I'm back again. Sorry for the long wait, I've been busy with A levels at the minute, but I'll try to get up at least one chapter a week. Any help or suggestions would be nice because I really don't have much spare time these days! :)

Xxx

I hugged my mother and held onto her tightly. It had been so long since I had last seen her. To hold her was more than I could wish for at this moment. I would never leave her again. I knew I couldn't. Not now we had forgiven and forgot.

"I'll miss you mother. I'm so sorry I didn't contact you." I said for what must have been the hundredth time that day.

She stroked my face lightly.

"Don't worry about it. You're not a child anymore; it's up to you to make these decisions, not me forcing them upon you."

"But isn't there anything I could do to make it up to you?"

She deliberated for a moment.

"Well, I suppose, there is one thing."

"What is it? Anything. I'll do it mother."

"Just wake up."

"What?" I breather, confused.

"Wake up."

"I…I'm not dreaming."

"Alice. Wake up. Wake up."

Her face began to fade as did her voice.

"No!" I shouted. I reached out to grab onto her body, but my hands went straight through it.

"Alice. Wake up!"

The voice was deepening and becoming more urgent. I heard a baby's cry come out of nowhere and the voice became clear again.

"Wake up, come on Alice!"

I heard the call from reality as I lingered on the edge of sleep.

I felt pressure on my arms and I was rocked from side to side. The pressure disappeared, but I was left in an uneasy balance on the thin line. The pressure appeared again and pushed me off the edge and into reality.

"Hmmm." I groaned.

"Alice, come on, we have to move you."

"What is it?" I mumbled.

"Your waters have just broken. You're going to have the baby." A gentler voice said.

Every ounce of my tiredness vanished in that instant and I felt my heart begin to race.

"What, now! Are you sure?" I panicked.

I wasn't expecting the baby for another week, so I had only just started prepping myself and getting ready to become a mother. But I guess motherhood was full of surprises and this was only the first of many to come.

"Ok." I said, calmly. "How am I-?"

I felt a pain hit me like something had just crushed my body. I screamed and wrapped my arms around my body. Within seconds, the pain was gone and I was left gasping slightly.

I looked up and saw a small group gathered around my bed. Mirana, Chessur, Dorian, Emmeline the nurse and of course, a very panicked looking Tarrant.

"Are you alright?" He asked, all jittery.

"I'm fine." I said honestly. "Just a contraction that's all. I probably wont get one for another hour or so. I don't even think I need to go to-"

I gasped and clenched my teeth together as another wave of pain hit.

"Oh, my!" I heard Emmeline say. "They are already too close together. The birth will be soon. Very soon."

Through the pain, I was still able to smile. I would be able to hold my little girl possibly within minutes.

"Oh my word! Too soon. Much too soon! I cant… I'm not ready for…" Tarrant stuttered.

My body relaxed and I released my breath.

"Calm down, Tarrant, this is good. I wont be in pain for as long. My mother, when she was having me-"

Another wave of agony hit my abdomen.

"Alright, that's it, everybody out, I must examine her. Out! Out!" Emmeline shooed the confused, anxious and scared group out of the door and locked it.

"Right, my dear, I just want you to relax. I need to check if you're ready yet." She smiled warmly and I found it hard not to trust that loving smile.

I had regularly visited Emmeline with cuts and bruises and occasionally a small break. She had fixed me up and told me to be more careful next time, but I would head no warning and would return the next day with multiple injuries. She would just laugh it off and take the pain away.

She was like my adopted mother here in Wonderland. She knew me inside out and I always felt the tranquillity of her presence.

"Alright, you're ready to have her. Just keep breathing and wait until I tell you to push. Do you want anyone back in?"

I barely had time to think because another pain, this one the most painful yet, tightened my insides and had me screaming out in agony.

I skimmed through the faces of those waiting outside. Tarrant should be here, I thought, but he's already in a state, seeing me in pain wont do him any good. He'd just end up blaming himself.

Dorian wasn't a suitable substitute for Tarrant, seeming as we had only become close mere weeks ago.

Mirana however was my best friend and I was sure she could calm me down with her serenity.

"Mirana." I struggled to say during the pain that was now a constant in my body. "Get her in here now!" I almost shouted.

She hurried over to the door and opened it. Mirana came in the next second and rushed over to me.

"You're doing great Alice, just focus on the good things you'll get from this. Just a little pain to get a beautiful baby."

"A little pain? I'm in bloody agony!"

I felt tears stream down my face. My mood changed from anger to misery before I even realised it.

"I cant do this! Make the pain go away, I don't want it." I sobbed.

She took my hand and squeezed it.

"Alright, its time. When I say, I want you to push Alice."

"But it hurts so much!" I complained.

"You can! For you, for me, for Tarrant and for the baby."

The pain was still somehow building, but I listened to her words and a new strength filled my weak body. I can do this. I can do this! I prepped myself.

"Ok and a nice big push. One, two, three!"

I pushed with everything I had, but nothing happened.

"In a few seconds, again. Ready…one, two, three."

I pushed again. And again and again. I held Miranas hand so tightly, I noticed through my blurred vision that the tips of her fingers were beginning to turn blue, but not once did she complain of my grip.

I was exhausted. The pain was too much and I only had so much enthusiasm left in me. After what felt like hours of pushing, screaming and tears, I decided to give up. I lay on the bed, panting and drenched in sweat, mumbling incoherent things. Mirana's hand slipped from mine and I felt her breath on the side of my face.

"I believe in you. And so does your mother. Make her proud." She breathed softly.

I opened my eyes and looked into her. They were still shining and a piece of the optimism seemed to transfer into my own body. I nodded and took a deep breath.

"One last time." Emmeline said happily. "I can see the head. And three, two, one."

I pushed and pushed and used up everything last piece of strength I had, and finally, I heard the delicate cry of my baby.

My world focused in one the tiny child in the nurse's arms. After her first cry, she had fallen silent, but I had not once lost hope because the smile on Emmeline's face was more than enough to tell my baby was ok.

"It's a girl." She said joyously. "Just like you said. I guess you had that mother's instinct right from the start."

I smiled and laughed weakly.

"Can I… can I hold her?"

"Oh course." She carefully cleaned her off with a bowl of water and wrapped her in a blanket before handing her to me.

I took the bundle and stared at the little red face.

"She's so beautiful." Mirana said.

I couldn't find the words to tell her how right she was, so I just nodded my head.

"Have you picked a name?" Emmeline said.

She was holding a pen and paper.

"I didn't know there were civil registrations here." I said.

"We don't see them as registrations, we see them as certificates. To congratulate the birth of a beautiful child." Mirana said gracefully. "So, her name?"

Tarrant and I hadn't really discussed names in the short period we had been back together. There had been too much to do, to plan, to organise for the arrival of our daughter and her being early didn't help anything.

I did however remember him once speaking of his mother. She was the most amazing mother one could wish for, he had told me. Ada. Her name had been Ada.

But then again, I wanted something original. In England, everyone was named after their parents or their grandparents. My baby was special – unique and she deserved a name to suit her. She would go onto do great things in her lifetime, so she needed a name that would be remembered.

"Amelia. Amelia Ada Lucia Hightopp."

This way she could have a piece of Tarrant's mother, a piece of my independence and a name of her own to cherish – Lucia.

"That's beautiful." Mirana said. "Just like she will be. Only you could possibly be good enough for her."

She smiled at me.

"Are there any reasons for the names?"

"Ada, after Tarrant's mother. Its my way of thanking her for giving me such a wonderful man. Amelia, because its unique, just like she is, and Lucia, because it means light. And she will always be my light from now on."

I looked down at my sleeping daughter.

"I love you Amelia Ada Lucia Hightopp. And you were worth every second of pain."

I kissed her forehead and marvelled at the overwhelming feeling of becoming a mother.

OK, just needed to get the birth out of the way, now the real story can begin…

Xxx