Chapter Fifty Nine
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.
*blows horn in celebration* Guys, we did it! We've gone past 600 reviews! Thank you to all of you who've reviewed so far, and here's hoping we can get all the way to 700 before the end! Considering we've got 20 chapters to go before the end of this fic, I think that goal is possible lol :D
Also if some of the younger kids seem to be advanced in their vocabulary or grammar…they're Godlings lol. I will certainly be thankful once everyone reaches their teens lol!
OceanBlueSeaEyes: Aww! I can just imagine that and it's so cute!
AmethystDragon14: Yay! I'm so glad you liked it, and yep the Charming kids are here! Chad's moment with Emily had to be my favorite to write though.
CrystalKaouri: I live to rot from sweetness! :D
danifan3000: Huh…now I really need to read my copy of Beyond the Isle of the Lost.
bal4ever: Glad you liked it!
SaikoGoyangi: I'm so glad you liked it! Happy tears are always welcomed!
Guest: Oh thank you! :D
Katt Kiki: Ginny deserves it! :D
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Mal smiled softly as she held Bianca in her arms. A couple of months had passed since the birth of her second daughter and things had finally settled down enough that they could have another playdate.
Okay, technically it was a magic practice session for Effy, Ari, Percy, Maddie, Paige, Reese, Emily, Helena, and Caroline. The last thing anyone needed was for their magic to go haywire especially since they were still getting used to it. Using small amounts of magic would be better for their bodies to recover from than randomly occurring bouts.
Even if the randomly occurring bouts did make nap time easier.
"Thanks for letting us crash the magic session," Ginny said as she and Chad walked up, Ben getting up to give them a hand as each parent had a baby with them. Mal smiled as Bruno ran over to the other kids, who were already being watched by Estelle and Nyx.
"Did you think we'd say no?" Mal asked.
"I mean…Chris and Gabi don't have magic so I thought…"
Mal shook her head. "Ginny, your babies are what? Two, three months old? The same age as Elle's son and she brought him without any complaints from us. Your kids are more than welcome at our playdates."
"Plus the kids know they're not supposed to be close enough to hit us with any magic so the babies will be fine," Emma added. "Truthfully the only thing I'm worried about is Ethan potentially getting hit."
"Where's Eva?" Uma asked.
Emma shook her head. "Where do you think? My husband hasn't let her out of his sight since we brought her home from the hospital, claiming he's giving me time to relax though I think it's his way of being able to hover over the kids since he can't shadow Ben as often. I'm assuming Harry has Milah?"
"The little lass needed a change but she's all set now," Harry said as he walked up, his daughter cooing happily in his arms.
Jay shook his head in amusement, Jaxson babbling happily from his spot on Jay's shoulders as the three of them came up the path to the backyard. "Never thought I'd see the day where First Mate Hook was so domestic," he teased.
"Hush you, or do I need to hold up a mirror?" Harry asked, teasing Jay right back.
Henry chuckled from his spot under the umbrella, his red hair leaving him at a higher risk of burning even with the slight tan he'd developed after all his years in Auradon. Yes, Clara and Hali had no magic to speak of but Mal had insisted Ari and Paige not be left out of the magical play date as she called it and so insisted Henry bring his daughters as well. Plus, Percy and Maddie were here so she didn't want any of the cousins to feel left out.
"You know, sometimes it's a good thing you have a castle Mal," Claudine said. "Otherwise I don't know if you'd have enough room for all the kids."
Mal chuckled. "You can thank Ben for the castle, it wouldn't be possible without him you know."
"I knew you only loved me for my castle," Ben snorted in amusement as Mal smirked, scrunching up her nose at him as the kids came running up to Jay; their game/magic practice abandoned out of preference for the new arrival.
"Unca Jay, did you really play Tourney with Unca Ben?" Helena asked.
"Sure did kiddo," Jay nodded. "Your Uncle Carlos was also on the team, same with your Uncle Emir, Uncle Chad, and Uncle Akiho."
Reese crossed his arms over his chest, puffing up as if vindicated. "See? I told you!"
"But…they're not famous," Helena said. "How could Unca Jay be famous and not Unca Ben, Unca Carlos, Unca Emir, Unca Chad, and Unca Akiho?"
"They must not have been very good," Percy nodded.
"Hey!" Caroline, Effy, Ethan, and Emily all exclaimed in defense of their fathers. Chad was sure his kids would have done the same had, you know, they'd been able to talk.
Effy turned to Reese. "Aren't you gonna defend papa?"
"But…Unca Jay is famous for Tourney," Reese said. "Papa's not!"
"Papa said he was the captain of Unca Jay's team when Bee was born though!" Effy exclaimed. "You can't be the captain and not be good! Otherwise, Unca Gil would have been captain over Auntie Uma and Maman!"
"Hey!" Gwen and Markos exclaimed, looking upset at the insult to their father.
Macaria shook her head. "Alright you guys, how about we apologize for any hurt feelings and let's go back to playing okay? What were you playing?"
"Pirates and Dragons," Effy said as the kids apologized to each other. "Ethan's our hostage!"
Ethan pouted. "I'm always the hostage," he grumbled.
" Not true, Vi-Vi was the hostage last time!" Effy crossed her arms over her chest, using her nickname for her beloved stuffed dragon. "Only reason she's not this time was because maman said she needed a bath."
"But being the hostage is boring!" Ethan whined.
"Well how else are we supposed to play with you and still have magic practice?" Helena asked, copying Effy's stance and crossing her arms over her chest.
Ben and Harry quickly scooped up their daughters. "Okay, I think someone's getting a bit cranky. Is it time for snacks?" Harry asked.
"Ooh snacks?" Helena's eyes lit up, all thought of the argument forgotten. "Sword sammy?"
Harry chuckled. "Yes sweetheart, papa will make your sandwich look like a sword."
"Ahem, why don't we leave the sandwich-making to the professionals?" Akiho asked with a joking smile on his lips. "I have a feeling that the orders have not changed much in terms of preference so I'll be right back."
Emir shook his head before sitting down, Eva cooing happily in the little sling he had on. "Never change, dude, never change," he said with a slight chuckle.
"I don't think Akiho is capable of changing," Chad said. "He's been the same since we were in Auradon Prep."
"Good point," Emir snorted slightly in amusement.
"Papa? Can I tell Effy and Reese the news?" Ethan asked as he ran over to where Emir was sitting.
"What news?" Ben asked.
"Auntie Ash had her baby!" Ethan cheered before Emir could say anything.
Emma shook her head, more than a little amused as she looked over at Emir. "He is truly your son," she chuckled.
"You may have a point there," Emir said. "But yeah, Ashaki had her baby."
"Tell tell," Jay said. "Did she have a boy or girl?"
"Boy," Emir said with a small smile. "Little Archer's the apple of his parents' eyes."
Mal smiled as she leaned back in her chair, Reese trying to gently scramble into her lap as Ben was still holding Effy in his arms. "Robert took Ashaki's last name, right?"
"Yep," Emir nodded. "So mom and dad won't have to worry about the 'Bobolonius' name dying out since Aziz took Rachel's last name."
"An heir can do that?" Chad asked.
"Chad, in all honesty, no one really knows our last name," Emir chuckled. "You have to dig through years of records and the only people who really want to do that already know my last name anyway."
Akiho chuckled as he walked back with the sandwiches. "I could hear Ethan's cheer from all the way in the castle," he said. "Congrats to Ashaki, I can't wait to see her kiddo."
"Thanks Akiho," Emir said with a small smile. "We've been giving Aziz some sibling teasing since he's the only one to not give our parents grandkids yet but mom and dad don't care about that stuff."
"Oh!" Carlos exclaimed as he looked at his phone. "Sorry Emir, didn't mean to step on your moment—."
"Step away my good man," Emir said with a grin just as Ginny's phone let out a text alert.
"Almost everyone we know is here, who's contacting me?" Ginny asked with a small frown as she pulled out her phone as best she could, still holding her daughter in her arms. A megawatt smile grew on her face as she saw the text.
"Who's it from?" Mal asked, seeing the look on Ginny's face.
"Clay," Ginny told her.
"Ava had the baby!" Carlos said with a grin. "It's a girl, they're naming her Catherine!"
Ben grinned as everyone cheered. "That's great news! Congratulations to them both!"
"I know Clay was worried," Ginny said with a small smile. "Especially with Ava being an older girl from the Isle…oh Chad, you should let your family know! Especially Dizzy!"
Chad chuckled. "I'll let Dizzy know, or maybe even reach out to Clay and Ava to see when they want visitors. You know once Dizzy hears the news, there'll be no stopping her and she wanted to spend the day with Evie, remember?"
"Is Evie still not feeling well?" Mal asked.
"No, she's not," Emma sighed. "Though between Doug, Daniel, mom, dad, Emir, Dizzy, and myself, I think we've finally convinced her to go to the doctor."
"Maybe Auntie Evie's gonna have a baby!" Effy spoke up, a big smile on her face.
Mal smiled as she and Ben swapped daughters and she held both of the twins on her lap; Bianca cooing happily from her father's arms. "And what makes you say that, my sweet girl?"
"You were sick with Bee, maman," Effy said and her tone of voice made it clear that it should have been obvious to the grown-ups around. "And Auntie Evie is sick so she must have a baby!"
"But mama wasn't sick with Aidey!" Emily said.
"But your maman is part mermaid," Effy told her. "It's not the same!"
Ben chuckled softly. "Okay, okay. I think it's time we have some snacks before this argument goes any further. Come on kiddos, Akiho's brought all the favorites."
"Yay!" Effy cheered as she slid off of Mal's lap and grabbed Emily's hand, all thought of the argument forgotten. "Come on Emmy! Let's get snacks!"
"Wait for me!" Helena called before grabbing Ethan and Reese and racing after them as the five of them claimed their spots at the kids' picnic table.
"I think we need a bigger table," Mal shook her head as Caroline and Jason joined the kids at the table and it quickly became apparent that the kids' picnic table was not going to fit all the kids at the playdate.
"The older kids can sit on the ground or with us," Uma said with a shrug. "We went through worse than not having a spot at a picnic table to eat our snacks at, and we came out just fine."
"I also brought snacks for the grown-ups, who should make sure to have some because it's probably the first food they've had all day," Akiho said, giving a pointed look to Ben.
Ben shook his head. "I'll have you know I had breakfast and lunch today, dude."
"I'm so proud!" Emir and Akiho cheered.
Effy tilted her head and looked at Emily and Ethan. "Why are your papas proud of my papa?"
"Mama says it's because they're weird," Emily shrugged.
"Oh….let's be weird like Unca Emir and Unca Akiho!"
"Okay!"
Jay snorted and shook his head as he heard that. "The kids have a high bar to clear if they're going to be 'weird' like Emir and Akiho," he said.
"We can teach them!" Akiho grinned.
"You can teach your child," Chad said, shaking his head. "I'd rather Chris and Gabi have their own brand of weirdness, thank you!"
Chris cooed from his spot in Ginny's arms, as if agreeing with what Chad had said.
"Have they eaten?" Mal asked as Ginny brushed a bit of Chris' blond hair out of his eyes. "I was going to go fix Bee a bottle if you want me to make one for them?"
Chad shook his head and lifted the diaper bag they'd brought with them. "Thanks Mal but not necessary."
"Chad made enough bottles to last us a week," Ginny said, giving her husband a fond smile.
"Hey, you can never be too careful," Chad said as Gabriella began to fuss. "And I think that's our cue to give them one of the bottles. Mal, do you want one? No sense to go all the way up to the castle if you don't have to."
"Thanks Chad," Mal said and took the offered bottle before taking Bianca back from Ben; smiling slightly as Ben faked a pout at no longer having his daughter in his arms. She leaned back in her seat and smiled as Bianca began to eat.
"This certainly is different than what we thought life would be like when we were kids, isn't it?" Uma asked.
"You can say that again," Jay nodded as he opened a juice pouch for Jaxson and handed it to his son who was still happily sitting on his shoulders. "Wouldn't trade it for anything though."
"Me neither," Ben smiled and gently kissed the top of Mal's head. "If I ever go back in time, remind me to thank my sixteen-year-old self for coming up with that proclamation."
"Thank him for me too," Lonnie said with a small chuckle as she rested her head on Jay's shoulder.
"Me as well," Chad nodded before smiling down at his daughter who was happily taking her bottle.
"Percy! That's not funny!" They all heard Maddie scold her brother.
"It's part of the game!" Percy tried to defend himself.
"You're not supposed to scare Emmy! Game or not!"
Akiho's head sprung up and he rushed over to the kids. "What happened?"
"I was just playing," Percy said softly as Emily sobbed, the burst of ice on the table indicating a sudden burst of 'icies' as his daughter called her powers. "I was showing Emmy how to make gooseys appear."
Akiho sighed, even as his lips twitched at the childish name for goosebumps. "Show me."
"…Okay…" Percy said softly. "Um…you gotta turn around. I gotta do it on your back…"
Akiho raised an eyebrow but did as the young boy asked, sitting down to make it easier on him.
"Going on a treasure hunt, x marks the spot. Three big boulders, one tiny rock," he heard Percy say and Akiho could feel the young boy's finger on his back acting out the movements. So far, there wasn't anything too bad…
"Spiders crawling up your back, bite ya, bite ya…"
The sudden squeezing near his shoulders was enough to make Akiho jump out of his skin. It wasn't so much the sensation that caused it but the suddenness, even with Percy's small hands. And Akiho knew that if it startled him, then it was no wonder that his little girl had been so scared.
"Hey, hey," Akiho said gently, pulling Emily into his arms. "You're okay, papa's got you my little snow angel. I bet that was scary huh?"
"I'm sorry…" Percy said softly. "I didn't mean to scare her, I do it to Maddie all the time and she doesn't get scared!"
"It's…it's okay Percy," Emily said, trying to quell her sobs as Akiho continued to rub her back. "I know you didn't mean to…"
"You wanna stay with mama and Aiden until you feel better, sweetheart?" Akiho asked.
"Yes please."
"Okay then, let's go see them," Akiho said and walked back over to the group with Emily in his arms.
Ben smiled at the sight. "I think you've got a shadow, Akiho."
"What do you mean?"
"Look behind you."
Akiho looked over his shoulder and smiled as he saw Ari and Paige making small fireballs to try to cheer Emily up. "You don't have to do that girls," he said.
"It was our cousin who was the idiot though," Paige said. "So we wanted to cheer Emily up!"
"Hey!" Percy exclaimed.
"Paige isn't wrong!" Maddie told her brother. "Why'd you have to do that?!"
"I didn't know she'd do that!"
"And the fact that Helena splashed you when you did it to her yesterday wasn't a cue that maybe you should warn people that the squeeze is coming?" Maddie shook her head.
Clara shook her head. "Stop it you two! Or papa's gonna take us home and he's gonna have to tell your mama and papa why we had to leave early!"
Henry sighed but got up to walk over to the kids. "Alright, alright. First off, Clara, I know you're one of the older cousins but no bossing your younger cousins around okay?"
"Yes papa," Clara nodded. "I was just doing it cause Ari and Paige were busy, though, and I'm next in line of the cousins!"
"That doesn't change the fact that you're not Percy and Maddie's mama," Henry said. "Your mama and I are in charge of all of you guys while we're here so if there's an issue you come and get me or your mama okay?"
"Yes papa."
"That's my girl," Henry said and gently kissed the top of her head. "You go and get a snack, okay?"
"Yes papa," Clara nodded and ran off.
Henry sighed before turning to Percy. "Are you sorry for scaring Emily or are you sorry you got caught doing it?"
"…both?" Percy said softly. "I didn't think it'd be bad, Unca Henry. I learned it at our last family reunion with Great Auntie Andrina."
Elle sighed and shook her head. "I was wondering what had happened when the kids all disappeared," she said. "Melody had said it was nothing to worry about since none of the kids came back crying or owing their souls to a sea witch."
"Normally I'd take offense to that since the only sea witches we know of are mama and Aunt Morgana but your family does have a habit of making deals with sea witches so you've got a point," Uma called.
"They're your family too Uma," Mal shook her head and Henry resisted the urge to chuckle as he looked back at Percy. The poor boy really did look sorry and the last thing Henry wanted was to ruin the mood.
"Hey, hey bud, look at me," Henry said, gently lifting Percy's head so he was looking into his eyes. "Does your mama know where you learned that?"
"Uh huh," Percy nodded. "I asked her if I could show Emmy when I came over since she and Aidey weren't at the family reunion."
"Wait, then how was Elle there?" Henry heard Emir ask.
"Aunt Elsa offered to watch the kids while we had a 'date night' so to speak," Akiho explained. "Especially since Aiden hasn't mastered his ability to shift into his mermaid form."
"Considering he's an infant, that would be rather impressive," Harry snorted. "But yeah, I remember seeing you guys there. That was the time Mal watched Helena and Milah for us, right?"
"Exactly," Akiho nodded. "You and Adrian got into a sword fight."
"He tried to say cheerleading was more dangerous than swordwork!"
Ben shook his head. "Wait…how did Harry have an underwater sword fight?"
"At Helena's blessing, I got the ability to shift like Emily did," Harry shrugged. "Lord Posidon thought it'd be a good idea if I got to spend time with the girls and no one wanted to make it seem like the girls or Uma had to hide who they were by giving them the ability to shift into a mermaid. I don't know why you're so shocked, Benny. I told you this when Mal told us she was pregnant with Bee. Plus, Akiho can do it too."
"Yes but I'm used to his brand of insanity," Ben said and chuckled as Akiho made a face at him.
Henry shook his head and let out a slight chuckle at the insanity, smiling as Percy seemed to perk up. "How about this bud? To get us back on topic and all, why don't we decide that we'll deem this a mistake and if Emily truly accepts your apology, I see no reason to tell your parents."
"Really?" Percy perked up.
"I think that sounds fair," Elle nodded, rolling over to them with Emily on her lap. While the young girl loved being in her father's arms, there was no better place to be than on her mama's lap. "What do you think Emily? Can we forgive Percy?"
Emily bit her lip and nodded slightly. "On…on one condission?"
"And what condition is that?" Elle asked.
"Percy's the hostage next!"
"I like that!" Ethan called and everyone had to chuckle at that.
Percy pouted slightly but nodded. "Okay, that's fair."
"Then how about everyone gets some snacks in them if they haven't already so this group can get back to playing?" Henry asked and smiled as Emily scurried down from Elle's lap and ran off with Percy.
Soon the castle grounds were full of the cheerful squeals of children playing once more, and if anyone saw Percy get a snowball to the face…well the adults didn't comment on it. One snowball was plenty fair if you asked them.
Mal smiled and rested her head on Ben's shoulder, happy to listen to the squeals of the kids and the small roar of Effy's dragon form as they played. Like Uma had said, their lives weren't as they had imagined when they were teens but Mal was sure none of them would change a single thing.