When You're Home, an elena of avalor fanfic

When You're Home

By Laura Schiller

Based on: Elena of Avalor

"NINA: I'd stare out at the sea,

Thinking: Where am I supposed to be?

So please don't say you're proud of me

When I've lost my way.

BENNY: Then can I say

I couldn't get my mind off you all day?

Now listen to me -

That may be how you perceive it,

But Nina, please believe that

When you find your way again,

You're gonna change the world … "

- "When You're Home", by Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights)

At the end of Naomi's workday as a member of the Grand Council, it was customary for Armando or one of the Royal Guards to drive her home. Gabe had taken over this duty more and more often over the last three years and she was grateful for that, but tonight she couldn't look him in the eye as he handed her into the carriage.

"You, uh … you don't need to do this," she stuttered. "I can get home by myself."

"I know." He shrugged good-naturedly. "I don't mind. It's faster."

"You're sure you're okay to drive?"

Kizin had shaken Gabe and Mateo around like an oversized baby with a pair of rattles. It had been disturbing to watch. Gabe, however, who was one of the most resilient people Naomi knew, actually grinned at her as he swung himself up into the coachman's seat. "Eh, bumps and bruises, I can put ice on them back at the barracks. ¡Adelante!"

He flicked the reins. The horses set off at an easy walk, making the carriage rock from side to side not unlike the hammock she'd woken up in aboard her ship. Everything had happened so fast today, it was only now beginning to sink in that she was really home.

Home, with its white stucco houses with red roof tiles lining the cobbled road as it wound downhill to the harbour. Home, with its evening chorus of madly chirping crickets and palm fronds waving against the starry sky. Home, with Gabe sitting tall in his navy blue uniform, stopping the carriage at every crossing, paying attention though he had to be even more exhausted than she was.

I can't believe I stayed away this long, she thought.

Then, as they drove through the Via Mercado and the stretch of road that had once covered her first archeological site, which was also the site of her first argument with Esteban: I can't believe I came back.

The Emporium was shuttered, but one window on the top floor still showed light. Doña Paloma must be working late. Her lamp looked very solitary opposite the Guzmans' restaurant at peak dinner hour, where chatter, laughter, guitar music and the smell of hot paella spilled from every door and window.

"Hear that?" Gabe tilted his head in the restaurant's direction and smiled at her over her shoulder. "That's your hero's welcome, Captain Turner. The whole city's proud to have you back."

"Don't say that," she blurted out. It was one of the sweetest things she'd ever heard him say, if only she could agree. She felt like the furthest possible thing from a hero lately. Months of lonely travelling had taken their toll on her, but it hadn't been enough to make her forget. "You wouldn't be so proud if you knew why I left."

"What are you talking about?" Gabe had turned back to keep an eye on the horses, but his confusion and concern were clear in his voice. "You left because sailing was your dream."

"That wasn't the only reason." She gripped the edge of the carriage until her knuckles turned white. "The truth is … I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

Falling off a cliff that could have killed her if Elena and Skylar hadn't caught her in midair. Carnevale floats coming to life and trampling people's property in the streets. Gabe locked in behind a wall of spiky crystals because of a simple disagreement. Esteban, who had taught her to waltz, on trial for treason. Naomi's own hand up in the air.

"Making the wrong call," she said. "Not being able to trust my instincts anymore. When Esteban … when all that went down, it had me second-guessing everything. I always thought he and I both cared about Avalor, even when we were driving each other crazy. I never thought in a million years that we'd find him helping Elena's enemies, or … or letting a giant loose in Vallestrella."

"I know what you mean," said Gabe sombrely.

Of course he did. Naomi knew just how hard he'd worked to become captain, and how much it had stung to be even temporarily replaced by Mateo.

"And I did make the wrong call," she continued. "Elena broke her arm today, and you and Mateo got captured, all because I was so distracted chasing that bounty … It was my fault. Sometimes … sometimes I wish my parents and I had never left Norberg. Life would've been easier."

She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat as she remembered Elena helpless on the ground, Gabe and Mateo trapped in the giant's fists. They had faced danger before, but Esteban's betrayal had made Avalor feel fundamentally unsafe in a way no magical creature, no matter how powerful, had ever done.

As much as she loved her adopted country she didn't know how much of herself she had left to give it. The idea of a place where everyone looked and spoke like her, ate the same food and sang the same songs, where her white skin wouldn't get sunburned and where malvagos were the stuff of children's stories, was more appealing than she'd admitted to anyone before.

"Hey, now … please don't … okay, hang on."

To her astonishment, Gabe did something he'd never done in all the two and a half years he'd been driving her. He reined in the horses, ordered them to stand still, and with one athletic leap, he landed on the carriage bench right next to her.

"Now listen to me," he said, taking one of her hands in his and tilting up her chin with the other, so that they were eye to eye, "You know what Captain Sandoval used to say? No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Everyone makes the wrong call sometimes - I know I do - but that doesn't mean we stop trying. And you didn't stop, did you? You came back. You even gave up your bounty for us. I'm still proud of you, Naomi. Always."

Both his hands were holding hers now, warm and strong. The lights of the city shone in his deep brown eyes. She blinked back her tears so she could see them better.

"You really mean that?"

"Course I do." He looked nervous now as well as sincere, clearing his throat, glancing away and then back at her. "Listen … I need to ask you something, okay? When you left, I swore I wouldn't put it off any longer, but it's been such a crazy day, and … "

"Gabe. What is it?"

She was sitting perfectly still, but her heart was pounding as if they were still in mid-battle. What could he have to say to her that made him so nervous? She had her secret hopes, but even now, she was second-guessing. She wished her brain would shut up.

"Remember when I saw you off at the docks," he said, "And I asked you why you were leaving? You said you needed to decide what was more important to you, traveling the world or having a family. Since you came back … is it the second one?"

"Yeah." It was her turn to clear her throat. "I mean, it's not like I'll never sail again, obviously. I still love it. It's just … I learned that freedom doesn't mean much without someone to share it with." She looked up at him, praying he'd understand.

"Yeah. I get that." Gabe smiled shyly. "I, um … we could be family, Naomi. If you wanted. You and me."

For a moment, she knew exactly what Elena must feel like every time her dress turned yellow. If Naomi had those powers, the swarm of butterflies would have lit up the Via Mercado as bright as daylight with the force of her happiness.

"Just to be clear," she said, blushing and smiling despite her attempt to sound like a level-headed councillor, "Is this you proposing marriage?"

"Oh, no!" Gabe blurted out, letting go of her abruptly. But before her butterflies could fall, he added: "I mean, not now. You're not of age yet, right?" The Avaloran age of majority was twenty, the same age Elena would be crowned. Naomi was nineteen. "But I've been saving my pay, and in a few years I'll be able to afford a nice house close to the palace. I'd like to court you properly, with your parents' permission and everything, but - but only if you give me your permission first. So … will you?"

He gestured as he spoke, in that typically Avaloran way she had always loved. She could almost see the house and savings account as he sketched them in the air. Trust Gabe to always plan ahead, and to respect her as well as he respected tradition. When he held those hands out to her, love and hope in every line of his curled palms, she knew exactly how to answer.

"Yes!" She launched herself into his open arms, and they closed around her tight.

Their first kiss was as lively as one of their arguments, as dizzying as their first waltz. They both liked being in control, and it was fun to challenge each other over who would take the lead. Neither of them cared that they were still in the street. It was dark anyway, and the well-cushioned royal carriage provided a better shelter than she would have guessed.

"Hmm … not too close to the palace, yeah?" was the first thing she managed to say when she could form full sentences again. "I wanna live near Mom and Dad and the harbour. Besides … I like it when you drive me home."

"Got it," said Gabe. The Captain of the Guard would never pass inspection right now; his cap was askew, his top button undone, and a silly smile on his face. "Speaking of which, though, we should probably get going. They'll be expecting you. C'mon."

He jumped down from the carriage, back up into the coachman's seat, and beckoned to her with a challenging lift of his eyebrows. That was how she ended up perching on that narrow bench next to him, pressed together from shoulder to thigh, one of his arms wrapped around her waist and the other holding the reins.

"This is a fun way to drive," he said, giving her a squeeze. "We should try it more often."

"Only if you can keep your eyes on the road."

"Hey, I can multitask. Right, guys?" He addressed the horses, who only flicked their ears indifferently, as they had trotted this way often enough that they had it memorized anyway.

As Naomi leaned against Gabe's shoulder, swaying in time to the motion of the carriage like a new kind of dance, soon enough the harbour came into view. Her parents' little stone cottage by the pier, the rows of ships lying peacefully in their moorings, and the moonlit sea beyond, had never looked so beautiful in her eyes.

"I'm home," she murmured. For the first time today, she meant it with her whole heart.

"Welcome home," said Gabe, holding her so close that the vibration of his voice ran through her.

Avalor might be asking a lot of her, she thought, but what it gave in return was priceless. If she ever doubted her place here, all she'd have to do was remember tonight.