Half and Half

Chapter Thirty Four

Mal couldn't help but smile slightly as she looked at her baby brother. Her baby brother, which meant it was her responsibility to protect him from the Isle. At least while she was on the Isle. She didn't know yet how things were going to work out with Hadie's ability to live in both Auradon and the Isle but Mal knew that as long as she was on the Isle, nothing would happen to him.

After all, Steph had asked her to look after Hadie and Mal kept her promises!

"Oh Hadie, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up. Just stay this little. And no one is gonna hurt you..." Mal sang under her breath as she watched Hadie sleep in the bassinet Steph had brought over from Boreadon; Estelle curled up on the floor as close as he could get without being a danger of tripping anyone. Steph even got special permission from Ben's mom to ship it over since her due date would be so soon after their arrival and Steph had wanted to make sure Hadie had a place to sleep when he arrived.

"What are you singing?" Ben asked as he walked into the room, taking care to keep his voice down since Hadie was sleeping. Apparently Mal hadn't been singing as softly as she had thought but thankfully only Ben seemed to have heard her.

"Steph sings this to Hadie sometimes to get him settled," Mal told him, glancing over at him as Ben stood next to her. "I figured it couldn't hurt to sing it too. So he knows me, knows his big sis is here."

Ben smiled and nodded. "Well...that song is right. No one is going to hurt Hadie. Not if you, me, Uma, and Harry have anything to say about it."

"You?" Mal asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah," Ben nodded, looking a little surprised Mal even had to ask. "I'm a big sibling too, you know. We have to stick together and look out for our little sister and brother."

Mal smiled and nodded before pausing as an idea came to her and she looked back at Ben. "Hey Benny? Did you mean it? That you'd help protect Hadie?"

"Of course," Ben nodded. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well it's just...Uma, Harry, and me...we have to protect you too," Mal said. Yes Ben had progressed with his sword training with Harry but he wasn't quite at Harry's level. Or Uma's. Or even Mal's, and Mal had lost a step with that time spent with her foot in a cast!

Yeah she was still upset about that thank you! Just another reason to hate Maleficent but thankfully, since Steph and her dad had adopted her, Mal didn't have to worry about Maleficent ever getting her talons in her again.

"That's not fair to you guys," Ben said, shaking his head.

"You're under our protection, we look out for you," Mal said. "Besides, training you at least allows Harry to pretend we didn't also agree to put Gil under our protection as well."

"He saved our lives by pulling his papa's arm away, I'm not going to just forget that," Ben said.

"Neither will I," Mal told him and then paused, still looking at Ben. "Just checking, you're not in here to try to convince me that we should put Blueberry under our protection again are you? Because one party invite isn't going to change things."

"What? No," Ben shook his head. Yes he wanted to be allies with Evie but he didn't want to anger Mal!

Besides, he found he liked hanging out with Mal, Uma, and Harry a lot more than Ben did with Evie and her gang. It wasn't that they were bad per se but just...the amount of trust from the other VKs wasn't the same.

"Okay then," Mal nodded.

"But...maybe we should bring someone else into our gang?" Ben asked. "It can't hurt to have more people to rely on right? Especially once Abby's able to come over. And we'll want people to look out for Celia and Hadie."