AN: Will be italicizing the past from this point onward. Also fixed the earlier chapters for new readers. Sorry for the delay.

Three Years Ago

"You could always, you know, come with me?"

Katarina turned around and glanced at the man leaning out the window, he already dressed as she buttoned up her shirt. "And go where? To Demacia? To political asylum?"

Garen shrugged. "Anywhere." He looked away from the view of the road and meadows and met her gaze. "It'll just be the two of us. Like those old fairytales."

"How sweet." Katarina stood up with her trousers in hand and began to get her feet in them, bending at the waist as she did so. They watched each other as she dressed, the two of them separated by the bed with wrinkled sheets that stood in between them, and the knowledge that after last night, things had to go back to normal. "We could open up a flower shop somewhere, take on new names and have two children. Both girls of course."

Garen raised an eyebrow as her ankles and thighs disappeared beneath the clothing. "Only two? I was thinking six."

"Six would kill me, if not before I push them out then after when they drive me insane." She stood up and pulled the trousers up to her waist, jumping ever so slightly as she did so, her hair bouncing with the movement. She brushed locks out of her eyes. "Two's manageable. I only got two hands and two eyes after all."

"Four. You're forgetting it would be the both of us. And it's a nice even number."

Katarina smiled and shook her head as she got her belt clasped. "Three. Twin girls and a boy. I'm the one with the uterus, Crownguard. You don't get an opinion."

"I'm sure I can talk you around."

They chuckled and looked away, their stances now tense as they realized where their conversation just took them. People always loved to fantasize about the bedplay, brag about their performance and exaggerate the number they performed with, but they never liked discussing what came after. When morning came and they had to leave the bed, trading goodbyes and wondering whether what happened was just going to be 'that one time' or whether it'd be something more. Whether it'd be a mistake if they left it there. Or perhaps it'd be a mistake if they started making promises they would not be able to keep.

Katarina cleared her throat and started scanning the floor for her boots. "Well, you probably tell all the other women the same thing."

Garen was shaking his head. "Not really."

"Sure." She pulled her jacket around her and start forcing her arms into the sleeves, suddenly feeling vicious. "I definitely know that this wasn't your first time for that matter."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nevermind."

"Now wait just a minute." He was near shouting now. Not there yet but definitely nearing the edge. He was always easily baited when she was doing the taunting, or the tempting, and she just couldn't seem to resist the idea of leaving him very much alone. "I don't think I like your insinuation." He pointed at the bed, at the wrinkled sheets and creased mattress. "You didn't seem to have any complaints back then."

"Well perhaps I'm starting to regret it now."

"Was it something I did?" Garen asked. "Should I have waited? Should I have known that we'd be like this one day?"

"I never said that."

"Well you meant it. Just because you're not my first doesn't mean I wouldn't want you to be my last. And while we're at it, let's talk about you for a minute. It may be just my imagination, but I doubt this was new to you either, am I right?"

"Crownguard, lower your voice," Katarina warned, putting her face in her hands and striding across the room, putting more distance between them as she gave him her back. "People can hear you."

"Let them hear. I'm not finished yet." He stepped closer, his face set in a stormy frown. "Was it Darius? Or your father's favorite pet?"

"You're overreacting."

"Am I? Well that's what you wanted, wasn't it? Wanted us to end it like this? End it with a fight like always!"

"You know what your problem is?" Katarina asked, turning back to him, lips curled and eyes wide. Now she was the one near shouting. She threw her hands up. "You're never thinking of the bigger picture. Come with you? And cast off our family names and live in a village somewhere as commoners? Six children scampering around the cottage with the family dog as you sit at the table with your coffee while I put on an apron and take a broom to the porch? It's just like you said. A fairytale. We've grown past that a long time ago. Keep dreaming. It's never going to happen. There are things expected of us! Obligations to fulfill!"

"So we ignore them!"

Katarina turned and kicked a table over, the furniture crashing loudly upon the floorboards, freeing puffs of dust from the ceiling downstairs. "Oh yes! Ignore them! As if everyone will congratulate us when we do! Oh aye! I'll tell my father I'm going to be a housewife and bind my arm to a Demacian before the altar, fuck tradition and fuck what anybody else thinks. And he'll say 'Sure thing! I'll tell everyone the good news. If only your mother had been able to see this day! Good golly I can't wait to be a grandfather!' Was that how you imagined it would happen? You think it would be that easy?" Her leg swept out. A chair joined the table on the floor with a clatter. "Fucking shit-for-brains!" Another chair.

"I never said it would be easy," Garen replied more quietly. "But wouldn't it be worth it?"

Breathing heavily with chest heaving, Katarina ran a hand through her hair, teeth gritted and face scrunched up with hate. She breathed heavily. "I don't want to find out, and I think we've both said enough. Now leave."

Garen didn't move. Didn't budge. They were standing very close now. Close enough to think about taking this argument, with all its pent-up feeling, back to the bed at the other side of the room, where they could have a reprisal of last night and make it last till noon, or till the bed broke. It would only need one more step. But then again, it wouldn't exactly fix anything, and they'll have to get out eventually.

"I'm not asking, Crownguard! Fuck off!"

Garen turned and stalked away, snatching up his saddlebags and sword from their place beside the bed before heading for the doorway.

The door thundered shut and the walls shook. Katarina lifted one of the chairs back onto its feet and plopped herself down upon it, putting her face in her hands. She waited till she heard the horse outside trotting onto the paved road with its rider, hooves clopping on the stones, before she went to glance out the window. She pulled her head out of sight when Garen turned to look back her way.

He asked for the impossible. He thought the world of her, but the world wouldn't accept the two of them in matrimony. And neither could she accept a different life then the one she spent her life being groomed for. That's just the way it was unfortunately.

Katarina hobbled away and resumed looking for her boots. Fuck but her foot hurts.