Title: "The Power of Three Little Words"
Author: Kat Lee, the author formerly known as Pirate Turner
Rating: G
Summary: Sometimes, she hates those three, little words, but her Prince Charming knows the words she'll always love to hear.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: 244. That's the number of stories that were sitting on my hard drive collecting dust because I lack the energy and time to take care of them as I once did. My betaing pattern has always been to write, then type up if written on paper, the story, read it aloud to my beloved Jack and our children, editing as I go, and then finally format and post. Sadly, this part is simply taking too much of my time and energy, and my beloved Jack and I have too little time together in person these days to be able to keep up with my stories. So what to do? Give up writing? I actually considered it for a while, tried to make excuses to myself other than the large number of stories collecting cyber dust on my computer, as to why I lacked the energy and Muse to write new tales. And then, with the turn of the new year, I decided to stop running and face the problem. The problem is, quite frankly, that once one gets so bogged down in formatting and editing that writing is no longer a pleasure but the actual posting of those writings becomes a hassle and - egad! - work, it's time to cut something out, and that will never be the writing process. So, in short, yes, there will be mistakes in this tale. Yes, it's missing about half of the header information I usually include. But I wrote it for pleasure and am posting it in hopes of sharing that pleasure with others. Do with it as you will.
"She solved all her problems with bibbidi bobbidi boo." Queen Cinderella cast a glance at the young Princess from underneath her regal eyelashes. Her pretty, blue eyes, laced with her disdain and anger, made her point as clear as her glass slippers and caused the newest royal to her kingdom to lower her bright eyes in shame.
The girl had thought she'd the right to speak because she had made her own from rags to riches tale without her Prince's dowry. She had created her own restaurant, and it was the dishes she and her Prince made that earned them their greatest recognition and money.
Queen Cinderella sniffed disdainfully and stepped delicately pass the boisterous crowd around the young, African American Princess dressed in green. She could have pointed out that the younger woman had, at one time, been a frog or even that, if she had never met her Prince, she could not possibly have had enough funding to start managing her own, little cafe.
She could have also simply called her on her age. Being the second eldest Queen in all of Disney World did have its entitlements, after all, especially when the only woman who could outrank her preferred to spend her time playing with Dwarves and so had handed over the title of Disney's ultimate Queen with a whistle and a song.
Cinderella could have put the girl in her place with ease, but instead, she chose to ignore the Princess' words, slip pass her, and continue onward with all the eyes in the castle upon her. She kept her grace perfected and her style in perfect and smooth check. She smiled at all and waved at several but never met the girl's eyes as she slunk back into the shadows with her Prince.
This was Cinderella's party, not Tiana's, and Cindy made that clear to every one with regal grace and sweet ease. What she didn't let show was that the young and foolish Princess' words had brought up an old sore. Sometimes, the Queen hated those three, little words, bibbidi bobbidi boo. Tiana wasn't the first to say that that ancient spell had solved all her problems, and Cinderella knew she wouldn't be the last.
The spell had worked magic, and she did owe her Fairy Godmother her life. Still, it had done far from solving all her problems. It had taken away all her problems at the time, but it had given her new ones, too. She'd had to prove herself worthy to become the Queen not only to Charming's family and subjects but to the whole land of Disney and all its varied subjects. She no longer had to bow to her Stepmother, but now she had to find ways to make assorted kingdoms and every being in them happy enough that peace could continue to reign. She had to make the calls and the judgements when her Prince was away and, often times, still when he was right by her side. There were times when she almost missed the arguments between Drizella and Anastasia. She'd certainly take them in a heartbeat today over Captain Hook and Gaston, and Lucifer was far easier to control than Shere Khan. Cinderella stifled a sigh as she waved at her people, her smile never faltering. No one would ever know just how hard it was to be Queen over such varied lands and peoples, or how difficult it was when you had Pirates, thieves, and other scoundrels eagerly awaiting the chance to slit the throat of any good person and be away with their valuables.
She felt her Prince rather than saw him when he arrived at her elbow. His hand slid over the small of her back; she stepped closer to him. His fingers splayed over her slender back and massaged lightly at the tense spot she'd been trying to ignore ever since she'd heard Tiana's unladylike whisper. The girl had a lot to learn about being royalty, but then, so had she when Charming had first chosen her to be his bride, first chosen her and first fallen in love with her.
The people could say all they wanted that she had married him to escape her life of servitude to her stepmother and stepsisters. It was a free world, and she could stop their tongues from wagging with deceitful lies and false rumors no more than she could stop the wind from blowing. But she would always know the truth, as would he and any one who truly mattered. She had not married him to run away from anything. She had ran to him, because she had fallen in love with him on that first night they'd danced together and he had shown her kindness, just as he had fallen in love with her.
They moved together through the crowd, Charming's hand providing steady reinforcement at her back. They stepped out onto the dance floor, and when he smiled at her, his grin sparkling just like that first fateful night, the world began to melt away just as it had then. When he whispered three other little words, three little words which she loved to hear and which always gave her the strength to face anything that might be thrown at them, the world did disappear. "I love you," he said. She knew it to be true as she answered, whispering, "I love you, too," with a smile. They danced with the whole world watching them but their eyes seeing only one another and their hearts loving each other only forever more.
The End