Disclaimer: Own baby Anne, but nothing from Shadow Hearts.

**

            Since Alice and Yuri had last seen it, the castle had changed dramatically.  For one thing, there was a lot more light in it, and most of the things in the castle had been fixed up while some had been moved out, and new furniture had been brought in.  It was obvious that this had to be Margarete's doing.

            "She's done a great job with this, Keith," Alice told him.  She swayed back and forth on her legs, rocking the sleeping Anne.  Alice looked around.  "Where is she, by the way?"

            It was their first anniversary.  One year ago, Yuri and Alice had had their wedding day set for this day.  As they neared the wedding day, Margarete and Keith had suddenly announced their engagement, and together they had all decided that the weddings should take place on the same day.  It only seemed natural that they would celebrate the anniversary together.  Tonight, they were only planning on having a nice dinner here.  A three-month-old baby made it hard to do much else.

            "You know how she was feeling sick?  She went to see the doctor today.  I think she's just running a little late, she should be here soon."

            "I see," Alice said.

            "So what are we going to do while we're waiting?"

            Keith shrugged in response to Yuri's question, then sat down in one of the armchairs Magarete had gotten recently.  "Have a seat, I guess."

            Alice sat down on the couch and laid Anne out next to her.  The baby moved and then suddenly shivered, her lower chin quivering.  Keith laughed.  It was simply too cute.

            "Is she cold?"

            "Maybe," Alice said.  She tucked in the pink blanket tighter around the girl.  "It is a little colder here than the store is."

            "How is your store doing, anyway?"

            Yuri shrugged.  "Business is pretty good.  We haven't been around that long, so we're not that well known, but we've got a few good customers who come to our store a lot.  And I've been hired out for two jobs since Anne was born.  I pretty much had to go, since they were emergencies, but other than that I've been at home."  Then a smirk grew on Yuri's face.  "And how does being a wealthy heir suit you?"

            Margarete had arranged some paperwork that stated Keith was his own descendent, and heir to the property and estates of Blue Castle.  Otherwise, the castle may have become government property, and the caskets would have been disturbed and—let's just say things would be bad then.

            Keith shrugged.  "It is alright, but a little boring.  So I've picked up a little side job."

            "Huh?"

            "I'm working as a spy."

            Alice looked surprised.  "You too?  Did Margarete push you into this?"

            "A bit, but she had a very logical argument.  I have two advantages that would make me a good spy:  I can turn invisible, making it easier to sneak around, and I can turn into a bat, so I can get into more places more easily than a human can."

            "Yeah, that makes sense."

            "The only thing I do not like is the gun.  I prefer the sword, it's much more…chivalrous."

            "I thought spying was the opposite of chivalry," Yuri said.

            Keith shrugged.  "Oh well…I think I hear Margarete," he said, looking over the armchair.

            As Margarete came closer, Yuri and Alice also heard her.  There was a muffled sob outside in the hallway, and then Margarete came in, looking distressed.  She was crying, and a shaky hand covering her mouth did nothing to quiet the heaving sobs.  "Oh," she said, seeing Alice and Yuri.  "You're here.  Good.  I-I need to tell you something.  Well, do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

            "Good God, if it's making you so upset, the bad news," Keith sad, worried.  He'd never seen Margarete like this.

            "A-alright." Margarete fanned herself and tried to slow her breathing.  However, she said nothing, making her husband even more anxious.

            "What is it?  What did the doctor say?"

            "The bad news is…the bad news is…the doctor said I have only six months left."  The first reaction was to stare in disbelief, but that slowly turned to horror as what she had said sunk in.  Before they could speak, she continued.

            "The good news is, until the baby is born."

            The horror slowly turned to puzzlement, then to various mixtures of relief and annoyance and joy.  Margarete was no longer crying; in fact, she could barely hide her smirk.

            "That wasn't funny!  Don't scare us like that!" Yuri yelled at her.

            She nearly doubled over laughing.  "That was priceless!  You should have seen your faces…"

            "That took a century off my life," Keith said, and then he suddenly sat up straight and looked over his wife.  "You're pregnant?"

            "Yep."

            "That's wonderful!" Alice said enthusiastically.  "Congratulations!"

            "You don't look pregnant," Yuri said.

            "Hey, it's only been three months.  Give it time."

            "Wait…three months…"  Yuri took a look at his three-month-old daughter and then said, "Boy, we must have really inspired you guys."  On his right, Alice looked rather embarrassed.

            Margarete smiled and leaned on Keith's armchair.  "Yep, we were pretty inspired, weren't we Keith?"  Keith turned a very interesting shade of red.  "But you know kiddo, you guys were a lot faster.  I mean, it's been twelve months…and Anne's three months already…just what exactly were you kids during on the honeymoon?"

            "It's a secret."

            Keith and Alice, both bright red, gave each other sympathetic looks and wished they were somewhere else.  "Wh-why don't we have dinner now?" Keith said, getting up from his armchair.

            "Sure!" Alice said, also getting up and picking up Anne.

**

Reviewers:

PoopooPlaTTer: Well, she is married to him.  And…three fanfics…I'm trying to update them all today.  Wish me luck.

Gutterfiend: What???  You want me to give away the plot already?  I can't!

Greyfriars:  O_o  Don't start waiting for darkness yet.  It'll take a few chapters (undetermined number) to get to anything dark.  But don't worry, it'll come.

Loki: Well, Shadow Souls is getting updated.  I think it's a bad chapter, but it's an update!

Psst…after I saw your review, I decided to add Margarete getting pregnant.  And um…if you read Shadow Souls and you hate what I did with Margarete and Keith there…I'm sorry.  Just wait for the next chapter.

Dessa Rhiannon:  Here you go!!

Milia: Of course there's going to be more chapters!  I said it was going to get darker!

And, by now, Shadow Souls should be updated.