It was a warm afternoon in the palace, the birds were chirping, a gentle
breeze passed through Agrabah giving the city a warm and comfortable feeling.
Jasmine and Aladdin were spending time together in the garden while Genie and
the guys were playing games inside the 'royal study'.

Jasmine and Aladdin were underneath a tree, relaxing together in the nice
cool shade. They were enjoying their time alone together since they hadn't
had much for a while. They had been busy a lot lately. Battling this, and
stopping that, they hadn't had enough time for each other.

Aladdin leaned up against the tree and sighed. He looked down at Jasmine who
was resting her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were closed and she had a
content smile on her face. She was so elegant and attractive, it amazed him
that she was his. Jasmine move herself over and curled up with Aladdin, she
smiled again.

Aladdin placed his hand on her back and gently rubbed it slowly in a circular
motion. Jasmine sighed and could feel herself drifting off into sleep. She
felt so comfortable with Aladdin....so warm......so safe. Jasmine rapidly
pulled herself out of her doze and opened her eyes again.

"Mmm, that feels good." Jasmine spoke up breaking the silence

Aladdin sighed and looked down at her and smiled. "My mother used to do it to
me when I couldn't get to sleep."

"I bet it always worked." Jasmine said as she looked into his deep brown eyes

"Yep, it always did." Aladdin paused and looked out into the garden, and then
down into the grass. "She could make me feel good about anything." He felt a
small pain in his heart, but it passed. Jasmine saw the grief in his eyes
when he talked about his mother, and wasn't sure what to say next.

"Aladdin....what happened to her?" Jasmine asked, uncertain of how he would
react. She took his hand and sat up, still leaning on him.

Aladdin took in a deep breath and sighed. He knew the best thing to do was to
tell her all about it, but he hated the feeling he got when he thought about
what happened.

"I wasn't very old when she died, I can't remember much, but what I do, I
remember well. She was a wonderful woman, who cared about everyone and
everything. Just giving you a quick grin, she could make you laugh.

It was a really hot summer, and the prices for food were way up. My mom was
having a really hard time finding food for us. She got money from wherever
she could get it, but it wasn't enough."

Aladdin paused and chuckled. "I hadn't learned all the tricks to shoplifting
yet, and every time I tried, I got caught."

Jasmine smiled, remembering the first time she was in the market place and
got caught for giving a young child an apple, but didn't have any money to
pay.

Aladdin shifted his emotions from laughter, back to serious. "Near mid
summer, she was getting weak. I could tell something was wrong, but she
wouldn't let me worry over her. She just kept telling me everything was fine
and not to make a fuss about it.

But, no matter how much she told me not to worry, I still did. She starting
sleeping in much later than she normally did and always had dark circles
around her eyes. She was so beautiful, even when she was sick. We didn't have
close to enough money for her to see a doctor, so what we had, I would go out
and buy food for the both of us everyday.

She went from bad to worse very quickly and after a while couldn't get out of
bed. Our neighbor, Salreen was an old widow who came over a lot and helped me
take care of my mom. She was so sweet, she didn't even mind coming over and
doing the shopping for us.

One morning, I got up right when Salreen came over. My mom wanted me to do
the shopping for today so she could be alone with our neighbor. I didn't
think twice about it, so I left. I went down to the marketplace and got three
apples I think, and a loaf of bread.

I rushed up to my home but Salreen was blocking the entrance. I stopped and
asked her why I couldn't go in. She took the food from my arms and sat me
down on the steps. I sat there patiently waiting to hear what she had to say.

She sighed and hid back a tear that fell down her cheek. I asked her what was
wrong, and she just said to me, "Your mother is in heaven now Aladdin." I
couldn't understand, I didn't want to. I shook my head and just couldn't
believe it.

She tried to comfort me, but I just shook her off and ran off crying into the
streets. I never came back."

Aladdin sighed and looked at Jasmine. She was looking into his eyes and
understood the loss he had went through when he was a child. She squeezed
Aladdin's hand and hugged him. He felt so much better telling Jasmine the
story, it was like healing a wound that he thought could never heal.

"She was always there for me, when no one else was. I'll never forget her."

"You never will Aladdin, she will always be with you. You'll never loose that
as long as you live." Jasmine smiled at him lovingly and kissed him on the
cheek. Aladdin smiled back and leaned back up against the tree pulling
Jasmine closer to him.

They enjoyed the rest of the afternoon together and when Aladdin returned
home he looked out into the star-filled sky as everyone else was asleep. He
gazed out up at the cloudless night and his thoughts were filled with
pictures of his mother. He looked at one star in particular, and grinned.

"I miss you mom, but I know you're happy."

Aladdin slid into his bed and fell fast asleep. The star he had looked at
shined brighter than any other that night.