Chapter 3-

Max kissed 99's forehead softly in support as the phone booth elevator came to a halt at the lobby of CONTROL's headquarters. They braced themselves as they walked into the Chief's office several hours late, holding hands of course. 99 wondered if anyone noticed their closeness or her new ring- or her pale green completion. She felt like she was going to throw up for the millionth time that morning when she saw the look on the Chief's face.

"Max, 99 where have you been, you had me worried sick?! I have some serious business to talk to you about."

"We're sorry Chief, we had some, personal things to take care of." 99 chose her words carefully. "And we have an announcement, we wanted you to be the first to know."

"Because we love you Chief." The Chief couldn't help but grin at Max's choice of words. He knew that they loved him. The overriding emotion for him right then was his surprise at what he thought was coming. He had 99's file in his hand after all, wouldn't they have guessed that he already knew.

"We're getting married!" 99 squealed.

"And we're having a baby." Max stopped suddenly realizing he wasn't supposed to say that part. 99 sighed.

"Oh Max."

They were startled when the Chief began to laugh and sat back down in his chair. Max and 99 exchanged glances.

"Oh congratulations, sit down you two." He still chuckled.

"Does this mean that you're not going to fire me Chief?"

"Of course not 99, your one of the best! I'm not going to get rid of you just because you're having a baby. But, for now, you are off field duty, understand?"

"Oh but Chief, I'm, I'm not too far along, and Max and I have decided that it's important that we finish this case."

"No 99, I'm sorry, that's CONTROL's policy on this sort of thing."

"But Chief, I'm young and in top shape, and the perfect age to-"

"99, these are the doctor's orders, not my own."

"He didn't discuss any of that with me." 99 was perplexed.

"Listen, it's just that you're tired, your sick, you're venerable- we want to protect you. You can start again as soon as the baby's born if you want. You're being out there is too big a risk both to you, the baby and CONTROL itself."

"Okay, okay, I understand Chief." He smiled.

"If your thinking the policy is a little sexist 99, I'd do the same thing to Max if he were expecting- and actually Max-"

Max didn't know if he could stand the idea of sitting behind a desk for the next seven months or so, but he knew he could try for 99, especially if she were by his side.

"Yes Chief."

"You'll still be on this particular case, but I'm going to keep you out of harms way as often as possible for the next few months. Oh, and by the way when's the Wedding, you'll have to have time off for a honeymoon."

Max and 99 smiled at each other, they had forgotten about this time honored tradition of wedded bliss.

"Oh that, that would be lovely Chief." 99 thanked him. "We're getting married late next week."

"I wanted to do it today." Chief raised an eyebrow.

"Come on Max, we have a lot of arrangements to make." 99 got up, taking Max's hand and turned toward the door.

"Wait, there's just, just a couple of things I need to tell you." They turned to face him again as he walked toward them. "99, you still shouldn't go home. 13 and 44 are at your apartment and I can send 55 to get you anything that you might need. And the other thing is that I'm really truly happy for both of you."

"Thanks Chief." 99 grinned she left Max and went down the hall to find 55.

Max watched the Chief sit down and get back to his work.

"What is it Max?"

"Chief, you didn't seem surprised."

"We've all been taking bets on when you'd get together Max, and I'm very, very happy. And plus- I knew the baby was yours as soon as I found out she was pregnant, that was a little obvious too."

"You knew I loved her?"

"Everybody does Max." The Chief was only partially paying attention now.

"And you knew she loved me, why didn't you say something?"

"It wasn't my place to tell you Max." The Chief admitted to having known everything for a long time. "Oh and Max, I love you both too, like a son and a daughter I mean." Max was satisfied with this and left to go and find 99.

Max and 99 walked around Washington hand in hand. How in the world were they supposed to prepare for a wedding from scratch in less than a week?

"What kind of wedding have you always dreamed of?"

"Oh I don't know Max, a small intimate one I suppose. Close friends and relatives- that's it. A great dress, somewhere beautiful to get married and most importantly, you." She kissed him.

"Me too 99." He hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead.

"I'm glad we agree Max. What should we do first?"

"How about the dress?"

"You can't be with me, and since I can't be alone 55 and I will go tomorrow. But for now why don't we get a place and do the invitations, if it's going to be next week we have to hurry with that." They shared a small kiss on the lips and kept walking.

After all the Wedding preparations were made Max began to get nervous.

They would be married in just three days. 99 had gone to bed hours earlier with a sick headache. He ran his fingers through her hair as she lye beside him. With a baby on the way he knew he had to do everything possible to keep from getting cold feet. Besides, he'd always wanted to marry her, hadn't he? Suddenly she began to stir.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Terrible." She sat up.

"Is there anything I can do to-"

"Not right now-"

"99, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything."

"How old are you, or like your name is that secret too?"

"I'm 27 Max, and your ten years older."

"How did you know that? I never told you."

"I have my ways Max." She laughed. "You don't think ten years it too big a difference, do you 86?"

"No. You're my equal; you're my partner in every sense of the word. I love you." He pressed his forehead against her. "You're just perfect for me 99."

"Oh Max."

"Where do you want to go on our honeymoon?"

"Oh I don't know. I don't feel much like going now, but if we don't go now, we won't be able to for a while. A long while."

"Why not?"

"Well first I'll be too pregnant. Then, after that, the baby will be too small for me to leave her- at least not long enough for me to go on a honeymoon. And we certainly don't want to take the baby with us."

"That's true; would you mind if I surprised you 99?"

"Um, no Max." She thought for a moment, "that would be lovely."

All throughout the day of her wedding 99 secretly wondered where her surprise destination was, she just hoped that KAOS wouldn't be involved, and that there would be no mission. She wished she could start telling people that she was pregnant too. Hiding her morning sickness from her mother and friends for the past few days had been pretty difficult. On this note, she couldn't wait to go away with Max. As they climbed into the limo he blindfolded her again, just as he had the night he'd proposed.

"Max-"

"It's so you don't know we're going to the airport-" he stopped suddenly realizing he'd given it away again. He took the blindfold from her eyes as she started laughing; she found his ruining the surprise terribly humorous.

"Oh Max!" She kissed his cheek. "Look at it this way; I still don't know where we're going."

"That's true 99." He smiled, kissing her lips. "How do you feel?"

"Oh just perfect 86."

"You've made me the happiest man on earth 99."

99 could only blush; he kissed her softly.

"So, do you want to give me a hint about where we're going?"

"No 99, no hints, you'll have to wait till we get to the gate."

"Okay, but I think I'm going to start guessing."

"Do you think your mother suspects anything?"

"What, about the baby? She suspects something- but I'm not so sure how close to right she is. She knows me well, she'll figure it out before we come back."

"Great- and she'll forever think of me as a jerk who got her daughter pregnant and married her, in that order."

"Oh Max, she'll think of you as a wonderful man who slept, swept her daughter off her feet and is the man of her dreams- because you really are Max."

These words made him feel one hundred percent better. They began a deep kiss. Suddenly the car swerved.

"Hey, could you watch it! Don't you know my wife's pregnant?"

"Max." She mumbled, hoping he'd be a little more discrete. The glass window that separated them from the driver rolled down slowly.

"Hi Max, 99 congratulations. Sorry I couldn't make it to the wedding."

"44 thank you! We wondered where you were."

"The chief needed me to give you something, open the mini fridge."

Max opened it, finding only a bottle of wine inside.

"Oh that's too bad." 99 remarked.

"Oh, it's not for you to drink, open it."

Max opened the wine; it quickly became evident that the cork was what was of immediate importance.

"What is it Max?"

"You don't want to know."

"Why?"

"It's a mission."

"On our honeymoon Max? When I'm supposed to be off field duty."

"I guess so." Max remarked as he started to press a small innocuous button on the side of the cork, the car swerved again.

"I'm sorry!" 44 reiterated before anything more could be said to him. "You know me, always cooped up in such odd little places; now that I am out on the open road; I'm feeling a little like I could just go wild, run free."

"We understand, just please be more careful." Max finally pressed the button.

"Hello Max and 99." They heard a recording from the Chief. "Congratulations and I hope you have a great honeymoon. Since you're already going to Paris-"

"Ha! Paris Max, I love Paris!!"
"Aw, why did he have to ruin it!?"

"Since you're already going to Paris," the recording restated, "I would like you two take one small assignment. It's just a courier mission. 99 inside the lining of your suitcase you will find a stack of papers very vital to the French branch of control- the Versailles Papers, the day after tomorrow you will need to take them into the palace garden and leave them with a contact. More information on that contact is to follow. Once again, congrats and thanks, all my love."

"Well that's some wedding present."

"Oh Max, it's not that bad. It doesn't sound too dangerous and gives us a chance to see Versailles."

He was slightly upset, but he had to break his frown when he saw her batting her eyelashes at him. That always seemed to work on him. He kissed the tip of her nose softly.

"Okay love birds, here we are." 44 announced.

99 took Max's arm and lye her head against his shoulder as they walked. Their flight wouldn't leave for another hour or so. 99 went to get a few magazines for their trip while Max sat at the gate playing with his new watch. It was the newest technology control could provide. It had a Geiger counter on it and an odometer. Max's eyes grew wide as he saw the Geiger counter numbers suddenly shoot through the roof. He looked up only to see the two teen boys from the Saw Mill. He jumped to his feet with a startled intrigue just in time for 99 to return.

"Wow Max, I didn't know you'd be this excited about the Washington Post and Vogue."

"No 99," he swallowed, "look who it is."

99 to was shocked when she saw the boys, followed by the body guards of Victor Royale.

"Flight 215 to Paris now boarding." They know realized that this honeymoon would turn into a real case upon their arrival in Paris.

"I knew I should've picked Hawaii." Max muttered to himself.

Sorry it's been so long; I hope you liked it! Please, please, please review. I wrote this during a really busy week. I've got a thousand pages to read, for one class alone!!!