After Forever After

By Gadfly

Introduction

This is a little one-shot story, posited in Shrek’s swamp the evening after the birthday party depicted in the film Shrek Forever After.

Copyright Notice

Characters, places and situations from the motion picture Shrek Forever After belong to DreamWorks. They are used here with affection but, alas, without permission.

Princess Fiona, already in her nightgown, peeked around the corner of her children’s bedroom doorway. Her husband, the famed large green ogre named Shrek, as known and popular in the kingdom now as herself despite her royal birth, was in the midst of telling them a bedtime story. The little triplets, whose first birthday was that day, were lying on the same bed on the very verge of sleep as their father wrapped up his tale, speaking in a soft, soothing voice despite the adventurous subject matter.

“…and then the brave warrior ogress chained the dragon and vanquished the evil little imp usurper while the other ogres scoured the land of the last of his wicked witches. Freedom was declared throughout the kingdom and everyone lived happily ever after. The end.”

Fiona smiled as Shrek leaned over and carefully tucked each of their children in, gently planting a kiss on each of their little heads in turn. By the time he was finished they were all dozing. Then he stood to his full, considerable height, stretched, and looked down on them. His face seemed to be beaming. Fiona thought she saw a tear glistening in his eye, and watching her family like this she began to feel tears welling in her own eyes as well as her heart swelled. Then Shrek looked in her direction and saw her, and his smile grew even broader. As he leaned down to blow out the candle on the nightstand beside the children’s bed Fiona quickly wiped her eyes to make sure that any trace of tears were gone.

Shrek came out of the bedroom, looked down at his wife for a few moments, his face still beaming, and then he turned, slipped an arm around her waist, and looked back into the bedroom. Fiona slipped her arm around his waist and looked back as well. She could still make out the triplets in the light that filtered thorough the window as they dozed contentedly. A short while later the three little tikes all started snoring.

“Ya did really good, Fiona,” Shrek whispered, drinking in the sight.

“We did great,” she returned, squeezing his waist. “They should sleep pretty soundly tonight. With the party and everything, it’s been a long and eventful day.”

“Amen to that,” Shrek said, and chuckled as if at a private joke. She looked up at him with a questioning expression. But he just leaned down, gave her a pecking kiss on her nose, and said, “I think we should be getting t’bed ourselves.”

“Amen to that,” Fiona said. “I’m exhausted.”

Shrek grunted noncommittally and they walked, their arms still twined around each others’ waists, into their own bedroom. Then they turned toward each other and shared a brief kiss, as was often their habit, although as of late it had become a less frequent one. Tonight, though, Fiona found that she almost had to push her husband away. “Hey!” she said, giggling slightly, “I need to get ready for bed.”

“Then by all means, don’t let me stop ya,” he said, still smiling, his tone and expression suggestive.

She looked at him, a bit surprised. “Aren’t you tired?”

“Not yet.”

She paused. Then, “Really?”

“Really, really.”

Fiona looked at him a few seconds longer. It had been a while. And the way that her husband was looking at her…she suddenly found she was feeling…less exhausted herself. One corner of her mouth curled into a little smirk. “Well, then,” she said. “Have a seat, Sir Romeo. I have a routine to go through…first.”

“As you command, Your Highness,” Shrek said, giving a mock bow. Then he took a seat on the edge of the bed and started removing his shoes.

Fiona smiled, shook her head, and then turned and took a seat at her vanity. As was her nightly habit, she removed her gold tiara, undid her long braid, and then started brushing out her long red hair. As she did so, she said, “You do realize they’re only one year old, you know.”

“Of course,” he said, apparently surprised at the comment. “After today, how could I forget?”

“So they’re not going to know what words like ‘vanquished’ and ‘usurper’ and ‘scoured’ mean.”

“Oh,” he said, realizing where she was coming from, “I see. Well, at this age, it’s more the tone ya use when you tell ‘em the story, anyway.”

“Yes, I know. I’m just teasing,” she said. Then, as she looked at her own green-skinned, long-eared reflection, she chuckled.

“What?” he asked.

“I was just thinking back on my own story,” she said. “You know, if someone had told me just a few years ago that I was fated to spend the rest of my life looking as I do, married to whom I am, living where we are, raising the children that we have, and that it would all fill me with as much joy as it does, I would have said he was stark raving mad. But now…if I were any happier my heart would just burst!”

“And if somebody’d told me I’dve ended up marrying such’a gorgeous princess who’d give me such beautiful kids, I’da flattened his skull for trying to fill my head with such’a forlorn, unreachable fantasy. You rescued me from so much emptiness and misery, Fi. I…I can’t begin to tell ya how much you and the kids mean to me. Well, actually, I guess I could begin…but once going, I don’t think I could ever stop.”

“Really?” she said, glancing at his reflection in the mirror’s background. “You really don’t mind the lack of privacy? That used to be very important to you.”

He chuckled ruefully. “Trust me,” he said. “You’ll never need t’worry about that ever again.”

Fiona detected an oddly cryptic tone in the way he had said that. She waited for a moment to see if he’d elaborate. When he didn’t, she ventured, “Are you sure? I noticed that you’ve been…irritable lately. I mean, more than normal. No, that came out wrong – I mean…well, has something been bothering you? I guess I should have asked before, but with trying to get everything ready for the triplets’ party, things have been so hectic—”

“No, Fiona, sweetheart, nothing’s wrong,” Shrek said. He rose from his seat, walked over to her, laid his hands on her shoulders, and kissed her on the top of her head. “You’re given me the perfect life. Far better than I ever deserved.”

“I beg to differ, at least with that last part,” she said.

“You might not if ya knew – well, it’s a long, long story, and one I want to tell ya, but…not tonight. Tonight I just want…I just need…t’be with you, to hold you close to me and…not talk.”

The strokes of Fiona’s brush grew slower as she looked up at his refection. “Well, now you’ve got me curious,” she said suspiciously. “What happens in this ‘long story’…and does it affect…us?”

“In a way,” he said, “but it has a big, bright, beautiful, happy ending. Actually, it’s a story about something that never even happened, but might’ve if I’d been even more dense than normal.”

Confused, she said, “Well, now you’re losing me.”

“Oh, Fiona,” he said, squeezing her shoulders more firmly, “I never want to do that ever again.”

“Hmmm,” she said, pondering his words as Shrek started massaging her shoulders. She resumed looking at herself in the mirror as she brushed. After a few seconds, she asked, “This story – is it related to the one you told the kids tonight?”

Shrek paused in his massaging. A second later he said, “Well, yes, actually, it’s a little similar, but—”

“And this ‘warrior ogress’ who performed so heroically,” she said, pausing in her brushing and looking back up at his reflection. She raised an eyebrow and asked, “Should I be jealous?”

Shrek released a burst of laughter, which he quickly choked back lest he awaken the children, and then said, “Oh, sweetheart. You need never be jealous of anyone. You have been and always will be the only one for me ever since I laid eyes on you in that tower.”

Fiona raised the other eyebrow, her expression still questioning. Shrek raised his right hand and said, “On my honor as an ogre.”

Fiona smiled. “All right, then,” she said, satisfied enough for now, and then returned her gaze back to her own reflection and resumed her brushing. “But you didn’t mention this ogress’s mate in the story. Didn’t she have one?”

“Nobody important,” Shrek said, massaging her shoulders again.

“Pity. I would think that somebody like that would settle for only the best.”

“I’m sure he does the best he can.”

Just then there was a rumbling from Fiona’s stomach. “Sorry about that,” she said. “You’d think as much as we ate at the party I’d still be full. But you know, ever since then I’ve had this craving —”

“Me, too,” Shrek teased, leaning down and kissing her cheek.

“I meant for something to eat, silly,” she giggled.

“Ah,” he said. “So for what doth the fair princess crave?”
“Chimichangas, of all things,” she said. “Is that weird, or what?”

Shrek had been about to kiss her cheek again. He stopped abruptly and the smile dropped from his face. After a couple of seconds he muttered, “You have no idea.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, it is…uh…different,” he said, standing up straight again.

“Tell me about it,” she said. She put her brush down and studied her reflection. Her hair now hung straight and loose about her back and shoulders. She began reaching for one of her hair ties, intending to re-braid it, but then stopped and looked at herself again. “Shrek,” she said, “what would you say if I just wore my hair loose like this every so often? Maybe a couple of days a week?”

Shrek seemed at a loss for words. “Here,” Fiona said, standing up and turning toward him. She rested her hands on her hips and asked, “What do you think?” Just then a gust of wind blew through the open window and caused her hair to briefly wave in its breeze.

“Well,” he began, licked his lips as if they had suddenly gone dry, and then stammered, “I…um…”

“Wow,” she said, disappointed. “You must really not like it.”

“I didn’t say that!” he quickly objected. “I think you look beautiful! I think you look beautiful…either way.”

“Really?

“Really, really.”

“You don’t suppose people would think…you know…that I’m doing this to try to look younger, like I’m going through some sort of midlife crisis—”

“Not at all!”

“Good. I guess that’s that, then.”

“I guess,” Shrek agreed. The smile returned to his face and he drew closer to her.

As he leaned forward to kiss her, his eyes closing, lips puckering, and arms reaching to embrace her, a playful idea struck Fiona’s mind. She grabbed one of Shrek’s arms and, before he realized what was happening, she spun him around facing away from her and pinned his arm against his back. “Hey!” he said, confused. Fiona pushed him forward a few steps and then shoved him…onto the top of their bed.

Shrek rolled over onto his back to face her, and his expression of confusion changed to one of glee when he saw the look on Fiona’s own face. Unleashing a cry of “woo-hoo!” – albeit muted so as not to awaken the triplets – Fiona launched herself into the air and fell into Shrek’s outstretched, waiting arms.

The End