Choosing Life

Chapter Fifty One

Ginny sighed. "Okay, I can almost sense the tension here. Guys, you can talk about your kids, I won't fall apart if you do. Besides, it's not fair to you if you can't talk about them."

"If...if you don't mind my asking Ginny, how...how are things going in that area?" Roland asked.

"I'm assuming you're not asking me how my intimate life is with my husband, Roland," Ginny said with a slight smirk before shaking her head. "But no, things are going...fine. The doctors have me on a tailored diet to try to improve my chances and...and Chad and I have started talking about the possibility of adoption or surrogacy if I'm not pregnant within the next two years."

Chad shook his head. "As much as I'd love to keep talking about my intimate life with my brothers-in-law, the man who's pretty much a brother to me, and his wife, I'm going to get some refreshments before we eat dinner and Ben gives his speech."

"How did you—?"

"Mal told Ginny who told me," Chad shrugged as Ben stared in shock. "Gin, Mal, you two want anything? Mal, some strawberries?"

Mal nodded. "Of course! I don't know why but lately I've been craving them more and more."

"Isn't that an every day thing for you?" Chad asked. "I'm pretty sure the Auradon strawberry farmers worship you."

"Hmm, 'Goddess of Strawberries," Mal chuckled. "You know, that doesn't sound like that bad of a title."

"Well you know, you have connections if you want that to be your title," Ben said.

Mal shook her head. "Nah, I'm good with the one I have," she told him. No title will ever be more important than being the kids' Maman, she thought. She didn't want to say it out loud and possibly twist the knife deeper into Ginny.

Shaking her head, she smiled as William and Conner made their way over to them. "Well well, looks like the Auradon Prep Tourney and R.O.A.R. team has begun to overtake the LTBR," she chuckled.

"Hey it's a good way to stay in contact," Ben said with a small chuckle of his own.

"Plus it's a way for Ben to still have shadows since Emir and Akiho don't need this club, being born royals, whereas my dad's a scientist and Conner's mom is a Lady," William spoke up.

Ben rolled his eyes fondly and shook his head. "Don't tell me Emir and Akiho put you up to that. Guys, why would I need to be shadowed here?"

"I dunno Ben but you needed to be shadowed at school so I'm guessing you haven't changed much," Conner said with a slight shrug.

"Guys, doesn't his wife have a built in defense mode for him? And she's shown she's not scared to use it, so I think he's good," Ginny said.

Chad shook his head. He had tried to tell Ginny about the shadowing in the past but words somehow never conveyed how seriously Emir and Akiho took their shadow roles. "Gin, Mal might have the ability to turn into a dragon but even that won't stop the shadowing. If Lonnie was here, she'd be one of the shadows too."

Ben shook his head. "Yeah, I still have no idea where that came from...no wait, why am I surprised that Akiho and Emir corrupted her?"

"Well because you'd overwork yourself Ben," Conner said. "Wasn't there a rumor that Lonnie had to camp out in your office once to drag you out of there so you'd go to bed at a reasonable hour?"

"Not a rumor, she actually did it," Mal chuckled. "And she threatened to do it again more than once before I came to Auradon according to Emir and Akiho."

Ginny's eyes went wide as she heard that. She had heard about the shadowing of course but she had always thought it was just a joke between friends.

"Yep," Mal nodded, noticing Ginny's eyes go wide. "Most think the 'shadowing' is a joke but the self appointed shadows consider it of the utmost importance."

"Why am I not surprised the shadowing came up?" Aladdin asked, shaking his head as he walked by.

"Because you know our sons would appoint 'secondary shadows even if they couldn't be here. You really thought they'd grow out of that? I think it's ingrained in their DNA at this point." Kristoff said with a small chuckle.

Ben shook his head. "The shadowing really isn't necessary...especially since we're in my home and Mal is right there."

"Proud to act as a substitute shadow by the way," Mal said with a grin.

"Do you really think that would stop them Ben?" Aladdin asked.

"Nope," everyone said with a chuckle. They all knew Emir and Akiho well at this point, and even Ginny had to shake her head in amusement at the thought of those two not being at Ben's side even in spirit.

Belle walked up and smiled at the group. "It's time for dinner, if you all would like to take your seats," she said. "We figured it might be a good idea if we had dinner before the speeches."

"Remind me again why we decided speeches would be a good idea?" Aladdin asked.

"Because without speeches, then a bunch of people are descending on Ben and Mal's home for dinner," Kristoff said. "Besides, it's the anniversary of the forming of the club. Speeches are almost part and parcel with big events like this."

"Good point," Aladdin chuckled as everyone went to go take their seats. Mal smiled as she saw that the food was a mixture of everyone's background and culture. From Tiana's beignets to Mal's garlic crispy chicken...wait what?

"We asked your dad to send some for the banquet," Ben said as he noticed Mal's quizzical look. "He was more than happy to once we said it was a good way to make sure you didn't just eat strawberries all night."

"I am a grown woman Ben," Mal said. "I can eat more than strawberries."

"I know. You just don't choose to."

"Isn't that what Akiho says concerning you using your guards back during our school days?"

"Where do you think I got it from?" Ben asked with a small chuckle as he dished some food for Mal before grabbing some for himself as well. Yes, he knew Mal was more than capable of dishing her own food but he wanted to do something nice for his wife. Sue him.

The night went off without a hitch, and the speeches seemed to be really well received even if some of them bored Mal out of her skull. Thankfully she had been seated next to Ginny so the two VK royals had been able to sneak in a game of tic-tac-toe before their husbands realized what they were doing and both VK royals were treated to Ben's puppy dog eyes of disappointment.

"That was a fun evening wasn't it?" Ben asked hours later as they walked up the stairs to their room.

"It was," Mal nodded and then looked over at Ben. "I won't lie though...it's also nice to be alone."

She loved her kids, and she would always love her kids, but this was one of the few nights she had with her husband where they were truly alone. Even the dogs were with someone else.

Ben didn't say anything but just got up and gently closed the door. Later on, the both of them would have to applaud Ben's timing as neither of them knew that Dean had been coming up to ask Ben a question though upon seeing the door shut, shook his head and turned on his heel to walk back whence he came.

Even though he loved his job, he didn't get paid nearly enough to interrupt the King and Queen's alone time.