Notes: I am so, so sorry that I took forever to update, life (college, work, internships, and personal issues) got in the way. But, I finally did it!

However, I admit it is not my best work. I lost my old drafts to my stupid computer and then got super frustrated and was already super behind on this update. As such, I apologies if it sucks in comparison to the rest. I think the issue is mostly in the transitions; I couldn't figure out how to work those to fit the story.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

From her little corner near one of the ballroom's largest window, Mal watched the sights before her in awe. Thus far, Christmas Eve had been far grander than she had ever expected, not that she had much experience with the holiday to start with. Nonetheless, she was certain most people did not spend their Christmas Eve in a beautifully put-together ballroom filled with snobby princesses, egocentric princes, and boring diplomats all dressed in their best gowns and suits. She could admit it all looked beautiful, but it just felt empty. And to make matters worse, she was stuck alone in a corner.

Okay, so technically she wasn't stuck. Indeed, Ben had begged her to stay with him (he really did want everyone's eyes on his beautiful petite amie) but she begged off, claiming that she would be utterly bored to death and had no desire to spend her holidays talking politics with a bunch of old men who would complain about bygone days of glory all while glaring at her for having the unfortunate luck of being her mother's daughter when she could instead be spending it with her friends and that 'no, she will not go and stand by a corner.' In response, Ben had laughed at the accuracy about said old men and reluctantly conceded her point after arguing that no matter who her mother was, he still loved her.

But the arguing had taken too long and now her friends were occupied (and after a life of lies and even worse crimes she is sure one more won't kill, especially when she did not purposefully do so). Indeed, from her vantage point she could observe the enjoyment and mirth in them as they enjoyed time with their new Auradonian friends. Somewhat jealously, she took in the sight of a flawless looking Evie, dressed gorgeously in a deep red gown, she'd made an exception in her usual colour scheme for the season, and the colour gives her a soft, warm glow that was complimented by the glimmer in her eyes and the fond laughter that escaped her lips as she talked with Doug who wore a black suit with a white shirt a matching deep red bowtie (Mal doesn't even wonder how Evie managed to match their outfits).

Besides them, she saw Carlos in his white suit and red shirt, standing alongside an even more painfully shy Jane (the incident with the wand had left her even more insecure in herself, no matter how much they, her friends, all tried to put her at ease and draw her out of her shell... but they were certainly not going to give up, after all, they know what it is like to constantly feel unsure of one's self). Carlos was openly laughing at the sight before them as Jane allowed herself a few soft giggles.

Mal eyes moved to observe the source of their mirth and was completely unsurprised at the view that causes her to let out a few giggles herself. As ridiculous as ever, Jay stood in front of them all, dressed in a dark red, velvety suit as he tried to flirt with both Lonnie and Jordan, both in beautiful, bright red gowns fitting the season while still accurately representing their cultures and traditions, and simply rolling their eyes at Jay's antics as they tried to conceal their true amusement.

Mal's own amusement suddenly ended as she sobered up and felt the loneliness of her current situation cling to her body like a tight dress of sorrow and anxiety, suffocating her. She was aware her friends would never begrudge her joining in on their fun, but seeing them so happy without her, well it made her stomach twist unpleasantly. It was such a strong sense of unease and deep-seated desire that she felt herself grow remorseful and couldn't help but hate herself for feeling such horrible things when she should be happy for them but she couldn't help.

After all, she was raised a villain, taught to care for none other than herself all of her life and she knew there was still much to work on. Like working on un-teaching herself all of those lessons her made worked so hard to install in her mind, heart, soul, and body. It was also not her friends' fault that they fit in all so well, that they had it so easy in comparison. Indeed, it didn't take long for her to feel her mood darken further as she kept observing them from her own little corner. If this were the Isle, then she would rule, no fear or hesitation... but the mere idea of it made her feel cold, she really didn't want that.

'Maybe,' she thought, as her anxiety also began to deepen, clutching at her, keeping a tight grip and settling deep within her, all intermixed with a strange sort of jealousy and despair at her own vulnerability and fear, 'maybe I should really just stay here. I mean I already have my mood all darkened, no point in doing that to them too.'

Ben mentally shook himself in yet another attempt to focus on the two men standing before me as they rattled on about nonsensical problems and complained about how 'things have changed too much and why can't it be like before when sidekicks were only sidekicks and did not complain about everything'. He was only grateful that they had the sense to not speak against his initiative to give the children of the Villains a chance, after all, one of them had saved them all from Maleficent, the same one who just so happened to be his beautiful petite amie.

Unbeknownst to Ben, his distraction was so obvious it was palpable from a distance. As such, it was no wonder that Belle, his perceptive and knowledgeable mère, noticed. Like she noticed how Mal was nowhere in sight and certainly nowhere near her friends. So, tired of the vapid talk of some of les princesses âgées and with a deep desire to help Mal and put her poor garcon, who was always working so hard and taking his role of Roi very seriously, out of misery, she excused herself, her golden and crimson gown swaying about her as she turned to get her husband to help her.

"Pardonnez-moi," she began interrupting the group of les princes aînés, "I require mon cher mari's help for a moment, s'il vous plaît." And of course, being former Reine and desiring to help, she moved on without further ado, dragging her husband along.

Confused at her actions, Adam turned to his femme who simply whispered, "Ben is clearly very distracted thinking about his petie amie and me too as I can't see her anywhere."

Nodding, Adam matched her hurried yet somehow elegant pace (he still could not understand how his Belle managed to be the very epitome of grace even when rushed) and gave the room his own onceover, hoping to catch sight of the tiny faerie he had just begun to develop a sort of… friendship and understanding with. Indeed, if he were to be honest, he was slowly beginning to care about the young girl and was worried at the fact that she was nowhere to be seen or heard, as neither his sharp eyes (his glasses were more of an accessory than a need… they made him look wiser) or keen ears, and aftereffect of being a Beast for so long, could find her. Thankfully, they soon reached their son and came to his aid.

"Bonsoir, mon cher, monsieurs," Belle began, hoping to get the cordial greetings done with speedily so she could send her son on his way.

"Dear maman, did you wish to speak to me?" Ben attentively asked as soon as all former greetings were done.

"Oui, mon cher, I was wondering if you have greeted your grand-pére as of yet?" Belle responded, aware that her son had been unable to do thus earlier as he was being kept busy by the many diplomats and thus providing him with the perfect excuse.

Astounded at his own behaviour, he hadn't even thought of looking for his grand-papa, and unaware of his mére's true intentions, Ben answered shamefully, "Indeed, maman, I have not. Monsieurs, pardonnez-moi, s'il vous plait, I must fix my faux pas immediately," and bowed as he moved to do just that.

However, right before he could leave completely, Belle laid a hand on his arm and drew him in as Adam took over the conversation and whispered in Ben's ear, "Mon cher, do not fret, your grand-papa will understand. And while you're free, will you please check on that sweet petite amie of yours?"

At this, Ben strived to contain a grin as understanding dawned on him. How could he have forgotten how mischievous and scheming his dear mama could be? Really, it was one of the many reasons Mal and Belle got along so well. Happy with his realisation, Ben kissed his maman's cheek sweetly before giving her a breath nod and moving own like a man on a mission.

Ben screened the crowd trying to somehow avoid the guests while also attempting to find his grand-pére. After all, his mére may have mentioned greeting his grand-papa as a cover, but he knew it was only right to go and say hello to the endearing and eccentric old man. Thankfully, his grand-pére's eccentricity was easy to determine from a distance and so he soon made his way to where Maurice stood speaking to Lumiére and Cogsworth, the two latter ones who were having one of their typical spats.

"Salut, grand-papa, Lumiére, Cogsworth! I am sorry I couldn't say bonjour before," Ben said, apologising immediately.

The three older men smiled joyfully at the jeune Roi as Maurice replied, "Salut, mon garçon, comment ça va?"

"Je suis très fantastique, grand-papa, et vous?" Ben responded, excitedly, energy bouncing off of him as he greeted the exotic man that never failed to cheer him up (and, well, the thought that he'd soon get to see Mal could, possible, be a part of it too).

"Fantastique as well, mon cher garçon!" Maurice replied enthusiastically before rambling on and on about his latest inventions. Behind them, Lumiére and Cogsworth stopped their own squabbling to watch the pair and soon noticed that the young Roi seemed very distracted and it didn't take long for the romantic French man to figure out why. As such, Lumiére made suggestive eyes at Cogsworth to communicate his findings, to which the British butler rolled his eyes before nodding, both silently agreeing to save the young Roi.

"Say, monsieur, could you explain this 'whose-it-whats-it' further? I am intrigued," Lumiére spoke, causing the excited Maurice to turn around and begin his explanation again, completely ignoring the name it'd been called in his excitement.

Recognizing that he had been helped once more in his quest to reach Mal, Ben mouthed a quick 'merci' and after receiving a wink in return, he promptly left in search of Mal.

Looking about him, Ben searched the room for his petite amie. His first logical thought was to find the VK and the others, as she had promised she'd go to them. However, once he caught sight of them, he found Mal was nowhere to be seen. Frustrated and worried, he started glancing around while doing his best to avoid most of the guests and their unwanted attention.

With eyes as precise as those of his pére's former Beast form, Ben soon caught a glimmer of purple hair and sparkling green. Even more motivated now, he began to walk directly towards Mal. However, as he got closer, he froze as he was once more struck by her beauty. There, before him, stood Mal in a gorgeous dark green gown that was layered in a way that imitated large leaves, highlighting her beautiful green eyes and fairy features. Her jewelry was all of gold, a beautiful pair of dangling earrings and a thick bracelet on her right upper arm. Her hair was tied back except for a few curls framing her face and she had a crown of golden poinsettias and green holly.

In short, she looked like a vision. Indeed, she looked magical and enchanting, like the mythical creature she was, her power and beauty captivating and overflowing. In fact, if Ben had not personally met Pére Noel, he would undoubtedly believe that the old man was only a myth created by a clever faerie to be able to go around spreading Christmas joy without being spotted.

Nonetheless, the enchantment was soon broken when he took in her eyes once more, noticing the glazed look and saddened demeanour spurring him into action once more. He could not stand to see his amour look so broken-hearted. So, without further ado, he reached her and whispering a soft, "Mon amour," he hugged her tightly as Mal tried her best not break down and cry.

"Guys, have you seen Mal? I haven't seen her at all this evening and now I can't even see Ben… I'm really getting worried now," Evie pronounced softly, eyes frantically searching the room for her sister.

Everyone answered negatively and began their own frantic search. After a few minutes of searching the main area of the ballroom without avail, the group all began to mutter to each other frantically.

"Where could they be?" Jordan asked and Lonnie shrugged as she frowned in concern.

"I hope they're okay." Jane whispered, as she huddled closer to Carlos and Lonnie in obvious fear and worry. Carlos immediately hugged his friend to him, muttering in agreement, he really hopped his sister was okay.

"I swear to the gods if that punk hurt her, he'll have to answer to me, I don't care if he's Roi or not," Jay growled, the possibility of one of his siblings being hurt drawing out his overprotective side.

"I think we should all calm down and just asked Reine Belle if she knows where they are," Doug added reasonably.

"Oh, mes chéris, how thoughtless of me. I was also worried about Mal and sent mon cher Ben to look for her, yet I completely forgot to tell you about it once I found out she was okay and with him." Belle spoke remorsefully, clearly distressed at her thoughtlessness (she'd already being so thoughtless with them too many times before).

Relieved, the young friends all quickly reassured the former Reine, Carlos and Evie even hugged her, and then asked her if she could point out the way towards Mal and Ben.

Belle, of course, agreed but added, "They have barely had a few minutes alone this evening thus far, could you dears wait just a bit longer to allow them a few more moments of privacy?"

They all agreed and soon, an amiable conversation began between the former Rulers of Auradon and a group of teenage friends.

"Mal, what is wrong? I thought you wanted to be with our friends why I dealt with boring politics," Ben spoke softly as he hugged his petite amie tightly. In response, Mal simply hid her head against his chest, breathing him in. Sensing her distress, Ben held her tighter and kissed the top of her head as his frown grew further, something was very wrong.

It took a few more minutes for Mal to be able to fully relax but once she did she leaned on him further before whispering softly, "They looked so happy, Ben, and I'm not a happy person."

And just like that he understood. Oh, this precious cinnamon roll of a girlfriend he had was suffering because she just wanted her friends to be happy and thought she'd only ruin their happiness. Oh, Seigneur, if he were someone to hold a vendetta he would have sworn to kill Maleficent with his two bare-hands once the holidays were over for doing this to Mal, for making her doubt that she was worthy of all of the love she could get, especially that of her friends and family.

"Mal. You know they love you, right? No matter what, even if you are not in a good mood, they will ALWAYS want to be with you," Ben whispered softly.

"How can you be sure of that?" her voice barely there, so low that even Ben had a hard time hearing her.

"Because I have known you for less time they have, and my parents for even less, and yet we already love you," he answered.

In his arms, Mal tensed for a second before relaxing as her brain finally began to process what he had said. Ben simply held her tight, allowing her to relax and analyse his words. After a bit, he felt her let go a bit to look at his face.

"Thank you," Mal pronounced, a serious yet adoring look on her face.

"Always," Ben answered, the same look on his own, before kissing her forehead softly. As he finished landing the soft kiss, the tune in the ballroom changed to one he was familiar with, and remembering his life-changing dream, he took action.

"May I have this dance?" Ben asked, bowing exaggeratedly in front of Mal and kissing the back of her hand. In return, she rolled her eyes but was unable to contain the small smile forming on her face and so she nodded softly.

Guiding her, Ben moved her towards the centre of the dance floor and started swaying them as he held her close to him.

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream
I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam
Yet I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem
But if I know you, I know what you'll do
You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream

"You know," Ben began, suddenly remembering something, "Audrey used to sing this a lot, but well, I never thought of her that way. However I do recall, that this one time when she sang it, I remembered an odd dream I had... In it, I was stuck in a hole in the ground in someplace and this beautiful girl with purple hair that I had never seen before rescued… it was because of that dream that I decided to give the Villain Kids a chance… And then I met you, the girl in my dreams, the only girl of my dreams…" he paused, trying to gauge her reaction.

For the longest time he had been curious about this dream but had never really had the chance to look for answers. Within his arms, Mal froze. Could it be? Had they both dreamt of each other before they met? And if so, why, what was the purpose? And who was making it happen?

"I… I also had an odd dream while I was on the Isle. It took place on some ruins by a lake. It was a place I had never seen before and too pretty to belong to the Isle. And… there was a boy with honey brown hair and the kindest green eyes… And then I met you and we went to Enchanted Lake and then all at once it all made sense yet none of it did," she spoke softly.

For a moment, they both remained quiet as they let the news sink in until Ben could not hold quiet any longer.

"So, we both met once upon a dream and this lead us to meet in real life… but if you've been to the Lake, are we going to end up in that place I dreamt of? And why now? Why us? I mean, I am grateful and I love you so much and I am glad that these dreams lead to us meeting but…" Ben left unfinished and Mal nodded, understanding his confusion.

"Do you think maybe we should ask Fairy Godmother about this?" Mal whispered and Ben moved to answer just before they interrupted by a clambering of bodies.

"Mal, there you are, we were so worried!" Evie's shrieking voice began before all of the others joined in on her exclamations of worry and joy at finding her, all moving in to hug her like Jay had done the moment he caught sight of them.

As their friends surrounded them, Ben simply mouthed to Mal, 'I told you so.' To which she rolled her eyes and nodded softly before mouthing, 'We'll finish talking about this later' and then turning back to talk with her friends.

They watched as their dear fils and his petite amie danced about the dance floor to a soft jazz song. Happily, Beauté et sa Bête glided on the ballroom's dance floor as well. As they did so and observed the younger couple, the older one muttered quietly, sharing soft, loving whispers between the two.

"They look so happy, don't they?" Belle said softly, head laying on her husband's shoulder.

"Yes, they really do," Adam answered as he softly turned them and held his wife close.

They both fell into a pensive silence after that, both lost in thoughts as they kept swaying like that for quite some time. After a bit, a very contemplative Adam spoke up again. "Should we tell them tomorrow? After all, it is Christmas day and it would probably be a nice surprise."

Belle took a moment to gather her thoughts enough to realize what her mari was referring to, "Yeah, that sounds good, I really hope they will be as excited about the news as we are… but, Adam, mon cher, are you comfortable with this? Do you feel okay with expanding our family this late in the game?"

At her question, Adam paused once more absorbed by his thoughts as he looked around him. It took only a few seconds for his keen eyes and sharp eyes to find the kids all reunited once more. In fact, they were dancing all together now, Jordan, Doug, Jane, Lonnie, Jay, Carlos, Evie, Mal, and Ben, as the song was changed and the tempo became a bit more upbeat. They were all clearly enjoying themselves, beaming smiles and gleaming eyes as happiness clearly oozed from all of them.

Then, he turned to looked at his loving wife as she stood in front of him as he held her in his arms. As soon as Belle felt her mari's gaze on her, she turned away from the sight before them and looked at him as well. She looked at Adam with questioning eyes as he simply stared. She looked so utterly beautiful, like the first day he laid eyes on her. Yet she looked happier, more complete, and Seigneur, was she glowing in a way she hadn't done since she had been pregnant with Ben. Yeah, he could do this if it meant he would get to see her this happy forever.

"Of course, I am sure," Adam said before leaning in to kiss her sweetly before whispering in her ear, "Joyeux Noël, mon amour."

"Joyeux Noël, mon coeur," Belle whispered back just as softly and sweetly, leaning in on her mari as they kept swaying to the now-softer, very familiar song and peacefully watched as the teenagers enjoy the night.

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong

Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the beast.

Notes: For all of those still reading, I once more apologize and thank you so much for your love for this story.

Also, I'm currently working on the sequel...