Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a multi-part fic in this fandom (and for a while, too), and it's all to be blamed on Mariagoner and her fic exchange. There will be more, eventually, because this is a fun universe for me.

Mistakes


She was late. Penelo stared at the pocket calendar, willing the red dots that marked her cycle to be lying to her. She knew she didn't have to start worrying yet; she'd always been a little irregular, but that was before she started having highly enjoyable sex with the Archadian Emperor on a somewhat regular basis.

Certainly they used protection, but only when they remembered, and with the way Larsa would nip at her neck, it wasn't always the first thing on her mind when they finally got enough clothes off to satisfy themselves. The thought made her blush a little, even though she was still staring at the calendar, at the dots telling her that something most likely was not right with her body.

A knock on the door caused her head to whip around, and she found Vaan standing in the doorway of her cabin on the Eden. Her heart raced for several moments, and she took a deep breath to try to calm it. "What do you need, Vaan?" she asked him, hoping that she sounded normal enough.

He smiled at her, just like always, that goofy grin. "I just got word of a hunt down in the Feywood and I wanted to see if you're up to it." Vaan turned that slightly pleading he was so good at on her, and Penelo sighed, glancing down at her calendar. She couldn't be sure yet, and besides, there was no way she could face Larsa with this possibility. He'd freak, and that that would be BAD. She smiled up at Vaan from her spot on the floor.

"Sounds like a good idea to me!"

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The mark, they found out, was supposed to be in the back end of the Feywood, almost to Giruvegan. Penelo did not know this until, after hiking and fighting their way to those shrines that pointed the way via jungle-illusions, Vaan finally declared that they were there and should start looking for the mark. Penelo stared at him.

"Vaan," she said, her voice deceptively sweet, "why in the world did we not just start at Giruvegan?" At this point her voice, and her expression, dropped dangerously. "Why did you make us fight our way here from the Ozmone Plain?" Penelo glared at him (a look she had more than perfected over the years), and Vaan shrank back a little under the force of it.

"I thought it'd be good practice, for when we find the mark?" The young thief-turned-sky-pirate's face had a bit of forced innocence to it, but Penelo could tell that he really did mean well. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting it out slowly.

"Vaan. Next time something like this happens, I will kill you." Penelo's eyes opened clear and steady, and Vaan realized that she honestly meant it. He gulped and nodded, and Penelo's gaze relaxed into a slightly more wary version of her normal one. Brushing his palms on his pants, Vaan squinted into the Mist, searching for the mark.

-----

She woke slowly, back in her cabin on the Eden, enjoying the feeling of day breaking through her windows. That is, until she had that familiar feeling of the contents of her stomach attempting to retreat back up her throat. Penelo bolted out of bed and ran straight to the head, barely slamming the door shut before last night's dinner made itself visible again in the bowl of the toilet. She leaned her head against the cool wood of the seat and took a few deep breaths, spitting the traces of bile into the bowl and waiting to see if anything else was going to come up.

There was a hesitant knock at the door, and Penelo sighed. "I'm okay, Vaan, I promise."

"Are you sure?" The young sky pirate didn't sound convinced, and Penelo didn't blame him at all. This was the third time in the last five days that she'd been sick in the morning. Forcing a lighter tone, she replied.

"I'm sure. Must have been something I ate last night disagreeing with me, that's all." 'Please let him buy it, please let him buy it...'

"Penelo, that's what you said yesterday morning, too." Damn him. "I think you need to see a doctor."

"No!" The word was out before she could stop it, and, wincing, she quietly thunked her head against the toilet seat. "I'm not sick, Vaan. Just trust me, okay?" Penelo heard him sight on the other side of the door.

"Okay. I was thinking of heading back to Rabanastre today. That work for you?"

'Maybe I can talk to Ashe...' "Yeah, Vaan, that works fine."

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It had taken more wheedling than Penelo was used to get into the palace at Rabanastre to see Ashe. She and Vaan had spent the day visiting their friends around town, and she knew she didn't look her best (one couldn't, after spending the day running around Lowtown). That shouldn't have mattered to the guards on duty, though. She was a companion of the queen of Dalmasca, and the guards really ought to know that, ought to recognize her and let her into the damn palace!

Penelo was arguing with the guards and feeling oddly reminiscent of that time outside of the Lhusu Mines, when she was trying to get out of being taken into custody by Judge Ghis (instead, she'd been taken into custody by Larsa, and that, she thought, was the very start of this whole mess) when one of the soldiers in the back of the group snapped to attention. "Your Majesty!" The reaction was instantaneous: the rest of the contingent stopped arguing immediately and stepped back as their monarch approached. Ashe looked at them coolly, appraising the situation.

"I was told that someone was rather...vehemently trying to get in to see me," she said softly. Her eyes caught Penelo's, and despite the tone of Ashe's voice, Penelo knew her friend recognized her. "If," the young queen continued, forestalling and protest from the guards, "you cannot recognize my personal friends on sight, I will have you transferred to duty guarding the Waterway entrance of the palace. Is that clear?"

The guards nodded almost frantically, and Penelo had to hold in her giggles as Ashe turned to face her fully. "Penelo," she said with a slight nod and a small smile, "this is an unexpected pleasure." Penelo returned the smile and nod, miming a curtsey.

"My apologies, your Majesty. It was an unexpected visit, I assure you. I do, however, have a few things I would like to discuss with you." Penelo used her diplomat's voice, the one she used to talk Vaan out of the inevitable trouble he would get into with the authorities. Ashe's smile grew as she recognized the tone, and nodded Penelo inside, past the now-glowering guards.

"Dare I even ask what the 'Dread Pirate Ratsbane' has been getting up to as of late?" The young queen's use of Vaan's favorite nom de plume caused the sky pirate the laugh.

"You heard about that? Oh dear..."

"Well, when he's been making an effort to paint it in every town from Balfonheim to the far edges of Rozzaria..." Ashe trailed off, her smile mischievous. Penelo's giggles renewed themselves as they made their way through the halls to the queen's private chambers.

Safe behind the closed doors of Ashe's rooms, both young women dropped their masks of propriety as Penelo slouched on the low couch and Ashe went to grab a drink from the sidebar. "Can I safely assume that you did not come here to regale me with the tales of your misdeeds?" the older woman asked with an easy smile, sitting an armchair and looking at her friend. With a light groan, Penelo shook her head.

"I don't know how to say this, exactly..." she trailed off, looking briefly at Ashe before returning her gaze to the floor. I...Ashe, please don't tell anyone, but...I think I'm...pregnant." She whispered the last, though the older woman still caught the words. Very gently, she set her glass down on a small table.

"Are you certain?" she asked softly. When she looked up, Penelo's eyes were bright with unshed tears, and she shrugged.

"My cycle's almost three weeks late by now, and I've spent most of the last few mornings leaning over the toilet." Penelo took a deep breath. "Ashe, what am I supposed to do?"

Ashe rose from her seat to take a place next to the distressed dancer. "Do you know who the father is?" From her correspondences with her former traveling companions, she had an inkling of who the most likely culprit was, but it would be better to hear it from Penelo herself. The younger woman nodded, a small, jerky movement so unlike her normal grace.

"He...he doesn't know. I can't tell him!" Penelo started to sob. Ashe wrapped her arms around the lady sky pirate.

"You can stay here for a time, if you would like. He is not supposed to visit for several months yet," Ashe said softly to Penelo, offering her comfort and support. The younger woman continued to cry, though the queen felt a brief nod against her shoulder. She made a mental note to alert the palace staff to their new guest.

TBC…