"She's beautiful." Richard whispered wrapping their daughter in their small blanket. He smiled widely, as Kahlan looked over to them.
"She doesn't look like Zedd?" she asked softly. The small smile on her lips bringing comfort to him as he brought their daughter to her arms.
"No. She looks like you. She's beautiful."
He watched her face light up as he laid their daughter in her arms. "She is beautiful." she breathed out, staring down at the wide eyed child squirming in her arms. Breathing deeply, she pushed their daughter towards Richard, laying her in his arms quickly before closing her eyes and letting her head fall back against the wall as she passed out in exhaustion.
"Kahlan!" he leaned forward, checking to see if she was still breathing.
Suddenly, the dungeon cell opened and the council walked in one by one. Moving quickly, he wrapped an arm around Kahlan and pulled her away from them.
"Give us the child."
"Never." he growled, sliding down the wall and settling himself beside the woman he loved.
Stepping closer, Margaret looked at Kahlan and smiled. "You're wife will die without us. We can save her. All you have to do is give us the child."
"You can't have her!"
"So it is a girl?"
"Yes. Now save Kahlan!"
Each member of the council shook their heads at his words. "No. Give us the child."
"Why do you want her?"
"Because you both must learn your place. You can not keep a child that is seen to be evil." Margaret said softly, watching him carefully.
Shaking his head, Richard tightened his hold on his family, holding them tightly to protect them. "I will never give you our daughter."
"Then your wife will die before your eyes."
"I will not give you our daughter."
"You would let her die?"
Looking over to Kahlan, he took in a deep breath and sighed. "She would rather die than lose our child."
"If that is what you want, you shall have your wish. You will stay in here and die with her, you and your daughter will rot in this cell, knowing that you could have saved the woman you claim to have loved."
"I do love her. I love her more than anything."
"Then give me the child and you will both be allowed to leave and create another."
He paused, seeming to think about her words. "You will save Kahlan?"
"Yes."
"We will be allowed to leave here and start our family?"
"Yes. You will be able to do as you please."
Richard stood up, clutching the baby in his arms. "If she child we have next is a boy? What if this is the only daughter we will bare? What then? You would have destroyed the line of Confessors forever."
"That is a risk we all must take."
"I refuse to allow you to take the two things I love most in this life. You will not take them from me!"
A man stepped forward with his sword and swung. The bright light blinded him, causing them all to close their eyes.
Opening his eyes, he stumbled back at the sight of trees and the sun. He was home. Looking down, his daughter stared up, watching him. Instantly, Richard looked around for Kahlan. Is heart pounding until he saw her unconscious behind him, laying against a tree as she had the stone wall. Confused, he looked around them, trying to find our where they were. With a small smile crossing his lips he saw an old familiar house. They were in Hartland.
"Help!" he shouted as loud as he could, hoping that someone would hear him as he knelt down to his wife.
"Richard?"
He turned around quickly at the sound of his voice. "Spirits, you have to help us."
"What happened?" Chase asked as he lifted Kahlan into his arms and followed an already speeding Richard to the house.
"Is Zedd still here?"
"He's inside with your friend Cara." Chase said just before they bolted through the door of his house.
Jumping up, Zedd met him at the door eyes passing him and the baby and coming to rest on Kahlan's limp body in Chase's arms. "What happened?"
Richard explained what had happened while his grandfather worked over her. With each word, he felt himself holding tighter to their daughter as he thought about loosing either one of them.
"How did you get here?" Cara asked.
"I don't know."
"She did it." Kahlan breathed out softly, bringing everyone's attention to her. "She brought us here." Looking down to the small sleeping child in his arms, Richard wondered if it was true.
"I've never known a child that could use her magic at such a young age. Most wizard's can not use their magic at will until they are several years old." Zedd said, looking to Kahlan, who had yet to open her eyes.
"She's not a normal wizard, Zedd."
"Are you sure you should be holding her?" Cara asked softly, "She may confess you."
"I'm not letting her go." he snarled before he could stop himself, he stepped backwards away from the Mord'Sith and closer to Kahlan.
"I wasn't telling you to let her go. I was-"
"I don't care what you were saying." He said, turning his attention to the woman laying on the table beside him. "Kahlan?"
Her eyes opened slowly and her head turned towards his voice. "Hi." she whispered, her voice soft and raspy.
"Hi." he whispered back as he sat down in a chair, still clutching their daughter in his arms.
Her eyes, fell to the small baby, bringing a smile to her lips as she stared back at her. The room, filled with people watched as the new family connected. He helped her sit up, carefully, wrapping an arm around her to hold her stead. Her eyes not once leaving their daughter. Slowly, he laid her into her arms, smiling widely as Kahlan cuddled her to her chest.
"Thank you." she whispered to her, closing her eyes as she pressed her forehead against hers.
"How can you be so sure that she saved us?"
"Because she saved me before. When they- I could feel her. I don't know how she did it, but she did." She looked up, meeting his joy filled eyes. "What were you thinking of right before we got here?"
"I don't remember. I just wanted to get you both out of there and go somewhere I knew was safe."
"And here we are." she whispered with a smile. Suddenly feeling eyes on her, she turned her head. Unable to stop smiling, she nodded her head as she said a quick sincere thank you to them all.
Walking towards her, Chase pushed Richard away and wrapped his arms around her and the baby. "Welcome to the family." he said softly as he pulled back. He had always considered Richard to be his brother though they were not blood related. Hearing those words come from him warmed her heart and brought an even wider smile to Richard's lips.
"Thank you." she replied before returning her attention to the baby in her arms. She could hardly believe she was real and laying happily in her arms. She had thought for so long that they would lose her, that this didn't seem real. She stared down at her, her heart pounding as Richard moved back to her side.
"What's her name?" Emma asked softly, stepping beside Zedd.
"We haven't had a chance to name her yet" Richard said looking up to her.
"We'll leave you two alone for a while. Give you some time together to find a name."
The moment everyone had left, Kahlan turned to Richard, her face struck with panic. "We can't stay here. They're going to come for us and I don't want anyone to get hurt."
"We have some time before they can get here. If they even come after us."
"Why wouldn't they? Richard, you heard them. They want to kill her. Of course they will come for us."
Releasing a soft sigh, Richard nodded. "We should name her before we leave."
She smiled, "What did you have in mind?" He didn't say anything. Instead, he smiled widely, at her, knowing that she already knew. "Addison." She whispered with a smile.
The night they had been married, Richard had told her how excited he was for them to start their family. After they made love, they stayed up for hours talking about names and the way their daughter would look. At the mention of the name Addison, his eyes lit up with joy before he moved and pressed his lips to her stomach.
"It's perfect." he whispered, bringing her from her memory of that night as he waited for her response.
"It is." Looking down at their daughter, Kahlan smiled, "Hello Addison." she looked up at her mother with her wide eyes. "I think she likes it."
"Are you alright to move?"
Her head turned back to him, slowly, not wanting to look away from her daughter. "I think so. Why?"
"I know where we can hide. It's nothing special, but it may be the safest place I know."
"Let's go."
Pushing through the branches, Richard constantly turned back, smiling widely as Kahlan followed him, her eyes locked on Addison as she slept peacefully in her arms. The sun shined brightly above them, streaming its rays through the crack in the leaves of the tall trees surrounding them. Holding onto a large limb, he waited for her to catch up, making sure that she didn't walk into it.
"We're almost there." he said just as she walked to him.
Holding onto their daughter, she looked up to him, smiling widely. "I can't believe we have a daughter, Richard." she whispered.
"We have a beautiful daughter." he replied with a wide smile of his own. "We're going to be happy."
"Can we? Richard, we're in the middle of the wood, hiding."
"We're together." he said softly, looking down to Addison. "You are all I need to be happy. Both of you."
"You may not have us for very long."
Wrapping his arms around her, he connected their lips for a moment. "I guess, I'm going to have to make the most of what time we have together."
"I won't fight you on that." she whispered before pressing her lips to his once more. "It's cold." she laughed breaking their kiss and pressing herself to him, soaking in the warmth that his body provided her.
Pulling her closer, they walked through the last of the brush and entered a clearing where a small cottage stood before them. "I started building this with my father and brother before- It's not finished yet, but it will hide us. I can fix the small holes in the roof, today so that it doesn't leak when it rains tonight."
Staring out at the house, Kahlan smiled. "It's perfect."
Richard beamed at her words as he pulled a blanket out of the pack that she hadn't realized he had until that moment. "Here, this will help keep you warm while I start you two a fire. There's not a bed for her yet, so I'll start that tonight."
Her eyes locked on him as they walked closer to the door, Richard continuing to say what he planned to do to make it their home. "Richard," she said softly, as though his name was a secret. "I love you." If it was possible, his smile widened, making her heart jump and pound against her chest. She was afraid that the strength of it would wake their daughter.
One look from him could always make her blood warm and her heart pound with a passion, she had never thought possible. Each moment their eyes remained connected, the more powerful her passion grew. With her body already weak and leaning on him, she fought back the urge to kiss him the way that her body desired.
"I love you too. If you keep looking at me like that, the holes in the roof are going to let the rain in on us all night long."
She looked away from him and to the wood of the door, forcing herself to focus on the lines of the wood. "Sorry."
"Don't be. I look at you like that all the time." he smiled widely when she looked back at him.
"I know. The council always-" she stopped and the smile almost fell from her face. "I like it when you look at me like that. Makes me forget what I am."
Reaching out, he brushed his fingers slowly through her hair, marveling at the always silky strands that slipped freely through his fingers. He forgot his words. Looking at her had that effect on him. Leaning forward, he kissed her, pushing her back into the door frame, being sure not to crush their daughter, now awake, between them. He desperately wanted contact with her body, needing to push himself against her, to make love to her. He stepped closer, ready to put off any work on the house when Addison began to cry softly.
Pulling away, both looked down to her in concern. "She's hungry."
Quickly, Richard grabbed the bag and opened it, a smile meeting his lips almost instantly. "Emma thought this through." Looking up, he nearly laughed at her confused face. "She made the pack for us. Left if beside me before we left."
"We have to remember to thank her." she said as Richard lifted up a dress. With a smile, Kahlan walked into the cottage, their new home and looked around for a moment before sitting down in a chair in the corner of the front room. He watched her as she moved her shirt, readying herself to feed their daughter as she continued to cry softly.
"I'm- I'm going to get started." he breathed out, forcing the words from his lips as he stared at them. His heart pounded, filled with so much love, he thought would make him explode.
She smiled down at their daughter as he walked out of the room. She hadn't missed his reaction, but she knew if she had said anything, there would have been no chance of them getting anything done. Leaning her head back, Kahlan closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm her racing heart.
With the sun setting, Kahlan walked over to the last hole in the ceiling, smiling as she saw Richard working hard above her. "Richard?" she said softly, waiting for him to look down at her. "It's raining, you should come inside."
"It's only a light rain." he lied, forcing a smile as the rain pounded down on him.
Her laugh echoed through the room and up to his ears, making his smile come easily with joy at the sound. "You said it was light rain when it stared almost an hour ago." A sly grin crossed her lips as she stepped back, removing herself from his line of sight. "If you don't come in, we'll just have to keep warm in bed all by ourselves."
He stared down for a moment, leaning down and pressing his face to the hole to watch her as she walked slowly to the bed. "If I come in now, we'll drown in our sleep."
"I won't mind."
He considered her words for a moment, wondering how fast he could finish the roof and be in her arms. "I'll be right in."