Author's Note: Here's the next chapter...Jaqueline and d'Artagnan have entered as promised. I want to take this time to point out...this chapter at the end has a 'slightly' regilious tone to it. I only did that to explain Eliza's name. I am in NO WAY implying that she is 'chosen by God' or anything...just that d'Artagnan and Jacqueline believe that. That is ALL. Ok, thanks to Heather for being ever pateint bata...feedback as usual. Next chapter I will show what 'chem' are between our two heroes. Also, Eliza is 17, shettlered, and implusive... she doesn't know people are bad, and probably trusts the musketeers all the way AND she had no choice to escape the baron... that is WHY she ran off w/ Edmund...Meg

Jacqueline sat on the couch with tears in her eyes. D'Artagnan watched his wife. She had held her age well through the years of their marriage. She still looked as beautiful as she had the day he met her, but she still had an heir of sadness from loosing her brother all those years ago.

"Eliza is missing," Gerard repeated to them. D'Artagnan tried to be strong for Jacqueline's sake. She was obviously just as upset about the whole thing as he was. Gerard stood up from the couch. "I will go into town and see if I can find out anything." D'Artagnan nodded to his son and turned back to Jacqueline who was now opening crying. They were both afraid of loosing Eliza, as they almost did seventeen years prior. Tears welled up in his eyes as he remembered those days vividly.

The doctor sat by Jacqueline shaking his head soberly. She held onto a pillow screaming with all her might. D'Artagnan paced back and forth in the room, wishing he was allowed near her. She had been like this for two days. Her screaming grew even louder and a nurse rushed forward as a tiny head appeared. The nurse took the baby and rushed out of the room, refusing him or Jacqueline even a look. Confused, he turned back toward Jacqueline and the doctor. Jacqueline looked sickly pale and laid very quiet. He felt his heart ache with pain as he looked on her.

"Wait outside, Viscompte," the doctor ordered. D'Artagnan hesitated slightly but complied. After what seemed like hours of waiting, the doctor finally emerged, shutting the door behind him. "Viscompte, she is unwell. I am concerned for her." The doctor stopped and he felt his heart skip a few beats. "You must prepare yourself." D'Artagnan's face went pale and he felt the room spinning as he tried to sit.

"Is there nothing you can…?" he trailed off unable to finish. The doctor shook his head.

"If she makes it through the night, she will live." He gathered a glimmer of hope at this.

"The baby?" He watched again as the doctor shook his head. He felt his heart break again.

"She's too early. I do not expect her to make it through the night." D'Artagnan was too stunned to respond. Everything blurred and he did not notice or hear anything. After some time, he went to Jacqueline's trunk, pulled out her praying beads, and held onto them, praying with tears streaming down his face. His only hope was God would spare his wife and daughter. He spent hours on his knees holding onto the beads so hard that his hands were bruised and bleeding until he fell asleep.

He woke to the sound of an infant crying and jumped up, running into Jacqueline's room. She was holding the baby. She looked weak but alive, and the baby was as well. The doctor put his hand on d'Artagnan's shoulder. "We are lucky. They will both make it." Tears of gratitude fell down d'Artagnan's face.

"God has spared them for a reason," he told Jacqueline and the servants. "We will call the baby Eliza, meaning 'The Chosen', for she has been chosen by God to live." Jacqueline smiled up at him.

"Hold Eliza, Charles." Jacqueline said. He reached for her and held her as the doctor ushered father and child out into the hall.

"Viscompte, I am concerned about your wife. The miscarriage and this…" D'Artagnan looked up from his daughter at the doctor. "She must not have any more children or she will die."

He looked at him slowly. "I understand, doctor."

The doctor leaned closer. "There are things we can do…" The doctor stopped, his meaning was clear. There were ways to prevent conception without staying away from each other. Measures d'Artagnan would willingly do for Jacqueline's sake.

D'Artagnan shook himself from the memories as Jacqueline pulled him down onto the couch beside her. She buried her face into him. "Charles, what is to become of our daughter?" She sounded frightened.

"Eliza is strong like her mother," he told her.

Jacqueline did not get a chance to respond before Gerard rushed in. He sat down, panting. "A few passersby saw her pursued by the baron's guards," Gerard began and Jacqueline gasped. "She's ok, mother. They do not have her. A musketeer was seen helping her. My friend, Edmund."

"Where is she now?" d'Artagnan asked him.

"Duval told me he is heading to Italy, and no doubt he took her with him. She will be safe with him." Jacqueline looked a bit shocked. "Mother, he is a good friend. He will watch over her as if she was his sister," Gerard assured her.

"She will go to my father for help," d'Artagnan said, knowing what she would be thinking. "The best thing to do now is to pretend everything is alright. The baron must not suspect."

Jacqueline, now recovered, and weakly smiled her acceptance. They would pretend she was alright and safe. She just hoped that she would be all right with this young man. Eliza did not travel much and was not used to the world and its ways. Gerard put a hand on her shoulder to giver her courage. "Dinner is ready, we should eat before cook has a fit," Jacqueline told them and they followed her into the dinning area.