Yay for a new computer and an update!

"When someone else's happiness is your happiness, that is love." - Lana del Ray

"Queen America, I cannot believe that it has taken you this long to come visit me here!" Nicoletta said as she led Maxon and I to our room. The Italian palace was magnificent and the walk to our room had been slow due to my gawking. Maxon had been here once before but even he was taken aback and I recognized the look in his eye he always got when he saw something he wanted to take pictures of.

I smiled at my friend. "Well, I figured that now would be the opportune time to visit seeings as soon we'll be bogged down with a couple of humans to take care of."

Nicoletta clapped her hands. "Oh, I am so excited for you! Have you seen the papers? Everyone is just ecstatic at your news!" she said enthusiastically.

"Yes we heard that the reaction has been positive," Maxon interjected.

We stayed in Illea long enough to film the Report so we could brief the country on the status of New Asia and finally tell everyone the news. After that we caught the red-eye to Italy where we were hoping for some R&R before we became parents. We hadn't heard the news yet but our pilot mentioned briefly that the citizens back home were going crazy over the news of royal twins.

"Well here you are! Dinner is at eight if you'd like to join us. If you need anything else, Julianna can assist you," Nicoletta told us, pecking me on the cheek one last time before leaving us in our room.

Maxon sat on the bed, looking at the room with awed eyes. "Illea just does not have the charm that Italy has," he observed.

I laid down next to him, taking a really deep breath. "What's the sigh for?" he joked, reaching for my hand to hold it.

"Nothing serious. It's just these pants...they're so tight," I groaned, using my free hand to undo the top button of them. That gave me a little bit of relief and laying down did as well since every time I laid flat my bump basically disappeared.

"Growing so fast?" he asked.

I sighed again. "I am having twins. That constitutes a more hurried growth rate. Luckily I packed some of the maternity clothes that Mary made me, seeing as we don't know how long we're staying," I added pointedly.

Maxon laughed. "I just told you that we can take as long as you want."

"And I just told you that Aspen, August, James and Carter can only run the country for so long." I sat up and rested my chin on his strong shoulder, my hand rubbing the other one. "Not to mention the people love us too much to let us go too long."

He waved it off. "Maybe we can turn this into a diplomatic trip then. You know, tour a few other countries, visit my relatives."

I considered it. "What will I wear?" I asked sarcastically. "I guess your family will want to congratulate us anyway."

"I promise, Queen Svea will be on her best behavior," Maxon consoled me. "Besides, Zoe wants you to meet her new baby and Marcel is right next to Swendway. She's actually quite bitter that we're already catching up to her with children though."

"Ha! Tell her she can give birth to two babies at once then!" I joked because that had been something to cross my mind multiple times since finding out about the twins.

Maxon smiled and kissed my head. "Luckily you both have wonderful husbands who love you and will support you through anything."

"Yeah, yeah," I said as I sat up. I walked over to his backpack and pulled out one of his cameras. "Selfie?" I proposed, holding it up. It looked like a Polaroid but I couldn't be sure.

He smiled bigger and reached for it, escorting me over to the balcony that looked over the beautiful Italian countryside. He held the camera up with one hand and held me with the other, capturing the perfect shot of the two of us with the landscape in the background. The camera printed the picture and he shook it out, making sure it was dry and developed before showing it to me. "You're always so much better at selfies than me," I told him.

"We can argue who the better artist is of the two of us for days," he said as he focused the camera on the landscape itself, holding the camera steady for several seconds before finally snapping another picture. He passed it to me. "Another addition to your wall?"

"Why thank you, Sir," I said, putting my arm around his back. We both stared out at the mountains in the distance and the sun tucking itself behind them.

"Thank you," Maxon said after a few minutes of companionable silence.

I smiled and rested my head against his chest. "You're welcome," I answered. I remembered the night I first met Georgia and August and admiring their silent communication. Maxon and I had far surpassed that. In his 'thank you,' I heard so much more. I heard 'I love you' and 'You're amazing' and emotion that words couldn't express. In quiet moments like these the silence between us said more than we ever could. A gentle nudge to the leg under the table at a diplomatic dinner. The discreet tug of an ear from the other side of the room. In those small gestures we knew just how much we meant to the other.

I looked down at Maxon's wrist and checked his watch. "You do know that Nicoletta wasn't really giving as an option for dinner, right?" I asked him.

He laughed. "I figured. Let's go, before she comes and gets us herself."

"Are you sure you couldn't stay longer?" Nicoletta whined as Maxon helped load our luggage into the car.

I clasped my purse in my hands in front of me. "Sorry, we would really want to. Six days just isn't long enough but Maxon wants to see his family before I'm unable to travel," I said, rubbing a hand over my small bump unconsciously. "Besides, there's a lot that needs to be done back home in the next few months."

Nicoletta pouted but held her arms out, waiting for me to hug her. "Take care of yourself. And when those twins come Zia Nicoletta will be sure to visit."

I pulled away from her and hugged some of her other family members, all of whom I had grown dear to over the years. Maxon walked up to Nicoletta and hugged her and I heard her instruct him to take care of me. "She has to let me take care of her first," he grumbled lightly to her.

I playfully smacked his arm, clasping his hand and walking with him to the car. He held the door open for me and then went to his side. It was a few hours on the plane before we arrived in Swendway. It was significantly colder there than it was in Italy, forcing us to pull out our coats just for the walk across the tarmac to the car.

Maxon wrapped a scarf around my neck. "Isn't this a bit much?" I asked, buttoning my coat. I smiled when I realized I had to leave the last couple buttons open because they just would not close.

"Don't want my princesses to get cold," Maxon said, kissing my nose and adjusting the hat he had placed on my head.

"Princesses, huh? What if they're little princes?"

He laughed. "Lord, let's hope not because I would not want to be the one to decide which one is heir."

I raised my eyebrows and followed him out of the plane. "You do know that each baby is birthed one at a time, right? So one will be older than the other?"

He held my car door open for me and smiled at me appreciatively. "Get in the car," he ordered sarcastically.

"So brash," I huffed as I slid in to the warm car. I had been to Swendway a couple times for birthdays and the landscape never ceased to take my breath away. I loved the cold weather, a recent development due to living somewhere that was always hot.

At the palace, Jacob surprised us by being the one to greet us at the front door. "Family reunion," he explained to Maxon. "King Axel could not contain his excitement at seeing you two and that mixed with the news of an Illean heir on the way, he called everyone and told us we had to be here."

"Where's Zoella?" I asked, passing my coat off to a maid.

"In the parlor with everyone else. At least I think everyone is in there. So many of us are here that it's hard to tell," Jacob corrected, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked tired and like he had better days and I tried to picture Maxon that way, as he would be in a matter of months.

I left Maxon with Jacob in the foyer and went in search of my closest cousin. She was in the parlor talking to a distant aunt of Maxon's when she noticed me. "Look at you!" she exclaimed, waving me over to the group. I laughed and approached her, hugging her from the side. "You're pregnant!" she said, pointing to my growing stomach.

"You're not!" I joked, not having seen her since before her second baby was born.

"And thank the lord for that. I could not wait to sleep comfortably again. Of course, I'm not getting any sleep now so it's a nonissue," she rolled her eyes. "I think my mother has little Jakey."

I raised my eyebrows. "You named him after Jacob?" I asked, not hearing that.

She nodded and sipped out of her glass of water. "Yes. Jacob Linford Palano III."

"Wow, so regal," I complimented.

"Well, he is the future king of Marcel." An arm fell around my shoulders and I didn't even have to look to know that it was Maxon. "Let me go get him from my mother so you can hold him!" Zoella dashed off, exuberant as ever. She returned shortly and deposited her son into my arms.

I loved babies and Jakey had to be one of the cutest babies I had ever seen. I was busy getting lost in his little green eyes when someone said Maxon's name. We both turned and I saw a beautiful brunette woman approaching us. "Maxon, it's been a long time," she said, seeming to only want to talk to him. Her French accent gave her away though and I immediately knew who she was.

Maxon was stunned and tense at my side, his face as pale as if he had just seen a ghost. Although with as long as it had been since seeing her, Daphne could have been a ghost to him. "Yes, it has been a long time. I'm sorry I didn't make it to your birthday last spring; I was attending a summit for cancer research that weekend."

She nodded. "You have been quiet busy. You've missed every birthday and my wedding." Her voice was a little too accusatory to be considered jesting.

I could tell that Maxon was growing more uncomfortable by the minute. "Well, I am king," he pointed out, his tone sharper than I knew he wanted it to be. "And how is your husband?"

"We're not together anymore," she quipped as if it was public knowledge. Maybe it was. Maxon and I never went out of our way stay up to date on the royal gossip.

I bit my lip and looked up at Maxon who clearly had no idea what to say. I at least had the baby in my arms to distract me. Zoella was giggling quietly behind me. "I am sorry to hear that," Maxon finally offered after several moments of awkward silence.

"There are always others," she said, looking at Maxon meaningfully.

"Well I need a drink. Do you two want anything?" Maxon asked Zoella and I.

I shook my head and watched him walk over to the side of the room to pour himself a glass of bourbon and join in conversation with King Axel and King Luca. "So how does it feel, being the One?" Daphne asked, bringing me back to reality.

I looked at her, surprised she was talking to me. "Oh, it was such a long time ago now. I feel like Maxon and I have been married for years at this point and the excitement of the Selection has died down. Well, at least until we have to start planning the next one."

"Yes, I heard the happy news. Congratulations," she offered but she didn't sound happy about it at all.

"Thank you," I answered kindly, ignoring Zoella's quiet laughs at my side. "What brings you to Swendway, anyway?"

She flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder and lifted her chin. "My father brought me along for some business and when we heard that there's an Illea, Schreave, and de Monpezat we decided to extend the trip an extra few days. It saves my father a trip to Illea if he can talk to Maxon here about the trade agreement."

I nodded, not knowing what else to say and Maxon clearly wasn't coming back. As if reading my mind, Jakey started screaming in my arms. I turned to Zoella, bouncing him back and forth to placate him. "He may need to be changed. Or fed. Wanna come with me?" Zoella graciously offered, taking her son from me.

I nodded and looked back at Daphne, giving her a diplomatic farewell of, "It was a pleasure to meet you!"

Maxon's eyes followed me out of the room and I nodded to Zoella and Jake, showing him that I was going with her. I followed her upstairs to her guest room where she promptly checked his diaper, concluding that he actually needed to be fed. I shut the door behind us to give her some privacy.

"So…are you ready to be a mom?" she asked as she sat in the rocking chair feeding Jacob.

"Ready to be a mom? Yes. Ready to be a mom of twins? Not sure," I admitted, sitting on the bench at the end of her bed. "I'm excited, don't get me wrong, but I am only twenty-years-old. I knew that I wanted a big family but starting off with twins so soon is a lot to handle."

Zoella shrugged. "Have you talked to Maxon?"

"He just keeps telling me that everything will be fine but I mean, come on, he isn't the one that will have to be with them all day every day for the first few weeks. He won't be able to feed them and he'll be able to keep carrying on with life as if he just has two kids now. I feel like I'm the only one who will be really changing my life."

She cocked her head at me. "While you are the main provider for the twins for the first couple months, you need to remember that Maxon doesn't get to experience the pregnancy like you. He has to witness it. That's frustrating sometimes. Are you going to find out the genders?"

I nodded. "With twins, I think we have to. That's why we want to be home next week so that we don't miss the opportunity to find out during my twenty week checkup." I was about to add on to that when I felt a soft thump in my stomach. I put my hand there, confused. I had been feeling the babies move for a couple weeks but I had yet to feel them kick.

"America?" Zoella asked, sounding concerned.

"I think…I think one of them just kicked," I stammered, not quite believing it. But as if they sensed my doubt, another kick came on the other side of my stomach. "Oh my gosh, I have to go find Maxon!" I stood up and ran out of the room, running into Maxon and Jacob as they were walking up the steps. "Maxon, Maxon! Feel!" I exclaimed, grabbing his hands and putting them on my stomach. There were a few agonizing moments where I thought they had already tired themselves out and had stopped kicking but another kick came, right under one of Maxon's large hands.

He laughed, drawing back to look at me with wide eyes. "Was that…?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it was," I told him. "They're kicking."

He looked back down at my stomach. "Incredible," he breathed out. "That's amazing, Ames." He grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled my close, our children squeezed between us. Jacob stood off to the side, watching us with an easy smile. Zoella came down the hallway and met him, kissing him on the cheek.

"Done already?" Maxon asked, clearly disappointed that there weren't anymore kicks.

"They're still little; they get tired quickly. I'm sure they'll make up for it in a few months time," I joked. I looked in his eyes and was surprised to see tears balancing on his blonde eyelashes. "Hey." I wiped a tear away with my thumb. "Be happy."

He shook his head. "I am so happy. Beyond happy. There aren't words to describe how I feel right now." He tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear. "I love you."

"I love you too," I whispered, leaning into him again. He held me and over his shoulder I saw Daphne approaching, keeping her eyes locked on a point down the hallway so she wouldn't be looking at us. I rolled my eyes at her and settled back into Maxon's arms.

That night we were in bed, with me laying awake as always, when someone knocked on our door. Maxon sat up right away and answered. There was a brief conversation between him and a guard in a language that I didn't know but after a few moments Maxon came to me and kissed me, signaling that I had to get up.

"Sorry to pull you out of bed at an ungodly hour but we have to get back to Illea," he said quietly.

I sat up, frowning. "Why? What happened?"

"It's Kota. He was in an accident."

Oh no! I know, it wasn't that exciting of a chapter but I just had to put in an encounter with Daphne at some point. And Kota...i bet you guys thought we were done with him. We're not! thank you so much for the supportive reviews guys! i'll be deleting that author's note in a few days so we'll be back on track for the right amount of chapters.

SJWrites2014: yes I am going to find time at some point this week to set up my external hard drive because i just don't trust the cloud. and no problem! I wanted to spread the love around.

winterprincess: it was pretty tragic! basically what happened is that the water fried my screen, keyboard and mousepad but didn't touch my memory disc in the computer so we were able to buy a new computer and put that disc in so that i still had all of my files.

addicted3: hey, being from Thailand is so cool! I can't even fathom having someone on the other side of the world reading my stuff. I guess it's good preparation for hopefully being an author some day. And honestly i don't check the reviews for Taking the One and As the One anymore so i would not have seen them. btw, English is a hard language to learn. my roommate is from Mongolia. i can let simple grammar mistakes slide.

Weatherbug02: you are way too nice to me! especially for being an Ohio State fan! *narrows eyes and growls* I guess we'll have to see what happens on the 25! and i would never just end a Fanfic! especially this one. i am not so heartless as to just leave y'all hanging like that.

PEETAMELLARKLOVER123: yes it's true! i got the snapchat from Kiera about it a couple weeks ago! Thank the lord because i was about to start her pregnancy anyway and i did not want to have to make a miracle twin in the middle of the pregnancy! but yeah, it's a boy and a girl and the girl is 7 minutes older than the boy.

Someone the World Forgot: it's fun writing as evil America!

Mac: i know this chapter was more of a fluffy America but i think next chapter the tougher America will be coming back. I mean obviously, if Kota is involved!

Thanks again for the reviews guys!