*These next two requests are by I Have Gone Away. Thank you so much, friend!*

"I don't care if they did deserve it, Maribelle! You can't just go up to two drunk, brawling men and give them orders!" Gaius chastised as he carried his wife to their tent.

"Oh, pish-posh! Libra needed help, and I was there," Maribelle argued. "And I am not an invalid, Gaius. Put me down."

Gaius did as she demanded and sat her down on her own two feet. During the scuffle in which the two men were hassling Libra, whom they thought was a woman, Maribelle intervened before Gaius could stop her and received a blow to her face. Of course, for the two drunkards, it was all downhill from there for them as Gaius lost his cool, laying them out in less than five seconds. Libra had wanted to help Maribelle, but she insisted she was fine. However, her husband would not hear of it and carried her off, despite her protests.

"Why did you have to punish them?" she asked, her arms crossed. "They were drunken curs who had no idea what they were doing."

"Maybe because they hurt you?" Gaius replied.

"Clearly by an unfortunate accident," she pointed out. "Of course, you had to return to your brutish ways and show them what for. It was an embarrassing show."

"Now look here, Twinkles," he sharply spoke. "If anything was embarrassing, it was their behavior. I stepped in and stopped you from getting hurt any worse. It's my job to take care of you, and Libra can handle himself as well."

"They were inappropriately grabbing at him, Gaius!" she snapped.

"Yeah, because they thought he was a woman," he added. "What if I hadn't been there to stop them, huh? Or did you forget you're a girl, too? You can't do things like that!"

Maribelle clicked her hill on the gravel road. "You are behaving ridiculously. It shouldn't matter if I am female or not! I had to help!" She put a hand on her hip. "You never doubt Robin's ability to take care of herself. What makes me so different? I have fought in this war, too, you know."

At this statement, Gaius reached in his pocket, pulled out his handkerchief, and softly began to wipe away the blood from his wife's busted lip, a gentle smile on his face. "It's funny you point that out. Robin did something similar to this the other day, and Ricken fussed at her, too." When all the blood was gone, he gently placed his hand on her bruised cheek. "It's not that we don't doubt you. We know how capable you are."

"Then what is it?"

Gaius' eyes locked onto hers. "You are our most precious treasures. We want to protect what is most precious to us." He rubbed his thumb softly over the cut on her lip. "Now do you understand?"

Maribelle's rage subsided as she reached up and placed her hand on top of Gaius'. "Yes. I understand."

"Good," Gaius smiled as he leaned down. "So, how about some sugar?"

A light giggle filled his ears. "Very well." She stood on her tiptoes to allow him to kiss her, and right when their lips were to connect- "You are still a brute, though," she joked.

"But I'm your brute," he grinned slyly, and their lips connected, washing away the anger and igniting the flame of love once more.