The heir and the spare

Blissful ignorance

Maxon POV

That night America and I fell asleep in each other's arms, almost creating a blissful ignorance of all else. Of course, there was still stress but for a minute I just forgot and actually let her listen to my worries. We have a strong relationship and lasting love, but I sometimes keep a huge burden on myself so I can appear stronger and loveable.  A side effect of growing up alone with no strong relationships or unconditional love, I reckon. Although it's been getting better, with America I feel like she's all mine no matter what. Subsequently, I hope she feels like I'm all hers and we can both forget our messy pasts to focus and change for the future. Our messy tangled beautiful past.

In the morning I'm aroused by the sound of crying. I'm in awe knowing that that's the sound of my children, but America just seems annoyed. I chuckle as she hastily gets out of bed to get them, but as soon as she gets near their crib it's like a motherly glow appears and she calmly grabs them. She notices my chuckling before asking, "What's so funny?"

I smile glad to be here with her, "Just you. You are a perfect mother while being annoyed."

She rolls her eyes "Well you didn't get up twice last night to feed them." She retorts before realizing how much it stings. "Maxon, I'm sorry I didn't mean, you were perfect." I bring my hand up and she stops talking.

"No, it's fine I should've been there and wasn't,  let's just drop it." She silently agrees then motions for me to give her Ahren. I call up for breakfast as she feeds them, then I go get dressed. When she is done I go over to help her dress them. "So, where are all their clothes?"

"In the nursery, do you think the doctors will let me leave the hospital wing yet?"

"Let's just take our time ok, we can always send for their clothes" then remembering how she hates being held back I add, "however we'll check with the doctors before anything." 

"Alright, love you"

"Love you too," I say as I kiss her forehead. In the end, we just wrap the babies back up in their blankets when breakfast arrives. we mutually decided we would check in with doctors after breakfast. In my head I want her to stay here and rest but America is set on attending meetings with me and as these things usually go, she wins. The number one rule in being a husband, America always wins. For breakfast, we feast on eggs and toast while holding Eadlyn and Ahren close to us. They both fell asleep rather quickly after eating and I hoped they would stay asleep for a while at least if we did end up taking them to meetings today. During breakfast, we talked about Kriss and possible reasons people were so opposed to removing the castes. 

"Well, I don't think you're completely crazy about them being blackmailed," she stated

"Really? I thought that was too wild to be real." She stared deeply into my eyes, reminding me of the time when she explained about being hungry and replied.

"The upper castes have a lot of power out there. I remember a time when a family we knew was really struggling. They ended up having to give their eldest son to the draft in place of a two just to make it through the winter. So honestly it wouldn't surprise me if something similar is happening to those who are still impoverished." I internally cursed myself for, again, for not knowing so much about my own country. I let out a long breath and mentally thumbed through any resource I hadn't used yet. That's when I remembered August, he might have a few ideas on this.

"What about August? Do you think you could help?"

"Yes, he probably could. It's definitely something worth bringing up. After Kriss leaves." She adds bitterly. 

" Ah, yes Kriss." I inhale deeply before explaining, "I know you need your rest, but let's ask the doctors. I need your support today more than ever. " She smiled and went over and planted her lips on mine. They were the same soft and gentle touch that comforts me in times of need. 

"Better?" She asks 

"Absolutely" I reply grinning like an idiot. "Shall we call the doctor in?"

"You have to stop using words like 'shall', but yes we shall." She explained adding a sarcastic emphasis on the word 'shall'. The doctor came in only minutes later just as I began to worry because I really needed to get to the office. He politely bowed and greeted us with "Good morning".

America POV

In the end, the doctor clears all three of us to go to work. I find it kind of ironic that the twin's first day at the palace will be spent in the office just like the years Eadlyn will spend there when she gets older. Maybe it's just like a preview for her and Ahren, he may not be the heir but being royal never escapes you. When we leave the hospital wing Maxon goes and tries to dress the twins while I get ready for the day. I get ready as quickly as possible and end up in a yellow sundress in a pitiful effort to brighten the mood of the palace. When I finished I walked over to the nurse to find Maxon struggling to pick out clothes.  I laughed as I walked over to him, "Should we add this to your list of stuff you can't do? Because it is getting rather long."

"Ah, yes war strategy, cooking, staying away from you and our newest discovery; dressing infants."

"Here let me help, your royal husbandless."  We both laughed at the ridiculousness of our comments as I went over to see what he had done so far. It turned out he had only managed to set them down on the changing table. I grabbed his hand and led him over to their closet, "Here, I've had maids working on it for months"

He gaped at the size of their closet which only made me laugh more, "Darling this is more clothes than we both have combined."

"Well," I reasoned "Babies tend to go through lots of clothes a day, I remember with Gered we were always doing laundry ."  It really was true that babies go through lots of clothes, but looking at it again it was a mountain of clothes.

"If that's what you think then it's perfect, now I still don't know what to put them in."

I surveyed the mass of clothes once again and realized I didn't really know what to dress them in either. We had the usual onesies and pajamas but we also had fancy dresses and little suits. "Maybe something casual?"

"Sure, now what do you mean by casual?" he questioned.

Maxon POV

Once we finally got the twins dressed I was more on edge than before so we rushed into the office. When we got there America set Eadlyn and Ahren in the portable crib we have for them. Then she came over to help me. I had already dove into today's papers which surprisingly didn't look too bad. There was no mention of the petition, which only made it more mysterious. Now all I know is that Kriss is keeping it secretive and as I looked back through the notes again, is refusing to meet with me. What the hell is she planning and why does no one seem to care except America? I wonder if I am paranoid or if everyone really wants the castes. It just makes no sense, they kill my parents to get rid of the castes. Now they will do almost anything to keep them but their method is so different. Father never prepared me for this and America still learning. Now this whole mystery and the fate of the country is on my shoulders. It reminds me of those old books Sherlock Holmes. Next, I pick up the phone and dial August, it looks like we'll be needing him a little more than planned.

Sorry It's been so long since I updated, I'm super excited to continue writing this but it might be a few weeks before the next update! Also thanks so much for all the reads, please comment with ideas or constructive criticism (please keep it respectful) Thanks!

-Kate