A/N: I sincerely apologize for another month long wait between updates. Unfortuently life is giving me hell recently with so many external commitments and no time to just sit down and write.

In other news, the contents of this chapter were sort of requested. There was a request for someone to get pregnant. I'll let you read and find out who! I hope you love this chapter as much as I do!

"Good morning, Silvia." I greet as I walk into my office.

She curtsies hastily, "Your Majesty. You're running late."

"So is Maxon. We both slept in late this morning."

"The advisors don't care about your sleep schedule nor do they care about the king's sleep schedule. They also have places to go today as well."

"Which is why we both skipped out on breakfast and is why I'm taking my tea now. Maxon also has his super important phone call with King Alfonso and Queen Bianca this morning, so the advisor meeting has to wait until then anyway." I sip my green tea. It's so perfect. "Mmm! This is good. Remind me to thank the maid who made and brought this tea to me. Wasn't her name Alice?"

"Queen America, we don't have time for this today. You need to be prepping our speech for the advisors. Your service forms looked good. I like your ideas for the education plan. Keep up the good work. It should go well with the advisors, though they are tougher critics than I am. Your presentation of your ideas and drafts will really make or break this for you. Do you have any of it done?"

"Have I ever been known to slack off?"

"Yes, you have. Which leads me to ask you again: do you have anything at all done for your presentation?"

"I have a picture slideshow with examples. My plan was to read off my plans and improvise, which seems to work well for me most times."

She sighs. "That will have to do."

"That it will. How much longer before I have to be in the boardroom on the fourth floor?"

She checks her watch and her eyes widen, "Five minutes! Get out and up there!"

"Oh shit. Thank you, Silvia. I'll let you know how it goes!"

I walk into the boardroom full of Maxon's advisors. They rise and bow. I sigh, "Gentlemen. Sorry for my tardiness. Please be seated."

One of the men comes up to me, "Queen America, my name is Dominic Perdune. I'm one of King Maxon's Advisors, and I'll be helping both you and KIng Maxon out today since this is the first of many meetings. Have a seat on the left hand side of the chair at the head of the table."

"Thank you, Mr. Perdune." I walk over to the chair I was assigned and wait, but it's not a terribly long wait before Maxon bursts in.

"Gentleman. Sit. No time to waste." He says, not even acknowledging anyone directly. He sits next to me and kisses my cheek. "Hello, Darling. Are you ready?"

"I think so."

"Great because I think you're going first today." He raises his voice to address the men in the room, "Gentlemen. Hopefully you all have had a restful morning. Sorry about my late arrival. We all know how the Italians are when they get to talking." The room has a light chuckle before they turn their full attention back to Maxon. "So, Mr. Perdune has given me a schedule for the meeting. It looks like we are starting with Queen America's first service act assignment. Please remember, gentlemen this is my wife and it's her first assignment so be nice to her. Darling, take the floor."

I stand up and adjust my creme dress to keep it from riding up as I speak. "Thank you, Maxon. So, I have a very general plan of action for the education in Illea with the cast dissolving. As we demolish the caste system, we are most likely going to be left with the same mindset from before. Meaning, those who were Twos or Threes are going to still act as if they are above others in society. To help combat this, I have created a plan that exposes children to the careers, job paths, and choices of the other castes. This would help get rid of the idea that someone is above someone else based on job. This also gives children who weren't exposed to the arts or to the work of education a chance to fully experience what other careers are like and allow them to choose what they want to do as they grow up."

"How do you plan on exposing children to other careers as just one person?"

"That is a great question. Can you remind me of your name, sir?"

"Alexander Zale."

"Thank you. That is a great question Mr. Zale. Currently, in the rough stages of development, there are a few options that we can take to allow proper exposure. The first is to tour from province to province. The benefits are that children get a chance to meet the people in charge of creating their education standards as well as they get a hands-on chance to learn from someone who has done it all. The negatives to this option is that there is more than one school in each province, and even if it was just one school and one per day it would take more than a month and cost a lot for travel. Another option is to create videos here using the help of the first non-caste-affiliated people, the Woodwork family. This would eliminate the problems with the first option by allowing it to be played in every school across Illea. The other benefit is that it can still include those who make the education standards and still include those who have done it all without taking away from work. The downfalls: the poorer provinces. While we still do The Reports in the poorer provinces, that doesn't mean that every classroom will have TVs or any other method of playing this video. So, in theory it works but only if everyone has a way to plan the video. The final option is to discuss it on The Report. All of Illea will be tuning it so no one will miss it. On top of that, that allows us to send out the other half of the plan which is the specific lesson plans for teachers for proper exposure of careers."

"I'm going to be honest with you, Queen America. It's not bad. There aren't bad ideas here, but what you are proposing for your service act is lacking on what we were expecting as a whole. You have good ideas, but you're missing the mark."

"Mr. Finch, cool it. Her ideas are not only splendid but also thorough, well formulated, and meeting the requirements for her first service act. I do have one question for you, though."

"Yes, Mr…?"

"Tream. Mr. Tream. My question: how much money have you budgeted out for this plan as of now?"

"Currently, none. But, that is only because this is a rough draft. My budgeting for supplies, time, and everything else was going to happen after I knew if I was on the right track. Thank you for that question, though, Mr. Tream."

"I have a question for you."

"Go ahead."

"Say this plan gets approved, what are your next steps into solidifying and finalizing your plan?"

"That is another excellent question Mr…?"

"Kreaton."

"Mr. Kreaton. Next steps are to pick one of the exposure options, solidify that as much as I can, working on budgets depending on exposure plan, and working on the set lesson plan for the teachers so that way by the time we meet again, the only thing I need is the stamp of approval from you all and Maxon."

"Well," Mr. Perdune says, "Queen America you have a solid plan, options for if things don't work a certain way, and plan for what's next. Well done. Gentlemen, let's vote. All in favor of allowing Queen America to proceed in her plans say 'I'." The room erupts with sound. "And those not in favor say 'nay'."

"Nay." Says one voice. I look to see who everyone else is glaring at, and my eyes land on that Mr. Finch who disliked my plan earlier.

"Mr. Finch , may I ask why?" I tentatively ask.

"Your plan, while solid, is lacking. You aren't serving the majority of the population, which are adults ages 30-50 and you are missing the entire point of your assignment which was to provide a plan that serves the country for the greater good."

"I hate to argue with you, but I believe that I have met the requirements. You see, my plan to help get rid of any lasting caste-stigmatism once the castes are fully demolished is to start young. Unfortunately, I doubt that many fifty year olds will be around much long after the castes are demolished. The future of our country doesn't rest in the greater majority of 30-50 year olds. The future of Illea is the young ones in school and those who haven't even taken a breath of air yet. By giving the education system the attention it needs with the caste dissolving around it, we are providing service for the greater good by allowing the future of Illea to recognize that job does not equal caste or status. We can get rid of any affiliation to the caste system at a young age, which in turn would help the greater good of Illea."

Mr. Finch is at a loss for words. Maxon clears his throat, "Queen America, you have been granted permission to move forward with your plan. Illea will be happy to know that they are in good hands when it comes to the children of Illea. Well done."

"Thank you."

"You are dismissed. I will see you for lunch once this is over." He tells me.

"See you later. I love you." I tell him, stealing a quick kiss on his cheek before trying to walk away. Maxon grabs my arm pulling me back to him.

"Avert your eyes, Gentlemen. I'm about to kiss my wife and I would prefer to not have all of you looking at me while I tell her that I love her more than all of you and this meeting." He announces before he stands up and kisses me so passionately. I kiss him back, but pull away when I remember where I am. He keeps me close though, playing his head by my ear to whisper, "You will be heavily rewarded later tonight. I'm so proud of you. I love you, America. You are making a great queen already. Keep up the phenomenal work."

He kisses me once more, before pulling away again. "I love you, Darling. I'll see you at lunch for our date."

"I can't wait. I love you, too."

I walk out feeling pride and so many giddy bubbles floating around inside my stomach. Once the door is closed, I squeal a little bit. Only he can make me head over heels, reassure me, and motivate me all in one go. I love him so much.

"So, how did your meeting with the advisors go?" Marlee asks as she enters my office.

"It went very well. It was a nineteen to one vote. The only person who said 'no' was Mr. Finch. He didn't like that I wasn't servicing the majority of the population by focusing on the future. He changed his mind when I explained that our future is more important than the fifty year olds who won't be able to do much once the caste are all dissolved. Then, at the end, Maxon gave me his word that I was able to move forward with my plan and said that 'Illea will be in good hands when it comes to the children of Illea'. He told me that he would see me for lunch then I said 'I love you' as I do when I have to leave him and he told them to all look away so he could kiss me without their stares on us. He kissed me so… passionately and then he whispered some sweet romantic stuff in my ear and sent me off."

"Ooo! What did he say? I must know!"

"He said that I will be rewarded tonight and that he was proud of me. He also told me he loved me and that I'm making a great queen already."

"Aww! Maxon is such a sweetheart! I'm so glad you guys are a happy couple."

"Thank you, Marlee. How was your morning?"

"Okay."

"Just okay?"

"Can I confide in you?"

I nod, "Of course. Anything you tell me is safe with me. I don't even tell Maxon what you tell me."

"Okay, good. I think I might be pregnant."

I swallow hard. Pregnant? "Oh."

"I've been a little queasy and I'm a few days late. What should I do?"

"I… I don't know… I've never been pregnant, Marlee." I shake my head. I can't even think of what to do.

"Should I see Dr. Ashlar?"

"I think you should. I can go with you. If you want. I'll wait with you and do whatever you need."

"Okay. What do I do when I get down there?"

"Ask for a test, I guess. You definitely need to know for sure. You could just be sick. You could just be a few days late. You've been working your ass off recently, so it could be stress that is making your period late."

"I'm worried. I drank a lot the night of the party."

"First off, the party was four, almost five, days ago. You and Carter have definitely been close since then. You could have gotten pregnant the night of or yesterday. Second, if this is just a false alarm then you have made this worse by worrying about something that isn't even happening. Calm down, okay? Let's go get a test, then we can worry." I grab her hand and we begin to walk out of my office.

I wonder what she is going through and how much more worry is building in her. She must be so worried about this because the entire time she is fidgeting with the edge of her sage green dress. We walk in silence. I just hold her hand as we walk through the corridors of our home. Her grip tightens on my hand when we see the doors to the hospital wing.

"Everything is going to work out, Marlee." I whisper to her as we stand outside the doors before pushing them to enter.

"Hello Your Majesty! What can we do for you and Lady Woodwork today?" A tall, eccentric looking woman, not much older than Marlee and I, asks us. I can't help but notice how big and bright her smile is as looks at us with her big green eyes wanting an answer from one of us as we approach the front desk.

"I- I need a pregnancy test." Marlee tells her.

I quickly get her name from her badge and give her some strong words of encouragement. "Miss Krista, please keep this on the down low for me. It would be in your best interest to not say anything to King Maxon and Sir Woodwork or anyone else for that matter, understand?"

"Yes, of course. Let me grab that for you. It should only take a minute."

"Thank you." I told her. Marlee shakes her hands out in an effort to keep herself calm, but when Miss Krista returns with the bag of tests for us, I can see Marlee's hand shake. I grab the bag from her, thank Miss Krista, and pull Marlee out of the hospital wing.

We make a stop to the first bathroom outside of the hospital wing so Marlee can splash cold water on her face before we head back to my room.

We take the same quiet walk back. Marlee is still shaking when we enter my room.

I set the bag down on my couch after pulling down the test for Marlee. I read the directions on the box out loud for Marlee as she paces around my room anxiously. "'Step one, pee on the tab-end of the stick. Do not insert into vagina. Step two, set the timer for 4 minutes and wait for results. A cross is positive, a horizontal line is negative. If the test is unclear, repeat the steps on a different test.' Seems simple enough. Marlee, this is for you. Go pee on it."

She takes the test from my hand silently and walks into my bathroom. I sit down and imagine what it will be like when I need to do this. I can't wait to have a baby with Maxon. He's going to be such a great father. Will I be a good mother? Will my baby love me as much as I love them? I hope so. My thoughts are interrupted when Marlee comes back out, tears streaming down her face as she sets the test down on my vanity.

"Now we wait." I told her.

She comes over to me and sits down. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and allow her to just cry as we wait. The silence is deafening, but Marlee won't talk unless she knows what's happening for sure. I guess it's up to me to reassure her.

"Marlee, no matter what the test result is, everything will work out. If you aren't, then you and Carter try again. If you are, then everything will be perfect. You are going to be a great mom. And this baby will be so lucky to have such a strong, determined, and caring mom to love them. And if you aren't, you will be soon. You will have your moment to be pregnant. It might just be the universe telling you that now isn't a good time."

She nods into my shoulder. I look at the clock on my wall. "Marlee, it's been four minutes. Do you want to go look at the test, or do you want me to?"

"Can you?"

"Of course." I told her. She sits up, allowing me to go look at her test. I stand up and walk over. My eyes glance at the test and I smile. Marlee is going to be so happy. "Oh my god."

"What is it?"

"Marlee, you are going to be such a great mom to that little baby inside you."

"Holy shit. For real?" She stands up and rushes over to me to look at the test I hold in my hands. "Oh shit. I am gonna be a mom, aren't I?"

"Momma Woodwork!" I exclaim as I hug her. She hugs back, tears falling on my shoulder as we embrace.

Marlee is gonna be a mom! I can't wait to meet this baby. They are going to be spoiled rotten by the family around them!