Journal of a King

Journal Entry 116: This Sap Worries Too Much

**A/N: Ah, yes, the next installment of grown-up Puck that nobody asked for but I wrote anyways. Very OOC Puck, but hey, at least this one has more Puckabrina than some other chapters. Next chapter I'll have Puck back to his obnoxious yet very lovable self. Sisters Grimm rights belong to Michael Buckley.**

"Do you need the bathroom?"

I peeked into my and Sabrina's room, and a smile immediately reached my face. She'd shook her head no but wasn't looking at me. Her gaze was on the baby in her arms. Our baby. My heart skipped a beat, and suddenly I couldn't get to her side fast enough. When I all but leaped on the bed, she shot me a scolding look that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Puck!" she hissed. "You're going to wake her up!"

Honestly, if Allie hadn't just recently learned to sleep through the night, I would have made a teasing remark about how just holding her could potentially wake her up – the kid was a very light sleeper – but instead I just let out a soft chuckle, gently leaned against Sabrina, my head on her shoulder, and gazed with her at our sleeping princess.

Yep, you heard that right: I, the renowned Trickster King, the boy who swore he would never grow up for any reason, was not only married but also now a new father. It shocked me too, because if you asked me about fourteen years ago where I saw myself in the future, I would have told you that I'd still be living my best life as a twelve-year-old. And if you pointed out that I was being forced to age, I undoubtedly would have started to grope about how Grimm was to blame. And she was. She had indeed infected me with the virus called puberty, and I will stand by that claim until the sun burns out...but it turned out that the future as an adult wasn't so bad at all.

I had started my twenties in a rough patch, truthfully, but after my five-year hiatus after turning twenty, when I was trying to figure out my life, I'd come to realize that all I really wanted was Sabrina by my side. Disgustingly romantic, right? Barf. Well, I had known she'd probably be by my side for a while longer, seeing that she couldn't walk down the sidewalk without getting herself killed, but the real surprise was that it had taken me so long to act on that conclusion. Sure, she hadn't been too happy when I had crashed her wedding to that pitiful Bradley guy, but hey, I was just staying true to my chaotic side! I couldn't let feelings turn me into a complete sap, now could I? Well, that resolution went out the window when I had held my daughter for the first time on that warm June 7th afternoon.

Even though I hadn't read too much about babies (because yes, I'm still very much allergic to books), I had known right away that she was smaller than the average newborn, human or Fae. She had been so incredibly teeny then, and I had been so nervous about holding her. Not much can make me nervous, a long list of battles and wars fought under my belt, but I had found myself not wanting to mess something up, for once in my life. Nothing, though, I had decided as I had taken my first good look at Alison, at those green eyes identical to my own, would ever harm my little girl, especially not me. That protective side of me had come out again, right when I needed it to, but that time I wasn't bragging about it like I always insisted on doing back when Sabrina and I were kids. Back when Sabrina tried to tell me countless times that she didn't need my bodyguard assistance. (Which was so not true on her part. I mean, c'mon: the Jabberwocky, being poisoned by my crazy ex-fiancé Moth, and countless of other times when I had saved her hide...do I need to say more?)

What had really scared me was the commitment and responsibility that came with being a father. I'd shown my commitment to taking care of Sabrina time and time again and eventually legalized that dedication on our wedding day. I'd even argued way too long with numerous fairies back in Faerie over the fact that I, as their king, would be choosing a human to be my – their – queen. But until that point, I had really only been committed to myself, and responsible only for the repercussions coming from pranking and taunting others. It felt like I was just getting the hang of this whole married life thing when suddenly I was about to become a dad. A dad, of all things! I had no clue about how to do that; it wasn't like I had been given the best role model.