Come Here Thy Sweet Love --[p]art two--

"Merry Christmas, darling." SILAS murmured when he finally made it back to the couch where Merriam was resting, holding a small box in his hands. He looked over at Ryker in the corner, where the man held Emilie with one hand, holding her up as she bounced around, and then Hash in the other, and he smiled. "Here. It's just a little something... Liza helped me pick it out, so if you hate it, that's probably because she has terrible taste." he murmured before pressing his lips to her forehead and handing her the box.

---

As much as Silas was watching RYKER, Ryker was watching the couple, or at least he was in the few moments of attention he could steal away from the babies. When he saw Silas there, a smile across his face, and a smile across Merriam's, as well, he gave a sad smile of his own. Of course he wanted her. Who in their right mind wouldn't? She was perfection in a person, and he knew that.

But so did Silas, and she had chosen him. He had even taken himself out of the running. And Lana's coming, anyway. he thought, knowing that those dates were always more platonic than anything, but he couldn't help but enjoy them all the same. With those thoughts finished, Emilie let out a long burble and he broke from his musings, turning back to the baby, waiting for his 'girlfriend' to show up.

---

"Right. So I'm going to go and have my date with Riley, and you're going to go and have your date with Ryker, right? And then we're going to end things with both of them and we're going to come back here and make out and it's going to be great?" BEN asked nervously, holding Lana's hands in his for a long second, his fingers massaging at her skin, though it was more out of a his need to do something than anything else. "Right? It'll be like a movie. You are going to break things off with him, right?" he added a second later, pouting slightly. "I don't want you with him anymore. Especially because he's kinda scary. Not that I couldn't take him, though. Because I totally could."

bump? did you get this invite?

Yes!!!

boi do i get that. take your time XD

"We're not, we're not. This is just a little something. If it can't be a Christmas present, then let it just be a love present." he murmured before leaning forward and pressing his lips to her forehead, pulling away with a little chuckle a second later. "Besides, I actually bought it with castle money this time. So it's not really a present from me." he added, knowing that she would never think of it like that, especially now that they both shared the throne, but, to him, it mattered. If he didn't make the money, it wasn't his to spend.

"Oh, come on, love." he whispered after a second, sitting down next to the couch so that Hash could climb all over him, quickly looking over to check on Emilie in Ryker's arms. "Please just open it. You're my beautiful, beautiful wife. I want you to have presents." he grumbled with a little pout. "And you don't let me constantly shower you in gifts, so at least let me make today special...?"

--

"Of course I'm going to dump her." Ben said indignantly before he heard the rest of her words, a little pout settling across his face. When she finished, he just leaned down and pressed his lips to hers gently, pulling away with a little smile. "Of course I'm going to dump her." he repeated before giving her hands a squeeze. "I don't want her, I want you. All I want for Christmas is you..." he said teasingly before realizing what she'd said and giving a little grumble.

"Wait a second." he muttered after a moment, giving her hands a squeeze and then looking down at her. "When have I ever tried to break up with a girl and just confused her? I've never done that!' he protested, though he was looking at her, nervous that maybe he'd missed something between them. "I... no, I don't remember that...?"

"Mmm, thank you...." Silas cooed playfully, settling into the couch when he saw her actually accept the present, hurling himself around her side and then wrapping an arm around her waist, watching her hands untangle the ribbon slowly. He quickly looked over at his kids again, a smile across his face, before looking back at his wife, just in time to watch her pull out the long silver chain from its little box, two small charms- one printed with an H, the other with an E- at the end.

"Do you like it?" he asked hopefully, looking at her with a smile. "I figured that it could count as a present from the kids, to you. Their hot mama." he purred happily, nuzzling his nose into her hair for just a second before pressing his lips there softly and giving a little hum. "If you don't like it, though, I'll take it back. I thought you might like it, though, because I think you have something that looks a little bit like this?" he hummed hopefully.

--

"In my defense, I thought I made it very clear that I broke up with her..." Ben grumbled, his face turning red at the memory, the same embarrassment as always washing over him at the thought of what had happened, of how absolutely mental that girl had gotten. He stood there for a second, stewing in the embarrassment, before he gave a little cough and looked back at her.

"But I will break it off with Riley." he promised with a grin, giving her shoulders a little squeeze before letting go and smiling softly, though there was a hint of nervousness there all the same as he let go of her on the steps of the palace, nervous that she would remember how much hotter and better her current boyfriend was than he, and everything he wanted with her would go down the drain. "I promise. The only girlfriend I want is you."

When she let out that happy little gasp, Silas pulled away from her, a proud smirk across his face, knowing what that sound meant. She saw it, and she liked it. He did well. At her question, he grinned and nodded, murmuring, "Anything for my love," before fumbling with the clasp, for only a few seconds, and then reaching around her gently, clipping the necklace over her gorgeous red hair, only sweeping that out from behind the necklace at the last second.

"I love you." he whispered when he finished, looking at her for a long second before turning back to Silas and standing up, quickly walking over to the other guy and taking his two children from the man's arms, giving him a grateful grin before whispering, "Why don't you take the rest of the day off? Enjoy your Christmas?" and walking back to his wife, beautiful twins in hand. "I love you, and so do your beautiful, beautiful babies."

--

Ah, skip for them? Can we do that whole bit later? I kinda want to do this bit with Ryker first. Although maybe we should do the bit with Ryker after. I was thinking that maybe he find a girl of his own? I know that's so typical, but I feel bad for the dude, you know? He's just pining away over the married queen.

--

Ryker watched the scene in front of him, heart aching. It was so perfectly domestic, somehow, despite all that they had gone through. Merriam, the warrior princess, and Silas, the mob boss, had somehow ended up together with two gorgeous children, and lovestruck smiles across his face. That's all he ever wanted, to be in Silas's place.

He handed over the children reluctantly, more just loving the closeness of the babies than anything else, nodding solemnly to his king at his dismissal. Because it was nice, of course- Silas was never anything less that friendly to him, even though the man suspected the king knew of his feelings for his wife- but it was a dismissal all the same. And so he turned from his post at the door and walked out, nodding to the tewo guards on the other side of the door to make sure they stayed alert, before retreating back to the lounge, desperate for a nap and a coffee.

The second Ryker got to the lounge, he let out a huge, long sigh, his shoulders slumping forward slightly, and then he just shuffled over to the coffee machine, relieved that he could finally breathe, could finally take a moment to himself, without that stupidly stiff solider persona plastered across his face, or having to watch the love of his life play with her perfect family. He was in the middle of making himself a mug of coffee when he heard the door open, and he was too tired to turn and look, and instead just focused on the drink.

At the chipper, quite welcome voice, however, he turned around, grinning when he saw Lana, though he wasn't sure why he thought it might be anyone else- her voice was so distinctive and happy, he knew it was her from the first syllable. "Hey, you." he said, relieved to see her, actually. She seemed to be the only person he wasn't dreading at the moment, and that wad quite appreciated. After giving a quick kiss to her cheek, he looked at her and then back at the coffee machine and raised an eyebrow at her playfully. "Coffee?"

Ryker grinned and just handed her his mug, reaching up to grab another one, slowing himself on the way down when he heard her question. He stood there for a second, facing the wall, before turing back to her, his fingers worrying at the surface of the cup in his hand, before he broke into a weak smile and shrugged, willing to tell her only because he knew she was one of his best friends. They'd never really had the romantic spark, but what they had was almost better for him. She was a true friend.

"Uh... Yeah. I mean, it's fine. I just... I guess I realized this morning that I didn't have anything I really wanted in life, you know?" he asked softly before hearing what that sounded like and giving a dry snort. "God, that is the most depressing thing I've ever said in the entire world. And on Christmas, too." he said before looking at her and blushing. "Just... Thank you for asking, but forget it. Really. It's not your problem at all."

Ryker bit his lip and watched her move, standing still in his spot even after she'd settled into the couch, nervous at the thought of telling her. He'd never told anyone, and he hadn't exactly planned on it, but here she was, so willing to help, and he found himself slowly sliding into the couch across from her, his fingers still working at the mug.

"Um..." he whispered after a second, unsure where to start, before giving a little shrug and, with eyes trained on his coffee and, occasionally, on his hand, he started to speak, unable to look at her. "Well, this morning I was guarding the royal family, like I always do. I was holding Emilie and Hash, and watching Mer..." he whispered, not even realizing that he hadn't even thought to attach their proper titles to their names.

"And, I guess... I just realized that what I was watching was what I wanted. At the start, I thought I just wanted it because... well, because Merriam was there..." he admitted, his face turning red when he spoke, of the first time, for his totally irrational crush on the queen of his entire kingdom. "But then... I guess Irealized today that it wasn't just her that I wanted. It was all of it. A person who I love with my entire heart? A Christmas tree to share with people I love, with perfect presents underneath? And kids." he finished softly, his voice going a little breathless at the thought.

"I want to have kids, someday. And I just... I'm not even close to any of that." he finished before his face turned bright red, suddenly remembering that he was talking to an actual person and that she was definitely judging him for everything that he'd been saying. "It know it's stupid."

ooc: OH MY GOD, BAE! CONGRATS :)

"It's stupid for me to get all emotional about it, though." he grumbled, closing in on himself slightly, embarrassed that he had told her all of that. He was pretty sure she wasn't judging him- she always seemed to be wanting something else, as well- but he was still baffled at the fact that he had said all that. He was a guard. He wasn't supposed to be emotional, ever. He was supposed to be able to distance himself from his own life for the safety of the kingdom, and he'd just failed to do that.

"I mean, I'm young. I still have a ton of time." he muttered softly before giving a little cough and shrugging. "I think I'm just tired." he added a moment later, clearly covering up for the fact that he still felt that absence in his life, the absence of a family, utterly and completely, but he wanted to move away from it. It was embarrassing.

"That's probably why I'm so emotional. God. At least I'll get to sleep tomorrow night. Tonight I'm putting the presents under the tree for the kids." he finished with a tiny smile, though he dashed it when he realized, again, that the thing he was most excited about was something involving children. She's going to think I'm obsessed...