Chapter Three

After her experience, Tia had attempted to leave it behind her. She had wanted to keep the friendships she had made but other than that, she wanted the entire experience to fade over time. It hadn't. She would be looking over meal plans for her restaurant and something would make her think of frog legs, which she never served, or she would feel ill and the cold sweat would make her think of her frog-type body. She had even had nightmares where she had been trapped In that body and Naveen hadn't recognized her.

Still, that meant that she had learned a lot about these amphibians. She knew how their bodies worked, what the best diet was for them, how to keep them as pets. Tia sighed, she would never consider the man who had taught her that hard work actually mixed well with love when you had another person by your side believing in your dream.

She tried to keep her eyes closed a moment more, hoping and crossing her fingers that when she woke up, he would be there and that he wouldn't have left. "Naveen," she whispered as she opened her eyes and gave a half smile that the frog prince was still there despite his reacquired form. She gently placed a finger on his side and saw him roll over, his tiny arms wrapping around it. He was truly in a deep sleep.

"Hi, my love," she said as she gently picked him up and held him to her chest in one hand, the finger on her other hand not leaving his arms. She still loved him despite the form that he was currently in. As she saw his eyes open, he looked at his feet and webbed hands and sighed. He collapsed back dramatically.

"So it wasn't some strange and confusing nightmare," he stated and Tiana shook her head. She pulled him nearer to his heart and Naveen could definitely hear the thumping of his wife's. "Of all the things that could have happened, stuck again in this form."

"You mean the fact that everyone thinks that your dead and your body was left as a corpse," Tia told him and Naveen opened his eyes again to look at her. She was right. He didn't have the abilities he had had when human but he wasn't dead, he could live some type of life with his family and it might even turn out to be a good one.

"Tell me the children do not know about this strange transformation," Naveen sighed and Tiana frowned. She had raised their children to be kind and thoughtful and compassionate young people. The thought of their beloved father dying and no longer being with them was a lot more unkind and hard to deal with than the truth. Tiana had always valued honesty and bravery. This didn't feel like either.

"I think they should but no. They don't," Tiana replied. "You do know that since they don't know what happened to you, they will both think that you are dead. My daddy meant everything to me growing up, he was the person I wanted to share my dreams with, he helped me cook and knew how to help me be proud of my achievements. When he died, learning that he had died, it was too painful for me to imagine but if Mama had come to me and said that Papa was in a stray cat or a bird or even a frog, I would've done anything I could to give my Papa a good life, especially if he could still communicate with me."

"You're wrong," Naveen argued, "the children won't want anything to do with me if they see me like this, if they see me less than I was, less than human."

"You have to let them decide on how they view you but trust me," Tiana winked to him. "It'll be a lot better than you think."

Tiana placed Naveen down on a side table before standing up. She walked over to where the adjoining bathroom was to their room so she didn't need to get out into the hallway. She yawned and gave him one last look, "I love you," she said and he stared at her, taking a huge gulp of air. Did he really have the bravery that it took to tell his children the truth without their reactions completely crushing him.

….

….

"I don't feel well," Nathaniel told his sister as he came into her room. Neither of them had been able to get much sleep. Nathaniel still felt the pain from his experience and had had many people tell him that he could have easily died. He didn't remember much of what happened but he felt better now. It was as if he had a cold but it didn't hurt in the same way.

Aurelia reached out to hold her brother close to her. She could feel how his body was trembling and she took her blanket, wrapping it around both of them. "Me too," she said and Nathaniel looked to her in a frightened manner. "I'm scared too," she tried to reassure her younger brother. "But Pap always tries to be positive and Mama said that throwing yourself into a project is good to keep your mind busy."

"I wish Papa would tell us a story," Nathaniel sobbed. It always made him feel better when he told Naveen he wasn't feeling well because his father would pull out his guitar, spend a few moments away from his piles of work, and would tell him a story or sing a song to make it better. The words which they had both recently overheard about their father couldn't be true.

"The sun's coming up," Aurelia said before standing up from the bed and grabbed her brother's hand. "Let's go see them," she told him and Nathaniel nodded.

Despite being told that it was polite to knock and announce yourself, Aurelia didn't bother to do that as she went into her parents' room. It was organized apart from a couple of handkerchiefs. Of course their mother had been crying. She always cried when Papa wasn't there and she felt lonely. Papa didn't know that though.

"What's that?" Nathaniel pointed at Naveen and the two children crossed to the table that Naveen was on as he stared at them with wide eyes. His kids didn't know that he was a frog. They wouldn't be seeing him, they'd be seeing some type of "gross animal." He wondered whether he should explain as Tiana had said or hop away.

"It's a little frog," Aurelia said before poking Naveen who didn't know how to respond to that. She pulled her finger away, "It's all slimy."

Actually, Naveen thought to himself as he watched the two of them. It's not slime, it's mucous. He looked down, thinking about hopping away. Maybe escape was a better plan. It certainly felt like a better plan right now. As he was about to hop away, he felt Nathaniel's hands grab him and his eyes widened. Should he speak? His son was clutching him rather tightly.

"Let's feed it to kitty," the little boy said and Aurelia smiled.

"Yeah, kitty likes to eat frogs," she told her brother before seeing her mother there with a couple of towel's wrapped around her. She was squeezing out the water from her hair when she grabbed a robe and came over to the two of them.

"You will not do any such thing," she told them. She sat on the bed and reached a hand out in Nathaniel's direction. He pouted but handed her Naveen and Tiana checked over his body for any bruising or injuries he might have before setting him on her lap. "This is my frog. Our frog," she said as she gently stroked the top of Naveen's head. "We're to take care of him, not grab him, and definitely not feed him to other animals. I just wish I…"

"It's all right," Naveen said feeling defeated. Tiana let her fingers stroke his back again.

"Mr. Frog just spoke," Nathaniel gasped and Tia nodded again. She gently picked Naveen up and set him on her shoulder and away from where he could be grabbed.

"You two know about the magic that exists in this world, the magic that hurt you, yesterday," she said as she turned to Nathaniel. The two of them nodded. "Well, your father went to try to get the medicine to make you feel better but he had to offer them something so that they could trade."

"Trade?" Aurelia asked before blinking back tears, "Is it true? Is Papa…gone?"

"Papa's gone?" Nathaniel sniffled and Naveen could see how upset they were. He moved closer to Tiana's neck as he looked at his family. He really didn't want to make them feel this way.

"No," Naveen replied and both of the children looked at him as he spoke. He sighed. "The man who hurt you, Nathaniel, has turned me into a frog. We weren't going to say anything but…your mother convinced me. Please know that even though I am a frog, I still love you two very very much."

"So," Tiana finished for him, "Papa can't protect us the way that he used to, he's much more powerless than when he was human so we've got to protect him and that means that we have to keep him from being fed to cats or suffocated by grabbing him too hard."

Aurelia held out her cupped hands towards Tiana and Naveen nervously jumped into them. Aurelia lifted her hands so she could kiss the frog's head. She very gently brought him to her chest. "I love you too, Papa," she sniffed and Tiana felt a wash of relief flow over her that she was right about this. "I always love you."

"Me too, me too," Nathaniel said quickly and Naveen felt a warmth in the room. He just hoped that his family would continue to protect him, continue to love and accept him.

"We need to keep this private to protect Papa," Tiana told them and both children nodded sensing how serious the situation was. Nothing was powerful enough to pull their Papa away from them.

End of Chapter Three

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Thank you to the reviewer of Chapter Two

ThickBlackGirl