So, first things first, I've got some questions to answer and reviews to comment on.

Amandapanda7: Honestly, I just update whenever I finish a chapter. It varies, but during the school year I think it's like once a week. I try to do it as fast as possible, but I can't guarantee I'll always have a chapter ready on a certain day.

KingdomKeepers1121: Hey, cliffhangers are half the fun! But I know you don't like them...but you're probably going to dislike me even more after this chapter...it worked out just too perfectly to change it. Sorry :(

Second off, this story finally reached 100 reviews! Yay! Let's keep it up! Now just...a lot more to catch up to "Fighting For All That's Good"...but it's all good. Baby steps guys, baby steps. :)

And without further adieu, here's chapter 26!

Chapter 26: Candyland

December 2, 2358
Magic Kingdom
Wayne's Apartment

8:30 A.M.

"Thank you again for the wonderful breakfast Willa," Patrick said, plopping the last piece of pancake into his mouth. "These are the best pancakes I've ever had."

"You are most welcome, Patrick," Willa said as she stood up from the dining table. She picked up her plate and Philby's and walked over to the sink and washed them.

"So how did you find us again?" Philby asked Patrick, ever so skeptically. Jess kicked him from under the table, but Philby didn't even flinch.

"Jess left me a note at the hospital." Patrick reached over and grabbed Jess' hand. "I'm sorry it took me so long."

Jess broke eye contact with him, looking down at the table to hide the fact that she was blushing.

Willa came back over and took the rest of the plates. "So tell us, Patrick," Willa called out from the sink as she washed the rest of the dishes. "How do you meet Jess?"

"We worked at the same school back in Vancouver."

"Canada, eh?" Maybeck asked as he walked into the kitchen, squeezing past Willa and over to the table. He clasped Philby on the shoulder. "Dude, I need your help."

Philby turned around in his chair to face Maybeck. "With what?"

"Your daughter claims that you're better at Candyland than me, so I told her we would have to battle it out and see." Maybeck crossed his arms in challenge. Willa burst out into laughter over by the sink.

Philby rolled his eyes. "We've been over this, Maybeck, I'm the champion at Candyland." Philby cracked the knuckles in his hands and started stretching to emphasize his point.

"Is that a challenge?"

"You're on." Philby stood up and headed toward the living room. Jess heard Charlene laugh as the boys came in, ready to battle it out over Candyland for the one-and-a-half year old girl.

Willa put all of the newly dried dishes back into the cabinet and sat back down on the table. "So you two worked together in Canada. That's cool. So…are you two…uh…dating?"

Jess noticed Amanda give her a strange look—one that Jess herself could not read—but she decided to ignore it. Jess looked over at Patrick. She was wondering the same thing.

"I guess so," Patrick said with his signature smile. "Assuming Jessie here still wants me." He squeezed her hand.

"Of course I do," Jess kissed him on the cheek.

"Dang it Phildweeb! That's not fair!" Maybeck yelled from the living room, followed by Charlene, Philby and Lizzie's laughter.

Willa rolled her eyes. "I'd better go make sure Maybeck doesn't kill my family and his new fiancée." She stood up. "Want to come Patrick?"

Patrick pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Of course! If Jess has a boyfriend, he's got to be able to fit into this dysfunctional family of ours." Willa motioned to the living room. "Might as well start with Candyland."

"Uh…" Patrick looked to Jess for an answer.

"It's okay, go."

Patrick kissed her on the cheek and stood up. Willa gave him a smile.

"Great! It's about time the guys get a new 'bro.'" Willa's use of air quotes made both Amanda and Jess laugh. "It can't be just the three of them forever."

Patrick gave Willa a confused look. "Three? There's only two."

Willa glanced over at Amanda. It was obvious to Jess that Willa was regretting saying that. "Finn's still missing." Willa cleared her throat, looking back at Patrick, plastering a fake smile on her face. "But we're going to find him soon enough. But there's nothing we can do right now except watch Maybeck and Philby battle it out over a kid's game."

Willa patted Patrick on the shoulder as she walked out of the living room. "It's more fun that in sounds, I promise."

Patrick reluctantly followed. Jess couldn't tell whether he was excited or dreading it. Jess turned back to her sister and shrugged.

Amanda gave her that same strange, unreadable look before moving to the chair closest to her. Amanda glanced back toward the living room before looking back at Jess.

"Jess, there's something we need to talk about." Amanda whispered.

"You're pregnant?" Jess said without thinking. Her eyes went wide and Jess covered her mouth with a hand.

"Jess—"

"I am so sorry, Mandy. I don't know where that came from."

"It's true."

"WHAT?" Jess blurted out. She turned to face Amanda and lowered her voice. "What?"

"I think I'm pregnant. But that's beside the point."

"H-h-h-how can you be so sure?" Her dream last night flashed back into her mind. Jess clenched her fists underneath the table to prevent her hands from shaking too bad.

"I've missed—"

"Okay, okay, we're not having this conversation."

"It's a very normal thing," Amanda said a little harshly. "But that's not what I wanted to tell you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's hold up here for a second. You seriously think that you're…" Jess paused, catching her breath, "you're pregnant?"

"Yeah, Jess. I mean Finn and I had talked about it before the curse started…"

"But you weren't trying, right?"

"Well…"

"Oh gosh! Amanda!" Jess put her head in her hands. "I don't want to hear the details of you and Finn's private lives."

Amanda let out a laugh before continuing. "Fine, fine. I'll leave that one there. But on a more serious note…"

Jess peeked through her fingers at her sister. "Nothing about babies or Finn?"

"No," Amanda didn't laugh this time. She clasped her hands together and put them on the table. Jess noticed how Amanda wasn't looking up at her. That was a huge indicator that whatever Amanda had to say was serious. "We all came here into this world because of Maleficent. Storey, Mattie and Wayne came here in some crazy way that I don't really understand."

"I know all of this Amanda. What's your point?"

Amanda paused, obviously trying to figure out the right words to say. "When we go back, what will happen to Patrick?"

"I'm sure he'll come back with us…"

"How sure are you?"

Jess snapped her head up to look at her sister. "What are you getting at?"

"What if Patrick can't come back with us? What if he's just part of this curse?"

Jess stared at her sister. She couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth right now. She had finally found a guy who she truly loves. And more importantly, he truly loves her back. There is no way he wasn't real. Maleficent couldn't possibly be good enough to create something so cruel. Jess refused to believe it.

"You're being ridiculous, Amanda."

"Am I?" Amanda reached for Jess' hand, but Jess stood up. "Jess, it makes sense."

"You're being ridiculous! He isn't made up by some stupid curse!"

"Did you know him before this curse?"

"No," Jess shook her head. She was not going to let Amanda's crazy theory get into her mind.

"Jess…please just sit down and let's talk—"

"Shut up, Amanda! Patrick and I love each other. He is coming back with me to our world! He isn't some made up thing from this stupid curse. He is a real human being. Just like that thing," Jess pointed to Amanda's stomach, "inside your belly is an actual baby. Finn's baby. Speaking of the insufferable brother-in-law, we should be focusing all our energy on finding him! Not sitting around talking about how you're freaked out that I finally found somebody."

Before Amanda could reply, Jess stormed out of the kitchen and into the living room. She plopped down on the couch next to Patrick, who was currently laughing at Maybeck and Philby's fight over Candyland.

He noticed her sour mood, wrapped an arm around her and kissed her on the top of her head.

"What's wrong?" He whispered to her.

"Nothing." She crossed her arms. He raised an eyebrow. "We'll talk later."

December 2, 2358
Magic Kingdom
Wayne's Apartment

1 P.M.

Philby was surprised when his wife woke up from her much deserved nap screaming. He hurried into the bedroom, shut the door behind him and rushed over to the bed. He sat down next to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"It's okay, Willa. It was just a dream."

She tried to say something, but all Philby got out of it was a bunch of mumbling. He pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back in attempt to try to soothe her.

"It was just a dream, sweetheart," he whispered into her ear. "Nobody's going to hurt you. I'm right here."

"Okay. I'm okay." Willa mumbled into his shirt. She pulled back and wiped the tears off of her cheek with the back of her hand.

"You sure?" Philby asked her as he moved across the bed so that he could lean back against the headboard. She scooted back next to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah." Willa leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Where's Lizzie?"

"Still playing games with Maybeck. Charlene got her all excited asking about being the flower girl at their wedding, so he thought another game of Candyland might calm her down."

"Sounds like her." Willa laughed and it was music to his ears. "She's going to be a cute little flower girl."

"She gets her looks from you." Philby kissed her on the top of her head.

Willa slapped his arm. "Shut up." Philby laughed because he could see her blushing.

"Speaking of kids…" Philby shifted so that he could face her. "What if we have another one?"

Willa looked down at her hands. "Philby, I don't know if that's the best thing to talk about right now. I mean Finn's still gone…and we're still not home…and…"

"And it doesn't have to be now." Philby took her hands in his. "We can wait until we get back—"

"No, Philby." She must have seen the sad look in his eyes because she continued. "I think we should get our lives back to normal before we try kid number two."

"But that's the thing Willa. Our lives have never been normal."

"But—"

"Just think about it." Philby kissed her on the cheek before getting up off of the bed. "Please? For me?"

Willa's face scrunched up while she was thinking. He could see the anguish in her eyes from the nightmare. Philby wasn't stupid. He knew that whatever had happened to her after Amanda had been taken away was still haunting her, but he knew not to ask. If she wanted to talk about it, she would. He stood there for a few seconds waiting for her answer.

Willa sighed and made eye contact with Philby. "I'd love to have another kid, Philby, but…"

"But?" Philby smiled, hoping to show how excited he was about having another kid.

"But we've barely been there for Lizzie as it is and—"

"Willa?"

"—this is all assuming we both make it back to our world alive and—"

Philby put his hands on his hips. "Willa."

"—then I'd have to go through all the crazy mood swings all over again. Oh and work! What are we going to do about that? We've been missing for a year!" Willa put her head in her hands. "Everything's in ruins."

Philby gently reached for one of her hands and took it in his. She looked up at him and he offered a smile.

"You and I are going to figure it out." He helped her stand up and held her close. "You never answered my question."

Willa kissed him on the tip of his nose. "I'll think about it."

Philby leaned forward, keeping his lips right next to her ear. "Good," he whispered.

December 1, 2358
Hollywood Studios
Tower of Terror

9:04 A.M.

As soon as Dillard, Marcus and Finn had finished barricading the entrance to Tower of Terror, Finn collapsed into a chair in the lobby. Dillard sat in the chair next to him. To say Finn felt exhausted would be to say that the Florida weather is hot—redundant.

"Now what Marcus?" Dillard asked Finn. Finn could tell that Dillard was trying to cover up the heavy breathing with a strong, confident sounding voice, but Finn had known Dillard too long to know the truth—Dillard wasn't in great shape either.

"We wait for them to come find us," Marcus said as he pulled up a chair to the group, strategically putting it right in front of Dillard, diagonal from Finn, putting as much distance between him and Finn as possible. Finn was certainly not complaining.

"Have you heard anything back from Mattie or Storey?"

"Wait!" Finn blurted out, immediately interested in the conversation. "Mattie and Storey are here?"

"Yeah," Dillard said as if it was obvious. "They're helping us out too."

Finn seemed taken back at Dillard's tone but didn't mention it. "Who else is helping you?"

"Hugo, but he's not here," Marcus said deep in thought as he waved off Finn's question. "And no Dillard, the last I heard they were looking for Willa, but had no luck. They thought that Amanda and Philby had already been found."

At the mention of his sweetheart, Finn's heart skipped a beat. They were pretty sure she was okay, not in the hands of Maleficent anymore.

Don't get your hopes up, he chided himself. Don't rely on information you get from Marcus wants to do is talk to your Amanda, probably try to force her hand and do something she won't want to do. He's hurt her so much in the past, what could he possibly feel the need to tell her now? It's probably something stupid…but you don't know that.

Finn leaned back in his chair. "You said you had to tell Amanda something." Finn watched for a reaction in Marcus, but found none. "What is it?"

Marcus leaned back in his chair, studying Finn. "Why do you want to know?"

Finn felt the anger building up inside of him. He took a few deep breaths and pushed the anger back down. "She's my wife." Finn said through clenched teeth.

Marcus studied him some more. "Fine." He crossed his arms. "I…I wanted to say goodbye."

Finn raised an eyebrow, encouraging him to continue.

Marcus cleared his throat and continued. "I, like our friend Dillard over here, am…dead."

Finn leaned forward in his seat, mulling over his words for a minute before replying. "You…died since we last saw you?"

"Only four months later, actually." Marcus' dry laughter caught Finn off guard. The last time Finn saw Marcus was right after freshman year of college—over five years ago. "For some reason I was standing in the way of Maleficent, so she got me too."

"So…you're…dead?"

"Same as Dillard."

Finn leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. He couldn't believe what Marcus was saying. Marcus…is dead? Over the past five years, Finn had always had this inner anger against him, always on guard in case he ever showed back up, always ready to punch him in the face. But all that time, Marcus had been dead.

"I just wanted to apologize to her. Seeing her again, made me…" Marcus mulled over his words. "Seeing her with the cool apartment and how much she loved you and how she had turned everything around…it…it made me want to do the same. I wanted to come back into my little sister's life again and I knew that the only way Amanda was going to let me do that is if I cleaned up my act. So I tried my hardest…until I…well you know."

Finn thought about the words that Marcus had said and he couldn't help but feeling skeptical. "How do I know you're not making all of this up?"

"You don't."

"Why would I let you within ten feet of Amanda?"

"You won't." Marcus paused, again studying Finn. "I just want you to pass on my message."

"How come we never heard from you? Jess was your sister? Shouldn't we have heard if you had died?"

Marcus shrugged. "Beats me. I was dead."

"Guys—" Dillard's face drained of color.

Marcus ignored Dillard and continued. "Amanda deserves to know—"

Finn snapped. He stood up and pointed a finger at Marcus. "Don't you tell me what Amanda deserves!"

"Guys…" Dillard pointed his finger at something behind Marcus, but both Marcus and Finn ignored him.

Marcus stood up and got in Finn's face. "I'm tired of your crap Whitman! Why can't you just let me tell her that I'm sorry? What's so wrong with that? You're going to go back to your 'perfect' little world in no time! What does it matter?"

"Perfect?" Finn laughed. "Ha! You're hilarious! My world is where Maleficent came from. I think you and I both know she's anything but perfect!"

A high-pitched laugh came from behind Marcus. "And we all know Maleficent isn't a saint."

Marcus and Finn both jumped and looked in the direction of the voice. Finn's eyes went wide with shock. No freakin' way...

Another cliffhanger? Haha...sorry I couldn't help it. Please review! And I'll update as soon as I can! Have a wonderful week :)