"I am the designer of my own catastrophe." - Anonymous

Aspen paced in the kitchen, reading the report a soldier had just dropped off for America. He continued reading as he climbed the narrow spiral staircase upstairs. America was just sitting up in bed, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. He pulled his boxers and pants on as she stretched. "What time is it?" she moaned.

"A little before seven. Officer Davis dropped this off for you," he told her, handing her the report. He sat next to her as she skimmed it.

"How hard is it to find one person? Especially when every single citizen knows what he looks like?" she questioned. She looked up and caught him staring at her exposed breasts and quickly reached for her robe to cover herself.

He cleared his throat. "We'll keep looking. It's a big country though; it'll take time."

"We don't have time!" she exclaimed, starting to pace, a trait that was wearing on Aspen's nerves. "Every day that passes is another day my son goes without his mother. He's being controlled by Clarkson and I don't want him to be raised by such an evil and unbalanced man." She collapsed in her desk chair.

"Your husband was raised by Clarkson," Aspen reminded her.

She rolled her eyes. "Mostly Amberly though." She shook her head. "I have to get over to the fort. Are you coming with me?" She walked over to her closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt to change into.

He sat on the bed as she changed, watching her. "Let's talk theoretically. Say Maxon is still alive and we find him. What are you going to tell him when he finds out you've been shacked up with me for a month?"

"He's dead Aspen," she said in a steely voice.

"America, you found his tomb empty. He's either alive or someone ate his body for dinner …"

She spun and faced him. "I really don't want to talk about this Aspen! Okay? He's dead. That's it. Pretending otherwise won't get me my son back and won't accomplish anything else we're trying to accomplish. I don't know what I'd tell him. We didn't exactly leave off on good terms."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "You wouldn't understand because you've never been married. Get dressed and I'll meet you at the fort." She slammed the door to her armoire shut and stormed out of her apartment.

Winter was settling in within the province of St. George. America wished she'd brought a coat with her but didn't remember to. Immediately after walking into her office in Fort Nixon – where she had made her new home. After finding Maxon's tomb empty, she sought out Aspen at his new post in St. George where she immediately assumed control of the fort. She needed manpower and firepower for her rebellion and also for her rescue mission.

Upon her arrival, she was confronted by Officer Rockwell but she was quick to quiet him. "Officer, I am quite overwhelmed as is this morning. Perhaps we can talk in an hour or so?"

He nodded. "Of course, Miss Constance." She froze at her fake name, still not quite used to it. She ran a hand through her short, messy blonde hair and frowned. "Anything else?"

"Yes, when you see Officer Leger, could you send him in to talk to me?"

"Unfinished business?" Officer Rockwell mumbled, snickering quietly.

She focused a fiery gaze on him. "Goodbye Officer," she said coldly. He stiffened at her tone and walked out, closing the door behind him. She was only alone for a few minutes before Aspen came in. "Sit, please." She motioned to the chair across from her desk. "I don't think we should see each other anymore."

He frowned. "What? It was your idea to use me as your sex toy in the beginning."

"Well I don't like the idea of it anymore. It's irresponsible and the officers are starting to talk. Not to mention how inconvenient it would be if I got pregnant seeing as the new king has cut off all contraception production." She looked back down at the documents sitting in front of her.

He coughed. "Actually, you getting pregnant isn't something we need to worry about."

"What? What do you mean? Are you on some sort of drug?"

"No, no." He shook his head and hesitated slightly. "When I got my physical done, back during the draft, they found that I can't…um…have kids."

She laughed. "Of course not. That's what women are for."

"No. I don't…work properly in order for me to make someone pregnant," he said, choosing his words carefully. Underneath his embarrassment, America could sense an overall sadness. Here she was searching the globe for her son and Aspen was struggling with the concept of never having children.

"Oh. Oh, Aspen…I'm sorry," she apologized, not knowing what else to say. "Did you ever ask if there were other options?"

He shook his head. "Not with our technology now. Back in the time of the United States I would have had options but not now."

"All the more reason to bring the States back. Now, any new reports for me?"

He was shaking his head when another officer stormed in. "Miss Constance, we have a lead on the king."

"Where?" she asked.

"Honduragua, the port city on the western coast." He approached the map hanging on the wall nearby. "Some of his most loyal guards were spotted here and heading toward there. It's not much – he probably isn't even there – but it is something. It could give us more information for the future."

"And how did you acquire this information?" she asked him.

He nodded to a man seated on a horse out in the courtyard. "We've had emissaries posted in all of the forts. They sent the information to the fort down the coast from us but they sent their own envoy for us."

She nodded and smiled at Aspen. "Looks like we're going to Honduragua."

AAAAAHHHH! I'm so excited to have this first chapter up! I know it was short but they'll get longer, trust me. I have the storyline all mapped out – even though it will change indefinitely – and have of the chapters written already.

Since I didn't put it up top, I don't own anything to do with the Selection; all of that belongs to the wonderful and glorious Kiera Cass.

Anyways, thanks for checking out this book. If you're really confused and had absolutely no idea what's going on, I'll say again: this is the sequel to As the One so if you haven't read that go read it now and then read this one.

Cool? Cool. Reviews would be awesome!