*A/N: Hello Readers! I've debated on if I should continue this one-shot into a possible short story or not, but until then here is another piece in the puzzle…
The Charming family sat together around the dinner table, however the youngest Charming seemed to be more anxious than normal. Her day at the detention center hadn't quite gone as she'd expected, and she was starting to feel the redhead's effect on her.
"Chloe, how was your day with the criminal?" her brother Chad asked her, breaking the silence. Her parents had wanted to ask the question, but neither of them fully understood the best way to approach the subject. That was the one question she didn't want to answer, yet she knew it was unavoidable.
"She's not a criminal," Chloe mumbled, earning an eye roll from her brother.
"Chloe, she's literally in a juvenile detention center, that kind of qualifies her as a criminal," he said.
"Did you get any new information?" her father asked, taking a bite of his food.
"Uh, yeah," Chloe started, stumbling over her words. "Her perspective was different from what I read about online."
"Was she scary and mean?" Chad laughed. "Wait, was she all tatted and stuff, too? God, chicks with tattoos are so hot."
"Chad," Cinderella chastised. "That's enough."
"Well, I mean, she wasn't the nicest person I've ever met, but I mean it's not like I expected her to be an angel or anything…" Chloe trailed off.
The King cleared his throat before speaking, "Well, I think it's good that you found her on your own." Chloe made a confused expression at her father's words. "You are aware she'll be released in a few days, correct?"
"Uh, yeah, she mentioned that," Chloe answered, shuffling around the food on her plate.
"Well, as you know, King Ben is very fond of…social reform, and you see we've been talking with Evie about it, too. We think that she'll do well having a friend like you once she's released."
Chloe grew even more confused, raising an eyebrow at her fathers words. Evie was the Director of V.K Services, which means she was in charge of all the societal "bad kids" and getting them reintegrated into the real world. Basically she tried to get them to get their act together, and she was surprisingly good at it.
"What are you saying?" Chloe asked.
"We think that you'll sort of act as an…advisor, of sorts, to Red when she gets out. You'll both be entering your senior year in high school, and you could be a good influence on her," Cinderella said gently.
"What?" Chloe exclaimed. "You—You want me to hang out with a felon?"
"You don't have to be friends, just…be a friendly face in a crowd for her, a safe space if you will," the King said.
"Dad," Chloe groaned. "I—I can't! I can't just hang out with a criminal, I'm on track to being valedictorian, I have college scholarships! I can't just throw that all away."
"You're not throwing anything away, dear," her mother said, her voice still calm despite her daughter's protest. "Besides, think how good it would look on your college resume? You helped a criminal reform into a functioning member of society."
Chloe doesn't say anything for a minute, thinking about her parents' words. They hadn't really given her a choice, yet she'd immediately said no. She thought about the events of the day; somehow she managed to get more information out of the fiery redhead than any other news reporter since she'd been locked up. Maybe her parents were right, maybe Red would trust her.
"Fine," Chloe grumbled in defeat.
3 Days Later
The gate slammed shut with a deafening clang of metal behind Red's ears. She felt better today than she had in the past three years. Before her stood her grandmother, and in her arms sat a toddler with curls so dark they were almost black, staring at her with wide eyes. When Red's eyes landed on the tiny child a look of pure happiness crossed her face.
"Mommy!" the child exclaimed, immediately reaching out for the redhead.
"Don't let me find you back here in the system as an adult," the guard said as he loomed behind Red.
"I won't," she said, smiling. "I'm gonna do better."
"They always say that," the guard said with an eye roll.
"Hi, baby girl," Red said quietly, peppering the toddler's face with kisses, making her giggle. "Mami missed you so much, baby." She cradled the child close to her chest, not wanting to let go of this moment. Her daughter rested calmly against her mother's chest before promptly grabbing a fistful of flame red hair. After a moment of cradling her daughter, Red turned to her grandmother, a frail, white-haired old woman, and gave her a quick hug. She didn't even realize tears were forming in her eyes until they slid down her cheeks.
"Hi, Nana," she said as the tears fell. "Thanks for coming. And bringing her."
"Hello, my Rose," the older woman said, cradling Red's face in her hands. "I wouldn't miss this day for the world. Happy birthday, sweetheart. Of course I'd bring her to see you today, from now on she's your responsibility. Not that I haven't enjoyed having her, I just want to see both of my favorite girls succeed." The woman lowered her voice, "And I want to see your wretched mother eat her words about you, so get your act straight. If not for me, do it for your little girl."
"I know, Nana," Red said. "And I will. I want to do better for her—and prove Mom wrong."
"Good," the older woman smiled. "Now, let's get you settled in at Auradon Prep."
"What?" Red exclaimed, louder than she intended. The two were walking out of the facility now, Red's backpack of belongings slung over her shoulder as she carried her daughter.
"My Rose, you're almost finished with your education, you could graduate high school. You don't want to throw that all away, do you? What kind of role model would you be for Hattie?"
Red sighed as she tucked her daughter into the carseat, throwing her backpack onto the floorboard and getting into the passenger seat. "You know, I hate that you're right."
"You'll only be there for a year, and you'll get to keep your daughter. It's a win-win," Nana said.
"But won't I have a bunkie?" Red asked. "And if we're trying to keep this under wraps as little people as possible can know about her."
"I believe in the free world those are called 'roommates.' And relax, Rose, I've already worked everything out. Only the necessary people will know about her, and you'll have a dorm by yourself, with Hattie of course."
"Who's gonna watch her while I'm in class?" Red asked.
"I already signed her up for day care," Nana said, glancing in the rearview mirror.
"Some stranger is gonna watch her? How is that 'only the necessary people?'" Red asked.
"Not some stranger," Nana said, smiling. "Chester agreed to watch her while you're in class."
"Chester?" Red breathed out incredulously. She hadn't seen him in years, he was the only one who knew about Hattie other than her immediate family, and now Chloe Charming. Red shook her head at herself. God, she had been stupid to tell the girl anything about her daughter. Surely all of Auradon had to know by now that Red had a kid before she could legally drive. "He's here?"
"Yep, turns out he's been here the past few years, trying to escape your mother, no doubt," Nana said.
"Oh my God," Red breathed. "I've gotta see him."
"Calm down, you'll see him soon," the old woman said before finishing the drive in silence.
Red sat there for a moment in stunned silence. Chester was back, he would be in her life for at least a year while she finished her education. That was the least she could do for her daughter, was get a high school diploma. Her heart sank when she realized what having Chester back meant…
"Wait, Nana, is…is he back?" Red bit out. "I can't have him ruin my life again, not after I just got out…" She started panicking, her heart was racing in her chest and her breathing quickened. "Nana, no, this can't happen again. I can't lose the one person I love again."
The car came to a stop, arriving at their destination. The older woman took Red's hands in one of her own, the other holding the younger girl's face which now had tears streaming down it.
"Ouch. You wound me, my Rose. I need you to listen to me. I don't know if he'll be there or not, I can't promise that you'll never have to see him again. Even if you do run into him, you can't let him be your weakness. You have to be strong, for Hattie."
Red closed her eyes, shaking her head, opening them again, "I know, I know. I'll be strong for her."
"Good. That's what being a mother is. I know you're young, and that makes it harder, but being a mom means being strong for your baby, even when you're scared shitless." That earns her a laugh from Red, who wipes away her tears. She looks out the windshield now, taking in the view in front of her.
Auradon Prep—her newest prison—sat before her. A large stone fixture that looked more like a castle than an educational institution. One year, that was it. She could get through one year.
"Come on, we gotta go talk to the principal and then we can move you in. No one else will be here today so you don't have to hide her." Nana said, getting out of the car. Red drew in a deep breath, slowly exhaling before she got out of the car herself. She unbuckles her child from the car seat, settling the baby on her hip.
"So, you'll have classes every Monday through Wednesday for eight hours. Thursday you get out of class at noon. If you'd like to do extracurriculars, of course they are open to you, just make sure you arrange for childcare as needed. Now for the hard part, adjusting. I'd like to meet with you once a week, just to make sure you're doing okay, and additionally I've appointed one of our best students to be a sort of 'guiding light' as Evie called it. She'll be here in just a few minutes to meet you," Principal Uma said. Red sat facing the woman on the opposite side of her desk, cradling her child that was currently twirling her mother's hair in her hand. Before her was her school schedule. The days were mostly the same, minus Thursday. It should be easy enough.
"I've already met with your friend, uh, Chester, is that right?" Uma said, glancing at Red, who only nodded in return. "He'll be at your dorm every Monday through Thursday morning at seven forty-five, classes start at eight, so fifteen minutes should be enough time to leave your dorm and get there. And speaking of your dorm, all the furniture you need is already there, no need to bring anything in."
"Thank you, Uma," Nana said, "We're very grateful for this opportunity you've given us."
"Don't thank me, I'm just one player in this game. You know the King and Queen are very…adamant that we help as many troubled students as we can."
"I'm not some troubled teen," Red said, shaking her head. "I—I made some bad decisions, but I want to change. I want to do better."
"That baby is the best thing that ever happened to you, isn't she? If you didn't have her you probably wouldn't be this motivated to change," Uma said, and Red moved her gaze up to meet her eyes.
"Yeah, she is," Red agreed, a knock on the door ending her sentence for her.
"Come in," Uma answered, everyone staring at the door, and then it opened to reveal a short girl with blue curls that seemed too awfully familiar…
Fuck.
"Princess Red, may I introduce you to Princess Chloe Charming of Cinderellasburg. She will be helping you throughout your year here," Uma said. Red turns back to face the principal, and a look of realization crosses Chloe's face.
"Uh, hi, I'm Chloe, it's nice to meet you," Chloe said, trying to be cheerful in her tone. She tried her best to hide the recognition on her face, to make it seem like this was the first time the two girls met.
"Hi, I'm Red," the redhead said quietly, averting her gaze to the floor. Her daughter was now laying on her chest, sleeping peacefully. Red couldn't remember the last time her daughter slept on her, like actually took a nap on her body. "This is my daughter," Red bit out, swallowing down emotion.
Chloe couldn't see much of the little girl, but she was exactly like what Red had described to her a few days ago. The little girl slept peacefully on her mother's chest, clutching a fistful of red hair. The sight made Chloe soften, seeing Red this way, outside of juvie, with her child sleeping on her chest, it made her seem more…human.
"She's beautiful," Chloe said sincerely, moving closer to Red.
"Thanks," Red said quietly.
"What's her name?" Chloe asked, sitting down in a chair close to Red.
"Hattie," Red answered, her arms tightening around the child. "Named after a close family friend of mine." Chloe offers Red a smile, and she's shocked when Red returns the gesture.
Uma cleared her throat before speaking again, "Well, why don't I show you to your dorm so you can unpack? You and Chloe can get to know each other a bit more there, too, yes?"
The full room of people all stood up, Red gently repositioning the child clinging to her so it would be easier to carry her. The group walked in silence through the dorms before Uma stopped abruptly in front of one marked 222.
"Two-twenty-two," Uma started, unlocking the door and handing Red the key. "Here's your key, don't lose it. Chloe," Uma turned, facing the door opposite of Red's, "Will be in the dorm across from you if you need anything. I'll let you girls get to it."
Uma turns on her heels and walks away, leaving Red, Chloe, and Nana standing in the doorway. "Let me go get your things," Nana said, "I'll be right back."
"Oh, okay," Red said, slowly walking into the room as if it were a foreign country. The room was equipped with a large bed and a toddler size crib. A nightstand sat on the side of the bed while a desk sat underneath the window opposite the door. By the smaller bed was a minifridge.
Red moved to sit down on the large bed, laying down her daughter to sleep. "Do not think that this means we're friends," Red said gruffly, leaning back against the pillows and crossing her arms.
"I—I don't wanna…" Chloe started before trailing off.
"Oh, right. You don't wanna be friends with people like me. Teen-mom-slash-ex-drug-mule doesn't really sound like a good friend for a princesa like you, now does it?" Red cocked an eyebrow at Chloe, who now moved to sit down on the bed.
"Am I gonna wake her up?" Chloe asked before sitting down.
Red laughed, "No, she's my daughter and because of that she sleeps like a rock."
Chloe sat down on the bed gently, still afraid she'd wake the sleeping child. The child stirred, eventually waking up, making a liar out of her mother.
"Mama, who's that?," the small child asked, climbing up to her mother, and making Red's face turn the same shade as her namesake. Hattie buried her face in her mother's neck, not liking this new stranger around.
"That's Miss Chloe, mija, she's nice," Red said to the child.
"She's weird," Hattie said, making her mother laugh before she reprimanded the child.
"Hattie, no, that's not nice. You don't call people weird because you'll hurt their feelings. You need to say you're sorry to Miss Chloe."
The small child lifted her head up to look at Chloe. "I'm sorry."
Nana entered the room then, bringing three bags with her. She set them on the floor before going over to her granddaughter, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Thank you, Nana," Red said quietly.
"You sure you'll be okay here without me?" Nana asked, cradling her granddaughter's face.
Red sniffed back tears, "Yeah, I think I'll be okay. I have to do this, even if it means doing it alone. I don't know how I'm gonna keep in touch with you, I don't have a phone."
"Ah ah ah, guess what? I've just made you a liar," Nana said with a smile before she pulled out a brand new cell phone, handing it to her daughter.
"Nana, why did you do this?" Red asked incredulously, taking the phone in her left hand and turning it on. She looked through the contacts, and sure enough all the people she thought she would need were already on the phone. All plus one, a new number with the name Chloe Charming attached to it.
"I wanted to help," Nana said, "And I thought that you'd eventually call me at three A.M. when you couldn't get the baby to sleep."
Red rolls her eyes, "Thank you, Nana."
"You're welcome, my Rose. Now prove your mother wrong," Nana said, kissing Red's forehead again before turning to Chloe.
"And you," the old woman said, holding Chloe by the shoulders. "Don't let her bully you. I know at first she can be quite brash and abrasive, but underneath that hard exterior she's a massive softie. It's what got her in this situation in the first place." Chloe glances over to Red, who was adjusting her shirt while Hattie slid herself off the bed, walking around the new environment. "I'll leave you girls to it." And just like that, Nana left the room, leaving the two girls in uncomfortable silence.
"Uh, can I help you unpack?" Chloe asked, hopeful that she could use this as a sort of bonding time with the redhead. After all, she was going to be responsible for the girl's actions this year, so she should at least try and get to know her.
Red groaned at Chloe's overly positive demeanor. She got up, opening all the bags and rifling through them. "Here, you put these in the dresser by her bed," Red said, handing the bag to Chloe, who gleefully took it and started folding the child's clothes into the drawers while Red started hanging her own clothes up in the closet. Even while she was busy she kept a watchful eye on her daughter as she played with her toys on the floor. The girls worked in silence that Chloe had to fight the urge to break.
"You're not alone, you know," Chloe said quietly,
"No, we're not doing this. Not here, not now," Red said, shaking her head.
"Red, come on, please?" Chloe begged. In all honesty, Chloe herself didn't even know why she was trying so hard to get this girl to like her. Everyone liked her, she was smart, popular, she was even Castlecoming Queen last year, which was hard to do as a junior. It didn't make sense, she didn't have to try to get people to like her, they just did.
"Chloe," Red bit out.
"No, really, you say that you're alone but you're not. I'm here with you," Chloe said, her words hopeful.
"Chloe, don't you get it? I am alone," Red bit out her words through her teeth, making sure Chloe got the full effect. "I've always been alone, that's what got me into this mess. I was alone and I didn't want to be so I clung to the person who fuc—screwed me over in the end. That's not who I am anymore, so I have to be alone."
"I want to be your friend," Chloe said. "It might make it easier."
"I don't want friends," Red said. "Friends are what got me sent to juvie."
"I don't get why you hate me," Chloe said, her frustration with the girl growing.
"Oh let's see, maybe because you used me as a school project? That might be enough reason to not like somebody. I don't hate you. There's only one person I hate and I wound up having a kid with him."
"I understand why you hate him," Chloe said, letting out a gentle breath.
"No, you don't. The only way you could understand is if it happened to you," Red said with the same gentleness of Chloe. A smile crosses Chloe's face when she realizes that Red hadn't shut down the conversation.
"I—I know there's nothing I can say to you to make that better, but maybe I can help now," Chloe said.
"God, do you really have to make everything about you?" Red said, irritation thick in her voice.
"Look, I'm trying to make conversation," Chloe said.
Red grew even more irritated when she spoke again, "Try to imagine it, princesa. Imagine growing up with a mother that hates you, who hurts you just because she can. And then I want you to imagine your childhood best friend professing his love to you, and you go with it, and you get sucked into his drug cartel. If he can't use you to move drugs he'll use you for your body and call it love. Then you get arrested and you find out you're pregnant all in the same night. You spend the next nine months imagining what life will be like for your baby because you're stuck in juvie until you're eighteen. You give birth at fifteen with no meds, no motherly comfort, no nothing, and you go back to juvie with your baby, only for her to be taken six months later. So I'm sorry if I have a twisted sense of what love is and a messed up life outlook."
"I'm sorry that happened, Red," Chloe said, staring down at the floor. "I don't think I would be able to survive all of that." Chloe's eyes trailed up Red's body, she still looked as beautiful as she did at the detention center, which wasn't good for Chloe's sake. Her eyes caught on a long, jagged scar that ran up the entirety of Red's left forearm. "What happened?" she asked, trying to keep her tone easy.
"I happened. Remember when I told you I spent a month in solitary? That scar is why," Red said before her daughter let out a shrill cry behind her. Red turned instinctively on her heels, rushing over to her child and scooping her up into her arms. She rocked the child in her arms, shushing the child in an attempt to calm her. The small girl had been stacking her wooden blocks when the tower fell, landing all over the child's feet.
"Ey, mi amor, it's okay. Mommy's here, it's okay," Red soothed her child. The sight warmed Chloe in a way she didn't think could happen. It was different, seeing someone so hardened, so rough, be so calm and gentle. "It's okay, mi amor."
Not much longer, the child was back to her playful self, squirming out of her mother's arms and reaching for her toys. Chloe just sat back and watched the simple interaction between the two, something so small yet seemingly so intimate. The gesture stunned her, how Red was so intuitive to her child even though she didn't have her all the time.
"I should go, it's getting late and my parents are expecting me home soon," Chloe said as she nervously fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.
"Okay," Red said, not doing so much as looking up at Chloe. "Uh, crap, I'll see you later…I guess?" Red meets Chloe's gaze, "I'm not used to having someone keep tabs on me unless you're a CO." Red let out a quiet laugh and Chloe turned to leave.
"Hey Chloe?" Red said, and Chloe stops at the door, turning to look at the other girl. "Thanks for your help."