To Love, Once Again

"We're here, Sera." Lucien gently shakes Sera awake as he sets her down on a stone path. He'd princess-carried her inside the castle, but not towards his own rooms.

"Wha-"Sera's lashes flutter like butterfly wings as she awakes.

My goodness. She'd fallen asleep again.Lucien had brought her back, all the way to Leo's small cottage in the gardens. The rain had made the heady scent of flowers permeate the air, creating a night paradise that was a sight to behold. 'What a waste' Sera thought. A garden under the clear blue sky was beautiful, but there was a certain beauty in this time when all was quiet.

Sera's sleep-addled mind shakes the dust off, realizing what Lucien had done by bringing her here.

"Thank you, Lucien!"Sera jumps up and gives Lucien a happy hug. He was letting her stay with their son!

"No, I should have allowed this sooner." Lucien shakes his head. He'd been too foolish in his blind-eyed greed to spend more time with his woman. Her happiness was more important than anything. If being with her son made her happy, he would see that she spent time with him.

Taking both her hands in his, Lucien speaks earnestly in his melodious voice. "Can you teach me how to create a proper family, Sera?"

"Teach you?" Sera asks.

"Yes," His brows furrow slightly with apprehension. Lucien wasn't too confident with that part.

Creating a family was not something he was good at. After all, it was something he had never done before. His father had used him to serve the country, ignoring Lucien, the person. His mother didn't care for him after he'd lost his cuteness, started his maturation into an adult.He would focus on what he could do, for now.

"How does one create a proper family?"

Lucien asks. He truly didn't know.

Thinking of the her parents she'd said goodbye to in her old world, Sera's eyes grow somewhat misty. "I don't know. There's no manual on how to create a good family."

"But we spent time together because we cherished each other" She adds on, thinking about how her family, even with different work schedules ate dinner separately, would sit down in the living room and talk about their day. Maybe that was what defined a family. The time that a person spent with another. It didn't matter the kinds of conversations they had. Most of the time, they talked with no goal in mind. Things like how their day went and the funny commercial Pa had seen on tv.

"So it's a matter of time?" Lucien tilts his head, in a way that reminds Sera of their adorable son who was probably sleeping inside. Like father, like son.

"Yes. We get to know each other better by spending time together."

"Ah, I see. It's similar to courting." Lucien had planned on courting her after their marriage, when the plan was supposed to be carried out. Now, he could do it openly, pooling together the knowledge he'd gleaned from Icaros and his subordinate's conversations that he'd eavesdropped on to give Sera the best courting possible.

Lucien made it his business to make his woman happy. He loved his son, yes, but Sera was special. She was more than his other half. She was his own missing soul that breathed color into his life. So he'd prepared on ways he could make her happy. In his natural line of thought, their son hadn't factored into that equation. Why would it, when his own existence hadn't brought his mother joy.

The creating a family part required more research. He'll need to ask around tomorrow.

This was unexplored territory for Lucien, but he'll be damned if he didn't try.

Spreading his fingers against the small of her back, Lucien pulls her closer to him.

"Well, urmm." Sera mumbles her words. She didn't know much about dating herself. Lucien had been her first everything. How did people date in her world, anyways? Her friends had described it saying that dating started with saying "I like you." to someone and then going on dates together. But then what was courting?

Lucien steps closer and tucks a strand of brown hair behind her ear.

The heady scent of flowers made Sera's mind whirl. Her heart would always beat so quickly when Lucien came so close to her like this, exposing her underneath his deep azure stare. Tenderly wiping off another smear of coal on Sera's upper lip, Lucien stoops low and asks.

"I never did get to properly court you, did I?"

Sera doesn't know how to respond. Her overly-polite mind was telling her that it was rude to just tell Lucien: No, we never dated before our marriage. After all, they had spent time together before their previous contract marriage. Albeit in bits and pieces. Taking the time to piece together the small breaks between her working to heal the injured soldiers and Lucien strategizing and going out to war.

"Ummm...it was hard, with the Great War and our marriage after that." Sera

Lucien nods. "Well, my lady Sera of the Duncan House, I will do my utmost to correct that grave error, in addition to creating a family with you."

Getting down on one knee, he kisses her hand in a noble's gesture. The perfect picture of a man courting his lady.

Sera kisses him back on his cheek. "I have an idea. You haven't met our son yet."

"Yes." Lucien didn't know what her idea was, but he already agreed to it. Though it might be something uncomfortable for him, it would also be something interesting, he knew.

She whispers into Lucien's ear. "Come have breakfast with Leo and I tomorrow morning."

Sera can see Lucien tense somewhat with her words. Well of course. It was his first time meeting his son since seeing him as an infant. Lucien didn't know how to speak to a child, let alone be a father to one. He was having flashbacks to the child he'd made cry in the Azai camp.

"Don't worry. It'll be alright." Sera hugs Lucien, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he stands back up, pressing her against the door of the cottage.

"I know. You're with me." Lucien mumbles into her shoulder as Sera strokes the back of his head.

He breathes deeply, and then pulls back to rest his forehead against hers.

"One last kiss, and I'll leave for tonight."

He whispers, lips brushing against hers,

"Okay"

Sera responds. Before the last syllable excapes her mouth, Lucien kisses her deep. It was a hard and fast kiss, knowing he had to go and let her rest, but still wanting to enjoy her taste. Let her know his unwillingness to leave.

The kiss ends all too quickly for both Sera and Lucien.

Lucien couldn't resist the urge to leave some more red love bites on her neck.

"Goodnight, my Queen."

Kissing her hand once again, and with a bow, Lucien turns and walks away.

Sera leans against the door in the same position he'd left her in, pressing her hand to her chest, and watches him leave.

"Goodnight, my beloved King." She lets her words flutter in the open air, after his departing back.

Faced away from her Lucien smiles into the dark gardens, his keen hearing picking up her words. But he keeps stepping forward. No matter how badly he wanted to go back and sweep her off her feet, take her back to his room, he wouldn't.

She needed to rest. And be with their son.

After watching him disappear beyond the large clusters of lilacs, Sera opens the door to the cottage and enters. The feeling of Lucien's warm lips pressing against her own was still there, making her face feel so hot. Shutting the door behind herself and giving a deep sigh to calm down, Sera

"Mama?"

A small voice interrupts her thoughts. Sera gasps in surprise, not expecting anyone in the entrance of the cottage. This late, everyone should be fast asleep.

Rubbing his eyes with his small fist, her son sat on the floor in the entryway of the cottage, a blanket draped over his lap. The warm lamplight on the walls kept the entry lit, making the little boy's red hair shine dully as he rubbed the drool on his cheek with the sleeve of his light blue striped pajamas. In his other hand, a velveteen rabbit was dragging on the floor, the toddler holding hands with it.