I'd Give Up The World For You

"Are you going to be alright getting back to the castle on your own?" Daisy asked in concern eying what her friend was carrying.

Juliet nodded. "Don't worry about me. You've got a lot more to carry than I do."

"Oh, I'll be fine! I'm planning on asking my husband for help."

"Good. You look like you need it. I'll see you around, Veronica! We should do this again next week."

Daisy smiled at her. "Definitely. Bye, Juliet!"

She walked to the military base and was relieved to hear that Leo was still in his office. The soldier she met with recognized her and offered to carry her boxes until she got there, which she appreciated.

He knocked on the door despite his load and announced her. "Major May, your wife is here to see you!"

"Bring her in," Leo called back.

His eyebrows rose fractionally when he spotted all of the boxes in the soldier's hands but remained professional. "Set those down in the corner, Wayman, I can assist her with them on the way out."

"Yes, sir!"

He did so and saluted on his way out the door, shutting it behind him with a click. That was when Leo's work persona melted away and he grinned at her. "I see you bought out an entire store and needed help carrying things home."

"I met up with Juliet," Daisy explained a bit sheepishly. "She asked me to go to the fabric store with her so she could get yarn and I decided to get supplies for another quilt while I was there."

"Am I not warm enough for you?" he teased.

"Shut up, Leo! This is for when you aren't around."

"Fair enough. I know you get cold easily. I'm nearly finished with this; give me ten minutes then we can go home."

Daisy nodded and ended up doodling on a spare scrap of parchment while she waited for him. She had never been much of an artist but it was better than having nothing to do. She liked keeping her hands busy.

Leo insisted on carrying all of the boxes with one hand on the way back so he could still hold hers and she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her. That was so cute!

"So how was your day?" she asked.

"Not much different than usual. Though Conrad did say he and his sweetheart would be delighted to join us for dinner on their next day off."

"Cool! This will be fun."

"…it will be interesting to say the least," Leo said dryly.

===

Silas's eyes nearly popped out of his head when May came back from his day off with such tangible warmth emanating from him that everyone he passed stopped to stare. This was quite a contrast to how he was right before leaving work two days earlier!

Whispers that something weird was going on with the notoriously stoic major traveled all the way through headquarters so of course they reached him too. Curious why that was, he went to go check it out.

The rumors hadn't been exaggerated. Rather than his usual sharp bark ordering people to come in when they knocked, his tone was soft and pleasant.

"What in the world happened to you?!" Silas asked, goggling at him.

May was actually humming to himself and had drawn hearts and poorly drawn flowers of some sort all over a spare piece of parchment. Had he completely lost his mind or was he possessed?!

"She loves me," he sighed dreamily.

"What?! You said she didn't less than forty-eight hours ago!"

"A lot can change in less than forty-eight hours."

He had to be telling the truth. There was no way he would be acting this strangely lovestruck if he wasn't. Forget being a different person around his wife; he had completely lost control of his senses because of something as simple as her telling him she loved him!

"Well, I'm happy for you, May. Happy and a bit concerned about your reputation going down in flames," Silas told him.

May scowled, which was more like him. "Did you come here solely to make fun of me? I've been waiting for this for a long time, you know!"

"I know. And that wasn't why I came; I wanted to confirm whether or not our fearless leader Major Leo May had been possessed by a ghost like some of the other squads were claiming."

"Shut up, Conrad. Oh, and before I forget, my wife wanted to invite you and Miss Fairweather to dinner." His face looked rather like he had sucked on a lemon after saying that and he barely managed to stifle his laughter.

Seeing May in his natural habitat was too much of a temptation to resist! "We would be absolutely delighted. Please tell Veronica we would be happy to join you on our next day off. Thankfully, our schedules match up so we can do it more easily."

"I'll pass on your message. Now get out of my office."

"No way! What happened? My curiosity will eat me alive if you don't tell me," Silas said dramatically.

May sighed. "I suppose it is at least partially your doing so I can tell you in minimal detail. But then you do have to get out of here so I can work unless you have anything useful to tell me."

"I'm afraid not. Tell me and I'll get out of your hair."

Silas could hardly believe what he was hearing. It did sound like it was partially his doing! He was glad he had been able to do something for his poor, long-suffering friend.

Veronica was obviously the very air May breathed. Having her love him back after so many years of waiting explained his bizarre mood perfectly. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell that to any of the curious horde waiting for him to report back knowing he was going to May's office.

"So uh…what am I supposed to tell everyone wondering why you're acting like this?" he asked.

May glared at him. "Tell them anything and I'll destroy you."

"Noted. Have a nice rest of your day, May. I'm glad things worked out so well for you!"

Valuing his life, Silas backed out of the room as quickly as possible. That man didn't show his emotions often but when he did they were about an unpredictable as a whirlwind—and as potentially deadly.

He wondered what Veronica's reaction would be if she ever saw her husband act the way he did around everyone else. But that would probably never happen since he would never do anything to make her think poorly of him.

"So?" Mellon asked eagerly.

"He didn't tell me anything," Silas lied. "He probably got some good news or something."

"You don't think Mrs. May is expecting, do you?" Ferguson speculated.

Harland nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, that could explain it."

"Can you imagine Major May with a baby? Wouldn't he terrify the poor little thing?" Ermes asked with a laugh.

"Definitely. It's amazing he doesn't terrify his wife…but I did see them together once and I hardly recognized him. Would have thought it was someone else if not for the eyepatch," Dudley confided.

"Alright, enough of giving Major May a hard time," Silas said sternly. "Has anyone made any progress in their missions?"

"My sister got a job as a scullery maid," Boon piped up, ever helpful. He had been chosen as lieutenant for a reason. "She doesn't start for another three days though. Anyone else got anything to report?"

"Anise told me about one secret passageway that leads from a hallway near the royal family's quarters to the kitchens but I don't see that helping us," Dudley said with a shrug.

Anise was a maid in charge of cleaning and also happened to be Dudley's fiancée. He had proposed to her two days ago. All they had to do now was find their own living quarters after getting permission to live outside of the barracks and send word to their relatives to travel to the capital for the wedding.

"It's better than nothing. We can file that away for later. The more we know about the castle's layout the better," Silas told him as he pulled out the rough map they had been drawing up to add it on after asking for more specific details about where it was.

It wasn't the most accurate thing in the world since none of them had actually been inside the castle before, which was why they would most likely continue drafting several versions before daring to use it for any sort of battleplans.

"Sorry, Captain, I've got nothing," Ermes said regretfully.

A chorus of "me too" went around the barracks and Silas bit back a sigh. He hadn't managed to get anything out of Elaine either aside from the fact that the laundry room was underground so it didn't have any windows and got incredibly stuffy with all of the hot water steaming up the place.

"It's fine, just keep at it!" he told them. "I'm going to go talk to Brant and Cartwright to see if they have anything for me."

He trudged off and wondered if he was ever going to get anything useful out of Elaine aside from her often confusing companionship.. Hopefully, seeing her interact with another woman when they had dinner with the Mays would help clue him in on her true personality.