Days pass and Charlotte’s belly continues to grow. As a mermaid, she was expected by the royal midwife to lay an egg very soon.
As time passed, the Merkingdom palace adjusted itself for the expecting baby. The kingdom guards were building a lovely room for the baby and a merchant from the kingdom marketplace was generous enough to offer her services in order to make stuffed toys and blankets for the kid.
But as excited the kingdom was, Damon and Charlotte remained calm and knew to stay away from stress for the health of the baby.
One day, as she was resting on her bed, Charlotte’s belly bloated again and amniotic fluid flowed from her vagina. She was going into labor. Damon was shocked.
He quickly swam and informed the Merking and Merqueen about this and they were alert.
“Guards, get the midwife immediately. Charlotte’s giving birth!”, the King ordered.
The scenes that happened next came like a blur to Damon. He was pushed from the midwife and her assistants as they came into Charlotte’s room. As he heard Charlotte’s yelps and whimpers from her room, he was starting to feel overwhelmed by the busyness of it all. Being a king, a husband, and a father and at the same time was getting to him again.
“Yes! Keep pushing, Charlotte! It’s coming out, you can do it!”, the midwife cheered as the egg emerged from the princess’ tail.
Charlotte was very upset, but not because of any pain from the labor, she was upset that the midwife and her helpers pushed Damon away from seeing his baby being born. The egg retracted a bit as Charlotte spoke.
“Where’s Damon? I need him, now!”, the mermaid yelled.
The midwife panicked, she quickly gestured her assistants to bring Charlotte’s husband in.
Damon quickly swam to Charlotte’s side and held her hand. As he looked at Charlotte’s tail, he could see the egg coming about quickly now.
“Yes, Charlotte. You can do it, I believe in you! I love you!”, Damon cheered his wife.
Charlotte let out one final moan as the egg was finally free. The egg was quickly picked up by the midwife and cleaned up by the assistants with a medical cloth that cleared the egg from any slime and harmful bacteria.
When everything was said and done, the midwife gently laid the egg on Charlotte’s arms and let out a warm smile to the couple. “Congratulations, you two. Your baby is completely healthy!”
The midwife and her assistants left the room, leaving Damon and Charlotte alone at last.
The two were stunned, their baby was now in front of them. It felt as if all the noise and excitement from the kingdom before was now silence. The pregnancy was finally over, Charlotte and Damon were officially parents.
Damon could hear sniffles from Charlotte as tears formed on her eyes as she lovingly looked at her egg. She finally let out a wail and hugged her husband. Damon couldn’t take it anymore and cried too. The two embraced their baby and sobbed.
After everything they went through, after all the trouble it took to finally be together and bring peace between merfolk and humans - Damon and Charlotte now had a child to call their own.
After what felt like an eternity, the sea witch swam in to meet the couple, her voice was shaking as she spoke. “Congratulations to you two! After thick and thin, you both are now mom and dad!”
Charlotte wiped her eyes, “T-thank you, auntie. Thank you so much!” she said through sniffles.
The three looked the egg with awed eyes, the sea witch was enchanted, “Oh, it’s so big and has a healthy glow on the shell! You two are going to have a beautiful baby for sure!”
Damon smiled at that, he was so excited to see his baby break from the shell and show its face to the world.
“If you two want, I could use my magic and tell you its gender. But I understand if you want it to be a surprise.”, The sea witch spoke gently.
Damon and Charlotte looked at each other and thought about it. They agreed to it.
“Alright, you two. Here goes nothing!”
The sea witch gently laid her palm on the egg and a purple aura surrounded it as the sea witch closed her eyes and concentrated.
When it was over, the sea witch retracted her hand.
“Well, is it a boy or a girl?”, Damon questioned.
The sea witch smiled and said her answer.