Chapter Text
Mal stood in front of them with her hands on her hips. There was a silence, not awkward but quite tense. Evie blinked at her from the small table.
Well, they knew fucking had the downside of creating actual life, but who really was thinking about that?
“Sooo, who's the daddy?” Carlos breaks the silence, raising an eyebrow as he pingpongs between everyone.
Mal rolls her eyes, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as Evie smacks his shoulder. The freckled boy screws his face up in confused disbelief. “oh right, like y'all not curious?” He asks, huffing.
Jay sits leaning on the pillow against the wall, looking away from the purple haired fae in front of him. “Who do you think?” He deadpanned at him since by the upcurl of his lips, Carlos obviously remembers and was enjoying being a little shit.
“How long do you think it’s been?” Evie looks back at Mal, pressing her lips together after. Her fingers pulled at the fabric under. “If we are quick, I could mix up something. I'll find it in one of the books back at home.”
Sitting up straighter at that, Jay raises a hand. “Errrr, might be talking out of my ass here, but isn’t the barrier going to, I don’t know, bring it back?”
There's a pause.
“It will.” Mal says, eyebrows furrowing at the consequences. The potion wouldn’t really kill anything since the barrier brings it back. This is the first time they would be trying to get rid of something that was inside someone else, which wasn’t something like the flu or those pathetic illnesses that ran through the island. Mal glances at Evie.
“Oh.” Evie says.
Mal pushes off the wall and walks closer to the group, pulling a chair and sitting front facing the backrest. “Whatever it is, I’m not going to be a mother.” The word leaves a sour taste in her mouth, and she grimaces at no one. Jay looks lost in thought, blinking with his lips pressed in a line.
Carlos looks out the window, “Soo, what do we do?” He asks, untangling the wires placed in front of him earlier. No one answers. “We could leave it at Grezella’s footstep. She just takes whoever.”
Folding the shirt in front of her, Evie tilts her head in thought. “Well, that would be the best case.” She hums, undoing a stitch. “That's funny.”
“What is?”
“Being like our parents. Leaving.”
Jay frowns. “Well, none of us are staying so, actually not like our parents.”
Mal laughs, shaking her head at that. “Yea would be for the better anyway. The creature can learn on their own.”
Pressing a needle into the table, Evie lifts the skirt up. “What if it comes and take over the streets like what we did?”
“Righttt” Mal drags, rolling her eyes as she swings off the chair. “And when that happens, I’m six feet under.”
“Gross, don’t do that.” Mal huffs, swatting Carlos’ hand away when he tries to guide her down the stairs. “I’m not some prissy princess.” The boy pushes his lips out momentarily, hands going up in a surrender.
“Hey.” Evie says without much malice, absentmindedly looking at Mal’s shoes as she ascends from their hideout. Mal raises an eyebrow, looking at Jay as he shrugs.
“You’re not prissy.” Mal adds. “Whatever, Let's go.”
The plan is simple. Continue to do what they always do for as long as possible so that when Mal has to hide, the months are not aligned with the length of pregnancy. They drop the kid off at Grezellas and deny any and everything if the creature looks like any of them (not that anyone would dare.)
They agree to act the same, though Carlos trying to guide her down was minutes after that conversation and is very much not what they discussed.
“This is kinda funny,” Jay pipes in, arms folded behind his back as he slides across the street. “Now we’re 5.”
Evie frowns at that, swatting his shoulder. “Jay! shut up!"
“Her minions are still doing her bidding. She’s probably caught something.”
"Caught something?"
"Like a sickness or like that"
“Why are we still giving them our fish anyway? It seems like she’s not going to be making any visits.”
"yeah, and when it kills her and she comes back, She's on our ass."
“Shit. She's so small, is that normal?” Jay questions, nose scrunched as he looks down at the small body wrapped in a grey towel. The baby cries as Evie tries to wipe her small face clean.
“Fuckin’ great observation.” Mal spits, angry.
Shifting uncomfortably on the tattered mattress, she swats Jay’s hand away when he tries to push her sticky hair back. “Fucker hurt.” She mutters, leaning forward and passing the whining creature to Evie.
Jay stays quiet and picks up the torn washcloth from the water bucket, wringing it out and wiping the sweat on her temple. Her head feels heavy, ears stuffed with cotton. The cool water is nice against the warmth of her skin. Carlos looks up from the book, turning it around and showing everyone the diagram,“You need to feed her, Mal. Like this.” he says, pointing. Evie nods slightly, trying to give her the baby back, tilting her head towards the small baby in her arms.
Mal doesn’t move, staring at the page and then staring at the whining baby. The others look at her silently, blank faces and she wants to snap.
“I don’t…. what?” is all that comes out of her mouth.
The memory hearing about maternal instincts lights up in her head, the thought causing a weird bout of discomfort in her chest. She doesn't feel any type of knowing with the creature. No pull towards her, no need to hold her close.
Slinging the washcloth over his shoulder and grabbing the book from Carlos, Jay scans the words on the page quickly. “It’s supposed to be good for her, Mal.” He says, something akin to a pleading look on his face. This creature is as much Jay’s as it is hers. Doing this would be for Jay, she tells herself.
And It's not like Jay can produce milk either, so.
Evie hands her the whining thing, all scrunched and petite. Pathetic.
“I don’t remember learning any of this.” She grumbles but pulls the zipper of her vest down anyway, bringing the small baby against her chest. Everyone says quiet and it makes her grit her teeth. There's nothing they haven't seen really, her guts could be on the floor and there's no need to hide but the silence this time holds some unspoken tension. And it's not the sexy one.
“This is fucking weird.” She swallows under her breath, looking off around the room. Jay lifts his hand up to push her hair back and this time she lets him.
“Hey! On the bright side,” He pauses, starting again when Mal looks at him. “We made a pretty cute baby.” He smiles, trying to lighten the mood like he always does. “Our baby.” Carlos calls out, though he doesn’t sound confident. Mal rolls her eyes but her gaze still doesn’t meet anyones.
It must be obvious. “You okay?”, he whispers, pulling the makeshift trolley closer and offering her a water bottle. Her arms ache under the weight of the quiet creature, making her close her eyes and press her lips into a straight line. There's a thrumming in her fingers. Jay places the bottle on the floor.
“Yeah, whatever.” she grumbles after a while, looking down at the baby. “So, what now?” She asks, an unspoken reminder of their plan from 9 months ago.
“M, Do you think you’d ever be a mother?”
“What? No. Why would I want a wretched creature to take care of? I don’t need some pathetic being to carry any legacy.” Mal says, looking down at herself. She curls her fist tightly, slightly disturbed by the sight of her torso but straightens up in the safety of their hideout.
“...didn’t say that.”
“Yeah, you kinda did E.”
“Are you afraid of your mom?”
“Hm. I’ll make her proud of me.” It sounds pathetic when she says it outloud. Exactly what she feels about this being that is living in her now.
“She gets angry when I disappoint her. And yeah, she's my mom, so she likes me. In her own way.”
“Understandable. My mother's not a barrel of laughs when she doesn't get her way either." Evie pauses. "I don’t wish to carry that on.”
In her peripheral vision, Mal can see as Evie looks at the boys for a moment, taking the wet washcloth off Jay and dipping it back into the bucket. Her lowered gaze makes her eyes hard to read, back slightly curved inwards.
“Do you think I would be like my baba?” The thief questions, hands behind his head. The question confuses Mal, and she swallows before replying.
“You’re not your dad.”
“You don’t know that.” She kinda does. “What if I become exactly like him? Always searching for that lamp.”
“The stupid lamp? Please, even you know that's impossible” She deadpans, looking at him.
“And. It's not like we’re going to keep the thing.” She adds, rolling her eyes and staring up at the barrier. The cool stone under her grounds her. Someone shouts something indiscernible below.
“Aren’t you afraid that it’ll catch up with us one day?” He says after a moment, gazing at her. The topic shifts surprises Mal and she takes a moment to answer.
“When have you cared?” and he blinks, shaking his head as if to clear it. “We have an Isle to rule. Keep your fucking chin up. You look pathetic.”
“Yes ma'am”
The moment is dragged out for longer than Mal feels the need to. Jay stares at the creature and it's hard to tell what he feels. Evie busies herself with the cloth and bucket and Carlos turns to look at everyone.
“My mother wanted puppies. And then she got me.”
“Hm.”
“Don’t even know how. She calls me her little miracle. I don’t think she knows the definition of miracle.”
“Because.” Theres no tone but Carlos knows she's asking.
“Because? You know, acts like I’m less than…. I would never act like her.”
“I believe so.”
“You do?”
“What. Did you want me to say I don’t?”
“No. Nothing.”
“Okay.”
“How about Zara?” Carlos whispers, finger playing with the edge of the book. Mal looks up and stares at him.
“I like that name. زهرة (Zahrah), It means flower.” Jay whispers, bringing his hand up to brush her nose. Mal looks as he does, tracing her features, solemnly noting that she has her nose.
“I know.” Carlos says simply. Evie wrings the wet washcloth, playing with it as she looks over at Mal. “I like that name too.”
Mal isn’t stupid but sometimes pretending to be, can be helpful. “Okay!” She pipes up, kicking her legs off and landing on the floor. The small creature seems to be asleep now, so she looks at Evie for a moment before pushing her towards her. The princess blinks and carries her anyway, looking to the boys. “So, who’s going to take her to Grezella’s?” Mal questions, clicking the zipper together and pulling it up.
When she looks back up, the three of them are looking at her wide eyed, like this wasn’t what they discussed.
“What?” She snaps her fingers loudly, “we got to do it before people see us. Chop Chop.” She adds a small laugh before she looks behind her, out the window.
“Have you heard? Mal has a kid! That’s why she was MIA for so long-” “HAH! That bitch deserves a fucking devil.”