Much Needed Rest

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the canon characters; they belong to Meg Cabot as well as Walt Disney Studios who made the Princess Diaries into two spectacular movies I re-watched now that they are on Netflix! Let's just say I fell in love with them all over again! No monetary gain is made from this story. Based on the prompt: "You, me, popcorn, two-liter Dr. Pepper, and a movie. You in?"

Word Count: 1200

Hearing Mia groan in frustration for what must have been the fifteenth time in the past twenty minutes, Nicholas unburies his head from his copy of The Count of Monte Cristo and stares over the top of the famed novel.

"How's it going over there, my love?" Nicholas sweetly inquires, doing his best not to sound as if he knows exactly how taxing the process of reviewing Parliamentary procedures is to Mia.

"Oh, just peachy, Nicholas!" Mia responds in the best chipper voice she can muster, and Nicholas scoffs softly so as not to alert the new Queen that he knows her better than that. "I honestly for the life of me cannot figure out why Prime Minister Motaz insists on making the memos so incredibly long when we're already going to be talking about all of this during the next session of Parliament!" the young Queen of Genovia exasperatedly remarks, closing her chocolate eyes and leaning back into her padded chair with as much grace as she can muster.

(After all, Clarisse had worked hard to teach her granddaughter proper posture; Mia is not just going to throw all of that hard work and training away.)

"Perhaps Prime Minister Motaz only wishes for you to be as prepared as possible, Mia," Nicholas, ever Mia's voice of reason, states as he comes up behind his soon-to-be-wife before pressing a soft kiss to her temple.

"You're probably right," Mia yawns, rubbing her eyes and blinking rapidly to try and clear the sleep out, but to no avail. "I just wish that I didn't have Parliament the day after my meeting with Spain and Portugal," she muses, leaning backwards into Nicholas' touch as he begins to massage her shoulders in an attempt to calm the Queen's nerves. "It's as if someone thought it'd be a major laugh to see how exhausted I look after two days' worth of meetings."

"Darling, no one thought of that schedule just to inconvenience you," Nicholas assures, pressing a chaste kiss to Mia's cheek, making the young Queen blush at the contact. "I am sure your grandmother faced similar trials and tribulations as you. Keep in mind, she did have two young, impulsive, adventurous boys to wrangle as well," he smiles, and Mia can't help but laugh at the thought of her father and uncle being young and causing mischief with one another.

"How furious Grandma must have been if they interrupted her meeting with Spain and Portugal," Mia laughs, thinking back to her first time meeting Queen Clarisse Renaldi in San Francisco six years ago. "I remember how impatient she was when she met me because I had kept Spain and Portugal waiting," she fondly reminisces, knowing she wouldn't trade her early days with her grandmother for the world.

"Ah, yes. See, Mia? You have nothing to worry about, my love," Nicholas comforts, running his hands through Mia's hair, working to detangle any knots he can see or feel. "You have been Queen of Genovia for merely a month; give yourself time to settle in and find a schedule," the blue-eyed Lord Devereaux suggests, a smile gracing his lips as he looks down on the only woman he has ever truly loved.

"I suppose you are right, Nicholas," Mia admits, leaning back into her fiancé's touch.

"When aren't I?" he jokes, earning himself a slap to the chest from Mia as a result.

"What I'd give to just be able to have time to relax!"

An idea quickly dawns on Nicholas as he stares off into the living room of Mia's chambers.

"You, me, popcorn, two-liter Dr. Pepper, and a movie. You in?"

"Nicholas, I so had hoped to take a bath and then going straight to bed…" Mia begins before being cut off by her dashing, quick-witted fiancé.

"Then go take a relaxing bubble bath while I make fresh popcorn for us downstairs! What could be more relaxing than watching a movie curled up with a fluffy blanket, some buttered popcorn, and wrapped in the tender embrace of the one you love?" Nicholas suggests, and Mia has to admit, the man has an excellent gift for persuasion.

"Deal. See you in fifteen to twenty minutes?"

"Of course."

With a soft, slow kiss to the lips, Mia and Nicholas then go their separate ways to allow for Mia to soak in the bath while Nicholas cooks the popcorn from scratch and fixes their drinks downstairs in the kitchen.

Exactly eighteen-and-a-half minutes later, Nicholas arrives back in Queen Mia's chambers, and the sight that greets him makes Nicholas grin like a love-sick school boy. Mia is lying on her side on her couch, her purple nightgown on as she surrounds herself with pillows and blankets of all shapes and textures.

"Did you save me any room?" Nicholas jokes, and Mia taps the spot behind her as an invitation for her love to come closer.

"Of course I did!" she practically whines, not sure why Nicholas has not yet sat down where she can dive into the buttered delectable that is Nicholas' homemade popcorn.

Nicholas slips under the fleece blanket behind Mia, and soon the Queen of Genovia rests her head on her love's muscular chest, hearing his heart beating like a strong train in the most comforting manner.

"So, what are we watching?"

"One of my favorites. Adventures in Babysitting."

Nicholas could not tell anyone what the film was about before watching it, but if Mia wanted to watch it as a way to de-stress, well then that was perfectly acceptable to him. Throughout the film, Nicholas jokes that Brenda reminds him a lot of Lilly, to which Mia replies that she would more likely be Brenda due to the fact that her hair used to frizz and curl like that before Paolo worked his magic on her. They both laugh at the part where the babysitter gets so concerned that one of the boys she's watching has died of his stab wound received from a gang fight, only to find out that the boy had merely been stabbed in the foot. As the movie progresses, Mia has moved to where her head is resting in the very center of Nicholas' chest, the top of Mia's head situated under Nicholas' chin. Curling across Nicholas' stomach, Mia's left hand intertwines with her fiancé's right hand as Nicholas' thumb gently strokes along Mia's knuckles. His left hand and Mia's right connect at Mia's left shoulder when Nicholas rests his palm against his fiancée; Mia loops their fingers together to hold on to the man she loves. Soft snores escape both of their lips as the final credits to Adventures in Babysitting roll, and the back of Nicholas' mind registers that his idea of a movie night definitely gave Queen Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi a chance to receive some much-needed rest and a night of domestic bliss with her true love and fairytale prince, Lord Nicholas Devereaux. When Brigitte and Brigitta find the lovebirds intertwined the next morning, the two maids slip out of the Queen's bedchambers as quietly as they entered it, not wanting to disturb Queen Amelia and her fiancé- soon to be Prince Consort- Lord Nicholas Devereaux.

Author's Note: And there it is! My first Princess Diaries story! Upon re-watching the movies this past week, I have absolutely fallen head over heels in love with Nicholas and Mia as well as Clarisse and Joe, more so than I think I ever did as a child when the movies originally came out! (It helps that I know who most of the actors are now. Lol.) Anyway, I wrote this in about an hour and fifteen minutes, and I am immensely proud of this sweet piece of fluff and knew I had to share it before I went to sleep for the night. So, at only forty minutes before midnight, here is my contribution to the fandom! All reviews would be greatly appreciated, and if you have any Mia X Nicholas or Joe X Clarisse stories rated T or lower you'd like to see from me, then please give me a prompt in either a review or PM! Until next time, dear readers; have an amazing day, afternoon, or night!