Hey Readers :) So I managed to get this chapter up early. Over the next few weeks/months i'm going to be taking suggestions for baby names. So you can PM me or put your suggestion in a review if you like. Also if you have a suggestion for anything related to the story let me know and i may add it in :). I'd like to thank you all again for reading my story. Also thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows. You guys are my inspiration to keep writing this story. I hope you like this chapter :)

Chapter 10:

I feel a pair of arms wrap around my stomach protectively as I wake up from a deep sleep. "Good morning my dear" Maxon whispers into my ear as he rubs his thumb across my stomach. I open my eyes to see that it's still dark in our room and the sun has yet to rise. "Why are we up so early? The sun is asleep so we must sleep." I moan as I nuzzle my head into the pillow. Maxon laughs and sits up in the bed. "I'm sorry Ames, but the call is in 90 minutes and we need to be ready for when he calls. So I need you up now please. Mary is on her way to help you get ready." Maxon says as he slowly moves from the bed and into his suite to get ready. I sigh and sit up in bed wanting to sleep for a few more hours. I stay in bed until I hear the door open by a tired Mary. "Good morning America." Mary says as she heads to the closet to find a dress for me. "It's more like good middle of the night." I whine as I get out of my comfy bed. Mary laughs and comes out of the closet with a simple navy blue dress. "I thought you should wear a simple dress since you are probably returning to bed after your meeting." I nod in agreement. Soon I am wearing the dress and putting my black pumps on. I look at myself in the full body mirror and notice how tight this dress really is. I look at my stomach closely and notice the tiny bump. 'I really should see Dr. Cole soon about an ultrasound to date my pregnancy.'

Mary is currently putting my hair in loose curls and Maxon is nowhere to be seen. I'm lost in my thoughts about the call. I'm scared that the Emperor won't accept the child and will demand ours. My thoughts are consuming my brain and I don't realize that Mary is done with my hair or that Maxon is trying to get my attention. I snap out of my thoughts when Maxon places his hand on mine and says "America, I'm here." I look at his beautiful eyes and return to reality. "Ames, what's wrong. I was finishing last minute reports in my room when I heard Mary screaming to me. When I came over you were completely zoned out and wouldn't answer anyone." Maxon says as he pulls me into his arms. I start crying as Maxon hugs me as tight as he can. "I scared… what if he doesn't accept the offer? He's going to take our baby." I cry as I place my hand on my stomach protectively. "America, I promise that I will do everything in my power to make sure that we don't lose this baby." Maxon whispers. I stay in his arms until we hear a knock at the door. Mary walks over and answers it. Aspen comes into the room and looks at us with a serious look. "I'm sorry to interrupt but the Emperor is about to call and the Italians are already eating breakfast in the conference room." Aspen explains as I leave Maxon's arms and walk over to Aspen. "Thanks Aspen. Let's go, we wouldn't want to make the Emperor wait or Nicoletta." I say as I escort myself out, leaving Maxon and Aspen in silence back in the room. As I'm walking down the hallway I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around to see Maxon running after me with a folder in his hand. "Wait my dear. I can only run so fast." Maxon says as he catches up to me. I laugh at him, "Well one; I can't run while carrying a baby in my body so you have a lead there, and two; I thought I told you a long time ago not to call me your dear." Maxon smirks and takes my hand in his. "I know but it's so much fun to see your reaction and that smile." Maxon flirts as he kisses my cheek.

We approach the conference room and Maxon stops me from going in. "America, I want you to promise me that no matter what happens in that room, we remain positive. I'm going to fight for our child and our family. I want you to remember that you have to keep control of your temper. If you get too mad, the Emperor might make things worse for us. I love you and the baby so much and I want you to remember that. Also I want you to eat some breakfast when we go in there; we need you to be healthy." Maxon requests as he pulls me into his arms once again. I nod in agreement. I know that fighting with the Emperor will only make things worse. I can only hope my temper won't get the best of me. We enter the room to see the King and Queen chatting over coffee and Nicoletta sitting in a chair staring off into space. I walk over and hug her from behind. Nicoletta jumps and looks at me in fright. "Oh America, you sure do know how to scare and cheer up and girl with one simple action." She beams. I laugh and take the seat beside her and start eating a piece of toast and various fruits off of a food tray. Nicolette laughs at my eating habits as she finishes her coffee. I continue eating until I realize that she is staring at me with her mouth wide open. "Why are you staring at me?" I ask as Nicoletta smiles wide at me. "You're starting to show. You're actually pregnant. I can't believe that there is actually a baby in here." She gushes as she places her hands on my stomach. I laugh and I look up. I see that Maxon is sitting with the King and Queen with a smile on his face and the royals are both looking at me with pure happiness. A few moments later the phone begins to ring. Panic begins building up inside of me as Maxon grabs the phone to answer it.

"Hello Emperor, how are you today?" Maxon says as he puts the phone on speaker. "Hello King Maxon, I presume you have a decision for me so it might be a very good day for me." He says as I walk over to Maxon and take the seat next to him. "Well both I and my wife Queen America are joined here today by the King and Queen of Italy along with Princess Nicoletta. I am pleased to tell you that we have somewhat of a decision for you." "What do you mean somewhat?" "Well we have a better idea for a deal that I will let the King of Italy describe to you." Maxon says as he nods at the King. "Well Mr. Emperor recently a newborn baby boy was given to our daughter Nicoletta and she is currently unable to properly care for the child. We were considering on exchanging Queen America's child for the baby we currently have. We believe that giving you the baby will strengthen the bound between our three countries and not just two. This way we can end the war between New Asia and Illéa and keep peace between us three countries." The king is interrupted by the Emperor. "So I don't get the heir of Illéa at all. I get some orphan child from Italy that has no significant value." By now we are all speechless and I'm even more worried than before. Maxon clears his throat and grabs my hand before answering. "Well Emperor having the Italian child will secure the bond between all of our countries and you wouldn't have to wait 9 months to get the child. You would have the child within the next week and you would be able to teach it the New Asian lifestyle since it doesn't know any other way." The phone stays silent for several minutes. We all hold our breaths as we wait for any kind of response. We hear mumbling coming from the other side of the phone and moments later we hear a sigh. "No I will not accept the baby King Maxon, we had an agreement that you would give me your child in exchange for the war to end between us. A young orphan will not bring any kind of peace between our two countries." The emperor says as tears start running down my face. I look over at the King and Queen of Italy and they both wear the same sad expression on their faces. Maxon is running his hand through his hair which I presume means he's trying to think of another way to save our baby. We sit in silence until the Emperor starts talking again. "I'm quite surprised. The last few calls we've had the red-haired Queen has nothing to say. I presume that means that she doesn't care that she is losing her baby." The emperor is now teasing me to lose my temper. Now angry at the whole situation I stand up and clench my fists "I do care about my baby you idiot. I love this child more than anything and you are taking it away from me. I don't see how me losing my child is going to help us keep peace in any way since I'm now mad at you more than ever. Why do you even want my child? You have no clue whether it will be a boy or a girl; with this child you for sure will receive a boy. Also I thought you hated red hair and this child has a high percent chance of having red hair and a temper like mine. But it appears that you want my child more than a normal one that will have brown hair and act nothing like me. You're an idiot for giving up a child with so much more potential than mine could have. But I guess you're stuck with my red-haired temperamental child." I scream as tears keep running down my face. Maxon stands up and pulls me into his arms. I nuzzle my head into Maxon's chest and cry. The Emperor remains silent as we hear mumbling again in the background. "What do you mean it will have red hair." The Emperor demands. The Queen of Italy looks at me and answers "Well red hair runs in America's family, and most children take their mother's hair over their fathers. So if you receive Maxon and America's child, you will receive a red-haired baby. While on the other hand, the Italian child has brown hair. So remember if you take Queen America's baby, you will get a smaller version of America." The Emperor remains silent for several moments as we all hold our breaths again. "Alright I will accept the Italian child only on the conditions that you will never try to take it from me, you will never try to manipulate it into your ways and both your army's stay off my land for good." The emperor states as we all start to breathe again. "Thank you Emperor, we shall sign the peace treaty when I and the King of Italy come to your country to deliver your baby." Maxon states as he hugs me as tight as he can.

We finalize the details and finish the phone call a few minutes later. As we hear the end call beep, me and Maxon hug each other as tight as we can. We leave each other's arms to say good bye to the Italians in the entrance foyer, who are heading back to Italy. "Thank you so much Nicoletta for everything. I will be at your wedding no matter what." I say as we embrace. "Oh America you're so very welcome. And I shall see you again soon but send me updates on the pregnancy. I don't want to be kept in the dark." Nicoletta smiles and dashes off to the car taking them to the plane. Once the Italians finally leave Maxon pulls me into his arms and kisses me passionately. "I love you America, so so much." Maxon says between kisses. "I love you even more Maxon." I say as Maxon moves his kisses to my neck. We continue kissing for several moments until I realize where we are. "Maxon, we are standing in the middle of the palace. Anyone can see us right now." Maxon stops kissing my neck and returns to my lips for one last kiss. "I better go talk to the advisors about the call and the trip to New Asia." Maxon says as he takes my hand in his and starts walking towards our studies. "Yes I must go and catch up on my work with Marlee. When would you be going to New Asia?" I ask hoping he won't be going too soon or for too long. "I'm probably leaving on Monday and returning Wednesday. I'll bring several guards and Carter with me. And no matter what you say; I'm refusing to let you come with me. I can't risk losing you and the baby in the country that wanted to take the baby from us." Maxon states as he kisses my hand. "I know I just don't want anything to happen to you either. I don't like being alone for long." I sigh not wanting him to leave at all. "I know my dear but I have to go for a few days at least." Maxon says as he wraps his arm around my waist. We walk in silence until we reach my study. I lean up and give Maxon a kiss on the lips and tell him that I'll see him later.

I go into my study to see Marlee sitting down eating some breakfast. I look at the clock to see its only 8:30 but it feels like the middle of the day. "Good morning Marlee. Did you hear the news?" Marlee looks up with a smile on her face. "Carter told me earlier, I'm so excited for you." Marlee gushes as she pulls me in for a hug. As we sit down I notice all the folders and papers sitting on my desk. "I guess I missed a lot of work these past few days." I sigh as I pick up the first folder and open it up. Hours later and about 1/3 of the piles done, we hear a knock on the door. "Who is it?" I call as I look over the plans for a Halloween party in Kent. Sadly all the provinces wanted me to go over their Halloween plans since this is the first year that all the provinces will be celebrating the holiday. "It's Aspen." "Come in." I call as Marlee pours another cup of coffee. "America, I have a message from the head guard. He said that one of the hidden passage doors is not working. So if there is an attack, beware of that door." "Which door is it?" I ask concerned for everyone." Aspen sighs. "It' the one by the old selection rooms, I don't think anyone is really around there a lot but just on the safe side let anyone who would need to use it know about it." I nod my head making a mental note. "When do you think it'll be fixed?" I ask knowing that we need those rooms for the Halloween ball coming up in two weeks. Aspen shakes his head. "I don't know but if you were planning on putting guest near there, I would move them." I put my head in my hands ad sigh loudly. "Alright Aspen thanks for letting me know. Just try to get the door fixed soon please. And let Maxon know." Aspen nods and leaves my study quietly. Marlee walks over to me and starts rubbing my back as I start to cry. "America, it's going to be okay trust me. This is just the hormones that are upset. The door will be fixed before the ball and everything will be okay." Marlee soothes.

We start working again and before we know it, its 5:00. "Alright Marlee, we need to stop before Dr. Cole comes up here himself and gets mad at me for working too hard." I state as I close the last folder and stand up. Marlee is about to respond when there is a knock at my door. The door opens before I can answer it to reveal Carter with a fussy Kile. "I'm sorry to interrupt but someone wants their mother and a demanding King is tugging his ear at his wife to meet him in the gardens, whatever that means." Carter says as Marlee runs over to her crying son. "Okay Marlee I'll see you tomorrow, have fun tonight." I say as I leave them in my study. I'm walking down the stairs when I hear a crash. I look around but I can't see anything until I hit the bottom of the stairs. A new maid is cleaning up a broken vase while water and flowers cover the floor. I walk over to help the young maid but she quickly sees me. "Oh your majesty, I'm so sorry I was carrying the vase when I slipped on some water." She says as she curtsies and continues to clean the mess. "That's okay, trust me I'm pretty clumsy myself. Would you mind telling me your name?" I ask wanting to get to know the new maids around the palace. "Tallie, my queen." She replies quietly. "Well it's nice to meet you Tallie and hopefully I will see you around." I say as I continue to walk to the gardens.

When I finally reach the gardens I see a small table, right beside our bench, filled with a candlelit dinner. "There's my beautiful Queen." Maxon says as he walks up to me with a huge grin on his face. "What's' all this for?" I wonder as Maxon pulls out a chair for me. "Well I thought we should celebrate tonight considering we can keep our baby and have an actual family." Maxon says as he sits across from me still smiling. I blush as Maxon pours me a glass of water and a glass of wine for himself. I look down at my plate to see a beautiful chicken dinner. "Maxon this is perfect" I gush as he takes a sip of wine. Once we finish our dinner Maxon leads me over to our bench. "America I have another surprise for you." Maxon smiles as he places a kiss on my cheek. "What could that be?" I ask as I wrap my hands around his neck. "Well I pulled some strings and managed to convince Dr. Cole to let us get an ultrasound tonight." Maxon exclaims as he places kisses a kiss on my forehead. I look into Maxon's beautiful chocolate eyes and smile widely. "Oh thank you Maxon." "But there's more, I also managed to get the rest of the night off since there isn't too much going on in the country. So tonight we are going to have a family movie night after the ultrasound." "Maxon, you're amazing." I gush as I hug him as tight as I can.

We slowly leave the gardens and make our way to the infirmary. As we walk we talk about our days. "The advisors want to know the gender of the baby but I told them that the queen has requested it to be a surprise. They weren't happy but I can't change your mind let alone them." I look up at Maxon's happy face. I haven't seen him this stress-free in a while. I lean up and kiss him on the cheek. "What was that for?" he asks with a confused look on his face. "For everything my love, for everything you have given me." I smile. We reach the infirmary and see Dr. Cole going over papers. "Hello Maxon and America. I see you are here for your ultrasound." He says as he leads us to the private room. "Yes we are, and we're getting excited for the baby to come." Maxon exclaims as he sits in the chair next to the bed. "I bet you are. Here America, I'll get you to put on this gown while I'll go and get the machine." The doctor leaves and closes the door behind him so I can get changed. I get changed into the gown while Maxon sits in the chair admiring the view. "Do you mind giving me a little bit of privacy?" I ask as I put on the gown. "I would but you look so beautiful with that baby bump." Maxon smirks. I walk over to him so he can tie up the back. "Well enjoy the view cause in a few months I'm going to be fat and cranky." I laugh even though I know it's true. I sit on the bed as Dr. Cole comes back into the room with the machine. "Alright America I need you to lay down so I can hear the baby's heartbeat." I lay down as he places the small wand over my stomach. Maxon grabs my hand and rubs his thump across mine. We stay there in silence for several moments as Dr. Cole moves the wand around trying to find the heartbeat. Finally the small heart beat fills the room and let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. "Well that's a good sign; the heartbeat sounds healthy so now I'll switch to the ultrasound so I can see the baby." He places a different wand on my stomach now and turns on the screen. At first I see nothing but a blank screen until I see a small body pop up on the screen. Maxon places a kiss on my forehead as we watch our little bundle on the screen. I notice Dr. Cole staring at the screen closely. "Is there something wrong?" I ask scared to know the answer. "Oh dear no America, I'm just trying to determine the gender and how far along you are." "We don't want to know the gender. We want it to be a surprise." Maxon says as he squeezes my hand. "Yes of course, I'll just see how far along you are then." He says as he looks closely at the screen. We sit in silence as we watch the screen. Finally the doctor speaks up. "I believe you are a little over 13 weeks along. And I think you're due date will be near the end of March. You are just entering the 2nd trimester so typical symptoms will kick in if they haven't already such as cravings, crazy emotions and etc." I smile in excitement "That means I'm over 3 months pregnant and I can go to Nicoletta's wedding on May 1st." Dr. Cole looks up at me. "Well that depends on if you are healthy. Sometimes women are sick for weeks after giving birth or if the baby's late then it could also affect your healing time. And I'm sure you wouldn't want to leave the baby behind so we would have to make sure the baby is healthy enough to fly to Italy." He says sadly. Maxon places a kiss on my cheek. "I'm sure we can figure something out Ames, don't worry about it for now." I nod in agreement hoping I can still go.

The rest of the check-up goes over smoothly with no problems. We leave the infirmary minutes later with a picture of our baby in my hand. As we walk towards the movie theatre, we stare at our special bundle. Maxon wraps his arms around my waist from behind "I can't wait to meet them." "Me neither." I whisper as I relax in Maxon's loving arms. We reach the theatre and decide on a romance movie to watch. We lay down on the couch so that my head lies on top of Maxon's chest. About halfway through the movie my eyes start to close. "It's okay Ames, you can sleep. We've had a busy day and you need your rest." Maxon whispers as he kisses the top of my head.

Hello again. So i hope you liked this chapter. Remember to send me your suggestions on the baby names or on the story itself. Once again thanks for reading and keep reviewing. Hopefully I will update soon. :)

-SelectionGirl0723