Author's Note: I meant to post this a while ago but it's taken me a little longer to finish this one. I'm hoping to have the next chapter out a lot quicker this time though. I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you thought as feedback, comments, and votes are always appreciated and helpful. 💙💜

  Evie sighed in relief when Mal stirred a little but stayed asleep. "I still think it's better not to do this while she's sleeping. You know doing it against her will," Carlos told Evie who rolled her eyes while she carefully examined Mal's tiny wrist.

   "Like I said it's easier this way and I don't want to wake her up. It's important for kids her age to get naps," Evie responded back barely even glancing at Carlos. "I guess so but do you even know what you're doing," Carlos continued, causing Evie to just nod while trying her best to stay focused on the task at hand.

   "Of course I do this isn't my first time dealing with injuries, you know that," Evie told Carlos while opening the first aid kit again and rummaging through it. "Well yeah I know that but still. It's been a while since you've dealt with this kinda stuff," Carlos replied back as he watched his older friend continue to examine Mal's wrist.

   "Carlos yes I know what I'm doing," Evie snapped before quickly closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath to calm herself. Evie didn't like snapping especially with Carlos. Evie preferred to stay calm and level headed but sometimes she just couldn't help it in the situations they were in. This especially when Carlos kept questioning her and her abilities. Evie had proven countless times that they could rely on her for help with injuries and illnesses and Carlos of all people knew this.

   "Alright geez no need to snap," Carlos replied back as he just sat down on the couch giving Evie some space. Carlos knew when it was best to just stay out of someone's business. He had learned this the hard way whenever his mother would get angry which unfortunately for him was pretty much 24/7.

   "Ugh great I think it's sprained or broken I can't really tell which one," Evie exclaimed after she finished looking over Mal's wrist. It was pretty obvious that the little girl's wrist was definitely not just bruised from what Evie could tell. Mal's wrist was out of place and was completely swollen and discolored. At hearing this Carlos quickly looked over trying to get a better look. "It is?" Carlos asked Evie who sighed and nodded.

   "I mean I can't tell for sure but it definitely looks like it," Evie told her younger friend while rummaging through the first aid kit again. "So then what do you do about that?" Carlos asked, looking over at Evie who was eyeing Mal's wrist that was still red and swollen. "I don't know I guess just try to wrap it the best I can and hope that it's just sprained," Evie whispered, still not wanting to wake the sleeping 4 year old.

    "You're gonna wrap it?" Carlos asked, looking over at Evie like she was insane. "Well what else am I supposed to do?" Evie asked Carlos, trying her best to not snap again. "I don't know but if Maleficent sees her wrist wrapped up she's gonna lose it. You know how she feels about this stuff," Carlos reminded Evie who sighed. They both knew that the young boy was right. Maleficent didn't like it when Evie would bandage up Mal's injuries.

     She saw it as a form of weakness and she always wanted Mal to push through the pain. She would also claim that it was Mal's punishment for not being evil enough and she needed to live with it until it healed on its own. "Well I have to do something. It's going to get worse if I don't," Evie explained while pulling out something to wrap up Mal's wrist anyway.

   She knew that Carlos was right about how Maleficent would be angry about this, but she also knew that if she didn't Mal's wrist would never heal right and she would be putting Mal through more pain. Not to mention the permanent damage that could come from this if left untreated. Mal could get an infection or she could end up ruining her wrist.

    Mal was only 4 years old and barely 4 at that. She was too young to have permanent damage like this. Evie couldn't do that to Mal. Despite the fact that Evie would probably have to deal with Maleficent's rage. This being something Evie definitely wasn't looking forward to but the blunette would take on anything as long as Mal would be okay. They would be leaving soon anyway so Maleficent couldn't really do too much more damage.

   Evie just pushed away her thoughts again as she carefully took what she had and wrapped up Mal's tiny wrist trying her best to not hurt her worse or wake her up. Evie knew that Mal was going to find out about this once she woke up but for now she just wanted her to stay asleep.

    Evie sighed in relief again when it seemed to be working as the small girl continued to stay asleep despite flinching and stirring every so often. Evie didn't know whether Mal was flinching from her pain or from nightmares but knowing Mal it was probably a mix of both.

    "Hey it's okay M. I know you're probably scared and in pain. It's okay she's not here right now, it's just us. It's just me Evie and Carlos is here too," Evie whispered in her soothing voice hoping to bring some comfort to the younger girl.

    This seemed to be working as Mal's flinching and stirring began to settle a little. She was still clearly in distress but at least she was a little calmer now. "See it's okay baby dragon we're here," Evie whispered again as she sat down by the younger girl and pulled her close to her running her fingers through her purple hair and humming a little.

     They stayed this way for a little while, that is until the sounds of footsteps went off as Jay had finally gotten back from his search. "Hey I'm back! Did you miss me!" Jay called out while barging into the hideout this immediately caused Mal to startle as she jumped up and her eyes darted around the room clearly on high alert.

     "Jay!" Evie cried out throwing a pillow at him for waking the young girl up. "Okay what was that for?" Jay playfully exclaimed while catching the pillow that Evie had thrown. "You woke her up, that's what!" Evie responded back before throwing another pillow.

    "Okay stop that," Jay called out while laughing and catching the pillow again. "So did you find anything?" Carlos asked Jay, hoping to move the conversation along. Carlos knew when it came to Evie and Jay's bantering it could go one of two ways. Either they would continue on with their playful bantering until it got awkward or it would start a more violent fight, both of which Carlos wasn't really in the mood for. "Oh right yeah I don't think there's anything unfortunately," Jay told them while trying to hide his smirk.

    "Well at least you tried," Evie responded back, deciding to go along with it even though she could tell Jay was hiding something. Evie was very observant and knew how to read people. It was a gift that came in handy for sure on the Isle. The way Jay was trying to hide a smirk that was clearly emerging on his face and the way his normally dim eyes were lighting up told her everything she needed to know.

"Yeah but maybe next time," Jay said back while looking down, doing his best to sound disappointed, still trying to keep up with his facade despite the slight smirk that seemed to be getting bigger.

    "What a shame oh but if you didn't find anything what's this," Evie playfully told Jay as she held up the lollipop she had secretly swiped off him while he was distracted. "How did you..." Jay began causing Evie to laugh as she stood up as tall as she could and put her hands on her hips.

"I guess you're not the only one that's good at stealing," Evie teasingly told Jay who just held back his blush as a smile emerged on his face.

    "I'm impressed blueberry," Jay told his blunette friend in his proud yet defeated voice. He didn't like being outsmarted but he did have to admit he was kinda proud of Evie for pulling a fast one on him. "Okay first of all never call me that again and second of all of course you are, I'm just that impressive," Evie told Jay proudly, making them both burst out laughing as their eyes met before Evie sat down by Mal again and pulled her close to her.

    "It's okay baby dragon it was just Jay and guess what. He found you something," Evie whispered to the young girl hoping to help bring Mal out of her confused state. Normally Mal wouldn't be this vulnerable still but she had just come out of her sleep and was clearly not fully awake yet.

    "He did?" Mal asked, reaching up with her tiny arms to rub her eyes while starting to wake up a little more. Mal's eyes widened as she began to panic though when she realized that she could only really move her one hand. Evie quickly picked up on this. "Mal it's okay," Evie tried to explain but it was too late. Mal was already in panic mode. "What did you do!" Mal screamed out while glaring at Evie with her greenish brown eyes.

    Mal had no clue what had happened but she knew Evie did something while she was sleeping. She could barely move her other wrist and it seemed to be covered in something. Mal had no clue what it was but she knew one thing. If her mommy saw this she was not going to be happy.

    Mal had already upset her mommy enough today. She couldn't upset her more, especially not right now. She needed to show her that she needed her. If Mal could prove that she still needed her, maybe she could stop herself from being sent away to some scary new place. Mal was still not sold on the whole idea of Auradon yet. She didn't understand why they had to go there in the first place.

    "Mal your wrist needed to be fixed up," Evie tried to explain again to the young child but it was obvious Mal wasn't having it nor was she listening. "She's gonna get mad! Get it off!" Mal cried out her face filled with panic as she tried her best to pull at the wrap on her wrist. "Mal stop it!" Evie exclaimed, walking over to the little girl and carefully moving her tiny hand away from her injured wrist.

    "No! It needs to come off! I demand it!" Mal told Evie, trying her best to sound authoritative and threatening, but with Mal's squeaky baby voice she just sounded scared and desperate. "Mal I can't do anything, it needs to stay on so your wrist heals. She won't see it we'll hide it," Evie reassured Mal trying her best to calm the little girl before she harmed herself worse.

    "We will?" Mal asked, tilting her small head in confusion and not understanding how they could hide it. Evie just slowly nodded, scanning the hideout for anything she could use to help hide Mal's injured wrist. A smile quickly made its way on her face when her eyes landed on something she thought could help. Evie didn't even hesitate as she quickly made her way over to the item bringing it over to where Mal was sitting on the dirty old couch.   

    "See you can't even see it anymore," Evie told the younger girl, trying her best to sound convincing while she finished up "hiding" Mal's injured wrist. It wasn't really the best and it was still pretty obvious that there was something on Mal's wrist but for the small girl she seemed to be buying it to Evie's relief.

    "Good!" Mal told Evie, still seeming to have bought it. "Yeah you can barely even see it now. Okay now moving on as I was saying before. Jay found you something," Evie told the purple haired toddler hoping to distract Mal away from the wrist situation.

    Evie smiled in relief when Mal seemed to perk up again at hearing this. Her little face lit up with a sense of curiosity and wonder. "He did!" Mal asked excitedly while jumping up before quickly composing herself remembering that she couldn't show too many emotions.

    "Yeah look," Evie told the little girl in response while holding up the lollipop that Jay had found. Evie was pretty sure the lollipop was severely expired by the beat up look that it had and the obvious dirt stains that surrounded the wrapper. Mal probably shouldn't be eating this, but Mal was still upset over the other lollipop being stolen from her and nothing was fresh on the Isle anyway.

    "Give it!" Mal cried out in her best demanding voice. Her eyes fixated on the lollipop and her tiny hand reached up to grab it now fully awakened and alert. "Okay Mal calm down I'm opening it," Evie told the purple haired toddler. Upon hearing this Mal shook her head and stood up as much as she could to look tougher.

    "No I can do it on my own," Mal exclaimed, not wanting to look too weak. Mal was starting to get sick of her crew always doing everything for her. They were always babying her and she didn't like it. She was their leader. They were supposed to be following her orders, not treating her like some baby. "Are you sure?" Evie asked Mal unsure if she could trust that Mal could open the wrapper on her own.

     Evie knew Mal wanted to be tough, but she also knew that Mal was barely 4 years old, not to mention the fact that she was scrawny due to the lack of food on the Isle. Mal was 4 but due to her smaller size and lack of nutrients she could probably pass for a 2 year old. Mal also only really had one good arm right now. The last thing Evie wanted was for Mal to accidentally break the lollipop struggling and trying to get it open.

    Mal's look of complete despair when Maleficent had ripped the candy out of her tiny hands was still burned in Evie's mind, something Evie didn't want to experience again. Mal's innocent little face was still full of the tear stains.

    "Yes! I can do it! I not a baby!" Mal cried out while taking the lollipop and trying her best to unwrap it from the sticky plastic.  "Okay then be my guest," Evie told Mal while stepping back and rejoining the boys to give her some space.

     Evie knew it was only a matter of seconds before Mal would have a complete meltdown and demand that one of them open it for her but for now Evie was going to let Mal figure it out on her own. It was better to just let Mal try and fail than it was to argue with the purple haired toddler. Mal was a very stubborn child and didn't like to admit when she couldn't do something. It got them into a lot of trouble on the Isle.

   "How long do you give it?" Carlos whispered to the two of them while they continued to watch the small child struggle to get open the sticky lollipop. From what they could see, Mal's once pale face was starting to become red. "I would say in about 5...4...3...2..." Jay began but before he could even get to 1 Mal was already by them again. Her small fingers wrapped tightly around the stick of the lollipop as she just held it up not saying anything.

     Evie smiled amusingly and looked over at the little girl who was just holding up the lollipop and clearly looked very upset with a scowl on her tiny now reddish face. "You want me to open it now?" Evie asked Mal who just looked down ashamed. She didn't want to accept defeat, but she wanted that lollipop and no matter how hard she had tried it wouldn't budge.

    "Okay well what's the magic word?" Evie teasingly asked Mal. She knew it probably wasn't the best to mess around with the small child right now, but while Evie was one of the nicer ones she was still a villain kid and sometimes she couldn't resist letting a little bit of her more vk side come out.

    "NOW!" Mal screamed out her face getting redder while glaring at Evie who just laughed. "Okay okay I'm opening it but that was not  the magic word by the way," Evie replied back a smirk emerging on her face while carefully opening the lollipop. Once Evie had finally gotten the lollipop out of its plastic prison Mal didn't even hesitate as she just snatched the candy back with her tiny hand and put it in her mouth.

    "Okay as much as I'm really enjoying this whole thing. Aren't we supposed to be meeting with our parents? They're gonna be super pissed if we keep them waiting any longer," Carlos stepped in remembering that they were just supposed to go and get cleaned up then meet up with the parents.

    Carlos would definitely prefer not to meet up with them and just spend time wasting around in the hideout like they were but he also knew that there was no avoiding them and the longer they stalled the worse things were gonna be for them.

    "The kids right, we should probably get going now," Jay responded back, causing Carlos to roll his eyes and glare over at the taller boy. "Will you stop calling me that! I'm the same age as you basically," Carlos snapped, making Mal giggle at his obviously upset tone. "Besides Mal's the child here not me," Carlos continued on.

Mal immediately stopped her giggling when she heard this. Her head turned to look over at the older boy with the red lollipop still hanging in her mouth.

   "I am not! I'm a grown up big girl!" Mal cried out pulling out the red lollipop she had been slobbering over and making her way over to him with it. The small girl didn't like being called a child despite the fact that she was.

"Okay let's not do this. Carlos is right we've kept them waiting long enough let's go," Evie told them quickly interrupting the conversation. Evie knew if she let it continue on things would definitely get heated and the last thing they needed was a heated fight right now.

    It was obvious the parents had something they were planning and they needed to be a united front right now. "Yay mommy!" Mal called out excitedly, no longer feeling angry or upset when she heard these words. Before any of the others could really process what was happening Mal placed the lollipop back in her mouth and took off running.

"Mal wait!!" Evie exclaimed quickly, running after her to catch up. Evie didn't like the idea of Mal running ahead even if they were right behind her.

—

   "Evie it's fine we're right here leave her be she's got it," Jay whispered to Evie. He could see her getting tense as they continued their way through the Isle. Her body moved almost robotically and her eyes still fixated on Mal. Evie just slowly nodded while still keeping her eyes on the young child that was running ahead of them eager to see her mother again. Never once did Evie let her eyes wander away from the small girl.

    Jay knew Evie was protective he didn't blame her Mal was their baby vk it was hard not to be protective. The Isle was a dangerous place. One slip up and Mal could be gone forever, but at the same time Mal was still a villain kid. Evie's coddling of Mal was definitely not going to help her, especially in public when they were supposed to be her crew and under her leadership.

    He understood why she did it though. Evie may be the Evil Queen's daughter but she still cared about people, especially her family. Evie would do absolutely anything to keep her family safe. It was something Jay really admired about his blue haired friend, not that he would ever tell her this. Jay preferred to keep his emotions in check.

   Showing emotions was showing weakness his dad had taught him this and Jay was anything but weak.