Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 4

The Evil Queen and the Dwarf's Son

Doug was nervous. Beyond nervous. Evie tried to calm him down, but she had no useful words to say. He would be meeting her mother right now.

Thankfully over video chat. There was no way for the Evil Queen to actually harm him or touch him in any way. But he's seen pictures of her. She has scary eyes, and he knows she can rip him apart, his brain and his heart, until he's nothing on the inside. And what's worse, she could do that to Evie.

Evie tried to not show it, but she was terrified. She spent any time thinking about this encounter calming Doug down. She wouldn't show her fear, but he knew. She threw herself into her schoolwork and sewing. She tried to run herself into the ground to keep from thinking about the upcoming meeting between her mother and her boyfriend. Her mother, the Evil Queen, and her boyfriend, the son of a Dwarf that protected her mother's enemy.

The meeting, thankfully, happened before Evie had to go back to the Isle to get Mal. Evie wanted to get it done before the Royal Cotillion, so she wouldn't worry and be distracted throughout the entire event.

She knew her mother. She knew how her mother worked. If she was outright against Doug, she wouldn't even have agreed to meet him. The Evil Queen's first choice was always to ignore things she didn't like. Giving Doug an audience was a good sign. Her mother was trying.

They had set up a date and time. So neither side could back out with an excuse of being too busy. It was happening. And Evie panicked the entire morning, at breakfast, during classes, and it got worse when classes ended and the distractions were gone. So Evie spent the four hours between her last class and the call getting ready. But that didn't take as long as she needed it to. She had already picked out Doug's outfit the day before, and he had band practice right after classes. And she didn't trust herself with needles and delicate fabrics at the moment.

She was so worried, that her friends surrounded her until Doug could come. So worried, that Mal actually let Evie do her makeup. Like, full makeup, and even let Evie dress her up. That had Evie occupied and happy for a while. And when that was over, Carlos announced he wanted Evie to paint his nails. Plain black, please, but still. It was something she had been wanting to do for a while, and now was the time. Her face when he asked was so precious, Jay almost let her paint his nails too. Almost. He decided to save that for a late time, for a bigger emergency. Like if things went south tonight.

Doug came over thirty-five minutes before the call. Five minutes early, but he had been waiting and pacing outside the door for ten, so he decided it was time to come in already. He was all dressed up, but Evie still fussed around, fixing his hair and his bow tie and his collar and his cuffs and cleaning his glasses and- "Oh my god, Evie, breathe and sit down for a second, please?" Mal finally interrupted.

Evie hadn't even realized she was hyperventilating and even muttering to herself while she was fixing Doug up, even though he was perfectly fine and had fussed enough himself.

"Both of you, just breathe! Remember, she's still on the Isle, far away and can't hurt you. If it gets to be too much, you can end the call. And you guys won't mess this up. You won't, I know it. She has opened herself up to the idea of you two being in love and she is giving it a chance. So chill." Mal demanded. She hated seeing her best friend like this, and Doug wasn't faring any better. "Now, the guys and I will leave to give you two some time before the call. We'll be in their room if you need us. And don't hesitate to get us, okay?"

Evie nodded, hugging her best friend. After letting go, Mal nodded at Jay and Carlos, who got up off where they were sitting on the floor, and left, Dude following behind them. Mal paused, then picked up her mother's cage.

"She doesn't need to see this." She explained, and left the room.

Leaving Doug and Evie alone. With five minutes left.

"Everything will be okay." Evie told Doug, not believing it too much. As much as she loved Doug, her mother didn't.

"I know, no matter what." Replied Doug. "And afterwards, we can eat some chocolate chip cookies that my mom sent. She also sends her love. In many words, it's an actual letter." Doug laughed nervously. It made Evie smile, genuinely. Doug's family has shown their love constantly since she met them. They knew what was happening today, which is why Iridessa sent the blue-haired girl's favorite cookies.

The two hugged, holding each other for a few minutes, until the clock read 6:59. Evie then opened her computer and logged into her video message. It was time.

At exactly 7 o'clock, her mother called.

And Evie promptly answered, while Doug sat right next to her.

"Hello Mother, how are you?"

"I am well Evie, but let's not draw out the pleasantries. Is this your boyfriend?" The Evil Queen asked, face straight but eyes analyzing the shaking dwarf's son.

"Yes, mother. This is Doug."

"It's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty." Doug said. He knew that she was still referred to as the Evil Queen, and, though she didn't have a kingdom, would still want to be referred to as such.

"Your Majesty? Well, you're off to a good start, and obviously know your manners. There's hope for you yet, dwarf." The Evil Queen determined, preening slightly from the title. Oh, she knew this boy was kissing up to her, doing anything to look good for her. If he put through such an effort, and go so far as to call his family's enemy "Your Majesty", then he must put forth such an effort towards her daughter.

Doug and Evie shared a look at her comment. There's hope! And that look of love was not lost on the Evie's mother.

"Now, dwarf! I am to understand you have access to the jewel mines and it's riches?"

"Yes, I am inheriting part of the mine, a percentage. I'll have access to a percentage of the earnings from the jewels. I won't be a part of the daily operations though, my sister enjoys that part more."

"So you won't spend your time in a mine? Good. What will you do?"

"I plan on being an accountant. I'm really good with numbers, and i've been doing all the accounting for Evie's dress making business and I know I can expand and do that for others too. And my hobby is making jewelry out of the jewels from the mines." Doug babbled, hoping his plans were good enough.

"So, you count other people's money for them? Just that?" The Evil Queen sneered.

"W...well i-it's more like people pay me a large chunk of their money to count their money. I, well I take advantage of other's laziness and lack of understanding of money, I guess." The nervous boy tried. That wasn't the most accurate description, but he was willing to bet that it sounded better than anything else he could've said.

And he was right. The Evil Queen smiled into the camera, her hands coming up to view, fingers tapping against each other in a rhythm.

"Well, I like the sound of that. That sounds as close to evil that someone from Auradon could be. I like it. And there's money in this? Because my Evie has expensive taste and needs someone who can meet them."

That. That sounded very promising, that praise and that question. Doug didn't even care that she called his plans evil. She seemed to like him!

"Yes, yes it does. I would be more than able to meet her tastes, but she's pretty much able to do that herself. Her dresses are so in demand, soon she's probably going to get to expand from other students to other princesses, celebrities and queens." He explained excitedly. He loved bragging about his girlfriend, especially because she used to hide her desires to make a living for herself.

Well, praising Evie is praising her mother. "I know, my Evie is so talented. She learned how to sew from me, you know. Taught her everything she knows. I used to want a prince for her so I could tell everyone about how her beauty got her everything in life, but now I get to say that my beautiful daughter uses her brain and skills to be better, and soon richer, than anyone else. All thanks to me. She'll probably buy herself a castle, and no one can take it away from her. And she's going to make a room for me, decorated to my tastes, and i'll have my own part of a castle, even if I can't enjoy it. We've talked about it, and now I know it can happen, because she won't need to ask a husband, she'll just do it."

Evie was shocked. Her mother just said so many nice things. Though they were actually compliments for herself, it was still amazing. She seems to be making her mother more proud by doing her own thing than the plan they've had for so long. She's just been sitting there, listening to things going pretty well. Better than ever expected. But she knew they couldn't talk for much longer, their time was almost up. The school limited her time talking to her mother, probably in fear that her mother would sway her back to the evil side. She also knew that they recorded these conversations, but she was willing to deal with that to talk to her mother.

"Mother, I love talking to you, but our time is almost up. But I am working on getting us that castle and I will keep my promise of your room." Evie promised, tears threatening to spill. She hated to leave her mother now, she always hated when the call ended.

"One more thing, before they cut us off. Doug, I want a crown." The Evil Queen demanded.

"A… a crown?" Doug asked, confused a little.

"Yes. They took my beautiful crown when they put me here. I made the one i'm wearing out of scraps. It's fine, but I want a crown, with jewels. Evie said you made her a tiara, yes?"

"Um.. yes I did."

"Good. Make me a crown. Put it in my room of the castle, I know it can't be sent here. I just want a beautiful crown I can call mine. Understood? Evie will know what I like."

"Understood! I can do that!" Doug stated, finally getting over his shock.

"Good. There's hope for you yet. And Evie, keep performing better than anyone else. That's the daughter I raised."

Evie nodded happily, "Yes mother, of course!"

The Evil Queen hung up without another word, leaving Doug and Evie to look at the computer screen.

Not for long. Evie jumped up and hugged Doug, causing them to lose balance and fall to the floor.

"That was amazing! She doesn't hate you!" Evie squealed.

"I'm making her a crown?" Doug asked, still caught up on that request.

"Yes! Isn't that perfect!" Another squeal.

"It is?"

"Of course it is! When mother and I talked about out plans, she always talked about my princely husband getting her a crown. This means she doesn't care about the prince part!"

"Oh, I get it! So I make her a crown. With my families jewels. The same family who… oh that's evil." The dwarfs son pieced it all together.

Evie didn't. "Wait, what do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head, both of them still on the floor but now sitting.

"She feels like she's still getting her revenge, because she can get her enemies jewels to her liking, made by the enemies family member." He said thoughtfully.

"Oh… oh no Doug, i'm sorry, you don't have to-" Evie started, but Doug's smirk stopped her.

"I'll still make her the crown, I just admire her non-destructive revenge. She'll feel accomplished, and all I have to do is make a crown and put it in her room of the castle. Pretty easy. We can start working on that later. I think it's been too emotional of a day to start now."

Evie leaned her head onto his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him.

"How did I deserve someone as lovely as you?" She asked with a sigh.

"I could say the very same thing." He kissed her head and wrapped his arms around her.

They sat like that for a few moments, maybe a minute. But they both got up, Evie patting her skirt to get rid of the wrinkles.

"C'mon, i'm sure my friends are actually waiting outside the door instead of in the boys room like they said. Mind if they have cookies with us?"

Doug chuckled, "Of course. My mom sent enough even for Jay and Carlos."

"She knows me too well." Evie smiled wide, eyes wrinkling at the outer corners.

~:-:~

The door opened unexpectedly, and Mal, Jay and Carlos tumbled in, having put their ears up against it. They all got up quickly, ready to deny the eavesdropping, when they saw the grinning faces of the couple.

"All good?" Jay asked.

"All good, she liked him." Evie declared.

The VK's cheered, Jay patting Doug on the back and Dude barking. Maleficent the Lizard hissed, but no one paid her any mind. Who cares about her opinion?

"Okay, who wants cookies? Doug's mom sent some." Evie asked with a big grin.

"Chocolate chip?" Jay and Carlos asked, at the same time mind you.

At Doug's nod, Mal leant down to pick up her mother's cage.

"Let me put mom back and we can head out." She stated, already in the room.

Later, as Evie sat on the floor of Doug's (and Chad's, but he was on a date with Audrey, thankfully), room, she looked around at her friends, while leaning against her boyfriend, laughing and stuffing their faces with cookies. And she wondered how she was so lucky. She always wanted off the Isle, but she never expected to be so happy. And she never wanted to go back to the Isle.

A/N Hello friends. Of course I had to update after that amazing movie. I have some ideas, but no promises right now until I actually write them. But, though lacking some much needed Jaylos, it was a pretty good movie. Thankfully, there's a video of Cameron and BooBoo dancing to "The Space Between", so I'll deal. Love you all and see you hopefully soon! Evil dreams!