This is just a harmless bit of one shot fluff, this fiction is a companion piece to Poppy's discoveries but can be read alone. Anyway, I don't own anything here I just borrowed the characters for a little while. I have dyslexia so please don't make comments on the spelling and grammar I do the best I can.

Branch's discoveries.

Over the years since they had moved back into the original troll tree Branch had discovered many things about Poppy but there were nine discoveries which the blue troll had made about the one he loved which really stood out to Branch. The first discovery which Branch made about Poppy was that the pink troll loved to collect unusual or shiny pebbles, this was a collection which the new Queen of the trolls was still adding to and the blue troll suspected she would always be adding more pebbles to this collection of hers. After seeing Poppy's collection of pebbles Branch found himself always looking for new pebbles to add to the Queens collection whenever he was in the forest or anywhere else that he felt sure that Poppy wouldn't have had a chance to look for new pebbles. Every time the blue troll presented the one he loved with either a new unusual or shiny pebble Branch loved to watch the expression of pure joy which would come onto her face.

Branch's second discovery when it came to the troll he loved, was made one fine warm sunny day, the blue troll and the Queen were laying side by side on one of the highest branches of the troll tree looking up at the beautiful blue sky, which white puffy clouds floating across it, neither of the two trolls were saying anything at this time instead a contented silence hung over the couple. Then suddenly Poppy pointed up at one of the clouds and said with great excitement. "That cloud looks just like a mushroom!"

Branch chuckled, he looked up at the cloud it did indeed look like a mushroom, the blue troll turned his head towards Poppy and said to her. "Aren't we a bit too old to be playing that game Poppy?"

The Queen turned her head towards the one she loved, Poppy pouted at him cutely and then said to the blue troll. "Oh come on Branch, you're never too old to have a little fun! I know you aren't use to having fun yet but even you must be able to make something out of clouds?"

The blue troll found himself chuckling again and then answered the question. "Well it has been many years since I played this game, but yes I think I can just about remember how to make something out of the clouds now let me see…" Branch turned his head back to look at the clouds floating past them, it took a few moments to spot one which made a shape he knew well, the blue troll pointed up at the cloud and then said to Poppy. "Barnabas."

Poppy giggled, she followed his pointing finger to look at the cloud which Branch had noticed and then spoke to him. "Yeah that one does look like Barnabas."

The two trolls spent the rest of the afternoon laying side by side, pointing out shapes in the clouds, they laughed together and argued in a good natured way if they thought that the shape the other had pointed out was wrong. The couple even occasionally deliberately pointed out shapes in the clouds to each other which they named wrongly and the Queen and the blue troll did this to make each other laugh.

It was one evening when months after they had started to date when Branch and Poppy were sitting together on the sofa in his pod snuggling, the blue troll made his third discovery about the one he loved with all of his heart and this was that she missed her mother. "I miss my mother." Poppy just blurted out suddenly to him.

"Well that's understandable…I know you lost her young just I like I did my parents. You've never really spoken to me about your mother before."

"I don't talk about my mother often because I never really knew her…I guess that is part of the reason I miss her so much…I haven't ever really known what it was like to have a mother after all my mother died when I was only two. Don't get me wrong dad was a wonderful parent and I am lucky to have him. I know that I shouldn't complain because I had dad which is a lot more then you and many other trolls had but…But sometimes I longed to actually know my mother rather than just have stories of her, I know that she named me and that my middle name Pansy is her name. I always wanted to know what it was like to actually have a mother…" Poppy's voice faded away slowly.

Branch gave the clearly sad troll a hug and nuzzled the side of her face gently. "I know exactly how you feel…" The blue troll placed a kiss onto the cheek of the Queen, Poppy blushed slightly, but snuggled slightly closer the one she loved who held her in his arms and then Branch started to sing to the other troll. Slowly but surely the relaxing song that the blue troll was singing made the Queen fell asleep in his arms. As Branch looked down at Poppy sleeping against him the blue troll made a decision, he was going to draw a portrait of the mother of the one he loved, the blue troll hoped that his skills would be good enough to render the former Queen accurately. Branch felt sure that once he explained to Peppy why and who he wanted to draw Pansy for that the old King would agree to help him with his drawing. The blue troll turned to be right in his thoughts about Peppy, who once he was told by Branch that he wanted to draw Poppy a portrait of her mother so that as a gift and to make her happy the old troll had agreed to help Branch with his drawing. The blue troll had spent a very long time over the next few weeks and months with Peppy getting the picture and the colours of Poppy's mother just right, when he had finished drawing the old king had been not only amazed by Branch's skill but also how close the likeness he had drawn was to his long dead wife. When the blue troll had noticed the tears forming in the old King's eyes, he had surprised Peppy by producing from the bag he had with him a pencil sketch of Pansy which was not coloured, but Branch had only given the drawing too Peppy after the King had promised to hide it from Poppy until after he had given the pink troll her drawing of Pansy.

It had been on the anniversary of their first date that Branch had handed his gift across to Poppy, the picture was framed in a bright pink frame and wrapped in blue stripped paper. "Here my love, happy anniversary. I hope that you will like my gift."

Poppy accepted the present from Branch and smiled widely at him. "Thank you Branch, I am sure that I will love your gift no matter what it is." The Queen opened the gift with great care not wanting to damage the present from the one she loved in any way. When the wrapping paper had been removed from around the gift her eyes went very wide, Poppy looked at Branch and said to him softly. "Is this?"

"It is your mother Pansy yes. Your father helped me to draw her for you…Do you like it?" The blue troll asked the Queen his voice clearly shaking with nervousness.

Poppy carefully put the picture to one side, she hugged Branch hard and with tears in her voice as well as her eyes said gratefully to the blue troll. "Thank you! Oh Branch thank you, this is the most amazing gift I have ever had…Ever and I mean that!"

Branch gently pulled back from the hug, he smiled at the Queen softly and said to her. "I'm glad you like my present so much." As soon as he had said this the pink troll kissed the one she loved, Branch quickly returned this kiss, their lips danced and the blue troll placed his hands onto the waist of Poppy, while she put her arms up onto his shoulders. By the time the two of them had stopped kissing they were both panting hard but grinning like a pair of fools and right then Branch knew he really had given the one he had loved the best gift that she had ever received in her life to date.

The fourth discovery Branch made about the one he loved occurred when the young couple had finally moved into a pod together. their moving into a pod together before being married had taken a great deal of begging and persuading on the part of Poppy as Branch had wanted to wait until after they were married but the pink troll had won out in the end. As the Queen unpacked her boxes the blue troll couldn't help but notice that she had a very old rag troll doll with her. When Branch had asked her about the rag troll doll Poppy had explained that this doll had been made for her by her mother and was a much loved toy of her childhood. The blue troll hadn't been able to help but notice that the poor doll was in quite a sorry state but Branch didn't comment on this as he didn't want to heart the feelings of the one he loved. Lilly as the blue troll had discovered the doll was called was now sat safely on a high shelf in their bedroom this was in an effort to keep her safe from any accidental damage. The blue troll had to admit that he found it very cute that Poppy still had this doll, but Branch also understood that since the one he loved had so little from her mother that Lilly was very important to her.

The fifth thing Branch had discovered about Poppy was a discovery which had surprised the once grey troll a great deal. The blue troll had been working topless on installing one of his latest inventions into a part of the troll tree, this invention was meant to make life easier for the trolls of the troll tree but was proving to be more difficult to install than the blue troll had thought it would be. Branch had in fact been concentrating on what he was doing very hard he was trying not to make any mistakes during this installation of this invention. The blue troll was in fact was so focused on what he was doing that Branch was totally unaware of Poppy walking over to him, so he jumped with surprise when the Queen said to him from right beside him. "Hello my love."

Branch quickly spun round to face the one he loved and said to her. "Poppy! You gave me such a fright."

"Working topless I see." Poppy said to him softly while she let her eyes wander over his blue skin appreciatively.

"Yes I am, it's really hot today and I was working rather hard, so it made sense to me to take my vest off while I worked in this heat." Branch said with a shrug for the pink troll indicating that he didn't really think that it was important that he had his top off while he worked.

Poppy raised both eye brows at the blue troll, he clearly hadn't noticed the way that a lot of female trolls in the vicinity had stopped what they were doing in order to watch him working topless but the Queen had and she didn't like it one little bit. "Yes it is hot today, but there is still far too much of your glorious blue skin on display for my liking."

This time it was Branch who raised both of his eyebrows. "Are you trying to tell me in a roundabout way that you like my colours and that you don't like the other troll's being able to see this much of it."

Slowly the Queen smiled at the one she loved, Poppy gave the blue troll a nod and said to him. "Didn't I ever tell you that blue is my favourite colour?"

"No you haven't." Branch told her with a shake of the head.

The smile on the face of the pink troll grew, she placed both of her hands onto the necked chest of her boyfriend, she stroked his chest gently and then said to him softly. "Well Branch now you know that I love blue, especially your colours of blue and that I don't want any other trolls but me to be looking at you like this."

Branch rolled his eyes, the blue troll shook his head at the Queen, he placed a kiss to her forehead which Poppy leant up into, she let out a contented sigh and then the blue troll said softly to the one he loved. "I'm glad that you like my colours so much and that you feel as possessive of me as I feel about you."

"You feel possessive of me?" Poppy asked him with surprise.

"Yes every so often. I'll put my vest back on will that help?" The pink troll gave Branch a nod, she moved back from the blue troll, he turned away from Poppy, he lifted his vest from the nearby branch and slipped it back on. "Better my love?"

"It is, thank you Branch."

"Your welcome. I best get back to work."

"Of cause." This said Poppy walked away happy to let Branch get back to his work now that more of his blue skin was hidden away from the prying eyes of the other female trolls. As the pink troll walked past these other female trolls she gave them all a long hard stair, these trolls all had the grace to blush, quickly they all move away from the area and back into the troll tree not wanting to get into anymore trouble with the clearly possessive Poppy.

The sixth discovery that the blue troll made about Poppy came later in the same day that he had been working on installing his new invention in the troll tree. Branch came back to Poppy and his pod, as the blue troll came into the pod he let out a deep sigh followed by a groan. This noise coming from the one she loved caused the Queen to turn to look at him from where she was sitting at her desk working on the latest cards for the next party to be held in the troll tree. The pink troll spoke to Branch with clear concern. "Are you alright Branch?"

"I'm just sore…I did a lot of work today, probably a little bit too much work really." The blue troll said rubbing his back as he stood in the doorway.

Poppy stood up, she came over to the other troll and said to him. "Would you like a massage love?"

Branch gave the princess a startled look before he asked. "You know how to give massages?"

"Yes I do." The pink troll assured him and then asked the one she loved. "So would you like a massage?"

"I would like a massage." The blue troll didn't even want to know were Poppy had learnt this from he had a funny feeling he wouldn't like the answer and instead decided to accept this rather unexpected offer.

Poppy took the hand of the blue troll, she carefully guided Branch across the pod, into their bedroom and over to the bed. Once there the Queen let go of the hand of the other troll, she turned to Branch then said to him. "Take off your vest and lay down love."

Branch did as the pink troll told him, once the blue troll was settled onto the bed Poppy quickly went to work on the back of the other troll. As the Queen worked on his back Branch let out a groan of pleaser and said to the one he loved his voice full of gratefulness. "That feels really good Poppy, thank you so much for doing this."

"Good I am glad to hear you say that."

Poppy was unsurprised and actually very happy when slowly but surely Branch relaxed under her skilled fingers, and then eventually fell asleep. The Queen knew that her boyfriend had been working very hard on his latest invention all day and she felt that Branch was right he had worked too hard today. Despite the fact that the blue troll was asleep Poppy finished her massage, the pink troll hopped that when the one she loved woke back up he would feel much better. The new Queen then went across the room she got out a dark blue blanket, Poppy walked back over to the bed, she carefully turned the blue troll over onto his back and then carefully tucked the blanket around Branch. The Queen smiled down at her boyfriend he had a wonderful contented smile on his face and seeing this made her extremely happy. Poppy gently kissed Branch on the cheek, then the forehead before she quietly left the one she loved so that he could get some well earned rest.

It was one night a year and a half since they had started dating, when Branch had taken Poppy out to star gaze that the blue troll made his seventh discovery about his girlfriend. The couple had been sitting together wrapped up in a warm blanket, looking up at the stars when Poppy had said softly to Branch. "It's so beautiful tonight…I love to star gaze."

"I didn't know that, but I am glad to hear that you like looking at the stars. Though I'll admit that I have found something far more beautiful to look at then the stars."

The pink troll tore her gaze away from the stars, she looked at her boyfriend sitting next to her and said to Branch. "Really what have you found that is more beautiful than the stars?"

"I found you my love." The blue troll told her.

Poppy blushed brightly and gently batted Branch on the arm. "You don't mean that!"

"Yes I do my love…Poppy will you marry me?"

The Queen stared wide eyed at her boyfriend for a few moments, she didn't need to ask if the blue troll was serious because despite the darkness Poppy can see the seriousness in his eyes and said to him. "Yes Branch of cause I will marry you."

Branch smiled at Poppy, then brought his lips to hers in a soft loving kiss, the blue troll kept this kiss short and when he broke the kiss Branch presented Poppy with a ring. The Queen stared at the ring, it was beautiful band of shimmering silver set with three diamonds set into the top of the band. Poppy held out her left hand, gently the blue troll slipped the ring onto her middle finger and held her hand in his. They both looked down at the ring for a few moments, then the couple looked at each other and shared another brief kiss.

The eight discovery Branch made about Poppy occurred not long after they had been married this was that she absolutely loved gingerbread, it was her favourite thing to eat and every time the blue troll baked gingerbread the Queen would eat the lot before it was either cooled or decorated with icing. When he had been baking for the midwinter feast Branch had found that he had no choice but to make extra gingerbread so that Poppy could eat some of it, so that he would be left with some gingerbread trolls and pods which he could decorate and bring with them as their traditional donation of food to the midwinter feast's communal table.

When Poppy's birthday was getting close Branch had used her love of his gingerbread to make the one he loved her birthday cake. It was of three tiers of ginger sponge, each one was iced with blue icing in the same shade as Branch, he decorated the edges of each layer with gingerbread shapes, then on the top he placed two carefully iced ginger bread troll figures one was clearly Poppy the other was Branch and between them was a heart. To say that the Queen had been pleased with this birthday cake was an understatement, Poppy had hugged Branch hard and he had returned this hug happy that his cake had gone down so well with the one he loved. This gingerbread birthday cake would go on to be something which the pink troll would look forward to receiving from Branch each and every year.

The ninth thing that the blue troll made about his new wife was that she was very good at crafts, not only could she scrap book and make wonderful cards but Poppy could also make jewellery and sew both large and small things. Branch would often find his love sewing thing for their child, the King of the trolls knew that his wife was very much looking forward to the pod which contained their child opening and meeting their first child. The blue troll had to admit that he was nervous about what was to come but he was also looking forward to being a father for the first time. Poppy it turned out was very skilled at sewing, she had already made some small clothing for their child and the pink troll had even made another rag doll troll for their child determined to make receiving one as a child a tradition in their family. Branch was more than happy to support the one he loved in making the receiving of a rag troll doll by their children and hopefully one day grandchildren a tradition.