Chapter Twenty
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else either belongs to Disney or the Greek Myths.
*shakes my head in amazement* How are we at twenty chapters already? It seems like just yesterday that I was beginning this story! Thank you all for your continued support, it means the world!
As always, special thanks to AmethystDragon14 for your continued support and assistance in coming up with plot points for this story! You're the reason I've yet to hit the wall known as writer's block-and it is greatly appreciated!
Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Oh! This Friday at 5 EST will be a marathon of the Descendants movies followed by a short titled Mal and Ben: Finally Ever After. For those of you who don't know me, I squealed so loudly I freaked out my cat when I got the news. So...yeah you're getting this chapter a couple days earlier than I had scheduled because of that short. :D
Persephone couldn't help but smile softly as she watched Mal try to get Estelle to sit on the floor in Mal's room, the training book she'd purchased for Mal propped against a pillow so Mal could see the pictures inside. Normally they would have done this in the den but Estelle still made Virgil nervous and the now nine year old was spending more and more time here rather than at Vanessa's.
Not that it was a bad thing. Persephone couldn't help but smile at the thought of her home being a safe place for the children of the Isle. Plus she welcomed the privacy Mal's room provided. A conversation like the one they were about to have required a bit more privacy than a regular conversation. If Mal took the news of Persephone's pregnancy the wrong way, Persephone wanted to be sure Mal felt safe to let her emotions out rather than bottle them up.
"Hey Steph," Mal said, looking up and giving her step mother a small smile. Persephone returned it. Lately she'd noticed that Mal had been calling her 'Steph' instead of the title of 'Lady Steph'. That, plus the hug she'd gotten her first day back, never failed to make Persephone smile.
Then again, pretty much everything Mal did made Persephone smile. How could she not? If it wasn't for that stupid registry, she could refer to Mal as her daughter rather than by the pointless title of 'step-daughter'. A daughter was a daughter, it didn't matter that Mal wasn't genetically Persephone's.
"Hey Mal," Persephone said, pulling herself out of her thoughts. "How's the student?"
"Great!" Mal said with a grin. "Watch!"
Looking back at Estelle, Mal cleared her throat. "Estelle, sit! Sit!"
Estelle gave Mal a little puppy grin before sitting down. Mal grinned and fished out a dog treat from the bag of pet supplies Persephone had brought with her.
"Good boy!" Mal said and handed Estelle's middle head the treat, which he happily took before trotting off out of the room to eat it.
"That would explain the treat your father found in his shoe the other day," Persephone said with a small chuckle.
"Estelle was just saving it for later," Mal told her. "Three heads means he has to share his treats after all. Saving them makes them last longer."
"I see." Persephone said with a small nod and walked into the room, shutting the door behind her to guarantee them privacy. Not that Hades would eavesdrop but there was no guarantee Pain or Panic wouldn't snoop. "Mal, I need to talk with you."
Mal seemed to tense up a little, as she always did whenever Hades or Persephone needed to have a private chat with her. Not for the first time, Persephone cursed the fact that Maleficent had gotten her talons into Mal during her formative years.
"It's nothing bad," Persephone said gently as she picked Mal up and set her on the bed before sitting down next to her. "I wanted to tell you that I'm pregnant."
"Oh. That's nice," Mal said after a brief pause.
"Mal, sweetheart, do you actually know what that means?" Persephone asked gently. She had seemed to accept that rather quickly so Persephone didn't know if Mal truly knew what Persephone being pregnant meant.
Mal shrugged. "Uma said it's how you get a new brother or sister. Right?"
"That's right," Persephone said with a small nod.
"So congrats. Good for you."
"Thank you sweetie," Persephone said with a small smile. "Are you excited? You're going to be a big sister."
Mal shrugged again. She tended to do that a lot, Persephone thought, especially when it seemed like she was trying to hide what she really felt. "It's a little exciting I guess," she said. "But won't the baby spend most of its time in Boreadon?"
Persephone sighed and rested her hand on her stomach. She had begun to show slightly, which worried her a little as she was only about two months along. However, Eileithyia had told her that should be normal. A Godly pregnancy had a faster development time than a mortal one.
After all Athena and Aphrodite were born as full adults, Persephone thought. Then again, they weren't born in the most shall we say conventional methods.
"No, sweetie, they'll have to stay here," Persephone said softly after a brief bit of silence.
Mal tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Why? They'd be your kid and you're a good guy right?"
Persephone couldn't help but give Mal a sad smile. "They're also your father's child," she explained. "So they'd have to stay here with you and your dad."
Sighing, she added, "most likely they'll be born on the Isle, so they'll be classified as a VK meaning the Isle will have to be their home."
"But they'd be a baby," Mal said with a frown. "They didn't do anything to be classified as a VK."
Persephone couldn't help but give Mal another sad smile. None of the kids on the Isle had done anything to earn their classification either and yet they still were.
"Steph?" Mal asked after a few minutes of the two sitting in silence. "What if the baby's born in Boreadon?"
"I don't know sweetie," Persephone said softly, brushing a bit of hair out of Mal's face. "We'd have to discuss that with King Beast and your Uncle Zeus."
"King Beastie wouldn't order you to stay in Boreadon would he?" Mal asked softly. She still remembered the talk she had had with Steph, the day of Blueberry's party. Her stepmother had said that her agreement with King Beastie could have been worse, that she could have not been allowed to see either Mal or Hades.
That was the last thing Mal wanted. Maleficent might not have cared for Persephone but the dragon really didn't care about anyone but the dragon. There had been more than one day where Mal caught herself wishing she had been Persephone's child instead.
"I don't know sweetheart," Persephone said softly. She doubted it since her agreement had been set before the creation of Auradon or the Isle. Beast may have been king of Auradon but even he couldn't get between an agreement of the Gods.
"If he does, couldn't you guys just reverse the agreement?" Mal asked. "Dad spends six months in Boreadon instead of you spending six months on the Isle?"
Persephone couldn't help but smile a little at the innocence in the question only a child could have. It was heartwarming to see that six years on the Isle and Maleficent hadn't removed it completely from Mal.
"That's a possibility," Persephone told her. "But we're not leaving you here."
Mal made a small face at that. "Six months in Boreadon? Without Uma, Jay or Harry? Yuck!"
Persephone couldn't help but shrug at that. She couldn't deny that it was likely not going to be fun, spending six months without her friends.
"Besides, according to Boreadon and that stupid registry, I'm Maleficent's kid and only Maleficent's kid," Mal muttered. "Would you even be able to take me off the Isle?"
"Don't underestimate me Mali."
There was no way she would allow Mal to be alone with Maleficent ever again. Persephone had already spent five years with that-she wasn't going to make Mal go through that again.
"I'm not. But I don't want you or dad getting in trouble either." Mal said with a small shrug.
Persephone sighed. "We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it," she said softly and Mal nodded slowly.
They were silent for a few minutes before Mal spoke up again.
"When will the baby be here?"
"Around September sweetie," Persephone said with a smile.
"Oh. So they won't be here right away?"
"No honey. We'll all have some time to adjust to the idea," Persephone said gently.
Mal nodded. "Will they have magic like me?"
"Yep," Persephone said with a chuckle. "You can teach them. You two will be giving your father and I grey hairs in no time."
"Cool!" Mal grinned but the grin faltered as she paused and tilted her head. "But wait, can Gods get grey hairs?"
Persephone chuckled. "Not literally but it'll certainly feel like it."
"This'll be fun!" Mal said with a small smile starting to form at the thought. "Me and my sister!"
Persephone couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "We don't know that for sure, Mal—"
"Nope! They're a girl! I want them to be a girl!" Mal insisted, grinning from ear to ear.
"Well we won't know until they're born. They could be a boy."
"Nope! And I shall call her Haille," Mal said, the grin never leaving her face.
Persephone once again couldn't help but chuckle. "You'll have to take it up with the baby sweetie."
"But it fits! It's an 'H' for dad and then her nickname could be 'Hail' which ties to you, you know weather yada yada."
"And dear, what if they're a boy?" Persephone asked. "We can't control their gender after all."
Mal went silent for a minute before speaking. "We'll see," she said softly. After all, Harry had sisters. Why wouldn't Mal?
"Well brother or sister, we're all looking forward to their arrival," Persephone said with a soft smile.
Mal nodded with a small smile.
"Come on, let's go get the nursery ready," Persephone said. While there was plenty of time before the baby came, Persephone knew that most of her time was going to be spent in Auradon. With Hades running the Underworld and being a dad to Mal, the last thing Persephone wanted to do was put anymore stress on her husband.
"Can I veto pink?" Mal asked with a grin as she hurried after Persephone. "Just no! My sister is not going to be a prissy princess!"
Persephone chuckled. "Of course! I was thinking maybe blue since that's your father's color with a bit of another color to accent it. What color would you like Mali?"
Mal bit her lip as she thought. "What about yellow? Or red? It goes with blue and it sort of represents you and dad. Plus, if for some reason she's not a girl, it'll still work."
Persephone couldn't help but smile at that, and made a mental note to get some art books for Mal the next time she was in Auradon. "I like red," she said. "Because red and blue also make purple, so that way the baby can also know that their big sister is around too."
Mal couldn't help but smile slightly at that.
"I can't wait to meet her," Mal said softly.
"I'm very glad to hear that sweetie," Persephone said gently. It was nice to know that Mal wasn't jealous or thought that they were replacing her with the new baby. It was like she knew she would always be their child—no matter what.
"Steph?" Mal asked with a small grin. "Can I tell Uma, Harry and Jay that I'm going to get a baby sister?"
"If you'd like," Persephone said with a smile.
"Yeah," Mal nodded her head. "Uma should know she's getting a new cousin anyway!"
Persephone smiled. Mal had told them that she had told her gang about her being Hades' daughter and thus, Uma had been around a lot more. While Hades had been a little hesitant at first, it had been nice to see him developing something of a relationship with his great niece.
They needed all the family they could get on the Isle.
"Come on, let's get the nursery ready and then you can meet up with your friends," Persephone said and Mal grinned.
"What are we waiting for?"
Persephone chuckled as they headed off to one of the spare rooms that was close to the master bedroom. Hades had already set up Mal's old crib and chest of drawers; having refused to have Persephone do any heavy lifting while she was pregnant.
"Hades, dear, I can do that. Or at least help."
"Nonsense. I don't want you getting hurt Steph. Besides, it's almost in position."
"Hades, you know nothing's going to happen to the baby right now if I do any heavy lifting and it might be better for you if you had help."
"Steph, Mal's off at school and Virgil's nine. I'm not asking a nine year old to help set up a nursery."
"Even if it's for their cousin?"
"Have we officially figured out whether or not that's the case?"
"Hades, the way you've been acting toward Virgil, he's practically family already. Does it matter if it's official or not?"
Hades sighed as he pushed the chest of drawers into position. "No of course not. But regardless, I'm not asking a nine year old for help with this Steph. That's my child in there, I'm going to do the work for the nursery. Just like I did with Mal."
"You know, I seem to remember you had Pain and Panic set up Mal's nursery. Or did you lie to me about that?"
"I had a three week old Mal in my arms. I trusted those two more with the nursery than I did with Mal and there was no one else here to watch Mal while I set up the nursery."
Persephone shook her head. "Hades, I was going to do this. You really didn't have to—"
"Hush. You're pregnant—I know you can still do things but you're just getting over the nausea fun part of your pregnancy. The last thing I want you to do is overexert yourself right away. Not when you're regaining your strength."
Persephone sighed. There was no arguing with him when he was like this. Plus, she hated to admit it but he had a point.
"I'll need to tell Mal," Persephone said, breaking the silence.
"She's six Steph. Do you really think she'll understand?"
"She understood when I told her about the agreement."
"If I remember correctly, she ran to her clubhouse when you told her you were leaving for Auradon."
Persephone sighed. "Yes well once I had the chance to explain the agreement between my mother, Zeus and King Beast, she seemed to understand."
"But this isn't an agreement Steph. You're telling Mal she's going to be a big sister."
"Believe it or not Hades, I'm aware of that. But Mal's a smart kid, she'll know we're not replacing her."
"She may be a smart kid but she's a kid who's had Maleficent mess with her head for five years."
Hades had eventually agreed after Persephone had pointed out that there wasn't a way they could keep it a secret from Mal for long.
"You ready Steph?" Mal asked, holding up some of the paint Hades had worked with her to create. Before Persephone had brought the already full cans of spray paint for Mal, Hades had worked with her on creating her own. It hadn't been something Persephone generally approved of—Mal was too young to be working with those chemicals. But Hades had been with her every step of the way so it wasn't like Mal was in too much danger.
That being said, most of their attempts only produced regular paint since they had a hard time getting the paint into the empty spray paint bottles that came from Auradon. So they kept it in storage in buckets that came from Auradon.
"I'm ready Mali," Persephone said, grabbing a brush and dipping it in the paint. "I'll go high, you go low?"
Mal grinned and nodded. The two of them quickly got to work painting the room a middle of the road blue in terms of shade. Not too light as to be confused for an 'Auradon' color but not too dark that it would be too depressing for the Underworld. After all, with no natural sunlight, too dark a color would make the room feel cold and depressing.
Perfect for the Isle. Not so much for a nursery.
"Thinking back, it probably would have been a better idea to paint and then have your father bring in the furniture," Persephone noted after they finished. No one could accuse them of being professionals but it was done. The walls painted a nice, neutral shade of blue with the baseboards painted a dark red.
When I'm in Auradon, I'll pick up some red and blue fabric. Make a blanket for the baby, Persephone thought as she smiled slightly looking at the nursery.
"Steph? Can I go meet up with Jay, Uma and Harry?" Mal asked.
"Go ahead," Persephone said. "Just be home before dark okay?"
Mal nodded and ran off. In the distance, Persephone could hear Estelle running after her and couldn't help but smile. The bond between Mal and her dog was one that could not be replicated.
Looking back at the nursery, Persephone rubbed her stomach lightly; as if trying to reassure herself that her baby was still there.
I promise you, you'll be able to enjoy this nursery for as long as you'll need it. Nothing is going to happen to you. You have my word—and you'll soon find out that your mom keeps her promises. Besides, you'll have a sister and father who I know won't let anything happen to you in the months I'm off the Isle.
Speaking of which, her six months were coming up weren't they? She'd have to get ready.
Odds are when she came back, she'd be dangerously close to her due date. Gods help her, she couldn't help but hope the baby would be born on the Isle. As much as her child wouldn't deserve this life, at least they wouldn't be separated from their father and sister.