"Hey, I have something to show you," Mal announced, taking her hands back to sit up a little. She held her hands out a little and rotated a little as Ben cracked an eye open and examined her.

"Wow," He smiled. "You're getting better."

Mal nodded and leaned back into her pillow supports. "Doctor Holt said I could take my bandages off a little here and there," She informed him. "My skin is starting to go pale again."

Ben rolled over at that statement and put his hand on her ribcage, feeling for the line of bandages. Mal rolled her hem up, and Ben took in the sight of the lightly bruised skin and remnants of cuts. He hummed softly and laid back down beside her. Mal tapped his shoulder. "I'm allowed to do things again," She told him. "Dr. Palevsky just said to make sure I didn't jam my back."

Ben made a noise of acknowledgment in the back of his throat. Mal continued. "And Doctor Holt told us last time he was up here you could be the judge of my physical exertion." Still, Ben said nothing. Mal reached over and tapped his shoulder. "I want to have you," She sighed.

Ben opened an eye to stare at her and then closed it again. He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm tired now," He told her. "And someone might come around to see why we aren't where we said we were going to be. Let's keep an eye on your skin and then we'll see. Okay?"

Mal felt like that was a fair compromise. "Okay," She nodded, turning back to the TV and raising the remote to scroll aimlessly through the channels.

---

Not much else happened throughout March or April. Mal orchestrated the yearly cleaning of the castle and the grounds, updating things as needed, and made preparations for the summer. She made organizations for recreational areas in other areas of Auradon, including New Orleans, New York City, Paris, Auradon City, and Corona, to name a few. Jay and Lonnie bumped their wedding back to the Fall, and Evie took off on maternity leave, meaning she worked from home now instead of from her building. Mal wondered what it was like to love work so much she would want to take it home(taking into account she did work in the same building she lived in.

Going into May, all of Mal's bruises had faded. She was down to only ten different vitamins and painkillers. Simple enough. Only two were painkillers, and the last one she would probably be taking for a very, very long time, just to be able to function from day to day.

Mal saw Evie less and less as she and Doug got ready for the baby to arrive. The nursery was decorated, toys and diapers bought, and Evie had an entire cupboard in her kitchen devoted to bottles of various types and sizes, children's plates and sippy cups, baby foods and refillable applesauce bags, and other children's products.

Finally, the big day came. On May sixteenth, only an hour before lunch, Mal was stuck in her office arranging for a painter to come in to do restoration work on the ancient paintings in the palace when Doug sent the text: Evie is in labor.

Unfortunately, Mal wasn't allowed to go down to the hospital to be with her friend the moment she heard. She had three meetings with different officials around the country, one scheduled call, and a request for an audience with a women's charity event that wanted her support.

The workday ended at six o'clock, after which Mal went to grab her old Isle jacket from her room before she headed down to the palace grounds. Her customary two guards followed her to the garage, where she was surprised to find Ben waiting for her, twirling the keys of one of the palace cars on his fingertip.

"What are you doing here?" Mal laughed, walking up for a hug. He obliged her, wrapping his heavy arms around her frame for a few seconds while he laughed.

"I knew you'd be coming," He replied. "Doug texted me a few minutes ago – she hasn't had the baby yet, but it should be soon. If we leave now, we may be able to get there before the kid turns a year old."

Mal sighed. "Sounds accurate," She grumbled. "Some Godparents we are."

Ben laughed and started the car. The guards – only two of them, got into the backseat. Ben pulled out of the garage and began heading up into the fresh May air. "I should try and get my license again," Mal contemplated as they all pulled out sunglasses as Ben pulled over to the palace guard checkpoint. Ever since the night Ben had proposed to her, Mal had been very careful to keep all of her cards in order, in a little cardholder that helped her easily find everything. They displayed their passes, and Ben had to flash his license and official ID before they continued down the road.

"So, tell me, why is it that you have higher restrictions whenever we leave the palace?" Mal asked, taking his hand in the center console as he drove. "Not that I'm complaining, but shouldn't it be the same now?"

"It should," Ben nodded. "I argued on your behalf, so a lot of your protocols are less severe than mine. If you want, I can have them go back."

"Psh, no thanks," Mal laughed. "But why can't you do that with you?"

"Court regulations," Ben shook his head. "You forget, I'm still the heir apparent to Auradon. I'm kind of irreplaceable until we have kids. It's my DNA that matters."

"Lovely," Mal rolled her eyes. "What was I thinking when I married into the royal family?" She asked.

"Were you thinking?" Ben snorted, squeezing her palm before he had to put his hand back on the wheel.

"I don't know," Mal shrugged. "There was this unbelievably hot prince, and he kissed me so much I could barely even think straight. Maybe I was brain dead and no one even realized."

Ben burst into laughter, nodding along with her words. They turned into the hospital parking lot and Mal hummed as a car turned out onto the road beside them. "What're the chances we can sneak in without anyone realizing we're here?" She asked.

Ben let out a guffaw. "You're hilarious," He rolled his eyes as a car slammed on their brakes in the opposite lane and rolled down their windows to stare. Mal carefully looked away as Ben navigated them to the general parking sector.

Ben came around the help her out, ignoring the guards, and then the two linked arms as they hurried towards the entrance, entourage in pursuit. They slipped inside and hurried towards the receptionist's desk. One young mother looked up and gaped a little, but everyone else remained stone-faced, staring at their magazines.

Ben cleared his throat before the receptionist could look up from her computer. "Excuse me," he began, and twenty other people's heads snapped up at his familiar voice. People started tugging on their neighbor's sleeves. "We're here to see Evie Gibson?"

"What kind of patient is she?" The receptionist asked, typing the name into her computer.

"She's… having a baby? Just had one? We haven't received word on it yet." Ben turned to Mal, shrugging a little.

"Maternity ward is through that door right – oh my goodness." The receptionist had finally looked up and discovered the kingdom's leaders at her desk. Ben looked to where she'd begun to gesture and nodded.

"Thank you very much, ma'am," He smiled at her, making her sink even lower into her chair. He and Mal walked away as people rubbed their eyes, moments before the chaos began.

A different stunned receptionist managed to stand up long enough to escort them to a back area where Jane, Jay, Carlos, and Lonnie were all waiting, along with Doug's parents and a couple of cousins.

"The fun has arrived," Carlos announced when he saw them approaching.

"Really? Where?" Mal asked, looking back and forth along the corridor.

"Did we make it in time?" Ben asked, letting Mal's arm go and clapping Carlos on the shoulder. Jay shook his head, rolled his eyes, and set an arm around Ben's shoulders.

"You missed everything by approximately five minutes," He informed them, flashing his watch face at Ben. "Doug just barely went back in. They're cleaning the little one off and letting Evie breathe for a few minutes."

"Girl?" Mal asked, peering into the door they were standing outside of. There was a tiny peephole in the center of the door, at about her forehead level. If she stood on her tiptoes, she could see dark figures rushing back and forth in front of a window.

"Yeah," Lonnie nodded. "Seven pounds, three ounces, and about eighteen inches long."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but does she have blue hair or not?" Mal frowned, squinting into the room. She thought she recognized Doug's frame, but couldn't tell for sure.

"Doug didn't say," Jane laughed. "We might not be able to tell for a week. She might not have hair."

Ben pulled Mal underneath his arm. "You can't look in there. They'll get mad at you."

Mal pushed him away with a sneer. "I'm the queen of Auradon. I can do whatever I want."

Everyone oohed at Ben as she slipped back out. He caught her hand, preventing her from turning at all since she couldn't exactly move her spine much without, well, collapsing, and pulled her back, looking like he was about to give her a lecture. "No, no!" He laughed. "No, it doesn't work like that." He set his hands on her biceps as she rolled her head around on her neck.

"Ugh!" She groaned. "What do you think they would do if we just walked in?"

"You may not just walk in," Ben rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious; it's not like they can throw us out. We literally own the hospital," Mal frowned.

"She's right," Jane laughed. "The hospital is on government pay – just like Auradon Prep."

"I'll tell you what," Ben began with a heavy sigh, holding up a finger by her cheek. "If you walk in there before they tell you that you can, I will walk you back out to the parking lot and take you back to the castle, and you'll have to wait until Evie gets out to meet your Goddaughter."

All of her friends snorted and scoffed, shifting their weight and folding their arms as they waited for her reaction. "If you can catch me," Mal grumbled, folding her arms and turning her frame away from him. She could feel Ben roll his eyes at her from behind her.

"You can't run," Ben pointed out. "And we have two guards with us. And you'd have to come back to one of us eventually. It's not like you could take the baby and never come back."

"You know, strictly speaking, one of our goals would be accomplished and the other wouldn't get to see the baby," Mal pointed out, reaching towards the door handle jokingly.

"And I won't bring you to see anyone else's," Ben added flatly.

Mal's shoulders slumped. "You can't barricade me inside the palace. I'm in charge of the grounds anyways."

"Yes, but I'm in charge of the guards who patrol the borders," Ben pointed out. "So, behave, or – you know what! Behave, or I'll make you go through the same regulations I have to go through." He crossed his arms and smirked at Mal as her mouth fell open.

"You wouldn't!" Mal declared, crossing her arms and mimicking Ben's stance without the slouch into his hip.

Ben leaned forward, dropping an arm around her shoulders, and kissed her brow. "Try me, sweetheart," He challenged.

The door opened and a nurse appeared. "Alright, we're ready for you all," She announced. Jay and Lonnie immediately slipped inside, pushing each other playfully as they elbowed their way in. Jane followed them, and Carlos presented the walkway to Ben and Mal, letting them go ahead of him. As they passed in front of the nurse, her mouth dropped open and she gasped. "Holy Heavens of Aura-"

"Yes, yes, we know," Carlos laughed, rushing Ben in a little faster before stepping over the threshold. "You can close the door and go freak out now."

The nurse looked like she might faint as she shut the door and disappeared. Ben, Mal, and Carlos all crowded into the room. Doug was standing beside Evie with an arm around her. Evie herself looking about as messy as Mal had ever seen her. Her hair was in a bun with tiny little flyway's surrounding her head like a fuzzy halo. She had eyeshadow and mascara on, but it was smeared a little around the corners of her eyes. Sweat still covered her forehead, and she was still breathing hard as she smiled at her friends.

"Hi," She whispered.

"You look like you just crawled off the Isle," Jay told her.

"You kidding? She never looked this bad on the Isle," Mal rolled her eyes. She walked over to her friend and gave her a one-armed hug. "It's great to see you skinny again," She mumbled, wrinkling her nose at the smell of sweat.

"Ha, ha," Evie rolled her eyes.

Mal looked around the room. The doctors had cleared out all of their mechanical tools and cracked the window open to let in a breeze. A little hospital bassinette was waiting on Evie's right side, but Mal couldn't see any mini-Evie lying around. "So… where did they put her?" She asked, craning her neck to look behind Jay and Lonnie, as if the baby might, for some reason, be behind them.

"You have no tact," Carlos rolled his eyes.

"They took her away to clean her off," Doug explained softly. "And take her footprints and stuff."

"Have you named her yet?" Mal asked.

"She's been alive for, like, a half-hour at most," Evie sighed. "And I've held her for five minutes. We probably won't decide on a name until later tonight."

Mal hummed and hugged Evie again. "Well, great job," She mumbled. Being in the room was giving her anxiety. "You're a lot stronger than I am."

Jay made a disbelieving sound in the back of his throat. Evie shook her head. "That's not true," She scoffed.

"Ben, how many emotional breakdowns did I have in the two months I was pregnant?" Mal asked, returning to her husband's side to allow everyone else to approach the table.

A dark shadow passed over Ben's face, and a downcast expression appeared. He shrugged as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets. "I don't know," He shrugged. "I didn't try and keep track."

Mal stuck a thumb out towards him. "See?" She told her friends. "That means a lot, by the way."

The door swung open before anyone could say anything else and the same nurse wandered back in, pushing a little cart where a tiny person wrapped in pink lay. Everyone moved out of the way as the nurse moved into the room, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground, and then on Evie. Evie straightened up when she saw the cart coming and a broad smile spread across her face. "Hello, princess!" She whispered, holding her hands out.

The nurse picked up the baby carefully and placed it in Evie's arms. "Now remember, balance her head and don't let it fall too far back," She warned.

Evie nodded with a deep breath. "I know, I know," She whispered as the blankets dropped into her arms. She cradled the little girl to her chest with a smile. Mal tilted her head to the side as Ben dropped an arm around her shoulder. The nurse nodded and withdrew a few steps. She bumped into Ben's side, turned, and almost leaped fifteen feet. With a yelp and several hurried apologies, she took off running out of the room.

Evie pulled the covers down to expose her little one's chin. Her breath hitched, and everyone leaned in, even Doug, who'd already seen the baby. Evie let out a ragged breath. "Hello, little one." She whispered, then paused. "I have waited my entire life for this moment." She announced to the room.

Mal was reminded of her wedding, standing in the bathroom of the pub, staring at herself minutes before she made the best decision of her life. She didn't quite understand why Evie felt like this moment – she was sweaty, lying in a hospital bed, and not looking nearly as perfect as usual – would be the culmination of her life's work, but she could relate to the feeling.

Ben leaned forward to watch the newborn. He still looked downcast. Mal bumped her hip into his, and he straightened up and wiped his expression clean as if he'd never looked nostalgic in the first place.

Jay examined her. "I don't see any resemblance at all," He announced.

"Look, Jay," Lonnie sighed and pointed to the little girl's nose. "She's got Evie's chin and nose."

"Evie and Doug's noses look exactly the same," Jay deadpanned. "A nose is a nose."

"Doug has a wider nose, and Evie's is longer," Lonnie explained. "And really, can you look between Jane and me and think our noses look the same?"

Jay looked between Jane and Lonnie. His lips pinched together, and he said nothing. Lonnie tilted her head back and sighed. Jay held up his hands in silent defense of a statement he hadn't even expressed and then squinted back at the baby. "She looks like a very red potato," He proclaimed.

Evie huffed and stared at him like he was a bug she wanted to be squashed. Jay backed away with his hands above his head. "Just sayin'," He mumbled. Mal leaned forward and agreed with Jay in her head. The child's skin was mottled and covered with red speckles.

"How long is she going to have those marks on her skin?" Mal asked, folding her arms. Ben began tracing little circles on her arm as he watched Evie cradle her newborn.

"Only an hour or two," Doug shrugged, cracking a smile. "To be honest E, I see where Jay's coming from. She doesn't exactly look picturesque yet."

Evie huffed and swatted at her husband irritably. "She's perfect," She announced. "I can't wait till you're old enough to like dresses and makeup and-"

"Mud," Mal interrupted hurriedly. "And dirt, and magic, and climbing things, and running."

"And boys," Jay added, popping all of his knuckles all at once with an evil gleam in his eye. "Oh, we're going to have so much fun with that!"

Evie pouted. "No," She disagreed. "I changed my mind. I just want you to stay little."

"Give it a week," Mal suggested. "And when you're up all night for the fifth time in a row, you can decide if you want them to stay little or not." The room burst into laughter as Evie glared at Mal out of the corner of her eyes.

Jane wiped her hands on her skirt. "Can I hold her?" She asked. Evie immediately nodded and shifted so her hands were supporting the small girl's frame. She handed the baby to Jane, who cradled her against her chest and cooed softly. Mal felt Ben's arms leaving her frame and watched him take a few steps closer to Jane. He cupped his hand and rested it on the little girl's head with a bright smile. Mal felt distinctly uncomfortable, so she took a seat on the edge of Evie's bed.

"So, I know you had your list of names, but I forgot one I wanted to suggest," Mal announced. Evie tilted her head and raised her eyebrow. "I think you should name her Bertha."

"No," Evie replied, almost immediately while Ben, Carlos, Jay, Jane, and Lonnie snorted and chuckled behind her.

"Why not?" Mal complained. "It's good boy repellant. And having a name like that builds character. Plus, she's going to be spoiled for the rest of her life – we have to do something to keep her head on the ground!"

"Boy repellant?" Ben snorted, letting his hand drop off Evie's daughter. "Yeah, look how well that worked for you." He hugged her from behind, pressing a kiss onto her hair. Mal's mouth dropped indignantly.

"Yeah, but it's my middle name," Mal protested. "If you make it her first name, then there's no way anyone won't know."

"Forget it, Mal," Evie shook her head. "If Ben lets you, you can name your first child Bertha, but I'm going to name mine something perfectly respectable." She turned to Doug. "Like Isabelle or Emily."

"I still like Grace." He shrugged.

"Mal isn't allowed to give her name to our baby," Ben declared, fixing his eyes on Mal with a teasing light in his eyes. "And Evie, Doug, you could do Emily Grace. I mean, I know I'm throwing out the name I suggested, but…"

"You suggested Isabelle?" Evie asked with a laugh. "Wow. I should have known. I honestly thought Mal managed to come up with a decent name all by herself." Mal wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue at Ben, who rolled his eyes.

"Are you trying to steal my thunder?" He asked, elbowing her a little.

"Which one doesn't involve the kingdom, the lightning or the thunder?" Mal asked.

"Emily Grace," Doug reminded Evie, who nodded thoughtfully.

"I like it," She agreed. "We'll have to see if it fits. For now, though, let's all take a moment to thank the lords that Mal has Ben in her life so that her first child doesn't end up Maleficent the Magnificent or anything like that."

Mal almost fell off the bed as she began to laugh. "Maleficent the Magnificent!" She blurted out, holding her side as her damaged nerves sent SOS waves to her frazzled brain. "Ben, can we-"

"No," Ben cut her off firmly. He held out a hand and gently covered her face. "Perish the thought."

"I'm so sorry," Evie apologized, covering her forehead as she watched Mal calm down, holding her side.

"Mal, you should hold your goddaughter," Jane blurted out, changing the way she was holding the baby and preparing to hand her off. Mal took several deep breaths and straightened up. Her side was killing her still, but she calmed down and held her arms out.

Ben took a step behind her and Evie and Doug straightened up. The entire room held its breath.

Jane put the little girl in Mal's arms and, with a little help, the child settled into her elbow. Mal looked down at the little girl. She didn't look any different than she had from Evie's arms. She glanced around at all her friends. It was clear they were waiting for some magical, happy moment, but Mal wasn't quite convinced.

"Cool," She shrugged. "She's light. Ben, want her now?"

Ben let out a little sigh of disappointment as Mal moved the girl to his arms. She brushed her hands off and discreetly got up to go grab some hand sanitizer as Ben examined the newborn. Everyone watched as a little smile spread across his face. Mal bit her lip as she rubbed the alcohol-scented substance into her skin. The baby, she realized, kind of smelled gross.

Ben tried not to look too awed, but the differences between she and he hadn't ever been this clear. He thought this was awesome. She thought it was disgusting, though she was glad to see Evie happy.

Just think: only an hour ago that child had been covered in blood and fluid and – ew. Mal got another dose of hand sanitizer. No one else seemed to share her opinion. Jane got a bit of hand sanitizer before she took the baby back from Ben to hold her a little longer, which kind of defeated the purpose, Mal thought. Everyone lined up to hold the baby girl as Mal hung out by the hall, watching Evie and Doug whisper with bright smiles.

"You're going to go with the Emily, aren't you?" Mal called. Everyone glanced at her, and she took a few steps towards the group so it didn't seem as though she was backing away from them.

"We like Emily," Evie agreed. "But we're debating between Grace and Isabelle, actually."

"Isabelle is cute, but I still think Emily Grace flows better and fits her more," Ben advised them. "You could also call her Maddie."

"I have a cousin named Maddie," Doug shook his head. "I like Grace. All in favor of Grace?"

"This is not a democracy!" Evie sputtered as everyone in the room raised their hands nonchalantly. "This is our baby's name!"

"And it looks like your baby's name is Emily Grace," Mal announced. "That was a unanimous vote, E."

Evie sighed and sank back into her pillows. "Well, at least it's a cute name," She grumbled. Doug crossed his arms in success and smiled.

Two simultaneous beeps came from Ben and Mal's cell phones, and both let out a sigh as they pulled out their screens, just as two more came through. Mal squinted at her phone, and then glanced up worriedly at Ben.

"What is it?" Carlos asked, looking over Ben's shoulder.

"Palace alert," Ben frowned. "We're being tracked, and we're forbidden to leave the area. I wonder what's going on?" The three standard messages from the palace guards were residing on their cell phones: You are being traced. You may not move. Your phone controls have been seized.

The doors to the hospital room opened and the guards stepped inside, clicking the safety on their weapons. Ben put his phone away quietly, using Mal's frame to hide the fact it was even out. Mal slipped hers up her sleeve as she turned to stare at them. "Is there a problem?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We haven't received word yet," One guard answered. "But the palace alerts have been activated. Additional guards are on their way to escort you home."

Mal sighed and turned to look at Ben. Ben had deflated a little, and his face was pinched with worry. He bit his lip and consider the guards. "Please, page my parents," He mumbled and turned back towards Evie and Doug. "I think that's a great choice but let me know if you decide to change it. I think… we'll probably be leaving soon."

Ben and Mal's phones buzzed again. Ben sighed and moved towards the guards. He opened his phone and skimmed the message under their careful eye. His breath hitched.

"Ben?" Mal asked, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

Ben turned and swallowed. "Dad just had another heart attack. He's fine, and his heart didn't stop this time, but we're still being escorted home. They have his doctor up at the palace already, and he's already stabilized."

"That fast?" Carlos asked with a furrowed brow.

"It probably happened a few minutes ago and we were locked out when Mom sent for the doctor. It usually takes them like, two minutes to block our phones and notify us. He doesn't live too far from the palace though, so everything should be fine," Ben explained. He put his phone away and stepped back towards the group.

"I'm sorry you have to go," Evie frowned. "And about your dad, Ben. Good luck. I hope everything works out."

"It will," Ben mumbled. "Thank you, Evie."

The guards remained at attention at the doors. "You will remain in this room until reinforcements show up," One commanded.

Mal sighed. "Please, don't make a scene. We had enough people staring at us just walking into the hospital. We don't need a fanfare." She put her head in her hands.

"You'll have to get used to security one day, Queen Mal," The elder of the two guards grumbled.

"Eh, she doesn't have to," Ben shrugged. "I've been living under palace security my entire life, and under Kingdom guard the last eight years, and I still think it's annoying." He put an arm around her shoulder. "But, technically, you agreed to it. I didn't get a choice."

"If you're trying to make me feel better, you're terrible at it," Mal scoffed. She stepped towards Lonnie, who was still holding the baby. "Well, let me see my goddaughter before I go," She sighed, leaning over Carlos's shoulder to look at the baby again.

Lonnie passed the baby to Mal immediately. Mal jumped a little before she took the child. She'd meant the literal form of look, not the 'give-me-the-baby' kind of look. She fumbled the little girl's head and glanced cautiously at Evie, who had gone rigid at the fumble. Her mouth suddenly felt a little dry. "I – um – Emily Grace, I'm totally going to call you Bertha as you grow up," She declared and then turned to pass the baby to Ben. Ben smiled brightly, and then his features slipped slowly into a face of intense, despairing sadness. Mal examined the little girl with a nod and turned to Evie. "She's cute. Good job, E," She smiled and gave her friend a hug. Evie's smile still seemed a little tight, but she hugged Mal.

The guards cleared their throats from the door as Ben continued holding Evie's daughter. "More guards are arriving," The elder announced. "We have orders to move you now."

Ben sighed and handed Evie's baby back to her. A bright, happy smile settled onto her mouth. Mal hummed as he linked their arms together and held her hand under the hand sanitizer dispenser as the guards opened the door to escort them out.

Their eighteen other guards were standing outside the entrance in a long line leading directly to a waiting car. Ben sighed as he pulled the keys to the car they'd driven out of his pocket and palmed them to one of the guards who'd driven with them. People came to gape as the guards took them up to the car, opened the door, and helped them in. Four guards from Ben's squadron and four from Mal's joined them in the car. Mal didn't exactly see the point of having all eighteen drive down to escort them. They could have just as easily had them escort she and Ben to their room after they'd arrived back at the castle.

"Let's say, one hundred years from now, an entire extended family lives in the palace," Mal sighed, leaning into Ben's shoulder as they started to drive away from the hospital. "Cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings-in-law-once-removed. Is everyone going to be shut down every single time something happens?"

"Well, no, because you may have noticed that things get less intense the further in line for succession you are," Ben shrugged. "You're second, as my wife, and immensely important because you're the reigning queen, and then my parents are third and fourth, and so as time goes by and we get fifteenths and elevenths and so on, they won't need to have as much security and can mostly chill."

Ben wrapped his fingers through Mal's and dipped his chin to whisper in her ear, so softly she almost couldn't hear. "Do you need some anxiety medicine?" He asked.

Mal shook her head. "I grabbed some before we left," She replied. "God, it smelled really bad in there. It was all over the baby too."

"Evie will get her cleaned up," Ben rolled his eyes. "Did you… not like her?"

Mal blinked. "No, Emily is great. I'm happy for Evie. She's already a fantastic mom."

'And you're already a fantastic dad,' she thought sourly. 'Even though the only kids we have are our annoying country of seventy-five million who hate our guts three-quarters of the time.' She felt guilty, even though she didn't need to be feeling guilty. He knew what he was getting into with her, and she knew what she was getting into with him, and eventually didn't have to mean tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or even next year. By god, she was allowed to enjoy being married before she had to worry about a kid, right?