#royalfanfic

[pharrymanips]

The royal wedding of Sansa Stark and Prince Jon rocked King's Landing last weekend

The wedding festivities lasted a week, between the civil and religious wedding ceremony, there was still a show open to the public with the band Coldplay. The couple, who have known each other since childhood, looked quite happy during the festivities, despite rumors that indicated that the day before the wedding the bride would have been in doubt about moving forward. However, all the rumors were forgotten due to the obvious happiness of the newlyweds, who smiled at each other all the time. The palace has already reported that in the coming months the royal couple will tour the country, probably to Winterfell, a place that has a special place in the heart of the prince.

Read more here.

[forevermyalwaysphff]

Chapter 1

Author’s Note: Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all the interest in my new fic. It really means a lot to me and I cannot wait to share Harry and Alexa’s story with you. With that being said, this fic has no disrespect towards Meghan and Harry’s current relationship/marriage. It is just an idea I had come to me after Eugenie’s wedding and would like this blog to remain a positive place! I would love to hear what you think of if you would like to share :) Without further wait, here is the first chapter in Harry and Alexa’s story!

    It was a perfect summer evening as the sun was starting to set over the Thames River providing the picturesque lighting that danced off the still water. A warm breeze floated off the river that cooled the evening to an ideal temperature, perfect for the celebration of Harry’s cousin Eugenie’s engagement to her long time boyfriend Jack that had been made official a few days earlier in the week.

    Tonight was their engagement party for with their friends that was hosted along the Thames River near the Southbank of London on an outside pub along the water; a place that Eugenie would have picked herself. 

    Harry sighed deeply and took a sip of his beer that coated his throat. It was a well-deserved night of relaxation with friends and family after his busy flight training with the British Forces. He had been out of the city in Suffolk, diving deep into written tests, flight training and exams. Sitting beside his friend, Charlie Van Straubenzee, and Charlie’s girlfriend, Daisy, he joined in on the conversation trying to enjoy the party.

    “Well, it’s about time Jack put a ring on it!” Daisy looked into her boyfriend’s eyes and winked suggestively at him giving Charlie a gentle nudge. “Maybe someone should learn from him, don’t you think so Harry?” 

    The prince turned his head to lock eyes with Charlie’s wide ones staring back at him pleadingly, not to agree with his girlfriend and put more pressure on himself. A devilish smirk appeared on Harry’s lips at the thought of teasing his close friend in that moment.

    “I think if he wants you to keep him, he should Daisy.” The prince leaned in and bantered with Charlie who had released a low groan at Harry’s comment.

    “Oh really mate? Let’s talk about your set up tonight!” Charlie egged the prince on who clearly did not want to discuss how Eugenie was on his ass to set him up with a friend of hers. “With who again? Cressida? Eugenie’s friend?”

    Harry shook his head back and forth in denial. “I never agreed to anything, Charlie.”

    “Does she know that? Because Cressida and Eugenie are coming over here….” Harry followed Charlie’s gaze past the stools that lined the bar to see a blonde woman walking towards him with his cousin in tow. 

    “Oh fuck…” Harry muttered under his breath and quickly drank down the rest of his beer only to signal the bar tender for another one. 

    “Be nice….” Harry felt Daisy’s hand pat his back in a comforting manner. “It’s been a while and you deserve someone too. Who knows, you might actually enjoy it.” Her soft kind words sunk into his being, acknowledging them with a slight nod of the head.

    Swivelling his head back, he found himself looking into the soft chocolate brown eyes of Daisy. She and the prince had recently become quite close friends since his break up with Chelsy Davy almost six months ago. Daisy was always willing for Harry to tag along with Charlie and her wherever they went and in return, a strong relationship had formed between them. 

    “Harry!” Hearing Eugenie’s voice calling his name, the prince turned around to face his cousin with a crooked fake smile holding on his lips. Popping off the bar stool he quickly enveloped Eugenie in a warm hug while his gaze evaded Cressida who was watching his every move. 

    “Congratulations, Eugenie!” Harry squeezed her a little tighter. “I am so happy for you and Jack.” The prince congratulated his little cousin on her engagement while she beamed an elated smile back at him.

    “Awe, thanks so much Harry!” Eugenie muffled into his chest before breaking apart from their friendly hug.

    “I want to introduce you to someone…” Eugenie stepped back to join her friend that kept a steady gaze on the prince. “Harry, this is Cressida.”

    His eyes settled on the blonde that seemed too eager to meet him, making the prince already question her true intentions. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Harry.” Cressida stuck out her hand first, to which Harry reluctantly shook in return. “Eugenie has told me so much about you!”

    “I am sure she has…” Harry trailed off trying to seem uninterested because quite frankly, he was. His cousin had been asking Harry for the past few weeks if she could set him up with a friend of hers, but he never fully agreed to it. Hearing that Cressida would be at the engagement party, the prince knew he could no longer avoid it and now he found himself right in the middle of that situation. 

   “I will leave you two to talk. I need to find Jack.” Eugenie gave a subtle wink along with her excuse to leave Harry and Cressida alone to get to know one another better. Harry caught a glimpse of the smile her cousin formed as she walked away, a smile that she was happy to finally introduce them to one another.

   Harry’s eyes drifted down towards the blonde woman and offered a kind smile. He convinced himself that he would give Cressida the benefit of the doubt and give her a chance, Harry at least owed her that for putting herself out there.

   “Why don’t we head over there?” Cressida pointed behind Harry to a group of lounging chairs that were unoccupied away from the bustle of the party. 

    “Lead the way…” He smiled politely and followed in behind the blonde.

    Harry nodded his head pretending to be interested in whatever it was Cressida was talking about, which always seemed to be about her. He had lost significant interest in trying after she went on and on about everything she had accomplished as if this was more of a job interview telling him she was worthy of his presence and attention. His gaze kept averting to the party that was happening around them, noticing that most of his cousins, his brother and sister in law had arrived. 

    Glancing down at his watch, the prince had been sitting here for about forty minutes with the blonde women trying his best to find a connection or a spark with her and it simply was not happening for him. Never once did Cressida ask Harry about himself or seem interested in him other than the fact that he was a prince; a thought that did not settle well internally with him. All she did was talk about herself and her aspirations to follow into an acting and dance career. A career that was not best suited for dating a prince as an immediate warning within him grew over her true intentions.

    “Cressida…” Harry interrupted her being no longer able to waste more time than he had with her. “Look you are a lovely women.” He looked straight into her eyes and found a source of empathy to dig his words from. “But, this is not going to work out between us.”

    He watched the smile fall from her lips in disappointment while confusion flashed across Cressida’s face. “But… I thought Eugenie said you were interested in me…” She trailed off with a lowered head unable to look him in the eyes as a flood of embarrassment hit her. 

    Harry closed his eyes briefly and took a second to formulate a reply that was clear he was not interested, but also soften the blow of rejection. “I just don’t feel any connection with you, to be brutally honest and it is not fair for either of us to continue this further.” Harry shifted to the edge of his seat. “There are a ton of guys here I am sure that would love to spend time with you, Cressida. You are a lovely woman like I said, but not for me.” The prince kindly told the blonde who was still looking away from him embarrassed.

    With that, Harry stood up and left to walk back towards the bar to get a drink. “Well that went well… thanks Eugenie.” He sarcastically voiced to himself with a light shake of the head. Scanning the crowd he spotted a few members of his family and walked towards them to greet Will, Kate and Beatrice before heading back to Charlie and Daisy across the bar. 

     The prince sat down beside Daisy and shared a quick look. “That good huh?” Daisy giggled seeing Harry’s reaction form on his face. “Hey!” She called over the bar tender and bought Harry a beer along with three tequila shots.

    “Tequila shots? Really Daisy?” He raised a suggestive eyebrow at the brunette. 

    “You need to cheer up… or get drunk enough not to care.” Daisy handed a shot to Harry and another to her boyfriend. “It’s a party and you are the biggest party pooper here.” She downed the shot before Harry could even respond. “If you don’t have it, I will have to and then you will have to deal with Charlie’s wrath since you know how I am on tequila…” Charlie’s glaring eyes nearly forced that shot down the prince’s throat.

    “One more round!” Daisy hollered while both men on either side of her shook their heads. 

    A crooked smile turned the corners of his lips as his eyes scanned the bar.

    That was when he saw her, standing directly across the bar from him with a smile that would bring the whole world to its feet. 

    The intriguing blonde women was dressed in a simple yet very flattering black dress with her hair half loosely tied back. Harry sat up straighter in his seat once he saw that the women was in a friendly conversation with his elder cousin Zara and her husband Mike. 

    She must have felt a set of eyes on her as her head turned slowly to catch Harry staring right at her. The blonde’s gaze softened as she looked directly into the prince’s eyes while a tiny smile that tugged at the corners of her lips. Time stood still for a moment, as the world around them ceased to exist, drawing the two together from across the bar unable for them to look away from each other. But, all too quickly, the blonde lowered her head and averted her gaze from the prince. 

    Harry watched her every move closely, becoming enthralled from a distance with whoever she was. Still engaged in the conversation, she was fully aware that Harry was still staring at her as her flushed cheeks indicated it to him. Nervously tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, she took a chance and looked back at him finding the prince still staring at her.

    This time his smile grew wide while a light chuckle escaped his lips knowing that she again, caught him staring. Her smile grew in comparison, matching the princes while their eyes lingered upon one another. Not only was the blonde woman on to him now, but also was his cousin Zara as she followed the woman’s eyes to Harry. 

    The prince mustered enough courage to go talk with this mysterious women hat held his attention. He scooted off the bar stool before Daisy could hand the prince his other shot and made his way over to the blonde beauty and his cousin. Walking around the corner he saw Zara mouth to her, ‘he’s coming.’

    “Hello, little cousin.” Zara locked narrowing eyes with the prince, making him fully aware she knew exactly what he was up too. She pulled him into an embrace and whispered closely in his ear, “I caught you, you little ginger.”

    Breaking apart, his eyes immediately drifted towards the quiet blonde standing next to him, waiting patiently to be introduced to Harry. A set of the deepest green eyes he had ever seen peaked up at Harry and nearly sent his heart into a fluttering chaos. For the first time in his life, Harry found himself speechless.

    “Have you two met before?” Zara interceded as she watched the two of them silently flirt with their eyes making her almost nauseated at how sweet their interaction was. 

    “No.” Harry responded at the same time the blonde said, “Yes.”

    Taken back he angled his head down into her with narrowed eyes as the confusion within him started to build. He racked his mind trying to find a hint of how she thought they had met before hand. The prince was sure that he would have remembered those stunning piercing green eyes of hers if he had.  

    “Well… this is interesting.” Zara leaned up against the bar counter and watched the situation unfold in front of her.

    “Where exactly have we met before? I think I would have remembered you…” He flirted with a cheeky grin that caused her eyes to sparkle as she feigned a laugh. 

    A slight shake of her head followed by a nervous giggle intrigued him further. “I was quite young… at a birthday of Eugenie’s I believe. I don’t think you would have remembered the night very well if I could recall.” She started to giggle at the memory that the prince clearly did not have. “I won’t hold it against you, don’t worry.” 

    Harry pursed his lips together in embarrassment and ran his hand through his ginger hair. “My apologies. But, I don’t remember your name.” He stuck his hand out in hopes that she would shake it.

    “Alexa Grey.” A polite formed on her lips while keeping Harry’s eye contact steady. Her soft hand cupped his and tightly gripped it while shaking Harry’s hand. The two of them stood their silently staring into one another’s eyes, completely oblivious to their surroundings. 

    “I’m Harry.” He flashed a charming smile.

    Alexa pulled her hand away as their fingers brushed and sent an electrical pulse through Harry. “I know who you are.” Her sweet voice spoke.  

    “Ya, unlike someone.” Zara had somehow gotten a hold of some food and was nibbling on it like the two of them were a show. It was evident that she was trying to kill Harry’s game. He turned to face his cousin and gave her a quick glare to back off, but it only seemed to add more fuel her game.

    “Can I get you a drink?” He snuck in between the two women and angled his head down at Alexa, flashing a beaming smile. Harry inhaled Alexa’s sweet scent, almost a floral yet delicate scent that happily lingered in his nose. 

    “I can get my own, thank you.” She quietly replied before looking up at the prince and realizing exactly how close in proximity he was to her that caught her off guard. 

    “It’s on me… let me guess. Vodka cranberry with club soda?” His eyes had caught the remnants of the drink on the counter beside her as he made a guess to her drink of choice. 

    “Yes.” She giggled lightly. “Vodka cran.”

    Harry could tell it was a nervous laugh that had escaped her lips and he so desperately wanted Alexa to be comfortable with him. There was a stark difference between Cressida and Alexa that was evident in her behaviour. Both gorgeous blonde women, but there was something about Alexa that intrigued Harry, that caught his eye making him want to know about her. 

    The prince ordered their drinks and also one for Zara to keep her occupied. As the bar tender was preparing their drinks, he felt a hand slip in under his arm and place some money on the counter. Alexa had tried to sneakily pay for her own drink, but Harry was not having it. 

    Harry was about to speak when she beat him to it. Alexa’s green eyes flashed up towards him as she leaned in and whispered, “I pay for my own drinks… it’s just a rule of mine.” It seemed like tonight was a night of firsts for the prince. First, this woman made him speechless and now it was the first time in his life that a woman refused to let him buy her a drink. 

    “If that’s what you want.” He heard the sincerity mixed with a hint of worry in her voice when she told him. Not wanting to push Alexa further, he simply agreed to let her pay for her own drink. “But, my offer still stands at any point.”

    “Thank you.” Alexa quickly replied before she leaned into Harry and heard Zara say something on the other side of him.

    Zara was about to speak when she lifted her head and saw Alexa leaning into Harry like she innately belonged there, next to him. It threw her speech making her pause and blinked a few times before realizing that she should leave the two of them by themselves. Zara never would have thought that the two of them might even hit it off or she would have introduced them herself a long time ago. 

    “Well, I better go find Mike and congratulate the happy couple.” Zara winked at the both of them and then tapped Harry’s shoulder. “You two have fun.”

    “Bye, Zara. It was great seeing you again!” Alexa waved goodbye. Harry on the other hand was just purely happy she was leaving allowing the prince to finally be alone with Alexa.

    “I am sure I will be seeing you more often!” Zara could not help herself at taking one last dig at her younger cousin, offering him a subtle wink to go for it.

    Harry angled his body to face Alexa and offered her the last open bar stool for her to sit down, which she happily took. “I’ve been on my feet all day, it’s nice to relax.” The prince handed Alexa her drink, watching her take a healthy sip of it. 

    “Work I assume?” He casually leaned up against the bar counter as she nodded. “What do you do exactly?” The sunset behind the prince casted its vast colors across her face, mixing in with her green eyes that were bright and sparkling while staring up at shyly at the prince. 

    Alexa looked down trying not to be blinded by the light and focused on her hands that were fidgeting with her black dress. “I am a social worker at Guardian.”

    “Guardian…?” Harry angled his head and pondered the name as he thought of the company name but could not place it.

    “It’s a center for sexual and domestic violence survivors.” Alexa proudly spoke of it as she educated Harry on what she exactly did there. “I mainly work with them directly, finding them new affordable living situations, legal case work, employment, funding and with their children as well.” The proud smile that had formed on her lips indicated to Harry that Alexa loved her job and the work she did for all those in need. 

    “Sounds tough…” Harry took a sip of his beer as he observed Alexa release a sigh.

    “It has its day for sure, like any job.” Alexa grew quiet, but a small smile tugged at her lips as she angled her head up towards the prince. “But, when you get to help people start a new life away from fear… at the end of the day it’s all worth it.”

    Harry shook his head lightly as he briefly looked away from the blonde. “I couldn’t do it, that’s for sure.” His eyes found Alexa’s staring up at him about to ask him a question when blaring music started to play. The prince watched her lips move, but was unable to make out what she was saying. 

    He casually leaned in and spoke into her ear above the DJ playing the music. “Do you want to go somewhere more private?” Harry lifted his head to see her happily nodding a reply. 

    Sliding off the stool Harry grabbed her drink off the counter and led Alexa towards a set of free lounge chairs that faced a spectacular view overlooking the river. With each step towards the chairs, the music faded in the background giving them the chance to actually hear one another. 

    Harry sat down first and placed their drinks on a table ahead of them before patting the seat next to him. Alexa gathered her dress and sat down beside the prince and took in the view ahead of her. “Wow that view is amazing!” She smiled as her eyes stayed stagnant on the sun setting over the river while she slipped into a tranquil state of mind. It gave Harry an opportunity to run his eyes up and down her body without fear of Alexa catching him. It is indeed an amazing view. Harry thought to himself.

    “I never asked what you do?” Alexa angled her body towards Harry and relaxed back into the soft cushions. 

    “You don’t know?” He asked jokingly.

    “Well, I don’t google you… so yes I don’t know.” The sass was evident in her voice making the prince toss his head back in laughter, loving how easily she teased back. “Sorry… that may be the vodka talking.” She brought her hand to her mouth and giggled along side the prince. “I’m a bit of a light weight.”

    Their laughter subsided as they both caught their own breath ending with a heavy sigh. Harry’s hand unconsciously settled on her lower thigh by Alexa’s knee, covering over her smooth soft skin. In response, Alexa comfortably shifted closer to Harry’s body and rubbed her arms with a shivering lip. 

    The prince’s brow furrowed seeing Alexa shiver as he too felt a cool air drift from off the river. “Are you cold?” A concerned Harry voiced softly. 

    “Oh no, I’m ok.” She stopped rubbing her arm noticing the prince’s worried glance. “It’s just a little cooler closer to the river.” Alexa brushed it off lightly. 

    The gentleman inside of Harry came out and without wasting a second he shrugged off his suit jacket. Alexa was quick to protest saying she was fine, but the prince insisted as Harry offered her his jacket. 

    “But, you will get cold then…” Those green eyes of hers were laced with concern at Harry’s gesture. 

    He could not look away from those captivating green eyes that made him forget even the simplest words. “I will survive. Please take it.” Harry simply would not let a woman freeze beside him. He lifted the jacket around Alexa and covered her bare cool skin, running his hands up and down the side of her arms creating a source of warmth. 

    Alexa immediately snuggled into the warmth of Harry’s coat and wrapped it around her body. “You are so sweet, thank you.” She kindly thanked the prince and took a moment to stare into those blue eyes that caused her heart to beat rapidly in her chest. Forcing herself to look away in fear of getting lost in them, Alexa cleared her throat and changed the subject. “So, you were telling me what you do…” Alexa encouraged him to continue. 

    “Well I am a Prince…” He stuck out his tongue and earned a playful swat to his chest. “Ow!” Harry rubbed his chest pretending that she hurt him.

    “Oh come on, you are in the army. I know for a fact that did not hurt you one bit!” Alexa narrowed his eyes at Harry before realizing what she had said. 

    Harry’s eyes grew big. “Oh so you do know what I do!” He barked a laugh seeing her nose scrunch up adoringly. 

    “Eugenie talks about you, so of course I know. I was trying to be polite and let you tell me.” Alexa sighed deeply, but a smile lingered on her lips.

    “Ok, ok.” Harry’s hand found the same place on Alexa’s thigh before he continued. “I am in the middle of flight training with the British Army.”

    “What are you hoping to fly?” Alexa sat up and grabbed a sip of her drink. She breathed out deeply trying to focus on not showing how his thumb was soothingly rubbing her knee. His touch was more intoxicating than the drink she held to her lips, taking in a healthy sip while Harry told her about his flying career.

    “The Apache.” Harry watched the confusion form on her face. “It’s an attack helicopter.”

    “Sounds dangerous. Do you like flying?” Alexa seemed genuinely intrigued in his work in the army and he was happy to share his inner thoughts with her.

    “Yeah, of course I do.” He gently rubbed her leg. There was something about Alexa that innately brought a sense of calming comfort to the prince that he had found himself seeking as of late.

    “But, why?” Her hand reached out and played with his hair. Some how their bodies had drifted closer and closer, unconsciously craving the contact. 

    Alexa just stared into Harry’s deep blue eyes as she listened to him talk. His posh deep voice had her melting from the inside, but those eyes… she could stare into them all night long.  She was completely taken back at how easy he was to talk to and shocked at how comfortable Harry had made her feel already. His gentle touch on her leg made her heart beat a thousand miles a minute as her clouded mind tried to remain focused on his words.

    Never did Alexa think that she would be sitting here beside Harry deep in conversation wrapped up in his jacket. Her fingers gently played with his soft hair at the nape of his neck as he maneuvered his head towards her touch. Alexa froze and took in a quick breath, stopping the gesture and realizing what she was doing. Becoming slightly embarrassed, she looked away from Harry towards the river being unable to handle the intensity of his gaze. 

    A tender squeeze of her leg brought her green eyes back towards Harry. “You ok?”

    “Yeah, sorry I just…” It was then that Alexa became aware of how close she was to the prince. Shifting away an arm sprung out around her and stopped her from moving any further.

    “You don’t have to move away from me. Unless you have a boyfriend?” The disappointment was evident in his voice as he tried to put her actions into a reason.

    “No… god no.” Alexa was quick to respond and shut that down. “It’s not that at all.” Her voice softened into a whisper and held the prince’s gaze hostage. Alexa parted her mouth, about to explain when she heard a familiar voice call out her name.

    “Lexi!” Eugenie hollered her name making the two of them turn and look towards the sound of the voice. Eugenie was hand in hand with Jack walking straight towards Harry and Alexa who remained comfortably sat on the lounge chairs. Harry felt Alexa shift and stand beside him as he soon followed suit with a slightly annoyed expression on his face that once again one of his cousins interrupted him this evening.

    “I was looking all over for you and here I find you with my cousin!” Eugenie beamed a wide smile and opened her arms up to engulf Alexa into a tight friendly hug. 

    “I’m sorry I was late. I got caught up at work.” Alexa gently swayed her best friend back and forth. “Congratulations again on your engagement.” 

    “It’s alright Lexi! We are having so much fun tonight! I hope Harry is treating you ok?” Eugenie whispered covertly into her friend’s ear. Alexa answered with a simple nod as she broke away from the confines of Eugenie’s arms. 

    “Harry….” Eugenie eyed him suspiciously. “I see you stole my bestie away from my party.” She teasingly scolded her cousin with a light playfully push.

    “Bestie, huh?” Harry’s eyes found Alexa’s, but she quickly shied away. “Did not know you two were that close.” His gaze never wavered from the blonde to see her nervously fidget with a ring on her finger. 

    “Cressida was quite upset that you blew her off tonight after I told her you were interested in her.” Eugenie had put her foot in her mouth seeing Harry’s eyes grow wide in disbelief as the newly engaged princess realized what she had. She silently stood there to see the way Alexa’s head snapped towards Harry, displaying a wounded expression that caused her to clearly become angry with her cousin. Alexa’s gaze faltered, being unable to look at Harry anymore while she defensively crossed her arms. 

    “Sorry…” Eugenie mouthed towards the prince realizing what she had done. In truth, she did not even think of setting up Alexa with Harry after what happened with her friend’s last break up with an aristo thinking that Harry would not even be an option for Alexa. But, now it was clearly evident to Eugenie that she had interrupted something between Harry and Alexa and put her foot in her mouth talking about Cressida. 

    “Why don’t you come dancing with me?” Eugenie tugged on Alexa’s hand seeing a forced smile upon her friend’s lips for her benefit.

    “I will, I promise.” Alexa plastered a fake smile to hide the hurt that was circling within her. “I need to check in with someone first. I will only be a few minutes, promise.” Without another word, Alexa shrugged off the prince’s jacket and handed it back to him without any acknowledgement of his existence and walked off towards the railing on the dock. 

    “Shit, I am so sorry.” Eugenie immediately apologized to Harry once out of earshot of Alexa. 

    “You pushed Cressida on me, Genie.” Harry shook his head with disbelief. “There was no connection or anything at all with her, but with Alexa…” He stopped as his eyes drifted towards the blonde a few meters away that was now clearly upset with him.  “It was just natural… and now she’s pissed at me since I am sure she is also friends with Cressida. How do you think that makes me look? Hmmm?” It was evident in Harry’s tone how enraged he was over what Eugenie said. 

    “I put my foot in my mouth, I know I did.” Eugenie looked up at Harry with apologetic eyes. “Go talk to her. She’s a pretty reasonable person and will understand if you give her a minute.” Eugenie patted the prince’s back. “Believe me I know.” His cousin reassured Harry before walking away with her fiancé. 

    Releasing a deep breath Harry rubbed the back of his tense neck while looking at the blonde leaning over the rail looking out across the river. Harry had to get out his side of the story and persuade Alexa he was not the type of man she was formulating in her quiet mind. Taking a step forward, he saw her body tense up and looked slightly behind her shoulder aware that he was coming from behind her.

    “Alexa?” Her heard turned slightly to the sound of his voice alerting her to his presence, but she did not acknowledge him. 

    “Hey…” He stood beside Alexa and looked out across the water. But, she just stood there in silence not even taking a glance at him. That beautiful shy smile he had witnessed was nowhere to be found as her jaw was clenched tightly together. Alexa was clearly upset with what she had learned and rightly so. Eugenie made it seem like he was going from one friend of hers to another.

    “That was not cool of you, Harry.” Alexa broke her silence and turned to stare up at Harry, locking in his deep blue eyes that could see the evident hurt circling in them. He felt extremely guilty, but he needed to explain that he was not the player she thought him to be. 

    “Will you let me explain what happened?” He pleaded with her softly while holding her green eyed gaze. 

    Alexa remained silent as she searched in his eyes to see if he could be trusted while contemplating whether to give him the chance to explain or simply walk away from Harry. “Fine, explain it to me then.” She was short with him and slightly annoyed with herself that she was giving Harry more of her time that surely would be a waste. 

    Harry wasted no time in explaining. “Yes, Eugenie has been trying to set me up with Cressida ok, but I was clear I did not want that and she just happened to be here tonight so Eugenie introduced us.” Harry paused and sighed.  “But, after talking with her for a while I felt nothing. No connection, no attraction what so ever. I didn’t blow her off, I only told her that things would not work between us.” He let the words sink in while staring into Alexa’s softening green eyes. 

    “Then I saw you…”

    After a long pause, Alexa was trying to respond but didn’t know what to say. She was still a bit upset with the prince, but could not deny the connection that she deeply felt for him. It did not make sense in her mind that she could feel such a connection with someone she literally just met, but her heart felt it with each passing beat. There was just something about it that convinced her heart to trust Harry one more time. 

    “I appreciate you wanting to explain what happened to me, but it did hurt me to hear that you went from her straight to me... that’s such a low blow and makes me question.” Her green eyes peaked back up at Harry after releasing a deep sigh. “It made me feel like you were playing me… and I don’t want that at all. So please spare me now if you are and don’t waste my time further than you already have. Besides Cressida already hates me for whatever reason and I don’t want to give her another one too.” Her tone was laced with a healthy mix of anger and hurt.

   “Alexa.” He breathed in heavily. “I am not playing you. I promise.” Her eyes were searching for any sign of doubt to make her believe otherwise, but all she found staring back at her was sincerity that matched his words.

    “You intrigue me, Alexa.” Harry confessed whole-heartedly. “There is something about you that I want to know more.”

    “Why? I am not that interesting at all.” Alexa’s gaze softened as her eyes smiled hearing those words. “Is that why you wouldn’t stop staring at me from across the bar?” She released a giggle watching the prince blush slightly at the memory of being caught.

    “Yes…” He tossed his head back in laughter. “Is it really that bad that I want to?” His hand found a place on her lower back and gently rubbed it reassuringly.

    Alexa’s head looked past Harry towards a group of people that were dancing. A mischievous smile grew upon her lips as she got an idea. “That depends…. on your dance moves.” A sparkling glint was in her eyes as she bit down on her bottom lip seductively.

    She reached down and grabbed Harry’s hand firmly. “Come dance with me, I like this song!” Alexa asked looking back over her shoulder at Harry while pulling Harry to the dance floor. 

    “Oh baby, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. I am the king of the dance floor!” Harry heard her laughter ring out over the music that was becoming louder and louder with each step. 

    Joining the group on the dance floor, Alexa maneuvered her way through pulling Harry along as they rubbed up against people dancing around them until they made it to the middle of the dance floor. Daisy and Charlie stopped for a moment and shared a look before smiling at Harry and looking down at the woman who started to dance beside him. 

    He simply shook his head with a smirk and turned his attention back to Alexa who was dancing as if no one was watching and swinging her hips to the beat of the music. With a plastered smile on her face she twirled around and felt Harry’s hand pull her in close to his body. Alexa gasped as she felt her body become flush against the prince. She glanced up at him with those big green eyes of hers as others around them danced. The two of them sharing a private moment amongst a crowd of people as the words of the music created their memories of tonight. 

    The night that they first met. 

    Time stood still, but their hearts were beating fast while they willingly lost themselves in the depths each other’s eyes. 

    The lyrics played as they swayed to the music…

I'll tell them a story, they'll sit and nod their heads I tell you all my secrets, and you tell all your friends Hold on to your opinions, and stand by what you said In the end, it's my decision, so it's my fault when it ends

They tell me think with my head, not that thing in my chest They got their hands at my neck this time But you're the one that I want, if that's really so wrong Then they don't know what this feeling is like

A spark was ignited in that moment, fuelling a fire that neither one of them could deny.

Chapter 1 Outfits

[boundtoyouphff]

Chapter 10: Crossed Paths

A/N: First of all I am sorry for not updating this fic for an extremely long time. I finally have some motivation to continue with this story and cannot wait to share this chapter with you and many more to come! You are what motivates me, so let me know what you think. Enjoy!

There are times in life when you find someone that just gets you. That understands you and can make sense of your world through their eyes. At first, you don’t believe it and wonder if the universe is playing tricks on you. But, then you discover that your paths must have crossed for a reason. That this chance encounter was on purpose, but what was the purpose? It’s a question you keep asking yourself until the answer falls right into your lap.

All I know is that we don’t meet people by accident. Each person comes into our lives for a reason, whether big or small, they impact you in some sort of way. Some stay in your life, some go, but in the end a piece of you is changed for better or for worse.

Emilia fidgeted with her dress trying to stop the wind from misplacing the fabric off of her body. But, that was not why she was full of nerves. Standing patiently on the tarmac in the capital city of Aldoria with Prime Minister Antony Laurier, and his wife Isobel, she watched a British Airways plane land making her heart skip a beat.

The plane that carried a certain British prince landed with ease and taxied towards the arrival party that was to greet Prince Harry at the start of his week long Illyrian Tour. 

It had been two months since Harry and Emilia had began to talk again. They had late night conversations that carried into the early morning hours talking about their day and what was happening in their life. Emilia had thrown herself into her Olympic training and was focusing on her charities and patronages, trying her best to stay out of the media’s attention for the time being. Harry had officially completed his Apache helicopter training a week prior when he had learned that he was to take her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s place on a scheduled tour of Illyria after an untimely health scare of the queen.

Once the news broke of the Queen being hospitalized, Emilia immediately reached out and offered her support to Harry to which she shockingly learned that Harry was to come on the tour instead of his grandmother. There was both excitement and nerves on both their parts having not seen each other for a long time, with their last face to face exchange that did not end entirely on a good note. Emilia had an unexpected meeting with her grandmother the following day and was asked to greet the prince upon his arrival in Aldoria. Her grandmother, Queen Eleanora figured Emilia was the perfect choice having already spent time with the prince in London at the Invictus Games. 

Now, she stood there watching Harry’s plane bring them closer and closer to finally seeing each other once again. Emilia had longed for this moment since the night they reconnected. The two of them often joked about one of them flying over just for a day to spend together, but this was the next best thing. Though every camera would be watching and analyzing their every move and every glance made Emilia’s nerves grow by the second. They would have to be alert every single second not to slip up and give the cameras any indication that they knew each other more than they let on. But, a smile could not fall from her lips at the mere thought of spending time with Harry.

It was difficult to define what they were to each other, a fact that made this visit more desired for the both of them. Emilia often found her mind drifting towards thoughts of the English prince on a daily basis. Even when she received a simple text from him, it made her heart flutter and her lips spread into a beaming smile. There was something about Harry that Emilia could not put her finger on, something different that she was drawn to. 

The plane had come to a stop causing Emilia’s heart to pound rapidly in her chest. Just greet him like any one else Emilia. Smile, but do not smile too big. Emilia lowered her head not wanting the press to read her inner turmoil she was experiencing.

The airplane door had lifted revealing Harry walking out of the plane in a navy blue suit and white shirt accompanied with a light blue tie. Emilia’s mouth immediately drew in a light gasp hoping that the Prime Minister beside him would not have noticed. Damn did he look amazing.

Harry gripped the side railings as he stepped down the steps of the plane. Lifting his head he caught a glimpse of Emilia standing merely a few feet away from him and watching his every move. She was wearing a delicate black dress with perfectly decorated blue, yellow and red flowers. Her hair was down and blowing in the light wind. Harry flashed Emilia a quick smile that stayed plastered on his lips at the sight of the dark haired princess waiting anxiously for his arrival.

Landing on the tarmac, Harry briskly walked towards Emilia who was first in the line to welcome him to her country of Illyria. He was more than happy to hear that she would be joining him on numerous engagements this week giving the prince a chance to see Emilia again in her element. Harry took in a deep breath as he tried to remind himself to stay professional as he spotted the cameras in the near distance that captured his every move. 

Their eyes were locked into a steady gaze as a smile spread happily on both of their lips. Harry delicately grabbed Emilia’s hand as she curtsied for him in perfect form, her gaze straying for a mere second being unable to handle his blue eyes staring into her own. “Welcome to Illyria your highness. We hope that you will enjoy your stay while you are here.” Emilia’s lips spread back into a beaming smile before her fingers gently slipped from Harry’s grip, leaving his hand with a lingering touch that sent shocks of electricity coursing through her. 

Taking a deep breath to regain her composure, Emilia slightly turned her body as Harry stepped towards the man standing beside him. “I would like to introduce you to our Prime Minister, Antony Laurier.” Harry stuck out his hand and shook it firmly with a smile. “And his wife Isobel.” He moved in and kissed the Prime Ministers wife on the cheek.

“We are very excited for your visit, your highness. I understand you have a full schedule this week and that Princess Emilia will be accompanying you as well!” Antony happily welcomed the British prince to his country that he was clearly proud of. “We are happy to be hosting a reception for you this afternoon at our home at Rideau Hall.”

“Yes, I believe Emilia is joining me quite a bit this week, Antony.” Harry turned back and gave her a very subtle smirk. “I am very looking forward to this evening.” The prince did not fully complete what his mind was thinking, knowing he would likely get the chance to spend time with Emilia after the days engagements.

“We best be leaving, your highness. It’s a long drive to Rideau.” Emilia’s soft voice coaxed the prince’s attention back towards her, giving him another chance to stare into those beautiful icy blues eyes that she graced him with. 

“You will be riding with Emilia ahead of us, sir.” Antony informed the prince as he took a step back to allow Emilia to lead the way. 

“After you, princess.” His lips formed into a crooked grin that earned him a very subtle eye roll from Emilia as she stepped in front of him. Emilia and Harry walked side by side towards an awaiting convoy to take them to meet the British Ambassador as well as the Queen and King Consort and members Emilia’s family.  Harry was ever the gentleman and allowed Emilia to use the closest door as he rounded the back of the vehicle despite his orders from Emilia’s press secretary. 

Tristan, her protection officer, opened Emilia’s door and gave her a teasing smile. “Behave back there.” He tried his best not to fall into laughter as a grin spread his lips at Emilia’s expense.

Emilia climbed into the back as lady like as she could in a flowy dress and heels.  Smoothening the fabric over, she watched Harry climb into the seat beside her. Harry looked at her and could feel the nerves evaporating from Emilia. The prince had called Emilia last evening to talk with her and stayed on the phone for most of the evening listening to her fears she freely told Harry about.

The media attention she gained never fully died down even after her interview that set the record straight. She was privately dealing with her ex’s book as the palace communications office received news of a second book being in the works from Thomas Brandy after he thought it best to conduct his own interview and scrounge any last earrings he could off of Emilia. 

Not to mention the threats from her grandmother that she would remain on her best behaviour and act as a representative of the Illyrian Monarchy on Harry’s tour. The Queen was forcing Emilia to take part of engagements that she did not wish to attend to steer Emilia away from her Olympic training. Harry had heard that Queen Eleanora believed Emilia’s Olympian side was a waste of time and the princess’s time was better suited elsewhere. 

Everything was still coming at Emilia from all sides and all she wanted was this tour to go well to get some pressured burdens off of her back for a little while. 

His deep British voice gently broke through her growing nerves. “And breathe…Take a breath, it’s over for now.” Harry comforting grasped Emilia’s hand, which she freely gave and displayed a weak smile for him. The mask she had placed so well faded and let Harry in to see her vulnerable side for a moment.

“For now…” Her face scrunched up in agony remembering what was ahead of them. Letting out a deep sigh she closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of the seat. Turning her head, Emilia opened her eyes to find Harry’s silently admiring her with a beaming smile tugged at his lips. She pressed a button that brought up a shade for privacy in the back seat. Briefly locking eyes with Tristan as he shook his head at her.

“I can’t believe you are here.” Emilia giggled happily as she stared into the depths of Harry’s deep blues. The same ones that she imagined nearly every time they spoke. 

“I know. I am very lucky to have come here, be here with you of course.” The prince flirted as he flashed his charming smile at Emilia. Harry could not take his eyes off of Emilia. He had been longing to see those piercing icy blue eyes he had often dreamt of. The two sat there in silence, just admiring one another not believing that they were actually in the same place.

Harry’s fingers intertwined and squeezed Emilia’s tenderly causing her eyes to drift downwards to watch their conjoined hands. The way his simple touch immediately calmed her nerves brought a sense of comfort to Emilia that despite all the pressures around her, she had Harry to help her with it all this week. Sighing in a deep breath she felt his gentle caress on the back of her hand that made Emilia turn her head back towards him.

“How is your grandmother doing?” Emilia was genuinely happy that Harry was here, but the reason why made her grow with concern. 

Harry pursed his lips together. “She’s doing better thankfully.” He breathed out deeply. “She gave us all a good scare.” The prince nodded his head slowly as he was reminded of the moment he got the call from his father that his granny was rushed to the hospital. Thankfully it was only a case of dehydration with mild exhaustion, but with that also came a profound sense of duty in the prince to step up for his grandmother. 

Emilia placed her hand on Harry’s knee and gave it a comforting squeeze. “She’s lucky to have you, Harry.” Harry looked down at a set of concerned blue eyes staring up at him. 

“Thanks, Emilia. Now tell me what I am walking into at this reception.”  Harry scrunched his face up at the princess making her giggle at his expression. Emilia warned Harry about each member of her family, including her twin brother Edward that would not be at the reception but was bound to meet at some point this week.

“Wait?!” He held his hand up. “You are a twin?!” Harry was shocked to find out as he always assumed that Emilia had an older brother. 

“Yeah…. he is the heir thanks to three minutes and six seconds.” Emilia swung her head back to stare up at the surprised prince. 

“Holy shit.” Harry shook his head in disbelief. 

“He reminds me of that every single day of his life.” Emilia turned to look out the window seeing Rideau Hall in her sights. 

“Will does the same thing.” Harry breathed out and leaned forward to see out Emilia’s window to get the first glimpse of Rideau Hall. 

Harry exited the vehicle and waited for Emilia to walk around towards him. With the clicking of her heels against the concrete, they walked into the hall together and were immediately greeted by the British Ambassador that welcomed Harry to Illyria.

“Hello, Princess Emilia.” The ambassador kissed her cheek warmly.

“Ambassador Halston. Thank you for coming this evening.” Emilia smiled politely before falling into step beside Harry as the ambassador talked the prince’s ear off down the hall to the main reception. Emilia tried to hold in her giggles as Harry was bombarded with the most unusual questions by the ambassador. The princess had known this small little fact about how the ambassador would talk your ear off you’d let him.

“Ambassador Halston, I am to take Prince Harry and make a few introductions in private.” Emilia stepped in and interrupted their conversation, much to Harry’s relief. “We will see you at the reception shortly.” Emilia placed her hand on Harry’s back and led him away from the ambassador.

“God. What an interesting man.” Harry breathed a sigh of relief with a light shake of the head. “Thanks for saving me. I don’t think I could handle another question of his.”

“You should not thank me yet...” Emilia smiled up at Harry as they shared a silent exchange. “I am taking you to meet my grandmother and grandfather.”

The doors opened to a sitting room where Queen Eleanora and King Consort Francis were awaiting their arrival. Eleanora embraced her granddaughter, Emilia, and thanked her graciously for accompanying Harry to Rideau Hall.

Queen Eleanora stepped towards Harry and shook his hand, welcoming the prince to Illyria while he bowed his head out of respect for the monarch. “Welcome to Illyria, Harry. I hope your travels here were well.” She smiled warmly as she stared up at the tall prince, admiring his youth.

“Yes, your majesty. They were.” Harry could see the resemblance between Eleanora and his grandmother. Both well respected monarchs that lived their lives serving the people of their country in high regard. “Thank you for inviting my grandmother here, she wanted me to wish you well and apologize on her behalf for her not being here in person.”

“Oh! That Elizabeth!” Eleanora smiled sweetly. “No need for apologies, especially when she sends her handsome young grandson in her place!” Eleanora winked at Harry before turning her gaze towards Emilia. “Isn’t that right, Emilia?”

Emilia’s jaw clenched tightly in embarrassment for her grandmother. Did she really just say that? Harry’s head had now turned and all eyes were on Emilia, waiting for her response. A mischievous grin was now placed on Harry’s lips as he curiously waited for Emilia to speak and inwardly loving the struggle Emilia was evidently displaying thanks to her grandmother.

“I would have preferred William, but he will do.” Emilia clapped back like her usual self, making her grandmother’s mouth drop open in shock. Harry had to contain his laughter knowing her reply was a dig at the prince.

“Emilia!” Her grandmother scolded Emilia with a furrowed brow, highly displeased with her abrupt and rude answer. “My apologies for my granddaughter. She tends to speak her mind a bit too freely.” Queen Eleanora narrowed her blue eyes at Emilia and shook her head in displeasure.

“Oh, I am well aware of that.” Harry teased back. “I find that quite refreshing actually.” He informed Emilia’s grandmother and stood up for the princess in the process.

The side door opened to reveal a man nearly the same height as Harry walk through the door. Looking into those same blue eyes as Emilia’s, he knew that this was her father, Crown Prince Frederick. His gray hair did not age him, in fact in made him look almost younger to Harry’s surprise.

“Sweetheart.” Frederick engulfed his daughter into a loving hug.

“Hello, Harry.” The Crown Prince stepped forward and shook his hand. “Welcome to our country. Please make yourself feel at home here.”

Harry shook his hand firmly. “Thank you. Your daughter has already made me feel very welcomed.”

“Good! We were hoping a familiar face might ease the nerves a bit.” Frederick looked down at his daughter as they shared a glance. “I know how foreign tours can be. We hope to have you join us for a traditional Illyrian dinner one of these evenings. It would be my family’s pleasure if you would accept our invitation.” The Crown Prince made Harry an offer he could not refuse.

“I would be thrilled to join your family, sir.” Harry politely accepted the invitation

“Now, tell me about these Invictus Games you created. My Emilia told me how amazing they were to some of the members of our service personnel.” The Crown Prince made Harry feel comfortable and at ease as he spent the next little while talking to members of Emilia’s family before the official reception started.

Harry walked into the reception beside Queen Eleanora and was welcomed again by the British Ambassador and Prime Minister of Illyria. Every now and then his eyes would go searching for Emilia and watching her in a new element of hers was intriguing to the prince.

There was just something about Emilia that was different than most royals Harry often found his company with. She was not bound by rules of protocol and freely engaged in the people around her, showing interest and making people feel that she was actually interested in what they were saying by a way of steady eye contact and acknowledgement. But, Harry saw her on occasion holding back as her eyes drifted to find the Queen watching her closely, analyzing Emilia’s every move. Personally, Harry found it troubling how hard the Queen was forcing Emilia to change who she was, a fact that did not sit well with the prince.

Emilia turned having felt a set of eyes on her only to find Harry staring right at her.  Their eyes locked in each other’s gaze from across the room, just long enough for someone to catch their stolen glance. A small smile turned up the corners of her lips as she quickly looked away feeling a sense of ease from Harry even from the opposite side of the room. Lifting her head again, Emilia locked eyes with her father this time that happened to just appear in front of her.

“I saw that look.” He whispered quietly under his breath.

“Not now.” Emilia grinned and walked towards another group of people only to be swiftly led out of the room by her father.

“What happened in London, Emilia? I am no fool.” Frederick’s intense stare made her uncomfortable. How was she going to get out of this one?

“What are you talking about?” Emilia’s best plan was to admit they were friends, but down played it.

“I saw the way Harry looked at you. Something happened in England with him didn’t it?” Her father was the only person in her life that was the most difficult to lie to, but she was not ready for her father to know what happened for she was still making sense of it herself.  

“Father.” Emilia laughed it off easily. “We are friends and of course we spent time together in London, you made me stay at Kensington Palace remember?”

Frederick angled his head and narrowed his blue eyes at his daughter. “Emilia…”

“Ok fine…” Emilia crossed her arms and huffed out a breath. “Harry is in the same position as me.” She was going to admit a half-truth to get her father off of her back. “There is hardly anyone in my life that understands my position, being a spare heir, but Harry does. We talked about things like that and got closer. He is a friend, nothing more dad.”

All you could hear was silence as Frederick looked down at Emilia with a guilty expression. “That is my fault. I never ever wanted you to feel different than your brother, Emilia.” Frederick shook his head slowly. He felt a set of arms wrap around him securely.

“I never blame you or mom, you know that.” Emilia squeezed her father harder. “I am only trying to figure out where I fit in. What my place in this family is.” The princess felt guilty making her father feel that way. That had not been her intention.

“We should get back to it. Your absence will be noted.” Frederick patted her back and walked back into the reception hall with his daughter.

“Hello, Your Royal Highness. It is a pleasure to meet you.” A middle aged man shook Harry’s hand, but held a suspicious glint in his eye that made the prince cautious of the man. “I am Robert Brandy.”

Brandy. Harry thought to himself, knowing the name sounded too familiar.

His eyes strayed from the man to find Emilia’s icy blue eyes nearly glaring a hole in the back of the man’s head he was talking to. That is when Harry put the name together.

Thomas Brandy. Emilia’s tell all book ex.

Immediately the prince pulled his hand away subtly. “Thank you.” His eyes lifted to see Emilia walking towards him looking like she was going to set the man on fire with her eyes. The prince stepped forward trying to block Emilia from an out burst.

“Emilia don’t.” His arm delicately grasped Emilia’s to stop him, but she simply stepped around Harry.

“Mr. Brandy!” Emilia shook the man’s hand with a fake smile.

“Emilia.” He nearly spat her name.

“What ever are you doing here?” She angled her head noticing the cameras capturing every moment.  “Getting more information for your son to write about?”

Frederick watched from a far hoping to god that Emilia was not going to have one of her moments tonight. His eyes fell upon Harry walking back towards Emilia to intervene.

“Mr. Brandy.” Harry cleared his throat. “I think that it’s best if you leave right now.”

Robert’s eyes drifted away from Harry’s down to Emilia. “Needing a man to stand up for you now, Emilia?”

Emilia parted her lips about to speak when Harry beat her to it. “More than a man your son will ever be.”

Frederick placed his hand on Robert’s shoulder and squeezed it. “Let’s get you out of here, shall we?” The Crown Prince handed Mr. Brandy off to one of his security that led him out of Rideau Hall while Frederick tore into him about how his son treated his daughter.

Emilia watched her father escort Mr. Brandy out of the hall as a wave of past emotions re-surfaced. Her breathing became erratic making her head feel light headed. She closed her eyes and tried to bury them as they continued to suffocate her body. “I need a moment.” Emilia breathed in and stepped out of the hall leaving a concerned Harry in her wake.

His eyes kept drifting towards the door where Emilia left; waiting for her return to ensure that she was alright. He breathed in and continued to display the fake interest in the conversation he held with a few of Illyria’s social elite about the economy. Out of the corner of his eye Harry watched the princess return and head straight to the bar to get a drink. His attention was drawn elsewhere as the man standing across from him asked him a question.

“Would you be interested in joining us this evening, your highness?” The man appearing to be a few years older than Harry asked.

“That is quite the invite, but I unfortunately have to decline. I have a strict schedule to adhere to while on my visit.” The prince politely declined as he felt Edward, his private press secretary, approach from the side.

“Sir, Princess Emilia would like to introduce you to a few Invictus Games competitors that are waiting to meet you.” He leaned in and whispered in Harry’s ear as the prince turned to find Emilia amongst the crowd, talking to a group of people.

“If you will excuse me.” Harry walked to towards the group of competitors who were in conversation with Emilia and sporting their Invictus Games apparel proudly.

“Hello, I was told you were waiting to meet me.” Emilia stared up at the prince as his hand brushed against her lower back swiftly. The subtle contact threw Emilia off for a second as she fought internally to regain her composure. Really Emilia? He just touched your back. The inner voice from within mocked her.

The princess cleared her throat. “Yes, these are some of the competitors that went to the Invictus Games and proudly represented Illyria.” Emilia smiled as the prince started to shake their hands and asked them what sports they competed in. The two royals were enthralled listening to one of the competitor’s stories about his injuries and the road to recovery that led him to the Invictus Games.

“I had nothing to live for until I heard about the games.” He paused. “Prince Harry, those games changed my life for the better in more ways than one. I can finally look my little boy in the eye and know he is proud of his dad for not giving up when that was all I wanted to do. It brought me back from a very dark place and I cannot thank you enough for giving me and all the other competitors a chance to change their own direction and give them purpose in their lives.”

Emilia was deeply touched as she felt the emotion coming from the soldier. She peaked up at Harry and felt more admiration for him in that moment than she ever had before. Harry used his position to create something more than just for himself. He gave these people a second chance at life when they had lost all their hope.

“It’s not me you need to thank.” The prince commented. “You all had this in you to begin with, you only needed a venue to find it.” The fact that Harry did not take an ounce of their glory from them even made that admiration grow.

The prince walked along side Emilia down the halls of Kingstone Palace behind their RPOs leading them towards Harry’s residence. His head lowered to find Emilia averting her gaze away from him. He blindly searched for her hand and brushed his fingers lightly against hers causing her head lift to find his blue eyes staring down intensely at Emilia.

Emilia’s thumb stroked over the back of his hand briefly and then let it go. The look in her icy blue eyes warned the prince that they were still amongst people and they needed to be cautious of their actions. Even though Emilia had waited all day for a chance to privately spend some time with Harry, the two of them still had to be careful of who was around them.

“Ah! There you two are!” A familiar voice called out once Emilia and Harry rounded a corner. Emilia drew in a quick breath seeing her twin brother Edward walking straight towards them. Harry could instantly see the resemblance between the man and Emilia as he figured it was her twin brother Emilia had warned him about earlier.

“Hello, your highness.” Edward approached them with an air of confidence and greeted the prince warmly. “My apologies for not being at the reception this evening. I had some matters to attend to. I hope that my lovely sister.” Her brother’s eyes drifted to Emilia with a cocky teasing grin. “Has kept you in good company.” He snidely commented with a smirk that did not settle well with the princess, but she held her tongue for Harry’s sake.

Harry took back his hand away from her arrogant prick of a brother. Despite how similar they looked, the two of them couldn’t be further different. “Emilia has been more than welcoming and I am quite looking forward to sharing a few engagements with her this week.” The prince boosted her confidence and watched a smile tug at the corner of her lips that was reflected in his radiating smile.

“I am surprised to hear that. Emilia can be quite the handful as I am sure you are aware of.” Edward put both hands in his pockets and started to laugh at his younger sister’s expense. But, Harry did not find it amusing in the least. “Why don’t we get a drink in the drawing room and get to know each other a little more before our rugby game in a few days. I could use a stiff scotch.”

The though of a glass of scotch after the long day definitely sounded convincing, but Harry had already been looking forward to spending a few hours in private with Emilia. “That sounds like quite the offer, but I must pass on it Prince Edward. I also have a few matters to attend to before the days end and have had quite the long day of travel.” Harry replied assertively and glanced down at Emilia briefly to catch her reaction that he chose her over her twin brother, an outcome that rarely occurred based on her response floating in her eyes.

The prince did not know how to answer thinking that Harry would take him up on the offer. “I understand.” Edward stumbled a bit with his words. “Have a good evening.” He finally looked towards Emilia and acknowledged her presence.

“Emilia.” He tilted his head into a nod.

“Have a good evening, Edward. ” She stepped aside to allow her brother through and made eye contact with Harry as he raised an eyebrow at her.

“He’s a real piece of work.” Harry narrowed his eyes at the back of Edward as he walked away from them.

“You don’t have to tell me that.” Emilia stepped forward and led Harry towards the apartment he would be living in for the week in Aldoria.

Tristan pushed the doors open and cleared the apartment before they entered. It was a marvelous spacious apartment complete with all the fixings to make a comfortable living space. “I have assigned one of my personal aides to assist you with anything while you are here. His name is Alfred and would be happy to help in anyway.” Emilia was still keeping things formal in front of Harry’s team. “The rest of your team will have access to the living quarters down the hall. My apartment is the last door on the left, if you do require anything in the mean time please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you, Princess.” Harry turned around and stared at the brunette with a gaze that made her shy away.

Emilia nodded her head and offered a tiny smile before leaving Harry with his team. She grabbed the door handle and halted her steps, lifting her head to take one more glance at Harry who was surrounded by people, but still staring at her with his big blue eyes. Emilia closed the door as his blue-eyed gaze disappeared behind it.

They had spoke in the back of the SUV prior to their arrival at Kingstone Palace and decided it was best that Harry come to her apartment after the debrief with his team so they could spend a little time together. Emilia hastily walked down the hall towards her apartment she kept at Kingstone to change into something a bit more comfortable before Harry’s arrival.

Emilia pulled a cozy blush pink sweater over top of her head when she heard a loud knock at the door. “Tristan, can you let him in.” The princess skipped to the full length mirror in her closet and turned sideways to check out her outfit. With a nod of approval, Emilia exited her bedroom to find Harry standing there in jeans and casual black top.

She took in a deep breath to calm the butterflies that were flipping in her stomach at the mere sight of Harry. But, she could see a disapproving expression growing on her protection officers face, unimpressed with the situation that was developing before his eyes. “That will be all Tristan, thank you.” Emilia dismissed him and eagerly waited for Tristan’s departure.

Harry stood there and waited until they were completely alone before walking up to Emilia and embracing her in a tight hug. The princess wrapped her arms around Harry and leant her head down on his shoulder. His scent evaporated off of his shirt and delicately burned her nostrils as she inhaled the sweet scent.

“I have wanted to be alone with you all day.” His deep voice resonated within her ear and made a smile tug at the corners of her lips. The sense of security that Emilia felt with Harry brought back a flood of memories of the night she fell asleep in his arms and how safe she felt from the outside world while she drifted asleep beside the prince.

Emilia lifted her head and stepped out of the embrace. “I know, me too.” Her hands settled on his chest and breathed out a sigh. “I can’t believe that you are really here.” A light giggle escaped her lips before Harry’s hand covered her own and grasped her hand tightly over his chest.

“Believe it, because I am.” He squeezed her hand tenderly. “It’s been extremely difficult for me today, seeing you from a distance and not being able to do anything I want to do.”

The smile that grew on Emilia’s lips was the exact one that Harry had imagined her with in his mind after all their time apart. Their conversations were more than the light fluffy topics, as they tend to delve into deeper discussions that intrigued the prince and kept him up into the early hours of the night. He loved egging the princess on in a healthy debate as she impressed Harry with the knowledge she held.

The princess stepped a few feet back and outstretched their conjoined hands. “Come sit with me, please.” Emilia locked in Harry’s gaze and tugged at his hand. Harry followed in behind Emilia and sat down beside her on the sofa.

Harry lifted his arm for Emilia to snuggle in close beside him as the two of them relished in the quiet of each other’s company. Emilia breathed out and rubbed her head into Harry’s chest, attempting to relax after the long day. The quiet was a welcomed silence for both of them as the only sound heard was their soft breaths that were now in sync. The princess had closed her eyes, relaxing into the warmth of Harry’s body when she felt Harry shift in the spot next to her.

“I brought something for you.” He dug into his pocket as a patient Emilia waited. A strand of a gold necklace wrapped around his fingers as he pulled out her necklace she had lost. Emilia sat up and gasped, covering her mouth in shock and disbelief. She had thought she would never see it again.

“I thought I lost it.” Harry delicately placed the necklace in her cupped hand as her blue eyes cherished it.

“It must have come off when we were uh…” Harry cleared his throat and smirked at the memory of their intimate night together. “I found it under my bed on the floor. I should have told you sooner that I had it.”

Emilia held it in her hands and brought it to her chest. Her head lifted slowly and stared into Harry’s with thankful eyes. “You do not know how much this means to me, Harry. I don’t know how to thank you for bringing this back to me.” The princess placed her hand on his knee to give it a squeeze as her features softened.

“It was no big deal, Emilia.” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Want me to put it on you? For safe keeping.” The prince giggled as Emilia nodded eagerly and handed him the necklace. Harry brushed her dark brunette hair off to the side giving him access to her neck. He carefully pulled the necklace behind her neck and secured it with the clasp.

Emilia glanced down and beamed at the pendant her grandmother gave to her. “What does the engraving mean?” Harry whispered from behind as she turned back around to face him.

“Recuerda Vivir.” Emilia spoke the words in Spanish before translating for the prince. “It means, remember to live.” The princess peaked up at Harry who was silently nodding.

“Why that?” He leaned back into the comforts of her sofa, Emilia following in his path and got cozy next to the prince.

“Well, my grandmother gave me this when I was a young girl. It’s made of Illyrian gold from the Molvanian mines in the north.” Harry picked up the pendant and ran his thumb over the golden ‘E’ as he analyzed it further while Emilia continued to tell Harry the story of how precious this necklace was to her. “The gold from there is supposed to give you good fortune, the legends say. I added the engraving when I was a teenager and when I started to feel the pressures of what my life was really going to be like. I think I always knew that I was different than most children my age as hard as my parents tried to give me a normal upbringing, but some factors were out of their control. But, I wanted something to remind myself not to get caught up in all of it.”

“You did it as a reminder to not lose sight of yourself in this crazy world we found ourselves in all because of what we were born into. You want to remember to have a life of your own despite your bounded duty our birth right gave us.” Harry interceded and spoke such understanding words that hit Emilia hard.

Emilia could not have said it better. “Exactly.” She shook her head at how similar their paths in this life were in this world; a fact that brought them to a deeper level of understanding between them. “It’s like you get me. There aren’t many people who understand what it’s like to live this life and the pressures along with it.” Emilia started to think that if she never went off to London that they would not be sitting next to each other having this conversation.

“Is that why you tend to do the opposite of what people think you should do?” Harry genuinely asked. “With as much sass as possible.” He proceeded to tease the young princess who narrowed her icy blue eyes at him teasingly.

Emilia opened her mouth to protest, but internally knew Harry was speaking the truth. “Well…” She hesitated before laughing with a nervous tone. “It’s who I am, rather how I was painted when I was younger. You know, the troubled and rebellious child of the Crown Prince and Princess while Edward was the perfect child and could do nothing wrong. The media chose the narrative of who I was and well I did not exactly like that so I keep things interesting… like smashing a camera here and there.” Harry saw her smile morph into a somber expression. “I just want to be me. But, that’s never enough nor what they want to see.” Emilia sighed deeply as the memory of a conversation with the grandmother was brought to the forefront of her mind. “I apparently am too normal and not regal enough apparently. My grandmother asked me to not care as much as I do. To act more royal, whatever that is supposed to mean. Who defines that anyway?”

Harry’s jaw clenched tightly, having to look away from Emilia as he felt exactly what she was speaking of. He too was used as a pawn in the game of the royals to depict a picture of the perfect heir. He took the blame for many of William’s wrong doings at the request of his grandmother, but soon they stopped asking him and simply fed the information that it was always Harry fault or under his influence until the depiction of the prince soon became a reality.

“They did that to you too, didn’t they?” Emilia’s soft voice coaxed the prince back to reality. His eyes turned and locked in Emilia’s concerned gaze. “Why did we let them treat us like that? To have so much power into our lives that we were just mere pawns in a game of chess?” The princess visibly became upset with what they were discussing. All the pressures on her shoulders were getting to Emilia.

“Hey, hey.” Harry placed a hand on her thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s not get upset with things in the past we cannot change.” The prince’s touched calmed Emilia down and soothed the anger that was building within her.

“Ok, ok.” She breathed out as their conversation turned into a comfortable silence. Emilia peaked up at Harry to find him staring down at her with those deep blue eyes. “What?” The princess shied away under his powerful gaze.

Harry smirked and bit down on his lower lip. “I haven’t gotten the chance to really look at you today. Can’t I do that? I hear your voice all the time, but don’t get to see your gorgeous blue eyes or that smile of yours.” The prince continued to stare fondly down at her while Emilia’s cheeks blushed at his compliment.

“I like our conversations in person better, I think.” Emilia confessed to Harry as she felt the heat in her cheeks rise. “It’s nice to have you here, Harry. There are a few engagements I am really looking forward to. The ones that will show you what Illyria is really about.”

“Well good thing you get me for a whole week!” Harry leant down and pressed his lips softly against her temple and kissed it gently. His lips lingered as Emilia angled her head into Harry and welcomed the gentle touch. They were still figuring out what was going on between them as they harbored deep feelings for each other that they did not need to verbalize.

Emilia’s mind reminded her of the moment she shared with her father at the reception when he confronted Emilia about her relationship with Harry. “We have to be careful though with how we act.” The princess cautiously warned Harry before opening her eyes to regretfully look up into Harry’s. “The press can’t find out about us while you are here. My father already suspects something is going on, but I think I led him astray and told him you were a confidant, that’s all.”

“Is that what I am to you, Emilia? A confidant?” Harry was bold enough to ask the question both of them had lingering in the back of their mind. What were they to each other? Did Harry feel the same way she did about him?

Emilia simply froze, unable to formulate a reply being caught off guard by his truth-seeking question. The thought of it all scared her to death to try and put her heart back on the line after what transpired with Thomas, but the way Harry made her feel inside was too undeniable that there was more than a mere connection between them.

“I hope we find out the answer to that this week.” Emilia managed to formulate a response despite the internal battle between her heart and mind.

“I don’t want to go back to England without knowing, Emilia.” Harry was firm in his reply as his brow furrowed in deep thought. “I can’t leave not knowing where we stand again after last time.” The prince reminded Emilia of what happened between them in England and her untimely departure that left Harry in a confused state of mind. “If I am only a rebound I can live with that as long as we are on the same page.”

Emilia sat there in silence after she nodded slowly. It was only fair for Harry to speak his mind and have Emilia and him be on the same page. But, in all honesty Emilia had no idea what she really wanted with Harry. Part of her was terrified that he came into her life the way that he did, but the other part of her loved that and wondered how it came to be.

How did their paths cross time after time?

Was there something out of their control that was pushing them together and would it pull them apart in the end?

[pofcroyalfanfiction]

[phff-opostos]

THE PRINCE & I - From growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in London to becoming a successful fashion designer, Corinne Tolson's life couldn't get any better. And now, she is using her success to help underprivileged teens by collaborating with The Prince's Trust. Working with The Prince of Wales is another blessing Corinne is thankful for and her luck never cease to amaze her when she is presented with the opportunity to work alongside the infamous Prince Harry. A friendship quickly follows between the two as well as a blossoming romance. However, Corinne's demons threatens her chance of love. Will she finally get her happily-ever-after?

@theprinceandi-phff

[willandkatealways]

Quarantine Life

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge groaned it was another day of playing teacher. She adored her children, but they were young and at home they just wanted to play. She felt for other parents out there, at least she had Maria to help with Louis and William was helping as well since he was better with Geography. 

“Mummy, Louis spilled his milk on my paper!” Lottie cried holding up the sodden paper, her sweet well mannered children were usually well behaved but this new normal was proving to be a hard adjustment, they missed their friends and their teachers. “It is alright Darling we will reprint it, you hadn’t started on the worksheets anyways love.” 

Charlotte still glared at her little brother, “I wish I didn’t have brothers!” She yelled running out of the room. Louis grinned at his mummy as though he didn’t know that he had done anything wrong. 

“What is all the yelling?” William asked coming in with George who had just finished his Georgraphy for the day, “Louis spilled his milk on Lottie’s worksheet. I think that cabin fever is getting to all of us.” She sighed, “Can you watch this one while I go and talk to her?” William smiled and kissed her gently, “Of course. I love you and we will get through this.” 

Catherine found Charlotte picking flower pets off a daisy in the garden, “Hello love, do you want to talk to me about what’s wrong?” 

“I hate Louis!” She cried clutching her flower, “No Lottie you don’t hate him. Come on sweetheart.” 

“I miss Uncle Harry! George said we will never see him again!” Catherine frowned, she needed to talk to her oldest son as well, “Darling he and Aunt Meg just moved to the states, he will come back for a visit with your little cousin.” Charlotte threw her flower down and stamped her foot, Catherine smothered a chuckle at the indignant look on her face, “No he loves Aunt Meg and Archie more than he loves us!” 

Catherine cuddled her daughter close, “That’s not true lovey, why haven’t told us you miss them we could do a zoom call the way we do with your grandparents and Aunt Pippa and Uncle James.” 

“Why doesn’t Uncle Harry call? The others call us.” Catherine sighed, she hadn’t realized how the children were hurting, the rift was nonsense Harry called Will late when the children were in bed due to the time difference.

“There is a time difference remember, so he calls daddy late after you guys are in bed, but we can arrange a call.” 

Charlotte shook her head, “Can’t we go and visit?” 

“No darling, we are still shielding from the virus that is going around.” After a while Charlotte understood and went to apologize to her brother and get back to her school work. 

William found her in the study waiting to start her zoom call with Camilla and the childrens hospice. “Everything good?” 

“She misses Harry, she thinks he doesn’t love her anymore. Change is so hard for little ones. For all of us.” Catherine knew that Will was having a hard time without his brother as well. 

William nodded, though the rift was nonsense it had been difficult for all of them. Meghan hadn’t felt protected and Harry had felt torn between his wife and his family. He had wanted to step back to part time but William had been firm saying that it just won’t work being a part time working royal. He had known that tough love was needed for Harry to continue growing into being his own man to have the freedom that William wasn’t able to have. 

“I will text Harry and ask him to call the children tonight, we will wake them if we have to.” 

At 11 p.m. Great Britain Time William received the zoom notification, he took the laptop into Charlotte’s room where Catherine was rousing her, “Wake up little Lottie” Charlotte’s eyes flew open as she smiled into her Uncle’s eyes on the laptop, “Uncle Harry!” She excalimed, “Oh I have missed you! And Auntie Meg and baby Archie!” George and Louis came in, though Louis was still sleeping in his nanny’s arms, “We have miss you guys too so much!” 

“Will we see you soon?” Lottie asked, “As soon as we are given permission to travel we will come and see all of you. I promise. 

Lottie got Harry to read her a story and soon she and George were sound asleep, William carried George back to his room and met Kate in the kitchen. “I’m glad they got to talk to him, I just got a text from him and he thanked us.” 

Kate smiled, “Hopefully the kids will feel better, life is hard enough right now without their being tension in the family.” 

He kissed her and pulled her into his arms, “You are my strength my love.” 

A/N Sorry if this isn’t very good, it has been a while since I have written a fanfic. 

+

[megscherries]

Our Story: Chapter 7

“Mhhm...” Was all that Cordelia could let out the next morning. She opened her eyes and yawned. She saw that she wasn’t in her bedroom. She wasn’t even in her apartment. She quickly sat up. She looked around the room and saw how grand it was. “What the hell?” She said, just then the door opened.

Harry walked in holding a tray. “Well look who’s awake. I thought you were going to sleep forever sleeping beauty.” He said jokingly. He put the tray on a small little table near the bed.

“What happened last night? Why am I in your bedroom?” She said as she got up from the bed. “Did we, you know.”

Harry shook his head. “No of course not. I told you I was taking you home last night, remember?”

“I know that. But this is obviously not my apartment!” Cordelia said.

“We did go to your apartment. But you didn’t have your keys with you. You then tried to get in contact with Vivian, but she didn't answer. So we went back here. We were waiting for Viv to pick you up and you fell asleep.”

“Oh.” She said as she looked away. “Sorry about that.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for Cordelia.” He said. “Well I brought you breakfast. I hope you like French Toast.”

“I love it. Thank you.” Cordelia said. She walked over to the table and sat down. “Are you going to join me?” She asked as she looked over at Harry.

Harry grinned and sat across from her. “Of course.”

“Oh I need to tell Vivian I’m alright.” She turned her head, trying to see where her phone was.

“No worries, I already texted her.” Harry told her.

“Really? Your a lifesaver.” Cordelia told him.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say? I’m here to help.”

Just then there was a knock at Harry’s door. He rolled his eyes and groaned. “Go away.” Harry yelled. Cordelia couldn’t help but laugh. There was a knock again.

“Are you going to open the door?” Cordelia asked him as she was cutting up her french toast.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “It’s probably my private secretary and I’m in no mood to talk to him right now.”

Just then the door opened and William walked into the room.

Harry turned his head. “Excuse me. You can’t just barge in here!”

William rolled his eyes. “ I did knock.” He then looked at Cordelia. “Who’s this?”

“This is Cordelia. Remember, the girl I was talking about.” Harry told him.

“Nice to meet you Cordelia.” William told her.

Cordelia didn’t know what to say. “Um...Wow, hello.” Was all that she could get out. Harry let out a chuckle. She quickly looked over at him and glared.

Harry stopped and looked back at his brother. “What do you want?” He asked.

“I need to talk to you about something Harry. It’s somewhat important.” William said.

That was Cordelia’s cue to leave. This was probably a matter between brothers and she didn’t want to butt in. Cordelia stood up. “I think I should freshen up.” She said and then she quickly walked out of the room.

“Well now looked what you did!” Harry said.

William rolled his eyes. “She’ll be back Harry! Besides I think it would be best if she’s out of the room for a while.” He told his brother.

“Why?”

William sighed as he threw a news article on the table. “This.”

Harry looked at it. He saw that it had a picture of him kissing Cordelia. He became furious. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” He said as he threw the article back on the table. “How the hell did this happen?! Does anyone know who took it?”

William shrugged his shoulders. “No, I thought you would know. Seeing how it was from the dinner last night.”

“If I knew who took this picture I would kick their ass!” Harry explained as he stood up. He started to pace back and forth around his room. The cat was out of the bag. Now probably everyone knew that Harry was seeing someone.

“ I thought you would want to hear it from me.” William told him and he let out a sigh. “You need to tell her. The press will have a field day with this.”

“No shit!” Harry snapped back.

“Is everything alright?” Cordelia asked as she walked back into the room.

William looked at Harry and then looked back at Cordelia. “I better be going. It was nice meeting you.”

“It was nice meeting you as well.” Cordelia told him.

When William walked out of the room Cordelia looked back at Harry. “Can I ask what that was all about?”

“It’s nothing.” Harry said, not wanting  to look at her.

“You were yelling Harry. That wasn’t nothing or you just have a really bad temper.” Cordelia told him. She saw a paper in front of Harry. She took a couple of steps forward. “What’s that?”

Harry quickly grabbed the paper from the table. Trying to hide it from her. “It’s nothing.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes. It was hilarious how hard he was trying to lie to her. She snatched the paper from him.

“Hey!” Harry let out.

Cordelia read the article and her eyes widen. She looked back at Harry. “Were you going to tell me about this?”

“Cordelia just let me explain!” Harry told her.

“No! They found out about us Harry and you had the nerve to keep this from me!” Cordelia yelled.

“I wasn’t going to lie to you. I thought you wouldn’t want to to know. They don’t even know your name.” Harry said, trying to explain.

“I can’t believe this.” She was furious she quickly walked near the bed and picked up her bag. She turned around trying to find her shoes. “Damit!”

“Come on Cordelia just calm down!” Harry said as he walked near her.

“Calm down! How can I calm down?! Someone took a picture of us kissing and sent it to the papers!” She spotted her shoes and quickly picked them up.

“It’s going to be fine!” Harry yelled.

“And you weren’t even going to tell me!” Cordelia looked back at him.

“I was. I was going to tell you Cordelia. I didn’t think It would be the right time.”

“Oh! You’ve got to be joking Harry!” Now she was furious. How dare he not tell her what was going on. “Were you going to tell me when I find a mob of Paparazzi in front of my house!” She scoffed and she walked to the door.

Harry shook his head. “Cordelia...”She cut him off before he could say anything else.

“I’ll call you later.” Cordelia told him coldly. She opened the door and walked out of the room.

Harry watched her walk off. All that was going through his head was how much he fucked up.

________________________________________________

Cordelia walked into her apartment. She was furious. “You won’t believe what..” She stopped mid sentence when she saw that Vivian wasn’t alone. “Oh, Hello Jackson.”

Jackson looked up from talking to Vivian and he smiled. “Hey.”

Vivian turned around and smiled. “Hey girl. I didn’t think you would be back so soon.”

Cordelia dropped her bag on the floor. “Well I didn’t think either. I’m going to take a shower.” She made her way into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Vivian sighed. “I guess It didn’t go over so well.”

Jackson looked at his watch. “I better get going. But see you on friday.” He told her.

Vivian smiled. “See you friday Jackson.”

Jackson hugged her tightly and walked out of the apartment.

Vivian made her way to the bathroom door. She knocked on the door. “Are you alright?” She asked.

Cordelia took off her dress and threw it on the floor. She turned on the shower. She heard the knock on the door and she opened it slightly, sticking her head out. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.” She told her.

“Oh come on. You don’t seem happy at all. Did something happen between you and Harry?” Vivian asked.

Cordelia walked into the shower. “You can come in!” She screamed.

Vivian walked into the bathroom. They were used to seeing each other naked. I mean they’ve been friends since College and a lot had happen during those four years that they don’t ever want to speak of again. She looked at herself in the mirror. “So, what happened last night?”

“Well I was drunk and you forgot to give me the keys Viv!” Cordelia told her.

Vivian rolled her eyes. “Well you really didn’t tell me where the hell you were going!”

“Whatever!” Cordelia scoffed. “They found out about us.” Cordelia told her simply.

“Who found out about who?” Vivian said.

“About me and Harry! There’s a picture of us kissing!”

“What?! No way. Do you know who took it?” Vivian asked.

Cordelia scoffed. “I wish. I would kick their ass.”

“So why are you mad at Harry?” Vivian said as she walked out of the bathroom.

Cordelia turned off the shower and got out. She wrapped a towel around her body. She grabbed her hairbrush and walked out of the bathroom, fallowing Vivian. “He was going to keep it from me.”

Vivian didn’t believe her. “Really? Are you serious?” She asked as she took a bite of her toast she made for breakfast.

“He said ‘Well it isn't the right time.’ and I said ‘What would be the right time? When there’s a mob outside my house?’ and then he said ‘Well I didn’t think you would want to know!” Cordelia screamed trying to mimic Harry’s voice.

Vivian couldn’t help but laugh. Cordelia looked at her and gave her a glare. “What the hell is so funny Viv?!” Cordelia yelled.

“The way you try to micmic Harry’s voice is hilarious.” Vivian giggled.

Cordelia groaned. “You’re unbelievable.” Cordelia walked into her room and slammed the door.

“I’m sorry, It’s just too funny.” Vivian said as she walked to Cordelia’s bedroom door. “So, what happened next?”

Cordelia proceed to put on her university T-shirt and pair of leggings. She opened the door. “I told him that he was unbelievable and I told him that I would call him later.” Cordelia told her.

“You’re overreacting Cordelia.” Vivian told her friend.

“I am not.”

“Yes you are. It was going to come out one way or another. I mean it’s a little early, but..” Cordelia cut her off.

“You’re right it is too early! It’s too soon. I don’t know If can handle all the attention just yet.” Cordelia told her. It was one of her fears, she liked Harry. But the thought of being the attention of the media made her shutter.

“Do they even know who you are?” Vivian asked.

“What do you mean?” Cordelia asked.

“Did they say your name? Do they even know who the hell you are.” Vivian said.

Cordelia avoided eye contact with her friend. “Well no.”

“Well then they’re not going to mess with you. I mean they’re just going to guess who you are! Your a mystery to them. I mean if they had your name then that would be different.” Vivian said.

“But what happens if someone spills that it was me?” Cordelia said.

“Oh please. Just forget about it and calm down. Alright?” Vivian told her, trying to reassure her.

“I don’t to talk about it anymore.” Cordelia told her, she grabbed her laptop and walked over to the couch and sat down. “I have paperwork to do.”

Vivian shrugged. “Alright, do you want to do a movie and pizza night tonight?”

“Sounds good to me.” Cordelia told her not looking up. She was just staring at her laptop screen. Many thought’s rushed through her mind. Maybe Vivian was right, maybe she had to just calm down.

Read More

(Hoped you all liked it.)

[millysussexphff-blog]

[pharrymanips]

Chapter 05 - Remember Me

[forevermyalwaysphff]

Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you guys so much for the response of the first chapter of this story! I am so amazed and overwhelmed that you are all willing to go on this journey with these characters and a huge thank you to anyone who has followed me so far xo

Side note: There will be postings of ‘Meet The Characters’ for any new characters being introduced in the next chapter with a brief description of them. So keep an eye out for them!

You can find chapter one HERE

Here is chapter two!

    Alexa entered her flat feeling the effects after a long night of celebrating Eugenie’s engagement and dancing the night away with a certain handsome prince. She tossed her bag on the counter hearing little footsteps scampering across the wooden flooring. “Peanut!” She hollered out and bent to her knees with open arms.

   A little Yorkshire terrier puppy came running full tilt at her, crashing into her legs. Jumping up and down for attention, Alexa scooped the little fur ball up in her arms. Being attacked with an abundance of wet kisses Alexa walked into the kitchen to see her roommate Alice making a late night snack.

   “She’s been wanting you all day long. Sitting by the door whining waiting for you to come home.” Alice was slightly annoyed, titling her head to watch Peanut smother Alexa in a series of wet snout kisses. “She never wants me!” Her roommate rounded the counter and started to pet the little pup as the dog shied away from her touch.

   “See?” Alice grabbed her snack and wondered towards the living room area and sat down.

   Alexa opened the fridge and grabbed a drink before joining her roommate in the living as she turned on Netflix. While sorting through the movies Alice noticed how silent Alexa had become.  Alice paused and turned towards her roommate. “You are awfully quiet tonight.” Alexa blinked a couple times to bring herself back to reality and replied with a simple shrugged her shoulders, brushing off her friends words and grabbing a handful of popcorn.

   “How was the engagement party?” Alice continued to scroll through the movies. No matter how hard she tried, Alexa could not hide the beaming smile that was growing on her lips.

   Alice sat up straighter and angled her body towards her roommate. “Ok, spill.”

    “It’s nothing…” Alexa reached over Alice and grabbed the remote to start a movie in hopes of distracting her from more interrogations.

   “Oh. My. God.” Alice’s jaw nearly dropped having picked up on that subtle spark floating in Alexa’s eyes. “You totally met someone didn’t you?!” She nearly shrieked with waving hands causing Peanut to run off of Alexa and go hide in her bedroom.

   “Maybe…” Alexa’s green eyes sparkled while her cheeks flushed with a crimson blush.

   “Tell me everything!” Alice was nearly bouncing off the couch, elated that Alexa had finally met someone especially someone who made her smile a smile that had been hidden, buried beneath a lot of hurt and anger.

   “I don’t even know if it’s going to turn into anything, Alice.” Alexa was trying not to get her hopes up. After all, it was Prince Harry and all the rumours she had heard about him made her believe that it was too good to be true. She would just be a small fling on his long list of relationships.

   “Who is it? What’s his name?” No matter what Alexa said, she knew Alice would not stop until she gave her a name.

   Curling her legs up to her chest she pulled a blanket over top of her, snuggling into it’s warmth bringing back the memory of being wrapped up in Harry’s warm suit jacket. “You can’t say a word to anyone…” Alexa turned her head with narrowing eyes directed at her friend, giving a warning glare to succumb to secrecy.

   “Scouts honor.” Alice crossed her fingers.

   Swallowing the lump in her throat Alexa had no idea whether this was a good idea to tell Alice or not, but above all she was a close friend of Alexa’s and Alexa knew that she could trust Alice.

   “Harry.” Alexa watched Alice’s face form into an expression of recognition as she put two and two together.

    “Like… Eugenie’s cousin… like… Prince Harry?!” Alice hit the nail right on the head.

    Alexa’s shocked silence was a good enough confirmation for Alice to know it was true. “Holy shit! Did you guys…” Alice winked suggestively at her roommate.

    “Oh my god, no!” Alexa quickly shut that down. “It wasn’t like that.” She scrunched up her face and brushed it away.

   “Well you did come home at like…” Alice turned towards the wall to find the time. “Three am.”

   “We just talked mostly… danced a bit.” Alexa was beaming as she told Alice, unable to hide her giddiness. “Ok, danced quite a bit.” The memory of Harry practically swinging her around the dance floor came flooding back into her mind. They both had a little bit too much to drink, but were enjoying themselves and one another.

    “Awe!” Alice angled her head. “You seriously need to see your smile right now. See how happy you look. It’s refreshing to see that smile again, Lex.” Becoming embarrassed Alexa lowered her head and averted her gaze away from Alice.

   “So, did he bring you home? Are you two going to go out on a date?” Alice bombarded Alexa with more questions being the lawyer that she was.

   Alexa shook her head lightly. “He offered to drive me and was quite insistent. I finely allowed him too.”

    “Wait… like he drove you here? Like to our flat?” Alice stood up and almost crawled off the couch to go look out the window to catch a glimpse of him. “Oh my god. Prince Harry was in our building!”

   “No no!” Alexa grabbed her friend’s arm and pulled her back down beside her. “I didn’t want him to walk me inside.”

   “Why not!?” Alice tossed her arms up in the air. “You know that’s how all the romantic movies start. A guy walks a girl home and they make out or agree to go on their first date or exchange numbers.” Her friend was going off on one of her tangents again.

   “Alice! Stop!” Alexa forcefully grabbed both of her arms to calm her roommate down. “Like I said. Nothing is going to happen between us.” Alexa put a damper on her friend’s excitement. “It’s not.” The hope in her quiet voice had withered.

   “I was only someone for him to have fun with tonight.” That was what Alexa had concluded after their conversation in the car ride home. Harry did not ask for her number or even if they wanted to hang out again so she figured that the prince simply was not interested in pursuing anything despite their apparent connection they felt between one another.

   “I think I am going to head to bed…” Alexa pushed away the blanket and stood up. “It’s nearly three and I am exhausted.”

   “Alexa, wait.” She turned around holding onto the doorframe while looking back at Alice.

   “You deserve someone who will treat you right and make you as happy as I saw you tonight.” A sincere smile was plastered onto her friend’s lips. “Even if it’s not Harry. You deserve someone.”

    “Thank you, Alice.” Alexa matched her smile. “I am happy I have a friend like you.”

   “Hi, I am here to see Princess Eugenie.” Alexa had rolled down her window at the entrance of Kensington Palace to speak with security.

   “Name please?” The security guard shortly replied. They weren’t exactly known to be kind to visitors, but Alexa had grown accustomed to it over the years.

“Alexa Grey.”

   The guard looked down his list of pre-approved visitors for the evening and nodded. “Please park at the private entrance to the right where you will be escorted inside.” Alexa already knew the drill having been at Kensington numerous times before hand. But, even as she walked down the magnificent halls of the palace Alexa was always filled with wonder at their beauty and nostalgia that lined the walls of the palace. There was so much history of her people laced within these walls.

    Security escorted her down numerous halls and into Princess Eugenie’s apartment where Alexa was pulled into a tight friendly hug by the princess. “Thank you so much for coming, I know it’s been a long day at work and then to ask you to make the trip here.” Alexa followed Eugenie into her well-decorated apartment that was like a second home to her.

   “It’s no trouble at all.” Alexa smiled politely. “You know I don’t live far at all from Kensington.” She sat down across from Eugenie and was offered a warm cup of tea to which Alexa graciously accepted.

    Eugenie ran into the kitchen and put on a kettle of water to heat up before re-joining Alexa again at the table. “So… you need to tell me about the party with Harry!” An ecstatic Eugenie squealed and leaned in across from the table careful not to miss a single detail.

   Alexa pursed her lips together and shyly looked away. “We just talked, Eugenie.” She shrugged it off like no big deal.

   “And danced practically the whole night with each other. Do not forget that I was there too!” Eugenie laughed giddily. “Besides, I know he has a thing for you.”

   Her head perked up at the revelation and shared a look with her best friend. “And how do you know that?” Alexa angled her head at Eugenie curiously.

   “He told me.” The princess sat back in her chair with an elated smile. “I never thought to hook the two of you up with one another. After what happened with Reese, I just didn’t think you would be interested in a guy like Harry.” Eugenie confessed. “I wish I had though, you seemed like you really enjoyed yourself with him.”

   “I had a lot of fun honestly.” Alexa’s beaming smile fully gave it all away. “I don’t think he is really that interested though. Besides, I don’t know if I am ready for something yet.” She admitted truthfully.

    “It’s been what? Almost a year since you two broke up?” Eugenie confirmed with Alexa. “Reese moved on already… so can you, Lexi.”

   The kettle started to whistle making Eugenie jump up and tend to it allowing a decent break in her interrogation of the blonde. She brought back two mugs with tea bags in them and handed one to Alexa. “You know, I have been meaning to ask you something.” She sat back down across from Alexa with a grinning smile on her lips.

    “Oh.” Alexa gently grasped the cup. “What is that?” That was when Alexa looked down and saw the writing displayed on the mug.

   ‘Will you be my maid of honour?’ Artistically drawn in pink letters while the other side of the cup showed a sketch of a picture of the two of them together.

    Alexa’s mouth nearly fell to the ground in shock and read the letters one more time before glancing back up at Eugenie. “Are you serious about this?”

   “Of course I am! You are my best friend, Alexa!” Eugenie did not think that her friend would be this shocked when she was coming up with ideas on how to ask Alexa to be her maid of honour.

   “So, will you be my maid of honour?” Eugenie asked again as Alexa came out of her shocked state.

   “Of course! Oh my god, yes!” Alexa stood up and enveloped Eugenie in a giant nearly bone crushing hug.

   “There isn’t anyone else I would want by my side. You have been there for me through everything.” Eugenie squeezed Alexa a little tighter before being pushed a part.

   “Wait, are you sure you don’t want to ask Bea?” Alexa sincerely asked with a hint of worry in her eyes. “She is your sister.”

    Eugenie brushed it off right away. “No, Bea already knows I am asking you and she would rather not have the pressure on her that day!” A nervous chuckled escaped the princess’s lips as she watched Lexi’s face morph into a growing concerned expression.

    “Pressure?” Alexa then realized what she had just agreed too. This was not an ordinary wedding; this was a royal wedding in front of the whole world to see.

   “You will be fine!” Eugenie patted her arm to try and reassure Alexa. “There are a few little classes and things you might have to do, but other than that it will be a breeze!” The princess could see the evident fear developing in her best friend’s eyes.

   “A breeze? Yeah sure.” Alexa pursed her lips together nervously.

   Eugenie forced Alexa to sit back down in her chair. “I can get Harry to talk to you about it. He’s done it before at Will and Kate’s wedding.” She tried to tease Alexa to distract her, but only gained a death glare from her friend.

   “Eugenie…” Alexa’s voice lowered to a threatening level.

   “Ok, I won’t!” She tossed her arms up in the air defensively. “I still think you need to talk to Harry though.”

   “I think we need to talk about your wedding instead! What are you wanting?” Alexa knew that asking Eugenie about the wedding would buy her some time away from talking about the prince.

   Eugenie went on and on sharing all the ideas she had come up with already. By the sounds of it, it was going to be a beautiful day.

   Alexa released a deep breath while looking down at the stacks of papers in her hands of materials she would need to go through. Not being aware of her surroundings she noticed a figure coming towards her, nearly startling the blonde as she gasped loudly.

   “I am so sorry.” Harry’s alluring deep voice apologized followed behind by a light giggle.

   “You cannot come up on someone like that!” Alexa scolded him as she remained clutching her chest as she exhaled loudly, attempting to catch her breath from being startled.

   “Eugenie told me you might want to talk to me about something?” He leaned causally up against the wall and crossed his arms as if he was waiting for a reply.

   Scoffing with a laugh, Alexa shook her head back. “Of course she did.” Eugenie was going to get it. She must have texted Harry to come talk to her at the exact time Alexa had left. This was all a complete setup by Eugenie.

   “Judging by that mug in your hand, she asked you to be her maid of honour, hasn’t she?” Harry’s eyes locked in Alexa’s as their gaze lingered on each other.

   “Guilty.” Alexa lowered her head and tucked a stray piece of hair nervously. “Where are you off too?”

   “I have some meetings this evening.” A charming smile was growing on his lips with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Look, I uh.” Harry took a step closer towards her. “I had a good time with you the other night.” Harry saw her green eyes lift and peak up at him.

   “I did too.” Alexa beamed shyly at her confession. “You didn’t need to drive me home… but thank you. It was a kind gesture.” 

   “You already thanked me, Alexa.” He stood up taller and placed both hands in his pockets as if he was a bit nervous. “You know I forgot to ask you something the other night. You were already inside when I realized I did not ask you for your number.”

    Alexa’s eyebrow rose suggestively. “You want my number?”

   “Yeah, I do.” Harry dug out his phone waiting for Alexa to give the prince her contact info. “This way, you can ask me any questions and Eugenie doesn’t have to worry about you.” The prince smoothly added in to make it seem like he was doing Alexa a favour by Harry having her number.

   He definitely was good at the sweet-talking bit, but Alexa was not going to give in that easy. “I guess, since you are being so charming.” A mischievous smile appeared on her lips as she gave out a number, not her number, but her dental offices. 

   “I better get going now. I have a lot of reading to do as you can see.” Alexa hoisted up the stack of papers and started to walk away. 

   “I am heading the same way, I will walk with you.” Harry had caught on to Alexa’s mischievous grin with the combination of a quick retreat and knew that something was up.

   Alexa glanced back over her shoulder hearing footsteps behind them. “It’s just my protection officer. No need to worry.” Harry could sense her apprehension.

   “I know.” She looked back towards the ground. “It’s not like I haven’t been around them before. Just hard to still get used too.” Alexa confessed to the prince and immediately felt his eyes on her.

   A comfortable silence fell between them as they wondered through the halls to the private car park. Harry pushed the exit door open for Alexa and waved her through as she politely thanked him. “Which ones your car?” He asked the blonde.

   “The one that’s not an audi.” Her response made the prince toss his head back in laughter at her quick wit. Harry followed her to a silver Jetta Volkswagen and opened the driver’s door for her. 

    “Thank you, you didn’t have to.” Alexa smiled sweetly at the prince’s gesture.

   “My parents taught me to be a gentleman.” He flashed a dazzling smile that turned into a suggestively raised eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to get that, Alexa?”

   She glanced up at the prince with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

   Harry pulled out his phone and showed it calling ‘Alexa’ making her expression go blank with wide green eyes. 

   He had caught her.

   “Your dentists office?” The prince dissolved into a fit of giggles after hearing the voicemail message. “For real, Alexa?” He shook his head back and forth. “You could have just said no.”

    “Look, Harry.” Alexa scrambled quickly to explain her reasons, as the prince became quiet and attentive to her. “I need to take things slow and you just sort of caught me off guard today and well…” She looked up at him with guilt in her eyes, but they also showed him a split second of vulnerability.

   Harry’s features softened as he listened to her sweet voice explain. “Give me your phone…” His hand stretched out waiting for Alexa to place in his palm.

    Alexa cautiously handed it over to the prince, curious as to what he was going to do. He took it, punched in a number and handed it back to Alexa showing that he entered his contact info. She stared up at him seeing his blue eyes sparkling. “You have my number and you can call me whenever you are ready.”

    Sighing deeply she had to pull her eyes away from him for a second to regain her composure. “You surprise me.” She angled her head to look back up at Harry.

    Smirking down at the blonde woman he shrugged his shoulders non-chalantly. “I will take that as a compliment, I guess.” Harry stuck his tongue out being cheeky. “You know, I have a polo game on Saturday at Beaufort. I am sure Zara will be there, you should come.” The prince invited her. “I can even pick you up, if you prefer.”

   Alexa was about to say no when Harry further explained having got the sense of her answer before she spoke. “It’s not a date, just want to hang out with you again. After all, you do have my number so think about it and get back to me.”

   The prince tapped on the car door and looked back at his waiting RPO. “I better get going.” He glanced down at his watch reading the time and how late he already was. “I appear to already be late.”

   “Sorry for keeping you.” Alexa apologized sweetly. “I will let you know about Saturday.”

   “Alexa…” The way Harry spoke her name made her melt into a puddle. “You can waste my time whenever you want.” The prince flirted with Alexa making a smile appear on her lips.

    “Have a good evening, Harry.” She waved goodbye and watched the prince walked off after wishing her the same in return. Alexa backed up and started to drive out towards the exit seeing the prince’s vehicle in her rear view mirror.

   As she drove home, her mind replayed the whole interaction over with the prince. That evening, Alexa kept pulling out her phone wanting to send Harry a message, but each time she chickened out. The ball was now in her court whether she contacted the prince or not, but there was a budding excitement that grew within her at the mere thought of seeing Harry again.

Chapter 2 Outfit

[pofcroyalfanfiction]

Outrunning Her Shadow - Prologue

Ordinarily Josie would be excited about staying in London for a few days, especially in the summer time. There were so many things she could do compared to back home in Bucklebury, so many places to see, so many photos to take. A trip to London always felt like a mini holiday, travelling in on the train from Reading which she always loved, hitting up all the big tourist spots in London, having drinks and food at some bar along the South Bank, seeing a movie in Leicester Square in the evening.

Any time she'd ever gone down to London she had had an amazing, fun filled day, but today was different.

Josie stepped off the train behind her family, lugging her suitcase along with her. She'd packed it with clothes and the usual essentials for a short trip, but she'd also packed a few other supplies. Cardboard, large sheets of paper, paint, glitter, brushes and a signed, neatly sealed letter.

She expected most people around her on the crowded platform at Paddington Station carried something similar, letters, placards or flowers. Josie could tell, for certain, that everyone was feeling the same way, upset, confused, concerned... broken. Thousands of people from different ages, races, genders and ethnicities, all feeling the same way.

No, Josie was not excited to be in London this time around. In fact, she couldn't remember a time where she'd arrived in the capital feeling so terrible, but how else could she feel when she was going to see a state funeral?

This was the first state funeral in twenty-six years and the first time a monarch had died in seventy-six years. Josie wasn't even alive the last time Britain had endured something so crushing, but it still hit her just as hard as anyone else.

Some people were apathetic towards the Royal Family, but Josie was a self-confessed fanatic. She could understand why others may not care or just outright dislike the royals. They were an outdated tradition, largely ceremonial and holding no real power in the country. They controlled vast amounts of wealth and yet ordinary citizens like her paid taxes to keep the monarchy going.

Josie found it hard to argue with them. Everything that was said against the royals was true. Josie would say they bring in heap loads of cash in tourism, that they support charities and causes that otherwise wouldn't be well known. The truth was Josie looked up to the royal family, she idolised them. She had a whole blog dedicated to them. Britain without the royal family was like Japan without the Samurai history, France without the Eiffel Tower, Brazil without Carnivale, America without American Football. To Josie, Britain without the royal family would just be... Britain, a country.

They were a huge part of the countries identity, and without them Josie felt her idea of Britain would be lost. She wasn't exactly patriotic but having the royal family around was something she was proud to support, without them there wasn't much in her country that made it feel stable, consistent.

That was why today was so hard. She could feel the anti-monarchy movement building. With Elizabeth dead, Charles had become King, and Charles just didn't have the same popularity as his mother. Most of the peoples' love went to the younger royals, William, Kate, Harry and Emma, along with all their children. They were the royals that people loved to hear about, they were the royals that Josie and her friends gushed over on their blogs. Charles was nice, but he just wasn't as appealing to young people.

She respected the fact that Charles was the next in line, but many people around the world didn't. Many people felt this was the right time to get rid of the monarchy. Rather than spend money on a big coronation for Charles, just end it here. Just close this entire chapter of British history altogether. Josie was having none of it.

There wasn't much she could do to ensure the future of the monarchy as just a lowly teenage girl from Bucklebury, but she dreamed of becoming a journalist and a future royal reporter, reporting on all the great things the family were doing. She often fantasised about getting to meet her favourite royals and interviewing them. First Emma, the Duchess of Sussex, who Josie had loved since her acting days, and then Princess Eleanor of Cambridge, the firstborn daughter of William and Kate and Josie's more recent favourite.

"Josie, come on!" Her mother called. The family was waiting for her on the other side of the ticket barrier.

"Coming mum!" Josie called back, rushing down the platform.

Ever since she met Eleanor in a Tesco superstore in the middle of Bucklebury, completely casual, no tiaras or paparazzi, Josie's love of the royals had gone into overdrive. Eleanor had been so normal, so down to earth, even a little shy. She was there shopping with her mum like two ordinary commoners, she was relatable. Josie felt they could have even been friends.

That was a big reason why she'd convinced her whole family to come down and attend the funeral. None of them were as fierce monarchists as her, but they weren't completely anti-monarchy either. They would have been perfectly happy to watch the funeral on the television where they'd arguably see it better, but Josie wanted to go in person because to her, Eleanor was a friend.

This was a time for everyone to come together. That was Josie's thinking. So, she'd convinced her entire family to catch an early train from Reading and spend a few days in London, to join the packed crowds of the city and show their support.

After checking in at their hotel, Josie, her parents and her younger brother headed out. They got on the Underground at Waterloo and got out at St James's Park, making their way from there to the gates of Buckingham Palace. They were able to buy white lilies along the way at a news stand, where all the front-page headlines were about the Queen. They were also selling flags, but there were enough union jack flags everywhere, on hats, on jackets and on banners and placards of support. Josie was happy with the flowers and a little letter that she'd addressed to the entire royal family. After making their purchases they joined the crowds that were all converging on the same point, all moving in the same direction as if they were on a pilgrimage to a holy site. There didn't seem to be anyone heading in the opposite directions, off to work or somewhere else. Everyone was there for the same reason.

Even on a hot summery day there wasn't a person who was just lying down in the park. Everyone was moving towards the same point. When they arrived on The Mall the crowds were even thicker. The long red road was channelling thousands of people towards the great gates of Buckingham Palace, where the royal standard flew to indicate that the monarch was in residence.

The atmosphere was quiet, contemplative. The people around her were all in mourning, all in shock. Josie had her tributes ready, but from the looks of things it would take ages to get to the front and have the chance to lay them at the gates of the palace. She needed to climb up the steps of the Victoria Memorial to see better, only then was it clear.

The tributes, a massive variety of colourful flowers, notes, handmade signs, photographs and candles, there were so many of them, so dense that they completely covered the hard ground outside the palace fences and severely restricted where people could walk. They covered the roads so that the entire area was a no go for traffic, they even went as far as touching the Victoria Memorial itself. The only open space was a path that had been cleared from the palace gate itself, and then the palace forecourt behind them.

"It's like Diana all over again." Her mother remarked. There were nods of agreement from dozens of mourners around her.

"Hang on, there's some movement."

Josie looked up, watching the windows of the palace up ahead. She saw a few curtains shift on the upper floors, but nothing obvious. She struggled to see straight ahead to the ground level, instead having to rely on what people were saying.

"Look! The gates are opening!"

"They're coming out!"

"Who do you see? Who do you see?" Josie asked desperately. The crowd around her were all pushing forwards, just as eager to see as her.

"Looks like Charles, and I think maybe William, and one of the young girls." Someone said.

Moments ago, people had been turning up, paying their respects and then making their way back through the crowd to leave, but there was no chance of that happening now. Everyone wanted to be at the front, everyone wanted a chance to hand their gifts directly to one of the royals, to be able to see them up closes, to even be able to speak with them. Josie knew she'd never get the chance, there were still masses of people in front of her and this definitely wasn't the place to start yelling for attention.

She heard their voices as they got closer. From what she could hear from the crowd's reactions, the royals were browsing the letters, making their way along the outside of the palace, collecting flowers and thanking people for being there. Josie kept straining to see, peaking between arms, jumping to see above heads and shoulders. She wasn't the only one.

It was Ellie up ahead, out with her father and grandfather. Josie could feel the warmth of the crowd, a sort of protectiveness of a worried parent, all of it being directed towards the royals. She started to hear Ellie speaking as the people quietened, all eager to hear her. She sounded upbeat, from what Josie could hear. Thanking the people and calmly reflecting back their words of encouragement.

It wasn't the shy Eleanor that Josie remembered from Bucklebury, but then again it had been three years. Three years in which the young Princess had rarely been seen in public, instead being closely guarded while at boarding school, a fact that Josie and her royal blogger friends knew all too well.

The three royals didn't stay out for long however. Soon they were heading back through the gates and across the forecourt, then disappearing back into Buckingham Palace while everyone in the crowd spoke of feeling uplifted by how friendly and approachable the royals had been.

It took another hour before Josie could get to the front and lay down her gifts with all the others, and by then the sun was starting to set. She waited to see if any more royals would appear and watched all the palace windows closely, but nobody came out. Josie's mum eventually convinced her to head back to the hotel with the family.

Later that night Josie was on her laptop, sharing some photos on her blog that she'd taken of the immense crowds in central London and down the Mall. She'd taken some outside Buckingham Palace but all they showed were people's backs. None of them were good angles of Charles, William or Ellie.

The whole fandom was in overdrive, blogging like crazy. All Josie could see after hours of scrolling was photo upon photo of London, the crowds, the memorials, the mourning, Elizabeth tributes and pictures of various royals. She stayed up late into the night talking with her friends, answering questions about what it was like to be in London in that moment and what the royals were like. She struggled to find the words to describe the day and eventually gave up, telling her followers that she'd come back with more soon.

The next morning, Josie and her Mum lined up with crowds along Westminster Bridge. What felt like the entire population of London had queued up and were quietly shuffling towards the Palace of Westminster where the Queen's body was lying in state.

The roads were mostly quiet, even in what was normally such a busy tourist area of the city. Only a few buses and cars were passing them by, but they were hardly noticed, even the big red double decker buses. Everyone was in their own worlds or quietly chatting in their groups, just as the crowds were the day before.

It probably would have felt different if Josie's parents had gotten a hotel room that was a bit further away from central London, where all the funeral events were taking place, but even then, the round the clock coverage in the news would be enough to put them all in the same mood. Josie could tell her family were a bit moody about having to spend their time focused within a small area of London that was the center of millions of people's worth of grief and sadness, but she honestly felt that this was where she wanted to be. She needed to be part of it.

The rest of her family didn't feel so strongly, so her dad and brother had gone sightseeing instead while her mum stayed with her.

Being inside Westminster Hall was probably one of the most surreal experiences of Josie's life. What little chatter that had been going on outside quickly died down as they entered the grounds. The whole area was usually closed off to the public, but for something as huge as the Queen's death they were willing to allow people in, although it was still heavily guarded. Thousands of people were streaming into the heart of the British government, so it would be surprising if she didn't see a whole lot of armed soldiers keeping a close eye on things.

Josie had never been in the midst of such high security, whilst also being surrounded by such history, sadness and grief. Combined with the fact that this was such a world changing event, the biggest that she could remember, it made sure that nobody had any idea what to do with themselves. Josie held her mum's hand as they entered the building, almost fearing what would come next.

Inside the Hall was a wide-open expanse, with a high centuries old ceiling which directed all the light towards one specific spot, the spot where the Queen's coffin rested. It was covered in the royal standard, a flag that bore three English lions, the red lion of Scotland and the golden harp of Ireland. On top of the standard was a single flickering candle which cast an eerie glow over the whole thing.

The strangest part of all were the royals that were standing vigil all around the coffin, dressed in black and staring solemnly down at the ground. Josie recognised all four of the Queen's children, Prince Charles and Prince Andrew were there wearing their Royal Navy uniforms, Princess Anne as well and Prince Edward. They stood at the four corners of the raised platform, their backs to the coffin that was lying on a podium behind them.

Josie couldn't help but feel like it was all very old fashioned, she wanted to be able to speak to the royals, but she couldn't. All anyone could do was respectfully and quietly make their way around the vigil, paying their respects and enjoying the presence of Queen Elizabeth one last time.

It was grim and heart wrenching to be so close and to see the thinly disguised emotions of the Queen's children right in front of her. She could tell they were all going through an incredibly rocky time in the family, and at times Josie thought that Charles was barely keeping it together. The whole thing felt unfair, even though she knew that the royals didn't have to stand vigil, it still felt like something they were forced to do.

By the time she made the final turn to start heading outside, Josie could feel tears running down her cheeks. The atmosphere inside the hall was so overwhelming with emotion, with the walls effectively containing an immeasurable amount of sadness. She saw the light of day just up ahead, but more royals caught her eye.

High up above, watching the vigil from a secluded perch, Josie spotted what must have been Kate, Alex and Ellie, all dressed in black with their faces hidden behind veils. With Prince William standing beside them, the three women surely couldn't have been anyone else.

Josie didn't get to look at them for long as the crowd continued to move, forcing her to move with them. She stepped out into the sunlight just wishing she could go back inside and get another peek, disregarding the completely crushing atmosphere that the hall was overflowing with.

"That was just dreadful." Her mother said, wiping her eyes.

"It must be so horrible to stand up there like that." Josie told her. "I couldn't do it."

The next morning Josie left the hotel on her own and travelled up to Kensington Palace. She had loved the royal family for a long time, loved reading about them, loved blogging about them. She'd gone to dozens of events to see them in person, but now she was starting to worry her obsession was being overwhelmed by so many frequent sightings.

It was another day until the funeral procession, so she gave her family the day off from grieving so that she could be alone, allowing her to embrace her love of the royals without any judgement. Her parents didn't talk to her much about it, but her brother was often joking about her interest, although he'd thankfully not said a word against them whilst the family had been in London.

He would probably be shouted away if he did make any jokes, that much was clear as Josie walked across Kensington Gardens towards the palace. The whole area felt like a sacred shrine just like Buckingham Palace, except there were far less tributes and the roads weren't blocked.

Josie placed down more flowers outside the gates, beside hundreds of other tributes that were honouring the Queen and supporting the other royals. She had to gingerly tip toe between candles and gifts that had been laid out to get her flowers lying next to all the rest. The bouquet of violets was, according to rumour, Princess Eleanor's favourite flower, so she wanted to get them as close to the gates as possible.

Josie wanted to put her letter down too, a more personal one that she'd written just for Eleanor herself, but as she looked around at the thousands of letters that were already there it became clear that none of the royals would ever read her letter. It would probably be read by the staff, or never even opened at all.

Instead Josie stuck with the desperate hope that she might meet Ellie face to face once again, where she'd would be able to give her the letter in person and tell her how much she and the royals meant to her.

She decided to do a bit of sightseeing, wanting to enjoy her time in London whilst she was there and pretend her plan wasn't incredibly stalkerish. Josie figured that the royals would likely want to get some fresh air, away from everything that was going on in the family. She also knew that William and Kate had been spotted walking in Kensington Gardens before, as well as Eleanor, Alex, Emma and Harry. It would have to be a massive stroke of luck to find a royal in the massive park, but Josie was feeling lucky.

She started off by enjoying her inner history nerd, journeying to each of the monuments of former kings and queens that were dotted around Hyde Park. Each one had its own collection of tributes, even if the monuments themselves weren't for Queen Elizabeth. Josie could understand wanting to avoid her offerings getting lost in the masses, but laying flowers and candles in front of the Albert memorial seemed a bit out of place.

I guess that, as distant as it may be, they are all related.

Josie finished her tour at the Diana memorial, a large egg-shaped fountain that seemed completely out of place when compared to Albert's massive statue beneath a gothic pagoda, but it seemed to fit Diana perfectly. Kids loved to play in the water and jump from one side to the other, and the drastically different style was exactly how people thought of her when she was alive. Diana had changed the royal family immensely, and everyone loved her for it. Now it seemed like a good place for everyone to gather and reflect as more big changes were about to hit the country.

"Josie? Is that you?"

Josie looked to see where the voice was coming from. Almost immediately a girl was sitting beside her and smiling broadly at her. She was wearing a baseball cap that was pulled tightly down, and she was dressed casually in a normal pair of shorts and a t-shirt. To anyone she would have been completely inconspicuous, with the red maple leaf on her cap enough to throw anyone off, but Josie recognised her voice straight away.

"Oh my god." Josie whispered, almost fainting. She felt her heart skip a beat.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked her, sitting down on the grass beside her.

"It's really you." Josie was on the verge of tears, and for once it was for a good reason.

"We've met before, ya know." Ellie smirked at her. She seemed so relaxed, even jokey.

"Yes, yes, I remember." Josie reached across to hug her, but quickly stopped herself. She didn't want to overstep the boundaries. Ellie stared at her, confused. Her arms were up and ready to hug back, she was ready for it. She even seemed hurt that Josie had stopped herself. A moment passed and instead of Josie excitedly hugging her idol, Ellie hugged her back just as if they were good friends.

I can't believe this is happening again.

"It's nice to see you again." Ellie told her.

Josie was blown away by how much Eleanor had grown in three years. Josie was supposed to be older than her, like she had done the last time they had met, but now she couldn't help but feel a bit small and overawed by her presence. Ellie seemed so different to when Josie had last met her in person.

"I didn't think I'd see you out in public again. Especially not now. What are you doing out here?" Josie asked. She looked around at the masses of people that were in the park, the people walking past them and within inches of a real-life Princess. Did any of them know that Diana's granddaughter was sitting at the memorial with them? And how uncomfortable must Ellie be feeling right now?

"Trying not to be so awkward anymore." Ellie looked around, adjusting her cap and avoiding eye contact with anyone but her. Josie could tell she was nervous, but it didn't seem as bad as before.

"Dads been helping me with my anxiety." Ellie pointed to a tall and majestic man that was sitting in the middle of the egg, also dressed in casual summer clothes and sporting sunglasses and a baseball cap. He seemed to just be sitting, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere like everyone else.

"He's been coming out to the memorial a lot over the last few days and I wanted to join him." Ellie told her.

"No guards?" Josie looked around, trying to find a well disguised protection officer.

"No guards." Ellie smiled proudly, quite smug about it.

"Wow, you've really come far." Josie grinned back at her, surprising herself. She could feel her body starting to relax.

"Definitely." Ellie seemed comfortable sitting next to her, like she had an ally. Josie couldn't help but feel fiercely protective of her. She'd fought in Ellie's corner online whenever the haters would criticise her for not appearing in public, today was no different. If only she could think of more things to say. She felt like Ellie was reaching out, but what do you say to a Princess?

"Oh! How are you and the family doing?" Josie asked. She needed to remember that as much as the world had lost a Queen, the royals had also lost a massive part of their family.

"We're getting there. Dad and Grandpa are taking it the hardest but I'm helping them out where I can."

Josie couldn't help but feel proud. Ellie was definately someone worth sticking up for in the online forums.

"I want you to know that everyone is with you. Everyone I've spoken with is ready to help you get through this."

"Thanks, Joze"  Ellie said gratefully. Josie shivered with excitement at that. "It really means a lot. We went outside the palace yesterday and the support was just... overwhelming."

"I was there, you handled it really well." Did she just give me a new nickname? God, now I MUST change my blog title.

"Yeah, just about. Sorry I missed you."

"Don't worry about it." Josie patted her hand reassuringly.

"So, what are you doing now? Still in Bucklebury?" Ellie asked, taking out her phone from a back pocket.

Josie couldn't help but steal a glance at Ellie's contacts. It was intoxicating. For years she'd run a blog and obsessed over the royal family, but always from a distance, always dreaming of feeling closer to them. Now she could see 'Mummy' and 'Daddy' on the phone of Princess Eleanor and know exactly who they are. It was wild.

Is there even a point to running a royal blog anymore? I just feel like I know so much already.

"Oh, yeah." Josie remembered to answer. "But I'm studying Journalism at Reading Uni."

"Awesome. Maybe you'll end up being the next big royal reporter?" Ellie smiled at her.

"Hope so!" Josie said coyly. She decided not to ask for a job at the palace.

"Hey, why don't you give me your number? We can meet up again when we're both back in Bucklebury." Ellie suggested, holding her phone out to Josie.

"Holy shit! Really?" Josie blurted out, immediately blushing.

Ellie laughed back at her. "Yeah, why not? Otherwise it'll probably be another three years till we see each other."

"Of course, definitely." Josie hurriedly obeyed like it was a command, but, it seemed much more like Ellie was just eager to be friends. Josie's fingers trembled as she took Ellie's phone and started typing in her number, resisting the urge to explore all her contacts and even browse her photos. She was a swipe of a finger away from what could have been the cutest family photos that she could ever hope to find.

I can't believe she trusts me so much. So many people online would kill to have this much access.

"Time to go Ellie." Josie's heart skipped another beat. Prince William stood imposingly above them and helped Ellie get to her feet. His warm smile had Josie frozen in her spot.

"Dad, meet my friend Josie." Ellie helped her up and presented her to Will proudly.

"Lovely to meet you Josie. Short for Josephine right?"

"Hiiii, yes. But everyone calls me Josie" Josie nervously mumbled back, her cheeks turning red.

"Dont embarrass her Dad." Ellie shoved her father's meaty arm. It barely moved.

"Hah, well sorry to break things up girls, but we really need to be heading off." He looked at her apologetically.

"Of course. Definitely. Yeah." Josie signalled it was okay, blushing even more as she handed Ellie's phone back to her. They had barely walked more than two steps before she blurted out again. "Oh, sorry! Wait!"

She searched through her bag, desperately looking for her letter to Ellie, not realising in her nervous rush that she was looking straight at it. Josie detected a hint of irritation in Will's face as she handed her letter to Ellie, who took it gratefully.

"I was holding out hope I could give this to you in person, and here we are." Josie laughed, trying to keep her cool and appear relaxed, but struggling.

Both Ellie and William were growing more conscious of the attention they were getting. Several people around were starting to recognise them, and the whispers started circulating.

"Thanks Josie, thank you. Hope to see you again!" Ellie waved at her, going along with her dad. It was clear that neither of them wanted to cause a scene.

Josie watched as they hurriedly walked off and disappeared into the park before a crowd formed. Then she watched in satisfaction as a few paparazzo's arrived not long after, obviously following a tip off and just missing the royals. They looked around, questioning people at the memorial and looking stumped.

Better luck next time losers.

On the final day of her family trip to London, Josie stood on the edge of the Mall awaiting the funeral procession that would pass them on its way to Paddington Station. From there the Queen's body would be taken by train to Windsor Castle and buried there, but all that would be much more private. She had been able to watch the funeral from super screens that had been set up in the parks, and now waited for the mass of soldiers, foreign royals, dignitaries and family members that would escort the Queen on her way.

While the thousands of people in the crowds waited, they listened to the one hundred and four gun artillery salute that was echoing throughout London whilst Big Ben tolled along with them. It was one for every year of the Queen's life, and for the first time that week Josie quickly realised how old the Queen really was. When they got to seventy, she heard someone in the crowd surprisedly say "Really, how old was she?". Everyone truly thought she was ageless.

When the salute was finally over, anticipation in the crowd slowly grew as the procession started making its way from Westminster Abbey. Josie could feel it, like a sadder alternate version of a Mexican wave, as she watched the screens and saw the procession turn onto the Mall. The crowds around her pushed against the barriers and the people in front, including herself, as they were all eager to see.

A parade of horse guards came first, followed by the guardsmen wearing their bright red uniforms and bearskin caps, who were then followed by the slow-moving gun carriage that carried the Queen. The guards that lined the sides of the road saluted as the coffin moved past, and hundreds of onlookers bowed their heads or removed their hats. Everyone was in almost complete silence, the only noise coming from the clopping of horse hooves and the slow trudging of the people in the procession.

Behind the Queen's coffin looked like a carbon copy of Diana's funeral in 1997. Elizabeth's four children, just as they had done at the vigil, were staying close to their mother's body, walking slowly behind it all the way to the station. William and Harry joined them as well, but there was no sign of the women. They followed behind, hidden away inside stately cars. It was hard to recognise Ellie, sitting in the back of a car with her family and dressed fully in black. Compared to the girl that Josie met in the park the day before, the one sitting inside that car along with her mother, sister, aunt and cousin James was someone completely different.

After them came more royals than she could count. Josie was familiar with most of the royal families of Europe through following other blogs who weren't so Britain focused. She loved seeing the foreign royals there supporting the Brits, but soon enough she stopped recognising faces and the whole thing became much less interesting.

The crowds started to dissipate not long after and by the evening the entire Mall was empty, with just tributes left behind and candles still burning, which made the long red road glow and flicker in a warm orange light. The past nine days had brought seemingly the whole world together into one spot to share their grief, but now they were all gone.

Josie could feel the unease that was starting to build just as she and her family were getting on the train to go home. People were already talking about Charles now being king, and morbidly joking about how long he would last. The monarchy needed something good to happen, but Josie knew that Charles was nowhere near as popular as his mother. Elizabeth had held majority support for most of her reign, Charles couldn't hope to repeat that.

And then, with a big expensive coronation on the way for a moderately popular monarch, now would be the best time for those anti-monarchists to rise up and get their way.

[willandkatealways]

What Have I Done

AN How I imagined their relationship got back on track after the break up and a little snippet of more recent times. There is some language that may be not suitable.

May 2007

Kate stood by the bar, drinking a glass of wine when she saw Guy Pelly walking up to her she wasn't surprised it was his place after all. "Kate what a surprise, it's good to see you. How have you been?" She inwardly sighed he wanted to know how are since you and William broke up. "I am fine Guy, been working on a charity rowing competition and I am on a date now." Her date was Henry Ropner, "I am here with Henry he has just gone to the loo actually there he is now. Pardon me. It was good to see you." She walked up to Henry and kissed his cheek, he smiled and took her hand. Kate wished she felt more but it was too soon, Henry and William knew one another and he knew she wasn't over William yet. Henry smiled, "You okay? Saw you talking to Pelly." She looked back at guy and saw he was texting, she wondered if he talked or saw William much. Turning back to Henry she forced a smile and told him she was nice and they should dance.

Guy saw them dancing, Kate was laughing at something Henry said. Henry looked at her with his heart in his eyes. Kate may still be in love William but Henry was falling for her. He could strangle William, he knew Will has his reasons but he was going to lose the best thing that ever happened to him. Taking out his phone he fired off his text to the future king of England.

Guy: You are going to fucking lose her! Henry is a good bloke and he would give her everything. You could give her everything which includes love.

For good measure he sent a picture as well, as Henry playfully dipped Kate.

William had gotten in from training, today had been brutal. He heard his phone chirp and saw the message and picture from Guy. He felt sucker punched. Henry Ropner! Everything was wrong in the world, it was his fault. He knew he should be happy Kate was moving up but damnit she was his.

He threw the phone on his bed and went to shower, he remembered showers with her and kissing her in the morning. He missed her, they were still texting wouldn't the press love that. He sat on his bed with the towel around him.

Yes they texted, he couldn't go a day without some form of communication.

William: You look beautiful in that dress. Always have. Guy sent me a pic of you and Ropner so no I am not spying.

Kate: Figures.

William: I miss you. Are you happy?

Kate: Don't do this.

William: I know I fucked up. If you knew why. Please just see me.

Kate: Meet me at our place. Text me a day you're off.

He responded in the affirmative and laid down, he knew where she meant. How he would get in without being seen was going to be a problem but he would. He could never deny her.

Three days later Kate stood in the National Portrait Gallery, she wondered if she was making a mistake and her blonde wig itched. Feeling someone move closer she glanced over and saw a man with brown hair and a mustache.

"Very handsome Billy." He smiled, and leaned in closer, "I would do anything for you."

Kate sighed, "Why did you insist that we meet? We broke up. Things have changed. I am dating other people and you are too."

"They aren't you, I thought it was better to break up because the press were relentless and I was scared of hurting you. I love you more than anything but we are so young and I thought maybe it was a mistake to be so serious." William grabbed her hands and led her to a nearby bench.

"Billy then why are doing this? To hurt me?" Tears filled her eyes.

"No babykins, to tell you I was wrong. I cannot live without you in my life. If you tell me you love Henry then I will walk away and we will never speak of this again." He wiped a tear that had fallen.

She stood up and walked over to stare at a portrait of Queen Victoria, "I dont love him, I am still in love with you. But how can I trust you with my heart?"

"Time please and I was show you that you can trust me." He would beg her to come back if he had to.

She turned and smiled at him "I missed you so much Billy, it will take a long time to make up for what an idiot you've been."

He took her in his arms, "I love you so much and I will spend every day showing you that and making up for being a world class idiot."

2019

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge woke to the sound of laughter. She walked over to their son's crib and was a little surprised to see it empty.

"You're up, get back in bed it's time for breakfast in bed. Dont worry Louis is fine he is with Maria and George and Charlotte are getting ready for school." William laid the tray down and brought her close, Happy Birthday baby."

Kate smiled and let her self be led to the bed, "You are so amazing, thank you."

They kissed until their were footsteps running into the room, "Ewww mummy and daddy are kissing again!" George said with disgust, Charlotte laughed.

"Oh come here monkeys and I will shower you with kisses." The two ran into her arms, with giggles and laughter. William snapped a picture, and joined in when he got back from his event he would take her out tonight. She deserved the world. She was such an amazing wife and mother.

AN Hope you enjoyed it.

#WillandKate #royalfanfic

[pofcroyalfanfiction]

Chapter One - The Jewel of Marlborough

September 1st,  2028

Kensington Palace, London

You would think that news reports would keep up with modern times, that they would consider the viewers ever decreasing attention span over the years and do their best to keep you interested. Ellie found this wasn't the case as she sat in her bedroom watching a rebroadcast of her great grandmother's funeral while her suitcases sat around, empty and waiting to be packed.

The broadcast was slow and dreary, and since it was filled with old footage of the Queen in her glory days, most of it was in black and white. It was like watching a funeral in the fifties, but thankfully without the old, echoing and grandiose man commentating over everything and pretending to know what Ellie and her family were thinking.

Instead it was a younger man with a much less dramatic voice that was hosting. He seamlessly described the whole event down to every last detail, even knowing the designer of the dress that Ellie was wearing that day.

It was surreal to listen to. To have her thoughts laid out by strangers, to have her actions closely watched and analysed.

Despite all this, it was hard for her not to watch it over and over again. Her parents would normally be discouraged from watching herself in videos or on the news, but this time it was different. Ellie could feel something whenever the cameras focused on her family, a feeling of longing, a desire to see something happen, a desire to know more. The coverage made her watch closely, hoping to see a hint of a reaction from one of the royals on screen, with every angle seemingly willing something to happen.

Ellie had seen herself on television dozens of times and cringed at every one, but on this occasion she was able to feel like any ordinary royalist, at least a little bit.

"Are you watching it again?" Ellie's mother marched into the room, carrying a pile of freshly washed Marlborough kilts and looking at her in complete disbelief. It was clear to Kate that her daughter had barely moved since the last time she saw her.

"I cant stop watching it!" Ellie complained.

Kate pulled her up from the bed. "Come on, you need to stop getting distracted. I asked you to be packed hours ago."

"Yes... well.." Ellie tried to pretend she had a response.

"Anna, can you deal with Ellie's bags? We'll be late otherwise." Her mother called down the corridor, ignoring Ellie.

She knows I hate packing.

Anna gave Ellie a disapproving roll of her eyes as she entered the room to take over packing duties. Ellie had at least folded a few cardigans, but most of her back to school wardrobe was still scattered around the room in various piles that only she could figure out. When Anna started grabbing other things from her closet Ellie felt the need to take over, but her mother was having none of it.

"If you start telling her what not to pack we'll be here for hours." Kate caught her looking longingly at a leather jacket that Anna was ignoring. "Come along now, you need to be in uniform."

"Anna I need those for the winter!" Ellie pointed to a pair of boots that Anna pushed aside.

Her mother grew tired of waiting and leaned in to unbutton her jeans. "Mum!" Ellie shouted at her.

"Don't make me undress you." Kate gave her a stern look.

"All right, all right!" Ellie did the rest of the work, pulling off her jeans and stepping into the blue and green tartan kilt that her mother laid at her feet. The black tights came next, then the blouse and finally the navy blue pullover which was branded with the Marlborough crest.

"There, my little school girl." Kate smiled at her, with the proud tilt of the head that only a mother would have.

Ellie stood there, grumpily staring at her. The first time back in uniform was always enough to make her moody and this was something her mother was very aware of. The fact that Ellie had worn the same uniform since she was twelve made the embarrassment even worse, but her Mum always loved how cute it made her look.

"Happy now?" Ellie asked sarcastically. She wanted to get back to packing and make sure she had something fashionable in her suitcase before Anna sealed them away.

"Not yet, I need you to sort through the things in the living room that you want to bring, then your Dad wants to take a photo of you and your sister." Kate took her by the hand and led her out of the room.

"Like this year's photo is going to be any different!" Ellie complained. She desperately looked back into her bedroom to see Anna grinning evilly, holding her favourite leather jacket and debating whether to pack it or not. She waited until the very last moment Ellie could see her before stuffing it inside one of the suitcases.

Everyone loves to tease me today. Every year. Back to school is the worst.

"We do it every year. Your brother and sister want to be in it too." Kate brought her into one of the upstairs drawing rooms and made her stand still. She hovered above Ellie with her hands on her shoulders, surveying every item that had been laid out for the return to Marlborough. The room was acting as a staging point for all of her and Alex's things, the last stop before being packed into the cars and driven to school. Past years had been easy to pack for, Ellie didn't do any sports or clubs and spent most of her time in her room, so all she had to bring was clothes and a few things to make her room super comfortable.

This year was different.

This year the living room was filled with all sorts of equipment, tennis rackets, squash rackets, golf clubs, football boots, hockey sticks, ice skates, tennis dresses, swimming goggles. There was even a telescope in case the Astronomy club came back. Ellie had gone through every newsletter, flyer and invite that had been handed to her during her first three years at Marlborough College, using them to build a list of all possible clubs, sports, teams and hobbies that were available to her while she was there.

She wanted to try new things this year, but she couldn't deny that compiling such an exhaustive list had also helped to keep her occupied during all the family upheaval over the summer.

"So sweetheart, have you decided what you're taking?" Kate asked as she tucked her hair behind her ears, eyeing the heaviest things in the room and ready to work. It was clear that the massive increase in stuff they were bringing to school was causing her mother to stress out a little more than usual on the first day back.

Ellie looked at her, confused. She thought all this had been sorted out ages ago when they bought everything. She then just gestured to the whole room. "Everything."

For too long she had been happy with coasting along through school, coasting along in life in general. She wasn't trying, she could recognise that now. The Queen, her mother, everyone was right, she had so much power and yet believed she couldn't do the simplest of things like going out or riding a bus.

There was so much she wasn't taking advantage of, even when it was perfectly within her rights to try everything.

"Everything?" her mother asked.

Kate seemed happy, but there was a sense of surprise that Ellie also picked up on. Ellie could tell her mother was feeling hopeful and excited when she first asked her for enough equipment to play fifty different sports, as if she didn't want to get in the way of her daughter's new approach to school, but why was she now surprised?

"Well we did buy everything, so why not use it?" Ellie asked.

"-I- bought them all." Kate quickly reminded her.

"Okay, but still, why not use them?" Ellie repeated herself.

"You don't have to bring everything you know, you can leave stuff here for next term, or even next weekend!" Kate reasoned.

"I don't want to miss out on any of the teams Mum." Ellie told her, grabbing an unopened pack of tennis balls, some football boots, and a field hockey stick and holding them together protectively.

"Are you sure you won't be a bit overwhelmed honey?" Her mother asked her, clearly worried.

Ellie saw no problem at all. "Nonsense, they wouldn't have it so that you miss out on anything. It would all be properly scheduled."

Her mother clearly wanted to say more, but she didn't. Ellie watched the wheels turning in her mother's head, with her eventually deciding that whatever she wanted to say wasn't as important as getting them to school on time. She eventually left Ellie to go check on her sister Alex, who was coming back for her third year at school and was probably still in her pyjamas.

Ellie sat back on her bed, smirking at the thought of her mother and Anna sweeping into her sister's room and bombarding her with hairbrushes, school uniforms and suitcases. The return to school on September 1st was one of the busiest days in the year, a day where their appearances had to meet the expectations of both a Marlborough student and a Royal. They wouldn't be able to relax until they had finally settled in to their boarding houses at the end of the day. They still had to take photos for the press office to send out to mark the occasion, and then the chaos of actually arriving at the school which was an entire royal engagement in itself.

Every year when they showed up with their royal entourage, Marlborough College made a point of treating them like the royals that they were as well as holding Ellie and her sister to much higher standards than any other students. This would all fade as classes started up and she started to blend in with the rest of the students, but for that first day back the school really enjoyed letting everyone know that they had the honour of being the place where Princess Eleanor was taught.

Nobody seemed to recognise how much pressure this put on her, and how much it isolated her from every other student. It was hard enough being shy outside of the palace, but constantly being held up as the gem in Marlborough's crown and given that little bit more attention than anyone else meant making friends was incredibly difficult.

On top of that, Ellie knew she was a disappointment. There was so much pressure for her to excel in everything, to ace every class and captain every sports team, to win competitions and put Marlborough College on the map. This was expected of her. She was meant to be their greatest student ever and so far she had avoided even thinking about it.

I don't want to be remembered as the Princess who failed her GCSEs.

Ellie grabbed her rucksack, the last thing not to be taken down to the cars, and peeked inside. She'd packed it with snacks, stuffed teddies and some books, but something else was missing. Her Dad called to her from downstairs, and she could hear her family gathering for the photo but she decided to keep searching her room. She knew as soon as the photo was done they'd all be getting the cars to leave straight away.

"We're short on time Ellie!" Will shouted up the stairs.

Ellie frantically searched the drawers of her desk, flinging them open and shoving everything aside. It didn't take long to find what she was looking for, a white envelope with a broken red wax seal and 'Eleanor' written on the front in neat cursive font. She checked inside to make sure her letter was there, held it close to her heart for a moment before tucking it away in her rucksack.

Ellie had to take a long hard look at herself that summer. Things were changing, Charles and Camilla were bringing new rules in, her parents were stressing out and the pressure of expectation was starting to boil over. She needed to start living up to that expectation, to start doing well at school and start living her life.  Marlborough could be so much more to her than just school, more than just a place she could hide away from her position and fame.

I'll never be anything other than Princess Eleanor until I put myself out there. I want people to see who the real Ellie is. -I- want to see who the real Ellie is.

She looked around the room once more, shuffling her rucksack on her shoulders to feel the weight of everything inside and reassure herself.

"Ellie, come on." Will urged her, now standing at her bedroom door.

"Coming." Ellie chirped happily, brushing past him.

[pofcroyalfanfiction]

[pofcroyalfanfiction]

Chapter Fifty Two - Different Expectations

                                                          ~52~

Fast Forward, three years later...

Thinking back to that night at Godwick was always something that Ellie suffered through whenever they made the trip up to Amner Hall, as they did every summer. Viola's mansion had become much more obvious over the last few years, whereas before Ellie had no idea it even existed. She would have preferred things had stayed that way, but the Watts-Digbys had cut down a few trees and heightened a couple of the mansions towers on their estate to make sure it was always visible from the windows of Amner Hall.

"No, it's not been demolished yet." A voice called out behind her.

"If we raised that security hut up a floor, it would just about block out Godwick." She said back.

Anna pulled Ellie back from the window and steadied her in the centre of the bedroom, then began tying the sash on the back of her dress into a neat bow. "That would be petty, honey, but I imagine the boys would enjoy the extra space."

Ellie continued gazing towards the window. Every time she looked outside, it felt like Godwick grew closer and closer, like Viola was still trying to get her. "Maybe if we planted some new trees, we could go back to pretending it didn't exist."

"Come on." Anna turned her around again so she wasn't looking towards the window. When Ellie tried to glance over her shoulder, Anna grabbed her chin and turned her head to face her. "At least one good thing came out of your evening there."

Ellie rolled her eyes, "Yes, I know, you were oh so heroic quitting your terrible job to come work for me."

"Technically I work for the family, but yes." Anna removed Ellie's hair from its clips, letting it flow down her back in soft curls. "But you've now got your own personal maid."

"You know you're more than that to me." Ellie frowned at her.

Anna blushed at her, smiling back. "I know. Who else could hold all your secrets hm?"

"Alex"

"Well, true, I suppose. But she doesn't do your washing as well, does she?"

"She washed my mug once." Ellie giggled. Having Anna around had improved her self-esteem immeasurably, allowing her to come into her own. She was like a second mother, a close confidante and a guiding influence, especially when everyone else who Ellie could share such a bond with was part of the Royal family.

Anna checked Ellie's fingernails once again. She'd been with her all morning getting her ready and making sure she looked pristine. "Do you hear from the Watts-Digbys often?" she asked.

"Not me. I know we get invitations to parties at Godwick all the time, but Mum pretends we don't know that."

"She's protecting you."

"Yeah and she despises Viola."

"Don't we all."

"Do you hear from Abigail?" Ellie asked, somewhat out of the blue. She had been Anna's charge when she worked at Godwick Park House, up until she had run away. From what Ellie could tell, she and Abigail were a lot alike, which she suspected was a big reason why Anna enjoyed her company so much.

Anna arranged Ellie's hair neatly and checked on her discreet makeup, but the question caused her fingers to pause and she looked off to the side, thinking for a moment. "I get a letter from her every now and then. She's doing fine. Why do you ask?"

"Was just thinking, she might want to come to the party? You could invite her."

"Abby at this fancy party? I don't think so."

"You said she's a lot like me, so maybe we could sneak away and go walk along the river instead."

"And leave me to explain to your mother why someone I invited has abducted the birthday girl from her birthday party?"

"You're right, Mum'd be pissed."

Anna tilted her head and gave her a menacing look.

"Mother would be most perturbed." Ellie corrected herself.

"That reminds me, your Mum would also like to spend some time with you." Anna gave her one final check up before ushering her towards the bedroom door.

"Oh, if she must." Ellie answered overdramatically, trudging over to the door with a sigh.

Years ago, before going to Marlborough College, spending time with her would seem like an odd thing for her mother to ask for. They spent almost every day together, what with the home schooling and Ellie's lack of a social life. Now her life had become daily classes, living in dormitories and only returning home for summer and Christmas break. She'd return every weekend during the first few months of her first year due to homesickness, but now things had settled and she no longer felt the urge to run back home. Her mother's grip on her had weakened, and the big scary world wasn't so scary anymore.

This meant that whenever Ellie did return home, her parents were extra overbearing as they tried to make up for lost time. This included the dress that she wore, freshly steamed and already smelling of the perfume that she was told to wear. If being back in her bedroom wasn't enough of a reminder that she was back home, having her outfit for the day selected for her and laid out on her bed in the morning definitely was.

"It's a Mum thing." Ellie thought, to have her daughter dressed up nice and pretty on her birthday. She didn't like that her mother didn't trust her to dress herself, but her mother was probably right. If it was up to her, Ellie would have gone downstairs wearing skinny jeans, a t-shirt, and odd socks. It wouldn't be until later in the evening when she would be allowed to dress down, once all the guests had gone home.

Ellie preferred to think her mother wanted her to look pretty, not that she was doing it for any expectation or to live up to her title. Anything else and it would feel just like Godwick, forced to wear this and forced to do that. The more freedom she experienced at school, the more she felt like the runaway Abigail whenever she came home.

A dark thought, a tiny little thing, but still a worry.

Ellie jumped down the last few steps and landed on the ground floor. The front door was open and the sun was shining in, the crisp warm air lightly breezing through the house and carrying the smell of freshly baked cookies from the kitchen. She turned to head inside but was immediately halted by her mother, who was tasting some cake mix on her finger when she saw her and spoke with her mouth half full.

"Mhhm-nhh! Not yet! Out!" Kate said, nudging her back out the door and slowly closing it.

"Mum!"

She paused and gave Ellie a quick kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday poppet." She closed the door, her words echoing through the wood. "Now come back later."

Ellie sighed and looked around. Everyone seemed to be in the kitchen or outside, the rest of the house was empty. Even Anna had disappeared. With little else to do, she decided to go out the front door and engage in her new favourite hobby. Across the gravel stones of the front driveway, behind the trees, she found the 'security shack'. It was renovated years ago when her parents moved in, and the plan was for it to house the security team of RPOs that kept watch over the perimeter, but they never lived in Norfolk long enough to be needed. It wasn't until the family had grown a bit more that Amner became their main home, to the point where a round the clock security team was always on guard.

Ellie went to knock on the door but it opened just as her knuckle touched the wood. Ben was standing there smirking. "Saw you coming."

She smiled at him and brushed past. "Good morning birthday girl." Said several of the officers in there in unison as she entered the shack. It smelt of coffee, toast and sweat. The scent of smelly men used to linger there, but that had been helped by the hiring of more female protection officers. The odour was less pungent, but it was still there. "God, don't you guys use the shower?"

"Busy protecting you, ma'am." One of the other RPOs, James chimed in.

Ellie sat down at the security desk and scanned through the bank of TV screens, which showed camera angles from all around the property. You could see paparazzi camped outside each of the entrances to the grounds, lying in wait.

"What's on the screens so far?" Ellie asked.

"Well, we've got all your favourite photographers outside the west gate, and all your least favourite photographers at the east gate." Ben explained as he was pointing to each of the screens, then used the joystick control to move one of the cameras that showed the main road in. "Looks like your grandparents are just arriving."

Ellie used the controls to zoom in on the silver Jaguar that was winding its way up the main entrance, confirming it was her grandparents Charles and Camilla. On the other screens she watched as more cars were coming down the various roads in while others were waiting at the security checkpoints on the edge of the property. She recognised the cars belonging to her family, Harry and Emma's blue Skoda, Pippa and Mark's red Mercedes. Everyone else always seemed to drive either a silver or black Range Rover like her mum and dad, the standard royal ride. Thankfully the cameras could zoom in enough to pick out the faces inside each car, but eventually even such a close view wasn't enough to recognise everyone.

As more cars were starting to pour in, there were more and more faces she didn't recognise. They weren't even family members, they looked more like business people, charity executives and a fair few faces that she did recognise – only because they were all celebrities. Pop stars and actors. In one car she spotted Taylor Swift, which made Ellie's heart absolutely melt. Idris Elba was in a car behind her, followed behind by the Beckhams.

Ellie could feel the excitement building within her, all these famous faces. The fact that she was probably more famous than any of them never occurred to her. In her mind she was just a girl, these people were the real famous ones. What had she done to be famous aside from just... exist?

Then a new feeling started the grow, one of dread. Ellie was beginning to feel like this was no longer a private party, and more like another public appearance. Being away at Marlborough had meant that she wasn't always around her parents, where it was so easy for them to decide to bring her and Alex along on one of their many public outings.

She still had to attend the big events, the summer pageants, some of the garden parties. There had been one big tour a year ago, to Australia, but that was it. Other than those hard to miss events her life had been significantly free from the spotlight over the last three years, much different from the years before she left for Marlborough College.

This no longer felt like her birthday party, even if that was what they were celebrating. This was a chance for all these famous and powerful people to speak with Her Royal Highness Princess Eleanor, not Ellie. They wanted to see their future Queen, that was why Anna had spent hours making her look pristine, why her mother had specifically chosen what she would be wearing, and why none of the cars she'd spotted so far had any of her friends from school in them.

She felt like she was being unreasonable. She knew that all these people only knew her as a royal, not many of them knew her as just a person. She'd met some of the celebrities at film premieres, where she'd blush furiously as she shook their hands and mumble about how great they were in that one scene before hiding behind her parents. They knew her, but none of them were close, none of them were her friends.

Ellie backed away from the cameras, her hand slipping lazily from the controls. She felt surrounded, like the dozens and dozens of cars that were entering the grounds were all lining up, piling on top of each other and building a wall around the house. Princess Eleanor was expected and there was no escape, today she would have to perform.

[pofcroyalfanfiction]

Chapter Fifty One - Storm Catherine

                                                           ~51~

                                                  ********************

Ellie, Will and Kate sat in the car in silence. Kate was furious with both of them but most of her anger was directed at Viola. She'd arrived half way into the dinner, thankfully not a minute later. Ellie swore that if they had been there any longer her father would have been married off to one of Viola's grandchildren, and as for herself, she'd probably be locked in the house forever and henceforth called Abigail.

Viola was intent on keeping everyone at her house and even insisted that Kate stay for tea, but Ellie's mother wasn't having any of it. Even with her sickness she drove through wind and rain to come pick them up despite all the RPOs insisting that it was best for them to stay where they were.

She stormed into the dining room, dripping mud and rain all over Viola's plush carpet. The look on the old woman's face was priceless, the look of someone who just saw all her Austrian tea cups smashed at once. Viola was furious at first, wanting to have this intruder shot on the spot, but her mood quickly turned when she realised it was the Duchess of Cambridge. Viola didn't want to show anger in front of her near completed set of royalty, so she played nice and invited Kate for after dinner treats.  Kate didn't pay her any attention, only giving Ellie a fierce look that caused her to shoot right out of her chair. Ellie didn't need much more than that to get out of there, a good reason could never come fast enough.

Ellie was thankful, massively so. She could feel the rage boiling within her mother as she moved closer, tentatively pausing to reach in and hug her. She didn't think much about how furious her mother might be with her, only about how much she was saving her from certain torture.

Kate gently patted her on the back, making her daughter feel worlds better. Ellie looked up at her and her look had softened, if only slightly. Without a word Kate nodded her head towards the front door, to the sound of the Range Rover parked outside whose engine was still running, ushering her daughter in the same direction.

It was another five minutes before both her parents joined her in the car, sitting in silence and shutting their doors. Not a word was spoken until they arrived back at Amner Hall thirty minutes later, finally out of the wind and rain which was only just beginning to die down.

"Put your dress in the wash basket Ellie." Kate said as she hung up her coat and headed into the living room. She ran her hands through her hair and disappeared into the sofa before Ellie could respond.

"It's not mine." She mumbled, picking daintily at the skirt of the pink silk dress that Anna had dressed her in. It may have fit her quite well, but it would be a while before the stench of that house had left it.

Will kissed her on the head and nudged her towards the stairs before heading into the living room as well. It was clear to Ellie that they'd had some sort of argument and neither of them we're keen on talking to her, so she headed up the stairs and grappled with the dress on every step. Alex met her at the top, grinning like an orangutan

"They dress like that on the farm?" She asked.

"We didn't get to the farm."

"I know, Mum told me before she left. She sounded pissed."

Alex stopped her, turned her around and pushed her into the bedroom room. Following behind, she started unbuttoning the dress in the back and untying Anna's neatly tied bow.

"She was pissed." Ellie said glumly, staring at the carpet as if she could see Mum and Dad chatting in the living room below. "They were in there five minutes, probably having a shouting match."

"Mum and Dad?" Alex asked.

"Mum and Viola. Dad knows better than to mess with Mum when she's like that."

Alex lowered the dress down Ellie's legs and helped her step out of it, then carelessly tossed it onto the bed. "Not there!" Ellie scolded her. Alex seemed taken aback by her sister's newfound neatness.

"This thing is tainted by Viola." Ellie carried the dress into the bathroom that adjoined their rooms and shoved the dress into the washing basket, hoping that was the last she'd see of it. It had made her feel glamorous for a few moments, but that was the only upside to the evening.

"You think Mum and Dad are fighting?" Alex asked. Ellie listened for a moment, hearing nothing much downstairs. She figured her Dad was probably feeling as guilty as she was, and probably didn't want to push her mother any more than she had been already.

"Nah, probably just watching T.V or cuddling." Ellie answered.

"Want to join them?"

Ellie shrugged and slumped down on the edge of her bed. Alex frowned immediately. "I'm just gonna sleep."

I just want to start tomorrow and forget about this whole night.

"Suit yourself." Alex pouted and turned sharply, immediately making her way downstairs whilst Ellie lay back and closed her eyes. Viola was one of her kind, as much as she wanted her not to be. As a high ranking royal, she'd been around aristocrats and politicians, billionaires and Oxford graduates all her life. They had all been somewhat snobby or posh, but Viola had by far been the worst.

She woke up the next morning, the events of the night before still vivid in her mind. Her Dad had knocked on the door and lightly shook her awake, telling her she had to go down and apologise to her mother.

"What do I have to apologise for?" Ellie asked her bedroom ceiling. Her mother had apparently thought that they had been partying at another palace just to get away from her. She slipped on her robe and slippers and quietly padded down stairs, finding her mother sipping a cup of tea and watching the television, her hand lightly resting over her growing belly. Ellie sat down beside her without a word, and snuggled up against her mother's arm in the hopes of winning her over.

"Last night was the worst" Ellie spoke after a few moments of silently watching the news together.

"Didn't enjoy your fancy dinner?" Kate gave her a stern look.

"It was no fun at all, that old woman was evil" Ellie nodded her head, her eyes wide in fear. "I'm sorry Mum, I didn't want to be there."

"I know dear, I know." Kate's stern look quickly faded, her eyes no longer pointing down at her accusingly. "Your Dad told me all about it, that it was far from a party atmosphere."

"Very very far from it" Ellie agreed.

Kate was still suspicious, but Ellie could tell that her mother wasn't serious. It seemed more like she was just a bit stir crazy, and in the back of her mind she knew it was nothing.

"Eleanor." Kate put her arm around Ellie's shoulder's, encircling her.

"Yes ma?"

"No more private parties." She kissed Ellie on the cheek and hugged her tightly, which was enough to hide the somewhat ominous tone to her words. They spent the rest of the morning nestled into the sofa and watching the morning breakfast shows together.