"Bertie! Bedtime!" Drew came halfway down the broad front stairs of Langton, the ones that descended right into the huge lounge. "Chiara? Please tell me he's with you?"

"Yes, he's with me," came the reply from the kitchen. Even though her voice was a little distant, Drew could hear amusement in her voice. Where else would our two-year-old toddler be? You don't actually think I'd let him wander around alone?

Drew finished coming down the stairs and went around into the spacious kitchen of their beautiful country home, where he found his wife and son enjoying a cup of tea and hot chocolate, respectively.

"There you are, you little monkey," Drew declared, smiling as he ruffled his son's fine brown hair.

Albert smiled through his brown, cocoa mustache at his father, kicking his feet happily.

Chiara began to rise to go for a wet towel to wipe his mouth, but Drew waved her back, saying, "Don't bother, I'll get it."

"Thank god," she sighed, settling her bulk back in the chair.

"How you feeling, love?" Drew asked, gesturing toward her nine months pregnant belly.

"Like I need a derrick to get me upstairs," she quipped, smiling at her husband. "I feel ungainly, awkward and huge. And ugly."

Albert, turning his little head back and forth alertly between his parents to follow their conversation spoke indignantly. "Mummy's not ugly! Mummy's lovely!" His eyebrows, a perfect miniature of his handsome father's, drew together in consternation as he looked at the parent in question. "Mummy's lovely!" he repeated for emphasis, tugging on his father's shirt, looking for agreement.

"You are so right, Bertie," Drew acknowledged with a laugh and a nod. "With those delightful dimples in her cheek and elbows that look like dents in cream, her wonderful almost double chin, her angelic smile, and her beautiful belly where your little sister lives, she is so very lovely indeed." And he bend forward to plant a very gentle but emphatic kiss on his wife's soft mouth, followed by another on the aforementioned belly.

And Chiara, who was exhausted, and did feel huge and ungainly, had to smile at her silly husband's hyperbole.

Drew got Bertie's chocolatey mouth sorted, and carried him upstairs for bed while Chiara got the few dishes cleaned up and got the kitchen tidied before taking another cup of tea into the living room before bed. Drew joined her there half an hour later, laughing when he saw her resting her teacup on the mound of her stomach.

"It keeps the baby warm," she defended herself when she heard him.

"Right," he responded. "Giving her brain damage, more likely."

Chiara slapped lightly at Drew. "Don't even joke about that," she chided him. "Bad enough I never finished Uni."
"Yet," Drew amended. "You will, as soon as the children are in school, right?"

"I will if you will."

Drew made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort. "I haven't the brains for it." He stroked his wife's head. "The same can't be said for you, however, and you must go, yeah? I mean, you want to go, we can afford for you to go, so there's no reason for you not to go, I reckon, right?"

Chiara sighed. "Right. I really want to go." She rubbed her tummy. "The only thing I want to do more is raise my children. I guess that makes me a throwback, non-liberated woman?" She shook her head.

Drew put his hand over his wife's where it rested on her belly. "That makes you a dedicated parent," he contradicted.

"And a lucky one," Chiara added. "To have that choice is priceless."
Drew picked up her hand and kissed it. "Come on, dumpling, let's take ourselves to bed, hm?"

"Yeah. Help me up?"

"Sure."

So Drew assisted his wife up from the sofa, and kept a steadying hand on her back to help guide her up the stairs and to their bedroom.

*************************

"Are you sure you want us here now?" Ellie's voice was concerned.

"Seriously, Chiara. Not many women want their brothers-and mothers-in-law staying in their homes when they're about to give birth," Noah added.

They were sitting around the kitchen, looking out at the vivid fall colors of the countryside of Kent. The rose garden, lovingly tended by Chiara herself, was putting on one last colorful show, due to the unusually mild fall that year.

"Not every woman about to give birth is lucky enough to have such a large house, not to mention such cool brothers-and mothers-in law," Chiara replied with a smile as she covered Noah and Ellie's hands with her own. "Seriously, you're on break from Cambridge, Ellie has the time, and you both want to be here, so it's a win-win all round, I think, isn't it?"

The young man and older woman, who both had Drew's smile, nodded at her while grinning agreement. Next to them, Bertie played happily with his breakfast, making a beautiful mess.

"Ellie is a marvelous cook, and you both do more than your share of the housework, who could ask for more?" Chiara continued.

"And you're sure you want to have her in hospital?" Ellie asked. "You wouldn't rather just have her here?"
Chiara nodded. "We're just a little too far out in the country," she explained. "I don't know, I'd just feel better in hospital, with doctors and equipment at our disposal should it be necessary, you know? Especially after what happened with Bertie."

Ellie nodded.

Albert had presented at the last minute in a frank breech position, and there had been a real possibility that Chiara might need an emergency C-section. However, they had managed to turn him, making a Caesarian unnecessary.

"Ouf," she continued, sitting back and putting her hand on her stomach. "The baby kicked me, hard, probably for the remark about the housework," she said with a laugh.

"May I feel?" Noah asked hopefully.

Chiara nodded, and Noah put his hand out, resting it where Chiara had been resting her hand the moment before.

Sure enough, in just a few seconds, he felt it, a hard thump against his palm, followed immediately by another, then another, after which it got quiet. Then, just as he was going to take his hand away, he felt a rolling under his hand, like someone was doing a somersault under a blanket.

He smiled delightedly. "She's a real acrobat!" He exclaimed. "Maybe she'll go to the Olympics!"

"No!" Bertie declared from his chair. "Sister's not going anywhere. She has to stay here with us forever." He looked around and smiled. "I love her this much." He threw his hands out to encompass the whole world.

"All right, darling boy, I'm sure she'll never want to leave you," Ellie agreed, leaning in to kiss her grandson on his cereal covered cheek.

He smiled cheerfully at his grandmother.

"Speaking of my granddaughter," Ellie continued as Drew entered the kitchen, hair still damp from his shower, "Do we have a name for her yet?"

Drew poured himself a cup of tea and sat down at the table while looking at his wife. "No, not yet," he said.

Chiara, too, shook her head. "We were thinking of naming her after her grandmother," she began, looking at Ellie.

"Oh? What was her name?" Ellie asked curiously.

"No, Mum, you," Drew clarified with a laugh. "Eleanor."

Ellie made a face. "Oh, please, no. It's a horrid name for such a beautiful baby."
Everyone around the table laughed.

"But, Mater, you haven't even seen the baby yet, how do you know what she looks like?" Noah asked as he took a drink of tea.

"Please, look at little Albert, do you have any doubt that she's going to be beautiful?" Ellie asked indignantly.

"This is true, yeah," Noah agreed, nodding as he smiled at his nephew. "She has a point. Your daughter will probably be the most beautiful baby in the country, if not the world."

Drew rolled his eyes at his wife.

"Spoken like a truly objective uncle," Chiara said drily, shaking her head.

She stood up to get more tea and stopped, a listening expression on her face.

"What is it, love? A contraction? Has it started?" Drew was on his feet, a protective hand on her back.

Chiara shook her head. "A second contraction," she corrected, brow furrowed. "Maybe a third, I'm not sure, I wasn't paying attention at the beginning."

Drew looked horrified at her words.

Chiara turned worried eyes to her husband. "It really started out of nowhere, just while we were sitting here, you know? And they're really close together, like five minutes apart."

"What? Do we even have time to get to London? Your due date's not for another week!" Drew's voice was accusing, as though Chiara had done this on purpose.

"I think so, but we should go now, okay?"

Noah was already half way up the back stairs where LeeAnne had met with her unfortunate accident, on his way to get Chiara's suitcase.

"Lucky for us there's not likely to be much traffic right now," Drew said as he dashed for his keys.

"I think I should go with them," Noah said to his mother when he returned with Chiara's bag. "Drew's sort of off his head right now, and I might need to drive, you know?"
Ellie nodded her head. "Go with them, son, make yourself useful."

Five minutes later they were on their way to London, where, if everything went right, the newest Pennington would shortly make her way into the world.

It was a tense drive, even with Noah next to his brother, admonishing him to "slow down and relax" from time to time.

Chiara sat in the back and did her breathing, assuring Drew that, when she actually timed her contractions, they were closer to seven minutes apart.

They arrived at the hospital and got Chiara settled in a room with time to spare; after that, there was nothing to do but breathe and wait.

And in Kent, Ellie took care of Bertie and waited as well.

**************************

"Come on, darling, nearly there, nearly there," Drew encouraged. He remembered this part of the labor from when Albert was born. It was both the easiest and hardest. The previous stage, the transition, was the most difficult physically; the pain, the lack of control, Drew's inability to do anything for Chiara, whom he loved so much. This last part, though, the pushing, was hard in another way. Chiara was so tired, simply exhausted, but there was so much work yet for her to do. It was like running a marathon, using up all of your body's resources, then being asked to run a sprint when all you wanted to do was lie down and rest. His poor Chiara was trying so hard, but he could see the utter defeat in her eyes.

"Come on, darling, push, push, ready?"

She looked at him, grasping his hand so tightly, biting her lip, nodding, sitting up, dropping her chin to her chest, panting, pressing forward.

Wow. She was awe inspiring.

And finally, finally, the tiny, slippery, red being was out, on her own, a living, breathing person in the world at last, tiny cries alive in the delivery room.

Drew knew that Noah was just outside the doors, listening and calling their mum to give her the news.

"Drew! Drew, we did it," Chiara gasped, her grip on his hand relaxing at last as she fell back on the bed. She smiled the smile he loved as she heard her baby's cries.

"You did this, darling," he corrected gently. "All I did was hold your hand."
"And love me," Chiara added. "That makes everything possible for me, don't you know that?"

They kissed over their new baby girl, who rested, slight steam rising off her body, on her mother's tummy, under the bright lights of the delivery room

The next day they drove home to Langton where Bertie, Ellie and William Wallace the dog waited to welcome them.

"My sister, my sister!" Bertie crowed as they brought the car seat into the house and set it on the floor so he and the dog could see her.

"You see, didn't I tell you she would be a beauty?" Ellie declared with satisfaction as she examined the contents of the car seat, for indeed, at only one day old, it could already be seen that the newest Pennington was indeed spectacular.

Her hair was abundant and dark brown, and her eyelashes were very long for a newborn's. And, while most newborns were somewhat scrawny, she had all of her subcutaneous fat, and already looked pleasingly plump and happy, her head nice and round. She waved a fist out of the car seat.

William Wallace sniffed at it curiously.

"She's saying 'hello' to me, she's saying hello!" Bertie declared, pointing as he grinned. "Mummy, Daddy, look!"

For her coming home outfit, they'd dressed her in a hand knitted lace onesie, made by Ellie, with a matching hat that had little round ears on it. It was yellow and white, and completely beautiful. Bertie had one that was similar from when he was born, except his was green and white, and the ears on his hat tapered to little points.

Ellie could no longer wait and she picked up the baby girl so she could smell her and snuggle her.

Bertie saw the shadow of the baby in the sunshine on the living room floor, the tiny hands, the little ears from the hat.

"Look! Panda. She's a Panda!" he decided, drawing on his knew knowledge of zoo animals. "I love Panda," he said dreamily, reaching for his uncle to pick him up so he could see her close up in his nana's arms.

"Panda, I love you, Panda."

Ellie turned so Bertie could see his sister's face. "See, she knows her name already!"

Chiara smiled. "Well, too bad we can't name you Panda, isn't it?" she crooned to her new daughter. "It's a completely adorable nickname, too."

Noah considered. "You could name her Pandora, though," he said thoughtfully.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Pandora. Wasn't she someone who brought misery to loads of people?" Drew asked.

"Through no fault of her own, though," Noah assured everyone.

Everyone was quiet again, thinking. Even William Wallace cocked his head.

"Pandora," Ellie said softly to her granddaughter. "Is that your name, love?"

"Pandora," Chiara said with more assurance. "Panda for short?"

"Panda," Bertie declared from Noah's arms.

And thus did Pandora (Panda for short) come to be the newest Pennington.