Bridging the Gap

Chapter 3

Ben and Mal made their way to the school hospital, both of them still dripping wet. It was a good thing that the custodian had been given the weekend off otherwise he would have had a fit at the state of the floors.

"Mal?" Ben asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.

"Yeah Ben?" Mal turned and looked at him.

Ben sighed and ran a hand through his damp hair. "Will you please get swimming lessons?"

Mal blinked; in all honesty that was not the question she was expecting. She did have to admit, it was probably a good idea for her to have at least one lesson. "I'll set up my session with Ariel after your coronation."

"Multiple lessons," Ben stipulated, turning to face her. "You seem to like to jump in after others, and while I certainly admire and appreciate that, I might not always be there to pull you back up. I just found you Mal. I don't want to lose you."

"Okay, I promise," Mal told him after a few minutes of silence. She was taken aback by how seriously Ben was treating this. "But we're paying for them. We're not taking anyone's pity, Ben, even for something like swimming lessons."

Ben chuckled and turned to walk by his girlfriend's side, slipping his hand in hers. "Ariel gives all of Melody's friends free lessons if they need them. Heck, she gave me free lessons when I was ten."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Ben shook his head in amusement. "To this day, I'm not sure why. I wasn't friends with Melody and Ariel was a Queen herself. She didn't need to court favor with my parents."

"She could have thought that it might be a good idea for the future king to be able to swim if need be," Mal threw out there.

"Always a possibility," Doug's voice came from behind Ben, causing Ben and Mal to jump in surprise. The pair turned around to see Doug and Evie right behind them, just as wet as Ben and Mal were.

"Belle forgot that we had also jumped in the lake," Evie told Mal, noticing the surprise on her best friend's face. "Once she realized that we were still there and dripping wet, she ordered us to go. Cinderella is currently in the process of arguing with Kitty but I'm sure she and Dizzy will be here in a few minutes."

"Actually...." Kitty's voice came from behind Evie and the four turned around to see Cinderella leading her daughter and step-niece to the Hospital wing. Mal had to wonder how someone could look so graceful in a damp dress while looking slightly annoyed but Cinderella managed to pull it off.

"Your majesty," Ben greeted the older royal, giving a slight nod of his head in lieu of a bow. "I would have thought that you had gone home."

"I wanted to be sure Dizzy found the hospital wing and that my daughter actually went," Cinderella explained, giving a look to her daughter who rolled her eyes in response. "As well, I need to speak to your mother about something Ben. We were going to meet tomorrow but I realized that tomorrow is your coronation. It might not be the best time to bother your mother. Even if we met in the morning, it would still coincide with the last minute planning and prep."

"Mom wouldn't mind," Ben said, shrugging. "She's always ready to help."

"It wouldn't do to put more stress on her," Cinderella said, giving Ben a small smile. "Ah, I do believe we're here."

The hospital wing was surprisingly cosy for being a large room, with ceilings that seem to go on forever. The sheer white curtains seemed to help brighten the room, and little pops of color could be seen throughout. Mal barely got a chance to look around before the nurse hurried over to her.