Cowboy Down

Poppy had two wonderful days full of adventures with the delegates. She had Branch to thank for the blissful night of sleep. She was well-rested, fully recovered from the nights Val had held her up late and she could fully enjoy her days and learn more about the other cultures.

Her agenda was full of activities that kept her busy and she was thankful for it because her mind would eventually blink an image of her boyfriend holding her tightly while they slept. It was embarrassing enough to be caught daydreaming about him and… hair, he was so warm, so gentle and so cozy… Poppy wondered if there was anywhere safer than arms.

That night, even though she was frightened about the bunker's structure, Poppy knew she had gotten herself addicted to his touch. Now she knew how it felt like to fall asleep snuggling him… and it was pure bliss. She had never had the time to study him so close like that night. While he was softly snoring, she counted every eyelash, every freckle, each frown line. Poppy felt a little guilty when he moved in his sleep, giving her enough room to settle by his side… but she didn't want any room. She wanted to glue her body to his, to feel him closer than ever before.

Oh boy, it was hard keeping her eagerness in check after that. She felt she was holding herself back most of the time, especially when they were in public. Friendly hugs were fine, but, oh how she wanted to take one of those long embraces during the day. But Poppy didn't even know if he was comfortable enough to tell their closest friends that they loved each other, so she respected the distance and avoided any kind of public display of affection in front of the entire Trollstopia.

Poppy caught a glimpse of her boyfriend walking to Country Corral to practice his rodeo abilities and quickly thought of an excuse to drag Holly out of there. She hadn't shown the centaur troll the library yet, had she? That would be a great tour to fit in her agenda that day.

Not that the pink girl was jealous of Holly. Oh no, far from it. Poppy as a grown-up lady, sure of herself, strong, empowered and loved the cute country girl who seemed to surprise Branch with her naturally sugary words. After all, Poppy was the queen! She was a role model of perfect friendly behavior. Disputes were out of question.

Holly and R&B were incredibly excited about the library and Laguna met them on the way. It seemed the techno girl also sparkled some mysterious feelings on Poppy. It was quite the opposite of happiness, but it wasn't grayish-sadness. It was a deep wish to have the scientist's knowledge to spend hours talking to Branch about things that he liked.

Poppy caught the survivalist and Laguna playing chess the other day. It seemed like a regular thing because they were commenting how they knew each other's moves to checkmate. At the same time that the Queen's heart soared with pride to see her boyfriend socializing, it also wished she could be the one to make him talk about the nerdiness he enjoyed, to make him sparkle his eyes with interest while he absorbed new information.

It sounded wrong, didn't it? That she'd wish she could keep him in a bubble and have him all to herself. Like a spoiled child who didn't want to share her toy. Hair… it sounded wrong again. Better start that tour at once.

"Hey, quick example, just to make sure no one is still confused. Here in Pop Tribe Library the section on critters is here, but 'critter claws' is way over there, 'cuz we organize our scrapbooks 'huggabetically'…"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Poppy's mind was still a little cloudy from the underwater adventure, but she successfully said goodbye to her friends and stumbled a few times on her way to the royal pod. A warm bubble bath was everything she needed to get out of the fun spell she had been under.

It didn't take long until she was wiggling her toes with the beat of the song that was playing on the radio; Poppy sank deeper into the warm water and let the soreness of her muscles dissolve into a relaxing tingle. She washed her hair and scrubbed her skin until she was completely clean.

The lavender scented candle spread the perfume all over the bathroom and the queen felt like she deserved to sleep earlier that day. A full night of rest in her bed wouldn't be like sleeping next to her boyfriend, but at least she'd recover her energy.

"Poppy!" Smidge jumped inside her pod, completely breaking the heavenly atmosphere with an urgency that made the queen think they were under attack.

"What?!" Poppy swung the bathroom's door open, carelessly wrapped on a towel and dripping water everywhere. "What's wrong?!"

"Oh…" with a brief instant to realize she had caught her queen in a private moment, Smidge quickly returned to her frantic yelling. "It's Branch! He's hurt!"

The words sounded like they came straight from a nightmare. The queen never wanted to hear that line in her life and her heart immediately sank into a waterfall of horrible possibilities that flooded her thoughts. She actually felt the blood draining from her face.

Both girls ran so fast to the hospital that Poppy was still wet from her bath when they arrived, having just slipped a random dress on before rushing out to see what had happened. From what Smidge had said, Branch thought he was ready for another rodeo challenge and tried hugging a wild adorabull. Disaster happened when he did that.

"You were very lucky, boy," Poppy heard Dr. Moonbloom saying when she ran inside the examination room where Branch was being treated. The survivalist was still wearing his country clothes, he had his foot bandaged and a worried Gust was standing by his side.

"Oh, Branch, how are you?" the Queen asked, clasping her hands together in worry.

"Queen Poppy," Gust took his hat off and looked gravely at her. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop your friend in time."

The word 'friend' echoed in the air with uneasiness for a split of second before Poppy brushed it off like she usually did when personal things got in the way of her public role.

"OUCH!" Branch screamed when the doctor finished attending his foot. Writhing in sympathetic pain, Poppy stepped closer, seeing how purple and swollen his toes were.

"Now, you will need to rest for at least a week. You're lucky it wasn't broken."

"What? A whole week?!" Branch shrieked, sitting up. "But I can't! I need to finish the water slide!"

"Branch," Poppy crossed her arms over her chest and raised a warning eyebrow. Her attitude immediately put her boyfriend in his place. "The water slide can wait," and turning to the doctor, the queen got all the instructions she would need to make sure Branch's foot would heal properly.

Smidge and Gust shared a worried look and the survivalist hardened his jaw, causing his lips to form a thin line. Poppy was impassive, taking notes about the medicine he was supposed to take and how tall his foot had to be so it would stimulate the blood flow and heal faster.

"He will be in bedrest for a whole week, doctor," Poppy said, stealing a glance at her boyfriend, who gulped miserably, "I'll make sure of it."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"C'mon, big boy. To the bed. Now." Poppy commanded, holding Branch's arm over her shoulder to help him hop on one foot into the bunker.

"I'm not going to bed dirty," he protested.

Looking at her boyfriend from head to toes she couldn't disagree with him. He was full of dirt and his smell wasn't the fresh one she preferred. He was probably as itchy as he was stinky.

"Okay, fine, but I'll be just outside and you better hurry," she warned him.

Closing the door behind him, Poppy took the time to prepare his bedroom. She put several pillows on the end of the bed, thinking it was good enough to keep his foot up and then she went to the kitchen. Lucky for her, there was enough food in case he wanted to have dinner and some cupcakes as well. She wouldn't have to cook that night.

Cracking her back, Poppy realized she was completely exhausted. She didn't realize she had pushed herself, after all, once she heard Branch was hurt, her own needs were immediately ignored and her focus went straight to him.

The sound of water coming from the bathroom made her smile. He was being careful, despite the protests. The tough facade had fallen like magic once they were alone and her loving and caring boyfriend opened up to receive all the love she could give him.

With a yawn, Poppy sat on the couch just outside the door, still hearing the soothing sound of the running water. Once he came out, she'd be ready to help him to his bedroom. The corner of her eyes was darkening and her eyelids felt heavy. Mentally, she begged for Branch to get out at once…

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Branch found his girlfriend asleep on the couch. Using the walls to support his weight, he approached, admiring how beautiful she looked when she slept. His mind quickly reminded him of the last time she stayed over, causing him to blush at his indiscreet memories.

He thought about getting her a blanket, but she was sleeping oddly on her side and her arm was probably numb. She would be completely sore in the morning.

"Poppy?" he gently rubbed her shoulder, causing her to moan in protest. "Come on, you need to go to bed," he insisted. She tried to shoo him away like he was an annoying bug, causing him to chuckle and shake her a little harder. Successfully, she stirred.

"Oh, Branch…" she stared at him in confusion for a second, before her mind could fully focus on him. "What are you doing? To bed. Now." She ordered, quickly fully alert and he sighed, nodding in defeat.

Poppy slid an arm around his back and held his hand that was over her shoulders. Branch noticed she was looking tired, but her determination to see he had his medicine and proper rest made her have a sudden burst of energy.

"Did Val keep you up again?" Branch asked, curious about what made her look like she hadn't slept for weeks once more.

"Oh no…" Poppy gave him a small smile, but looked away before he could see her guilty blush. "It was just one of those adventures with the girls…"

"Dangerous adventures, you mean?" he tilted his head, quickly catching a flinch from her. "Your arms and knees are skinned, don't even try to hide it from me."

"Well... we were in the library early today and…" as her voice cracked as she hesitantly told him all the events that occurred, Poppy couldn't help but notice how right it felt to have a moment to tell him how was her day and to ask how was his. The dimmed light inside his bedroom probably made her feel weirdly attached to that kind of talk. Like it could happen every day while they snuggled and she'd never get tired of it. Blissful routine. "... and it was when Smidge barged in to tell me you were hurt."

"I'll talk to Laguna next time I meet her." Branch winced, lifting his foot up with delicate pink palms guiding him to the pile of pillows on the end of the bed.

"What for?" Poppy asked, making sure he was comfortable before going to his nightstand to pick up the painkillers and a glass of water.

"Well… she is incredibly smart, but she stepped over a few safety protocols." Branch replied, looking slightly annoyed as he took the pills. "But she's a really nice girl, I'm sure she'll quickly learn about safety as well."

"I'm glad you like Laguna that much." Poppy replied quickly, before he noticed that she wasn't feeling as glad as she tried to sound.

"I really do!" The growing excitement made Branch almost forget about his hurt foot. "We were talking about quantum physics the other day and she broke a joke out of nowhere! It was hilarious!"

"Really? I like jokes." Poppy sat on the edge of the bed, looking really interested. It was the moment she was waiting for. She could have a brainy giggle with her boyfriend. She could show him they could have fun his way, too.

"Okay, here it goes," Branch's eyes sparkled and he handed her the empty glass, before continuing, "Two atoms were walking down the street when one of them stopped and told the other: hey, wait. I just lost an electron," Poppy blinked a few times, "and the other asked 'are you sure?' 'Yeah, I'm positive!'"

Her boyfriend laughed so hard he even held his leg to keep from shaking his hurt foot. Poppy shared a few giggles and sweetly gave him a kiss on the cheek before standing up. He looked lovingly at her.

"I'll be in my room, just call me if you need anything." Yawning, the pink queen quickly retreated, holding her breath.

It was only when she shut the door of her room behind her that she allowed the panic to crawl its way to her chest.

She didn't understand the joke.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Poppy was up at 3h45am, with half eyelids and feeling completely sleepy. Once she sat up on the bed, she felt her body heavily tilting to the side, but quickly forced herself up before she dozed off once more. She changed into her yellow bathing suit and tiptoed to Branch's bedroom to check on him.

Like she had suspected, he was up and trying to put his foot down to stand up on his own. He gave her a humorless smile and a roll of eyes once he realized he was caught.

"I suspected you would try to go for your morning swim." Poppy grinned smartly, leaning against the doorframe. "I'm way ahead of you, cowboy."

"I really need to swim." Branch whined, thinking that she'd make him go back to bed, but as soon as she moved, he caught sight of her yellow bathing suit and tilted his head in confusion.

"I'm going to help you." She offered an answer at his questioning look, approaching and stretching her hands to support him as he stood up. "If you just float around it will work."

And indeed, it worked perfectly. Poppy wrapped his foot on film and tied an extra plastic bag on it so he wouldn't wet the bandages. She got inside his private hot spring and offered her shoulder for him to lay his head on. Gently, she pulled him inside while he held his leg up.

It was ridiculous. Branch couldn't help but chuckle at their current situation and Poppy joined him with giggles, feeling incredibly happy that she could help him through his routine. Ridiculously perfect.

"Poppy…?" Branch called her in a voice that was just above a whisper. Glancing up at her, with his upside-down view, he admired how adoringly her hair was plastered to her wet cheeks and couldn't avoid reaching up to softy touch her face. "... why are you wearing the yellow bathing suit?"

"Oh…" she blushed, quickly looking away, but not avoiding his touch. She kept walking around in the water, carrying him with her. "... you didn't seem to like the other one."

"I loved it," he replied automatically, without a second thought. This time, both were blushing. "I'm sorry if I made you think I didn't."

"It's okay." Poppy quickly replied, pulling him to the edge so he could hold himself up. "I'm going to make some breakfast."

"No, wait." Branch wasn't done talking. He felt an urge to chat more, to have more time with her and to clear the air. Poppy pushed herself against the edge and sat down, keeping her legs into the water, waiting for him to continue. "What I meant to say is that I wish you'd wear it again."

"Sorry, Branch," dejectedly, the queen looked down, suddenly feeling very intrigued with her knees. "I've returned it."

Silence fell with the heavy feeling of wrong-doing. Branch resented his lack of talk about her looks and Poppy felt sorry for not being able to wear it again.

"I'll have to go help Val with a jam section." Poppy stood once more, helping him out of the water. "Then I promised Minuette, I'll watch her mouth guitar performance again," the queen was already drying herself with a fluffy towel when Branch finally unwrapped his foot. "I'll get breakfast ready. I'll drop by with some take out for lunch," with a sinking heart, Branch realized she wasn't going to stay indoors with him the whole day as he had hoped. "I'll see if Smidge can replace me at school today so, hopefully, I'll be here for dinner."

"I see…" the survivalist breathed out, drying himself as well.

"Do you want to be left alone or do you want me to get someone to keep you company?" Poppy asked, helping him into the kitchen.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I need to get some ration inventory done anyway."

"Are you sure? Because I could get Laguna to come over to play chess with you."

Branch studied his girlfriend. She was standing up by the stove, preparing some scrambled eggs for breakfast. She moved briskly all over the kitchen, as if she needed to keep herself busy. The white robe over the yellow bathing suit was hiding her figure.

He took a deep breath. She was like his personal angel.

"Poppy…?" Branch called, making her turn around and lock her eyes with his. "I love you."