"Shush, be quiet, she's asleep," Is what roused Adora from her fitful rest. She kept her eyes closed but was unfortunate enough to be woken by the voices. "If she's anything like your son, she'll be comatose until somebody physically wakes her up," A new voice said. "Somehow I doubt that, just a tad. When they were newborns, it was clear as the day was long that they were different," Adora recognised the last voice as her mom. Wow... she finally had a mom to call mom. She shifted in the bed, rolling onto her side for comfort. The stitches from the surgery had healed a little quicker thanks to some of She-Ra's power, and she was aiming to be out of the infirmary within the next day.

"Nevertheless. It's not me who is making the noise," The first voice said. "Come now, child. And shush, for all that's holy," Her mom hissed. Heavy footsteps answered her call, stumbling unevenly into the room. "Ugh, my nose hurts," The man moaned. Adora moved her head to the cooler part of the pillow. "Adam, shut the hell up," The first voice hissed. Something slapped. Adam yelped. "Teela, that hurt," He whined. The first voice, now identified as Tella, scoffed. "Don't be a baby,"

Teela reminded Adora of Catra. They'd get along well if they met. Adora twisted again on the bed, chasing a certain type of comfort she'd not felt since she fell pregnant. She twisted wrong, pulling her stitches taught. An involuntary sharp gasp left her lips. A pair of feet rushed over. "Lay still, Adora, you're going to pull your stitches," She opened her eyes, blinking harshly against the bright lights of the room. "Mom?" She croaked. Or tried to. All that came out was "Mmm?" Marlena offered her a cup with a straw attached. "Drink slowly, otherwise you'll be sick," She said softly.

"Why isn't she like that with me!?" Adam whined. Adora felt a primal urge to stick her tongue out. "Because you're you, and she's her," Teela snorted. Adam gasped in fake upset. "Why do I put up with your bullying?" He asked. Adora continued drinking the water, distantly realising it was flavoured similar to the moonberries back on Etheria. "Because we make beautiful children," Teela chuckled. Adam suddenly hissed. "Beautiful kids that leave death traps for their idiot father to trip over and break his nose,"

Adora chuckled softly in her head. "You ok?" Marlena asked softly, pushing some hair out of her face. Adora leant into the touch. She hummed her approval. "You still look really tired, Adora. Why don't you get some more rest?" Adora let her neck relax against the pillows and her head lol a little. "Can't sleep in the day," She cleared her throat slightly. Marlena hummed. "I'm sure you could if you tried," Adora shook her head. "No... I've got too much to do," She pushed up the bed a little. "How's Vi?" She asked. Marlena smiled softly. "From what I've seen, she's fine. She's certainly energetic, isn't she?" Adora sighed heavily. "Don't I know it? Probably penance for how me and Catra were as kids," Marlena's eyes crinkled at the edges.

"You can talk to her, you know?" Adora pushed up a little further, sighing softly when she found the relief her lower back was craving. "I can't guarantee she won't bite," She teased. Marlena smiled widely. "I'd love to spend an afternoon with her then. Randor would too," Adora smiled back. "I'll talk to Catra about it,"

Her smile fell abruptly. She looked away and to the windows. "Adora, she's worried about you," Marlena said quietly. Adora sighed. "I know, I know. Does she even know where I am?" She turned, briefly locking eyes with Teela, the only other woman in the room. "I'm sure she does. But in any case, I shall arrange for a guard to bring her here if you'd like?" Merlana stroked some more of Adora's loose hair out of her face. Adora sighed softly. "Yeah, please. I- could you get her to bring Vi as well? I've missed her," Marlena nodded. "Of course," She put the empty water on the bedside. "Now, try and get some more sleep. You have bags the size of a bucket. You need the rest if you want to be out of here by tomorrow," Adora blinked in shock. "You talk in your sleep, darling,"

Oh. "I sleep fight as well, sometimes," She admitted. Marlena chuckled. "I know. I've seen it," Adora smiled softly as she rolled over slowly. "I'll try not to pull my stitches this time," She said quietly, already falling into the clutches of sleep again.

...

"Are you asleep?"

Adora kept her eyes shut. Yes. She wanted to say.

"Adora? Are you ignoring me? Or sleeping? I can't tell,"

Both.

"Must be asleep,"

Adora kept her eyes closed as she answered. "I was," She spoke. Adam yelped. "Teela! That isn't funny!" He glared into the room. Adora pushed up on the bed, resting her neck against the pillows, and her hands on her swollen belly. "I'm not Teela," She started. "And if this is what it's like to have a brother, I was fine on my own," Adam cackled. "Oh, you're- you're mean! Like that Cat partner of yours," Adora perked up despite herself. "Catra? You've seen her?" She pushed up further. "Yeah, she's been in here a few times with a blonde kid that looks like you and Mom," Adora rolled her eyes. "That's because she's my daughter," Adam's eyes widened. "No shit! I have a daughter too! How old is yours?"

Adora rested her head on the wall behind her as she regarded her brother. "She's five. If you ask her though, she's five and ten months," Adam chuckled. "My daughter's only two," Adora hummed. "Yeah, Vi was a bit of a surprise," She admitted. "I'd say. You were, what, seventeen when you had her?" Adora quirked a brow. "I was sixteen, but that's not what I was referring to," Adam whistled quietly. "Sixteen. What were you doing then? It was boring here when I was sixteen," Adora chuckled bitterly. "I was fighting a war," She paused. "Heavily pregnant and then with a newborn,"

"Well that's why you're boring, she got the cool genes," A voice spoke by the door. "You're rude to me. I should leave you," Adam said. Teela waltzed in. "Nah, you're way too disorganised, you'd die without me. And who'd make me Queen? I'm pretty sure your sister is already taken," Adora blinked in quick succession, realizing she was being spoken to. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I am. Been married for two years now," She smiled softly. "Where's the ring?" Adam asked, pulling Teela onto the bed. "Um... my fingers have swollen too much with the baby," She gestured. "So my wife is wearing them both,"

"Wait, wife!?" Adam exclaimed. "Is... is that not allowed here?" She asked. Teela rolled her eyes. "No, it's fine, but Adam is a dumbass. It's cute. I've seen your wife, the cat lady, right?" Adora nodded. "Yeah, she's cute. If I weren't straight, I'd marry her too," Teela's eyes narrowed slightly as she gave Adora a once over. "And you too. You're like... a hotter version of Adam," Adam began sputtering in outrage. Adora snorted loudly. "Well, thanks," Adora smiled softly. "Or, should I say, Adam's a version of you, seeing as you were born first," Teela snickered. Adora laughed softly and a little awkwardly. Adam huffed. "I dislike you both," Teela clipped his head with the back of her hand. "How's the nose?" She asked quietly. Adora reached for her tracker pad, pulling up the messages from Catra.

Bratcat ❤️ - 22:48: Hey, I know you're still asleep, but I hope you're ok. Message me when you wake up.
Bratcat ❤️ - 23:03: I'm sorry, baby. I thought it was for the best
Bratcat ❤️ - 23:59: I hope you're both ok... can you please message me?
Bratcat ❤️ - 00:10: Sorry to keep messaging you, I'm worried. You came out of surgery two days ago.
Bratcat ❤️ - 00:22: I love you.
Bratcat ❤️ - 13:06: Are you *still* asleep?
Bratcat ❤️ - 13:07: If you're ignoring me, that's fine. Vi wants to talk to you soon, so can you at least let me know for her?
Bratcat ❤️ - 17:04: Adora, please, I'm sorry.
Bratcat ❤️ - 19:08: Fine. You still need time. Just... your mom came to me about seeing you today, and Violet misses you. Just let me know when you're up for seeing her.

Adora huffed as she put the tracker pad down. "God, what a mess," She mumbled into her hands. "What's up?" Adora glanced back up, meeting the eyes of her younger brother. "My wife. We argued before..." She paused, gesturing to her swollen belly. "I ended up here," The baby kicked beneath Adora's hand as she smiled softly, rubbing the tight skin gently. "How did you end up here?" Adam asked. It was then, Adora noticed, that Teela had left. "Where's your wife?" She asked. Adam flushed bright red. "She's my girlfriend... um... but she's also Captain of the Royal Guard. So she works a lot," Adora huffed softly. "I get that. My wife and I are the Generals of our army," She paused. "Well... Catra's taken over my physical role until I have the baby. Then I'll be back," Adam hummed. "Cool. I would be, but I'm He-Man and a dad. I'm always busy," Adora raised her eyebrow. "And? I'm She-Ra and a pregnant mom to a toddler. I manage just fine," Adam's eyes widened. "Wait, She-Ra's still alive?"

Adora touched her body theatrically. "Um, I'm gonna go with yes," Adam rolled his eyes. "Well, we all thought her spirit had died. We called it the Great Disturbance. A huge power vacuum was detected by The Sorceress, four or so years ago. She determined that it was She-Ra's spirit being vanquished," Adora quirked her brow. "I mean... I broke the sword to save my planet four years ago? I didn't have She-Ra for a few months after that,"

She held out her fist and watched it glow as golden tendrils floated around her hand, soft and gentle, illuminating her body. She caught Adam's eye abruptly. "That's so cool!" He exclaimed. "I can't do that!" He moaned. Adora unclenched her hand and let it fall to her side. "It's cool that I can summon her when I want," She admitted. "Do it!" Adam begged. Adora glanced around. "I don't know if I'm allowed," She said. "Nobody cares! Do it!" Adora sighed softly. "I'll summon the sword, but that's it," She paused and extended her hand away from her body. She strained for the magic, reaching deep inside, awakening the body she'd not used in over five months... not willingly at least.

The sword buzzed into her hand, materlizing within a flash of golden bars. It shling(!)ed into existence, settling softly in her hand. Adam gaped. "That's amazing!" He stood up slowly and walked over. Adora extended it over. "You can hold it," She said, settling back against the pillows, exhaustion settling into her bones. Adam grabbed the sword and swung it experimentally. "It's nice. It's heavier than I was expecting," He admitted, looking over the intricacies of the handle. "Yeah, well, my She-Ra is stronger than the old one," Adora boasted a little. Adam's wide eyes slid to hers. She immediately shook her head. "Nope. I'm not being She-Ra until I've had the baby,"

Adam sagged. "Why not?" He whined. Adora shifted on the bed, wincing slightly when her stitches were pulled taut. "I'm... having problems," She hesitated. Adam swung her sword again. "Like?" He feigned a jab into the air. Adora sighed softly. "Do you know about the Heart of Etheria?"

Those words did mean something to Adam. He gasped softly, jolting to face her. Adora willed the sword away as she sat up on the bed. Adam sat on the free space. The bed sagged in his direction. "I... I read about it once, in a forbidden book. Bbecause Etheria was pulled through to Despondos, the Heart was written off as a failed experiment," Adora touched her chest, lighting up the Failsafe. Adam peered in close. "What's that?" His hand moved closer. "I-I can feel something from it," Adora nodded. "It's a Failsafe. It was made by Mara and her rebels in case the Heart ever went nuclear..." She paused, clentching her teeth. "Only She-Ra was strong enough to bare the Failsafe," Adam narrowed his eyes curiously. "What did you do?"

Adora swallowed back the anxiety. "I had to absorb the magic... all one thousand plus years of it," She wrapped her arms around herself tightly, bringing her knees up as far as she could. Adam hummed. "What happened?" He asked. Adora picked at her cuticals. "A lot... Catra would be able to tell it better," She said quietly. "I... I wasn't conscious for a lot of it," The memories of the Heart were vague. She could only remember blinding pain and Catra's arms around her body.

And her wish...
but that'd probably never happen.

Adam huffed. "Yeah... seems there's always some kind of destiny or trouble for us, huh?" Adora hummed. "Yup," She touched the Failsafe again, watching sadly as it glitched. Adam noticed. "Should it be doing that?" He asked. Adora shook her head. "No... something's wrong with my magic... I- I have too much, and it's causing problems," She let her head fall back against the high-stack of pillows. She gestured to her stomach. "The only reason I'm not dead from blood loss is because of it though, so..." She shrugged. "With every cloud,"

Adam's eyes were wide. "With every cloud?!" He mimcked in disbelief. "Adam, when you've been through what I have, yeah, blood loss is with every cloud," Adora knew her tone was clipped, but she was tired and fed up. Adam's eyes changed. Adora was too tired to work out why. She sighed heavily. "Look, can we talk some more later? Violet's coming in later and I'm fucking exhausted," She turned on her side, facing the window. Adam was quiet for a moment. "Sure..." He said quietly. "Just..." Adora craned her head to listen. "Nothing. G'night,"

...

Catra walked in with Violet around six pm. Why so late? Well, when Adora inevitably grew too tired to maintain her facade to their daughter, Catra could whisk her away and claim bedtime. It'd worked before for the pair of them. It worked when Catra had her appendix out, and it worked when Adora had the flu. When she walked in, there was a guy on one bed, snoring softly, a woman in the chair to his left, and Adora asleep on the other bed. She looked paler, but slightly bigger. Maybe that was just Catra's shitty eyesight. She'd not really seen Adora in over a week. In fact, it'd been eleven days. She was bound to have grown.

And she had.

Violet giggled as she ran over, climbing in the chair by Adora's side. "Don't wake mommy up, Vi-Vi," Catra said gently. "I won't!" Violet answered with a grin. "I done dis 'for," She clambered onto the bed, into the curl of Adora's legs and resting her head on her thigh. Adora sighed softly in her sleep, moving over and absently reaching around to hold Violet. She immediately closed her eyes, snuggling into her mom with sliding eyes.

"She's cute,"

Catra turned to the woman in the chair. She dropped onto the chair and crossed her legs. "She is," She agreed. The woman smiled softly. "I'm Teela," She greeted. Catra nodded in greeting. "Catra," She fiddled with the wedding bands on her finger. "I'm-"

"-Adora's wife, I know," Teela interrupted. Catra sat up a little straighter. "She talks about you a lot," Teela's gaze flicked over. "Yeah? I'm sure she bitched about how horrible and evil I am," She mumbled. Teela shook her head. "Quite the opposite. She made my boyfriend jealous, so thanks for that," Catra snorted. "I don't control what comes out of her mouth," She defended. Teela raised her eyebrow. Catra raised hers. "In any case," Teela paused. "She loves you. So, you need to talk through whatever's going on," Catra hummed. "Well, she's asleep right now, so…"

Teela nodded to the bed. "You sure?" She asked. Catra turned to meet the steely blue/grey gaze of her wife. "Hey," She said quietly. "Hi," Adora said equally as quiet. She yawned as she rolled onto her other side. Violet hummed in her sleep, reaching out for Adora, who manipulated her around the (now) five and a half month bump. Violet curled into it, resting her head on the top by Adora's chest, and curling her knees around the belly so her feet came to Adora's knees.

"Did she wake you?" Catra asked. Adora yawned again as she rubbed her eyes. "No. I wasn't really asleep," She said. Catra pointed to her sunken eyes. "Yeah, I beg to differ," Adora groaned softly. "Fine, yes, she woke me," She admitted. "But it's fine. That was my second sleep of the day, and I missed her," Adora wrapped her arms around Violet as she shut her eyes, breathing in deeply.

Catra didn't speak. Adora finally lifted her head after a few moments, resting her chin atop of Violet's head. "So…" Adora began. Catra slumped in the chair. "So…" She echoed. Adora sighed quietly. "Look, I'm sorry… I- I was bang out of order, it wasn't your fault," She said. Catra opened her mouth to continue, but Adora interrupted. "Marlena explained it to me. How… how you didn't make them wait the whole week," Catra bit her lip as she listened. She hadn't explicitly told Marlena to wait, but she hadn't not said it either. "I- I know it's not an excuse, but I'm sorry I didn't listen first," Catra shook her head. "No. Well, yeah, you were an ass, but I was wrong for not telling you sooner," She argued back. "I should've showed you the letter when I first saw it,"

Adora hummed, shutting her eyes again as she pulled Violet in tighter. "I'm sorry," She mumbled after a while of silence. Catra reached over to hold her hand. She linked their fingers together with a soft sigh. Adora opened her eyes again. "So am I," Catra finally broke. She brought Adora's hand up to her mouth, kissing her knuckles. "I've missed you," She said quietly. With her free hand, Catra caressed Adora's swollen belly, happily housing their growing arrival. "Both of you," She added. "Have you been ok?" She asked. Adora sighed quietly. "I've not had any more bleeding, if that's what you're asking. The surgeon stitched me all up, so I should be ok come tomorrow," Catra looked at her chest. "How come that's glowing?" She gestured to the Failsafe. Adora's fingers brushed over it with a soft wince as her brows drew together.

"I was talking to Adam about the Heart and pointed. It's glowed ever since," Catra reached over, running her finger across it. Adora's chest curved inward, away from her finger, as she hissed. "Wait, it hurts?" Catra's mind began running a thousand miles a minute. Adora's brow remained firmly pulled together in pain. "Kinda… it stings rather than hurts, like a paper cut," She supplied. Catra hummed lowly. "I wouldn't worry. Once I'm all healed up and can walk again, the doctors want me to see some woman called the Sorceress. Apparently she's well versed in She-Ra…" Adora trailed off. "I'm assuming she dealt with Mara too,"

Something heavy settled in the room. Catra put her hand back on the bump and caressed it with her thumb. The baby kicked beneath her palm, stretching her lips into a smile. "Well, we'll deal with it," She bent down, kissing Violet on the head. She smiled softly in her sleep, quickly going back to drooling onto the baby bump. "We always do," She moved to encase Adora's lips for the first time in over a week. Adora hummed softly, reaching up to cup her face. She pulled apart, resting her forehead against Catra's. It threw her back to five years ago, when the Heart had been destroyed and they'd stood like this by the cliff-side.

"Come in," Adora suddenly mumbled. "Huh?" Adora giggled. "I'll move over, you can come in behind Vi," Before Catra could protest, Adora had moved to the edge of the (rather large) hospital bed. Violet grumbled as she was moved, but she thankfully didn't wake up. Catra kicked off her shoes and slid into the bed, pulling over the red blanket that Adora gave Violet. "My perfect little family," She mumbled into her daughter's red/blonde hair.