I'd Give Up The World For You

Daisy hadn't meant to go off on a rant about men. The only reason she did was because of a male customer harassing Nia earlier and then trying to harass her but only backing off because he saw her wedding ring.

Respecting another man's "property" and not a woman for who she was on her own really boiled her blood. That was how Leo managed to trick her into talking about the fact that she was from another world unknowingly. She had hidden it from him for so many years and now it was finally out.

This whole conversation had been strange from the start even before it took an unexpected turn. She figured he was asking weird questions because he was stressed and needed a distraction.

He had definitely been more out of it than usual since all of his friends went off to war without him. Since she was still preoccupied with what happened earlier she hadn't realized what he was actually doing until she was in too deep to back out.

Now he had essentially confessed his love for her again because she had been self-deprecating talking about her past. It truly was a pathetic past though. She had no desire whatsoever to go back to it.

Daisy looked up at the young man who had trapped her in his arms while trying to be comforting with compassion. She found out his family was dead only a few months ago so when he talked about his life falling apart it must have had something to do with that.

She didn't want to pry but, if she had to guess, he had ended up in the care of someone abusive after their deaths based on his injuries when she found him. He was definitely hiding from someone and a legal guardian made the most sense.

Her heart twisted thinking about what he had been through…and why he cared about her so much. He wanted her in a different way than she wanted him though. She wanted his company; he wanted her heart.

She knew she already had his in its entirety from how he acted and from things he had said over the years now that she had proper context for it. She had never been given someone's heart like this before. None of her ex-boyfriends were all that invested in her and vice versa.

"Leo…" Daisy said helplessly.

"Don't you dare feel sorry for me," Leo warned as he held her tighter. "All I'm doing is trying to let you know how good you are so you'll stop talking badly about yourself."

She did feel sorry for him though. So much that it hurt. What was she supposed to do?

"But I'm not—"

"You are!" he insisted fiercely, like he would fight anyone who said otherwise.

Daisy was taken aback by his ferocity. He seemed like he wanted to tear all the people that ever made her feel that way apart limb from limb. She had never seen that side of him personally but she knew he was a good fighter to the point of being a war hero.

She was reminded of what Conrad told her on their wedding day. That he was a completely different person around her and needed her to lighten him up.

Based on what little she had seen of Leo with his comrades, she was inclined to believe he was super serious most of the time but he might get like this in the middle of a fight. Intensity could be a form of seriousness.

"Okay. Relax. I'll stop talking badly about myself," Daisy said soothingly.

Leo sighed and rested his forehead against hers. "Good. I don't like hearing my favorite person talked about that way."

It was hopeless. This boy was desperately in love with her and nothing she could do would change that. How was she supposed to keep being nice to him the way she always had knowing it would hurt him? But avoiding him would only hurt both of them.

"Leo…are you going to let me go?" she asked eventually.

"No. You said I could hug you whenever I needed and I still need it," he replied as if it should be obvious.

Daisy rolled her eyes but let him carry on. It wasn't hurting anything and she did like being hugged. Which was sad since she spent so much of her life touch starved. She had thought she was fine not being touched until she was able to experience it more often. That sort of simple comfort was oddly addictive. The more hugs she got, the more she wanted.

Leo seemed to be the same way. She could indulge him since she was benefitting from it too. Hadn't she read an article a few years before she came to this world about how people were supposed to have eight hugs a day for the sake of their health?

She wished she didn't have to feel so conflicted about it though. She felt like the world's worst person for unintentionally manipulating this kid into falling in love with her.

At least he was respectful of her wishes. Considering he was so much taller than her, he could easily take what he wanted and there was nothing she could do about it. But he wasn't that kind of person.

He loved her so he respected the fact that she didn't love him and didn't push her to do anything she was truly uncomfortable with. All he really wanted was to be near her. To the point that he thought watching her do something as mundane as knitting wasn't boring simply because she was the one doing it.

What was Daisy supposed to do with him? Leo deserved someone capable of returning his affections but she couldn't do that.

He was a sweet, good-looking kid who happened to fall in love with someone way older than him. It was like a middle-schooler having a crush on a teacher. Far out of reach and definitely not reciprocated!

A little voice inside of her said, 'You two are the only ones who know and he doesn't care.'

'Well, I care,' she snapped back at it.

'You're hurting him more by not even trying to make your marriage work.'

Daisy tried her best to ignore the little voice because she knew it was right. Leo didn't care. He knew all of her horrible secrets now and still wanted her. That was true dedication.

No one else would ever love her this much and she had already committed to staying with him anyway. Why shouldn't she at least try to make things real? She would get used to the weirdness eventually, wouldn't she?

No! She couldn't be thinking like this. She wasn't some creepy older guy preying on a child. None of this had been her intention. That had to count for something, didn't it? She hadn't wanted any of this to happen!

But it had happened. Leo had inexplicably fallen in love with her (why? She was nothing special!) and refused to let go. She was fairly certain it was a case of attaching to the first person who showed him kindness after getting out of a bad situation but telling him that wouldn't make a difference.

What was done was done. Now she had to deal with the consequences.

Daisy could do the comfortable thing and keep hurting the person she cared about most. Or she could push her personal boundaries and beliefs aside in order to make him happy.

Who knows? She might end up happy too in the end. He was very good to her. Her only hang up about being with Leo was the fact that she was twelve years older than him. And he was a legal adult. He was old enough to make his own choices.

He was a major in the military so that had to say something in the way of maturity. He had been to war, seen people die, and probably killed some himself even though he never talked about it. She had known not to ask.

If he could do all of that, he could make an informed choice about who he wanted to love. Even if it did happen to be someone who had never had a healthy relationship in her life who was hung up on ethics while living in a fantasyland where people regularly married women not much older than their own children.

Daisy let out a heavy sigh and looked up at her husband. He had a peaceful expression on his face with his eyes closed, perfectly content to simply be holding her in his arms.

She had wanted to live life on her own terms…but she also really wanted Leo to be happy since he had been through so much. She wanted to be happy too and didn't want things to be awkward. Going way, way out of her comfort zone might be the only solution to fix all of this.

Could she really do it though? Or would she lose her nerve because of how messed up the whole situation was? She had to say something before she overthought her way into a deeper hole.

Steeling herself for the worst, Daisy blurted, "Leo, do you think it would make things better or worse if I tried to act like your wife for real?"