Mal once again got up before the sun rose and shook Ben awake. He jumped upright and began to blink rapidly to clear his eyes. "Did I sleep in?" He asked in a panic.

"No, no." Mal rolled her eyes. "Calm down, silly. I'm heading outside. The castle's not frozen anymore, so I'm going to climb the palace again. Want to come?"

Ben blinked a little more and rubbed his face. Then he mumbled: "Yeah, thank you." He got up and pulled a pair of tennis shoes out of his pocket before he put a large blanket in a small backpack and went to the open window. Mal quietly whispered a charm, and together they began to use the ridges where the bricks stuck out around the window frame to hoist themselves up and towards the roof. It was a slow climb, but they made it safely.

As Mal wandered around to find a good place of the roof, Ben stood and looked out over the grounds. "See anything?" Mal asked.

"No." He answered. "Hey, you said you were going to show me your magic thing when you came back, and you never did. Can I see it now?"

"Oh." Mal felt a little nervous. She rubbed her cold hands together and said: "Yeah, I guess." She took a deep breath. "Don't freak out."

Ben chuckled. "I've done that so often."

Mal shrugged. "Yeah. I guess… I'm just a little nervous how you'll react." She helped Ben spread out the blanket, and together they sat down on top of it.

Mal exhaled. "Kay, so you already knew I could do this-" She turned to Ben, and he watched as two large, somewhat curved horns grew out of her skull. True, Ben had seen them before, but they still seemed wicked cool. The black seemed to make her eyes look even more striking than they were. Ben smiled and reached out to wrap a hand around them again. Mal bent her head a little as he examined them with a soft, awed smile.

"Wow." He told her.

Mal chuckled.

"You don't even have to focus anymore." He said.

Mal shrugged. "Yeah. I actually tend to wear them normally when I'm in the moors. But, the fae also taught me how to do… something else." She took Ben's hand from where it was wrapped around her left horn and instead placed it in between her shoulder blades. "Don't freak out." She cautioned.

Ben had a feeling he knew what was coming.

Mal's shirt was flannel and covered her entire back. But as Ben let his hand rest just inches under her neck, he noticed that the shirt started to recoil until two holes had formed. Two lumps formed on Mal's back, which quickly expanded. Ben withdrew his hands and leaned back as he watched two large, beautiful wings begin to grow and stretch into existence.

"Wow." Was all he could say. Mal chuckled nervously and moved her wings out so he could see the full girth and volume of them.

They were almost twice as long as her normal arm-span on either side, and soft and feathery, like her mom's had been. They were also a royal shade of purple, just a little darker than her hair, which Mal had moved in front of her shoulder before she'd let them grow out. They were longer than they were wider and extended from just below Mal's shoulder blades.

"That's wicked cool." Ben said softly.

Mal laughed. "Wicked, you say?" She asked, turning to face Ben. She withdrew her wings so that they wouldn't hit him as she moved, and Ben was amazed to see how the wings curled up behind her arms so naturally, almost as if they were meant to go there.

"That's amazing." Ben sighed. He stroked the length of one of her wings and was pleased when Mal shivered. "You can feel that?"

"Yeah. My horns have no feeling, but my wings are sensitive. I'm told the more I use them, the less sensitive they'll be." Mal smirked at his awed expression.

"Can you fly?" Ben asked.

Mal stood up and extended her wings before she gave them two incredibly powerful flaps that lifted her a few feet off the ground.

"I once flew along the river for a few hundred feet." Mal said as she came back down and sat beside Ben. "I can't do big distances yet."

"And that'll help you get away from the palace more?" Ben asked.

Mal shrugged. "I need more practice, and I need to know Auradon won't freak out." She took another breath and Ben watched as both her wings and her horns disappeared. The rips in the back of her shirt mended themselves automatically, and suddenly Mal was back to normal.

"That's so hot." Ben found himself saying before he could stop the words. Both his and Mal's cheeks went pink at the proclamation, but he did nothing to correct himself or refract his statement.

After several moments, Mal scoffed. "You really do have an Isle kink." She chuckled as she pulled the blanket up around the two of them and put her head down on his shoulder.

"Do not." He laughed.

"You totally do!" Mal protested.

He found her cold hand under the blanket and clutched it tight. "Nope. I'm just totally in love with you."

Mal hummed softly. "I-I think I might… too."

Ben turned to look at her. Her green eyes were lit a little in the darkness. "Really?" He asked.

"I think so, just please… let me have a little more time to be sure." She bit her lip and looked down in the general direction of his collarbone.

"If you're never sure enough to say it, just know you'll always be able to hear it from me." He pulled her hand from the blankets and pressed a kiss to her marriage band. Then, he pulled her into his grasp and kept an arm around her, so he could make sure she was warm.

The sun began to creep into the sky and turn beautiful colors. Mal sighed dreamily and curled into his side. Ben bit his cheek as he thought about something he'd wanted to ask for a while.

"Where do you think we are?" He asked finally, as the first slivers of the sun were coming up in the distance.

"Auradon?" Mal asked.

"No, I mean, us. Where do you think we are as a couple?"

Mal turned to meet Ben's eyes. She looked surprised by the sudden question. "Um, I have no clue. I trust you. I've never trusted anyone like I've trusted you. No one's ever treated me like you have, and encouraged something in me, or believed in me, even."

"When we first got married," Ben started. "I felt like we were more best friends than lovers. But I feel like we're more than that now. What do you think?"

Mal squeezed his hand and brought it close to her chest for a second. "You're a lot more than a best friend. Sophia's my best friend, but you're also a confident, a partner." She appeared to be thinking very hard about it. "I hesitate to say lovers, but…" She twisted her face. "It feels like we're dating, but not rigorously. Like, you know how people date before they're thinking of marriage but after they're past the awkward phase? I feel like we're right at the end of the stage."

She sat up straight. "Why, what would you think we are?"

Ben swallowed. He was clearly a little more passionate about this whole thing than she was, but he decided to be honest nonetheless. "I feel… like we're right on the cusp of being lovers."

They stared at each other for several seconds, and Mal relaxed back into his grip with a thoughtful nod. "I can see that." She said. "Anything else on your mind?"

"Actually, yeah." Ben admitted. "When we first married, we agreed on being chaste with each other. Are you still interested in continuing that?"

"Yes." Mal said immediately. She felt stiff in his arms. Ben released his tender grip. "Sorry." She softened her tone. "I – I need time, still. I need to at least be sure that I'm in love first. And, like you said, we're both still really young. I'm not even legal in Auradon yet." Mal swallowed. "Please, not yet."

Ben couldn't deny he felt a little disappointed, but his parents had taught him better than to argue on this subject with anyone. "Of course." He said. "I would never rush you."

Mal looked at him kindly for those words. Then leaned up and pecked his cheeks. "You're important to me." She said. Those words were her way of saying 'I love you'. "Thanks for everything."

He couldn't stop a smile. "Of course." He agreed.