"So," Evie said from the bed, "when exactly were you planning on telling me that your daughter was named after me."
Mal stuck her head out from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand, "Now?" Mal laughed, putting the brush back in her mouth.
"Why did you name her after me?" Evie asked, leaning on the edge of the bed so she could see into the bathroom.
"I was high on just having a baby. I didn't know what I was doing," Mal winked before rinsing her mouth out.
"Come on, M. Why?" Evie sulked.
"I don't know. I guess so apart of you would always be with me."
"I wasn't dead, Mal." Evie said.
"You were to me," Mal answered, climbing into bed next to Evie.
"Right. Sorry," Evie apologized.
"Anyway so I was in the hospital, I had just given birth. They asked me what her name was. I didn't even hesitate. It wasn't even a conscious decision. The nurses weren't exactly surprised though. I kept demanding they find you in between contractions." Mal laughed.
"Seriously?" Evie giggled at the thought. "I'm sad I missed it." She leaned over and kissed Mal's bare shoulder.
"Me too. Although I probably would've broken your hand. I was not so pleasant that day." Mal admitted.
"I can only imagine. At least you were able to handle the pain. I don't think I could've." Evie told her, snuggling under the covers and resting her head on Mal's chest.
"You would be surprised. It was so painful but look what I got out of it. I mean, Macie is perfect." Mal smiled, running her fingers through blue locks.
"She is pretty perfect." Evie said, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of Mal's hands in her hair.
"I never really thought about being a mom. I mean Maleficient was batshit crazy. Once she was born though, it was like a switch flipped in my brain." Mal thought for a moment before speaking again. "That's how I know you're right about my anger issues. I never should've lost my temper at her. Over a plate."
"She's a kid, Mal. She's going to mess up and drive you insane but she's still practically a baby. She doesn't understand yelling at her." Evie told her, sitting up to look in the bright green eyes she loved. "I'm not saying you can never yell at your kid. It'll happen. But right now, she's too little."
"I know. I feel really bad." Mal told her.
"Don't. She was fine when you put her to bed. You just have to be careful. Control your dragon and all that."
Mal scrunched up her nose and smiled, "and what about your witchy side?"
"What about it? I'm an awesome witch." Evie laughed.
Mal rolled her eyes. "I'm glad you're here, E."
"Me too, M." Evie said, leaning down to kiss her. She wanted nothing more than to take the kiss further but she didn't want to push the smaller girl. Evie moaned a little at the kiss and immediately pulled away, embarrassed. "Sorry," she stuttered.
"Don't be. I liked it," Mal smirked, her cheeks blushing.
"Is that so?" Evie arched her eyebrow before leaning down to kiss Mal again.
"Yeah, it is," Mal said as she pulled away for a moment before reattaching their lips again.
Both girls spent the time enjoying each other, exploring parts they had never experienced. Moans here and there escaping between kisses. Tongues dueling and dancing with each other.
Panting they pulled away, resting their foreheads on the other, smiling and giggling.
"Why did we never do this before?" Mal laughed, pulling Evie into her arms.
"Mmm, good question," Evie smiled, nestling her head in the crook of Mal's neck, wrapping her arms and legs around her.
"So how are you feeling? Any withdrawal issues?" Mal asked wrapping her arms around Evie, pulling her as close as she could.
"I'm mostly just trying to stay distracted. You're definitely helping with that. It's been hard though. I'm getting there. Wanting to be clean is half the battle, I suppose." Evie told her, running her fingers up and down Mal's stomach, right below where her tank top had risen up.
Mal nodded in response, "it is. You will never get clean until you actually want to."
Evie could feel her eyes starting to get heavy. Mal was so warm and comfortable that Evie couldn't help it. She yawned into Mal, closing her eyes.
Mal felt the girl yawn and knew that Evie would be asleep within minutes. "Evil dreams, E," Mal whispered, kissing the top of Evie's head before closing her own eyes too.
—-
"Mal?" Evie ran around the forest, looking for her girlfriend but she couldn't find her. "Mal!?" Evie screamed over and over again, her throat raw. The purple haired beauty was no where in sight. "Mal! Please. Answer me!" Evie collapsed onto the wet, cold ground beneath her, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Evie! Wake up!" Mal demanded, shaking the other woman.
Evie felt herself being ripped away from her nightmare into total darkness. "Mal!" Evie shouted again.
"Hey, I'm right here. It's okay." Mal pulled her in close, feeling Evie shaking against her. Evie sobbed into Mal's shoulder, gripping her so tightly, nails dug into her skin. "What happened?"
Evie looked around the room, her brain catching up to her emotions. The clock flashed red. 3:17am. "I'm sorry. It's so late. I didn't mean to wake you up. I can go sleep on the couch."
"Don't be stupid. You're not going anywhere." Mal reassured her. "What happened."
Evie tried to remember but the longer she was awake, the fuzzier the dream became. "I couldn't find you."
Mal gently ran her fingers up and down Evie's arm, trying to calm her.
"I was in the woods. I think the ones outside my castle. I don't know though. I couldn't find you." Evie told her, her heart still racing.
"I'm right here, okay? You're in bed. We aren't near any woods. We are both safe," Mal told her. "I promise."
Evie nodded, gripping onto Mal.
"I do however need to go check on my kid. I'll be right back." Mal kissed the top of Evie's head.
Evie took a few breaths, still trying to calm herself. She wasn't sure what the dream meant. From what she could tell, it was that night. The night of the ball. The night with the guy. She didn't know though. Her nightmares were the worst part about getting clean.
"Hi, Evie," Mal said in a singsong voice as she carried a sleepy Macie into the room.
"Blue," Macie said, slurring her words as she reached out for Evie.
"Glad to see she remembers who gave her life," Mal laughed as she leaned down and released her child onto the bed. Macie immediately curled up with Evie, already falling back asleep.
"I'm sorry, did I wake her up?" Evie asked, draping one arm around the small child.
"Yeah but she's okay. She falls asleep pretty quickly." Mal looked down as she crawled into bed and saw that Macie was in fact already asleep again. "Are you going to be okay" Mal asked, looking over into Evie's worried, brown eyes.
"I hope so," Evie replied, reaching across Macie to take Mal's hand. "Thank you."
"Anytime," Mal smiled, getting comfortable again. It wasn't as easy with a toddler in between them but she managed. "I would say Evil dreams but we don't really want that. Sweet dreams, E."
"Sweet dreams, M." Evie replied, closing her eyes once again.
—-
"Dizzy!" Evie's exclaimed, getting up and running across the courtyard, throwing her hands around the smaller girl.
"Evie!" Dizzy squealed, returning the hug.
"It's so good to see you!" Evie exclaimed, releasing Dizzy. "Sit! Sit!"
Dizzy sat down at the table and grinned. "I can't believe I'm actually getting to see you again. How are you? Where have you been?"
"Let's not talk about me." Evie deflected. She wasn't ready for Dizzy's opinion of her to fall. "How's the baby?"
"Good," Dizzy said, eying Evie with a look of skepticism. She chose to ignore the comment for now. "It's good. Measuring on track and everything. I'm about 13 weeks."
"That's so exciting! I'm assuming you and Celia are doing well?" Evie took a sip of her drink.
"Yep. Everything is going well. We are exciting. Nervous though."
"If Mal can be a mom, you can be a mom," Evie laughed. "I gotta ask though, Diz...you're only 18...how? Why?"
"We had a friend who was willing to help us have a baby but he found out he had to leave. So we figured why not. I mean people around here get engaged in high school." Dizzy shrugged.
"I'm really happy for you. I can't wait to meet it. Aunt Evie. I like it!" Evie's smile grew bigger at the thought.
"Where have you been, Evie? It's been years since I've seen you. I needed you and you were nowhere." Dizzy said, causing Evie to feel guilty once again. She hurt everyone she had ever cared about.
"Umm well..." Evie started, wringing her hands. "I had some stuff happen. Some not so great stuff. And I got addicted to drugs and have mostly been living on the streets. Crashing here and there when I could."
"What?" Dizzy asked, leaning back in her chair. "Drugs?"
Evie just nodded. She had never felt such shame in her choices. Having someone who looked up to you look at you like you're scum really hurt.
Dizzy was quiet for a long time. Evie didn't know what to say or do so she just watched the younger girl.
"I'm sorry, Diz. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." Evie finally broke the silence.
"Yeah. Me too." Dizzy looked down at her hands. "You just left. You left me. I needed my big sister and you were gone."
"I hurt a lot of people but I couldn't deal with anything anymore. I couldn't function." Evie admitted.
"What happened? What caused it." Dizzy asked, pushing.
Evie looked around. This wasn't exactly something she wanted to discuss in public. "Rape," she whispered, almost silently.
Dizzy expression immediately changed from one of anger and hurt to concern.
"Are you okay?"
Evie nodded. "Clean too. Mal's been helping me."
"I can't believe you guys are still friends. I figured that unrequited sexual tension would've broken you guys by now." Dizzy said, only half joking.
"Hey!" Evie laughed. "We are actually sort of together, thank you."
Dizzy squealed. "Really?!"
Evie covered her ears. Nice to see some things hadn't changed. She nodded. "A couple weeks now."
"Took you long enough."
"Yeah, Yeah." Evie rolled her eyes.
"Are you still designing?" Dizzy asked, changing the subject.
"I'm sort of getting back into it. I haven't done much the last 4-5 years." Evie's face fell. She really missed her old life and wished she could just get back to that normal.
"Well I'm happy to design with you anytime you want." Dizzy told her. Just then Dizzy's phone beeped. "Crap, I gotta go. I'm sorry. I'll text you okay. I'm so glad I got to see you." Dizzy stood up quickly. Evie stood up as well and reached over to hug her.
"I'm so happy to see you too. Bye, Dizzy."
Evie started to walk to the bus stop when she saw Doug walking over to her. She looked around, trying to think of a way to escape.
"Hey, Evie," Doug said, seeing her before she could get away.
"Oh, hey Doug," Evie said, smiling. "I gotta get going." She started walking away.
"Hey" Doug said causing Evie to turn back around. "Here." He held out his closed hand.
"No, thanks," Evie said, trying to walk away again.
Doug walked up to her and put the small vial into her pocket before walking away. Evie wrapped her hand around it, feeling her heart starting to pound. Evie leaned against the railing, turning the coke around in her hand, still in her pocket. So much of her wanted it. She pulled it out and looked at it, glancing around to make sure no one could see her. The white powder looked so enticing. One little bit wouldn't hurt. Right?
Evie sat debating for a while before her phone snapped her back to reality. It was her alarm. She was supposed to be home to help with dinner. She shoved the coke back into her pocket and headed home.
—
"Hey, babe," Mal smiled when Evie walked through the door.
"Hi, Mal," Evie smiled, taking off her jacket before reaching down to pick up Macie who had toddled over to her. "Hi, Mace." Evie carried the child over to Mal, leaning down to give her a kiss. "What's for dinner?"
"Salisbury steak," she smiled.
"Yum," Evie replied. "I'm going to go get changed." Evie set Macie back down and headed towards the bedroom.
"I got you a key made today. So you have an official one of your own. Where are your keys?" Mal said loudly towards the bedroom. No reply. "Hmmm," Mal said before walking over to the blue jacket on the couch. She shook the coats and could hear the keys jingle. She reached her hand in and pulled out the keys and the yellow vial. Mal stood there, frozen in shock.
"What did you say? I couldn't-" Evie stopped short when she saw Mal. "Why are you going through my jacket?"
"I was looking for your keys," Mal's voice was spacey, her mind lost in thought. "Why do you have this?"
"It's not what it looks like, I swear," Evie said quickly, throwing her arms up.
Mal could quickly feel her anger boiling up, "it looks like you brought drugs into my house for the third fucking time!"
"No, baby, no I swear. I didn't. I mean I did but I didn't use them. You can drug test me." Evie rambled, trying to get Mal to listen.
"Why do you have it?" Mal repeated, her eyes starting to get warm.
"I ran into my dealer when I was out with Dizzy. He gave them to me. I told him no but he put them in my pocket. I swear." Evie tried so hard.
"I can't believe this. I can't believe you would be this stupid. Again. Do you think just because we are together that I will let you bring drugs around Macie?" Mal demanded.
"Mal, come on. Calm down. Your eyes. Please. I swear to you I didn't do them." Evie walked over to Mal and grabbed her hand. "Baby, please. Please calm down. I'm sorry but I didn't do it."
Mal's anger and heartbreak were written all over her face. "You have a choice to make." Mal handed Evie the vial. "Choose. Me and Macie or cocaine."
Evie held the vial in her hand, looking up at the woman she loved. "Mal, I choose you guys. Every time." She walked off and flushed the drugs down the toilet. She reappeared in front of the blonde. "I choose you, okay? I'm sorry." Evie leaned in and kissed Mal in apology. "You're the only thing I've wanted since I was 15, Mal. I choose you."
Mal felt her eyes calm down but her anger inside was still raging. "Why did Doug give those to you?"
Evie was caught off guard, "how do you know it's Doug?"
"I just do." Mal told her, running over to the stove to check on her food. It was slightly burned but okay.
"I don't know why," Evie told her, grabbing the plates as Mal filled them, carrying them through to the dining room. "He just did. He likes that power over me, I guess."
Evie's last words caused Mal's eyes to flash green for a moment before she shook it off. She refused to let anyone have power over Evie anymore. Now she just needed to find Doug and teach him that.
—
Mal waited until Evie's breath evened out before she got out of bed. She quickly scribbled a note in case the other girl woke up.
It didn't take long before the blonde was walking through the alley's downtown, searching for Doug. Finally she saw him and she ran up behind him.
"Hey," Mal yelled. Doug turned around and Mal hit in square in the jaw. Pain seared through her hand as her hand hit bone.
"What the hell!" Doug yelled, doubling over in pain.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!? How dare you get her addicted to that shit?" Mal shoved him, backing up so he couldn't swing at her.
"Better than heroin or meth," Doug said, pain in every word.
"Seriously?" Mal asked incredulously before kicking him square in the balls causing him to fall down completely. "If I ever find out you've gone near her again, I will kill you. Do you understand me?" Mal was right in his face, saying the words slow enough for him to grasp. All he did was nod before Mal kicked him one last time for good measure.
Mal walked off feeling better but her hand was throbbing. She knew it wasn't broken but she had no doubt there was some internal bruising. She tried to shake the pain off but her hand seared even more.
Driving home proved to be slightly harder but she made it back as quickly as she could. She opened her apartment door and ran straight into Evie.
"Where have you been? It's 1 in the morning." Evie demanded, her eyes glancing down at the swollen hand. "What happened?"
"Nothing," Mal lied, walking into the kitchen and grabbing an ice pack out of the freezer. It felt amazing on her hand.
"Try again." Evie warned. She readjusted the ice pack so it fit better on Mal's hand, then crossed her arms and glared.
"I punched someone," Mal shrugged.
"Who? And why?" Evie asked.
"Doug," was all Mal had to say.
"You've got to be kidding me. Mal!" Evie was not pleased. "You had no right to do that."
"I have every right. You're my girlfriend and he keeps giving you drugs," Mal explained, walking into the living room.
"Girlfriend?" Evie repeated, stopping in her tracks.
"Shut up, that's not important right now." Mal said, sitting down on the couch, adjusting her hand so it caused the least amount of pain.
"Right," Evie smiled before anger took it's place on her features again. "Have you lost your mind? You can't go beating up drug dealers. Especially mine."
"Why not?" Mal asked. Evie sat down next to her.
"I'm an adult, Mal. I can make my own choices and defend myself." Evie told her.
"Your choices involve my child now. I will defend her and you as much as I can."
"How chivalrous," Evie rolled her eyes. "You'll be lucky if you don't get an assault charge for this. Was he okay?"
"Shaken up, but he will live." Mal explained.
Evie just shook her head, "I can't believe you did this."
"I'm sorry." Mal told her. She was sorry. Well sorry for upsetting Evie, not so much for beating up Doug. She had wanted to do that for years.
"Yeah." Evie replied.
"Is Macie still asleep?" Mal asked.
"I checked on her when I woke up. She was passed out. That was about half an hour ago or so." Evie replied, standing up and walking over to the bedroom. She glanced in and saw that Macie was still passed out in her room. "Still out of it."
Mal smiled. It was nice having someone else around to help with her child. "Thanks. I'm going to head back to sleep, if that's okay."
Evie nodded, "I'll be in in a little while. I'm going to sketch some. My anxiety is a little too high for sleep right now.
"Okay," Mal stood up and walked over to Evie and quickly kissed her. "Goodnight."
"Night," Evie replied, absentmindedly. Her brain was spinning. She grabbed her sketchbook off the coffee table and settled herself on the couch, the days events going through her mind. She picked up her pencil and started to draw.
