Sooo two things.

1 - thank you for sticking with me, I know I've not been updating here are consistently as I have been on AO3

2 - also don't kill me at the end of this chapter! The thing about Stay is that it was my first foray into the romance novel series format - would you ever believe this started life as a 3k 3 chapter fic called Permanence?!

I discovered this whole world of interconnected stories to give myself the opportunity to explore and build if I wanted to. Stay was about Mal and Ben and they are not the most reliable narrators as you saw from White As Snow's live blog. So I didn't get to explore EQ being proud of Evie's empire, or Hades and Maleficent reconnecting, or Lonnie and Jay's 'we thought we had time' approach to life, or Audrey and Chad's second chance. These stories aren't next on my list…but I couldn't let you leave without a little hint of where our favourite characters end up.

Mal.

Eighteen months later. Twenty six.

The air in the Green Room was buzzing when Mal slipped in a side door.

Ben was holding a joint press conference with Chad Charming on the latest plans for Auradonian infrastructure upgrades. The project was Chad's baby in the same way the Isle had been Ben's.

After a mini stay in rehab before Ben's birthday ball, Chad and Audrey had an almighty argument outside Belle's library after the cake cutting. Things were thrown. Words that couldn't be taken back were screamed.

The next day, Chad asked Adam if the 30 day stint they'd planned could be extended to 90 'because it was going to take more than a month to work his life out'.

It was an ongoing process, but it had worked. Things hadn't been easy. His years of self destruction left their mark. People were wary, especially Audrey. But Ben, ever the optimist, had taken Chad's word that he was working on things and helped him on his way back to neutral.

The projects had been small to start with, letting Chad make connections and try out his ideas without being in the spotlight. Chad had great ideas for modernising Auradon while tackling their impact on the environment. Their latest project would upgrade the rail networks - all energy efficient, introducing high speed lines on the busiest routes and extending access into rural areas. It would be a game changer. It was Chad's biggest project yet.

Ben was so proud of him. So happy for his friend and his people and his kingdom and…

And Mal wanted a front row seat.

Well…she wanted more than a front row seat. She wanted chaos.

But she could settle for watching Ben in his element. For now.

A simple glamour, blonde hair and blue eyes, her usual disguise, and no one paid her much attention. She was just another body in the room.

Mal stood off to the side and watched Ben and Chad take the stage. They didn't notice her, which was the plan.

Even now, every once in a while it hit Mal that this was her life.

That she was happy and loved and the world hadn't imploded at the prospect of a Lost Girl on the throne someday. That that sandy haired goofball up there was hers. That six months ago they'd stood up in Auradon Abbey in front of two thousand people, plus the six million watching at home, and promised to love each other in this life and the next.

Their happily ever after.

They'd wasted so much time. But now they were more than making up for it.

Ben was still a working royal, but he was learning how the Underworld worked. Mal split her time between the two. She had a some charities that she supported, and a few initiatives she spearheaded, but nothing on Audrey or Ben's level. She still planned the years mortality rates and natural disasters and got in on the soul allocations on busy days. It was a balancing act, but she was getting there.

And on days like today, when she had no appointments on the surface, and her minions had a handle on the Underworld, she got to lurk around the castle. People watching and admiring her man.

It was a good day.

Mal settled against one of the bookcases and folded her arms, watching as the reporters clamoured closer to the stage. Ben and Chad had a podium each, and Jane had the third as project manager for the whole programme.

Her people were thriving. And she loved it.

Jane had finished her business degree, then her MBA, and Ben had snapped her right up. Before the ink had even dried on her degree. Carlos was still in veterinary school, but Mal knew he would land on his feet - the owner of his final placement was going to decide to retire early, and Carlos would inherit the business. They'd settle down in their own time - they were together and exploring life, and Evie was content to let them plod along for now.

"That's an excellent question Robert," Ben took another question, catching Mal's attention. "Firstly, the project will generate in the region of a thousand jobs over the next two years. And then-"

Ben gestured to a chart that appeared on the screen behind him, but Mal was already pushing off the bookcase and stalking towards him.

Patience was not her strong suit.

Ben was right there. Her husband. Being all princely and good. She had to mess it up. Just a little. Chad would forgive her.

She couldn't wait until his workday was over. She might not be able to show him the little white stick she had hidden in their bathroom just yet. But she could cause some chaos.

Before she unleashed a new kind of chaos on Auradon.

Two pink lines.

Evie was going to cry when she realised the twins were going to be big cousins.

Skirting around the photographers, Mal ignored the noises of annoyance being sent her way. They'd turn to gasps soon enough.

Ben kept talking, completely oblivious to the blonde girl heading towards him. Mal grinned, a hint of evil slipping through with the chaos.

He was such an easy target.

It wasn't until she was stepping on the stage that Ben picked up on Chad's surprise and the murmurs of the crowd. Jane had clicked the moment Mal started walking and was biting back a laugh.

Ben glanced in her direction, turned back to the reporters, then realised what he was seeing and snapped his head back to her. His eyes lit up the moment he saw her, even as he furrowed his brow and tilted his head in question.

Why are you crashing my press conference? Why are you blonde? Why are you wearing pastels?

Giving him only a wink as an answer, Mal let the glamour drop. Her eyes switched back to green, the midnight blue reappearing from the root of her hair and shimmering outwards.

Ben shook his head but Mal didn't slow down. He was staring at her like she was the only thing that mattered. And that made her happy. She stepped around the podium, knotted her fingers in his hair and pulled his lips down to hers.

Ben came easily. Always. He stepped into her embrace, his hands finding her waist as he pulled her closer.

The kiss was hungry, demanding, and still full of that primal hunger she'd felt since day one.

But nothing could top the fact that she was the one messing up his hair and wrinkling his jacket. Ruining that perfect Prince image for just a moment.

After a long moment, Mal pulled back. She turned to the crowd of cameras, tossing another wink in their direction. Ben squeezed her waist as she lent forward, laughing into the mic, "You may continue."

And then she disappeared in a ball of flame.

…

Four years later. Thirty.

Belle's Rose Garden was overrun by dogs and children and ribbon and brightly coloured Easter decorations. Life had changed drastically in Beast Castle over the last five years.

Adam was sitting in a sandbox while Evie and Doug's four and a half year old twins, Melissa and Liam, were instructing him on the best way to build a sandcastle. Mal and Ben's daughter, three year old Ava, was running from Adam to her Uncle Cogsworth, demanding that everyone wore their glitter bunny ears just right. Lumiere followed her, dutifully carrying a box of dress up options for her victims.

Farah, Audrey and Chad's adopted two year old, was sitting on a picnic blanket with Carlos and Dude, rolling plastic eggs back and forward under Chad's watchful eye. Audrey was sitting at the picnic table with Belle, breastfeeding three month old Noah. Jane was on a business trip to London, but she'd be FaceTiming over lunch.

Maleficent and EQ were fighting with a giant bunny piñata, while servants nervously flitted around behind them. No one wanted to tell either woman she shouldn't be climbing on chairs and balancing with one foot trying to reach a point three inches beyond their reach. But no one wanted to watch them break their necks either. Hades and Jafar stood off to one side, taking bets on which one would crash and burn first. Cruella had died two years ago, and it was probably the kindest option for everyone.

Normal names for normal babies, Evie had declared triumphantly after the twins' birth. Because her babies weren't going to be defined by who their parents were. And everyone else followed suit.

It was chaos. It was family.

It was almost perfect.

If only Jay would get his head out his ass and answer his fucking-

"Get your ass out of bed and to your nieces and nephews' Easter Picnic or I'll come over there and personally take ten years off your lifespan." Mal snapped the moment the call connected.

Logically, Mal knew that nothing she could do could change Jay's path. They were in a fixed point in time. She'd known this was coming since she was sixteen.

But knowing it was coming, and knowing it was happening were two very different things.

For the first time, she felt a fraction of what their friends must have felt while she and Ben were getting their acts together. And once this was all over, she was going to be baking a lot of apology cookies.

"I'm not coming if Lonnie's there with Captain Douchwaffle." Jay grumbled, and Mal was instantly suspicious. He sounded too far away. The background noise didn't sound like his apartment. She couldn't hear his pet parrot, Iago Two, in the background.

And that meant…

"Okay, one, his name is Captain Douvall and he's a lovely man. He's worked for us for years." Mal ground out, her eyes settling on Lonnie and her date.

They were over by the buffet table with Doug. Discussing the correct internal temperature for meat by the looks of things. Douvall was third generation navy. He came from a good, respectable family. Even if he wasn't part of a fixed point in time, Lonnie would get bored of him within three months tops.

Everyone knew that. Everyone except Jay.

"Two, he needed a date for his mother's third wedding. They like spending time together but there's nothing there. You'd know that if you'd get off your high horse, leave your pity party and get your ass to this one."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

Mal fought the urge to revert back to the Isle way and scream.

Evie thought Jay's reaction to Lonnie finally dating someone was hilarious. Karma really, for all the supermodels and actresses he was spotted with when Lonnie wasn't around. And that Jay refusing to leave his apartment for a week and eating nothing but pints of ice cream was proof he was actually human under all that tourney gear.

But Mal knew Jay's reaction would set him on a course that no one was going to enjoy. She was already expecting his words before he said them.

"I already left for the training camp."

A knot of dread settled in Mal's stomach.

"I'll come get you." Mal knew she sounded desperate. Pleading. Jay just didn't know why.

Flashes of twisted metal and dust in the air filled her mind. The screams echoed just below the sound of children's laughter. She could smell the gas and fire and the fear as if she was walking through the wreckage itself.

She wasn't. Not yet.

Mal had never tried to change a fixed point in time before. She knew it was fruitless. That nothing she could do could change the outcome.

But…it had been easier to accept it when the fixed point was 'a misleading report scares Lonnie into acting on her feelings for Jay' and not 'Jay gets caught in a gas explosion next week, and everyone's going to think he's dead for twelve hours'.

"M. I get it, you want to help but…if Lonnie's happy with him…I'm not going to stand in her way."

How stupidly noble of him. It was the kind of thing she'd expect from Ben back in the day. She almost missed the time when Jay was rude and selfish, "Jay-"

"I asked around. He's a great guy." Jay sounded defeated, and Mal's heart broke for him. She remembered feeling that way, before the ball, and wished she could make him see that he was being the same kind of idiot she was. "He can give her everything I can't. And-"

"She wants you, Jay." she snapped, pinching the bridge of her nose. She knew it was fruitless but she couldn't bring herself to stop.

Mal heard Jay roll his eyes, "Is she or is she not there with Douchewaffle?"

"Jay-"

"It's okay. Really. I always knew someone would come along and sweep her off her feet." He sighed, and now he really did sound defeated. Mal suddenly wished she'd drafted Carlos into the call. He was so much better at dealing with emotions than she was. "I'm just some kid from the Isle who's really good at taking blows to my head. Douchewaffle is career military and has a 401(k) and a retirement plan and-"

"You have a career. You don't need a 401(k) because you have an investment portfolio. And you'll retire from playing in the next two years richer than most small countries. C'mon, if I can be Queen-"

"Which throne?" Jay pointed out ruefully, reminding her that she outranked them all, even if Auradon had been a bit backwards in their youth. He sounded like he wanted to say more, but then there was some muffled shouting in the background. Jay covered the mouthpiece as he shouted something back, and then he started making excuses, "That's the guys, we're heading to that new rooftop bar in the Excalibur. See you."

Mal fought the urge to break something.

Excalibur was Arthur's new hotel in the Pacific Islands. The area wasn't a stranger to natural disasters. But Arthur didn't know that his hotel was sitting directly over a fault line. Or that an earthquake was about to tear through the strip. Or that a burst gas pipe and a stray cigarette butt would turn the run of the mill earthquake into a real disaster.

Jay would be okay. But a lot of others wouldn't.

"But-" Mal sighed, dropping her head back in exasperation when he cut the call without letting her say goodbye. She ignored the pointed look her father shot her - he knew what she was doing, and he knew that she knew it was a pointless endeavour. But she didn't need the reminder right now.

"No luck?"

Ben appeared behind Mal, winding his arms around her waist, resting his hands on her slowly appearing bump. She was ten weeks and showing a lot earlier than she had with Ava - but for now she could still pass her bump off as a few too many dinners out if she wore the right outfits. They hadn't announced her pregnancy to anyone outside their immediate family yet, but she wasn't going to be able to hide it much longer. Evie was frantically altering her outfits for the next few events, while also designing a wardrobe that would accommodate a big baby.

"No." She sighed, turning in his arms and resting her head against his shoulder. Taking comfort in his touch, drawing on his strength to prepare for what came next. "But I shouldn't be surprised. It's a fixed point in time."

"That's a good thing right?" Ben sounded hopeful, because in his mind, that meant Lonnie and Jay's Story was properly beginning.

Ben didn't know why Mal had been hounding Jay about the picnic. He'd put it down to hormones and left her to it. But if it was going to happen, she thought she should at least warn him that their afternoon was about to go to hell. And hope that he'd remember she always said Lonnie and Jay would work it out.

"Just remember…nothing I did could have stopped this. Gods can't meddle with fixed points." Then she pulled back, tucking her phone into a pocket and stepping out of his embrace, "Dad and I need to head into work in an hour or so, so I'm going to go play with Ava. Come join us?"

Ben frowned, glancing over to the barbecue, "…You only have to do that on bad days. What does that have to do with Jay and Lonnie?"

Mal just smiled sadly and kissed his cheek, twining her fingers with his and giving them a squeeze, "Just make sure Lonnie knows I tried to get him here today. Please?"

…

Ben

Seventy two minutes later

Ben was trying to convince Ava to eat her carrot sticks even though Mommy was gone and both her grandmas were offering chocolate when all hell broke loose.

First it was the cell phones - Doug's, Cogsworth's and Lumiere's began chiming at almost the same moment. They pulled them out and stepped away from the tables, but a moment later Ben felt both his phones vibrate. He didn't bother reaching for them when he saw his father reach for his. Then he heard the sound of gravel crunching as someone - multiple someones - ran up the path from the Castle to the gardens.

Ben ignored the dread settling in his stomach as he hoisted Ava onto his hip and turned towards the archway into the garden. He glanced at Lonnie, wondering just how bad this was going to be. Evie noticed where he was looking and went pale, dropping the plates she was taking to the twins and clasping her hands over her mouth. Dude dived for the food, and Carlos lunged after him, loudly reminding the dog that it would upset his stomach.

Ben ignored it all, trapped in Evie's tearful gaze. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, silently pleading with him to tell her she was wrong. Evie knew, he realised suddenly. Not that whatever was happening was today, but she knew what the fixed point entailed. Or she knew more than he did anyway.

Just make sure Lonnie knows I tried to get him here today.

Ben suddenly felt sick, hugging Ava tighter to his chest. Needing to protect her from whatever was coming.

Ever perceptive, Audrey noticed the exchange and frowned, looking between Ben and Evie. She pulled out her own phone and began typing away. Ben didn't know what she was doing - reaching out to sources maybe - because her update wouldn't be through yet. Not while Cogsworth was still being briefed.

What felt like an eternity later, but was maybe only thirty seconds, the two highest ranking members of the Auradon Guard on duty rounded the corner through the archway and came sprinting into the Rose Garden. They were followed by the Head of Communications and the Head of the Foreign Office.

Belle appeared by Ben's side and reached for Ava. EQ and Maleficent went to Evie, scooping up a twin each and loudly proclaiming that it was time to bake Easter cookies. Jafar already had Farah on his shoulders and was jogging in the other direction, shouting that the last one to the kitchens had to wash the dishes.

Ben tried to shake off his mother, but Belle shook her head firmly, "We'll keep the babies out of the way. It's never good news when they travel in packs."