Chapter Fifty-Four
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to either Disney or the Greek Myths!
Yes, the chapter I think everyone has been waiting for is finally here! I know it was a bit longer of a wait than it should have been but I hope the wait was worth it! Also, yes the song Ginny sings is from the Whitney Houston 'Cinderella'. It's my favorite of the Cinderella movies so I'll always find a reason to put in references lol :D
danifan3000: Okay thinking about EQ with a pair of sweatpants like that was not a metal image I needed lol
OceanBlueSeaEyes: Hey, you never know! They could totally have the summoning abilities (she says knowingly planning on doing just that because it's fun to write lol)
AmethystDragon14: Yay! I know, the Harry/Reese moment was my favorite to write in the chapter! And lol, yeah his face was probably priceless! Hope Persephone snapped a pic!
bal4ever: Glad you liked it!
Katt Kiki: Thank you!
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Ginny sat on the edge of her neatly made bed in stunned silence, her eyes wide in shock and her mouth slightly ajar. Her heart raced as she read the two bold lines that held the news she had been longing for but never thought she would be lucky enough to have.
The word echoed in her mind. Pregnant? Her heart raced and her hands trembled as she re-read the test results. It couldn't be true. After years of trying, it seemed almost impossible. But there it was, two lightning bolts almost mocking her disbelief. She hadn't wanted to upset Lady Eileithyia by denying the possibility of the pregnancy being real to her face, but the thought of a false positive made her stomach churn. It was like standing on shaky ground, waiting for someone to pull the rug out from under her feet at any moment.
And yet…her fingers brushed her stomach and Ginny swore she felt a flutter at her touch.
"The sweetest sounds I'll ever hear are still inside my head," Ginny sang softly as she got up and started to walk around the bedroom; more than a little thankful the Goddess had realized that Ginny would need privacy and left shortly after giving the news. The song was something Chad would sing to her whenever they were close to losing hope; apparently, it was one of the many songs his parents had sung before his birth. "The kindest words I'll ever know are waiting to be said."
"That's fantastic news, Ben. I completely understand why Mal would want to be by her cousin's side during labor," Ginny could hear Chad's voice from the other side of their bedroom door; a smile audible in his voice that always seemed to be there whenever he talked to his old Auradon Prep friends. "Please give my congratulations to Uma and Harry as well. You know Ginny and I are thinking of them and Helena of course... I'm sorry to interrupt, Ben, but I have to go see why my wife is now pacing a rut in our bedroom floor."
Ginny couldn't help but wonder how he knew she was pacing; there were no servants in their room and Chad was not the type to install cameras. At least not in the private areas like the bedrooms or bathrooms. There was one camera in the main lobby but Chad insisted that was to mollify Akiho more than anything else.
"Thanks, Ben, bye," Chad said and Ginny heard him sigh. "Gin…please be pacing in there. I hate to have to lie to Ben because he always finds out and then I'm subjected to his puppy dog eyes of disapproval. I swear Chip had to teach him how to do those, there's no way he was born knowing how to give those puppy dog eyes of disapproval."
Ginny's lips twitched into a smile as she heard the bedroom door creak open. She turned to see Chad walk in, Bruno following close behind with his tail wagging excitedly.
Chad paused as he observed the restless movements of his wife. "Huh...you're actually pacing," he remarked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Why are you pacing?"
Ginny didn't answer but rather sprinted across the room and threw herself into Chad's arms, squeezing him with all her might. She buried her face in his shoulder, inhaling the familiar scent of his cologne. Words failed her as she held on, not wanting to let go. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest, and she could barely contain the joy bubbling within her.
"Chad!" she exclaimed, a breathless mix of relief and excitement in her tone. "Thank Gods you're home!"
The news that they were going to have a baby had finally sunk in, sending waves of elation through Ginny's body. She couldn't help but release a small squeal of delight, feeling like she was floating on cloud nine.
"Okay, I'm glad to see you too," Chad said with a small chuckle as he kissed the top of her head, Bruno trying to push his way through to join the hug. "It still doesn't explain the pacing though."
Ginny's smile stretched from ear to ear as she released the hug and grabbed the pregnancy test that had landed on the bed in her excitement. "Remember how Lady Eileithyia wanted to speak to me? Well, it turns out Mal asked her to do so. And I was hesitant at first, but Lady Eileithyia gave me a pregnancy test, and...Chad, it came back positive! Of course, I've heard about false positives before, so Lady Eileithyia also gave me a backup test just in case I want to take it again for confirmation. But for now...I'm pregnant!"
"How…how soon before you can take the other test?" Chad asked, shifting his weight from side to side; regret gnawing at him for not being there when Ginny took the first test. He didn't think there was a false positive in this case though—when a literal Goddess was coming to speak to you, chances were there was nothing false about it.
Plus Mal knew how much Ginny wanted this. As the purple-haired Queen liked to say, she was wicked, not cruel.
Ginny's voice wavered as she spoke, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her shirt. "The instructions said to wait a week before taking another test," she explained, her eyes flickering with worry as the possibility of a false positive began to sink in. "They mentioned something about hormone levels needing time to return to normal."
"Okay…" Chad said softly, hating himself for having to be the one to dampen Ginny's excitement.
Ginny's voice trembled as she spoke, every word coming out in a rush. "So for this week...I'm pregnant," she announced, her hand instinctively reaching to protect her stomach. Her eyes darted to the small plastic stick in Chad's hands, hoping beyond hope that it hadn't tricked her. "And if next week, the test is positive again..." she trailed off, unsure of what the future might hold. The room fell silent, the weight of her words hanging heavily in the air.
"It'll be real," Chad whispered, walking over to Ginny and holding her close once more.
She couldn't help but smile, her eyes shining with anticipation. "I hope so," she replied, her voice tinged with both excitement and nerves. Her fingers fidgeted nervously with the hem of her shirt once more as she gazed into Chad's eyes, hoping that this moment would truly become a reality. She couldn't help her growing smile even as a mix of hope and doubt began to fill her heart. "I really hope so," she reiterated; the words echoing in the air between them like a prayer.
Chad reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently. "I'm making this real," he said, his thumb tracing circles on the back of her hand as he tried to keep the slight tremble in his voice inaudible. He knew that Lady Eileithyia had come to speak to his wife, knew that she would only do so if there was only one possibility for them, but he also knew they wanted to eliminate all doubt. "And I promise you, Gin," he whispered, "this time next week, we'll be celebrating a positive pregnancy test."
Ginny's lips curled up into a soft, genuine smile as Chad leaned down and planted a light kiss on the top of her head. The days seemed to drag on endlessly, each second feeling like an hour, but finally the day arrived for them to retake the test. It had been a long, anxious wait, filled with nervous thoughts and restless anticipation. But the day was finally here.
Chad watched as Ginny paced nervously around the kitchen, waiting for the timer to go off on the second pregnancy test. The ticking of the timer seemed to echo loudly in the otherwise quiet room, the only other sounds being Ginny's light footsteps as she paced back and forth and the slight jangle of Bruno's collar as he kept his humans company.
"Gin, calm down," Chad said as he continued to watch her pace. If she was pregnant, there was no way that the nervous energy could be good for the baby."Did…did Lady Eileithyia give you a due date by the way?"
Ginny's pacing quickened as she spoke, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her shirt as she had done all week. "She said sometime in November," she said, her voice tinged with disbelief. "But that means it was a false positive, right? It's August right now. How could someone not know they're pregnant for so long?"
She let out a frustrated huff and ran her fingers through her hair, still pacing around the kitchen.
"Jane, Queen Rapunzel, Mal apparently from what Ben's told me," Chad listed.
"Oh wait, Mal's pregnant?"
"Yep, due in October too."
Ginny's heart raced as the timer chimed, signaling the end of her wait and cutting off whatever she was going to say. With trembling fingers, she reached for the pregnancy test and held it up to the light, her breath catching in her throat. The plastic stick glinted in the overhead light, revealing its precious answer that would change their lives forever.
Her heart was racing as she glanced over at Chad, her hands shaking now with nerves.
This could be the moment that changes everything, for better or for worse, she thought. Deep down, though, a part of her feared the worst. Still, Ginny couldn't help but pray for a happy outcome even if she knew it was rare for a girl from the Isle. But it had happened for Mal and Uma and Claudine. Why not her? "This is it," she whispered, trying to sound confident while battling the turmoil raging inside her.
Chad's heart raced as he waited for Ginny's answer. He desperately hoped for a positive result, after all logically there was only one possible result. Yet, a small glimmer of dread remained, perhaps she had a miscarriage during the week and hadn't told him? But would she keep something like that from him? Chad was torn between excitement and fear as he braced himself for the truth.
"I'm pregnant."
Ginny's voice was barely a whisper, but it was loud enough to bring Chad out of his spiraling thoughts. He turned to look at his wife, her face glowing with pure joy and excitement. It was a moment that would be etched in his memory forever. A small, selfish part of him couldn't help but feel estatic knowing that he had played a role in bringing this much happiness to her.
Ginny rested a hand on her stomach, the physical proof of their growing family. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears of delight as she whispered again, "I really am pregnant." The words hung in the air, filling the room with an indescribable sense of love and possibility.
"You're pregnant?" Chad repeated in glee. "We're going to be parents?"
"Like you didn't already know," Ginny chuckled but handed him the test. "See for yourself."
Chad took it and looked at the test, a smile threatening to split his face in two as he looked at it. "It's real, we're going to be parents!"
With a burst of pure joy, Ginny threw herself into Chad's strong arms. He effortlessly caught her and spun her around with a wide grin on his face; feeling like he was a teenager celebrating a win in the Tourney championship instead of a man in his mid-twenties. "We're going to be parents," he whispered. Ginny nestled into the warmth of Chad's embrace, feeling overwhelmed with love and excitement for their growing family.
Her heart fluttered as she looked over at the positive pregnancy test Chad had placed on the counter. Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks as she thought about all the struggles she and her husband had gone through to conceive. After countless doctor's appointments, treatments, and disappointments, talks of adoption, and surrogacy, it was finally happening – they were going to be parents the way she had hoped they would become parents.
Chad looked down and brushed away the tears rolling down Ginny's cheeks with his fingertips. "Who should we tell first?" he asked, a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Your family or mine?"
Ginny sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Can we tell my family?" she whispered. "Raps was there when I got the news about how hard it would be for me to get pregnant in the first place and I know Cass has been blaming herself for everything."
Chad's voice was gentle and reassuring as he spoke, his warm hand resting on hers. "Of course," he told her with a small smile. "Of course, we can your family first. After all, my family was the first to know about our engagement. It's only fair that your family gets to be the first to know about our pregnancy."
"Thank you," Ginny said, happy tears still streaming down her face.
Chad gently placed a hand on Ginny's stomach, as if waiting to feel a kick. Lady Eileithyia had said Ginny's due date would be around November so…so there should be kicking now right?
"What are you...?" Ginny asked before her hand went to her stomach as she looked at Chad with a mixture of awe and surprise. A tiny fluttering sensation like the one she had felt in her bedroom the previous week made her pause mid-sentence, and she gasped. "Was that...?"
Chad nodded eagerly, his eyes lighting up. "Our baby just kicked," he said with a wide smile spreading across his face. The realization hit Ginny like a wave and she couldn't stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks.
"I thought…I thought I was imagining it," Ginny whispered. "That it was only happening because I wanted it to happen, not because I was actually pregnant!"
A wide, beaming smile graced Chad's face as he knelt down, aligning his gaze with Ginny's slightly round stomach. He gently placed a hand on her stomach, feeling the flutter of movement beneath. "You're not imagining it, Gin," he said softly, his voice filled with excitement. "Hey there little one. I'm your papa, and I already love you so much."
As if in response, the baby kicked against his palm, making him chuckle in delight. His eyes glimmered with tears of joy as he whispered, "I can't wait to finally hold you in my arms."
Ginny smiled and wiped away the happy tears that were threatening to spill out of her eyes once more. Stupid pregnancy hormones. "We…we should go. If we want to tell Rapunzel and Cass I mean…"
"Oh right," Chad nodded and got to his feet. "Let's go then! Come on Bruno!"
"Oh yes, we can't forget him," Ginny teased.
"Of course not, he's the reason we got together in the first place," Chad chuckled as the beloved Golden Retriever grabbed his leash with a wag of his tail.
"Where to your highnesses?" Richard, their driver, asked as he held the door open for Ginny.
"Corona if you please, Richard," Chad said as the two of them made their way into the limo.
"Happily, sire," Richard nodded as he gently closed the door.
The closed door muffled the sound of Richard's footsteps as he made his way to the front of the car and slid into the driver's seat. Chad couldn't stop grinning as he held Ginny close. The excitement and joy of knowing they were having a baby bubbled up inside him once again. They were having a baby! He would never get tired of hearing those words, even if they were in his head.