Fresh Starts and Candy Hearts
Word Count: 702
Pairing: Arthur/Gwen
Round Table Minutes February 2016 theme: Valentine's Day
Gwen knew that this year Valentine's Day would be difficult. She had just moved to a new city and everyone she knew would be far away. Every night before she went to bed, she would check her email to see if anyone sent her anything but she ended up staring at an empty inbox, night after night. It was if she had been forgotten.
Three days before Valentine's Day, Gwen received a Valentine in her postbox. There was no return address and no signature. There wasn't even a postmark to say where it was sent from. She had no idea who could be sending that to her.
What was even stranger, it was one of those cheap ones that you would get at school parties. It was like the ones that came with puppies or kittens saying bad puns. This one had a frog on it and it said. "My heart leaps for you."
Gwen just chuckled and put it with the rest of the mail on the hall table when she came inside. She didn't think about it again.
Two days before Valentine's Day, Gwen found a box of candy hearts tied to her front door. She smiled and took them inside. She loved candy hearts.
She shook the box before putting them on the hall table and saw the strangest thing. She saw her name on some of the hearts through the front of the box. Someone had special ordered them just for her.
The day before Valentine's Day, Gwen came home and found a bottle of champagne next to her front door. It was her favorite brand. There was a note on the bottle and was printed and not hand written. It said "chill me".
Gwen took it inside and put it in the fridge. Even if she was going to be alone on Valentine's Day, she couldn't pass up her favorite champagne.
Gwen was beginning to wonder if she had a stalker. No one in this new city knew her so well that they would have taken the trouble to special order candy hearts, bring her a bottle of her favorite champagne and send her a silly valentine card.
Gwen went to bed and tried not to think of it anymore but she was starting to worry. Was she being stalked or was there some other logical reason for the gifts. She would have to wait to see what happened next.
On Valentine's Day she came home and found roses at her door. The card inside the box was blank. She picked up the box and went to unlock the door but it was already unlocked. There was a path of rose petals leading to a blanket fort in the middle of the lounge.
"Hello! Who's here? Answer me or I'll call 999." Gwen called out from the door way.
The blanket moved and Arthur poked his head out. "It's just me. I came to surprise you. Did I?"
"You worried me." Gwen slipped off her shoes and coat and climbed into the blanket fort with him. Inside, he had the champagne in a bucket of ice and fresh strawberries.
"What are you doing here? I thought we were over." Gwen said softly. "You said you didn't want to come with me."
"No. We are not over. I realized that after you left and I came to the city to be with you. Dad transferred me here, at my request. He wasn't happy about it either. I spent every last penny that I had saved to find a flat and to make you a perfect Valentine surprise." Arthur pouted. "Now you won't even kiss me."
"Arthur…" Gwen leaned over and kissed him.
"There! That's much better." Arthur smiled he opened the champagne with a pop and poured it into glasses. "Now, how about a glass of champagne and a toast to fresh starts?"
Gwen took the glass he held out to her and nodded. "Fresh starts. Arthur, you are such a romantic fool but I adore you for it."
"It's easy to be romantic when it comes to you, Guinevere. "Arthur held up his glass. "To fresh starts and candy hearts."
Gwen clinked her glass with his. "Always."