Choosing Home

Chapter Fifty One

Daniel leaned against the doorway of Evie's studio, smiling as he watched his daughter hard at work on one of the wedding dresses she was making for Lady Mal's weddings. Oh yes, it was supposed to be a secret to only those in the know but Daniel had stumbled across Evie working on one of the dresses and she'd told him.

It wasn't like he was going to blab it to anyone after all. The only people he knew in Auradon were his daughter and her friends. Well and Queen Snow.

That had been an interesting meeting, considering the last time Daniel had seen Queen Snow, she'd been a ten year old girl and the love of his life was about to become her stepmother. Though it was clear that time had not eliminated the kindness from Snow's heart as she'd welcomed him into the family with opened arms.

"You're Evie's father, of course you'd be welcome," Snow said. "I would never ask Evie to choose between her family."

"You really see Evie as family?" Daniel asked. "After everything her mother..."

"Daniel," Snow said, her voice growing soft. "I will always wish I had gotten to have a relationship with my step mother the way I'd gotten to have with my mother. That was my father's only wish you know? That his daughter have a mother again. But through getting to know the kids from the Isle, it's become clear that sometimes evil isn't born...it's made. And I'm not going to be the reason more evil is created in the world. Besides Evie's a dear and she adores Emma and Neal."

"Yeah that's going to take some getting used to," Daniel told her. "The fact that Evie's your step sister yet she's about the same age as your kids."

"Oh trust me, you get used to it," Snow chuckled before she seemed to sober up. "How have you been? With everything I mean?"

"You mean still recovering from being Maleficent's hostage?" Daniel asked, his voice growing a bit hard at the mention of the former Mistress of Evil turned lizard.

"I was going to be more tactful than that but yes," Snow nodded.

Daniel sighed. "Some days are better than others. I've recovered as much as I can physically, though some of my muscle loss may never return or at least that's what the doctors told me. It's...I shouldn't bore you with this, I—."

"Daniel, I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know," Snow said, gently taking his hand. "Like I said, you're family. And as Lady Mal likes to have it be known, family means you're ruthless when someone hurts them but loyal to them always. I'd like to be loyal to you..."

"...I can't be in a room alone," Daniel whispered. "It was one of the ways Maleficent tried breaking me, keeping me trapped in her dungeons alone. The only time someone would come in would be when the goblins or Maleficent herself would torment me. One time...she brought in a young girl who looked almost like Evie only without the blue hair and—."

"Hey, hey, you don't have to say anymore," Snow said, gently cutting him off. In all fairness, she didn't want to hear about whatever Maleficent did to that poor girl. The only comfort, as cruel as it was, was the fact that it hadn't happened to Evie. "Have...have you told this to your therapist?"

While most of the therapists in Auradon had been reserved for the new VKs, Ben had been able to make it so that Daniel had a therapist at the ready.

"I don't think he'd help," Daniel shook his head.

"You'll never know," Snow told him. "I know we come from a different time, where therapy wasn't seen as something that would work. But from what Emma's told me, it's worked for the VKs who've come into Auradon."