Stay, Please Stay

Summary: Meliodas wakes up and Meliodas and Elizabeth spend some time together in peace.

Characters: Meliodas, Elizabeth

Relationships: Meliodas/Elizabeth (Romance)

Genre: Romance

Meliodas released a small groan as he awoke, it was difficult to tell exactly how long he'd been out but Meliodas figured it had probably been for quite a while.

Opening his eyes, he looked around the room he was in to discern where exactly he was. To his surprise he instantly recognised the room as his (and the princess'). He wasn't expecting to wake up here; he was pretty sure everyone would think he was dead and bury him somewhere.

But clearly that wasn't the case as this definitely was not underground. He figured Merlin might have had something to do with it, he had never outwardly told her about his curse but he knew it was quite possible Merlin knew about it anyway. Merlin had a way of figuring out secrets.

Sitting up on the bed, Meliodas stretched his body out. After being out and not moving for so long his body was extremely sore.

It didn't take him long to realise that he wasn't alone in the Boar Hat, not that he had any reason to believe he was in the first place, and figure out who else was there with him. He could sense both Elizabeth and Hawk, he recognised them immediately but the other presence he could sense… he recognised it but he couldn't quite put his finger on where he had felt it before.

He quickly realised Elizabeth's presence was moving closer to him and forgot all about the other presence at the excitement of being able to see how Elizabeth was doing and just seeing her again after all the time that had passed.

Meliodas watched the door intently waiting for Elizabeth to open it. He wondered how she would react when she noticed he was awake; she'd probably start off with being surprised but what about after that?

The door opened and Meliodas' lips curled up into a smile at the sight of the silver haired beauty in front of him. Meanwhile said silver haired beauty was staring at him, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.

"…Mel… Meliodas…?" She said staring at him disbelievingly, tears slowly forming in her eyes.

"Elizabeth don't cry. Everything's okay now, yeah." Meliodas told her having noticed the tears in her eyes.

His words had made the tears gathering in her eyes fall and she ran towards him, tackling him in a hug, much to the blonde demon's surprise but most certainly not to his disapproval.

"My, my, my, awfully forward, aren't you, Elizabeth?" Meliodas asked her, unable to resist this opportunity to tease her.

As expected the princess lifted herself off him, her face glowing bright red while she stuttered out an apology.

"Nishishi, its fine, Elizabeth, I don't mind if you want to be on top." Meliodas told her, flashing a smirk at the blushing girl hovering on top of him.

"N-no that's not… what I…" Elizabeth stuttered out her blush increasing in intensity, if that was indeed possible.

A few minutes later Elizabeth was sat on the bed in front of him, holding out a plate full of food for him.

Elizabeth had decided to get some food for him; she figured he was probably hungry after all the time he had spent being down for the count.

Since she couldn't cook to save her life, she had asked Zaratras to cook some food for her (she knew he wasn't the best cook, but he at least could cook something edible). She had of course told him that Meliodas had woken up, having decided it wouldn't have been right of her to keep it from him and Zaratras had offered to leave them alone for a while. When she had asked why he had told her that he thought that she would have wanted some time alone with him and wanted to give her that.

Easily flustered girl she was, Elizabeth blushed at this but was no doubt grateful for the offer. Agreeing to it and taking the plate of food from Zaratras, thanking him for both the food and the consideration before walking back up to Meliodas' room.

Meliodas smiled at her, telling her she didn't have to go through the trouble but had picked up some of the food and had started eating it anyway. While he ate Elizabeth told him that she hadn't really gone through any trouble, she told him she hadn't cooked the food at all and that all she had really done was walk down the stairs and then up them again once she had obtained the food.

Meliodas had looked at her questioningly but had decided to finish his food and ask her who had cooked the food after he had finished. He was really hungry, so food was one of his priorities right at this moment.

A little while later Meliodas had finished his food and, after putting the empty plate on the bedside table, had pulled Elizabeth down beside him.

So now they were lying on their bed together. Meliodas' arms were wrapped around her and Elizabeth was curled up into him.

"Nice new outfit, Elizabeth." He complimented, he didn't know why it had taken him so long to compliment her on her clothing. It really suited her quite well.

"Huh? Oh… Thank you. I changed my outfit to better suit my new job." Elizabeth told him, briefly looking down at her outfit.

Meliodas blinked "New job?" He asked her. Elizabeth had gotten a new job? If that was the case, what was she still doing here?

"Yes. I took over your bar while you were out, Sir Meliodas." Elizabeth told him, with an almost surprising amount of happiness in her voice, although her voice was also laced with nervousness. Sure she had thought continuing the bar's work would make Meliodas happy but that didn't mean he would be.

"You did? Why did you do that?" Meliodas asked her. He wasn't upset with her for doing it, he was just curious as to why she had decided to do so.

"Well, because… I thought it might help. Since the Ten Commandments took over Britannia, everyone's been suffering. I thought the Boar Hat would help everyone a little. I thought it might make them happy and take their mind off things for a little while. It might not be much… but… I think it's helping… at least a little bit." Elizabeth told him and he blinked once more before his lips morphed into a smile. Elizabeth was such a sweet and caring girl; she loved people and life and the happiness of others.

"I'm sure you helped out a lot, Elizabeth. It'll be good for them, to get away for a bit, I mean." Meliodas told her moving one of his hands to stroke through her hair.

"You think so?" Elizabeth asked him and when he gave her a close eyed smile and a nod, a smile of her own crossed her face.

"…You know Sir Meliodas… I also did it for you." Elizabeth told him, suddenly turning shy and avoiding his gaze. "The bar wasn't the only thing I could have done to make others happy… I picked it over all my other options because I thought it might make you happy too, Sir Meliodas."

"Me?" Meliodas asked her, surprised at what she was telling him. He knew that Elizabeth wanted to make him happy but he didn't think she'd do something like this. He didn't know what her other options were but this was probably among the most risky. Drunks, especially when drinking to relieve stress, could be dangerous and Elizabeth may be naïve but she had been working as a barmaid long enough to know that.

"Yes. The Boar Hat is important to you, right? I thought you'd be upset if it wasn't running anymore." She told him, that wasn't what he was asking about but it certainly made sense that she'd make that mistake, he hadn't been very clear.

"Thanks." Meliodas thanked her. Apparently more than a little pleased with his answer, Elizabeth made a sound of happiness (Meliodas didn't quite know what it was) before a yawn escaped past her lips. "You tired? Why don't you go to sleep now, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth shook her head, she was tired, but she didn't want to stop talking to Meliodas now he was awake.

"Elizabeth, go to sleep. We have all day tomorrow to spend time together. We lost a lot of time Elizabeth, I'll spend as much time with you as you want me too once you're all well rested." Meliodas told her pressing his finger against her lips when her mouth opened to protest. Elizabeth nodded her head in agreement as Meliodas' hand moved to hair to stroke through it softly.

…And slowly Elizabeth fell into a peaceful sleep, a tight grip around Meliodas, not letting him get away from her while she slept.

"You've done well, Elizabeth. I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long." Meliodas told the slumbering girl, pressing a soft, lingering kiss on her forehead.