Stay With Me Forever

Chapter 18

[Mal's POV]

I woke up to my handsome man sitting beside my bed reading a book. As I yawned, he looked up and placed the book on the bedside table. "Hey, sleepyhead. You doing ok?" I nodded and tried to get up but unfortunately, gravity works.

"Mal, you should take it easy. You've been out for awhile." He said. "How long?" I asked intently. "6 hours. You were pretty out of it." I smiled and took his hand. He kissed it as soon as our fingers intertwined. "Where are the others?" Ben looked down.

"They're busy doing other stuff." And then it hit me. Ben should be doing king stuff right now, and probably for the past 6 hours. "Ben..." I cried. "Shh, Mal. You're ok." He said kissing my cheek. "Ben, aren't you supposed to be working?" I asked. "You're more important."

Anger boiled inside of me. "Ben, you can't just take off work and stay with me! Auradon's not going to like that!" Ben placed a hand on my forehead. "Mal, you need to calm down. You're burning up." He said. I felt even more weak when Ben said things like that.

He later got into his pajamas and laid next to me. At first, I was reluctant, but then his warm arms glided towards me and he wrapped himself around me. "I love you, Mal. Always remember that." I looked at him and smiled. "I love you too, King Ben." I giggled. "Let's just leave it at Ben." I rolled my eyes and slowly fell asleep.

[Ben's POV]

I got up when I heard a knock on the door. The VKs were there looking at me depressed. "Can we see her?" Evie asked. I turned around and looked at Mal who was laying on her side. "She's sleeping, guys. She's still a little worked up." They nodded and left. I closed the door to find my wife choking.

I ran to her side and rubbed circles on her back. "Mal, you ok?" She just kept choking. I ran and got a glass of water. She drank the entire thing in 3 seconds. She groaned and fell backwards. I climbed into the bed and looked at her.

"Mal, are you alright?" She turned on her side and cried. I got out of bed and went to her side. "Baby, you can talk to me. What's bothering you?" I asked quietly. "Nothing, Ben. I'm fine." She grumbled and left the room. I decided to give her some space since she was still pressured.

[Evie's POV]

Mal stomped into my room and pulled me to the bed. "We need to talk!" She yelled. I knew there was no use arguing with Mal when she's angry, so I gave in. "You alright, Mal?" I asked keeping the distance between us. "No. Ben hasn't been working for the past 6 hours and he won't listen to me. What do I do?" She whined.

"Mal, let Ben take a day off. He's trying to take care of you. She glared at me. "Yeah, and I'm not letting him!" She screamed. "Mal, calm down. I'm sure Ben will go back to work once he knows you're safe." I said. She nodded and left. I went back to sewing a pink dress for Audrey.

[Mal's POV]

I walked into my bedroom and laid on the bed. Ben came out of the nursery and sat next to me. "What have you been doing since I left?" I asked quietly. "Just checking on Christie. You feeling better?" He asked while holding my hand. "Yeah. Sorry about earlier." He kissed my cheek.

"Mal, don't be sorry. I just want to make sure you're safe." I nodded and fell back in his arms. "Are you going back to work tomorrow?" "Do you want me to?" I nodded. He kissed my nose and I fell asleep.

I was at the enchanted lake with Ben on a date. Everything was perfect until it started to rain. "Ben, we should probably get back." He stared at me with an angry face. "You're not going anywhere, Mal!" He yelled. I backed away as I saw a figure form out of his body.

It wasn't my Ben at all. It was my mother! I tried running through the woods, but she struck me with her powers. I fell to the ground weak and she came up to me. "Love is weak, Mal." She hit me with her scepter and caused blood to flow from my hands and face.

"Aaaahhh!" I sat up suddenly and looked around. It was just a dream. I looked to my right and couldn't find Ben. I looked at the time, 2:56 A.M. I wander what Ben was doing? I went to the nursery, but just found Christie sleeping peacefully. I went to Ben's office.

The door was slightly open, so I peeked inside. There sat Ben. He was looking at a pile of papers. I knocked quietly and walked in. He looked up at me shocked as I got closer to his desk. "Mal, what are you doing up? Are you alright?" I stood next to him, tears fell down my cheeks.

"Just had another one...." I sighed. "Another what?" He asked confused. "Nightmare." He pulled me into his lap and let me cry on his shoulder. "Mal, it's ok. You're safe now." He said reassuringly. I calmed down after he rubbed my back. "Wanna tell me about it?" He asked. I shook my head.

"You know you can tell me, right?" I got out of his lap and stepped back. "Mal?" He asked. I shook my head and ran out the door.

[Ben's POV]

"Mal! Come back!" I yelled for her. When she's scared, she's a really good runner. She finally stopped at the cliff side. I stopped in my tracks to see what she would do. After I realized she was standing and moving closer to the edge, I raced to get to her.

Just as her feet fell off the edge, I grabbed her and pulled her back. I shook her intensely and started yelling. "MAL! ARE YOU CRAZY? DO YOU KNOW WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED? YOU'D BE DEAD!" She started to cry. I pulled her into my chest and calmed her down.

"I'm sorry for yelling, Mal. I just don't want to lose you. If something were to happen to you, I don't know what I'd do." She looked at me scared. "Don't hurt me." I looked at her confused. "Why would I hurt you? You're my queen." She sniffed into my shirt.

"The dream was about you..." She cried. "What happened?" I asked her, wiping away her tears. "You...you...turned into....my...m...mother....and...you...k...killed me." Mal said tearfully. I hugged her and kissed her head.

"Mal, I promise you that's never going to happen. I'm here to always protect you from danger. All you have to do is tell me. Ok?" She nodded and I carried her back to the room where she instantly fell asleep.