Security by Petriebird18
Disclaimer: I own nothing, unfortunately.
Summary: It's 11 years before the 1st Princess Diaries movie and Joe has accepted a job at the palace of Genovia. This is another story of what happened before the movies and how Joe and Clarisse became friends. First chapters are sort of an introduction, the true Clarisse/Joe friendship won't happen until Chapter 4.
Author's Notes: Hello! This is my first Clarisse/Joe fic, I think it might end up being a pretty long fic, but I'm not sure how long. Hope you enjoy it! And as always, feedback is always helpful and encouraging! ;D
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Rupert sat at his desk reviewing some proposals from parliament and sighed.
"Is there something wrong?"
He smiled and looked up as Clarisse closed the door behind her and walked over to his desk.
"Oh, I was just contemplating the sanity of some of the members of parliament, that's all."
She smiled and picked up the proposal he was reading. "They can't seriously believe that building a moat around the entire country would be a good idea."
Rupert chuckled, "I know, but, if I'm not mistaken, that was proposed by young Lord Albester, his first year in parliament you know, inherited the seat after his father suddenly passed away a few months ago. Apparently, he thought that the moat would give the country a more 'old world kingdom feeling' which would increase tourism, and that we would also be able to call ourselves the island country of Genovia."
Clarisse couldn't help but laugh, "My goodness, do those gentlemen have nothing better to do than to sit around all day and think up these ridiculous proposals?"
Rupert took the proposals out of her hand and placed them back in a folder on his desk.
"Well, in all honesty, the other members didn't really agree with the plan, but they felt sorry for him, because it was his first proposal and he did just loose his father, they thought it best to humor him and then leave it up to me to reject the proposal."
Clarisse smiled and sat down on the sofa, "So you have to tell the young Lord, who we all know breaks down in tears over the drop of a hat, that a moat around the country is ridiculous."
"Exactly." Rupert sighed as he poured himself a glass of brandy.
"Rupert, it's not even 2 o'clock." Clarisse scolded.
"And with what I'm going to have to deal with in the next hour I'll need it." He said sitting down beside her, "Unless, of course…"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Clarisse…"
"No, Rupert" She said sternly, "The last thing I need is distraught man crying on my shoulder for the next 3 hours, which is exactly what he'll do. At least if you tell him he will at least try to hold back his tears. And if he doesn't, you can always excuse yourself because of the important meeting you have with the new security agent you hired." She finished with an annoying tone in her voice as Rupert mentally flinched.
"Ah, yes, the new agent, I had forgotten about that."
"Rupert, why didn't you tell me that you had hired more security? And what for, we have plenty of guards?"
He sighed and took her hands in his, "Clarisse, I want you to listen to me before you start yelling."
She closed her eyes and thought to herself "oh this can't be good", but opened her eyes again and nodded.
"I know you are not fond of having security constantly monitoring you…" She rolled her eyes and he continued, "but after what happened last month, James and I spoke and came to the decision that we need more security, in appearance as well as in actuality."
She had shivered slightly at the memory,
She had been walking in the gardens when a man who had managed to sneak onto the grounds attacked her from behind. If it hadn't been for a gardener who was working nearby hearing her scream and wrestling the man off of her, she didn't even want to think of what would have happened.
"Rupert, that was a one time fluke of security, and besides, you now have Samuel following my every step. Open the door, he will be right there, I assure you."
He took her hand in his, "Clarisse, you are my wife, my best friend, and I don't want anything to happen to you. But I also want you to feel comfortable in our own home. The gentleman I have hired is one of the highest recommended security personnel I have heard of. He has military and special-ops training, and I have been told he has a presence that in and of itself will make anyone think twice about crossing him or trying to hurt anyone under his protection. He's going to help update our system and retrain our guards so that you, hopefully, won't need someone to follow your every step but will be just as safe as if someone was always with you."
Clarisse was quiet for a minute, "How would they do that? More cameras?"
Rupert sighed and dropped her hand, "Yes, that will probably be part of the reorganization."
"So I will still be watched, only now I won't know who's watching me, when or where. For all I know whoever's watching me could be making rude comments or…"
"Clarisse," Rupert interrupted her, "These men are professionals and will act as such, besides, what rude comments could they possibly say about a woman the entire country loves."
Clarisse smiled, "Flatterer." He smiled and kissed her hand, "So when am I to meet this new man?"
"I'm meeting with Lord Albester in 15 minutes, and then my meeting with the new man…oh, I keep forgetting his name, Joseph something…" He got up and searched through some papers on his desk, "Ah, well, James says he prefers to be called Joseph or Joe. I meeting with him at 3 o'clock, but I'd prefer to speak with him a bit before you meet him. I scheduled the meeting to last for 2 hours, but depending on his ideas it might take longer."
"Well I am having tea with a few of the Ladies and then I have to meet with the chef about the menu for next week's ball. Would it be alright if I met him after that, it would be around 5 by the time I finish everything."
"Of course," Rupert smiled "Now I have to prepare get ready for this meeting, so if you'll excuse me."
"Behave yourself. And try not to make Lord Albester cry." Clarisse winked and walked out of the study.
End of Chapter 1
Hope you enjoy it, please review and let me know!
The next chapter will be up in another day or two and it's about Rupert meeting Joe and then Clarisse meets Joe (warning: this is not a 'head over heals in love with each other right off the bat' fic, so no big fireworks or anything)
