"Doesn't that hurt?"

Gladio's question, when it came, was horrified and Prompto couldn't help but snicker. It'd been a few days since her blow up in the kitchen and she'd leveled out a lot since then. Apparently keeping all of your deepest darkest fears bottled up for months on end could really take a toll on you. Who knew?

Ever since, Ignis and Gladio had been near constant companions. Both of them still had their own tasks to do; Ignis was still taking calls from Lestallum what seemed hourly and Gladio was still going on runs with the other hunters. But they both stuck by her side as much as they were able, always volunteering to fetch whatever she needed, insisting that she stay off her feet. They'd taken to practically herding her whenever she ignored them and chose to walk on her own and she knew she'd be getting annoyed with it in the coming weeks, this nonstop hovering, but for now she found it endearing and just basked in it. Being able to see them all the time helped to remind her that they were really here. And while she still had moments when she wanted nothing more than to scream and punch them in the face still, it was getting easier.

They were working on it.

At the moment they were sitting outside, at the table by the camper once more. Prompto had her shirt - really, it was Cor's shirt, as hers had long since stopped fitting comfortably at this point - pulled up a bit so that her belly was out in the open air and her little one was visibly having a ball inside of her, if the constant shifting of her stomach was anything to go by.

She had to admit, from an outside prospective it probably looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie. She'd become desensitized to it, though, and could only feel relief and joy whenever she saw it, proof that her child was alive and well within her.

"Not really," she shrugged, even as she winced at a particularly intense jab that had her stomach bowing outwards. Gladio's eyes widened at the movement and he honestly looked seconds away from calling for Cor. She couldn't help but snicker at his panic. Hadn't he witnessed something like this before Iris was born? "Really, this is normal for them. I mean, yeah, pretty much every part of me is sore at this point but according to Eliana that's more due to the weight than anything. They're a little over two pounds, now, and it's resting right on my hips and spine. And the more they grow, the more they're shoving my insides around to make room."

Okay, so maybe that wasn't super comforting to hear, if the way the Shield went faintly green meant anything, but whatever. It was what it was and, when she wasn't getting frustrated at her body's limitations given her increasing girth and all the downsides that came with it, she'd more or less accepted it.

"Can you describe it?" Ignis asked, leaning forward in his seat in obvious interest, and just the question itself and how easily it came showed how much progress he'd made. The Ignis of a year ago would have asked it reluctantly, grudgingly, ashamed of the fact that he needed help with even something so simple. Now, he'd learned a lot of what he could and couldn't do and he'd made up for almost all of it in his own way. What couldn't be made up he'd learned to ask for, without shame or embarrassment.

"I'll do you one better," Prompto offered instead of voicing any of that. He let her grab hold of his hand, didn't resist at all as she pulled him forward so that she could place it against her tummy. As if sensing that all attention was on them, her little one chose that moment to kick out, and Ignis flinched in response, a sharp breath hissing through his teeth.

"Surely, that mustn't be comfortable for you," he said, arguing her earlier statement, even as his brows furrowed in concentration and his other hand came up to join the first, smoothing across her taught skin. It felt good, honestly, and so she did nothing to stop him, content to let him feel the baby move about.

"I never said it was comfortable," she snorted. Prompto didn't think she'd been truly comfortable in at least the last three months. "My ribs are shifting out, I can't lay on my back without feeling lightheaded, there's constant pressure on my back and my lungs. Eating means heartburn, not eating means nausea. My boobs have literally never been bigger and I hate it. Things are starting to leak. And don't even get me started on the whole fake contractions deal."

Here she paused and shrugged, more amused than anything as both men looked more and more uncomfortable with every word out of her mouth. Hey, she was living it, they could deal with listening to her complain a bit.

"But I'm not in pain. Sore, yeah, tired all the time, sure, but not in pain."

That, at least, seemed to console them. And if Gladio seemed half ill, half in awe when he took his turn stroking her belly? Well, she was nice enough not to call him out on it.

.

.

"Shiva's frozen tits, Blondie, it's been two months! You look like you swallowed a watermelon!"

"Hi, Aranea, it's so good to see you, I've been doing well, thanks for asking!"

The mercenary didn't even have the decency to look sheepish as she strode up to Prompto's side, only giving an unrepentant shrug, though Prompto wasn't surprised. Aranea had never really been one to regret her words, especially when they all knew they were true.

Didn't mean Prompto liked having it pointed out. She hadn't been this round since she was twelve and, yeah, she wasn't that chubby little kid anymore and pregnancy was way different than obesity, but it was hard to convince herself of that at times. Especially since literally none of her clothes fit anymore and she went around wearing t-shirts and sweatpants donated by the boys, more often than not.

Hey, she'd never claimed to be logical, alright? Far from it.

"It really is good to see you," she said after sighing. "And I wanted to thank you. Gladio said you were the one that got his ass in gear."

"Idiot shouldn't have needed it to begin with. Punching him felt good, though."

Prompto couldn't help but grin. She was well on her way to forgiving the both of them, true, but she'd never claimed not to be a little vindictive, either. "I'll bet. Gotta admit, I was a little jealous."

"I can hold him down so you can reach," the Dragoon offered, only half-joking. "Specs, too. Those two boys deserve a lot worse than that from you."

"Thanks," Prompto smiled, genuinely touched. She and Aranea may have been thrown together in Niflheim under chaotic and down-right weird circumstances but she couldn't help but be kind of glad for it, despite all the pain that she'd felt at the time. The other woman might be intense and stand-off-ish and more than a little awkward when it came to dealing with people she actually kind of cared about but she was also a good person, no matter how much she'd deny it. Prompto was glad she could call the other a friend. "Really. But... we're working on it. Maybe I'll take you up on it after I get this one out of me, so I can really put my all into it."

"Suit yourself. Speaking of faces you wanna punch, though, where is Specs anyway? Got a message for him from Lestallum. I swear, those idiots have been running around like headless chickatrice since he left."

"Oh! He's in the dinner, I think he was helping plan the next food run." Prompto winced, guilty. The only reason Iggy was still here was because of her and, if the way he'd been acting was any indication, the man had no plans to leave any time soon. Was that really okay, though? She wanted him here, definitely, and having him go would cut her deep but... Lestallum was one of the last true safe havens left in this world of theirs. There were probably hundreds if not thousands of people stuffed into their walls right now, all desperate to survive, and if things fell apart there all because she'd selfishly made Ignis stay here with her?

The guilt would eat her alive.

"Tch, I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, kid, but whatever it is you can knock it right the hell off," Aranea commanded, reaching forward to flick her in the forehead too quickly for Prompto to even react beyond a flinch. "Lestallum'll be fine. They wouldn't have made it this far if the loss of one guy could topple the whole thing. They're just being babies because now they've got to do all that work themselves instead of dumping it all on Speccy."

"You're right, I know, I'm just... being stupid."

Aranea snorted. "Like that's new. C'mon, let's go grab him. You look like you could use a break yourself."

The mercenary wasn't wrong. Prompto's feet and back had been twinging with increased ferocity over the last hour but she was determined to get these crates of curatives sorted. She couldn't do much, now-a-days, but she could and would do this.

"You go ahead. I'm almost done."

A sigh, seeming to come from the depths of Aranea's very soul. "Whatever, kid. Don't come cryin' to me when you've got three idiots on your case later."

With that, the Dragoon strode away in her usual abrupt manor without a single word of farewell. Prompto might see her again later, she might not, but either way she couldn't help but smile. It was kind of endearing, the way Aranea seemed to almost not know what to do with her. The other woman obviously cared, wouldn't check on Prompto as soon as she arrived in Hammerhead every time if she didn't, but it was clear that affection didn't come easy to her. That was okay, though.

Prompto tried to reign her attention back in towards the task at hand, but it seemed that no matter how stubborn she was, she might be doomed to failure in this instance as she felt her stomach begin to tighten uncomfortably. She'd been experiencing Braxton Hicks for long enough now that they didn't send her spiraling into a panic the way they first had but that didn't necessarily make them feel any better.

Most of the time she could power through it. More often then not they just felt like mild cramps and she'd experienced enough of those since puberty that they didn't really trip her up. Sometimes, though, like now, they'd feel just a little bit too much.

She gasped, grabbing hold of the crate in front of her, and cursed the fact that she hadn't thought to bring a chair over when she felt her knees wobble a little. The feeling didn't take long to pass but it left her feeling breathless and weak and ready for a nap. She knew if she tried making it back on her own, especially up the stairs to her room, she'd have three - maybe four, if Cindy wasn't too busy tinkering about in the garage - overprotective nannies breathing down her neck and waiting on her hand and foot for the rest of the day.

Groaning, she pulled out her phone. Still, she couldn't deny the thrill she felt every time someone on the other end answered.

.

.

The day - so much as there ever was a day, anymore - had started out fairly normal.

Prompto had woken early after a night of restless sleeping with the undeniable urge to pee. After that was taken care of, she'd waddled her way through dressing for the day in a pair of Cor's sweatpants and one of Gladio's shirts, though even that was beginning to stretch over her growing stomach. After, she swept her hair, now almost grown down to her hips, into a messy bun at the back of her head, too exhausted to put much more effort into it.

She made her slow and careful way down the stairs, thinking again about how she'd probably have to switch rooms with someone soon since she didn't see stairs continuing to be too possible for her in the near future, and into the kitchen, ready for a breakfast of oatmeal and maybe - maybe - she'd even allow herself a glass of milk.

What greeted her was a room full of tense and deathly silence.

Cor was standing in the corner by the stove, obviously having been in the middle of making his own meal, though it seemed to be completely forgotten now. Gladio was sitting so far forward in his chair that she was actually a little surprised he hadn't fallen out of it, yet, and Ignis was holding his phone to his ear hard enough that his knuckles were turning white.

"And you're sure? You're absolutely sure?" He was asking whoever was on the line, sounding more desperate than she'd heard him in a long time.

"What's going on?" She asked, and the anxious feeling in her gut only grew when no one even seemed to react. "What's happening?"

"And how far out are you? I see. We'll await you here at Hammerhead."

The phone was summarily placed on the table, face down, like even blind Ignis couldn't risk the chance of looking at it. Complete silence descended and Prompto was honestly seconds away from either throwing the fit of the ages or falling into a panic attack when Ignis took a bracing breath.

"That was one of the hunters who went on today's run, Agoston. He said they... found something unexpected out at Galdin. Someone."

"A survivor?" Prompto asked, more than a little surprised. "After all this time? Galdin was one of the worst places hit."

"Not... exactly." Ignis' words were choppy, like he was forcing them out, and Prompto was becoming more and more confused. What could possibly have happened to make him act like this? To have Cor standing so straight he looked seconds away from putting his fist to his chest and standing at attention? To have Gladio look ready to burst out his own skin? "He was wandering the road nearby, making his way here already. They weren't certain at first but... he said his name was..."

"Said what? Seriously, what the hell is going on?!" She snapped, finally at the end of her patience.

"He said his name was Noctis. He said his name was Noctis Lucis Caelum."

.

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A/N: :D

See ya next week!