Mal couldn't but smile slightly as she brushed out her hair. While it had only been a month or two since the unscheduled day off with the twins, so much had happened since then that it honestly felt like a lifetime ago.
Ryan and CJ had decided to elope rather than wait after all, something Mal was sure Harry was only okay with because he was part of the wedding party, along with Helena acting as the flower girl. And even then he had complained slightly because of the fact that he'd asked them if they could wait until Uma had given birth, or at least that was what her cousin had told Mal.
Uma had honestly almost whacked Harry with a tidal wave when she heard he'd asked that, and Harry's only saving grace was the fact that he'd been holding their daughter at the time. Still though, he had been treated to a lengthly lecture as to why the only person who could make decisions as to where she went and why was her. And it wasn't because she outranked him or anything but because she was her own person and that she had spent sixteen years of her life having someone else tell her where she could and could not go and she wasn't going to have her husband do the same, thank you!
Those two are in for an interesting time if Helena and the new baby are anything like them, Mal thought with an inward snort. I honestly can't believe they're going in blind with the gender again. I know they have every right to do so but still! It's so aggravating! Though...at least CJ's kid will have a cousin close in age...
Yeah...that had been a shock to learn, that CJ was expecting a child of her own after only being married a couple of months. When Mal had heard the news from Uma, she had finally understood her father's rants about babies having babies. Gods knew how Harriet and Harry felt about it, especially Harriet with how she'd been having issues conceiving a child of her own, but CJ and Ryan were over the moon.
Sighing, Mal shook her head to clear her thoughts before focusing on her makeup. While she wasn't exactly skilled at the art like Evie, Macaria, Emma, or Elle were, Mal knew that there would be a day where her daughter might want to learn to put on makeup. And by the Gods as her witness, she would be a mom her daughter could come to about anything. Be it sporty or girly.
You know, it might be safe to say Mulan is one of my influences for being a mother, other than mom of course, Mal thought as she pressed her lips together; having applied a light purple lipstick. It was almost lavender, that was how light it was. Other people might have balked at the idea of a purple lipstick but Mal was going to a banquet of people who knew the importance of being true to themselves.
Plus, come on! It was purple! If anyone was going to make a fuss about Mal having something purple on her person, then they clearly were living under a rock the whole time Mal had been in Auradon.
Either that or they're Natalie, Mal thought as she put on a pair of dangling earrings to finish her look. Is it wrong to wonder whatever happened to her? We haven't heard much from her...actually we haven't heard anything from her in fact. I know Ben fired her and mom cursed her to never be able to grow a garden but you think we would have heard something...
She shook her head and stood up, walking away from the vanity. She wasn't going to ruin her happiness by thinking about her former tormentor. Besides, it was a good thing they hadn't heard anything from Natalie. Wondering if they would ever hear from Natalie would be like wondering if Maleficent would ever change out of her lizard form. All it would do would make Mal a nervous wreck and that was the last thing she wanted for that night.
"You ready?" Ben asked, gently knocking on the doorframe of their bedroom door.
"Almost, I just want to grab my jacket," Mal said.
Ben tilted his head. "Won't you be warm? There's going to be a lot of people in the room—."
"If I get warm, then I can take off the jacket," Mal shrugged as she put on the jacked and frowned slightly.
"What's wrong?" Ben asked.
"It...it feels a bit tight," Mal told him, stretching out her back as if to stretch out the jacket. "Okay there we go, much better. You know it's funny, I had the same thing happen with my dress too."
"Isn't this the dress you wore to Cotillion?" Ben asked.
"The very same," Mal said with a grin as she did a small twirl in the dress. "Many years and two kids later and I can still fit into my clothes from when I was a teen."
Ben shook his head in amusement. "No one doubted that Mal. After all, you are a Godling."
"Ah...right," Mal said with a small nod. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be greeting people as host?"
"Mom's handling that," Ben told her. "Since she's the official member and technically, I'm just the plus one they asked to make a speech."
"Hey, you're much more than that," Mal said as she gently got up and kissed him on the cheek. "You're the plus one who volunteered his home for the evening."
Ben snorted in amusement and then looked at himself in the vanity mirror. "How did you manage to not leave any lipstick?"
"It's apparently transfer proof lipstick," Mal said. "Mom bought it for me a while back when I had a girl's day with her and Rea."
"Was that back when you were pregnant with the twins?"
"You know I think it was," Mal nodded. "Well, we probably shouldn't leave our guests downstairs on their lonesome for much longer."
"Oh yes, I believe that would be rude. They might question our upbringing," Ben said with a small chuckle as they made their way out of their bedroom and down the stairs to one of the few ballrooms that had not been made an ice rink by Ben's best friends with assistance from Elsa.
"Mal!" Ginny grinned as she saw Mal and Ben walk in.
"Ginny! Oh it's great to see you," Mal said with a grin of her own. "How've you been?"
"We've been great, though Chad's been determined to take me to every horse show in the kingdom," Ginny said, shaking her head.
"Hey, you never know, you might want to breed Gwen," Chad told her.
"Am I the only one weirded out by the fact that Ginny's horse and Gil's daughter technically share a name?" Ben asked.
"No you are not Benny," Mal told him.
"Technically Gil named his daughter after Ginny got her horse so one could claim Gil named his kid after Ginny's horse," Bobby Hood said as he walked by with his brother.
"Hey Bobby, hey Roland," Mal said with a smile. "Come to join the fun?"
"Well we wouldn't be the club within a club that is the Charming In-Laws in the Learning to be Royal Club if we didn't come by to say hi to Ginny," Roland grinned.
"I still say we need a shorter title for our club within a club," Ginny said, shaking her head.
"Nah," Bobby and Roland both grinned.
Mal couldn't help but smile at that. She had been tempted to ask Bobby and Roland how they were holding up with their new additions to their families but felt it would almost be cruel to Ginny if she asked that in front of her.
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.