AN: As always, I don't own the characters. Also, I want to apologize to everyone who has been patiently waiting for the next installment. The past few months have been insanely busy with work and school, leaving me without much time or inspiration. And then when I did try to write this section, my computer ate it the first time. Of course, that just delayed me even more.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's short – really an interlude, but I already have plans for the next one.

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It was dark by the time Mia finally made it to the dining room for a late dinner with her Grandma and Joe. She and Nicholas had spent the bulk of the afternoon alternatively worrying about what was going on in the press and trying to keep busy in an attempt to keep their minds off the same thing. Needless to say, it hadn't worked very well.

With a sigh, she paused at the door to the small dining room that was used for more casual and intimate family meals. Charlotte had caught them as they'd headed to Nicholas's car, briefing them on the initial fallout from the news channels. Just the thought of it made her head pound, and she knew it would only get worse from here.

Shaking her head, she moved into the room, waving off the waiting butler who moved to escort her to her seat. "Hey, Grandma. Hey, Joe." Falling into her chair with a boneless thud, she ignored her grandmother's look of disdain at her posture. Instead, she leaded back into the unforgiving wood and closed her eyes.

"Mia? May we assume that something is wrong?"

Mia cracked open one eye to give a considering look to Joe. "What have you been doing today? Usually you're right on top of the maids' gossip." When he grinned a bit and shrugged, she groaned, really not needing that thought on top of everything else.

"Mia?"

"I've hit the news channels, Grandma."

"Well of course you have. You're the Queen."

The no-nonsense tone in Clarisse's voice made Mia smile slightly. "Yeah, Grandma, but this is a little different. I meant today. As in the six o'clock evening news." She paused for a long moment. "As in a waiter from last night sold some photos of Nicholas and I."

"Oh. Oh, Mia."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Do you need any help?"

"Not much to do, Joe. The waiter has been fired and Charlotte couldn't suppress the photos."

"Suppress the….oh, Mia. Not again." The disappointment in her grandma's voice was evident.

Mia couldn't keep from groaning. "Thanks, Grandma. It wasn't anything bad. Just a kiss at dinner – not even any tongue."

"Mia!"

Mia winced, but didn't back down. "I think I know better know than when I was sixteen, Grandma." She shook her head and straightened in her seat. "Sorry, Grandma. I didn't mean it; this whole situation has me off."

"How is Lord Nicholas handling it?" Joe's tone was curious but serious.

"Considering the subheads to all my headlines have to do with the fact that he and his friends seemed to have gotten into a fight?" She lifted a shoulder. "Surprisingly well. He's more worried about me than anything and he feels horribly that this is somehow his fault."

"But you had to realize that your relationship couldn't be hidden forever."

"We know Grandma. We'd actually discussed what to do when the press found out, so it wouldn't be as big of a surprise."

"The surprise was apparently on you though."

Joe's dry comment brought smiles to both her and her grandma's lips, as she suspected he had planned. Mia nodded. "Yeah. Bad timing and extra work for everyone trying to spin it in a positive direction – that the fight didn't have anything to do with us as a couple or me as a queen."

"Did it?"

Mia had expected the question and just shrugged. "That's between Nicholas and me, but no, not really – it was more between him and his friend."

"Oh?"

Mia didn't really want to get into it, but she knew they'd find out somehow. The maids know all after all. "His friend apparently thinks that he's with me just because it's a different way to get the crown."

Joe harrumphed. "He obviously doesn't know you, or your family."

Mia grinned at him. She sat up a bit and reached for her water glass. Taking a sip, she bit her lip. "Obviously, we knew that people were going to think that after what happened with his uncle. We were prepared for it even. Just…"

"Not from his closest friends."

"Yeah."

Her grandma reached across the table to take her hand. "If they're really his friends, they'll come around, Mia. All you can do is support him and not hold it against them."

"I know Grandma. And really, it's just his one guy friend – Myra figured it out last night and apologized." She shifted her hand to weave her fingers through Clarisse's. "I just wish I could do more for Nicholas."

"I can't speak for Lord Nicholas, Mia, but I think just having your support is enough." Joe leaned back in his chair.

Clarisse nodded. "And you both have ours, of course."

"Thanks, Grandma. Thanks, Joe." Mia smiled and nodded to the waiting staff member by the food-laden buffet, letting him know he could start serving. Just being able to talk with them both had helped to release some of the tension she'd been carrying around since Nicholas had shown up before lunch. She was finally starting to feel hungry.