The next week and a half passed by quickly with giddy excitement. They both quickly grew accustomed to the very real idea of a child, and they shared in that with Jennie, Taehee and Seungwan. Chaeyoung knew that she should’ve told Hasun, as head of her state affairs and her personal spokeswoman, but Chaeyoung’s relationship with her aunt was still somewhat tenuous. There would be time for more people to be looped in when it became necessary, and two weeks was still very early. Still, when it came for Joohyun to go on her diplomatic trip to France, to meet with the Prime Minister in Paris and make a public show of the strong friendship between Avalon and France, Chaeyoung was reluctant to let Joohyun go.

“I can just send Jennie,” Chaeyoung suggested, not for the first time.

“Jennie,” Joohyun sighed, still somewhat annoyed at her sister-in-law, “is not the crown princess of this country, and that’s who they’re expecting. This trip has been planned for months - I can’t just not go all of a sudden. They might take offence.”

With a soft sigh, Chaeyoung gave her a sombre look, “but should you be going in your condition?”

“Bloody hell, you make it sound like I’m dying,” Joohyun laughed, ruffling the fur beneath Aoife’s chin before straightening up and picking up her handbag.

She was dressed in a shale grey suit with an olive coloured shirt, her makeup pristine and her dark hair pulled into a neat bun, and she looked as sleek and businesslike as usual, rushing around the place as she looked for her glasses and her purse, making sure her red lipstick was in her bag and checking her reflection in a small compact mirror encrusted with diamonds. Chaeyoung was dressed demurely for a meeting with the Archbishop, a duty that Joohyun was glad she didn’t have to subject herself to with her less than favourable view of religion, and she brushed a hand over the skirts of her dress as she climbed to her feet, picking Joohyun’s glasses up from beside the Russian novel she’d been reading the night before and handing them to her wife. Planting a grateful kiss on her wife’s cheek, Joohyun shoved them into her back and gave Chaeyoung a warm smile. At the serious look on Chaeyoung’s face as she opened to protest, Joohyun covered with a hand and cut her off before she could even say a word.

“No, no, you’re not allowed to treat me like I’m made of glass yet,” Joohyun said, giving her a stern look, “not until I can’t see my toes and I’ve got a terrible waddle. Me and Princess Peach will be fine for a week.”

“Princess Peach?” Chaeyoung laughed, pulling Joohyun’s hand off and giving her a bewildered look.

“I know it’s silly, but well, we can’t keep saying it , can we? And I don’t want to name her because we already know it’s a her and naming her is going to be the most exciting part. If we pick a name now and call her that then it’s going to feel like she’s been here for months, you know?” Joohyun babbled, a mildly embarrassed look on her face as she tried to explain herself, her cheeks slightly pink and her eyes sparkling.

Biting her lip as she tried not to smile, Chaeyoung gave Joohyun a look filled with pure love and took Joohyun’s hand in her own, giving it a slight squeeze. “I like it.”

Raising their joined hands, Chaeyoung kissed the back of Joohyun’s hand, smiling against her skin, and Joohyun leant in to kiss her. She pulled away a few moments later and looked down at the expensive watch on her wrist, grimacing slightly as she met Chaeyoung’s innocent blue eyes. “I have to go. The jet is waiting for me.”

“Call me when you land,” Chaeyoung said, “and eat as many croissants as you can for me. Also try not to get into too many debates, and stay safe.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Joohyun smiled, wrapping Chaeyoung in a tight hug, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’ll still miss you though.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

---

She missed Joohyun even more than she thought she would, the vast bed feeling far too big for just one person to sleep in as she wrapped the silk sheets around her at night, sleeping on Joohyun’s pillows, which still smelled like her even after the sheets had been changed. Jennie came to stay at the palace while Joohyun was gone, and Jisoo was visiting too to discuss legal business with Chaeyoung, so her days were spent entertaining her sister and friend in between official business. The gardens were a beautiful array of reds and oranges, the wind creating ripples on the surface of the lake as it swept through the grounds, and she busied herself at the stables, checking on their prized horses, and wandered through Joohyun’s humid, flowering greenhouses, went to an art gallery with Hyeri and met up Im Yoona one evening when she game to Avalon for a business deal. Still, all she could think about was Joohyun, wondering if she was enjoying her trip and taking it easy, and Chaeyoung wished that she had more time to call her, or better yet, that the week would pass by quickly.

The day Joohyun was arriving back in Glaston City, Chaeyoung arranged lunch at Sunstone palace with Jennie and Taehee, deciding that a relaxing day with her family would be a welcome break from paperwork and meetings that filled her morning. She made special requests for the kitchens, making sure her head chef knew to make sure their were scones and other foods that Joohyun liked and were safe for her to eat. It was a relief when she finished her last meeting of the morning, locking all of her documents in the box in her office and taking a few moments to rest in her chair. It had been a full week for her and Chaeyoung felt exhausted, and would’ve liked nothing better than a quick nap, but she was also craving the lemon tarts that she’d asked to be served at lunch and that was enough motivation to get her up on her feet and making for one of the parlours at the back of the east wing of the palace. Along the way she was greeted with the sight of her wife materialising at the end of a carpeted hallway.

“There she is!” Chaeyoung beamed at Joohyun as she watched her stride down the hallway, reaching out for her. Joohyun went willingly into her arms, and Chaeyoung was filled with ease at the safe return of her wife. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Joohyun murmured, drawing back slightly to smile up at her. Her eyes widened slightly and she drew back, “and … I brought you a gift. Here.”

She pulled a box out of her handbag and opened it, pulling out a beautifully intricate glass blown bottle with some liquid inside, smiling as she sprayed it in the air before them. The sweet smell of sandalwood, freesia and vanilla perfumed the air between them. It was overpoweringly strong and Chaeyoung opened to reply when a wave of nausea washed over her. Turning, her eyes landed on a small milky white and cobalt blue vase on a mahogany table and she darted towards it, cupping it in her hands as she vomited into it.

“Chaeyoung!” Joohyun exclaimed, rushing over to her and pulling her hair back for her while Chaeyoung drew in a shaky breath. She closed her eyes at the gentle feeling of Joohyun rubbing soothing circles on her back, and straightened up, clutching the vase in her hands. “Good God, love, are you okay? Do you have a tummy bug? Oh you poor thing.”

Turning around, Chaeyoung gave Joohyun a reassuring smile, “no, I think it was just the perfume.”

“The per- well you could’ve just said you didn’t like it! You didn’t have to ruin a Ming Dynasty vase! And I had the perfume made specially for you while I was in Paris. I thought it was quite nice,” Joohyun grumbled, taking the vase and handing it off to one of the nearby staff members, with a clear warning that its value was over a million dollars and it had better come back in one piece. Taking Chaeyoung’s hands in her own, she held them tightly and gave her a look of concern. “It’s just the perfume?”

Sighing, Chaeyoung shrugged slightly, “I don’t know. I mean … I’ve felt a bit off all week. I think I’m just tired, and aching. I should’ve skipped pilates yesterday.”

Making a pitying sound, Joohyun reached out and cupped her cheek, giving her a mildly concerned look as she Chaeyoung’s cheek with her thumb. “You should take a break. How about for the rest of the day, we go outside and we have a picnic near the lake and maybe we can even take one of the rowing boats out?”

“Sounds perfect, but I invited Taehee and Jennie to lunch in one of the parlours.”

“Sounds perfect," Joohyun echoed with a smile.

Nodding, Chaeyoung gave her a loving smile, cupping her face in her hands and resting their foreheads together. Joohyun moved forward to try and kiss her then and Chaeyoung gently pushed her back, covering with her hand as she shook her head. “Sorry. I just really need to brush my teeth first.”

Laughing, Joohyun darted in and planted one on her cheek instead, her eyes sparkling with amusement, and she entwined their fingers, slowly drawing Chaeyoung down the hallway. “I really did miss you, you know.”

“I know.”

Hand in hand, they walked the rest of the way through the palace, with Joohyun insisting that she was as well as ever, before she reported on her official duties in Paris, with the promise of future when she had the chance to get into the details of her trip. Passing by gilt frames and expensive vases, old paintings and long Persian rugs, they made for a nearby bathroom, where Chaeyoung rinsed out, before carrying on to the parlour in the back corner, the doors opening for them as they approached, before they walked into the airy, white room. It was filled with plants, making the whole place smell fresh and like something that was distinctly green, and Chaeyoung immediately moved over to one of the massive windows, soaking up the sunlight that shone in through the large panes of glass as she looked out at the grove of orange trees and daffodils planted outside, making the room seem sunnier. Fiddling with the tassel tying back the pale yellow curtain, Chaeyoung felt Joohyun come up behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist and rest her chin on her shoulder, and she smiled, momentarily closing her eyes as she relaxed back against her wife’s chest.

They were interrupted a few minutes later by the door opening and Sooyoung announcing that Jennie and Taehee had arrived, followed by the two women stepping into the room. With kisses on cheeks for her adoptive mother, Chaeyoung sat herself down, followed by Joohyun and the rest of her family, the four of them sitting around the round mahogany table laid with a crisp, white tablecloth and fine china. Footmen brought in the food, lining it up along the table beneath a large portrait of an old queen, before their cups were filled with an earthy dandelion tea, which Chaeyoung snuck a spoonful of honey into.

Once the pleasantries were out of the way about how Joohyun’s flight back to Avalon had been, they all fell into easy conversation. Jennie was off to London for a week next month, and Taehee voluntarily offered to go to Baltia on a diplomatic matter to meet with Queen Chaerin, which Chaeyoung was endlessly grateful for. She was still mildly embarrassed about the prince’s infatuation, which Joohyun liked to about, and which Chaeyoung liked to about in return for her jealousy towards him, and she wasn’t too eager to go to their dry country to the south. Then there was the baby talk. It seemed like an inexhaustible topic, with Taehee gushing about her first grandchild, and Jennie insisting that she be godmother, and talks of names and whether the baby would look like Chaeyoung or Joohyun with their mixed DNA. It was exciting, and Chaeyoung was eager to talk about it, although she was conscious of Jennie, reading her body language to judge when her sister had had enough of being reminded of the fact that she wanted a kid and didn’t have one. Jennie was happy for them both though, with an endless stream of questions. The latest was about Joohyun’s early pregnancy symptoms, which were surprisingly few beyond a bit of tiredness for now.

“I’m fine, honestly. I’m more worried about Chaeyoung,” Joohyun sighed, “she had a bit of an upset tummy just before. Right into a Ming Dynasty vase.”

“Oh, are you coming down with something sweetheart?” Taehee sympathetically asked, a look of concern in her eyes. “Have you been to see the doctor?”

Chaeyoung laughed, waving away her concerns as she took a soothing sip of tea. “No, no, I’m fine. It’s just been a busy week. I’ve just been running around and not getting much sleep. I’ve been feeling a little queasy all week but I think that was just from worrying about what my wife was getting up to in another country. I’m surprised she didn’t cause an international catastrophe.”

“Queasy? God, it sounds as if you’re the pregnant one,” Jennie said, before she realised what she’d said and winced, “sorry, I didn’t mean-”