The Shepherd's Wife
by misscam
Disclaimer: Not my characters, just my words.
Author's Note: Happy belated birthday, lolly! Hope this fulfills your prompt to your liking. Set in FTL after Snow and Charming have married for the second time, but before Snow's pregnancy with Emma. Thanks to Angie for beta.
II
Snow White loves her husband. There is no doubt of that, Snow knows, no doubt at all. Her friends and self-chosen family don't doubt it, not when having seen all she's done to be with him and keep him safe. The kingdom doesn't doubt it, not having seen the glances the two of them exchange and the way they hold each other's hands as if they're each other's anchors. Charming doesn't doubt it, not when she kisses him as if he's the dearest thing in the world to her (he is) and he knows her as well as she knows herself
No, no one doubts the love Snow has for her husband, and certainly not the husband himself. He just sometimes forgets to trust it enough.
Like tonight.
It all starts when one of the nobles they're visiting makes a veiled comment about sheep again. It's been happening more and more often as they've toured the noble houses of her kingdom. Sometimes she thinks Charming's true ancestry is the worst kept secret of the kingdom, the secret everyone keeps because no one would like to see King George back. Charming keeps his cool and smiles pleasantly enough, but when the noble follows up with another remark about how King Leopold would surely be proud at the marriage of his daughter to such a royal as the prince, then she can feel Charming's jaw set.
"My father would find no finer husband for me in all the realms than the one I have," she interjects smoothly, putting her hand on Charming's arm and smiling somewhat unpleasantly at the noble.
"Indeed," the noble manages to say, already hurriedly gliding away.
"No finer man than a shepherd?" Charming asks under his breath, almost sadly.
"You married a princess. That makes you a prince," she says sharply.
He looks at her, lifting a hand to her cheek. "You married a shepherd."
"I suppose that makes me a shepherd's wife," she says softly.
"Your father wouldn't love me for that," he says, again a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Charming..." she murmurs, but he merely shakes his head and gives her and easy smile that she knows isn't quite genuine. She can already tell this will lead to him to try to deflect, try not to worry her, try not to let his doubts bother her.
She won't have it.
"It doesn't matter," he says, leaning down to peck her on the lips, framing her head in his hands for a moment. "I love you."
"I love you too," she says, locking his wrists in her hands and keeping him to her. "Charming, you're not getting away from me that easily."
This time, his smile is genuine. "I believe I was the one who caught you."
"Only by entrapping me," she counters.
"Best decision I ever made," he says simply, leaning forward to kiss her softly again, this time a touch longer than is probably polite during the middle of a ball. She leans into it, and he deftly frees his wrists from her grasp while his lips linger sweetly on hers.
"I love you," he says again, and then he smiles at her and steps away.
She lets him go. For now.
II
After the ball, she finds Charming in their guest chambers in the dark, pulling her to him with a sigh. He kisses her reverently, touches her gently and lovingly, and carries her to bed with whispers of love and devotion that he soon kisses and caresses into her skin.
He loves her, she knows, and feels. She loves him, she tells him with every kiss and touch she gives him.
She still stays awake afterwards, resting her head against Charming's chest and listening to his heartbeat.
Perhaps she could find the words to reassure him, but as she told him once, she's always preferred taking action.
She has just the thing in mind.
II
It takes her a day to get it all together, and it's sunset when she takes her husband by the hand and simply tells him to follow her.
He does, of course.
She can feel the warmth of Charming's hand in hers as she leads him through the forest. He's stopped asking her where she's taking him, instead following her with a show of meekness that is not particularly convincing, but still slightly arousing.
The air is getting chillier, which is perhaps why he's not questioned the cape she's tucked herself into. Or perhaps he suspects she is up to something and simply knows her well enough to know it would be pointless to talk her out of it.
She likes to think it's the second, and when she glances back at him, he gives her a knowing smile that makes her pull him into a kiss without thinking. He responds eagerly, tilting his head and parting his lips slightly against hers, but she steps away with a laugh.
"Snow," he groans, sounding frustrated.
"Charming," she counters, holding out her hand again. With another groan, he takes it and follows her demurely without another sound.
At least until they finally step out of the forest and he gets a look at where she's lead him.
To a farm.
"What's this?" he asks, taking in the farmhouse, the small barn, the sheds and the silo.
"This is one of my father's farms," she tells him. "Our kingdom has good farmland. The couple looking after it is staying at one of the noble houses for tonight while we still stay here."
He nods slowly, looking a bit lost. Perhaps to memory. She knows he hasn't really been on a farm since his mother died.
"My father was a farmer as well as a king," she continues. "He married my mother for love, not for her title. He would have thought you a very fine man, Charming."
"Snow..." he says.
"He would!" she insists passionately. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, Charming."
Charming lowers his head slightly, so she steps closer and forces him to look at her.
"I am not ashamed of being a shepherd," he says quietly. "It is a part of me. The nobles might think it worthy of mocking, but it was an honest life. I'm not ashamed of it, or of my mother."
"Then what is it?" she asks, resting her forehead against his as he takes her other hand in his as well.
"I love you," he breathes. "I love you as a bandit, as a princess, as my wife, as Snow. I love you so much that sometimes I feel..."
"What?" she asks, and he sighs.
"Not worthy of you," he confesses.
"Don't you dare," she says passionately, angrily, and he looks slightly taken aback. "You helped me reclaim my kingdom, you saved my life when I was just the bandit who had robbed you, you gave up an arranged marriage and a carefree royal life to come after me. Don't you dare think yourself not worthy."
"Snow..." he says lovingly, but she steps out of his embrace and lets her cape fall. Underneath, she's wearing a simple farmer's outfit, and his eyes widen.
"I married you, Charming," she says. "The shepherd and the prince. I am a princess and a shepherd's wife for marrying you, and I could not be prouder to be both."
He looks at her, his eyes bright. "You have arranged all this to show me your pride in being the wife of a shepherd?"
She raises her head proudly. "Yes."
"Oh, Snow," he says, and then he is stepping forward and pulling her into an embrace, clinging to her. "I love you."
He kisses her before she can answer, his lips caressing and tugging at hers at the same time while she links her arms around his neck to pull him even closer. His hands settle on her waist, holding her firmly against him while deepening the kiss. She moans her appreciation at that, and at the way his tongue brushes hers.
Her cheeks feel warm as he pulls away slightly to lift her into his arms, before eagerly seeking her lips again. She closes her eyes while he carries her and kisses her, feeling warm and happy and... Being thrown?!
She is being thrown, she realizes, and she opens her eyes just as Charming smiles wickedly at her. Then she can feel the hay absorbing her fall and cradling her, and a moment later, Charming flops down next to her, still smiling wickedly.
He's carried her into the barn, she realizes, and thrown her into the pile of hay.
"Really, Charming?" she asks, as he moves a hand along her neck and then along the neckline of her dress.
"You wanted to be a shepherd's wife," he teases, dipping his head to kiss her neck.
"Oh, this is some sort of shepherd's fantasy, is it?" she teases back.
"Anywhere with you is this shepherd's fantasy," he counters smoothly, moving his mouth up to her ear and then sucking lightly on her earlobe.
Before he can get any further with that, she flips him over on his back and straddles him, seeing his breath catch. Without hesitation, she links her fingers around the hemline of her dress and slowly, slowly peels it off.
His lips part soundlessly as he realizes she is not wearing any sort of corset, and his hands move to her breasts as if instinctively. She closes her eyes briefly as he palms one breast while tracing the underside of the other with his fingers.
"I couldn't find any corsets appropriate for a farmer," she murmurs, gasping as he lifts his head to kiss the top of her breast.
"Good," he murmurs against her skin. "The appropriate corset for you is none."
She would protest that, except he is flicking his tongue against her nipple, and she seems to be moaning and arching into him instead. She puts a hand around his neck, scarping her nails lightly against his skin while he continues to give his attention to her left breast, then her right. It leaves her panting slightly before long, and then he lifts his head and kisses her slowly and tenderly.
A diversion, she realizes, as he flips her underneath him again. His hands are already pulling her underwear off, one hand slowly beginning to stroke the inside of her thigh while moving upwards. Even if she knows it is coming, she still gasps soundlessly into the kiss as he palms her and holds her still.
She presses against his palm as he kisses her thoroughly, and she can feel his soft growls of appreciation at all the sounds she's making into his mouth, especially when he moves one finger inside her before pulling it out again tantalizingly slow.
She bites down on his lower lip in impatience, making him chuckle, then draws her tongue across the marks her teeth left. It leaves him distracted for just long enough for her to lift a knee, pushing it against his chest and forcing him onto his feet.
Perfect.
"Clothes off," she murmurs, rising to her own feet unsteadily. Her cheeks must be blazing, she's sure, bright with desire, but she cares not.
"Is that a royal command from a shepherd's wife?" he teases.
"It's a strategic move from a bandit," she teases right back, and then she lowers her hands to the bulge of his pants to make clear just what strategy she has in mind.
He closes his eyes briefly, his tongue pushing out between his lips as she strokes him through cloth.
"Right," he says, voice low and almost breaking. Without another word, he begins to fumble with the laces of his leather doublet. She helps him, kissing his skin as it becomes exposed, terrain her lips know all too well. They both nearly fall over as he tries to step out of his leather boots, managing his leather pants and underwear much better.
He's hard already as she lowers her hands to stroke him without any cloth barriers, once, twice, and she can feel him peeking at her through lowered eyelids before kissing her with a force that makes her stumble backwards.
Probably his plan, she realizes, as she falls back into the hay with him following. He certainly grins against her lips as if pleased with himself, a smile that turns into a moan as she takes the opportunity of their position to grind against him.
He doesn't break the kiss as he shifts them both further into the hay, while she lifts on leg across his hips. She can feel his fingers tease feather-lightly between her legs as he adjusts himself, and then he pushes into her in one steady thrust. Her body seems to hum with the sensation, with him so hard and yet so fitting inside her, with the friction between them as he slowly almost pulls out, and then pushes into her again.
Hay is not the best surface for this kind of activity, she thinks distantly, as it isn't exactly comfortable yet isn't hard enough for the kind of vigorous pace she likes to egg Charming into whenever they end up making it to a table or a desk instead of their bed. Still, he makes it more than good with slow, steady pushes while working his fingers between her legs and kissing her.
It is good. It is very good, and it builds and builds until it it is everything. She comes, not hard and fast, but like a slow tide overtaking her and seeming to bathe her in warmth and bright light.
She regains her senses enough to be vaguely aware of him coming as well, burying his head against her shoulder while panting. After a few moments, he shifts slightly onto his side, watching her through lowered eyelids.
Whatever he sees makes him smile, and he lifts a hand to pick a few pieces of hay out of her hair.
"Looks good on you," he says simply, and she lifts a hand to thread a piece of hay into his hair.
"Likewise," she counters. "I mean it, Charming. I love the shepherd in you."
"I know," he says, kissing her knuckles. "I'm sorry."
She nods, accepting it. He's been there for her when she has had doubts about herself, and she intends to do no less for him.
"I love you," he says, and kisses her to say the same.
II
Later, they lie together lazily, as Charming has tucked them both into bed in the farmhouse after having set a fire to keep them warm. There is food on the table set ready for them, but neither feels hungry.
In the morning, she intends to try to make him breakfast as a shepherd's wife would, even if she suspects she will fail at it badly. She can always go hunt something and make him a bandit's breakfast instead, she figures. He won't love her any less for that, if anything, he might even like that more.
"Thank you," he murmurs, kissing her temple. "For doing this."
She smiles softly at him. "I would have been happy living a life like this with you."
"You were born to rule your kingdom, it wouldn't..."
She puts a finger against his lips, and he kisses it apologetically. "I said I would have been happy, not that I was born to it. I would have been happy because I would have had you. That's all I need."
"That's all I need too," he swears. "I would be a shepherd for you just as I am a prince for you, just as long as we're together."
"Be both for me," she tells him, and he looks at her. "I want to rule my kingdom with you, Charming, but I also want this part of you."
"You have every part of me now and forever," he says, and she kisses him at that. It's not just words, after all. She knows Charming well enough to know that every word he says, he will readily follow with action if needed.
Must be the shepherd in him.
"Charming?" she murmurs.
"Mmmm?"
"Now that we've fulfilled this shepherd's fantasy of yours..."
"Mmm?" he says, his fingers moving along her collarbone.
"How do you feel about a fulfilling princess's?"
"I don't know," he teases, stealing a kiss. "Could it possibly top the bandit's?"
As it turns out, it doesn't.
But it's just as good.
II
FIN
.