Sowing the Seeds

By Evil Orange Crayon

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I just like to play with 'em.

Um… Yea. Don't hate, man. Don't hate. This will be a series of drabbles that are all connected. I would totally write ten years between the suggested plot device, but I am lazy and that's too much work. So, instead, I'll give you drabbles of key moments that come up since the plot device is suggested. I'm being vague on purpose, yo. I will be sure to specify Sofia's age throughout just to be safe and not to push that 'ew' button.

This really is just a short Drabble. There will be a smut version that ties in and completes the series but it will be poste"d separate so I won't change the rating for the whole series.

Sofia is eighteen.

It wasn't long after her eighteenth birthday that he realized, to the eyes of her kingdom, to her mother and her father, she was considered an adult. She was an adult, she most certainly had the body of a full grown woman and it was sheer agony for him to not realize that she was a sight to behold.

She would often float into his tower and he would be awestruck. He found himself praying that what became of adult princesses would not be the fate of his princess. He wasn't sure he could bare the idea of her being promised to another, of him losing that one chance he had to simply taste her to some rotten, over privileged brat prince. He had nothing to offer her that would make him more appealing than some prince. He had no wealth, while pay of a Royal Sorcerer was nice he didn't necessarily squander his salary. As he had become comfortable in his position, he had seen fit to invest his income in various different things. The flying machine he had given her as a child being one, it had cost him quite a bit.

He felt remorseful at it's loss, but knowing it had been a cherished possession of his she had taken good care of it. When she was a child she would often ask him if he would enjoy a ride with her. He knew she understood the feeling of the wind rushing past your ears and the excitement of soaring through the sky, he would often find himself hard pressed to decline.

He looked at her, as she used a wand to direct a broom to sweep the floor. Did she still have the flying machine? "Princess?"

"Hm?" She looked up at him, then paused to direct her wand at a dusting cloth that had gotten off course. She was using magic to clean his workshop and it amused him with how much it entertained her to do so.

"Do you still have the flying machine I gave you?"

She smiled as her concentration went back to the inanimate objects doing all the hard work, "I do. Would you like to go for a ride? Would it hold the both of us?"

He found himself smiling, "It would, though I probably wouldn't fly it too high above ground. I also imagine it would probably consume more fuel. I have put on a few pounds in thanks to my apprentice." He gave his stomach a pat, there was no real roundness to it, but he had to let out his trousers a little. "For some odd reason the girl was compelled to fatten me up, I often worry what for."

She chuckled and waved her wand at the dusting cloth, it's job now done. "Perhaps she wants to eat you," she shot him a grin.

He faltered, while she had become lax in her 'pursuit' of him since the debacle when she was sixteen she had manage to sprinkle in a bit of flirtation here and there. It always seemed to catch him off guard, he would either find himself flushing and looking at her with a longing he felt in his bones or he would falter on whatever task he was doing. He had fudged up a few potions thanks to her loaded comments.

This time though, he found some bravado. Or so he thought, "Eat me?" He cleared his throat as he turned his full attention to the spell book he had at hand. "I am still but skin and bones, if I were to feed anyone they would surely starve."

"Oh, I didn't mean eat you whole, Mister Cedric," she turned away from him. "Though I'm sure there is a bone on you that is worthy of eating."

He choked and shot her a look, finding it hard to not have the thought of her committing that dance in his mind's eye. He clenched his eyes closed in a vain attempt to banish the thought and another part of him reacted shamefully. When had the princess become so well versed in wordplay that she was able to get a reaction out of him like this?

"You play with fire," he warned wearily.

She came over to him and he feared what else she might say, but she only put the wand back into the stash of extras he had on his desk. "Did you need to use the flying machine?"

"Oh, no," he sat back in his chair. "We have completed all of my duties for the day, it's not often that I find myself with free time. I was just recalling the time I gave it to you and I wondered if you still had it, is all."

"Did you want to take it for a ride?"

"I thought perhaps we could use it as a means for a bit of adventure, we haven't had any of that lately, have we?"

Her expression brightened and she sat next to him on her stool. "What kind of adventure?"

"I was using adventure loosely, I was thinking about perhaps we could use it as a means to do a bit of herb gathering. I'm running short on life root and I really should gather a bit more," he had continued to brew the anti-aging potion, even after he had decided that he would no longer pursue as he had before. There was some odd thought that stuck in his mind, wanting remain youthful for her. He hadn't been able to banish the thought from his mind and he had already kept up the routine of making and using the potion.

"Well, we could conjure a picnic while we are out," she offered, reaching in front of him to swipe one of his extra wands again. She brushed uncomfortably close to him, affording him a whiff of her scent. He clenched his eyes closed again, "It's won't be a real adventure, but we could still have some fun with it."

When he opened his eyes again he offered her a slight smile, "That sounds like a fine idea. Why don't you go prep the machine? I will go fetch my bag and meet you down in the courtyard."

"Okay," she seemed to perk up more at the idea, it wasn't often that he took her on trips out to gather herbs outside of the castle grounds. There were areas that materials grew in that were especially dangerous. Though, he did allow her to assist him with gathering Hocus Crocus after finding out she had a knack for riddles. "It won't take me long to get it out. Should I change?" She currently wore her apprentice robe and a simple gown with little bounce.

He eyed her appreciatively, for she was always a vision, then shook his head. "I don't believe any of the herbs we are after will be too difficult to get. Your dress should be fine as long as you don't mind it getting dirty?"

She gave him a smile, a decidedly flirtatious one, "Not at all." And with that, she whisked out of the room before he could stutter out a response, intent to go about doing her task.

He grasped his chest and sighed heavily, "She will be the death of me."

The flying machine had worked splendidly and he had been pleased to no end that she still managed to keep it functioning after all these years. When he asked how she managed it, she offered him a shy smile, "I didn't really. Gwen, she worked in the kitchen but now she's head of making gizmos for the kingdom. She has kept it working for me. She really enjoyed tinkering with it."

"Very good, honestly, I don't know that I would be capable of keeping it running on my own," he carefully traversed a river bank and bent down to pull roots up from the mud. "You do have a way of managing to draw people in that are talented in the most obscure things." He found his foot slipping and he struggled to stay steady. He stood, perhaps too quickly and his shoe slid right through the mud of the bank and into the fridge waters of the bank.

It was unfortunate that the river was deep where they were picking herbs at for once his foot slid forward the rest of him went tumbling after it. He was sputtering in the water, roots that had been his hand dropped and forgotten as he fought the pull of his robe and the current of the rushing waters.

"Mister Cedric," his princess called to him.

He struggled to remain afloat, but he forbid himself to call for her aid. He would be damned if he put her in danger. But of course, the girl was no fool. He felt her arms come around his middle and with an effort on both their parts they managed to the river bank. "Damn you," he spluttered and coughed. "Why in all the hells would you jump into a river for me? You could have been hurt or worse!" He choked, this time not on the foulness of the river water. "What would I do if you were to drown? And for what? Me! There are far better and nobler causes for you to give your life for, mine is most certainly not one of them."

"I... I couldn't let you drown!" She panted, flopping back onto the grass of the bank. "Your robes were dragging you under again, I had to do something."

He ripped at his sash and forced the sodden material off of his shoulders, it was thick and heavy from the water. "Still! I am not worthy a cause enough for you to maim yourself over!"

She frowned at him, "So, you are telling me to not jump into a river to save the man I love? Let him drown? You ask where you would be if I were to drown, where would I be if you were to?"

"Love," he sat heavily on his knees as he gaze at her. She was soaked to the bone, as he was, her beautiful curls clinging to her face and neck. Her dress clung to her in ways he shouldn't see, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. "How can you love me?"

She sat up and glared at him in a way he had never seen, "How could I not love you? You have been there for me my entire childhood. You have taught me magic and never asked me for anything in return! Even when I was being stupid and trying so hard to seduce you all you did was turn me down, you didn't turn me away all together, you didn't hate me."

"I am not worthy of you!" He shouted, "I am a foul beast that could never hold a flame to your beauty! I have nothing to offer you, no kingdom or fortune! I have nothing and I am nothing!"

"But that doesn't change the fact that I love you," she stated firmly, not at all phased by his outburst. "And you love me." It was a statement, though there was question in her eyes. She wasn't completely sure if he loved her, he realized.

He cursed, broken and knowing there was no denying her no matter how hard he tried. "I am a fool," he cursed. "A damned fool. Of course, I love you. How could I be in your presence on a near daily basis and not fall for you?" He hunched over and cupped his face in his hands as he struggled with his emotions, he had dreamed of proclaiming his love for her and making her his. They had been nothing, but dreams. He had never expected to make them reality, least of all with them both damp by a river. "I tried so hard to not love you," he admitted. "I tried so hard to resist your charms and keep you at arms length. You made it bloody impossible, I don't even remember when it was you had worked me around your little finger." He sighed in defeat and met her concerned gaze, "Or if I ever had a chance of being anything but hopelessly lost over you."

She reached forward and cupped his face in her hands, "You have everything, you are everything I've ever wanted. I would have paid any price just to hear you say that you loved me, I would do anything just to be close to you." She closed the distance between them so quickly that he had no time to react. "Don't be lost over me, I'm right here and I've always been right here waiting for you," she didn't give him the opportunity to retort. She pressed her lips against his to silence any protest he might further make.

And he had finally lost to her.

M rated version of this chapter isn't quite finished but will probably be done sometime tomorrow. I think this is pretty much done tho. On to evil things.