A Piece of Cake

(Day 85: Sunday Evening)

When Ben and Mal walk up the staircase and turn towards the dining room her mouth gapes, "What the hell?"

Ben frowns as they walk into the area, "Mother. I told you not to fuss with the decorations." He raises an arm up towards the streamers on the wall, "What is all of this?"

"Actually," Evie grins as she raises a hand in guilt. "That part might have been me."

Mal looks over the purple balloons, lacy tablecloth, and the multitude of food scattered across the table, "This is like a lot." She steps forward in distress, "You really didn't need to do all this for me."

"Nonsense," Belle smiles. "It's your first birthday off of that treacherous island."

"Mom," Ben interrupts.

"And you deserve to have a nice one," she finishes, before she looks around the room. "So. Now that everyone's here, who would like to have dinner?"

"Me," Jay raises his hand.

Carlos raises his halfway, "I second that."

Ben places his arm around Mal's back, "Come on." before he guides her to their usual seats and spares no time to put a variety of meat on his plate.

Jay sits across from Carlos, before he points towards Ben, "I think you're missing something there."

Ben frowns, glancing at his plate, "Like what?"

"Ham," Jay asserts. "You have chicken, turkey, and beef. But no ham."

"There isn't any," he eyes him in confusion.

Mal smiles at Ben, "He's messing with you."

"Oh." He raises his eyebrows and lifts a shoulder, before he picks up his fork again. "Actually." He looks around, "Where's the gravy?"

Evie points at the bowl in front of her, "Here."

Ben reaches over Mal's plate to grab the gravy, but he hesitates for a moment, as he notices Evie's plate remains empty. He continues the motion, unwilling to draw attention to that fact, and then pours a few scoops of the brown gravy over the turkey and beef. He puts the bowl back, "Thank you."

"Why, Evie—"

Ben hears his mother, "I'm going to get the cake." before he looks over at Evie. "Would you like to help me?"

She darts her eyes between the two of them before standing to her feet, "Yes, actually."

When they make it into the kitchen Ben walks over to the fridge and grabs two bottles of the sports' water, before he turns around and hands her one, "Here." He watches as she looks down with a thoughtful frown. "Look. Um." She looks back up at him, and he wets his lips, "I don't know whether you know this, but my mother's kind of big on health. Believe it or not, if she didn't notice your plate, then she'd probably be encouraging me to add some vegetables to mine." Ben opens his mouth at the realization, before he makes a noise, "Mal told you, right?"

"You're a hybrid," Evie plainly states.

Ben looks away, "Yes, and—"

"She didn't tell me."

Ben stares at her for a moment, before he whispers, "How…"

"You're stronger than Mal, you eat just as much meat as she does, and I suspect your heat issue could be a lot like her cold issue," she lists. "It's obvious." Evie shrugs, "For me, at least."

"Right." Ben shakes his head, "Anyway." but he can't help but hold onto her words. "It's obvious?" He shifts his eyes, "How obvious?"

"I doubt that anyone here would know how to recognize a hybrid if it hit them in the face," Evie reassures. "It's fine. Your citizens aren't going to be able to figure it out."

He pauses for a long moment, "Okay."

When he doesn't speak Evie prompts, "So, are we getting the cake or…"

Ben remembers, and then he steps forward, "Look. My point was, it's not about you. If she mentions something, it's just because she likes to make sure everyone is healthy." She eyes away for a second. "But you should know…" He gestures, "If you can't eat, you don't have to."

Evie looks off and sees it, "That's the cake, right?"

Ben turns to where she looks, "Yeah. Strawberry cheesecake with wiped cream and real strawberries. Mal should love it."

It takes a minute for her to mention, "I don't suppose there's a calorie count for it?"

Ben frowns, "Come on." before he walks with her over to the cake and he opens the cookbook next to it. She offers him an expression of slight surprise but doesn't speak, as he flips through the pages. "Here," he points, before he takes out his phone.

"What are you doing?"

He meets her eyes, pausing for a mere second, "What do you think I'm doing?" and when she looks at the phone he eyes down at it as well. "This will take a moment." He sighs as he types the ingredients into the app, before he wets his lips, looks up, and admits, "I actually… I used to eat whipped cream instead of ice cream." He lifts a thumb, "I would eat it frozen."

"Why?" Evie takes interest.

"Because it's safe." He looks away from her and hurries to find more ingredients in the search bar, "I think it was about seventy calories for two tablespoons." before he eyes up at her again. "And I tended to actually eat it with a measuring spoon."

"Even I don't do that," Evie softly remarks.

Ben's quiet for a moment, "You would if you ate."

When he looks back down Evie remembers, "Doesn't whip cream have like a lot of fat, though? That doesn't seem very safe."

"Fat's actually a good thing," Ben contradicts. "It makes you feel less hungry." He lifts a shoulder as he shifts his eyes in annoyance, "At least, it's supposed to."

"What do you mean, supposed to?"

Ben looks up at her again, "Avocadoes don't do anything for me." before he hands her the phone. "Here's the numbers."

"And this is for one-eighth of the cake?" she questions.

"Yes." He sees her hesitance, "We can divide the number by three. If you allow yourself to have a sliver, then at least you won't feel left out." He eyes from the phone back to her, "Do you think you can handle that?"

Evie gives the phone back to him, "I want to try. For Mal."

Ben continues to frown, "Okay." before he picks up the cake and Evie follows him back into the dining room. He lets his water fall from his fingers to beside his plate, before he finds an empty spot for the cake, "Here it is. Oh, uh, I forgot the lighter."

"I'll go get it," his mother begins to stand, but then Carlos hands Ben his own lighter.

"Here," he prompts, and then Belle sits back down.

"Thanks," Ben replies, before he begins to light the candles.

Jay gives Carlos a look, "I thought you ran out of cigarettes. What the hell are you still doing with a lighter?"

"It looks cool," he excuses, but Jay continues to stare him down. "I stopped. I swear."

Jay keeps his arms crossed, "I hope so, because if you didn't, what good am I for?" before the corner of his mouth turns up.

Carlos smiles, "You've been a great help."

"Since when do you smoke?" Mal questions.

"What? He didn't before?" Ben inquires; however, when he gives Carlos back the lighter he sees his confusion, and as he walks over to Mal he pats him on the shoulder. "It's been all over your clothes, man." He takes Mal's hand, "Have any wishes in mind?" before she stands from her chair and he guides her over to the cake.

"Just one," before she kisses him and then looks into his eyes. "That we make each other better, not worse, and that no matter what happens we will never break apart."

"The candles are dripping," Evie interrupts.

Mal leans down and blows them out; however, after they go out two of them relight, and she squints her eyes at them, "What?" She blows at them again, but the flames return just as strong as before.

When Ben sees Mal look up at him he thinks, "Try it again." She lets out an annoyed breath just as she turns back to the candles, and this time they permanently go out. Ben frowns over the room, "Who bought spelled candles?" He notices his parents give each other a knowing look, "You hate magic."

"I know you're upset," his father begins.

"No. You don't know," Ben shouts, and when he continues on in French Mal returns to her seat.

"What are they saying?" Evie whispers.

"Hell if I know," Mal irritably answers, before she shouts, "Hey." and they turn towards her. "I don't know about you. But I kind of liked the idea of having a birthday where I could understand what everyone is saying."

"Sorry," Belle apologizes. "That was rude of us."

"This isn't the kind of thing you do at a birthday," Ben frustrates.

"No one would have noticed if you didn't make a scene," his father retorts.

"Adam," Ben's mother places a hand on his arm, "Ben's right. A birthday party probably wasn't the best time for this kind of thing."

"What kind of thing?" Mal gives them a confused look.

Adam breathes before answering, "You understand that we had to be careful."

"To know who you were loyal to," Belle explains. "It's nothing personal. You've just seemed rather confused about it."

Mal shakes her head, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Ben sighs and then sits back down next to Mal, "The candles are spelled to show how many people you have strong feelings for." before he gives his parents a stern expression. "But what if only one flame had remained? Would you have assumed that she wasn't loyal to me or would you have given her the benefit of the doubt?" They don't speak. "Or maybe," Ben accuses, "Father is just so paranoid that he didn't bother to think it through and because you're just so dedicated to him you followed his lead like some mindless imbécile."

"You don't talk to your mother that way," his father sternly defends.

Ben's mouth gapes at him, "No. Okay." as his eyes shift back to her. "You're so intelligent and strong-willed and beautiful, and you're doing what with your life?" He exasperates, "Being some royal's trophy wife?"

She hears the hurt in his voice, "I helped your father unite this country."

He gulps, "And now?"

"And now," she calmly answers, "I am a homemaker, which is a fulltime job that I should not have to be ashamed of."

Ben can feel the tears intrude his eyes, "Sorry." before he stands from the table and leaves toward the hall.

After Ben is out of view Carlos interrupts the silence, "That was weird."

"So, who wants cake?" Jay claps his hands together.

Evie stands from her seat, "I want to cut it." before she heads over to the cake, picks up the knife, cuts it into eighths and then a single piece into thirds.

"Should I go after him?" Mal questions, and Evie looks at her before heading over to her the plate.

"Just give him some time," Belle suggests. "If he's not back soon, then I will head off to find him myself."

"Yeah. Okay," she stressfully breathes with a slight nod and nervous smile.

Belle moves her eyes over to Evie, "Wouldn't you rather start with the main course?"

"No, thanks." Evie stares down as she pokes her fork into the piece she had cut off with it, "I'm good."

"That can't possibly be all you're having," she nearly laughs in disbelief.

Mal watches as Evie picks up the knife to cut the slice into further pieces, before she furrows her eyebrows at Belle, "Leave her alone."

"A slice of cake will hardly have any nutritional value."

"I don't care," Mal retorts. "She's eating. Don't make a big deal out of it." She thinks, "In fact, no one's going to talk about food at all tonight." before she looks over at Jay and Carlos. "Everyone okay with that?"

"Sure," Jay evenly expresses with raised brows.

Carlos frowns, "Yeah. Okay."

When Mal returns her attention to Belle she stays quiet; however, she continues to observe Evie, now seemingly more concerned than before. "She's not going to be able to eat with you staring at her like that."

Belle forces her eyes away from Evie, but it's then she sees Ben's full plate, "I'm going to get him." She kisses her husband on the cheek, "Be back soon." before she stands from her chair and walks around the long table, moving towards the hall.

"Sooo, uh," Mal uncomfortably starts conversation. "Do you speak French all the time here or is it just when people are around?"

It takes him a moment, "It's all of the time."

When he doesn't continue Mal uneasily inquires, "And the castle… Has it always looked this way?"

"No," he gruffly answers, and he fails to explain any further.

Mal picks her fork back up, "Okay, then." before she continues to eat.