Chapter 17 – The Fall, The Rise

WARNING – verbal abuse in the first scene. Just an expectedly awful person being expectedly awful.

WARNING – threat of severe violence in the first scene, along with some minor, non-graphic assault.

-:-:-

The world seemed to settle around Chad slowly, white noise fading out until it was only the sound of his harsh breathing pounding in his ears. Ben's panicked voice seemed to dig into his subconscious, the other prince sounding wrecked at the prospect of Chad fixing what he'd done.

That had always been the plan, though. He was always going to fix it; it had always been temporary, just- he wished it hurt less. He wished his chest didn't feel so painful, everything tense and shuddering and his heart pounding at a furious speed. He wished he had more to show for his wishes than an empty book in a small, dark library, but there he was.

She'd always known he would change it back. That was why there wasn't a cost. She'd realized Chad would figure out the grievous cost of his stupid, petty wish and work to undo it, likely because she controlled the threads of fate or whatever, but that was- Chad couldn't focus on that. There were more important things that required his attention, like how to move forward. He was back at ground zero, all the friendships he'd made, the legislature he'd worked on – all of it was gone. The world was back to being a mess and Chad was still alone, and his dad was still alone, and there was no one out there to love him.

Well, love wasn't the solution to every problem. Love wouldn't fix him as a person, he just- he wanted, was all. He was greedy. If this trip had proved anything, it was how greedy he was.

Chad swallowed, his throat feeling rough and dry as he fumbled for the instruction book splayed out on the table. It was opened up to the last page, just as it'd been when Chad had left it. He still had the cut on the back of his hand too, but that he ignored while he shoved the book in his satchel. That left him with the empty spell book, the one he and his grandfather had worked so hard to create and Chad… he didn't know what to do. He should burn it, probably – do something to erase it from existence. He should probably do the same thing with the instruction book, or at least turn it over to Fairy Godmother-

"Chadwick," a voice – his grandfather's harsh voice – spoke up from behind him, and Chad whirled to see the duke standing at the entrance to the secret library, holding what could only be another bag of Chad's blood.

It had been a long time since Chad had seen the duke, and he wasn't used to dealing with him anymore, not when he'd been free of the man's toxic clutches for almost a year now. He barely registered the duke's gaze shifting to the empty book in his hands because of this, and it didn't take long for the man to connect the dots, his lips pulling back in a sneer when he realized what had happened.

"What did you do?" the duke snarled, hand tensing around the top of his cane. "You stupid boy, what did you do?"

"It was an accident," Chad said, clutching the empty book to his chest and using it to hide the way he reached for his phone, the prince starting a video recording because he was afraid of how this conversation would go, and his grandfather had already proven to have no love for him. "I wanted to help you finish it and then the spell activated-"

"What did you do?" the duke repeated, his face beginning to heat with anger.

"Why did you even have this?" Chad asked. "Did you know what it could do? What it would cost?"

"Of course I knew," the duke spat. "And it would have been a small price to pay to correct your father's mistakes. Now, where did you put the other book?"

"I burned it," Chad lied, still reeling at his grandfather's casual disregard for his wellbeing, and he shouldn't, he knew he shouldn't because the man had hated him enough to brainwash him in the other universe, but Chad had thought- he'd hoped- "Nothing like that should exist. I was just coming back for this one-"

"You stupid boy!" the Duke snarled, tossing the blood bag aside and leveraging his cane like a weapon. "Do you have any idea what you've done? You've undone years of work because your feeble mind had the audacity to think. As though you were qualified for such a thing! As though you have ever been more than a hindrance to the name of Sardinia! You and your whore mother – at least she had the decency to die, but you-"

"Stop," Chad said, proud of how firm he was able to make his voice even though a certain heat was beginning to build behind his eyes. "Stop, grandfather – we're not doing this anymore. I'm not going to let you abuse me-"

"Abuse?" the duke spat through a laugh, his lips pulled back into a rueful grin. "You think this is abuse? This is the truth, Chadwick. This is honesty, because I will be true to you in a way few others will ever be. You are a blight on this family, a waste of royal breeding, and you will never amount to anything. I will do everything in my power to ensure that you never ascend the throne because the truth is, you will never be adequately prepared for it. You're too weak. You're too stupid. You're needy and desperate when you should be strong and resolute."

"And whose fault is that?" Chad snapped, tears beginning to burn in his eyes. "You spent my entire life pushing me to the side, locking me away instead of teaching me-"

"Why would I teach worthless rabble like you?" the duke snarled. "Look at you- every inch your mother's son. She ruined our bloodline, made you – an insult to the James' family tree! You were doomed for failure the moment you were brought into this world, and every fumbling action you've taken since then has proven it. And if that didn't, this certainly did." He held his cane at the ready, making Chad tense. "Now have some dignity and accept your punishment like a man."

"No," Chad said, his body beginning to tremble under the onslaught of his grandfather's open hate. "I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not going to let you hit me anymore."

"You're a fool, Chadwick," his grandfather murmured, one hand reaching into the pocket of his jacket. "Thinking you have a choice in the matter."

With that, he leveled what Chad could only describe as a sort of taser in Chad's direction, activating it before Chad had a chance to respond. A sharp blast hit Chad square in the chest, making his entire body feel numb, everything seeming to act on a three second delay. Chad slumped towards the table in front of him, and with what little control he had left, he tucked his phone into his sleeve so his grandfather wouldn't see it.

"I always knew someday you'd make this difficult," the duke's voice drawled from behind him, all the warning Chad got before the knobbed top of the cane thwacked into his side. "Figured with the way you interacted with those disgusting Isle children. The stupid imbeciles filling your head with thoughts of revolution." There was another hit to Chad's shoulder, his legs, making Chad grunt with each blow. "I'm not the bad guy, Chadwick. Your own ineptitude is your enemy, and I loathe wasting time punishing you over such an unavoidable thing, but here we are."

He was focusing on Chad's sides, catching his hand at some point before moving to strike his rear as insult to injury.

"And don't even think of reporting this," his grandfather continued, grunting between blows. "Or I'll frame it so that you were trying to cover up for some bike accident or something. Thought it would be less embarrassing to blame your grandfather than accept responsibility for your actions. That sounds like something despicable you would do. Or perhaps your father did this-"

"N-No," Chad croaked, tears beginning to leak from the corners of his eyes.

"-but you're covering for him because you're afraid of him," the Duke continued. "How would you like that, Chadwick? For your whining to get your father put into that new penal system King Benjamin is creating? I would have to step up as king again, and the first thing I'd do would be to remove you from our kingdom's history. You'd be disowned and banished and cut off without a cent, all because you couldn't take a beating like the lowlife you are."

Chad was crying weakly now, couldn't help it from the pain and the bitter hate his grandfather spilled, even if he'd already known how much the duke hated him.

Eventually, the duke stopped hitting him, trailing off with a few desperate heaves as he gasped for air. "I should burn you," he rumbled, reaching forward to dig his fingers into Chad's hair, yanking on it until the curls threatened to be pulled out entirely. "I could do it now. I could leave you, helpless like this, to watch as the fire slowly came towards you. I should let it burn your skin until you've lost that beauty your mother gave you, the one that bewitches innocent men."

He pulled Chad's head back, watching him cry somewhat pitifully before he released him carelessly, letting Chad's face thump painfully down against the table.

"No," he said, seeming to calm down somewhat. "I'll be sensible. You can still be of some use to us. We'll marry you off to someone you've won over with your looks and empty charm – Audrey, preferably, but if she wises up we'll find someone else, maybe one of the Southern Isles princes whose bed you can warm, and then you could do Sardinia proud. Use your innate whorishness to win us political allies." A thump, and Chad knew his cane had resettled on the ground as a sort of punctuation for the statement. "Do that, and we'll leave all this unpleasantness behind us. Perhaps I could arrange for you and your father to have dinner together. Wouldn't you like that?"

"Y-Yes," Chad croaked, squeezing his eyes shut as a thorough humiliation washed over him. "I'd- I'd like that."

"Then we'll consider this matter settled," the duke declared. "You'll return your attentions to Princess Audrey and never enter this room again, do you hear me? Never, Chadwick. There are some things beyond your realm of understanding. Anything done in here is one of them."

"Sorry, grandpa," Chad mumbled, his lips feeling clumsy.

"That's Duke Francis to you," his grandfather sniffed. "Can you see yourself out, or will you have to embarrass yourself in front of Captain Anozie?"

"I can- I'll do it," Chad murmured. "When I- after I-"

"Remember not to let your injuries show," the duke reminded him. "It would make Sardinia look weak."

With that, the duke left Chad, though the blond didn't dare breathe until he was sure he heard the secret door shut behind him. It was only then that he gave into his tears, helplessly sobbing against the table as much as his frozen body would allow. It was astounding, the depths of his grandfather's cruel nature, but this was- it was the last time. The therapist Chad had seen in the other world let him know that much. It was the last time, and Chad was strong enough to stop it from happening again.

He just- he needed to wait for his body to get back under his control.

Then he would move on.

-:-:-

It took about fifteen minutes for Chad to regain control of himself, though he ended the video recording a bit before that, moving in awkward shifts so he could cry without witness until his body was his once more. Even here, his grandfather found a way to steal his mobility, but that- that was the last time. Chad decided, then and there, it was the last time.

He was still injured by the time he righted himself, but Chad was used to his grandfather's beatings. It was a familiar thing to gather his bearings, grabbing the empty book on a whim and shoving that into his bag and then, on another whim, adding the bloody quill, empty blood pot, and the abandoned blood bag as well before he limped out of the small library. He used the secret passageways to get back to his room and hastily packed a bag of what he deemed to be the essentials. After that, it was a matter of making himself seem slightly presentable. It was a struggle to wash off his face with his injured hand, but he managed. He slid on a soft brace to protect his hand as much as he could before he dug through his drawers and located the one set of fingerless gloves he had. He'd gotten them as a show of solidarity for Jay, something to give his support to his Isle fashion, but the Agraben had laughed at him the one time Chad had tried to wear them. They'd lived in the back of his dresser ever since, but at least now they could cover the dark bruises forming on his hand.

With that, Chad used the secret passageways once more to get down to the castle's private garage. He used one of the extra cars from the motor pool instead of his own because it was something he'd never done before, and his grandfather likely wouldn't notice its tracking beacon being deactivated when he seemed to do that so often himself for his own nefarious deeds, Chad assumed.

To be safe, he took a path that aimed him towards Auroria, towards Audrey, until he safely exited Sardinia's borders. Only then did he take the long loop back towards Central Auradon. The trip took most of the night, and Chad was conscious of the texts Audrey occasionally sent his phone. He couldn't remember how he'd left her. He was sure her room was clean, but he vaguely remembered her mentioning something about him staying until she returned. She was likely mad that he hadn't and was expressing that but Chad just- he had no time for Audrey, not when they didn't seem compatible in any version of reality, even the one he magically wished for.

It was late by the time he pulled up to a familiar cottage, one he had stared at longingly from a distance but never braved approaching until he'd created another world. Like many things, that ended tonight. He gave himself a few minutes to brace himself in the driveway before he forced himself to get out of the car, his accumulated aches and pains seeming to bear down on him with a special sort of weight now that the rush of adrenaline was mostly over. His ankle protested each hobbling step he made towards the door, and he knew the house was dark but he had to- he couldn't- this needed to be done now. He didn't have it in him to push it off. He didn't have it in him to wait. The therapist he no longer technically had said it was important to address these things before they could blossom into something worse – or, Chad was paraphrasing, but that was essentially what she said, and he wanted to honor that, but mostly, he wanted to stop hurting.

So he rang the doorbell, and waited.

It took maybe ten minutes and another doorbell ring for the door to finally open, revealing a confused Fairy Godmother wrapped in a prim dressing gown.

"Chadwick?" she asked, her brows furrowed in confusion as she took in the swaying prince. "Are you alright?"

"Um- no," Chad said, and to her credit, she didn't hesitate to herd him inside, to lock the door behind him and usher him into the living room. "I stood up to my grandfather," he explained as he more or less collapsed on her couch. "It didn't go well."

"Chad," she said carefully, looking him over with a concerned expression. "I need you to tell me what happened."

"Here." Chad pressed his phone into her hand, the video cued up to where his grandfather got especially aggressive. "I think this speaks for itself."

"You stupid boy!" the Duke's voice rang from the phone, making Fairy Godmother jerk back in surprise. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

As horrible as it had been to experience the conversation, it was sort of worse watching Fairy Godmother listen to it, her eyes going wide and teary when she heard Chad begin to break, crying out with every hit of his grandfather's cane.

When it was finally over, her wrecked expression pinned Chad in place, small tears pouring from the corners of her eyes. "Oh, Chadwick."

"I wasn't sure where to go," Chad admitted. "My dad has enough to deal with as it is."

And he hadn't actually talked to Chad in years, so that was just another issue, really.

"I'll call the Inspector's office," Fairy Godmother said, Chad relaxing now that she was taking charge. "And Benjamin. He'll need to be notified-"

"No," Chad said, knowing his voice was too sharp, too desperate, but not having it in him to do anything else. "No, um- Duke Adam can rule over this stuff, can't he? As former king? Since my grandfather's not a king anymore, it wouldn't- it would be unfair for him to um- oversee the case."

Fairy Godmother blinked at him, seeming surprised, but eventually nodded. "Okay," she said. "I'll call Duke Adam."

Chad didn't want to see the old version of Ben anytime soon. He didn't want him to know how pathetic Chad was, but mostly, Chad didn't want to see someone he was so thoroughly in love with who would forever be so unreachable to him. The mere prospect of it hurt too much.

Fairy Godmother likely thought Chad would be too embarrassed for his supposed peer to learn about his trauma, and in that instance, she was entirely correct. Chad didn't have any intention of elaborating. Things were hard enough as it was.

The evening passed in somewhat of a blur. Duke Adam and the inspector met Chad and Fairy Godmother at a private clinic where Chad was looked over by a doctor. The inspector – Detective Basil again, who always seemed to be in charge of Chad's issues – took a copy of the doctor's findings and a download of Chad's video, along with the prince's statement of what happened. There was also the matter for how long this had been going on, and Chad tried not to elaborate on things that he had no proof for, but the detective (as well as Duke Adam and Fairy Godmother) were adamant about receiving all previously listed abuse.

So Chad told them about getting locked into closets and belittled and ignored and sometimes beaten, but he didn't have any proof for that-

"There's always someone," Detective Basil had interrupted him. "Someone who saw something and hoped they were wrong. If this has been going on for this long, there's a trail of evidence, and I'm going to find it."

"In the meantime, we have enough to put in a warrant for your grandfather's arrest," Duke Adam rumbled. "Would you prefer we be discreet?"

"Please," Chad murmured. "And I- I don't know how my dad will take this…"

The duke's gaze softened. "We'll break it to him," he said gently. "Belle and I."

Because she was alive again. Because she was safe.

"It will be okay, Chadwick," Fairy Godmother said, giving Chad's shoulder a light squeeze.

"Throughout the course of this investigation, I grant temporary guardianship of Chadwick to you, Fairy Godmother," Duke Adam said, the fairy nodding her understanding.

Chad frowned. "I'm eighteen, though. I don't need a guardian."

"For a matter such as this, you need family support," Duke Adam said. "And I'm beginning to realize now that you don't have it."

It was a casual comment, not meant to be cruel.

That didn't stop Chad from tearing up, a pointed shame and humiliation growing in his chest.

"Chadwick," Fairy Godmother gushed, moving to pull him into a hug. "That wasn't your fault, sweetling. That's ours. We're the ones that failed you."

"Just- I tried," Chad sniffed, the words coming out in a croak. "I tried to be a good prince. I tried to make him proud. I did try, I promise."

"I don't doubt it, sweetheart," Fairy Godmother said, sounding on the verge of tears. "But there are some people whose hearts will never know happiness no matter what you do. Duke Francis is one such person, and he caused you a great deal of harm because of it."

With that, Chad could only hopelessly sob against her shoulder, his chest hurting with bruised ribs and the force of his cries but he couldn't stop, because he was back to reality now, this was the hand he had truly been dealt.

At least he was moving forward. At least he wouldn't have to speak to the Duke again.

At least, he hoped.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Fairy Godmother soothed, beginning to rock him gently. "It's going to be okay. You're a great prince for Sardinia, and he isn't going to hurt you anymore."

"Never again," Duke Adam rumbled, and it was so close to Ben's solemn pledges – his Ben, the one that had pretended to be his boyfriend and doted on Chad because he thought he was special – that it made Chad sob harder, because that was truly gone.

Still, they didn't judge him, and for that, Chad could only be thankful.

-:-:-

They settled into an odd routine over the next couple of days. Chad wasn't used to living in such close quarters with someone who wasn't Ben, and there was nothing to disguise Fairy Godmother's house as something other than a home, filled with pictures and art projects and homemade blankets on the couches. It was so pointedly domestic that Chad couldn't help but feel out of place.

It was fortunate that Jane was staying over at Evie's cottage under the guise of helping the others with the refugee relief programs. In truth, she was likely doing that, but with the added bonus of getting to spend time with her boyfriend on a regular basis while Fairy Godmother pointedly looked the other way.

"She's eighteen now," Fairy Godmother had informed Chad when she ushered him past Jane's empty room. "I trust her."

Chad wished someone trusted him, but he intimately understood why they didn't.

Chad was settled into a guestroom that despite being mostly empty still felt just as cozy as the rest of the cottage. Maybe it was just Fairy Godmother's latent magic. Maybe she couldn't help but make a place feel like a home.

Detective Basil advised Chad to lay low for a few days after they arrested his grandfather, and compounded with the doctor's orders to take things easy, it wasn't hard for Chad to relegate himself to Fairy Godmother's home. Fairy Godmother, of course, still had summer school at Auradon Prep to attend to – still had council sessions she had to sit in on so she was constantly busy, leaving Chad with a sympathetic expression every time she had to walk out the door.

"I could take some paid time off," she murmured, twisting her hands together. "Call in the vice principal to oversee the summer programs and recuse myself from the council sessions-"

"I'll be okay, Fairy Godmother," Chad assured her. "I'm mostly resting anyway. Very boring stuff."

"Still," she said, biting at her bottom lip. "Are you sure there isn't anyone you'd like me to call?"

They both knew very well that Chad didn't have anyone else in the entire world, that if he had, he wouldn't have come to her, the woman who had been forced to treat him with neutral detachment during school in order to avoid any shows of favoritism. Her connection with Chad's mother was unquestionable, but Chad himself was an afterthought in the life of Fairy Godmother, and that had reflected in her daughter's treatment of him.

"I'm good," Chad soothed instead. "I'll check in with Captain Anozie later."

"If you're sure," Fairy Godmother said, but there wasn't time to cater to feelings when one had civic obligations, and Chad understood that better than most.

It left him alone in Fairy Godmother's cottage more often than not, but Chad was okay with that.

At least, for the first day. Then the latent call of mess-mess-mess started tugging at his peripherals. Even though Fairy Godmother's house was cozy, even if it was nice, it could still stand to be cleaner, right? She wouldn't mind if Chad helped out. There was nothing wrong with sweeping floors or vacuuming rugs or dusting. Nothing wrong with a little organization – it was always best to alphabetize books so you could find them, and the kitchen floor needed scrubbing and on second thought the kitchen provided a wealth of lovely distractions for Chad. There were dishes to do and counters to scrub and cabinets to polish and an oven to clean. Chad cleaned out the fridge too because sometimes people forgot to do that stuff, and Fairy Godmother was just as fallible as the rest of them and couldn't help but have moldy, forgotten food shoved to the back of her fridge.

Chad was in the process of wiping down the windows over the kitchen sink when Fairy Godmother came home that second day, not that Chad noticed her immediately, too absorbed in his task.

"Chad?" she spoke up, her brows furrowed in concern. "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

"The windows were dirty," Chad said, half-distracted. "So I cleaned them."

Not all of them, not yet, but he'd get there. He had time.

Her lips pulled into a frown, one that deepened when she looked back over her shoulder towards the living room. "Did you clean the whole house?"

"Not yet," Chad said. "Just the kitchen and living room."

He still needed to polish all the photo frames, dust around the artwork hung up on the walls. People didn't check the ceilings for dust and cobwebs all that often, but Chad did. It was important to look up. Important for the entire room to look nice.

"Did you eat lunch?"

"What?" Chad blinked, pulling his focus from the stubborn smudge under his rag. He would make it go away. The window would be spotless. It would be a clean room, worthy of Fairy Godmother.

"Did you eat?" Fairy Godmother repeated, making Chad draw his brows together in thought.

"I forgot," he replied honestly. "But that's okay, I'll um- make up for it with dinner." He paused, torn between stopping his work and making the smudge go away. "Sorry, I forgot to make dinner, I'll get on that-"

"Chad, I'll make dinner," Fairy Godmother said, setting her purse down. "You'll go upstairs and rest."

"But-"

"Now, please," Fairy Godmother said, walking over and gently removing the rag from his hand. "Chad, you don't owe me anything for staying here. You're my guest and you will stay my guest whether you clean or not."

"But-" Chad wavered, uncertain. His body ached from how hard he had been pushing it, from going up and down and scrubbing floors and bending low to dust hard to reach places. "You deserve a clean house, though."

If you had a clean space, you couldn't be bad. And people didn't think you were bad if you cleaned, because then you were helpful. Everyone liked helpful people.

"I appreciate that," Fairy Godmother said, making Chad's shoulders slump with relief. "But you deserve to rest. You're not staying here just to be my servant."

"I just- I wanted to help," Chad said, curling an arm around his aching ribs. "I can be helpful, Fairy Godmother – and I like cleaning." Sort of. At the very least, he knew he could do no wrong with it. "What if I took it easy tomorrow? And remembered to eat lunch? I could make a schedule."

"We'll figure something out," Fairy Godmother said instead of dismissing Chad out of hand, which was a greater gift than he would ever know. "Now, why don't you go run a bath while I throw something together for dinner? I was thinking pasta."

"Pasta's nice," Chad said, because he still wasn't used to other people cooking for him here, let alone Fairy Godmother.

The bath helped. It helped that it was in Fairy Godmother's modest guest tub instead of the grand one in the prince's suite at Auradon Prep. Chad was so tired he couldn't even get sad that Ben wasn't there to share it with him, couldn't even consider the energy to get aroused over stupid memories he never should have accumulated in the first place.

His body let its protests be known when he finally dragged himself out of the tub, his narrowminded focus of cleaning fading away until he was left with lingering strain. He showered off quickly, despairing at the long length of his hair all over again before he slathered himself in the ointments the doctor had given him before tugging on his Swords and Shields sweatpants and the hoody Jay had left in his locker at the end of the school year that Chad had filched for himself, but only when it was obvious Jay wasn't going to come back for it.

It didn't smell like him or anything, it was just nice to pretend that maybe he'd given it to Chad on purpose.

He had to slip his hand brace back on since he'd overworked himself before he eventually meandered back towards the kitchen, eyes automatically drawn to the stubborn smudge on the window, his fingers itching to get back to work.

"Good timing!" Fairy Godmother chirped, herding Chad straight into a chair at the kitchen table, as though reading his mind. "I just finished dinner."

"I could set the table," Chad offered, fingers twisting into the sleeve of Jay's hoody.

"You will hydrate," Fairy Godmother said, nudging a glass of water towards him pointedly. "I will set the table."

He knew that firm voice better than any others, so he didn't argue with her, doing his best to down his glass of water as fast as he could, mostly to prove that he was capable of following orders. Sometimes.

Despite this, Fairy Godmother's smile was still a bit pinched when she refilled his glass, but then she was setting a plate of meaty pasta in front of him with garlic bread and salad and Chad remembered he was actually hungry. He'd sort of forgotten about that.

They ate in a comfortable silence, Chad doing everything in his power not to scarf down his meal – to eat like a refined gentleman and not get sauce all over his face. Fairy Godmother seemed mostly lost in thought, though her attention came back to him about halfway through the meal.

"I got a call from Duchess Belle while I was making dinner," she chirped out of the blue, aiming a fond grin towards Chad. "You know, she's been juggling a whole host of events due to the recent removal of the barrier. Fundraising to help with the relief programs along with the regular high society meetings to comfort the elite's anxiety towards some maintenance of the status quo, activities for the Isle refugees – stuff like that."

"Oh." Chad blinked, because while he'd been aware of such things going on, he hadn't known Duchess Belle was in charge of them. "I didn't know that."

"Me either, I'll be honest," she chirped, making Chad's shoulders relax. "But she was calling to see if I was interested in helping with any of the planning aspects. Can you imagine it? Bibbidi Bobbidi me?"

As she did every time she used her magic words in what seemed to be nonsensical context, Chad smiled, because unlike Jane he thought it was hilarious.

"I had to turn her down, of course," Fairy Godmother continued, cutting into her pasta in neat movements. "I'm much too busy for such a thing, but you know a thing or two about party planning, don't you, Chadwick?"

"Um- sort of," Chad allowed, because while he'd been willingly invited to few parties, he'd gotten a handle for running events and planning back when he was the prince of everything.

"Maybe you could help her then!" Fairy Godmother cheered. "She told me a lot of the work is just calling to get quotes from different vendors and then organizing those different vendors into a nice schedule. Once you have the bones of the party in place, you can pass them off to Cogsworth to actually run the thing."

"I could do that," Chad said, wrapping his head around it. "Do you think she'd mind?"

"I think she'd be delighted to have your help," Fairy Godmother murmured, seeming pleased by his cooperation. "You brought your laptop, right? With that, you can do most of your work from bed!" She looked back down at her food with a happy little hum. "Oh, the wonders of technology."

Belatedly, Chad realized what she wanted. She was trying to keep him occupied so he wouldn't overwork himself again. He supposed it was sweet for her to think about him, he just wished he could have proven he was capable of taking care of himself without her interference.

"I'll do it, then," Chad said, because Fairy Godmother had already done so much for him. He couldn't make things harder on her than they already were. And this way, he was still helping. "Do you have her contact information?"

"I'll get it for you after dinner," Fairy Godmother said, her eyes seeming to sparkle with pleasure.

He supposed if this made her happy, he wasn't going to argue it. At least he was being useful. At least that was something.

So he offered her a bright grin and went back to digging into his pasta, wondering how Jane could ever think to pass something like this up when Chad had longed for something similar for most of his life.

There was no point dwelling on it. He could only appreciate what he had while he had it and move on. Such was life.

-:-:-

Endnotes:

Remembered to update today since last time ended on a cliffhanger. Hope this answers some of your questions!

Story notes:

I don't know if I've specified it in this fic yet, but I got the name Francis from the live action Cinderella adaptation 'Ever After'. It's good business, if you've never seen it before. I highly recommend it.

Until next time