Author's Note: Sorry it took so long. I believe this was the most requested song, but I had some difficulty figuring out a story to go along with it.
Song: "A Whole New World"
Original Movie: Aladdin
Post/Mid(?) Movie, Tiana/Naveen
Their eyes were closed, and they were too preoccupied with the kiss to feel the change that overcame them. When they finally opened their eyes, both were pleasantly surprised to find that they'd been returned to human.
"When you became my wife, that made you…" Naveen had figured out how they'd returned to normal. Tiana quickly cottoned on.
"A princess! You just kissed yourself a princess!"
"And…" Naveen smirked, drawing her close, "I am about to do it again."
The kiss broke apart once more, and now Mama Odie was down to business. "All right, children, y'all should get yourselves outta this swamp 'fore night fall. I provided the clothes for y'all and you don't need to return 'em. Think of it as a weddin' present. Louis, you should help em get back."
Naveen frowned. "With his sense of direction?" Mama Odie was quiet for a moment, considering the problem.
"All right, all right. It's simple. I'll tell y'all how to get home," she explained the situation to Naveen as Tiana sat down, lifting her skirt to reveal her human legs. She didn't pay attention to the directions, going back and forth between examining her own body to make sure nothing was changed, and glancing at Naveen.
She'd really never seen him as a human up close (it would be quite some time before he would off-handly reference the waitress who had refused his advances, and it would still be a few days after that before she realized it was she to whom he referred). She'd seen Lawrence imitating him, but as similar as the talisman had made the old butler appear, Tiana could see the difference now.
Naveen stood with a regal gait, even when he was more relaxed. There was a sharpness to his eyes, very intelligent. They seemed to twinkle and dance, as if there was always a joke in his mind, a song in his heart. He'd had the same eyes even when he'd been a frog.
Tiana wondered how things might change between them now. They'd expected to live out their lives as frogs together, but they'd both assumed that the opportunity to become human again was completely lost to them.
"Tiana? Are you all right?" Naveen asked. He'd made Mama Odie repeat the directions until he memorized them, but now that he wasn't distracted he could see that his bride looked concerned.
"Oh. Uh…just wonderin' how I'm gonna trek through the swamp in this dress," Tiana said, gesturing towards the skirt of the dress. "It's a bit too…poofy."
Naveen chuckled. "Well, you do look lovely, but I suppose it might be a bit impractical. I may simply have to carry you out."
"Oh no, no, I can walk," Tiana insisted.
"That is not the only thing bothering you."
Tiana sighed. "Smart and handsome…"
"Yes, I am," Naveen agreed. "Now out with it. You are concerned over something…you wished for your mother to be at the wedding?"
"No…well, yes, that would have been nice…"
"This is no problem," he waved his hand a few times, as though shooing the problem away. "We will merely have a second ceremony. I am certain my parents would like to attend as well…"
"Naveen, that's not the problem. It's…it's …we're not frogs anymore."
"This is a problem?" Naveen raised an eyebrow. "I had thought we both wished to be free of that curse. You were a most lovely frog, but I have to say, I prefer this version." He grabbed her hands and spread her arms, admiring her form.
"It's not that. We haven't been around one another as humans before. I'm just a little worried. Now that you've got your old looks back, how'm I supposed to know you won't use your charms on any girl that comes along? This all happened awful fast…I just don't know…"
Naveen took a seat beside her and thought it over. "I understand what you are saying. I have never been what one might call 'faithful' in the past," Tiana gave a slight eye roll. "But I also have never been in love before. You are my Evangeline, and I wish to spend the rest of my life with you. Human or frog."
Tiana leaned her head onto Naveen's shoulder, grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "I love you, too. Even without the warts." He gave a small laugh. "All right. We can make this work. But ain't no way my momma's going to accept that we had a wedding out in the middle of the bayou."
"My parents will not be very accepting of it either," he agreed. "So, a second wedding then?" Tiana nodded. "So many things you've taught me…I used to hate the idea of being wed, and now I can not wait for a second wedding." He pulled her closer, about to kiss her again, when she stood up suddenly, causing him to fall forward into the bayou.
He bobbed back up from the water's depths after a moment and scowled at her. "You did this on purpose!" he accused, splashing water at her. He expected her to squeal and run away, but instead she grabbed her skirt and hiked it up before jumping into the bayou herself.
"C'mon, Naveen," she said, splashing him back, "No more games. We gotta get ourselves back to New Orleans. Hey, Louis!" she called back at the gator. "You comin' or what?"
"Well, I dunno," Louis admitted.
"Fine, we'll find some other gator to play in the house band!" Tiana said, turning her back and starting to swim away. Louis dove into the water, coming up beside her a second later.
"I'm comin, I'm comin!...You do mean it, though, right?"
Tiana nodded. "Of course. Think of this as a new adventure. We survived the Shadow Man, I think we can handle openin' up a restaurant."
The three trekked back to New Orleans and made it by night fall. They were all covered in mud and aching, and had Charlotte not played witness, Eudora and Eli probably would have never believed their story.
After being frogs, fighting seemingly impossible odds and having a hard time merely surviving, being human again was no trouble at all. Tiana was relieved to find that being with Naveen, whether as frogs or human, still felt right. Tiana's Palace was a place built out of their love, and it was often said around town that any nights were one of the pair was missing, no matter how packed the place was, it still felt empty.
The sign may have only bore Tiana's name, but that didn't make it any less Naveen's as well. They belonged there, and far more important, they belonged together.
Author's note: ….Again. Cheeeesy. Capital C was necessary. Still liked it, still liked writing it.
