Disclaimer: Princess Diaries 1 and 2 belong to Disney, Buena Vista and Meg Cabot, and I do not own any of these characters.

Chapter 1

Clarisse had just finished the awful paperwork she'd struggled to get through. Even though Mia had been crowned Queen just over seven months ago, Clarisse understood how long it could take for her Grand-daughter to adjust to the difficult role, and therefore was happy to help her as much as she possibly could. Needing a breath of fresh air, she decided to take a well-earned break.

As she was walking through the gardens, she saw Joseph sitting in the gazebo, with a sad, yet thoughtful look on his face. The same expression he had for almost three weeks now. It made her heart sink. Lately he had been avoiding conversation with her, and what confused her the most was the fact that it was very sudden. She couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong.

Some days he would be the caring, loving person she fell in love with, and the rest of the time he would act as though he were a different man. He was like someone she didn't know, someone she would rather not get to know. She knew something was bothering him, even by looking into his eyes. The twinkle in them had disappeared. No matter how many times she tried to discuss with him what was on his mind, she always got the same results; he just avoided the conversation and changed the subject entirely. When she woke up in the morning, he was never lying next to her, with his arms around her keeping her safe and warm. Instead he was always standing on the balcony, leaning on the railing, not speaking a work until breakfast. Even then, he rarely engaged in conversation.

However, Thanksgiving was coming up and she needed to break the ice with him as soon as possible. No matter how difficult the task.

...

After dinner, Clarisse decided to retire for the night. She knew it would do her a lot of good to go into the kitchen and reflect on her thoughts as she often did when something was troubling her, but Clarisse was far too exhausted, and needed her sleep desperately.

When she entered her bedroom, she wasn't surprised to find that he wasn't there. Over the years, she'd grown accustomed to having him near her most of the time, and even more after their wedding. Although she had always been a very independent woman, feeling so distanced from him made her feel incomplete and alone. Not being able to communicate with him was tearing them apart. She missed him deeply, and couldn't bare to be separated from him any longer.

After a few minutes of tossing and turning, she gave up, knowing sleep wasn't going to arrive soon. Especially when she knew Joseph wasn't there next to her. So, she got out of bed, slipped her dressing gown on, and walked down to the kitchen to get herself a cup of tea.

Hoping that she would have time on her own to think, she poked her head around the door to see if anyone else was occupying the room. Joseph was sitting at the end of the table slowly sipping a cup of coffee while reading a newspaper. She wanted to turn around and run straight back to her bedroom. "No!" She thought, mentally slapping herself.

"He is your husband, and you're running away from him!"

Gathering her thoughts of how to approach him, she slowly opened the door and walked over to the kettle, looking over her shoulder ever few seconds to see if he had even noticed her. But, every time she looked, he still had his eyes on the newspaper in front of him.

"This isn't going to be easy". She thought quietly to herself.

The silence was more awkward than she had ever thought it to be, and it had to be broken. Knowing that he wasn't about to say anything, Clarisse tried to quickly think up a casual question that would most likely get him talking.

"I'm… not disturbing you am I?" , she asked. Her face lit up as he put his newspaper down and looked at her. She smiled at him. "You look like you could do with some company, darling."

"I suppose I could. I was starting to get quite lonely down here by myself." He was grumbling miserably. That was enough to make her blood boil. There was only so much of his mood she could take. Clarisse quietly sighed to herself impatiently, she could hear herself screaming in her head, yet all the while trying desperately to keep her fustration at bay. Maybe she wasn't as strong as she thought she was. Maybe, when it came to dealing with certain situations, she just didn't know how to cope. But, she knew that she couldn't waste any more time thinking about how to confront her husband. She needed to know what was wrong with him, and she needed to know now. Not only so she could get her husband back, but her best friend as well.