Author's note: Okay, so this story came from a guest comment/review on one of my other stories, I'm fairly certain it was "Home". Basically, it was a request/suggestion for a Mal x Belle story, and the only reason I took so long to get to it was because I couldn't figure out a plausible way to get the plot to work. Then, in the middle of the night, I had an epiphany and realized I just needed to keep it short and simple, and hopefully, the story would do the work. That being said…

Thank you to whomever suggested this (it was a guest review), and I hope you do read it, and I hope you and everyone else enjoys this quick story. Happy reading and please let me know what you think.

Also, if anyone is wondering, I should hopefully be updating "Home" within the next day or two, and "Becoming Sisters" a little after that, I haven't forgotten about them while I was doing this little side story.

She looked in the mirror and didn't recognize herself. Her skin was paler and clammy. She could see sweat along her hairline. She dabbed it away but could feel the moisture left behind. She groaned as she saw bags under her bloodshot eyes. As she leaned closer to the mirror she swallowed and felt a sharp pain in the back of her throat.

No, I'm not, she thought, I haven't been in a long time.

But as much as she willed herself to feel better, it wasn't going to happen. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew she had to...

Belle was sick.

She splashed some water on her face and felt relieved at the way the cold water seemed to make her feel better…for all of two seconds before she felt the heat work its way back into her. Suddenly, as she went to splash a little more water, she felt this overwhelming churning in her stomach and, before she knew it, she was vomiting up the contents of her stomach.

Once Belle was certain that she couldn't possibly get rid of any more of the contents of her stomach, she carefully made her way back to her bedroom and sat down in her bed. She looked at the side of the bed her husband would usually be on and let out a sigh of dejection. Adam was off on a small, weeklong goodwill tour of Camelot, Olympus, and Sherwood Forest with Ben; which meant that for the first time in a long time, he wasn't going to be here to take care of her. Many would be surprised to learn that the sometimes gruff, sometimes strict monarch was amazingly gentle and caring whenever his wife was in some sort of distress.

Sighing in defeat, Belle reached for the phone on the bedside table and lifted the receiver. The phone was a direct line to the palace's maître d, Lumiere.

"Good morning Your Majesty, how may I serve you?" came his familiar French accent.

"Lumiere, can you please call for the royal doctor, I…I think I've come down with something."

"Of course, madam," he replied, the concern in his voice making her feel better already.

Less than an hour later Belle was still in bed, sitting up against the headboard. The royal doctor was just putting away some of his equipment after examining her. Once he was done, he turned back to the Queen Mother. "Well doctor, what do I have?"

The middle-aged doctor smiled gently and stood next to the bed. "A cold, and what looks like a little bit of a stomach virus; nothing too serious."

"How long will I be like this?"

The doctor breathed in and scrunched his face as he thought. "Best guess, a few days, a week at most, but you will be fine," he assured her. "I'll have some medication brought over later for your stomach along with something for the fever. Until then, stay in bed, rest, lots of fluids, no heavy foods, and rest."

"You said rest twice," she told him.

"That's how much you need it," he chuckled. "That being said, I'll leave you to start resting, Your Highness," he said as he left the room.

Great, she thought as she slid down in her bed and closed her eyes.

Belle wasn't aware of how long she'd been asleep when she woke up to the feeling of being gently shaken. She slowly opened her eyes and groaned as she felt her throat causing her some discomfort. As she became used to the light again, she used one hand to prop herself up in bed and the other to rub her eyes. Once the sleep had been rubbed out of them, Belle looked up to see which of the servants was waking her. When she looked at the face of the person beside her, her eyes widened in surprise.

Standing next to the bed wasn't one of the servants, but a fair, almost pale-skinned, purple haired teenager.

"Mal?" she questioned hoarsely, her voice sounding weak.

"Hi…Your Highness," Mal said cautiously, still unsure just what to call the mother of her boyfriend even after all the times she'd been over to the palace.

"Mal, you shouldn't be here, I'm…"

"Sick, I know, Ben told me, and he asked me to come check on you, and take a little bit of care of you," Mal explained. "I would've let you sleep, but Lumiere told me that the medicine your doctor was sending over just got here, and it says to take immediately," she told Belle, removing a small prescription bottle from her jacket pocket.

Belle watched as Mal read the label and then poured out two small pills into her hand and reached for the water that was on the bedside table. She didn't remember it being there before she fell asleep and wondered if Lumiere or Cogsworth brought it in, or if Mal brought it with her. She took the offered cup and swallowed down the medicine, cringing at the stinging in her throat.

"Did that hurt?" Mal asked. Belle nodded. Mal mouthed an "I'm sorry" and then placed the cup of water back on the table. "Well, I checked and Mrs. Potts is going to bring you something to eat later, and unless you need something, I'll probably go help her with it, but until then, I'm gonna hang around here in case you need anything," Mal told her as she made her way over to the chaise lounge near the window.

"Oh Mal, that's really sweet of you, but you don't have to," Belle said with strained effort, her voice sounding hoarse and scratchy.

"It's no problem really."

"Plus, I'm sure that you have other things you'd rather be doing."

Mal shook her head. "Not really. The only thing I have to do is…," she trailed off and rolled her eyes in disgust, "is homework – which I brought with me," she finished, raising her backpack off the floor as proof. "So you go back to sleep, and I'll park myself right here should you need something." Belle opened her mouth to speak but was stopped by Mal holding up her hand. "I'm staying and taking care of you. Now please go to sleep, Your Highness," Mal insisted, smiling sweetly at the end.

Belle smiled at the way Mal was determined to not be swayed. Relenting, she laid back down and turned to her side to get comfortable. "Thank you, Mal," she said as she felt herself starting to drift off to sleep.

"Not a problem, Your Highness."

A short time later, Belle and Mal we're eating lunch together. Belle was once again propped up against the headboard, a bowl of soup on the tray set in front of her. Mal was seated next to the bed on a chair that Belle had brought in. She was using the bedside table as an actual table for the sandwich she'd brought when she brought Belle her soup.

"So how's your soup?" Mal asked out of nowhere and through a mouthful of turkey and Swiss.

"Delicious, but then again, anything Mrs. Potts makes tastes that way," Belle smiled after a spoonful of the chicken soup. She turned to Mal and found herself struggling to ignore her motherly instincts. Finally, she couldn't help herself, it was like fighting against her own nature. "Mal, sweetie?" Mal looked up, readying herself for a request. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but could you please not talk with your mouth full?"

Mal looked at Belle with a half-way confused expression, but then smiled. She swallowed what was left in her mouth and then wiped her lips. "Sorry, sometimes I revert back to some old habits from the Isle; at least that's what Evie tells me. Then again, with her manners, she probably just gets irritated that I'm not more ladylike."

Belle laughed as best as her sore throat would allow. "I'm sure that's not it."

"Oh no, it is, you've got to remember, unlike me, or for that matter, most of the kids on the Isle, Evie was raised to walk, talk, and act like a princess, and princesses have good manners. I mean if it's possible, that girl will eat finger foods with a knife and fork."

Belle laughed once again. "I can imagine. Audrey does the same thing," she revealed to Mal.

"I'll bet Audrey has perfect manners."

"She does. I'd wager she's probably the only one with manners better than Evie. Audrey was raised to be the perfect princess," Belle said. When she finished that revelation, she watched as Mal looked down at her plate, her fingers playing with her fries. It certainly didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened and she immediately felt a small amount of guilt over her choice of words.

Mal felt like she'd just been compared to Audrey, her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, and by her boyfriend's mother no less. Belle could only imagine what was going through the lavender-headed girl's mind at the moment. She probably had small moments, deep in the back of her mind, where she compared herself to the daughter of Sleeping Beauty herself.

"I didn't mean that to sound like I was comparing you two," Belle told her softly.

Mal looked up and shrugged. "I...I know, it's just, she and Ben were together for a long time, and you probably had all these hopes for the relationship, maybe even her becoming queen one day."

"Hardly," Belle said faster than she meant to, surprising even Mal with the speed of the comment. Belle chuckled at the comment, realizing that it was said out of impulse more than thought. "Audrey was a – nice – girl, mostly. But you want to know a secret?" Mal nodded. "Back on Family Day, when Ben told me had a new girlfriend, I actually felt relieved."

"Seriously?"

Belled nodded. "I finally told Ben what I thought about Audrey."

"Which was?"

Belle shook her head. "I shouldn't repeat it."

"No, you can't leave me hanging like that, not after you brought it up. I mean come on, if you can't talk a little bit of trash about your son's ex-girlfriend with his current girlfriend, then what's the point of me being here?" Mal reasoned, her excitability eliciting a laugh from the Queen Mother.

"Alright, but this does not leave this room. The only ones I've ever said this to are Ben and Adam, and I've actually said worse around Adam," Belle explained. "Like I said, Audrey was nice, but I always felt like she was a little self-absorbed and a kiss up. And I always felt like she was trying too hard to prove that she'd make the perfect queen, so much so, that I could never tell when she was being sincere, or putting on a show."

Mal just looked at Belle, her expression not really readable, but not entirely blank. "Wow," she finally said. "Makes me wonder what you think about me."

"Do you want the answer?"

Now Mal stared back in shock. She wasn't anticipating Belle to offer up a response.

"Well, Mal?"

"Um, I guess," Mal let out slowly, now dreading the words that might come from Ben's mother.

"When Ben first told us about you, I was…shocked. Definitely shocked. I mean to find out that your son is now dating the daughter of the most evil person in the world, it was overwhelming."

Mal nodded uncomfortably. "I remember your reaction when he introduced me."

Belle laughed, "Me too. Although, give me credit, at least I was able to speak. Adam just stood there speechless." Mal nodded, smiling at the memory. "But as I've gotten to know you, I can honestly say, and I mean this one hundred percent from my heart, I love you more than I ever did Audrey," Belle admitted, looking off dreamily. "I think it has to do with the fact you seem far more sincere because with you I don't have to guess where your sincerity ends and a show begins."

"Aw, thank you," Mal gushed.

"Ben also seems happier with you than he did with Audrey," Belle remarked. "And you seem happier than when you first got here from the Isle."

Mal smiled and once again looked down, this time however to hide the watery eyes that were starting to form. Belle noticed it and immediately assumed that she'd something else that she shouldn't have.

"Mal, did I say something wrong?" she asked concerned.

Mal shook her head and tried to force the tears back. When she was sure that she could look up without them falling down her face, she finally looked at Belle again. "Um, I…I am happier. And not just because of Ben, though he is a big part of it," she said taking a quick drink to give herself time to think. "Back on the Isle, it was everybody for themselves. Even with me, Jay, Evie, and Carlos, as close as we were, there were times when I really felt like if push came to shove, that I'd be alone; no friends, no family to depend on."

"That would never happen," Belle reassured her. "I've seen you and your friends, you four are as close as some families."

"I know that – now – but, back home, you always had to wonder. I mean, even my own mother seemed like she'd sell me out if it'd benefit her," Mal explained, this time making no attempt to hide her sadness.

Belle's heart broke when she heard that. She knew that on the Isle that most, probably all, of the villains weren't exactly the ideal examples of good parenting, but she'd never imagined she'd hear something like this. It also angered her because to her, and she felt this way all the way deep down into her soul, no child should ever feel like their parents would do anything other than love and protect them, especially their mothers. As she watched Mal use a napkin to dab away a tear that was about to start making its way down her cheek, Belle felt herself become teary eyed.

"I'm so sorry that you had to grow up that way," she told the young girl in front of her, hoping that the words didn't sound as hollow as they felt in the face of the pain that Mal was probably feeling after her revelation.

"Thank you, and…and it's alright. I'm more or less okay with how I grew up, I mean good or bad, I wouldn't be who I am without it, right?"

Belle nodded. "And I for one think you are turning out to be a wonderful young woman," she told Mal. Mal looked back at Belle and felt the urge to hug the woman, but she knew that Belle wouldn't allow her to for fear of getting Mal sick as well. So she just held herself back and continued on with lunch.

The conversation lightened somewhat after their heart to hear until Mal realized that it was time to give Belle another dose of her medication. Once that was done, Mal watched as Belle tried her best to fight off the drowsiness that was setting in from the antibiotic so that the two of them could keep talking, until finally, Belle was once again sleeping peacefully.

The rest of the day followed much of the same routine with Belle waking up long enough to eat and have a small conversation with Mal, surprising herself with the ease of which she felt herself bonding with her son's girlfriend. The next day followed the same way, as did the third, though Belle was feeling much better by then and really all the two of them did was talk as Belle really didn't need to be taken care of any longer.

By the end of the week, Ben and Adam had returned, their goodwill tour finally over, and Belle was elated to have her boys home. After the usual family dinner that happens whenever one or more of them returns home, they had all retired to the garden where Belle wanted to sit in order to get some fresh air. She'd been sitting out here for the past few days after being confined to her bed during her illness.

"Are you sure you're feeling better, dear?" Adam asked as he took her hand in his as they sat next to each other.

"Much better," she answered with a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thanks to Mal, especially" she said in Ben's direction.

"Mal?" he asked, confused at his mother's words. "Why her?"

"Well she came over to take care of me like you asked her to." Ben shook his head slowly, now even more confused. "Didn't you?"

"No actually," he told her. "I mentioned that you were sick, but that was it, I figured Lumiere, Cogsworth, and the doctor would handle everything."

Belle was now the one who looked confused. She distinctly remembered Mal saying that Ben asked her to take of her. She knew was still in the worst of her illness, but she was certain that was what she'd heard. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. She really came by?"

Belle nodded.

"Well, Ben, it looks like you might want to get back to school to thank her," Adam told his son, anxious to get to the bottom of the situation since he knew that Ben would be asking questions himself. "And thank her for me too."

"I will," he said slowly, still trying to wrap his head around the information before finally getting up and taking his leave.

"So he didn't ask her to come over?" Belle asked her husband after their son had left.

Adam shrugged his shoulders, "Apparently not."

"Then why did she…"

"You really need to ask that?" he asked his wife with a chuckle. Belle stared at her husband like he was speaking in tongues. "Belle, honey, I've seen how she's been acting around you lately whenever she's here to see Ben."

Belle raised her eyebrow, imploring her husband to continue.

"I don't know when it happened, but at some point, Mal started looking at you like a…mother figure. When Ben told her you were sick she probably decided to rush over and take care of you because of it." Belle looked into her husband's eyes and could tell that he as being sincere. As she thought about it, she could definitely say that because of the days spent bonding with Mal as the teenage girl took care of her, she had started to look at Mal like the daughter she'd never had, but always wanted.

"Remember how I always told you that I dreaded the thought of Audrey becoming queen?" she asked Adam after a moment of silence where he was letting her process the bombshell he'd dropped on her. He nodded.

"Because with her attitude, you didn't know what kind of queen she'd be."

She smiled up at him, relief in her eyes.

"Mal's going to be the perfect queen."