Daughter of Flames and Darkness

Anxiety

And so, it began. After that night, Hades and Maleficent decided not to tell anyone about the pregnancy until they felt it was the right time to do so. Neither one wanted any of their enemies to know about it and use such information to their advantage. The couple even made Pain, Panic, and Dementia swear to secrecy until further notice.

The dizziness, nausea, and vomiting had become a somewhat regular occurrence during the next several days and Maleficent grew very tired of it very quickly. She would throw up almost every day and at one point, she even considered the option to stop eating all together; she believed it would just come back up again and it would be pointless. But Maleficent then decided against it, but she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. Fortunately for her, Hades was there for her and he tried to help however he could. Then the morning sickness eventually faded away after about six weeks and she was more than relieved.

One night, three months after the announcement, Maleficent was in her library studying hr 'Fairy Health and Well-Being 101' book and was diligently taking notes. After a few minutes of silence, she felt a tap on her shoulder, which made her jump.

"Whoops. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Hades said.

Maleficent sighed at the sound of her husband's voice. She playfully shook her head. "You should know not to sneak up on me."

He smirked. "I just came to take you up to bed. You've been up for a while and you need your sleep. Aren't you at least a little tired?"

"I can sleep when I feel like it." She roughly said before glancing back at her books. Hades placed his hands on her shoulders and leaned in closer to her; he knew how to soften her up when she was being too stubborn for his liking.

"Babe, I know you wanna be prepared for when our kid arrives. So do I, but isn't this a bit... much?" He asked.

Maleficent gave him a sideways glance before she stood up from her desk and snuffed out her candle. "I suppose you're right." She turned to face him and gave him a smirk. "But consider yourself thankful you don't have to carry this child."

Hades smirked at her joke before he pulled her closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulder; she reciprocated the loving gesture.

"And you should be lucky we decided not to go to any of those Meet and Greet mixers on Olympus for the past couple months, otherwise someone would've sniffed us out and blabbed the news to everyone. Didn't wanna risk our cover being blown, you know what I'm saying?"

She chuckled. "Valid point, love. The last thing I need is countless women gushing over me and giving me their congratulations for my current condition. Quite exhausting, if you ask me."

"Yeah, I feel you." Arm in arm, the couple made their way out of the library and through the castle halls towards the bedroom. "And I am so glad I was able to keep my mouth shut about it around everyone on Olympus AND in the Underworld. Nyx noticed something was going on, though, and she even tried to get it out of me at one point. But I stood firm and told her nothing. Nada, zip, zilch, zero." He smiled, sounding very proud of himself.

Maleficent raised an eyebrow at him. "...You've given her a snappy excuse followed by a quick goodbye and disappeared in a puff of smoke before she could break you, didn't you?"

Hades blushed in embarrassment before he relented. "...Eh, fine. But you know how forceful she can be! Nyx may be one of my best friends, but she can still scare me sometimes."

They finally made it to the master bedroom. As she and Hades were changing into their pajamas, Maleficent continued the conversation.

"After you faced the one who hurt you most, I was under the impression you weren't afraid of anything anymore."

"What about you?" Hades asked as he tightened his golden rope belt. "As the Mistress of Evil, you're expected to fear nothing..."

"And what do you mean by that?" She asked.

"Nothing..." He replied. "But I have noticed you've been kind of anxious about this whole pregnancy business. Mind if I ask why?"

She paused and stopped to think, unconsciously placing one hand on her slightly rounded abdomen. For as long as she could remember, Maleficent never once envisioned herself living the life she had now. She always believed she would reign as the Mistress of All Evil, but now she was also Queen of the Underworld, married to the love of her life, and even expecting a baby... and she had no idea what would await her in the future. It almost rattled her. Hades noticed his wife's sudden quietness and quickly went over to her to see what was wrong. He then held her cheek in his hand to comfort her.

"Look, I get that you're nervous about having this baby." He started. "And who could blame you? I am, too. We've never done this sort of thing before and it can be... overwhelming, you know?"

"Yes, you're right." She said with a tiny snicker.

"And you and I pretty much know NOTHING about babies or being parents... and especially not demigod dark fairy hybrids. But let me just ask... would you raise this kid the same way your mother raised you?"

Maleficent's answer came quickly. "No, never."

He smiled. "That's what I thought." His eyes glanced down and took notice of the rather visible bump in his wife's stomach through her nightgown. He pulled her closer and walked with her over to the bed; they sat down side by side. "So we'd have nothing to worry about..." He didn't sound so sure of himself though, and Maleficent could tell.

"You would never want to swallow our child the moment it's born, would you?" She bluntly asked.

"Of course not!" He blurted out, almost sounding offended. "I'm not an animal, and I am definitely NOT like Cronus." He folded his arms and looked away from her as his hair flickered and sparked with anger and apprehension.

She knew how much Hades resented his father and how he wanted nothing to do with him or even be like him in the slightest. In an attempt to calm his nerves, Maleficent took her husband's hand and gently placed it on her baby bump. He was surprised, but quickly relaxed and started to delicately rub her belly.

"I know, and I understand." Maleficent said. "The last thing either of us wants is to repeat the mistakes our own parents had made, so we will make sure we don't."

He glanced up at her and smiled before giving Maleficent's stomach a gentle pat. "You're right."

She yawned. "I suppose my fatigue is finally catching up with me. I feel I could sleep for a hundred years."

Hades smirked and made his way to his side of the bed as he let out a playful scoff. "Care to back that up, Sleeping Beauty?"

Maleficent narrowed her eyes in his direction. "Call me that again and I steal your tongue."

After a short awkward silence between them, the couple laughed at the joke as they settled into bed next to each other.

"Night, babe."

"Goodnight."

They shared a quick goodnight kiss, snuffed out the lights, and drifted to sleep.