Chapter 18 – Making a Plan

-:-:-

Nights were hard.

The first night wasn't because Chad had been wracked up on pain medication, exhausted from transforming the world back the way it should be, which allowed him to promptly pass out on top of the guest bed Fairy Godmother had given him.

The second night was harder, because Chad didn't have that adrenaline crash to pull him under, leaving him consciously aware of the lack of Ben curled against his back. Chad was alone, just as he'd been before, just as he would be again. He wasn't sure why his chest felt so empty over it, or why his mind felt compelled to replay Ben's distraught begging just as he was on the brink of unconsciousness, like lady fate herself knew it was salt in the wound.

Like most things, Chad just assumed he was being stupid. It seemed like the most probable answer.

-:-:-

Fairy Godmother saw that Chad was set up with a lap desk and a bounty of snacks, pillows, bottled drinks, and blankets before she left him the next day, going so far as to press a kiss against the top of his head.

"Lunch at twelve," she reminded him. "I left a sandwich and some fruit for you in the fridge."

Chad felt his cheeks heat with embarrassment. "That really wasn't necessary."

"It's my pleasure, Chadwick," she simply chirped before she fluttered off to work in the early hours of the morning.

Chad sighed, deciding to take her hint and allowing himself to laze in bed for most of the morning, as much as it grated against him, as he set about the task of party planning. He coordinated with Duchess Belle's assistant more than her (which was good actually, he might cry if he had to face the woman he'd accidentally killed in his world-changing wish). Her assistant was happy for his help, however, with the number of events that had been springing up and Ben's requests for more increasing daily, they could take assistance from anywhere they could get it. With Ben, Mal, Uma, and Evie focusing on actually forming the relief programs for the refugees, it was Duchess Belle's job to take care of the more extraneous things that might seem like indulgences but were actually quite important.

For royals, it was vital to keep your upper class happy because they were the ones that ended up paying the most taxes. They were the ones whose money would pay to enact necessary changes, so it was important to keep them feeling included and important – which was why there were so many balls and exclusive garden parties and charity get togethers in the first place.

Duchess Belle's assistant was more than happy to throw a perfunctory ball set to take place in a couple of weeks Chad's way. They must really be falling behind if they didn't have that one worked out yet.

Whatever, Chad had attended enough high society events that he knew how they worked. He perused the list of approved vendors the duchess' assistant had forwarded and got to work obtaining quotes and seeing who was available at the requested date. Those with the best options were forwarded to the castle's security team to check over any new employees or developments with old ones before Chad moved on to tackle the beast that was the seating chart. That in itself took up most of his morning – Chad reviewing past charts with the public profiles of each of the guests and their known associates before he got to the task of actually arranging the people who had RSVPed. Seating charts were a delicate art – because there were always imaginary slights to be perceived based on who was placed where and certain people couldn't be near others and to have petty grudges ignored created a feeling of ill will towards the hosts and-

It was all tedious and stupid but it was Chad's project, damnit, and he would do it to the best of his ability.

He broke for lunch long enough to scarf down his sandwich and finally clean away that splotch on the window (as well as touch up some of the living room) before he threw himself back into the grind. Flower arrangements, music selections for the band, draperies. Which batch of cloth napkins needed to be selected so they could be washed and ironed and sent to the prepping area – which was the same treatment all the plates, silverware, and cups would need to receive. That was disregarding parking and security, which also needed to be organized, the vendor schedule as well as the event schedule as well as the cleanup schedule, and by the time Fairy Godmother appeared to drag him down to dinner, Chad wasn't even half finished.

"You're not going to plan a ball all in one day," Fairy Godmother chided, even though she was smiling as she urged Chad down the stairs. "These things take time. Now, I picked up Imperial City food for dinner, so I hope you're ready for more noodles."

"Always," Chad said, maybe eating a bit faster than normal so he could get back to work.

His quest was foiled when Fairy Godmother requested he watch a movie with her after dinner, and the two of them spent the next few hours winding yarn skeins into balls for knitting while they caught up on some work of cinematography Chad had never seen before.

"Jane and I used to watch this all the time!" Fairy Godmother cheered, a hint of sorrow in her gaze despite her wide smile. "I'm glad I get to share it with you."

"Me too," Chad said, and for once, it wasn't even a lie.

-:-:-

Chad did such good work with the ball he was soon promoted to high tea, and then the frazzled assistant broke down and called him with a hint of hysteria edging into her tone.

"He wants us to throw a celebration for the Isle refugee children," she explained. "But won't elaborate on what kind of celebration they want or what their expectations would be. You've talked to VKs before, right? Do you know what they'd want?"

"I can take care of this one," Chad said, throat tight, and he could swear the woman let out a distinct whimper of relief.

While Chad was by no means an expert on the VKs, he at least had a solid understanding of what they'd be looking for and what the kids would expect. He designed the party to be held out on the castle grounds, where they could appreciate the lush greenery and wouldn't feel overwhelmed by the inherent grandeur of the castle ballroom. These were kids that, until very recently, had been fighting tooth and nail to survive, so they likely wouldn't want anything too terribly structured. No formal sit-down dinners for them.

Still, he arranged for waiters to walk the gathering with an abundant selection of foods that – while not entirely familiar – were simple enough to be appealing. After all, everyone liked meat and bread, everyone liked cheese, everyone enjoyed fresh fruits and vegetables – so meat pies and cheese puffs and fruit tarts were a definite must. He wanted the kids to feel worthy of being catered to, but still arranged for an abundance of buffet tables for those that didn't feel comfortable talking to foreign adults. Multiple tables would keep any of the VKs holding onto old behaviors from hoarding any of the snacks, but he still made a note for the event security to keep an eye out for such things, and if they found it, to inform one of the Core Four about it rather than address it themselves. Delegating was important.

Chad arranged for a portable dancefloor to be brought in to preserve the grounds, claimed a scenic spot by the lake to host the event. He cut the decorations down to what he thought would have the most impact – strings of lights and lanterns floating in the trees to make things seem more mystical. He was sure to bring in plenty of outdoor furniture so the kids could have places to hide away if they were feeling overwhelmed, and even threw in a few photobooths since not all the refugees had access to updated technology yet. They deserved pictures commemorate their evening, they deserved to have a good time.

He didn't include a chocolate fountain. He'd already learned from Jay and Carlos at Parents Day that having such a thing would only ask for trouble. Instead he kept all the food pre-portioned and relatively bite-sized, and after that, called it a day.

He arranged for a DJ rather than a band, though he made one exception. He remembered Gil waxing poetic about the misfit band of earnest musicians that would play in the Chip Shoppe every once and a while, and using their descriptions, Chad managed to get one of Duchess Belle's assistant's assistants (the second assistant? Junior assistant? Chad didn't know how it worked) to track down the shelter the young band was staying in and commission their services for a thirty-minute set within the party. At the very least, it could give the refugees a taste of home, a taste of something familiar.

"No alcohol," Chad reminded the assistant. "Anywhere near the vicinity. Not even for the king. Not even in the storage rooms closest the gardens."

"Will they get inside the castle?" the assistant asked, sounding concerned for this prospect.

"Possibly," Chad said. "But if they do, it wouldn't be with ill intent. They'd likely be more curious than anything else. Actually." Chad blinked as an idea came upon him. "Could you contact Cogsworth to have someone on standby to give tours? Just of the public areas of the castle they would normally allow access too. It would let the kids who are curious know that they're welcome there and we're happy to feed their curiosity."

"Is that wise?" the assistant asked, making Chad roll his eyes.

"Ask Lady Mal if you'd like a second opinion," he muttered, and moved on to the next item on his checklist.

According to Jay's social media, the event was a rousing success. Every picture Chad found indicated that everyone was having a good time, and Security reported no breaches. A grand total of eight tours had been given to curious refugees, all wide-eyed and grateful for the opportunity, and the band's thirty-minute set had devolved into an hour and a half one, not that the DJ had minded by any means.

The kids had a good time, all the extra food was portioned into takeout containers and given away as they left, along with unapologetically indulgent party favors by way of tasty chocolates and soft, colorful socks.

Chad had been surprised to find that socks were a rare commodity back on the Isle – most choosing to go without them. He knew it likely wasn't the classiest choice to give all the kids some as a party favor for a royal event, but he honestly couldn't help himself.

A few days after the event, he received a call from none other than Duchess Belle herself.

"Mal was very impressed by your work," the queen murmured, her voice a soothing balm on Chad's nervous disposition. "Or, the work of our new party planner. She wants you to take over all the Isle-related events going forward."

"I live to serve," Chad said instead of confirming if Mal knew it wasn't him, because he shouldn't bother people he'd accidentally killed but definitely brought back to life with needy requests such as that.

Officially, Chad had been in hiding for about three weeks. The summer would be drawing to a close in a little over a month, and with that Chad would have to return to the real world. He had a scholarship to Auradon College based on his Tourney and Swords and Shields work, so at least he wouldn't have to worry about paying for his studies, but going to school meant seeing other people.

Things were already a bit rough as it was. While the reason for his grandfather's arrest was kept secret, there was no hiding that one of the former kings of Auradon had been arrested and sent to one of the new penal facilities.

As per Detective Basil's suggestion, Chad hadn't responded to the few curious texts he'd received from his former classmates. Both Jay and Doug had contacted him asking if he knew any details about his grandfather's arrest (a big fat duh to that one), though Chad suspected that had been on Mal's bidding rather than their own interest. It hurt to read anything from them, hurt that they hadn't asked how he was doing (thought why would they?), so Chad ignored them.

The biggest hurdle to avoiding everyone, of course, was Audrey. Fortunately, that matter had been settled in a few days. Sort of.

Ironically, it was settled the same way as it had been last time.

Chad had finally answered one of Audrey's calls his first day of party planning, the blond knowing he had already pushed things off long enough.

"Finally," Audrey hissed when he answered the line. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been? You abandon me without saying a word and then suddenly your grandfather's being arrested? It's too much, all of it, and then you had the audacity to ignore me, just- I should break up with you, you know, I really should."

"You're right," Chad said, almost laughing at the repetition, that fate would offer him the same hand it had dealt before.

A week previous, Chad would have jumped on the opportunity to express his devotion to her, would have begged for the opportunity to make things right.

But that was before the spell. Before he knew.

"What?" Audrey asked, just as surprised as before.

"I'm not good enough for you, Audrey," Chad said. "I realize that now. I don't think I'll ever be good enough for you, so I think you're right. We should break up. You deserve a chance to date someone better than me." He paused, imagining her shocked expression. "I'm sorry for all the grief I caused you. I'm sorry for holding you back."

With that, he hung up, tears building behind his eyes because the girl that had kicked this mess off in the first place was gone, and now there was no one to swoop in and pretend to date Chad to keep her at bay.

Well, he wasn't the prince of all princes anymore. She likely wouldn't want him as desperately as she had in the fake dimension. Honestly, Chad was confused as to what she had ever seen in him. Maybe he was just a great lackey – he didn't know.

What he did know was that it was over. It was all definitely over.

And there was no point dwelling on that.

-:-:-

Time passed. There were more luncheons, more teas. It got to the point where everything was running like clockwork. It was easy to take on fundraising events when he understood what they were raising money for, when he believed it in. There was a gala and a charity fashion show Evie commissioned him to run (well, she commissioned the 'new party planner', as Duchess Belle dubbed him), as well as an opening day celebration for the new group homes that were created for the Isle kids.

Somehow, Chad was enlisted to create mixers for prospective parents to look into adopting orphans into their families, which prompted the creation of training sessions as to what the new parents should expect when adopting a child from the Isle, which had Chad prompting the legislature teams to check and see if accurate records had been collected for the Isle kids – if they'd been evaluated by therapists to have their needs most seen to, if physicals had been arranged for them, if they were grouped with their siblings or adopted siblings – because bonds forged out of blood were just as strong as those forged without it on the Isle.

"You really are setting things in motion, aren't you?" Duchess Belle hummed during what had become one of their weekly phone calls. "That's not a criticism of course – we need people like you to focus on the details while Ben takes on the big picture."

"I'm happy to help," Chad said, trying to fight off the minor guilt for essentially recreating the programs he'd put together in the fake world that now never really existed. He wasn't doing anything that new or amazing. He didn't deserve that much credit.

"You know…" the former queen continued with a thoughtful tone that put Chad on edge. "Mal's been dropping hints about how she'd like our new party planner to take care of organizing her wedding. Do you think you'd be up for it?"

"No," Chad said, white noise seeming to flood his ears as he considered the mere prospect of it.

His chest hurt at the thought of organizing Ben's wedding to Mal, even though that had always been the plan, that had always been in the stars. Ben had never been his to hold, and to have any kind of lingering attachment for him here was frankly preposterous.

"…no," Chad repeated when there was an awkward pause. "No I- I don't- I don't know anything about weddings," Chad said, the back of his neck feeling hot. "And I uh- I don't think Mal would want me to plan hers if she knew who I was, so um- so please just- um- no thank you. Sorry."

Chad wanted to help. Chad wanted to be of use, but he couldn't do that. It seemed too cruel, even to him. Seemed unfair.

"Okay, Chadwick," Duchess Belle murmured, her tone seeming to be without judgement. "I'll let her know weddings are out of your realm of comfort."

"Thank you," Chad said. "I appreciate that."

"And I appreciate you," the duchess said, though that was likely offered out of pity, or maybe even embarrassment.

It was for the best, really. Mal would never accept him as her party planner, and even if she did, the process would hurt too much to commit to.

Best to leave well enough alone.

-:-:-

The fourth week into his seclusion from the world and fate decided to throw him a curve ball, because the day of one of the fancy high society balls he'd organized, he received a frantic phone call from Duchess Belle's assistant.

"Mr. Cogsworth is down with the flu," she said, her tone strained. "And Mr. Lumiere doesn't feel comfortable running the event – we need you to come and fill in for him."

"I can't do that," Chad said, because running it would require him to be there, where people could see him, where Ben could see him – and then the secret as to who the 'new event organizer' was would be out of the bag and they'd just think he stole the credit for it somehow without doing any of the actual work. "I can't be out on the floor yet."

"I can do that part," the assistant said, and at some point he should really learn her name. "Relay whatever information you want from the kitchens – but I need your help with setup and takedown. I can't be everywhere at once, and we need this event to be a success."

The Summer Solstice Ball was a sacred and traditional event of Central Auradon. As such, there was a list of very particular formalities that needed to be followed in order to let the guests feel properly at ease. Chad understood the assistant's concern – Chad himself had faced it despite the fact that he knew the event was in Cogsworth's very capable hands.

And now it wasn't because he was sick.

"Okay," Chad said, because he wanted this event to succeed. "But no one can know I'm there."

None of the guests, he meant, but she seemed to understand.

"Got it," the assistant murmured. "Duchess Belle briefed me on your situation – all our workers sign non-disclosure agreements, so you don't have to worry about any of them leaking your presence to the press."

Which was just what Chad needed, because there hadn't yet been a big enough affair yet to pull the public's interest away from his grandfather's arrest. Hopefully something would happen at the ball tonight – someone would get drunk or a minor squabble would ensue or someone would throw champagne on someone else's outfit. There was a bounty of possibilities before him, not that Chad had time to focus on them.

"I'll be there in a couple of hours," Chad said, checking his clock and frowning when he realized how little time he had to prepare. "I need to stop by Sardinia for some appropriate attire."

"Duchess Belle took the liberty of procuring you a suit," the assistant said. "It can be fitted by the castle tailor when you get here. Please come as soon as you can."

"In that case, I'll be there in half an hour," Chad said, ending the call before starting up a new one to Fairy Godmother.

He left her a voicemail and a note on the fridge before he got into the most presentable clothes he had and drove the unmarked Sardinia car to the back entrance of Auradon Castle. The security guard had already been apprised of his presence and waved him in without issue, allowing Chad to park in the servants' garage before he met Duchess Belle's assistant in the bottom halls of Auradon Castle.

The first thing they did was set him up in a guest suite with the royal tailor – this particular suite thankfully far from the royal quarters. It was a step above the servants' rooms – for low ranking visiting dignitaries or something like that, maybe guest overflow and for Chad, they worked just fine. He dumped his emergency bag in the closet and threw himself into the thick of things, accepting an earpiece and mic from Duchess Belle's assistant and arming himself with a clipboard and will of steel. He'd already made the battle plan for this affair, now it was just a matter of putting everything into action. With Duchess Belle's assistant down in the kitchen, Chad set up shop in the ballroom, overseeing the decorations and distribution of nameplates at all the tables, checking in with the band, the florists, the security team.

"What- what is this?" Chad asked one of the florist's assistants when he noticed a flower arrangement he had not ordered.

"Um." The poor boy blinked owlishly at him, indicating that Chad was asking the entirely wrong person.

It forced him to flag down Duchess Belle's junior assistant, who came over in a flutter of nervous energy. "What are these?" Chad asked, motioning to the arrangements.

The junior assistant's shoulders fell with a sigh. "Those would be Lady Mal's contributions," she said. "King Benjamin suggested she make a minor contribution to the planning aspects of the ball to get her feet wet, so to speak, and that was what she um- did."

"Right," Chad said, because that certainly explained how these arrangements came to be. "I'm guessing no one told Lady Mal the meanings behind these flowers."

The junior assistant winced. That would be a no, meaning they were still too afraid to talk to Mal about what she deemed to be 'stuffy Auradon things'.

Which was a problem, because purple hyacinths, while lovely, were funeral flowers meant to convey apologies, while purple carnations could be used to comment on someone's impulsiveness. Bundled together, the arrangement conveyed a mocking sorrow to the guest's impulsiveness – which was an open insult to most, if not all of them.

"I'm going to skip right past asking why I wasn't told about this," Chad decided, making the junior assistant sigh in relief. "Here's what we're going to do." He turned back to the poor florist assistant who was still nervously standing there. "We're going to have a 'mix up' with the order. Someone thought these were Lady Mal's selections for her private quarters, so-" He motioned to the Junior Assistant "–can you please coordinate with Lumiere and the florists and make sure all these purple arrangements are sent to the king's suite? In the meantime, I'll ensure the traditional arrangements I selected are set up in their appropriate spots."

"Deal," the junior assistant said, and they broke apart to get to business.

After that, Chad was reviewing the set list with the string quintet to confirm there had been no last-minute substitutions because bands did that sometimes. And then it was back to doublechecking the nameplate distribution, which some might have considered paranoid but Chad was immediately justified when he located a discrepancy from his planned chart.

It didn't take long to locate the guilty waiter, because he'd been the only one hovering nearby wearing a surprised expression when Chad located the error.

"You," Chad said, beckoning him close with a quirk of his finger as he held the aforementioned plate up. "Look, I will level with you. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal to accept a bribe to do some last-minute seating rearrangements for a stuffy duchess that seems relatively harmless, but there's a reason I spent two weeks working on this seating chart, and a reason why Duchess Augustin is not sitting next to Lord Coppin. The man's only been a widower for three months, he is not ready for that level of assertive flirtation. So here's the deal – you're going to repay the bribe money and, on the offhand chance she threatens to ruin your career or something, you're going to contact me and I will handle the situation. There will be no fallout, just don't accept any more bribes please, or I will report this to Cogsworth, who will be entirely less pleasant about it. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes," the waiter said, a nervous sweat beginning to bead on his brown.

"Great," Chad chirped, tucking the business card for Duchess Belle's assistant into his pocket. "Now put this back where you found it and get back to work."

The waiter disappeared with a few frantic nods of his head and Chad sighed, turning his attention back to his checklist.

"That was handled rather nicely," a new voice said, and it was a credit to how preoccupied Chad was that he didn't immediately flail in shock because he hadn't seen Evie in weeks now, and he hadn't seen the old Evie – or, the original one – in even longer.

But there she was, standing in all her refined glory, looking perfectly put together as always.

"Thank you," Chad said, his heart pounding in his throat as he clutched onto his clipboard like a sort of lifeline.

"I didn't realize you were helping with setup," Evie continued, looking over him with a quirked brow.

"Duchess Belle asked me to," Chad said, the words coming out in clumsy fumbles. "Since I have to lay low."

"Because of your grandfather?" Evie prompted.

"Right." Chad didn't wince because he didn't have anything to be ashamed about – what happened wasn't his fault. "It's not all that impressive, I'm just following the checklist."

"Right," Evie echoed somewhat faintly. "That's from the new party planner, right?"

"Yep," Chad said, nervously shifting his weight.

"Have you met them?"

"Um…" Chad didn't want to lie but he also didn't want to answer but he guessed the truth actually wasn't a lie anyway, so- "No."

Evie's shoulders slumped, as much as they ever did, at any rate. "Rats," she murmured, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Um." Chad sort of wished this conversation was over. "Is there a reason you're here?"

"Oh." Evie blinked. "Right. Mal told me about the flower arrangements she selected, only she didn't realize flowers had meanings and- well, long story short, I'm here to redirect them somewhere else."

"Then you have nothing to worry about," Chad said. "Duchess Belle's assistant already took care of that."

"Oh." Evie seemed surprised by this. "Okay then. I guess my work here is done."

"It was good of you to come for her," Chad said, slowly backing away. "I've got to get back to work now."

Evie considered him for a moment with narrowed eyes, and then took a definite step in his direction. "I'll help you," she declared.

Chad tensed. "What?"

"You can always use more help, right?" Evie prompted. "Well, I'm already here, I may as well lend a hand."

"That's not really necessary-"

"Prince James?" a different waiter spoke up. "We're having a difficult time locating the backup livery for the servers."

"What?" Chad blinked. "I thought I sent orders for all the selected livery to be aired and pressed for this event."

It was the Summer Solstice Ball.

"Right." The waiter winced. "They were, but the rack with the backups got jostled around somewhere…"

"Check the coat room," Chad said with a sigh. "They probably ended up there in the hustle."

"Thanks, your highness," the waiter chirped, and then she was sprinting off, only to be replaced by a different assistant.

"The transport freezer for the ice carvers failed!" the assistant gushed. "The sculptures are already half-melted, which means we have no centerpieces-"

"Round up some footmen and go to the east storage freezers," Chad said. "The backup ice sculptures were delivered yesterday, and send some maids to help the delivery men clean up their truck – accidents happen, there's no point in making them feel bad about it."

"But what do we do with the half-melted sculptures?"

"Transport them to the kitchen and have them broken down into ice cubes," Chad said. "Waste not, want not."

"Right." The assistant nodded, and then she was fluttering away.

"Prince James?" The pageboy he had assigned to watch over the band sidled up to him nervously. "I think the musicians are rearranging the sheet music again."

"Curse musicians and their creative liberties," Chad grumbled before cutting a path to the bandstand, the leader seeming to sigh upon his imminent arrival. "Look," Chad was saying a few minutes later, his hands pressed together in a desperate bid for patience. "I know it's boring and stupid and traditional, but these people need stability. They need to receive what they've come to expect. I know Lady Mal likely requested something fresh, and I'm all for it, but you have to save that until after the traditional group dances have been established and everyone's toasted to a new solstice. I know it's not glamorous to save the fun music for the stragglers, but that's what needs to be done. Now, can you please stick to the setlist we hired you to play?"

"I suppose," the director sniffed, and Chad abandoned his Auradon snootiness to go tackle the next problem.

It took him about ten minutes in the kitchens – double-checking the status of the canapes and accepting random taste tests from Mrs. Potts (even though he assured her he wasn't concerned for such things) – to realize that Evie was still very much with him, acting as his sort of shadow.

"Um." Chad blinked at her somewhat helplessly. "You're still here."

"You planned this," Evie countered with narrowed eyes, unimpressed with his earlier fib. "You're the new party planner Duchess Belle hired."

"To be fair, she didn't hire me," Chad said, feeling his cheeks flush with embarrassment. "She was just kind enough to keep me occupied."

"And the refugee celebrations?" Evie prompted. "You planned those? Was it your idea to give out socks?"

"I listen to Jay when he talks, you know? It wasn't like I was reinventing the wheel or anything."

"You told security if they had any problems to contact one of us."

"That seemed like the thing to do," Chad insisted. "This isn't a big deal."

"Then why did Duchess Belle keep it a secret?" Evie countered as she followed Chad through his review of the flatware.

"Because it was easier," Chad said.

"But you're the one who also made all the suggestions for the Isle orphans. The training programs, the mixers, the profiles-"

"That's just common sense," Chad waved off. "Anyone would have thought of it."

"Yeah, but you did first," Evie said, and that should be amazing, because it was no small fact that Chad was very much stupid.

It was enough to leave his shoulders slumping, to leave him feeling even more defeated than he'd been this morning. "What do you want from me, Evie?"

"I want know why you're doing this," Evie pressed, even though Chad had already explained why. "Are you trying to win brownie points for Audrey?"

Chad flinched, squeezing his clipboard close to his chest. "Audrey and I broke up weeks ago," he said. "So no."

"Are you taking credit for someone else's ideas?" Evie pressed. "Did you pay someone-?"

"Excuse me, dearie," Mrs. Potts chirped, seeming to bustle in like a cheerful guardian angel. "I'm afraid this is a restricted area. You'll need to relocate to the public areas of the castle until it's time for the ball."

Evie's expression melted into one of surprise, likely because Ben had given her the go ahead to traverse whatever parts of the castle she wanted. "I… but-"

"Sorry, dearie," Mrs. Potts murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her away. "But we can't have you distracting the workers, now. It's a very important day."

It was kind of her to protect Chad – but Mrs. Potts' generosity seemed to be a universal thing, constant no matter what world Chad was in. She deftly removed the problem that was Evie, and Chad was distantly aware of security being informed to keep her at bay during the party setup phase.

Chad swallowed, adjusting his earpiece again as he tried to blink away his stupid humiliation before throwing himself back into his work. There was no time for tears, he had a party to organize. Cogsworth was counting on him.

-:-:-

Endnotes:

Story notes:

I found the flower meanings on the first article I found that centered around purple flowers. Purple hyacinths are for sorrow and apologies and purple carnations stand for stands for whimsical decision as well as impulsiveness.

Duchess Augustin and Lord Coppin are entirely made up for the purposes of this story.

This is a sidenote that doesn't really have much to do with this story, but I love how casually ruthless they are in the Descendants Enchanted Wedding or whatever it was called. Honestly, I haven't even finished watching all of it (but Chaddo gets an appearance so like, that's a personal win for me when so many other characters were snubbed), but the fact that Audrey goes mad with jealousy in the third movie and they punish that by making her plan Ben and Mal's wedding is so lowkey vicious that it tickles me every time.

Until next time :)