PLEASE READ/UPDATED: Hi! It's been a while since I've updated this fic. I'm hoping to complete it this NaNoWriMo, so I'm beginning by editing all the chapters and hoping the idea for the epilogue comes to me while I'm doing it :)

For those of you who are Tamora Pierce fans, you may know that Tortall: A Spy's Guide came out recently (as in last year). I managed to get my copy a few days early and read it in two days. Just reading the first page had me squealing and planning fanfic. So this is the result of that. If you haven't read A Spy's Guide, then this might be a huge spoiler. So tread forward with caution. I'm planning a few more chapters, but I have no idea where this is going lol

(As for whether this story is spoilery...it depends. If you've read the Trickster duology, I still think it's fine to read this without having read A Spy's Guide. The actual spoiler is said in the first paragraph of the book, so...)

ENJOY

George read the sentence over again for what felt like the hundredth time. He was sure he had decoded it correctly – it was after all his own coding method.

I'm pregnant, laddybuck…

George's hands shook and the letters on the parchment blurred. He blinked back the tears quickly, his eyes drifting over to the beginning of the letter. Blue Harbour. May. He did the simple math in his head. That meant that Alanna was six months along. Six whole months…

George ran a hand through his greying hair, his eyes still locked on those words. He was going to be a Da. Again. To another little one. A smile lit up his face, and he felt his heart thump against his chest rapidly. Standing up, he began pacing around his study, trying to calm the nerves and giddiness that warred against his usual steady composition. He read the sentence over again, just to be sure. Then, turning the letter over, he finally began decoding the rest in his head.

"Pregnantly piratical…" George chuckled, shaking his head amusedly. That was his Alanna alright.

The next paragraph had him stopping mid-stride. "…I mean to offer my resignation as King's Champion." George shook his head with a chuckle as he read the next sentence, "Dearest, I'm serious this time."

"Oh, we'll see about that, lass."

At the end of the letter George let out a long sigh and sat back down behind his desk. He was happy, of course. In shock, but overjoyed. He had always thought the twins would be the last of them, but the Goddess worked in mysterious ways. And he wouldn't be surprised if the Trickster had had a role to play in this as well.

George ran a finger over the last couple words on the parchment. With all my love, and a new hatchling in my nest… He grinned, thinking of his daughter Aly. It had been only three years since he had become grandfather to triplets. He didn't get to see his daughter very much, but it had been a while since he'd last held a babe.

"Aly will be amused," he mumbled, folding the letter and putting it back into its envelope. "And Alan and Thom…" George chuckled thinking about his father-in-law and close friend, Sir Myles of Barony Olau. "He's going to have a right good laugh when he finds out, if he doesn't know already."

Slowly standing up, George stretched out his stiff limbs–Alanna wasn't the only one getting old and creaky–and walked over to a door in the corner of his office.

"This place is probably a dust-trap," he muttered as he took out a key chain from an inner pocket in his overcoat. It took him a while to find the right one, but with a little coaxing the door swung open revealing a dark, dusty room filled with crates and old toys.

Grabbing a small lamp off his desk, George stepped into the room, using the tiny beam of light as a guide through the maze of crates. Reaching the window on the far side of the room, he pulled back the curtains gingerly. A shower of dust greeted him anyway, but with the last few rays of the sun spilling into the room, George could actually see the state the little nursery was in now.

Besides the dust that covered most of the surfaces, the room was crammed with crates stacked one on top of another. All filled with old papers, files, intelligence briefings, and letters. In the corner, he spotted a small rocking horse that had belonged to Alan when he was a boy. George smiled sadly, remembering all the memories that had filled this space so many years back.

It had been a make-shift nursery while Maude had been busy helping around the fief. George had spent hours playing with his children when he should have been working. He remembered the little lessons he had taught them – tips on how to protect themselves if they were ever attacked, how to ask questions without arousing suspicion, the usual acting techniques that Players taught their children…He could remember Aly and Alan sword fighting with wooden practice swords, and Thom reading by the window as he hid from his tutor.

He had more memories of his children than Alanna did. And he knew that she knew that. He couldn't blame her for wanting to do things differently this time. It was a second chance after all.

Realizing that he would have a lot of work to do if this place was going to become a nursery again, George knelt down and began leafing through the stacks of papers in one crate. As he skimmed through the files and sorted them into piles on the dusty floor, he started planning the decorations. New carpets and curtains were definitely needed. A crib for the child…and maybe a cushioned rocking chair for Alanna. And toys. He grinned, picturing what it would look like in the end.

Leaning back against a crate, George looked out the window at the large expanse of green-blue that was the Emerald Ocean. The sun was slowly setting against the horizon, the sky a beautiful myriad of blues and pinks and oranges. A sliver of moon seemed to duck behind a cloud, as if hiding from the last golden rays of light.

"See you soon, lass," he whispered. "Bring our babe home safe."

/GC/GC/GC/

That's the first chapter! I'm unofficially participating in NaNoWriMo this month, so hopefully you'll get another chapter soon! I'm supposed to be going back to college next week, so we'll see how busy I end up getting. Don't forget to leave reviews!