La Muerte and Xibalba returned a week later, more in love than ever, but much to Xibalba's dismay, his castle was a complete mess, accidental courtesy of Zipacna. La Muerte soon resumed her duties as Queen of the Land of the Remembered, much to her own surprise some of the changes Xibalba had mage were beneficial for the realm, so there were few things she changed back to the way they were. Still, she reserved time to spend with her daughter so they could make up for all the lost time, and getting to know Juan Carlos.
The Sánchez family in the Land of the Living soon got a new member, a baby boy named Pedro. Marigold and Juan Carlos attended the party thrown to celebrate the little one's birth, accompanied by La Muerte and a reluctant Xibalba, who was practically forced to go by his wife, but he didn't protest at all; so happy he was at his wife's return he even missed her ordering him around at times.
However, La Muerte noticed Xibalba seemed to have a sort of… aversion towards Hugo, to put it lightly. He rarely went to check on him or held him, and when he did he became all stiff and stressed, which made Hugo cry, and she had to take him back from his father. She partly understood why Xibalba didn't bond with Hugo as easily as he had done with Marigold, but that didn't justify that he tried to avoid him as if he were a plague.
However, everyone's attention was centered on Marigold as her pregnancy advanced smoothly through the last trimester. Xibalba and La Muerte had to make a few modifications to the nursery, adding an extra crib, though they left the color untouched. Marigold, meanwhile, had to stay most of the time on bed due to some minor cramps she had been having these days. Especially now that she was a few days overdue…
"AAAAAAH!"
The lights in the castle turned on as a sudden scream of pain echoed through the halls. "EVERYONE! WAKE UP!"
"What in tarnation…?"
"IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"
"WAAAAAH!"
"Calm down, Zipacna! Marigold just entered labor!"
"THAT DIDN'T SCARE ME, CHAMACO! YOU'RE NAKED!"
Juan Carlos snapped his fingers to make pants appear on him, and rushed towards the kitchen, followed by a drowsy Zipacna and a panicking Xibalba. Some maids were already preparing bowls of water in a hurry, while others were fetching as many towels as they could.
"Hurry up, all of you!" Xibalba snapped. "You know how it goes! Boil water, get towels, and panic!"
"Panic?! I'm the one who should be panicking! I'm the father!" Juan Carlos snapped.
"And I'm the grandfather!"
"Knock it off, you two!" Adelita snapped, picking up a bunch of towels. "This is not the time for your bickering! There are two babies coming on the way!"
"Another set of twins on the family, eh, sis?" Scardelita giggled.
"Keep you comments to yourself, you two!" Xibalba snapped.
"Hermanito, I know you and Juan Carlos are freaking out, but don't snap at such lovely ladies!" Zipacna retorted.
When another scream echoed in the castle, the three gods rushed towards the room Marigold was in, followed by the maids and the rest of the Sánchez family, Carmelo running into Jorge on one of the turns. Juan Carlos burst the door open again. "Marigold, we'll call the doc…"
Much to his confusion, Marigold was on bed, La Muerte and Carmen by her side, the former stroking her daughter's hair gently, while the latter was placing a cup of hot tea. The two older women looked at the tense crowd who had gathered expectant at the doors calmly.
La Muerte spoke. "It was a false alarm."
Collective sighs of relief and frustration were released, and a few others fainted out of exhaustion from having been brought out of bed so suddenly. Even Zipacna fell to the ground, panting heavily.
"Just a really strong and painful kick…" Marigold sighed, rubbing her large stomach. "I'm glad I didn't wake Hugo up…"
"All that matters is that the three of you are alright…" Juan Carlos smiled, heading over to bed and sitting on the edge, holding his wife's hand with a smile.
"Ha, Sánchez to the core! Make you think they're coming, only to surprise you when you least expect it!" Carlos laughed.
"Repeat that and I'll feed you to my hounds…" Xibalba growled at him, only to receive a mild glare from La Muerte and his daughter. "Well, I'll bring you something to eat, sweetie." He walked out, leading the onlookers away with dismissive waves of his hands, closing the doors behind him.
"I still don't understand what he has against my family…."
"Your father outwit him in a wager, and he's still sore about it." La Muerte sighed.
"He's a sore loser of sorts." Carmen added. "But honorable, I have to admit. He did keep his end of the deal that time."
"Balby is not that bad, sometimes he just needs to be reminded of that."
"Juan, you and Papá are going down to the Land of the Forgotten, right?" Marigold inquired.
Juan Carlos nodded. "For a few days, he says I gotta get used to it if I'm going to have to be in charge someday… Though I have the feeling he'll lock me in the Pit if I do something wrong."
"You don't have to worry about anything, niña…" Carmen smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll take care of you while Juan is away."
La Muerte brushed a hair away from her daughter's face gently. "You just relax, honey. We'll be here for you as long as you need us…"
A few days later…
Luis climbed down the stairs of the castle and into the throne room for the fifth time, panting heavily. "Man, la niña Marigold is sure sensitive."
"Don't mention it, when I took up the pancakes she said she didn't want maple honey, she wanted royal jelly." Jorge added.
The rest of the Sánchez family, and a few others, had to agree. Carmen crossed her arms at them. "For goodness sake, all of you! Stop acting like babies! It's not easy for Marigold! It's the last term and she's already a few days overdue!"
"Makes me remember when you were pregnant with Manolo and I'd have to go to nearby towns sometimes to obtain your cravings…" Carlos chuckled.
"Well, she's a goddess, perhaps it works out differently in them."
"Come on! We were all present when La Muerte was pregnant, that time she had a normal pregnancy!" Adelita stated matter-of-factly. A bell started to ring through the castle, and a few spirits let out sighs of exasperation, the male members of the Sánchez family among them.
"Good idea giving her a bell, Carmelo!" Jorge snapped at the larger skeleton.
"Thanks." He simple shrugged, making Jorge roll his eyes.
"When is Juan coming back?"
"Well, it's been a few days, maybe Xibalba is making him clean his castle like a maid." Adelita commented.
"I'm worried about Hugo." Carmen sighed. "La Muerte had Xibalba take him along, but anyone can tell Xibalba has a bit of… well, animosity for him."
"Considering he was tricked into conceiving him by a madwoman who made him think his wife was dead and tried to kill his daughter and grandchildren, it's a bit reasonable." Scardelita replied.
"But that doesn't change the fact that baby is still his son."
"Maybe, but his son is a constant reminder that had a child with a woman he loathed." Luis stated.
Carmen decided to change the topic and talk about more important things. "Anyway, everyone knows what we'll do when it happens?"
The toreros groaned. "Mi amor, we've rehearsed that hundreds of times!" Carlos stated.
"It's better to be prepared. Go to your places."
Reluctantly, the male members went to their designated places.
"Okay, at any moment, Marigold and La Muerte will come down and say 'it's time'. We'll need to have a carriage prepared since she'll give birth in the Realm of the Gods on her request. They'll need help to get to the carriage, and carry the luggage to it."
Carmelo picked up the large, already-packed suitcases and headed to the door, while Carlos and Luis picked god-sized colorful shawls and took them all the way to the doorway, while Jorge and a few other servants left the room, simulating they were going to tell the stable hands to ready the carriage.
Carmen nodded approvingly. "Good. Now, remember, the most important thing of all, we all have to keep our heads cool."
Just then, Marigold peeked her head from the doorway. "Guys, hasn't anyone heard my bell?" She blushed. "Sorry if I have been a bit picky these days, I guess eating for three really has gotten to me. Mamá said she'll be taking care of me so you can take a break, so if you want to go for a few hours…" She hadn't finished talking when all the male members of the Sánchez family had already ran off. "…You can go."
Anita shook her head. "Ignore them, niña. men have no idea of what it's like to eat for two, let alone three."
"I know, but I can't help but feel a bit guilty…" Marigold sighed, leaning against the wall. "I've been a bit demanding these days…"
"It's normal, Marigold. You're a few days overdue and you have to take good care of yourself and the babies, believe me, I know it's not easy." Carmen smiled at her. "Everything will be alright, you'll see."
Xibalba was not happy.
Zipacna had made a complete mess on his castle the time he was away. The throne room, the library, the mess hall, heck, even his own bedroom was a complete disaster. It had taken them two months to put everything back the way it was, but the library was still a little way more to go before being restored to is former glory. But that was not the only thing irritating him at the moment.
First thing, Juan Carlos wasn't accommodating the books in the order he was told.
And secondly, Emilio and the others were too busy to babysit Hugo while he and the kid fixed things up.
"Boy, I told you to classify it by alphabetical order!" he snapped a Juan Carlos as the younger god continued to stack the books in the shelves.
Juan Carlos groaned, and his wings flapped lightly reflexively. "You said by category an hour ago!"
"I said by category in alphabetical order!"
"You didn't!"
Hugo just watched the entire scene from his little basket, giggling at his father's misery. Xibalba felt almost like Aimé was laughing at him, but he quickly shook the thought off his head. He had to remember this was not Aimé, this was Hugo, his son… But he couldn't help but flinch at the reminder.
"I think he is mocking at us." Juan Carlos commented.
Xibalba rolled his eyes. "He's a baby, he doesn't know what we're even arguing about."
"Couldn't this have waited until the babies are born?!"
"You think I wanted to spend a three days here accommodating books instead of being with my daughter for one of the most beautiful moments in her life?!"
"Then why was it so urgent to accommodate this?!"
"I left for a week with my wife without a previous notification! The only replacement available at that time was my brother, and he's not precisely known for being as organized as I am! Heck, I don't even know how in tarnation he messed my library like this if he doesn't even like to read!" He was interrupted when Hugo started to sob and shift in the basket. Oh, great.
"Xibalba, the baby is-"
"Boy, I raised a daughter alone for fifteen years, okay? I can tell when they want to eat or have a diaper changed."
Juan Carlos noticed he was still steps away from the sofa where Hugo's basket was, and hadn't moved an inch closer to it. "Well, then, you can go tend to him. I'll keep stacking books by category and alphabetical order." He turned around and continued to stack the tomes, but was subtly glancing back at Xibalba and see what she was doing. Xibalba reluctantly walked closer to the cradle and picked Hugo, who by then had started to wail, in his arms. He was stiff as he held the little one in his arms.
"There, there, it's okay…" even his voice sounded stiff. "Shhh… I'm here…" Soon, he recognized the type of wailing. "You're hungry? Well, let's go to the kitchen to find something yummy for you okay…?" And thankfully now Regina or Emilio would be able to look after him for a while. However, when he wanted to turned the knob, he realized it was stuck. "What the…?"
"What's wrong?" Juan Carlos inquired, looking back at his father-in-law.
Xibalba tried to turn the knob again, but it remained stuck. He tried more strongly this time, but it was futile. "Maldita sea! The door got stuck! EMILIO!" He yelled, starting to rock Hugo in his other arm in an attempt to calm him down.
"Why don't we teleport out of here?!"
"The library is magic-proof! We can't use any sort of magic here!"
"What were you thinking on that?!"
"Hey, I didn't build the castle, boy! I doubt my father built it even! This castle has been here long before I was born!"
Juan Carlos muttered. "Must have been a very long time…"
"What was that?"
"N-Nothing!" Juan Carlos stood up and ran to the door, trying and failing to turn the knob or open the doors. "Dios santo! When was the last time you had the hinges oiled?!"
"I don't remember… Maybe two hundred years ago… EMILIO! SOMEONE!"
"Let me guess, it's sound-proof too?" That would make sense; it's a library, after all.
"Judging by the time my servants are taking to come here when they usually take about ten seconds to go to my location after I call them, I guess it is to some extent."
"Wonderful, so we're trapped here till Emilio or Regina come to ask us if we're hungry?"
"Unless we can break it down. But don't even think about it, boy!"
"I guess we'll have to wait…" Juan Carlos covered his ears when Hugo continued to cry. "Don't you have his formula in the pañalera?!"
Xibalba headed back to the sofa to search into the blue diaper bag to see if he had any clean bottles left. "There is one, but I'll need your help in this one, boy. You might as well start learning how to make the formula for my grandchildren."
Juan Carlos had the feeling it was another excuse so he'd have another tend to Hugo's needs, but chose not to say anything for the time being.