Again thank you for all the alerts, favorites and reviews I have received on this story. The next chapter hopefully is okay since it is one of my favorites, but I don't know if the stomach virus was around back then but I am assuming it was.

I Think I'll Be Okay:

I've lost track of who I was some time ago

I thought I figured out which way to go

Now I hate to say that the only thing

That's keeping me alive is you

The only thing that's keeping me alive

But I can't say your name

Oh I think I'll be okay

-I Think I'll Be Okay-Bayside

November 3rd 1528

Sir Thomas was relieved that he was allowed to tell his children about what was going on. He couldn't hold such a secret from them. He thought it would be best if he told them and not hear it from some other fool when the rumors begin to take hold of court. His family gathered in the living room at Chelsea. The three daughters were tense with nerves while the son remained calm since he knew what was going on.

At first he couldn't speak. It was hard to find the right words to speak, but when John's reassuring eyes gazed upon him he finally gained the courage.

"I know I haven't given you all a full explanation why Alice and I divorced," He began knowing he already said too much. He folded his hands in front of clasping them together tightly. "I know you all probably think differently of me because you think of me of this sainted man who would never turn to sin, but you must know the truth."

Of all the pairs of eyes that looked at him, Meg's looked the most disappointed. Even if Meg didn't know what was fully going on, Sir Thomas knew his eldest daughter was slowly growing distant to him. She always followed his virtuous example but now, with him committing the sin of divorce Meg started to see what he really was….a liar.

"Five months ago," Sir Thomas began keeping his face soft but remaining strong, "his majesty asked me to do a favor, a favor that went against all my ideas and morals....to make a long story short….the baby that is growing inside the belly of the Queen of England…is not the King's…it's mine."

The room was silent. The lawyer bit his lip bracing himself for the reaction. Meg was paralyzed in shock while Cecily and Elizabeth looked at each other and bowed their heads.

"Father," Elizabeth said while she and her younger sister looked back at their father with a reassuring smile, "Cecily and I support you because we know you are not perfect, but you are still our father."

Sir Thomas smiled at his two youngest daughters. He was about to thank them for their support when a sob filled the room. The humanist stood upright in fear, Meg was sobbing. On impulse Thomas kneeled down in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders. But they were quickly ripped off as Meg stood up in disgust.

"YOU LIAR!" She shrieked, "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US? I LOOKED UP TO YOU AND ADMIRED YOU!"

She got up and began to walk to the door. Sir Thomas was so paralyzed in shock he did not know what to do but stay on his knees. His two younger daughters immediately went to his aid while John crossed himself and brought himself to his feet.

"Meg wait," John said chasing after his older sister, "father had no choice he was commanded to."

Meg turned around with rage in her eyes.

"THERE IS NOTHING TO EXPLAIN!" She screamed, "THE GRANDFATHER OF THE BABY GROWING INSIDE ME…IS DEAD!"

And with that Meg was gone. Another person the lawyer loved had abandoned him in the wake of this mess. There was nothing left for him to do than to bury his face in his hands and sob.

The weeks that followed, Sir Thomas became violently ill. His immune system, weakened by his poor spirit, did not protect his body from a virus of the stomach that attacked some of the members of the court even the King briefly. But while most men who caught the virus like Harry, Thomas Cromwell and Charles Brandon only suffered for a day or two Sir Thomas was hit the hardest.

He spent weeks in bed with fever lying on top of the sheets only in his breeches because he was so uncomfortable. Days he spent sweating and nights he spent shivering with the chills. And about three times a day he would hack up food his stomach couldn't bear to digest. The treatments did not help him at all. The bloodletting they performed on him just made him weaker and the teas and broths he ingested to hopefully aid in his healing caused him to vomit further.

John who had not left his father's side from the moment his father became sick and was not getting better was the whole ordeal with Meg. He and his sisters tried not in vain to reach out to their older sister so she can see reason. But it failed. Sir Thomas' friends and family even tried to lift his spirits. That didn't help either. All that was left was faith and prayer that the strong Sir Thomas Moore would live through the sickness.

The most concerned for the lawyer's health were Katherine and Henry. Henry was for a more selfish reason. He knew this baby was going to be born healthy this time thanks to his tutor's still fertile essence. But what if it were born a girl and Sir Thomas succumb to his illness. He couldn't go searching for another to fulfill the task. Katherine was concerned for Thomas for a more selfless reason, her child. She didn't want the father of the baby growing inside her to be dead. Even though the child would have Henry it will still bring Katherine great sorrow if the child's REAL father was not in his or her life.

After hard convincing Katherine finally convinced Henry to visit Sir Thomas. Maybe a reminder of the shape of things to come would bring up his spirits.

This is worse than imprisoned in the tower and tortured Sir Thomas groaned in his mind.

He was right, this simple disease left him in a pathetic state. He had to be carried everywhere to do simple things like relieve himself. He couldn't sit up. He lied in filth from his sweat and the damp cloth which was occasionally bound over his eyes to cool down his body temperature. Sometimes he was in oblivion, he felt numb at some moments and the next he felt pain. At this point, even if it meant that his life would be taken from him… he wanted his suffering to be over.

Not only his physical suffering but his mental suffering too. He should have been happy that he was saving the Tudor Dynasty and becoming a Duke. But it didn't seem to be worth it anymore. He destroyed everything that he built. He slept with the Queen and god was punishing him.

"Father," He heard a voice in the darkness caused by his damp blindfold. He felt a presence sit next to him. He felt fingers graze his forehead and another hand grip his lightly. From touch he realized his son was by his side. John lifted the blindfold and let it rest around his father's forehead, "you have visitors and no it's not another doctor."

Sir Thomas weakly turned his head towards his son.

"Is it the Priests reading me my last rites?" He whispered, "I didn't think this awful yet supposedly simple illness would be the culprit to send me to god but if it is god's plan, it is god's. Send them away and send a messenger to Rochester. If I am to have any cleric to read my final rites, let it be my dear friend Fisher."

John ran a hand through his father's hair and smiled reassuringly as he propped his father up in a sitting position.

"Fisher's already here," He whispered, "you asked me to send for him two days ago. But it's not priests it's better….your majesties."

Sir Thomas turned his head towards his open doorway and in shock he saw the King and Queen of England. Katherine smiled and walked slowly over to Sir Thomas. Suddenly just for a moment he remembered that his child was growing inside him. As a father of four he knew that a simple illness to the mother could be more dangerous to the child.

"Katherine," He said his voice gong from a weak whisper to a hoarse one, "I don't think for the sake of my child growing inside you."

Sir Thomas waited for Henry to retaliate him with some rude remark. Surprisingly, he did not. Instead, the king remained nonchalantly leaning on the doorframe with his arms folded in front of him.

"You mean our child," Henry said tapping his long fingers on his elbows, "don't assume that babe inside her is yours so quickly….not trying to be rude because Katherine told me to behave." He paused while Katherine chuckled slightly covering her mouth. She then knelt down beside the humanist, "and thank you for the concern Sir Thomas but don't worry at the outbreak of this virus I made Katherine take fusions to prevent the disease from spreading to her."

"Which made me sicker Henry," Katherine replied as she turned her head towards him.

"That was only getting rid of the toxins," Henry said as he smiled back towards his wife. Sir Thomas noticed that Henry's behavior towards Katherine had drastically changed. But he knew what it was...superficial because he was finally getting what he wanted, "besides I was only trying to protect our child from getting sick, even though this is the most strongest pregnancy you had in years…should I leave you two alone? John your father tells me you like sports why don't we play a round in archery?"

And with that John and Henry left leaving Thomas and Katherine in the room alone.

With Henry gone, it gave Katherine the freedom to be more affectionate towards the man she truly loved. She sat on the empty space beside him and began running a hand through his hair. Sir Thomas weakly turned his head Katherine.

"I see," He began to whisper weakly, "Harry is kinder to you since he found out you are with child."

She began to chuckle as she gripped his hand lightly rubbing the top of it with her thumb. "It's fake kindness," She said before bending down to kiss his sweaty forehead, "the honeymoon stage shall be over once I give him what he wants I know it will. Which is why I- oh."

Sir Thomas raised his eyebrow in concern as Katherine placed her hands on her swollen stomach.

"Are you alright?" He whispered beginning to prop himself up.

"Yes," Katherine replied taking his hand into her own before placing his hand on her belly over where her child was growing inside, "the child is kicking."

Sir Thomas took a sharp breath as he felt the wild kicks vibrating through the Queen's belly. He hadn't felt that sensation in 15 years when John was growing inside his wife Joan. He thought he would never feel it again. The tears began to fall down his face as a strange miracle happened….his stomach ache began to slowly diminish. The beauty of feeling that life he may have helped to create began to heal him.

Everything that happened, the arguments, the verbal abuse were all forgotten to this moment. As life was beginning to grow, life was beginning to breathe back into him.

"What's wrong," Katherine said lifting his head as she stroked his cheek with her thumb, wiping the tear tracks that shined in the pale moonlight that filled the room.

"I am just happy to know," Sir Thomas whispered hoarsely with a weak smile forming on his lips, "that if I die from this I know, that before I left this earth I did something….to make you happy."

Katherine sighed deeply but remained strong for the child growing inside her. God gave her another chance to have a child, to give Henry the chance to give him the son he long craved (despite the sin she committed in order to reach this goal). She didn't want to fuck up the opportunity. Not this time. This time she was going give birth to a healthy breathing child. Knowing that Henry could walk in at any moment, she bent down to kiss his sweaty damp forehead.

"Thomas I want you to listen to me," She whispered in his ear. The humanist closed his eyes and shivered at the sensation, "I need you to live, you are the milk of all human kindness, the peace in a world full of chaos, the voice of reason in a sea of confusion and in this dark world you are the light." She began to cry, "my child whether it's yours or Henry's needs you and I need my knight."

The words along with the feel of the child moving inside her brought tears to his dark eyes. Quickly strength began to come back into him. He raised his hand wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Heaven," He said, "could wait a little longer."

There were no words after that. There were only looks and gentle caresses that said a lot more than a love poem, a letter or anything like that. And Katherine did not move from her spot. She stayed there until Thomas fell asleep.

The King and Queen left that night despite advice that Katherine should not make the journey home late at night. Of course Henry was stubborn and wanted to go home leaving Sir Thomas, John and Bishop Fisher in the house alone once again.

The next morning the two still healthy men were having a light breakfast when they heard a creak on the stairwell. Both men turned their heads to see Sir Thomas standing at the bottom of the stairwell fully clothed with a smile on his face. The color had come back into his cheeks and he stood up straight and tall.

"FATHER!" John screamed in joy as he ran over to his father and hugged him tightly.

Bishop Fisher stood up in joy and laughed.

"Bless my soul," The old Bishop cried, "IT LIVES."

"I guess," Sir Thomas said thoughtfully as he kissed his son on the forehead, "an angel came to me to me to make me better."

And that angel was Katherine.

"MAKE WAY FOR SIR THOMAS MOORE!" A herald called as he walked down the path of people in the great hall.

Sir Thomas still was not fully well. He was rather tired and a bit of depression washed over him because he didn't see Meg in the crowd of friends and family which included Erasmus (who came to visit as soon as he heard Sir Thomas was sick).

But today he was going to be strong and joyful, it was not everyday one was made a duke nor was it everyday Sir Thomas wore something other than black. He wore a gray outfit with a reddish gray cape and on his head was a black flat cap with a white feather. The outfit that matched the Duke of Suffolk's and Thomas and George Boleyn was ceremonial, and other than the flat cap he would probably never wear it again.

While most men who got ennobled walked down the aisle flaunting their new position, Sir Thomas was modest. He stood up tall with a smile on his face and his hands clasped in front of him, taking long graceful strides to the throne. Occasionally he looked to the crowd and people and waved. Finally he made it to the throne.

He studied the King and Queen for a moment. Harry slouched in his seat, it looks as though he tried to keep a smile but it failed miserably. Katherine sat up tall and proud. A bright smile formed upon her face whilst her hand remained rested on her swollen stomach. Thomas thought she was beautiful, but he knew he had to brush off those thoughts especially in public.

He bowed gracefully before dropping to one knee. He bowed his head to the ground with his eyes cast to the marble floor. The room suddenly became quiet. Many marveled about modest and civil he was about getting a dukedom when usually one would show small outward signs of joy.

"Sir Thomas Moore," A voice the lawyer immediately recognized as Cromwell's uttered, "It is his majesty's most gracious duty that you are to be made the Duke of Surrey."

The next thing the lawyer heard was the rustling of the seat, indicating that Harry was getting up. Sir Thomas requested to the King that he'd be given no robe, nor cornet nor sword during the ceremony saying he did not need any possessions to prove who he was now only words. As Harry often stated, Sir Thomas was always the idealist. Instead Harry decided to proceed with the ceremony as if he were knighting Sir Thomas once again.

Sir Thomas' shoulders somewhat tensed when he felt the tip of the sword on his left shoulder. For now one he was noble and powerful, but he vowed to himself that he wouldn't be like most men at this court. Not even with his royal child growing inside the Queen's belly.

"I dub thee," Harry said as the sword tapped both of the humanist's shoulders, "Sir Thomas Moore, Duke of Surrey, you may rise your grace and be recognized."

And as the humanist rose to his feet there was a round of applause.

Next Chapter: Welcome To The World Baby Girl

Summary: For the most part it's pretty self explanatory Princess Margaret shall be born, also there is a five month time jump. Also prior to the birth Katherine and Sir Thomas spend more time with each other, which includes a cute scene where Thomas is reading In Praise of Folly by Erasmus (who will also make a brief appearance in the next chapter).

You know the drill review and you shall receive a cookie specially made by Cromwell (the two of us have been buddy-buddy lately) and I! HHHH