Commander's Rounds Volume 1

Entry 37: One on One Times Two

The commander woke up to the smell of breakfast.

It was a sure sign that King George V was still around. She had stayed with him the previous night, and the sorts of things happened that tended to happen when she stayed over at his place, meaning it would take a bit of time for him to wake up. However, her cooking was the most effective alarm clock that he could remember encountering, as alarm clocks made demands, while King George's cooking offered incentives. He got out of bed, and made his way to the kitchen, following the humming of the battleship.

He went to the kitchen to watch her. While what he would be expected to do was hug her from behind while she was cooking, interrupting her art was not something he was going to test. So, he waited until everything was in the oven to do such a thing. He put his arms around her waist, and he felt her hands rest on his. "It sounded like there were things on your mind."

He gave a nod, leaning against her back. "Just a couple of details. We're going to have a ceremony."

"And her majesty will insist on it being big."

The commander gave her a little squeeze. "There are going to be hundreds of guests. We can't stop it from being big no matter what we do. And I'd like Richelieu to officiate, if she doesn't think of me as some kind of abomination."

King George V giggled. "You must have just woken up if you're thinking that she would be put off by someone who appeared to be at death's door and was suddenly brought back to life and health."

"Fair." The commander was quiet for a while, just luxuriating in the presence of his soon-to-be wife. "Also, you've had a long and distinguished history as King George V, so we're not going to be doing the name-changing thing. It'd feel wrong for you to just be Mrs. Alexander Cochrane."

She relaxed against him. "If I thought you would demand such a thing, I wouldn't have said yes. After all, you've been pretty strong about wanting us to have our own identities."

"Mmm..." He thought for a moment. "I'll also have to figure out expanding living arrangements here since you may move in with me. A bedroom, kitchen, and office are good enough for me, but I'm not going to be living bachelor."

King George V gave a nod. "And once I do, then I should find a new roommate for Howe." She didn't need long to think. "Actually, I think Monarch would be fine with it. My youngest sister seems to have a way with her, possibly related to cookies."

"And then there's organizing and assigning roles for the wedding and all that... This requires so much planning it might as well be an operation like we do at work, and I can't even delegate it to anyone, really."

In time the oven made it known that breakfast was ready. She went to take it out. "Well, we both need to think about this. Anyway, after breakfast, I have an appointment which is actually quite relevant to what we've been talking about."

The commander couldn't even guess who she might be talking to- there were many, many people she might be talking about when it came to wedding planning, from Akashi to her majesty to her sisters- any number of other ships. "I hope it goes well, but I think it will."

After the two of them finished off breakfast, The commander gave King Goerge her daily pickup into his arms before she went on her way to wherever it was she was going. The commander didn't mind doing the cleanup, he considered it a fair trade for receiving her cooking.

It wasn't long after he finished that someone knocked on his door- though knock was a relative term as it sounded more like someone was bouncing a basketball against it. Everyone had their own way of getting his attention, it seemed.