The Queen

Chapter 23:

I stretched and yawned in bed. The alarm was blaring and the clock read 6:15. My heart dropped a little. We were going home.
"Maxon, I don't want to go!" I whined. He sat up groggily and kissed me on the forehead.
"I'm afraid we have to go back to the beautiful cage that is the Illéàn palace." Maxon replied. "Now, we'd better get up if we want to be on time." I groaned as I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed. I wore a blue sweater and black leggings and pulled my hair back.
"What do you want for breakfast?" I asked Maxon, yawning. We made our way to the kitchen and I took it all in. This was probably one of the last times I'd see this cottage.
"Oh, just toast." Maxon said, putting two pieces of bread in the toast.
"We need to travel more often." I said, spreading peanut butter on my toast. Maxon laughed.
"We're traveling now!" He said, reaching for the jam jar.
"Yeah, and I really like it." I replied. Since we were Fives, we didn't have nearly as much money to go on trips. The farthest I'd been from my home was the beach. Until last year, of course. We finished our breakfast and said our goodbyes to the cottage.
"Goodbye, floor." Maxon said. He was saying goodbye to everything in the room, like a two year old. I laughed.
"Done yet?" I asked, waiting at the door. Maxon came over to me and opened the door.
"Goodbye, cottage!" He said with one final glance at the house. He closed the door and we got in the car to take us to the airport. I looked out the window of the car in silence, sad to leave the beautiful hills of France.
"You know," I said, turning to Maxon. " Gerad used to do the exact same thing as you. He'd say goodbye to everything in the room." Maxon laughed and kissed me. We got to the airport after about an hour, and gave our bags to the woman at the counter. We went through security, customs, and finally boarded the plane. This time, we were on a public plane, not our private one. We didn't mind though. The plane took off, and Maxon and I talked.
"Remember the airport in London?" I asked Maxon.
"Yeah. That was when there were a whole bunch of people. Why?" He said.
"Remember Grace? The little girl with leukaemia. I want to help her. And all of the people that are sick like that. I know we're not even back yet, but I just want to help." It broke my heart to know that all those people were sick with a disease that had yet to have a solid cure, after all this time.
"Ah,  America. I want to help too. Let's get planning! It'll give us something to do." So Maxon got out a piece of paper out of his backpack and we planned for what we were going to do about this. The plane landed, and we had a pretty solid idea of what we were going to do. We got off the plane and into the terminal, where Mom, May, Kenna, Astra, and Gerad were waiting for us with a big sign that read: Maxon and America; Illéà's Royals!
I smiled and sprinted towards them. May was the first to see me, and she squealed and ran to me, engulfing me in a big hug.
"Ames, I missed you so much!" She said. Mom, Gerad, Kenna, and Astra came over and joined the hug. Maxon even came too. The hug finally broke, and everyone burst into talking.
"How was it? Where did you go? Did you have fun?" May was jumping up and down.
"May, calm down! We'll tell you all about it on the ride home." I said. We went to grab our bags and got in the car.
"That's so romantic!" May said. I had just told her about when Maxon sung to me in Italy. "What happened after that?" She asked. Maxon blushed.
"Um, we went home." He said nervously. I was going red too, and Mom and Kenna were raising their eyebrows at me. We told them about our trip, and then we were home. We walked into the familiar halls of the palace and were greeted by a whole bunch of guards and maids. I smiled at them and walked into our room. I flopped down into the bed and sighed.
"It's good to be home." Maxon flopped down beside me.
"Tell me about it. Now, let's unpack. As soon as we're done, we are both going straight to Dr. Ashlar." he said. We put all of our clothes back where they belonged and I sat down in the chair when we were done.
"I'm so tired." I said. I remembered the surprise I had for Maxon and I went and got it from my bag. "Here, I got you this in Italy." I said, handing him the box. He opened it, and got wide eyed. He pulled out the camera and gaped at it.
"But... How did you find this?" He asked, gaping.
" I got it at the antique shop. Do you like it?" I asked. Maxon came over and hugged me.
"I love it! Thank you, America. I feel bad that I didn't get you anything." He said.
"Maxon, you didn't have to get me anything! You always give me gifts, and I'm so incredibly thankful for that." I said, kissing him. I ran my fingers through his hair and he ran his fingers through my hair.
"Now, let's go. This baby needs a check-up." he said, gesturing to my belly.
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"That's wonderful news, you two." Dr. Ashlar smiled. "Now, the baby is very young, so we won't be able to see much of anything yet, but you need to come back every month from now until the baby is born." Maxon and I both nodded, and Dr. Ashlar explained some more things to us. We went back to our room and May walked in shortly after Maxon pulled me close and started kissing me.
"Ames, are you guys done-" I immediately broke the kiss and felt my face getting warm. May was standing in the doorway, gaping, but smiling.
"Should I come back later, you two?" She asked.
"No, it's ok." Maxon said, laughing nervously.
"Well, it's time for supper. I bet you guys are starving." I realized that I was hungry. I didn't have much of a lunch on the plane, and I didn't have a big breakfast. We ate our supper, talking about the honeymoon, then I decided I would take a walk in the gardens. I ran into Aspen on the way, and all the bad memories came back to me.
"Hi, Aspen." I said.
"Hi, Mer. I'm glad you're back. I need to talk to you. About Lu-"
"Lucy. I know." I said, cutting him off. "You need to tell her. I don't want to see her have her heart broken, but I don't want her to be married to someone who loves someone else even more. And I sure as hell won't be telling her myself." I walked away, leaving him looking hurt. I was done with Aspen. I sat in the gardens and pondered. About Aspen, about Lucy, about the baby, and about Maxon. I went up to our room and Maxon and I got ready for the big announcement. Tomorrow on the Report, we were going to tell all of Illéà about the baby. I was nervous, and so was Maxon. But we had eachother for support, and that's all we needed.

Quick note. I'm going camping tomorrow, so sorry in advance if I don't update for a while. I'll be gone for 10 days, so yeah. Thanks!
~E