#knight!bobby

“Ah, the Winchester knights!”  King Michael said grandly as Sam and Dean walked into his private meeting hall.  “I’m sorry I forbid you from attending your lady’s ceremony, but I needed to see you without distraction.”

“How can we help you, King Michael?”  Sam asked trying to remain polite.

“That Lady of yours is something quite special,”  The king mused.  “First she claims that you are courting,”  He said walking up to Dean.  “Then she wants you married off to her lady in waiting.  How unusual and quite the low blow to you.”  He was standing behind Dean now and let himself touch Dean’s hair.

“Your majesty, sometimes-”  Sam started to try and change the subject.

“Don’t you dare interrupt me!”  Michael roared at the younger knight.  He calmed and seemed to realize that he was touching Dean.  “I’m thinking of taking Lady Julie for my bride.  She is beautiful, and my chancellors have been uneasy that I have been unwed for so long.”  Sam and Dean tensed at his words.

“She’s not a member of your kingdom,”  Sam said through gritted teeth.

“Oh so you don’t want me to marry her,”  Michael laughed unpleasantly.  “Perhaps you should consider my offer, Dean.  Just say yes, I’ll let the Lady Julie marry whoever she wants.”

“No,”  Dean said firmly.  Michael scowled.

“Perhaps we should go,”  Sam said uneasily.  He seemed to only now realize how dangerous it was for them to be here alone with Michael.  All of their plans could be tossed out the window if they said the wrong thing.

“Think about my offer,”  Michael said.  “You have until the end of your honeymoon.  Enjoy your wedding,”  He sneered.

Those months passed far too quickly. Dean and Lisa were married by the end of the next week by Cardinal Crowley.  News had reached King Michael’s kingdom that Sir John Winchester had died while on the hunt.  And they still had no better plans to protect Dean from the king.

It was late in the evening when Cole came and offered to help Julie out of her corset.  Lisa was still gone for her honeymoon, and Julie didn’t trust anyone else.  

“My lady?  Julie?!”  Cole exclaimed as he ran across the room and caught her before she hit the ground.  He carried her to her bed loosening her corset and checking her breathing.  When he was certain she was alive, he went to the door of the apartment and ordered a squire to fetch Sir Robert.

“What happened?”  Bobby asked when he came into the apartment and Cole led him to Julie’s room.

“She fainted out of nowhere after standing up.  You don’t think she’s hexed do you?”  Cole asked.

“I’m not sure, bring me so warm water and a cloth with a twig of sage.”  Bobby sat in the chair of her room and felt her breath and heartbeat.  “Lady Julie?”  He called quietly as he cracked a vial of smelling salts under her nose.  She pulled away quickly reeling from the abruptness of the smell.

“Bobby?”  Julie asked as she took in her surroundings.

“What have you gotten yourself into, girl?”  Bobby asked rubbing his face tiredly.  “You fainted and about killed your guard with fright.”

“Oh God,”  Julie stared wide-eyed at the floor.

“Is there something I should know?”  Bobby asked going and locking the door before Cole had a chance to come back.

“I might be pregnant,”  Julie whispered looking up at Bobby.

“I’m gonna kill that boy.  I didn’t think you’d be such a fool as to use that key when I had it sent to you,”  Bobby scoffed.

“I already had it off by the time I got the note from you,”  Julie blushed hard.  “So at least you can spare yourself any blame.”

“You can’t tell anyone.  Not yet, not Dean, not Lisa, not Cole, not even Sam,”  Bobby said seriously.  “If they know it’ll change what they are going to do about this business with Michael.  We aren’t ready for a change at this level.  So keep quiet and keep yourself in check.”  Julie nodded agreeing with the older man.

“I have one problem with your plan,”  Julie said.  “I have to tell Cole.  He needs to protect me.  He knows all of my secrets.”

“All of them?”  Bobby asked begrudgingly.  “If you think that is best, then that’s fine, but he can’t tell anyone else.”  And with that Bobby left her apartment.

“You’re with child?”  Cole asked trying to hide his hurt as he sat in her room.  “I suppose I should have seen it coming, with how often you see Sam.”

“You can’t tell anyone, not even Sam,”  Julie emphasized.

“I would never betray you like that,”  Cole agreed, reaching out to take her hand.  “Do you love him?”

“Yes,”  Julie said with a soft smile.

“He’s a good man, and loves you,”  Cole said before kneeling in front of Julie.  I’ll keep you and your child safe, Milady.”

“Thank you,”  Julie said standing and holding Cole’s head against her belly like a dotting mother. “I’ll take care of you to the full extent of my power.”  It was a simple agreement but the weight of their words laid heavy on both of them.

“When do you think you’ll have the baby?”  Cole asked standing as Julie sat back down.

“Not for a while I’m sure.  I’ve only missed one cycle,”  Julie said as she tried to remember with all the stress of coming to the northern kingdom.

“Two,”  Cole corrected.  “You’ve missed at least two.”  She looked at him speculatively as he seemed to keep better track of such things than her.

“Go bribe that squire so he doesn’t tell everyone that Sir Singer was here.”  Julie teased as she graced him with a small smile before laying down.

“A feast in your honor?”  Cole asked as if this was something not to be surprised about.  “The king has no queen perhaps he has taken an interest.”  Sam grimaced at the bodyguard’s words but no one seemed to notice.

“No, you should have seen the way he looked at her.  Marriage is not what he had in mind,”  Bobby said.  Although the old man only grunted in private conversation.

“What then?”  Dean asked.

“King Michael has a reputation.  I’ve never put much stock into but I never really cared to think about it before.”  Bobby responded.  Julie did her best to maintain her composure but Cole could see the way she trembled.  

“We won’t let it come to that,”  Cole said reassuringly as he placed a hand on her shoulder.  Julie recoiled from it but recovered quickly.

“He can try,”  Julie’s eyes flicked to Dean for a moment before she took on an air of command.  “Now, please leave me.  There is a feast in my honor and I need Lisa to work her magic.  You may come back in,”  she glanced at Lisa.  “Four hours to escort me.”

Cole and Bobby exited her room to give her privacy, but Dean stopped just before the door when he realized that Sam hadn’t moved.  The tall man was simply staring sadly at the blonde lady as she crossed her arms and sighed, unaware that they were still there.

Dean jerked his head signaling his younger brother to leave, but Sam waved him away.  Dean rolled his eyes knowing that this was a bad idea, then walked out closing the door.

“What am I doing here?”  Julie asked placing a hand to her forehead.

“You’re doing the best you can.  It’s not your fault they can’t see you for how amazing you are,”  Sam rumbled.  He couldn’t help himself.  The encounter with the King had emboldened him.

“Sam?  What are you doing here?”  Julie asked as she spun around.  

“Milady, which dress-”  Lisa started to ask but cut off when she saw Sam standing there.  “I’ll give you a moment and get your yellow dress.”  The handmaiden gave Sam a knowing look then turned and left the entry room.

“I-uh,”  Sam’s courage left him the instant he was alone with Julie.  “I just wanted you to know that I- we, my brother and I, won’t let the King touch you.  Unless you want him to,”  Sam murmured the last part as if it was an afterthought.

“What I want doesn’t matter,”  Julie echoed an old thought from before she had left for this trip.  It felt like a lifetime ago already.  She smiled sadly at Sam.

“You’re wrong, Milady,”  Sam said taking a step toward her.

“You should call me Julie,”  She said rather breathily.  Sam reached out his hand to caress a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

“I’d like that, Julie.”  He whispered.  She closed her eyes and sighed at the way he said her name.

A knock at her door made them both jump and retreat from each other.  Lisa re-entered the room and looked from one of them to the other.  Julie grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled him to Cole’s room and ushered him into the closet.  It was small and Sam was large, but he was good at hiding.

“I’m here to see Lady Julie,”  Crowley’s voice came from the door.

“She will be right with you Eminence,”  Lisa responded then came to get Julie with a look of warning on her face.

“Eminence Crowley.  How can I help you?”  Julie asked politely as she came to the room alone.

“Lady Julie I believe we have gotten off on the wrong foot.  Your performance this afternoon at Court was most impressive,”  The cardinal said.

“Performance, your Holiness?”  She asked confused as she offered him a chair.

“Yes, you see I have recently heard that you are currently being courted by Sir Winchester.”  His lips twisted into a smile.  “But I believe him to be uninterested in you with the way that I saw him talking to one of the servants in the hallway.”

Julie’s eyes went wide and her throat dried as she sat without words.

“I’d like to help you, Milady,”  Crowley said.  My King would like an audience with you in private, and I know that you would like for your noble knights to have a chance to prove themselves here.”  He said the word noble with disdain.

“Eminence, there is no polite way for me to say this, but it would be inappropriate for me to be alone with the King.”  Julie found her voice finally.

“I promise, before God, that you shall come out of the King's rooms in the same condition that you went in.”  The cardinal said grandly.  “He simply wants to talk with you without all the grandstanding of court.  Do we have a deal?”  Julie chewed her lips for a moment.

“Lead the way Eminence.”  She said.  When they were walking out the door, she cast a glance over her shoulder and her eyes met Sam’s concerned hazel gaze.

“Eminence Crowley,”  Julie curtsied to the holy man.  “We are hoping to have an audience with your king as soon as possible, the situation is direr than was first realized.”

“Oh, you seem to misunderstand me,”  He adjusted his red robes.  “The king wishes to meet with the Winchester knights only.  You and your,”  He eyed Cole and Lisa, “Servants may retire until later this evening.”

“Eminence.”  Julie curtsied again even as she bristled at the coddling tone the Cardinal used on her.  A confused look crossed Sam’s face at the exchange, and Cole pressed an urgent but supplicant hand to Julie’s back.

“Here are your rooms, Lady Julie,”  A straw-haired servant ushered Julie and her entourage to a small apartment then left.

“Spill it,”  Cole stood in front of the now-closed door with his arms crossed staring at Julie.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  She retorted a little too primly.  “He is a Cardinal.  If he chooses that I not be seen or heard, then I am not.”

“Right,”  Cole huffed patiently watching her pace.  “And that doesn’t bother you at all right?”

“Of course not,”  Julie lied through her teeth as she rolled her shoulders back trying to relieve the tension that had settled between her shoulder blades.

“You full of shit,”  He said simply.

“You watch your mouth in front of me, Cole.”  She snapped at him with a finger outstretched.  “I am the daughter of a Count.  I was chosen by the King to be the guide for his knights.  I-” She realized that she had puffed out her chest as she had uttered her list.  She released the air and slumped a little.  “I am overreacting.”

“It’s alright Milady,”  Cole said a small smile on his face.  “I’d rather you take it out on me than by accident in court.”

“Thank you for being here for me, Cole.  I don’t know how I would survive without you,”  She didn’t utter the apology even behind closed doors but it was evident on her slightly flushed face that she was embarrassed.

“Now, how do we get you out into court?  The Cardinal and the rest of the nobility will eat the Winchester brothers alive if I know anything about knights.”

“You’re right.  I need to be there, King Oskar wouldn’t have sent me along if he didn’t think there was trouble.”  Julie mused.

A knock sounded at the door behind Cole’s back startling both of them.  Cole moved away from the door to let a still quiet Lisa answer it.

“May I help you?”  Lisa asked politely.

“I’m here to escort Lady Julie to the Grand Hall.”  Came the voice of an older man.  He had a somewhat surly disposition and though he looked sober, the effects of a hard life and hard liquor had worn themselves onto his skin.

“I am here,”  Julie replied as she had been waiting patiently for him to arrive.  “You’re name sir?”

“Singer, milady.  I serve King Oskar as his Emissary here in this land.” The man offered her a shallow bow.

“Then I am honored to have your help,”  Julie relaxed slightly.  “Please, lead the way.”

“Presenting Lady Julie and Sir Singer, your Majesty.”  The herald called as Bobby escorted Julie into the great hall.

“Sire, Lady Julie is here to speak on the Winchester Knights' behalf,”  Bobby spoke with as much eloquence as the old man seemed to be able to muster.

“Speak,”  The king spoke.

“King Michael, My King has sent these knights to you to investigate an unusual congregation of vampires that have amassed between his kingdom and yours,”  Julie spoke as she curtsied to the king, then presented Dean and Sam.

“My kingdom has no quarrel with the vampires, I see no reason to create one.”  The dark skin man boomed regally.

“Sire, you may not see the problem yet, but if left unchecked they could threaten to overrun your kingdom.”  Julie pleaded.  Sam took a protective step towards Julie that Dean noticed.  He then noticed that several members of the court had taken on a somewhat aggressive stance as Julie had tried to build their case.

“Do you think that I cannot protect my kingdom?!”  King Michael boomed, and Julie flinched.

“King Michael, if I may -”  Julie started.

“You may not!”  The king interrupted.  Sam placed his hand on Julie’s shoulder hoping to signal her to cut their loses.

“In that case,”  Dean took a step in front of Julie shielding her and his brother with his body.  “If it pleases you, sire, we would be most grateful for accommodations within your kingdom to rest and take stock before returning home.”

“You will stay here,”  Michael responded.  Julie seethed and attempted to calm herself.  She noticed Cardinal Crowley standing slightly behind the king and knew he held the king's ear.  She would get no further unless they saw her as something other than a pretty face.  “You will be my guests at a feast tonight in Lady Julie’s honor,”  The king continued.  If it wasn’t for Dean standing in front of her she might have offended the king with the look of shock on her face.

“We are most honored your majesty,”  Sam rumbled from behind her, but the way his hand tightened on her shoulder before pulling away made her think he had lied.

Bobby excused them, and they fled the Great Hall to regroup after such a terrible meeting.