Tiana could vaguely remember, back when she was small and her father was still alive, there were certain days when he seemed to do absolutely nothing right. Her mother would be testy and snappish about even the smallest things, and try as he may, her father could not reconcile her.

These days were long and filled with a tension she could barely feel, but inevitably, towards the end of one, Tiana's father would grow so exasperated he would throw his hands up in the air, heave a sigh, and march out of the room. Her mother would purse her lips and say to Tiana, "Babycakes, when you get married - "

"Aw, Mama," Tiana would moan.

"No, no, you listen to your Mama," Eudora would insist. "You're gonna find yourself a fine man someday. Tall and handsome and kind and everythin' wonderful." (Tiana always rolled her eyes at this.) "But he won't be perfect. There's bound to be at least one thing about him that you just can't stand."

"Mama, how do you - "

"Hush, Babycakes, I'm trying to give you some advice. You'll tell yourself it ain't that bad. But then you'll find out that is really is that bad. And then you'll tell yourself you can change him. And you'll try, and you'll try, heck, you'll probably marry him thinkin' that'll help, but it won't. You won't be able to change him, Tiana, trust me."

Of course, the next day, James and Eudora would be on good terms again, and Tiana was left to believe that her mother had simply been speaking out of anger and that none of what she had said was true.

Perhaps it was that she listened to too many of Lottie's fairy tales, or perhaps she was inclined to dismiss her father's flaws once he was gone, but either way, Tiana grew up, kissed a frog, and fell in love without ever remembering her mother's advice.

Indeed, she had been married for nearly a year before Naveen felt inclined to remind her of this advice. Not on purpose, mind you, he did it completely by accident, or rather, by being a fool.

She had thought, after their frog escapade, that he was a changed man, and most days he was. But deep down, Naveen still put having fun above all else. Tiana didn't notice it at first, but time stretched on, dragging them further from their froggy past and gradually she began to suspect that he was having a relapse. Oh, he wasn't running around Nawlins and chasing after other girls, but he kept forgoing helping with the dishes and clearing tables in favour of jamming with Louis and the boys.

The final straw came the day he didn't even mince the mushrooms for his platter. It was his dish, named for him and created by him, but he left it for Tiana to worry about. She caught sight of him bustling past the kitchen with Louis and the rest of the band, and would have called him out right then and there, but he was gone before she had a chance.

All night her anger simmered. She served the tables and chatted with customers with artificial smiles and hollow laughter. It was all reaching a boiling point when she heard Naveen's voice from the stage.

"Thank you, thank you, ladies and gentlemen," he was saying, grinning his pearly grin and running his hand through his shiny hair. Tiana unconsciously rolled her eyes at the sight of it. "The boys all wanted me to say something to introduce this next song to you - it is a new song, one you have not heard before."

A new song? Tiana wondered. Then she started in surprise. That song? Surely not. He wouldn't.

He laughed, almost nervously. "A very good friend of mine, who is no longer in this world, wrote it for his Evangeline," he began. Yes, Tiana thought, he would. "But I shall sing it for a beautiful princess who, well, she much prefers to be a waitress. Sometimes a cranky waitress."

The crowd laughed. They all knew who he was talking about - she and Naveen had been the talk of Nawlins for months. But Tiana only prepared herself to be very angry. Not only was he about to sing Ray's beautiful song in front of the entire restaurant, but he was going to make fun of her in the process.

"But that is not important," he continued. "She is a beautiful princess whether she is a waitress or not. And even when she is a cranky waitress."

Tiana crossed her arms and waited. She didn't want to have a fight with him in the middle of the restaurant but she would be hauling his sorry hide off the stage as soon as he finished his little farce.

"Now, the boys and I, we were going to save this song for next week, which is mine and Tiana's first anniversary - " Tiana couldn't help but drop her arms back to her sides in surprise. "See?" Naveen said, looking directly at her. "You thought I had forgotten, no?"

Tiana scowled at him and crossed her arms again. But he only laughed. "But you see, I seem to have done something wrong. I do not know what it is, but she keeps glaring at me - do not think I did not notice, Tiana - " Tiana blinked. She hadn't even noticed.

"Is it because I forgot to mince the mushrooms?" he asked. "Because I did not actually forget. I was just busy getting all this ready."

Tiana was almost ready to forgive him, but for the fact that he was going to sing Ray's song. That song was not a song to share with the world, to be heard by thousands but truly understood only by a select few. Didn't Naveen know? It wasn't a song to just sing for an evening's entertainment - it was a thing of beauty, a work of art… a masterpiece. To sing it here would cheapen Ray's love for Evangeline, it would cheapen Ray's sacrifice.

"So I thought, why not pretend it is our anniversary tonight?" The diners cheered. "Yes," said the prince, "that is exactly what I thought. So, without any further ado, I shall sing you this song, and hopefully my wife will stop glaring at me."

"Hmph!" was the only sound Tiana could manage, and the people near enough to hear laughed. She pursed her lips, waiting for Naveen and the sweet, familiar 'Ma Belle Evangeline'.

But it never came. Instead, the drums rolled in with a snap, followed immediately by the lilting, sultry, piano and Louis's swingin' trumpet. Perhaps they had made a new arrangement for the song, she thought. Naveen opened his mouth, and for a second, her mind travelled back in time to an evening in a swamp, and she was serenaded not by her husband but by an eccentric Cajun firefly.

"Look how she lights up the sky, ma belle Evangeline…"

Tiana's mind snapped back to reality, bringing with it a prickling tear in her eye, and she was surprised again. Those were not the words Naveen was singing.

"Call me irresponsible, call me unreliable," he crooned. "Throw in undependable too. Do my foolish alibis bore you? Well, I'm not too clever - I just adore you."

Tiana was utterly confused. This wasn't Ray's song. Just what was Naveen up to?

"So call me unpredictable, tell me I'm impractical. Rainbows, I'm inclined to pursue."

It was here that Tiana stopped trying to be angry with him and actually began to listen to the song.

"Call me irresponsible. Yes, I'm unreliable, but it's undeniably true. That I'm irresponsibly mad for you."

Louis launched into a soaring trumpet solo. Naveen looked straight at Tiana and smirked in that devilishly irresistible way of his. She had been, while he sang, making her way towards the stage, though she no longer planned to lecture him. She had very little idea what she was going to do until he reached out a hand to her, like he had all those days ago, on the first night the restaurant opened. He pulled her up on stage, amid whistles and cheers from the audience.

The prince continued grinning, probably hoping for an apology, or better yet, a kiss. But Tiana said, "I thought you were going to sing Ray's song."

"I am."

"But - "

"Whoever said he only has one song?"

It took Tiana a second to realize what this meant and she felt herself forgiving him. "Oh. But when - "

"On the steamboat," he explained. "It may interest you to know that he caught me practicing."

"Practicing what?"

The prince actually turned the tiniest bit pink. "Proposing, of course. He taught me the song."

He wrapped one arm around her waist, the microphone clutched in his free hand. Tiana gave in and slipped her arms round his neck. "Do my foolish alibis bore you? Girl, I'm not too clever, I - I just adore you. Call me unpredictable, tell me that I'm so impractical. Rainbows, I'm inclined to pursue. Go ahead, call me irresponsible. Yes, I'm unreliable. But it's undeniably true… I'm irresponsibly mad for you."

"It suits us, no?" he asked her quietly, covering the microphone so it wouldn't catch his words. "You know it's true."

She smiled. "I guess it does."

The prince flashed their customers with one more blinding grin, just for good measure. "Oh baby, you do."

In the midst of the applause, Tiana spoke, right next to his ear. "But don't think this gets you out of clearing tables tonight."

Naveen sighed. "Some people never change." And then, under his breath, he added, "stick in the mud."

So... Call Me Irresponsible always reminds me of PatF. I can just picture Naveen crooning it up on stage at the restaurant, but for some reason in this daydream, his voice sounds exactly, inexplicably, like Michael Bublé's. So this idea has been banging around in my head for a while, until just now when I realized I could turn it into a fic. I refuse to call this a song fic since I don't really like songfics. *hides*

Now, the song was originally written by Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen in 1962, but for this fic, let's pretend Ray wrote it back in the twenties. ;)

Oh, and if you're going to go check this song out, I, of course, recommend Michael Bublé's version.

This is my first PatF/Disney fic, so I hope you like it.