A/N: Hiiiii everybody! Here's a new chapter for you guys, from a prompt from 98. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you asked for, but it's close, and the prompt was adorable, and I wrote this all in one day so you should all be very proud of me. I haven't written in ages, college has been an absolute rollercoaster, so hopefully this isn't too substandard. Hope you enjoy, and thank you everyone who's been reviewing still! I read them all, just don't usually have time to reply anymore. This is dedicated to all of you lovely people who take the time to let authors know how you feel about their story. It's extremely sweet of you, and I love you all!

We Are Family

It was real. Definitely, unavoidably real. No other way to put it. She stared down at the four tests lined up neatly in front of her, all reading the exact same thing. Sighing, Lily spent an extremely uncoordinated three and a half minutes peeling her mismatched pink and orange socks from her feet, tossing her zip-up sweatshirt into the hamper. Three deep breaths, and she moved to stand in front of the enormous mirror, because for some reason her idiot husband loved to stare at himself in multiple large mirrors while doing mundane things like brushing his teeth.

She loved her idiot husband.

Her idiot husband was going to freak.

Then again, it's not like this was a total surprise. She'd sort of had a feeling for about a week now, things that just hadn't been right. Sudden aversions to peanut butter, and what she'd started two nights ago…well, Nico certainly hadn't been complaining, but it had been a little out of character for her to be that insatiable.

Blushing at the memory, Lily turned in the mirror, examining her willowy frame, narrowing her eyes at her waistline. Bugger. All this was about to change, it seemed.

Stripping out of her sweat-soaked workout clothes and leaving them in a pile on the floor, she opted for a quick shower before padding over to the closet and stepping into dark jeans and a blush-colored button-down shirt of Nico's that looked literally ravishing on him – but he had a bit of a thing for seeing her in it. She flushed, deeply this time, remembering how she hadn't had a wink of sleep the last night she'd worn this, before coquettishly leaving a few buttons open…okay, more than a few. Whatever. She was with the guy, she was allowed.

And now, to make the all-important phone call.

She hit the second number on her speed dial, humming one of those stupid Metallica songs that Nico kept playing in their flat that she just couldn't remember the name of, and clattering around the kitchen, trying to make coffee with only one hand. She gave up when she remembered she should be limiting her caffeine intake anyway – and besides, making anything with one hand? Impossible.

The call went to Percy's voicemail, and she jabbed at the little red "end call" option on the screen, snarling at it for a minute. Grumbling to herself about stupid older brothers, she snagged a box of cookies from one of the cupboards and curled up in front of the TV, scrolling through the channels until she found National Geographic. Lowering the volume to a white noise sort of level, she shoved an entire cookie in her mouth – mmm, chocolate – before calling the third number on her speed dial.

Jessie, of course, answered on the second ring.

"Hey, Lils, what's up?"

"So, um, there's this thing that I need to –" Lily broke off, frowning at the phone in her hand as Jessie began mumbling over her. She couldn't blame her best friend, really, Jessie and Leo had just gotten engaged last month and had now found themselves in the midst of that frightening season known as wedding planning. Honestly, Lily had barely made it through, and that was with Jessie and Annabeth and so many more to help her. Nico, on the other hand, had some sort of panic attack when asked to pick one color scheme from five, and had spent all their "planning time" either playing video games with Percy and Leo or just nodding and agreeing with whatever Lily said, since he'd decided it was the safest option.

Except for cake tasting. He'd suddenly been very opinionated when it came to the cake. And she really didn't care, because the one he picked? Absolutely delicious. Almost as delicious as him. Aaaaand it was thoughts just like that one that had gotten her here, although this wasn't a problem, but…

She came back to herself in time to hear Jessie yell her name into the phone.

"Oh, sorry, Jess, I'm still here."

"Well good, because I finally found that boxed set of the Teen Wolf Blu-Rays I was looking for. Wanna come over and ogle Tyler Hoechlin with me?"

"No, I –"

"And hey, does it honestly matter what kind of flowers my bouquet is made of? Because what the hell is the point, right, and even if I do pick a flower there are a bout a gazillion different colors and then fucking shades of colors and Leo says he doesn't really care because I'll be beautiful anyway which is sweet but doesn't help, and Annabeth got mad because I told her that owls are boring and orange isn't her color and –"

"Jess, I think I'm pregnant."

There was dead silence on the other end. And then the sound of glass shattering, followed by Jessie's loud screech and several seconds of expletives linked together in increasingly creative ways, and then Jessie was back on the line. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN? HOW FAR ALONG ARE YOU? DID YOU TELL NICO YET HOW DID HE TAKE IT WE HAVE TO THROW A PARTY DID YOU –"

"Jessie, shut up!" Lily was laughing, and then she was choking on her fourth cookie and had to put the phone down so she could finish coughing. Then she picked it back up again. "No, Nico doesn't know yet, I just found out today, haven't been to the doctor and I don't know how far along I am, because –"

"Because you two are constantly going at it so there's no real way of knowing," Jessie interjected slyly, and Lily growled at her.

"Anyway, no one else knows yet so could you please resist the urge to scream it at the first person you see? I haven't even told Percy."

"Okay, okay, your secret is safe with me. For now. So are you gonna come over to stare at hot shirtless guys on TV with me, or what?"

"I can't, Nico should be back from work soon," Lily sighed into the phone, flicking her wrist at the water in the fish tank and grinning as it obeyed her, pushing open the slat in the lid and writhing through the air, careful not to disturb the fish. Then again, they were so desensitized to her ways, it wasn't even funny.

"Oooh," Jessie said, and from all the rustling around her and the way her next words were spoken around food, Lily guessed that her best friend was now settled into bed with the TV on, probably with cookies. She smirked down at her own package of them. There was a reason they were friends. "How are you going to tell him? Are you gonna do the whole put his hand on your stomach and hope he figures it out thing, or –"

"I have no idea," Lily groaned, staring down at her reasonably flat stomach. "We never even really talked about kids yet, what if he doesn't want any? What if he gets angry?" Her eyes suddenly started burning. "What if he says he doesn't want to –"

"Okay, shut up," Jessie interrupted, and Lily could feel her friend rolling her eyes. "He isn't going anywhere, okay? That man is so in love with you it's nauseating, and I say this as your best friend. He's probably going to freak out, but that's okay, it's normal. Remember when we threw Percy a surprise birthday party and he got so scared by the noise he drenched us all in seawater and we had to find a really good excuse for salty water flooding the sixth floor? It can't possibly be that bad." She paused. "Well, actually, he's a son of freaking Hades, so he might like raise the dead or shadow-travel himself into a wall or something, but you know, it'll be okay."

Lily made a strangled noise in her throat.

"Okay, probably not too helpful. Listen, sweetheart, you're going to be fine. And he'll probably act like a fool for a while, and then he's going to be attached to your hip all the time and trust me, instead of worrying he'll leave you, you'll be worrying you'll never have two seconds without him. Just don't let him try to make an entire baseball team with you, okay? I'm not sure I want to try to buy that many presents every Christmas."

Giggling, Lily pressed the phone closer to her ear. "How did you get this smart?"

"I'm a genius," Jessie said smugly. "Oh, and tell Nico thanks for all those death traps he put up around our new apartment last week. I haven't had to carry weapons around indoors ever since he did – all the monsters! Gone! It's amazing!"

"Hey, it's great, being married to the spawn of Hades," Lily smirked. A few years ago, Nico had developed some sort of catch-all monster death trap (that was Percy's name for it) that vaporized monsters if they came too close to it. He'd put them up all around his and Lily's flat, and after that, all of their friends wanted them too. Damn useful, those things.

He'd gotten himself a job in military advising somehow, and now, looking out at the ocean from their seventh-floor apartment in Malibu, she was somehow glad they weren't living in New York, where the rest of their friends were based. Yes, the phone bills were a bitch, but Nico's shadow-travel abilities made transport a lot easier, and he earned so much telling generals what not to do that it wasn't really much of an issue. He also ended up dabbling in FBI business more often than not, but she was never too worried. If anyone could take care of himself, it was that boy.

They were having a baby. A little girl with Nico's silky hair and her big sea-green eyes, or a boy with her wavy hair but Nico's nose and delicately shaped lips. She could already hear the patter of little bare feet down their hardwood floors, could imagine Nico lifting their baby into the air, cooing into the child's wide smile, and felt a shiver of happiness travel down her body.

They were having a baby.

She glanced down at her phone, but Jessie had long since ended the call, and so she spent the next half hour wandering through their hallway, looking at the photographs of her with her husband, toying with the beautiful ring on her finger. Maybe they should move to New York, after the kid was born. Be closer to their friends and family. She loved this space they had here, because their group could be overwhelming at times and this apartment had become their little retreat from the whirlwind world of demigods and monsters, but she didn't want to raise her children in any sort of isolation. Besides, Camp would be closer from New York. She and Nico were powerful half-bloods in their own right, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if their children attracted monsters too. But would they have any powers of their own? Maybe Chiron would know.

Then again, she didn't want to leave this beautiful home of theirs. Jessie and Leo had been wanting to move anyway, if she just persuaded them to come here instead…she wandered in search of another cookie, absentmindedly brushing a few crumbs from Nico's shirt. That could work.

The window seat in the master bedroom was her favorite spot in the entire flat. It was where she went when she was happy, sad, lost, or anything in between, and so Nico had let her buy floaty, cream-colored curtains for it and soft pillows, small potted roses and these adorable tea lights. It had a view of the ocean, calm and soothing, and she opened one of the windows, suddenly grateful for the lack of netting as a salty sea breeze caressed her hair.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there, but the slam of a door jolted her out of her reverie. It was dark outside, and there were goosebumps on her arms where she'd rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, and the drew the window shut, tumbling out of the little alcove and back into their apartment, her heart hammering frantically in her breast.

Instead of daydreaming, she should have figured out how exactly she was going to tell him. Dammit.

He was in the kitchen, she could hear him making coffee, and she skipped out to meet him, part of her foot that had been digging into the hem of her boot-cut jeans a little numb.

And yep, he was right where she'd predicted, all broad shoulders, tapered waist, and strong arms in a formal charcoal gray shirt with his usual black jeans.

"Hey, babe," she grinned, hugging him from behind and burying her face between his shoulder blades.

It took two seconds to figure out something was wrong. One, he'd just grunted in response, and she usually got a rather enthusiastic greeting whenever one of them came home – he was usually home later, she was a marine biologist who had somehow gotten herself the luxury of choosing her own hours. And second, he was tense. Incredibly tense.

"Nico," Lily breathed, squishing herself between his body and the counter, "What's the matter?"

He shook his head, silky dark hair waving wildly with the motion, but his dark eyes wouldn't meet hers. "Nothing, just tired."

Taking a step back, he tried to maneuver around her to reach the coffee, but she stepped back in the way. "Don't lie to me," she accused, wincing when his eyes flashed with hurt.

"I told you," he snapped, his deep voice so frigid it was cutting, "It's nothing." This time she didn't move as he reached for his mug, and he walked away from her without another word, or glance. Moments later the blare of the television filled the room – another one of those crime shows he liked to watch.

And she was angry.

Yes, she'd known before even getting into a relationship with him that he could be this way, moody and uncommunicative, but he hadn't done this in so long that she'd thought he'd gotten past it. It had taken years, and several explosive – literally explosive – fights, but she'd taught him he could trust her, taught him to open up. Taught him she wasn't leaving him.

And tonight, she was suddenly staring at the realization that while she had told him in no uncertain terms that she wouldn't ever leave him, she hadn't heard it from him since their wedding two and a half years ago.

Maybe it was just that he'd assumed she knew, maybe because he was the one who often jerked awake at three, chest heaving and his shirt soaked with sweat, haunted by nightmares that she had long since stopped having. Maybe because she rarely gave any indication that she needed his assurance that he loved her. She knew he did, it was in every little action of his, every smile and twinkle of his eyes that were for no one but her, but tonight, she needed to hear it.

She buttoned the shirt up a little further before finding Nico in the living room, settling herself on the opposite end of the sofa from him and glaring at the cops examining the room a man had been fatally shot in on the screen. The silence settled in between them, except she curled her legs beneath her instead of dropping them into his lap, and for once the quiet was cold. Unpleasant. His head turned towards her moments later, and even though she kept her gaze trained at the flickering lights on the screen, she could see his frown.

How could they raise a baby together if they couldn't even be open with each other? What kind of example would he be setting his son or daughter if he couldn't trust their mother?

There were tears in her eyes, and before she registered it they were slipping down her cheeks, and Nico was suddenly sliding over the soft couch towards her, crowding her against the armrest and wrapping strong arms around her.

"I'm sorry," he breathed against the shell of her ear, nosing at her neck gently. "It's just been a rough day, I had to stop them from trying to set up shop in all the wrong places, and I had to fire five people, and it was just…yeah."

She took a shuddering breath, hating how easily the tears had escaped her, and telling herself to get used to it. This was probably just a taste of what was coming up in the next nine months.

"It's okay," she mumbled. Because she did understand. Nico hated being the one responsible for firing people. He hated seeing their devastation and quiet resignation, hated having to give the condolences that always sounded so flat and hollow. It was something she loved about him, really. He'd been hurt so many times in his life that he hated doing it to others. She melted against him, letting him cuddle her, and sighed, breathing in the scent of his skin, his coffee, and his leather jacket.

"Didn't mean to make you cry," he said softly, stroking back her loose hair, and she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, waiting for the steady pulse to calm her.

"You have to stop being like this," she whispered, feeling him stiffen, the pulse beneath her fingers rising.

Nico pulled back, his eyes searching hers, flicking back and forth as though the answers he wanted were somewhere between them. "Like what?"

His voice was hoarse, and she hated that she'd even started this. Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut? But even though she could handle his moods and his temper, she had a baby on the way. They had just started a family. There were things they needed to figure out before that family actually got here.

But she couldn't figure out how to answer his question. It wasn't anything about him, exactly, it was more that he was making her feel scared, uncertain about their future and what it held for them. His long hours, the way he'd brushed her off so easily today…for the first time, she was admitting it to herself. She was frightened.

Biting her lip, she chanced a glance up at him, but his eyes were steady on her, trying to read her, and she couldn't hold his gaze. She felt stupid.

And Nico, thank Poseidon, beautiful, brilliant Nico figured it out.

"You know I'm not going anywhere, right?" Warm hands cupped her face now, tilting her head up so she had to look at him, and he was smiling that adorable dimpled smile that only she could draw out of him. He huffed a small laugh, stroking away stray tears, before dropping his forehead against hers, rubbing their noses together. "I love you, remember?"

Holy Hades, she was a puddle of goo for this man.

No, she couldn't let him get away that easily. She spent a few moments searching the goo for her spine, and when she found it, Lily snuggled closer into his embrace. "Stop saying 'nothing' when I ask you what's wrong."

He took a deep breath, but his hand kept running up and down her spine, thumb drawing shapes on the back of her neck. "You knew how I was when you said you'd have me," he reminded her.

"That doesn't mean you can shut me out."

"I'll try to be better?"

She hummed her approval, wriggling her arm out from where it was trapped under his to move his jacket over so she could bury her face in the warmth of his throat.

And Nico, being Nico, took that as a cue to shed the leather entirely. Lily giggled when one of his hands dropped to her waist, sneaking under her shirt, eliciting gasps as their skin touched. He was on fire, his skin a brand, burning everywhere they made contact, and she wanted nothing more than to burn with him.

In seconds they were kissing, and for a moment it was chaste, their lips closed and eyes fluttering, but then Nico brushed his fingers over a sensitive spot on her stomach and Lily shrieked against him, her entire body jerking. And the instant her lips opened against his mouth, Nico took the plunge.

Their mouths were open, tongues dancing together, it was hot and filthy and it barely deserved the innocent moniker of a kiss. His shirt was on the floor in seconds, followed by his undershirt, and Lily moaned into him, running her hands over the vast expanse of muscled, tanned skin he'd bared for her. Just for her.

Where the hell had this possessive streak of hers been hiding?

And then his lips left hers in favor of her neck, dropping delicate kisses until he latched onto her pulse point so ferociously it was almost feral, all teeth and tongue and that was going to be an enormous mark he was leaving, but she didn't care. She was going to mark him just as many times tonight.

Wait. Tonight. Lily frowned, which was difficult, considering that Nico's talented lips were now ravaging her shoulder with extreme prejudice. She'd gone and forgotten something important. Husbands could be such a distraction.

"Nico," she gasped out, but all she registered was cold, because her shirt – well, his, technically – was flying across the room to join his on the floor, and the hunger in his eyes had stolen her breath away.

He was pressing kisses to her collarbone and then moving down, and she recognized one of his favorite strategies for making her forgive him whenever she was annoyed with him. It was called the seduce-Lily-till-she-can't-think-straight strategy, and it had been proved cripplingly effective. Many times.

Not tonight.

"Nico, stop," she panted, pushing up at his massive shoulders – damn, look at those muscles move, yes this man was hers, and she had plans for those shoulders – wait, no, focus, Lily –

"What?" he looked so confused, so lost, that she pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose, moving him with her hands until they were kneeling up on the sofa together, facing each other.

"I have something to tell you," she began, but of course he couldn't let her finish.

"Stop frowning," he told her, and Lily glared.

"Fine," she snapped, twisting her lips upwards into what was more a grimace than a smile, but hey, it wasn't a frown, "I – Nico!"

His hands were taking full advantage of her exposed torso to tickle laughter from her, and Lily gave him a few seconds to make her squirm and squeal before she caught his hands, holding them tight to prevent moment even though his fingers were still prodding against her waist. Gritting her teeth, she fixed him with her best death-glare.

"I have something to tell you, dimwit!"

"Okay, shoot." He let her go, drumming restless fingers against his leg – and from the way he was eyeing her up, clearly not paying much attention to what she was saying.

A hot blush crept up her cheeks, and from the way the heat was spreading through her, Lily had a feeling she was flushed from her chest up. All because of a few minutes of kisses and the sauciest smirk she'd seen on a man's face. Ugh.

"I, um…" she really should have figured out how to tell him this. He'd never even mentioned having kids recently, what if –

Nico leaned forward, catching her left hand in both of his and pressing a warm, soft kiss to the knuckle of her ring finger. "What is it?"

He kept pressing kisses to her hand, but his eyes were fixed on hers, and she sighed.

"Nico, I'm…we're…" A flash of panic lit his eyes, and she flinched. Her hesitancy was probably freaking him out more than the news would. "We're going to have a baby."

He froze, and then blinked, his mouth dropping open comically. And then he was blinking, temporarily blinded by the flash of her phone camera.

"Sorry," Lily giggled. "Your face," she explained, pointing her phone at him, "was too priceless."

He shook his head, smiling that adorable half-smile, before his eyes grew serious. "We're having a baby," he repeated, as if trying to understand the words.

Lily placed his hand over her stomach in response, the clichéd motion not feeling the least bit affected.

"Are you, are you okay with – I mean, do you –" Nico was biting his lip, as if unsure what to say, and Lily felt a swooping happiness low in her chest.

"We're having a baby," she whispered again, letting the joy shine through her eyes, and then Nico was laughing, bounding off the sofa and lifting her up to swing her through the air, and his eyes sparkling, blinding with ecstasy.

"We're having a baby!" he shouted, and she beamed down at him from where his arms held her aloft, and Nico's head was thrown back with laughter, and she had never loved him more.

Hours later, they lay in bed together, both pleasantly spent and sated, her head pillowed against one of those shoulders she loved so, his arms encircling her. He was tracing little patterns against her belly, making her giggle occasionally, but his expression was reverent, not teasing.

And when he bent to place a kiss against the exact spot in which their child was growing, raising his head in the pale moonlight to smile softly at her, Lily thought she just might explode with happiness.

They fell asleep slowly, talking through most of the night, painting pictures in the darkness of children and maybe a house and how Percy would take the news. And for the rest of her life, Lily would smile whenever she remembered the last words Nico mumbled out before finally falling asleep with his head nuzzled against neck.

We're having a baby.

A/N: Sorry everyone who wanted a wedding scene! I just couldn't figure out what to do with that, I might come back to it later, but PLEASE PLEASE review! I'm working on a chapter for Falling In that's almost finished, so if any of you are reading that then keep an eye out! And that's all for now, folks, stay smiling, please review, and see you all soon!