"Mal? Mal, it's Evie, talk to me."

She's been asking incessantly for minutes. She and the others are in her elegant castle in the forest. Mal is lying in bed, ignoring everyone, including Rashid, who brought her to her friend's house.

"Mal, we're your family, you have to talk to us."

Carlos says, but all they see is her crying quietly.

"It's best to leave her alone."

Jay leaves everyone, leaving her friend alone in her room.

As soon as she saw them leave, Mal allowed herself to really cry. It's true, she's pregnant. That damn mirror said it was true.

Mother? Her as a mother? How could she be? She doesn't feel prepared to experience motherhood. From the moment she found out she was pregnant, Evie took it all as if it were natural and wonderful. She's scared to death.

Ben, how will she tell him? Of course, he'll be happy to hear the news, he'll be jumping for joy at having an heir. As her mind surges with thoughts, she cries more. On the other side of the door, her friend has been wanting to break into her room for ages.

"What the hell." When she hears the crying increase, Evie leaves Jay's arms and bursts into the room. She worries about her like an older sister. "Take it easy, take it easy, I'm here." Mal doesn't let himself be vulnerable easily, but he can't try to be strong any longer. She laid her head on Evie's lap and cried, receiving all the love of a sister.

(...)

"It's Ben."

Carlos shows Evie his phone. After the king's third call, he thought it would be good to enter the room where they were.

"Tell her she's with me. I'll take her home later."

Evie whispers to him as she thinks her friend is asleep.

"Okay."

He left, leaving the two of them alone.

When Mal lifts her head from Evie's lap, she sees Rashid in the corridor. He's been leaning against the wall without saying anything since they got there.

"Do you want to talk?"

Evie asks, watching her.

"Pregnancy tests are correct." She laughs ironically. "You were right."

"Mal..."

Evie really wants to talk and give advice about what her friend is feeling, but that's not what happens.

"Later. Leave me here a bit longer, please."

She asks, lying down on her friend's lap again.

"Okay."

Evie is worried, but she respects her feelings.

(...)

Three days later

Mal has just changed beds and is now in his room in the castle. She asked for time off from her royal duties, claiming to have a viral illness. By coincidence, Ben made an emergency trip to Agrabah for a meeting, which spared her many conversations with him.

She's still in the same mood. Shock. For a moment, her friends were worried and tried to talk to her, but it didn't help because she got up and locked the door and hasn't been out to eat since.

(...)

Camelot

Since the incident with Mal, Rashid has been in Camelot. He needed to talk to Merlin and only left a goodbye note for Evie before going to meet the wizard.

"Okay. Not that I mind, but you haven't said anything for two days, you just sit there staring at nowhere. What's going on, kid?"

Merlin asks, watching Rashid float in the air and gaze at the lake, as he has done for the last few days.

"I need to ask you something, but to do that, I have to tell you a secret."

Rashid reveals what he's been trying to ask since he arrived.

"And who am I going to tell? My cauldron." The big pot stirs in response. "Okay, I won't tell any human being or object."

"Remember when the Fairy Godmother and Genie made that potion with Maleficent's scepter to make Mal wake up after she gave the magic to us?" Merlin nods, feeling a twinge of fear. "Well, a lot of magic has been poured into her. I arrived later and stopped the process, but it was still a lot of magic. That day she wasn't without magic, there were remnants of something in her, even though Helena says she was almost dead. And Merlin, that scepter has Maleficent's genes on it."

"What are you talking about, Rashid? Mal would never use magic to do something bad."

"Obviously not, I don't think so. But, Merlin, there's magic inside her, and lots of it. We'll return the Apprentice's magic later, remember?"

Of course, they would give back the magic the girl had fought so hard to have.

"Yes, of course I remember. Rashid, Mal has a lot of magic, so everyone knows that, so what's new?"

He needed to understand the crux of his former apprentice's thinking.

"As a hypothetical, if she were pregnant, it's kind of obvious that the child would have magic, but only a quarter of the magic, since she's half fairy and half human, and there's Ben too." He made quick genetic and magical calculations. "However, if the magic of the scepter..."

"The magic from the Dragon's Eye would mix with hers and go to the baby." Merlin knows it's not a hypothesis and now understands why Rashid is the way he is. "Hypothetically, this would be disaster."

"It's not a hypothesis, Merlin." Rashid lowers his head in panic. "Damn it!" He screams, unable to contain his feelings.

"Rashid. That baby might have more magic than her, and you know what that means."

Merlin doesn't want to make matters worse. Rashid is in a crisis, but he needs to clarify the whole situation.

(...)

It's late in the day, and it's getting unbearable to see Mal locked in her room. It's even more annoying for Evie. Every day she leaves the house, leaves the atelier and goes to the castle to be sent away again and again.

"Mal." Evie sees a possibility when the door opens, but once again she is ignored. "This is already at my limit." She warns nervously.

"E., would you mind calling Chip for me?"

Mal asks before closing the door again.

"Chip?" Evie laughs nervously. "That's enough."

"Enough? Really? I..."

Mal asks, confused.

"Get in that damn room!"

She enters the room angrier than anyone has ever imagined seeing her. In fact, few people have ever seen Evie so angry.

"What?"

Mal looks at her with those lazy eyes of someone who doesn't want to see friends, which irritates Evie more.

"What the hell, Mal! Chip?Three days locked up, and then you want to talk to him?"

Evie asks with her eyes on fire."

"Evie stopped being an idiot."

Mal asks impatiently.

"I'm an idiot? Guess who hasn't spoken to anyone for three days?"

"Leave, Evie."

She orders, pointing to the door.

"No, you're going to talk to me."

"I don't have to."

"Oh, yes, you are. I'm not leaving until you talk to me."

Evie sits down in the chair, and Mal goes back to his bed.

"Okay."

"By the way, Ben will be here at 5 p.m."

Evie says, looking at her phone.

"What?"

"Yeah, since you're not at the meetings, you don't know, but he said he'll be at our council meeting, which is at 5 p.m." All she hears in response is this angry noise. "Have you been to the doctor?"

"No."

Mal replied, still holding back a little of his feelings.

"And how are you sure you're pregnant?"

"Your mother's mirror."

"Okay, I won't argue." Evie sits on the bed, taking a deep breath. "Mal, don't lock yourself inside, please. I'm your friend."

"What? I can't, Evie. I can't, I can't be a mother."

"Mal, I know you're scared, and it was unexpected…"

"How can I be a good mother? I'll never be a good mother."

"Who told you that?"

"Maybe my genes."

She laughs.

"Our mothers? Is that what scares you?"

"You don't know what I'm feeling. It's desperate."

"I don't know? I have to deal with much worse pain."

Evie didn't want to expose her pain. She doesn't believe in comparing problems. Everyone has their own dilemmas to deal with, but the next thing she knows, she's saying what she didn't want to.

"Evie, I didn't want to…"

"I know. Look, I don't even know if I'll have the courage to have another child again." Now she's crying, even though she doesn't realize it. "Mal, it's fear and it's normal. It's okay to be scared, just don't stay away from us."

Mal wants to say that her fear isn't normal. It's not the same fear that your sister feels, hers is huge and screams and expands throughout her body.

"Okay, you're right."

She smiles, even if it's a lying smile.

"I was thinking, why don't we do an ultrasound to see this little thing, and then you can surprise Ben, what do you think?"

"Yeah, that might be nice."

This won't pass quickly or easily, because it's not just a simple fear. It's as if your instinct wants to tell you something.