7-Isabella Alexis Hudson

Courtney and Duncan came skidding around the corner of the palace hallway. They had been told that Arianna was in her bedroom, but nothing else was known. In the rush Courtney was having a hard time remembering where the bedroom was, so the two were left running around endless corridors. It was a relief when they spotted Nigel sat outside the room.

"How is she?" Courtney asked, sliding onto the bench, gasping for breath, beside her father. Arianna let out a loud scream from her bedroom and Duncan held his hands over his sensitive ears.

"She's been better." Nigel replied, hugging Courtney with one arm.

"I'm scared now..." Courtney's eyes were wide with fear. She had no idea what she was going to do when the baby actually did arrive. Courtney was totally unprepared emotionally for whatever was going to happen now.

"No need to get scared." Duncan pulled Courtney into a hug and rested his head on top of hers, taking in the smell of her hair. "You're gonna be a great mother." But it wasn't enough to boost Courtney's confidence far enough. She was scared. Petrified with fear of messing up her daughters life.

"I have minus zero experience with kids." Courtney muttered to herself, but the other two could hear her.

"That makes two of us." Duncan replied.

Nigel smiled. He could remember when he was in their position, not knowing what to do or what was going to happen. It was a scary position to be in, but it had to be dealt with properly. No new parent knew what to do with a baby. It just came naturally once that baby was in their arms. Nigel just had to smile and bare to watch the confusion that Courtney and Duncan were going through.

"Have you named her yet?" Nigel asked, not taking his eyes away from the bedroom door.

"Belle." Courtney whispered and Nigel smiled some more. Baby Belle. "Short for Isabella." Nigel smiled some more. He had always loved the name Isabella, and it was his first choice for Courtney's name, too. "Isabella Alexis Hudson."

There was silence for a moment. The only sound was Courtney's heavy breathing from running and the fear that still washed over her. Then there came the heavy clip-clapping of everyone else's feet. The group came running around the corner, rushing towards the three who were sat on the bench outside Arianna's bedroom.

"Where's the fire?" Bridgette panted, leaning on the wall to catch her breath. It was a big palace to run around. It was an old castle after all, used as a battle fort in the early days. It was absolutely massive inside. It was quite easy to get lost inside the palace, os it was quite a wonder that the group had found where Arianna's bedroom was.

Arianna let out another room shaking shriek. No one could even imagine the pain she was goiong through at that moment.

"There's the fire." Duncan replied, breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh God..." Taylor's hand flew to her mouth. She gagged slightly, turning away from the bedroom door. Everyone turned to face her with curiosity. "I can smell the blood..." She whispered to them, seeing how they were all worried about her. Taylor was still in the recovering process of her transformation from a human eater to an animal eater. It was a difficult transaction to make. Being around blood didn't help.

"Control yourself or go." Duncan told her harshly. He hadn't meant it in a horrible manner, but the nerves of having a child were starting to get to him.

"I-I'm okay..." Taylor removed her hand from her mouth and nodded her head. She took in as many deep breathes as she could. The blood was still in the air, but no fangs were in her mouth. It was progress.

"I thought you could control yourself." Courtney questioned her. The brunette didn't take her wide eyes off the door. She was paralyzed with the fear of becoming a mother, but was still trying to think of something else to keep her mind from it.

"I-I could...But I haven't been around blood in a while and..." Taylor couldn't explain it properly. It was as if her natural vampire instinct was coming back to her. Sucking the blood from a human was always the natural vampire thing to do, but it was heavily frowned upon in the community.

"You're not allowed to be in here." Layona told the group, walking down the hallway from the opposite direction. She wasn't as strict as Kaly was, but she still applied by the rules.

Layona was the kinder one of the two council members. Most people did prefer Layona to Kaly, but Kaly was the leader of the two. They were supposed to be equals, but Layona liked to hang back and let Kaly do her job enough for the two of them. It wasn't that she was lazy, it was because Kaly was more determined to do a better job than Layona was. So, Layona knew it would just be easier to let Kaly take charge of everything the two were supposed to do.

"Why not?" Gwen asked, her arms folded across her chest.

"I'm just doing my job." Layona replied firmly, holding up her hands in defense. "Only Mr. Black, the Princess and what's-his-face can stay." Everyone smirked at the fact that Layona didn't know what Duncan's name was. Duncan didn't care at that moment, though. He was too concerned about the worries of becoming a father at any moment. "So, if you do not mind." Layona gestured to behind the group of teenagers.

"I'll walk you back." Courtney told them, seeing how none of them seemed to know where the hell they were going to go to get out of the palace.

Courtney moved past everyone so that she was in the front of the group, leading them back around the corner they had appeared behind.

"Scared?" Nigel asked, turning to face Duncan. It was obvious he was, but Nigel was making conversation for the two of them. It had been quite a few years since they had, had a one on one chat. Last time they had the roles had been reversed and it had been Nigel who was about to become a father.

"I'm destined to screw this up..." Duncan replied, nodding his head to answer the question. Nigel chuckled.

"Nervous are just apart of the whole ordeal."

"I have no idea what I'm going to do..." Duncan seemed to just be muttering things to himself now. Scared of everything that was happening at once.

"No one knows how to be a father." Nigel told Duncan. "I didn't have a clue, remember?" Duncan smiled slightly at the memory.


Nigel paced back and fore in front of his and his wife's bedroom door. It was for safety and precaution that he was not allowed to be in there with him, but Masey and Kristy were and Nigel trusted them just as much.

"You're really making me feel sick with all that pacing, Nigel." Maria told her brother-in-law. She had her own massive baby bump poking out from under an over-stretched t-shirt.

Nigel didn't stop the walking back and fore. He was too nervous to do so.

"What am I going to do?" He mumbled to himself and Duncan smirked in his direction.

"Nigel, CHILL!" He practically yelled, but he was not going to make too much noise for Courtney's sake. "You'll be fine...You're perfect father material." But Nigel shook his head, he didn't believe Duncan. "Seriously, everything will be fine. You have Courtney with you, after all." Nigel stopped, thinking about his wife. He took in deep breaths. "And you know she will not let you be a failure at being a father." Nigel smiled down at the floor, she most certainly wouldn't.


"Courtney turned out okay." Nigel told Duncan. "And I raised her single handedly, you have so much support around you."

"I hope you're right..." Duncan told him.

"I usually am." Nigel replied and Duncan smiled.

Arianna let out another ear splitting scream, this one louder than any of the others. The time between then and the birth of the baby was growing shorter and shorter. This was not helping Duncan and his nerves.

"What cha talking 'bout?" Courtney asked, sitting back down between her father and fiancee. Her mood seemed to have gone from fearful to excited. Maybe the walk and the fresh air had done her good.

"Nothing, Princess." Duncan said, turning towards Courtney and smiling.

Slowly, the creaky bedroom door to Arianna's own room opened up. Eric popped his head around and smiled at the two new parents. Courtney and Duncan looked up into his face, trying to work out what was going on.

"Come see her." The Prince finally ordered the two. Courtney and Duncan jumped to their feet in an instant. Nigel stayed behind, wanting to let them have their space first.

The two saw that Arianna was now asleep in her bed, her tanned face sweaty and her blonde hair tied back messily. It was easy to tell that she had been through a lot in the past few hours. So, Courtney and Duncan decided to let her have her rest whilst they looked at the baby.

She was tiny, but looked just how Taylor had described her to be like. Her body was completely tanned, matching Courtney's skin color, mostly. On top of her head were small, fine blonde wisps of hair. The baby was dressed in a red one-piece. She slowly opened up her eyes, peering up at her parents with her beautiful clear ocean blue eyes.

"She is so cute..." Courtney mumbled, leaning over the crib. Duncan smiled, kissing his girl on her forehead.

"She does look just like Arianna." Duncan whispered, careful not to wake said girl. Courtney nodded her head, smiling down.

"Guess it could be worse." She replied. "She could have looked like Eric." Arianna let out a giggle and Duncan and Courtney turned to face her. She was now wide awake, staring up at the ceiling of her bedroom.

"You can hold her mind." Arianna told the two, closing her eyes once more. It was easy to tell that she worn out from all the stress and in pain from the five or six hours of labour she had been in.

Courtney turned back to her newly born daughter and smiled. She cautiously leaned down and scooped the baby into her arms. She didn't let out as much as a whimper, only stared curiously at Courtney. The brunette couldn't stop smiling.

"Isabella Alexis Hudson." She whsipered to her baby. "Welcome to the family."

A/N: !

Okay, so you have all been waiting for this moment...;) LOL! BELLE IS HERE! AT LAST! LOL!

Also, a lot of you want the wedding to be in October...WHY? Okay...Not yelling there, just curious :) But I have decided on a date...Maybe it is in October...We won't know until I decided to add it in...I don't even know when that will be to be perfectly honest with you...LOL!

OKAY I want you guys to PLEASE check out my new story called Daisy's Daydreams. If you like my stories, please read it. If you only like my stories because they are TD...Still read it! ;) LOL! Please read it. It is a fantasy one like this, so...You should enjoy if you enjoy this :)

I have to have glasses...Only for reading and using the computer...BLEH!

LOL!

Thank you to;

CyD1224Izzy: haha! ;) LOL! Thank you :)

Aaron'sInAMineField: Yes. Yes it is. ;) Thanks :)

XxXYunocchi-chanXxX: hehe! Glad Tamora is feeling better :) Thank you :)

pomtdwt: LOL! Thanks :)

eternalstarlight28:...Yeah, I think you covered them all...;) LOL! I wouldn't dare give my cream eggs away even if I don't like them...That would mean someone else had more chocolate than me...LOL! Thank you :)

Destanaa: hehe! Thanks :)

XxPurpleChickxX: haha! Thank you :)

Clarissa: No. Duncan and Courtney are not married yet. They will be...soon-ish, but not yet. Thanks :)

InstruMental: ahaha! You know...I've never been able to get into the Scream movie series...LOL! But I can see you like it a lot ;) ahaha! LOL! Thank you :)

WHOOOOO! DEAD ON 50 REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU GUYS! LOL!

You know...It's never a good sign when you ask your mother who her favorite child is and she replies the fish...LOL!

Thanks for reading, please review :)

PLEASE CHECK OUT Daisy's Daydreams :)

Love, ChloeRhiannonX