Happy Valentine's Day! Have LingFan!

Lan Fan had imagined just about every possible thing that could go wrong, marrying Ling.

It had been her only anchor as time moved on and she learned time and time again that she could not indeed ignore her feelings for him. It was the only thing that kept her hands steady and her words firm when he would suggest the possibility of a future for them together, trying to convince her of his love for him. When she was younger she never would have thought it possible that he would ever love her, but in time her dilemma became rejecting the love he tried to offer her.

When he kissed her on her birthday and she wanted nothing more than to kiss him back and sink her fingers in his hair, or the time after that when he confessed his love for her, offering marriage and pleading for her to accept, or when he convinced her he had drowned and she knew that there would be nothing worse on this earth than having lost him… those were the moments that she had to remind herself of every single possible problem that would arise if they married.

One would think that she would have learned in her 13 years of service to the Young Lord that he usually got what he wanted.

They were married to the most fanfare of any marriage of the Emperor ever before. Since she was to be his only wife and his Empress, there was no question in the Elder's minds that they would make it the largest wedding ever seen in Xing.

She had expected that every single one of the problems she would remind herself of to come true within the first month, but so far things had been relatively quiet. She still worked at a guard, only now she was expected to show up for certain events in Empress Regalia instead of her uniform. It was a hassle that always made her nervous and even more aware of everything going on, but nothing had occurred so far. There hadn't been a major outcry from the clans. In fact there even seemed to be broad support from the people.

So everything seemed to be going fairly well. In fact the biggest problem that they had faced so far was one that Lan Fan had never even considered.

She never stayed in bed with him the whole night.

Even their wedding night itself she had woken after the first hour of sleep and removed herself from her new husbands grasp to check the perimeters. It was a perfect opportunity to strike a blow. Engaged in the first night of marital bliss, they would be easy targets. She had to stay vigilant.

She returned to him and their bed after reassuring herself that they were still safe, only to fall asleep and wake up an hour later and repeat the action.

It seemed she simply could not sleep throughout the entire night. She had been trained ever since she was 7 years old that sleeping throughout an entire night was a sure way to get yourself and your charge killed. She hadn't since Knox's house when he had stayed up the entire night to make sure she didn't try to kill the Chang Princess in her sleep. Even as her Lord's bride, she couldn't ignore the fact that, though part of her duty now was to keep him company in bed, her first priority was his safety.

For the first few weeks he didn't seem to notice the fact that she would leave him for certain parts of the night. She was always there when he went to bed and always there when he woke up, so there was nothing to be worried about.

Then one day he woke from a dream in the middle of the night and found her gone.

"Lan Fan?" he asked, still asleep and confused. Then he bolted upright. "Lan Fan! LAN FAN!"

"My Lord," she said, immediately at the side of the bed.

"Lan Fan," he said, put a hand to his chest, probably to slow it. "Why were you not here? I'd assumed…"

"I am fine, My Lo— Ling," she said, getting on the bed so that he could pull her into his arms, which he did so, pressing his face into the crook of her neck. She wrapped her arms around him.

"Don't do that again," he ordered. She nodded, accepting the order. She would do her best to stay with him the whole night. Even though she did not know his nightmares, she knew her own well enough to know that his, having hosted the homunculus himself instead of just watching it desecrate his body, had to be horrific.

Ling himself rested in the assurance that he wouldn't have to deal with waking up and finding his wife absent again. The nightmares would not go away he knew, so she certainly couldn't in the middle of the night when he needed her.

So understandably, after the fourth time this happened, he had to find a way to stop it.

The first person he talked to was the guard who was their guard during the night. The man confirmed that she frequently woke up and joined him securing the perimeter.

"And why do you allow her to do so?"

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, she is my superior. As your personal bodyguard, she outranks every guard in your employment but the Head of Security himself."

Ling scowled. "She may be your superior, but I am your Emperor."

"… Once again, with all respect due to your Highness… she is the Empress. And I don't believe I could do anything to stop her from striving to keep you safe if that's what she's determined to do."

His scowl deepened and the guard bowed deeply before excusing himself.

As had been the pattern for the past couple of months, about an hour after closing her eyes, Lan Fan woke up. The first thing she registered before even opening her eyes was the qi around her. Ling's was so bright in her consciousness it almost would have blocked out everything else. Not only was she so attuned to his qi signature that she could pick him out in a crowd of over a thousand people blindfolded, but his signature had always been particularly bright. And he happened to be extremely close to her.

Keeping her trapped in his arms, in fact.

Lan Fan blinked in confusion. Yes her husband (despite the fact that it had been several months already, the thought that Ling was her husband made her ears turn pink and her toes curl with delight) was rather affectionate, but he had never held her quite like this during the night. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to escape his hold on her without waking him up.

She pursed her lips, before wiggling in an attempt to get his grip to loosen. No such luck. She pulled at his hands, clasped around her waist, but he wouldn't be moved there either.

She could of course force him to let go of her. Her training included several different ways to get an assailant to release you. However this was not an assailant that she was trying to injure or kill… this was her Lord that she was trying to help sleep. Breaking his fingers would not be a good idea.

His grip however was lose enough that she could turn around so their faces were towards each other, even if their noses were almost bumping.

"You're awake."

There was an ever so slight upturn of the corner of his lips. If her sense weren't so keen, she wouldn't have noticed.

"Young Lord…"

"So what if I am awake?" he asked, eventually giving up the precept of unconsciousness.

"You should be sleeping and gathering your strength for tomorrow, Young Lord."

"Ling. I've told you Lan Fan, when we're together it's Ling."

She closed her eyes for a moment. "Ling."

"Thank you. And so should you."

"I will get enough sleep, Young— Ling," she corrected at a quick glance from him. "I am not worried about myself, I am worried about you."

"Have you ever thought that maybe I'm worried about you?"

"I'm sorry My Lo-ing?"

"I'm worried about you. You're my wife, Lan Fan. And I know I said you wouldn't have to abandon your guard duties completely, but we are married. And half the time I wake up and you're not here in bed with me."

"I am sorry, Ling. But your safety is my priority and night is when the assassins are the most active and you are in the most danger. I can't afford to relax."

"Lan Fan, do you remember when I was first made Emperor and I worked myself ragged? I was doing more harm than I was doing good because I was so tired."

"The situation is different—"

"Not as much as you think. Being a guard is a fulltime job, especially being my personal bodyguard. But so is being Empress, and you can't play Empress during the day and guard at night."

"We cannot afford to be complacent—"

"I'm not telling you to be complacent! There's no way I would have made it here if either of us were ever complacent. Just to know your own strengths."

"I know my own strengths."

"Lan Fan…"

"Your safety is my priority. I will support you during the day as your Empress and protect you at night as your guard. And you cannot order me otherwise."

There was a dangerous gleam in his eyes that made it very clear to Lan Fan that he saw her call. He had two options: he could accept her resolution and let her continue as she was. But if he tried to order her to stop, she would continue and then his only option would be to let her triumph over him or punish her, which he wouldn't do. Or at least she felt assured that he wouldn't. It was fully within his rights to punish her if she disobeyed him. Hundreds of Imperial concubines and wives had been slain for less. But she knew – Ling had made sure she knew – that he would never do that to her.

"Alright," he said eventually. "I won't order you."

Lan Fan had to fight the urge to blink or frown in confusion. That seemed almost far too easy.

"So you will let me continue to leave you during the night?"

"As long as all you're doing is patrolling and possibly apprehending would-be-assassins, yes."

His gaze was even, and not at all sleep addled. He was serious. Lan Fan wasn't entirely sure how to react to that considering she had expected more of a fight.

"Very well. Will you release me so that I can?"

He kissed her quickly, surprising her, then did as she asked and let her go. "The sooner you leave, the sooner you return. Catch a bad guy for me, will you?"

She smiled at him, even though she was still confused as his sudden attitude change.

"Alright."

Then she slipped out of the bed and joined Lien Ma on his patrol of the area.

Ling was still awake when she rejoined him, and he smiled widely when she retook her position next to him on the bed, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her soundly. "Thanks for keeping me safe, Lan Fan."

She accepted his thanks, then let herself slip into unconsciousness. She was glad this issue had finally been resolved. It would make everything so much easier.

Or at least that's what she thought until she woke up again later that night and he was holding so tightly she couldn't get free again.

Well he had already given her permission to continue doing this hadn't he? Which meant that he wouldn't begrudge her waking him up enough for him to release her from his grip. Then he could resume his sleep.

She did so, shaking his shoulder so that he cracked one eye open and released her.

There was still no danger to be spotted.

"Welcome back," he muttered sleepily as she crawled in next to him a few moments later.

"Try not to hold me so tightly next time, that way I don't have to wake you up to get out."

He didn't respond, already breathing deeply.

She only woke up one more time before it was time for both of them to be getting up. She did her best to avoid waking him up the third time and thought she had been successful until he threw his arm around her again as she got back in.

He had fallen asleep. Fallen asleep! In the middle of a court meeting! And what was worse, Lan Fan herself hadn't even noticed until the Elders had addressed him and he failed to answer. It had taken a few hushed "Your Majesty"s and even a subtly nudge to his shoulder before he finally woke.

He yawned hugely before staring around at the court, apparently unaware of the where he was or the circumstances of his nap.

"So sorry," he eventually said after another yawn or two. "I'm afraid I haven't been sleeping very much the past few nights. Where were we?"

Lan Fan was very grateful for the mask to hide her burning cheeks. She didn't know what the court was thinking, but she knew the very reason he hadn't been sleeping very much was because of her. Every time she had woken up during the night the past two weeks he had obligingly let her go and then welcomed her back into his arms when she came back. She thought that he was still sleeping in between while she was patrolling, but with how exhausted he'd been ever since she doubted it.

He had to stop holding her so tightly while they slept, that way she wouldn't have to wake him up to leave. Or perhaps they should start sleeping in separate beds. But what kind of image would that send if it were to get out? And Lan Fan couldn't help but admit that after a few months of sharing his bed and feeling him beside her as she slept… she was loathe to go back to solitude.

So he would have to let her go. Even that thought made her stomach drop. But it was a sacrifice that had to be made.

"Lan Fan."

She snapped her attention back to what was going on. Ling was on his feet and hallway across the hall. How had he gotten that far without her noticing? She hurried to his side, cheeks burning again.

"The Elders suggested that I try to take a quick nap before the meeting with the Drachman dignitaries later today. For once, I think they had a great idea." She fell into step behind him as they left the throne room and made it to their room. "I'm expecting my Empress to join me in the meeting," he said almost causally and she nodded. She would have been with him either way, the only variable in the equation was whether the rest of the world saw his guard or his Empress.

Ling didn't even bother changing as he entered the room, just fell face down on the blankets on their bed.

"Are you alright, Young Lord?" she asked, staring at him sideways. He looked absolutely exhausted.

"Perfect. Come, join me," he replied casually, holding out a hand towards her. Lan Fan glanced at the door behind them and the two guards that stood there then removed her mask and crawled in beside her husband. Ling pulled her into his arms so her back met his chest, then pressed his face into the crook of her neck. She shivered, but that's all he did until she finally recognized the tell-tale soft breathing that meant he was asleep.

Lan Fan felt the urge to take out his ponytail and run her fingers through his hair, but to do so she would have to turn around and that would likely disturb him, which she did not want to do. Instead she felt her eyelids starting to droop. She probably shouldn't sleep, even with protection she was his best defense…

She jerked awake when one of the guards knocked on the door to alert them of a visitor's presence.

Ling was harder to wake, she had to shake him before he blinked awake and removed his arm from around her waist. He smiled lazily at her which made her blush. Then the knock came on the door again and she jumped off the bed for her discarded mask.

"The meeting with the Drachman's," she hissed in reminder and all of a sudden his sleepy demeanor was gone, replaced with alertness.

"Send him in."

Lan Fan stationed herself next to his bed, itching to reach out and fix his hair. But that would be even worse than being found playing with his mussed hair.

"Your Majesty," the man said, entering with his head bowed. "The Drachmans are here. We are giving them some respite from their travels, but they are anxious to see you."

"Understood." He looked perfectly awake, back straight and eyes sharp.

Then the door closed and he fell face first back into the blankets.

"Lanny," he whined, muffled by the blankets. "I don't want to goooo."

"Ling, you need to."

"Can't you go?" he asked, raising his face from the bed to pin her with his best puppy dog eyes. "You've been at my side every time I've discussed Drachman foreign policy and you know how to act around dignitaries."

Lan Fan gaped at him. "I… I… Young Lord – Ling, I can't."

"If I didn't think you could, I wouldn't have made you Empress," he said, the whine slipping away. "I know you can do it, Lanny. I have absolutely no doubt of that."

Her cheeks burned, but she nodded.

"Yes Young Lord," she breathed. He smiled, his nice smile, not the smirks he would give when he wanted to annoy her or someone else, then fell back into his sheets.

Heart thumping in her chest more than anytime she had ever chased down an assassin, she found her Empress robes and left the room.

"Your Majesty," one of the guards said, bowing. She jumped slightly, turning to the side looking for Ling at her side. She would never get used to being called Majesty or Highness, ever. She had hardly gotten used to the rest of the guards calling her "Sir" when she finally accepted Ling's proposal.

"Where are the Drachmans?"

"They are waiting for you near the Reception Hall, your Majesty."

She nodded, swallowing hard. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, but she swept down the hall all the same. The Reception Hall was near the front of the palace, far enough away that it wouldn't seem like an insult, but close enough that it could be called a Reception Hall and not simply another room

They were indeed waiting there for her, a handful of men all dressed in distinctly Drachman styled clothing. They were probably boiling.

"Welcome," she said loud enough to catch their attentions. They turned to look at her. Years of instincts had her sizing them up. They were all tall, about half of them seemed very muscular as well. She could see the outlines of hidden weapons on their persons. She supposed that was something good about Drachman clothes, there were plenty of layers to hide weapons in.

Of course that didn't do much to make her want to trust them.

"Ah. Empress." They all bowed and she inclined her head. "Where is your husband?"

"He is occupied with other matters," she said, heart still hammering away. She had to react like Ling would. Politics was not her forte. Everything she did know she knew from watching him. And from watching Ling, she realized belatedly that by sending her to deal with them Ling was sending the delegates the message that they weren't importantly to be received by him personally. Even have asleep, her husband was quite a political manipulator.

She offered them some tea, then gestured to the servants to go get it for them. As she sat down to talk to them though, she couldn't remember for the life of her… what they were here to discuss…

And had to ask. Fortunately though, this did not seem to offend them, just launched one of them into a long and practiced monologue about their purpose and intentions. She found that he input was rather minimal.

Of course once he began to push into the second hour with her having said a grand total of two dozen words, Lan Fan could only feel her eyelids getting heavier. As soon as she felt her head nodding though, she stomped down as hard as she could on her own foot, which certainly brought her to awareness.

She could work with pain.

She answered noncommittally to one of their questions, taking a sip of tea cautiously and swishing it around her mouth for traces of poison before swallowing.

The more Lan Fan listened to their prattling the more she realized just how much of an idiot they had to take her for. Her only question was whether they would have given the same speech to her husband, of they thought it was her that was the stupid one.

Then she realized when she saw their expressions that she had said that out loud.

Everyone was staring at her and she felt herself growing redder.

She had just ruined everything, it was all her fault, how had that slipped out of her mouth? She knew Ling shouldn't have trusted her to take this on. Not alone. A deep dark hole or a very high hard to reach corner was sounding very appealing right now.

"Ah… of course we don't think Your Majesty is… stupid. If we have… offended, we beg your pardon."

For once in Lan Fan's life she wished she had a fan she could hold. Upon becoming Empress and being presented with her new regalia, she had rejected having a fan at all until they could somehow make it deadly. Until they could do that, she refused to laden herself with such a useless object. The women at court only used them to flirt, and she had no need of that now she was married, right? But now she would have killed for one. At least then she'd have something to do to cover her embracement or at least cool her face down.

"Your Majesty? May we have your pardon?" the man asked tentatively in his thickly accented Xingese.

"What? Yes, of course. Just… continue. And keep in mind though my husband and I may be young, we aren't idiots."

Realizing what she had said of course made her flush again, but all she could was bury her burning face in her tea cup.

The rest of the meeting went off without too much of a hitch, though she couldn't help but hide a yawn at one point that seemed to offend the Drachmans quite a bit.

When the meeting was summarized for Ling though, he just laughed.

And laughed. A lot.

Then he hooked his arm around her waist despite all of the people around and loudly proclaimed that he knew she'd do a great job.

"Go get em, Lanny," he said kissing her on the check as she pulled herself from his arms.

Lan Fan froze before getting off though.

"Ling, this has to stop."

"Hmm?" he asked, raising his head from the pillow. It was still dark in their room, so she couldn't make out all of his features like she was usually able to. He looked tired though, that much even an idiot could tell.

"It has to stop."

"What do you mean?"

"You cannot wake up every time I get up to patrol, Ling. You're exhausted. You fell asleep in court! I am trying to protect you, and right now that means that I have to make sure you're getting a full night's sleep."

"And what about you?" he asked, raising himself up on his elbow.

"What about me?" she asked, pulled back slightly. His eyes flashed and she could tell he was no longer half asleep.

"What about your full night's sleep?"

"I've been trained since I was seven to function off of less sleep than you need, Young Lord."

"Ling."

"Ling. And my duties are not the same as yours! You are the Emperor; you cannot be falling asleep during court meetings! What if you had gone to the meeting with the Drachmans instead of me and ended up falling asleep there! This cannot continue. You have to stop holding me as you fall asleep."

"Lan Fan, you did go to the meeting with the Drachmans."

"… what do you mean?"

"You have to be at the top of your game too, Lan Fan. You're not just a guard anymore. You're the Empress, which means you face nearly all the same responsibilities and burdens as I do. I said you could remain my guard, and I'm not going go back on that word. But if you're going to take on both roles, you can't be exhausting yourself. I know and you know you would never say the things you said in the meeting with the Drachmans unless you were exhausted. And while it wasn't bad today, one day it might be. I have to be able to count on you, Xing has to be able to count on you. And if you're exhausted… we can't."

She clenched her jaw together. "Ling… I can't just leave you unprotected—"

"You're not!" he said, now sitting up and grabbing her shoulders. "Lan Fan you handpicked my guard. He's the best in the palace other than you and he's well rested and at the top of his game. I'm safe. And even if I wasn't… you're sleeping right next to me. How could I possibly be unsafe when you're with me the entire night?"

"But…"

"Lanny, you're tired. That's alright. That's human. I know a thing or two about not being human." He brushed his fingers through her hair. "You're not weak, you're not a failure. You're perfect. But it takes a lot of energy to be perfect."

"You've been purposefully exhausting yourself to try to get me to stop leaving you in the middle of the night," she accused instead of responding to his statement, brushing her cheek against his fingers.

He grinned crookedly at her. "I thought you had finally realized when I got you to marry me that I always eventually get what I want."

"Silly me."

It was almost completely silent in the room, and probably would have been if not for the light sounds of breathing that denoted heavy sleep.

The silence wasn't broken, even as a pair of feet hit the carpet.

They crept across the carpet, not making a single noise, until reaching the large bed that took up most of the room.

A knife rose in the air, flashing slightly in the slight moonlight that slipped through the curtains, held by a thick, scarred hand—

Then there was a scream as another knife arced through the same moonlight, slicing off the hand that held the first knife.

Someone came bursting through the curtains, appearing just in time to witness the Empress standing at the edge of her bed, automail elbow knife extended and bloody, while the would be assassin rolled on the floor, clutching a bloody stump of a wrist.

The Emperor was the last one that came to awareness in this situation, waking with a "wazzgoing on?"

"The assassin was apprehended, no thanks to you," Lan Fan said pointedly glaring at the man who was supposed to be guarding both of them while they slept.

He fell to his knees. "I have failed."

"Yes, you have. Now get up and take care of him. Your punishment will be discussed later."

He nodded and got to his feet, calling more guards to help him control and remove the man who was moaning on the floor.

Lan Fan snorted, ripping a strip of cloth off the assassin's tunic to wipe the blood of her elbow knife. Then she nodded, detracted it, and slipped back into bed.

Ling grinned, then pressed his lips against her forehead.

"My wife was just being amazing, that's what was going on."

You know... if you followed me on tumblr you would have seen part of this story like a week ago. I give previews to fics I'm work on there. Just saying. Link on my profile.