This was written for Chrobin Week 2015. Currently being expanded to a full story.

Chapter 1

The beginning

Maribelle is upset from the minute Chrom steps into her posh attorney's office. He sits in the chair in front of her desk like it's a live grenade. He's not in the best mood since having a run in with Lucina's headstrong teacher, and he's tense with anxiety because Maribelle said it was urgent. It's when she doesn't even bother offering him a drink that realization hits.

"This is about the divorce." His statement hangs in the air until she confirms it with a tight nod.

He almost revisits his lunch right then and there because if there's one thing he hates talking about more than his shitty childhood, it's his shitty (former) marriage. She hands him a certified court document that he doesn't attempt to read, instead waiting for her to explain.

"Chrom." Maribelle's tone is calm, ever the consummate professional, but her eyes are wide and sympathetic. "I'm going to speak plainly. That document describes your ex-wife's intent to gain full custody of Lucina, and there's a high likelihood you could lose your daughter."

He waits for the punchline, for the "Gotcha!" because there is nothing that isn't wrong with that sentence. Then he remember that Maribelle jokes exactly never, and the dread surges until he finds it hard to catch his breath.

"What?" he manages. Chrom lets another beat go by in silence, but when Maribelle seems disinclined to say anything else, he says carefully, "She gave up her rights to Luci in the divorce. She can't do this."

"She can," Maribelle confirms quietly. "Ylissean law allows her to appeal despite renouncing her parental rights. And you should know-"

"Why the hell would she do that?" He interrupts, incensed. "She did absolutely nothing for Lucina when we were married, she doesn't love her own daughter, and Lucina never recognized her as her mother. She called her Laurel, for god's sake!"

Maribelle waits patiently for him to get a grip, but all he can think about is how one mistake four years ago had made him the most miserable and the most happy he'd ever been. He'd been determined to pay the price of his drunken indiscretions-well, indiscretion, singular-and raise Lucina alongside her mother. Too bad it'd taken him that many years to realize that he was wasting his time with Laurel and that she'd never be interested in anything besides herself. He and Lucina had cut their losses two months ago and hadn't looked back. It burned him up inside that she couldn't even let him have that.

"Maribelle, she is not fit to be a parent," he argues, leaning forward and ticking off points on his fingers. "She's manipulative and self-centered and she has a spending problem, not to mention-"

"I agree," Maribelle cuts in calmly. "And she's likely doing this for money, since you're wealthy enough to finance her grand lifestyle for the rest of her life."

"She got 50% of my assets in the divorce already. What more does she want?"

"I can't imagine what it'll take to satisfy that woman, but you have to listen, Chrom, because this is crucial," Maribelle urges. "During your divorce proceedings, I mentioned that yours was a rare case where the child was placed with the father, since fathers are rarely awarded full custody." She pauses, brow creasing with concern. "That means that there is significant precedent of Ylissean law being biased in favor of the mother."

He exhales, sharp and panicked. "What, so now that Laurel actually wants Lucina they'll automatically rule against me?"

Maribelle swallows and seems reluctant to speak, which is answer enough for him.

"No...no, that can't be possible! Maribelle, please," he pleads. "There has to be something we can do. They can't take her away from me. I'm her father. I love her more than anyone, dammit!"

She bites her lip. "There is one course of action that could tip the scales in your favor."

"I'll do it."

"Excellent. Have your girlfriend meet us at the courthouse then."

Her statement scrambles his thoughts as he struggles to decipher it. "...I'm sorry, what?"

"Married couples have better track records in custody battles," she explains. "Laurel is still the mother, but if you were married, your case would have more equal footing. The court would have to make a decision based on parenting ability, and they'd take into account resources, relationships, and other factors that could affect Lucina's upbringing."

"God. You're serious." He gives her a dry and disbelieving laugh. "Get married? I haven't dated anyone since Laurel, and look how well that turned out. There has to be another way. Look for another way."

Maribelle sighs and steps out from behind her giant mahogany desk. She sits in the seat next to him and places a supportive hand on his arm. "Chrom, your family is very dear to me, and I'm going to do everything possible to make sure you keep your daughter. I would not advise you to be rash unless I thought it was the only way."

The only way. He lets that sink in. He had one way to potentially keep his daughter. The urge to get absolutely hammered is strong suddenly, but considering that's what landed him here, he reigns it in. He nods to his lawyer and runs a hand over his face. "How long?"

"The first hearing is scheduled in three weeks. From there, depending on the caseload, it could take between five and 12 months to close the case."

She says something else to him, starts listing off women she knows like he can just pick a name out of the lineup and get down to business. He waves her off with something and stumbles out of the office, mind buzzing. He needs to be married in three weeks. He's just supposed to bring a woman into his life, expect her to accept Lucina like she's her own, and what, he wins? He knows exactly one woman he could ask, and he has a snowball's chance in hell of getting her to agree. He drops into his car and slams his hands against the steering wheel. The situation is so ludicrous that he starts to laugh and then cry until he feels empty.

Chrom sits in silence, cheeks wet.

-X-

Robin needs wine, and she needs it stat. After a day spent running after her three whirlwind students, she feels she's earned that, a long soak in her tub, and if she can stretch her budget, a pint of mint chip.

She makes a mental note never to give the kids oatmeal raisin cookies again because those did not do her any favors.

At least Laurent, Kjelle, and Lucina also seem exhausted, which she's sure their parents will appreciate. She helps the trio slip into their coats, taking extra time to tuck Lucina's blanket into the neck of her coat like a cape, and leads them to the front where Miriel and Sully are waiting. Robin finds it odd that Lucina's father is late, but if Lucina notices, she doesn't say anything. The other women greet Robin warmly but don't dawdle, since the kids are eager to go home.

Lucina tugs on her skirt only after they've gone, and Robin smiles wide at the girl pulling her "cape" around her. She crouches down to her level, and her smile softens at the way Lucina seems to be fighting to keep her eyes open. The girl is a cherub despite practically being a clone of her father-all blue eyes, blue hair, and unfailing lack of tact-and while that used to disconcert her, she's grown to accept that good kids can come from less than likeable people.

"What is it, Lucina?"

"Don't forget my picture," she reminds her, pulling her by the hand to the front desk. She snatches the drawing she'd made earlier and waves it at Robin. Robin takes it, her grin wide at the barely recognizable sketch of herself and Lucina with arms like spaghetti petting a dog that looked like a rock.

"I won't forget it," she promises. "I'll put it on my fridge where I can see it everyday."

Lucina beams. "Can I make one for Daddy tomorrow, Miss Robin? Please?"

"Of course. Tomorrow during art time you can draw one for him." And please tell him all about how you drew me first, she thinks with dark satisfaction.

She really should stop antagonizing him in her mind, but she can't help it. She'd bet her whole school that he said snippy things about her in his head, too. That was just their perpetual state of being around each other, and it had been since they were bitter rivals in high school. The more things change (she thinks of Lucina and her sharp eyes and how Chrom is unbelievably, infuriatingly, a good dad), the more they stay the same (she thinks of their screaming match a month ago about whether Lucina was too old for a security blanket, which she'd won). God, it's enough to drive her up a wall.

"Miss Robin, I'm ti-" Lucina yawns in the middle of her sentence and rubs at her eyes. "I'm tired. Can I go home?"

Robin checks the clock and frowns when she realizes it's almost half past five, and Chrom still hasn't shown. "We're just waiting for your father, dear."

"I want to go home," she sighs, almost petulant.

Robin places a hand gently on the crown of her head. "Your father will be here soon. Why don't you go lie down, and I'll come get you when he's here, okay?"

Lucina nods immediately, and Robin leads her back to their classroom. She gets Lucina out of her coat and cape and settles her until she's comfortable on a foam mat. She drapes the small threadbare blanket over Lucina and strokes her bangs back until her breathing evens out. Robin watches the way her eyes flutter behind her eyelids for a moment, and she feels a surge of protectiveness and anger on her behalf. Whenever her father decides to show, he's going to catch hell from her.

She has her mind set on calling him up and giving him a not-so-friendly reminder him that he has a daughter when Sumia intercepts her. The only other teacher at the school, Sumia was her greatest (well, only) ally in their struggle to keep their daycare and preschool afloat.

"We have a problem," she says, and Robin groans internally. "The lighting in the back office keeps flickering. I think it's the wiring. Can we..."

"I don't know," Robin sighs tiredly, rubbing at her temples. "We're going to take a pay cut this month as it is to pay for the new toys we got in."

"We could have a bake sale," she suggests with a smile that's closer to a wince.

"We could." Robin sags against the front desk, and Sumia squeezes her shoulder sympathetically. Just once, she'd like for things to run smoothly and not have worry about whether or not she'd make rent. The fact that it's nothing new, though, makes it easy to push it to the back of her mind when she's got bigger fish to fry.

Robin sends Sumia home with the promise to look over their budget. It's past six, and she has the phone to her ear when the front door opens. She slams the phone back on the hook at the sight of Chrom, red-eyed and ragged.

The sight concerns her because she's never seen him look less than immaculate, but she can't stop herself from asking in a harsh whisper, "Where the hell have you been?"

This time there's no forced pleasantries aimed at her or ridiculously gorgeous smiles he saves for his daughter alone. He gives her a wide-eyed look that seems to be on verge of panic. "Where's Lucina?"

"In the classroom sleeping."

Chrom makes a beeline for the room, and Robin follows after him, caught between confusion and rage. Lucina is curled tightly on the mat, her blanket tight against her chest. He drops to his knees beside her and stares at her so hopelessly that Robin's anger dissipates. Something must have happened because he's not just looking at her like she's his whole world, but like she'll disappear if he so much as blinks. Her heart aches for him for one terrifying second before the surprise sets in.

Robin has always been a sympathetic person, but Chrom has always existed outside of that sphere. She had nothing to sympathize with when they were in high school, not when, as the son of the man that owned the city, everything had practically been handed to him. That combined with one thoughtless remark their freshman year had launched a rivalry that even teachers knew to stay out of.

That doesn't stop her heart from breaking for Lucina, though, just like Chrom seems to be breaking for her.

He slips his arms underneath the sleeping girl, carefully cradles her to his chest, and presses a lingering kiss to her hair. Lucina doesn't make a peep; she just settles down against her father. Robin can see the tension in his arms, how tight he's holding her, and she expects him to sweep out of the room without another word, leaving her to forever wonder what it was that let her catch a glimpse of Chrom at his most vulnerable.

He doesn't. He walks up to her and gives her an inscrutable look.

"Robin, I…" He swallows. "I need your help."

She's nodding before he finishes his sentence.

-X-

She shaking her head immediately after he finishes his sentence, and she imagines he's kicking himself for leading with the most complicated question known to man.

"Have you lost your fucking mind?" she says, tone calm though internally she feels like her thoughts have been scrambled to hell and back.

Chrom glowers, leaning forward on the couch. She shifts backward the tiniest bit to keep space between them. "Are you going to judge me or are you going to help me." It's not even a question.

"Judge you," she decides. "I don't know what I thought you needed help with, but it sure as hell wasn't this."

"Oh, well, I'm sorry, Miss Perfect doesn't have a contingency plan for this exact situation."

He's not looking so vulnerable anymore. In fact, if he simply twists his mouth at her with that fire in his eyes, then it'll be just like old times. It's almost nostalgic, she thinks with an eye roll.

"You can't just spring that on someone," she hisses, making a point to keep her voice low so as to not wake the sleeping four year-old down the hall. She struggles to find her next words, but settles for just whispering in outrage. "Marriage?"

"Believe me, when we agreed to be civil to each other for Lucina's sake, I didn't have this in mind. I also don't have a choice."

She opens her mouth to interrupt him with some nice hot logic, but he launches into a story about Lucina's mother, her greed, and the very real danger she posed. She doesn't try to get a word in because she's absolutely floored when he tells her that she-Robin-is his only hope to keep his daughter out of Laurel's clutches. He needs a convincing marriage to show the court he's a good enough father.

His face falls the further into his story he gets, and the foreign sympathy for this man comes rushing back to her. Chrom still hadn't made it onto her list of favorite people, or if he had, he was at the bottom only because she melted a little every time she watched him interact with his daughter. She wouldn't wish the fear of losing what's most precious on anyone, even him.

"I know you hate me. I know I haven't been the nicest since I enrolled Lucina, but I am begging you, Robin. I can't be without her." He takes a shuddering breath, and his voice breaks. "Marry me."

She worries her lip and slowly replies, "I suspected about Laurel, considering she was always hanging off of you in school, and I already know you have the worst judgement in the world. But marrying you? Do you have any idea what you're asking?"

"Yes!"

"No, you don't," she snaps. "You're asking me to give up my freedom for up to a year to be there for you. You're asking me to live a lie for a year and lie to everyone I love. My life, my relationships-" He raises an eyebrow at that, and she jabs him with her elbow. "The point is that no one is that selfless, although I'll take the fact that you think I am as a compliment."

"By all means," he sighs, his smile brief. "But there's no one else I can go to that will take to Lucina like you have. And in case you've forgotten, that's why I'm groveling!" He catches that he's raised his voice and continues more quietly. "This is for Lucina. Whatever you feel for me doesn't matter as long as you love her."

"...I do," she admits, conflicted about being the logical choice. Lucina wouldn't notice anything amiss. If anything, she'd jump for joy at the chance to spend more time with Miss Robin to have a real mom. She realizes with a heavy heart that Laurel's rejection is the reason Lucina drags her blanket around everywhere and why she got attached to Robin so quickly. She doesn't know what it's like to have her mother love her unconditionally like her father does.

"It wouldn't be completely altruistic," he adds, handing her a folded piece of paper. It's a check for five grand made out to her name.

She gapes. "I can't accept this." She extends it back out to him. He rolls his eyes, grabbing her empty hand to press the check into her palm. He curls his fingers around her hand, keeps it caught between both of his. She gaze drops down, suddenly speechless.

"You can. I'd rather pay you every month that it takes to sort this out than spend the next 14 years financing Laurel's crusade against me."

She glances up to his eyes and then focuses back on their hands. As much as it kills her, she can't argue that she doesn't need it. She could fix the school's wiring, upgrade their computers, and give Sumia a raise. And then there's Lucina…

"We'll need to set some rules," she says, her mouth moving quicker than her mind.

Chrom's mouth drops, like he hadn't expected her to agree in the first place. He lets her go finally, his eyes dark and serious as he nods. "Name them."

"We immediately divorce when Lucina's future is secured."

"Of course."

"And we both try our hardest to stop being petty toward each other."

He shoots her a wry look. "We'll try hard."

"I never hated you, you know," she blurts out in response. "You were just mystifyingly obnoxious. You're probably a good person."

"Probably, huh?" he murmurs, a trace of humor seeping back into his tone. "I'll take it."

She has about a million other questions and things she wants to say to him, but he leaves her alone abruptly to move deeper into the house. He returns minutes later, a velvet box in his hand. He doesn't fall to one knee. He sits down next to her and gingerly takes her hand as if he expects her to retract it at any moment. She wills herself to breathe evenly because so what if he's not a bad guy and he's putting a ring on her finger?

"I never hated you, either," he says, voice low, and it's definitely the slide of the metal on her skin that makes her want to shiver. "You were just mystifyingly out of reach."

-X-

He's never going to marry for love. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if his next marriage was to ensure his company stayed in the family or something equally ridiculous. Someone should make a movie out of his life, really.

The moment the procession starts, Chrom's heart goes into overdrive. Their friends and family all look to him for his reaction as Robin appears at the beginning of aisle, and he thinks his jaw drops at how radiant she is. He's never thought that about anyone, and yet he can't stop staring. The dress is lace and slim and entirely demure, but God does it make him think terrible, terrible things about all the other places it'd look good.

Yup, he definitely can't afford those thoughts, so he takes a deep breath to clear his head as she starts to walk.

Robin holds her head up high, looking calm and confident. She smiles demurely at him as she approaches, her mother on her arm. He mirrors her smile, a little forced at first, but it melts into something more genuine when Robin stops to hug and kiss Lucina in the front row.

That's why he's doing this, reminds himself. That's why Robin's agreeing lie to everyone they know and marry him.

When she slips her hand into his, he studiously keeps his eyes on hers and squeezes her fingers. Despite her outward confidence, she's nervous and he tries to reassure her, to thank her with his touch. It doesn't work. She seems tense until the officiant starts the spiel, and he relaxes in turn since this is what'll make or break the rest of his life.

"Chrom, do you take Robin to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

'I have to' probably won't go over well, so he settles for "I do."

"Good job, Daddy," Lucina whispers entirely too loudly, and he and Robin share a look and a short laugh that sets them at ease.

This is for you, Luci.

-X-

"Robin, do you take Chrom to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

The garden is silent, awaiting her answer, and Chrom's grip on her hands tightens a smidge. She's scared that at any moment someone is going to see right through them and expose them as a sham.

The words sit on the tip of her tongue, the ones she's supposed to say to make this right because if she doesn't love him, then at the very least she loves Lucina. Robin's just starting to find out what she'd do for her happiness.

"I do."

There, she said it. Chrom relaxes. The audience seems to take a collective breath. She doesn't hear the next words the officiant says, but she knows what comes next.

Chrom lets go of her hands and gently cups her face, curving his palms around her jaw. He's not nervous anymore. Why would he when he's managed to lock her down and secure his daughter's future? Instead, the look he gives her before he leans down is soft and grateful, and when he tilts her head up, she meets him halfway.

His lips are yielding and confident, but the kiss is brief. She definitely doesn't wonder what it'd be like to kiss him like in Sumia's romance novels, except that maybe it'd be nice. And maybe he thinks it'd be nice, too, if the pink in his cheeks is anything to go by.

Cheers erupt from their audience, and he holds her close for a moment, pressing their foreheads together. It looks romantic, she bets, but he doesn't whisper sweet nothings to her (fortunately? Unfortunately?).

"Thank you," he says sincerely. He leans in closer to whisper in her ear, "I know this isn't what either of us wanted, but what you're doing is..."

He trails off and looks at her with the blue of his eyes entirely too close and captivating.

She pulls him back against her. "Stupidly selfless and I'm going to live to regret it?"

"I hope not." He smiles, and this time it's not for her, but for everyone else.

Lucina leaps from her seat and throws herself into their arms, kissing them both.

"Mommy, there's cake in that room over there!" she shouts. "Daddy, can we please go?"

Robin smiles against the sudden lurch of her heart. Even if this goes off without a hitch, she's already in too deep. She won't make it out without breaking her own heart.

Thanks for reading! I love hearing from readers, so feel free to leave a comment!