Author's note: I suggest obviously reading Innocent Illusions before this, but I guess you don't have to.

This is set about 6 years after Innocent Illusions.

SOUL MATES

I don't know how it is you are so familiar to me- or
why it feels less like I am getting to know you and
more as though I am remembering who you are. How
every smile, every whisper brings me closer to the
impossible conclusion that I have known you before, I
have loved you before- in another time, a different
place- some other existence.
- Lang Leav

13th January 2026

Gracie Benedict stood a few steps away from one of the living room walls, looking at it closely. Almost the entire wall was covered in photographs that her and her boyfriend had pinned up, photos of their lives since the day they'd met this exact day six years ago.

There were photos of their last year at the savant academy they'd attended, of them and their closest friends there. Photos of them and their families. Photos of landscapes and places and people they'd seen and met over the years as they travelled the world. Her current favourite photo was a blown-up one of a sonogram, their unborn baby curled up and sucking its thumb by the looks of it.

Looking at the photos brought back so many memories from the years they'd spent together. She remembered their last year of school, where thankfully nothing bad had happened and they'd both left with good grades, having worked to the best of their abilities. They'd planned to take a year out before they went to university together, and after they'd left school they'd signed up to work abroad with a charity that helped to rescue animals and provide them with good care.

Her and Killian – her boyfriend and lovely soulfinder – had enjoyed the work so much that during that year, they did voluntary work with a few different charities. At the end of the year, they'd made the decision not to go to university because they were already doing something that they both loved. They'd both always been very fond of animals – in fact, working with the farmyard animals at the academy had been something they'd initially bonded over – so travelling all over the world and helping animals was something they thoroughly loved and got a lot of pleasure out of. Of course, getting to travel the world and see places they'd never thought they would was an added bonus.

A lot of the time, the charities paid for their accommodation and living costs but sometimes they needed their own money. Seeing as they didn't get paid for their voluntary work, they kept in touch with the net and did odd jobs for the different branches around the world. They used their powers to help with defence and fighting every now and then; occasionally gave speeches about The Illusionists, their lives during and after that battle, to help savants realize how bad things could get and to promote Power Construction lessons that were not only available at the academy but now provided by the net in certain countries; they'd taught some Power Construction lessons themselves over the years and had provided a sort of friend-therapy for people who refused to speak to an actual therapist.

They were twenty-two now and had been doing this work ever since.

It was a good life they had and they were both extremely proud of the work they did to help animals and savants alike. Considering none of them had had an actual career in mind, they were happy with how things had turned out.

But alas, things couldn't stay like that forever.

One day they had been working with elephants in Zimbabwe and Gracie had started to feel dizzy before she'd eventually collapsed. After being rushed to hospital she was told that she was dehydrated and had heatstroke... And she was pregnant.

Although they'd talked about one day starting their own family, they certainly had not been trying so the pregnancy had come as a shock to them. Gracie remembered how she'd been scared and unsure at first, but how Killian had been so excited that it had been impossible not to join in with the excitement.

For the first few months in the pregnancy they'd continued their work in Zimbabwe whilst talking about their hopes for their child's future and talked about possible names. Now, Gracie was one week away from her due date and they still hadn't settled on a name- they'd chosen to keep the gender a secret and had far too many boys and girls names that they liked. All they had agreed on was middle names: Trace or Georgeanne, after her parents. They were hoping the right name would come to them when they saw their perfect, beautiful baby for the first time.

When she was five months pregnant, they'd moved to Gracie's home town of Wrickenridge as both of their parents' lived there, as did a lot of their other family members. Killian and Gracie had decided they wanted their child to grow up in a nice family environment so they'd bought themselves a flat and made it a home. It was the first real home they'd had together, having been living in cabins or hotel rooms or shared houses as they travelled.

Things had been great at first. Killian had got a job teaching a few lessons at the local art gallery and had even sold a few of his own works of art for a considerable amount of money. Things were still great in that aspect. Killian revelled in his new job and at the end of the day he returned home to Gracie. They were still so crazy in love and awaiting the arrival of their first child, but Gracie was bored.

Nobody wanted to hire a pregnant lady so she would have to wait until the baby was at least a few months old before she got a job. She was so sick and tired of staying at home and babysitting family members and having nothing to do all day.

Gracie turned away from the wall of photos with a sigh, hand stroking her protruding stomach as the baby kicked her harshly again. He or she had been very active this past hour, kicking and moving around and causing small twinges of pain here and there.

She went over to the TV – which she'd had on a music station as she'd cleaned the flat – and pressed guide on the remote to see what time it was. There was still another hour to go before she had to pick up her siblings from school: thirteen year old Mark, eight year old Willow, and six year old Eva.

What can I do? She thought to herself, looking around the flat and praying for something entertaining to jump out at her. There was nothing. The flat was clean, she'd finished reading her newest book, she'd caught up on all her TV shows. She actually felt jealous that Killian got to work all day and not be here bored out of his freaking mind.

Deciding that she may as well take a quick nap before picking her siblings up, she started to walk in the direction of hers and Killian's bedroom. Well, walk wasn't quite the right word. Waddled was more like it. She'd been lucky to have an easy pregnancy with no problems whatsoever and she was lucky that pregnancy suited her and gave her a certain glow. But there was one thing that had she had been unlucky enough to get: swollen ankles. She could only fit her feet into flats these days (not that she wanted to wear heels- although it would have been nice to wear boots) and she found it hard to walk and look normal. Killian always laughed at her and made jokes about it, calling her his little penguin.

She stopped suddenly in the doorway of the bedroom as she felt a strange sensation down below. A moment later, her underwear felt wet and there was a light trickling sensation as liquid dripped down her leg.

Thinking she'd peed herself (which had embarrassingly already happened twice in the pregnancy thanks to the baby using her bladder as a cushion), she lifted the hem of her dress and took a look just to be sure she wasn't imagining it.

Shit. The realization hit her as sudden as if she'd walked into a brick wall. That wasn't pee.

Her waters had broke.

Killian Ashe strolled around the art classroom, looking at the portraits of the fruit bowl that his class were painting on their canvas. There was no age limit to who could take lessons here and his class today had ten students that ranged from the ages of six to seventy. That was one of the things he really liked about working here: being able to work with aspiring artists, or just lovers of art, of all ages.

"I'm seeing some good pieces here guys," he praised them. He stopped behind the youngest student, a six year old little girl, and smiled when he saw her work: she'd painted the fruit rainbow coloured and had given them all smiling faces. "I love seeing all your different artistic interpretations," he continued speaking as he moved back to the front of the classroom. "Just remember not to try too hard, there's no right or wrong and you'll learn how to improve over time. Next week we'll be working on sketching, all you'll have is a pencil and paper. That's going to be tougher than painting so you need to learn to stop getting so agitated when it isn't how you want it to look," he shot a look towards a man who kept cursing under his breath. He looked up at the clock before adding, "we have twenty minutes left, keep working but don't rush."

When he felt his phone vibrate in his jeans pocket, he slid it out. The caller ID said that it was Gracie and although he wasn't technically supposed to answer his phone in class he knew that she wouldn't call unless it was important. Plus, with her being pregnant and so close to her due date, he knew that he had to answer the phone every time it called. Even if sometimes she was calling because she was overly emotional over something that she'd lost. Just the other day for example she had been frustrated because she couldn't find her grey sweater. He'd had to remind her that she was wearing her grey sweater.

Expecting a call about something similar to that, he answered his phone. "Hey, Gracie. I'm teaching right now, is it important or can I call you back after? There's only like twenty minutes to go."

"Oh no, I'd definitely say it's important." She let out a laugh. Killian could tell just by the tone of her voice that she was panicked about something and quickly asked her what was wrong. "Well," she replied, her voice shaky. "I need you to come home."

"Why?"

"I thought I peed myself. But I didn't."

"Well that's good," he smirked. "Don't want to go doing that again, do you?"

"Oh ha-ha," she snapped. "Killian, I didn't pee myself but I was still wet down there. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Killian straightened up, instantly aware and alert. Since they'd moved back to Wrickenridge a few months ago, he had borrowed plenty of books from the library about pregnancy, birth and labour, caring for a baby, etc. Gracie had teased him about it and hadn't read any of the books herself, but Killian was glad he had as it meant he at least knew the basic facts about everything and knew what to expect.

He turned away from his students and hissed, "are you saying your waters have broken?" into the phone.

"Yup," she popped the P.

"Oh my god." Killian's heart started racing. It's happening. It's finally happening. "What about contractions? Have you had any yet? How far apart are they?" He walked over to the classroom door, told his students to keep working, and left the room.

"Well I've been feeling twinges for an hour now but they weren't that bad, I just thought it was the baby kicking," she replied, sounding nonchalant about it all now. "I haven't timed them, Killian. So, are you coming to pick me up or should I just wait here until you finish work?"

"You can't just wait there! You're in labour, Gracie, the baby could come at any time." He reached the front office where his boss was sat. "Hang on," he said to Gracie. Speaking to his boss now he said, "I have to leave, my girlfriend's in labour. Can you take the rest of my class?"

"Oh, of course!" Betty, a rounded redhead, exclaimed. "Good luck!" She rushed to take over his class and Killian headed outside the building and to the parking lot.

"I'm on my way now. Grab the hospital bag for the bedroom and wait for me, we need to get you to the hospital."

"Okay. See you later," she said casually, as if they were talking about him coming home for dinner or something casual like that. She hung up on him.

"Damn it Gracie," he muttered as he got into his car and started the engine. He didn't know how she could go from being panicked to being so calm that quickly, and he didn't know how on Earth she could talk about this in such a casual manner.

She was in labour for crying out loud!

"She's in labour," he said out loud to himself. "Jesus Christ, I'm going to be a dad."

Sat in a hospital bed, Gracie looked up from her book and smiled as her mother walked into the room, blonde hair tied in a low ponytail and an anxious look in her eyes. "Hey mum," she said in a cheery voice. "Thanks for coming. Sorry I couldn't pick the kids up, where are they?"

"Oh I called your dad after I got your voicemail and he managed to leave work early. They're at home with him, that's why he's not here with me," Georgie replied. "How are you feeling, sweetie?"

"I'm fine," Gracie replied, earmarking her page in the book and placing it on the bedside cabinet. "Three hours into labour and I'm not screaming yet which I see as a good sign."

She watched as her mother looked at her strangely before asking, "have you been given pain relief or something? You look awfully calm for a woman in labour."

"No, I told you I wanted to do this the natural way," she replied, remembering how she'd insisted to her family she was strong enough to take the pain. "But yeah, I'm calm. Why do you look so surprised?"

"Well I think we were all expecting you to be freaking out, not just because of the labour but because of what comes afterwards," Georgie chuckled. "We know you'll be a great mum but we thought you'd panic at having to look after somebody else."

"I helped out with Mark, Willow and Eva," Gracie shrugged. "It's not a problem for me. I don't feel like I need to freak out. Killian on the other hand..." She looked up at her soulfinder pacing the room back and forth, his strawberry-blonde hair all over the place because of the amount of times he had ran his hands through it. "He's actually more ready for a baby than I am, yet he's the one freaking out. He won't relax, mum."

Killian stopped and spun to face her. "Relax? Baby, I can't relax. I'm just full of so much emotion: excitement, nervousness... It's just really hit me. We're going to have a baby, Gracie. How are you not freaking out right now?"

"We've had the past eight months since we found out to realize we're going to have a baby," she rolled her eyes at him. "You're the one that's read all those books, you should be sat here telling me what to do. Besides-" Her words cut off as another contraction hit her and she leaned forward, clutching her stomach and groaning in pain.

Straight away, Killian rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms, stroking her back and comforting her as she worked through it. She felt her mum sit down on her other side, taking one of Gracie's hands in both of hers. She was thankful in that moment that her mum had agreed to be in the room with them as she couldn't imagine going through this without either of them.

As the pain subsided, she relaxed and took deep breaths before smiling at Killian. "Besides," she continued her speech from a moment ago, "you'll stop freaking out when the baby's born because then everything will be over. I know you hate seeing me in pain but it's worth it."

After a pause, Killian nodded and kissed her forehead. "I just hate seeing you in pain, even if you only show it when you have an actual contraction. I'll try to calm my nerves a bit, I know it's annoying you," he laughed.

Georgie's phone started ringing and Gracie turned to see her mum turning the phone off. "Who was that?" She asked.

"Will," Georgie replied, rolling her eyes. "Everyone already knows you're in labour, I've had countless phone calls from your aunts and uncles. They're all waiting, you're the first Benedict baby to have a baby."

All three laughed at that. Gracie felt privileged they were there with her, making this time in her life so much more special. She'd imagined that her labour would be full of her screaming her head off and demanding pain relief, but it had actually been easy which defied everything everyone had told her to expect.

She made a mental note to thank her baby for coming into the world so pleasantly and for hurting her as little as he/she could.

A loud cry filled the room and Gracie slumped back against her pillows, trying to get her breath back. She was aware of her mum crying beside her and aware of Killian as he kissed her head over and over again as he told her how much he loved her and thanked her for giving him a child.

"It's a boy!" She heard the midwife say. "And by the sounds of it, he has a right set of lungs on him."

Killian released Gracie from his hold as the midwife handed the baby over to Gracie. As she held her baby for the first time, she looked at the smiling faces of the other three people in the room with her, tears welling in her eyes as she was filled with utter contentment and so much happiness.

She looked down at the baby, her baby, for the first time as he quietened down and silently looked up at her with bright blue eyes. He had his daddy's eyes. However the smile fell from her face as she looked at his face and she just knew instinctively – call it mother's intuition or just good knowledge – that something was wrong with him.

She just knew. Her precious little boy, so beautiful as he looked up at her as if already hoping for her unconditional love, had something wrong with him.

Author's note: Please leave reviews! I'd love to know what you think of reading a story about adult Killian and Gracie and them being parents! :)