Chapter Text
The day after first meeting Mrs. Anita Radcliffe, the Little London resident who had offered to find the VKs homes and families in Auradon, the fashion designer called Mal, saying, “Good afternoon, Lady Mal. Do you happen to have a moment to talk about what we all discussed yesterday?”
Mal looked down at her desk, cluttered with finals study work. Given what her options were… she spun away from her desk. “Sure. Is there something I can help you with?”
“It’s about how I want to help you, actually,” Mrs. Radcliffe reminded her carefully.
Mal laughed, light and still a little unused to the idea. “Yeah, of course.”
“I know we discussed the fact that you’re very comfortable with King Adam and King Belle, and that you would prefer to remain in their home?”
“I would.”
“Then I believe I’ve found a simple enough way to integrate my idea with your wishes in that, as long as everyone involved agrees. To that end, do you think it would be possible for me to meet with you, the royal family, and Miss Grimhilde at some point this week?”
Mal inhaled, considering the logistics of getting five such very busy people at the same place at the same time. “Honestly? Doug Klein, Dopey’s son, is the guy you want to answer that question. He has all the… royal family’s schedules, and he’ll be able to coordinate that for you. For us, I mean.”
“Ah, of course. How might one get in contact with Doug, in that case?”
Mal rattled off Doug’s number, a little too used to punting people off to him and Jane to sort out. They hung up, and, sure that it would be taken care of, Mal returned to studying and comforting herself with the thought of how close they were to summer vacation.
Working his own version of practical magic, Doug coordinated a meeting between the desired six people the following Monday.
Mal had to admit that in the time between Mrs. Radcliffe’s phone call and this meeting, her opinion of the lady had only grown. Carlos had come back from his first weekend with the Radcliffes a little bit in awe of them and having even made friends with a few of their dogs. Alone in their dorm room, Evie had even admitted that Carlos had told her that he’d told Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe about some of Cruella’s… well, it was abuse, it really, really was, Mal reminded herself, no matter how much she struggled to sometimes admit that regarding the villains she’d grown up around. Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe had apparently taken those admissions from Carlos in perfect stride, and it only left Mal even more curious to see what Mrs. Radcliffe had on her mind this morning.
“Doug has informed me that I have ‘thirty minutes, not a second more, or you’ll be late to class,’” Ben declared, sliding into his chair at the table.
“Us, too,” Evie added, gesturing between herself and Mal as they sat.
“Then I’ll get right to the point – or at least one of my points,” Mrs. Radcliffe declared, and she produced a thin stack of papers from her briefcase. “Wardship.” She pushed the papers across the table to Adam and Belle, explaining, “I know, Lady Mal, that we’ve discussed you don’t want to be taken in by an unknown family, and for obvious reasons we don’t want his and her majesties to adopt you, so wardship is a variation of the same process without, well, frankly, all of the benefits for you. The state would view you as their official ward, so they can still help you make decisions from a legal perspective as needed, but they’re not required to acknowledge you as their daughter in any legal sense that would… make your relationship with King Ben difficult. It would give them a responsibility to make sure you’re looked after without, say, giving you any rights of inheritance. How does that sound to the three of you?”
King Adam, Mal had noticed, had promptly surrendered the papers to Queen Belle, who skimmed over them before she looked over at Mal, declaring, “I think this could work, could be a good compromise, and a good idea.”
“And like you told Carlos,” Evie pointed out. “If you’re willing to let it be, it’s a public good-faith movement in support of the ILD, by royal – the former rulers of the whole country – which is kind of a big deal for public opinion.”
“Correct,” Mrs. Radcliffe agreed.
“I’m okay with it if Belle is,” King Adam agreed.
To which the queen said again, “And I am.”
Mal was already nodding, but when Belle offered her the papers, she took them, only to look over them and be confronted with a mess of legal jargon that she struggled to understand.
“Mal,” Queen Belle said carefully, continuing when Mal looked at her, “I think it’s important for you to also understand that if we take this route,” she glanced at her husband for his support before saying, “Nothing has to change, if you don’t want it to. Like Evie pointed out, it’s a smart political movement to help sway public opinion, and you obviously know that, but if you don’t want anything to change privately, within our family, it doesn’t have to. Obviously, Adam and I would love to help you in any way you’ll allow us to, but we would want to do that anyway, regardless of whether we sign a piece of paper. So, the only thing we have to decide is if we’re going to make our feelings on the matter official by signing papers.”
“In a move that would help the kids on the Isle,” Mal repeated, but she didn’t need the reassurance, or the extra reminder, not really. She knew these people, and she loved and trusted them. They were practically her in-laws already, they were never going to be her parents… but she thought she could be okay with them being… whatever signing these papers made them to her, as long as… “And it definitely won’t make my relationship to Ben illegal or difficult or frowned upon or anything, right?” she double-checked with Mrs. Radcliffe.
“Right,” Mrs. Radcliffe affirmed with a sharp nod.
Mal smiled across the table at Belle and Adam, agreeing, “Then let’s do it.”
“Perfect,” Belle said, returning her smile brightly as Ben squeezed Mal’s hand happily under the table.