Morgan sat between her sister's legs with slight reluctance, squirming as Severa began pulling a hairbrush through her short hair mercilessly. The white-haired girl's favorite pastime seemed to be grooming and dressing her younger sister like some oversized doll. She'd been primped and painted and made up enough times in the last few weeks to last for an entire lifetime.

But Morgan suffered in silence for a number of reasons. For one, she could admit she did look nicer once Severa was finally satisfied with her work. She'd never cared much about how she looked, but lately she found it mattered a bit more to her- namely because she had a huge crush on Owain. Not that that he ever noticed her despite Severa's makeovers. But still, it couldn't hurt to look pretty.

And for another thing, it made Severa happy to treat Morgan like her personal plaything. They got along surprisingly well in spite of Severa's difficult personality; Morgan was just sweet enough to bring out Severa' softer, protective-older-sister side.

"Sev?" Morgan sighed as her sister set the hairbrush aside and began braiding her hair with flawless skill, her long fingers pulling the bright red strands together like magic.

"What?"

"What will happen if father and mother… don't get married?"

Severa paused in her work for the briefest second, so fast that Morgan almost didn't notice.

"Stupid. Of course they'll get married," she muttered, continuing to twist the braids into Morgan's hair with a bit more force.

"But how can you be sure?"

Morgan chewed on the inside of her cheek as she waited for a reply. She looked at her sister with anxious brown eyes as Severa finally abandoned her braiding and sat in front of her, her expression serious.

"I'm sure because we're both here. The fact that we exist tells me that mother and father will get married and 'baby us' will be here soon enough."

Severa wrinkled her nose in apparent disgust at the thought, pretending to gag. Morgan giggled, starting to feel a little better despite her worries. She knew it wasn't easy on her parents to get to know each other given their circumstances, and the nagging thought that they wouldn't be compatible with the added stresses of already having children together kept her up at night. Not to mention the chance she could just pop right out of existence...

"'Sides," Severa continued, lifting her tanned hand in front of Morgan's face, "I've got proof that they get married. Mom's ring. So don't worry about it. They'll be all over each other sooner or later… and it'll be totally disgusting."

Morgan nodded and allowed her sister's words to convince her. Severa was confident in the future she'd come from; she'd just have to trust that her parent's love would come to them sooner or later.

Robin smoothed out the blanket on the floor of his tent for the twelfth time (he'd been counting) and checked once again that he'd gotten everything that he had on his list for the "picnic."

The idea had been Lissa's; the princess has insisted that any girl wanted a 'romantic picnic with her beloved.' Robin had pointed out it was freezing cold outside, a certain damper to any potentially romantic situation. Lissa had punched him in the arm and told him to 'figure it out.'

So he'd set up a huge blanket in his tent, which he kept toasty warm all throughout the year.

It was quite an impressive layout, he could say without bias. He knew Cordelia had a sweet tooth so he made sure to include a wide selection of dessert. Now she just had to show up…

Cordelia rushed into the tent then, her face pink from exertion. Her long red hair was pulled into tight pigtails, which made her look even more like Severa than usual. She paused for breath as she closed the tent's flap. Waving away Robin's concerned start toward her, she managed to pant out "Frederick… made me… made… run laps… for… f-for… missing practice this morning…"

Robin nodded in absolute pity, leading the poor woman to the blanket on the floor. He'd been made to run laps more often then he'd like to recall- it was never a pleasant experience.

She finally seemed to catch her breath, smiling at him as her breathing became normal again. He was glad, he'd been afraid for a moment that she might pop a lung or something.

"Did you do all this yourself? It looks great."

He shrugged as if he hadn't spent the better part of his day frantically gathering the things he'd carefully written down, making sure everything about this was perfect. "I guess so."

She popped a chocolate-covered strawberry into her mouth, crossing her long legs Indian-style beneath her. "So, I figured I should tell you this. I don't really know what you'll think…"

Robin stiffened. Those weren't exactly words anyone wanted to hear. "Uh, okay?"

She laughed and patted his knee reassuringly. "Don't look so worried. It's just something about Morgan," she said, frowning when his face became more worried rather than less. "She… may have a small crush on Owain. I think it's cute."

Robin balled his fists, instantly angry at the thought of anybody being near his daughter in that way, even if it was just a harmless crush on Morgan's behalf.

"I'll make sure to keep him far away from her," he grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest tightly. Cordelia sighed and shook her head.

"That'll only make her like him more," she said wisely. "I don't think we have anything to worry about, really. Owain is a good boy."

Robin could agree with this. Owain mostly spent his time with Yarne and on training. He was a little… odd, but he liked Lissa's son well enough. Still not well enough to trust him with Morgan, though.

"I still don't like it," he pouted.

She shrugged. "We don't really get to pick who she wants to like, do we? I didn't even get to choose to like you. But we must really like each other if we have two kids," she said teasingly, poking him in the side.

He laughed, seeing the logic a tiny bit. "I guess you're right."

Cordelia tilted her head, a strange expression coming across her face.

"You're a good father, Robin," she said randomly. "Morgan and Severa are lucky to have you."

He furrowed his brow, wondering what brought about this sudden compliment.

"Thank you," he murmured, "I try to spend as much time with them as possible."

Cordelia nodded, tucking a stray hair from a pigtail behind her ear. "I'm lucky to have you, too."

He was at a loss for a reply to this. What did one even say to something like that? 'Yeah, you are pretty lucky to have me?'

"You've been so kind to me considering our situation, and more patient with Severa than anyone else is. I just wanted you to know that… that I think this could all work out," she continued, keeping her pink eyes fixed on her hands that she had resting in her lap.

Again, he could think of nothing intelligent to say. A dark blush crept into his cheeks and he was glad she wasn't looking at him to see it. What did she mean by 'I think this could all work out?'

The logical part of his brain that Robin used for planning battles kicked in and he calculated that there was two possible things that Cordelia likely meant by this. Option one was that she meant that they could be happy, that he'd continue to be patient with Severa and she'd get along with Morgan and they'd all live separate lives and be separately happy with each other.

Option two was that she meant they could work out, as in him and her. Together. Married, probably. Already with two kids and enough awkwardness for the rest of their lives.

He didn't dare hope that she meant they could work out, but the evidence pointed toward option two. Why would she look so bashful if she only meant they could all be happy?

So instead of saying anything in response and potentially making a fool of himself, he simply reached forward and cupped her chin in his hand. He lifted her face to look at him gently, meeting her timid eyes. He leaned forward until his breath was blowing gently against her face. She stiffened, probably thinking he'd kiss her. He didn't, but what he did do was press his lips against her earlobe, which felt nearly as intimate as a kiss.

"I think this could work too, Cordelia," he whispered.

Later that night, Robin was cursing the bitter cold as he stomped through town with the mission of picking up some staff for Lissa. The shop she needed it from was a three mile journey away, and of course no one else was willing to go get it.

He paused as he approached the same jewelry table from before, Martha smiling at him welcomingly. He mumbled a greeting to the woman as he looked over the various necklaces and rings in a somewhat bored fashion, more out of politeness than actual interest in buying anything.

A particular ring caught his eye. It was very small with a golden band, shiny blue gems engraved into the precious metal with perfect skill. Something about the ring was familiar…

His shiver had nothing to do with the bitter cold. He'd seen that very ring every day since his eldest daughter had arrived three weeks ago, wrapped snugly around her slender finger. Severa never took off the only memento she had from the future: Cordelia's wedding ring.

He turned to Martha, breathless, holding up the ring.

"How much for this?"

He was going to marry her, this ring proved it. This could work.

Bit of an open-ended final chapter, but you can safely assume what happens next. :) I really hope you guys liked this story. I want to do another soon from Awakening, so suggestions for couples you'd like to see or anything like that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!