Prompt: The Fight Before Christmas

Chapter content warnings: on-screen violence; of age drinking

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

Jake winced as the Huntsgirl crashed to the ground. The Huntsman had to help her to her feet and Jake noticed how badly her hands and legs were shaking. All he wanted to do was go to her as Jake and hold her as Rose and make sure that she was okay.

Jake forced himself to not only stay in the air but to continue to assault while Gramps stayed in the background and nodded satisfactorily at every blow that the Huntsgirl failed to land. Jake gritted his teeth and then went on the offensive again.

The Huntsgirl got her staff up between them just in time. Jake could feel the heave of her chest as she fought for air and he read the same expression in her eyes that he knew must also be in his. Jake wanted to comfort her but he knew he couldn't because Gramps was watching and the Huntsman was watching and, well, because they were broken up now.

The Huntsgirl swung her staff at his ear. Anticipating the move, Jake was able to get his arm up and he snapped the staff in half. The Huntsgirl tried to fight her way into a retreat and Jake steeled himself for what he knew he had to do next.

When the Huntsgirl was bloody, weak, and clinging to the Huntsman, the Huntsman said the words that Jake had been waiting to hear since this whole thing had started.

"Get out of here, Huntsgirl. I'll finish this myself."

After a few more words to make sure the Huntsgirl knew she was a failure, she was dismissed. The Huntsman zeroed in on Jake and Gramps. Jake landed next to his grandfather.

"We should split up, force him to follow one of us," Jake said.

Gramps grunted and then he nodded, heaving himself into the air. Jake let him go and then he pretended to take off too before promptly hiding, leaving the Huntsman no choice but to follow Gramps. For a second, Jake felt bad about leaving Gramps to fend for himself and then Jake hurried in the other direction.

Rose was already waiting for him, relief breaking out on her face as she snatched him into her arms.

"I was so worried you wouldn't be able to get away!" she whispered to his chest.

Jake wished that they could savour the moment. Except for the heat of battle, he hadn't touched her in months. In order for no one to suspect what was coming, Jake and Rose had to really pretend to be broken up. Jake took Rose by the shoulders and made her take a step back so that he could look at her face. With his dragon's vision, he could see the scratches and the slowly forming bruises under her quick make-up job. He wished there had been some other way and that this hadn't been all his fault.

"They'll heal," Rose said, correctly reading his expression, because she was the only one who knew him that well. Rose leant up and kissed his cheek. "Come on, we've got a boat to catch."

Rose handed him the bag that he'd prepped so long ago that it felt like another lifetime now. Rose went to pick up her own bag but Jake took it before she had the chance to. Rose didn't have to carry a thing when he was around and if this all worked, they were going to have each other for a very long time.

Rose adjusted both of their toques lower over the faces and hid their hair away. "Last chance to back out."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Then, they joined the flow of New York's tourists, blending in seamlessly to the blob of winter coats and thick boots and backpacks. Jake barely breathed throughout their journey, even as the snow began to lessen and it hopefully meant that there would be no delays. He felt like his heart was going to stop as they got to the cruise ship pier and had their fake IDs compared to their tickets and got fed through cruise ship security. Then, finally, Mr. Terrance Stanley and Mrs. Greta Stanley boarded the ship and were left to find the way to their honeymoon suite. Rose let them inside and did all of the locks behind Jake. They stored their bags and sat on the floor in silence, holding each other's hands in silence until an announcement forced them to leave the security of their room to attend a mandatory safety briefing. They couldn't stay behind; if someone checked, it would just draw attention to them.

Jake was relieved that they didn't stand out. The crew were dressed in bright green elf outfits and on all sides of he and Rose were families in matching holiday sweaters and couples who were cheekily pointing out the mistletoe around the ship to one another. Jake kept his arm around Rose's waist as a man dressed like Santa Clause began the safety briefing. Jake only half-listened, looking around at the crowd instead. He was on alert for anyone who might be suspicious but Jake was really starting to feel like they might have gotten away with it. They were just one of many faces of strangers on the same Christmas Cruise to the Caribbean. With a final word of caution about wet decks, they were all dismissed.

Jake and Rose headed back to their room as quickly as they could without looking strange. They did all the locks back up and then they went to stare out the window together. Jake locked their hands together as the boat slowly began to move and then the New York skyline started to rapidly fade. Once it was barely a smudge in the distance, Jake turned to Rose and she smiled brilliantly.

"We did it! We got away!"

Jake hugged her into his arms and then spun her around before kissing her like he had been waiting months to do. He kissed her and felt every fear and worry melting away because they had the world in front of them now. When they got off this boat, they were going to get go wherever they wanted and build whatever life they dreamt of and no one was going to be able to stop them.

"I love you."

"I love you," Rose whispered back and then she spun in his arms, turning to grab the champagne bottle that had so nicely come with the honeymoon suite. "To my mister."

Jake helped her work the cork off, laughing as it bounced onto the bed. "To my missus."

They drank from the bottle and as his head tilted back, Jake laughed.

"Hey! There's mistletoe in the room!"

Rose kissed him and then stole the bottle from him. "Best Christmas ever."

"Yes," Jake agreed as the cruise sailed off into the horizon, "best Christmas ever."