Into the Depths

Chapter 26

Carlos couldn't help but make his way over to Jane's room. Normally he'd chill out in front of his video games or maybe even spar with Jay or Mal, but right now he just wanted to spend time with Jane.

"Jane?" Carlos said, knocking on her door. He realized at that moment there was probably a good chance she wasn't alone. Or that she probably had plans. Gods he was bad at dropping in on people today. First Ben and now Jane..

"Hey Carlos," Jane said, opening the door and giving the black and white haired boy a smile, as Dude ran in and jumped onto her bed. "What's going on?"

Carlos couldn't help but give Jane a grin as he pulled himself from his thoughts and back to the present. "Ben approved it."

"Your safe house?!" Jane exclaimed and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Carlos had to admit he was caught a little off guard but he couldn't say he didn't like it. "Oh, sorry!"

"It's okay," Carlos said, chuckling a little as Jane scurried back. While he probably would have flinched away or even jumped out of his skin at a touch like that when he first arrived in Auradon, now he was fine with it. Especially coming from Jane.

"Do...do you want to come in? There's plenty of time before curfew, mom won't mind," Jane said, opening up the door as wide as it could go so that Carlos could come in.

"Actually...I was wondering if you wanted to go on a ride?" Carlos asked. "Kitty and Lucy said there was a stable near here where the princesses house their horses during the school year. They said we could borrow theirs if we wanted."

"Do you know how to ride a horse?" Jane asked.

"...no," Carlos said as they made their way over to the stables. "But how hard can it be?"

"I'm just going to go ahead and predial the hospital into my cell phone," Jane said slowly, grabbing her cell phone from her pocket and began dialing the number for the nearest hospital. "That way, the ambulance won't take too long."

Carlos chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "Jane, it's fine. If you want, we can just take a walk."

"That sounds much better," Jane said. "I know you're good with animals and everything but I'd rather not spend a date in the hospital. I think that's more Jay and Lonnie's thing anyway."

"Hey, they have sparring. Evie and Doug have movie nights. Mal and Ben have their weird 'reading/sketching' nights. We have animals, tech, and not getting thrown off a horse," Carlos chuckled, grabbing her hand. "You want to walk through the forest by the school?"

"That sounds good," Jane nodded. "I'm really happy for you Carlos. I know you were worried about getting that safe house approved."

Carlos smiled as they began making their way to the forest from the stables, Dude having stayed behind back at the dorms to keep a watch on Jane's room. "Thanks Jane. I know I shouldn't have been worried, what with Ben being the one to issue the approval. It's just..."

"I know," Jane said, giving his hand a comforting squeeze. "You wanted it to work for the kids still on the Isle. Carlos, I think it's a great idea. The kids need a place to go that's safe. Hopefully soon that'll be Auradon for them."

"With Ben having fixed the food issue, it should solve a bit of the problems on the Isle. It won't fix everything though," Carlos sighed. "The kids will still need a place to stay that's safe."

"...you sound like you're talking from experience," Jane said softly and Carlos sighed again. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, no, it's just...the viewings were fairly accurate. They just didn't delve into our home lives," Carlos told her. "And when you've got a mother like Cruella and a father like le Pelt, let's just say they loved their furs more than they loved their son."