Choosing Life

Chapter Thirty One

Eric ran a hand through his hair as he sat in the hospital waiting room. Honestly, it almost felt like a dream; his eldest daughter was having a baby of her own. And at the same time...he was terrified.

He knew what he'd told Elle, that the odds of her baby ending up like she did were astronomical and yet...the odd that he would fall in love with a mermaid were just as high. Hell, the odds that mermaids were real were just as high for that matter. And then there was the fact that he'd been hypnotized into almost marrying a sea witch...yeah he honestly didn't want to think about the odds there.

"Dad?" Melody asked, looking at her father. "Are...are you okay?"

Eric nodded. "I'm...I'm just nervous that's all. You know I was the same way when you gave birth."

"Dad, we both know you're more nervous about Elle and I don't blame you for that," Melody said, giving her father a small smile. Phil had offered to watch the twins once he heard that Elle was giving birth; reasoning that a hospital waiting room would be so boring for the kids and that his parents were happy to help watch them.

Melody wasn't going to lie, she happily took him up on his offer. Especially with King Kristoff, Queen Anna and Former Queen Elsa joining them. The last thing Melody wanted was to make it awkward for anyone.

"I'm guessing Akiho's back there with mom?" Melody asked, changing the subject slightly to get her dad's mind off of the reason why he'd be worried for his elder daughter.

Eric nodded. "I don't think he's left Elle's side the whole pregnancy, now that I think about it."

"He comes by it honestly," Anna called over to Eric. "Apologies for butting into your conversation."

"No, I understand," Eric nodded. "If someone was talking about Melody or Elle, I'd jump in myself. But what did you mean by Akiho comes by it honestly?"

Anna gestured over to her sister. "When I was pregnant with him, Elsa barely left my side. I honestly think she would have followed me into the bathroom if she needed to."

"Anna, did you forget about your tendency to follow me into fire?" Elsa asked, raising an eyebrow.

Anna shook her head. "I'll tell you right now the same thing that I told you then. If you don't want me following you into fire, then don't go into fire Elsa. But I wouldn't have gone into fire back then. Not when it would have risked my unborn child."

"Also I'm pretty sure Sven would have held her back if she did try to run into fire," Kristoff spoke up.

Elsa chuckled. "That's a very good point, I'd forgotten about Sven."

"Honestly," Anna sighed and shook her head before looking over at Eric. "Ever feel like you're the only sane person in your family?"

"All the time," Eric sad with a small chuckle.

"Feeling the love dad," Melody said but she knew her father was only teasing. Besides, her actions back when she was twelve didn't exactly speak to her 'sanity'. True she didn't know Morgana was the crazy sister of Ursula but had she not run off, that wouldn't have been an issue.

"You know I don't mean anything by it," Eric told her, unknowingly responding to her thoughts and giving Melody a small smile.

"I know dad," Melody nodded, returning the smile before a silence fell on the group and they continued to wait for word. Any word about the newest member of the family and of the baby's mother.

"Was there a reason why Elle never found out the gender?" Melody asked after a minute. "I know she went to see how many children she was having but..."

"I think your sister said that all she cared about was that the child was healthy," Eric told his daughter. "Gender took a backseat to the health of the baby. Well that and making sure they weren't also expecting twins. I'm sure they'd be happy to have twins but—."