The First Step

Rating T

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

**Prompts are NOT in chronological order

*In this chapter, words in italics are past events

Out of all things, Morgan's favorite time of day absolutely had to be nightfall on a clear starry night.

Ever since the world was at peace again- Morgan had found that one of his favorite past times was sitting by the campfire that his stoic father excitedly made prior and just listened to his parents tell stories. Some consisted of past experiences that Frederick had during his travels before Robin came into his life. These consisted of what the current exalt Chrom, and Lissa were like growing up, what his old life was like back before he even became the night, or even some epic stories of lore before time began.

Robin's stories, however, were quite different. His tactician of a mother actually liked tales of horror– stories that were fueled from the tall tomes that she had read in her spare time when permitted. These stories were always full of suspense, and would last long into the night.

Although Morgan had enjoyed these stories, there was one yet to be told- He had no idea how his parents settled their differences.

Observing carefully, he moved his gaze toward the side on how his famous parents snuggled and spoke quietly to each other by the campfire.

From an outside view, anyone can tell that the power couple was irrevocably in love. Both of their wedding rings on each of their left hands shone proudly in the campfire light. Robin, being five months pregnant with the Morgan of this timeline, who on a rare occasion, ditched her signature Plegian coat and wore civilian styled clothing. This showed off the swell of her belly proudly as her ever doting husband unconsciously rubbed it gently. Frederick, as stoic as ever, still wore his signature blue knight armor but looked relaxed as he listened to his wife attentively. Both of his parents were sitting close enough that there was no space between them as they conversed and were lost in their own world.

It was quite an ironic sight compared to what he heard from the other older Shepherds. Apparently his parents, back in the day, (mostly Frederick) had disliked each other so much that they loathed being in the same room for long amounts of time. Chrom even mentioned that before his parents were a couple, war meetings would go on twice as long simply because Frederick would disagree with Robin's tactics and question everything she planned, much to the tactics chagrin. The arguments would get so heated that Chrom would have to cut short the meetings before anything more chaotic would take place. The boy in question didn't believe them at first, but when he asked multiple Shepherds, from Chrom, Sumia, Sully, his godfathers Virion and Gaius, they all said the same thing!

Morgan just had to know: what changed?

Feeling restless, Morgan inaudibly stood and tiptoed over to his parents' figures. The moon was still high in the sky and the night was still young. Gathering his thoughts as his parents moved their gazes towards him, Morgan quietly whispered, "Can you tell me how you guys got along?"

Frederick snorted uncharacteristically and shook his head in amusement. Robin smiled softly, as she held onto her husband's hand. "Sure sweetheart! It's actually quite a story- it started around the time after Chrom married Sumia…"

Five years earlier, Shepherds' barracks

After winning the war against Plegia with the death of King Gangrel, there were too many war torn areas of Ylisse to just simply leave to heal alone.

Although it had been two weeks since Chrom and Sumia were married, there were many things that had to be done. Many members of the Shepherds were spread far and wide in the kingdom to assist in building homes, giving food, and healing the scars of war shortly after the royal wedding. Chrom and Sumia had to unfortunately cut their honeymoon short as they also had to catch up on their royal duties to the kingdom and have Sumia to be trained on being the new Queen. One of the things that Chrom first did as the Exalt was to appoint Robin as the official royal tactician. In addition, he also appointed Frederick the wary as the kingdom's new knight captain.

Although both were happy that they were promoted with their new positions, it also meant that Robin and Frederick would have to both work with each other on almost a weekly basis. In the past during the war campaign, Chrom would be exasperated in making sure that Frederick and Robin's disagreements during meetings would not result in screaming matches. Now, both would either just have curt, awkward, but serious meetings that lasted no longer than thirty minutes.

In truth, this was the first time that Robin had spoken to Frederick alone since fighting King Gangrel on the battlefield. With Chrom busy with the new duties, he would leave immediately after all three of them would have their meeting. Frederick would follow afterwards without a word. Part of the reason was due to avoidance, since they were now working closely together due to their position, it seemed that they had no other choice but to tolerate each other's presence.

On this quiet night in particular, the tactician happened to wander into the barracks after a long day in the library studying battle strategies, itching to move after sitting idle for hours.

She had forgotten that the ever wary Frederick liked to stay in the barracks to check all inventory of armor and to make sure all the weapons were in top condition.

"You're holding it wrong, you know."

Huffing in annoyance, Robin set the lance she was holding upright, rolled her eyes, and she turned to face Frederick, looking stoic as ever.

Feeling a slight pull of irritation at the sight of the knight, Robin tried to put on her most fabricated smile. "...Frederick. How nice to see you. You're looking..deliberate as ever."

Without breaking eye contact, the knight strode up to Robin and took the lance gently out from her hands. "A knight of my station has to be anticipating for anything, my lady."

The tactician ignored a spark of warmth blooming from within as she gazed at Frederick. Despite their differences, there was no denying that the knight was very handsome to look at… According to Lissa, many women throughout the realm had tried to take a chance with him, but all were rejected.

It was such a shame that he had the disposition brick wall paired with that no nonsense attitude.

"...Robin? Did you hear me?"

Blinking rapidly, while fighting a blush that threatened to grow across her face.

"N-No, sorry!"

Frederick raised an eyebrow at her behavior. "I said we need to talk. I would like to clear the air on our past relations."

Upon hearing that, Robin's eyebrow raised to mirror his. "Oh do we now?"

Sighing tiredly, Frederick resisted the urge to rub at his temples. "Yes, Robin. We do- I would prefer to talk to you tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow morning when we are both busy with duties. Come, walk with me."

Falling to step beside him, the seasoned tactician waited for him to speak his mind. Both enjoying a rare moment of content silence that filled the usually boisterous space.

Frederick's voice quietly filled the air as Robin listened. "I know that we haven't been getting along for the longest time during the campaign. We both know that our differences on how we run things really get on both our nerves..." The knight then stopped suddenly and turned to look at her, arms positioned behind his back in a perfect stoic position. "But I just wanted to let you know…"

Robin couldn't help but stifle a sigh. When Frederick would put his arms behind his back in such a position, it would usually mean that he was about to start going on about what she could be improving on. It always had to be something to improve on HER end. It was starting to get quite tiresome really. "Well, here we go.." she muttered.

"Robin, I sincerely apologize."

"...I'm sorry what?"

Frederick nodded fervently at her reaction. "I know this is out of the blue, and honestly I should have said this months ago, but I deeply apologize for how I've been treating you recently and since when we had met. You had no control of your circumstances, and it's not your fault that you couldn't remember who you were before everything. I should have been more empathetic to your situation and should have treated you better."

Blinking rapidly, Robin just simply stared in shock at the man in front of her. He's ACTUALLY apologizing? Frederick the Wary?! This couldn't be real!

"..Okay, where is Frederick, and what did you do to him? He NEVER apologizes for being paranoid-"

"-My duty is first to the crown, with you wearing that Plegian coat, and us being at war with Plegia, you must understand why I was such. However, by now you have proved to be a loyal friend to all. Not only that…I..admire how you are the only one who actually can go toe-to-toe with me during our discussions. It is something that I begrudgingly admit that I always look forward to your reasonings. It fascinates me."

Wringing her hands, Robin bit her lip as she looked away pensively. Robin could hardly believe him, out of all people, was saying this!

"- I understand if you need to contemplate all of this, but I was hoping you'd join me tomorrow at the festival-."

"I'll do it, I'll go with you tomorrow to the festival!" Robin blurted out.

Blinking, Frederick couldn't help but to smile slightly. Robin wasn't one who put in half the effort into anything she did. Whenever she did something, she would give it her all. It was something he had grown to admire in her. It seems like they had more in common after all. With that in mind, he extended his hand to her as an offering of peace and finality.

"Let's start over. My name is Frederick. I grew up in the mountains near Ylisse, and I would like to get to know you more."

Frederick watched Robin's face closely. Was it the trick of the light, or was there a small hint of a blush appearing on her face? The knight couldn't help but relax as he felt her hand make a strong grip in his own.

"My name's Robin. I love to read and in my spare time, I love to write about my adventures. Pleased to meet you!"

Mirroring a smile back to her, Frederick couldn't help but feel that FINALLY, things were going in the right direction.

Morgan couldn't help but smile at both of his parents.

"That seems like the start of a new relationship with you two." He noticed at the end of his mother's story, Frederick had shifted so that Robin would get more comfortable in his arms.

"Oh yeah! After that festival your father and I got along better! We started hanging out outside of work as often as we could! Chrom and everyone else at first couldn't believe it. They started to inconspicuously follow us to make sure we were replaced or anything, hehe. At that point, we were basically attached to the hip!"

Frederick smiled softly and watched Robin lovingly rub her swollen belly. "Before we came together, it was crucial for your mother and I to learn how to get along, yes? That is the most important thing to do before we fall in together."

Snorting, Robin couldn't help but lightly slap her husband's arm. "If I didn't know any better, it was like you planned this from the start."

The knight rolled his eyes as he leaned down to kiss her. "Whatever you say dear."

Watching them, Morgan laughed softly and thanked all the gods that his parents settled aside their differences.

Notes of Inspiration:

Just thinking about relationships in general, it's interesting what setting aside your pride and making yourself vulnerable really does to make a difference in talking with people.

I felt that Frederick had to be the one to apologize first in their relationship since he was the one who started it with his paranoid self, lol. I just wish that we could have seen an in-game scene with that. It is crazy how much he flipped a switch from the beginning to the game to the end where Robin's origins were revealed.

WOW, it has been a while since I've actually written anything for fun. Graduate school's taking the fun outta writing, lol. I will try to update as soon as I can.

Until next time!