Title: Gardens – Epilogue

Fandom: Prince of Persia

Pairing: Dastan/Tamina

Rating: T/PG-13

Genre: Romance/General

AN: At the request of most of you reviewers…Here is an epilogue. I'm going to say that it' a lot more mature oriented than any other previous chapter. No smut though. Also, I know a lot of you guys really didn't like the angsty ending I submitted, but it will remain as part of the story. Anyways, shout out to Dani, Amber, Gaara-l0ve, Anime Princess, newworldwriter1, Jtoasn, MinionDominion, Dean's best girl, decdragon, Zeldie03, Link Fangirl01, bunnie915, Streetlighttgeek17, chnoelle, Shani8, BellaCullen1789, Arsalan, and Pie in the Face.

Tamina huffed around the palace, wandering around, trying to find her husband and daughter. She had specifically told them not to take an adventure today – not when his brothers were arriving from Nasaf with all their little boys – no girls, only boys. She couldn't help but thank the gods that Dastan and her had managed to have a little girl – Alamut needs one.

Waddling to her bed, Tamina flopped down. She was exhausted from trying to find those two troublemakers all over the palace, and it didn't help that she was lugging around an extra six pounds of weight. Still, when she heard voices outside the window, Tamina struggled to get out of bed, unable to see her own feet. Damn it. She hated being pregnant.

Dastan held a pomegranate in one hand and her daughter's hand in the other. Arriving at his favorite fountain in the palace, Dastan stopped to teach his daughter a very important lesson.

"Now, Samhita, you know that Uncle Garsiv is coming today, along with Uncle Tus?"

"Yes, Mommy told us not to wander off." Dastan smiled at his daughter's words. Just as bossy as her mother.

"Yes, she did, but you were the one that said you wanted to learn how to spit pomegranate seeds at Uncle Garsiv!"

Samhita bit her lower lip. She really did want to learn, but her mommy got really mad, really fast lately, and she didn't know if it was worth it. Playing with her hair, Samhita shifted from foot to foot, mumbling to herself.

Dastan's grin grew wider as he observed exactly how much his daughter was like her mother – the lip biting, hair fidgeting. He knew Tamina would think otherwise, but their daughter definitely took after her mother.

"Fine, only because Mommy will yell at you and not me!" Happily, Samhita stole a pomegranate from her daddy, trying to open it.

Dastan laughed at the eagerness of his daughter – how it resembled Tamina's eagerness to learn sword fighting! As he reached over to help his daughter open the pomegranate, not without her refusing his help at first, Dastan knew he had never loved his family more.

When Tamina finally reached the windows, she stared down at her favorite gardens to see Dastan and her daughter having fun. It seemed like just yesterday when Alamut's streets were celebrating the marriage of the Princess and the Prince. Dastan had insisted on a small wedding, no doubt his humble heritage coming forth, and Tamina had acquiesced – the smaller the wedding, the less expectations. Though it was a small wedding, the Alamutians seemed to have become fast friends with the Persians, drinking and partying throughout the streets as if they had been personally invited. Now, four years later, Samhita was always getting herself in trouble – just like her father.

Snapped out of her memories, Tamina watched, delighted, as her daughter absorbed whatever her father was teaching her, which happened to be…SPITTING POMEGRANATE SEEDS?

"DASTAN! GET UP HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

Dastan winced as he heard Tamina's furious voice. Lifting his head, he could make out Tamina's form, hands on her hips, standing on the balcony of their room.

"Keep practicing, but make sure you don't choke! Daddy will be right back."

Dastan wasted no time in scaling the wall to their room – no need to anger his wife any further.

"Yes, Princess?"

"DASTAN! I told you to stop climbing walls!"

"Well, you told me to GET UP HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT."

"Don't mock me, Prince!"

"I would never dream of it." Dastan held back his smile, loving how he could get Tamina riled up. "What did you need me for, Princess?"

"Oh right. I TOLD YOU NOT TO WANDER OFF BECAUSE YOUR BROTHERS WERE COMING, AND INSTEAD YOU DECIDE TO WANDER OFF AND TEACH OUR DAUGHTER HOW TO SPIT POMEGRANATE SEEDS?" A grin appeared on Dastan's face. He adored how Tamina's vocabulary slipped down the drain when she got mad.

"You used 'wander off' twice, Princess. AND, your daughter seems to have inherited your ways of persuading me to do certain things – like learning how to spit pomegranate seeds at her uncle's helmet."

Tamina's eyes narrowed even further. Of course he would manage to drag her into the argument – saying that their daughter took after her.

"Our daughter takes after yo-"

"Princess Tamina, the Princes have arrived." Namrita's voice was slightly muffled by the door but cut off Tamina's growing rant nonetheless.

"This is not over, Dastan! Now out! I have to change."

Namrita held in her grin as she watched Tamina glare at the Prince and point to the window. Oh, the semantics of their love. Namrita never knew what to expect when it came to the royal couple, and neither did anyone else for that matter. It seemed as if they were either going to kill each other or have more babies at any given moment. Coming back to the present time, Namrita gingerly helped her friend change, staying silent. Everybody knew not to mess with a pregnant Tamina. They had thought that the Princess had a temper and sharp tongue before, but oh gods. Namrita couldn't help but laugh as she recalled the day Yat finally learned his lesson on leaving Dastan and Princess Tamina alone.

"Care to share what's so funny, Nam?"

"Remember the time that you and Dastan were in the banquet hall, bickering about the decorations for the King's arrival from Nassaf?"

"YES! And that idiotic Yat decided to interrupt us, saying that the Persians were barbarians who that wouldn't appreciate beauty when they saw it."

"And Prince Dastan took it as a personal insult that he didn't appreciate you. Aww. So sweet… Just like the rant you had that followed."

"It wasn't my fault! I was pregnant, and Yat was always trying to break Dastan and I apart! Plus, I didn't yell at him that much."

"Oh no, most definitely not, Tam. Only for seventeen minutes and loud enough that everyone in the courtyard could hear you screaming out every single qualm you had about him. Yeah, you definitely didn't yell at him that much."

Tamina mock glared at Namrita. It was hard to control her emotions when she was pregnant! Yat should have just been glad he didn't get his head chopped off by Dastan after she had run out of the hall crying, energy all used up in the rant. Smiling at the thought, Tamina knew that, even though Dastan had never spoken about it, Yat had been threatened quite some bodily harm by her husband. "You'll wish you had never been born" seemed to have been the exact words her Prince had used, according to the Guardians present. Leave it to Dastan to be oddly charming and vicious at the same time.

"Enough about Dastan and I. What's going on with you and Bis?"

"What? Nothing! There is nothing going on with me and Bis!"

"Bis and I. Now, stop lying!"

"I'm not ly- Fine! We walked around the other night! That's it!"

"Liar."

"You are ready to meet the elder Princes now, Tamina."

"Subject-changer."

Namrita didn't bother responding to Tamina's accusations, simply guiding her out the door towards the banquet hall of the palace where the Princes were waiting.

"Finally! The Princess has graced us with her presence! Now we don't need to pay any attention to Dastan anymore!"

Tamina laughed at Garsiv's greeting. The two of them had actually managed to become good companions – once Garsiv got over the fact that his younger brother would only be taking one wife – courtesy of her. At the thought of remembering how Dastan turned down every other proposed bride, preferring to stay true only to her, Tamina couldn't help but feel special and truly loved. Wrapping her arms around Dastan's waist, she leaned into his chest as best as she could with her protruding belly.

"Well, I would hope you still talk to him a little bit, or else he'll still be whining about not seeing you for too long."

Garsiv let out a chuckle. It was at times like these that he understood why Dastan only had one wife. Everyone's attention soon turned elsewhere though as little Samhita entered the room.

"UNCLE TUS! UNCLE GARSIV!" Samhita launched herself at Uncle Garsiv happily. She couldn't wait to spit seeds at his head – helmet or not.

"Uncle Garsiv! Look! Look! I got some newly akwirurd skills!" Tamina laughed at her little girl's attempt to sound all grown-up.

"Acquired, Samhita, acquired."

"Yes, yes. That! Look! Look!"

"I'm looking, Samhita. When are you going to show me?"

"Now! Oh wait…" Samhita frowned as she realized she had forgotten her pomegranate in the gardens. Samhita's eyes started to water.

"Hey there now, Little Sam! Your favorite person in the whole world has a present for you!" Samhita's eyes turned towards Bis' outstretched palm. Resting in his hand was an open pomegranate.

"BIS! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Samhita tackled Bis in a hug as Garsiv's eyes narrowed at the sight of the fruit.

"Oh you did not, Dastan! I will murder you!"

"NO! Uncle Garsiv, don't murder Daddy! Please don't! I love Daddy! Uncle Garsiv, don't do it" Samhita dropped back to the floor, eyes tearing up again.

"Your Uncle Garsiv was joking, Sam. He's not really going to kill me." Dastan gave his brother a dirty look. Though Samhita was an incredibly smart three year-old, she was still a three year-old.

"Oh. Okay then. Look at what I can do!"

Garsiv winced as every single pomegranate seed the little kid spat hit him squarely on the forehead. He glared at Dastan. Of course his brother's daughter would have perfect aim.

"Hey! Don't blame me! I just taught her today. Fast learner. Takes after her mother."

Dastan flashed Tamina a smile, rejoicing as he saw the familiar signs of a bickering brewing. He didn't think he and Tamina would ever sort out their differences on where their daughter got her mischievous ways from.

"Sam, why don't you bring Uncle Garsiv and Uncle Tus to their rooms – and maybe visit some of your cousins?"

Tus saw Tamina's question for what it was – a desire for her to have a private quarrel or engage in private actions with Dastan. Those two were the most confusing couple he had ever met. Taking Sam's hand, Tus patted Dastan on the back with his other, holding in his chortle.

Dastan wrapped his left arm around Tamina's waist guiding her towards the gardens, which he had soon learned to be her favorite. No matter how forcefully she denied that he had any part in them being her favorite gardens, he knew that she was lying.

Tamina waited until they arrived in their gardens before spinning out of Dastan's hold and telling him exactly what was on her mind.

"I cannot believe you dare to say that Samhita's ways come from me! She is the spitting image of you in behavior – getting herself in trouble, charming everyone in her path, and CLIMBING WALLS!" Dastan was busy watching as his wife's skin flushed brighter with every word, almost so distracted that he missed her last words. She knew?

"And yes, I know! I saw her showing Bis the other day! All her troublesome ways come straight from you! I don't know how she's supposed to take my place one day!"

"Well Princess, I think it's hardly fair that you place all the blame on me for her mischievous ways. I seem to recall you getting yourself in plenty of trouble by deserting me in the Valley of Slaves."

Tamina was about to retort until she heard Dastan's last sentence. Damn the man for springing random pieces of information from the erased time on her. He knew that she always felt obliged to at least spend a second processing it, before storing it away for further wonderment, and he used it to his advantage. He was always telling her these details whenever he wanted her to pause in rants.

Smirking, Dastan watched as Tamina got briefly distracted by the new facts of the past time. He sort of felt guilty at times when he used past events to prove his point, but all is fair in love and war.

"Plus, all her conniving plans to pull off the most elaborate pranks I have ever seen only could have come from one of us, and it definitely wasn't me." Tamina glared at Dastan. The flatterer. She crossed her arms, wanting to see what else he could come up with.

"And if I recall correctly, I'm not the only parent of hers that can be quite seductive when needed." Dastan raised his eyebrow and gave Tamina a pointed look. Holding her gaze, he continued on.

"And she subconsciously plays with her hair when she feels uncomfortable – giving her a sense of vulnerability." Dastan twirled a lock of Tamina's hair, which had now grown back to its original length, between his fingers.

"And, when she's trying to make up her mind, she bites her lower lip in this absolutely adorable way." Dastan brushed the pad of his thumb across Tamina's bottom lip, barely grazing the surface.

"And she looks exactly like her beautiful mother and holds way too much power over me." Dastan cupped Tamina's cheek in his right hand and leaned down to capture her lips with his own.

Tamina could feel her anger melting away with each of Dastan's words, and she found that she didn't care. When his lips claimed hers in a sweet, soft kiss, Tamina's arms found their way around Dastan's neck, pulling him closer.

What began as a slow kiss quickly turned into anything but that. Tamina's fingers ran their way through Dastan's hair as the kiss grew more and more heated – their bodies melding closer together.

Dastan let out a small growl as he bent down further, wanting to taste her lips from a different angle, trying to get closer – in spite of her belly. When he finally succeeded in his maneuvering, he was rewarded with a moan from his wife. Taking advantage of her parted lips, Dastan slipped his tongue past her lips, starting the battle for dominance.

As their tongues tangled together, Tamina thanked the gods that Dastan was strong enough to support her weight – his arm against her back, keeping her standing as their embrace got more and more passionate. Reluctantly, Tamina broke off the kiss, gasping for breath.

When he sensed Tamina's need for oxygen, Dastan moved his ministrations to her neck, nibbling, licking, and sucking. All the while, his left hand gradually crept up her right leg, caressing every inch of her skin.

Tamina moaned as Dastan reached the spot where her collarbone met her neck. She tilted her head, giving him better access to her favorite spot as he sucked. She could swear that his mouth and tongue were bringing her heaven.

"Dastan…" Dastan smiled against Tamina's skin. He loved it when she whimpered his name. Biting down, Dastan stayed on the one spot, determined to hear his name once more before moving on.

"Dastan!" Tamina bit her lip at Dastan's actions. No matter how much she loved it, her sense of propriety wouldn't allow it. "If you leave a mark…"

"So? You're my wife."

Still, Dastan moved on, pushing aside her religious robes while trying to remove the article of clothing. As the tanned skin of her shoulders were revealed, Dastan continued to leave a trail of wet kisses, balling up her cloak and throwing it expertly onto the balcony of their room. When he felt like he had spent enough time on her shoulder, Dastan followed the strap of her dress down, leaving his mark the whole way through. If anyone noticed and commented, they would have his fist to deal with. She was his wife and only his eyes were allowed there.

As Dastan's wicked mouth traveled along the top of her dress, following the dip of the fabric in the middle, Tamina knew exactly where the whole situation was going. She knew she had to stop him, but she couldn't help but enjoy his attentions a tad longer.

"Dastan. The last time you did this…" She couldn't complete her thought, not when he was tracing the outline of the cut of her dress with his tongue.

"Dastan, you got me how I am now!"

"You. Loved. It. The. Whole. Time." Dastan spoke the words against her chest, alternating between kissing and talking. "Favorite. Memory. Created. In. These. Gardens."

"Yes, but…" Tamina groaned as Dastan's hands started roaming around her body, moving perfectly out of sync with his mouth, driving her crazy.

"You. Are. Already. Pregnant."

"Yes, but…Dastan…I will not haunt my favorite…Dastan!...place with the memory of me going into…labor!" Dastan froze as he hazily took in her words.

"You, what?" Feeling more clear-headed now that Dastan's hands and mouth weren't making her lose her senses, Tamina replied as calmly as she could.

"We do what you're trying to get me to do, this late in the pregnancy, and yes, the baby just might come." Dastan searched Tamina's eyes, and finding them to still be dark with want, he knew she wasn't lying.

"Fine." He mumbled the words against her lips as he slowed down the tempo of their current escapade in the gardens.

"Mommy! Daddy! Help me!"

Tamina was the first to pull away, stepping back a few inches from Dastan. She gave him a smug look. If they had proceeded…

"What's wrong, Sam?" Dastan took in the disheveled look of his little girl, hair flying wildly, cheeks flushed in exertion.

"Pac and Zip and all the others are trying to catch me!"

"You're faster than them! And you know how to scale…" Dastan trailed off at Tamina's glare. "You're faster than them."

"Come here, Sam. I'll tell you a secret on how to deal with infuriating boys." Tamina waited until Samhita finished scrambling up the stone ledge of the fountain, making it so that her mother could whisper the words into her little ear easier.

Samhita listened carefully, hanging on every hushed word that came from her mommy's mouth. Confident that her mommy's advice was good, she jumped down from the ledge, landing perfectly on her two feet and ran off, feet pitter-pattering against the stone floor.

"What did you tell her?"

"Things that only us females need to know." Tamina smirked at her husband's suspicious look.

"It's not like I told her to pretend to have fainted and then hit them with a bone." Dastan cocked his eyebrow. He had never told her the details about the incident.

"You're remembering?" Tamina simply 'mhmm'ed in response.

"You know what else I remember? What we were doing before our daughter interrupted. And the fact that beds are just as suitable a place for it and much more suitable for other things in my current condition."

Dastan grinned as Tamina's lips met his briefly. Sweeping her into his arms, Dastan carried her to their room, making sure to avoid everybody.

In the privacy of the room, Dastan laid her down gently on the bed before hovering over her.

"Are you sure that the gardens are your favorite place in the palace?" Tamina laughed as she pulled Dastan's head down towards her own.

"Just be quiet and kiss me."

AN: Ahem. There's your epilogue. =] Review? I might be writing an angsty one-shot soon. Would you guys read it? Leave your response in the comments.