Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice, nor the characters used in this story.

(A/N): This is mainly just a compilation of a bunch of Ranger's Apprentice pairings having a nice time with their partner(s). As the summary says.

So I'm a little iffy on this first chapter. It's Horace/Cassandra, which is a really underappreciated pairing that is rarely written. I feel a little odd, having my first contribution to this ship be this, but I figured I should post it anyways, and see how people react. Please give feedback, and I'll have the next chapter out within the next day or so!

Pairing: Horace/Cassandra

Song used: This Side of Paradise - Hayley Kiyoko

Cassandra could tell her husband was exhausted.

Horace lay on their bed, staring at the ceiling, seemingly counting the number of stones up there. She would have thought with how tired he looked he would have gone to bed immediately. But instead he had kept the bedroom door open as she finished up writing some papers out on the table. The princess could see him through the open door, still completely dressed, his eyes still wide open. He hadn't even lit a candle when he walked in, apparently preferring to stay in the darkness.

Sighing lightly, Cass quietly picked up her papers, putting them in the correct folders and tying them tightly shut. She couldn't risk the possibility of one of them slipping out, so she went around twice, horizontally and vertically. After securing the papers, she moved across to the other side of the room where the entrance to her personal study was at. Still trying to move as quietly as possible, she opened the top drawer of the desk, sliding the folders within.

The lock clicked as she slid it shut. The key was hidden somewhere else, where she would have to retrieve it the next day to continue working on her papers.

Walking back across their suite, Cassandra loosened the tie around her neck, but soon realized that was all she could reach without help. A servant had helped her that morning, helping her into the semi-formal dress so she could look appropriate for the meeting with a foreign representative.

The dress was scarlet silk, slipping against her body in the most relaxing, and distracting, way. It pooled on the ground around her, trailing behind her as she walked. The halter neckline gave her comfort as well, because it went all the way to her throat, showing no cleavage whatsoever. The dress was sleeveless, so her back was completely bare except for where the fabric came back around just below the small of her back. The buttons below, however, were tight above and around her hips, specifically to keep the sides from slipping too far down. Trying to get at the buttons from her awkward angle only caused the princess frustration. But with the neck tie loosened, she found that she also had to keep her chin down to keep it from slipping and leaving her front bare.

Realizing her predicament, Cass quickly retied the dress around her neck, and padded towards the room she shared with her husband. She had taken off the painful heels she had worn with the dress hours ago, so she walked barefoot, her feet whispering across the stone.

"Horace?" she said, turning the corner. He still laid in bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Hmm?" he responded with, not even turning to look at her.

"Can you help me with this dress?" She gestured down to it, smiling apologetically. "Sorry for interrupting your reverie, darling."

The knight finally took his eyes off the ceiling, looking at her quizzically. He stayed where he was for a moment, before sitting up and swinging his legs around. Waving for her to come closer, he stood. "You're not interrupting, Cass," he murmured, the tiredness in his voice evident.

Holding back her hair, Cassandra turned partially so she could see Horace out of the corner of her eye. She could see him focusing hard on the knot she had hastily tied, his eyes squinting in the darkness. Smiling to herself, she looked down, focusing instead on the nightstand beside their bed, which held an unlit candle.

Eventually, Horace untied her neck, which slipped downwards nearly immediately. She didn't wear a shift below it, mainly because of her open back. Cassandra quickly moved to hold it up—not because Horace was in the room, but because it wasn't the right moment. Not yet.

Horace's hands hesitated for a moment, before moving down to the buttons. The trail of them went along her spine, from below the small of her back to her bottom of her but. One by one, Horace deftly undid the buttons, having no trouble with them as she had had before. Still holding up neck of her dress, Cass took a slight step backwards, and placed her hand gently on Horace's thigh.

His hands paused, if only for a moment.

Cassandra smiled, feeling Horace's hand briefly push against her bottom as he struggled to undo a button. Needing to get lower, he sat back down on the bed and continued trying to get the button looped under the string.

"Damn confusing dresses," he muttered, finally after getting the button. He still had a few to go, but Cass didn't protest as he continued onto the next one, even though she could have easily slipped out of the silk dress then and there.

"I thought you liked seeing me in these kinds of dresses," Cassie murmured, feeling as Horace got the last button undone.

Feeling him stand back up, she dropped the top of the dress, letting the rest of it slid off her body completely, pooling at her feet. She didn't wear undergarments either, having previously felt comfortable in the dress to not bother with any. Feeling her hair tickle her back, she discreetly bent down and collected the dress, tossing it carelessly to a chair.

"Well?" she said expectantly, waiting, but not turning, for him to do or say something.

His hands brushed her shoulders as he continued to remain silent behind her. His breath tickled her bare skin as he breathed silently, at first making her believe there was a draft in the room.

"You didn't tell me this was what you wore to work," Horace whispered, one of his hands dropping from her shoulder to trail down her spine.

Knowing that, otherwise, Horace would chicken out of anything if given the chance, Cassandra took her advantage, once more stepped back—but this time so she was actually against Horace's chest. Reaching down, she took his hand and directed it to where it should have been. Murmuring with pleasure, she once again pressed herself to Horace—this time satisfied when she felt him stiffen and harden, pressing himself closer.

She directed his hands as if this were his first time with her, first so one hand was down where she wanted it to be, second so the other was caressing her chest. Slowly, she let his hands go, letting him go as he please. Once more, he sat on the edge of the bed, his hand drawing around her waist to draw her down to sit in his lap.

Horace, the princess knew, was probably feeling quite awake right now.