Peace by Piece

Summary: Cedric just wants some peace and quiet so he can get some rest, but in a castle with a never-ending parade of favors and commands, that's easier said than done.

Disclaimer: I don't own the show!

A/N: Hello! I know: long time, no see, right? Lol. This story was requested by Iwish2remainNameless, so I figured I'd go ahead and put this out. It sounded like a fun little premise after the larger stories I just finished (*heaves huge sigh of relief*), so why not? Lol! Hope you enjoy!

PS: The error Cedric makes about the 'hours in the day' is a legitimate error I made and just decided to roll with it. :p I figure, when you get to the point of exhaustion, you tend to say and do some really weird things. :D

*Story*

"Cedric!" "Oh, Cedric, could you-?" "Cedric, His Majesty asked me to let you know that—" "Mr. Cedric?"

"Mr. Cedric!"

"AHH!" Cedric fell backwards out of his chair, tumbling onto the floor in a less-than-graceful heap. He groaned in agony before managing to climb onto his chair again. His bleary eyes turned to the concerned princess before him, and he sighed. "Oh, Sofia…it's just you." He leaned forward, pressing his fingers to his forehead.

"Um…are you all right, Mr. Cedric?" Sofia asked curiously as she approached him and grasped his hands, lowering them so she could look at him better.

"To be quite honest, my dear, I'm exhausted…" He indicated his table, which was filled with notes, unfolded laundry, empty vials, and many other things. "There aren't enough days in the hour…"

She giggled. "I think you mean 'hours in the day.'"

"Yes, those too." He yawned before vigorously scrubbing at his eyes. "Between your father's requests, Baileywick's constant interruptions for deliveries or general stewardly pestering, random guards checking up on me, and even Wormwood's sarcastic commentary and narration of my spells (which, by the way, gets very old very quickly), I've been extremely busy and have hardly had the chance to rest this evening." He sighed in aggravation.

"Why were the guards checking up on you?" she asked innocently before seeing the look on his face. "…Oh, right."

"I know. You try to take over the kingdom once, and suddenly you're in royal timeout indefinitely." He smirked as she actually laughed at his joke. He was relieved they were to the point where they could mention the occasion lightheartedly before moving on about their daily lives. "Every time I've gone to lie down, someone else has needed something from me. I swear, I hear the summons in my dreams. Cedric, do this. Cedric, do that. It's maddening, I tell you."

"So what you're saying is, you need some peace and quiet." She grinned as he nodded. "Okay." She grabbed a piece of parchment from his desk and picked up a quill pen, taking both back to his table and scribbling something on it.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"Helping." She finished her task and held up the newly-crafted (and quite impeccably-written, he mentally noted) sign.

Please do not disturb. Magic in progress. Hazardous to non-sorcerers.

Cedric chuckled and shook his head. "You're something else, you know that?"

"I've been told." She grinned as she looked over her work again before opening the door, magically sealing the sign to the door before shutting it once again. "There. Now you can get your rest."

"I'd honestly be quite surprised if people actually heeded the sign, Sofia. Besides, even if I do finally get to rest, people are going to question why it is so silent in here, aren't they?"

"You just leave that to me." She pointed toward his bedroom. "Go get some sleep, and let me take care of everything else."

He smiled tiredly. "Thank you, Sofia."

"Hey, what are apprentices for?" She winked as he turned and trudged off to his bedroom. Once he had cleared the workshop, she grabbed his spell book and began sifting through the pages. "Now, I know I saw a background noise spell in here…"

Several minutes later, Cedric, now lying happily in his bed and nearly nodding off to sleep, mumbled incoherently as he heard a familiar soft knock fall upon his door. He blinked a few times as he verbally beckoned the visitor inside.

Sofia walked inside and smiled at her friend. "I've taken care of everything. I used that background noise spell, and I told one of the guards to inform everyone else that you're not to be disturbed for at least the rest of the night—until noon tomorrow."

Cedric's sleepy eyes widened slightly. "Noon? Isn't that a bit excessive? And why would I need a background noise spell in my workshop?"

"Mr. Cedric," she laughed with a shake of her head, "the sign on your door says you're working. It's not unusual for you to work late into the night; if it's a tricky spell or something, obviously you're going to need concentration." She grinned.

The sorcerer smirked and shook his head. "You poor thing. All your time spent around so many villains, or me, has corrupted that tell-the-truth-and-do-the-right-thing mentality of yours."

"No, it hasn't! I'm still an advocate for doing the right thing, and the right thing right now is giving my friend and mentor some peace of mind before I have to give others a piece of my mind." She folded her arms. "There's a limit to how much they should expect of you, and I'm drawing the line."

"By lying?" he asked with his smirk fading into an amused smile.

"I prefer to call it 'creative problem solving,' thank you very much." She smiled as he laughed at her reasoning. "All right, Mr. Cedric. I'll let you get some sleep now. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yes, of course… Oh, but did you need something, since you came up here before all of this?"

"Well, I was going to tell you Chef Andre made some cookies and petit fours, but I figured sleep was a higher priority for you after all was said and done." She grinned.

He nodded. "Right… I'll investigate the pastries tomorrow." He yawned.

Sofia laughed. "Okay, you're starting to sound loopy. Get some sleep." She hugged him gently before walking to his door before smiling back at him. "Good night, Mr. Cedric."

"Good night, Sofia." He sighed in relaxation as his door closed, leaving him in pure darkness with only the swaying sound of the wind outside to lull him into sleep. Soon enough, his mind settled for the first time that day, and he drifted off to his own version of 'dreamland' even as the stars came out to play.

The end

(Bonus hypothetical scene: *Insert Wormwood cawing obnoxiously, waking a grumpy Cedric up; Cedric proceeds to chase Wormy around the room before assigning him to workshop dusting duty while he happily returns to sleep.* :p You know, just because I can totally picture Wormwood waking up poor Cedric after he's FINALLY gone to sleep. Haha. Hope you enjoyed! ~AquaTurquoise)