Your little secret

by moonlightdreamer1

This is just a little fluffy one shot. I know a few people have written about Poppy discovering Branch kept her invitations but I decided to do my own different version.

I know a few people have written about Poppy discovering Branch kept her invitations but I decided to do my own different version. I have to admit I love this movie, I didn't think I would but I'm happy I sat and watched it now. I tend to make fluffy stories so you are warned that there will be fluff ahead probably lots of it. I have dyslexia, I and my assistive technology do the best we can so please leave comments about spelling and grammar at the door. I don't own anything here now sit back and enjoy.

Your little secret.

Branch had spent a long time hiding all the invitations Poppy had given him from her and the blue troll had gone on hiding them even after he had regained his colour. The blue troll hadn't been sure how to tell Poppy he had kept them all let alone the why. Then slowly an idea of what he wanted to do with the invitations began to form in Branch's mind. So, it was that when Poppy woke one morning Branch was not in bed beside her as he normally was and the pink Queen frowned. She hated it when he got out of bed before her, it meant that she was denied her snuggle time and Branch knew how much she loved having time to snuggle with him in the mornings before she began her days work as Queen.

Sighing to herself Poppy sat up in bed, she reached out to grab the band she always put in her hair then noticed one of her old invitations to Branch was standing on her bedside table. Reaching out Poppy picked it up and smiled to herself this had been one of the very first ones which she had ever given to the other troll. It was childish, with a big glitter present on the front, crooked writing declaring in misspelt words Smidges birthday party. As the pink troll opened the card she noticed that inside was a folded blue piece of paper, frowning Poppy took it out an opened it up to read the note. "This was the first stepping stone on the pathway to my long lost heart." The Queen found herself blushing, she had seen enough of Branch's handwriting in the past year to recognise it and slowly Poppy smiled to herself.

The pink troll placed the invitation back on the bedside table with the note, then climbed out of bed, she quickly got dressed and when the Queen walked over to the door of the bedroom Poppy noticed second invitation propped on the floor against it, this was another invitation from her youth. Quickly Poppy opened it up to find yet another note tucked inside, she unfolded the note and read it. "Your invitations kept the light of hope burning in my heart right from the start." Poppy couldn't help but wonder what Branch was up to as she placed this invitation on top of her chest of draws and went out into the main room of the pod.

This too was empty and the Queen realised that Branch must have woken up very early in order to get ahead of her and do all of this for her. Poppy was unsurprised to find breakfast was waiting for her on the table, standing on the table beside her breakfast was yet another invitation. It was when the Queen looked at this third invitation she realised that they had been in thus far in the order she had given them to Branch starting at the youngest. Poppy sat down, she ate her breakfast then reached for the invitation, the pink troll opened the card up, she took out the folded piece of paper out and opened it. "Love for you was like a seed buried in the winter of my heart and then forgotten before it grew and flowered in the summer of your smile." The pink troll smiled softly, Branch could be such a romantic when he wanted to be.

Poppy placed the invitation back down on the table, then as she looked around the room for the next one she noticed a basket with a pink bow round the handle by the door next to which stood yet another one of the invitations and sure enough it was the next in the sequence. Smiling to herself the Queen crossed the room, she looked at this fourth invitation fondly, by this point she was starting to get better at making them, this one was for a slumber party. Poppy lifted the basket put it on her arm, then picked up this invitation, opened it then retrieved the blue note from inside. "I know how much you love a little fun. I wanted to share my secret for so long but I was afraid of causing you harm. Now I want to show you how you became the true love of my heart follow the cards my love. I promise it will be worth it in the end."

Poppy tucked this invitation into the basket, she left the royal pod and as she exited it the Queen found her father sitting in a chair enjoying the morning sun. Peppy smiled at her and then held out a card, the pink troll couldn't help the giggle which escaped her when he did this. She walked over to her father, took the card from the old King and then asked him. "I don't suppose you can tell me what my boyfriend is up to?"

"I'm sorry daughter I along with the rest of the tree have been sworn to secrecy." Peppy told her with a huge grin on his face.

"The whole troll tree is in on this?" Poppy asked him shocked.

Peppy gave her a nod. "Your Branch is a planner, what else did you expect?"

"True…Let's see what does this one say. You kept reminding me when I didn't want to remember that hope and happiness never die. Thank you. Oh Branch…So where do I go next dad?"

The old King pointed behind his daughter, when she turned in that direction Poppy noticed that yet another invitation was hanging from the bottom of a nearby pod. Smiling to herself the Queen placed the current invitation into her basket, then waved to her father and set off to the next one. She plucked it down, opened it up and read the note it contained. "Every time my words hurt you, every time I made you sad in my heart I was never glad, because your pain became my pain and another invisible scar on my already damaged heart." Poppy took a deep breath, she let it out then added that card to the other one already in the basket and then looked around for the next one.

The Queen spotted it a little way on, one of the younger trolls was holding it, Poppy smiled, it was one of her first shaped ones it was made to look like the bloom of a sunflower. The pink troll walked over, the little purple troll smiled up at her and then handed the invitation over to the Queen wordlessly before running off giggling. Poppy smiled to herself and then opened this invitation to read the note inside. "Every time I thought I should give in and let the darkness destroy me, you would come crashing into my life and bring enough light with you to remind me why I kept fighting the darkness every day."

Poppy couldn't help but grin as he described her crashing into his life, it referred to something that had happened once a long time ago. She had been picking berries high up in a bush, lost her footing gone plummeting though the air before she could throw out her hair to save herself Poppy had found herself in strong grey arms. Branch had raised one brow at her, the pink troll had expected a lecture, but instead he had looked down at her in his arms for a moment before placing her gently onto her feet and asking if she was alright. Poppy had found herself completely tongue tied that day because for once Branch was actually being kind to her. The Queen quickly tucked this invitation away into the basket and searched for the next, this one was located standing on one of the branches not far away from her. Poppy went over picked the invite up, opened it and then read the next note. "I thought my love for you was a curse for the longest time, then one day I realised it was a blessing in disguise." She placed this invitation into the basket and started to look around for the next one.

Poppy spotted that the next invitation was being held by Biggie and his pet glow worm, who were waiting for her a little way away from her. Grinning Poppy walked over to them and her friend smiled back. "Good morning Poppy. This is for you." The blue troll held out the next invite out to her.

"Thank you." The pink troll said taking it from him, she opened it and read the note which was inside. "I longed to be happy again, but most of all I longed to be happy with you."

"Branch has some really hidden depths to him doesn't he?"

Poppy smiled up at her friend. "Yeah Biggie he does. So where do I find the next one."

Biggie pointed the her in the direction of the next invitation and with a smile and with a wave for him Poppy set off in the direction he had pointed her in. The pink troll located the next invitation standing on a leaf, she recognised this spot it was where Creek and herself had shared their first kiss. She lifted the slumber party invitation, opened it up and read the note in contained. "Watching you love Creek was a punishment I felt I deserved." Poppy could feel Branch's pain through those simple words and all she wanted to do was find the blue troll and hug him.

The pink troll looked around and spotted the next invitation behind her, the Queen frowned she knew it had not been there a moment ago, Poppy giggled with amusement and went over to retrieve this invitation, it was shaped as a sun and smiling to herself the pink troll opened it. The note inside was simple but themed to the card. "You became the sunshine of my grey life, a light which brightened everything around me."

As Poppy looked up she spotted the next invitation, walked over retrieved it and quickly pulled out the next note and read its simple words. "I truly always wanted to be your friend."

She located the next invitation propped up against the side tree trunk it was one of the first one Poppy had seen Branch had destroyed but here it was fixed, badly repaired but still the thought was there. "I enjoyed learning to fix your invitations as you can see at first I was not very good at it but I became much better at it as the years went on." The pink troll couldn't help the smile which spread over her face, she'd had no idea until now that Branch had kept and fixed her invitations.

As Poppy looked around for the next invitation she couldn't see an invitation any were, then suddenly Smidge's hair appeared next to her from several branches bellow the pink troll and it was holding the invitation. When Poppy reached out to take it the hair retracted, the Queen giggled with delight and followed the hair down onto the branch were Smidge was standing waiting for her. The small troll held the invitation out to her this one was another of the repaired one as Poppy was sure all of the rest she would receive now would be. The pink troll took it from her friend, she opened the card, took out the note and opened it up. "Without trying you became the centre of my world, a constant I could not ignore no matter how hard I tried." Poppy found herself blushing.

Smidge smiled at her. "Aw how cute."

The Queen smiled back at her friend and then looked around. "So were am I going to next?"

Smidge pointed off to one side. "Thank you." Poppy said to the other troll before setting off in that direction.

Poppy found the next invitation was being held out to her by another of the young trolls she knew well. The pink troll accepted the invitation from the younger troll who once it was taken skipped off smiling widely. Poppy opened this invitation up, she took out the next note and read the message. "I always told myself that I never understood why I lived to see you smile and why I wished to do nothing more than to keep you safe." Poppy let out a dreamy sigh, before she tucked this invitation in her basket and looked around for the next.

After a few moments spent looking around for it the pink troll spotted the next one, she walked over to it where it was standing in the middle of the branch. Poppy picked it up, open the card took out the note and read it. "For every dark thought I had about you I had far more light ones." The Queen found herself blushing again but also smiling as she put her the latest card into the basket.

As Poppy looked up from doing this to look around for the next one she spotted Cooper waiting for her not far away. Grinning she skipped over to her friend he was carefully holding the latest invitation in his mouth, he dropped it into Poppy's waiting hands and she opened it quickly so she could read the note it contained. "I thought knowing that you loved Creek would kill the love I felt for you but I kept my love for you still." The pink troll held this note for a few moments, looking at the words in silence and then looked up at her friend.

Cooper smiled down at her and then spoke to Poppy. "Branch certainly hid his love for you well didn't he?"

"Yes, but I can't say I blame Branch for doing that he had been through a lot of emotional pain already in his life and I was in love with Creek at the time. So now where am I going?"

He gestured in the direction which Poppy needed to go in so with a smile and a wave for her friend the pink troll set off once again on her rather strange treasure hunt. After a short walk the Queen found the next one of the invitations waiting for her further along the branch this one was much better repaired then the others had been before it. This fact made Poppy smile, it was clear that just as Branch had told her earlier he became much better over time at repairing her invitations. Poppy read the note which was tucked inside it. "I must confess something every year for your birthday I sent you a card I wonder if you ever managed to guess which was mine?" The pink troll reread the note several times and then started to wrack her brain to try and work out which one of her birthday cards might have come from Branch. Then one birthday card from her last birthday came to mind it had been white, happy birthday had been written on the front in beautiful black calligraphy writing and its picture had been a poppy hand drawn in black ink with no colour. Slowly Poppy smiled to herself, as she looked back on that card it really did scream Branch. It made the pink troll extremely happy to know despite his grey state Branch had still thought of her on her birthday.

The next card was a short distance away, so Poppy placed the current invitation into her basket and walked over to it. This was a card for a sleepover, the Queen remembered this card well because it was one of her first ones to include the glitter spray. When she opened it and it sprayed her with glitter Poppy had to laugh, she should have known that Branch would have repaired that part of the card to. Shaking her head with amusement the pink troll opened up the next one of her notes. "You filled my thoughts every day and haunted my dreams every night." As Poppy looked up from reading this note and looked around to see where she was going next when she spotted Fuzzbert not far away, the invitation was held in the troll's green hair and as Poppy came over it was held out to her.

Poppy took the invitation from her friend, as she opened it the Queen said to the troll as she did so. "Thank you. Every time I thought I had conquered the love I felt for you it would only return stronger than before." The Queen found herself blushing yet again, she tucked the invitation into her basket and before Poppy could even ask for the direction to her next stop Fuzzbert was pointing it out to her with his hair.

With a wave for Fuzzbert she set off in that direction, Poppy found the next invitation it was one she had made for a valentine's day party with roses as it's decoration. This one was not one of her glitter cards so Poppy opened it quickly o she could retrieve her next note from Branch. "One day I came to realise that I treasured you as much as my grandma." This message from the one she loved touched the pink troll deeply because she knew how much Branch's grandma meant to him, so for him to think of her in equal terms to Rosiepuff felt wonderful to her.

Yet another invitation lay further along and though Poppy was enjoying this strange treasure hunt, she wondered just how many more invitations there were to go before she reached the end. The pink troll knew she had sent him a lot of invitations over the years and already she had worked out that Branch was not using them all. Poppy had to admit she really wanted to get to the end of the treasure hunt so she could find out what Branch was up to with all of this. The next note inside this invitation simply read. "Realizing I loved you did not surprise me as much as it should have."

When the pink troll placed the invitation into her basket and looked around the Queen heard music playing, she recognised that music even without the words it was true colours. Smiling to herself Poppy quickly set off in the direction of the music and wasn't surprised to find DJ Suki playing the music. Settled on her music equipment was the latest of the invitation, smiling at her friend Poppy picked it up and slipped out the note to read it. "Every time I heard you sing I wanted to join my voice to yours and let our singing heal my heart." Suki smiled at the Queen, who smiled back at the other troll and placed this invitation into the basket with the others.

"So now which way?" Poppy asked her.

"That way." The DJ told her pointing the other troll in the right direction.

Poppy spotted one of the troll children waiting for her, he smiled at her held out the invitation and then with a giggle ran off with it. With her own laugh of delight Poppy went after the young troll, after a short chase he stopped running and turned to face the Queen. The pink troll came to a halt before him, he held the invitation out to Poppy, she accepted the invitation from him with a smile and a quick word of thanks before he dashed off giggling. Poppy opened the invitation, she took out the note and opened it up to read the words written on the paper. "You once asked if I knew anything of romance, I wasn't lying when I said I was passionate about it…I was merely using a little misdirection at the time." Poppy found herself laughing, of all the ways for Branch to have admitted the truth about his romantic streak she had not expected it to be like this.

Quickly Poppy looked around for the next invitation, she soon spotted it and made her way over to this one. As the pink troll looked at it she realised this was one of her first singing invitations but when she opened it this one did not sing, she could see were Branch had attempted to fix it but had been unable to do so at this stage. Poppy took out the blue note paper so she could read it. "It took me a long time to realize that you are the other half of my soul…My soul mate." The Queen had to admit that she liked the idea of being Branch's soul mate very much.

The pink troll put the invitation away into her basket with the other ones she had picked up earlier and then looked around as she did this Poppy noticed that Satin and Chenille were coming in her direction. The Queen smiled at the twins and waited for them to reach her. When they did the twins handed her the next invitation this time when Poppy opened it the card did sing happy birthday as it should. Quickly Poppy took the note inside out, she closed the card so the music stopped and then opened up Branch's note. "Seeing you suffer the pain I suffered was more than I could stand. So, I gave my love wings made of song and prayed my love would find your heart." As she read these words Satin and Chenille shared a smile.

Poppy smiled softly and let out a happy sigh before asking the twins. "Am I near the end?"

"Yes, before you ask you need to go that way." Chenille and Satin told her pointing the way.

As the pink troll looked in the direction they were pointing her in, Poppy realised that the path she was on was taking her to the spot were Branch and herself had their first date. "Oh…I see." She said with a gentle note to her voice.

"Go on Poppy, your almost there." The twins assured her before they gave her a gentle push forward.

"Thank you." The Queen said to them whole heartedly before she set off once more.

Just a short while after leaving the twins Poppy found the next invitation this was the one she had made for Branch to celebrate the twenty years since they had been freed of the Bergens. The pink troll opened the invitation, it sang as she had expected but there was no glitter this time and to be honest Poppy was glad that there wasn't any. She opened the note and read the words on the paper. "To you I give my heart, my soul, all I am, all I was and all I shall ever be is yours. Oh…Oh Branch…" The Queen looked around but he was not there still, but she quickly noticed that only a short way ahead of her just at the edge of the leaves which led to their spot was another card but it was not one of her own.

Poppy approached it, the card was simple but beautiful, a white card with a stylised silver feather drawn onto it, and written on the card in the same beautiful calligraphy handwriting as on the black and white birthday card was written a gift for you. Seeing this card confirmed to Poppy that she had been right, all those simple but beautiful cards she had received for her birthdays over the years had all come from Branch. It wasn't until Poppy picked the card up that she realised that it had been standing with a small wooden box between the back and the cover. The Queen decided to read the card first hoping it would hold the answer to what this gift from the one she loved was. When Poppy opened the card she realised that Branch had used the same blue note paper on the inside as he had for his other notes. "This is a gift from me to you. This was my grandma's pendant and I always said I would give it to my wife."

The Queen read the note once and then read it all over again, her eyes couldn't help but linger on the word wife and she knew from that word what this whole treasure hunt had been about. Poppy put this card in her basket, she lifted the wooden box, opened it carefully and then looked at what lay inside. The pink troll's eyes widened, it was a silver pendant in the shape of a rose it was enamelled in green for stem, leaves and red for the roses bloom. This pendant hung on a simple delicate silver chain, Poppy had to admit though this was a simple piece of jewellery it was beautiful. The Queen carefully took the necklace from the box, she placed the box in the basket and then put on the necklace.

Poppy pushed the leaves in front of her aside, then walked out onto the branch, she had expected to see Branch waiting there for her but no one was there. As she looked around the area for a second time the Queen noticed another one of the white cards waiting for her. This one had a beautiful black ink heart made up entirely of flowers and there was no writing on the outside. Poppy picked up the card, she opened it and the words she had wanted to hear from Branch were written on the blue paper within the card instead. "Will you marry me Poppy?"

A short moment after she had spoken these words to herself, Poppy jumped when from behind her came a voice she knew well. "So, will you marry me Poppy my lovely soul mate?"

Quickly the Queen turned around to find that Branch was behind her and he was down on one knee holding a ring out to her. Poppy recognised that ring it had been the one her father had given to her mother and the pink troll knew that since Branch had this ring then he had her father's blessing. Poppy found her voice at last and answered the question which she had been asked. "Yes I will marry you."

Smiling with happiness and relief Branch carefully slipped the ring onto Poppy's finger, before he stood up and then kissed the pink troll. As soon as he started to kiss her the Queen started to kiss Branch back, enjoying every moment of the feeling of his lips on hers. After a while the two broke this kiss, they smile at each other and then hand in had started to make their way back through the troll tree to the royal pod. As Branch and Poppy walked along whenever they met one of the trolls who had helped with the treasure hunt the Queen would stop to thank them again and show them her ring. Soon enough the betrothed couple reached the royal pod, Peppy was sitting outside it waiting for them and when they got to him Poppy let go of Branch's hand and hugged her father hard. "I take it from that you said yes." The old King said to his daughter with mischief sparkling in his eyes.

"Yes I did."

"Good, Branch will make a fine King of the trolls but more importantly than that you love him. I look forward to you joining our family Branch."

"Thank you Peppy." The blue troll said feeling incredibly happy that the old troll wanted him as part of his family.

Poppy released her father from the hug she had been giving him, the pink troll walked back over to Branch and gave her betroth a kiss on the cheek. The Queen could hardly wait to be married to the wonderful troll at her side, she knew that her father was right, Branch was going to make a fine King of the trolls. The happiness of the Queen increased to a whole new level as the blue troll gave her a hug in return for her kiss and then kissed her forehead. Slowly Poppy leant back in Branch's arms, she looked up at him and smiled. "I can't believe you kept so many of my invitations, or that I never realised that those birthday cards came from you. I always thought they were so beautiful, along with the ones from dad and the rest of the snack pack I always kept them."

"Oh Poppy I kept all the invitations you sent me and I'm glad to know you liked my cards enough to keep them."

"You kept all of them!" She exclaimed with delight, Branch gave her a nod, which caused him to be hugged by the one he loved again. The blue troll chuckled but returned the embrace and after a few moments Poppy said to him. "I had those cards you made me framed, you know…I always thought of them as miniature works of art. It's amazing to think you can draw that well."

Branch blushed and shrugged slightly. "I draw everything I invent. Drawing your birthday cards always gave me something different to do other than worry and plan, they became an escape really."

Poppy smiled up at him, before leaning up and capturing his lips with hers in a gentle short kiss. As she broke the kiss Branch smiled down at her and said softly. "I love you Poppy."

"I love you too Branch." As she said this the pink troll pulled the one she loved into the royal pod with her.

Peppy watched the two younger trolls go inside smiling to himself, the old King was glad that after he had crowned his daughter as Queen that he had moved into his own pod. He would have hated for his presence to clip the wings of the two young love birds. The old troll got up from his seat outside the royal pod to head home to his own, Peppy stopped a little way from the royal pod to look back at it. The pod was glowing showing to the whole troll tree that it contained a pair of soul mates and the once mostly pink pod now had swirls of blue mixed in with the pink showing that Branch had already been accepted by the pod as the new troll King. Peppy smiled widely, he knew from both of these signs that all would be well for his daughter and Branch from here on.