Poppy baked forty-three welcome baskets of cupcakes and the last batch was just coming out of the oven when Smidge couldn't hold herself anymore. The Helper had been standing outside the Queen's pod since that morning waiting for a chance to be useful, but it looked like after a quick break with Holly and Val, Poppy was going to spend the rest of the day baking endless amounts of cupcakes.

"Excuse me, Poppy?" The small yellow troll walked inside the pod and saw Poppy's eyes twitching nervously while she covered the cupcakes with purple frosting. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Hi, Smidge. Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?" More sprinkles.

"Because you've been nervous-baking for hours." At least she wasn't nervous-scrapbooking. It would be another level of anxiety for the yellow troll to worry about and backup would be required.

Sighing, Poppy dropped heavily on her white fluffy chair and looked at the ceiling of her pod. Branch had been away for days. He didn't tell her where he was going to and on top of it all, the kids were going mad being watched all the time.

She needed a hug. Not any hug. Branch's hug.

"Why is Branch gone?" Smidge sat down in front of her and Poppy merely covered her face with her hands.

"He said something about the safety of Trollstopia and left." Her muffled voice was hard for Smidge to understand if she was crying or if she was growling in anger.

"I know you guys are uncomfortable talking about your relationship, but maybe someone listening to you could help." Smidge offered and Poppy felt tears threatening to fall from the corner of her eyes. An avalanche of emotions had been held in place by a tiny will to spare her friends.

"Hair, Smidge… something happened and Branch is trying to deal with it by himself." Poppy didn't like to be shut out, not from her boyfriend's problems, not from his hugs. She wanted to be part of it all. Good and bad. She didn't want to be spared.

She needed him. She needed more contact. She needed more flesh. She needed...

"Branch is nice. Too nice. I don't want him to be so nice." Poppy blurted out and Smidge blinked in confusion. "I feel like I'm walking in circles around him."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"To start, he doesn't trust me with his problems. Not a hot spring kind of problem, but a real problem. The kind that keeps him awake at night." The need for a sugar rush in her blood made Poppy grab the biggest cupcake she could reach. Smidge joined her, ready to listen with her mouth full. "Also, Branch is a gentletroll. He is discrete and he is loving and caring. He is too reserved when it comes to touching. Hair, Smidge. I need more touching."

Blushing, the yellow troll got another cupcake, hoping the conversation wasn't going to become uncomfortable for her to listen to.

"He seems to want things, but he holds back." Another bite on the cupcake, "I know he's still getting used to hugging and socializing. I tried talking to him, I said I needed to touch him more. He said he burned for me, - not that he loved me, no, he said he burned - and when I tried to touch him, he had a panic attack." Poppy sniffed and Smidge remembered that day very well. She and the gang saw Poppy and Branch, both wearing onesies outside the bunker, with the queen awkwardly fanning her boyfriend who was struggling to breath.

"I accepted that our relationship was going to progress slowly. We advanced to cuddling and we even slept next to each other and he didn't do a thing." Poppy exasperatedly threw her hands in the air. Smidge's face was as red as a cherry glowmato. "I was expecting he would at least hug me, or touch me, but he respected me. I spent the whole day thinking I didn't stir the slight bubble of curiosity in him. That I'm not attractive or tempting enough."

"Oh, but Poppy, I'm sure Branch made a big effort to respect you." That was the weirdest conversation Smidge had ever had.

"We barely kiss..." The first basket of cupcakes was emptied, so Poppy stood up and busied herself around the pod, wrapping more baskets to let her frustrations overflow in the form of gifts and ribbons. "He offered to take care of me that day when I broke my hair, but when he stayed over, he acted like he wanted to run for his life."

Poppy picked the last tray she had taken from the oven and carelessly touched the metal parts, burning her fingers painfully. She quickly jumped away and all the cupcakes fell on the floor, completely ruined.

"He says he loves me every chance he has…" She couldn't hold her tears back anymore. Poppy's burnt fingers throbbed in pain. "But his body language says otherwise. He's confused, Smidge, and he's confusing me."

If there was something Poppy heard throughout the years was that a relationship shouldn't have any doubts. If it wasn't making her happy, then it wasn't good. It scared her that things weren't going as smoothly as she had envisioned.

"Maybe it's just your impression on things." Smidge said, offering some comforting words to her best friend. "He is as new at relationships as you are."

"I don't know what to do." A sobbing wave choked the queen and her best friend quickly hugged her. It wasn't the hug she needed, but it was the one she could get.

"What is it that you do best, Poppy?"

"I don't know..." The queen answered after a moment of silence.

"You are a very good teacher." Smidge pointed out, "Branch just learned how to be a better troll - a good friend - because you taught him so. Teach him how to be a good boyfriend as well." The Queen's sobs subsided when she slowly understood what her friend was saying.

Branch was the kind of troll who would reason everything. He'd find a way to rationalize feelings and impulses. He wouldn't touch her if she didn't say it was okay.

Maybe she wasn't supposed to make the first move, she shouldn't touch him like she did the first time. To encourage him, she'd need to let him be the one to touch her and she'd need to show him she welcomed it.

Poppy felt the sun wasn't as hot as usual. Her feet guided her to the daisy fields where she used to secretly hide when she was just a trolling. It had been years since she felt like going there, to her sacred place.

Her heart squeezed in anguish, not knowing where Branch was and if he was fine.

She missed him and she was scared he had gone away to rethink their relationship. What if he came back with his mind made up? What if he asked for a break?

The hardest part of it all was to realize troubled waters were threatening their relationship underneath the surface. It was unforgivable that she didn't notice that Branch was insecure and she kept pushing his limits without noticing.

She had tortured him without knowing. Hair… she even made him wash her hair while she was in the bathtub. Was it the last drop? Was he uncomfortable the whole time and she was so wrapped up in her own drama that she didn't notice?

"I've been lonely, I've been waitin' for you

I'm pretending and that's all I can do

The love I'm sendin'

Ain't makin' it through to your heart"

Val had been right when she said Rock songs had deeper meanings. That one made the path disappear, as Poppy mindlessly walked far away from the city.

"You've been hidin', never lettin' it show

Always tryin' to keep it under control

You got it down and you're well on your way to the top

But there's somethin' that you forgot"

The grass felt cold under her feet. The familiar contrast from the morning dew and the faint sunlight only indicated that snow day was approaching.

"What about love?

Don't you want someone to care about you?

And what about love?

Don't let it slip away

What about love?

I only want to share it with you

You might need it someday"

The daisies looked like ice toppings on the distant grass. A sad smile curled Poppy's lips when she remembered the last time she had been there: when they returned from Bergentown the first time. Branch had found his true colors and she was happy that her friends had been saved.

But she was also sad that Creek had betrayed her. She was so ashamed to even consider him a friend that the fact she had been crushing on him felt smothering. Suffocating. Ridiculously naive. Unforgivable mistake.

"I can't tell you what you're feelin' inside

And I can't sell you what you don't want to buy

Something's missing, you got to look back on your life

You know something here just ain't right"

And Branch became a great friend. He challenged her in the most unimaginable ways. From pranks to helping her schedule her days. From snorts to warm hugs.

She had been successful at ignoring the wild beating of her heart whenever he was near for years. He had hated her during the Princess years and it didn't matter how infatuated she was, he had seen her as nothing but a hazardous girl who would be queen one day.

She was so happy to be his friend that she could have lived like that, loving him in secret.

What a blessing it was when he said he loved her!

"What about love?

Don't you want someone to care about you?

What about love?

Don't let it slip away

What about love?

I only want to share it with you."

Her favorite spot was right there at the open field. Dropping to her knees before falling to her side, Poppy felt her head heavy, her shoulders tense and her heart sore.

A nap among the flowers would do her some good.