Change of Heart - A Cahir X Reader story

Chapter 18 - Surprise

I decided to visit Cahir with Alice now every time he was training with the new recruits, not only to support him but also to watch him  because seeing him fighting with his sword always did things to me. The way he used his commander voice on these young recruits, how they were afraid of him because of that and how I never had to be, even when he taught me how to fight.

So, once again, I watched him with Alice in my arms. She was feeling tired but wouldn't leave me, so I carried her all day long. I just stood in the courtyard, once again being fascinated by the sight of Cahir, whose gaze met mine over and over again. Then, one of the recruits came over to me and asked me if I liked watching him and his "friends". I told him that I didn't pay any attention to them, that I was just enjoying the nice weather. "Oh, that's quite a lame excuse, isn't it?" I had no idea what this kid wanted from me, but I didn't like the smug grin on his face at all. And Cahir seemed to notice that too, the expression on his face changed from his normal stern look to an angry one as he approached us.

"What do you think you're doing?" "I'm not doing anything.", the recruit answered. He obviously didn't know how furious Cahir could get, but I was sure that he was about to find out now. And I was right. "You got a break because you all weren't able to fight for ten minutes straight. And I was generous enough to give it to you. And now you spend the time bothering that woman?" "I... I wasn't bothering her. I o...only w...wanted to t...talk to her." Now he became quite nervous and this even increased when Cahir told him that he wasn't paying him enough respect, first lying to him and not even calling him "commander". I had to admit that I was really fond of his way of talking to him, there was just something incredibly hot when he talked like that. "I think you'll learn not to do that when you're on cleaning duty for the next two weeks. Understand?" "Yes.", the recruit answered but of course Cahir wasn't satisfied by this short answer. "You forgot something." "I'm sorry. Yes, commander." Cahir still wasn't happy, but he told him that his break was now over and that he wanted him to go back to training now, so the young recruit quickly ran away.

Cahir sighed. "Are you okay, my love?" I nodded. "Come here then." With that, he immediately pulled me closer and placed a long-lasting kiss on my lips and I was sure that the young recruit must've seen it. And that was probably what Cahir tried to achieve. "So what did he say to you?" That was when I realized what this was all about. "If I didn't know any better, darling, I'd say that you're jealous.", I said with a smirk on my face. "No, I'm not." I just looked at him. "Well, maybe a bit. But this git was clearly staring at you. And since it is my duty to do the right thing, I couldn't let him bother you." "You're such a gentleman.", I said, still smiling.

"But seriously now, what did he want from you?" "Don't worry, he was only being a dumb kid. Asked if I liked watching him." "And...and what did you answer?" Cahir looked worried. "You don't think that I ever payed any attention to him, do you?" He shrugged. "Well, I never did. And that was what I told him. That I completely didn't care about him. You're the only one that I keep watching." "Really?" I didn't know what had gotten into him that made him so insecure, but I didn't like when he doubted himself. "Of course. You know, love, the way you're fighting with your sword is quite attractive and I like to watch you do that."

This actually seemed to lighten his mood. "Is it really that attractive? I mean, it's hard work, you know. That always makes my hair so sweaty and sticky." "But... what if I like the way you come in after along day with your sticky hair?" "Well then, I guess I should enjoy having you here to watch." I noticed a grin growing on his face and now I just had to kiss him.

Then we stood there together and I asked him about how the recruits were doing. "It's still a long way for them to go. But I want them to be trained well, no matter how long it would take them." I was sure that this had something to do with the time he was gone and the nightmares he had afterwards, he still did have them sometimes actually. But I didn't want to ask him, knowing that this wasn't something he liked to talk about.

And that was when Alice slowly woke up in my arms, looking around and immediately seeing Cahir. She was so excited when she saw him, stretching her arms out, signalizing that she wanted him to hold her, so he quickly took her from me and placed a small kiss on her forehead, making her giggle. "She wouldn't leave me alone all day long, takes one glance at you and immediately decides that she likes you better.", I said. "Well, if I didn't know any better now, my love, I'd say you're jealous as well." "No, I just feel betrayed. That's all." Of course I was only acting, I actually loved that these two were so close. "You know, we should fight again. Haven't done that in a while.", Cahir suggested. "And we could take Alice with us." I asked him to explain that, because the first thought that came to my mind when he said this was this little child running around with a sword and probably killing someone by accident.

"I mean that she can walk quite well now, she's babbling all the time and she's very smart. We could give her one of these tiny wooden swords. You can never start too early, and she could show these washouts how to really do it." I laughed until I noticed that he was being serious, so then I asked him if we should really do that. "We could try. I mean she's not going to kill somebody with a piece of wood, you know." He was right, so I agreed on trying it out.

And we actually did that the next afternoon. It was the first time in ages that we could do that again without somebody else being around. I wondered where my sword was, and Cahir quickly handed it to me. "I had it cleaned and sharpened just this morning for you, my love." He somehow seemed nervous, but I actually didn't question it. Alice was playing with her own tiny wooden sword, she just looked so adorable trying to do the same things she has seen Cahir do every so often.

I took a look on my sword to see if it was really sharpened properly and that was when I noticed four words being carved in the handle. I stood there in shock, looking at Cahir, then the sword, then Cahir again. "Are you... are you sure?", I asked. "Yes.", Cahir answered, got on his knee and took my other hand, the one that wasn't holding the sword. "Will you marry me?