"What did you think of the ceremony?" Ben asked as our open carriage pulled away to take us both back to Auradon Castle in the same manner that we had arrived here.

"It was nice" I answered. "I think both Phillip and Aurora are going to be good leaders; I know they want to change a lot of things in their constituency and they will" I added. "But they will also make it easier for you to work with them" I continued. "They want to work with you; not against you" I reminded him fondly.

"I know" he smiled at me. "It will be nice not arguing with Lady Leah" he noted.

"I'll second that" I sighed and I heard him chuckle at this as we both looked at each other. We then fell into silence just staring at each other for a few seconds; I could tell that Ben was deep in thought. I opened my mouth to ask him what was on his mind; however I stopped myself when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Thank you" he advised lovingly.

"For what?" I questioned in confusion.

"Being you" he pressed in the same lovingly manner.

"Erm-" I muttered as I nervously brushed some hair behind my right ear. "Thanks" I added bashfully and I felt heat in my chees which told me that I was now blushing.

"You are so cute when you pull that face" he noted.

"What face?" I asked.

"The one where you don't know what to say" he explained as he gave my left hand a gentle squeeze with his right.

"Again-" I began. "Awkward thanks" I teased and I heard him chuckle at me. He then dropped my hand and wrapped his right arm around my shoulder and we slid closer together in our carriage. "It's a good thing that I love you" I joked as I rested my head against his right shoulder.

"I love you too poppet" I heard him say as I slid my left hand into his left and gave it a gentle squeeze. I loved when Ben was being cute like this; and it just goes to show that even after all this time of being together I still sometimes don't know how to react what he said to me. Yes this was getting far and few between; but I knew that I would always be falling irrevocably and unconditionally in love with him.

Me and Ben spent the rest of the ride back to Auradon Castle cuddled together as we waved and smiled at the adoring crowds around us; yes I may have been in the public eye but due to the fact that I was in Ben's arms it didn't feel so public. It felt like I was having a private moment with Ben; which meant a great deal to me - as everything with my Beast did.

When we arrived at Auradon Castle Ben again helped me out of the carriage before we walked hand in hand into the main hall; due to royal protocol me and Ben this time left first so we could stand just outside the grand ballroom to greet everyone.

A few minutes of me and Ben being stood in silence Adam and Belle walked into the main hall shortly after us and stood next to me and Ben so they would greet and host with us. They both smiled at us warmly as our first guests, King Quasimodo and his family, walked into the main hall.

Thankfully it didn't take very long for me, Ben, Adam and Belle to greet all of our guests; and before I knew it King Phillip, Queen Aurora, Audrey and their guests were finally walking into the main hall. They greeted up very warmly and accepted our congratulations wholeheartedly which I was very happy about.

When they walked into the grand ballroom I heard the room erupt into cheering and clapping and me, Ben, Adam and Belle waited a few moments to give the Beauty's their moment. When the room fell into silence Ben then slid his right hand into my left and led me into the room. And as I walked into the room I noted by the big clock in the main hall that it was now three o'clock - my my time does fly when you are having fun.

We all then shared a three course meal that our kitchen was well known for however there was some small changes to the menu. For our starter we had tomato soup with warm and fresh bread buns. For our main meal we Boeuf Bourguignon, which is a beef stew braised in red wine and beef stock. It was garnished with pearl onions, mushrooms, bacon, mashed potato and carrots. Finally for our desert we had a dish called Clafoutis, which is a baked French dessert that was filled with black cherries. It was arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan like batter.

After we finished our desserts I started to get nervous at the fact that me and Ben were getting closer to making our engagement announcement. I hoped that everyone was going to be happy about it; I kept trying to convince myself that they would but given what had happened recently I couldn't help but feel on edge.

My mind then went onto my parents and I started to think about what they would think. But I quickly dismissed this - I knew what they would think about me and Ben being engaged. They were going to hate it! Even though I knew that deep down they probably knew that this was coming - and I wanted to do this right. They needed to find out from me and Ben - not by the news in the morning.

"Ben-" I muttered.

"Aha?" he answered as he turned towards me and smiled lovingly down at me.

"My parents" I replied.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"My parents don't know about-" I muttered again. "You know" I hinted.

"Oh" he said quietly as his eyes widened slightly at this. "I see" he noted. "Do you want to wait?" he enquired.

"I don't know" I admitted. "I don't know whether they will even care; but if I want to start building a relationship with my dad then maybe we should mention it" I stated. Now that I knew who my dad was I felt the drive to build some sort of relationship with him - even if it was just as strained like it was with my mother.

"Yeah" he agreed. "I have an idea" he admitted.

"Right?" I stated hoping that this would prompt him.

"Come with me" he advised.

"Ok" I nodded and we both stood up.

"Where are you going?" Adam asked in confusion.

"There is something that we need to do" Ben advised. "We will be in my office" he added. "Can you hold the fort for us?" he finished as he slid his left hand into my right.

"Of course" Adam smiled and me and Ben quickly left the room - with me not knowing what we were about to do and I didn't know how I felt about it.

"So?" I began after Ben closed his office door behind us. "What are we doing in here?" I enquired.

"Well you wanted to tell your parents; I thought that we would FaceTime them" he suggested.

"Oh" I muttered. That did sound like the best way to do this; taking Ben to the Isle was never going to be an option. "But how are we going to talk to my dad?" I asked as I pulled one brow up in confusion at him.

"I sent him a laptop after you found out" he advised. "I thought you might have wanted to speak to him at one point" he shrugged.

"Oh Benny" I smiled as I dropped his hand. "Thank you" I added happily as I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him into a hug.

"You're very welcome" I heard him say before he pressed a kiss against the top of my head. "So who do you want to tell first?" he asked causing me to look up at him.

"Erm" I said. "I don't know" I admitted. "Probably my mother" I decided. "I have more of a relationship with my mother I guess" I rationalised. "And I don't think that my mother would appreciate it if I told my father first" I finished.

"Ok" he answered as he stepped out of my arms and walked around his desk and I followed him. I watched as he tapped his computer mouse and his computer came on. He quickly typed in his password before opening the video call software on his computer. He quickly selected my mother and rang; he then gestured for me to get closer which I did just in time for the line to open and my mother quickly appeared.

"Yes?" she asked coolly.

"Hello Mother" I answered.

"What do you want Kiddo?" she snapped.

"Me and Ben have something that we want to tell you-" I began.

"And why would you think that I wanted to know this?" she urged cynically. In all honesty this was the reaction that I was expecting; so I knew whatever she was about to say I needed to take with a pinch of salt.

"I don't know" I shrugged. "But you are my Mother" I reminded.

"Oh" she replied as confusion hit her face. "Ok" she nodded. "Well I can't promise that I will care" she offered.

"That's all we can ask for" I returned.

"So?" she pressed. "What do you want?" she snapped again causing me and Ben to quickly look at each other before we looked back at my mother.

"We are engaged" I announced and I noticed that she kept the same blank look on her face that she had when she answered our call.

"Ok" she finally said after a few moments. "I want you to know that I expected this as some point" she explained. "I hope you aren't expecting me to congratulate you, surely you know that isn't going to happen" she sighed.

"I know" I answered. I knew she never would congratulate us; but it didn't feel right that she didn't know before the world. "But we wanted to tell you" I stated as Ben nodded at this.

"Ok" she said. "Is that it?" she spat.

"Yes" I confirmed.

"Well thank you for telling me" she answered. "You didn't have to; and I do appreciate that" she offered and I took a deep breath to steady myself - I never in my wildest dreams expected her to say that!

"Thank you for taking it so well" I responded.

"Ok" she said bluntly. "Well I am going to go now" she advised.

"Ok" I repeated. "Bye Mother" I offered.

"Bye" she stated before her hand swept near the screen and the video call ended.

"How are you feeling after that?" Ben asked as he wrapped his right arm around my waist.

"In all honesty-" I started.

"Yes?" he prompted as I looked up at him. When I did this I saw concern in his eyes; and I knew what he was thinking - I was probably going to have a nightmare about my mother tonight and hopefully this didn't happen.

"That went a lot better than I thought" I confessed. "I thought she was going to be cruel" I added as I pursed my lips together.

"So did I" he agreed. "Maybe she's changing?" he offered.

"No" I answered as I shook my head. "It's because in all reality she doesn't care" I stated. Yes it felt right to tell her about our engagement but I guess this was only for my benefit deep down. I think there was always going to be part of me that wanted my mother to care - but I knew that it probably was never going to happen. "And by the looks of it, she has come to terms with this" I nodded to myself.

"Yeah" he nodded back. "So let's ring your dad" he smiled as he reached over and clicked on the 'Hades' tab and I watched as the call started. I didn't even know if he was going to answer; however after it ringing for a few seconds a very confused Hades appeared.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "When this was sent to me I never expected you to ever use it" he advised in confusion.

"Why not?" I asked. "Do you not want to get to know me better?" I continued and I saw his face drop even further into confusion.

"I don't know" he replied. "I don't know how this is supposed to work" he added and I couldn't help but nod in agreement at this. I didn't really know how this was meant to go with Hades, now that we both knew about our relationship. "I know that knowing who your Father was was always something that bothered you growing up" he noted.

"It was" I confirmed. "And I don't know how this works either" I confessed and I felt Ben's right hand stroke my right hip. "But the fact that we both know now we may need to discuss it, but we don't have to if you don't want to" I offered; and I watched as his eyes closed slightly as he pulled one brow up in confusion.

"Hmmm" he hummed as he opened his eyes fully. "Have you thought about what we discussed?" he questioned.

"Not yet" I admitted.

"I see" he noted. "Does your Fiancé know yet?" he questioned smoothly.

"How do you know?" I fired back, there was no way he could know about mine and Ben's engagement - so how did he?

"You are fidgeting with a new ring on you hand Mal" he advised.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Sorry" I quickly apologised as I dropped my hands down.

"I'm guessing that is why you are ringing me" he realised.

"Yes" I confirmed. "We wanted to tell you" I advised as I looked up at Ben; and I started to wonder why Ben wasn't saying anything but then it came to me - he was giving me this time with my parents.

"Ok" Hades answered. "Go on then" he prompted us with a warm smile that was catching me off guard.

"We are engaged" I announced and I saw a proud glint enter his eyes.

"Congratulations!" he directed as he looked at both of us. "Am I invited to the wedding?" he enquired.

"Erm-" I started. I didn't really know how this would work; as if Hades attended our wedding my mother would want to come - and this was something that we couldn't allow as this was putting Auradon at a great risk.

"That is something that we can discuss" Ben interjected.

"Ok" Hades said. "Well I promise that me and Hadie would be on our best behaviour" he vowed. "And we would follow any rules that you would put into place" he stressed as he ran his right hand through his bright blue hair.

"Thank you" Ben said. "That means a lot" he smiled.

"Would you want to attend our wedding?" I questioned.

"Yes!" he exclaimed without a moment's hesitation.

"You are my only daughter" he reminded me. "And regardless of how your Mother treats you I want to be different; and I am not just saying that because you are going to be Queen" he explained. "Or to live in Auradon" he added. "But I want to try" he finished with a reassuring smile.

"Thanks" I replied.

"However the second option there is something that could happen" he suggested. "Just putting it out there" he added as he put both hands up in the fair.

"We will look into it" Ben promised.

"Oh and Your Majesty-" my father started and I watched as his face dropped.

"Yes Hades?" Ben answered.

"I will be keeping my eye on you" he warned him as he pointed to his eyes before pointing at him.

"Father" I warned him and I watched as a large smug grin spread across his face.

"Daughter" he sang back. "I'm playing nice" he chuckled. "But your Fiancé needs to know that I will be keeping an eye on him" he advised. "It's part of my fatherly duties" he shrugged. "And even though you didn't ask my permission I will forgive this" he directed towards Ben before looking back over to me. "We aren't at that stage yet; and I appreciate that" he finished sincerely. The change in Hades was actually catching me off guard; and I felt bad at the fact that a part of me was doubting him - he was the King of manipulation, after all.

"Thank you" Ben said. "But I will take good care of Mal, I promise" he vowed as he rested his head against mine.

"And I will look into your residence changing; but I can't promise anything. You will have to change" he advised.

"I know" Hades answered. "Mal said" he smiled at me. "I just want to live out my retirement in the sun" he added as his smile grew. "Anyway-" he began. "I think you both need to get a move on, aren't you meant to be at that Ball?" he enquired as he pulled one eyebrow up at us.

"Yes" I confirmed. "And we are going to do the announcement tonight; but we wanted you to know beforehand" I explained.

"Thanks" he said. "I do value you that" he continued. "See you both later" he smiled again.

"See you" I repeated.

"Bye" Ben stated and Hades quickly hung up.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed. "He took that very well" I noted.

"Yes he did" Ben agreed causing me to look up at him. "But what don't I know?" he enquired as he wrapped both of his arms around my waist.

"Well you know" I advised. "He wants to live in Auradon" I explained.

"I see" he noted. "Well that is something that we would need to discuss a lot" he stated.

"I know" I agreed. "But not right now" I dismissed. "Things are starting to calm down after the trial" I reminded him.

"Yeah" he said. "Do you want Hades at our wedding?" he asked.

"I don't know" I confessed. "I never thought that my Father we ever be at my wedding" I added. "Heck!" I exclaimed as I slid my hands onto his chest. "I never thought I would find out who is my Father or get married" I stated. "It would appear I have a lot to thank you for" I smiled up fondly at him.

"Me?" he asked in confusion.

"Because of you I have a lot of things that I never thought I would have" I told him.

"But you don't need to thank me for that" he dismissed.

"Well suck it up" I teased. "Because I am" I urged as I brushed my nose against his. "Thank you Ben" I pressed as I gazed into his eyes.

"You're very welcome Mal" he answered back before he pressed a brief kiss against my lips. "We best go back in" he advised as he pulled away. "Before someone comes looking for us" he stated as he nodded towards the door.

"Yeah" I answered as we untangled ourselves from each other. I then slid my right hand into his left and I let him lead me from the room. As we left the room I couldn't believe how well what had just happened with my parents; but I felt that it was a step in the right direction for everyone involved.