Jenny's diner was packed to the rafters.

It was a warm evening in Redmont, with a cool sweet breeze and a striking sunset that made the windows of her establishment glow orange. The walk over from their home had been pleasant and lovely, and Alyss had picked a bouquet of flowers fresh from a meadow along their stroll. As they got closer to the diner, one of the flowers had broken off and had a very short stem, making it ill-suited for her artistically arranged bouquet. She had looked so disappointed for a moment that, even when she turned away from him and tried to pretend like nothing happened, Will had let her tuck it behind his ear, into a curl of his hair, just to cheer her up.

They had entered the restaurant and were met immediately by Jenny, who gave each a huge hug and pecks on the cheek, and Alyss gave her the bouquet. That bunch of flowers now sat in a short vase in the center of their table, which felt very lonely because there were five chairs and only two occupied so far at what had been officially dubbed 'the seat of honor', the largest round table in the center of the restaurant. Candles danced merrily in wooden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and lanterns all along the walls lit each table.

Alyss leaned into Will's warm side, scooting her chair so that it touched his, and her hand drifted up to finger the curls of hair along his hairline on the back of his neck. "I can still scarcely believe that any of this is even real, Will."

"I know," he breathed, rubbing his thumb against the back of her other hand that was clasped between both of his. "Every night I think I'm going to never fall asleep, and then realize that I've been living one long lovely dream, and then wake up and it'll all be the same as before."

"It wouldn't be the worst thing, you know. If this is a dream, it's the best I've ever had." She leaned in, her nose brushing against his. "It would be a shame if it were to end, I was just getting used to this."

He smiled and closed his eyes as her warm breath fanned gently across his face. The people, the hustle and bustle of Jenny's diner, the dinner they were about to enjoy with their closest friends and family, the upcoming mission, the fires, the magic... All of it faded like mist bathed in a warm sunrise when Alyss smiled at him like she was right now. If there was anyone in the world who could calm him, who could heal him, make feel like he had a home, make him feel like he was loved, desired, and needed, it was Alyss. No one, not even Halt, could come close to the feeling of her wrapping him in her arms and telling him that she loved him with all her heart.

But perhaps this was all intensified by the fact that she was now pregnant. Now, when she embraced him, he felt a giddy delight at the idea of a child, their child, inside her, and even embracing him too. It was a feeling he had never known before, and one that he had looked forward to for years.

She gave him the gentlest of kisses, and then she leaned away and Will realized he had been looking at her stomach instinctively. She smiled knowingly at him. "I can't stop thinking about it either." She brought their clasped hands down to rest on her stomach, which was still perfectly flat, but it didn't matter to either of them. Even the idea of their son or daughter, no matter if she had a bump or not, was enough for them.

He kissed her deeply, numb to the world, happy in their shadow of torchlight, with life bustling around them, oblivious to their joy.

It was perfect.

At least, it would have been, if a certain person didn't come stomping up to the table, determined to ruin the moment.

"Alright, break it up, you two. You're making me miss my wife and leaving Maddie was already hard enough."

A chair screeched sharply as Horace pulled out a seat on the other side of the table, purposefully dragging the legs across the floor to try to startle the two lovers from their trance. But Horace always forgot that he was dealing with a Ranger and a Courier, two of the most unstartle-able people in the kingdom.

Will and Alyss, entirely unaffected by his ruckus, shared one last peck and a tender glance before they finally separated and greeted Horace properly.

"Hullo, Horace, lovely to see you," Alyss said cheerily, ignoring his attempts to disturb them very skilfully.

"Cut me some slack, Horace, I'm just savoring my last few moments before our trip with Alyss, who happens to be pregnant, in case you forgot. You can't beat that, can you?"

Horace rolled his eyes. "You'll be back soon enough, don't be so dramatic. Nice flower, by the way."

Will scowled and plucked the flower from behind his ear and set it down on the table. "You've left Maddie and Evanlyn before, you'll be fine. It's my first time - "

"And the first time is always hard, blah blah blah, I've heard it all before." He glanced at Alyss with a sheepish smile. "If there's anything I've learned in the decades that I've known you and Cassie, it's that you two can take care of yourselves."

Alyss nodded to Horace with a sly smile. "You're quite right. And she and I will be working together anyway, so we can always help each other if anything happens. I'm quite good with my saber now, and Cassandra's sling is only a little dusty."

"Plus," Horace continued, raising both eyebrows and setting his mouth in a hard line in mock solemnity. "Maddie could always fight off any intruders. She's got some sharp fingernails and teeth that can draw blood. I have the bite marks to prove it," he warned, and started rolling up the sleeve of his tunic to reveal a curved set of scabs on the muscle of his forearm, obviously the result of a set of very small, razor-sharp teeth sinking into him.

Will peered across the table skeptically. "Sure it's not your dog?"

Alyss hide a smile and raised her eyebrow. "Perhaps Shadow decided your arm was a snack the last time you visited us?"

Will nodded, agreeing with her. "It must be difficult to tell your daughter apart from our dog."

Horace scowled, rolling up his sleeve with haste. "I can tell Maddie apart from Shadow, thank you very much." He huffed angrily, as if he had been severely hurt by their comments. "The two of you ganging up on me is absolutely not fair and you know it."

Will and Alyss shared a grin and before they could respond, Halt and Pauline came strolling in, arm in arm, and took the two chairs next to Alyss.

"Miss anything, did we?" Halt said gruffly, picking up the paper menus to see what Jenny was serving.

"Nothing important, except those two kissing each other like they were about to bury the weasel." Horace brandished his finger like a weapon at Will and Alyss.

Halt raised an eyebrow. "Horace, I'm sure none of us have any idea what that means."

"Well then, how about a four-legged foxtrot?"

He was met with blank stares.

"Searching for pocket change? Baking the potato? Testing the humidity? Nothing?" His voice got weaker and weaker as he realized his joke was failing abysmally.

"Bushwacking...?" He petered out at Will's withering glare.

Pauline hid her understanding of what Horace meant very well. But one glance at Halt, and she decided to play this another way. She leaned in and kissed him, for a good long while, both of them holding in their laughter at the sound of Horace muttering angrily. Will and Alyss had both ducked behind their hands, hiding their own laughter. When Pauline and Halt finally pulled away, she looked at Horace serenely and said, "Why, Horace, I don't know what you mean, but was it something like that?"

He nodded, his face bright red.

"Then there's nothing wrong, is there?"

He huffed again and nodded, like a child that had been reprimanded.

Will wiped away tears of laughter from his eyes when Jenny bounced up to their table. "Lovely to see you all again! I've got a limited menu tonight because we're so busy, so do you want to know what I'll be serving or would you rather be surprised?"

Will glanced around, and he knew from everyone's nods what their answer would be. "Surprise us, please, Jenny. We'll trust you whole-heartedly with our food tonight."

"As we should to a master chef such as yourself," Alyss added.

Jenny beamed with pride. "Thanks, loves! Food'll be out soon! Call us if you need anything!" She dashed on to the next table, calm and hurried amidst the business of her diner. After years of experience, almost nothing could rattle her at this point. The mark of an expert chef, Will thought, was someone who could turn out an excellent roasted lamb to all one hundred of her customers within an hour or two without having a nervous breakdown. That was truly a heroic act, in his opinion, one he could never manage. It was why he and Alyss were regular customers at Jenny's diner, she was simply the best.

"I've been thinking, very much a dangerous past time," Halt said ambiguously while cutting off Will's signature reply. His tone was calm, almost too calm. He studied his fingernails with incredible poise as he continued, "Well, dangerous for you two, at least." He pointed between Will and Alyss.

"Why is that?" Alyss asked.

"Names. I've got name suggestions. For your baby." He tried to say it smoothly, nonchalantly, but he was still so emotional about it that the phrase stumbled out of him awkwardly and left him looking surprised, almost shocked. He looked disgruntled by his own awkwardness.

Horace sniggered gleefully, Alyss sighed almost imperceptibly but kept her careful smile, and Will's eyebrows shot up as he made no attempt to hide his own feelings about Halt's revelation. If there's one thing I don't need to hear, it's Halt's recommendations for names. He's going to ask us to call it Paddywagon or something else equally ridiculous. "We've got ages to figure that out, I don't think..."

"Oh, please, Halt, I'd love to hear them," Horace egged him on, not bothering to hide his laughter.

Halt gazed mildly at him. "I do actually have some serious suggestions, but if you came for humor, I'd be more than happy to deliver." His small smile curled into something more mischievous. "I was thinking... Spartacus."

Will's eyes rolled and had to hold himself back from telling Halt to cut it out. But he figured he'd let him play his game a little longer, just to see what he came up with. "Pray tell, what else?"

"Pumpernickel."

Alyss smothered a giggle. "One more. I'm writing these down." Her eyes shined as she mimed writing on her napkin with the end of her knife.

"My final and best suggestion... Bellerophon."

Will choked a bit of the water he had been drinking, and Alyss had to give him a napkin to cough into.

Horace roared with laughter, nearly spilling his own drink, and even Pauline and Alyss were laughing. As Will steadied his own breathing, scowling and laughing at the same time, a party of diners had just left their table and were filing out of the cramped restaurant. For a moment, he stared into a sea of legs, wiping at his face and coughing uncontrollably, and then a pair of eyes locked on him that he felt before he saw. The smile melted off his face and he forgot all about coughing as a shiver ran down his spine, a familiar feeling coming over him that he couldn't put a finger on. The eyes were bright blue, and they belonged to a middle-aged woman wearing a dark cloak. She was rising from a crouch on the floor, and as his gaze shifted down to her hands to see what she was doing, she quickly tucked something, a large object of some kind, back into her pocket. Her eyes didn't waver from his, and her face gave nothing away. Then she turned, stood, and was lost in the crowd.

Will blinked hard, barely registering the woman's presence, and seeing no one else, turned back around to face the rest of the table, who were still trying to fight their fits of laughter. He put a half-smile back on his face so the others wouldn't ask him about it, but he felt off. Something wasn't right.

He could have sworn he had seen that woman before.

Just as Halt was starting to suggest actual names, like Rosalind and Patrick, which were actually not terrible, the first course arrived on the table. It was a lovely soup, delivered in a large pot. Will, who was still feeling strange, tried to distract himself by taking on the job of spooning the broth into the smaller provided bowls and delivering them around their table. He went in to scoop one last bowl for himself when the ladel hit something hard. Something very hard. Hard enough to scratch the silver shine on the ladel and make an awful screeching noise that made Will flinch. He tilted the pot, feeling its unusual heaviness even though most of the soup was gone, and his heart jumped into his throat at what he saw.

As the soup cleared away, a large round black stone came into view. Identical to the one in his saddlebag outside. Identical even down to the symbol. The strange humanoid figure, even covered in bits of celery and beef, was no less menacing and eerie as its broth-covered smoothness shone in the torchlight.

"Will, is there enough?"

He glanced sharply at Halt, the one who had asked. "Enough... what?"

Halt's eyebrow came up and he looked suspicious. "Soup, Will. Are you alright?"

Will could only nod. His thoughts flashed back to the woman, the object she had been sliding into her pocket. This pot came from the kitchens. She must have slipped it in while she was in there. If I run now, maybe I can catch her.

He dropped the ladel on the table and kicked his chair to push it in. "I'll be back in a minute. I'm seeing if they have a bit more soup."

Halt's expression didn't change, his suspicion only deepened, but everyone else just nodded and keep chatting amongst themselves.

Will turned tail and bolted for the kitchen, pot in hand, to find the mysterious woman.

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A/N It's about to get crazy, buckle in. I'm so excited for you to read tomorrow's chapter!

Baby name suggestions GO!