AN: Well, I finally got some stuff together for my KA universe. Standard disclaimer applies- I own nothing! except my OCs. I hope that you guys like it...although i must warn you that there is EXTREME fluff and romance in this chapter. Also, this might not make a whole lot of sense if you don't read my other story- On The Edge of the Roman Empire.

Winning Over Kay- 2 years after Valeria arrives at the Wall

It had been a long patrol. Valeria had been at the wall for just over two years; Felix was about a year and a half old and was just starting to walk. In many ways, she was happy with her life here. But she didn't ever think that she would get used to the patrols- especially the long ones.

At three months so far, this was the longest patrol that had happened since she had come to live with Gawain. As each day passed it seemed that the tension and anxiousness became more and more palpable in the air.

"They're back! They're back!" Two came running into the house. "C'mon Auntie Val! Da is back!" He disappeared almost as quickly as he came and Valeria couldn't help but smile a little. Vanora had obviously forced the boy to run down the lane to tell her the knights had returned before he went to greet his father.

She quickly scooped up Felix and ran as fast as she could towards the gate. But the closer she got, the more anxious she felt. There was something in the air, something dark, something angry. Her pace slowed as she saw the knights ahead. Their voices were angry.

As she squeezed her way through the crowd, she could see why. Percival was dead. She gaped at the scene. This was the first time since she'd been there that one of the knights had died. Suddenly her heart squeezed in her chest and she looked for Gawain frantically.

She saw Galahad talking in hushed whispers with Tristan while Vanora and the children crowded around Bors; Lancelot was over with Arthur and none of the others were still in the courtyard. Except for Kay who was glaring darkly at some of the Roman legionaries.

In all the time that she'd been living at the wall, she had managed to become friends or at least on friendly terms with all of the knights. Except for Kay. She usually avoided him and he returned the favor. But she couldn't go home without seeing Gawain- whether he was alive or dead. Swallowing hard, she approached Kay.

"What'd'ya want?" Kay grunted when she got closer to him. He never took his eyes of the Roman soldiers. Before she could say anything, one of the bigger, stupider looking soldiers turned and pushed Kay back against a wagon. Valeria jumped back in surprise.

"That's no way to talk to a Roman lady." The soldier grunted. Obviously he was one of the new troops sent up to the wall not to recognize her as one of the knights' ladies. Valeria watched as Kay's face darkened and she just knew that the situation wouldn't end well. All she could foresee was a fight or Kay getting sent to the goal. Or both. Her worry for Gawain and her nerves caused her to lose her grip on her temper.

"Stop that this instant." She said sharply to the guard. He turned and blinked at her stupidly.

"But-"

"I said let him go." Valeria said slowly. There was no mistaking her upper class Latin accent. The guard let Kay go and stood back as though waiting for more orders. She just glared at him for a moment before turning back to Kay. "Where's Gawain?" She asked him sharply in Sarmatian.

"Infirmary." Kay grudgingly admitted. Her face paled and without another word she dashed off towards the infirmary.

"Why's she speaking to you in your devil tongue?" The Roman grunted. Kay snorted and didn't answer. Although he did hear some of the soldiers grunt some disgusting and disparaging comments about the girl. Kay ignored it and slammed out of the courtyard only one thought echoing through his mind.

Percival was dead.

Percival and Kay had been from the same village and they had been among the first of the group of knights collected. It seemed to Kay that without Percival here, he wasn't himself. He didn't know who he was without his brother knight.

As he got to his quarters and changed out of his filthy clothes, he thought about the scene he had just been a part of in the courtyard. He hadn't realized that the girl had learned to speak Sarmatian. He grimaced at the thought- he had said some things to her in his native tongue thinking that she wouldn't be able to understand.

The sorrow he felt about Percival's death just seemed to clench in his stomach a little bit more as he felt guilty for some of the things he had said to her. Some of them very similar to what the Roman soldiers had just said about her in the courtyard. And considering that he and Gawain had been getting along lately, he knew the girl hadn't told. He felt his stomach twist again and began to wonder if he was getting stomach flu. He decided to go to the infirmary.

"It's just a scratch, Valeria." He heard Gawain's voice from down the hall as he approached the infirmary. Kay stood in the doorway and watched the group inside.

"Then why is Dagonet stitching it up?" She asked back, jiggling the baby causing him to squeal in delight. Gawain grinned at her and Kay could tell that it was the grin Gawain used to charm women. He was sort of surprised when the girl just frowned at him. Gawain laughed and held an arm out for her. She went to sit on the pallet next to him, on his uninjured side.

"Don't worry, love. It'll heal in no time." Gawain whispered with a soft look and then winced in pain. Dagonet was still stitching him up.

"I'll get some of the burn paste to take home." Valeria said and kissed his brow before turning to the shelves where Dagonet kept his healing supplies. She saw Kay standing in the doorway and paused upon seeing him. "Oh, hello." She greeted.

"Hello." He replied standing awkwardly in the door. Dagonet and Gawain looked over to the door where he stood.

"Kay!" Gawain greeted jovially. Kay couldn't help but smile in return. Despite his infatuation with the girl, Kay had always like Gawain. It was hard not to, really.

"Are you injured?" Dagonet asked focusing back on his task.

"Stomachache." Kay grunted in reply. Dagonet paused, as though considering Kay's request. This pause caused Gawain to complain about him never finishing with his own wound. Dagonet chuckled and turned back to the stitching.

"Valeria, can you make Kay a tea with the chamomile?" Dagonet asked.

"Of course." She replied after a slight hesitation. She looked around for somewhere to put the baby; she could tell that Gawain was in pain even though he was trying to hide it. It wouldn't be good for him to hold a very active Felix until Dagonet had finished with his work. Kay had sat down in one of the empty chairs in the far corner of the room and was staring absently out the window.

"I'll hold him while you make the tea." Kay grunted seeing her dilemma. Valeria hesitated for a moment, recalling some of the things Kay had said in the past about her darling Felix, but after an initial moment of hesitation, she gave him the baby. No one would be fool enough to hurt Felix right in front of Gawain, injured or not.

Kay looked at the baby in his arms. Felix babbled happily and grinned at Kay; it was a funny grin since a few of his teeth had come in. Kay smiled tentatively back causing Felix to giggle and clap his hands. Percival had always said that Gawain's baby was a happy and charming child, but he had never wanted to see that; he'd only wanted to see that the boy was half Roman. Now, looking at Felix, all he could see was Sarmatian. He wondered if Percival was right about the girl too; that she was good for Gawain.

"I'll take that from you." Gawain said after Dagonet finished wrapping a bandage around his wound. Hoisting Felix in the air, Gawain grimaced a bit in pain but it soon faded into a smile at his son's squeal of delight.

"Gawain, you'll pull your stitches." Dagonet said in exasperation.

"Don't be so serious, Dag." Gawain whipped back at his friend. Dagonet gave Gawain a put

upon look that Kay had seen many times from the large night.

"Maybe you could be a little bit serious until the stitches come out." Valeria said coming back over, having finished the tea. She handed the mug to Kay and then took the baby back from Gawain.

"Da!" Felix said reaching out for his father.

"When did that happen?" Gawain asked in joyful surprise as Dagonet expressed his own congratulations. Valeria beamed at Gawain and Dagonet.

"Just the other day. He says 'Mama' too, but his favorite word is 'Da'." Valeria said. Gawain took the baby back and sat back down on the pallet, a pleased grin on his face.

"Favorite, huh?" Valeria sat next to Gawain and they both watched Felix as though expecting him to talk again. Dagonet rolled his eyes, not expecting a show anytime soon.

"I must go and prepare for tonight." Dagonet said quietly and exited the infirmary. It was his duty to prepare Percival for the burial tonight. As Dagonet nodded his good-byes, a somber mood once again settled on the room.

"The funeral is to be tonight?" Valeria asked quietly. Gawain nodded. He handed the baby back to her and let his head drop to his hands. Kay shifted a bit awkwardly in his seat. They had obviously forgotten that he was there.

"Aye. We always do them the first night back. It helps us show our respect to the…dead." Gawain said. To Kay's surprise, the girl didn't say anything at first. She just leaned into Gawain's side and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. All the women that Kay had met before would've taken the opportunity to wail and lament Percival's fate, or try to get him to talk about his "feelings". When she did speak, it was not what Kay expected.

"I should still be able to wear my black mourning dress, and I'm sure I can find some black cloth for Felix." Gawain turned sharply, dislodging her head from his shoulder.

"You don't have to." He said after a moment of hesitation. Valeria looked a bit confused.

"Would it be better for me not to wear black? I don't want to offend your traditions." She said and Gawain sighed, putting an arm around her.

"I meant you don't have to come, love." He said in a low voice. Kay had to strain to hear them now.

"But why wouldn't I?" Valeria asked and Kay could tell from her tone that she was genuinely confused.

"It won't be happy." Gawain said after a moment of hesitation.

"I hardly expected it to be."

"Valeria, I want you to have a good life here. One you can be proud of. Be with a man you can be proud of. Going to funerals hardly fits that picture." Gawain said trying to explain to her why he didn't want her to come to the funeral.

"I am happy here, Gawain. And you are a man to be proud of. There's more to this, to us, than just having fun." He looked about to protest, but she continued. "I do have fun with you. But I love you and that means more than the good times. It means being there for you in the bad times. I know that you'll have to be there for everyone else. They'll all look to you to ease their pain. And you'll do it, but I know that you'll be hurting just as much. Let me be there for you for once. You're always there for me and Felix, for your brother knights, even for Elspeth and Gaius. Let me take care of you."

Gawain leaned over and gave her a soft kiss. Just a mere press of the lips, but it expressed all of his feelings far more eloquently than any words could.

"C'mon, let's go home." He said and they left the infirmary, still not realizing that Kay had witnessed their entire conversation.

Kay watched them as they left, putting his tea back on the table only half drunk. He knew what the strange twisting was in his gut now. It was guilt. Not only guilt for Percival's death, but the guilt from how he had been treating (what amounted to after the scene he just witnessed), Gawain's wife.

Kay stood next to Gawain at the funeral on purpose. He let his brother knight comfort him as the rites were said. And he saw the girl, the Roman girl who he had held in contempt due to none of her own fault cry over the loss of a man she had barely known. He swore that he would no longer resent her presence. He would accept her in their lives and even be thankful that she was there.

And the next day, if the Roman Legionaries who had black eyes and bruises in the shapes of Kay's fists happened to be the ones who had spewed insults at Valeria the morning before, it must've just been some sort of strange coincidence.

AN: So there you go...this is the proof that I am really sappy and romantic. I just can't seem to help it! Hopefully I'll be able to do humor in a couple of the other ones…but to those of you who like my sappy and romantic side don't worry- there will be more romance to come! Please review and let me know what you think. Also, if you have a suggestion/scene you would like to see let me know and I will get on it!