Disclaimer: I do not own Inkheart or its characters, Cornelia Funke does. I own Joy, Basta Jr., and Joy's family.

"What took you so long?" Basta snapped as Joy walked into their house, she looked up at Basta.

"I was simply doing my duties, Basta," she replied, "we have to keep this village is good shape for the reading ceremony...no use in greeting this creature Capricorn wants Meggie and I to read out to a dirty village. That would be considered disrespectful and very rude."

"Yes, it would," Basta agreed, silently glaring at Joy; she knew from the look he did not appreciate her sharp tone of voice.

"Are you hungry, Basta?" Joy asked, sitting down on their bed.

"No," he replied, "I'm angry! That damned Magpie! She cornered me earlier and is determined to take away every last scrap of dignity I have left!"

"What did she say to you, Basta?"

"Say? The damned Magpie made it clear that Cockerell - that limping no good, lousy," he grumbled on with a few unpleasant names for the man before continuing, "will be Capricorn's main henchman after I'm out of the picture! That means you'll go to him!"

"I'm your wife Basta," Joy exclaimed, "we have a marriage liscence to prove that; there's probably a record of it in a hall of records...probably in the largest city around here."

"Capricorn does not care for sheets of paper with words on them unless it pertains to him and his needs. I'm going to sleep now," he exclaimed, stripping leaving only his underwear on, he climbed into the old and creaky bed, covering himself up with the old sheets who were in bad need of replacements.

Joy sighed and changed into a large button down shirt Basta used to wear, now it was her pajamas. She lied in bed beside him and turned over to face the wall. "I bet Michelenglo had an easier time with the pope than he did with Capricorn," Joy thought to herself. She smiled, remembering in high school how she would read every single book on Michelangelo she could get her hands on. Although a loner, and quite a bid paranoid, he was an amazing artist, sculptor, architect, and poet. She closed her eyes and fell to sleep.

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BANG! BANG!

Joy sprang up nearly five hours later at hearing the gunshots, "what in the world?" she asked.

Basta was up and getting dressed, "Silvertounge is here! Cockerell was just shooting at him...'es a horrible shot, probably missed Silvertounge all together! Stay here Joy!" He ordered, he grabbed his pistol from the nightstand and rushed out. Joy waited for about four or five minutes, then quickly pulled on an extra pair of Basta's pants, not bothering with her shoes she ran out and towards Capricorn's house, she knew Meggie would be worried sick.

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"I heard gunshots!" Meggie exclaimed again to Fenoglio as she tried hard to look out the window, Fenoglio pulled her away.

"Who knows who, or what, crept into the village. The people here are dangerous enough - however dangerous they are - they offer good protection; any serial killer wandering in here would be shot dead in his tracks," Fenoglio muttered.

"I'm not thinking about a killer, I'm thinking about Mo! What if it was Mo and they hurt him? Fenoglio-"

"I'm sure it wasn't your father-" Fenoglio started before the door swung open. He turned and hugged Meggie close, obviously expecting either Basta or Flatnose or some other black jacket. Instead Joy stood in the door way; her hair matched Carrot Top's hair at the moment, she wore a shirt two times too big for her, and the pants she wore were obviously Basta's, she was barefoot.

"Joy, was it Mo?" Meggie asked as Joy shut the door behind her.

"I don't have long," she said softly, "I had to sneak in here...yes, it was, but from what I'm hearing outside he's alright."

"How do you know?" Meggie asked, walking over to her; Fenoglio sat Joy down on the bed.

"Let her catch her breath, Meggie," Fenoglio said softly.

"I'm okay," Joy panted, "I can tell you he's okay because...the black jackets, Basta with them, are all out looking for him. There's only one guard here..right now.."

"Can you get us out of here?" Fenoglio asked, "Joy?" he asked as she put her hand on her stomach. "Is it the baby?"

"I-I need to get home," she exclaimed, "morning sickness."

"But, it's not morning yet," Meggie said confused.

"It's only called that," Joy replied, hugging her, "when I see Resa I'll let her know you both are ok," she said, putting her hand over her mouth she rushed out of the room and back to Basta's house.

"I hope Mo's okay.." Meggie said softly a few minutes later as she climbed back into the top bunk, not feeling much like sleeping.

"I'm sure he is," Fenoglio replied softly, "Joy said he's giving the black jackets a heck of a time trying to find him; a man whose been shot is easier to catch; they leave blood trails, are slower to walk, and can get caught easily. If your father was shot, he would not be able to run away that quickly."

"On TV-"

"TV is much different than real life, Meggie," Fenoglio replied, "my son is a police officer, he's been shot on duty before and he's told me he can barely move after getting shot."

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Joy made it back into Basta's home, and ran into the bathroom faster than she had ever before, then lost her dinner.

"Joy! Where are you?" Basta's voice snapped.

"In the bathroom," she moaned, "morning sickness."

"Huh?"

"Remember how I always throw up, Basta?" she asked.

"I'm staying out of there!" Basta replied, "brush your teeth before you even think of getting back into this bed!"

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Mo panted as he jogged back to Elinor.

"Mortimer! I thought they had killed you," Elinor exclaimed, rushing over to him, her face pale with worry.

"No, I'm fine," he replied, panting, "I was trying to send a note up to Meggie, but Cockerell caught me, lucky for me he can't aim his gun to save his life."

"Is Meggie alright?" Elinor asked.

"Capricorn has her in his room, I think she's alright, I couldn't tell too much, I circled around before leaving the village, I saw Joy going into the house..." Mo panted.

"Joy will make sure nothing happens to Meggie," Elinor replied, her voice confident and stern. "She's a good and strong woman, no matter what Basta thinks of her."

Mo nodded, "she's the only thing good in this cursed village. When we get Meggie out of here, we need to get her out of here too, her and Basta Junior, they need better lives than this."

"On top of that all this stress is just a calling card for a miscarriage," Elinor replied, looking down at Meggie's book she had with her. Joy, watch out over Meggie for us, keep her safe... Elinor thought to herself.

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Author's Note: took me long enough didnt it? I've been running my head off with school, but for anyone who likes Pirates of the Caribbean my story, The Missing Page, is up and finished. :) I plan to finish this one too.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed:D The reviews help me keep on writing and push away the writer's block!

I may write an Inkspell, I'm not too sure. .;; I probably will. It may take longer, but I probably will. :D

Now I got a question for you all, should I go a bit deeper into Joy and Basta's lives together before the story ends, or just keep it normal? What do you all think:D