Our Happily Ever After

Chapter 24: At the Beginning

Jane's PoV:
     We all knew it was getting late, but after my suggestion everyone else knew that our next move was to go visit the Romanov family in their palace. Carlos and I waited in the mini living room while Mal and Ben went to end dinner and inform his parents that they were leaving. While they were gone I texted Doug to tell him to be waiting outside of Auradon Prep so that he could come too.
      Yes he was probably confused, but he agreed. I'm sure he didn't have anything else going on at this time on a Saturday. As I was putting my phone back in my purse, Mal and Ben re entered the room. "Everyone ready to go?" He asked us, we all nodded and grabbed our coats. Though it was still pretty warm, as it usually was here in Auradon, Fall was starting to really set in, as it was late October.
       We walked out and piled into the smaller royal limo waiting for us... it was purple? "Awwww one of my limos still exists!" Mal exclaimed with joy. Ben hugged her tightly and awkwardly as they were sitting down. "Of course they do. Both big and small. My parents asked me about the off colors the other day and I told them not to have them repainted, that I was feeling the purple. I'm sure they might have an idea why, even if it is wrong."
      All four of us got a good small laugh out of that. Just as our laughter was dying down the limo stopped and Doug climbed in. "So now there's six of us, possibly seven or eight. We totally got this." He tried to sound confident but I could hear the underlying tone of concern. We all did. But, no one said anything because we all felt the same way.
       The drive to the Romanov palace was a little farther. It sat on the way outskirts of the kingdom, just like Rapunzels' old tower on the opposite side of the kingdom, but that sat hidden in the Enchanted Forest. As the drive went on we continued to chat about our current situation.
      "Wait! Six, seven, or eight of us? There's only five of us here?" Carlos sat up from his seat next to me. "Good job little brother. I'm glad you can count." Mal responded sarcastically, that made us laugh too. He leaned back and crossed his arms pouting.
      "I think what he means is, who is the other one and the other possible two?" I clarified on behalf of my child like boyfriend.
     Ben answered for Mal. "Well the for sure is my older brothers actual girlfriend from our time, Katherine Rock. And the possibles are Audrey and Harry. We don't know if Audrey actually saw Harry back on the Isle, but we believe she remembers. And if she does, he might as well..." he shrugged after his last statement.
      "Well then... Doug, are things advancing or getting any better with Evie?" I turned to the silent Dwarfson. He looked up from his hands. "I mean we hang out all the time. She talks to me about the baby, and her engagement, and what she wants her wedding to be like. She thinks she's having a girl, and I can't even tell her she's wrong...but when she talks about her wedding it hurts because I want to give her it all and make her happy..."
      We all felt terrible for Doug. Sure, the majority of us lost our memories. And Mal and Ben had been separated right after saying I do, but they had found their way back to each other so fast. Plus Doug's situation was a little different. He and Evie should be planning a wedding and preparing for their child's arrival. Instead she had no clue what was going on or that Doug was a huge part of it all... he had to be hurting inside.
       Finally we felt the temperature change, which meant we were close. The palace sat closer to the bridge over to Arendelle. Even though it was still a good hour away you could definitely feel the ever present winter chill here. We all bundled together trying to stay warm. I had honestly just started to warm up when we felt the limo come to a halt.

Ben's PoV:
      Once we arrived at the 'Catherine Palace' , the official title of the Romanov residence, we all hurried out of the limo and towards the door. No one had been ready for the chill in the air. At the door I was the one to knock as everyone usually responded better when the future King was at your door.
      "Hey, isn't that Chad's car?" At the sound of Doug's voice we all turned towards the darker part of the driveway. Sure enough the white Jeep that Chad had received from his parents was parked in the shadows. "Odd..." I began, but was cut off by the opening door. There before us stood Dimitri. "Ahh Prince Benjamin and friends, welcome." He spoke to me and looked at all of my friends.
       "Good evening Grand Duke." I nodded to him as he bowed to me. "Oh none of that crap. Just Dimitri, please. Are you kids here to join Annalise and Chad while they study?" Behind me I heard the sound of Carlos fake gagging. I had to really hold on my laugh. "No sir. Actually we are here to see you and the Grand Duchess." He nodded and motioned for us to follow him inside.
       Once the door was closed he lead us through the extravagantly decorated halls. "Grand Duke and Duchess?" Mal whispered to me. I'm sure she didn't understand their titles. "They come from a different part of the world and time. There, the monarchs and rulers had different titles than King or Queen." She just nodded and remained silent. The sound of the girls heels clicking on the floor echoed through out all of our surrounding atmosphere.

Anastasia's PoV:
Dimitri and I sat quietly in one of our libraries. I sat one of the small couches with a book, hey Belle wasn't the only one who really loved to read. And my husband sat at his large mahogany desk across from mine. I really did love quiet nights like this. After all, we deserved it, especially after all the crap I went through growing up.
Usually our daughter sat with us, but she was up in her room studying with Chad Charming. He was a decent person, kind of an idiot, but who was I to judge? I did marry a con artist and let him knock me up twice. I held my book with one hand and rubbed my large baby bump with the other, our little prince could come at any minute. Thank god we had doctors here in the palace waiting.
I was suddenly pulled from my thoughts and Dimitri from his paperwork when we heard knocking at the front door. Our palace staff had been given the day off, we weren't slave drivers by any means and they deserved rest too. And so Dimitri went to get it, after ordering me to stay put. I'm sure he knew that wouldn't happen. I was pretty stubborn and the Grand Duchess. I don't know who he thought he was to order me around.
Setting my book down, I moved my long blue dress so that I wouldn't trip on it when I stood up. If I could get up on my own... Eventually I did get up, but only because Dimitri had returned with our guests and used his strong arms to help me on to my feet. "You didn't listen" he whispered in my ear laughing.
"I wanted to be a polite good hostess and stand when our guests entered." I fired back quickly. Peaking over his shoulder I saw who our guests were. It was the Prince of Auradon, his girlfriend, and a few other children. "Well I'm guessing this is important business, or else you would all be smiling..."
"Indeed it is Grand Duchess. Shall we sit?" The purple hair girl addressed me. I knew she was Benjamin's girlfriend, but I couldn't recall her name. Damn pregnancy brain, screwing with my memory. Hadn't I had enough of that in my life already? "Why don't you sit in your large comfortable desk chair, honey?" My husband asked me.
"Dimitri, do you really think I'm royalty?" He raised his eyebrow at me. "You know I do. Obviously darling..." "Then stop bossing me around!" I responded as I sat in the chair he had pulled out for me. He laughed at sat on the arm. We sat and watched our guests look at each other, waiting for one of them to speak.
"Ummmmm, well we know that you went through a bit of amnesia and other memory issues when you were younger..." Jane Goodwitch started. Ahhh Fairy Godmother's daughter, such a sweet and smart girl. I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my bump.
"You are correct about that. Why do you mention it?" This time the prince responded to me. "Well, we were just wondering how you got your memory back?" What an odd question. I thought everyone knew each other's stories. I took Dimitri's hand in mine.
"You can thank this wonderful man right here, and my grandmother, may she Rest In Peace." "Is that it?" Ben's girlfriend asked me sounding a bit panicked. "Well really it all just starts at the beginning, running through things that one should remember and letting things come back naturally."
"Well what about finding who did this to you? How do you know where to look for your villain?" Jane spoke up. Oh gosh, Rasputin. No one had mentioned him in a long time, nor had I thought about him in a long time. "Well we never actually had to go and find him. He always just came to us..."
     I looked up at Dimitri. "But then again, he wasn't the only technical bad guy in my story. Honey, where did you and Vlad hide when planning all of your cons and schemes?" He laughed at me. "Really that's what we are doing now?" I nodded. "Okay then. Usually we hid somewhere abandoned. Somewhere not really used by the the public anymore. Somewhere we felt comfortable..."
      Our guests stayed for a bit longer before Dimitri noticed that I was getting tired. And with that the kids left, including Chad Charming.

Anastasia's Long Blue Dress (imagine her in it with a pregnant stomach...) :