Chapter Text
Charlie had always been told that life with a kid was hard; mainly by her dad, by accident.
During her childhood, in those rare times she was allowed to just play in his toy workshop as he was doing something he would sigh, look at her seriously and say
“It's so hard to have a kid…”
Completely forgetting she was the kid in question; only to then be reminded of it and try to make sure her mother would never know she heard him say that.
Charlie didn't really hold it against him, not in the present day at least, especially now that she knew just how bad his depression was.
The only reason those words came back to her these days was because now that she had a kid of her own she couldn't disagree more.
Her and Vaggie had adopted Ricky almost two years ago and during all that time he had been nothing but an absolute angel of a kid, ironically enough; he was quiet, if a bit shy with strangers, but he made up for it by being very talkative to his moms.
Vaggie had been a bit hesitant when he asked them if he could call them that
“His mother only went to heaven a year ago, I don't want to replace her…”
But Charlie has shrugged
“I mean, he knows for sure she's in a better place and we love him…plus he still call Pinuccia is mamma, I didn't think he's trying to replace her, more just, adding on”
So they agreed and ever since then Ricky quietly declared, if asked, that he had three moms, which put Vaggie's heart at rest a little.
The fallen angel was definitely the more anxious one when it came to their son; she had babyproofed the hotel, twice, and it stayed like that to this day, despite Ricky being six, and she was the one constantly making sure everything went as smoothly as possible for him.
She did all these things that didn't even cross Charlie's mind, like cutting grapes or putting a lock onto Niffty’s cleaning supplies and only giving the key to the little housemaid.
When the princess expressed confusion over all those practices Vaggie's brows furrowed
“Didn't your parents do all this? How did you survive?”
She scrunched up her nose
“You were raised in a military booth camp…”
“Yeah! That's why I never had any of these things, no one gave a shit about protecting us, just keeping us alive, but you are a princess…”
Apparently raising a kid also meant crying a lot over one own childhood; neither of them was really all that prepared for that.
It was a pretty hard challenge, as they had anticipated, but it was also rewarding, they both thought.
And their kid was great, seriously, Charlie couldn't help herself but constantly compliment him; he was just so incredible in her eyes, she had noticed it from the first moment he had come to the hotel, but now she just felt a lot more comfortable telling him as much as she wanted.
Sometimes the princess still felt a cold shiver go down her spine at the thought of being like her mother, especially as she found herself doing some things exactly like she used to, but she was usually quick enough to dismiss it; just because she was like Lilith it didn't mean she had to make her same mistakes.
Plus she had Vaggie by her side, and together they were a pretty great team.
So great that one night, as they were both lying in their bed, which they had been able to reclaim around three months ago, as Ricky's nightmare had gotten fewer and further between, allowing him to sleep in his now completely renovated room, Charlie dared to ask
“Do you think we would do a good job with a newborn too?”
Vaggie's eye went wide
“Are you saying what I think you're saying?”
Charlie shrugged, her cheeks redder than usual
“It depends…do you think I'm asking you if we should have another baby?”
The fallen angel hugged herself and the princess immediately felt embarrassed; fuck, had she been too forward?
Sure, they were doing a good job with Ricky but they had also adopted him when he was already four, a newborn was definitely a lot more work and a lot more chances for them to fuck up!
Fuck, why couldn't she just shut her mouth once in a while?
She looked at Vaggie and shook her head, gesturing wildly
“Forget I said anything! It was a stupid idea…”
She went back to laying down on the bed, but Vaggie put a hand on her shoulder and sighed
“I didn't say no…I'm just…do you really think we could do it? I love Ricky but he was already a great kid when we got him…and he has none of our…problems in him…he mimicks some of our behaviors, maybe but…could you imagine a child that it's really half me half you…I need to think about it, and we definitely need to ask Ricky too!”
On that Charlie completely agreed.
They both had secretly hoped that their son would just say no, when asked if he wanted a little sibling, if only so they would have a convenient excuse to stop thinking about even the idea of having a second kid, but unfortunately Ricky looked stocked at the idea, once his moms presented it to him one morning at breakfast.
His eyes were so wide and shiny that they looked like small beads
“For real?”
He asked, fin-hands flapping in quiet excitement.
The women looked at each other and eventually nodded
“Yes, we're thinking about it.”
Vaggie explained to him.
They thought about it, seriously thought about it for a long while and eventually it became a sort of group project, where everyone in the hotel needed to have their say about.
Not that Charlie and Vaggie thought it was unwarranted; the hotel was as busy as ever and if they actually decided to take one of them out of commission, even partially, because of pregnancy they weren't sure the rest of the staff would be able to handle the place alone.
“Who would stay at the lobby? Husk is the busiest of us at the bar, Niffty is Niffty and Alastor does whatever he wants!”
But the more time passed the more the two, especially Vaggie found themselves trying to solve all those issues in an actual practical way.
“We could definitely put Angel at the lobby, he won't say no, because he loves us!”
“And because we would pay him”
“Oh, yes, that too obviously”
“And we could time it right, you know…when we finally find a stable footing!”
So the no, quickly became later and soon enough later arrived; after a year.
The hotel had a steady but manageable flow of guests coming in, redemption worked like a well oiled machine, for those who were really seeking it, and all together the place was less chaotic than ever, lived in but not out of control anymore.
So the princess and the fallen angel found themselves on the living room couch one night, phones and the hotel computer on to try and gather all the possible options for them to have a baby.
Charlie would have gladly chosen her father's hellish magic, the same that had brought her to life, but she wasn't the one getting pregnant and Vaggie was too scared to try that due to being an angel
“I'm not sure what worked for your parents will work too well for me…”
They briefly considered letting Charlie be the one to get pregnant but it very much sounded impossible; Vaggie's tasks could have easily been shared between the rest of the staff but the princess’ were a bit too specific for that, and they were a lot more time and energy consuming, not to mention she had a tendency to overwork herself and they both knew it wasn't gonna fade away just because she was carrying a baby.
So they kept researching something that would work and that Vaggie would be comfortable with.
Fertility portions were discussed but with Vaggie being an angel and not a sinner they weren't too sure it would work, or be safe, it was already barely safe for actual sinners.
In the end they decided on IVF, if only because it was the only option they could find clear information on the internet and not in some ancient book smelling of sulfur.
“I'll call my aunt Bel”
Charlie immediately chimed up, once they had taken the decision and honestly that put a lot of Vaggie's fear to rest, if the literal sin of sloth was gonna be involved she was probably not gonna die, not too painfully at least.
They got their appointment a few weeks later; they entrusted Ricky to Angel, with a good few threats aimed at him by Vaggie, for good measure and then they took The Elevator.
Vaggie had never used it; she knew sinners couldn't travel through the Circles and she didn't want to blow her cover.
“It's so…similar to heaven…”
Was all she could say to her girlfriend as she showed her around.
The princess stiffened, she didn't think about that; her mother had brought her in and out that place so much as a child that for her it was the opposite, the only time she had been in heaven the first thing she had thought was that it reminded her of The Elevator
“I'm sorry…we could definitely ask my dad to teleport us if…”
The fallen angel held her girlfriend’s hand tight
“It's ok, honey, I'm actually so happy to finally see all of hell for real, I was just surprised, I didn't think any place down here could be so shiny!”
Charlie nodded with a smile, letting herself calm down a bit
“Yeah, it was a gift from my aunts and uncles to dad, so I think they were purposefully trying to make it look like Heaven.”
The ride down to Sloth went smoothly
“It's very different from Pride…”
Vaggie noted.
She didn't really like the place, not more than she had liked The Elevator, it was too soft, too seemingly innocuous, it made the angel regret not bringing her spear, because what if someone was gonna try and mug her? What if the whole soft edges of the place were only a distraction to lull you into a false sense of security?
She felt herself getting worked up about the thought so much she started getting hot.
Charlie immediately noticed her girlfriend’s uneasiness and made sure to walk her to her aunt's clinic as fast as possible
“I'll bring you to Wrath, one day, I think you'll like it a lot more!”
They got called in almost immediately, and the receptionist even bowed to Charlie
“So other rings actually take your royal title seriously?”
Vaggie wondered, with a raised eyebrow, starting to feel marginally more at ease, but still warm, now that they were inside a more Pride-looking place.
Charlie laughed softly, shaking her head
“No, but my aunt makes sure my title of niece is”
Given that she had read a lot about hell and its inhabitants she didn't flinch too much upon seeing Belphagorph, but given her size she still didn't feel completely at ease, at least until the sin smiled and with an inhumane slowness got her size down to just a little taller than Charlie
“Oh…my little Apple Pie…it's so nice to see you…”
Her voice was low, every word being dragged out for seconds on end, her eyes drooping; she shuffled towards Charlie and held her tight, before turning to Vaggie
“And you must be her partner…Charlie told me so much about you…”
She held out her hands, still with the absolute most calm and slowness.
Vaggie shook her hand, awkwardly, not knowing exactly how fast she could perform the action without seeming rude.
Belphagorph didn't seem to take offence to the way the angel greeted her and gestured for her to get on the examination bed
“So you're here to start trying IVF, right?..Let me just ask a few questions before getting some blood work done…”
It took them something close to an hour for the Sin of Sloth to ask Vaggie all the classic routine questions a doctor would ask, but eventually she told the woman to please lay down on the bed and after drawing her blood it only took a few minutes before she got the results.
Her smile took a few seconds to spread in her face and she nodded pleased
“Very good…very good…we can easily start the process whenever you feel ready…”
She hugged Charlie once more and sent the girls back home.
The princess was ripping at the seams with joy and Vaggie was, in her own way, extremely joyous in turn; she would have liked to express it, but she felt weirdly sluggish.
“It's so hot around here…”
She mumbled, making Charlie shoot her a concerned look
“Is it? I didn't notice…”
Vaggie shrugged it off
“Maybe it's just in my head…I don't know…”
They probably should have been more concerned, but they didn't have enough time to, because the moment the two were back in Pride the fallen angel was feeling much better.
“Maybe it was just in my head…I am pretty tired, after all…”
The princess decided to believe her girlfriend and they went to bed early that evening, postponing the Q&A’s session their friends were obviously gonna set up to the next day.
Vaggie was feeling completely normal by then, so they focused on answering the questions the others were asking them at the breakfast table; the sudden hotness the fallen angel had felt the previous day completely forgotten.
They didn't really think about it in the following months, either, busy as they were trying to prepare for the new baby; there was still a lot of things to do, mainly find a sperm donor.
“I'm pretty open to anything, really!”
Vaggie had assured her girlfriend, multiple times
“Whatever your aunt can find I'm down for, it's not like I know all that much about different hellborns species, after all!”
“My aunt is a Sin, Vaggie, she can find for us whatever we want and I'm just a little worried about it being from any hellborn at all…with you being an angel I think I'd feel safer if it was sperm from a sinner.”
Vaggie had to agree, so the princess told that to Belphagorph and they were waiting for news, ar lease until they announced it at the dinner table one night
“I can help ya”
Angel chimed up, nonchalantly
“You gave me a lot, I mean, I've been here for years without getting redeemed yet and you have put up with me for all that time”
Vaggie had been down for the idea pretty immediately; it was true, it had been years, by now, and Angel had firmly cemented himself as the idiot that took permanent platonic residence in Vaggie's heart, but Charlie, who was really, really trying not to overstep his boundaries anymore was a bit more uncertain
“Are you really sure? Like, absolutely, completely sure? Like, not sure like ‘I have to because of the hospitality’, like absolutely, completely, totally-”
Angel shit her up with a hand over her mouth
“Charlie, I'm offering to cum in a cup, which by the way I do daily, not to marry you, I promise I'm sure, I just want to do something nice for you and Vaggie!”
So it was set.
And a few weeks later the princess and fallen angel went to get the procedure done.
They eventually decided not to go all the way down to Sloth for it, mostly because Charlie wasn't eager to have a repeat of last time, so they went to Pride, with direct direction from Bel.
It all went apparently smoothly and they got a positive pregnancy test an exact month after the procedure.
They told Ricky before anyone else, just so they could get their son's reaction before the mess that the others finding out was going to be.
They asked him to come into their room and they smiled so bright that they didn't even have to say anything before Ricky started clapping his fin-hand with a bright smile
“I'm getting a baby sibling!”
He kept chanting under his breath, with absolute quiet excitement over the course of the entire night.
They told everyone else the next day, although they probably had already understood it; they got all their friends to get into Charlie's office and the princess proudly showed off the pregnancy test.
Vaggie was awkwardly trying not to look at everyone else's faces; she had tried to talk her girlfriend into revealing the news with a different method than showing off a stick she pissed on, but Charlie was Charlie, so she just shrugged and tried not to laugh hysterically.
Angel was the first to break the silence that inevitably fell on the room
“Eddaje! Good to hear that we're gonna get another brat ‘round here!”
Husk patted Vaggie on the shoulder with a proud smile and soon enough everyone was congratulating the two in their own…unique ways.
Alastor stayed on the side, but again, that was typical of him.
There were lots of shouted congratulations, offers to sew the baby some dresses by Niffty and even an awkward offer from Husk to have a toast in the name of the baby.
It obviously got shut down pretty quickly
“I can't drink, Husk!”
Vaggie scolded him, making his eyes go wide
“You can't? Shit, I guess I owe an excuse to my ex wife!”
And with that the conversation was smoothly transitioned to ‘The fuck you mean Husk has an ex wife?’, much to Vaggie's delight.
She really was happy she was gonna carry the baby but she was also immensely intimidated by the fact that she was gonna be the centre of everyone attention for months; so she was gonna keep every moment of breath she could manage to get.
The last person they told was Lucifer, per Charlie's request; the two walked up to his room later that day and Vaggie offered him a box they had prepared the night before, containing a rubber duck with a single word written of it in red sharpie
‘Grandpa’
Vaggie genuinely thought she was gonna die of asphyxiation given how tightly the king of hell hugged her.
In the following weeks nothing really changed per se; thing Vaggie was immensely grateful for.
She really enjoyed the way no one, but Charlie sometimes, started treating her any differently; she still got called to break up fights between residents, to help fix the tv and to keep an eye on Alastor whenever he was in charge of cooking.
The only real change were not being able to work at the lobby and the fact that Ricky became clingier, in a very curious kid way; he talked to Vaggie's stomach like the baby could hear him already and asked his mama a whole lot of questions she had no answers to, which meant that she usually made them up.
Charlie went pretty overboard with baby shopping, like…a whole lot overboard, but she seemed to be having fun, so Vaggie didn't interfere.
After all, if the princess made sure to get all their bases covered it meant she didn't have to, which was a blessing, because the fallen angel's energy was slowly draining a whole lot faster than it used to.
But it was ok, because she was pregnant, those kinds of things happen when you're pregnant.
The nausea started a few weeks in; it was constant, so much so that it quickly became a constant companion to Vaggie, and the worst part was that she wasn't even vomiting properly, she just couldn't, because there wasn't really anything for her to.
She wasn't eating.
Food felt weird, all kinds; bread was weirdly spicy, meat tasted too much like metal, milk was always too hot.
Actually everything felt too hot.
Hell itself felt on fire to the woman, well…it technically was on fire, but she usually didn't feel it like that; walking barefoot was akin to literally walking on scorching hot coal, but keeping shoes and socks on made her sweat more.
The only thing she was able to wear without wanting to rip off her own flesh were her loose, fresh nightgowns and even then she felt like she had to change them every half hour, because of how much she sweated inside of them.
Her hair was also an immense bother, so much so that one night she just couldn't handle it anymore and cut it all clean off with her own spear.
Charlie found her on the floor, breathing heavily from the heat with her cut hair in one hand, a vulnerable look on her face.
It wasn't a flattering hairstyle; she hadn't cut it with intention, which meant the layers were all off, some strands didn't get much further down than her cheek while others got almost to the shoulder, but the fallen angel kept declining Charlie's offers to try and fix it by trying to give her a pixie cut, because it would remind her too much of how she used to wear her hair back in her exorcist day.
So she stayed looking a mess, not that anyone was gonna comment on it, she looked too pathetic to even make fun of, she was a puppy already out in the rain, why kick it?
And why was she so damn bad at metaphors?
She tried to keep up with her duties, but she sucked at them more than she completed them; she swayed more than she walked and she wheezed more than she breathed, but she needed to still be useful, she couldn't be a bother, she had to pull her weight.
She knew everyone, or at least the one who cared, were incredibly concerned for her.
Angel tried to make her sit down for a few moments every time she passed by the lobby, making up flimsy excuses
“Vags, could you come a sec and show me how to format this document!”
Husk would casually throw her a water battle those rare times she wasn't carrying anything
“Hydrate, you look hot, again!”
Niffty left random pillows around the hotel in case Vaggie fainted again, which she found unfair, because it only happened three times, Baxter reminded her to take her vitamins, which did nothing but she took them out of routine and Alastor…well, he merely stayed in his corner sneering but silent, which she was pretty sure was all Charlie's doing.
The princess however was the one that tried to get to the heart of the problem most directly
“Vaggie, please…you need help…”
She would whisper to her girlfriend, at night, as she tried to determine whatever staying still or rolling around trying to find a different position was better.
Vaggie didn't want to
“I'm fine, honey…I promise I'm fine…”
And Charlie didn't want to impose herself, so she just stayed watching Vaggie suffer with a heavy heart.
They did some check-ups at the clinic in Pride, but all they got out of it was a prescription for some more vitamins.
The princess briefly thought of begging Vaggie to come down to Sloth, at least once, just to see if her aunt may know why she was like that, but she quickly reconsidered, remembering how physically uncomfortable the fallen angel had been last time.
It would probably do more harm than good to bring her down there and there was no possibility that Belphagorph would come up to Pride.
So the best the princess could do was try and subtly help Vaggie like the others all did.
The symptoms got worse and worse.
By the third month the fallen angel could barely do anything, but still acted like she could; she was fainting almost daily, which couldn't be healthy, and even her nightgowns were becoming suffocating, so much so that the AC was on almost constantly, but she was stubborn and refused to see just how much she was hurting.
Until one day she was climbing the stairs with Ricky in her arms, after dinner.
“Mama, can you carry me to my room, I like that you're toasty!”
The woman smiled faintly; she liked that her son hadn't yet understood just how bad her condition was, it meant that there were at least a pair of eyes in the hotel that didn't look at her with concern.
Swaying like a drunk she picked up Ricky and if her eyes shut down against her will for a second…no, they didn't!
The little boy was just a little colder than her, it felt great to have him in her arms, she started stumbling towards the stairs and it was when she had already climbed two steps that it happened.
The world went black.
The next time the woman opened her eyes she was met with the quiet, concerned whispers of her girlfriend and friends.
She didn't say anything, just slowly moved her eyes around, heart racing in her chest, but finally she catched a glimpse of her son, he was sitting on a pillow, a book on his lap, ok…he was fine…he was fine…
She felt like an idiot, but could do nothing but look down.
Fuck, she was starting to feel like she was being set on fire again!
She took a deep breath…or at least tired to and with a croaky, small voice confessed
“Ok…maybe I need help…”
That night they were all sitting at the table in the dining room.
Vaggie was awkwardly fanning herself, looking at all her friends trying to find a solution to her problem.
Charlie insisted to bring her down to Sloth, but they idea got shot down very quickly
“Charlie, I swear, I felt so incredibly weird down there…”
It was just a gut instinct but
“I'm not sure I'm gonna come back alive if we go down there…”
The whole table erupted in suggestions, questions, maybe’s and what if’s
“You already tried that clinic, right?”
“Yeah, but they didn't notice anything…”
“Ok…then…do you know any overlord that could help maybe?”
“An overlord…I'm not sure they would be willing to help us…”
“Maybe Rosie, she was great last time!”
“I don't know, I haven't seen her since then, and she's not at the Cannibal town’s Emporium all that much anymore, I wouldn't know where to find her…”
It was eventually Husk who snapped up
“Carmine! We should ask her!”
Everyone was very unconvinced
“Last time we went there she said she didn't have time for us…I don't think we're high on her list of people to help…also, what would she know about all this? She's not a medic, is she?”
The princess reasoned, but Vaggie noticed something in Husk's look…or maybe it was just her confused her playing tricks on her
"She's gonna help her and trust me she knows more than you think…”
The bartender said, so surely that it got Vaggie believing him immediately; she wasn't just tired, Husk knew something, something he probably couldn't tell and she was gonna trust him…after all Carmilla did help her last time.
So she nodded, dazed, and everyone got quiet, if Vaggie was convinced Carmilla was gonna help her then they would trust her, cause it's not like she'd ever trusted anyone so easily, she must have been sure.
Charlie helped Vaggie into a new, fresher nightgown and slowly accompanied her to her father's limousine, the other waved her goodbye with a smile and Ricky hugged her tight
“Get better, mama…”
She fell asleep on the way there…or maybe she fainted, the two concepts were starting to get blurry recently.
As expected once they got there Carmilla didn't seem intent on getting them in
“Really? You again? Why do you always come here when you need help! Hell is big, girls, don't you have another overlord to run to cry to?”
Charlie didn't feel up for that kind of mockery, she looked at the surveillance camera in front of her and growled a little, only to then take a deep breath and shut start rambling like she so often did
“Carmilla, we need help, please! Vaggie is dying and we've been told you know something to help…please! I can pay you, I can give you anything you want…”
Vaggie faintly nodded in turn, still hanging off of Charlie's arm, she put a hand on her stomach, reminding herself she was doing all this for a reason.
There was a moment of deafening silence and then a single question, whispered with the same tone as a death sentence
“Is she pregnant?”
Charlie nodded and the next thing the two women knew the arms dealer was in the threshold with a serious, focused expression
“Bring her in, I have a guest room on the first floor, third door to the left.
Charlie probably should have asked herself some questions about just how quickly Carmilla changed her opinion but she was worried, therefore she nodded and followed through with the woman's instruction.
The room she placed Vaggie in was huge but bare, truly the most standard guest room; it somehow got the princess a little less worried, Vaggie was going to be ok, Carmilla clearly knew what was wrong with her and she was gonna fix it…all three of them were both gonna be ok.
A few moments later Carmilla came into the room; she had a bucket full of ice and a cloth; she looked at Vaggie, laying in bed, breathing heavily and placed the cloth on her forehead, making the fallen angel moan in delight, it was feeezing…so good!
Carmilla then focused on Charlie
“Exorcists weren't made to carry children, less than less children of demons”
She reported with absolute zero emotions in her voice
“Her body temperature is a fraction of the baby’s, it's burning her up from the inside, it gets worse the more the pregnancy progresses…but she'll survive.”
That simple phrases made the princess' heart so much lighter she felt like absolutely everything in the world was perfect.
Vaggie was gonna survive, that was all that matter.
“She's gonna be ok?!”
She asked, just to be completely sure
Carmilla nodded
“She will, but she needs a lot of monitoring and help”
She looked at Vaggie sharply, like she was telling something only the two of them would ever understand
“And she needs to be on absolute bedrest! She doesn't have to do anything, I'm serious.”
Vaggie winced and looked down.
The princess nodded
“I understand! I will make sure she stays in bed and I'll put cold water soaked cloths on her forehead!”
But there was clear uncertainty in her voice; she was gonna do it, of course she was, she loved her girlfriend, but it was gonna be a logistic nightmare and…
Carmilla understood with just a glance
“She can stay here, in the meantime, I definitely have more free time than you and I've already been through this.”
She looked at Vaggie
“I can help you if you allow me.”
The fallen angel was half asleep already but she nodded
“Yeah…”
She whispered
“Chalrlie…take care of the hotel…I'll stay…”
So, although with a little unsureness, the princess left Vaggie to the care of Carmilla.
Who, for her part, was absolutely hellbent on making sure the fallen angel was ok.
She made sure she stayed in bed, for real, and she made sure she was always at at least a manageable body temperature.
Vaggie was slowly but surely starting to melt under Carmilla’s nice touch, she was feeling better, enought I have clear thoughts, which she was never gonna take for granted again.
She still felt miserable, but less so, which again, she was never gonna give for granted ever again.
Carmilla and her didn't really talk that much, they were both private, quiet people, but one night they did talk, at length.
Vaggie was around six months by then and the arm dealer overlord shook her head, after feeling her forehead
“This won't do, can you walk? I have an idea to make you feel a bit better.”
The fallen angel nodded; it was a lie and they both knew it.
After a few seconds of silence Vaggie shook her head and Carmilla took her in her arms like a kid and carried her to the bathroom.
“I hate being this dependent on people…”
“They programmed it into us…to make us never quit until we break…”
The older woman ran a little water, but mostly filled the bathtub with ice cubes, helping Vaggie get inside.
She would have said it felt like heaven but she wasn't that mentally exhausted yet.
Carmilla then tired off the light and opened the window, letting the cold nightly wind get in.
It was the best Vaggie had felt in months and the darkness made her want to talk, probably because she was not gonna see Carmilla's face.
“How could you do this twice?”
“I really didn't…”
“Had no idea your daughters were twins?”
“They aren't…I had Odette when I was still up there…”
“Oh, mierda! You were one of those women in the factory under the arena…”
“There wasn't a lot for a prototype like me to do but give them more and more new exorcists, I just couldn't anymore after a while, did something stupid on purpose and landed down here when she was still young enough that they couldn't take her away from me…you're like you have Charlie, you two are gonna be great mothers”
There was a moment of silence after that, and eventually
“Ok, I think the ice all melted, ready for bed?”
They never talked about that night again, Carmilla ran ice baths for Vaggie a few more times but during those they stayed silent.
Still Vaggie felt like she understood Carmilla on such a deeper level now and she trusted her.
She was nearing eight months when her friends decided to throw her a little party, a quiet one, just so they could be all together and shower Vaggie and Charlie with gifts for the baby.
By that point the fallen angel was barely there, lost in a very very hot daze, but she could still feel the whole room buzzing with joy and laughter and she got to hug her son for a while.
It was nice.
Eventually the time came.
Honestly Vaggie didn't realize she was in labour
The previous nine months had been so incredibly painful and confusing that by then her body knew nothing but suffering, so she only understood what was happening once her water broke.
She called Carmilla and she called Charlie.
The princess rushed her to the clinic so fast the fallen angel felt like vomiting...or maybe it was the labour doing? Whatever...
Vaggie didn't remember too much about everything else, she was just so tired.
The next thing she knew was that she was in a bed she didn't recognize and that a baby was in her arms.
For the first time in months she didn't feel like she was gonna melt any second, she was tired, she felt achy and torn apart but she wasn't dying anymore or anything like that.
She glanced up at Charlie, who smiled at her softer than she ever did .
"She's here..."
She said gently, pointing to the newborn.
Vaggie nodded, teary eyed.
The little girl was small, her skin the same tone of gray as Vaggie, she had no hair yet and she was sleeping blissfully, she was perfect.
"What should we call her?"
Vaggie asked, realizing they hadn't really discussed names, they had lists, sure, but nothing picked for sure.
They both looked at her intensely, as if she could tell them her name herself and she kinda did in a way.
"Allegra..."
Charlie said and they both knew it was the name.
"Allegra Carmilla Morningstar..."
Vaggie finalized.
They stayed like that for a moment, but eventually Vaggie asked
"Could you tell the others to let Ricky in? I want him to meet her first."
The princess obliged and as their son sat on the hospital's bed, carefully holding his baby sister both Charlie and Vaggie were sure, they couldn't have been happier, this was it, this was the family they've always dreamed of and they were gonna fight their hardest to make sure their kids knew that they were the most important thing to them, always