Judal woke up with Aladdin snuggled in his arms, pressed against his chest. He looked over and saw Sheba moving things around in the closet. He wasn't sure what she was doing exactly. She turned around and saw him looking at her.

"Did I wake you up?"

"Yes. It's fine, don't freak out on me. I needed to get up early anyway. Have a resignation letter to write and all. Today's the day to really piss off my old manager."

"Oh, right. Well, if you need a place to work my office is all set up and I won't be in it for a while. Do you need a computer or anything?"

"No I have everything I need. Where is your office?"

"Down the hall and up the stairs, third door on your right. If you need anything I'll be in the kitchen or the laundry room. Normally we have maids do all this kind of stuff but I wanted to get back in the swing of things. I haven't done much but lay in bed for a while. Anyway, I'll leave you to it. WAIT! I want to take another picture. You two are so cute together. Look over here."

"You're kidding right?"

"No, now smile at the camera so I can go off and leave you to do whatever you need. Don't worry, I'm not going to use it for blackmail or anything, I just want to document this moment for future Aladdin."

He rolled his eyes but turned his head towards the camera so she could get her picture. She walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek and Aladdin on the forehead before leaving the room. 'What the hell just happened. Why is that woman so friendly? This family is insane.'

He took a moment to collect himself before he removed his arms from around Aladdin's body and replaced his body heat with more blankets and pillows. He looked over the still open closet to see that Sheba had added clothes for him, some of which he recognized from what he had brought back from Tahoe. He pulled off the clothes he was wearing and replaced them with fresh ones. He opted for no shoes and walked down the hall, up the stairs, and entered the office.

It was huge and well equipped. He set his laptop down on the smooth desk and booted it up. It took too long for his current amount of patience. He was about to get up and get coffee while he waited but Sheba knocked and came in, placing a steaming hot cup on the desk.

"Your laptop is pretty old."

"Yeah, well I left the good one at the Al Thamen recording studio and I don't have any intention of going back and getting it so I'll just buy a new one soon."

"Here, you can use mine. It hasn't been used in a while so it might need an update but it should work pretty well besides that. Let's see. Enter password, oh I guess Solomon has been taking care of things. Nothing needs to be updated, looks like everything is good. There you go. I'll leave you alone for real this time, unless you need something else? Do you want food or anything?"

"I'm fine, thanks. This should take me a few hours though so I may come down for a break later. Where's the old man?"

"Solomon left early this morning. He has quite a bit of work to do for the expansion. He and Ugo are going over some last minute things. I'll see you later."

She walked away from him again. He turned to the computer and opened the search engine, typing in the Al Thamen website and logging in. He opened his inbox, looking through the messages Ithnan had left briefly. Nothing looked interesting. Just a few pleads and empty threats. Judal pulled up the documents he needed and downloaded them onto the computer. He looked through a digital version of his contract then sent it to Solomon. He could deal with all the stupid lawyer shit.

He spent three hours typing up a perfect resignation letter. He wrote, edited, and reviewed it before sending it on to Ithnan. He logged out of the Al Thamen website and closed everything up. He had expected things to take longer, but once he had started the words had just seemed to flow. He had finished his coffee a while before, but he really needed food. In the kitchen he found Sheba making some kind of pasta for lunch.

"Where's Aladdin?"

"She went out."

"Well aren't you being specific. Where did she go?"

"I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you. I don't like that she went and I think you really won't like it."

"She went to Sindria?"

"I-She Uhm, yes. She went to resign. But she wanted to go alone! You can't go after her."

"Well duh. I can't fight all her battles for her. If I do then it won't mean anything. This is something she has to do alone. She needs to face her fears on her own, with her own determination to do it. I want her to do it because she wants to, not because I want her to or because she feels she can borrow my courage. She needs to do this for herself, not for me or you or anyone else."

"That's exactly what she said to me before she left. I'm surprised you're letting her go back to him so easily."

"What do you mean?"

"Sinbad came on to her. Are you really okay with her going to be alone with him?"

"Oh I'm not worried about her. She will be fine, I taught her a few things while we were away. We weren't just lazing around the whole time. We actually did stuff. And if you are insinuating that she would leave me for him then that isn't a problem. She is the only person I actually trust."

"How interesting. You sound like me when Solomon and I started spending time together. What kind of things did you two do?"

"Chibi insisted we write a song together so we did. I started fixing her horrible piano playing. I don't know who taught her but her technique was really crappy. I taught her how to protect herself from assholes like Sinbad. She had a good arm. And her aim isn't too bad either. He won't touch her again. He isn't skilled enough to keep up with her new-found fighting skill."

"You taught my baby how to fight? Isn't it dangerous?"

"Just self defense. How to get the persistent flirts like Sinbad to lay off. Or me, if I do something she doesn't like."

"You really are kind! Aladdin was right, I knew she had good judgment."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, just girl stuff. What are you planning on doing? I have lunch ready and we could go out and do something if you want."

Seriously? She wanted to go do something together? What the hell? "Sure, whatever floats your boat. I don't really have anything to do without Chibi at the moment anyway." He didn't think it wise to piss off the mom, mother bears were normally the more dangerous.

"We should go get you another computer so you can transfer all of your files before the old one crashes."

~~~Aladdin~~~

She took a deep breath before she took a step into the building. She was a little nervous, but she still walked forward, greeting or waving to people she recognized. She didn't have a disguise on so there was no confusion.

She waited in the elevator until she reached the top floor where Sinbad and Jafar as well as the other department leaders had their offices. She didn't really want to be here, but she had to do this. She took another deep breath before she knocked on the door to Sinbad's office and entered. Jafar was sitting on the edge of Sinbad's desk, looking over his shoulder at the documents laid out. Both he and Sinbad stopped when they saw it was her.

"Aladdin?"

"Hi Jafar. How have you been?"

"I've had better days, but I'm sure you could say the same. How was your vacation?"

"It was fine. I came in here to talk to Sinbad. Are you going to stay?"

"Sin? Do you want me here? I should probably leave."

"Just stay Jafar, no need to bother with formalities amongst old friends."

"We aren't friends anymore Sinbad. Don't act like nothing happened."

"Aladdin, I thought you came in here to talk about that unexcused absence you took. That wasn't a scheduled vacation."

"That isn't what I came here to talk about and you know it. I want out. Ugo sent in my resignation forms already, but I came in here to tell you in person."

"Come on Aladdin, don't do that. We can talk about this. I'll raise the percentage you get from album sales."

"This isn't about money Sinbad! You sexually harassed me! This is about my comfort in the workplace. I can't work here anymore. I'm sick of never doing anything but work. It isn't even fun anymore. And now, I don't even feel safe around you. I'm not even eighteen, I could press charges."

"But you won't. Besides, Jafar would get me out of it easily so it wouldn't get you anywhere. Although it might earn you some enemies in the business."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Not yet, but I will if I have to. You can't resign, you haven't even finished your contract yet."

"Then I will pay the five million dollar contract termination fee. I want out. Nothing you say will change my mind."

"I could very easily end your career if you walk away."

"Do it and see what happens. I don't care anymore, if I have to do this kind of thing to share my music with the world then I will go back to just sharing it with local people. This celebrity thing isn't worth the damage it has already done to me. I'm not afraid of you."

"You might not care about yourself anymore, but what about Judal? I could ruin him too."

"You are an asshole, and I don't think you could do that. Maybe to me, but not to him. And besides, that would be his battle to fight, not mine.

"Come on Aladdin, I'll make it worth your while. You should stay here, Sindria can make you the best."

"I don't need you or your company to make me the best. I never even wanted to be the best, I just wanted, want, to make people happy. I don't need anything but myself to be good, no one else can do this for me. I came here to be polite and let you know in person, and to say bye to everyone. I'm not coming back."

"Aladdin, don't do this. It will ruin you."

"Good-bye Sinbad. Bye Jafar."

She walked out with her head held high. She wasn't sure what was going to happen now, but she felt good, better then she had in a while. She was getting her confidence back, which was strange since having a company like Sindria as a backer should have been a confidence builder. When she exited the building she wasn't surprised to see Sheba and Judal waiting in a car outside the building. She smiled and climbed in, ready to face a new chapter in her life.

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-Kizuna