Chapter Twenty Four
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everyone else belongs to Disney, the Greek Myths, or in Rea's case, LotusQuil.
Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates these past couple weeks. Unfortunately I had a family emergency that had to take precedence over writing but I think I'll be able to get back into writing. Though just as a reminder, I will be on vacation the first week of September so there'll likely be no updates then either.
Guys, can you believe we're 25 reviews away from 300? Thank you all so much for your continued support! I just hope you all continue to enjoy the fic! :D
Katt Kiki: So glad you liked it!
danifan3000: Not going to lie, you might have influenced part of this chapter lol!
OceanBlueSeaEyes: Oh Gods, I just realized I'm almost 30…at some point I will be the adultier adult!
Marcus Emrys: It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!
AmethystDragon14: Oh yay! Yeah it was certainly sweet wasn't it? And Harry's come a long way hasn't he? From calling CJ 'runt' to actually acknowledging her birthday! And the time has flown so much!
BAL4ever: Glad you liked it!
Bluebird: The kingdom'll likely know in this upcoming chapter!
twilightgirr587: Yeah a Godling would likely heal faster than a human but at the same time, when the Godling's the High Queen of your kingdom, I doubt the hospital staff would take any chances. Yep, Harry has learned well—don't anger the dragon!
IWantColouredRain: Possibly—or his mom having not miscarried when he was 3? Glad you liked the chapter!
Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
The day Mal had been looking forward to and dreading had finally arrived. It was the day that Stephanie and Maurice were officially discharged from the hospital and able to make their way home with their parents.
Of course, Mal had been looking forward to that as it was her children essentially getting a clean bill of health. A guarantee that there'd be no health scares in the future. Her kids would be fine.
However, she'd also been dreading it because it meant she'd have to deal with her worst enemy since becoming Queen. The media.
Dean, to his credit, had set up exclusive interviews with Snow White and Edward Darling; their television station and newspaper respectively had the reputations of being friendly to the Royal family. Plus it was a good way to get the twins acclimated to flashes going off around them.
Though even the most patient baby would get fussy with this lot, Mal thought as she stood outside the door of the hospital. Ben was holding their daughter while she had their son firmly in her arms. Honestly, while I know the kingdom getting an heir is exciting, did every single news corporation have to come out?
However, the news corporations weren't the only ones who'd come out to the hospital that day. Harry and Jay were stationed by the limo to ensure no one would mess with the kids and of course one of Ben's new hires for the guards was standing right next to Ben.
Ben had offered him the day off out of habit but Cameron Bubbles had refused, reminding Ben of what he had told him upon his hiring.
"Thank you all but your time for photos has ended," Cameron said, speaking just as Stephanie had begun to whimper slightly. "Let's let King Ben and Queen Mal get their children home and then, if they so choose, they'll contact you about possibly allowing for interviews and photos with the royal family."
"Remind me to give this guy a raise," Ben muttered into Mal's ear.
"See how nice it is to actually use your guards?" Mal muttered back to him. "Though I'm disappointed he didn't say the 'whole' royal family."
"That's because everyone and their mother knows that Estelle and Nyx are part of our family…and hey, we'll get to introduce them to the kids today."
Mal shook her head, more than a little amused. "Come on then, let's get these guys to the limo and then we can get them home."
Ben smiled and the two of them made their way through the throngs of reporters. Most of them were giving them a wide birth, though Ben did stop about halfway through to talk with one of them.
I've taught you well Ben, Mal thought as she noticed the person Ben was talking to was Edward Darling. He was probably one of the two most trusted media personalities for the royal family, Snow being the second. However she was with her own family, understandable with Emma being pregnant.
"…How's your family doing?" Mal heard Ben ask.
"They're doing well, sire," Edward said with a small smile. "Of course Wendy is more than looking forward to the fact that I'm working part time as opposed to the full schedule I had before. Granted anything was better than when I was off on the front lines but still, she likes it when I'm home."
"I've got a wife like that too," Ben said, looking over at Mal and giving her a smile.
"I'll let you get to the limo sire," Edward told him. "Congratulations again, Jane and Daniel send their congratulations as well."
"Tell them thank you and they didn't need to."
"They wanted to," Edward said and then seemed to melt into the crowd of reporters as Ben and Mal made their way to the awaiting limo at the end of the throng of reporters. Things were seemingly going well, what with the press obeying the cut off time for pictures and the only cameras rolling being those of the television media.
Yes, truly every member of the media was there that day.
Honestly, Mal thought as she reached the limo and smiled at both Jay and Harry who had stationed themselves by the door. You'd think I was the first woman to ever give birth.
Maurice cooed softly as she placed him in his carseat, making sure to buckle him up as tightly as possible without hurting him.
What happened? Mal thought as her head snapped up and fury filled her body at the sound of her daughter's terrified cry. Ben didn't look too pleased either as Jay and Harry quickly beat Cameron to the punch and pulled the photographer back. That damn Gazelle! Why were they even here?
"Shh, shh," Mal said softly as she forced her glowing eyes to dim as she looked at her son. Maurice had started to whimper as he heard his sister's cries. "It's alright little man, your sister's alright. Your papa's got her. It's okay, Maman's got you. Nothing bad's going to happen, I promise."
No matter how badly she waned to storm up to the photographer and break his camera, no matter how badly she wanted to murder the man who made her daughter cry…her kids mattered more. Besides, she wasn't sure if the Queen was able to murder anyone.
Well…the Queen might not be able to do it but she had people to do it for her…like Jay. Or Harry. Or even Uma if she was so inclined and not pregnant…oh the plans she could come up with.
"Get in the car," Mal muttered to Ben, keeping her voice low as to avoid being recorded by the press.
"On it," Ben nodded and quickly got Stephanie set up in her car seat.
"Is she alright?"
"I think she's just frightened. The flash probably startled her more than anything."
Mal grit her teeth as she worked to avoid snapping at the photographer, who was still in the process of being yelled at by Harry and Jay.
"Remind me to give them a raise," Ben said as they piled into the limo.
"They don't work for you," Mal reminded him.
"Oh…right.." Ben said with a small sigh before going back to trying to comfort his daughter.
Mal couldn't help but smile at the sight. "It's okay sweetheart," she said softly. "The mean man's gone, it's just maman, papa, and your brother here. You're okay, we promise."
Stephanie whimpered but calmed down slightly. At the very least, she wasn't crying at the top of her lungs.
"There we go," Mal said gently as she gave her daughter a small smile. "It's okay. We've got you."
"Think a song might help?" Ben asked.
"You know any?" Mal asked as she looked over at her husband. "I mean, mom and dad would sing us to sleep at times but singing wasn't exactly top on the Isle's lesson plan."
Ben nodded. "Chad's one of my closest friends, I think I've got something that might work."
"Then go ahead," Mal said.
"Thanks," Ben said with a small smile before clearing his throat. "Lavender's green dilly dilly, lavender's blue. If you love me dilly dilly, I will love you…"
Both kids seemed to quiet down at the sound of their father's voice, Maurice having been whimpering softly as he heard his sister's cries.
…We left Cameron behind didn't we? Mal thought as the realization hit. I hope he was able to get a ride with Jay and Harry because otherwise…well we'll just send a limo to pick him up. And give him a raise. And more time off.
The ride back to the castle was, thankfully, uneventful and soon the twins arrived safely home in their parents' arms.
"Welcome home," Mal whispered as they walked through the doors. "No matter how old you get, no matter who you love, this will always be your home."
"I can certainly agree with that," Ben nodded but paused as his little sister and little sister-in-law came running out of the side rooms. "Um Mal? Did we agree to baby sit today?"
"I don't think so," Mal shook her head. "Oi! Seedling! Bookworm!"
"We have names you know," Genevieve said but smiled as she ran over to Mal. "Besides, 'bookworm' isn't that creative of a nickname seeing as that could fit maman or BB too."
"Good point Geene," Mal said with a chuckle. "But what are you two doing here?"
"Mama and papa wanted to surprise you," Rea said with a smile. "But I couldn't wait to see the babies! They're here!"
"…I take it Estelle and Nyx weren't on baby sitting duties?"
"They're on the balcony sunbathing. I don't think mama and papa know Geene and me snuck out."
Mal sighed. "Okay, rule number one Rea. Do not worry mom. Unless you want to see uber-protective mom from now until you hit double digits?"
"I thought rule number one was never get into a land war in Asia?"
Mal blinked. "Okay so Hadie needs to stop reading you The Princess Bride for a bedtime story…and I take it he's not here since you were able to sneak out?"
"I go to the bathroom for one minute!"
"Ah there he is," Mal chuckled. "Come on, let's go get surprised."
The group made their way into the room that the young kids had previously vacated and Mal couldn't help but shake her head in amusement as people looked surprised that she wasn't surprised.
"You didn't think Geene and Rea running out of the room would ruin the 'surprise'?" Mal asked with a small chuckle. Though she was glad to see Cameron was there, however since Harry and Jay were also there it stood to reason that they'd been teleported back after the limo left the hospital. "Also…who surprises people bringing home infants?"
"People who know that it was either this or we all go and kill that photographer who startled Stephanie," Uma said, smiling at her cousin. "Which by the way, offer totally on the table."
"Ah if you weren't pregnant cuz," Mal said, shaking her head.
"That'll change in December, Mali," Uma reminded her. "But I guess there's no reason to plan revenge that I won't be able to implement in the far, far future. Let's see these guppies."
Mal snorted in amusement. "We'd like to present Stephanie Isabelle Hailey Le Bête and Maurice Benjamin Adam Le Bête."
"You don't have to use the stuffy talk Mali. It's just us," Harry said with a small chuckle.
"Yeah Mal, listen to his lordship," Hadie said with a small smirk.
Mal chuckled. "Is this revenge for all the times Harry used your title, Hadie?"
"Of course! Oh! Hey Harry, you know you and Gil have the same title?"
"Nice try little Lord but that won't get a rise out of me," Harry said, shaking his head.
"Because you know you and Gil are family too?"
Mal snorted. "Alright, alright, enough with trying to make the pirate angry around my newborns all right Storm Cloud?"
"Fine, fine," Hadie chuckled before smiling at the babies. "Hey there guys. I'm your Uncle Hadie. And I'm the cool uncle, I don't know what lies your Uncle Chip told you."
"Hey!"
"I only speak the truth Chip!"
Ben snorted softly as he adjusted Stephanie so that her head was better supported. "You two might just be insane, you know that?"
"Thank you Ben!" Chip and Hadie grinned.
"…And clearly you've spent too much time around Akiho and Emir to consider that a compliment," Ben said as he shook his head. "Stephanie, clearly your aunts are going to be the more sane members of your extended family."
"Ben, remember that our kids' aunts will include Uma," Mal said as Stephanie cooed softly. "Would you describe her as sane?"
"I'm in the room cuz!" Uma exclaimed.
"And my question still stands," Mal chuckled and shook her head softly as Persephone started to gently lead her toward an empty chair. "Mom, I'm fine. Besides, I need to call in Estelle!"
"You can do that while you're sitting though," Persephone said though she couldn't help but smile at her grandson as he somehow managed to knock off the hat he'd been given upon release from the hospital. She wasn't going to lie, a small part of her was happy that Maurice had inherited Mal's purple hair especially with how Stephanie seemed to be a near clone of Ben.
"She's right Mal," Ben nodded.
"Ben, you promised you'd stop being overly protective once the babies were born," Mal said, giving her husband a look.
"Mal, you just had birth two days ago. Godling or not, you'd still need to rest," Ben told her.
Mal sighed and shook her head before letting out a low whistle. A small yip could be heard and soon both Estelle and Nyx were trotting into the room.
"There you are boy," Mal smiled as Estelle plodded over to her. "Did you have fun in the sun?"
Estelle yipped though, and maybe it was Mal's imagination, it might have been a softer yip than Estelle normally gave.
"I have two very important people I want to introduce you two to," Mal told him. "These are your new pack members or I guess you'd call them my new pups. The one I have is Maurice."
Estelle came over and gently snuffled at Maurice, who, Mal noted, only cooed at the feeling of Estelle's noses on him.
"And the one Ben has is Stephanie, if you want to go say hello boy and give Nyx a chance to say hi to Maurice," Mal said and smiled as Ben crouched down to allow Estelle the chance to sniff Stephanie.
Estelle yipped softly and went to do just that. Thankfully, Stephanie reacted the same as her brother had; and Mal would take it to her grave but she was more than a little worried that Stephanie would cry again.
Not because she was afraid of Estelle but the camera incident was still fairly recent and Stephanie might have been a baby but she was also a Godling.
"Those two are probably the calmest babies I've ever seen," Hadie said softly as Nyx trotted over to snuffle at Stephanie as well.
"I maintain that they get it from Ben but he insists they get it from me," Mal chuckled.
"I dunno Mal," Hades said. "Last I checked, it wasn't your sunspot who would giggle when I'd yell at Pain and Panic. Not to mention, you hardly ever cried as a baby."
"Seriously?" Mal asked, looking at her father. He rarely talked about when she was a baby, though she understood why. Her being kidnapped by Maleficent's goons probably wasn't something her dad liked to relive.
"Yep," Hades nodded.
"Huh…" Mal said, looking slightly pleased.
Ben grinned. "Told you the kids took after you," he said.
"No one likes a know-it-all Benny," Uma called.
"Not true, Mal married one!" Ben called back to her.
Mal snorted and shook her head as the welcome home party continued, even allowing Maurice to be out of her arms while others held the babies. Mal couldn't help but smile at the sight of Carlos holding Stephanie. It was honestly hard to believe he came, especially with his graduation from Veterinary school in a few weeks.
"You didn't think I'd come?" Carlos asked, looking over at Mal as if he'd read her mind. "Mal, you and Uma and Harry and Jay gave me protection from the horrors of the Isle when we were kids. You and I were part of the Original Four. I'll always be there if you need me."
"Thanks Carlos," Mal said with a small smile. "Fair warning, you might be called on a lot. I think you might be the only vet in Auradon who won't run in fear from a Cerberus."
"Then I'll wear the title of 'exclusive vet of the Royal Family' with pride," Carlos told her, returning the smile.
Mal couldn't help but grin and sat back in her chair, Ben coming over and resting a hand on her shoulder. If you'd told her when she was sixteen that this would have been her life, she wouldn't have believed you. But now? She wouldn't trade it for anything.