Disclaimer Not mine.

A/N: I have a few other stories I ought to be doing right now as well as a mountain of uni work but this was both easier and more fun. I wanted to write a happier one (because really, nobody's life can be as miserable as Will's has been so far in this can it? – he wasn't even born in 2 of the chapters and they were still miserable!) but somehow it still turned fairly tragic… but I'm ill and feeling sorry for myself and I just wanted to write something so *shrug*. It is quite short though…

When I realised this wasn't going to be the happy chapter I had planned, I decided to try and write Anne (mother Scarlett) as a bit bipolar/post-natal depression or possibly just deeply unhappy and putting on a brave face…I'd be interested to know people's thoughts on whether I managed it a bit – hopefully she also resembles Will in some small ways.

Erm, ages: Anne = 16-20, Fanny & John = 19-25 and Will = about 9 months ish.

"He's going to be a smasher, Fanny, just you wait!" Anne declared, bouncing her boy on her hip and smiling at Fanny and her husband.

"Course he is!" John agreed proudly, slinging an arm around his wife, "He comes from good stock, don't he?"

"And it's not long now," Anne continued excitedly, "Oh, Fanny! Won't it be wonderful? Little William'll finally have a friend to play with!"

Fanny laughed, "And what if he's a girl? I'll not have her rolling around and getting into mischief with your boy." Saying this, she chucked a finger under his chin and he beamed a toothy grin at her.

"There'll be plenty of time for rolling around, getting into mischief when they're older," Anne grinned, laughing devilishly at John's increasing blush. "Look, John," she exclaimed, holding her son out to him, "your daughter's future-husband!" Fanny tried to look scandalized, as she knew she should, but ended up giggling along with Anne all the same; John, on the other hand, seemed to have gone faintly green.

"It don't matter anyway," John said quickly, "because he's going to be a boy and that's that."

Anne suddenly stopped laughing, pulling her son close to her again. "Would it be so bad," she asked, sounding hurt, "for a girl of yours to marry my boy? Because she won't meet no finer match, my boy comes from good stock too!"

"Yes, but whose?" Sniped a young man as he passed, much to the amusement of his fellows.

Fanny watched apprehensively as Anne all but threw her young son into Fanny's arms and stormed after the group of youngsters. She tried to call her friend off as Anne picked up a stone and hurled it at the boys. Anne returned to the pair muttering profanities under her breath and scowling furiously.

"Ignore 'em, Anne," Fanny advised softly, "They don't understand." She turned to her husband for support but he shook his head minutely, refusing to meet her gaze.

"I have to get to them fields," John said abruptly, attempting to kiss his wife's cheek as he said it.

"Well, get gone then!" Fanny told him angrily, shrugging her way out from under his arm and scowling at him disappointedly. She loved him dearly but there were times when for the life of her, she could not understand how she could do so when he could act so harshly to a girl with nobody else in the world. She turned back to Anne, proffering her son.

Anne sniffed and took the infant back, smiling weakly and kissing his cheek.

"They shall have each other if they choose," Fanny said consolingly, reaching out and smoothing the soft hair back from the infant's face, "and if anyone objects then they can go hang because it's nobody's business but ours."

Anne smiled again, as Fanny had hoped she would, and said fondly "I truly believe that no one could stand between any daughter of yours and her love, whoever he may be," she raised her chin and added proudly "Besides, my William might not want your girl – he might steal the heart of some nobleman's daughter."

"And they'll live in some castle and people'll call 'im 'my lord', I suppose?" Fanny teased.

"Well, why not?" Anne replied defensively. "They ought to anyway," she added moodily.

Fanny's face fell and she sighed frustratedly, "You're off again? Anne, he's a lovely little lad but he ain't no nobleman."

"Says you!" Anne shot back, "one day, his father'll come and claim us and then it'll be your girl who ain't good enough for my boy!"

They held each other's eyes for a moment until Fanny's drifted to the child, who was gazing at them wide-eyed. "He is a lovely lad, Anne," she repeated softly, trying to think what she could say to smooth her friend's ruffled feathers. Smiling hopefully, she added, "I hope it is a girl."

Anne smirked but then schooled her face back into a frown. Nonetheless, she linked her free arm with Fanny's and began walking them through the village, though Fanny could see she was determined to hold on to her bad temper a while longer since she said not a word until they had reached Fanny's home. Here, they stopped and stood facing each other awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, all right?" Fanny said imploringly.

Anne paused and for a moment, Fanny feared her attempts to make amends would be rejected but suddenly her friend began to smile until she was outright beaming. "It will be a girl, Fanny, I can feel it!" She told her enthusiastically, grabbing her hand and squeezing. Suddenly, she started to giggle, "Did you see John's face when I said about…you know," she made a gesture that had Fanny glancing around quickly to make sure nobody was watching.

"Anne! You – " Fanny grabbed her hand and pulled her inside quickly. "You're wicked, Anne Scarlett!" she told her, giggling in spite of herself. "And in front of your little son an' all, you ought to be ashamed!" Anne shrugged innocently and placed her son on the floor beside her, still beaming puckishly. "You only said all that about them getting in mischief because my John was there," Fanny accused her, eyeing her shrewdly.

Anne gave a mock curtsey, bowing her head in acknowledgment. She joined Fanny as Fanny lowered herself into a chair slowly, wincing and considering how much longer she would needs wait before she gave birth. They both sat watching William babble happily to himself on the floor, making vague finger drawings in the earth. Fanny tried to imagine how it would be to have a child of her own, of how she would give everything she had in the world (such as it was) for her child to be happy and healthy. She and John were happily married less than a year but certain that whatever happened, John would see them through it so she had no worries on that account; still, she could not imagine bringing a child into the world knowing it would forever be known as an outcast as Anne had done. She thought back to the previous summer when Anne had stumbled into the village, far into the final stages of labour having deliberately brought it on early, agonized and terrified over how her child might come out. But Fanny had not been lying to her earlier, William truly was a fine child, small perhaps but not unhealthily so and no deformity to speak of – all in all, Anne had been extremely lucky though she had not thought so at the time. Little William's life was not going to be easy – his mother and father had seen to that – but for now, he did at least have his health and despite what John said, Fanny intended to make certain her children were not hateful or scornful of William and his mother as others in the town were.

Anne had apparently been thinking along similar lines. "Promise they'll be friends?" she asked quietly, not looking at Fanny.

"Of course," Fanny said at once, taking her friend's hand.

"He doesn't deserve it… what everyone says about him, us, I suppose."

"I know."

"They think I don't know about them," Anne spat, suddenly tearful, "but I do! It isn't just them today – they're just boys! – it's everyone – even your John!"

Fanny grimaced, unsure what to say. She wondered whether she ought to suggest Anne leave and make a fresh start elsewhere but selfishly she knew she wanted her there and that in truth, they'd likely be no better off anywhere else. "John tries," she said eventually.

"Because of you," she said, sounding almost pitying, "John holds back from the others because of you, not because he don't think like they do."

"He likes William," Fanny tried again, fairly certain she was stating truths.

Anne gave a bitter laugh, "Nobody likes my William, nobody wants him." She turned to look at her son but this time her gaze was not a kind one.

"But you do," Fanny said earnestly, "don't you?"

Anne did not reply for a very long time and her eyes were filled with tears when she finally did. She dragged her eyes from her son and turned to look at Fanny, smiling wanly, "Yes," she whispered, "I'm his mother."

As always, please review. Actually, on that note, it seems the more I reply to reviews (which I personally like authors doing when I review their stuff), the less reviews I actually get…is this just me? Because I can stop, but I just feel like if people take the time to review then I ought to take the time to thank them for it…

Anyway, thanks for reading. x