As I woke up, I slowly stretched in bed, and I couldn't stop a grunt from coming from my lips as I started to feel pressure release from my joints. I then slowly opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling; I let a smile spread across my face when I remembered spending time with Evie last night. I do believe this is what that pair of us needed; and I was glad that we were able to have this time together.

I then reached over and took my phone off the bedside cabinet, disconnected it from its charger and tapped the screen. I then noticed that Ben had text me only ten minutes ago; so, I unlocked my phone and opened my messages to read:

"Morning Beautiful, just wanted to say that I really enjoyed our facetime last night. We were both very playful, and I loved it! I just can't believe that you are mine, you mean the world to me. I really can't wait for you to be my wife, love you to the moon and back. B xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

A large grin spread across my face after reading Ben's text; he was so right. We were very playful with each other last night; and I found it insanely cute that he couldn't wait for me to be his wife. I definitely felt the same! I think when I did eventually marry Ben it was going to be such a profound and overwhelming moment for me – one of which I couldn't wait for. I let my eyes wander onto what time it was and saw that it was half six in the morning; I didn't know whether Ben would be still awake, but I decided to see if he was as his text made me want to speak to him. So, with this in mind I quickly text him back:

"Morning baby, are you still awake? Love you to the moon and back also. M xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

After I had finishing texting him, I then placed my phone next to my head on the pillow and I smiled up at the ceiling; however, before I could let my mind wander, I heard my phone go off. I slowly picked it up and looked at the screen to read:

"Yes baby, why? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

A grin spread across my face when I read this text; and instead of texting my Beast back I quickly Facetimed him. And I grinned when a very sleepy Beast appeared on my phone screen.

"Morning" he yawned as I turned onto my right side, and I used my left hand to hold my phone in place.

"Morning" I tiredly smiled back at him as I watched as he mirrored my actions so we could lie comfortably as we spoke to each other.

"You ok?" he enquired.

"Yeah" I confirmed. "Are you?" I questioned.

"Yeah" he nodded meekly. "Just wish things were different" he admitted as he pursed his lips together.

"Me too" I agreed. "But let's not try to fixate on how it should be, otherwise we are just going to drive ourselves crazy" I sighed.

"I can only promise to try" he promised.

"Me too" I smiled at him, hoping that this would reassure him. I was really determined to try and not make this any more difficult for Ben; it was going to be hard enough for him as it was. Yes, I understood that he was going to worry about me and how this was affecting me as I had the exact same feelings towards Ben. I guessed I just wanted to try and be strong for him as the only way the pair of us were going to get through this was to support each other.

"So how was your night?" he asked fondly.

"Well after speaking to you- "I began. "I went and watched another film with Evie and Doug, which involved talking, snacks and more wine" I explained. "How was your night?" I enquired.

"Well after speaking to you- "he stated mimicking my voice, which made me giggle at him. "I just playing on my ps4 in bed until I fell asleep" he clarified.

"Oh" I muttered. "What did you play?" I added.

"A bit of Tourney, Doom and Elder Scrolls" he replied as he readjusted himself in bed.

"I see" I noted as I watched as something had changed in his eyes which started to make me worry. Was something else going on? If there was, why didn't Ben tell me? Or was this something completely different? However, before I could let myself fixate on this any further, I thought that it was probably better to ask him about it – before I drove myself crazy wondering about what could be bothering my Benny. "Ben what's wrong?" I quickly put to him, before I could stop myself.

"What do you mean?" he asked as his face fell into confusion.

"I can tell that something is bothering you- "I stated bluntly as I watched as his eyes widened slightly at this. "Obviously, I know that this situation is" I urged. "But I'm getting the sense that there is something else also" I confirmed. "Has something else happened?" I asked slowly, with part of me not wanting to know the answer.

"No!" he exclaimed as his eyes widened. I guessed that due to his reaction Ben was also trying to make sure that I wasn't worrying unnecessarily. I understood why he felt this way, but as we both knew each other very well I guessed that we probably were going to be checking in on each other even more so now. Given the bond that me and Ben share, I didn't think that I would expect anything less. I just wished that Leah and the rest of her 'Order' would just come to terms with the fact that me and Ben were together. Why couldn't they accept this? Me and Ben had been together three and a half years – even longer that Ben and Audrey's relationship! I just wished that they could accept that I didn't want to be evil anymore, and that due to Ben's love I had changed. I had decided to become good, I wished that this meant something to them but given all of their recent actions I didn't believe that this was ever going to be the case. Even when I did take my role as Queen of Auradon, I believed that I was still going to encounter some tension, friction, and no doubt problems from the whole lot of them. But I still stand by what I said to Leah in Beauty Castle, there will be a time when she will need my help. And I know I will probably be duty bound at the point to help her, but she may not receive the help that she will want. And unfortunately for her, she would only have herself to blame. "I just had a thought on my mind that's all" he confirmed, which broke me out of my train of thought.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I offered, hopefully.

"We can" he confirmed. "If you want" he quickly added.

"Well, I think that it is your decision baby" I stated as I readjusted myself in bed and pulled my blanket right up near my chin due to starting to feel a slight chill in the room.

"No" he muttered. "It's yours" he added, and I couldn't help but pull one brow up in confusion. Why would it be my decision? There was nothing that came to mind apart from the proposition that would warrant this type of reaction from Ben. I felt a burning sensation in the pit of my stomach; I really didn't like the look of this! I really didn't! I just hoped that I was worrying about nothing; and the reason that I thought this was the warm and calming look at Ben was currently giving me.

"What do you mean?" I dared to ask.

"Mal I know that this situation is bothering you as well- "he started as I watched as gulped as he started to look nervous. This only made the burning in my stomach start to slowly intensify, if Ben was getting nervous then maybe this wasn't as good as I hoped. "And I get that you are wanting to spend time with Evie" he added which made me pull one brow up at him. "I understand that" he clarified. "She is your sister" he smiled. "And I would never stop you from doing something that you want to do" he told me happily. "It's just- "he began but stopped himself before pursing his lips together.

"Yeah?" I stated, hoping that this would prompt him.

"Correct me if I'm wrong?" he offered.

"Ok" I answered.

"But I feel like you are hiding how much this situation is actually hurting you" he said quickly before he could stop himself and we both lay in silence as I took in what he had just said. If I was being completely honest, I had mixed feelings on what he had just said to me, I felt as if I was being honest with Ben. But there was also a part of me what wanted to protect him from the severity of my feelings. I didn't think it was going to do him any good knowing that there were times were I just wanted to sit and cry over the fear of losing him. All that was going to do was going to make him more paranoid of how I was responding to our current situation; I felt conflicted. Of course, I was going to tell Ben about how it was affecting me; he was my soul mate, and we didn't have secrets from each other.

Another thought then snuck itself into the forefront of my mind; did Ben think that I stayed over Evie's last night in a bid to avoid him and the fact that we couldn't have unsupervised time together? I really hoped that this wasn't the case! As this wasn't true! It was completely innocent! Evie asked me over to spend time with her and as time got on, she said I could stay over. Not one did the thought 'I want to stay over here to avoid things' ever entered my mind – and I only hoped that Ben was about to believe me.

"I see" I noted. "I guess that I have been doing that" I nodded, and I watched as he sighed. "But you have been doing it as well" I jokingly accused, hoping to make light of the situation. "Trying to put a brave face on it" I was quick to add.

"True" he agreed.

"I don't want you to think that I have stayed over Evie's to avoid you or the situation" I stressed, hoping that he believed me. "I genuinely came here to speak time with my sister" I insisted.

"I know" he answered with a meek smile. "I just don't want you to hide how you are feeling from me" he clarified.

"I won't" I promised as I made the mental note to try and make sure that I was open about my feelings. "As long as you don't" I was quick to add, hoping that Ben wasn't going to try and put a brave face on to try and spare my feelings. However, he never could hide his true feelings from me – as the Beast part of him always gave him away.

"I won't" he promised with my favourite warm and crooked smile.

"Good" I grinned. "Now what are you doing today?" I asked, hoping to move the conversation on so we could both calm down from the recent nervousness that we had both felt.

"Well paperwork" he sighed. "Arranging meetings" he added as he pulled a face that made me giggle at him. "Working through the stuff that I collected on our tour" he continued. "What about you?" he muttered as he yawned at me.

"Well after breakfast I will be coming back home- "I began, and I watched as his eyes lit up at this. I couldn't help but note that just this look of devotion was currently making my stomach start to flutter. I really loved Ben; and no matter what I was determined to be his wife. And when I was determined on something nothing, or no one was going to stop me! I couldn't wait to spend the rest of my life with him; with no one trying to interfere or influence the pair of us – something of which I thought was going to be a very welcome change of pace. "I need to get changed as I have my meeting with Madam Kield at ten" I explained. "Then I don't know" I shrugged. "Probably continue to unpack my things and reset up my painting room" I suggested to myself, however when my mind went onto to large amount of things that I still needed to sort out on my wing I couldn't help but sigh at this.

"Sounds like we both have a busy day" he said.

"Yeah" I answered. "But we will still see each other at some point I'm sure" I reminded him, and I watched as he grinned at this.

"As long as it's supervised" he teased. "We wouldn't want our reputations ruined now would we" he winked at me playfully.

"No, we wouldn't" I giggled at him. The conversation then moved onto our upcoming wedding. I told Ben about what I wrote in one of my sketching pads this morning; and when I admitted that I had done this I saw a large and excited grin spread across my beautiful fiancé's face. He questioned what I had wrote and he lay in silence as I recanted what was in my sketch book. And when I was finished telling him he teased me by saying that I was very eager to marry him. I told him that this was the case; but I then turned it around and told him that he was the same – which he quickly agreed to.

It was at this point where Ben advised that there was a couple of things that he wanted to be in charge of and two of those things were our honeymoon and wedding bands. I told him that that was fine; and I started to eagerly ask whether he had any ideas on these two things and he just simply told me to 'wait and see'.

Ben then questioned whether I wanted to be coronated on our wedding day or on a separate day. I told him that I didn't know what I wanted; in all honesty I wanted our wedding day to be just about me and Ben. This is what mattered to me, not titles. I wanted nothing more in the Kingdom to be Ben's wife and this is the only thing that I wanted. My mind then wandered onto Ben's coronation; and all the hype that went with it. And I didn't know whether this was something that I wanted; and when I told Ben this, we both decided to make this decision at a later time – we did have months to decide this after all!

Ben then advised me that he wanted to arrange a meeting with me; and when I questioned him on this, he said that he wanted to research architects with me. I couldn't stop myself getting excited at this; me and Ben were making plans to set our lives up. I couldn't wait to just spend my life with him, my perfect Beast. This also made my mind wander on what our estate was going to look like – old fashioned or modern. I did know one thing – me and Ben were going to put our own spin on it as it was going to be our family's special space.

My mind then wandered onto that the estate is going to be the primary place where our children was going to grow up. This only put a large grin on my face; yes, it was going to be years into the future but just like being Ben's wife I couldn't wait to be the mother of his children. Yes, this thought was still a bit strange for me to think about – given my upbringing. But I guessed that holding our baby for the first time was going to be something that I was never ever going to forget for as long as I lived. And I believe that this would be the case for any children that me and Ben was going to have together – our perfect little Beast and Dragon puppies. I then teased Ben by saying that he was going to be such a cute husband and father; to which he only returned back to me as he called me his cute wife-to-be. I loved how playful me, and Ben always were with each other; and no doubt this was going to be an undercurrent for the rest of our lives – something of which I knew I never was going to have a problem with.

Our conversation ended after I blew Ben a kiss and I couldn't help but giggle as he playfully pretended to catch it. I then watched as he winked at me before the call ended so we could both go and get ready for our day. I allowed myself to lie for a few seconds as I took in the conversation that I had just shared with Ben. And I couldn't help but note that there was always part of me wishing that time had been on our side a little bit longer; I loved having moments like this with Ben. Yes, they are even better when we were together in person, but even when we were together in person time was always against us, even more if that was possible! I felt like I was always going to be greedy when it came to spending time with Ben; I couldn't get enough of Ben – and in my heart I knew that this was never going to end.