That's until Isa turned to face him and he immediately understood, “I'm pregnant!” “That's wonderful, little one” he agreed, looking over her shoulder to Vincent who gave him a nod of approval to his questioning gaze.

“Where is uncle Len? I want to tell him too!” she remembered as she tore herself away from her brother. “What do you want to tell me?” Glen asked from the hallway, seemingly not sure what was really going on.

She couldn’t help but chuckle in relief, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes. “Is this a good time to ask why you have a raccoon in a dinosaur costume?” “That’s just Steve, we wanted to dress him up for your visit,” her brother explained.

“Absolutely not a fan knowing Dima did this to you.” he began, swallowing the lump in his throat. “But I’m willing to compromise as long as I get a chance at murdering him in his sleep.” Isa blinked back tears. “Come here, I’m happy for you little butterfly. As long as you're happy”

His face twisted in total horror, “Oh Satan ”. It was completely different from her parents. He was grossed out, not horrified by her pregnancy. Yet her eyes flinched, scared that it might result in the same reaction she had been getting this entire time. But Vincent quickly picked up on it.

“That’s funny, I can’t be an uncle unless you’re–” he seemed to be at a complete loss of words, sensing something he didn’t like. Maybe intuition, maybe telepathy between siblings, who knows. But it was probably the way she blushed and held her breath waiting for his brain to process it.

“Hi Isa–you okay? Your belly is…” Vincent pointed towards her stomach, worried he might say the wrong thing. Isa nodded excitedly, “I know, you’re going to be an uncle!” It was silent after that, so quiet in fact that even the raccoon seemed to suddenly stop moving.

While Isa had been to his apartment before, it looked completely different from last time when Vincent opened the door. And she really didn't expect to find Ada running after a raccoon in a dinosaur costume. Apparently she wasn’t the only one with surprises up her sleeve.

She made sure to call her brother ahead of her visit, only telling him that she had something exciting to show him before she came over. In a way it was her trying to reclaim the exciting and fun part of her pregnancy. The surprises and fun reactions of family and friends she hadn’t gotten yet.

Isa had been so busy trying to figure out if her baby was okay that she completely forgot that Vincent still had no idea what was going on. Obviously her baby’s well-being had been more important but now that it was clear, she could finally tell him-not that it was necessary considering her belly.

So she had to be strong and fight for their well being and the pregnancy she always dreamed of, even if it meant that she had to stand up against her father and everyone else. But for now it was alright, they were okay and so was she. And that's all that mattered.

Knowing she had to take over was scary. She wasn’t used to arguing with people, questioning every idea they had. But for her baby she had to, because even with her not having much more of a clue herself, she was her baby’s direct line to the world. Their safe place. And soon their home.

She was supposed to be the mother, the one making the decisions about what was right and what wasn’t. Instead she was caught in the middle–listening to others making the decisions for her. And she hated it.

Isa feeling this amount of anger and hurt wasn’t normal. But being powerless was nothing new to her.

Hey, just here to remind you once again that we're still in the past with the queues, we're going to get back to the present soon (hopefully) 🫡

“We should leave our options open just in case,” her father told Eileithyia, knowing that if he looked at Isa all he would see was hurt. “This is not your baby!” Isa cried, “You’re not allowed to decide that!” “But 𝑦𝑜𝑢 are my baby.”

“No, we can't do that!” Isa immediately protested, heartbroken that it was even brought up as a possibility. “No one is saying we have to, I’m only offering what is possible.” “It is not an option,” Isa growled, feeling helpless and angry the way she never did before.

At last she slowed down, seeing the concern in their eyes. “If you are worried…if you’d like to take away some of the questions, it could be possible to…take away one half of the hybrid. Leave the baby as one or the other.” “Wait, are you suggesting…” “Taking away one half of their species, yes.”

“Everything looks beautiful. The only thing of note is the accelerated growth, but that could be very normal for a hybrid baby. I think if we keep a close eye on Baby Lemon with biweekly appointments we should be able to stay on top of things, but I’m not worried.”

“Your placenta has taken over on feeding Baby and everything looks good, just make sure to eat plenty of vitamin rich foods and stick to your regular diet. You should feel less nauseous soon, and a little more energetic. The extra iron intake will probably help a lot!”

Eileithyia wasted no time once she caught a glimpse. “Ah—a lovely little lemon. Baby is about four inches long…bigger than I would expect for ten weeks gestation. This would be more on track with fourteen.” And once she started she didn't seem to stop or leave any room for questions.

“This is strange…” she thought out loud, but immediately reached out for Lucian's hand for help, and he didn’t dare refuse it when it came to helping his daughter. Obviously Isa had expected that he would need to help somehow, but not with placing his hand on her stomach. Yet it seemed to work.

All her dad did was grumble in discomfort as they set up for Eileithyia to do her thing. Isa knew better than to expect an ultrasound machine or any other kind of procedures she knew from the mortal world. What she didn't expect was the fact that Eileithyia needed nothing besides her hands.

Isa had no time to wonder what information she had been given, “You're Eileithyia, right?” The woman happily nodded in response. “I see you've brought additional family members for emotional support,” she stated, taking a look at the company that had shown up before Isa.

To their surprise the portal led them straight into a room in the castle and not out in the open like they had expected. And an unfamiliar friendly face greeted them, with more excitement than they anticipated. “I'm so happy to finally meet you, I heard so many good things about you, Isa!”

Just like Dima had said, getting an appointment wasn’t hard when you knew the queen of the dimension. But Isa already began to show, which made the trip to Olympus more nerve wrecking than it should’ve been. Considering the people there would stare and judge them like they always did, if not more.

When he finally got over the fact that her dad would have to be involved, he suggested getting an appointment with Eileithyia. “It shouldn’t be hard if I ask Aunt Sine for help. What about your dad?” “I think he would want to come regardless, considering we’ll have to go to Olympus.”

“So she said I would have to consult my dad and I think Eileithyia was her name. Because of the possibility of our baby being a hybrid and them being the only people able to check on them,” Isa explained to Dima, but all he could do was stare at her in disbelief. “YOUR DAD?” “Yep.”

Isa gasped so hard she thought she might’ve choked on air “My DAD?” Her mother cocked her head in front of them. “Bless you?”

“Their heartbeat is stable and healthy, but that's about it. For more details you would need an expert” Isa couldn't help the sigh of relief, “I thought you were the expert?” “My expertise is usually the opposite. You should probably ask Eileithyia or your dad” Sia explained matter of factly.

“Do you mind?” she asked Isa before she got a nod of approval to touch her. Then her hand began to glow in a red light and her eyes turned dark, like Isa remembered her grandma’s when she got hungry. “A shy little one, but they're okay.” Isa let out a sigh of relief, “Can you sense anything else?”

They took a moment to explain things to Sia, but when they were done her eyes wandered over to Isa. “Lucian’s little baby is pregnant? Now I really feel old” she chuckled in response, “I mean I’m not really known for maternity check ups, but I’ll try my best.”

“Don’t worry, your dad does it a lot and she hasn’t gotten mad at him yet” her mother explained before the door unexpectedly shot open. Sia looked at them as if she was staring another crisis in the eye, “Is she possessed too?” “No, why would she…?” “Sorry, old habit. Come in”

After her mother and aunt had finished their very entertaining discussion, Isa and her mother made their way down to the Underworld, hoping that Sia was home since her mother wasn’t able to reach her on the phone. “Are you sure it’s okay when we just show up like this?”

“You can’t make those kinds of jokes in front of Isa” her mother pleaded with her aunt in embarrassment, but Isa couldn’t stop laughing. And to be honest she liked the switch of the topic because it eased the tension. “Well she made that baby somehow, didn't she?”

“What could you possibly want with her phone number?” “I mean she does take requests for threesomes, right?” “JADE” “I’m just joking…𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 "

“I mean usually I try to call her and if it’s really urgent and she’s in the Underworld I see if she’s home” Isa’s mother explained. “You have her phone number?” “Yeah, why?” Jade’s mouth turned into a mischievous grin “Can I have it?”

“Honestly, Sia would be my next guess. She’s a god but also the ruler of the Underworld. So it might work.” After a long pause of waging their options Jade couldn’t help but wonder, “So do you make an appointment with her or how does that work exactly?”

"What's different from my pregnancies?” her mother asked, not even giving Isa the chance to ask her own questions or clear her concerns. This time Jade huffed “I don’t know. With Vincent and Isa it was difficult but not impossible.” “Any idea who else might be able to?”

Her mother jumped in “What do you mean you don't know? Are Isa and the baby okay or not?” “Like I said, no clue. All I can sense is a different presence besides Isa’s but that’s about it. It’s like I can’t reach them” Jade further explained, seemingly frustrated by the results.

After what seemed like endless spells and tests Jade performed on Isa, she turned to face her and blankly said “I don't know”

Isa agreed to visit aunt Jade with her mother, hoping that it would give them some clarity about the pregnancy. She was there for her mother when her brother and Isa had been born too. So she had to at least know something.

“We would love that”

“That seems like a good idea” “And then I can make sure to spoil you and our new grandbaby soon” her mother announced excitedly.

"We have to make sure you’re okay” “But what about the baby? I want them to be safe too” “I know baby, I’m sorry we scared you. Maybe we could check in with Jade and get a second opinion? Make sure everything's okay?” Isa nodded, and seemingly calmed down a bit.

That's until her mother carefully knocked on the door and let herself in. Isa couldn’t help but sob when her mother pulled her closer. “I know this is supposed to be a happy day” her mother began, careful, “But this is something new, something that hasn’t existed this way before."

She ran up the stairs to her parents bedroom as the tears began to soak her cheeks. It felt like she was falling and had nowhere to hold on to. When she found out she had been so happy, like nothing in the world could’ve taken that away from her. But now, the doubts and fears began to creep in.

Her father sighed, looking at her mother for a brief second before he continued “We don’t know if it’s safe for you to have this baby” For Isa it felt like her world was falling apart.

Were they not happy for her? She didn’t understand what was going on until her father decided to speak up. “Baby, you need to think this through" he urged, a careful warning in his words. Her voice broke mid sentence as she took a step back “What do you mean?”

She couldn’t help but be nervous about her parents' reactions. When Isa told them that she was pregnant she expected big smiles and happy tears, maybe even heartfelt words. But her parents' faces fell, their eyes staring off into the space in horror.