This story is for the wonderful writer SunRise19.

Go check out her work she is fabulous. In fact she has written a story for me, (cause she is a sweetheart and an awesome friend), called Four Words. All Other stuff is also great.

I did want to note that I do know that there anachronisms in this story, and that I like to consider my JatD fanfics as High Fantasy instead of Historical Fiction. I do know that the show also gets things out of time period and I choose not to give it to much importance. So these stories are simply as I imagine them and not as they would have actually occurred in Jane's time. If you would like to also read a story that is more historically accurate I would suggest Knight's Honor by KnifeInTheCrayoBox she does a lot of research and it is excellent.

So here we go, the big moment is upon us and I am finally delivering on the Gunther POV.

Gunther walks back and forth, not able to stay still, his feet simply move and he guides them accordingly. A new itch seems to develop every other minute and he is very grateful that Dragon showed up early with his 'gift' and prevented Gunther from eating anything that morning. He doubts he would have been able to keep it down and that certainly would have made this worse than already is.

Jane is late. And that makes him, if possible, even more nervous. He walks over the small desk that sits near the door in the hallway and takes some water that was left there as if someone knew he'd need it. He tilts back his head and takes it all in one drink. He wishes someone had also had the forethought to fill it with something a little stronger.

Finally his father calls him and he walks out to take his place in front of the priest. He is having trouble breathing at this point but he smooths his face into something unreadable. As he looks around at all the people, like him, waiting for the bride to arrive. He doesn't know most of the people, some look familiar as he has seen them around town. Some are surely business men whom his father hopes to get on their good graces by inviting them to his son's wedding. The king and his family are there as well, as are the rest of the staff, sans Jane's mother, the cook, and Smithy who should all be on their way with her now. He can make out her father by the red of his hair, as he waits for her at the door. Rake and Jester sit together looking uncomfortable in the second row, Rake offers him a tentative smile, the Jester hasn't looked once his way.

Gunther takes the most inconsequential deep breath he can manage and tries not to fidget too much. He cannot decide if he is more anxious about Jane showing up or never making it here in the first place, and taking off on her Dragon for a life of her actual choosing, leaving Gunther behind with only Dragon's present as a memento of what would never be.

They called him out, but that just means someone has spotted the carriage, it could certainly arrive devoid of the redhead who was forever driving him mad and was now receiving an invitation to do so permanently. Definitively, her staying. He thinks to himself. I will probably end up truly mad by the end of the week, living under the same roof as her.. After all if he had a Dragon, he would already be gone by now. A moment later, Adeline and Pepper make their way quickly to their seats. She's here, and he is inexplicably relived.

Everything seems to slow down as he stares at the far end of the aisle, he hears familiar movement on his right and does a quick glance out the door on the side where he can see Dragon settling down to watch the proceeding. When he turns back she is already coming up the aisle on her fathers arm. He notices several things at once and feels all displayed on his face. She looks beautiful, but her face is hard her jaw clenched and he can tell instantly that she hates that everyone, like himself, is watching her. She stares past him at fixed place on the wall, he can feel her acute uncomfortableness hit like a wave of heat at being paraded all eyes on her in a dress and her hair done nothing like the person that she is; that was what hit him most of all. This marriage was forced on both he and her, neither had wanted although both had agreed, but for her it was so much more, it was so much worse. They were forcing her to be another person, a pretty girl in a white dress instead of fighter who could care less what she looked like, someone tame and conformative instead of the girl who broke all traditions and limitations on her gender and became a knight. His wife, instead of the girl who wandered freely on the back of a dragon who did her duty at her will and not as an obligation.

She does look beautiful, she always has been, although he would not say it to her face but had admitted to it some time ago in the back of his mind. However, this severe cleanliness and lacy dress is not the girl he's always known. He realizes then how much he prefers her training clothes that fit closely to her body, that fact that she does mind getting dirty when other highborn girls make the most obnoxious fuss over a speck of dirt, that she fights with everything she has and always puts so much of herself in every fight that she wills you unconsciously to the same. He would take that Jane over anyone else. No other girl- no other woman, for she is a woman she's been a woman since before he could be called a man, compares to her that way. And her loyalty is unswavering even asked to this, to put on this dress, to march up to him and sign herself into a knew life. He had thought that they shared the same reluctance, the same confusion and the same, resigned acceptance. Yet this is so much worse for her, and she does it all with her head held high, she does it all because she is a knight, and will do anything in the name of her king. If he had a dragon he would certainly have left, but Jane would never take that tasteless and traitorous out.

She makes it to end of the aisle to him and suddenly stands right beside him, he is still reeling from his thoughts and all he can see are her eyes, emerald green and the unrestrained sadness beneath a hardy resolve. As the priest talks and he listens and they both face him, and he feels her presence beside him he can just see her out of the corner of his eye. they both kneel and he takes in the words being said out loud but half of him is entirely at her attention. They will be more to each other than ever before, more than comrades. They will be husband and wife, share the same home, the same room, the same bed... She already means more to him than he cares to acknowledge, she is the closest thing he actually has to a friend and she has always been his rival. Where her life is full of others, his has always been readily empty...

Her fathers words come to him suddenly, he spoke with him far before the start of the ceremony on what it meant to married, to have someone be closer to you than anyone else, someone who is a part of you, your other half. Gunther took his words in surprised silence, his own father always saw other people as a means to an end, including his late wife. Including, he knew in his heart, his own son.

They get up, he offers her his hand but she rises on her own. She won't look at him, she hasn't once since she arrived and stares over his shoulder as he repeats the words and they taste cold in his mouth. Even as he slides the ring onto her finger, her eyes remain evasive. Then it is her turn, and he is sure that she will speak those words to the wall instead of him, but as she speaks she shifts her eyes to his as if a center of gravity has fallen over them. There is so much behind them that as if he practically drowning in their green. But the emotion is raw and real as she makes her vows, taking a hold of his hand as she places the ring on his finger, he makes his own in his head.

He wants what her father spoke of, not what Magnus has drilled into his head. But the woman he wants at his side is the one that insults and bests him, that always speaks her mind and smells of earth and smoke. He will never do what the others around him have made her today, be someone she isn't. Not, he smiles as she finishes speaking and she narrows her eyes at him some of the Jane he has always known seeping into her face, that he ever could. He will never attempt it and never expect it from her. "I do." The words come from him easily, with no reluctance and no hesitance.

Perhaps he never imagined her as his wife, but he never imagined his life without her. He is a part of his life like eating and breathing. More so now than ever before.

There is a noticeable pause before she answers. She looks at him, really looks at him, like she can see into his soul; into the very essence of his being. It is a long pause and not just in his imagination the priest seems to fidget and he can feel the rest of the people he had forgotten were there, tight as bow string, everyone wondering if she will answer. He doesn't break his gaze and finally, "I do." The words come from her mouth solidly, even in any reluctance, her voice is strong and somewhat hard.

At the priest's pronouncement he reaches up, its easy, easier than he would think, to take her face with his hands and lean down, Make it count, he thinks as his lips touch hers and he kisses her. He puts those vows to her now. To be her partner and to care for her, to never expect more from her than she is willing to give. It is over far too soon, as they turn and make their way back outside down the long aisle, he can still taste her, he had always wanted to know what it was like.

Hopefully I can have next chapter ready by next Thursday. If not I will at least update one of my stories.

Thank you for reading, following, and favoriteng!

and Two my two lovely Reviewers, my hearts thanks to you Tessa and TheSecondBestBed (I hope I answered any questions!)

Please Review I would love to know what your thoughts are. Any guesses on Dragon's Present? Any questions? Let me Know!