What I Want

Chapter 34: Take Down The Walls

Two weeks had passed since Mal's most recent flashback of her mother. It had been two weeks since Ben and Mal had arrived back home from their honeymoon, and quite frankly, it had been a difficult adjustment acclimating back into their everyday lives. Ben was struggling with juggling his school work, his kingly duties, and being there for his wife. Everyday he returned home before she did and collapsed onto the bed, passing out from exhaustion for an hour before getting up and doing homework. He couldn't figure out how he was able to do it so easily these past five years. What was the difference here? Could two weeks away from society really make a difference? Apparently they did. Part of the problem was the fact that he kept getting calls in the middle of the night about some kind of emergency that only he could deal with. When he got back, his father told him that lately people have been reporting sightings of shadow demons, similar to the ones seen in New Orleans. Obviously, Dr. Facilier was getting ready to attack. Not wanting Mal to know about it, he was working during the night to find out what these shadow demons were trying to do. It wasn't clear yet, but Ben was going to find out. He felt guilty about not telling Mal about what was going on, but it was for her own protection. Yes they had agreed to not keep secrets, but he wasn't exactly keeping it from her. He wanted to take care of it before he told her. He would tell her eventually. For now though, he was going to take care of the problem himself. He had waited long enough for Fairy Godmother to figure out what was going on with Dr. Facilier. It was time to take matters in to his own hands, for his wife's sake.

Speaking of Mal, she had been struggling getting back into the swing of things too. She was appreciative of the fact that her professors had agreed to give her the two weeks off so she could go on their honeymoon. However, she didn't know that they only let her go because they were afraid of what Ben would have done to them if they had said no. And now that she was back, she had to deal with two weeks worth of studying and homework. She had caught up with the work she had missed while on the honeymoon, but she was about a week behind on the current workload. She was taking a late Anthropology class too, so that didn't help. Mal didn't get home until about eight in the evening. Ben was always working on his homework when she got home. Both of them usually finished up around midnight or so. By that time, they were too tired to do anything. They hadn't even made love in their new bed yet for the first time. They just didn't have the energy. The lack of sex wasn't taking a toll on their relationship because it wasn't based on it, but the fact that they hadn't been able to just sit and talk to each other was making things hard.

After Mal's flashback, it took her a week before she even allowed Ben to touch her again, and even then it was only a light touch of the shoulder. It took that long because they hadn't had time to talk about what had happened. Mal had some insecurities that Ben hadn't known about, and that frustrated him. She sensed his frustration, and that made her more anxious than she already was. The workload certainly didn't help. They were at a stale mate here. Something needed to give or they were going to lose it.

One day, Ben came home to find that Mal had gotten there before him. She was on the couch curled up into a ball. She looked like she had been crying, her cheeks red and puffy. He sat down next to her and gently laid his hand on her leg, letting her know that he was going to listen to her when she was ready to speak.

"I can't do this anymore, Ben," Mal whispered.

"You can't do what anymore?" Ben asked, concern thick in his voice.

"I can't do this anymore. This school work is getting to be too much. I'm getting so far behind that I can't keep up. I understand what the teacher is saying in class, but I can't keep up with having to do last week's and this weeks's homework. This night class is taking a toll on me. I hate coming home so late that we both pass out. I can't stand not being able to talk to you. I miss you."