-Two Years Later-


Zelda stood outside the door, fidgeting with the item in her hand before pushing it open, hoping to see Link.

And she did see him. He was lying down on the couch by their fireplace with a book about war tactics in his hand that he'd been reading for days.

"Hey, Pumpkin," Zelda cooed, putting the item down and heading towards the couch.

He looked over at her and made a face.

Zelda scoffed in his direction. "I'm not talking to you." She picked up the tubby orange kitten from the couch and pulled her into her arms before sitting beside Link, stroking the cat as she purred in perfect contentment.

Link turned back to his book. "I didn't think you'd call me by our cat's name. But hey, whatever makes you happy."

She rolled her eyes and showered Pumpkin with affections, missing her after a considerably long day. But after some time, Pumpkin stretched her way out of Zelda's arms and moved to sit on Link, her preferred of the two, much to Zelda's dismay. Pumpkin sat directly in Link's line of sight to his book.

"I guess I'm done reading," he chuckled, setting the book upside-down on his leg so he could run his fingers through Pumpkin's fur. "How'd it go today?"

Zelda curled up against Link. "Do you know how many people want this trade route? I gave it to the towns nearest the Zora's."

"One day, you can stop thanking them for saving Damel. I think you should have given it to my old Garrison."

Zelda hummed. He liked to offer completely illogical suggestions to her. The Garrison was nowhere near the road she was talking about, and he knew it. "You'd play favorites?"

"Of course. It's why I don't have any say in your decisions." He kissed her forehead, officially greeting her. He hadn't seen her all day, being busy with the Castle Garrison. They'd become the Kingdom's training hub, and he'd not only been leading the actual activities of the Garrison, but also leading several training exercises and overseeing the daily progress of his soldiers.

It had been a couple of days since he'd returned from leading the most recent attack on a dinofols raiding party that had gotten too close to the castle. Though this was the second of two raids, spaced about a week apart—and they were trying to figure out if it was coordinated or random—leading the raids had been the first good dose of a real fight he'd had in more than a month before that. Raids were common though, especially when a group of monsters thought to try and attack. But it was usually moblins or bokoblins, something that required little energy or excitement. And while Link loved his life more than anything, the deeply ingrained soldier part of him still liked the challenge of a good fight that dinofols, Hylians, or other tougher enemies brought.

Finn had been helping Link train the new recruits as well. He'd gotten used to walking with the fake leg and the crutch, and he could move much faster. He could even demonstrate some swordsmanship, but his skill was nowhere near what it used to be. However, his brain was, and he'd been very good at doubling as trainer and spymaster, though very few people knew about his second title.

After a brief dalliance with Seres, they'd both come to the realization that they were no more than friends, and he'd begun seeing one of Zelda's trainees. Zelda had taken more potion lessons from Shad and honed her skills, stitching internal wounds and studying until he'd tested her thoroughly on all aspects of the field. She'd passed his examination, and—though her profession as Queen stopped her from becoming a full-time or highly-practiced physician—she began to offer to mentor Shad's trainees from his practice in Castle Town. If not the time or experience, Zelda had the knowledge to offer them that much. One of them, Iris—named ironically by her parents for her slightly un-matching eye colors—had begun to help Finn get around, and a year later, they were still happily together.

Ellie had been one of her other students, though she'd begun to discover that her interests weren't quite so in-depth. Instead, she began to dabble, and was still in the process of figuring out what she wanted to do permanently. She'd gone back home for a time to give farming another shot but returned when it proved to remain her least favorite thing.

Seres had her short-lived fling with Finn, but other than that, she hadn't been nearly as interested in romantic aspiration as she thought she'd be. She would still dream of the days she ran the house in Damel and had begun to ask Zelda for books that explained money handling a bit better. Zelda had given her everything she could find, and included an offer of rupees if she was looking for something specific and expensive to get started, but Seres opted to go the long way around, remaining with Zelda while she studied, and working outside the palace as well, helping the local innkeeper by handling the books in exchange for some practical lessons in how to run a building.

So, when Zelda had sent Link a message asking him to return to their room early, he'd been more than happy to oblige, their first restful moment since his return and chaotic scramble to catch up on his missed work.

But Zelda had been late, and Link began to read his book again, kept company by his faithful—if slow and easily tripped over—orange shadow.

"I have something," she said, rising to her feet again to grab the item off the un-set chess table she'd put it on. She returned to Link with a crown.

"It's nice," he said, looking it over before glancing back at her. "Why are you holding it out to me?"

"Take it."

He did and turned it in his hands a few times. "Why? I'm not allowed to wear one." He plopped it on his head anyway and chuckled as it immediately fell off. "It's too small for me anyway."

She crossed her arms expectantly. He sighed, trying to figure her expression out.

"Okay, we're playing a guessing game with this," he said, gently moving Pumpkin off of him so he could stand in front of Zelda. He put the crown on her head. "Also too small. You have a big head, Zelda."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Good, it was meant as one. That brain of yours is bursting." He kissed her as he took the crown off her head and flipped it over again. "Oh it's our stones," he chuckled, tapping the purple and green stones that represented the two royals. Zelda's color had come from a combination of her parents, and Link's came about as a play on his part of their name—green for Forrester. There were a few more, one dark green color between them and some on the sides, blue, red, orange, and several other colors that circled it, but he opted to ignore those and continue tapping his and Zelda's as he thought.

He smirked at her mischievously. "This isn't for some fantasy of yours, is it? You want to call me your king?"

Zelda barked out a laugh and lightly smacked his arm. "Please! Your ego does not need the help!"

Zelda took the crown back from him before he could get any other thoughts along that line. She laid down on the bed and set the crown down on her stomach, stretching out her arms above her as she yawned and then comfortably watched Link continue his struggle.

"I don't know. Can I have a hint? At least tell me why I have to guess. I don't see how this is going to have anything to do with me."

"Fine," she sighed. She looked him over slowly and then closed her eyes. "It does have to do with you, and I just like watching you struggle to try and figure this out. You're cute."

"So, selfishly enjoying me struggling, and somehow, it's something to do with me? You've got me, Zelda. I have no clue."

She smirked.

"You're torturing me with something, aren't you? I've forgotten something incredibly important."

Her smile grew.

Link cursed under his breath and tried to think of important events. It wasn't close to Zelda's birthday. His had been last month. There were no anniversaries, good or bad, that he could think of. He went to kneel beside her, resting his arms on the mattress.

She grabbed the crown to steady it as he jostled the bed, and his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the crown.

"What is—" he stopped, running his hand through his hair again, his eyes on their stones. The order. Her purple stone. A lower-rung deep moss green colored stone. Then his significantly brighter green stone on the same level as hers. He looked around the crown to the other stones, feeling his heart start to race as his brain puzzled it out. Red and blue, her parent's stones. Between them, purple and orange. Zelda and her sister's.

And she was not letting the crown move from where it rested.

Link leaned back onto his heels and glanced at her eyes. They'd softened, from mischief to expectance. She could see his expression and was waiting for him to process his thoughts.

He swallowed hard and glanced from the crown, down to the stomach it rested on. "Zelda… am I on the right track?"

She reached out to grab his hand and nodded, tightening her grip as she felt him sway a bit. He had the sense to stop balancing on his heels and get to his knees as he tried to make his blank mind function again.

"You're…?"

"Yes."

He let out a disbelieving laugh. "We're…?"

"We are, Link."

His eyes bugged out. "Are you sure? You're sure? Really sure?"

Zelda finally sat up and rested her palms on Link's cheeks, forcing him to look at her face and not her stomach or the crown. "I saw Shad this morning. He ran blood tests. We're sure."

"Shad knew first?"

Zelda ran her fingers through Link's hair. "Shad knew before me, Link. He called me in with suspicions. Don't feel left out."

"Oh Goddess," Link breathed, fighting back a smile as he kept reasoning things out in his brain. "You didn't have a stomach bug last week."

"Probably not. No."

"How did this happen?"

Zelda cracked a smile and kissed his forehead. "I really hope I don't have to explain that one to you, Link."

He flushed and grabbed her hands. "That's not what I mean. I meant… when? How… how far along…"

That had Zelda turning red, red with giddy nerves, not quite embarrassment, but more akin to sheepishness. "Well, based on everything we know… and we know you were away on those raids for a while, so it wasn't then… I'd suggest it might have been somewhere on or around your birthday? We maybe didn't take timing into consideration when we… celebrated it." She bit her lip and closed her eyes, trying not to laugh.

"Oh sweet Goddess," Link mumbled, feeling his own dose creeping up his neck. "Yeah, that would do it," he chuckled.

"Are you excited, Link? I can't tell. And be honest because this was an unexpected surprise for me too. But I went through most of my emotions this morning."

"Oh, gods, yes! I am!" he said quickly. And it was the truth. "I just… I'm in a bit of shock, I think. This isn't a dream?"

"No. I can pinch you if you'd like some proof."

This time, he broke out into a genuine smile, and he laughed, crawling over Zelda and onto the bed.

"We're going to have a… baby?"

Zelda turned to him and grinned. "How are you so surprised? You're the one who keeps pretending we're going to have 27 kids. You have to start at number one."

"We're going to be parents. How are you not in shock?"

Zelda scooted closer to him. "I told you, I found out a few hours ago. I'm ahead of you with processing this news. I had a very similar experience in Shad's office. I think he might have needed to tell me a few times and then show me the tests, which I made him run again." She held out her arm, pointing to the mark where they'd drawn blood from.

"Can I…?" Link asked, his hand hovering over her stomach.

"You don't have to ask, Link. I'm not fragile, just pregnant."

He rested his hand down, half expecting to feel a kick, but knowing that was a silly thought to even consider at this point. "If it's a girl, do we have to name her 'Zelda?'"

Zelda hummed. "I think that would be expected of us, yes. However, we have followed almost none of the proper rules since being married, and if you're willing to fight the Council with me when they try to beg us to follow at least one tradition, I'd rather not name her 'Zelda'."

"You obviously have my undying support. Her name is not going to be Zelda, and even though they'll never ask, if it's a boy, his name will never be Link."

"Thank you," she sighed. But quickly, she was shaking her head. "They're going to hate us when they're learning to write, though. Their first name, two middle names, and then our combined last names. And you thought my name was long."

Link chuckled. "We'll have to keep their names short for their sake. Like Al."

Scrunching her face, Zelda tried not to laugh. "Something like Al Jo Li Forrester-Hyrule, just so they don't have to write out too many long names their whole life."

"Girl or boy, our kid is going to be named Al Jo Li. Done. Sold. I'm in." Link, however, was unsuccessful in keeping his face even remotely serious.

"Look at that, we are eight months ahead of the game here. Already have a name. We're going to crush this parenting thing," Zelda laughed, finally cracking.

"Hey," Link asked, changing up the pattern he was making along her stomach, "how did you get this crown so fast if you found out this morning?"

Zelda snorted. "The Council gave it to me about a month after we were first married as a sort of wedding present threat that I should get pregnant quickly. At least I gave them two good years of stress on that front."

Link tucked his other arm under Zelda's neck and ran his other hand through her hair. "You're going to be incredible, Zelda."

"You too."

But Link shook his head and closed his eyes. He felt her tapping him, urging him to explain. He wasn't sure if he should, or if the admission would make him seem like someone she wouldn't want to father her child.

"Zelda," he started, deciding to go for it. He'd lived his life with her by being resolutely blunt; why change now? "I don't have any idea how to be a father. I've lived more of my life without a father figure than I did with one. My grandfather was the only really good role model I had for that, and he died when I was young. I don't want to ruin our child because I don't know how to be a father."

She understood his fear far more than she wanted to. "You're not going to ruin our baby, Link. Besides, you're so good with Ellie, and Pumpkin is even a bit of practice."

"A sixteen-year-old and a cat?"

"Well don't phrase it like that," she giggled. "We'll be fine. We can do this. And we have people here who will help us. I just wish… I wish…"

Link nodded against her, knowing exactly what her words were failing to say. "You wish your parents and your sister were here."

She turned to him with a single tear in her eye. "Yeah."

"Do you want to take a ride out to the grave tomorrow?"

She bit her lip as another tear fell. "Yes." And after a while of just breathing in an out to collect herself, but she found her own anxieties rising again.

"Link, I—" she tried before hissing, furiously wiping a third tear away. "Goddess, this crying is frustrating!"

Link shifted so his hand was on her cheek, ready. "I've got you covered. Go ahead. What were you going to say?"

And the gesture had another tear falling, one that Link hastily swiped away for her. It made her laugh, her heart swelling, screaming just how much she loved him.

"Okay," she said, focusing her breathing again. "I'm not going to lie, as excited as I am, I'm terrified, too. I've had to keep repeating that I'm pregnant because it doesn't feel real until I remind myself. I haven't gotten over fear yet.

"I had a mother my whole life. She was a beautiful, caring, loving mother who gave her life to try to keep her children safe. She literally sacrificed herself for us, Link. How can I measure up to that?" She felt his thumb brush some tears away, and she tried to blink them back, but they weren't really working with her. "You didn't have a father figure, but my mother was too incredible. Anything I attempt after her would be sub-par."

"Gods, no, Zelda," he whispered, his thumbs both wiping tears now. "I know I might be a little biased, but I've never met anyone that I would trust more than you, and there's no one else in this word I would want to be the mother of our child. Forget our parents. You and I are going to do everything we can to make sure they're loved and cared for. Neither of us have ever half-assed anything before, so there's no way we'll start now. We might fumble around in the dark a bit, but we're going to give this everything we've got. That's going to count for a whole lot more than we think."

Zelda let out another sob, growling in annoyance as she did. "Gods, I hate how much I love you. You're making me cry more because you're being incredible."

Link chuckled. "Sorry. I only speak in facts though, and that one is a fact."

One of his hands moved back to her stomach, and she found her hand joining his, resting above it. "This is silly, but I think it's a boy. Call it instinct."

Link felt himself smiling, mirroring Zelda's now-wide grin. "Yeah? I'll bet against you. Girl."

"You're not supposed to bet against me," she laughed, sitting back up.

"I just gave us 100% odds of being right, Zelda."

Her smile faded a little bit as she moved to lie against Link instead of on the pillow facing him. "I asked Shad to stay quiet. I don't want anyone to know until it's safer. Not Finn or Seres either. No one but the three of us."

"That's fine with me."

"Okay," she sighed, her head lolling towards him. "What am I going to do about the Kingdom? We're on our feet now, but that stomach bug… well… this knocked me down for days. What if it happens again, or a few months in, what happens if I'm too tired for a Council meeting about something important?"

"It'll work out," he tried. "You can reschedule meetings, you can have people come to you, you can send me in with all your notes and I'll report everything back word for word. You're the Queen, Zelda. If you want to hold a Council meeting in here with everyone wearing pajamas and holding hydromelons under their shirts just to make you laugh, you can. We'll just have to figure this out our own way."

"We can do this," she chuckled nervously. "We can do it."

He held out his hand to her and she clasped it tight. They could both feel the other shaking.

"You and me, we've got this," Link agreed.

"I love you," Zelda whispered, still wobbling between excitement and nerves.

Link tightened his grip and placed a long kiss over her hand. "I love you. I love you both."

"Gods, Link, we're going to have a baby. That's… that's wild."

He grinned and sat up, finally kissing her lips. His hands wrapped around the back of her neck, his thumbs running light lines over her skin as his lips moved tenderly across hers, breathing her in like air.

"Zelda," he finally muttered, smoothing her hair back. "You took a reckless soldier and gave him something to live for. Now, you've given me a second person to live for. I will never be able to repay you. You saved my life the first time when you handed me the keys to our cell, and you've saved it again countless times since. You've made me better."

She pressed her forehead into his, playing with the short hairs at the nape of his neck. "And you helped me stitch my life together when I was at my lowest. You gave me a family that I never expected. We're adding to that family. Yeah, we're both ecstatic. And gods, are we terrified. But the best man I know once told me that we can only be bravest when we are most afraid."

Link's soft eyes couldn't betray him anymore if he tried. It was as if she was looking straight into his heart, wearing it so plainly on his face.

"Well, the best woman I know once admitted she was deathly afraid of snakes, so…"

Zelda threw her head back and laughed, pulling Link with her as she crashed backwards onto the bed again. She guided him beside her and took his hand between them.

"You and I have faced prison cells, living as fugitives, countless political messes and even assassination plots, Ganondorf, death, marriage, and ruling a kingdom together. Are you ready to go on another adventure with me, Link?"

He squeezed her hand tighter, their rings knocking together with the motion.

"Always, Zelda."


A/N: This has been so much fun coming back to this fic after so a few months! I can't believe I forgot to post it here initially, but this has still been a really fun way to re-experience my favorite fic I've written so far! This is the longest single work I've written too, so this Zelink has a special place in my heart. And, in case you were curious, it finished at 456 Microsoft Word pages with 1.5 spacing. Good lord.

I hope the ending was the fluff you wanted! It was the happy end they deserve after everything they went through. I have literally never had a wedding in a fic before, and I've definitely never ended on a pregnancy, so I'm going to check those two fluff boxes off, thank you Unbroken.

Super special thank you to everyone who read this! Extra thank you to those who commented, only because I saw your names show up so I know you more! DOUBLE thank you to QueenKitsune77 for making GORGEOUS art for Unbroken! This was from the Ao3 comments, but I asked if I could repost this in the notes section. You should go check it out! Since there are no links allowed here, it's the plain deviantart url with queenkitsune77/art/Zelink-Unbroken-853422436 after it!

Hope you enjoyed Unbroken!