In the early mornings of Garreg Mach Monastery, there was a peaceful tranquility in the air. The birds outside were singing their songs, the little critters were scurrying about the grounds, and the knights were doing their patrols. It was a peaceful morning.

Until a very disgusting sound ruined said morning as the birds flew away.

"HUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Byleth was kneeling over a bucket in her room as she emptied her stomach contents into it before collapsing on the ground, groaning loudly and keeping her head on the floor. "I feel empty… but I'm still throwing up…"

'Yes, it's certainly a curious subject, isn't it?' Sothis said, floating next to her and wrinkling her nose in disgust at the contents. 'I'm just as stumped as you are. Perhaps there's just an illness flying about? It may be wise just to take the day off.'

She was about to reply when she heard a knock on her door. It was Shamir. "Byleth, may I come in? I heard noises coming from your room."

"…Yes, but I do look like a wreck."

Shamir from outside, rolled her eyes and walked inside before gasping at the sight before her. "Woah, you weren't kidding. You look terrible."

Byleth was half dressed and currently laying next to the bucket she was throwing up in for the past hour. It looked like she was getting ready for the day when the sickness hit her. Shamir knelt down next to her and rubbed her back. "The hell in Fódlan happened to you?"

"I don't know… Shamir, could you get my dad for me?" Byleth weakly replied trying to breathe deeply and quell the twisting and churning of her stomach. "I need him right now…"

"Of course. I'll get you some water as well." Shamir said, leaving the room and closing the door behind her as Sothis carried on rubbing Byleth's back. Well, as best she could as there wasn't much that she could do as a spirit.

'I'm struggling to find a reason for this. You were fine yesterday, were you not? You trained and tutored the other students. It just doesn't make sense for this to pop up out of the blue.'

"Kid! I heard you were sick. You okay?"

Byleth slowly looked up and saw Jeralt kneeling before her, with worry in his eyes. She was about to respond when her own eyes widened as the feeling came back.

"Oh no… not again… I don't want to do it again…"

She quickly put her head in the bucket and started to throw up again. She wasn't sure how there was still something left to come out, but she managed to surprise herself with that. Shamir, finding a way to help, held her hair up so it wouldn't get messy. No need to make her day even worse than it already is.

"I don't think I can do anything today… I feel terrible." Byleth groaned into the bucket as Jeralt sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I think it's best if you take the day off and just rest. I'll let Seteth and the others know that you won't be in today and that you're feeling under the weather. I'll also arrange for Manuela to check up on you and see if she can get to the bottom of this."

He then motioned for her to get on the bed and just watched her flop onto it. "There anything that you want? Maybe something to ease your stomach?"

"…Tea. I want tea."

"I'll take care of that." Shamir replied and walked out the door. "I'll keep an eye on her today, and let you know if anything has happened."

Jeralt nodded and had a smile on his face while looking at the Mercenary. "Thank you Shamir. Right, I'll see you later on, kid. Try not to push yourself too much."

"Trying…" Byleth whimpered as she just laid on the bed, too queasy to move or even get out of her clothes. She just hoped it would end soon.

"That's strange…" Edelgard muttered to herself as she looked around in the classroom and turned to Dimitri and Claude who were sitting next to her. "Do you find it odd that Professor Byleth hasn't shown up yet? She's never late."

"Yeah, it's certainly strange." Claude commented with his arms behind his head. "She's usually here before us. Wonder if something happened."

"I'm sure she is just running late." Dimitri replied. "Even the most punctual person is allowed to have a off day. We're only human."

Suddenly, the door opened and everybody turned to see… Jeralt walking in and taking his spot on the podium. Needless to say, everybody was confused. And Jeralt seemed to have noticed this as he placed the textbooks on the podium.

"Right, you're probably wondering why I'm here and not Professor Byleth. Well, she's feeling under the weather today and can't make it to class. So I'll be covering for her until she's feeling better."

"Oh no!" Annette gasped. "That's terrible! Could we visit her later on to check on her?"

"That's probably not a good idea." Jeralt replied, shuffling the papers. "Not until we know what's wrong with her as it could be contagious. But don't worry, she'll be fine. Now if everybody can just turn to page… fifty four, we can get started."

Though everybody in the classroom was worried for Byleth. She was their favourite seminar teacher and so it was quite a blow to find out she won't be around for the foreseeable future.

They just hoped everything was okay with her.

"Right, where's my patient?" Manuela exclaimed, opening the doors to Byleth's room and seeing her drinking tea with Shamir who had returned to the room to keep her company after informing Manuela of her illness. Byleth was currently sitting on the bed and was looking a lot better after drinking some tea to soothe her stomach.

"Hello, Manuela. I'm sorry that I took you out of your day."

"Nonsense! You're ill and I'm doing my job!" Manuela replied and ordered Byleth to stand up. After putting her cup down on the night stand, she obliged and Manuela looked at Shamir. "Would you give us some privacy? Just doctor to patient is all."

"Understood." Shamir nodded and picked up the pot. "I'll need to get more tea, she drank most of the pot."

"Really? Wow, I knew you like tea but…" Manuela shook her head to clear that thought away and looked at Shamir leave the room and shut the door before turning back to Byleth.

"Okay, it's just us. Can you open your mouth and stick out your tongue?" Manuela asked as she focused a little magic onto the tip of her finger to act as a flashlight and shined it into the blue haired girls mouth and peered inside to check for any signs of infection or anything out of the ordinary.

But nothing. She was completely fine. "Hm. Strange. You don't have any signs of that…" Manuela moved on to feeling her forehead and her neck to see if there was a fever. Yet again, nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting case, I must admit…"

Byleth shuffled in her spot to try and get comfortable and watched Manuela take out a clipboard and a feather and going to her desk to write on it. "Are you able to answer some questions for me?"

"Of course. Anything to find out what is wrong with me."

Sothis however, was staying silent as she assessed the situation herself, trying to think of any reasons or causes.

"Fantastic." Manuela smiled and dipped the feather in the ink. "Have you eaten anything unusual in the past few days?"

Anything unusual? Byleth couldn't think of a single dish she had that was unusual. So she shook her head in response.

But Sothis was another story. She remembered the unusual food combinations Byleth had gotten this past week. Not to mention she used to love rabbit but now, the smell alone made her nauseous.

"Okay, have you been feeling anything that's not normal? Pains, exhaustion, that sort of thing?"

"Oh yes, lately it's been difficult to sleep and get out of bed. It doesn't help that… I've been needing to go to the bathroom a lot more."

"Oh?" Manuela mused and scribbled down more notes. "Could be diabetes… any pains at all?"

Byleth purses her lips in thought. Pains? Oh yes! There were a couple she could think of. "Well, lately I've been having cramps in my lower abdomen."

Manuela stopped scribbling notes and froze in place after hearing that. This was starting to sound VERY familiar. "U-Ummmm… next question… have you… missed any periods?"

…

…

…

Both Byleth and Sothis stared slackjawed at that question as everything fell into place. It had been a while since Byleth had her period last.

'Oh my, me.' Sothis whispered as the leading possibility of Byleth's condition came forth.

Pregnancy.

"N-N-N-Now, let's not be too hasty!" Manuela said, standing up to try and calm down Byleth who was starting to feel overwhelmed. "Just to be doubly sure, I'll go and grab a pregnancy potion from my office. J-Just stay there, understand? I'll be right back!"

Byleth waited for her to leave and once the door closed, went into full on panic mode, pacing about the room.

"A baby?! I can't have a baby! I'm only… well, I don't know my age but I know I'm too young for a baby!"

Sothis just watched Byleth walk about the room, grabbing at her hair and starting to hyperventilate. "What will my father think? That I'm just a two gold whore for being knocked up by some guy I just met?! Oh no, what will the students think?! They wouldn't be able to look at me the same way and… and… and…"

'Byleth, breathe!' Sothis said as she took her hands into the panicking woman's and told her to breathe in. Which Byleth did and inhaled a big breath. She kept her eyes on Sothis still holding it in before the Goddess nodded and watched her exhale slowly. 'Okay… have you gathered your senses?'

"…Yes."

'Good.' Sothis gave a small smile before making eye contact with her host. 'Now, I know you're scared. But let's wait until we take the test before we start jumping to conclusions. You never know, it might all just be a coincidence.'

Byleth was not sure if Sothis was trying to convince herself that this wasn't real than trying to put her mind at ease, but she appreciated the words regardless. A moment later, Manuela came in holding a jar containing a clear liquid.

"Ugh, it was a pain to find one of these. Apparently somebody raided my cupboards last night and moved everything around. But… we have one now."

"So… how does it work?" Byleth asked as Manuela handed her the jar before explaining.

"Basically, you pee into the jar and cover it with cloth. The liquid looks for a certain hormone you produce if you are pregnant. So if the hormone is there, the liquid will turn pink and it will confirm you are with child. But if it can't find anything, then it will turn blue. Oh, and it will take it a few minutes before changing colour. It also needs darkness to get the best results so that's why you cover it with some cloth."

She then walked to the door and smiled. "I will give you some privacy. Just let me know when you're done."

The door once again shut, leaving Byleth alone with the Goddess in her head, who was looking at the jar with interest. 'Fascinating. So you just pee in a jar and that's how you find out? In my day, we didn't really have that you just… had to find out.'

"Umm… Sothis?"

Sothis was confused hearing her name being called and looked to see Byleth averting her gaze. Then it clicked. 'Oh! Right. Of course, I'll give you some privacy. Just pretend I'm not here.' She then floated over to a wall and pretended to be very interested in the wood that was used to make it. Though she made a face when she heard… that noise.

Sometimes it really sucked being connected to a person. This was definitely one of those times. And the other times she couldn't leave had led to a situation which is now the reason that they are here now.

"Okay… you can turn around now."

The Goddess floated back over just as Byleth draped a wash cloth over the jar and covered it entirely. "Umm… Manuela? You can come in."

"Very good." Manuela said from outside before walking in and looked at the object being covered and nodded to herself. "Now all we have to do is wait."

It was a very tense atmosphere in the room as seconds felt like an eternity as Byleth just stared at the covered jar and wondered what it was going to be. She hoped it would be negative… right?

She had to be honest, she never really gave kids much of a thought. Sure, she played with kids in the villages she visited as a Mercenary. But other than that, she honestly never considered the possibility of motherhood.

Sure, it would be scary. But… isn't life scary? Would it be so bad?

"It's time."

Her breath caught in her throat when Manuela said that and stared at the cloth covering the jar. Anxiety was creeping it's way into her mind as she wrung her hands together. "Can… can you do it?"

"My dear, I believe it is best that you do it. After all, it's your body."

Byleth slowly nodded and grabbed the cloth before taking in a deep breath. As did Manuela and Sothis before she tossed the cloth away to reveal….

Pink.

The liquid inside was pink.

Pink meant positive, right?

That meant…

"Well, congratulations Byleth. You're going to be a mother." Manuela laughed nervously as Sothis and Byleth just stared at the jar of pink liquid.

'Oh… my… me. You're pregnant.'

"I'm… pregnant."

But… she wasn't sad at all. In fact, Byleth's hands slowly drifted down to her belly and she held her hands there as her imagination went wild.

She imagined a nice house in Remire Village to raise the baby.

She imagined teaching it to hunt and fish.

She imagined sharing tea with the child as it grew older.

She imagined fishing trips with the child and her own dad.

It sounded… amazing.

A smile slowly crept its way up to her face as she rubbed her belly. "I'm pregnant."

Manuela was taken by surprise as Byleth hugged her tightly, laughing loudly in joy. "I'm pregnant!"

And that's when Shamir came in holding a freshly made batch of tea and closed the door. "Did we manage to figure out-"

She saw the jar of pink liquid and Byleth's bright smile radiating the room as she rubbed her belly and put two and two together. Shamir just laughed in response. "Well then. That certainly explains it. And judging from your reaction, I take it that this is good news?"

"I'm going to be a mother!" Byleth exclaimed and hugged herself smiling widely. It was certainly a rare sight to see from the normally stoic woman. And it caused the two of them to also smile at this.

But then it all came crashing down as Byleth's eyes widened. "Oh no… how am I going to tell my dad? Oh, and the students too!"

"Not to mention you'll have to take time off." Manuela said, writing down notes. "After all, you're carrying precious cargo now and a Knight's Academy is not exactly the best place for an expecting mother."

"What?!" Byleth yelled. "I can't train or teach?!"

"You do know how pregnancy works, right?" Shamir asked. "From your mood swings to your cravings, not to mention your stomach getting bigger, you won't be able to do those regardless."

"In fact." Manuela continued. "It is best you spend your maternity leave somewhere where there's no stress. You can visit here of course, but is best for you and the baby that you are relaxed. Do you have a place?"

"Mmmm… I don't." Byleth admitted. "But… I'm sure dad can help me out. Oh Gods, I have to tell him. How do I tell him? Maybe I could keep it a secret?-"

"Byleth."

She looked towards Shamir who had placed a hand in her shoulder. "Just lay it down gently. Invite him to tea, and you can tell him then. I could even come with you if that'll make things easier."

"….No. it's best I do this alone. But thank you. Can you both please leave, so I can think on how to break it to him?"

"Of course." Manuela smiled, gathering her things. "We will need to inform the other Faculty Members too, so please come to me when you're ready and I'll help you."

"I won't say anything for now, but she's right." Shamir nodded. "The sooner they know, the better. Help yourself to the tea."

As the pair left, Byleth sat on her bed and rubbed her belly only to be face to face with Sothis.

'Well now, it seems that it all worked out in the end. You seem to be happy with this. How are you feeling?'

"I'm happy… but I'm also scared." Byleth admitted. "Will I be a good enough mother?"

'Nobody is perfect, Byleth. It's why we prepare as much as possible. And you're not alone. You have your father, the Faculty Members, the students. And you have me as well. You'll be fine.'

"…Thank you Sothis." Byleth smiled and the spirit smiled back. "I suppose you'll be an aunt now, won't you?"

Sothis' face flushed bright red at this but still kept that smile. 'Having the Goddess as an aunt. This baby certainly has a special family, don't they?'

"Yeah… they will." Byleth whispered, staring at the glass jar full of pink liquid and smiled again, before going to pour herself more tea.

She REALLY loved tea right now. Perhaps this would last all throughout her pregnancy?

She just had to find out.

I'm gonna be honest, I always had the idea of Byleth being pregnant for quite a while, but didn't have a solid plot.

Then I realised, why do I need a plot? It's just a collection of stories of her expecting to be a mother. So that'll be the case. It won't be long at all. Just her going through her pregnancy and eventually an epilogue after the 5 year timeskip.

So this is going to be a happy AU. Edelgard doesn't declare war, Dimitri isn't as mentally damaged, Rhea isn't as insane, and Sothis knows who she is. And everybody lives.

Also, I decided to avoid any shipping discourse, the father is just an unnamed character. It'll be Byleth as a single mother.

And lastly, she isn't the teacher of any houses. Jeralt leads the Black Eagles, so in this AU Byleth leads Seminars, at least before her pregnancy came about.

So yeah, tune in next time for when Jeralt gets the news.