Damn her mermiddies and mermussy are both poppin.

Please forgive me for that previous sentence.

Also I legit love mermaids, and I actually started off drawing mermaids and fantasy creatures. Oh my gosh, you guys, I wish I could show you some of my first drawings...

Fawn's POV

Edith led us back into her spell room and snapped her fingers.

I jumped slightly when a few candles flickered to life, but Al simply held my hand and took me towards where we'd be sitting.

So many emotions are swimming around inside my head right now...joy, fear, nervousness, regret, doubt...

Once we'd sat down, Edith sat across from us, folding her hands into her lap.

"Ok...Fawn, my darling child, it's my understanding that you were presumably infertile, that's correct?" Edith asked.

I held onto Alastor, my grip on his hand a bit tighter than it normally would be.

"Yes...that's correct..." I murmured.

For some reason, talking about this with her is embarrassing me.

Like...she basically knows everything. It's like your parent walking in on you having sex with someone.

"Ok..." Edith hummed, "well...the strange thing is, you still are infertile...at least from what I can tell by focusing on your soul and your aura. Now, there are only two things that could heal that, darling...light magic, and dark magic."

My brows furrowed, and I looked over at Alastor. He had his eyes down, not a smile in sight.

"But I...I haven't done any dark magic, I don't think..." I said, a bit unsure. Did I do something on accident? What would that mean...

Edith chuckled, "oh dear, I know that. Your soul is a bright pearly white, so there's no way dark magic is the culprit."

That relieved me slightly, but I was still a bit confused.

"But, mama, I haven't messed with any magic...so how—"

"The jelly," Al mumbled, "you ate the healing jelly..."

I looked at him, and he had his eyes closed, his chin rested against his fist.

The healing jelly...?

It healed that?

I shook my head, "but...that's...how's that possible, I..."

My words fell off and I was just at a complete loss. A loss of thought, and loss for words. And didn't she say I was still infertile? If that's the case, then what is happening?

Edith sighed.

"My healing jelly is a powerful white magic healing technique passed down through generations...it's a secret concoction that my great grandmother created to heal plague victims during the outbreak in 14th century Europe...it's the only reason the entirety of Europe wasn't obliterated."

My eyes were wide as I listened to her, and she drew in a deep breath before continuing, "my only guess is that when you ate some of the medicine, it attacked whatever issue was keeping your body from functioning normally. Now, this seems to have only provided a temporary fix to the problem, because even though it is a powerful magic, it's not a miracle."

"In the time you were healed, you were impregnated before your condition had time to regenerate. Your body now seems to be back to its original state, however..." she said, and her expression and tone took on a more solemn note, "which is why this is going to be difficult to tell you..."

Alastor's grip tightened on my hand, and I held my breath.

Edith reached forward and touched my knee gently, "sweetheart...your body will never be able to provide the proper sustenance to carry a child...even though you were able to get pregnant, there is a very high possibility that you will not make it past the second trimester with this embryo."

It felt like the air got sucked from the room. For a second, I felt completely alone...isolated. My heart stopped, and I felt numb.

Of course...

Then I perked up when I got an idea, looking back to Edith, "but...if the jelly healed me the first time, can't I just eat it again? Wouldn't it heal me again? I can just keep eating it, and..."

My sentence faded out as Edith shook her head sadly.

"Honeysuckle...that jelly is very strong. I'm afraid if you tried to eat it, it would attack the fetus. In the eyes of magic, this baby is nothing but a parasite. So...if you eat that medicine while that baby is dependent upon your body, it will remove the foreign entity."

Again my eyes widened.

So...my body can't support this baby...and I can't heal myself...

"But..."

My eyes shot up to Edith when she said that. She gave me a small smile, and looked between Al and I.

"There is also no guarantee that this baby will suffer during the pregnancy at all...with regular checkups with me, and the proper vitamins...there is about a 50/50 chance that this will go perfectly fine. That is...if you decide to keep it after all I've shared with you."

My first instinct was to look at Alastor. His brows were furrowed, but other than that I couldn't read his expression.

Then, suddenly he spoke.

"What is our other option?" He asked, his voice sounding very...damp. There was no trace of the excitement he usually carries.

My eyes widened when that was his first response to all of that.

"Well..." Edith started, "I could perform a painless procedure that would remove the embryo."

Alastor looked at me, and I shook my head. My hand went over my stomach, "no. Absolutely not, I'm not killing it..." I immediately shot down what I knew he was silently asking me.

He sighed.

"Darling...it is nothing more than cells right now...imagine this whole thing goes south, the toll it would take on you, and the baby...don't you think it would just be better—"

I yanked my hand away from his.

"No. I do not think the better solution to this problem is getting rid of it...I...I want to go through with the pregnancy."

He kept his eyes on me for a second, and I could see the gears turning behind his eyes. Then, he sighed again.

Reaching forward, he gently picked my hand back up and brought my knuckles to his lips, "ok...ok, my love, I'm sorry..." he mumbled.

Edith stood up.

"Alright! Well, then it's settled..." she said, taking my hand in hers and helping me up.

Al stood up last, slowly.

"Congratulations, darlings," she said with a big smile, "and I am very happy for you both...please be careful, and make sure t'come see me once a week, and anytime you have any questions or problems."

I smiled and nodded, "yes ma'am," I said.

With that, Al and I bid Edith a farewell, and set off to head home.

**

The door clicked shut as we entered the house.

Alastor hasn't spoken a single word to me since we left Edith's.

His hand slipped away from mine and he began to make his way to the kitchen.

I stopped him.

"Al..." I said, reaching out to grab his hand.

He paused, barely glancing over his shoulder at me.

I held onto him, my grip getting tighter as the seconds passed.

"You—you still...love me? Don't you...?" I asked him, my voice sounding a bit weak.

I know he doesn't want children...he expressed that to me very early on. However, I think his reasoning for not wanting one is ridiculous.

But...does me wanting this child make him think less of me?

He was quiet for a second, and then turned around to face me fully. There still wasn't a smile on his face. He looks rather...conflicted.

The longer he looked at me like that, the tighter my throat felt. The back of my eyes started to burn and my bottom lashes brimmed with tears.

"I-I know you don't want children...and I'm sorry t-that this has happened...but when your baby is born, you'll love it with me, won't you? Will you still love me?"

Finally, his expression changed. His brows knit together slightly and he stepped closer to me, reaching up to catch my tears with his thumb.

Then he brought me into his chest, rocking me side to side, "Fawn, I will always love you...now, I can't say that this development isn't one that scares me slightly...but don't ever think that I would stop loving you because you are carrying my child..."

He let go of me, and then knelt in front of me with a smile finally painted across his face, "you are the best thing that has ever happened to me..."

I sniffled softly, putting my hands over his that were on my cheeks, "a-and the baby?" I asked him, "you'll love them, too?"

There was a moment where he was silent, and then he sighed and lowered his eyes, "I don't want to get attached to something so fragile, Fawn..." he uttered quietly.

More tears gathered in my eyes, blurring my vision.

They fell over my cheeks in fat droplets, and I hiccuped softly.

"Y-you'll love t-them, too?" I repeated, my voice breaking terribly, "w-won't you, Alastor?"

I need to hear him say it. I need to hear him tell me that he will love this baby.

When he remained silent, simply gazing up at me from his place on the floor, I felt my heart shatter to pieces.

Slowly, I removed his hands from my face and brought them down to my stomach.

There was a hesitance in his movements. His fingers curled around mine, and for a moment he even fought me against even touching my stomach.

But ultimately, he relaxed his hands and allowed me to place them onto my midsection.

He touched me like I was made of glass. Tears were still falling from my eyes as I observed his expression.

"What's inside me may be fragile, Alastor..." I started quietly, "but it's alive."

My voice shook slightly and I put my hands over his, holding him there.

"It's alive, and it's ours..."

The glazed, stony look behind his eyes seemed to soften as he stared at my belly. He did that for a long moment, so many thoughts swimming behind his eyes that he kept to himself.

His lips formed into a small frown before he closed his eyes and turned his head away from me.

Then he pulled his hands back and stood up, turning around to leave me standing alone in the living room.