Fourteen years ago.......

"And so your great-grandpa kissed himself a princess, and we opened up our restaurant to everyone in New Orleans, just like my daddy had always wanted." The old woman finished her tale, smiling at the children crowded around her. Her dark skin was lined with wrinkles, and her curly hair was white as sugar on beignets, but her brown eyes sparkled with youth and vitality.

"And the best part? We all lived happily ever after."

There were about five great-grandchildren in all sitting at her feet, the oldest being about eleven and looking rather bored, the three year old boy quietly paying with his trucks, and the rest of the children watching in fascination.

Most prominent of these children was a little girl who was bout five years old. Her wide brown eyes sparkled with excitement and fascination as she had been hanging on to every word the old woman said.

The little girl spoke, excitement clear in her voice. "Great-gramma Tia? Is your story really true?" She hoped it was, it all sounded so fantastical she hardly dared believe it. The adventure, the romance.....

But most of all the magic.

The oldest girl rolled her eyes. "Cecily, everyone knows that alligators can't play trumpets, so of course it isn't."

Cecily scowled at her older sister. "Don't be a meanie Mary-Beth!"

Great-grandma Tia shook her head. "Oh Mary-Beth, always so serious. Do you think that the moon doesn't exist just because it goes behind a cloud?"

The other girl shook her head. "No."

The old woman smiled. "Then how can you easily dismiss something like that? Everything I tell you is true, every word."

Mary-Beth quieted down, thinking over what she was just told. "Okay, I guess." She saw Cecily grinning smugly at her. "Don't you stay anything." She replied back.

"I wasn't gonna." Stated the little girl smugly.

Then out from the kitchen, an old man came out, carrying a tray of sugar dusted pastries. The old woman smiled at him, a smile that they both shared with each other from a long life of love together.

He passed the tray down to the children, and planted a kiss on the old woman's cheek. "Telling our story again, ma belle?" There was a hint of an accent in his voice, and he smiled mischievously when he finished kissing her.

Tiana smiled back. "Yes, Naveen. All of it."

Naveen chuckled. "Well, did you make sure to tell them how handsome I was?"

Tiana swatted at him playfully. "You still are handsome you old toad."

They smiled, as if sharing some sort of inside joke with one another, then looked at their great-grandchildren.

"Alright, finish up and get ready for bed darlings, we promised your mother and father we'd have you in bed by seven."

The rest of her siblings groaned, but Cecily didn't for her head was too full of dreams.....

Time skip

"Goodnight baby." Tiana planted a kiss on Cecily's cheek as she tucked her in, placing one of her favorite stuffed toys beside her in bed.

Cecily snuggled under the covers before turning to her great-grandma.

"I liked the story, great-gramma Tia." She said in a whisper.

Tiana smiled. "I know you did baby, why I never seen another person ready to hang on to a story as you." She tickled her great-granddaughter under the chin, making Cecily giggle.

Cecily looked up at her Great-grandma with wide eyes. "I wanna go on an adventure when I grow up, just like you. And I wanna marry a prince."

Tiana smiled. "I love your enthusiasm, but your story isn't gonna be the same as mine. I had my adventure, and you're gonna have your own one when you are old enough. But your story isn't gonna be the same as mine. That's the funny thing in life. Sometimes, things happen and it changes our story, or it throws us into a new one, so your adventure will be one all your own. And as for the prince? Maybe he will be a prince, maybe an average joe, maybe the he will be a she, that's the great thing about life baby, you never know where your story will take you."

She kissed her great-granddaughter on the forehead. "Now get some shut-eye and keep dreaming those big dreams. I love you baby."

"I love you too great-gramma." Cecily closed her eyes and waited until she heard her Tiana's footsteps leave the room and the door close.

When Cecily was certain she was gone, she jumped out of bed and raced to the window in her bedroom, white nightgown dragging on the floor as she did so.

After she opened the latch on her window, she scanned the night sky before spying the star she was looking for.

There, the evening star and it's eternal companion glittered there in the night sky, shining for all the world to see.

Cecily geared herself up, then clasped her hands to her chest, scrunched up her eyes end began making her wish.

"Please, please, please...." She whispered, holding her wish in her mind.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked around. Her great-grandma's story had started by finding a frog outside her window, what would she find?

Nothing. Just the glittering lights of the city and the same old gardenia bushes outside her bedroom.

She sighed in disappointment, slumping down on the windowsill.

Then a flicker of movement caught her eye.

It seemed to come from behind her, in the stretch of moonlight that illuminated her bedroom from the open window.

Curious, she stepped of the window seat and looked around the room. Was she imagining things?

Then she saw movement on the wall beside her. Turning around, she came face to face with......

Her shadow.

But it wasn't staying in one place like it normally did, it was moving around on the wall behind her, exploring her room freely.

It looked like her too, with the same nightgown and curly hair. And it was the same height as her, just like her little girl shadow always had been.

It paused from picking up one of her stuffed animals-she could see the tiger floating in the air, with seemingly nothing holding it up- and seemed to look right at her, even if it had no eyes.

Now, any other girl would have run screaming for their parents and run out of the room like the hounds of Hades were on their tail, but Cecily didn't.

She approached her shadow calmly. It saw her coming trembled, and dove into the shadow of her pink dresser.

"Wait, don't be frightened." The shadow peeked out from its hiding place, staring up at the girl who was kneeling on the floor.

It came out, slowly when it saw that Cecily didn't scream or run. It seemed to stand on the wall, up to its full height.

It tilted its head, looking at her.

Cecily stood up and held out her hand. "I'm Cecily."

The shadow stuck out its hand, and Cecily felt the most peculiar feeling. It was almost like there was another hand in hers, but she couldn't see it, but it still seemed to have weight and substance being invisible.

Cecily smiled. "Wow, you're cool!"

The shadow did an "aw shucks" movement, which made Cecily smile.

This wasn't a frog, or anything else she had expected, but she felt like it was so much better than a silly old frog, that was for sure!

Well my beasties, I'm done the first part of this story! I hope that you are enjoying it so far! I had this little idea, with something that happened at the ending of the Princess and the Frog movie, that what if one of Tiana's descendants accidentally brought back Dr.Facilier?

Well, I hope you liked the first chapter, because next we will be fourteen years later, this year, where Cecily is nineteen.....(And I'll show a picture of what she looks like!)

I hope you're loving this!