Author's Note: Part of this chapter takes place during chapter 2 of "Sick Day" - just more from Evie's perspective - and a little bit between chapters 2 and 3 if it. Such a traumatic event shouldn't go unexplored in my opinion, especially since I mentioned that Evie was taking Mal's collapse so deeply.

I hope you like it, please enjoy...

Evie was searching different sites looking for inspiration for new dress designs. It wasn't the best use of her time since she was supposed to be looking up ways to look out for people who might want to do harm to someone else while online. She almost laughed at the idea. This is Auradon, she thought, no one here is going to try and harm anyone else. But still, she supposed a class called Safety Rules for the Internet had to justify its place on the curriculum. As she was looking at a site dedicated to all types of shoes she wished she could have, there was a knock on the classroom door. Everyone looked up and saw one of the school's aids at the door.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but I need to see Evie," he said.

The teacher looked over at her and nodded for her to go. She closed down her browser and got her things. She followed the aid who was keeping his gaze forward.

"Am I in trouble?" Evie asked nervously.

"No ma'am."

"Then where –"

"There's been an emergency ma'am, you'll be told the details where I take you," the aid told her. He said nothing more as he led Evie to her destination. Despite being told that she would be given some information, she felt even more nervous as she followed along.

Eventually she was led to the front of the school where a black luxury shuttle bus was waiting, idling in the circle driveway. The aid opened the sliding side door for her and, after a cautious second, she stepped inside. She was surprised to see Ben and his parents, Jay, and Carlos. She became worried when she saw the looks on their faces – sad, shocked, worried, and scared.

"Guys? What's wrong?" she asked as she sat in one of the revolving seats and turned it to face everybody.

"We're going to the hospital," Jay said after a long second.

"W-why?" Evie asked, her nerves beginning to act up.

"Because Mal is on her way there," Ben answered her. "She fainted in class."

Oh God, she thought.

"How is she?" Evie said as she entered the ER seconds after Ben did, Jay, Carlos, and Ben's parents on her heels.

"She's stable," Fairy Godmother told them all as they moved into the waiting room.

"Stable? What does that mean?" Evie asked, not satisfied with those two words. "Stable as in she's gonna be released soon? Or stable she's just not gonna die?"

"Evie," Jay admonished her, but she turned toward him, glaring at him.

"Mal collapsed, I just want to know what the hell 'stable' means to them."

"Evie, calm down," she heard Belle tell her gently, and then felt her hand settle on her shoulder.

Evie turned toward the Queen Mother, Belle's expression calm, but Evie could tell, she was probably just as, if not more, worried than herself. "But Belle," she tried before Belle silenced her with a patient finger to her lips.

"Let Fairy Godmother talk," she instructed, not just to Evie but to all of them. The group of teenagers quieted and turned toward the headmistress. "Go on."

"I heard the paramedics saying she had a high fever which they said needed to come down immediately. I gave what information I could about her medical history to help, but I just don't have it memorized. They managed to revive her long enough to ask her some questions, but she was too delirious to answer. Then she…she began vomiting and then passed out."

Oh God no, Evie thought as she struggled to not faint herself at the news of her friend in such a crisis.

The next series of events seemed to pass in a daze for Evie. Belle effectively forced the hospital to give her information on Mal and then disappeared to where they had her. The rest of them stayed behind, her mind involuntarily going to every worst case scenario she could imagine until she thought she'd need to bang her head against the wall to get it to stop.

Eventually Belle returned, intense worry written all over her face, and if Evie didn't know better, it looked like she'd been crying. She began crying herself as she listened to Belle tell her what the doctor had said. Immediately she felt Belle and Fairy Godmother wrap her in their arms. The gesture made her feel better, and she felt grateful that they were there for her, but she couldn't help but feel like it should be someone else telling her that everything would be alright. That Mal would be okay. That she didn't need to feel as afraid as she did.

After she had stopped crying, Belle began speaking.

"Listen, I need to ask you three something," Belle said as she stood in front of Jay, Carlos, and Evie. "We sent doctors over all the time for check-ups and new cases, anything people might need. They also gave vaccinations. Did Mal never get any of them?" The three villain kids looked back and forth between each other. "Well?" Belle prodded further.

"Mal told me that the only ones she had were the ones that the doctors told her mom were mandatory," Jay answered. "You know, the ones we were supposed to get as babies, and a few years after that."

Belle nodded, wanting to hear more. "But what about the ones like the yearly flu boosters?" Adam asked.

Evie shook her head. "They were voluntary. Since she wasn't being forced, Maleficent never made Mal take them, just told her to toughen up because she didn't want to be burdened with a sick kid."

"Oh my God," Evie heard Belle gasp.

"So you mean to tell me that Mal's never had a flu shot, ever?" Adam asked angrily. The three of them shook their head. "What about you three."

They all nodded.

"Mom used to tell me princes don't marry sick princesses," Evie answered.

"If I ever got sick Mom would've had to do her own housework, and she was not gonna let that happen, so she made me get them," Carlos added.

"Dad needed me healthy so I could steal stuff for him to sell in the shop," Jay finished.

"So at least they're covered," Belle said in relief. "But now I can tell the doctor why it hit her so hard." Evie watched as Fairy Godmother came and whispered something in Belle's ear and the Queen Mother nodded. "You all came over in August, the boosters are done in September, you three didn't get them yet did you?"

Jay and Carlos groaned while Evie just shook her head, rubbing at her arm at the thought of what they knew was coming. "Adam, can you and Fairy Godmother make sure they're covered while I go get started on having Mal's records copied over from the palace.

Her husband nodded. "Come on kids, let's get this over with."

Evie, Jay, and Carlos found themselves on the third floor of the hospital. It was where all the lab work was done and where the nurses decided it would be easiest to administer the flu shots once they got them from the pharmacy. Jay was in the room getting his shot. Carlos was sitting next to Evie, and unlike Jay, who was a little more stoic while they were waiting, Carlos was fidgeting on his seat. He wasn't a fan of needles and was dreading the idea of the shot. Evie was seated next to Adam, leaned over, her head on shoulder. She was staring out blankly, still feeling the shock of the whole situation.

The door to the room where they were getting the shots opened and Jay walked out. Evie and Carlos saw a flash of the small bandage on his right arm before he put on his jacket.

"Carlos, sweetie, you're up next," Fairy Godmother said gently from the door. He let out a sigh.

"Man up, it's just a shot," Jay told him as he fell into the chair next to Carlos. Carlos groaned, got up and made his way toward the room, albeit with a slight dragging of his feet.

"You'll be fine when it's your turn, you know that right, Evie?" Adam asked her softly. Evie nods mechanically. After a few seconds, Evie began to feel her stomach churn, and she suddenly felt an overwhelming urge of sickness come over her.

Without any indication to anyone, she suddenly shot up from her chair and made a mad dash for the nearest restrooms. Once inside she burst through the stall door and fell to her knees next to the toilet. The sound of her vomiting echoed inside the restroom. After she was done, she pulled her phone from her pocket and punched one of the speed dials.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," she chanted as she listened to the ringing.

"Evie, Sweetheart, you should really be in class right now, shouldn't you?" came Connie's cheerful voice after she finally answered.

"I didn't know who else to call," Evie sobbed into the phone, the tears coming before she spoke.

"Evie, what's wrong?" Connie asked upon hearing the teenaged girl crying hysterically.

"It's Mal, she…she fainted…and she's here at the hospital…and I overheard one of the doctors saying they didn't know if she'd pull through…and –"

"Evie…Evie calm down," Connie implored her, trying not to cry at the tone of Evie sounding distressed. "Breath sweetie, you need to breathe." She heard loud inhalations from Evie's end and smiled at the way the girl listened to her. After listening to her for a second more, she finally spoke, hoping Evie was just a little more calm. "Okay, now what happened? You said Mal fainted."

"Uh-huh, in class," Evie choked out.

"And she's in the hospital?"

"Mmhm."

"Okay, are you there now?" Connie asked, thanking God that Evie was cooperating with her questions. She heard Evie once again agree. "Are you okay?"

"Connie, I'm…I'm scared. What if they're right and she doesn't…she's practically my sister."

"Evie, are you in there?" a loud booming voice – Adam's voice – said through the cracked door.

"I can't lose her," Evie began crying again.

"Sweetheart, you're not going to lose her," Connie tried to reassure her. "She's there in the hospital, she will be fine. In fact, I want you to try and keep it together okay, I'm…I'm on my way down there, alright?"

"Please hurry," Evie whimpered.

Evie hung up as she heard the door to the bathroom open and the sound of heels clicking on the tiled floor. There was a knock on the door to the stall she was in followed by a soft soothing voice.

"Evie, honey, are you okay?"

Evie was laying on the bed in the room Adam had shown her to when they got back from the hospital. She practically put her foot down that she didn't want to go back to her dorm room. That the sight of Mal's side not having her in it would be too much for her at the moment. So Adam relented and offered to let her stay at the palace. Evie was hesitant, but Adam insisted, telling her that Belle would have made the same offer. She was somewhat glad when he told her that she didn't need to finish out the school day after what had happened and they ended up making a quick stop at her dorm room so Evie could pick up some clothes and personal items for a couple of days. Once they were back at the palace, Adam showed Evie to a room and then, after letting her get settled, brought her something to eat for lunch.

That had been a little under two hours ago and Evie heard a light knock on the door. "Come in," she said softly, but just loud enough for her visitor to hear.

"Evie?" Adam asked gently as he peeked his head in. He saw that she was laying on her side, facing the wall, just staring out into space. "I just wanted to check in on you, see if you're doing alright."

"I'm fine," she answered softly, and a little too mechanically for Adam's taste. Poor thing must still be in a little bit of shock, he thought as he remembered how Fairy Godmother informed him of how she found Evie sitting on the floor of the women's restroom back at the hospital, crying her eyes out.

"You, uh…," he trailed off, not totally comfortable with the situation. He realized it had nothing to do with her being a villain child, and more to do with the fact that he was out of his depth, after all, he'd raised a son, not a daughter. Having to handle the emotional state she was in was new territory for him. Luckily, he thought, and said, "You have a visitor."

"I…I just want to be alone," Evie whimpered.

"Evie, Sweetheart," came a familiar voice. Evie turned toward the door and saw, standing next to Adam, was Connie. She jumped from the bed and practically ran to her.

"Mom," she sobbed as she began crying again, throwing her arms around Connie. She felt Connie's arms immediately envelope her.

"It's okay, honey, I'm here," Connie soothed the crying teen. She began to stroke Evie's hair to try and calm her down as she felt her shaking in her arms. She looked over at Adam and mouthed the words, "Thank you, I've got her." Adam nodded and took his leave of the two women.

Eventually Connie was able to calm Evie down enough to start talking about what was going on and get her to eat something finally. The two of them had moved to one of the many family rooms, sitting on the couch. Evie was curled up next to Connie who held the girl, doing her best to make her feel safe and calm despite how much she was freaking out.

"You know Mal is going to be okay, right?" she told the young girl.

"You didn't see her," Evie said in a small, frail voice. "Mal looked…she…"

"She is going to be fine, Evel –," Connie stopped suddenly and leaned over to look at Evie. "Evie is short for Evelyn, right?"

Evie nodded. "My mother likes to pronounce it as Evil-lyn," she chuckled, smiling for the first time since what happened.

"Evelyn sounds prettier."

"Thank you," Evie said, realizing that without even trying, Connie had somehow managed to, even for a fleeting second, take her mind off of what was happening to Mal.

"And Mal is going to be fine…Evie." The two of them let out a small laugh at the sound of her name's short form. Evie actually expected Connie to call her Evelyn and was kind of looking forward to it, but was fine with Evie. As the two of them sat together, in a few moments of silence, Evie enjoying the feeling of safety and stability that Connie's presence was giving her, Adam walked into the room.

Evie sat up, hoping he was bringing some news about Mal.

"I thought you might like to know that Belle just called me. She said that Mal's fever is finally coming down. She's going to pull through," he informed them. He watched as Evie let out a huge breath of relief, her body actually shaking from what he could only assume to be the stress and despair of the past few hours leaving her.

"Told you she'd be fine, didn't I?" Connie asked Evie with a nudge. Evie nodded. "See, you should always listen to your mother." Evie let out a small laugh, and then rested her head on Connie's shoulder, her eyes watering from the news that her best friend was going to be alright.

"Do you have to go now?" Evie asked sadly as she realized that with the crisis now over, Connie had no reason to stay.

"No, I can hang around for a couple of days, Sweetheart. Snow set me up with a room in the city."

"Don't bother, just stay here," Adam told her. Connie looked up at him slightly taken aback. "Evie obviously want you close by, the bedroom next to hers is empty. What do say Evie, should she just stay here?"

Evie sat up, her eyes brightening at the idea of spending a couple of days with Connie. She nodded quickly, making Connie giggle at the way she was now acting so hopeful compared to the depressed girl she was comforting just moments ago. "Please Connie?"

Connie looked between the former king and her surrogate daughter and, despite feeling like she was imposing – even though she was invited – she relented. "I suppose I can call Snow and let her know that I won't be needing that room."

"Yay," Evie celebrated.

"Evie, why don't you go and let Mrs. Potts know that there'll be an extra person for dinner tonight."

"No problem," Evie said getting up from the couch.

"Evie," Connie said as Evie started to walk off. Evie looked back at her, seeing the way she was looking at her expectedly. She was a little confused at the moment. "Evelyn," Connie said in what Evie liked to call her official "Mom voice", as she cocked an eyebrow and nodded her head in Adams's direction.

"Oh," Evie let out, finally realizing what Connie meant. "I mean, yes sir," she said to Adam. "Better?" she asked Connie.

"Much." Evie smiled and gave a small single nod and then left the room.

"Did you really get her to say 'yes sir'?" Adam asked astonished.

"She's a good kid. Actually has some of the most beautiful manners I've ever seen, but…she's a teenager, she sometimes forgets to use them, Your Highness."

Adam nodded in agreement. "Well, in any case, thank you for coming by. If I'm being honest, until you got here, I was struggling to handle the situation. If it had been her friends Carlos or Jay, I'd have been fine, but a teenage girl? Not my area of expertise."

"It's not that difficult. I may not have an actual daughter, but plenty of nieces, so, I've had practice."

Adam looked at her skeptically. "No daughters? I could have sworn I heard Evie call you Mom."

"We've gotten…close," she told him. "It's probably why she called me this morning."

"And why you came running."

"My girl needed me," she said after a few seconds of reflection, trying not to cry at the thought of Evie and her deepening the relationship between themselves.