Persephone couldn't help but smile softly as she watched Mal try to get Estelle to sit on the floor in Mal's room, the training book she'd purchased for Mal propped against a pillow so Mal could see the pictures inside. Normally they would have done this in the den but Estelle still made Virgil nervous and the now nine year old was spending more and more time here rather than at Vanessa's.
Not that it was a bad thing. Persephone couldn't help but smile at the thought of her home being a safe place for the children of the Isle. Plus she welcomed the privacy Mal's room provided. A conversation like the one they were about to have required a bit more privacy than a regular conversation. If Mal took the news of Persephone's pregnancy the wrong way, Persephone wanted to be sure Mal felt safe to let her emotions out rather than bottle them up.
"Hey Steph," Mal said, looking up and giving her step mother a small smile. Persephone returned it. Lately she'd noticed that Mal had been calling her 'Steph' instead of the title of 'Lady Steph'. That, plus the hug she'd gotten her first day back, never failed to make Persephone smile.
Then again, pretty much everything Mal did made Persephone smile. How could she not? If it wasn't for that stupid registry, she could refer to Mal as her daughter rather than by the pointless title of 'step-daughter'. A daughter was a daughter, it didn't matter that Mal wasn't genetically Persephone's.
"Hey Mal," Persephone said, pulling herself out of her thoughts. "How's the student?"
"Great!" Mal said with a grin. "Watch!"
Looking back at Estelle, Mal cleared her throat. "Estelle, sit! Sit!"
Estelle gave Mal a little puppy grin before sitting down. Mal grinned and fished out a dog treat from the bag of pet supplies Persephone had brought with her.
"Good boy!" Mal said and handed Estelle's middle head the treat, which he happily took before trotting off out of the room to eat it.
"That would explain the treat your father found in his shoe the other day," Persephone said with a small chuckle.
"Estelle was just saving it for later," Mal told her. "Three heads means he has to share his treats after all. Saving them makes them last longer."
"I see." Persephone said with a small nod and walked into the room, shutting the door behind her to guarantee them privacy. Not that Hades would eavesdrop but there was no guarantee Pain or Panic wouldn't snoop. "Mal, I need to talk with you."
Mal seemed to tense up a little, as she always did whenever Hades or Persephone needed to have a private chat with her. Not for the first time, Persephone cursed the fact that Maleficent had gotten her talons into Mal during her formative years.
"It's nothing bad," Persephone said gently as she picked Mal up and set her on the bed before sitting down next to her. "I wanted to tell you that I'm pregnant."
"Oh. That's nice," Mal said after a brief pause.
"Mal, sweetheart, do you actually know what that means?" Persephone asked gently. She had seemed to accept that rather quickly so Persephone didn't know if Mal truly knew what Persephone being pregnant meant.
Mal shrugged. "Uma said it's how you get a new brother or sister. Right?"
"That's right," Persephone said with a small nod.
"So congrats. Good for you."
"Thank you sweetie," Persephone said with a small smile. "Are you excited? You're going to be a big sister."
Mal shrugged again. She tended to do that a lot, Persephone thought, especially when it seemed like she was trying to hide what she really felt. "It's a little exciting I guess," she said. "But won't the baby spend most of its time in Boreadon?"
YOU ARE READING
Choosing Family
Fanfiction(AU) "You abandoned me when I was a baby." What if Hades hadn't abandoned Mal when he left Maleficent? What if he had chose her? How different would Mal's life had been, even as she remained trapped within the confines of the Isle?
