Mal couldn't help but smile slightly as she laced her fingers through Ben's, the two of them making their way to their children's playroom. Her other hand gently rested itself on her stomach, and now that Mal was aware of her pregnancy she could feel the bump. It wasn't as big as it had been with the twins but it was still present.
Wow, how could I have honestly not noticed a bump? Mal thought as she shook her head slightly. I mean I guess I was busy...but should I be worried that the bump is so small that no one noticed? There weren't even any speculations that I was pregnant by anyone in the media.
But, as Mal continued to ponder, there had been a knowing look from Evie the last time Mal went to her to be measured for an outfit for one of the dozens of royal events they had. And maybe it had been Mal's imagination running away with her but the outfit had felt slightly looser than outfits of the past...
"Maman!"
Mal had to smile as Effy and Reese's voices pulled her out of her thoughts. The two kids had immediately abandoned their game to run over to her and Ben, much to the delight of their parents, Hadie, Jay, Lonnie, Carlos, Jane, Uma, and Harry, and the annoyance of Rea, Jaxson, Caroline, Jason, and Genevieve who had been playing with the twins. Wait, what?
"What are you guys doing here?" Mal asked as Ben bent down to scoop up Effy and Reese into his arms.
Hades shook his head. "Your aunt said you had an important announcement to tell us and then refused to say anything more before teleporting us to your sunspots' playroom."
"Granddad was singing his song!" Effy said.
"His song?" Mal asked. "What song, dad? You don't have a song. I mean, the Muses have a song about you but you don't have a song of your own."
"Yes he does!" Reese told her. "He only sings it when he's with grandpére though!"
Oh, Gods... Mal couldn't help but think. She wasn't sure she wanted to know but knew she had to ask. "Dad...how does this song go?"
"I just got him to stop singing it Mal," Persephone sighed as Hades started to sing, causing the two kids in Ben's arms to start giggling in amusement.
Beast shook his head. "You know, interestingly enough I have not forgotten you're a God," he said as Hades continued to sing.
"Could have fooled me," Hades said, shaking his head.
Persephone sighed before looking over at Mal and Ben. "Eileithyia truly didn't say what the announcement was, I suspect it was to make sure she didn't spoil anything."
Mal smiled softly at her mother before shaking her head. "I'm pregnant."
"...You're what now?"
"Oh Mal, Ben, that's wonderful news!" Belle exclaimed, a grin on her face as Hades stared in shock.
Mal shook her head in amusement. "Seriously dad? I'm married and have two kids of my own, why is my being pregnant a shock to you?"
"I thought you were waiting!"
"So did we," Mal said with a small chuckle.
Effy tilted her head. "What does that mean?"
"What does 'what' mean, sweetheart?" Ben asked.
"That word maman said."
"Pregnant? It means you're going to have a little brother or sister," Ben told her.
Effy grinned. "Did you hear that Reese? Maman's gonna have babies!"
"Yay!" Reese cheered as Harry gently took Reese out of Ben's arms.
"Looked like you were getting a bit crowded there," he said as Ben looked over at him. "Didn't want the little princeling to fall out."
"Ah, good move. A prince has to look after other princes after all," Ben said with a chuckle.
Harry paused. "I'm sorry, what did you call me?"
"You're a prince," Ben shrugged. "I mean, even though her title was stripped, Ursula is still Triton's sister which makes her an Atlantican princess by blood which then makes Uma an Atlantican princess and therefore you would be a prince by marriage. Or were our records not correct and Uma's not Ursula's daughter?"
"I mean...yes she is...but I'm not a prince! I'm a pirate!"
"You can't be both?" Ben shrugged once more with a small smile. "A 'pirate prince'? I mean Henry's already proven you can be a prince and a pirate. If nothing else, you could use it for your daughter and your unborn child."
Mal shook her head. "Don't break Harry, Benny. Especially not this close to Uma's due date."
"That would be greatly appreciated," Uma nodded.
Persephone shook her head in amusement. "Not to change the subject but I figure it might be best if we got back on track. When are you due, Mal?"
"That's the funny part," Mal said with a small chuckle. "I'm due in October."
"I'm sorry, you're what?" Hades, Jay, Carlos, Harry, and Hadie all exclaimed at the same time, and even Beast looked alarmed.
"Wow, is there an echo in here or something?" Mal asked and shook her head. "It apparently can happen, women not realizing they're pregnant when they are. I mean it happened to Jane with her son. And oh mom, can you ask Aunt Eileithyia to make a visit over to Ginny's at some point soon?"
"Of course Mal. Any reason I should give my sister as to why she's visiting Princess Ginny?" Persephone asked.
"Just...call it a hunch," Mal said. She had taken a look when her aunt hadn't noticed and saw a certain name listed in her aunt's 'big book of babies' as her father liked to call it. "I think Ginny will appreciate the visit though."
As the conversations continued, no one noticed Harry walk over to the side of the room, Reese still happily in his arms.
"You excited bud?" Harry asked.
"Uh huh," Reese nodded.
"Good," Harry smiled before looking down at his surrogate nephew. "Can you promise me something?"
"What Unca Harry?"
"When I was your age, my mama was pregnant with my sister CJ," Harry said. "Only...we didn't know CJ would be a girl so my...my father got me so excited about possibly having a baby brother that when CJ was born, I was so disappointed I didn't spend any time with her and it was so hard on my big sister Harriet. Can you make your Uncle Harry a promise Reese? Can you promise me that no matter what gender your sibling or siblings are, you'll be excited for them no matter what?"
Reese nodded. "I promise Unca Harry! I just want to meet my brother and sister!"
"Reese, you don't know the baby is going to be a twin," Harry said.
"But I have Effy!" Reese said, the tone in his voice implying that it should have been obvious to Harry where Reese was coming from.
"Can't argue with that logic," Uma said, walking over to them. "You royals having fun talking over here by your lonesome?"
"Uma, I love you but you know full stop I'm no royal."
"I dunno Harry, Benny has a point. Plus you know we can visit Atlantica now since you were gifted your tail at Helena's blessing."
"His what?"
"Don't you lot have better things to do than eavesdrop?" Harry asked as the rest of the room stared at him in shock.
"Not really, no," Jay shook his head. "Now what's this about a tail?"
Harry shook his head. "Since Helena got blessed with the ability to switch into a mermaid form if she wanted to swim with Uma's family, I was also gifted the ability to switch back and forth if I wanted to join."
"It was Grandfather's idea," Uma added. "He said he didn't think it would be fair if Harry was always left out."
"Wouldn't Helena be able to switch back and forth anyway?" Mal asked. "You know, since you have your squid form, Uma?"
Uma shrugged. "Grandfather said it might be nice if she had the option to change it up if she wanted to."
"Huh, that makes sense in a way. I mean switching things up is kinda our family's MO. How many different forms does Zeus have in his shapeshifting arsenal after all?"
"I don't know and Mal, do you really want to think about Zeus?"
"Eh, he and dad buried the hatchet when I was pregnant with Reese and Effy. He's not on my list of my top ten favorite Gods or anything but I don't loathe him as much as I do say, Natalie."
"That's fair," Harry, Uma, and Jay all nodded.
"Who's Natalie?" Belle asked with a slight frown.
"No one of importance," Mal told her mother-in-law. There was no reason to ruin this happy moment by discussing Natalie. The woman hadn't even reared her head in years, there was no reason to even suspect she was even still alive. Right?
"Any thoughts on names?" Persephone asked, sensing her daughter's mood and swiftly changing the subject.
"...If they're a girl...I'd like one of the middle names to be Abigail," Mal said, looking over at Ben.
"Mal..." Ben said softly.
"She deserves to be remembered," Mal said with a small smile as she looked at her husband. "I...I hope you don't mind that it's not the first name if our child's a girl. I just...I want to honor your sister but at the same time, I don't want our child to think they're being held up to a standard."
"Of course not," Ben said, shaking his head. "And let's make a deal. If my sister's going to be one of their middle names if we have another daughter, then their other middle name should be Uma."
"Benny..." Uma gasped, clearly touched.
"You're one of the most important people in Mal's life, Uma. If we're honoring the important people, then it wouldn't be fair if we left you out," Ben said.
Uma let out a small chuckle. "So...would this be a bad time to say that if this little guppy's a girl...the plan for the name is Milah Mal?"
Uma barely had time to blink before Mal had her wrapped up in a hug.
"There are so many other names you could pick," Mal whispered to her.
"None that work more than that one, cuz," Uma whispered back to her. "I know going all mushy isn't exactly what we do but you're practically another sister to me and I know you're another sister to Harry as well. We want to use this name...as long as you're okay with it?"
"I wouldn't be hugging you if I wasn't," Mal told her.
"Hey, I just chalked the hug up to pregnancy hormones," Uma chuckled as Mal released her from the hug.
Jay shook his head. "So...I know Emir and Akiho making sure to have kids the same age as yours is one thing, but did you have to make it so you and Uma were always pregnant at the same time Mal?"
"Just lucky I guess," Mal said with a chuckle. "You know the funny thing is that no matter what, we can say this baby will have a twin too. Just a twin cousin."
Uma snorted. "I guess you've got a point there, but at least this little guppy will have restored the natural balance of my side of the friendship being the older one."
"You're older by like months, Uma!"
"Still older though."
"You're insane, you know that?"
"Oh, thank you Mali!"
Mal shook her head. "You've been hanging around Emir and Akiho way too much if you consider that a compliment."
"Eh, there's no such thing as hanging around those two too much," Uma said. "Why aren't they here to bask in the joy of you lot having another hatchling?"
"Emir's got his hands full with Ethan and Eva, and as much as he'd love to come over he's not going to leave his wife alone with two kids," Ben said. "And yes, I know they're both royal and have staff out the wazoo but that's Emir for you."
"And Akiho?" Jay asked.
"Elle's pregnant herself and with Emily still growing control over her powers...I know Akiho loves his daughter but he always gets nervous at the idea of something happening and he wasn't there," Ben said.
Carlos shook his head. "I gotta say, it's weird not having them randomly appear like they did when we all were in school. There were times when I thought you could summon them by saying their names, Ben."
Ben snorted in amusement. "I wish, but they likely had a tracker on me knowing them."
"I feel like that should be illegal, tracking the crown prince."
"It's Emir and Akiho, do you honestly think that would have stopped them?"
Carlos paused and then shook his head.
Beast couldn't help but let out a small snort of amusement himself. "I love how it seems like we've all been sent to the background," he chuckled.
"Well you know dear, we are just the old fuddy duddy adults," Belle said with a smile.
"Maybe Beast is but there's nothing 'old' about me," Hades said.
Mal sighed. "Dad, aren't you literally eons old?"
"...I fail to see your point, Mal."
Hadie chuckled and walked over to hug Mal. "Congrats Mali. I'm happy for you."
"Thanks Hads," Mal said, returning the hug.
"I want a maman hug!" Effy exclaimed from her spot in Ben's arms
"Me too!" Reese exclaimed from his spot in Harry's arms.
"Well then, come join the hug. There's plenty of hugs to go around," Mal said and both kids quickly squirmed out of their respective spots and raced over to Mal, who bent down to scoop them up.
"Gods, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to pick you two up," Mal said as her kids gave her a big hug.
"You know you'll be picking them up for as long as you can," Hadie teased. "Maybe even have some cousins to pick up as well."
"Careful Hads, I'd rather not have dad explode right now," Mal chuckled as Hades' head turned swiftly toward his son.
"What?" Hadie asked before his eyes went wide. "No! Dad, whatever you're thinking, stop thinking that! Alex is not pregnant, I haven't even proposed! Her dad and brother would kill me, and so would Kitty and Lucy! Plus Roland and Bobby would join in as the in-laws!"
"He does know he can't be killed, right?" Harry muttered to Uma.
"Eh, you know the Charmings would find a way," Uma muttered back as they watched Hadie continue to try to calm down his father. "Uncle Hades does know there's no way Hadie would accidentally get Alexandria pregnant right?"
"Uma, we're now on minute five of his 'babies having babies' rant and you know that's been timed to go as long as four hours. Who knows what Lord Hades is thinking right now?"
"Ah, right...want me to ask Mal to get us some popcorn?"
"Way ahead of you cuz," Mal's voice said and Uma looked over her left shoulder to see Mal standing there with popcorn; Effy and Reese having gone over to the kid contingent with their own bags and sharing with the other kids.
"How did you...?"
"Ben asked Dean to get some and yes, I made sure Jay got some popcorn as well before either of you ask," Mal shrugged. "Shall we enjoy the rant?"
"We shall," Uma and Harry nodded as they took the offered bags and settled into what would be a quite enjoyable, if not repetitive at least to the older VKs in the room, rant.
Soon you'll be here, enjoying the insanity with the rest of us little one, Mal thought as her fingers brushed her stomach. And I can't wait to meet you.