Uma sighed as she shifted in her seat, trying her best to get comfortable. She wasn't going to lie, she was slightly envious of Mal no longer being pregnant. Uma was only carrying one child and she thought she was going to go mad by December. She had no idea how Mal had lasted carrying twins.
"You okay?" Freddie asked, looking over at Uma.
"Just fine, just like when you asked half an hour ago," Uma told her. "Honestly Freddie, you don't have to ask if I'm okay every time I shift. These chairs just aren't friendly to a pregnant woman is all."
"Oh, right," Freddie nodded.
Uma sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. Or bring up any negative feelings. I just...I want to be done being pregnant and we're only in June. Elle's so lucky her due date's soon; I've got til December to go unless the doctor's off on their due date."
Celia chuckled. "Honestly Uma, only you would find a way to complain about being pregnant."
"You just wait," Uma said before pausing and pointing a finger at her little sister. "We meet the guy first if you decide to go that route. Or girl."
"Obviously," Celia said, rolling her eyes. "If they can't handle you two or dad, they wouldn't exactly be able to handle the idea of parenthood now could he?"
"Wise words," Facilier said as he walked into the room with a tray in his arms; the girls having brought some of Mama Odie's gumbo and Queen Tiana's beignets for a snack. "I've taught you well."
"And you didn't even need to turn me into a frog to do it," Celia chuckled, teasing her father as he sat down. "Don't get me wrong, I am quite thankful for lacking any froggy qualities. Green is definitely not my color, according to Dizzy."
"How is that fireball?" Uma asked.
"She's good," Celia told her. "Mainly works over at Evie's shop with Gil though she'll hang out with Ava Tremaine or even Lacey LeGume when she gets the chance."
"Is that a bit of jealousy I hear? Upset that the fireball's got a new best friend?" Uma chuckled as she teased her little sister.
Celia rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm happy for Dizzy and so's Gil. He's happy one of his sisters has someone their age that they can hang out with but also understand why VKs are the way that they are."
"...Fatherhood has made that boy way too insightful,' Uma said, shaking her head.
"Wait, Gil LeGume is a father?" Facilier asked.
Freddie chuckled. "Proof positive you don't pay attention to announcements. He's got two kids, a daughter named Gwen and a son named Markos."
"Rather different in terms of the names aren't they?"
"Actually, Gil said that Gwen's full name is Gwendolyn but they just call her Gwen to make it easier," Uma said.
"Ah," Facilier nodded. "And speaking of fathers, or fathers to be, how is young Hook doing with the pregnancy? He hasn't announced disappointment over the gender of the baby has he?"
"No, because we don't know what the gender will be," Uma told her father. "We're doing this like we would if we were on the Isle. Just without the health risks and the Angels and Casters trying to kill us."
"And why in the world would you want to do it like here? When you're across the bridge and can have all the information you want at your fingertips?"
Uma shrugged. "We know that the guppy's going to be born in early December and that they're somehow healthy. That's really all we need to know honestly. Well that and the fact that I'm doing okay. In fact, Harry insists on asking that every time we go in for a check up."
In fact the first time Harry had done it, Uma half expected the question to come from Mal as some way to check up on her. It wasn't until the third visit where Harry had asked the same question that it had dawned on Uma that the question hadn't been coming from Mal but from Harry himself.
She'd told him he didn't have to ask every time, that the doctors would likely tell them if there was something they needed to worry about. But all Harry would say was that he lost his mom and the Smee kids lost theirs after giving birth due to unforeseen issues—and he wasn't going to lose his wife the same way. The fact that she was a Godling be damned.
Gods she loved her husband. Even if sometimes she wanted to throw him into the ocean for annoying her though lately Ben had been really good at helping prevent Harry from sticking his foot in his mouth. The wisdom of fatherhood, she guessed.
"Hmm," Facilier said as he took a bite of beignet. "Well...as long as the baby's healthy, that's the most important thing. It is just one baby right? No signs of twins like the royal babies?"
Uma shook her head. "No, thankfully. It's just the one for Harry and me."
"Have you thought about names?" Freddie asked.
"Oddly enough we have," Uma nodded. "If the guppy's a boy, well...we want to name him 'Antony Hayden'. After two of the best male figures we had in our lives."
"Hayden for Lord Hades?" Celia asked. "But...who's the Antony for?"
"It's for dad, isn't it?" Freddie asked and Uma nodded. Not many people knew Facilier's first name was 'Anton' considering he went by 'Dr. Facilier' after all.
Facilier couldn't help but smile as he heard that but cleared his throat so none of his daughters could hear the slight emotion in his voice. "And if the 'guppy', as you put it, is a girl?"
"We've decided on 'Helena Harriet'," Uma said. If she noticed her father's eyes shining, she didn't make any mention of it.
"Okay I know the 'Harriet' part is obviously after Harry's sister but where the hell did Helena come from?" Celia asked. "Also, why does the kid get to share a first letter with Harry and not you?"
Uma shook her head. "Do you know how hard it is to come up with a decent name that starts with a 'U'? Auradon and their naming practices, I tell you. Mal gave us a book of baby names and 'Helena' popped out to us as a good one."
"Harry didn't want to name the kid after his mom?" Freddie asked.
"He said he wanted to save the name for Harriet to use," Uma told her sister. "After all, she's trying to get pregnant as well and even though everyone knows how much Harry loved his mother, Harriet has clearer memories of Milah. It would mean more for her to be able to use the name."
"You know Harriet wouldn't call dibs on a name, she'd want Harry to use it if he wanted to."
"Maybe if we have another daughter but for right now it's reserved for Harriet to use." Uma said with a small shrug. "But I don't think dad called us here to talk about my and my husband's choice of baby names or Harry's reasoning for not using a certain name."
Facilier shrugged. "I won't lie and say it's my favorite topic but I do like hearing about what's going on in your lives, girls."
"You were always one of the better parents on the Isle," Uma told her father.
"Wonder if he's figured out when my birthday is yet?" Freddie muttered, her voice just soft enough for Uma to hear and she nudged her sister in the side. Whatever their father had invited them over for, it didn't deserve to be made awkward.
Freddie looked at her but nodded, picking up on the silent hint that Uma was giving. Neither one of them liked using the mental link when they were around Celia since they didn't want to make her feel left out of the conversation.
Though Uma wasn't going to lie, being able to chat with Freddie whenever she wanted wasn't as great when Freddie was constantly asking her what side effects of pregnancy she needed to look out for with Ally. Ally wasn't even pregnant yet for all Uma knew and yet Freddie was still asking!
"So if you didn't invite us over to hear about Uma and Harry's adventures in baby names, why did you invite us over?" Celia asked.
Facilier sighed. "Because I think it's time that I had a conversation with you Celia. And while I wanted to be the one to tell you, I wanted your sisters to be here for moral support if you needed it."
"Okay..." Celia said, looking a little confused. "You're looking like you're about to drop a bomb on me, dad. What, am I really Tiana's daughter or something?"
"No...but you do share a different mother than your sisters."
"So? It's the Isle, everyone knows that Freddie, Uma, and I all have different mothers," Celia said with a small shrug.
Facilier sighed. "Actually...your older sisters don't. Have a different mother I mean."
"Okay?" Celia said, shrugging again.
"Why aren't you freaking out?" Uma asked as she looked over at her little sister.
Celia rolled her eyes. "First of all, the fact that you saved me from that pink obsessed bat all those years ago proved that you're my sister full stop. It doesn't matter that we're only connected by one parent and I know if Freddie had been off the Isle back then, she would have done so as well."
"In a heartbeat," Freddie nodded.
"See?" Celia said. "As we've said numerous times on the Isle, blood doesn't make family. You two are my sisters, and that's that."
Freddie and Uma couldn't help but smile at their sister as they heard that. While yes enough time had gone by that they didn't think Celia would freak out over the news, it was nice to have it confirmed.
Uma had seen Mal pretend Hadie wasn't her brother, even if Uma hadn't known Hadie was born at the time, and the last thing she wanted was fo her sister to do the same thing.
"But...out of curiosity...who's daughter am I?" Celia asked.
Facilier took a small breath before looking over at his youngest child. "Anastasia Tremaine's."
"...I'm Dizzy's cousin?" Celia asked in shock.
Cousin...sister...Uma thought, her mental voice sounding as if she was moving a scale back and forth, but she didn't say anything out loud. Almost all of the Isle knew of the speculation that Drizella wasn't able to have children of her own. Combine that with the fact that the fireball's red hair could hardly have come from a parent with as dark of hair as Drizella had even with Hans as the girl's father, and it was clear that Anastasia had done the ultimate sisterly thing she could by carrying Drizella's child for her.
Though, knowing what she knew now, Uma had to suspect that genetically, Dizzy was one hundred percent Anastasia's. After all, the Isle had no medical system when she would have been pregnant with Dizzy so there would have been no way for Drizella to donate the egg.
But she didn't know if Celia knew of that speculation and even if she did, Uma figured one major bombshell would be enough for her sister that day.
"I can hear the fireball squealing in delight from here," she chuckled. "You two are as thick as thieves after all."
Celia nodded slowly as she continued to process the news before giving Uma a small smile. "Guess Dizzy and I are just like you and Mal, huh? Best friends that turned out to be cousins?"
"There are worse people to be like," Uma said with a smile. "And I guess that makes Hadie your Jay. You know you're going to have to get a Harry now and the fireball's going to have to get herself a Benny."
"Who said that Dizzy's the Mal of our group?!" Celia exclaimed. "If anything it'd be me right? I'm the one with magic after all!"
Uma chuckled. "I was just teasing Lia. If you guys are happy with the dynamics of your group then far be it for me to change that. You guys don't have to be anyone other than yourselves."
"Well said," Facilier told her. "That 'shadowling' you have growing in you will have a good mom."
Uma, Freddie, and Celia all looked over at him in shock not expecting to hear the word 'shadowling' come from their father's mouth.
"What?" Facilier asked. "I do listen to what the children of the Isle say after all. I run an arcade, a shop, and am headmaster of Dragon Hall. I'm almost surrounded by the children of the Isle, what little there are of them now at least."
Uma shook her head. "Dad, have you ever heard the saying 'biting off more than you can chew'? There's only one of you and last time I checked, you can't clone yourself."
It was Facilier's turn to shake his head. "There might only be one of me but I have three daughters. It might not have started off that way but after Celia was born, I was thankful for the three occupations. That way, you girls had something to fall back on should anything have happened to me."
"...Thanks dad," Freddie said after a moment. After all, with Ursula as her mother, she likely would have been put out on the streets due to her lack of ability with water based magic. Even working in the Chip Shoppe would have been better though she knew Ursula wouldn't want to give Uma help. How else could she run her 'only' daughter ragged?
"Of course," Facilier nodded. "Though now that you three are off the Isle, I might look into shutting the shop down at the very least. You three are doing well enough that you don't need the safety net and I am getting up there."
"Oh please dad, it's not like you're as old as Grandfather," Uma snorted. "Plus Uncle Hades would likely make it so you'd have to be near one hundred before he let the Fates cut your life thread. At the very least you'll meet your grandkid."
"Yeah dad," Freddie nodded. "You're not going anywhere."
"We won't let you," Celia said firmly.
Facilier couldn't help but smile as he heard that. "It seems that Tiana was right, love truly is important."
"Now don't you go getting mushy on us, dad," Uma chuckled as she leaned over to snag another beignet.
"Hey don't eat them all!" Celia exclaimed.
"I am growing life! I can eat as many damn beignets as I want!"
"Don't swear at your little sister!" Freddie mock scolded, smirking in amusement as Uma and Celia turned to look at her in astonishment.
Facilier chuckled at the chaos that was ensuing. Most parents would have insisted that the girls stop bickering but he was from the Isle of the Lost. He knew the difference between friendly banter and a true fight.
Besides, if the girls were distracted that meant no one was watching the beignets! It was almost as good as the gumbo. Almost.
Hey, there may have been a barrier separating him from his mother but even Facilier wasn't brazen enough to say someone made something better than his mother's gumbo. He'd leave that level of stupidity to Gaston thank you very much!