The things I do for my readers. You have no idea how long it took to write this chapter. I just finished it. But it's here and done. You will noticed I changed a few details from the teaser.

Sophie sighed, tugging at the front of her dress in an effort to get it to lie smooth. But as soon as she let go of it, it popped up again. Eventually she just stopped trying, turning to the side and putting her hands on her hips. Well, she was officially showing now. Her bump was barely noticeable, but anyone who looked for more than a a few seconds would notice that the fabric over her stomach was not lying flat like it should and when she pulled it taut over her skin, it became pretty obvious.

"Sophie, are you okay up there?"

"Yeah. I'm coming." she answered. She picked up her small woven purse and joined Fitz downstairs.

"Hey beautiful."

"Hey handsome."

He hugged her gently, leaning in for a kiss, then stopped and looked down.

"Yup. Guess it's a good thing we decided to start telling people. I'm officially showing now."

"Looks like it's gonna start getting harder to kiss you."

"Not that much harder." She pressed a kiss to his lips and smiled.

He sighed, gently rubbing her back and eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. "You're so beautiful."

Sophie leaned into his hands. "Who do you want to tell first? We're seeing almost everyone today, so maybe just work our way down the list?"

"That sounds good. Whose turn is it to host the family dinner this week? Your parents or mine?"

They'd instituted a family dinner night every Saturday night for everyone to catch up and say hi to make sure they kept seeing each other after they graduated school and the tradition had been solidified after Sophie and Fitz's wedding. It rotated between households, them, Grady and Edaline, Alden and Della, Kelser and Juline, and Dex and Biana.

"Pretty sure it's at Everglen. We could tell people there tomorrow, but there are some people I want to tell beforehand. But if they straight up ask," -she pointed to her insistent little bump- "I'll tell them the truth."

"Okay. We're telling Keefe together, right?"

"If he's up for it."

"Hey." Fitz gently wiped the straggling tears away. "You know there's nothing we can do."

Sophie hugged him tightly, crying into his shoulder. "I know. But it still kills me every time I see him. I hate the fact that he's in so much pain."

He sighed. "We can look into it again. But we're not going to find anything."

"No, it's fine. My emotions have been way off-kilter lately and I end up crying every time I think about his situation. I mean, it's always been sad, but I never used to burst into tears every time it crossed my mind. I think the pregnancy is starting to mess with my head."

"Okay." Fitz took her hand and they walked outside. "Where do you want to go first?"

Sophie bit her lip. "I have lunch with Oralie in Atlantis, she updates me on stuff she can't officially tell me, so we could go look for baby stuff until then."

"That sounds good to me." Their conversation paused as he leapt them to the entrance to Atlantis. "What do you think it'll be, boy or girl?"

"I don't know." Sophie rubbed her bump. "I always wanted a boy, because I didn't have a brother growing up, but I'd be happy whatever we get. And we can have another if you want."

"Do you want more than one?" Fitz asked, tossing the bottled whirlwind into the ocean.

She shrugged. "I'm not opposed to the idea. I don't really want to have a lot or just one, but two or three would be nice. If I got pregnant on accident, I wouldn't mind."

Fitz jumped into the whirlwind and Sophie counted to five before she followed.

"Were you going to tell Oralie today? About Baby Moonlark?"

Sophie looked at him. "Baby Moonlark?"

"Well, I don't know what else to call it, her, them, the baby!"

She laughed. "It's okay. It works. I wasn't planning on it, but if she asks, I can't really lie. Even though people are pretty accepting of me, life's going to be tough for our kids, especially if they have my eyes. Being the children of a 'bad match" -she put the words in air quotes- "possibly having brown eyes, and just being my kids. So I'm reluctant to tell the Council or in any way share it with the public. If they need to know, I'll tell them. But right now, they don't need to know."

"Okay. There are a few relatives on my dad's side I'm close-ish with that I may tell. Is that okay with you?"

Sophie sighed, bunching up her skirt as she got into the euyriptedid carriage and told the driver their destination. "Have I met them?"

"Some. All of them are really nice people and I could probably introduce you."

"If I haven't met them, I don't feel comfortable telling them. Okay?"

"Okay."

Sophie had only been to the particular section of shops in Atlantis once, helping Dex pick out a gift for his baby cousin a few years back. There were eight or ten stores in total, all specialising in a different type of children's apparel and supplies. They went the the first one on their right.

"It's kind of weird." Fitz commented as they entered.

"What is?"

"I've been here a lot of times, with my parents to shop for Biana when she was born, picking gifts for extended family, but somehow I never thought I'd be here looking for my own child."

"Why not?" Sophie took his hand, swinging it gently between them.

He smiled. "I don't know. Guess I never thought that far ahead. Do you want to pick out gender specific things or not?"

"If we find something cute, like a little dress or something, we can get it. But I want to keep it to things we can use regardless. Although since money's not an issue, we could get full sets of both and store whatever we don't use for the next one. I'd rather not though. You?"

"Hmm?"

"What's your opinion?"

Fitz slid his arm around her waist. "I'm good with what you want to do, honestly. But like you said, if we find something cute, I'd like to get it."

"Like this?" Sophie ran her finger down the skirt of a dress. It looked like a mini-version of some of the dresses she had at home, a poofy skirt, little puffed sleeves, and embroidery instead of beads. "This one's actually really cute."

"Too big." He pointed to the sizing. "This is for older babies. If I remember right, newborn stuff is over here." Fitz led her to a section of the cutest little outfits Sophie had ever seen.

"Oh my gosh, these are freaking adorable!"

He grinned. "Aren't they? What do colours do you want to go with?"

"Well, we've still got to decide on a nursery colour scheme. Something that compliments that? Although I have no ideas for what to do. I don't really like bright pink dresses for babies, I never have, but this one's cute." She gestured to a pink dress, this one with a little less poof, that had a white sheer layer over the pink, making it look lighter and more delicate.

"It is. Blue and green maybe?"

"Maybe. A variety would be a good idea, since we don't know if baby will have blue or brown eyes, although brown's a safe bet."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because brown's the dominant allele, at least in humans it is." Sophie fingered the lace on another dress. "I'm only seeing dresses. Shouldn't there be more?"

"Yeah, it's over here. What's a dominant allele?"

"For a culture so focused on genetics, you have no idea how they work, do you?"

"Not a clue. Do you like this?" Fitz showed her a tunic and pants set.

Sophie grinned. "Aww! You've got something almost identical at home. Oh you could match! That'd be so cute!"

He laughed. "Maybe."

"Alleles are the little bits of DNA that are responsible for different traits being expressed. Dominant traits only need one copy of the allele to be expressed and recessive traits need two. I know that in humans, brown eyes are dominant and blue are recessive. So someone with brown eyes can have either two brown alleles or one brown and one blue. Someone with blue eyes, like you, can only have the two blue alleles, because it's recessive. Without knowing whether I have one or two brown alleles, we don't know for sure."

"Huh. Green maybe?" He gestured to a near-identical set. "What happens if you have two brown alleles?"

"Maybe. I don't really like light greens. But dark greens are pretty." Sophie shrugged. "All our kids will have brown eyes, because no matter which allele they get from me, it'll be brown. The one they get from you has to be blue. But of course, none of that applies if the traits are different for elves. What time is it?"

"I have no idea. We could probably talk to Keefe about a colour scheme. He's good at that stuff and probably has some ideas stored up."

"Okay. I'm getting hungry, so maybe start moving toward food and do some window shopping on the way?"

"That's good with me." Fitz pecked her forehead.

They walked out of the store arm in arm. Sophie sighed in contentment, leaning her head on her husband's shoulder.

Lunch with Oralie went better than she'd thought it would. No unnecessary questions had been asked and without the rest of the Council hanging onto their every word, they were about to have a truly friendly conversation.

They'd taken the afternoon shift with Keefe partly because they hadn't had the chance to see him lately and to tell him their happy news.

Sophie was surprised to realize her view of Candleshade had changed when they leapt on the property. It had been shifting over the past years, six of them now. Before, the few times she'd been to the giant skyscraper had put her on edge and made her grit her teeth. Now she smiled, thinking of the wonderful team of people who had ended up moving in so they'd be on hand if something went wrong. Keefe could not be in better hands.

The vortinator had been replaced with a much nicer elevator, after one too many people had thrown up while on it and it had splattered over multiple floors. Sophie was grateful. During the first few weeks and months of her pregnancy, her stomach had been unusually sensitive.

Somehow, she'd never noticed before that while everyone else had grown, Keefe still looked exactly the same as he had when this problem had started, sixteen, even though he was really twenty-two.

Sophie had gotten taller and curvier as she aged, as had all of her female friends. Her hair was longer and darker, now hanging to her waist. Fitz hadn't really gotten taller, but some of his muscles had lost a little of their definition without constant maintenance. His hair had lightened and the gold highlights were now more prominent. His eyes were also losing a little bit of their blue, with more green and silver appearing in his irises. Both of them had small lines forming around their eyes and mouth from the amount of smiling they'd been doing and it was starting to stick. Fitz had callouses on his thumb, index and middle fingers from filling out all the forms and paperwork for his work for the Council. Sophie had them all over her hands from helping her parents with animals.

Keefe looked exactly the same, just skinnier since his body couldn't afford to keep up the muscles. The only change that made him look older were the marks of pain creased into his face and etched into his eyes. But his hands were steady as he signed. 'Hey guys. Wasn't expecting to see you for while. Not that I'm upset, I've missed you, but I understand you guys have jobs and lives outside of me.'

Sophie sat down on the couch that had been made a permanent addition next to Keefe's bed, signing her words as she spoke. "We've missed you too. How are you holding up?"

'Okay. I could be better, but I've been worse. It's just wearing me down and I get tired more easily. Tam and I have been working together on the shadow thing. Moving my hands is almost painless now, but I'm just so tired and weak. You know?'

Fitz sighed, sitting next to her. "I'm sorry. That sucks."

'Is something wrong? You guys look' Keefe stopped signing and frowned. Well, he barely moved a muscle in his face, but Sophie had learned to read the minuscule movements for what they were. 'I don't know the sign for the word I want. Upset maybe?'

"No, we're not upset. But we do have news." Sophie squeezed Fitz's hand. "We're having a baby."

Keefe's hands dropped to his lap and he stared. When he started signing again, his hands were shaking. 'No way. I can't believe it.'

She stood and pulled the fabric of her dress taut over her stomach.

'Whatever you're showing me, I can't see it. My head doesn't turn that way anymore.'

"Oh sorry." She stepped into Keefe's line of sight. "Is this better?"

His mouth tipped up at the corners, the closest they'd get to his huge smile. 'How long?"

Sophie sat back down and Fitz set his arm around her shoulders. "I'be five mouths even tomorrow, so roughly four more months."

'I think I can hold out that long.'

Fitz sighed, moving his hand so he could sign. "Don't feel pressured. We understand if it's too much for you."

'It's not really like that. When I was first getting used to it, it felt like the world was ending. As everyone acclimated and made allowances and my life got a lot better, I started be able to see myself getting through this, even if I was in pain for the rest of my life. But lately, waking up has been a struggle and there have been days where I can hear Ro panicking that I'm not responding because it's too much effort to open my eyes. I'll try, but right now, I'm fighting for every day. It might be a rough patch, it might be the fact that I'm dying. We don't know.'

Sophie squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to cry. Keefe didn't need tears right now, he needed to enjoy the time he had left. "I know you did a lot of sketching. Did you ever do rooms?"

'Oh yeah. I designed a whole house I was gonna build for myself when I moved out. Why do you ask?"

"We need help designing a nursery and we're not sure what to do."

'Okay. Cool. Go up to my old room and find my black notebook in the hidden cubby under my bed. That's where I put all the stuff I absolutely could not afford to have my parents find. Raw, unfiltered Keefster. But I will warn you, I am a teenage boy. Some of the stuff in there is weird and cringe-worthy.'

"Yeah. It's kind of weird to think about the stuff we did when we were younger now that we're in our twenties." Fitz pressed a kiss to Sophie temple and whispered, "I'll go see what I can find."

'Wait I'm how old?' Keefe signed, looking confused.

Sophie sighed, rubbing her belly. "Fitz is twenty-three, so that would mean you're twenty-two. I can't remember my inception date, but I know I'm roughly two years behind Fitz, so probably twenty-one."

'Back the T-rex up. It's been how long since Loanmore? Just how long have I had this nerve disorder?'

"Six and a half years, roughly."

His hands dropped into his lap again and he stared at the wall in shock. He hadn't stopped when Fitz came back with two journals in hand. "I wasn't sure which black notebook you wanted."

Keefe jumped and looked over. 'Hold them up.' When Fitz did, his eyes flicked between them and he signed, 'The one on the left. Put the one on the right under my bed. It's not something you want to see.'

Fitz obeyed, setting down the other notebook and flipping through the one Keefe had selected. "These look amazing, Keefe."

'Thanks. The nursery ones are toward the back.'

Sophie leaned her head on Fitz's shoulder as he flipped through the pictures Keefe had drawn. Most of them were room designs, varying from nurseries to toddler rooms to plenty of others.

"These are beautiful."

'Thanks. I meant to colour them all in, but I never got around to it. I always liked the idea of an airy but cosy nursery. Like, light and delicate with a big window and pastel colors, but cosy at the same time, with a few comfy chairs and a window seat stuffed with pillows.'

"Ooh, I like the sound of that." Sophie laid a finger on the page, stopping Fitz from turning it. "I like this one."

'Which one is it?'

She held up the page and showed him.

'So, funny story behind that one.'

Fitz snorted. "Um, what kind of story?"

'I actually designed that one with Sophie in mind. I was moping around and I'd gathered from Sophie's emotions that you guys weren't a thing anymore.'

"When did that happen?" Sophie asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Honestly, I have no idea. I was thinking 'this is my chance' ya know? But I got lost in my head and ended up drawing what I hoped my future could be with Sophie. I hope that's not creepy or anything, since you married someone else, I didn't mean it that way.'

She smiled. "It's not, don't worry. I understand. How do you think I felt while this guy was busy being totally oblivious?" She gently elbowed Fitz in the ribs. He went to elbow her back and stopped, eyes flicking to her stomach. He kept his arm firmly by his side.

Keefe smiled. 'There's a few pages stuck together. Don't try to pull them open. I stuck them together for a reason.'

Sophie bit her lip, looking for a way to say it gently. "We…already saw them."

He blushed, setting his hands in his lap and staring at them. When he answered, his hands were shaky, probably with embarrassment. 'You don't think it's weird?'

Fitz laughed. "Dude. We were both teenage boys. I can't help feeling a little territorial —ow, you like elbowing me today, did I do something I don't know about?— because it is my wife, but I get it. I probably would have done something similar, except I cannot draw anything more complicated than a few squares. But I definitely did the imagining part though. So don't worry about it."

Sophie raised an eyebrow at her husband. He blushed and stammered, "Uh, well, uh, I was—"

She cut him off. "A teenager, I know. I get it. That doesn't mean I did anything similar and I still think it's weird."

Keefe made the sign for 'laughter'. 'Have you told anyone else yet?'

Fitz dog-eared the page with the nursery Sophie liked and set it aside. "We'll be doing that at the family dinner tomorrow night. Dex is working on rigging up something so you can see us over the TV and we can see you, sort of like a giant Imparter. But between helping out his parents and custom tech orders and stuff, he hasn't had a lot of spare time."

'I totally understand.' Keefe suddenly went pale and his hands dropped to his lap in the middle of his next word. He stared with dull eyes at the wall in front of him. Sophie panicked, reaching out for his mind.

Oh hey, Soph. Give me a sec.

You gave me a heart attack! Do not scare me like that!

Really, I'll be good. Minor seizure, that's all.

Sophie huffed. That's kind of a big deal.

He looked at her and signed shakily, 'Seriously, I'm okay. You don't need to be that worried. I have medicine I take for it. And I'm adjusting.'

Fitz sighed. "Still. That was scary."

'I know. Scares the crap out of Ro when she's not expecting it. Why do you think she takes breaks whenever someone else is here? Well, that and being my bodyguard is a little boring now, since I haven't gotten out of bed in six and a half years. Wait, has no one changed my sheets in six years?'

Sophie laughed, shaking her head. "Of course not, that's disgusting!"

"No, they're changed every other week while you're sleeping. You're not lying on a six-year-old pillowcase or anything." Fitz chuckled. "There's a team of about fifteen people who work to make sure you have the best quality of life possible, you know. Most of them have actually moved into Candleshade to give you more effective care."

'Huh. I was wondering how they got here so quickly every time I needed something. I didn't realize I actually had a team of people dedicated to me.'

"It gets rotated out." Sophie snuggled against Fitz's side, even though the angle made it hard to sign. "There's a few people that stay permanently, but everyone else is on a rotation to make sure they get experience in other places. But there have been plenty of students brought in for a month or two to help them get real-world experience with this kind of thing, should it pop up again."

'Cool. Do you guys need help with anything else design-wise? I'm good at that stuff.'

Fitz stood, lifting her with him. "If we do, we'll let you know. But we've got to head out. We need Biana's help with the surprise tonight, so we're stopping by the store to tell her."

'Oh cool. Are you guys hoping for a boy or a girl? Personally, I'd love a little niece to spoil. Although I could spoil a nephew just as easily.'

Sophie set a hand on her stomach. "I'm leaning toward boy and Fitz is cool with either. But I'll be happy with both."

'Awesome. You guys go tell everyone else and tell me what happens.'

"See you later. We'll come around more since Fitz is taking a vacation and I won't have a lot of stuff to do once I get farther along. And after I have the baby, we'll definitely bring him or her to meet you."

'I'm still betting it's a girl.'

"Honestly, that's what I'm thinking to." Fitz took Sophie's hand and squeezed gently.

She smiled, waving goodbye as they left.

When they got to Slurps and Burps, the first thing Sophie realized was just how long it had been since she'd visited. First of all, while it still looked like something out of Dr. Seuss, it was more…tasteful. That was the word she was looking for.

The door still belched on entry though.

Inside, the shelves were just as cramped as before, but every bottle was in its place and carefully labeled, making it feel cosy instead of overly messy.

Wow, Biana's really had an influence. Or Juline stopped by, realized what a mess it is, and made Kelser clean up.

I think it was Biana.

"I'll be with you in a moment!" Dex called from somewhere in the back of the store.

"Don't worry dear, I'll get it." Biana answered.

Sophie smiled.

Biana appeared at the end of the aisle, grinning wide when she saw them. "Hi guys!"

"Hey Biana, it's so good to see you!" Sophie hugged her sister-in-law tightly. "How are you?"

She grinned, letting go of Sophie to hug Fitz. "I'm doing great. What brings you here? As you can probably tell, we've been cleaning up and our stock is bigger than ever!"

Fitz chuckled as he squeezed his sister tightly. "You guys have been married for less than six months and you already refer to the store as partly yours."

"Well, Kesler and Juline still own it and Kesler still does a lot of the brewing, but Dex and I do most of the work. Occasionally, one of the triplets will stop by and help. What are you guys looking for today?"

Sophie leaned her head on Fitz's shoulder. "Actually, we need your help with something. Is there a place we can talk privately?"

Biana grinned, rubbing her hands together. "Follow me."

Sophie wasn't sure why she was nervous. It was just another family dinner. That she was going to announce her pregnancy at. The first grandchild on both sides of the family. And both Edaline and Della were going to squeal and coo and everyone was going to be making absolutely sure she didn't overexert herself. But of course there was the chance everything could go wrong. Just because Biana had reacted well didn't mean everyone else would. Maybe there was a weird elf culture stigma or something about not having kids too young that she didn't know about.

Fitz squeezed her hand under the table, interrupting her inner monologue. Babe, you are way overthinking this. My parents have been waiting for grandkids for years. Mom was so disappointed when Alvar told her none of his girlfriends were serious enough to consider marriage and kids.

She gave him a soft smile, some of her worrying alleviated.

Biana reached up and tapped her temple three times, disguising the motion by sweeping her hair behind her ear as she continued her animated conversation with Dex and Alden about how the shop was doing.

Sophie reached out and formed the connection.

Are you gonna make a move soon? You're running out of time.

Biana, relax. I have this taken care of. Although I'm the last person who should be telling you to relax about this. I'm all worked up myself.

You'll do great. But you should probably get a move on.

Sophie nodded slightly and broke the connection.

"Hey Mom?"

Edaline jumped, choking on her mouthful of juice. She managed not to spew it all over the table, but there was a lot of coughing before she could speak. "I have got to stop trying to breathe and drink at the same time. Yes dear?"

"Fitz and I stopped in California on vacation and we picked up some gifts for you guys, Alden and Della. I think Flori's got them with her."

Grady smiled. "You really didn't have to."

"What about us?" Dex asked, fake-pouting.

Tam chuckled, rolling his eyes. Linh sighed. "You know, maybe they wanted to get something nice for their parents."

Biana elbowed her husband gently. "Oh, stop it you."

Sophie laughed as Flori handed out four nicely wrapped bags to her parents and in-laws. "Don't forget to read the cards. They're important."

Alden stopped digging through the tissue, noticing the white envelope he'd knocked on the table. "Oh, okay."

"Sophie, what's this?" Edaline turned it around to show Sophie. "I don't get it."

"It's a scratch-off card. They were really popular in San Diego for a while. The gold bit you scratch off to reveal what's underneath."

"Oh cool." Della set to work scraping off the gold, but Grady was the one to finish first, if his pale, shocked face was anything to go by. But he kept his peace, waiting for everyone else to finish before he said anything.

Alden's jaw dropped and the card slipped from his hand as he stared at Sophie and Fitz. "No way. You're joking."

At his reaction, Della and Edaline hurried to finish theirs, the latter getting there first. "Sophie…"

"Would someone please tell me what's going on?" Dex asked.

Sophie grinned. "Check the bag."

Grady pawed through the wrapping and pulled out the shirt Sophie had gotten for him. He frowned at the English words, checking the translation Sophie had written on the back of the card.

Tam sighed. "Okay guys, you clearly know something we don't."

Della had given up scraping off her own card and picked up Alden's. She looked at Sophie, eyes wide. "You're having a baby?"

Sophie nodded, unable to find anything to say.

The room went dead silent, then very loud as everyone shouted their congratulations. Linh scrambled to her feet and ran over to hug Sophie tightly. Edaline started crying and had to take a moment to pull herself together before giving Sophie a teary hug and congratulations. Grady wrapped Fitz in a bear hug, laughing.

Dex waited for Sophie to be free before he swooped in and hugged her tightly. "No way!"

"Yes way." Sophie pointed to her stomach. She'd chosen a style of dress that made her bump more obvious, but it did make her look bigger than she really was. "Five months today."

"That was fast." Della commented apparently having done the math in her head.

Everyone burst out laughing.

Sophie giggled. "Part of that's the dress. I'm still pretty small right now."

Someone knocked at the door and Alden called, "Come in!" before thumping Fitz in the back in congratulations.

"Wow. We're late one time and we miss a big announcement." Kesler joked from the doorway where he stood hand-in-hand with Juline. "Honestly we weren't even that late."

Fitz laughed. "You're fine."

"So what's the big occasion?" Juline asked, exchanging hugs with Dex and Biana.

"Sophie's pregnant." Grady said with a huge smile.

"I thought you guys were buying a lot of nausea remedies. Guess I know why! Congratulations!" Kesler wrapped both of them in a hug, crushing Sophie's already bruised ribs.

"Okay, let's ease up on the hugs." Fitz said, setting a protective arm around Sophie's waist. "She needs to breathe still."

She coughed, rubbing her side. "Careful. Baby likes to try and break my ribs."

Della laughed. "She gets it from her father. Fitz actually cracked one of my ribs once. My physician thought it was hilarious."

Biana snickered.

"Don't you start! You cracked two! Honestly, Alvar was the only one who didn't try to kill me from the inside out."

Sophie groaned. "Ugh. That sounds great."

Edaline giggled. "I wouldn't be worried, really. It's not common. I know we're not biologically related, but when I had Jolie, she never kicked that hard. It was more like little taps."

Juline sighed. "Dex was that way. It was so nice. The triplets, however, used my insides as a trampoline! I knew there had to be more than one, or one baby with four legs. I'm pretty sure they broke something, but I felt like crud throughout that pregnancy, so I don't remember."

"You know that's not encouraging." Sophie grumbled.

"Hey, hon."

Sophie groaned, pushing herself up to sitting. "What?"

"We finished painting. Do you want to come see?" Fitz had poked his head in the door, smiling.

"I guess. I'm not feeling so great. At least baby's calmed down. Not bouncing off my insides anymore." She tried to stand up and sighed. "Can you give me a hand?"

He walked over to her and held out his hands. Sophie gripped his hands and pulled herself up, leaning most of her weight on him.

"Okay, I'm up. Let's go see what progress you guys have made."

"We followed the sketch Keefe made almost exactly. It's got that big comfy window seat and a rocker and everything."

"It sounds amazing." She glanced down the stairs as they passed. "I am so glad I didn't nap on the couch. I hate getting up and down the stairs. I really need to learn to levitate better."

Fitz chuckled. "Don't push yourself. I am perfectly happy to carry you."

"Even with all this?" Sophie gestured to the sixty-or-so pounds worth of bump now stuck to her front. "I think I've almost doubled in weight since I got pregnant. Not to mention my boobs are so sore and they've about doubled in size."

"And you look beautiful." He opened the door to the nursery. "Be careful of the walls. Some spots are still wet. What do you think?"

Her mouth dropped open. "It's wonderful."

The walls had been painted a pale blue with white trim around the edge of the ceiling and the large window. The windowsill had been extended with storage built underneath it and the new window seat covered in cushions, framed with blue ruffly curtains. There was a pastel pink rocker with impossibly soft cushions in the corner that Sophie sat down in.

"Is this polka dotted?" Sophie asked, looking closer at the arm of the chair. There were little white dots in rows across the pink. "It is."

"Amy picked out the fabric for that."

"I love it."

The bassinet was on her left, with a heather grey fitted sheet and crocheted yellow and blue blanket draped over the side. She leaned closer and then looked at Fitz. "You didn't."

He smiled. "Yeah, I did."

"Is this really?" She reached over and fingered the lacy edge. "This is the old baby blanket my mom made for me. Where did you find this?"

"It was still in storage. It was little ratty and itchy, so the gnomes washed in and repaired a few places to make it more durable. I would've liked to contact her and get a new one made for our baby, but this is the best I can do."

Sophie bit her lip, struggling to hold back the tears threatening to overflow, and whispered, "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry."

"Hey." He crossed the room and knelt in front of her, taking her hands. "It's okay."

"Yeah, I know. My emotions have been all over the place. But it's just so sweet of you!" Her efforts failed and she burst into tears.

"Hey." Fitz lifted her up again into his arms. "Hey, hey, hey. You're okay."

"I know." She wiped her eyes. "I don't know why I'm crying."

"Well, that's the last of the preparations. We've got everything stocked, the furniture arranged, all we're waiting on is the paint to dry. Everything is ready for whenever Baby Moonlark is ready to show up."

Sophie groaned. "I've got mixed feelings. I can't wait to meet him or her and I want to get it over with, but I'm nervous and don't really wanna. I feel terrible and out of energy."

"Okay. Dex headed home as soon as we were done. Biana's finishing up the little dress she was making. Do you want to go lie down?"

"Yes and no. I'm exhausted already and I would love to just sleep straight from now until I go into labor, but I just woke up and should probably do something before I go back to bed."

"How about I carry you downstairs and we make cookies?"

Sophie grinned. "Okay. But make sure I don't eat too many at a time."

He laughed. "Making no promises. You know your puppy eyes are nigh impossible to resist."

Sophie's eyes flew open. It was pitch black and there was no sound, nothing that could have woken here.

She sat up with some difficulty. Fitz was sound asleep, which didn't make much sense. He was a much lighter sleeper than she was.

Then she realized the sheets under her were wet.

Sophie gasped when a sudden pressure built in her hips then went away. Her husband stirred next to her but didn't wake, disturbed by her panic flowing over their Cognate bond.

I'm in labour. She didn't transmit it, not wanting to wake Fitz up. But she was actually having her baby. It was happening. It was all happening.

She leaned over and picked up her watch sitting on her bedside table to check the time. Ugh. Four in the morning was way too early for this. She lay down and went back to sleep.

Someone was shaking her shoulders and she groaned, rubbing her eyes and she rolled onto her back. "Whasgoinon?"

"Sophie, wake up! Please wake up!"

"'M right here. What's wrong?"

"Are you okay? The bed is soaking wet with something that's not water and you weren't responding."

"Oh. My water broke."

"Your water broke?!"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I went into labor."

"How long ago was this?"

"I dunno. I went back to sleep."

He groaned, flopping back onto his side of the bed. "Why didn't you tell me? We need to hail Livvy and get to wherever we're supposed to be, oh crap I don't remember and-"

"Fitz, I'm fine, I'm tired. Let me go back to sleep. What time is it anyway?" Sophie tried to will herself back to sleep, but Fitz's fear bleeding over into her head kept her awake.

"Sophie. You're in labour. You can't go back to sleep, you're having a baby." He slid his arm under her back and lifted her up to sitting. "This is serious, love."

"Ugh, okay, I'm up. I'm still tired though."

Fitz got out of bed and threw on what clothes he could find with an ease Sophie missed. "I know you're tired. I would be if I weren't panicking. But you still have put something on and get ready to go."

"What I'm wearing is fine."

"What you're wearing is soaked."

"Okay, I'll change." Sophie managed not to fall as she rolled out of bed and hunted around in her closet for clothes. "You hail Livvy."

Fitz slumped in a chair, head in his hands. Stop panicking, stop panicking, stop panicking, stop panicking, stop panicking. Nothing anyone had told him made him feel any better and it wasn't even sunrise. He still had no idea what was going on, probably because Livvy had kicked him out since his panic was stressing Sophie out and the last thing she needed to be right now was stressed.

He pulled out his Imparter, which he'd found in a crack in his desk, and whispered shakily. "Show me Alden."

It rang for a few beats before his father's face appeared on the screen, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Why are you hailing me this early? The sun's not even up. Did something happen?"

"Yeah. Sophie went into labour, right on time apparently."

"Oh." Alden blinked. "That's important."

"Yeah! Apparently her water broke and she just went back to sleep instead of, y'know, telling me and getting ready to go." He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Livvy kicked me out cause I was panicking too much."

Alden groaned. "I understand that you need support, I was terrified when Alvar was born, until your mom told me to shut up. But I had a really late night and I have got to sleep. Give me a couple hours and I'll be there, but I need enough energy to be supportive. Grady should be up. Is that okay?"

Fitz sighed. "I don't know. I'm terrified something's going to go wrong or…Honestly I have no idea what's going on. I should have been paying much closer attention during Sophie's checkups."

"I understand that. I got kicked out when you were born because your shoulder got stuck and I almost passed out because I was hyperventilating. Your mom thought I was a massive wimp."

"You were!" Della called from offscreen.

His father sighed. "The point is, I get it. I'll bug Grady to head over there and keep you distracted. Are you guys at the birthing center?"

"No. Sophie wanted a more private setting, so we're at Livvy's office complex thing. There are plenty of doctors on standby, but Sophie wasn't comfortable with that unless something went wrong.."

"Okay." Alden yawned. "I'll send him to Cliffside, does that work?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll see you in a few hours. Love you."

"You too. Bye Dad."

It took all of his effort to not start panicking again. He managed to be able to send soothing, encouraging thoughts to Sophie without her seeing his terror.

His Imparter rang and he checked the time before he answered Grady's hail. Yeesh. It was way earlier than he thought it was.

"Hey Grady. Sorry, I didn't realize how early it was."

"You're okay. I wake up this early to get started feeding animals. Alden told me Sophie went into labour."

He sighed, running a hand down his face. "Yeah. She didn't tell me when her water broke in the middle of the night, she went back to sleep. So I didn't know for a few more hours and our mattress is probably going to have to be replaced now. I hope I can get that done before Sophie gets home."

Grady winced. "Eesh. That's not fun. How's she doing?"

"I don't know. Livvy kicked me out because I was panicking too much. But she said there was nothing to be stressed about, everything was going exactly the way it was supposed to."

"Not very comforting though, is it?" Grady gave him a sympathetic smile. "Do you have anything you need to do?"

"Not that I know of. Livvy said she'll get me if Sophie wants me, but that's all I know."

"Okay. Would you like to come out here and help me feed the animals while you wait?" He set the Imparter down and stepped out of view, having a short murmured conversation with Edaline before stepping back into view. "It'll help keep you distracted."

Fitz managed to give a half-smile back. "I'll ask. I don't want to leave if she needs me."

"Good choice. Part of the reason I resigned as an Emissary the first time is the Council tried to call me away for a mission while Eda was in labour with Jolie. She was so mad, I bet the only thing that kept her from getting up and screaming her head off at the Council was the fact that she was lying down and couldn't get up without help. I refused to go anyway."

Fitz snorted. "I don't understand that, honestly. I mean, really."

"Doesn't make any sense to me either."

"I'll ask Sophie what she wants me to do and head over." Fitz reached out to Sophie, gently caressing her mind.

What? She sounded exhausted and annoyed, but otherwise fine.

Hey sweetheart. Is it okay if I go chat with Grady and help him feed animals?

Whatever. I don't care. Just get out of my head, I need to concentrate.

He shrugged. Okay. "She told me to get out of her head and let her concentrate, so I think I'm good."

"Okay. You head on over."

"Be there in a minute." Fitz ended the hail and stood, feeling a bit better. He knocked on the door and Livvy answered, looking as annoyed as Sophie sounded.

"What?"

"I was gonna go do something to distract myself. Is that okay?"

"Did Sophie say it was?"

"I think so? She said she didn't care."

"Okay." Livvy sighed. "I was expecting it, but this is still gonna take a while. I'm gonna see if Sophie can get a little more sleep in before she has to push so she has more energy, but that could be hours. I know people who were in labour for two days straight. It's not a short process."

Fitz bit his lip and sighed. "That doesn't help my nerves."

"I know. But she'll be fine, I promise. And she'll do better if she can concentrate on just one thing. And if she asks for you, I'll hail you. But if I do, you better get your butt over here as fast as you can."

"Yes ma'am."

Livvy closed the door again and Fitz went outside, flipping to the facet for Havenfield.

Grady was outside tossing bales of multicoloured hay over a fence, thick cloak swung around his shoulder to ward off the chill in the early morning air. "Hey man. You doing okay?"

"Better than I was." Fitz hugged his father-in-law tightly and sighed. "I'm still scared though. There are a ton of things that could go wrong. I'm excited too. I can't want to see my baby. But I am in no way ready for this."

Grady grinned, heaving another bale over and dusting off the bits stuck to his clothes. "I wasn't either. No one really is. When the physician handed Jolie to me for the first time, I looked at her and thought, 'How am I supposed to not screw this up?' I was not ready for the responsibility of a small thing depending on Eda and I for everything. But you learn quickly and you know more than you think you do. I'm sure you helped your parents with Biana, didn't you?"

"Not really." Fitz helped him open a sack of something that smelled like rotting meat and tossed handfuls at the five vermilions in their pen. "I'm only two years older than her. Alvar did a lot of helping with both of us though. He was eleven years older than me."

"Ah. I didn't realize how large the age gap was between you two." Grady nailed one vermilion in the side with a well-placed throw. "I like to see if I can hit 'em with their breakfast. It's probably not the wisest course of action, but it's fun." One of them threw itself against the fence, snarling, and Fitz jumped back. "Case in point."

"Yeah. I still don't know how I'm not going to mess it up. I never realized how hard being a dad is until I'm going to be one in less than twenty-four hours. I could seriously screw up my kid's life if I'm not careful." Fitz didn't feel brave enough to hit the vermilions, so he just tossed it over the fence. "I mean, look at Lord Cassius. He thought he was doing just fine and he really messed Keefe up."

Grady laughed. "Really, don't worry about it too much. You really do know more than you think you know and Alden, Kesler and I are always here if you need parenting advice, a break, or a free babysitter. Do you guys know the gender?"

"No. Sophie wanted it to be a surprise. Keefe was leaning toward girl, Sophie's hoping for a boy, but I don't really care. It's pretty much an equal amount of work and chances to mess up."

"That depends on the child. Can you haul down a few things of brattails from up there? I think we're finally getting somewhere with Verdi." Grady pointed to a labeled stack of sacks. Fitz clambered up and tossed them down until Grady told him to stop. "We'll haul them over and dump them in her trough later, hopefully she'll eat them with minimal fuss. Jolie was a very easygoing baby, even though she was clingy. But she would entertain herself as long as she could see you. Otherwise, she threw a fit. Edaline made a sling so she could carry Jolie on either her back or her front and that worked until she outgrew her clinginess and then we put her in a playpen outside while she worked. That was how we learned the importance of sunscreen."

Fitz smiled. "I was apparently the easiest as a baby. Mom said Alvar always had to be held to the point where he didn't learn to walk until really late. I remember Biana used to scream as loud as she could in the middle of the night. Mom used more makeup to hide her dark circles until Biana slept through the night than I think she's ever worn. But I was still taking naps in the afternoons, so I got plenty of sleep."

They kept talking as they finished feeding animals over the course of what felt like an hour.

Suddenly, his Imparter rang and Fitz jumped, dropping the sack of brattails on his foot. "Ouch, these things are heavy!"

"Yeah, they are."

He helped Grady pull the sack off his foot and answered the hail.

Livvy was out of breath and looked scared. "So, change of plans. We're headed to the birthing centre. Don't worry, Sophie's fine, baby's fine, everything's fine, but we need someone with more experience. But things started going really fast right after you left, so we've got four hours max left. But you're fine, finish up what you're doing." She ended the hail before he could say anything.

Fitz managed to tuck the Imparter into his pocket before his vision went blurry and he swayed on his feet, almost passing out before Grady lowered him down to sit on the dewy grass.

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. She just said plans changed, they're going to the birthing center and everything's moving really fast, but everyone's fine."

"Okay. But you did still almost pass out." Grady patted his back and stood, slicing open another bag of brattails and dumping them into Verdi's trough. "Are you okay?"

"Worried. I don't know what going on, but she said Sophie was okay, so I'm trying to stay calm."

"Ooh, that sucks. Kesler could tell you all about when the triplets were born. He panicked and had to be sedated because he freaked out so back when the nurse told him there was more than one."

"Sophie would kill me if I did that. She's been really snappy and gets upset easily since she got pregnant." Fitz shoved the nearest bag over to Grady.

He cringed, taking the bag and ripping it open. "Sorry about that. Eda wasn't very angry, but she cried over every little thing. It took a lot of deep breaths and calming myself down to get through it. Did Livvy mention how much longer she expected it to take?"

"Four, I think. Sophie said she went into labour around 4am this morning."

Grady leaned against the fence, doing the math in his head. "Only six to eight hours total? That's kinda short for the first kid. It usually takes longer."

"Does it? That sounds like a really long time to me."

"It's not really. Edaline had contractions for at least two days if I remember correctly before her water actually broke, so she was technically in labour for almost four days."

"Oh wow."

Grady walked over and sat in the grass next to him. "Yeah it was kind of ridiculous. Did you guys decide on a visitor policy?"

Fitz shook his head. "We've been really stressed and we didn't think about it. What's your suggestion?"

His father-in-law sighed. "We did a day to settle in at home and adjust before we allowed any visitors. You can do whatever length of time you want, as long as it's not too ridiculous. I'd suggest at least overnight. Give you guys time to get to know your baby and Sophie time to recover before anyone shows up. But if you nee more time than that, that's okay. But set some sort of boundary, especially if some of the people on your side of the family are known for being a little on the crazy side."

"Okay. I've got a few relatives on both my mom and dad's sides that have a hard time being reasonable, but they don't even know we got married, let alone pregnant or having a baby in the next few hours. So I'm not very worried."

"You probably didn't get a chance to eat anything, did you?"

Fitz shook his head. "I was too frantic, trying to get us out the door."

"Since you've got nothing else to do, why don't you have breakfast with us? It'll be nice to have the company again."

"Okay."

Fitz's Imparter rang again and he answered it, taking a deep breath.

Livvy had a huge smiled on her face, so that was a good sign. "It's a girl."

"Huh?" His mouth dropped open and he couldn't process the words.

"It's a girl. The baby's here. You're a dad."

Fitz laughed in disbelief, almost dropping his Imparter, and repeated the words. "I'm a dad."

Grady whooped, clapping him on the back. "Congratulations! Although that was really fast."

"She's kind of small, although petite is a better word. But definitely not as big as we thought she was going to be. At first, we thought there might be twins because she didn't look big enough, but nope, just one."

"Okay, good. I don't think I could deal with two. Should I head over now?"

"No, give us a chance to clean up a bit and take her home. Sophie wants to be by herself with baby girl for a bit to recuperate for a few minutes. Run around and tell people, then head back to your house. We'll be there."

Fitz nodded and ended the hail, still not sure if this was reality. "I can't believe it. I'm a dad."

"Yup. You scram. Go say hi to your new daughter." Grady made a shooing motion. "I'll tell Eda. Is it okay if we stop by this afternoon or wait til tomorrow?"

"This afternoon should be fine" He leapt to Cliffside, unable to keep the beaming smile off his face.

Livvy was waiting outside, grinning. "You're here faster than I though you'd be."

"I recognized my house behind you. Is Sophie in our room?"

"Yes. The gnomes had to replace your mattress apparently?" Livvy led him inside and up the stairs.

"Yeah. Sophie's water broke all over it."

Sophie was lying in bed, eyes closed but not asleep. There was a tiny bundle in her arms wrapped in the old knitted blanket with two tiny hands playing with a lock of Sophie's hair.

Fitz sat carefully on the edge of the bed, leaning over to cup the side of Sophie's face in his hand. "Hey beautiful."

She opened her eyes and smiled. "Hey."

"How'd it go?"

"I don't remember. I just did what the physicians told me to do and then she was screaming and they handed her to me and there she was. Livvy was a little scared though, that she was too small since I was pushing for less than an hour. But she's perfect. And fascinated with my hair." Sophie smiled down at her daughter in her arms. "You can hold her if you want."

He held out his arms and she sat up, carefully setting the baby in his arms. The baby gave a squawk of disapproval when Sophie's hair was pulled out of her reach. "Hey there. I'm your daddy. Hi baby girl."

She stared up at him with huge brown eyes, then giggled and gave him a big toothless grin.

"She's got your eyes."

"Yeah, she does."

"I don't really think Felicity fits her. I know you like that name, but I don't think it really works."

Sophie nodded, reaching over and rubbing her finger over their daughter's hand. "I agree. And Felicity Elizabeth is kind of redundant. But I'm not sure what else to do. Unless you like Jolie."

Fitz looked down at baby again. "Jolie. Yeah, I like that. What do you think little lady?"

She giggled and cooed.

Sophie smiled. "Jolie Elizabeth Vacker it is."

Sophie pulled the second tray of cookies out of the oven, taking a deep breath of the melted chocolate and brown sugar smell. "These are gonna be good, aren't they, JoJo?"

Her daughter cooed from her highchair where she was playing with a small stuffed bat Amy had gotten for her on her trip to South Dakota.

"They're gonna be really good after dinner with a movie and hot cocoa, huh?" She booped Jolie on the nose and grinned.

Jolie giggled, covering her nose.

"You're so silly." She turned around and slid the next tray into the oven. Humming a lively song, she slid the the cookies one by one onto a cooling rack.

Sophie glanced over at Jolie and frowned. "Where'd you get that from? No cookies until after dinner."

She gently pried the cookie out of her daughter's hand, despite the squawks of protest, and set it aside, several feet out of the five-month-old's reach.

When she turned back around to get something out of the cupboard, Jolie had another cookie in her hands. Sophie took the cookie away again. This repeated a few times of Jolie somehow obtaining a cookie and Sophie taking it away from her.

After the fifth repitition, Sophie moved all the cookies to the other end of the kitchen and yelled, "Fitz, please stop giving Jo-Jo cookies! You know she's not supposed to have any before dinner!"

"Wait, you made cookies?" His footsteps thumped down the stairs.

"You haven't been giving them to her?"

"No, I was upstairs."

Sophie narrowed her eyes at Jolie. Then they widened in surprise when she realized what her daughter was doing.

A cookie from the tray on the other end of the kitchen lifted a few inches in the air and slowly floated across the fifteen or so feet to Jolie's outstretched hands. The baby giggled and began gnawing on her prize.

"That wasn't you, right?"

Fitz shook his head.

Jolie waved her chocolate and crumb covered hand. "Cookie!"

"This is not what I expected her first word to be." Sophie said. "I think I'll let her have that one. She earned it."

"Fitz, do you have Jolie?" Sophie yelled, looking around for her missing daughter.

"No, I thought you were baking with her!" he called.

"I was. I put her down on her blanket and when I turned around, she was gone." She heard the sound of an amused giggle and looked up the stairs.

Jolie was little halfway up the stairs, looking very proud of herself. "Hai!"

"How did you get up there, JoJo?"

She pointed up the stairs."Dada."

"Yeah, Dada's up there. Did you crawl all the way up there from the kitchen?"

Jolie didn't answer, turning around and starting her way up the stairs again.

"Fitz, come look! Jolie's crawling!"

He came running to the top of the stairs. "Oh wow. Did she get all the way up here by herself?"

"Yeah."

"Oh wow." He trotted down the last few steps to Jolie and scooped his daughter up in his arms. "Looks like we're mobile now. You're gonna get into everything, aren't you?"

"Dada." Jolie snuggled into his shoulder.

"Okay. Let's try this again." Sophie held Jolie upright by her arms, sitting a few feet away from Fitz. "Come on, baby girl. Walk to Dada."

Jolie took a step, but as soon as Sophie let go, she stopped and stood there for a few seconds before plopping onto her bum and crawling across the floor into Fitz's lap.

She sighed. "We know you're great at crawling, kiddo, but you have to walk."

"I walk?" Jo asked.

"Yeah, baby, you walk."

"No." She snuggled against Fitz and buried her face in his stomach.

He sighed, lifting her up in his arms. "You gotta walk sometime. You're great at crawling. I promise, walking's fun!"

"No."

Sophie sighed, standing up. "She really doesn't want to walk. I wonder what's wrong."

"Maybe we could ask her. She's a smart kid, so she might tell us." Fitz set Jolie on the floor in front of him. "Why don't you want to walk, baby girl?"

JoJo crossed her arms. "No."

"I think someone's a little grumpy. Maybe we should take a nap instead of going to Grammy's house." Sophie said, leaning down to pick her up.

"No!" Jolie squealed. "I walk!" She pushed herself up to standing and took three stubborn steps toward the stairs. "I walk!"

Keefe grinned, letting Jolie hold onto his finger. She giggled, accepting the hug substitute. JoJo understood that Uncle Keefe needed his hands to talk, but they were working on, 'we don't hug Uncle Keefe because he's sick and hugs hurt him.'

'Can I have my finger back now? I need to talk to your parents.' It took him longer to sign with one hand, but Jolie understood and let go, snuggling into Sophie's lap.

'Great. Have I mentioned how freaking adorable she is?"

"Almost every time we come visit." Sophie smiled. "Lady Iltaurielle came by."

'Oh! What'd she say?'

Fitz shook his hands out. "All of the Neverseen are either killed or captured. They have your mom in custody, everyone else they captured was tried both here and where Iltaurielle's from. Some of them received a death sentence, but most of them got life imprisonment. The Council weren't very happy about the death sentences."

'Oh. I wasn't expecting it to take that long.'

"It didn't." Sophie said. "The part that took a long time was the paperwork and extracting some members that were deep in the nobility, there was even one in the matchmaker's offices, without making a fuss. But she's confident they have everyone now."

'Ooh. That sucks. What are they going to do about my mom?'

"I'm not repeating Iltaurielle's exact words, but Lady Gisela's sentence is up to you. They've got a nasty cell with her name on in the the worst prison we're able to get or you can leave her to rot where she is. Iltaurielle is firm on wanting to execute her though. But it's your choice."

Keefe didn't answer for a few minutes. 'I'll have to think about it. I mean, it's my mom. I can't just hand her a death sentence.'

"I understand. Even with all the awful stuff she did, even though she gave you this nerve disorder that's going to kill you, it's still a hard decision."

"Stinker."

"What'd you say, JoJo?"

"She's a stinker. I don't like her."

Sophie burst out laughing, holding Jolie against her so she didn't fall. "Did you just call Lady Gisela a stinker?"

"Ya."

Keefe grinned, some of the old Keefster smirk returning to his face. 'I like this kid! She's got guts.'

"This is the first time she's heard of your mom, much less met her.

'It's still funny.'

So, you guys have a choice. (Again, I know.) Do you guys want to see Jolie's first birthday? If the answer is yes, that will be a short bonus chapter next week instead of the last chapter. It's up to you guys.

As always, reviewers will get a teaser for the next chapter. (Just let me know if you don't want one.) I will publish the last chapter of this book next Wednesday, unless you guys want the bonus chapter. Entirely up to you.

Shine brightly!

Ruby