There were several things he had missed when he hadn't been human. The thing he had missed the most was the way her fingers would curl around his as she held his hand. There was just something about her hand in his, the way they fit together, that he had never been able to replicate with anyone else, or as the beast in the forest. The way she looked at him was a close second.

He had seen her there, the first time she had seen him as the beast, not as herself, but magicked into someone else. He had thought it had been one of Maleficent's tricks, but thinking back on it, he would know that magic anywhere. It had kept him up for days, thinking about it, but it had all been true. He much preferred the look she was giving him at that moment instead.

"What?" he asked gently, still not quite used to the softness of his human voice yet. She was giving him a look that he couldn't quite find the words to describe just yet.

"You're-" She started, never letting go of his hand, even when they stopped walking. "You're naked."

Even he had to laugh at that. "Well, yeah," He said. "Can't really get the latest fashions from Atlantia Bay when you're a fourteen foot, five hundred pound beast." He have her his best eyebrow waggle, channeling a bit of VK he supposed. "And you didn't seem to mind it much earlier."

She gave him what he considered a kind of soft glare. "I know that!" She said, with a small huff, "I mean you're naked and I'm taking you back to the barrier that way."

At that moment, a thought struck him. "Did you mean everything you said?" He asked her. "Earlier, when I was still-him." He felt the need to clarify, there was a lot of earlier. He still felt he needed to clarify further. "Would you rule the forest with me?" he asked.

She just smiled a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes, her specialty it seemed. "In an instant," she said, "but it's not going to stop my mother." She began to pull him along with some urgency, like she remembered something that she needed to get back to.

He pulled her back toward him. "Let's stay here a bit longer," he said, barely above a whisper as she looked up at him. "All my life all I've ever done is follow the rules. For once, I want to not do that."

He wasn't about to tell her that he wasn't ready to go back and face those that he had hurt, those that he had disappointed. He just wanted more time with her before he had to face all of them.

"Just a few minutes," He said, feeling like he was begging, but not caring in the least. He knew he had her. "Tell me how you would rule our forest."

She let out the breath she had seemed to be holding and let the tension go from her shoulders. "Alright," She said, "But you need to put some clothes on first." In a quick flip of her hand, the leaves and grass of the forest seemed to form an outfit perfectly tailored for him. For his first time wearing clothes, those didn't seem so stifling.

"I would rule the forest by not ruling it," She said, once he was adjusted in the clothes of the forest. "Nature knows exactly what she's doing and you and I would just live here, providing protection for the trees, and the animals, and the old magic that lives in every tree and rock and creature." He had to admit, it did sound nice. "As long as it's just you and me, there's nothing that can mess it up."

He let out a small hum of agreement. "But what if it was more than just you and me?" He asked, once the thought struck him. It was something he had been thinking about for a while, but was sure as the beast in the forest it would always be closed off to him.

She turned back to him with a smile. "Well of course Evie and Jay and Carlos and maybe even Doug can come join us," she said. "They understand what it means to respect the things we can't control." She spun a handkerchief from a few dry leaves and turned back to him to tuck it into the pocket of the jacket she had made. "But you Auradonians need some work before they are allowed in our kingdom."

He couldn't really argue with her logic. "Of course they're welcome," he said gently as she tucked the handkerchief into the pocket. "I was speaking of heirs." The second he said it, he instantly began to wonder if he shouldn't have said anything at all.

"I-" she dropped the handkerchief and it dissolved into the dry leaves again. "We have other things that are more pressing first." She said, smoothing down the pocket. "Can't it just be you and me for a while? If we do end up finding a way to get rid of my mother that is."

"Of course," he answered. As king, it was his duty to think about the future, though thinking about it, he wasn't really king of anything anymore. He knew he had to change the subject. "Do you know how to make flower crowns?" He asked. "Charlie was always trying to show me, but I never quite mastered it."

The serious conversations could wait until later. He just wanted to spend whatever time with her that he could before they had to go back and face whatever the future held.

He would follow her anywhere.

With all that had been happening, it almost felt wrong to run through the trees with him, wearing delicate flower crowns and knighting trees and logs and squirrels and frogs. With the way things were, it almost felt illegal to have a little fun here and there.

But the best part was the way they could kiss without any magic spells, or promises, or any interruptions getting in the way. She lost count of their kisses rather quickly, but she knew it was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

Even though the thought of the future where they could be completely happy scared her. Everything had the potential to go wrong, and so far it had. To be happy, well, that was just asking for trouble.

But after all that had happened, it only seemed fair that they stole that brief time to just goof off and be there with each other.

"I have to say, you grew up pretty, Princess Feather Duster," Ben said with a smile as he spun her around in an impromptu dance that one of them had just started and the other just continued.

She laughed. She had missed how easy it was to just be with Ben and not have to pretend to be anything more than simply what she was. She had missed that since he had been roaming the forest without her.

"You're not so bad yourself," she said, clinging to him in a way that even her mother might find too suggestive. She had never been one for love either, but Ben just made it so easy. "What do you say we-?" She started and then stopped.

The mob was back with their song.

In an instant, Ben was pulling her through the trees once more. They would have to go back to the barrier.

For now.