Mal smiled as she leaned on the door frame of the office she shared with her husband. Sure, it was his office a majority of the time but he'd gotten marginally better at splitting the work. There was at least another desk in there where Mal worked and it would often have about 35% of the daily paperwork.
It was hard to believe that three years had gone by since their wedding—there were still days when Mal felt as if they were newly married and yet time had done what it did best.
Her mom had given birth to her baby sister not long after the weddings, a joyful squealing bundle of joy named Pyrenea. Mal had quickly granted the baby the nickname of Rea though and it seemed to stick.
There'd been a part of Mal that had been worried that Hadie might get jealous of their sister, since she wouldn't have to deal with the horrors of the Isle that her older siblings had to. But thankfully, Hadie had taken a shine to Rea and had been a big help with the baby after her birth.
Rea, surprisingly enough, had become good friends with Henry's daughter Clara Rose and also with Clara's little sister Hali Tia. Yes, even Mal was amazed that Henry had managed to have two kids. Though the two girls were treated like the apples of their parents' eyes—and their grandparents as well.
Honestly it's amazing how well Aurora and Phillip had welcomed Clara and Hali into the family, Mal thought. Though with how they adopted Claudine, maybe it's not as surprising as I thought.
"Hey you," Ben smiled as he looked up from his paperwork and saw Mal. "What brings you by?"
"You mean besides the fact that I'm Queen and yet you insist on doing all the paperwork?" Mal teased as she walked into the office, going over to wrap her arms around Ben's shoulders as she pulled herself out of her thoughts.
"Mal, you shouldn't have to worry about this. It's just—."
"It's the job I agreed to when I married you Benny. To help run Auradon and the Isle, and make sure everything's running smoothly," Mal said, her voice gentle as she looked at Ben. "But that's not why I'm here."
"Is something wrong?" Ben asked. "Is it Hadie? Rea? Uma? Harry? Jay? Carlos? Gil? Evie? Lonnie? Dizzy? Akiho? Emir? Celi—?"
"Okay Ben, calm down," Mal chuckled as she cut off her husband's list of everyone they knew. If she let him keep going, he'd have run out of oxygen and then they'd really be in trouble. Well maybe not since Ben was immortal but Mal didn't really want to test that. "Everyone is fine. Nothing is wrong."
"You're sure?"
"I'm positive."
Ben smiled slightly as he leaned back into Mal's embrace. "But then, if everyone's okay, what are you doing here? Not that I'm not thrilled to see you of course."
Mal chuckled as Estelle poked his heads in and trotted over to them. "Ben, do you remember that talk we had? About starting a family?"
"You mean the talk we had after Dean brought his daughter Dawn in and Estelle had a ball playing with her?" Ben asked.
"The very same."
"Yeah I remember," Ben nodded. He also remembered how they got a head start in preparing to start a family even though they had originally wanted to try that night. Hey, it helped that their schedules were cleared for once and they could have a moment alone.
Mal chuckled. "And...you know how I haven't exactly been feeling my best lately?"
"That would be an understatement Mal. I'm pretty sure you've raised the stock prices for ginger ale and saltines singlehandedly. In fact...they're the only foods you've been able to eat. I mean other than your dad's garlic crispy chicken of course."
In fact, I just got a letter from some of our strawberry farmers expressing their hope that you're okay, Ben thought. That had been the scariest part about Mal not feeling well, considering she was a Godling there wasn't much that could put her under the weather so to speak.
"Well...you don't have to worry about that anymore because Aunt Eileithyia reached out after she found out I'd gotten tests done over at Asclepius General to find out what'd been causing the nonstop nausea, exhaustion, and clumsiness. I mean, you remember the way I almost crashed into the balcony when I came in for a landing in one of my flights."
Ben nodded. Oh he remembered that particular landing very well—it'd been that landing that prompted him to make an appointment for Mal at Asclepius General that very day. Despite Mal protesting that there was no need since she was a Godling and there was very little if anything that could take her out.
"Is everything okay? Did they find out something?" Ben asked.
Mal chuckled. "Ben, take a moment and think. Why would Aunt Eileithyia be reaching out to me before I've even heard back from the doctors?"
"Courtesy? I mean she is your aunt after all."
"Ben..." Mal said with a small smile as she walked over and sat on his desk. Gently brushing his hair out of his hazel green eyes, she said, "I'm pregnant."
Ben stilled and looked up at her. "You're sure?"
"Aunt Eileithyia wouldn't have told me I was if I wasn't," Mal nodded. "Don't worry though, I've sworn her to secrecy until we tell our parents so you don't have to worry about battling any angry messages from my parents about not being told first. Or angry messages from your parents though it's more likely the messages would come from my parents since Aunt Eileithyia is in contact more with mom than she is with Belle or Adam."
"Mal?"
"Yes?"
"You're rambling," Ben said with a small chuckle as he took her hand, his other hand occupied by scratching Estelle behind the ears. "And you're sure about this?"
"Aunt Eileithyia is hardly ever wrong though if you'd rather wait to get confirmation from the doctors, I can understand that," Mal said with a small smile.
"At the risk of upsetting the Gods, that would be nice to have," Ben said though he couldn't wipe the smile off his face.
A child. His child. He was going have a child of his own with the woman he loved.
At that moment, Mal's phone rang; disrupting the silence that had fallen between the two monarchs.
"I think I know who this could be," Mal smiled as she answered her phone and put it on speaker so that Ben could hear the news as well. "Hello? Dr. Sweet?"
"Hello your highness," the doctor said and Mal could hear the smile in the doctor's voice. "I hope I'm not disturbing you."
"Of course not Dr. Sweet. Though I do feel the need to let you know that my husband is in the room with me so you are on speaker and you may hear the dulcet tones of a Cerberus if Estelle gets excited."
"Ah okay, so I have permission to discuss this with your husband in the room?"
"I give full permission doctor. I doubt Ben would run to the press with the news of my results anyway."
"Of course I wouldn't!"
Dr. Sweet chuckled before continuing on. "Well Queen Mal, we've gotten the results of your tests back.
"It's nothing Mal needs to be concerned about is it?" Ben asked. Though he knew the results already, he also knew that it might look a bit odd if he didn't ask questions.
Estelle lifted his heads in slight worry as Ben stopped scratching him behind the ears. Was something wrong with Mali?
"No sire, not at all. In fact, I'd say that it might be good news for you and Queen Mal."
"Good news, Dr. Sweet?" Mal asked, playing on the fact that the doctor didn't know that they already knew.
"Yes your highness. Congratulations, you've got a new Prince or Princess on the way."
Ben couldn't help the small cheer he'd let out upon hearing the news, causing Estelle to yip slightly. Yes he had known already but there was a difference between knowing because your wife's aunt had informed you due to her big book of pregnancies and knowing because the doctors had confirmed it.
"Thank you so much doctor," Mal said, chuckling slightly at Ben and Estelle's reactions. "Obviously we'd appreciate your discretion until we inform our families and the kingdom."
"Of course your highness," Dr. Sweet said. "You can trust that here at Asclepius General that we take patient confidentiality very seriously. If for some reason it was released to the public, that person would be dealt with immediately."
Mal couldn't help but smile as she heard that. It was oddly appreciated, she wasn't going to lie.
"I know, doctor, and we appreciate policies such as these," Ben said. After all, it had been Asclepius General who had treated his mother after her miscarriage. It had been under their care that Genevieve had been born and the adoption had gone through and thankfully there'd been no stories to the tabloids that Ben had seen.
Not that they were ashamed to have adopted Genevieve of course, in fact it'd been his parents who put out the announcement about Geene's adoption. But what Ben was worried about was the fact that someone might sell the information before they'd had a chance to tell Geene themselves.
She knew some bits of it, like how she called Gia 'mama' while their mom was 'maman' but Ben knew she didn't understand. Granted she was only about six years old, so he couldn't fault her there.
Gods...someday there'll come a time where we'll actually have to explain the truth to her, Ben thought. I just hope she takes it okay. Though maybe she will—she's friends with Henry's oldest girl Clara and of course Ari and Paige so it's not as if she'd have prejudicial views toward the Isle. Not to mention she loves Mal and treats Rea like a little sister sometimes.
"Of course doctor, thank you," Mal said as she pulled Ben out of his thoughts.
"Everything okay?" Ben asked.
Mal nodded. "I was just letting Dr. Sweet know that Aunt Eileithyia would handle the care of our baby moving forward. Since the pup's going to be a Godling, it might be a good idea."
"...pup?"
"Hey, dad called Rea 'sprout' while mom was pregnant with her, it just makes sense that we have a nickname for our kid too."
Ben chuckled as he held Mal close. "Hard to believe Elliot's going to have a playmate."
"It's honestly harder to believe Kitty's a mom," Mal said softly. Kitty's marriage to Roland Hood was a surprise to no one even if she was the first of the four Charming kids to get married.
Though considering it was Kitty and a big fancy wedding wasn't exactly her style, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise that it had been quick either. The only thing that did come to a shock was her announcement that she was expecting not soon after her wedding.
However, Kitty loved Elliot, who'd been named after her mother (in a way), and it was clear that Roland loved his son as well. Even if the poor guy had to get used to both being a father and being a Prince at the same time.
Now that I think about it, there might be a reason I've been seeing Roland and Bobby at the Learning to be Royal meetings, Mal thought with an inward chuckle.
"Do the doctors know when your due date is?" Ben asked.
Mal shook her head. Her Aunt Eileithyia's book might have said when people were pregnant but unfortunately it didn't have due dates. "They won't have an exact date but Dr. Sweet said that we're looking at around the end of May."
"May? But it's November right now!"
"Ben, Ben," Mal said, trying to sooth her nervous husband. "Remember? Both Fae and the Gods have a faster gestational period. It's seven months for me because, biologically, I'm only half Fae."
"Oh...oh right," Ben nodded, relaxing slightly. He had known that of course. After all, he'd been a welcome ear for Gil during Macaria's pregnancies. Little Gwendolyn and Markos had been born ten months apart, with Markos being around the same age as Dean's daughter Dawn.
Yeah. That had been interesting. But the muscle bound VK had needed an ear and somehow Ben had become that ear over the years.
Maybe it makes more sense than I thought, Ben thought. I mean...Uma's sailing off on shipping trips between the kingdoms, captaining her own ship. Harry's managing the Auradon version of Lord Hades' restaurant with Mr. Smee by his side. Harriet and Sammy both run their own business—their swimming center has really taken off.
Gil also might not feel comfortable talking to Evie about his worries since she's his boss or Dizzy since she's so much younger than him. Of course there was always Henry but he was busy with running the lighthouse over in Eric's kingdom plus looking after his own kids.
Ben honestly couldn't help but smile as he thought about how much their lives had changed over the years. If you had told him when he was sixteen that he'd be married to a Godling, that some of his best friends would be pirates, that he'd be a groomsman at Gaston's son's wedding along side the bride's brothers and his brother-in-law, and that his little sister would be Gaston's granddaughter, Emir and Akiho probably would have dragged you to the nurse out of fear you'd hurt him.
But now that this was his life? He wouldn't change a single thing.
Oh...speaking of Emir and Akiho, I should tell them soon, Ben thought.
"I know what you're thinking," Mal chuckled.
"What's that?"
"You're thinking about telling your shadows aren't you?"
"...I can neither confirm nor deny that to be the case."
Mal snorted. "Come on Benny. If we're telling anyone, we're telling our parents and siblings first. And then you can tell the insane duo that is Emir and Akiho."
"You know they take that as a compliment right?"
"Hey, all I know is that somehow their weddings to Emma and Elle went off without a hitch. I think they liked your wedding present by the way."
"Our wedding present," Ben said with a small chuckle. He'd commissioned a similar stained glass window that he'd had made for Mal the night he proposed. For Emma and Emir, it was the two of them on a flying carpet while apples made up the boarder.
Elle and Akiho were a little trickier but Ben had finally decided on the two of them in a sled pulled by reindeer on the beach while snow flakes and seashells alternated around the boarder.
What? He had an artistic wife and he knew his best friends.
"You know, Emma's probably going to be thrilled that she's no longer your unofficial heir," Mal chuckled as she gently pulled Ben out of his chair. "Though, I still can't believe you haven't gotten that in writing yet."
"Why would I?" Ben asked as he wrapped his arms around her. "We've never needed to officially use it."
Mal smiled softly as Ben kissed her cheek. "We're going to be parents, Benny."
"Is this something you want?" Ben asked, looking at her. "Before we tell our parents, tell our families, I want...I want you to be honest with me Mal. Nothing about needing an heir or anything, remember, we're both immortal. All that matters is that you're happy."
Mal's smile never dimmed as Ben gently cupped her cheek with his hand, his thumb gently running over her skin.
"If you'd asked me when I was sixteen..." she said softly. "I would have told you no. Because there was no way I could have seen myself wanting to bring a child into the world the way the Isle was. But then again, at sixteen, I never imagined I'd be married to as wonderful a man as you, Ben. Having a child, having your child...trust me Ben. There's nothing I want more."
"Nothing?"
"Okay, so being able to see Freddy be tormented in Tartarus might top it but I feel like I'd be a bad mom if I said that."
Ben let out a small laugh as he held Mal close. "You, Malinda Bertha Le Bête, could never be a bad mother."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because...because you've seen what bad parenting looks like," Ben said, his voice growing soft as hazel green eyes met bright green eyes. "You've experienced it first hand for five years from Maleficent and came out stronger for it. And more importantly you've seen what good parenting looks like from your mom and dad."
Mal smiled slightly as she reached up and kissed Ben on the cheek. "How is it you know the right thing to say?"
"It's a gift," Ben chuckled. "Now come on. Let's go rally our families so we can tell them that we're adding a branch to this crazy family tree of ours."
"I think I like the sound of that," Mal grinned as she slid her hand into his. Estelle quickly trotted over to her side as they made their way out of the office.
It was time to make some phone calls.