A/N: Hello there. As a first note, if this sounds familiar, it is. I'm revisiting this fic and reposting it. I don't own what you recognize otherwise, blah blah blah, enjoy.
Queen Jocelyn was tired.
It had been three years since the ordeal with the Darkness, and she was still fixing things. Whether it was the temporary property tax prices down, Logan's other messes, or the Annoyance of the Week from Reaver, she had barely had a moment to breathe.
She missed her old life, looking up to Logan and Elliot and just enjoying life before everything had gone wrong. She missed coming into her own when they did. She missed training with Walter. She misses late nights with Ben, exchanging funny stories about their lives to try to get their minds off their potential oncoming death at the Crawler' hand. She missed Jasper, considering she barely saw him outside of her now-rare visits to Sanctuary. Hell, she even missed Reaver's visits, as maddening as they were, but now even he was 'too busy to see his favorite Princess, beside your mother", even if he was supposedly due for a visit soon.
Logan didn't help much, but he tried. She had kept him alive, and he had taken to trying to make amends for everyone- her, her friends, and their people alike. He had spent time imprisoned, and now that he was out he worked with the people in trying to keep trade up, or writing letters that needed to be written for her. The people still didn't trust him- wouldn't, for some time, they both knew, but they noticed that the people of Albion finally seemed to be accepting that the man was making efforts to make up for his tyranny, now that there was no immediate evil threat on the horizon.
But Ben- he was her damn constant, when her life was still in disarray and even now. She had learned that fact when she had woken up on that damned beach and he had slid up into her field of vision to express his relief she was okay. He had come back to the castle after going off on his own for a while and admitted being fed up with all of his travelling and wanted to settle for a bit. She had offered him a spot as her military general in response, and he had barely thought on it an hour before accepting. He had hardly left her side since, and had recently appointed himself as the captain of her personal guards.
During the time of Jocelyn's reign, it had become an unwritten rule that Ben was the only one aside from advisors and family that could speak freely or touch her without risking getting imprisoned- or possibly murdered, but that was beside the point. After he had been the only one to come to her side and hold her after Walter died and he was the only one aside from Jasper that she let anywhere near her afterward, it went without saying that he was allowed to. Granted, there was that one time shortly after his return before he had done his self-promotion that he had playfully punched Jocelyn in the arm as the pair shared stories from their time apart. Within five seconds of the punch he had four guards on top of him. But neither of them liked dwelling on that. Ben would never admit it, but it hurt like Hell, so no, not a favorite topic.
Logan was never happy about their relationship once he had come back to the castle after a long absence and saw them together. He knew that as a man in his position should tread carefully; but Jocelyn was still his baby sister and he wasn't fond of a man just slightly younger than him showing clear interest in her, platonic or otherwise.
Later on, Ben and Jocelyn would laugh and wonder just what Logan would've thought if he knew that particular ship had sailed a while back. Jocelyn had all but jumped the man a week after his return to Albion. He had first arrived, beaten, bloody and cursing Reaver's name because he had gotten jumped over some misunderstanding about a con Reaver had pulled and dragged him into. Jocelyn had gotten her doctors to patch him up and after a few days' rest, he was ready to leave again. She had insisted he should stay longer, and the playful banter that followed his skeptical refusal ended when she yanked him down to her eye level and kissed him as a last resort; and it worked… and then some. Ben, of course, didn't mind at all. Bedding his best friend- a beautiful woman who had saved his life in countless figurative and literal ways and tolerated his humor- he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Admittedly, Ben had sensed Logan's distaste over them even just as a hypothetical couple and loved it. Any time he noticed Logan watching them a bit too closely, he laid the flirting on as thick as he had back in the day. It had been nothing new to his and Jocelyn's friendship, but bothering Logan to no end when he couldn't kill the man was a fair trade for the pain the former king had caused.
It had been touch and go with their mutual annoyance with each other, until one day that all changed. Logan finally snapped and confronted Ben, sparking an argument that ended with him throwing a table at Ben and Ben firing a shot from his pistol that missed the former King's face by an inch. After the smoke cleared, none of the witnesses knew what to do. They all had issues with both men. Ben was cocky, rude, completely improper in behavior. Logan was a tyrant whose reign would forever be a thing of nightmares. Two witnesses settled for getting Jocelyn to resolve things. After hearing of the fight, Jocelyn didn't speak to either of them for three days. They didn't so much as look at each other for three months.
Ben and Jocelyn still had no idea how they had managed to keep their 'relationship' under wraps from everyone else, either. They knew they were lucky that no one too important had come across them during one of their trysts.
Then again, Reaver had walked in on them once. It had been deliberate on his part, of course, partially to add "Overprotective" to his 'On Again, Off Again Adoptive Father to his "Jossie Dear"'s title, but also to see who the 'lucky lad who had laid a claim on his late Sparrow's daughter'. When he saw it was Ben, he had grinned ear-to-ear, loving the absolute scandal it could cause. He decided to keep his mouth shut however, figuring it was decent material for blackmail. Of course, he had asked to join them and Jocelyn had thrown a knife at his head for doing so. He had to admit Ben was quite the looker and made Jocelyn's arm all the prettier as well, and prettier royalty made for more money everywhere. There had always been that possibility for him and Sparrow, but it hadn't stuck- or he didn't think so- after all, after all these years no one was sure who Jocelyn's real father was. That all didn't matter then. What did was that he would have so much fun with the information that had been dropped into his lap.
Ben and Jocelyn, to their credit, were absolutely certain the blackmail bit was on the table in the future. They had both agreed on not putting any thought into any other options out of fear.
Yes, Jocelyn's family, extended or otherwise was a mess to say the very least. They made the endless rush that was her life slightly more tolerable, so she's take that. She just hoped it would stay that way for the next few months.