A/N-We do not own Shrek 2 and if you sue us...you will never see a baht as neither of us has one to give you.
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Chapter III
"Them"
The king and the queen were slowly walking along the corridor. They were both silent, and deeply in thought: the king watched absently out of the window, delighted by the beautiful day outside; the sun was shining, and the rays of sunshine were lighting the rooms in the castle. Harold turned to his wife with a big smile on his lips, but his smile faded away when he saw the queen's expression: her eyes were sad, and she seemed a little bit distant, her hands clasped at her waist.
Harold stopped walking: Lillian simply continued to walk, completely preoccupied. He waited a moment, staring at his wife while she continued to walk along the corridors.
"Lillian" he softly called her.
"Yes…what?" she stopped, looking around her. She saw her husband some steps behind her, looking at her a little bit amused: she put her hands on her hips, giving him a severe look. "Darling, what on earth are you doing? We do not have time for this!"
"I know. But you was so deeply lost in your thoughts…I was worried, are you alright?"
"Yes…of course, thank you…" Harold smiled and put a hand against her back.
"Come, dear…our daughter is coming home. We should try to show more exuberance in the fact."
"You are right, as always…I was only worried…if she wouldn't be satisfied with me. I don't know if I was a good mother. I have never really been a mother. Fiona was taken away from us when she was only a little girl." Harold swallowed uncomfortably at his wife's statement. He had taken Fiona away from Lillian; but not from them both. "Harold, for goodness sake, I don't know what I have to do!" Lillian started to tighten her hand's clasp, looking down at them "I don't know, I don't know, maybe she wouldn't be happy with us, maybe she didn't want to come here, and--"
"Lillian, love" Harold stopped her absurd guilt trip, taking her by her forearms "Lillian, listen to me." he looked straight into her blue eyes, speaking from his heart "I am sure that you will be just as good a mother as you were years ago, and Fiona will be happy. You love her; you are her mother. Even if you two have never really gotten to know each other, it will be fine. Do you believe me?" "I do" she gave him a trembling smile "I do…" "Wonderful" he kissed her on the forehead "Don't worry. Come, my love…it will be alright…" They walked on in silence. Suddenly Lillian smiled happily at her husband, slipping her little hand in his big one. "Smile more often, darling, you're so beautiful when you smile…" whispered the king in her ear, kissing his wife's palm. Then he saw some guards and, with apologetic smile, he released Lillian's hand.
"Remember…" "It will be alright," she repeated softly, gazing straight in front of her, a little bit more confident. Together, they passed through the big entrance's large doors. The crowd was enormous: it seemed like the entire kingdom wanted to see the princess and her handsome new husband.
The frontal courtyard was full of men, women and children, and it was decorated with coloured and sweet-smelling flowers. The big fountain in the centre was happily squirting water. A soft murmur of admiration came from the crowd when they saw their queen standing with the king on the top of the main stairs, and she blushed violently, bowing her head slightly, feeling uncomfortable with all the eyes fixed on her. Harold put a arm around Lillian's slim waist and smiled gently.
"Did you see, darling? They adore you, and I think that Fiona will do the same." Lillian felt immediately better: standing at his husband's left, as always, with their people in front of them, all waiting for the princess's return to her home after a long time, everything looked simply perfect. She gave a quick glance to Harold: he was smiling widely, looking proudly at the crowd; suddenly, the queen felt a little squeeze to her backside and look amazed at the king, who returned her gaze with a grin.
"You're beautiful" he murmured softly to her "You make me so happy…" She blushed.
"Not in front of all the kingdom, Harold!" Lillian warned.
"You're right, I'm sorry."
"Don't worry." she smiled. "I am not worried." The king dropped his hands to his sides in mock rejection. Lillian smiled softly, slightly touching his hand.
A fanfare started, announcing the return of the princess. A strange little onion-shaped carriage entered the luxurious courtyard, surprising those present with its particular form. It was white and its wheels were made by green vine-branch; on its back there were some suitcases, bags and packs and a little wooden sign was hung beneath them; it recited, in some vulgarly printed words, "Just married".
"Announcing the long-awaited return of the beautiful Princess Fiona and her new husband!" Harold looked proudly at his wife, feeling his heart beat loudly against his chest "This is it!" he said, thrilled, and Lillian could see the happiness radiating around him and she smiled softly, resisting the urge to throw herself into his arms and kiss him.
The small page who had announced the princess's return went nearer to the carriage, taking the handle. A man with a horrible hat, which was similar to a jellyfish, rested a small birdcage on the cobbled paving and opened it. A group of white pigeons flew in front of the carriage, and temporarily covered the door of the onion-with-wheels. Then they all saw their princess and their prince, their future monarchs. Harold and Lillian saw their only daughter after a long time and felt their heart break into pieces. In front of the entire crowd there were two ogres.
Not a handsome Prince Charming and a lovely Princess, but two big, green ugly ogres; and a little annoying donkey. The crowd held their breaths: the female ogre had Princess Fiona's same red hair, like her father when he was younger, and the same grey blue eyes as her mother. The little crown on her head was the crown of the princess of Far Far Away, and something in her smile reminded everyone of the little, red-haired girl who used to run across the gardens, playing with her mother and her father, a lot of years before. Suddenly the donkey said something, jumped again on the carriage and went quickly away, leaving his friends alone in front of the mass. The queen tried to close her mouth and swallowed hard. Trying to look pleased by her little girl, yet she knew that she probably looked shocked. Lillian tried again, however, to smile, in vain, forcing her lips in a polite grimace, her eyes still widened, but she managed to close her mouth.
The king, by his side, wasn't so careful: with his mouth dropped in shock and his brown eyes widened more in horror than in surprise. It did not even look like he had tired to control his shock. Truth was, Harold felt betrayed: where was their little girl, his dear daughter, the young lady that had eyes like her mother, the baby that had slept with them during the storms? Also the people were shocked: a baby started to cry and a little white pigeon, due to the fact that he was also looking at the princess, crashed against the wall, and fell on the red carpet in front of the Royal Couple.
"Who on earth are they?" Harold whispered furiously to Lillian, both starting to walk forward, waving slightly.
"I think…" started Lillian slowly "…that's our little girl."
"That's not 'little', that's a really big problem! Wasn't she supposed to kiss Prince Charming and break the spell?"
"Well…" she started again, trying to find a good side of the situation "He's no Prince Charming, but they do look…do look…"
"Do look what, Lillian?"
"The do look …happy together?"
"Please, dear, we're not that desperate! Good!" he exclaimed, seeing that his daughter and her spouse were not looking at them, and he clasped his wife's hand "Here's our chance. Let's go back inside and pretend we're not home"
"Harold!" the queen exclaimed gently but firmly stopping her husband "We have to be understanding and…"
"And what?!" the king almost shouted, looking terrified.
"Stop it dear, it's going to be--"
"A disaster! There is no way to find something good in this situation! But, dear, I really--"
"Really?" she murmured in a low tone, peeved by his ramblings.
"I don't want to be here!" The king and the queen looked in front of them: Fiona and her husband were staring at them.
Queen Lillian smiled, but Harold made no such move. Rather he glared.
"Mom…Dad…" said Fiona, hugging her shocked parents "I'd like you to meet my husband…" she indicated the big ogre with a proud smile, not knowing that her parents were more than little bit upset. "Shrek."
Harold looked at his son-in-law, trying to understand why the world hated him so much as to give him such a son-in-law. At his left, Lillian made a small smile, clasping her hand in front of her stomach, looking desperately for a good characteristic in her son-in-law's aspect, but she couldn't find it. "Well, um…" started the horrible thing called Shrek, probably wondering what he had to say to his parent-in-laws "It's easy to see where Fiona gets her good looks from" he chuckled nervously. Fiona looked at him, horrified: her husband had just found out a perfect way to make her father angry. Shrek had just offended the queen, comparing her to her ogress daughter. The king looked at his son-in-law. If just some second before the ogre made him very upset, now he had the power to make terribly angry: how did he dare to offend his perfect mother-in-law? Now Harold was sure that he hated thoroughly his son-in-law, with all his heart. The queen, however, tried again to do a polite smile, understanding that the ogre only wanted to courteous to them: only, he picked up the wrong words to make a compliment to the queen. She gave a quick glance to both her husband and daughter, only to find that they were still looking dazed at Shrek
"Shall we go inside?" she asked carefully and she took her husband's hand in her own. "We could speak in the dining room, couldn't we?"
"Yes, we'll quickly go inside" Harold answered dangerously glaring at Shrek. Turning his back to the ogre and starting to walk back to the castle, he continued. "But we'll talk together at dinner, now I've something to discuss with the queen."
"Come, Fiona" said Lillian, looking sorry at her daughter "The housekeepers will show you your rooms, but I think that you already remember that, don't you?" she smiled at her daughter's happy and unbelieving eyes "Is it alright if you and your husband use your old rooms until you choose another?"
"Yes, Mom" the princess looked at her mother, who was still smiling at her. She didn't seem shocked like the king; she only smiled happily. When they all four reached the wooden doors of the castle and they entered in the big main entrance, the queen spoke again. "I'm so glad you're home again, my darling" she tightly hugged her daughter, even if she was taller then her.
"I'm very happy…"
"Aye" the king wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders and looked straight at their girl "We're both very happy." Lillian released her daughter and smiled at her: in her big grey eyes there were some little tears, and her smile was trembling. Fiona could tell that her mother was really happy to have the princess with her again, but her father seemed vexed still. "Sorry, Fiona, but we have to go now."
"What?" asked Fiona in disbelief "Dad…"
"But Harold…" the queen started sadly, understanding her husband's reasons but however a little bit annoyed "They have only just arrived, I would like to talk with them and--"
"At dinner, please. I need to talk to you, Lillian, it's quite pressing," he addressed to their daughter "I hope you aren't angry, dear, but I've to speak to your mother, immediately. See you at dinner." The king pressed a hand to the queen's hip and walked her along the corridor, and she gave her daughter a simple smile.
"See you after…"
Please forgive us for the delay...school, connection failures and general life stalled us. CHapter four is in the process of being written, so the wait will not be long.
Fabled Duo()
