As Prompto went into her sixth month, things around Hammerhead became... tense.

It was obvious the Hunters knew something big had happened and, to absolutely no surprise from her, word of her confrontation had spread until everyone knew about it, even those who didn't actually live there. Hell, she wouldn't have been shocked if Aranea showed up any day now, laughing her ass off and offering her a high five.

As embarrassing as it was, the general consensus seemed to be that Gladio was the dad and that she was pissed because he'd walked out on her. And it wasn't like she could really go out of her way to correct them, since only a select few could know about her and Noctis. The safety of her child far outweighed any pride she might have, no matter how frustrated it made her to hold her tongue.

So, she'd taken to avoiding HQ as often as possible and not just so she wouldn't accidentally run into her fellow Crowsguard. The last time she'd gone in there, she'd almost broken a few noses. So, best for all around if she steered clear for now.

It didn't help that Gladio had become a legend in his own right. Dude had definitely been busy the last few months. The way she heard it, it seemed like almost every hunter had a story of how he'd saved their lives or the life of one of their buddies. And apparently most of the civilians evacuated to Lestallum owed him their lives, too.

Which just pissed Prompto off more, even as it made her want to hug him tight. Because what was all that shit he'd spewed about not being a good enough shield? As if he'd ever stopped.

And then there was Ignis. The man honestly didn't do much around Hammerhead but wander, likely trying to get more of a bearing for his surroundings, and the few glimpses she'd caught of him ambling about with his cane tapping away honestly made her want to sit down and cry for a bit. It'd been almost a year since he'd lost his sight but that still didn't make it any easier to accept. And she didn't even know how well he was coping with it; wouldn't know unless she asked him and she still wasn't quite ready for that yet.

According to Cindy, the man's phone had been damn near ringing off the hook since he'd arrived and every convoy from Lestallum brought with it several messages pleading for his return. It didn't shock her that Ignis had somehow become the pseudo-leader of the city, nor that they seemed to be falling apart without him. And even from a distance she could see how it weighed on him, all that responsibility.

Still, he stayed, never even seemed to debate going back. Prompto would let him, if he chose to. She'd let Gladio leave, too. It'd hurt, she couldn't deny that, but times were both metaphorically and literally dark and the both of them were experts in their fields. She knew it was beyond selfish of her to keep them just waiting around in limbo like this, but...

"But nothin', hun," Cindy assured her when she brought it up one night during dinner. Prompto's eating habits had been flip-flopping a lot lately. Either she wanted to shove everything into her face or she was dreading the heartburn too much to eat a single bite. "Those boys know they done wrong by you, pregnant or not, an' they're makin' up for it the only way they know how. Gonna take a lot more than sittin' around a few days, I tell you what."

Prompto snorted, dropping her spoon. She'd managed a few bites, enough to satisfy any hunger, but beans were definitely not the best bet right now. Not that she could afford to be picky, these days. "Damn right about that. But... I do miss them. I just... I don't want to just cry at them, you know? And that's what I'd do if we talked now, I just know it."

"Oh, honey, you're gonna cry at them no matter what." Prompto had no idea how Cindy managed to look both full of pity and unsympathetic at once. "I know you're frustrated with it but it's just how it is. Those boys hurt you. An' the longer this goes on the more that hurt's gonna stew in you. Course, they can definitely stand to wait a bit more, take your time, now."

Prompto remembers back when she thought Cindy was nothing but a cheerfully benevolent grease monkey goddess. Now she knew the other to be extremely petty and vindictive when the situation called for it.

It warmed her heart right through to know that a slight against her called for it.

Still, the mechanic did have a point. The longer she put this off the wider the chasm between them all seemed to grow. She didn't want them out of her life. She wanted them to be here to hold her hand when she was lonely, to comfort her when the future became too scary, to reassure her during her many, many moments of uncertainty.

Prompto wanted to laugh with them again, to be with them again. They were her friends, her brothers, the only family she'd known since she was a teenager. Hell, maybe they were the only family she'd ever really known. And what they'd done had hurt, more than any lonely dinner in an empty house ever had as a child.

But she'd forgive them. She already knew in her heart that she would. And it honestly pissed her off a little because Cindy was also right. Waiting around a few days was a pretty weak way of atoning for months of hurt.

"I want to talk to them," Prompto told Cor the next night. Meeting in the kitchen in the middle of the night had kind of become a regular thing, as of late. The baby had her up at all hours of the night, having what felt like a dance party on her bladder, and if she was going to be up anyway she might as well be doing something useful. She didn't know if the Marshal had spent his time here before or if he'd started so that he could keep an eye on her but either way she appreciated the man's company. "Both of them."

"You sure?" He asked, barely looking up from the map on the table in front of him to raise an eyebrow at her. At her determined nod he just shrugged. "Whenever you want to, then. Just let me know."

Whenever she wanted to ended up being three days later after an emergency distress call pulled all available hunters, including a reluctant Gladio and Cor, out to Duscae. The group that came back was worn down and two short and Prompto had spent the rest of the day fretting over the Marshal, even though the man had probably been the safest out of all the hunters that'd gone.

She decided to meet with Gladio and Ignis the next day, after giving the Shield a chance to rest up a bit. Missions were getting more and more dangerous as more daemons seemed to spawn with each passing day. The two hunters that'd fallen during this outing hadn't been novices. They'd both had a rank of 8 and they'd both been in as tip top shape as anyone could be these days. And they'd still died.

Gladio could die any day. All it took was one accident. Hadn't this entire situation taught her that much?

So, no more putting it off.

That didn't exactly make her nerves any better. Prompto didn't know why she was suddenly so anxious about this, jiggling her knee as she sat waiting at Cindy's kitchen table. She felt like she was waiting to be called into the principal's office, which was stupid because she wasn't in trouble. If anyone was the principal in this scenario it was her!

And then the side door opened and Ignis was tapping his way through, Gladio's bulk a step behind, and she felt like she couldn't get a full breath, suddenly.

Not that she'd been able to for weeks anyway, but that was besides the point.

Because how long had it been since the three of them were in a room together? Gods, but it had been months. Actual months. The only proof she needed of that was to look at her own distended stomach.

She said nothing as Gladio helped Iggy take a seat, just observed them. Gladio looked rough, face bruised and lip split. There were bandages peaking out from beneath his sleeve but he didn't seem to be moving carefully so she hoped his injuries were minimal. Ignis looked like he hadn't slept once since the last time she'd seen him but, given the way Lestallum seemed to be caving in without him she wasn't super surprised. He'd always been one to run himself ragged when he was stressed. And if this wasn't a time of stress for everyone, she didn't know what was.

She could tell by the furrow in his brow that he was wishing he could observe her back, the way Gladio was. It had to be frustrating, going from being able to pick up on tells in an instant to not being able to see a damn thing. And she didn't know how he had coped, if he had coped, because she hadn't been there while he did. She had no idea if he'd retaught himself to pick up tells in other little ways, had no idea how he went about his daily life without sight, had no idea how he'd adjusted himself beyond what she'd seen in Gralea and the few fraught days they'd spent making their way back to Lucis.

Prompto had no idea if he'd completely changed. Had no idea if Gladio had changed.

Suddenly, sitting there before two men she would've called family just minutes ago, she felt like she didn't know them at all.

"Ah, fuck, kid," Gladio suddenly grimaced, looking like he was holding himself back from reaching for her.

"Is that...?" Ignis asked softly, seeming to lightly sniff at the air, and then, "Oh, Prompto."

And, yep, she hadn't even made it to the talking part and she was already crying. Godsdammit it all.

"Shut up," she blubbered, wiping angrily at her face. Was it too much to ask to keep her stupid emotions in check for like ten godsdamned minutes? "Shut up, it's fine, I'm fine!"

"No, you aren't," Ignis breathed, hand reaching across the table in search of her, and she'd never been one to deny his rare displays of affection, couldn't even now when she was so mad at him. He squeezed gently once he held her hand in his. "I don't think you've been okay for quite some time, dear one. And I am so sorry we've left you to carry it alone."

"And you were right," Gladio told her, eyes down in shame, and it wasn't even said grudgingly. "We might've been hurting but so were you. Maybe we had to go our separate ways to cope but we never should've just cut you off like that. I just... thinking of you and Iggy always leads back to thinking about him and... it was just easier to block it all out and focus on hunting. I took the easy way out, like a coward, and I will always be sorry for the way I hurt you because of it."

"It was so much easier to dedicate myself to organizing refugees than to contemplate Noctis' absence. And you, Prompto, you have always held his heart, from the moment he met you. As Gladio said, any thought of you invariably led back to him and... I admit that my weakness overcame my better judgement. While it is no excuse, and I would not blame you if you turned me away, know that I am prepared to do whatever it takes to apologize for my appalling actions. You are my friend and I should have never treated you as anything but. I am sorry."

And then, as one, they both stood and bowed their heads to her. And Prompto...

She'd never had anyone do this for her before. Her and Noct had had their disagreements, even a few fights back in high school where they'd go a few days without speaking. But Prompto was usually always the one to cave and apologize, not being able to stand the thought of not having him in her life, and the instant she did he'd always deflate and immediately begin insisting that he was the one in the wrong all along. They'd talk it out together, figure out what went wrong and if there was a middle ground, and then they'd move on.

Her parents had apologized a few times when she'd been younger, but it had always been followed up with some kind of statement about how they were only gone so much so they could provide for her, so they could make money to support her, and it wasn't like she could throw that back in their faces by complaining, right? No matter how much it might've hurt.

And, yeah, she'd always been quick, maybe too quick, to forgive any slight against her. She'd never held onto her anger for this long before and maybe that had driven home for them just how badly they'd hurt her. Or maybe they'd have done this anyway, even if she'd spoken to them days ago. Either way, here they both were, bowing their heads to her in apology, and she had absolutely no idea how to respond to it. And so she did the only thing she could.

She burst into more tears.

"Gods, you both are so fucking stupid!" She wailed, ignoring the way they both jerked like they'd been hit. "I'm glad you're sorry, I'm glad you know what you did wasn't right, but bowing isn't what I want from you! I want my friends back!"

Gladio shifted, lifting his head hesitantly, while Ignis stayed determinedly at a ninety-degree angle. She went on before either could say anything. She wasn't done yet.

"Do you know how scared I've been? This world is shit and I'm bringing a baby into it! Noct's baby! Heir to the Lucian throne! And I was alone, with no one, and I couldn't even talk to either of you, couldn't even get reassurance! I needed to know that if I had this child that they'd be safe, that they'd have people looking out for them, that it wouldn't be just me. Because I'm nothing, I've never been anything, I couldn't protect Noct, I couldn't even protect myself! I let that asshole capture me and Noct got sucked into that stupid fucking crystal and he never would've been there if it weren't for me! How the fuck am I supposed to look after his child when I'm the reason he's gone in the first place?!"

Prompto heaved for breath as stunned silence met her words, curling over her stomach like she could protect the life growing there by that action alone, and gods but did she wish it was that simple.

"I'll make a mistake, I know I will, I always do and I'm going to screw it all up! They'll get hurt, or worse, and it'll be all my fault and then Noct will be gone and our child will be gone and I'll have nothing left!"

"Alright, kid, I need you to breathe with me now," and there was Cor, suddenly cradling her face in his palms, and when had he gotten here? But she was sobbing too much to ask, too much to even try to follow his directions, and her chest hurt.

Because those fears had been circling in Prompto's brain since she'd seen those damning two pink lines and with every day that passed without word from Ignis or Gladio they'd only grown. Because the two obviously knew what a wreck Prompto was, given the way they'd dropped her like a hot potato, and they had to know her guilt in Noct's disappearance, too. He'd gone to the Keep for her and he'd never left it, even while she'd walked out of it under her own power. She'd led him there and then left him there.

She couldn't protect him, couldn't save him, even though she'd tried so hard to. And maybe he'd come back tomorrow, maybe he'd come back in a year, but maybe he wouldn't ever come back at all.

How was she supposed to raise their child knowing that? How was she supposed to hold them in her arms and know that their only line of protection in this new world of darkness was her, when she'd already screwed up so badly?

Having Cor around helped, lifted a weight from her shoulders, because Prompto wasn't dependable but the Marshal sure as fuck was. But he was still just one man, Immortal epitaph or no, and there was only so much he could do. Would it be enough to counteract her own inability?

Gladio was Noct's Shield, Ignis his Advisor, and she'd...

"I needed you! Please, I can't do this on my own, I can't do this with just me, I'll mess up, I need you to make sure I don't mess up! I need you to protect them because I can't, please, please, please."

"You have us," Ignis' voice promised solemnly, and though she couldn't see him at all because her eyes were so blurry, she knew the arm wrapping around her heaving shoulders belonged to him. "You'll always have us, from now until the end."

"We won't leave you again," and there was Gladio, his giants arms coming to hold her from her other side, his scruffy beard tickling as he laid his head against hers and held on tight. "Never again. I will do whatever it takes to make sure you and that kid are happy and healthy and safe."

And sitting in Cindy's kitchen in the arms of two men she'd been missing for six months, she wasn't sure how much she believed them. Wasn't sure how much trust she could put into their words, not after everything.

But breathing came a bit easier, all the same.

.

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A/N: Prompto needs all the hugs in the world and she needs them right NOW

This one's a bit late. I meant to post it last night after I got home from work but then I made the mistake of laying down in bed. And then I passed tf out for 10 hours oops

So, here we are! Better late than never!

Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed it! See ya next week!