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.

9. Chapter 9

On September the ninth, Mal sat in the front pew of a church house with Emily in her baby carrier beside her. Little Emily was almost four months old. She was slowly figuring out how to turn her head to follow sounds and people, like her dad, who held her while Evie worked, Mom herself, and Mal. Mal was pretty sure she was only notable to the small child because of her hair color, but at least she was liked. Jay wasn't liked. Whenever Jay held Emily, Emily twisted up her face and cried.

"I think this is silly," Mal mumbled to Emily, using her toes to rock Evie's daughter back and forth. "What do you think?"

Emily let out a piercing coo that made Mal's ears ring. She snorted. "Yeah." She agreed, then leaned down to unbuckle Emily from her bindings. She carefully pulled the baby's arms through the straps and then lifted her onto her lap carefully. "You're a lot nicer to look at now that you have hair," Mal mumbled, running her fingertips over Emily's head, where wispy black strands flew out at odd angles. Emily babbled a little in response and then stuffed her entire tiny fist into her mouth. Mal snorted again as she tried to gum down on her fingers. "You know you don't have teeth yet, right?" She asked.

A weight fell into the chair beside her and Ben put an arm around her and kissed her forehead. Mal looked around. The groom's party had arrived, and Jay and Carlos were pushing each other as Lonnie's little brother Qadir tried to join in the fun. Lonnie's family was slowly arriving, filling up the right side of the room while Jay's side – the side reserved for his family – remained mostly empty. Mal swallowed.

"You doing okay?" Ben asked, running his fingertip around her earlobe.

Mal nodded and handed Emily to Ben, whose face brightened up. "Hello!" He exclaimed, taking the child and helping her support her back as he bumped noses with her. Emily shrieked suddenly and waved her little fist with an equally-bright but toothless smile. Mal was liked, but Ben was a favorite.

"I missed you," Ben told Emily. "I'm so happy I get to see you here." He cradled her into his arm and unclipped his watch so he could hold the silver face in front of her. At the glint of metal, Emily's eyes grew super-focused. She reached out with grabby, plump fingers and laughed when Ben moved it back and forth in front of her face. Mal snorted and leaned back into the pew.

"If you get any more sweet on her, I'll get cavities," Mal warned, leaning her head onto his shoulder and wincing as her spine protested any movement that didn't involve a rigid posture.

"I haven't heard you say something like that in years." Ben laughed. "Back when we first met it was all: 'I'm going to burn away if the sun gets any brighter', 'I'll starve myself if the cafeteria serves this again', and, my personal favorite, 'if you do that one more time, I'm breaking up with you.'"

"If you make one more joke about my sense of humor, I'm going to sit on the other side of the room, and you'll have to sit here alone." Mal threatened half-heartedly.

"I won't be alone." Ben laughed. "I'll have Emily to keep me company."

Mal turned around with a scowl. "Oh, I see how it is." She grumbled. "Well, you know what, I'll just… send something embarrassing to Auradon News; how about that?"

"Two can play at that game." Ben shrugged, smiling and waving at Emily. "Should I tell them about you trying to walk down the steps this morning or what it was like when you discovered the Strawberry Shortcake show?" He turned and raised a triumphant eyebrow at Mal as she sputtered in indignation.

"Well… you know what… I'll – ugh!" Mal crossed her arms and turned away from him. Ben laughed and put his arm around her, turning her back into his grasp. Mal obliged, fighting her screaming side for the right to lean against Ben's chest as Emily tried to grab the wristband without unwrapping her fingers. It wasn't working quite well.

Mal put her hand on Ben's chest after only a minute and tried to fix her spine. Ben lifted his arm off her shoulders in concern. "Oh, was I hurting you? I'm sorry."

"I'm fine." Mal sighed, waving him off and then carefully sitting up straight before she tried to put her head on his shoulders. Even that tiny misalignment hurt. She rested her hand back on his chest and closed her eyes as his hand drifted to her lower back and began tracing tiny circles over her scars, trying to soothe the agony.

"Where's my daughter?" Someone asked as they approached from the side. Mal could hear heels clicking on the floor behind her.

"What daughter?" Ben asked. "This one's ours. We've just finalized the adoption process."

"Oh, there you are." Evie hummed. Mal felt her friend lean across her and rub Emily's feet. "Hello, princess." She cheered and waved.

"How come you get to call her Princess and I can't call her Bertha?" Mal complained, opening one eye to watch Emily smile and gurgle at her mom.

"Because princess is cute." Evie frowned. "Don't call my baby Bertha."

Mal hummed, flicking her eyes towards Emily as Ben rolled his eyes at her. 'Bertha' she thought. 'Your name is Bertha'.

Emily laughed and tried again to reach for Ben's watch. Ben looked up at Evie. "Aren't you going to congratulate us?" He asked. "I told you; we just adopted her."

"She's mine," Evie replied firmly. She sat down with a sigh and slumped beside Mal. Mal frowned. It was so unfair that Evie could slouch when she was the one who'd been raised on good posture. "Lonnie is panicking." She grumbled.

"What?" Jay looked up from on the stand, quickly fixing his cuffs and his jacket. "Why's she panicking? We've still got a half-hour."

Mal closed her eyes as Evie let out a groan. "The dress is a bit… tighter than she was expecting, and also she's suffering from general bride stress. We have her breathing into a paper bag in a back room right now."

Ben tapped Mal's side and then continued rubbing circles on her spine. "Did you do that?" He asked.

"No." Mal shook her head. "No, I was ready."

"No, you were just abnormal." Jay rolled his eyes. "Lonnie and I are ready too. The fact you're ignorant to fear means nothing."

"It… kind of does." Mal shrugged with a smirk. "Besides, my wedding was the important one. An entire country was watching for it."

Ben scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Their wedding is important, Mal." He sighed. "I mean, come on, did you ever see 'I'm-going-solo-so-I-can-dance-with-them-all' Jay actually getting married?"

"And in a suit, no less." Mal snorted.

"How is my wedding anymore of a shocker than Mal's?" Jay asked with a frown as he stuck out his tongue at the purple-haired queen. "Shapeshifting daughter of Maleficent settles with the tame, quiet son of a bookworm? Anyone? And I'm wearing the suit because Lonnie's mom wanted her to wear a traditional kimono and I figured I had to make compromises." Jay crossed his arms as Carlos burst into laughter. Jay elbowed him sharply.

"I wonder if I would have permanent nerve damage as a dragon." Mal wondered aloud.

"You feel free to wonder that; I'm still going to choose to consider how our guards would react to you going up in smoke and growing scales and a tail." Ben laughed, staring off into the distance as if he could already see his general fumbling for some sort of protocol.

The room was beginning to fill up. Li Shang and Mulan wandered over to shake Jay's hand, and then socialize with the people on his side. Mal curled into Ben's side and put her hands on her side to give others the impression her side was hurting her so she could avoid conversation. Evie took Emily back so that she could show her daughter off to anyone who passed and then Ben began rubbing little circles into her back as she kept her eyes squeezed shut.

"You make sure our present was okay?" Mal mumbled.

"Everything is fine, I swear," Ben whispered back. He took his arm from around her so he could shake people's hands as they passed in front of him. Mal nodded and leaned into his shoulder until a hand appeared in her face.

"Queen Mal," Mulan greeted with a smile, reaching down and taking Mal's hand. She squeezed it carefully. "Are you ill?"

Mal sighed as Ben turned his attention to her. "Just tired." She mumbled. "It's nice to see you, Mulan. How have you been?"

"A lot better than you." Mulan snorted. "Have you looked at the cultural ignorance statements we sent to you last week?"

Mal closed her eyes. "I've received it, but I haven't looked too closely at it yet. Things… got in the way." She sighed lamely and curled into Ben's side. Ben hummed sympathetically and started running his fingers through her scalp.

"In the way," Mulan repeated, unimpressed. Mal sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. She'd carved out a lot of her week to meet with doctors, physical therapists, Evie and Ben to discuss long-term effects of children on her body, and then had barely kept up with work until they'd gotten everything figured out.

Ben sighed and patted her side. Mal hissed a little and batted his hand, and he straightened up. "Sorry, sorry." He whispered as tears stung her eyes.

"Fine." Mal grit her teeth. "I'm sorry, Mulan. I'll look at it tomorrow when I'm in my office. I just had lots that was going on this week; I'm sorry."

Mulan pursed her lips together but didn't say anything else. People began to be seated in nice rows and groups in the pews. Mal watched Lonnie's side fill up. Aunts and uncles from Shang's side of the family, Mulan's older daughter and her children, grandparents and cousins; the whole lot. They filled the entire right side, turning to laugh and chat with each other while Mal swallowed a little at the mostly empty left. Jay's old coach from Auradon prep was sat two rows behind them, along with his wife, and a couple of other members of the teams Jay worked with and a few of his private tutelages had come to see him, but they combined didn't fill more than seven rows compared to the tight-packed right side. Mal looked up at Jay, standing at the front of the room and smiling at everyone around him. He looked happy, and that was what mattered. If he didn't mind that his side was mostly unfilled, then Mal wouldn't mind either.

Ben flipped his watch up. "Ten minutes." He whispered and stood up. He helped Mal to her feet, and then she and he maneuvered carefully up onto the platform and into a side room. Behind the door was a black TV with several dozen carefully separated cords. Mal crouched down carefully and hooked a few things up before Ben pulled her back up. "Don't hurt your side." He frowned and took her place plugging things in. When he gave her a thumbs-up, Mal flipped the screen on and used a navigation box to control the television. A fuzzy picture appeared, full of browns and blues, and then slowly began to clear.

"Is it on?" Someone asked in a panicked, ruffled tone. The blue moved, and the camera sharpened, revealing an elder man with tanned skin, brown eyes, and arching eyebrows. He wore a long blue robe with intricate black and gold designs, and a large hat in the peculiar shape of a circle. His goatee was long and strung with grey, though it was groomed as the older man looked nervously into the camera.

"Can you hear me?" Mal asked, calmly, carefully.

"Yes," Jafar answered, removing his hat and twisting the brim nervously in his hands.

"Good." Mal nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, well." Jafar nodded. "Is it, ahm, is it time?"

Ben got up from beside Mal and put an arm around her. "We have about eight minutes." He announced. "Though we can always buy a few more minutes if we need." He kissed a kiss to Mal's hairline as Jafar took a deep breath and put his hat onto his head again. "Do you want to invite Jay inside?" He whispered.

"I will." Mal nodded, slipping out from his grasp and stepping towards the door. She opened it and stepped out, letting the door swing towards the frame but not close as she met Jay's eyes on the stand. He was raising an eyebrow at her as if he was wondering what she was doing in the side room of the chapel. She beckoned to him. He raised an eyebrow at her, and then glanced at his watch. Mal beckoned him once more, and then Jay crossed the room slowly.

"What is it?" He whispered, furrowing his brow and glancing at the mostly closed door behind her. Mal opened the door and pressed a hand to her old friend's back to guide him inside.

"As king and queen, we were able to pull a few strings for you," She mumbled, and then shut the door as Jay took in the screen, Ben, and the person they were in a live video call with. Jay's mouth dropped open and his eyes grew wide. Jafar pressed his hands to his mouth, staring in shock at his son, and then abruptly removed his hat and began twisting it viciously in his hands.

"Dad." Jay gasped, taking in the sight of his elderly father. "You-you've changed."

"I see you have as well." Jafar wheezed, examining Jay's long hair and chiseled structure. "You… look so grown up."

Ben stepped out of view of the camera as Jay took a few steps back. He put his arm around Mal's shoulders as Mal fumbled for the handle. "We'll be just outside if you need us." He mumbled, and then he and she stepped out.

Ben took Mal to the front pew where Evie, Jane, and Belle had sat down to chat. The boys all seemed to be wandering around. Ben helped Mal sit back against the cold, hard pew and frowned as she winced. "Why are you hurting so much more than normal?" He asked.

"Some days are easier, and others are tough." Mal shrugged, and then pressed both hands to her side. She glanced at the door which hid Jay. "What do you think they'll talk about?"

"Lonnie." Ben shrugged. "And Jay. And Jafar's life the last few years. They have lots to catch up on."

Mal bit her cheek and nodded. Jay hadn't spoken to Jafar in… ages. She didn't think Evie had spoken to her mom since before she'd married Doug. She used to be like Mal, trying to make room for monthly meetings, but it was a lot harder when your mom was able to communicate back. Eventually, Evie got sick of her mom always lecturing her and gave up. As for Carlos, well, Mal didn't even know where Cruella was, much less how to get a hold of her. Cruella probably didn't know her son was taller than her now, that he'd married, that he'd graduated, that he was a teacher, or anything.

Ben squeezed her hands. "Are you thinking about Maleficent?" He whispered.

Mal's face contorted into a frown. "Well, I am now." She sighed.

Ben winced. "Sorry." He mumbled.

Mal shrugged. "It's okay." She, out of all her friends, had the most contact with her villainous parent. Maleficent was kept in the Auradon Reptile Protection Center, which housed mainly exotic and endangered species of snakes, lizards, and other scaled friends. Mal visited every month to make sure she was being treated okay and was okay and, you know, not gone. Because that would be bad; very, very bad.

Carlos wandered over to where they were and leaned over to whisper: "Where'd Jay go?"

"Our present," Mal replied. "His dad is on a video chat in that side room." She pointed to the door that hid the television and Jay behind it. "We paged the Isle about a week ago. Jafar was really… surprised to learn Jay was marrying and everything. We thought it'd be good to present an opportunity to let them catch up."

"What happens if Jafar blows up?" Carlos frowned. "I mean, last time we paged our parents, it didn't exactly leave the best impression."

Ben and Mal exchanged a glance, and Ben swallowed. "Jafar is sick." He told Carlos. "He isn't living with Cruella or EQ at all. This may or may not be one of the last times they'll ever talk with each other."

Carlos's face closed off, and he nodded in understanding. He looked over the audience and swallowed. "Maybe you should have sent him in sooner. The priest is here."

Mal tried to turn around and found her neck mostly immobile. However, she could see Ben's gaze trained on something moving behind her, so she assumed that what Carlos had said was true. Sure enough, an officiator in a white suit that reminded her of Ben's wedding suit appeared, walking up the aisle. Mal nodded along to Carlos's earlier statement and closed her eyes, leaning back into the pew. Ben let go of one of her hands and got off the floor so he could sit beside her. He leaned her forward a little and slipped his freed hand around her so he could start rubbing her back and soothing the irate nerves. "Do I need to send for anything?" He whispered.

"No." Mal shook her head. "I'm trying to get off the painkillers, Ben."

Jane leaned over and put a hand on Mal's shoulder. "It's time." She whispered. "Where did you send Jay?"

"Just into that room." Mal sighed. She got to her feet. Ben immediately jumped to her aid.

"Do you want me to go get him and you can stay here?" He whispered.

Mal shook her head. "No. No, I'll go. You go to sit with your parents. I'm going to get him." She walked away towards the door and twisted the knob to slip inside. Inside, Jay was crying, leaning against the television stand and staring at Jafar, who was crying equally as hard. She took in the scene as Jay turned his face away and scrubbed at his eyes a little. "It's time." She whispered. "Do you want to pull the television out so he can watch?"

Jay nodded hastily as he sniffled and composed himself. "I-I'd like that a lot. Yeah." Mal leaned down and revealed the extra coils of cord that attached the TV to power. She unraveled them as she and Jay angled the TV out of the room and then pushed it out and against the wall. They angled the screen away so that Jay, from where he was standing in the front, would be able to see him, but not many other people. Evie, who had gotten up with Emily in her arm to see what Mal and Jay were doing, looked shocked when she glimpsed Jafar. She hid away her baby girl before Jafar could see her and sat down beside Doug, looking shell-shocked.

"Thanks, Mal." Jay took a deep breath and put his arms around Mal. He squeezed her tightly, and Mal gasped in pain as she felt something in her back pop. Jay jumped back as Mal held a hand to her back and blinding pain forced spots into her vision. "Sorry, sorry!" He exclaimed.

"Fine – fine," Mal assured him, gasping and squeezing her eyes shut until she felt someone's gentle, cool hands take her hips and pull her back

"You're good," Ben mumbled, slipping her arm around his torso and smiling at Jay. "It's time. Good luck." Jay still looked guilty and worried as Ben turned her carefully to the pews and led her back to her seat. Mal bit her cheek in pain as she tried to mask her face over. They took their seats on the front row and Ben immediately began rubbing patterns into her skin, quickly finding the bruising area that had been disturbed. Mal sighed in relief as he focused on rubbing little circles into her spine.

"Your hands are magical." She mumbled as she closed her eyes and slumped towards him as best she could. Ben used his free hand to pick up her fingers and kissed her knuckles tenderly.

The organist began playing an intricate tune that sounded, for a few seconds, like a march before the crowd began to stand. Ben squeezed Mal's hand for a few seconds before they, too, got to their feet. The doors opened at the back of the room, and a gentle hush fell across the room. Mal felt a little dizzy as she watched a figure in a white dress – kimono style, like Jay had said – appear on her dad's arm.

Lonnie looked like a dream. An actual, untouchable dream who was floating on air, beaming brighter than the sun even as she shook underneath everyone's gazes. Jay, on the stand, straightened up and sniffled a little more as he took a step forward and held out his hand. Shang looked at his daughter, squeezed her hand, and gave her away to her new husband. The audience began to sit down. Ben's hands slipped around to her spine as he carefully helped her sit down.

For the duration of the ceremony, Mal sat in near-agony, biting her tongue and wishing she was at home, lying on her bed and clutching the headboard instead of digging her nails into her palms.

When the priest announced Jay and Lonnie husband and wife and told Jay he could kiss his new bride, Mal glanced over at Jafar and watched him burst into tears, using his large hat to hide the tear-stains down his cheeks as he peeked over the brim to watch the scene. A pang ran through her chest that had nothing to do with her old wound. She imagined her own wedding, with no one around, in the back of that pub in DunBroch and wondered what it would have been like if her mother had been looking in on that scene. Would she have been happy? Proud? Probably not, but for a few seconds, Mal tried to imagine what it would have been like to see Maleficent crying the way Jafar was, minus the hat, when she'd married Ben. And, unsurprisingly, she couldn't imagine it. Because Jafar had needed Jay on the Isle, but Maleficent had never needed Mal. They were two different worlds.

Everyone rose up on their feet as the newlyweds kissed, except for Ben and Mal, whose back felt a little bit like someone had replaced her backbone with a very large screw and was rotating it carefully towards her left hand. Ben kept a hand on her knee and the other on her back, glancing at her intermittently as she took slow, careful breaths and tried not to move her spine.

Mal watched Jay turn to his right and wave a little at Jafar. Lonnie glanced to where he'd gestured and clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. Jafar waved back, wiping tears out of his eyes as he beamed. Mal swallowed and put a hand on Ben's. She couldn't move her neck, couldn't lean towards him at all. "I need some medicine." She whispered under her breath. "As soon as this is over, can we slip out to the car?"

Ben's hand tightening on her knee was her only positive response.

---

As the reception began behind them, Ben kept an arm around her waist and her fingers crushed in between his. They took an exit out toward where the park was parked, and immediately an entourage of five surrounded them. Ben waved them off. "We're coming back." He told the guards. "We're just going to go sit in the car for a moment."

The guards nodded, and one of them paged the information to the others in their squadron. Ben helped Mal out to the parking lot of the church they'd gathered in as others flooded the attached park area to the church. Just steps away from the car, she felt her legs begin to give up. She stumbled, and Ben immediately swept her feet out from under her. Mal let out a strangled cry as her back moved, and something else popped.

Ben opened the car door and set her down on the door edge. Mal wanted to lie down on her stomach, but she couldn't risk flashing the outside world. Bad enough that she'd almost fallen over.

"I have everything here," Ben mumbled, pulling a plastic box out from under one of the front seats. "How bad is it?"

"Bad." Mal grit her teeth. "I don't… want it all, though. Just enough to help me walk and sit again."

"Your back popped." Ben reminded her needlessly. "Should I call your doctor?"

"No." Mal shook her head. "It's just pressure build-up. I don't exactly move my back a lot. Jay popped it too, when he hugged me. That's why everything hurt so bad during the ceremony."

Ben uncapped a couple of bottles and pressed the pills into her hands. He hesitated, and then took a sidestep to block her from the church's view. What's wrong?" Mal asked, frowning up at him before she clamped her hand to her mouth and swallowed everything he'd put in her hand.

"Just palace rules," Ben mumbled. "But it's okay. I'll just argue protocol again. It's a good thing you weren't born a royal."

Mal deadpanned, trying to remember what she wasn't supposed to be doing, and a memory tickled the back of her head. "I'm not supposed to be handling drugs without a doctor's orders." She remembered with a groan. "And I'm technically not scheduled to take some of those, right?"

"They're approved for intermittent use." Ben shrugged. "You should technically have a doctor here to oversee you taking them like I have for everything, but oh well. It's an emergency, and again, you weren't born a royal."

Mal rolled her eyes and scoffed. "That's ridiculous. So, so ridiculous." She turned and looked away from him, at the car and the fancy interior, and everything. "Why do we stay here? Why can't we just run away together?" She mumbled. It was so bright and loud… why couldn't they just leave?

"I have to rule the kingdom." Ben frowned. "You know I do, Mal."

Did he really, though? Couldn't they resculpt the system so that he didn't have to be king and then they could drop the whole monarchy idea?

Auradon officials would murder him in his sleep.

Mal nodded sadly and swung her legs back out of the car. "I'm fine." She grumbled. "Let's… go back up."

"Do you want to sit and talk a while?" Ben asked.

Mal shook her head, feeling empty and upset. "No." She declined. "I want to be there for Jay and Lonnie. Can – can we please go up?"

Ben nodded and put his arm around her to help her onto her feet. Mal winced as her back ached, but the fast-acting pain relief was staving off most of the pain. She'd soak in the tub when they went to the palace later tonight, and hopefully, all would be right tomorrow.

Guards encircled them as they walked up. Mal didn't meet any of their gazes and they stepped into the park area and watched from a distance as Jay and Lonnie thanked guests. Lonnie was holding her hands carefully beside her midsection as she stood tall beside Jay's side. Mal wondered what the family ancestors thought of Lonnie getting pregnant.

"Mal!" Carlos called from across the pavilion. Her head snapped towards him as she spotted his hand held high aloft the crowds. "Ben! Over here!"

Ben looked down at Mal and then they began to walk, as one unit, towards Carlos. As they neared him, they saw he'd pulled the TV set out so Jafar could attend the wedding party from afar. Jafar was talking to Mulan and Shang with tight lines in his face. Sweat fell from his brow, but he seemed to be acting civilly.

"Jafar wanted to talk to you guys," Carlos explained, spreading an arm to the TV set. Mal nodded and stepped within the camera's field of vision. Immediately, Jafar's attention snapped to her.

"Ah! Maleficent!" He announced, clapping his hands and relaxing a little.

"Ah, just Mal." Mal flinched as a couple of people glanced over. "Did you enjoy the ceremony, Jafar?"

Jafar's eyes filled with tears. "I had no idea." He exclaimed. "Oh, how grown-up he's gotten! What's that sport you said he plays? Why, I've never seen him look so… so…"

"Healthy?" Mal supplied, feeling guilty as she looked at the lines in Jafar's face. Not only were there children now trapped on the Isle, but there were also Elderly.

"Yes." Jafar nodded in agreement, looking satisfied as he craned his neck as if to see if he could spot his son. "All of you, actually. My, I didn't even recognize Cruella's son. He certainly filled out, didn't he?"

"It's been a long time." Mal nodded. "A lot has changed."

"A lot," Jafar confirmed. "Just look at you – Queen, a wife – I never would have dreamed those cards would be in your future!" He shook his head. "What about the other girl, the blue one? Oh, my memory deceives me…"

"Evie." Mal supplied automatically. "She's here… I think she's worried about what you'll say to EQ."

"I haven't spoken to Grimhilde in years." Jafar slumped forward. "Shortly after that boy called the Isle to speak to her, we – they – split." Jafar hesitated, and put his hat down, out of sight. It was looking very lopsided and sad anyways. "Did she end up marrying that boy?"

"She did." Mal nodded, brushing her hair out of her face. "His name is Doug. And she has a little girl now too. Emily."

Jafar's mouth fell open in complete surprise. Mal could only imagine what was running through his head. Maybe he was imagining what Evie had looked like growing up and trying to imagine her as a mom. "O-oh." Jafar gasped. "Why, EQ would be so proud of her."

"She's very happy." Mal agreed. Her throat felt a little dry, like she'd swallowed sand or a particularly tasteless sandwich. "Jafar, what do you think my mom would think of me?"

Jafar laughed nervously. "Ah, dear, let's speak of happier topics. We all know your mother's priorities."

Mulan frowned. She and Shang had remained standing beside the TV, though Mal hadn't taken much notice of them. "You're the queen of Auradon." Mulan disagreed. "Wouldn't your mother see success in that?"

Jafar exploded into incredulous laughter. "She hasn't done anything!" He proclaimed. "She hasn't brought down the barrier, hasn't corrupted Auradon, hasn't murdered her king and hasn't even resurrected Maleficent into her human form. By all accounts, she's a failure. She's fallen in love, gotten pregnant, been stabbed through the stomach, and is a permanent handicap. Maleficent-" Jafar broke off laughing as Mal took a step back staring at him in horror. The word reverberated in her head: 'handicap'.

Handicap. Broken. Damaged.

Ben put his hands on her hips from behind her and stopped her retreat as Jafar began to regain his senses. "Shh." He whispered as she opened her mouth.

Jafar looked up and recognized the shocked, hurt look on her face. Immediately, he grew repentant. "I'm sorry." He apologized. "I did not mean… I'm sure Maleficent would still see hope."

"That I'd turn evil?" Mal asked dryly.

"Well, you were evil once." Jafar shrugged, putting his fingertips together in thought. "You were the worst kid on the Isle, as was expected. I used to tell Jay he had to learn to be more like you. None of us ever suspected that you would become, well, you."

Mal swallowed hard. "I'm not going to turn back to evil." She insisted. "So, I guess there wouldn't be more than hope at all."

"No." Jafar shook his head. "I suppose not. And, I suppose, it's much better this way."

"Even if your mother wouldn't approve of the person you are now, I think it's safe to say you are an amazing, bright, strong young lady," Shang spoke up suddenly, stepping forward and setting a hand on his wife's shoulder. Mulan nodded in approval, but Mal still felt the black hole in her heart. Everyone in Auradon could be proud of the person she was. Everyone else could agree she was doing things right, which, of course, would never actually happen, but even if it did, Mal knew the truth. The approval of the whole world couldn't fill the void her mother left.

"Thank you." Mal inclined her head carefully and swallowed. "Jafar, what do you think of Lonnie, Jay's new wife?"

"She looks lovely." Jafar smiled. "You told me that she swordfights?"

"Very talented." Mal agreed. "She went with us to the Isle once."

"Amazing." Jafar hummed. He glanced at Mal. "I get the feeling you have something you want to tell me?"

"Lonnie pregnant." Mal confided. "They were going to push the wedding back into the new year, and then she found out."

Jafar's face took on a new light. He slumped back into his seat in shock. Ben frowned at Mal. "You should have let Jay and Lon tell him." He chided.

"They're busy," Mal replied flatly. "Can you let me go? I want to go grab some cake."

"You can't have any for another five minutes." Ben reminded her, holding fast onto her hips.

"It'll take me that long to walk over." Mal frowned and brushed his hands aside. Ben released her, and Mal turned and walked away towards the refreshments table. She spotted a guard on the corner of the property speaking into his walkie-talkie. Sudden, deep, spontaneous hate for palace security filled her.

She collected her strawberries and some cake and watched Jay take Lonnie over to the screen behind which Jafar sat. They talked animatedly, and then a look of apprehension fell over Lonnie's face. She put her hands to her belly, glanced cautiously at Jay, and then nodded slowly. Jafar started crying again, and then Mal caught Jay wiping tears out of his eyes as Lonnie let out a deep breath. Her heart twisted. Maleficent would never do that. She'd never be that for Mal. She was an unresponsive reptile that most of the time Mal just sat on the floor and watched through the glass, hoping her mom knew she was there.

Ben kept his eyes on her from across the wayside. Mal wandered a little closer to the gardens and then lifted her hand to beckon him towards her. Immediately, he set down the glass he'd picked up and wove his way through the crowds. He placed his hands on her side and bent down to whisper in her ear: "Are you okay? Does your side hurt?"

"Not so bad." Mal shook her head and used her left hand, the one that could go higher, to thread her fingers into his hairline and lean back into him a little. She closed her eyes against the sunlight and sighed. "I'm just thinking." She whispered as her back began to pulse a little from the stress she was exerting on it.

"Careful," Ben whispered, balancing her offset weight. He kissed her cheek. "About what?" He asked.

"My mom," Mal mumbled. "Just… wondering what she felt like, you know? Before she had me." She wrapped her free hand – the right one – around herself and sighed sadly.

"You were important to her," Ben whispered, taking her hand and pulling it off her frame before any paparazzi could spot her feeling her midsection. "To what degree and what emotion I don't know, but you meant something to her. She protected you. She worked for you."

Mal nodded softly. "I think she's a better mom than I've been so far." She sighed.

Ben frowned. "You weren't ready." He whispered. "We agreed on this. And we'll give it time. Everything will work out."

"At least I have your mom." Mal hummed. "She's a really amazing example. And, you know, she wanted you." She rubbed her fingers around Ben's ear as he hummed in acknowledgment.

"You know you don't have to do everything now," Ben whispered. "I know I scared you with that conversation but really, we have time. No one will come around trying to break us up until you're at least thirty-five." His words made Mal's fingers tense. She exhaled slowly.

"Evie and I already came up with stuff, and we're working with my own personal hospital's worth of doctors, and we think we have something relatively safe figured out." She mumbled, closing her eyes.

"Don't push yourself." Ben cautioned.

Mal hummed. "That's kind of the opposite of the idea." She told him. "It's still all so strange though."

"The doctors? Or not being able to move?" Ben asked.

"Thinking of having kids. I never wanted them." Mal corrected him. "And it's crazy. You know I've gotten pregnant more than anyone else in our group – combined?" She opened her eyes and looked up at him with arched eyebrows.

"That's not true." Ben shook his head. "Evie's been pregnant, and now Lonnie. That's two."

"Exactly." Mal nodded.

"Two is equal to two, Mal." Ben deadpanned.

"Evie and Lonnie, that's two," Mal explained, bringing her left hand down and holding up two fingers. "And then I got pregnant in November, lost it in December, and then in June, that's two, plus this one."

She kept her gaze on Ben as his mouth fell open a little. He took in a little breath. "This one?" He asked, slowly.

"This one," Mal affirmed, crossing her hands over her torso. "Right here."

Ben swept her off her feet and spun her in a little circle. Mal let out a shout as her spine twisted, and then laughed when Ben set her down. He kissed her cheeks and then hovered beside her mouth until Mal took hold of his suit and pulled him down to kiss her for a few quick, precious seconds.

Some people in the wedding party were looking over, wondering what was going on, but the majority of people hadn't noticed and had no idea what was going on. Ben laughed beside Mal's head. "You're sure you've got this figured out, though?" He asked.

Mal nodded. "It won't be easy," She warned, "But I want to be with you. I want to stay." She leaned her head on his chest.

"I won't let you go," Ben promised, twisting their fingers together with a laugh. "We're going to stay together, you and I. Don't worry."

Mal smiled at his words and closed her eyes, soaking up the sunshine and the laughter from the party and his steady heartbeat thrumming on her cheek.

---

"Evie and I are expecting morning sickness to run rampant through all these months." Mal sighed, drawing her finger down the stylish blue monthly planner Evie had given her. "And I'll be moody from here on out, and I'll start to show here, but the worst bit is right here, at the end of month six. The baby should be about a foot long and at least two pounds. That's the month we're expecting the severe pain to start. Doctor Horsley says I might have to be bedridden for the last three months."

"You're going to love that." Ben sighed, slumping into his chair. "And this is all worst-case scenario?"

"Middle-case, actually." Mal sighed. "Worst case I'll be in pain by month three or four, as soon as I start showing, and I'll be down by five, and four months of bed rest means my legs will lose motility, and of course we still have the threat of the pain being so severe it stops my heart or-"

"Hush." Ben winced, putting his head in his hands. "Oh god, I don't even want to hear it. What's the best case?"

"I have a below-average baby who doesn't get to be as large, I can walk throughout my pregnancy and hopefully not have to spend any time down at all," Mal explained. "But that'll take a lot of luck. What do we have from March to June?"

Ben looked down at the giant calendar on his desk and moved things aside so he could flip ahead to everything coming up. "Graduation, but we're not required for that." He sighed. "No upcoming Coronations, but one Cotillion from the seashore. He shook his head. "I can cover it all. And if I can't, I can ask Mom or dad to stand in."

"I should be able to do office work." Mal nodded. "But the guards will want me to keep in the palace, right?"

"You're not leaving." Ben shook his head. "Not a chance. We're going to have Doctor Horsley here at least every three days, and you probably won't be allowed on the grounds without your guards. This is… this is dangerous." He shook his head and covered his face with his hands. "Oh, this is going to be paperwork." He mourned.

Mal laughed. "Well, I have a reputation for causing that, right?" She asked.

"Not usually." Ben shook his head again. "Mal – aren't you afraid of all this?" He spread his hands over all her notes and her work.

Mal swallowed. "Yeah." She admitted, curling a hand around herself. "But all the different therapy and the plans… god, I'm desperate, I'll admit it, but I'm a planned desperate."

Ben swallowed and shook his head. "We need to get our bedroom and all the areas you want to be in cleaned and scanned." He sighed. "You're not allowed to be around, oh, what was it, mercury, x-rays, any sort of cleaners, windows that open to the inside, any and all sharp objects, the whole lot."

Mal wrinkled her nose. "Oh, you have to start obeying protocol now?"

"You're pregnant with the future heir to, well, everything." Ben nodded. "They – and you, until they're born, are under Heritage Guard, and you don't get to bend those rules because they come from the courts." He shook his head, leaning back into his chair and pinching the bridge between his eyes. "It's all about the bloodline," He mumbled.

"If you think about it, the palace considers me expendable." Mal hummed. "I mean, you can always marry someone else, so I don't need to have as much security."

"You're not expendable to me." Ben frowned. But they both knew she was right. Heritage Guard – Kingdom Guard – was a mess of genetic politics.

Mal turned a paper towards him with a small smile. "So… I was thinking something like this for announcing it to the kingdom." She smiled, watching Ben open his eyes and sit back up. He took the paper and skimmed it. Immediately, his mouth crooked up.

"That'd be a show." He laughed. "You don't have to host though. You're representing the Royal Palace now. You sure?"

"I'd better make at least one royal event before I disappear from under Auradon's noses." Mal laughed.

"Disappear?" Ben shook his head, setting her paper back down. "You kidding? This will be Auradon's most reported-on pregnancy for the next two decades. You've already lost one, you're the daughter of Maleficent, and it's a royal heir." He sighed.

"Joy," Mal grumbled. "But you just said I wasn't allowed out."

"I can guarantee now that we'll have people sneaking in." Ben rolled his eyes. "Which means Guards will be everywhere. It'll be fabulous." He hesitated, and then met her eyes. "They're going to make you quit your pain meds a week before you're due." He warned.

Mal's hands grew a bit clammy. "What am I allowed to have?" She asked.

Ben shook his head. "That's for Doctor Horsley and general of Guard to decide, along with interference from the courts, if needed." He informed her.

Mal put her lips together and nodded in understanding. "Well," She sighed. "Hopefully it's not a worst-case scenario or anything." She reached out and gathered up all her notes as Ben winced, covering his face. She patted his shoulder. "I'll be okay," She told him, even though the reminder that she'd be watched like a hawk and would be forced to endure the last few weeks med-free had her shifting her weight in her shoes a little bit.

"I'll try and make it up to you." Ben exhaled, pinching the bridge between his nose. "And I'll be there every step, I swear."

"Except for those trips you'll have to cover for me," Mal reminded him. There was a pang in her chest. It was always the kingdom coming first. Always his responsibilities, never her. She swallowed. "And, hey, only like seventeen more years until we can retire, right?"

"Then we can leave." Ben laughed. "I can kiss you on a beach somewhere and we won't have fifteen hundred guards around, and I'll be able to leave my cell phone behind without my secretary and the courts getting mad at me."

Mal closed her eyes wistfully. She'd be forty-two. Forty-two and everything would be done. She spread a hand on her midsection. Nine months, and the kingdom's future would be secure, and she'd forever be able to stay with Ben, and she'd be able to finally get her happily-ever-after. She was so, so close.

Ben reached over and took her hand, and Mal opened her eyes to look at him. He was chewing on the inside of his lip in thought as he examined her eyes. "I'm going to have to notify the guards soon." He told her. "So you might want to prepare yourself. You didn't even have to deal with heritage guard with the last two because the guards never found out but trust me when I say it's a bear."

"I'll do it." Mal nodded and squeezed his hand. "I'll do anything to stay with you."

A smile ghosted across Ben's mouth. "And I with you." He affirmed.

Someone knocked on the door and the two young royals looked up. Mal let her hands drop to her sides as she saw the general standing in the doorway with a hard look on his face. "Your majesty?" He called. "I'm here to review the security efforts from the last three months."

"Yes," Ben acknowledged with a sigh. He gave Mal one last little smile as she backed away from the desk. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay," Mal agreed. She and the general ignored each other as she left Ben's office and the door was shut between her and her other half.

---

To be honest, Mal didn't even listen to the last fourteen minutes of her meeting. The hot sun was streaming through the windows, turning the room into a sauna, and someone had switched out the air freshener, so the place smelled like a lavender soak house. She'd taken an extra pain killer and so was, for once, relatively free of her side pains and was therefore struggling to keep her eyes open as she sank back into her chair. She didn't even hear when it ended; only the sounds of people standing up and moving alerted her to the fact it was over.

The doors to the room opened and people walked out on their way home to see family and friends. Mal pushed her chair back as people started to make their way to her to shake her hand and ask the same old, unanswerable questions about how her side was and when she'd be fully recovered. Before she could stand up, she spotted a head of sandy hair appear in the doorframe, and people unexpectedly parted and turned to smile up the length of the table at her. Mal rested her hands on the arms of her chair as Ben appeared, pressing his lips together to avoid smiling too widely, and continued the trek up to her. In his arms was an array of purple and white flowers, clearly for her.

"Oh my goodness," Mal hummed as she felt the light come back into her eyes and straightened up.

"Hi," Ben greeted, leaning down and kissing her cheek. "Missed you."

"I missed you too!" Mal laughed as Ben slipped the flowers into her hands. "What are these for?"

"For you," Ben clarified needlessly, putting a hand on her shoulder as some dignitaries decided that it wasn't necessary to say goodbye to the queen when she was talking to her husband and left. Others remained, watching the scene and eavesdropping with bright smiles.

"They're purple!" Mal laughed. Sure, they were flowers, kind of girly, but they were something he'd brought her, and they were her favorite color.

"You're not going to say anything on how romantically cheesy it is?" Ben asked with a laugh of his own.

"It is romantically cheesy!" Mal rolled her eyes. "Just like you."

Ben smiled, eyes bright, and leaned down to kiss her cheek again. "You feeling okay?" He asked.

"I am," Mal affirmed. "And a lot better than I was five minutes ago."

"Good," Ben smiled. "I thought we could go out? Make it a spontaneous date like we used to?" He elbowed Mal's arm a little and her mouth fell open in absolute surprise. Ben continued cheekily. "I can't exactly show up on your and Evie's doorstep, but I figured the meeting would provide a similar effect."

"I love it!" Mal exclaimed, rising out of her chair and using the chair for balance until she found her bearings. "Are we leaving now?"

"Yeah, let's go," Ben proclaimed, looping his arm around hers as she clutched her bouquet and then reaching down to gather up her meeting notes. "I'll notify the guards and we'll go get dinner somewhere no one would expect two royals to be." He nodded to those who had been waiting around for her and led her past them. Mal paused briefly to shake a few hands and nod politely towards people who wanted to ask her questions.

At the reminder of the guards, Mal frowned. "But the new guard rules… you'll get in trouble." She reminded him.

"Well, they'll have to be in the car with us and they'll have to stand guard on premises, but so long as they're incognito no one should notice us. I convinced the general earlier today that premises don't have to be secured if the guards have constant sight of us." Ben explained, leading her out into the hall with a flourish.

"Really?" Mal smiled. "So we can pretend to be, like, normal and everything?"

"Yeah!" Ben nodded. "So, do you want to go? O would you rather stay in and finish all the paperwork that you've-"

"Let's go," Mal interrupted, shuddering internally at the stack of laws and things that needed her attention that was surely piled on her desk at the moment.

Mal hadn't felt so pleased since she'd married Ben almost a year ago. They pulled up in a small car, Ben driving, and two guards sitting silently in the back, to a family restaurant that was a buffet-style diner. He held her hand in the center console as they sang along to the radio and shared jokes back and forth about their individual workdays.

Mal opened her door before Ben could come around, but he still managed to shut his door quickly enough to get around and help her down.

Ben was wearing a tan t-shirt and a blue baseball cap, and Mal pulled her hair back into a ponytail so it wasn't immediately clear when you were looking straight at her that she had purple hair. He opened the door for her and the two guards and paid for them as a group of four. The cashier gave them a cursory glance as he scanned Ben's credit card, and his gaze hovered on the King and Queen's faces as if he was trying to remember where he'd seen them before. Then a waiter appeared to lead them to a booth, and the cashier turned to the next person in line without any trouble.

The guards sat across the room from them while Ben and Mal took a smaller booth near the corner of the restaurant together. "You like places like this, right?" Ben laughed teasingly as he set his coat down on the chair and then tucked his wallet into his pocket.

"I do," Mal affirmed, looking around them with bright eyes. Families with kids and young college couples on dates surrounded them, talking in lively tones about jobs they had picked and lives they had chosen to lead. It was the sort of place they'd hung out in after school at Auradon Prep. The sort of place where Evie, Jay, or Carlos and their spouses would go to hang out – not at all like the palace, where fancy food was brought to them and the only people they ever ate with were other royals, where table manners were always a requirement, and where the conversation always drifted to either her stab wounds or her mother. Here, she almost felt normal.

"Want me to bring you your favorites or want to come to explore the buffet table with me?" Ben asked.

"Let's go!" Mal took his hand and pulled him towards the buffet tables, kept in a large room that connected to the room with the tables. There appeared to be two other places where tables and booths were set up. In the buffet area, there were large tables with food warmers hanging above platters, and a soda fountain machine and a slushie dispenser and dozens of different wonderful things to try.

Ben took two plates while she found two glasses and mixed his two favorite sodas before picking a green slushie for hers. They wandered around, making jokes as the guards watched from a distance with their food. Ben had to help her sit down when her side started to throb, but she was having so much fun she didn't mind all that much.

"We haven't done anything this spontaneous since I lived with Evie," Mal recalled as she attacked her strawberry ice cream first. Her plate was covered with baked chicken, three types of jello, a potato salad and a varied assortment of fruit. "I think the last time we randomly had a date was the week before Doug proposed, when you had an event at the library that was canceled so we went to that bouncy house department."

"No, it wasn't," Ben disagreed. "We went out a week before Doug's bachelor party and built a fort down by the river and made a swing to jump in."

"Oh, that's right." Mal nodded. "That was right before the three days I was alone in our apartment before you decided it wasn't safe for me and pulled me into Capital Residence One in Auradon City." She smiled fondly at the sweet memories.

"It wasn't safe," Ben raised an eyebrow. "I get that you're the daughter of Maleficent, but you were still the most important government official on the judicial side of the balance, girlfriend to the king of Auradon, and your only security was an electronic lock and your pistol. Also keeping in mind that you were the only court member who didn't employ a single guard and who didn't live in a palace, you were very underprotected."

Mal hummed, smirking a little. "Remember that video of you doing a backflip into the cube pile that made two physicians come up to check on you?"

"The backflip was cool," Ben rolled his eyes. "And I get it, they were worried. But whatever. Everyone has been so protective of me ever since Mom turned forty."

"Always nice to know how important you are to Auradon," Mal scoffed. Then her smile returned as she reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "I still can't decide if the bounce city was more fun than the river date, or if it was the other way around. Remember you slipped when a fish swam past you?"

Ben raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised that's the first thing you remember," He chuckled. "That was the first time I had to tell you no more."

"Ah," Mal nodded, closing her eyes. "We swung into the river and got soaked and covered in mud, and then we crawled into our little fort and kissed each other until our lips and our fingers were blue. You even let me take your shirt off."

Ben nodded, a nostalgic look coming over his face. "I did," he agreed. "You let me play country music on the way back to your apartment even though you thought it was all cheesy and I got home a minute and four seconds before curfew because we decided making out in my car and then on your couch was a nicer option to saying goodnight." Mal smiled to remember how she'd been high for the entire morning the next day and how she and Ben had both been hungover together for days afterward.

Mal chuckled and beamed as she remembered what it had felt like to wake up the next morning with red marks stretching across the lower half of her face and all up and down her neck. Ben squeezed her hand. "One day, we'll be crazy like that again," He promised. "We'll go swimming in rivers and dancing in the rain and we'll make out in stick forts and we'll sneak out of galas."

"Swimming," Mal repeated with air quotes. "You mean I'll jump in and you'll have to fish me out because I still can't stay afloat after almost nine years of knowing you."

"I'll teach you to swim," Ben promised, laughing. "And then we'll race."

Mal's hand went to her side. Her smile fell a little as Jafar's words echoed in her head. A permanent handicap. Still, she nodded. "That'd be fun," She agreed. "Just another sixteen-and-a-half years, right?"

"Keep your voice down," Ben advised, glancing across the way to where a young girl had just turned off her cell phone and was staring vacantly towards them. Mal followed his gaze and pulled most of her hair over the opposite shoulder, hoping she wouldn't notice.

"We probably shouldn't stay here much longer," Ben hummed. "Unless we want the press to show up."

"Ugh," Mal rolled her eyes. "How much longer do you think we have?"

Ben glanced at his watch. "We've been here for almost thirty minutes." He announced.

"Wow, I think that's a new record," Mal's eyes sparked with mirth. "I guess the press must be slowing down now that nothing major is going on."

"Give it until September 20th," Ben rolled his eyes. "Then we won't be able to go out until, well, the following year, probably."

Mal wrinkled her nose and slumped into her seat. "Why did I agree to do all of this?" She mourned and rolled her eyes.

"Hopefully because you love me," Ben chuckled, and then his smile faded a little. "You almost done?" He asked.

A bad feeling crept down Mal's spine. She speared a spoonful of jello and sighed wearily. "Why?" She asked. Ben grimaced, and she closed her eyes. "Don't tell me…" She moaned.

"King Ben?" Someone asked, just over her shoulder. Mal groaned and quickly took two more bites of her ice cream before wrapping her chicken and some fruit up into a napkin.

"Good evening," Ben greeted the young man who'd called for him as he, too, began to wrap things up. "How are you doing tonight?"

"Well," The young woman who was his date smiled. "We were wondering if we could get a photo?" She held aloft a cell phone with a hopeful expression. At her request, the surrounding groups glanced over to see who they were speaking to. Silence descended over the area, except for a few whispers of: "King Ben and Queen Mal!" "I didn't see them!" "When did they walk up?"

Ben's smile grew a little tight. "Only a fast one," he agreed as people around the restaurant began pulling out their phones. Mal finished wrapping her food up. She, fortunately, hadn't been noticed much yet, despite the fact she was the one with colorful hair.

The guards appeared in the corner of Mal's vision, and she made eye contact with Ben before sliding out of the booth and offering her place to them. "Here, take a seat," she invited. "I'm going to run to the restroom real quick." She crossed the room, keeping her head down and moving fast, as people slowly got up to move closer to the booth and to take photos of Ben. One of the guards took her arm and they began to quickly move towards the exit. As the doors swung closed, she heard the first shout: "Woah, that's King Ben!"

The guard took her out to the parking lot and helped her into the car. Ben had the keys. She clicked the buckle into place and closed her eyes until she heard a knock on the door. A group of teenage girls was standing outside, waving at her. She turned to glance at her bodyguard in the back and discovered him leaning up to lock all four doors. She shook her head and winced sympathetically to the girls as the exit doors to the restaurant opened and Ben and the second guard appeared, hurrying for the car. Mal exhaled. "That didn't take all that long," She commented. Her guard nodded to her words.

Ben paused for one more photo with the girls outside before he and the guard climbed into the car. Mal heaved a sigh of relief as he slid the car into gear and then she felt the wheels moving through the floor panels. She untwisted her napkin to pick at her chicken as Ben turned onto the road out of the parking lot. "Are we going home now?" She mumbled.

Ben hummed as if he were considering the thought, and then shook his head. "Nah. We can go home later. I don't have to be checked into the Palace Home System until midnight still."

Mal turned his words over in her head, and then looked at him incredulously. "Do you… have plans?" She asked.

Ben smirked at the road as he flicked the left turn signal on. "I mean, come on, you barely ever get to leave to palace anymore. You can't tell me that you don't want to escape now, can you?"

"Where are we going?" Mal asked, leaning forward as a bright smile spread back across her face.

Ben glanced to the side at her and then turned his eyes back to the road without a word. He was smirking as she continued staring at him. "You'll see," He promised.

The city ended and they drove through the outskirts of Auradon city. Down twisting roads and past tall trees and large parks. After about twenty minutes, Ben leaned over to squeeze her knee. "Close your eyes," He commanded.

Mal let her lids fall shut as she waited, anxiously tapping her heels against the floor. The car slowed, then stopped. She waited until she heard Ben turn the engine off and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Stay here," He whispered, and then his door opened. She heard the guards open the door and then felt a cool breeze as her door opened. Ben unclicked the seatbelt, took both of her hands, and helped her down and onto the ground. There was asphalt underneath her feet. He turned her towards the front of the car and stood behind her, rubbing her arms a little the way he had on their very first date.

"Okay," He whispered. "Take a look."

Mal opened her eyes and was blinded by a light like the sun at noontime. It was coming from a glass tower that had been constructed in the center of a field, with circular paths forming a butterfly-esque pattern in the lawns. The field was filled with booths, a large glass building with bright lights coming from it, dozens of small joyrides and thousands of different attractions. Bright lights were strung from place to place, lighting up the faces of hundreds of people as they journeyed from place to place. She felt her jaw going slack as she stared at everything, taking in the music and the people and the scene. "A fair?" She gasped.

"A science fair," Ben nodded. "They unveil new inventions and there are lots of clever and fun things to try. I looked, and there's even a couple rides you might like."

Mal furrowed her brow. "Even with my-" She gestured to her side. "Will they let me go?"

"Yeah," Ben nodded. "You can't do some of the fast roller coasters and the higher-pressure rides, but there will still be things we can try together." He set a hand on her shoulder. "Want to go in?"

Mal laughed and looped her fingers through his before they hurried towards the fairgrounds with their guards following. Ben locked the car before they stepped towards the admissions booth. They'd come after the initial rush of people, so there was only a short line of people they had to wait behind before a young lady with electric blue hair ran a stamp of sticky red paint over the back of Mal's hand and they were able to step through. She heard the guards murmuring behind them briefly: "I'll keep an eye on her and you keep an eye on him."

"Where should we go first?" Ben asked, procuring a map as they passed the gate and unfolding it underneath a street lamp that emitted a dazzling orange light. "There are magic shows, small concerts, a mini-opera, sharpshooting events, and a couple of other things of that nature. They're performing The Little Mermaid down by the pond and I heard they have a colored actress to play Ariel. The science hall has dozens of new inventions you can examine and try out, there's an improv section where they put on mini-plays from the various fairy tales, there's a cultural exhibition site that I heard included a large section on the culture from the Isle of the Lost, and of course the fairgrounds."

"There's so much," Mal gasped, staring at everything on the map. "Is that a Ferris Wheel? How will we ever get around to everything?"

"Oh, we'll take the trolley," Ben smiled. "See, right here, they have a trolley system that loops around the entire field. There's also a little train ride that stretches from here, loops around the prismid, and then ends right where it stops."

"The prismid?" Mal asked and looked up to the gigantic tower with the light on the top of it that outshone the moon in the sky. "That thing?"

"Yeah," Ben nodded. "In the daytime, when the light hits it, it scatters rainbows across the entire valley. They built it for the fair and are considering leaving it up because it's so pretty to look at."

Mal shook her head, feeling a bit dazed. "I don't know. It's all so overwhelming. What do you think we should do first?"

"I have a feeling I'm a bit more interested in the science hall than you are, and that's right there. It lets out right at the stage where they're doing improv, so how about we go through the hall and then watch them recreate old fairytales for a little bit?" Ben suggested, tracing the route with his fingertip on the map and then pointing to the large glass building Mal had first noticed outside. Mal smiled in agreement and together they wandered to the doors, which opened by sinking into the ground as they got near. A rush of cold air and the smell of orange cleaners rushed out. Inside were large exhibitions or dozens of varieties. Mechanical chirping birds and robotic cats and dogs were to the immediate left, and a sign displayed that they were lifelike service animals for allergic people or for people who didn't have the mental stability to care for an animal but still required companionship.

Ben paused briefly to listen to a few things: a synthetic leaf that could be put on walls to help filter air in-home, a prototype of a machine that could generate artificial gravity, jackets with alarm systems that would call the police if a button on the underside of the zipper was pressed in a certain manner, and a pair of earpieces that acted as wireless translators. And while Mal didn't particularly care about the technologies that would make Auradon a more lively, inter-accessible place, she did hang about and examine the new medical technologies. Some small part of her was hoping for a miracle, though she knew better than to hold her breath.

"A metal exoskeleton for the outside of your bones!" Someone proclaimed in a loud voice, holding up an x-ray of someone's leg bone. "It can help fix misalignment and also ease discomfort for the muscles in the area of treatment! We've already used it on several patients, including Mrs. Mary Aight, who broke her back several years ago and suffered from pain inflammation ever since. Ever since the surgery was performed, she's been able to move freely and without danger of damaging her back more."

Mal glanced over the exhibition. Mary Aight's x-ray was hanging on a blackboard. Mal examined how the metal had been imbued around her spine and part of her ribcage. She turned back to the announcer.

"The surgery is safe too! We've been accredited by the National Advisory Board of Health. This is a technology that should be years away, but we're bringing it out of the future and into the present to make your lives easier!" He announced.

Ben put an arm around her waist and kissed her jaw a little before Mal thrust her hand into the air. "Excuse me!" She called, using the authoritative tone she usually only pulled at meetings where people stopped listening to her. The same tone she'd first learned on the Isle and that always sent shivers down everyone's spines. As predicted, people turned and looked at her. Ben ducked his head down a little to hide his identity more under the ballcap. "Would this invention have any effect on nerve damages associated with the injury?"

Ben's fingers twisted through hers, and she swallowed as she squeezed back. The announcer's face twisted in shock and his mouth hung open for a few seconds as he stared at her. "Ah, ahem, uh… Queen Mal," He stumbled. "We, I mean, no, unfortunately." His face turned beet red. "If the damage is on the nerves themselves, well, those don't heal so…" He trailed off, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Mal's heart sank into her feet. She'd exposed them for a no.

The crowd had parted somewhat around them, so she and Ben stepped back and vanished back into the crowd. He took her fairly quickly to the exit after that, which was disappointing because there were a lot of cool ideas there. Diamonds forged in plasma, a knife that toasted bread as it cut, and an immersive virtual reality set, among other ideas.

They stepped back out into the warm air of the outside, just in time to watch a dramatization of Rapunzel healing Eugene Fitzherbert with a magical tear. As Eugene slowly got to his feet, looking at the nonexistent stab wound in his chest, the crowd exploded into cheers. Ben and Mal wandered to the front of the crowd as the actors took their bows. People began to shout out their requests from the crowd.

"Tarzan and Jane!" One person called.

"Peter Pan!" Another called.

"Belle and Beast!" Someone yelled at the top of their lungs.

Mal watched Ben flinch beside her. Even after all these years, Adam hadn't been able to clear his name of the 'Beast' title. She then watched him raise his hands to his mouth and shout: "King Ben and Queen Mal!"

Mal's cheeks flushed scarlet, as Ben elbowed her. It was clear it had only been a joke, but it was rather clear that the crowd liked the idea of the country's current fairytale being portrayed. "King Ben and Queen Mal!" They took up the scream. "King Ben and Queen Mal!"

The actors mimed listening for a request, and then hurried offstage to change costumes. Mal wondered if they would have a purple wig on hand. She watched as some set hands changed scenes, dragging some black chairs onto the stage and a coffee table with a flower vase glued to it. She assumed it was supposed to represent the palace. As soon as they finished setting up, Mal watched 'Ben' come in from offstage, still tugging the sleeves on a blue coat with golden tassels on the shoulders. She snorted and elbowed Ben, who looked thoroughly amused to see himself portrayed in such a way. Behind 'Ben', 'Belle' and 'Adam' walked into the room.

"Son," 'Adam' announced, clapping 'Ben' on the shoulder. "It's almost time for you to take the throne and lead Auradon as King. Tell me, have you chosen your first official proclamation yet?"

Ben put his arms around Mal to watch as his actor gave an impassioned speech about how the children of the Isle shouldn't be abandoned, all the while Mal wondered what her character was going to look like. They couldn't have all of the hero's costumes on hand, could they?

As Ben's parents left the stage and the stagehands began to switch things around on stage, Mal caught a glimpse of their guards several yards behind them, growing closer as the crowd grew denser.

The 'Isle of the Lost' was a few sparse coils of rope, an empty trash bin, and a chair with a leg that had been broken off earlier in the evening. The speakers started playing some spooky, ghost-like music, and then 'Mal' and her friends burst onstage.

Mal almost doubled over in laughter as the crowd around her screamed.

'Jay' was being played by a black-skinned man who was wearing basketball shorts and a dress vest. A winter hat was making up for a beanie as he cartwheeled across the stage, showing off his agility. 'Carlos's' hair was a wig that had probably been meant for a rendition of Cruella herself, meaning it was entirely too long for his frame. He was the shortest of them all – almost kid-like beside 'Jay's' large frame, and part of his outfit was made from a ripped trash bag. Meanwhile, 'Evie' was struggling to strut in stilettos and was borrowing 'Carlos' for balance. Her hair was completely black, and she wore a blue shirt and a brown leather skirt that looked like it might have been made for a Pocahontas play.

And then there was Mal. And Mal had to laugh because, for once, she was taller than all of her friends. It was clear why they'd assigned the actress to play her though – she had red and purple streaks in her hair. Her entire outfit was black – a heavy black coat, black sweatpants, and big black boots that had just come off of Eugene's feet. Mal wiped tears out of her eyes as 'Mal' kicked over the wastebasket onstage and let out a feral roar.

"Accurate," Ben mumbled in her ear. Mal buried her face into his shoulder, shaking from laughter. Maleficent looked pretty on-beat, so Mal assumed they'd had a costume prepared for her. She watched as they were invited to Auradon prep and then squeezed Ben's hand as the set hands switched the scene, bringing in trees and potted flowers. 'Ben' returned to the stage, this time with 'Audrey', who was played by a busty Hispanic girl with orangish-red hair, in tow. They talked for a few moments, making up the dialogue as they went and scattering jokes to make the crowd laugh. Finally, though, the villain kids appeared on stage and Prince Ben went to meet them. Mal noticed her character was placed at the end of the lineup.

"I'm Prince Ben!" Ben's onstage partner announced, shaking 'Evie's' hand as she batted her eyes and tried to fall into him. 'Audrey stuck out her tongue and made a fist at 'Evie' as 'Ben' shook 'Carlos's' hand with an even nod. 'Jay' smacked his fists together instead of shaking 'Ben's' hand, and so 'Ben' stepped towards 'Mal' with a smile. He took her hand, looked at her face, and his smile dropped. "Woah," He sighed. "You are, wow, you are really, really beautiful." 'Audrey' clapped her hands over her mouth in a scandalized manner.

Mal burst into laughter and started wiping tears away as Ben threw his head back, almost in tears himself. "Look," He whispered, pointing to the pair onstage. "You're taller than me."

"You are really, really sickening," 'Mal' told 'Ben' onstage, pulling her hand back with an exaggerated grimace. "Hey, so, what kind of magic does Auradon have? Like, where is Fairy Godmother's wand now and such?"

"Accurate," Ben repeated in Mal's ear. She snorted and shook her head. It was all too much to bear.

The interpreters didn't do too bad, all in all. They pulled the crowd in for Ben's big musical and had Ben dump Audrey with a lengthy speech about how he didn't feel like their relationship had been working for a while. They didn't show any tourney and didn't do their phone call home to their parents, and nothing could ever compare to the real date Mal had shared with Ben, but it was still entertaining to the point where Mal's eyes and throat were dry from laughing and crying so hard.

"Need some water?" Ben asked as they walked away from the beginning of 'Sleeping Beauty'.

"Yes, please," Mal choked, leaning against him with her fingertips tangled in his shirt.

"Let's take the trolley," Ben suggested, leading her towards the pick-up area. Almost immediately, a car with a bright blue headlamp came singing around the corner. It paused for a second as people jumped off and quickly, Ben, Mal, and their guards took hold of the sides and jumped aboard. The car started moving as Mal had a foot off, but Ben pulled her aboard as the wind whipped her ponytail from side to side. He narrowly caught his hat before it blew away. Mal laughed as she leaned out over the ground, watching it rush by. Ben took hold of her hips, looking worried. "Don't hurt your side!" He warned, frowning deeply. Mal leaned back into him and held a hand out in the wind, feeling the breeze rush through her fingertips. Ben sighed into the breeze and kissed her neck as she closed her eyes against the cool air.

The trolley passed by the people giving small solo concerts. Mal caught the drifts of soft rock and popular pop ballads as they drifted over a small decorative river. The lights of fireflies flicked into and out of existence.

They got off at the fairgrounds. Here, small children ran afoot and college couples with weird haircuts and matching tattoos on their necks crowded around the booths and concessions areas. Clowns stood at corners, honking on circular noses and blowing balloon animals up. Ben examined one with a tactful eye.

"We need balloon crowns," he decided.

Mal shook her head. "No," She declined.

"Yes!" Ben protested. "We need a purple and a blue one, and we need balloon swords for the guards."

"You're going to make us a meme," Mal complained, covering her forehead with a hand.

"Yes," Ben repeated with a wicked smile. "Do you want something else too? Like an elephant? Or, look, that little girl has a monkey!" He pointed to a brown-haired child with her arm looped through a balloon monkey's arms.

"I'm good," Mal rolled her eyes.

Ben looped his arms through hers. "Let's at least go look," He decided, leading her over to see. They walked up as a clown was finishing a little girl's balloon giraffe. He was standing beside a sign displaying designs and prices. Mal sighed, knowing exactly how this was going to end. Ben examined the sign, and then looked at the clown with a sadistic, amused sort of smirk on his lips. "I need two balloon crowns, two balloon swords, and if you can make me a balloon dragon, I will literally give you twenty dollars."

Mal's mouth dropped open. "Ben!" She gasped, "Be reasonable."

"Twenty-five," Ben upped his price.

The clown honked his plastic nose and smiled. "I can do a dragon breathing fire as a bracelet, or I can do something that goes around your neck."

"The around-the-neck would be amazing." Ben smiled, pulling out his wallet with a proud smile.

Mal covered her face with her hands as the clown began to pump air into several different balloons as Ben instructed him on colors and waved the guards forward. Each guard got a sword, one yellow and one orange, which they were both strangely please with as they poked each other and fought a pretend sword fight. Ben's blue crown was finished before her purple crown. As he slid it atop his head, he quipped: "I should just wear this to work instead of the actual thing and fire whoever protests."

"I think that'd be considered some sort of power corruption," Mal decided as the clown finished hers. Ben took it with an air of extreme reverence and secured it on top of her head, pulling her ponytail up so it would fit comfortably. Then the four of them watched as the clown withdrew a variety of balloons and began to pump them up and twist them. First a mess of green and a small blob of twists, and then suddenly there was a green belly with purple skin. Another attachment and suddenly there were four claws and finally, he attached a head onto the creation. By that time, there was a small crowd surrounding them, watching in amazement as Mal's dragon form came to life.

"Mommy, that man is making Queen Mal!" A little girl with unicorn face paint exclaimed as the clown finished twisting his creation up. He handed it to Ben, and Ben put it around Mal's neck with an air of pride.

"She's right, Mal!" He laughed. "It looks just like you in dragon form!"

Mal laughed as Ben paid the clown for his troubles and offered his arm to her. "I'm glad you had your fun, making the two of us public spectacles."

"It shouldn't feel that different," Ben quipped. "It's just that you get to see Auradon's reactions, not just hear about them on the news. Now, should we get drinks and snacks next, or should we get facepaint?"

Forty-five minutes later and heavy-laden with balloons, churros, extra-large soda pops, and a large bag of popcorn Ben and Mal decided to try a couple of the rides and fair games. The two guards had snacks of their own, and matching drawings of the Auradon Crest on their cheeks that Mal had painted. Ben had balloons painted on the right side of his face, further masking his identity, and Mal had a very complex-looking dragon stretching around her face that the lady at the booth had let her paint herself. They were finding it was infinitely easier to blend in where they weren't expected.

"Do you think we could convince the guards to let us go for ten minutes so I can kiss your brains out?" Ben whispered in her ear, elbowing her arm.

"Doubtful," Mal rolled her eyes. "But go ahead and try. It'll be amusing to watch."

Ben turned to the two guards and took a deep breath. "No," One of them cut in before he could get a syllable out.

Ben's mouth dropped in indignation. "You didn't even hear what I was going to ask!" He defended himself.

The guards both burst into laughter. "Sorry, just joking." One laughed. "What were you going to ask?"

"The hall of mirrors is all one-way," Ben began. "Is there any chance you could… wait by the exit so we can go through by ourselves?"

"That's a no," The second guard shook his head, looking to his partner. "Right?"

The first guard, however, shrugged. "I don't know, actually. It's not like they can go back. It's all one way. What if we just… go through first to clear the area and then just wait at the exit for them?"

The second guard pondered this and then nodded. "But if anything goes wrong, we're putting your name on the incident report," he warned Ben. Ben gave a double thumbs-up with a bright smile. Mal was bewildered. It was rare the guards bent the rules as much as they suddenly were. The guards laughed at their dumbfounded expression. "Don't take too long," the second guard warned, rolling his eyes knowingly.

They got in line at the hall with the guards ahead of them. "I can't believe you convinced them," Mal whispered. "Think we can do the same thing with another activity?"

"There's Lazer Tag," Ben suggested. "We could play a round or two and find a dark corner to make out in."

"They'd have to carry us out," Mal laughed.

The guards disappeared into the building ahead of them and, a few seconds later, Ben and Mal were allowed to follow. Inside, the bright lights stabbed at her eyes so she squeezed them shut and tightened her hold on Ben's arm, listening to him laugh as he led her through the attraction.

After walking for some time, he paused, took his arm back, and wrapped his arms around her, setting his head on her shoulder. "Open your eyes for a second," He whispered. She did, blinking against the lights, and found herself standing in front of a mirror, alone with him. He'd picked one mostly dimmed from the bright lights so that she could examine them without any headaches and was smiling at her from the mirror as she laughed at their reflection.

His balloon hat was askew on his head, just like his crown was whenever she was around, and the balloons were flaking off his face around his laugh lines. He looked so handsome, standing behind her and smiling like their reflection together was something he was proud of. Mal felt his hands drop on her frame a little to land on top of her belly with his thumb and index fingers touching, forming a little heart. She laughed and put her hands on top of his.

"You know there's like, nothing there yet, right?" She whispered.

"No, there is," He insisted as he kissed her cheek. "You sure you can do this?"

"Absolutely," Mal agreed. "I'm not going to lose you." She twisted her head to meet his eyes, and then slowly, he leaned down to peck her mouth. She took one hand off of her belly to reach and pull his head down, kissing him more. Strength filled her bones and lifted her up before she felt the drunk feeling washing over her and let him go. "How safe is it to kiss you like this while I'm pregnant?" She mumbled against his cheek.

"Should be fine," Ben hummed, taking a hand to skim her jaw before kissing her again, even softer. "We just have to worry about walking out."

Mal nodded and moved away from his mouth, choosing instead to kiss his cheek and the area right beside his mouth as her head slowly cleared. "Let's keep going," She whispered and took his hand to lead him through the house of mirrors.

So many things followed, in such a bright flurry of activity she could hardly keep up with it all. She recalled playing the sharpshooting games, aiming a water gun at a target to blow up a balloon before Ben could, and then him holding a hot dog to her lips as she tried to stop laughing. Then she'd struggled a bit under the heavyweight of the Lazer Tag Vest, stumbled in the arena, had Ben shoot her lights out and kiss her soundless before the guards started ganging up on them and they'd had to unite to completely flatten their negligent associates.

Even though the fair was nowhere near dying off yet, the hour was growing late for Ben and Mal. Around eleven, the guards started checking their watches and at eleven-ten, Ben and Mal were issued their first warning that they'd have to leave soon. So now, they were heading to the center of the field, to the Prismid itself. They walked up to a crowd of people standing underneath the gigantic glass structure as rainbows scattered across the surrounding grounds. Underneath the picturesque building lay a gigantic, flat reflection pool, casting the rainbows every which way. Ben exhaled in amazement and tightened his hold on Mal's shoulders. "Look," He whispered, pointing to a white sign beside a pair of elevators. "Ten dollars for a ride to the top. Let's go."

"You've spent so much money in the last hour, it's ridiculous," Mal rolled her eyes. "We don't need to do everything."

"We need to do everything," Ben disagreed. Then, in a whisper, he added: "You realize that the next few months are going to be the complete opposite of this, right?"

Mal sighed, acknowledging his point, and Ben began to lead her away with the guards following. "Come on!" He proclaimed. "I have worked for almost ten years straight with not one official vacation. Let's have some fun."

They reached the person at the elevators, who was wearing a coral pin-striped suit, and Ben turned to the guards. "Want to come up with us?" He asked, pulling a couple of bills out of his wallet.

The guards exchanged looks and small smiles spread across their faces. "Nah," One said. "You kids just behave yourselves. If you want, leave your stuff here and we'll watch it while you go up."

"Really?" Mal asked, her face breaking out into a smile.

"Yeah," The second agreed. "You deserve it. Just don't make us regret it." He leveled a patronizing look in Mal's direction, and she laughed with a little nod. Ben paid the elevator man, and then Ben and Mal stepped into an elevator with neon lights running through a glass-bottomed floor, leaving their things with the guards down below.

The elevator climbed through the sky. As they passed the bright lights causing the rainbows near the top of the building, the world suddenly went very dark. Then the doors opened, and Ben and Mal stepped out onto a wide circular balcony that went all the way around a spire stretching up to the starry sky. They walked, arm linked through arm, to the end of the building, where they looked down at the fair below. The sounds of the crowd barely brushed their ears as a cool night wind whipped around them. Mal laughed, removing her balloon crown and pulling her hair out of its ponytail. Her purple locks floated around her head before Ben reached up and started combing the mess out with his fingertips.

"This has been wonderful," Mal mumbled with a bright smile. "I can't believe you dropped everything and did this."

Ben pressed his face into her hair and hummed. "You needed it," He whispered. "Things are about to be very… constrictive."

Mal closed her eyes and focused on the feel of the wind around her before looking down at the city. "Auradon City looks pretty awesome from here," She whispered.

"Yeah, I think the view is even better than from the palace," Ben laughed. They looked down at the winking lights of the city on the outskirts of the field. Mal couldn't even see the palace from here.

"I'm going to file your paperwork tomorrow," Ben whispered in her ear. Mal furrowed her brow and looked up at him. "About your pregnancy. I'm going to let the guards know."

"Oh," Mal nodded, feeling a little stressed. "Well, it's about time we did this the right way. You know, without trying to lie to everyone and hide from the guards."

"Yeah," Ben whispered into her hair. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I will be," Mal agreed, closing her eyes. "Just don't go too far, okay?"

Ben found her hand and looped their fingers together. "I'll be right here the entire time," He whispered. Mal closed her eyes against the wind and turned her face into Ben's chest to breathe in his scent. She felt his fingertips grazing at her chin, and so she lifted her head to let him kiss her, long, sweet, and slow, until she couldn't remember what she was so worried about.