Disclaimer: I do not own Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper.
AN: Next chapter!
LavernaG: Thanks...I hope so too ;)
Chapter 14:
"What's wrong, Anneliese?" Erika asked her friend. Anneliese was still standing on the stand, not having moved at all. She was still staring at the door, the way that Bertie had hurried after Carp had stormed off. If anyone came in now, they would've said that Anneliese was worried about Carp and Bertie.
But Erika had been there when they had travelled down the corridor and saw the portrait of her family. She knew that Anneliese was thinking of something to do with them, but Erika didn't understand why Anneliese looked so sad at the thought of her parents.
"Nothing." Anneliese tried to play off.
If it were anyone else, they would've known to stop asking. But Erika was a village girl who loved her friends, and so she persisted. "It's not nothing."
Anneliese sighed, fiddling with the edge of her gown. She exmained the shadow she made with the sun from the window behind her, then glanced up at Erika. "It's...it's my father."
"What about him?" Erika asked carefully.
"Well…" Anneliese sighed again. "My father…"
She didn't get very far, when there was a knock on the door and it opened, revealing the youthful face of Queen Genevieve, her hair swinging behind her. "Hello."
"Mother!" Anneliese beamed at her mother, running over to hug her tightly.
"Hello, Anneliese dear." The Queen returned the hug then let go. "Do you know where Bertie and Madame Carp are?"
She shook her head.
"Oh well." The Queen sighed. "I was hoping that she could help me."
"Mother? You aren't wearing your spectacles." Anneliese pointed out, eyes wide with wonder.
The Queen smiled. "I'm not?" She laughed. "I don't need them anymore." She explained. Anneliese smiled and nodded, though it was clear she didn't understand. "Don't slouch, Anneliese," Genevieve gently reprimanded.
Anneliese immediately straightened up. Erika tilted her head, looking at the woman. The Queen.
"Hello your majesty." Erika said, trying to sound grown up.
The Queen smiled at her. "Hello, Erika."
Erika beamed, feeling a warm feeling in her chest. But there was something distant about the woman. The Queen was like her mother in so many ways, motherly and warm and caring, but there was something cold about her, something restricting. This something was stopping her from showing Anneliese complete affection, like how she had pulled away from the hug early.
"Now that you two seem to be occupying yourselves, I might as well leave." The Queen said. She glanced at the two. "You two stay here, alrigh?"
Anneliese nodded obediently, and the queen closed the door.
"Anneliese?" Erika asked quietly. "What were we talking about earlier?"
Anneliese shook her head, looking at the floor as she once more took her place on the stand. "Mother doesn't like to talk about it. It makes her sad."
"But she's not here anymore." Erika reasoned.
"Don't want to." Anneliese muttered, and that was the end of the conversation.
Carp and Bertie were making their way back to the room, moving around guards and the like. They briefly passed by Dominick and Julian, who gave a double take at the sight of Carp free, but did nothing, just continuing their walk.
They entered the room to find it in sullen silence, Anneliese standing on the stand while Erika sat nearby, watching her friend in concern. As the two entered, Anneliese plastered on a polite smile. "My mother was looking for you."
"Was she?" Bertie asked, flustered. "I'd better go find her." She hesitated, glancing at Carp, then nodded to herself. "Take care of them."
Carp grumbled, crossing her arms but nodding nonetheless. When the door closed, Anneliese and Erika stared at her.
Carp snatched up the pin-cushion and walked over to the princess. "Arms up," she ordered, and got to work. While she felt Erika's gaze on her, she kept her mouth shut.
"It's not that hard to be nice, you know." Erika said as Madame Carp started to adjust her dress.
"What?" Carp grunted, looking up in irritation.
"It's not that hard to be nice." Erika repeated. "You act mean, but you don't have to be."
"It's what's expected of me."
Erika shrugged. "No one should care but you."
Madame Carp rolled her eyes, but listened to the girl anyway. "And you're an expert in being nice?"
"Yep!" Erika smiled. "That's why the baker is so nice to me!"
"Not just the baker." Carp muttered under her breath, but cleared her throat when Erika glanced at her in confusion. "Never mind. Go on."
"You just need to be polite." Erika said.
"Really?" Carp asked sarcastically. "Never would have thought."
"People think that you have to be mean to get things, but you can also be nice. If people like you, they'll give you things."
"Or they'll walk all over you." Carp replied.
"Then that person is bad and you shouldn't be around them." Erika reasoned. Childish reasoning, but reasoning nonetheless.
"Really?" Carp sighed, exasperated. "So be polite."
"Yes." Erika nodded, as if imparting some life-changing knowledge. "Be polite. Say please, thank you, yes, please or no, thank you. Say hello and bye bye. Hold the door for people?"
"Hold the door?" Carp asked incredulously. "What do you think I am? A footman?"
"A what?" Erika asked, tilting her head to the side.
"A man who holds doors." Anneliese translated easily.
"Oh." Erika said. She laughed. "No, silly. You're a woman."
"Oh my God." Carp rubbed a hand over her face. "I can't believe this."
"What?" Erika asked, looking confused once more.
"Never mind." Carp said, waving her off.
"And you should smile more." Erika informed the woman. "You have a nice smile, and I think you'll look pretty if you smiled."
Carp stopped at that, looking up at the girl. "You think I'm...pretty?"
Erika shrugged. "Yes. Everyone's pretty, especially when they smile, right Anneliese?"
The princess gave her a radiant smile in response, and Erika giggled.
"See?"
Carp sighed. "I haven't smiled in a long time."
Erika leapt into Carp's field of vision. "Then let's practice!"
This being nice thing wasn't working out for her. "Dear lord help me."
"I don't look like father." Anneliese said, out of the blue, when Julian was tucking her into bed. She blinked sleepy eyes at him.
Julian froze entirely, forcing a smile on his face. "What?"
"I don't look anything like father." Anneliese observed. "I saw the painting in the hall."
Dammit. Julian should've had that removed when he had the chance. He had even been talking to Dominick about it. But he had been so caught up with arranging all the details with Bismark that he had completely forgotten.
"And?"
"I don't know." Anneliese shrugged. "I love father. I'm sad that I don't look like him." She yawned. She didn't look very upset, but Julian was used to supposedly emotionless monologues by now.
From young, Anneliese rarely showed negative emotion. If she smiled, it was blinding. If she was sad, her face would go blank until she had a solution or something else to distract her. Julian had no idea how to distract her, but thankfully, it seemed that sleep was starting to catch up on the girl.
"Well, you still have a ways to grow." Julian said, keeping to the bright side. "And when you get older, you'll probably look like him."
Anneliese nodded sleepily. "Yes. I don't want to look like mother."
"Why not?" Julian asked in surprise.
"She doesn't smile so much." Anneliese said. "Father smiled a lot. He's a happy person."
"That he was." Julian smiled. He kissed her forehead and pulled the blanket up, blowing out the light. "Good night, Anneliese."
"Good night, Julian."
"Dominick?"
"Yes, Erika?" Dominick asked, pulling out some spare blankets from the wardrobe in the corner. He and Julian would be sleeping in one of the spare guest rooms, not too far from Erika and Anneliese in case something happened at night. It was improper for them to still sleep in the same beds, since the girls were now ten.
"Did you know Anneliese's daddy?"
Dominick blinked at the unexpected question, unsure how to react. After all, Julian did say to leave it off as long as possible. "Um...not really."
"Oh." Erika sounded disappointed.
"Why?" Dominick asked gently.
"Well, we saw a painting of Anneliese's family, but she seemed really sad when we talked about her daddy." Erika explained quietly. "And she didn't want to talk about it. But talking fixes everything. So if she doesn't talk, I can't fix it."
Dominick walked over to the little girl, placing a hand over her tiny tanned one. "Erika, sometimes, time is the best thing to give a person. Anneliese will speak of it when she wants to, but you need to give her time."
"But she's hurting." Large blue eyes looked at him, imploring.
Dominick sighed. "I know. But it might hurt her more if she speaks of it. We'll just have to wait, until it no longer hurts for her to tell us."
Erika nodded sadly. "I hope that she feels better soon."
"We all do, Erika, we all do."
That night, the two men walked into the guest room, both silent as they unknowingly pondered over the same topic that the other was thinking of. They didn't say a word to each other though, even as they climbed into the single beds at each corner of the room.
The only thing they did exchange was a quiet "good night".