"But—!"
"Alex, honey, we're just going to try this for an hour okay?" Cinderella said, gently bending down to look her youngest daughter in the eye. It was the day of Ben and Mal's engagement party and Alexandria was clearly not happy at being left behind while her siblings went.
"But mom, the last time Chad—!"
"Chad is going to be at King Ben's engagement party. There will be guards all over the place and Lady Mal will be in attendance too. Not to mention if anyone wanted to get to Chad, they'd have to get through your sisters and Bruno."
Alexandria bit her lip and crossed her arms, not realizing that she looked like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum rather than a teenaged royal who had a very good point! The last time Chad was out of her sight, he got thrown into a closet!
How had her mother forgotten? It had only been a couple of weeks after all!
"Mom! Mom!"
"Alex? Honey, what's wrong?" Cinderella asked as her youngest daughter came running into the castle.
"Chad!"
"What about your brother?"
Alexandria made to answer but her sisters rushed in, cutting off whatever she was going to say.
"Mom—Chad's in trouble—Audrey—scepter!"
"Okay, okay, all three of you need to calm down," Cinderella said, holding up her hands as to indicate that she needed silence. "Now, one at a time, what happened?"
She was ready for a diatribe about how Chad spent the whole party with Audrey, she was prepared for a three hour rant session about how horrible Princess Audrey was.
She was not ready for her youngest daughter to burst into tears.
"What happened?" Kit asked as he walked up, a frown forming as Cinderella brought Alex in for a hug; their youngest continuing to sob as she buried her face into her mother's stomach. "Ella?"
"I don't know dear," Cinderella told him. "The girls just came rushing in, saying something about Chad being in trouble and something about Princess Audrey."
Kit sighed. "I'd say it's the usual but Alex doesn't usually burst into tears because of Princess Audrey."
In fact, if there was one sister Kit knew Chad would stand up for, it was Alex. For that matter, where was Chad? Normally he'd be on his sisters' heels, telling his parents that the girls were lying or trying to get him into trouble.
"Girls, where's your brother?" Cinderella asked, seemingly picking up on the same wavelength as Kit. But none of the girls answered. They didn't look guilty or as if they were keeping a secret, both of her girls clearly looked like they had no idea where their brother was.
Kit sighed, trying to tamp down the worry that was threatening to take hold. "I'll make some calls, see if Phillip or Aurora have seen him if this involves their daughter," he told Cinderella.
"Okay. I'll put on a pot of tea , see if that won't help calm down Alex," Cinderella said and gently led their youngest to the kitchen. Kit nodded and went to his study, pulling out his phone and started making call after call. But no one knew anything. It was hours after the fact that Kit got any update on Chad—and that was because his son had come bursting through the door.
"Chad!" Alexandria exclaimed, rushing toward him. Chad's eyes widened and he brought his sister in for a hug, holding onto her the way a drowning man might hold onto a life raft.
"You're okay...thank Gods you're okay..." Kit heard Chad mutter before growing silent and a pit grew in his stomach. Whatever happened was clearly something he needed to be concerned about. Chad was hardly if ever quiet after all.
"Chad honey? What happened?" Cinderella asked but Chad just shook his head, seemingly holding onto Alexandria tighter than he had before. Cinderella opened her mouth but just as she made to say something else, her phone rang.
"Why don't we get you up to bed, son?" Kit suggested, frowning at the way Chad was trembling. The last time he had done that was when he was seven and he'd got trapped in the closet in Fairy Cottage when he was visiting with the then Prince Ben and Princess Audrey. Thankfully Prince Ben had somehow got Chad out of there as Audrey had been outside feeding the bunnies.
That was also the day they had found out that Chad was claustrophobic. But...but Chad wouldn't have been in a closet then would he?
"Alex, honey, you're going to have to let go," Kit told his youngest but Alexandria shook her head and tightened her grip on Chad.
"Alexandria, you can't sleep in the same bed as Chad. You're too old for that now," Kit tried again but Alex ignored him.
"Kit..." Cinderella said and Kit looked at her. "Let her. I think both our kids need each other right now."
"Who was on the phone?" Kit asked as they led Chad and Alex to Chad's room. Otherwise Kit was certain that Chad would have stayed in the foyer all night.
"King Ben," Cinderella said but that was the only thing she told him as they got Chad lying down and slipped off both of their kids' shoes. Going back into the hall, Kit frowned slightly as Cinderella left the door open. Chad hated that, he preferred his door shut—thankfully his room was big enough that such an action didn't cause a claustrophobic episode.
"Ella, what's going on?"
"You need to go to King Ben's council meeting in my stead," Cinderella said and Kit blinked in surprise. That certainly wasn't something he'd expected her to say.
"Why—?"
"Because I need to stay here with Chad dear. Audrey...Princess Audrey apparently teamed up with the boy who attacked Cotillion and crashed Jane's party. Chad was captured challenging them and according to King Ben...they shoved him into the closet at Fairy Cottage."
"...no!"
"Yes. That's where King Ben, Lady Mal, and their friends found him and King Ben wouldn't lie. Not about this."
Kit sighed. "Alright. No, no, you're right. I just...Ella, you're okay with being alone with all four of the kids? I just feel if King Ben is requesting the council..."
"Kit, I know," Cinderella said with a sigh of her own. "But we can't leave Chad, not when he's like this. And poor Alex! But if King Ben doesn't have a full council..."
"Right, right," Kit nodded. "I'll leave right after the meeting. I promise."
"I know. And I'll have Kitty and Lucy to help if I need it though I shouldn't put too much on them. They were at the party too, they'd have seen Chad get captured."
Meanwhile, back in Chad's room, Alexandria continued to hold onto Chad for dear life, sobbing into his chest.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, her parents having not been as quiet as they had thought and so she had heard their conversation. "You...you were captured by Freddy. For me. You went through that for me. It's all my fault..."
A shaky hand rubbed her back and Alex looked up as Chad's voice whispered in her ear.
"I...I may be the worst brother ever Alex but...I'm still your brother. It's my job to look out for you three, it's not your fault."
Alexandria shook her head. "I...I shouldn't...I shouldn't have said anything to Audrey," she whispered as she curled up closer to Chad, as if she was worried he'd disappear on her. "If I...I hadn't, you wouldn't have had to punch Freddy and then you...you wouldn't have gotten shoved in the closet."
"And what did you say that wasn't true? It was Ben's choice to break the contract. If, as you said he had wanted to stay with Audrey, he would have," Chad told her. "And I would rather be shoved into a thousand closets than see you get hurt Alex. Like I said...I might be the worst brother ever but I'm still your brother."
"You're not the worst brother ever," Alex said, shaking her head. "I mean, you're not going to win any awards but...if you were truly horrible, you'd have just let Freddy do what he wanted."
Chad couldn't help but give her a sad smilie. "I think if any brother did let Freddy do whatever it was he had planned to do to their sisters, they can't call themselves a brother. Especially an older brother. Besides...Kat and Lu might hate my guts but I know you put up with me. I...I couldn't see you get hurt Alex. I'd do it again if I had to."
"No!" Alex shook her head and burrowed even closer to Chad if such a thing was possible.
Chad gave another sad smile and held her close. At least he had one of his sisters and at least she was safe. That was all he could really ask for.
Ever since then, the two 'bookend' Charmings had been nearly inseparable—to the point where it had alarmed their parents. Mainly because Chad was still barely talking, refusing to leave his room and Alex would almost break down if she did leave Chad's side.
They had reached out to a therapist of course, but Dr. Hopper had been at a complete loss as nothing like this had ever happened in Auradon before. Most of the therapists were attending to the children from the Isle as well so it wasn't as if the Charmings could get a second option.
That wasn't to say Dr. Hopper didn't know what he was talking about—a few of his suggestions had worked, like getting Chad a pet. He loved that golden retriever pup and seemed to come out of his shell more.
"Mom, I need to be with Chad! What if something happens?" Alexandria exclaimed, bringing Cinderella back to the present.
"Alex, honey, everything will be fine," Cinderella promised. "The girls are taking him out for an hour. You need this sweetheart."
Alex chewed on her lip as she watched her siblings walk out of the castle. As soon as the door shut, she scurried to the window and stood; almost keeping watch to make sure Chad returned.
One hour passed, and then another, and then soon three hours had gone by and still her siblings had not returned.
I knew it! I knew something bad would happen! What if Freddy somehow got free from the Isle again? What if Audrey got her hands back on the scepter?! What if—?
"Mom? We're home!" Kitty's voice broke through Alexandria's thoughts and the youngest Charming almost sank to the floor in relief as she saw her brother.
"Hold up Alex, I think mom wants to have a talk with Chad," Kitty said as Alex went to go latch onto her brother.
"Why? Did he do something?"
"Let's just say he met someone," Lucy said with a smile. "Don't you see how different he is?"
Alexandria frowned slightly and tilted her head. It was true that Chad looked a bit more animated than he had been since the incident. But that could have just been excitement from the fact that Ben had celebrated his engagement.
"Alex...Chad's got a girlfriend," Lucy said with a grin. "Her name's Ginny, she's a VK that came over about a week ago—you know how Ben and Mal were working on bringing more VKs over from the Isle? She's one of them!"
"If she's not his girlfriend yet, she will be," Kitty nodded. "He wouldn't stop talking to her for the length of the party. We took a photo and sent it to mom, that's what she's talking to him right now about."
"But...the last girlfriend Chad had was Audrey," Alexandria said, crossing her arms slightly. "Are we sure this 'Ginny' won't hurt Chad the way Audrey did?"
Kitty gave her sister a knowing smile. "I'm worried about him too you know? But Ginny brought him out of his shell. He was going to leave probably fifteen minutes into our getting there. Probably would have too if Bruno hadn't bumped into Ginny."
"I think we need to double check and make sure that dog's not a Buddy," Lucy said with a chuckle. "Smartest dog I've met since Estelle."
"Hey! Dude's plenty smart!" Kitty exclaimed.
Alexandria rolled her eyes and walked into the living room where Chad and their mother were. There was a notable change in Chad; he was more relaxed with his feet curled up underneath him and absently scratching Bruno behind the ears as he talked.
"Mom?" Alex asked. "Is it true that Chad's got a girlfriend?"
"I just met the girl," Chad said, shaking his head.
"I'll take that as a yes," Alex said, grinning from ear to ear. "You should invite her over Chad! I want to meet her!"
"You did hear the part about how I just met her right?"
"Uh huh. I still want to meet her!"
"Mom!"
Cinderella couldn't help the small chuckle that slipped out. "Alex, honey, lay off your brother. But Chad, dear, do invite the girl over okay? She seems like she's at least a friend and your father and I definitely want to meet your friends."
Oh Kit, you're not going to believe the change in Chad, she thought as she watched Chad and Alexandria banter back and forth. It's a shame you had to be in a meeting or you'd be here to see it first hand. I know you were just as worried as I was even if you tried to put on a brave face.
"Alexandria, I'm not going to Invite Ginny to a tourney game! You know all the guys are going to be there with their girlfriends!"
"So what? Maybe it'll be a nice hint that you should ask her out!"
"I just met her today!"
"What does that matter? Mom and dad only knew each other for a night before dad proposed!"
"I'm not marrying the girl I just met!"
"Of course not silly, that'd be ridiculous! But you can at least ask her out!"
"Mom!" Chad exclaimed. "Are you just going to let Alex boss me around?"
Cinderella chuckled and shook her head. "I think when it comes to this, your sister is a force that can't be tamed Chad. Not to mention she'll have aid from your sisters, who do you think sent me the photo?"
"Why am I not surprised?" Chad muttered but the smile on his face eliminated any possibility that her was mad at them. "Fine, I'll invite her—but as friends."
"Whatever, I just want to meet her!"
"You've said that already Alex."
"It bears repeating!" Alexandria said, and Bruno gave a small bark as if he was agreeing with her. "See? Bruno thinks so too!"
"That's because Ginny snuck him snacks at the party," Chad said, giving his dog a fond smile.
"Doesn't matter, he agrees with me! And you should never argue with a dog's judgment Chad!"
Or my sister's, Chad thought with a small smile as Alex continued to chatter away happily. Thanks Ginny. You haven't even met her yet and you've already gotten Alex out of her shell. Hadie hasn't even been able to do that and he's been over more times than I can count since he's not exactly thrilled with all the wedding talk. He's thrilled for Ben and Mal of course, it's the wedding talk proper he can't stand.
Honestly, Chad had to sympathize with the young Godling. It'd probably bore him out of his mind to talk about someone else's wedding for days or weeks on end. Even if it was his sister's.
"I'm glad you had a good time Chad," Cinderella said, her soft voice breaking through Chad's thoughts and he looked over at his mom with a smile.
"I am too mom," he said as Alex rested her head on his shoulder, having climbed onto the sofa and sat next to him.
"Think you'll see her again?" Alex asked.
The smile seemed to grow as Chad looked down at his sister. "I hope so," he said. "I really do."
I think if your sisters have anything to say about it, you will, Cinderella thought. Those girls are determined to see you happy Chad. As am I—and if this girl makes you happy then she makes me happy too.
After everything that happened, that was all she could ask. That her children be happy. That Chad be happy.
Unless she was wrong, it looked as if things were finally starting to get back to normal.