Author's Note: Wow. How long have I neglected to update? Five years? I'm the worst. Here's the first fic I've been able to finish in a long time. It's an AU. Elizabeth and Robert secretly marry in the summer of 1566 and welcome their first child, Anne, the following year. This is just a little fic about them all being cute together. There's a gifset and a description of their daughter that goes along with this on my tumblr. I'll post the link in my bio.

I'm sure there's two billion mistakes since I'm the only one who edited it and all the words are currently blurring together. Apologies in advance.

Thank you to everyone who has read these fics, reviewed, or followed. It makes me ridiculously happy every time.

"He's still so young." Elizabeth's voice cut through the silence that had descended upon them for the last few miles. "He shouldn't be so far away from his mother."

She was anxious. He could tell by the distant look in her eyes, staring straight ahead but focusing on nothing, and the way she chewed on her fingernails.

Robert laughed softly. "Why do I think he'll always be too young to be far from his mother?"

Her eyes were suddenly focused and staring pointedly at him. "As if you won't chase away every single one of Anne's suitors," Elizabeth shot back.

"I think Anne will be just as hard to please when it comes to suitors as I am." Elizabeth pursed her lips, but nodded her head to concede that he was right.

There was a slight pause before he said quietly, "But isn't she rather young for that?"

Elizabeth's lips relaxed into a smile and it was now her turn to laugh. "See?" she said, poking him in the arm. "You tease me, but you're no different."

He was glad to see her smile, even if it was at his expense. Getting her to genuinely smile was a challenge the past few weeks and he was proud whenever he could get one to appear.

"Thank God we could finally get out of London," she told him, letting out a sigh of relief. "I was about to go mad. He's just too young to be away from his mother."

For all his teasing, he was genuinely concerned about how often she repeated that phrase. She hated every second their children were out of her sight and demanded that she receive frequent updates about their health and if she felt these letters were not frequent enough, she'd send several messengers herself. For a woman who lost family member after family member, he couldn't blame her, but he worried she'd soon make herself sick.

When she stepped out of the coach, she squeezed his hand. She was significantly happier knowing that she was moments away from being with her children and he himself felt a significant weight lifted off his shoulders.

Anne was always the first to greet them. She was determined to be first at everything. Robert imagined the scuffle that would ensue once her brother was old enough to give her a fair fight.

Recent letters informed them that Anne was working on what she referred to as her "mother walk". With the keen eyes of a hawk, Anne watched her mother's every move, storing everything she saw in her mind so she could practice doing it herself later. Anne was quite excited to show off her royal walk.

She walked towards them, as stately as she could. Anne didn't need to feign the appearance of elegance, with her unusually tall stature, swan-like neck and long fingers, but she was at heart a wild spirit that would forever masquerade as being tamed.

After a few more steps she paused and looked towards Elizabeth, who nodded her head, indicating that she had done a very good job at walking like a princess. Anne nodded her head in return and bowed. Once she stood upright again, a bright smile broke out across her face and she abandoned all decorum as she rushed towards her parents. She ran right into her mother's skirts and reached her arms as wide as she could in an attempt to embrace her mother.

She released her mother's skirts and ran over to her father to give him her signature greeting of wrapping her arms around his leg. When she was first beginning to walk, she'd grab on to anyone's leg to steady herself. Soon she realized that everyone took it as a mark of favor when the little princess grabbed onto their legs or clutched at their skirts. So long as she remained eye level with legs and skirts, she would continue to do this.

He remembered the first time she toddled forward and attached herself to William Cecil's leg, looking up at him with what may or may not have been a mischievous smile. Cecil looked down at her trying to decipher whether he should be concerned about what kind of creature Elizabeth and Robert created or simply admire how skillfully she managed to charm everyone around her.

Her charm never seemed to fail her. Even those who begrudged her for simply existing weren't immune. Everybody, even the most skilled politician with a natural distaste for a royal child with Dudley blood, easily dissembled under the strength of her innate ability to make people love her.

She raised her arms up, a gesture that meant she wanted her father to hold her. "You know one day you'll be too big for me to pick up," he told her as he lifted her up into his arms.

She looked at him as if he had said the most absurd statement she had ever heard. "No, I won't!"

"Yes, you will!"

"You're so strong, though, Father. You're the strongest man in the world!"

He could hear Elizabeth making a poor attempt at holding back laughter. Anne was still at the age where she was thoroughly convinced there was no one alive or dead that could quite match up to her mother and father. When she said her father was the strongest man in the world, she meant it. But it was quite apparent that she knew the effect she had on her father. She was particularly adept at manipulating men. Robert looked over at Elizabeth. He knew exactly where Anne inherited this skill.

She never used these tactics on her mother, though. They had a wordless bond that needed no explanation from either of them. A smile - no - more like a smirk or a conspiratorial grin would pass between them. They understood each other.

She resembled his side of the family and whenever he looked at her he saw the happy family he once had and his chance to replicate what his parents had so lovingly created. But she was truly her mother in every other way. With each passing year the resemblance became more and more apparent and it soon was clear that she was a miniature version of Elizabeth dressed up in Dudley colors. She was a Boleyn.

He was reminded of the day he knelt down in front of her mother, bowed his head, and swore he would die for her. He would do the same for their daughter and he had no doubt that many other men would follow suit.

"And you are the prettiest and smartest girl in the world."

"Just like Mother?" Anne asked, her eyes filled with hope, anxiously awaiting her father's response, for she wanted nothing more than to be like Elizabeth.

"Just like your mother."

Even Elizabeth couldn't resist that.

Anne wiggled her legs, a sign that she wanted Robert to put her down. Once her feet hit the ground, she grabbed both of their hands and pulled them forward. "Let's go see Brother."

As she led them down the hall, she went through the list of everything that happened since she'd last seen them.

"Brother doesn't walk as well as I do. He always falls down."

Elizabeth was highly amused, but she swallowed her laughter. "Well, that's because he's still a baby. You, Anne, are a little lady."

"Princess!" she corrected her mother.

He noticed Elizabeth cringe slightly when she realized her mistake. She had never forgotten the day she noticed that everybody had stopped addressing her as the Princess Elizabeth. "You're quite right. You are a little princess, but you used to be just as small as your brother. You didn't walk well either."

"That's not true!" she cried. If you asked Anne, she was always good at everything.

"It is true! You just don't remember."

Anne thought it over and by the look on her face, it seemed she didn't quite accept that as fact, but she moved on. "I'm going to help him, though, Mother. I'm going to make him better. Isn't that what you told me?"

Robert recalled Elizabeth telling her daughter that it was her job to help her brother and teach him everything she knew. "He'll be a good king one day if you help him because you are so very talented yourself." Anne was the type of person that needed to seem useful and in charge of things. She had been the center of attention for years and she didn't want her feeling displaced. It seemed to work for now, as Anne kept babbling on about everything she was going to teach him.

"That seems like a lot, Anne," Elizabeth replied.

"Oh, I won't teach him all at once. Some people just can't learn as fast as I can."

She suddenly stopped her in tracks and dropped both of their hands. She motioned for her father to come towards her and then pointed towards the ground. Robert had learned this meant she had something very important to tell him because she always demanded that he must be at the same level as her when discussing something serious. One time it had been to inform him that he smelled like horses and another time when she was first beginning to talk, she simply uttered the words "new dress" and then pointed to Elizabeth's. She promptly received several new gowns as Elizabeth always supplied her daughter with an overwhelming number of garments to choose from, the memory of having to endure wearing ill-fitting clothes as a child always in her mind.

Robert knelt down and waited for what new issue their princess would raise today. Never had he seen her look as uncertain as she did now. Anne was usually overflowing with confidence.

He reached forward and playfully twirled a strand of her nearly black hair around his finger. She gave a small smile, but swatted his hand away. God forbid he ruin her beloved hair.

She held his hands, most likely in a attempt to stop him from touching her hair, but he couldn't help but be reminded of the first time she wrapped her hand around his finger.

"Father, I know boys are more important than girls, but…"

He quickly interrupted her. "Whoever told you that?"

"Well, if they weren't more important, then I would be Queen after mother. I'm the eldest."

He supposed he should have known she'd ask about this one day, but he hadn't expected it so soon, especially when moments ago she had seemed so content with being her brother's teacher. Now that she had broached the subject, he wasn't entirely sure what to say.

Elizabeth had taken a step back to give them privacy and he now noticed that she was no longer even facing them. She worried about every single thing when it came to her children, but her biggest fear was that her children would turn on each other, like her own royal siblings had. Suddenly everything hinged on the words he'd say next.

So he told her the only thing he could to explain away her fears. "Let me tell you, Anne, that every man in England will forever bow down at your feet. You are far more important than all the other sons out there."

From the moment he first held her in his arms and she looked up at him, he knew instantly that she was worth more than everyone else's sons combined. Every thing she did reminded him of how much he loved her. He loved the way she'd nuzzle her face against his neck when he held her. He even loved her stubborn and demanding nature and how she'd say "Father, kisses!" as if it was more of a command than a request. Before her brother was born, he would've ran his sword through any man that dared comment on her sex. He didn't know how other men felt about their daughters, but he felt his daughter was exceptional in everything she did.

A sly grin spread across her face. She lifted her chin and her somber eyes began to sparkle. "Father, show me how they will bow to me."

Robert paused for a moment and noticed that Elizabeth had turned around and was stifling a laugh. He would have usually make some quip that "she was certainly her mother's daughter", but decided he'd let her have this one. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and nodded for him to proceed.

Robert stood up and his tall frame executed the most exquisite bow to the petite little girl in front of him. Anne clapped her hands in delight.

"All men must bow to me like that?"

Robert nodded.

She held out her arms and he lifted her up into his arms. Her face grew serious again. "So you still love me just as much as you did before Brother was born?"

"There's nothing in this world or the next that would ever make me stop loving you and everyday I'll love you more, if that's possible."

She smiled. "Kisses!"

He laughed and kissed her before setting her back down on her feet. "Let's go see your brother."

Elizabeth smirked as she came to his side. "Just how tightly does she have you wrapped around her finger?

"Jealous?" he asked. "You never were good at sharing."

She hit him in the arm and he pretended it hurt him much more than it did.

"You had to see that one coming" she said unapologetically.

"Of course. That's why I said it."

She rolled her eyes, but a smile danced on her lips. "You know she'll make you bow like that to her all the time now?"

Robert shrugged. "There's worse fates for men I suppose."

More notes: Usually I don't care about using words that didn't exist back then, unless it's like electricity or something, but I did look up the origin of the "wrapped around her finger" phrase. One source said it was from medieval falconry (which would work so well) and others said that wasn't true and it first appeared centuries later. Then I just stopped caring and used it anyway lol.

It would probably be way too obvious a reference to Anne Boleyn if they named their daughter Anne and it might make more sense to name her something that connects her to royalty, but, as with many other things, I don't care. I want a Princess Anne. No one can stop me. I just can't resist their daughter resembling the Dudley/Boleyn side of her family. The bear and the ragged staff isn't so easily overthrown and I imagine Anne's spirit being like "bet you thought you saw the last of me." Good times.