Author's Note: Thanks again to everyone for the wonderful reviews. I'm finishing this story with this chapter, but I'm possibly setting up a spin-off story with it, so don't hurt me too badly, lol. Again, thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews.

Side Note: This chapter is set about six weeks after chapter 8. You'll understand why shortly, he he.

Master Kong Ming walked hurriedly to the room he shared with his wife, his fear obvious in his features. His wife had been ill for two weeks now, night and day with no relief, and he was terribly worried about her well-being. The castle physician had been caring for her but it didn't seem to be helping, and Zhuge was at the point of madness. He and his wife had barely spent any time apart the last six weeks, more than content to enjoy their newfound love for one another. Zhuge hadn't thought twice about asking his lord for leave for a bit to get to know his wife more. He had Pang Tong, the sage, as well, so it wasn't like he was being left with out help in the way of strategy. Pang Tong was a genius in his own right, and was more than capable of filling in for Zhuge during his absence.

But none of that was reassuring him right now as he reached the bedroom and hesitated at the door. The physician had called on him from a council meeting, and Zhuge was terrified it was the worst and his wife would be taken from him soon. He brushed his fear aside and put on a brave smile for his wife as he went inside, the smile faltering slightly when his confusion took over after seeing the radiant grin on his wife's face. What in hells is going on Zhuge managed to ask himself before the doctor started speaking, then all his attention focused on the man's words.

"Your wife is doing wonderful, Master Kong Ming. Its not dangerous illnesses like you were thinking ... quite the opposite, actually." This last was said with a lopsided grin from the doctor as he stood up and started gathering his things.

"W…" Zhuge had to check his composure before he could continue his sentence. "What do you mean by that, good doctor?"

"Oh, its not my place to tell such as that, sir. I'll leave you and your wife in private, she can explain it to you." And with that the doctor hurried out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him and leaving Zhuge there staring at his still grinning wife in confusion.

He had to force himself to move to the side of the bed and sit down beside her. As soon as the doctor told him his wife was fine, his body seemed to have gone numb from the relief that washed over him. He reached out and cupped her cheeks with his hands, gently pulling her forward to place a light kiss on her lips before pulling back and brushing a thumb across her bottom lip.

"Well, the doctor was practically bouncing out the door and you look like its taking everything in you to stop from doing it yourself, so please ease my heart and tell me what is going on, my love."

Ying gave her husband another radiant smile, not realizing that it was all but taking his breath away. She hadn't had the slightest idea why she had been sick since her knack for battle hadn't earned her many female companions to talk with about such things. It was starting to scare her after the doctor watched her for a week without indicating whether anything was wrong or not. She'd been about to strangle the smallish man when he finally told her, and she had sat there in shock for what seemed like hours while he had his assistant send for her husband. Once the feeling wore off, all she could do was grin like a small child that had just been given a reward.

"Well, my husband, it seems that there is nothing wrong with me. The doctor told me being sick was completely normal in these circumstances."

"These circumstances being what?"

"We are going to have a child." Ying said with another breathtaking grin.

"A …" Zhuge had to fight to keep from falling off the bed in his surprise.

"Child. I'm pregnant … about a month and a half he figures."

Zhuge had to stare at his wife another full minute before the realization finally hit home and his own grin joined hers right before he pulled her tight against him and kissed her deeply, pouring all his love into the gesture as they clung to each other. Finally pulling away for breath, he continued feathering kisses across his wife's cheek and down her neck, still holding her tightly against him. Hearing her sighs of pleasure, he finally pulled back to look down at her.

She is so beautiful like this, half taken over by passion he thought, then placed another gentle kiss on her lips before holding her close to him again, slowly running his fingers through her hair, still digesting what she had told him. He was going to be a father … the thought swelled his heart with so much gladness and love that he thought he might burst from it.

"I'm at a loss for what to say, my wife … this is one of the two happiest moments of my life."

"What was the other?" Ying asked as she instinctively snuggled closer to her husband, loving the feel of his hands on her hair.

"The day you said you loved me," Zhuge said with a smile, placing a light kiss to the top of her head.

"That was a good day."

"Yes, it was a very good day, and, like today, one I will never forget."

Ying wanted to talk to her husband more, but the nausea hit her again just then and she had to dash for their bathroom. When she came back, inwardly groaning that the gods could be so cruel as to make a pregnant woman sick, she saw that her husband had turned the covers down on the bed and was turning out the lights in the room.

"What are you doing, my husband?" She asked curiously

"I'm putting you to bed, there is no need for you to stay awake and sick when you can rest just as easily." With that, he shrugged out of his robes and laid his boots under a table, then gently guided his wife to the bed.

Ying started to protest even though she was indeed tired, but the words died before ever reaching her lips when it became obvious she wasn't going to be alone. If he's staying with me, I might as well she thought. So with a small smile she laid down with him, snuggling into his embrace with a tired yawn and almost instantly falling off to sleep.

Zhuge, as he did often, laid there for a long while after his wife fell asleep, rubbing her back and brushing his fingers through her hair as he watched her sleep. He was still amazed at the thought of having a child, but overjoyed that he'd get the opportunity to be a father. A family was something he had always wanted, and now he was finally going to have it. He smiled at that before pulling his wife closer to him and letting sleep take him as well.

Eight months later

Ying had to fight not to cry out as another contraction hit her, almost immediately following the last. She had been in labor for ten hours before the contractions started coming fast enough to signal the baby being ready to join the world, and to her it was agonizing. She hadn't made a sound of pain since it started, the only indication she was in any kind of distress was her rapid breathing joined with the clenching of her jaw or her grip tightening on her husband's hand. Her husband … Ying couldn't help but smile to herself at that thought. Zhuge had sat there with her the entire time, holding her hand and comforting her. He even tried to apologize for being the cause of what was happening to her now, but she'd quickly shut him up with the statement that it took more than one person to make a baby. The doctors had told her to start pushing not long ago, and the pain was increasing as her baby tried to make its way into the world.

"Okay, Lady Huang, one more push and it'll be over. Push as hard as you can" The doctor said gently, and Ying did as she was told, and was rewarded a few seconds later with the sudden disappearance of the pain and her baby's first small cries.

"Very good, miss. You have a healthy baby boy." The doctor said with a smile.

She relaxed back into the bed as her baby was cleaned, then reached out as the tiny bundle was carefully placed in her arms. She looked down and caught her breath at the tiny form she was holding. He was so beautiful. All Ying could do was lean against her husband and stare in awe.

Zhuge had to fight back his own emotions as he watched his wife and child. He could have wept if not for the fact it might alarm his wife. The baby was perfection itself, so tiny and vulnerable. A fierce protection swelled up inside of Zhuge, not unlike the one he felt towards his wife, and he vowed no harm would ever come to either of them. He didn't have to put on a smile when his wife looked up at him with her own, he'd been beaming ever since he heard the first muffled cries of his son. He leaned down to place a gently kiss on his wife's forehead as he cradled her against him, reaching down to barely brush a fingertip over their son's cheek.

"He's perfect, my love." He said almost inaudibly

"Mmm hmm, he is … so tiny and perfect."

"What I was just thinking." Zhuge tilted his wife's chin up and gently kissed her after that, smiling at her again after he pulled back.

"I love you, Ying."

"I love you too, my husband."

And so they sat there together, Ying holding their baby and Zhuge holding them both as they thought about what the future could hold for their family. Both looked forward to the challenge of parenthood, and couldn't wait for this new part of their life to begin.