ELYSIAN, the riordanverse

45

OUR LITTLE FAMILY

[ set in a mortal AU ]

Rachel laughed as the bowl wobbled on her belly. Gosh, it was so fun to be pregnant. She was sitting on the sofa in Nico and Will's apartment, eating cereal with an ice-cream scoop, — which wasn't a good idea, on second thought — watching some old romance sitcom.

At that moment, she, quite literally had nothing better to do in life. Of course, there was the matter of the doctor's appointment she was supposed to attend in an hour, but that could wait. 

Rachel heard the doorbell ring, and she put the bowl aside, and stood up — well, she tried to stand up. She was seven months pregnant, and her legs had started to ache a lot.

She stood up, looked down at her belly which was swelled — well obviously, there was a whole damn human being inside her — and looked up at the door, "Coming!" she yelled.

Rachel started to walk over to the door, one hand on her back. Rachel had found that giving her back support had started to help after her back pains had spiked the last month.

She opened up the door and was greeted by the sight of her two favorite people in the world. Nico di Angelo, and Will Solace, the parents of the kid inside her themselves.

She smiled, opening the door wider. Nico's hands were full of groceries — Rachel had been asking for broccoli and marshmallows — and Will's hands were filled with bags of what looked to be decorations. Will smiled and walked inside, dropping the bags and slipping off his shoes.

Nico followed suit, "Hey Rach, you hold up okay without us?"

Nico too removed his shoes and walked into the kitchen as Rachel shut the door close and followed behind him. "I'm just pregnant, you know! It's not like I'm completely helpless or anything!"

Will laughed at that, helping Nico unpack the groceries. Rachel had been kind to them. Far too kind, Will thought with a wide grin. 

Rachel had offered to be their surrogate, and Nico and Will were as happy as ever.

Rachel who was standing in front of the kitchen's breakfast counter, was looking quite happy. She seemed to be glowing. Her bright red hair had been tied up into a messy bun and her green eyes were positively sparkling. Rachel had had let go of her high-waisted mom jeans — which had a few holes in them here and there —and had opted to go with looser pyjamas, though her over-sized shirts had stayed. They were just regular shirts now though, considering the whole "baby" thing. And of course, as she always had, Rachel still walked around barefoot.

She wiggled her toes, laughing as she saw that she had paint all over her feet. Nico, who had just put away the last of the food, turned to her. 

"Why are you laughing?" He seemed happily confused. For the past few months — well really ever since Rachel had become him and Will's surrogate — he had been oddly filled with mirth. And every time he looked at Rachel, Nico couldn't help but smile. She had no idea how grateful him and Will were for doing this for them. 

Rachel laughed again, "I have paint all over my feet."

Will raised an eyebrow, "And that's odd, because...?"