OK, SO SORRY THAT I'VE BEEN AWAY SO LONG. I'VE GOT NO EXCUSE EXCEPT LIFE WAS GETTING IN THE WAY. MY LAST CHAPTER SEEMED TO GIVE CONFUSION BECAUSE I THOUGHT I'D POSTED A CHAPTER WHEN I HADN'T AND NOW I CAN'T FIND SAID CHAPTER OR REMEMBER WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN OTHER THAN MAY WAS FOUND SAFELY AND MAXON LEFT FOR THE WAR. ANYWAY, IF YOU ALL REMEMBER WAY BACK IN THE LAST CHAPTER AMERICA GAVE BIRTH TO A SON AND MAXON CAME HOME. HE WAS CALLED SHALOM-CLARKSON. ANYWAY ENJOY THE CHAPTER.

AMERICA'S POV

I woke with a start, looking into Maxon's brown eyes. He had clearly just woken too and was confused as to why. We stared at each other for a moment before we both seemed to hear the shrill cries of Shalom coming from the foot at the bed. I leapt out of bed and brought him up into my arms shushing him. I sat down on the bed as I rocked him and felt Maxon's hand on my shoulder as he watched our son as well. His little blue eyes looked right up at us, and he seemed to smile as Maxon stroked his blond hair. Shalom was the perfect mix of the two of us, with Maxon's hair and my eyes his parentage was more than clear.

"He's perfect, my darling." Maxon whispered, unable to take his eyes off of the babe in my arms.

"One cannot help being born into perfection. And with us as parents, could you expect any less?" I giggled quietly as Shalom yawned and his eyes slowly drooped closed.

"I'm in no way surprised." He smiled and we were silent for a moment before there was a knock at the door and Aspen came storming in.

"Good morning, lots to do today." He started

"Aspen!" I hissed as Shalom whimpered before settling down again. I kissed him on the forehead and placed him in his cot as Maxon led Aspen through to his office. "Mummy has to go and talk to Daddy and Uncle Aspen, but if you need me I'll be right back." I whispered and gave him his little blue blanket to snuggle into. He was so cute that I didn't know how I could ever leave him, but he would be fine and I would only be next door. I kissed his forehead again and after one last glance at the doorway, I walked through to the office leaving the door slightly ajar so that I could hear his cries if necessary.

In this room the atmosphere was much more tense as Maxon poured himself a small drink in the corner – something he nearly always did during really stressful meetings – and Aspen was stood behind him quietly but animatedly talking to him. I cleared my throat and both turned to look at me with fake smiles plastered on their faces.

"Don't start that." I warned them folding my arms. "I know that something is going on and you both know how much I hate secrets." They both turned to look at each other for a long moment before Maxon gave a slight nod and all three of us sat on the couches in one corner of the room. Maxon and me on the two-seater and Aspen on the chair. Maxon still held his crystal glass, with a small amount of brown whiskey in the bottom, so tightly I was worried he would break it.

"Ok," Aspen started. "As you both should be aware, today you will be presenting your son to the country on a special report." We both nodded. At two weeks old it was now Illèan tradition that he be presented and the report seemed like a good way of doing that. "But, the PR department that deals with your image is being pestered by magazines for you to take him outside for part of it and meet the people outside the palace." This seemed confusing as this seems perfectly reasonable and something I would be extremely willing to do. My confusion must have shown on my face as Aspen explained to me why this was a bad thing. "This is bad because we have not had time to do a recce to make sure it's safe and we know that crowd control is going to be difficult so it is highly possible for someone to slip through the cracks." It was clear that by someone, he meant a rebel and then I realised why this could be a bad idea. If we were out of the palace then we were immediately less safe, and the prospect of being able to remove all the king, queen, and heir in one go would be too good an opportunity for the rebels to miss out on. Considering the amount of effort they put into attacking us at home when we are surrounded by hundreds of guards and thick walls, with safe rooms to run to, and how many people they still managed to take out, I dreaded to think what they could do to us if we were exposed.

"So we don't do it then. They'll just have to understand that it's just too dangerous. Maybe we'll be able to when things have calmed down a bit out there." I proposed but Aspen shook his head.

"Sadly it's not quite as simple as that, my love." Maxon said softly. "We can't show fear and we don't want to become distanced from our people especially now." Now I truly saw the conundrum. There was literally no right answer. We sat in silence for what felt like hours but was probably only a few moments.

"The balcony." I said suddenly and the other two turned to look at me. "A compromise, we take him out onto the balcony and show him to the country before doing a studio show with him. Will that tick all the boxes?" I asked. Both of them considered it for a moment.

"Well, it's the best idea we've got." Aspen sighed and stood. "I'll talk to the General and the PR team and we should be ready for a few hours' time, you two should go and get ready." He left and I realised that I was still in my nightie and Maxon was wearing pyjama bottoms and his deep blue dressing gown. Not the best attire for a meeting but what can be expected when Aspen comes in at seven in the morning.

"Come, my love. We need to get ready to present our son."

An hour later I was sat in my bedroom cradling a screaming prince who as refusing to feed, had had his nappy changed, and had very comfort we could provide for him. And yet, he screamed and screamed. He had me, Mary, Marlee, Amy, Lucy, and my mother all trying to calm him, nothing seemed to help, an hour and a half and he was going to be on television, and here I was still in my dressing gown.

"We've fed him, burped him, changed him, cuddled him. Is there anything else we can do?" Marlee asked banging her head against the wall in one corner of the room.

"I've only been a mother for two weeks, you tell me, or better yet the veteran that is my mother. How did you cope with five of these?" I tried to laugh but I really wanted to join in the crying as I had a headache and was very stressed about how much preparation I had left to do before the presentation.

"He'll quieten when you put him down America, put Shalom in his cot and go and get ready. He'll be fine, I promise." My mother told me looking right in my eye and patting my shoulder. I trusted my mother so I nodded and carefully placed a still crying Shalom in his cot and watched him as I was ushered away by everyone except my mother who would tell me if anything as seriously wrong.

From inside my dressing room, Shalom's cries were less and after a few minutes I could still hear them but so vaguely that I was certain that my mother had been right, not that I ever doubted a woman who had had five babies including myself.

The girls could definitely tell my anxiety from being separated from Shalom even by something as simple as a wooden door and a wall, but they worked quickly, making me look like a mother and a queen and before I knew it the transformation was complete. I wore a dark blue floor-length gown with full sleeves that silhouetted my figure, not so tightly that my baby fat showed. My hair was up in a large bun and a sparkly tiara had been placed within the hair so that it was stable enough. I quickly thanked the girls and ran through to the main room where my son was now sleeping soundly. I wanted to pick him up and cuddle him and hold him close, but I knew that disturbing him right now would not help matters, he could sleep for now and I would cuddle him later.

"Fifteen minutes to go!" Shouted the director as we settled onto a couch by the big French doors that would soon be opened so that we could walk out onto the balcony. Maxon wore a tie the same colour as my dress which matched the tiny tie that Shalom wore on his tiny suit (not too tight of course). We looked like a true family.

Speaking of family, mine was visiting for the event and were currently crowded round us cooing at the baby. James stood at the back holding little Astra, who had grown a lot since I last saw her, with Gerard beside him, not too worried about seeing a baby.

"Singers. If you could please move through to the parlour we are about to begin." After the final coos and waves the large door closed leaving Maxon, Shalom, and I alone except for the crew members that were still about, ready to record this moment.

The doors opened and a huge crowd that had been let into the grounds roared. The cheers were deafening. I thought Shalom might start crying but he opened his eyes and stared out at the people. He definitely had the Schreave charm with the people. Maxon put one arm around me and waved with the other whilst we both smiled. I would have waved as well but I needed to support the baby.

There were white flashes all over photograph after photograph was taken, we would definitely be on the front page of the country's magazines by tomorrow morning. After a few minutes we headed back inside and straight down to the recording room to film a special report about our son.

"Good afternoon Illèa!" Gavril shouted as we walked in and walked straight to sit on the couch that had been set up opposite the chair that Gavril was already sat in, waiting for us. "and good evening your majesties. And your highness." He added and we all laughed slightly at the use of this to refer to my son. "How is family life?"

"Tiring." I said without thinking. "He cries in the middle of the night when we've had a long day, he's sick on clothes just before an important meeting. He's just like anyone else."

"We love it though. He's a brilliant little boy and we can't wait to see what he's like when he grows up. He'll be a great Prince and an even better King." Maxon continued.

"Certainly, if he's being trained by you, your highness."

After a while the director yelled cut and we were free to go. Maxon and I walked back to our suit, with him holding the baby, who was now sleeping, in his arms. We walked in silence back up to the room, exhausted by the long day we had. Maxon placed Shalom back in his cot and then the two of us walked out onto the balcony where two plates were waiting on the table: chicken and potatoes. The sun was setting, bathing the scene in oranges, reds, and purples as Maxon and I sat eating.

"What a day." I sighed, pushing my knife and fork together on the plate and leaning back in my chair. "How many more like that are we going to have?"

"Well, that depends." Maxon paused, calculating something. "Every day until we die?" He laughed. "We'll have time to be a real family as well, I promise." Maxon took my hand and kissed it, I smiled slightly. He always knew just what to say to make me feel better. "We better get to bed, there's another day ahead of us." Maxon whispered and we walked hand-in-hand to get ready for bed and prepare for tomorrow.

WELL, THERE YOU GO. I WILL TRY TO UPDATE NEXT WEEK IF POSSIBLE. THANK YOU FOR READING, PLEASE REVIEW AND I'LL SEE YOU NEXT TIME! -CHESCAANNIE X