Sleeping Lions

Words: 5854

Summary: Sometimes it isn't the pregnant lady you need to be aware of. It's the Ranger in the corner who just won't put up with the derogatory comments

It is best to poke the sleeping lion with a long stick

Warning: The Lord is not the best person out there later on.

Dedicated to whentheresawill, who asked for this.

As Alyss watched Will stood in front of the targets at the archery range just outside their cabin and hit every thing he aimed at. It sounded so strange to say their but it had been that way for nearly half a year now, and whilst they had gone on missions away from each other, they never were apart for long. She rested an arm against her currently flat stomach and sighed. It was an issue that for once she didn't know how to resolve.

Will felt her eyes upon him and he spun around with a questioning look in his warm eyes. Thankfully there wasn't an arrow nocked at that point and Alyss smiled reassuringly at him before turning back to the washing up that she was meant to be doing. They took it in turns to do the washing up around the place. When she had first joined him in the cabin she had expected to do all of the house work, as the matriarch of the household. Without her knowing, (well she had known that he always rose with the sun) Will had gotten up the first morning and surprised her when she finally got up, by sweeping the place as cheerful as ever. Alyss had asked him why he was doing such a thing only to get a response that it was simply the way that Halt had raised him.

She had been pleased at first, then annoyed to find out that all of the chores around the cabin he took care of without her ever mentioning it to him. Whenever she had visited before she had found the place to be clean, but then she had assumed that he had always done a quick sweep before she had turned up. Then one morning, four days after moving in, feeling particularly bored she had jokingly shoved him away from the sink and took over. Now it was her job three out of four times, and he took care of everything else. Will wouldn't allow her to help with the other chores, he said that it kept him humble and he enjoyed the moments to just think.

It was now that she was standing there singing a quiet song to herself that Alyss felt Will walk him and wrap his arms around her middle, leaning his head on her shoulder blades.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice muffled slightly. She finished the last cup (there was always an abundance of them) and placed it off to the side with shaking fingers. Alyss had hoped that Will hadn't noticed that fact but knew that she wasn't successful when Will suddenly reached out to grab her wrist. She spun so that she was still in his arms, both of their right hands holding each other.

She opened her mouth a few times before Will laughed slightly, easing the tension and closed her mouth with the index finger of his left hand.

"If you don't feel comfortable telling me now that's ok. Tell me when you are ready and won't attempt to catch any flies."

Alyss slapped his arm, making more noise than pain.

"I'm thankful that you are so accepting of this. It must be killing you inside with wanting to know what's going on inside my mind right now."

Will shrugged. "I trust you to tell me when the time is right."

"I know and that time is now," a little pause whilst she gathered her breath, "I just find it a little hard to tell you."

Will led her over to the door leading outside and she trusted him fully in what he was doing. He had led her outside to the chairs and table on their verandah. One side of the door held two chairs and the table, the other a large rocking chair. He sat down after rearranging the dusty pillows that lived there and pulled her on top of him. She went willingly and ended up nearly on his lap sideways, curling up so that her head was under his chin, appreciating the safety he provided. Will remained silent, allowing her to gather her thoughts.

"I'm pregnant," she finally muttered to him. Underneath her she didn't feel him freeze for a second, but she knew that with his training he never would have done so, in specific cases revealing shock at new information could get himself killed.

"Are you?" he asked back. It was less of an actual question and more like him asking himself how he was going to react. Now it was her turn to let him gather his thoughts. It only took a moment before he gathered her closer in towards him, almost as though he was trying to protect her from the whole world.

"No comments except for that question?" Alyss asked him after a while. Whilst her patience was considered good on a normal day, the Rangers had training in it and Will was able to outlast her on his bad days.

"It's wonderful. I'm just imagining what life will be like with them," he said. Alyss was able to feel his grin on the top of her head and slowly one formed to match his.

"Well I'm excited," she replied and unfurled. He watched her get up and stood up to follow. "What do you say to the two of us going into the castle for dinner with the soon to be child's grandparents?"

She was expecting him to grin and begin to saddle the horses, certainly not for him to end up on the floor with laughter. She stood there amused for a moment before not so gently kicking him.

"Why are you laughing so hard?"

"Can you imagine Halt's expression!" he cried before falling into hysterics once more. Alyss let loose a little giggle before walking inside to change into something more appropriate for riding. This time her husband went to saddle the horses.

Two weeks after Will and Alyss were spending a relaxing afternoon in the cabin. They had managed to tell Halt and Pauline, but no one else as of yet. The next day had gotten busy, with Will needing to ride out with Halt in order to deal with a few bandits who had been preying upon the people living on the outer reaches of the border and Alyss needing to work out with Pauline which of the apprentices should be considered competent enough to graduate and who needed either to continue for at least another year or be sent home. It was their first quiet night since and they were both looking forwards to just curling up in front of the fire.

Unfortunately this was not to be.

As Will was carrying the plates over to the sink right after they had finished their dinner to wash up, Tug called out a greeting. It showed that the person coming was familiar and judging on the greeting, it was another Ranger horse. It wasn't Halt because they had mentioned the break to him earlier that day and he had promised to take any jobs that possibly could turn up to the castle, Will having to take the ones that came directly to the cabin naturally.

"Who?" Alyss asked him.

"A Ranger," Will sighed. Alyss nodded and kissed his cheek.

"I'll put the kettle on then shall I?" Will grinned at her before walking over to the door and opening it.

Of all the people it could have been he didn't expect Crowley. He greeted the commander as expected; with the offer of a cup of coffee.

"Am I able to assume there is an important reason as to why you are here? Otherwise, you are interrupting a nice peaceful night Alyss and I had planned and there is a nice warm and more comfortable bed at the castle with your name on it, I'm sure," Will said with a grin. He placed the tea in front of Alyss who sipped it appreciatively.

"Well I am certainly sorry to interrupt but I have a mission for you. You would be gathering information about a Lord Roland that currently inhabits the northern fields to the east of Norgate. As it is a small area, we sent the new graduates there, as I am sure you remember. However this year Merthin has sent us a report that we are worried about. Perhaps having an elder Ranger to peer over his shoulder would make the young man feel a bit better about the situation he is in. The poor thing did his training even in a quiet area," Crowley explained.

"If it isn't that hard, or kingdom threatening, then why did you ride here to tell me all of this? Why not just send me a letter?"

"Cause I was bored. And you haven't been out for a while and I thought that you would appreciate some excitement, even though there isn't going to be much other than an idiot of a Lord."

"Well he isn't going," Alyss said simply with a shrug before getting up to place her teacup in the sink, mourning the peace that was meant to be happening.

"I have to. It's part of the oath that I signed when I graduated as a Ranger and even the one that I said when I got my bronze. It's the duty that comes a part of the kingdom," Will explained.

"I don't care. It isn't safe for you in this time," Alyss said simply. Her face was honest as honest was and Crowley got the feeling that there was something else underlying this all.

"Alyss, brightest love of my life, this sort of thing is your duty sometimes and I don't tell you that you are unable to go," Will argued.

"I don't care."

"Alyss, he needs to go on this as a Ranger," Crowley said, throwing in his tuppence.

"If it isn't that big, send in someone else; Gilan even!"

"It doesn't work like that, I'm sorry," Crowley replied. It would have been feasible, he supposed but it was Will's turn and Gil had just gotten home two days prior from a four month long mission, that much he knew.

"If Will goes on this mission I am going with him," Alyss suddenly said out of the blue. Will spun on the spot sharply and opened his mouth to begin to give reasons as to why she couldn't go when Crowley decided that he was going to be the marriage saver this time.

"Any particular reason as to why you insist on going? You don't normally do such a thing, and it isn't going to be a hard mission. Just gather information and get out," he explained again.

"I don't care. I didn't want him to go, but of course he feels a great need for duty and other assorted things that I don't care about at this point in time."

"It won't be safe for you," Will argued.

"Actually it's one of the-"

"And how do you think I would react if you were killed on the mission because I wasn't there to tell you that you were doing something extremely stupid?" Alyss cut Crowley off.

"And if anything happened to you? Not only would I lose you, but the child as well! Do you think I would ever be able to live with myself after that?"

"But if we are both killed and the child survives it will get sent to the ward! Do you want such a life for the poor thing?" Alyss yelled back. Crowley sank into his chair as much as possible as he realised that instead of being the marriage saver he might have just caused them to have a fight. A fairly major one from the sounds of it.

"We need to think about now. There is no telling with the mission. Anything could end up happening, we learnt that at Castle Macindaw."

"Are you proposing that I am unable to look after myself, especially now that I am pregnant?" Alyss snapped. Crowley again opened his mouth to comment but then thought the better of it as he thought about the words being said here.

"What?" he questioned.

"Shut up," Alyss snapped, turning towards him. Crowley smartly did as the angry courier told him.

"No. That's the last thing that I would want to suggest. I am just concerned that someone else would take advantage of the fact that I would give up my life without thinking to save you, now more than ever."

"So you are saying that I can be manipulated?"

Will opened his mouth in an attempt to think of a reply. This side of Alyss was new to their relationship and he was attempting to work out if he had ever seen it before and came to the conclusion that he hadn't. It was because of her pregnancy, he mused.

Suddenly tears sprung to Alyss' eyes and Will's expression softened and he walked forwards to bring her into his arms. It was getting late into the afternoon and he was about to suggest that she rest for a while before the conversation was resumed when Crowley spoke.

"I'm not sending you, Will, if she is pregnant. Use the off time you have accumulated. Due to the way that we have this fief structured we can afford to have a Ranger not doing much here," he suggested gently, hoping to pacify Alyss. To his immense shock and slight annoyance, Alyss gave him a death glare.

"I had just made up my mind to let him go and you had to say something along those lines?" she asked him. Crowley shrugged and turned to the fireplace in order to make himself another cup of coffee. After that conversation he needed another four cups.

The next time he turned around, they were both sitting civilally down at the table again holding hands. Alyss raised an eyebrow at him.

Is she spending too much time with the Rangers? He questioned himself before physically nodding yes. Will decided to ignore the movement. If it was important, the commander would tell him, if not, he would tease it out of him later.

"If I were to go along, how would I get in there?" Alyss asked.

"I hadn't thought that through as I'm sure you can understand," Crowley admitted and sat down with a sigh. Riding the horse all day had hurt muscles of his that Halt would joke were non-existent.

There was a pause as everyone began to use their thinking muscles.

"What if Alyss went as a guest mentor to the couriers? There is a school there to the best of my memory," Will suggested. Crowley thought this through. It would involve more paperwork than normal, but considering the state he just saw the couple in, it would probably be better.

"And how do we get you in there?"

"Well, you can say that as I am pregnant, as a woman of my stature, it doesn't do for me to be travelling around along in such a time. He is there just to be by my side and support me. He obviously isn't doing the Ranger work as there is already one of those doing it to a satisfactory level. And if Will had some free time to do poking around whilst I was talking to the apprentices, then I wouldn't be the one to blame for that," Alyss grinned mischievously.

Crowley and Will grinned back.

"There will be more paperwork than normal for me before this whole thing begins as I need to get someone official to write something saying that you were offering to pay them a visit feeling confined due to your current condition. I think in that way it would also be better to have you travel via carriage with Will riding alongside as protection. Do you think I have missed anything?" Crowley finished. Will shook his head no, already internally laughing at the face that Alyss was pulling at the thought of the carriage. Internally of course because if he did so out loud he would be gutted faster than he would be able to laugh at Crowley.

"In that case then, I am going to go and find this bed that you tempted me with earlier."

A few months later Will and Alyss arrived at the fief of Lord Roland. Upon reaching the main castle, Goodramgate, Will saw that the Lord surrounded by a few of his attendants were there. He let out a sigh at the thought of playing politics for a while whilst on the mission before softly calling to Alyss where they were and who was there to greet them.

Ignoring what was proper, Will dismounted before Lord Roland offered for him to and without saying anything to the pompous idiots opened Alyss' door and helped her out. She did the official introductions, with everyone doing their best warm stone impression before Lord Roland introduced Merthin. That was when it got interesting. Will and the other Ranger greeted each other in the normal way for outside of the gathering, adding to the normal superstition.

"Merthin. Ranger 23."

"Will Treaty. Ranger 50." Even though his number was higher, by using his whole name, Will was subtly hinting that he was of a higher position. It wasn't anything against the poor boy, it was purely the fact that he wanted to see how Lord Pomp reacted. He wasn't disappointed. The intense concentration that Roland used whilst watching meant something that Will was going to use to his advantage later on.

Good. Let him muse, Will thought as he offered his arm for the 5 month pregnant Alyss to take to help her up the stairs to the temporary rooms they had been assigned. These were on the same floor as the courier school and Will was interested to note that it was a single bed area. There would be a few rooms along that section of the castle, purely for the sake of any travellers who came through deserving that respect. Lord Roland however, just wanted to annoy them as much as possible.

Alyss drew her lips together tightly before nodding. "Let me deal with this."

Will smartly did.

After dinner, they had been moved to a more appropriate room to stay in.

And so the weeks passed. Alyss gave lectures and watched as the apprentices stumbled through the most basic things whilst Will went off to examine the rest of the fief. He followed the younger Ranger as he did his rounds in the fief and even helped him out when bandits begun to prey on one of the smaller villages that sat in the middle of the fief.

"We have enough information to pin the Lord of neglect," Will said one night as they ate dinner in Merthin's cabin. Alyss had made it down there for being all of seven and a half months pregnant. The reason for holding the meeting there and not in the castle where it would have been easier for Alyss, had been that the castle walls had ears, well the trees did as well but generally it was the Rangers who heard those secrets.

"What do we do now then?" Merthin asked. He had made cups of coffee and had been amused by the fact that Will carried tea around with him, knowing that a normal Ranger wouldn't have any.

Will drummed his fingers on the table as he thought, looking out of the window. "Crowley said that once we had enough information to mention it to the Lord and hope that he cleans up his act, but the way that he treats everyone, I highly doubt he listens to anyone of a lower standing than him, and if they were of the higher standing then it would be to suck up to them." Alyss nodded agreement and Merthin just leaned back on his chair.

"It can't hurt to try though?" Merthin asked.

"No. It certainly can't."

Two days later Will, Alyss and Merthin were sitting in front of Lord Roland. The Lord was blatantly ignoring them by pretending to do the paperwork in front of him. Will knew better. The man left all of the paperwork of the fief to the battlemaster and didn't even have an office. They had been stalled for a whole day under the pretence that the Lord was busy whilst they cleared this space.

"What do you all want?" He asked them with a sigh.

"Well to start off with, you looking up at me would be wonderful," Will responded. The Lord visable rolled his eyes and looked up mockingly.

"Is that better?"

"Plenty. Now we need to discuss a few things and if it isn't done now, civilally, I can arrange for it to be done in front of the king and his councillors."

"I thought the reason why you were here was to support the pregnant wrench," Lord Roland said. Will forced himself to take a deep breath and hold it for the count of five.

"No. I was here to work out what on earth was going on in this fief. Now, there are issues here that will cause your fief to be a weak position on the border, potentially meaning that you will all end up dead or as slaves the next time someone picks a fight with Araluen.'

"And why should I listen to you? After all, from the sounds of it when the two of you first met here, Merthin is of a higher ranking than you," the Lord pointed out.

"Do not attempt to assume the ranking system of the Rangers," Will warned. "The training for your knights is pointless. They don't get much done and are the laziest group I have ever seen. Your people starve on the streets whilst the top few in the fief live like kings. The fields are bare and no one has help come harvest to get it all in and so majority of it is wasted."

"It still isn't any of your concern. And I am managing it."

"You are running your fief to the ground!" Will snapped. The past few months had shortened his normally long leash on his temper. The Lord raised his eyebrows.

"You need to get your act together, is what my husband is trying to say," Alyss supplied.

"I'm not bothered doing that," the Lord remarked. Alyss' mouth would have dropped open to collect flies in shock if she hadn't been trained to the level that she had. As it was Will nearly slammed his head on the table in front of him.

"I used to know a Lord like you," he began.

"Yeah?"

"Skandians raided their fief," he finished. Merthin grinned, knowing the story, the same as the rest of the corps.

"Doesn't matter. You have no right going through my fief and inspecting like such without giving me warning and getting permission from me. Had you asked I would have said yes and organised it at a better time when the fief was doing better."

"That's the thing, we have been her for months and nothing has changed!" Alyss responded.

"It was ok for you to do as much, you had asked. That and I will forget this whole kerfuffle ever happened after you prove yourself to me in bed tonight."

Merthin's mouth dropped open as he held Will to his chair to prevent the older Ranger from getting up and punching some sense into the man.

"What you are suggesting here is never going to happen," Alyss said flatly.

"How about you get rid of the magic spawn child inside of you and have mine? After all, then the baby will having standing in the kingdom and be born of a sensible man. It's ok. My healers will look at you to stop the magic that the Ranger is using to force you into believing you love him."

By this point Will was fuming and Merthin was spluttering his shock.

"It would also prevent you from being turned into a tree as soon as the child was born."

"You actually believe that?" Merthin asked incredulously. He got a flat look from Lord Roland.

"So as you can tell. I wish for you to be mine and to leave the idiot next to you."

"Perhaps this meeting will go down better if you were more respectful, my Lord," Merthin tried.

Lord Roland stood up slightly from behind the desk and spat at Merthin.

At least he was careful to avoid the paperwork. Have to appreciate the small cutesies in a man when you hate him absolutely, Will thought.

A few colourful words came out of the mouth of Lord Roland and Merthin sat backwards, Alyss turned pale at the thought and Will's lips were pressed together in barely concealed rage.

"I would stop now if I were you," he said lowly.

Will never heard what the Lord said next. No that was wrong; he had heard, it just added fuel to the fire and afterwards he wasn't able to recall it. The next thing that he remembered was his fist slamming into Lord Roland's face.

From there it nearly turned into an all out brawl. Lord Roland's battle school might have been useless in training upcoming knights but when he had gone through it had still done service and as a Lord he was fairly decent at what ever wrestling style he managed to use against Will in that small area. Will in return gave as good as he got and the paperwork that had been so carefully avoided earlier had not survived this fight.

After a few minutes Merthin managed to pull Will off Lord Roland. As the instigator of the physical aspect of the fight, as soon as the Ranger was pulled away, the Lord also stopped. Breathing heavy, the two looked at each other. Blood was dripping down the face of both men and there would be plenty of bruises to count the next day. Lord Roland pushed himself up until he was standing again and used a hand to wipe the blood out of his eyes. Will smirked at him.

Alyss gently hit Will across the top of his head and proceeded to drag him out of the room.

"We will take our leave now from this fief. You will be hearing more about this later on and it will be in front of the king and his court. Merthin, I thank you for the tea earlier in the day," Alyss said calmly and politely before shoving Will out of the door.

Together they hurried back to their room, gathered their things, Will taking them down to the stables, and got ready to leave. Tug was saddled as quickly as Will was able to manage and the other horses were as well. Whilst grain and a few other necessary things were being gathered the carriage was attached and Alyss loaded up to the best of her ability. Will closed the small wooden shutters that he knew Alyss typically refused to close, preferring the curtains. She opened her mouth to protest but quietened at the look Will gave her.

"If Lord Roland decides to attempt to retaliate whilst we are leaving I don't want him having a clear shot at you. Your health matters more right now," he explained.

Merthin walked over with his horse already saddled up. "I don't put it past Lord Idiot to sent someone out after us. I'll will ride with you until Redmont as an extra fighter," he said, confirming what Will had said moments earlier.

Less than five minutes later, they were gone.

Merthin was dragging his feet and it was starting to really annoy Will. At the current point in time the two were walking towards an office that Crowley had commandeered in Redmont to help oversea things whilst Will was away. They hadn't debriefed yet, which is what they were doing, but they knew they were going to get in trouble for the last meeting.

Sure Will would justify his actions over and over again, but the real spineless nature of the Lord had been exaggerated when he hadn't bothered sending someone after them as they rode off into the distance. Compared to the mission, the ride had been a walk in the park.

"Should get it over and done with," Merthin said as quiet as possible as they reached the door to the room. Will looked at him curiously for a moment before remembering that not all of the members of the corps were as comfortable amongst the higher ups as he was. After that he felt sorry for the young man. He had just finished his apprenticeship only to be given a fief that caused troubles, and now he was going towards getting a reprimanding from the commander.

"He won't do much," will comforted before swinging open the door.

Sitting there was Crowley and Gil side by side. Halt was leaning on the right wall, sewing a hole that had appeared in his cloak. Merthin walked in and stood behind a chair, looking absolutely pale, whilst Will had too many questions going on in his head to actually get somewhere mentally.

"What?" was all he was able to get out. Crowley sighed before giving an obvious look to Halt. In response Halt rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the seats before sitting down on it.

"Pauline refuses to do any mending for me. If I make the hole I have to fix it. She told me that as I had survived living this long without getting someone else to do it, I could continue my habits," Halt explained. Will grinned at him. "Don't you dare say what I know you are about to say." Will's shoulders dropped.

"Gil's here because he is training to be the new commander," Crowley introduced. Will nodded, it was about time that happened and swung a chair around to drop into it. Crowley, seeing this, waved his hand and Merthin also dropped into one, thankful that his shaky legs didn't have to hold up his weight any longer.

Coffee was poured out, then Crowley began to tell Will off. His actions had cause more trouble than due and had meant that Lord Roland had something to use in court against him. Merthin's presence there and Alyss' snide comment at the end as they walked out also meant that he wasn't able to be used as a proper witness. However, an official had been sent there and had found the place to be nearly as bad as Will said, the Lord doing something about it to fix it once he heard that someone else was going to be inspecting as well later on.

Majority of the telling off was aimed at Will and he just sat there accepting it. Everything that Crowley was saying was true, and there had been things that he would have done differently if the chance ever came up again. He was improving however, the first time, he had just simply invited Skandians to dinner. Gilan, next to Crowley, was grinning, well at least until Halt had given him a glare.

It was when Crowley had just moved onto asking how Alyss was coping at 8 months and 3 weeks into her pregnancy when the interruption came. It was a sharp knock on the door and caused all of the members to frown. Crowley's shoulders sagged when he realised that due to the nature of the documents on his desk he would have to get up and answer the door himself. The thought of having to get up and then basically climb all over everyone in the small room was discouraging.

"I'll get it," Halt muttered. Gil grinned, waiting to see how this was going to go down.

Halt flung the door open and started to speak before the poor messenger was able even get half a syllable out.

"Whilst I approve of the neatness of your knock, who do you think you are knocking on the door to the Ranger Corps Commander's office whilst an important and top secret meeting is going on. I will have to turn you into a tree for this."

Inside the room Will sniggered behind his hand before yelping as Gilan kicked him, also having difficulty to remain silent.

"But Ranger, I was told to come here by the Baron. He said to tell you that Alyss is in labor!"

Halt shrugged. "I'll pass the message on," he said before slamming the door shut.

Will was already on his feet to rush out of the room in panic. Halt gathered his things before getting ready to accompany the younger man out. Someone had to make sure that he didn't run feral around the place and punch anyone else.

"Will," Crowley interrupted quickly as the door was opened again.

Will turned back to look at him with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm glad you punched him. However, next time, you just need to remember to hit harder, I certainly would have."

(unedited)

Is anyone able to tell me the proper quote in the beginning and who it is by? It is mentioned in one of the chapters of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A Heinlein but as I have the audiobook it is really hard to go back and check. I can tell you that it is in the beginning of the book roughly, pre chapter 5.

And can I just make a comment on the character selection for this fandom? They have Deliah but not Pauline? What on earth is going on there!

Mind=blown!

(This whole thing was filled with things that sent me laughing. Did anyone notice the castle's name? Roland is one of the antagonists from Tamora Pierce The Song of the Lioness, the slight writing style change [compared to my normal] because I'm reading The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and just in general, Alyss' choice of tea. I don't know how or why these things crept in, but they did.)

Alyss Mainwaring