"Aunt Antoinette," Felicity said as Antoinette walked came onto the dock, "will James be okay?"

"Yes, yes I'm sure he will," Antoinette told her niece. "And he'll be back in time for the delivery. I know he will."

Antoinette was wrong.

I was walking to Cutler's office, C.J and Carol in my arms. We all had changed so much in the last seven months. Carol and C.J, except for a few traits they had received from me, looked like younger clones of their father. They had just started crawling, and were into about everything. Cutler and I had celebrated our first anniversary by going off to our own island for a week; and became more motherly and fatherly, loving our children each the same, spoiling them rotten, but laying down the law when needed. And I was, after about 12 months, able to fit back into small clothes.

As we walked in the cozy little office, we saw that everything was in its place. Papers were on the desk, cushioned chairs sitting about the room, Cutler sitting at his desk, signing something. Every time I came in this room, I thought of the day that I told Cutler that we were going to have twins.

Cutler glanced up at us, smiled, and put his feather pen down. "Hi sweet heart," He said, kissing me. "Hi you two," He said, tickling the twins' chins.

"Hi sweetie pie," I said, setting the kids down on the floor to explore. "Have you heard anything from James?"

He looked down when I said that. "Yes. When is the next time that we will see Antoinette?"

"Tonight. Helen's going to be watching the twins while we all have tea."

"Good. I will tell everyone then."

"Is it good or bad news?"

Cutler sighed, and glanced down. "A little bit of both."

I furrowed my brow. "What do you mean?"

Cutler was about to say something, but was interrupted by a baby's coo. We glanced over, and saw that the twins were over by Mercer. Carol had persuaded him to pick her up and play peek-a-boo with her; while C.J had, using Mercer's leg, propped himself up into a standing position, and was hiding under the lapel of his jacket.

"Come here, you two," I said, picking them up.

"I must get back to work," Cutler said, giving us a hug. "I'll see you all tonight."

"Hi Antoinette!" I said to my friend that evening, as I opened the door for her. She had grown tremendously during the past seven months. "How have things been for you?"

"Oh fine, fine," Antoinette said, sitting down on a nearby couch. "Just, I've been worried about James. I haven't heard from him in the longest time." As Antoinette began to sob, I went over, and hugged her.

"It's okay," I told her, "if anything had happened to James, then we would have heard about it by now."

"Yeah," she said, drying her eyes with a hankie, "Just having half custody of Felicity is stressful; and the baby's been keeping me up a lot lately, so I haven't got a good night's sleep in a while."

"Lady Beckett and Mrs. Norrington," Diana said, curtsying, "Lord Beckett is waiting for you in the parlor."

"Thank-you, Diana," I said as Diana left the room.

As Antoinette and I reached the cozy little parlor, the tea had been made, and Cutler was sitting on the couch reading.

"Just be glad you're not having twins," I said. "I love mine to death, but they really knew how to keep me up at nights!"

"What are you two ladies talking about?" Cutler said, as he got our seats for us.

"The baby's been keeping her up a lot at night."

"Oh yes," Cutler said, smiling, and stirring sugar into his tea. "I remember those days. When the twins would start doing their midnight gymnastics, Heather would get up and start pacing, which woke me up." He took a sip of his tea. "Either that, or when we were both asleep, Heather would roll over so that her stomach was pressing against me, and they would start kicking."

We all laughed. "So, Antoinette," I said, stirring in some sugar, "what's you baby's name going to be?"

"Well," Antoinette said, putting her spoon down and resting her hands on her stomach, "from the way I'm carrying, I think it'll be a little girl, named Emily Marie. And if it's a boy, I'll name him Alexander James."

After tea, we sat about the living room, gossiping and laughing, Cutler having a look that said that he was talking about that stuff just because his wife and their friend was.

After we got done laughing, I remembered something. "Cutler dear," I said placing a hand on his knee and looking up at him, "didn't you tell me earlier today that you had something important to tell us? Something about James?"

Antoinettes head shot up when she heard her husbands name.

"Oh yes," Cuter said, a look of dread in his eye. "Antoinette, Heather, I recieved news about the Interceptor today." There was a moment of silence before he continued. "It went through a hurricane, killing most of the crew men. But they have yet to..."

Before he could say anything else, Antoinette grasped her stomach, and fell to the floor. "What's happening?" She asked as Cutler and I tried to help her up.

"You're in labor," I said, worry dripping off my every word.

Author's note

gasp Poor Antoinette! Will she and the baby be safe?!? And what about James? Thank-you to all of you who reviewed 'A New Life'! Hope you like this first chapter, and keep your eyes peeled for more!