Wow, thank you all so so much for the feedback on the last chapter of You and I :) as you will all know, this is the follow up sequel and I hope all you amazing people who followed Love is Blind and You and I will continue to follow this story and their journey of finally being together. I still have lots of ideas for this Clarisse and Joseph and look forward to writing them out for you :)

Please enjoy and remember to let me know what you think? It'll be much appreciated :) thank you.

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Sunday 10th July 2005.

After some beautiful time away together at the summer lodge celebrating their surprise marriage, husband and wife returned to the palace this morning and as Joseph went off to help the security team, Clarisse made her way to her office to check through the post that had been left for her while waiting for her granddaughter to return.

Coming in through the main door a short time later and seeing her grandmothers office door was open, Mia looked up at her uncle. "Uh, that wasn't open when we left, was it?" She asked and made her way over to the door.

"No, it wasn't," Pierre said shaking his head as he followed her.

Reaching the door, she put her hand out for the handle to close it back up when she spotted her grandmother stood at her desk with her back to them "grandma?" She said in surprise and watched as she turned slightly to look over at her.

"Ahh, here you are," she smiled and looked back down at the post in her hands.

"Yes, we just got back from church, but what are you doing back here so soon," Mia asked as she walked over to her and kissed her cheek "you're meant to be on your honeymoon," she teased as Pierre came in through the door.

"Oh, darling, there's still lots of work that needs to be done, it doesn't stop just because I got married, you know?" She said and smiled while turning to her "we have a coronation to prepare for."

"Hello, mom," Pierre smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Hello darling," she smiled up at him then at her granddaughter.

"Okay, so did you enjoy your mini honeymoon then?" Mia asked.

"Yes, yes we did," Clarisse smiled at the thought of the last two days and nodded as she looked back down at the post in her hands "we decided whilst we were there that we are going to plan a longer honeymoon after the coronation."

"Aww okay, well at least you won't have to worry about this place or rush back to get back to work," Mia smiled as her grandmother nodded.

"That's exactly what I said," she smiled "anyway, how was church this morning?"

"It was lovely, you were missed though," Mia smiled, averting her gaze to the bruise on her grandmothers lip "what happened to your lip, grandma?"

"Oh, you don't want to know," Clarisse said with a shake of her head as she smiled cheekily.

"Ew," Mia exclaimed as she suddenly realised how she had got the bruise.

Laughing, Clarisse shook her head "oh darling, you do make me laugh," she smiled at her "anyway, I did come back earlier today for another reason. Would you please join me out in the garden for tea? We need to have a talk about something?" She asked.

"Oh, am I in trouble or something?" Mia asked and watched as her grandmother shook her head.

"No, it's nothing like that,"

"Oh okay that's good to know," Mia smiled and nodded "can I go and get changed out of my church clothes first?"

"Of course you can," Clarisse smiled and watched as Mia leant closer, kissing her cheek once again "I'll wait here, come and get me when you're finished."

"I will," nodded Mia as she walked out of the office.

"Is that thee talk?" Pierre asked and watched as Clarisse nodded before looking up at him.

"Yes, it's thee talk." She said and looked across the room "I thought I better do it today while I have a chance too."

"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asked, watching her.

"No, this is something that I must do on my own," Clarisse said and looked back up at him "thank you for the offer though."

"It's okay, I just hope she takes it better than her father did."

"Me too," Clarisse nodded "I know she will be upset at first, mad even but I'm hoping she will understand and don't do what her father did."

"Me too, but I'm sure she'll be fine," he nodded and looked around the office "where's Joe anyway?"

"Oh, he's helping Shades,"

"Didn't he retire on Friday?" Pierre asked and smirked as Clarisse nodded.

"Yes, he did," she laughed "but he just wanted to make sure they were getting on okay."

"I see," Pierre nodded and stepped closer to her "well, I best go and get on with what I need to do."

"Okay, darling," Clarisse said and smiled as he kissed her cheek.

"Send for me, if you need me," he smiled and made his way over to the door.

"I will," Clarisse said, watching him.

"Good luck," he said and smiled back over at her.

"Thank you," she smiled and watched as he disappeared out of sight. Letting out a sigh, she moved around her desk and sat down to continue going through her post.

Shortly after Mia returned to her office and they made their way out into the garden together. "So grandma, what did you want to talk to me about?" Mia asked as she sat down opposite her grandmother.

"Well, on Friday night you told me that you had your suspicions about me and Joseph for a while?" Clarisse said as she rested her arms either side her cup and saucer on the table.

"Yes," Mia nodded.

"Though it's obvious that you are happy for us, and have accepted us as being together, I wanted to ask you, how long do you think we have been together?"

"Uh I don't know, a couple years perhaps," Mia shrugged "I had my first suspicion when you were in San Francisco, when we first met properly. Though I didn't know you before that and it's hard to explain but something in you changed on that trip, something in you both changed."

"You are correct, something in us did change on that trip," Clarisse said as she looked down at her cup a moment before taking a deep breath and looked back up at her "but that wasn't the start of it, we have a long history together." She said softly and watched as her granddaughter sat open mouthed.

That Afternoon.

"Oh Lilly, I'm so mad right now," Mia exclaimed as she walked into the guest room her best friend was staying in.

"Why are you mad, what's happened?" Lilly asked and watched her friend as she began pacing the floor.

"My grandmother has been lying to me, that's what's happened," Mia exclaimed and stopped a moment to fold her arms, before continuing to pace the floor "it's like deja vu all over again from when I first found out I was a princess, oddly enough we were in gardens then too." She said and shook her head slightly as she remembered that day.

"Oh, what has she been lying to you about?" Lilly asked and watched as she stopped and looked back at her.

"Her and Joe, they have a very long history together. Not only did they grow up together, which I knew about anyway, but they were each other's firsts."

"Wow, they do have a history," Lilly exclaimed in surprise.

"I know right, and get this they were even together for a few months when she was on a break from my grandfather, they were actually preparing to divorce each other but they ended up getting back together for the sake of my uncle and father, and she even cheated on him with Joseph, a few years after they did get back together."

"Oh,"

"Then after my grandfather died she and Joseph spent thirteen years in a secret relationship and was actually due to get married on the day my father died, he was driving her to Joe's house in Italy where they were going to be married when they got into the accident." Mia said and moved to sit down on the bed "I'm so angry with her for not telling me any of this before, or the fact that my grandfather had spent most of their marriage cheating on her."

"Oh, Mia," Lilly said softly as she moved closer to her.

Meanwhile, out in the gardens Joseph and Clarisse had been wondering around hand in hand silently for some time before Clarisse finally spoke. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," Joseph said as he looked at her.

"She does," she said sadly while looking down at the floor as she placed her free hand on his arm "you didn't see her face when I told her everything."

"Well what you did tell her is a huge thing, so please give her time and she will soon come around." Joseph said as he looked on ahead.

"She can't understand why I didn't tell her before, and she is right I had plenty of opportunities too tell her, like when she first moved here last month and we were in the throne room after just finding out she had to marry to become Queen, we talked about arranged marriages and I had told her, her grandfather was my best friend and that we had grown fond of each other. I should have told her the truth then," Clarisse said and shook her head.

"Yes, but that was the truth," Joseph said as Clarisse looked up at him "when he passed away you were best friends, it was only over that next year that you realised what he really was and how much you meant to him."

"That's true," Clarisse nodded and looked on ahead "oh, I don't know, I think I have messed up."

Stopping, Joseph turned to her and cupped her face "you haven't messed up, she will come around eventually. You'll see."

"I hope you're right," she said sadly and they continued on their walk.

Later That Day.

Standing in the library doorway, Joseph watched as Mia sat at the table going through the old photo albums. Slipping his hands in his pockets moment later, he finally stepped in the room and made his presence known. "What are you doing, princess?" He asked as she looked up at him.

"Just going through the old albums, trying to figure out why my grandmother had lied to me," she said and looked back down at the album "why you both lied to me."

"Technically we didn't lie, we just never told you the truth but we didn't lie to you about it," Joseph said as he watched her look back up at him.

"You know I'm mad at you too, right?" She said and looked back down, studying the photo in the album of her grandmother with her head resting against her horses head.

"I know you are," he nodded and moved over to the shelves, looking for two albums in particular "and you have every right to be, but you know how it is Mia. Being a Royal, having to follow rule after rule, it was completely different for your grandmother." He said, finding the albums he was looking for.

"How so?" She asked, looking over at him as he slowly made his way back.

"Well, with you being born into royalty you are now free to be with anyone you like, you can date them in public, you can marry them in public. Your relationship has no need to be kept a secret, because you were born into royalty. The same goes for your grandmother and your grandfather, their whole marriage was public, they were happy and nothing had to be a secret, because he was of course the King," he said, placing the albums down on the table and opened one up.

"Right," Mia said, watching him.

"Even though I had warned her about the cheating the day before the wedding, your grandmother was still very happy in her marriage until she caught your grandfather with the other woman, on their anniversary of all days," he said and looked up at her and turned the album around before pushing it towards her "that's when things changed, Mia. She wanted to leave, she wanted to move on and be happy, be with someone that made her happy, someone that wouldn't do what your grandfather had done."

"Someone like you," Mia asked and watched as he nodded.

"She, as you know had filed for divorce and we were happy but she soon realised that if she went through with it then your father and uncle would lose everything. And so, she put her sons before herself, duty over love. She remained at the palace and continued to play happy families with your grandfather whenever they were out in public together, but behind closed doors there was no them."

"But they got back together," Mia asked and looked down at the album he had pushed towards her.

"Yes they did, and they remained together until he passed away. They did go through a rough patch, and yes we did spend the night together during that time but she told him, so he knew and they stayed together, for the boys. And it wasn't until after he passed away that she discovered that he had been having another affair, he, your grandfather wasn't very nice to your grandmother in the last few years of his life. He accused your grandmother of cheating, she wasn't of course but that didn't stop him from accusing her, when it was him who was cheating all the long."

"And then you got back together?" She asked, looking up at him as he nodded.

"Yes we did, and this is my point," he said and looked down at the album "we both loved each other a great deal, and we wanted to be together and we were. But in secret, because if anyone found out then she would lose everything and I mean everything."

"Because she wasn't a Royal by blood?" She asked.

"Yes, she could have stepped down after your grandfather died but she continued to rule until your father was ready to take over, sadly it was never to be. When your father passed away she fought hard to keep the crown where it should be, members of parliament wanted her to step down, because of course she was only Royal by marriage she had no rights. We did break up then and I moved back to Italy for a while, but when it came time to go and see you, she asked if I could accompany her and while we were there we reconciled. It wasn't something we planned on happening, but because it did it meant again keeping it a secret. Over time some people discovered the truth or had their suspicions, like yourself but luckily for us those who did know kept it to themselves because if it did get out,"

"Then she would have lost everything," Mia said and watched as Joseph nodded.

"Yes," he said "tell me something, what do you see when you look at the photos of her with your grandfather and your uncle when he was younger, before she found him on their anniversary?" He asked and watched as she looked down at the album, studying several photos "and what do you see when you look at the photos in the other album that were taken in the years after they had got back together?"

"Her smile was more genuine in the first album, much like how it is now when she's with you," Mia said as she looked back up at Joseph "in the others, it looks forced."

"Your grandmother, Mia, just wanted to be happy. She kept all this from you, for you, because if she didn't you wouldn't be here now preparing to become Queen next week." He said and watched as she looked back down at the photos "please think about what I have said, and think about what life your grandmother had."

Looking up, Mia watched as he nodded slightly before turning and walking out of the library. Looking back down at the photos, she flicked through the pages and began to cry. She never noticed the smile until he had pointed it out, she never realised that she had kept it from her, for her and all the anger she had felt since finding out the truth this afternoon just melted away.

That Evening.

Hearing a knock on her suite door, Clarisse looked up from the book she was reading and sat up. "Come in," she called and placed the book down on the coffee table as the door opened and Mia appeared "Mia?"

"I wondered if you had a moment?" She asked, stepping in the room and closed the door behind her.

"Of course I do," Clarisse nodded and patted the space beside her "come and sit down."

"Thanks," Mia said and moved to sit down beside her.

"Is everything alright?" Clarisse asked after a moments silence.

"Not really," Mia said and looked at her "but I have come to apologise and to make it right between us, if I can?"

"Okay," Clarisse nodded and clasped her hands together in her lap.

"I'll admit after you told me what you told me this afternoon I was hurt, I was angry and even considered going back to San Francisco, that was until Joseph came to see me." Mia said.

"He did?" Clarisse asked in surprise and watched as her granddaughter nodded.

"I understand why you didn't tell me now, and I'm so sorry for being mad at you and walking away from you at the table," Mia said softly, unable to look at her "I'm sorry grandma."

"You don't have to be sorry, you had every right," Clarisse said softly and wrapped her arm around her granddaughters shoulders "besides, I should be the one saying sorry to you. I'm sorry Mia." Clarisse said and rested her head against hers.

"Are we okay now," Mia asked after a moment and looked at her grandmother as she nodded.

"Yes we are," Clarisse smiled as Mia leant closer and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you," Mia smiled and realised someone was missing "hey, where's Joe?"

"Oh, he's in his suite getting a few things to bring here," she smiled.

"Okay," Mia nodded "well I best go before he gets back, you know with it still being the honeymoon period and all." She giggled and stood to her feet.

"Yes," smiled Clarisse as she stood to her feet and watched her granddaughter walk over to the door. Following her, she opened the door "see you nice and early tomorrow?"

"Yes of course," Mia smiled and kissed her cheek before turning to walk out, nearly bumping into Joseph as she did.

"Oh hey Joe," Mia smiled and looked down at the box.

"Hello," he smiled "with you both smiling, I take it that things are okay between you both now?" He asked and walked into the room, placing the box down on the sideboard before turning back to them.

"Yes, and it's all thanks to you," Mia smiled and kissed his cheek as he moved to stand beside Clarisse. Smiling, she stepped back "see you two love birds in the morning."

"Yes, you will," Clarisse smiled "goodnight darling," she said and watched as she walked off. Stepping closer, she closed and locked the door and turned back to her husband as he stood with his hands in his pockets, watching her "I see you found some bits to bring here?"

"Yes, I did," he nodded and watched as she stepped closer to him and snaked her arms around his shoulders.

"What's say, we sort them out tomorrow?" She asked, leaning into him as he snaked his arms around her waist "we are still on our honeymoon period after all."

Smirking, he nodded slightly and looked into her eyes "I suppose we are."

Smiling, Clarisse smoothed her hands down his arms as she stepped back. Biting her bottom lip, she turned and walked over to the bedroom door before stopping and turning back to him as he stood smiling at her "are you coming, or not?" She asked.

"Oh, I'm definitely coming," he smirked and walked over to her, gently guiding her backwards into the bedroom and over to the bed as he kicked the door closed behind them.

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Not the best chapter, but I did try to get it as I saw it. Please do let me know your thoughts for the first chapter of this follow up story :) it's much appreciated, thank you and thanks for reading.