Chapter 26: Welcome

"This place is amazing!" Evie exclaimed as she entered the orphanage through the large wooden gate. "It's so peaceful, so cheerful, perfect for children."

"I know right." Mal replied. "Ben knows exactly what he's doing."

"That's just because he's a kid himself." Archer sarcastically said, and the entire group, safe for Ben, started grinning.

Archer and his troop had joined the VK's in their trip to the orphanage. It was the day of the official opening and Ben had taken them there a little while before the ceremony would be held in order for them to see it first.

Ben gave them all a quick tour of the building and the outside. Evie went nuts when she saw the art room, which also contained materials for making clothing and jewelry. Carlos and Doug were impressed with the equipment Ben had managed to gather for the computer lab. Lancelot, Jane, Alex and Freddie loved the library. Jay, Lonnie, Aden and Archer really liked the sports field and the playground. Royce liked the fact that Ben had implemented so much nature within the building and its surrounding area, especially the gardens.

When they had an hour left before the isle kids would arrive, everyone gathered in the playground to relax a bit. Ben had arranged some snacks for them and so they were now all sitting back on the swings or jungle-gyms with a sandwich in hand.

"So, does this place get your approval?" Ben asked with a grin.

"Dude, I want to move here myself." Carlos said with a smile and everyone laughed.

"I would really like it if you would come to visit every so often, these kids need to know that they can turn out alright here in Auradon, and who better to show them this than the original VK's?" Ben said.

Mal did not feel so sure about his request, and from the looks of it, neither did Evie, Freddie, Jay or Carlos.

"Ben." Jay eventually said. "These kids know who we are."

"That's what I'm counting on." Ben said not understanding the point. "They will trust you."

"No, they will not." Mal said. She cursed herself for not realizing this quite important point herself.

"Why not?" Ben asked, perplexed that Mal answered this way.

"Most of these kids only know us from the isle, and on the isle, we were far from the nicest people." Mal replied.

Ben's smile faded a bit. "Come on now, surely they can look past that. You've all changed, more than I could have ever imagined, you can show them that." When all the VK's still cast their eyes downward, Ben continued. "Try to have some faith, these are children, they forgive. If you just show them a good time here, they will surely come around."

"You're right." Carlos said, which made the rest of the VK's look up. "We have to try at least. We only want what's best for them, right? Let's show them that."

"Well said." Jay replied, and he patted Carlos on the shoulder. "What do you say guys?"

"You're all right, we have to do this, for the kids." Evie said.

Ben looked at Mal, who was still thinking. She knew the others were right, this wasn't for them. If this made them feel bad somehow, but it would help the kids, then it would be okay. It was finally time for her to look at things in a positive light. "We'll just have to see I guess. But we'll do our best." She said.

"I'm proud of you." Ben said as he kissed her on the head. "My plan was to split the kids into groups, maybe some of you go with them to the art room, others to the field and the playground and so on."

"Playground!" Royce immediately yelled. "I call playground!"

"I call field!" Jay then called.

"Calm down, we'll divide ourselves equally." Ben said as he had trouble containing his smile.

"I still call playground." Royce mumbled.

Everyone had been gathered in front of the orphanage, Ben and Mal at the front. They all watched as a large bus pulled up in front of them.

Mal was breathing in and out, trying to calm herself. This was the moment they had waited for, they had fought for. She looked over at Ben, who gave her a reassuring smile.

The doors of the bus opened, and a large group of kids spilled out, all between the ages of six and twelve. Dizzy Tremaine was among them, and when she saw Evie, she immediately ran over to hug her.

Ben stepped forward and gave the children a small speech about the what the building was for and all the formalities. Mal thought the children looked somewhat scared but noticed that they looked at every one of them with the same wide eyes. It turned out that the kids were scared of everyone, not necessarily the villain kids.

"We will have all day to show you around the building and interact with anyone of you." Ben said friendly to all the kids. "There are a lot of rooms and activities here, so we," he pointed at all of them, "will be spread out among all these to show you everything that you can do here. There will some food served at two, but we will gather you all when the time comes. In the meantime, you are free to move around the compound, but please do not leave the grounds or steal anything. I want to welcome you all to your new home." Ben concluded, and the children started cheering before hastily running through the opened gate.

Mal could not suppress a smile when she saw the excitement of all the children. Their group had been divided and all had their respective aspect of the compound to look over.

Evie had naturally taken charge of the art room, helped by Jane. Carlos and Doug were in charge of the computer lab, where they either taught children how to handle computers or were actively gaming with them. Archer and Freddie, who had completely reconciled after the dance, were at the pool, either teaching the smaller children to swim or playing pool related games. Jay and Lonnie were at the field, playing all sorts of games with the children. Jay had tried to convince Lonnie to let them play tourney, but she had swiftly put that idea down. Royce and Aden amused children at the playground. They were both showing off their own athletics and playing games. Lancelot and Alex were at the gardens, as they taught children how to take care of their own vegetable garden, caught frogs with them or played hide and seek in the woods.

Ben and Mal went from place to place, trying to interact with as much children as possible and getting a general feel of the place.

Ben at one point insisted that Mal give the children a small lesson in painting. Mal only agreed after much begging from Ben.

So, when Mal eventually got to the front of the room and the word spread that she would be teaching the children how to paint, the room almost burst with the amount of kids inside it. Evie, Jane and Ben did their best to supply everyone with a canvas, paint and brushes, but eventually had to send some of them away, promising there would be a place for them the next time.

Mal was quite distraught, she had never done anything comparable to teaching, nor had she ever spent a large amount of time around children who weren't afraid of her. She saw Ben standing at the back of the room, happily grinning at her apparent panic.

Mal guessed that she had to start her lesson. She scraped her throat and was surprised when every child actually went quiet. "Okay, kids. We're going to learn how to paint. Now, does anyone have any experience with painting?"

About a quarter of the kids put up their hands. "Great, you will all be my helpers. Since there are so many of you, I will need you to help each other as much as you can. If I'm helping someone else, you can turn to one of the others." She said with a smile.

She then started to paint, meticulously explaining every stroke of her brush to the children. After half an hour, they had all made a painting of a colorful bouquet of flowers. Mal had told the children to each use their favorite colors and mix them all up. Naturally, her flowers were different shades of purple, but most kids had gone all out. Some of the younger boys had simply put every color together and their flowers looked more like brown blobs on a canvas. Mal tried to retain her positivity when reviewing every kid's painting but had to admit to herself that some were horrendous.

One girl stood out above the rest. She was small and blonde, about eight years old, and had followed Mal's advice about mixing in bits of white paint to create a shine on the flowers.

"Wow, you did a really good job." Mal complemented her.

"Thank you, I made them purple, like your hair." She replied in an incredibly sweet tone. "I like your hair."

"Thank you so much." Mal replied with a genuine smile. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder when Ben joined them.

"Hey Mal, who's your friend?" He asked.

"Ehm, what's your name?" Mal asked the girl.

"Leia." She simply replied.

"Leia, nice name." Ben said. "And wow, did you draw this all by yourself Leia?" He asked when he took a look at her painting.

"Mal helped me." Leia replied. "She's really good, and really pretty. Is she your girlfriend?"

Mal couldn't help but blush when Leia said all that and Ben chuckled a bit before replying. "Yes, she is and I'm really lucky with her." Ben said.

"Will she teach us more?" Leia asked Ben enthusiastically.

"If she wants to, but I think she will." Ben said smiling. "Won't you?" he asked Mal.

Mal was lost for words for a second. She had never had any of this happen to her. To have a kid not be absolutely horrified of her and to even act as if Mal was some kind of idol. When she looked down at Leia again, it looked as though nothing would make her happier than to have Mal teach her again.

"I'll definitely come back." Mal eventually said. "Next time, I'll teach you how to draw an animal."

Leia gasped in excitement and started to clap her hands. "I can't wait!"

Ben checked his watch. "Alright everyone, they're serving lunch in the cafeteria at the moment. Please get something to eat and then we can all continue with our day."

There was a lot of rumbling as all the children got up from their seats and headed for the cafeteria.

"Bye Mal." Leia happily said as she waved before joining some of her friends.

Mal waved back with a smile before helping to clean up some of the mess the children had left behind. She suddenly felt Ben's arm around her waist and his chin on her shoulder.

"You did great." He whispered in her ear before kissing her on her cheek. "See, I told you the kids would love you."

"They're okay, I guess." Mal said as she turned around to look him in the eye. "Not as loud and annoying as I had expected."

"And you have a new best friend." Ben said referring to Leia. "She adores you. It's quite adorable."

Mal blushed. "Pretty sad to brag about my new best friend being an eight-year-old." She said.

"Well, she has good taste though." Ben replied.

"What do you mean?" Mal asked.

"She said that she liked your hair, that you're a good artist and that you're really pretty. Who would argue those things?" Ben grinned.

"You do know that we're already dating, right Ben? You do not have to flirt with me all the time." Mal said amused.

"What are you even talking about? I'm just stating facts." Ben said smiling.

Mal shook her head, grabbed Ben's arm and went to the cafeteria with him.

After the lunch break, Ben and Mal continued their way through all the activities. First, they mainly watched as Carlos and Doug gave the small children information on computers and science, to be honest only a few seemed genuinely interested. After that they went to the indoor pool, where Freddie was playing Marco Polo with a few kids. Archer, being Archer, was surrounded by a large group of giggly girls who all demanded his attention.

"Even now." Mal said. "Does he ever not have this problem?"

Ben shrugged. "Actually, I don't know. Archer has overshadowed me pretty much everywhere we ever went."

At the field, Jay had taken the toughest boys under his wing and they played a rather rough game of football. Lonnie meanwhile, had set up both a tennis and hockey field and tried her best to referee them both.

Royce and Aden were still mainly goofing around, seemingly playing a game of 'the floor is lava' with every kid.

Lancelot was near the pond with about ten kids, helping to catch frogs and other water creatures before setting them free again. Alex was at the gardens, helping the children there plant seeds and telling them of all the things that would grow from them.

Leia was one of these children and she immediately piped up when she saw Mal.

"Mal! Mal! Look! I planted carrots! Alex says we just have to wait for them to grow now!" she screeched enthusiastically.

Mal saw to her astonishment that Leia stood at the same place that she had planted her strawberry plant. She saw that a small green stem had already made its way through the earth.

"That's nice. Look here Leia, do you see this little plant?" Mal said as she pointed at the stem.

Leia nodded. "I planted that." Mal said. "It's going to be a strawberry."

Leia gasped in excitement. "I love strawberries, they're my favorite!"

"Mine too." Mal replied. "And since you'll probably spend much time here, you can take care of the plants for me."

Leia looked at her with big eyes. "Do you think I can do that?" she asked genuinely.

"Sure. You just need to have patience. This is a process of nature, and we cannot rush it. Just care for this little plant, give it water when it needs it and make sure the bugs don't eat it. And when it's all done, we'll eat the strawberries together, how does that sound?" Mal asked.

Leia shrieked and gave Mal a tight hug. Mal had to give it her all to not fall over but did hug the little girl back.

"Come on kids, it's now your turn to go to the pond and catch some frogs. Would you like that?" Alex said enthusiastically as he gestured to the kids to follow him.

Leia released Mal, waved to her again, and followed Alex.

Mal suddenly felt a lump in her throat when she saw Leia leave. When she looked back at Ben, she saw that he also was removing a tear from the corner of his eye. "Aww, is my big strong beast crying?" Mal teased.

"From happiness, maybe." Ben smiled as he approached her. "You were incredible. Someday, you will be the best mom ever. Not that I'm pressuring you in any way to have kids soon." He said.

Mal smiled and tucked a strand of Ben's hair behind his ear. "Actually, having kids doesn't seem so bad anymore."

Ben's smile grew even wider with this. "Well, I guess we better get married soon."

Mal gave him a stern look which made Ben put up his hands apologetically.

"Kidding, kidding. I have patience, I can wait." He said.

"Ben, I love you, but this really is not a joking matter." Mal replied.

"But having kids is?" Ben asked as he put a hand around Mal's waist and they walked back towards the building together.

"No, of course not." Mal replied. When Ben seemed a bit brought down by her answer, she continued. "But with you, I like to imagine."

Ben smiled again. "And what is your imagination like?"

"From what I can see so far, good." She replied.

"Where will we live?" Ben asked teasingly.

"I don't see that, I only see you. I'm not sure what the future holds, but I know that you and I will be together in it. No matter what." Mal said.

Ben stopped walking and just looked at Mal. A perplexed expression on his face.

"What?" Mal said bemusing.

"You just always manage to amaze me with everything that you do." Ben replied. "You are so amazing, so incredible, I love you."

Mal pulled him in closer and they shared a long kiss. "I love you too."

First of all, thank you to everyone who has kept up with the story thus far.

I will probably not be able to keep up posting one chapter a day, as I'm doing now, since there are some big set-pieces coming up that require more time to write.

As always, I appreciate any reviews or feedback on the story.