_Four Years Later_

With a heaving sigh, Ben pulled the crown from his head and locked it away in the secret safe hidden in the wall of his office. The endless kingdom meetings were horrible, and only seeming to get longer and more complicated as he grew into his role as king. Thankfully, the weekend had come and he could put the crown away for a few days.

As soon as the crown was locked away, he tore off his royal garb and dressed down into something more suitable for travel by carriage. He looked at his watch and wondered if she had eaten yet. Then, as per his habit, he checked his calendar and found something rather surprising circled in red.

How had it come up so soon?

He couldn't help but smile as he dressed down. He couldn't believe it had snuck up on him. He couldn't believe he hadn't planned anything large and lavish.

Large and Lavish would be coming soon enough though.

He wondered why she hadn't brought it up to him sooner.

—-

The day started off a little hectic.

She had never had many guests there in the woods. No one usually knew the cabin was there, especially since Fairy Godmother had been kind enough to hide it from anyone who could and would try to cause harm. She couldn't be too careful with no magic until she was 22.

Now, it was like she couldn't escape guests.

First, at the crack of dawn, an old witch selling apples knocked on the door and woke her. Mal kept her composure and sent her away with as much of a smile as she could muster.

Then, before she even had her coffee poured, a faerie knocked on the door with promises to make her a real human girl. Mal thanked her, said she was already as human as she wanted to be, but sent her away too.

Just as she was sitting down to breakfast, a magician's apprentice came to the door looking for his master. Mal politely said she hadn't seen a magician and sent him on his way.

Then, shortly after, a man looking for his lost elephant. Once again, she sent him away too, telling him he would be the first to know if she encountered an elephant in the wild of the woods.

After that, a hunter appeared, shotgun in hand, asking if she had any ammo he could borrow. As much as she wanted to send him away as a doe himself, she kept her emotions in cheek and sent him away too.

For a short time after that, no one came to the door and she was able to complete her morning in peace. But as soon as the noon hour rolled around, the knocking started again.

At first, she was about to rip their head off, then when she opened the door, Fairy Godmother stood there with a small smile.

"FG?" Mal asked, looking her over. "Is everything alright in the kingdom?" The worst possibilities came forth. "Is Ben alright?" She asked. "Is it my mother?" She hoped for the best, but prepared for the worst.

Fairy Godmother simply smiled her usual smile. "Everything is fine," she answered. "King Ben simply asked me to check on you." Something seemed off, but with so many guests, Mal couldn't put it into words. "What shall I tell him?"

Fairy Godmother had visited occasionally. More often than Ben, but still something seemed off and she still couldn't put it into words.

"Tell him I'm doing fine," Mal said. Inside, she suffered, but she would never let him know that. How much longer, she didn't know, she didn't dare look at a calendar. "Tell him the house is holding up, but the door frame sticks, the light bulbs need to be changed soon and there's a draft in the bedroom."

Sadly, simple requests of housework was what her life had become. Rather than real conversations with Ben, she gave him laundry lists through Fairy Godmother and he would simply come by when he could and fix little things at a time.

The romance had all but fizzled out. No romance, only chaste kisses when he got there and when he left out of duty. The temptation was too great otherwise.

Fairy Godmother froze for a moment, but she nodded along. "I will pass the message along."

Mal thanked her and sent her on her way. Still, the knocking still kept coming.

Next, a child came, looking for her purple smiling cat. Mal couldn't be too mean and sent her on her way with an apologetic smile.

Next after that came a group of boys, lost and looking for their mother, with dirty faces and sad eyes. They asked to come in and enjoy something warm at her table, but Mal didn't fall for it for a second. Anything and everything could be a trap.

Finally, when she tried to lay down to take a nap in the mid afternoon, a dreadful incessant barking woke her and kept her awake. She found all manner of dogs, some strays, some beautifully groomed running around the field without owners. She shook her head and simply laughed.

"Who or what is going to show up next?" She asked herself. "My mother?"

Thankfully, her mother did not show up. Thankfully, after all that, the knocking and disruptions stopped and Mal was finally able to sit and read a book that had no mentions of magic or rebellion. It was all rather boring, but it was the sacrifice she had to make to keep the kingdom safe.

Gardening could be a safe hobby, she supposed. Much better than crochet.

What other way for a princess to behave than to be stuck in her own version of a tower waiting for the prince to save her?

Mal laughed at that and then curled up into a ball on the most comfortable chair and began reading. Surprisingly, the gardening manual captivated her.

Hours later the sound of the front door opening pulled her violently from the middle of the best planting techniques for ficus.

She looked up to see Ben, and kept reading.

Apparently he had received Fairy Godmother's list and had time to work then. She would simply let him work and not get tempted. Gardening was the way to go.

At first, he simply worked around her as she read. He brought tools to fix the door frame, and he brought lightbulbs. He even brought a toolbox for the smaller tasks she hadn't had the heart to tell him about. For several minutes, he worked around her, fixing the things she had asked for, and a couple she hadn't.

She tried not to think of him in that way, the way that would get her in trouble as she watched him work with a hammer and reinforce a loose board in the rafters. She dared not ask him what the date was, or how long they had left.

It would be too cruel to know.

"Did you receive any of my gifts?" Ben asked as he hammered upward, a few nails between his teeth, the small strip of skin between his pants and his shirt revealing itself.

She dared not look at it. "Your gifts?" She turned the page like she had been reading the whole time and not studying him. "Why would you send me gifts?"

From the way he stared at her, she had said the wrong thing. From the way he climbed down from the ladder and moved closer until he was almost too close for comfort, she had upset him.

Still, she didn't dare break. There had been a lot of frustration over the past few years. It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last.

He knelt next to her where she sat, curled up in the chair. "Happy Birthday, Mal," he said. "I had hoped to build up to this part in some lavish over the top ridiculous song about my devotion, but if you didn't get any of my gifts earlier, I can work with that too."

He took a deep breath and pulled a Dwarves and Son's ring box from his pocket. He popped it open and for a brief moment it was like all the air had been sucked out of the room.

At first, she expected a wedding ring, but tucked inside was a small tiara.

"Mal," he said, the smile on his face infectious just as always. "Will you rule the kingdom with me? As the love of my life, as my wife, as my queen, as the only person I will ever bow to?"

In that moment, it was as if all the pain all the loneliness of the past four years had evaporated. If it was really true that it was her birthday, then it meant she had made it. It was all worth it. "Yes," She said. "But do we have to go back right away?"

Ben raised his eyebrow suggestively. "What do you ask of me, my Queen?"

END