A/N: Okay so this is my last season of watching house unless Lisa Edelstein comes back. I mean really, what's the point of ending a series and having one of the original cast members leave the season before the last season. That's just stupid. At least try to maintain all the original cast members you can for the last season to give the season more meaning and go out with a bigger bang. At first I read that she was getting 2 million for season 8 which I was like, wait that's not that bad at all (but keep in mind I am a student), but then I read that before she would have been making close to 4 million if she had done every episode in the season before the pay cut, and I was like whoa, that's almost a 50% pay cut. Then I was like now I understand better, seeing it in perspective. And seriously FOX, ya'll couldn't have gotten rid of Taub and give her his salary or at least split it between her, RSL, and Omar Epps. They deserve it more than him. Plus I love the way all of the naive people are happy that she's leaving and think the show will get better. News flash she doesn't write the shows, truth is the writing had declined horribly in this series. They have changed most of the character's personality including Foreman's who I (I think along with most people) absolutely loved in the first few seasons and whose character interacted well with House. They've brought house through this whole range of emotional ups and downs when I think honestly, if they had written the character true to the first few seasons would have been like to hell with all of this emotional bull less than half way through. Then they gave us the illusion that House and Cuddy were hooking up when most people would have liked it or at least accepted it, only to be like sike, he was hallucinating. Then they make us hate Cuddy for being with Lucas (I mean seriously if you were going to give us someone to hate her over, you could have at least given us some eye candy, which would also made it more understandable as to why she had hooked up with him in House's absence, pfft) only to then let her and House hook up for real this time now that we semi hate her. Then you allow her to almost make up for it, and we start to accept the relationship and then you make House go and take vicodin. I mean honestly for a character that was ultimately supposed to be and stay such a smart/bad ass, they really have house looking like soft, dumb ass who can't control his emotions. I mean of course we all know house is a softee at heart, which is most bad asses, but the thing that makes them bad asses is that they refuse to show that soft side. They will suffer in private and lash out at others. I know he supposedly "lashed out", but I'm just saying it's not one of his stronger skills. I could have written his lashing out better. But anyways, I guess it's okay, now I get to ignore anything that has FOX written on it now since that was the only thing I watched on it regularly. Don't get to catch the Simpson's that much (It's not balanced...lmao). Here goes this chapter, sorry for the long rant...lol.
"Well," Greg started, "I was thinking we should head back a few days earlier before you worry yourself to death."
James just looked at him dumbfounded. "What do you mean? You can't leave early. You are here on business."
"No," Greg started to correct him, "I was here on business. I've already entertained her father and cousin, now I'm just playing nice in order to give them the illusion that we are already allies."
"I don't see how you can separate the two," James told him.
"Do you or do you not want to go back in order to give her that thing?" Greg asked.
James just looked at him for a while before he managed to speak, "What thing?"
"The ring," Greg told him. "That is unless you don't think that she will accept it."
"What ring?"
"Don't play stupid with me," Greg told him. "You've been toying with it in your pocket for the last hour. Plus I saw you looking like you were going to throw up when you were trying to choose which one to buy at the jeweler's stand."
James just looked down at his pocket which held the piece of jewelry. "Do you think she'll accept it?"
"I don't know," Greg started. "It depends."
"On what?" James asked thinking the man knew something that he didn't.
"If you infer that she and her family are to live in the servant's chambers after your marriage," Greg smiled knowing that his friend was still kicking himself for the comment he made that almost cost him the woman he had now obviously fallen in love with.
James opened his mouth to speak, but closed it right back. "That was misinterpreted," he finally got out. "I was referring to you and the restrictions that are placed upon your courtships. I, on the other hand, am lucky enough to not have such requirements of the woman I am to marry."
Greg twisted his mouth up as he looked up towards the ceiling. "I can marry whomever I choose," Greg told him. "She is just a suggestion. It just so happen sthat I like her."
"If it helps you sleep," James said as he put his head on his shoulder before walking away.
The girls were giggling as they sat around talking about the men they were currently courting. They had finally convinced Amelia to be nice to Edward and not soon after they had began their courtship. Annalisa shared in this with them, but was a little torn. She was sad because they talked about Evan, who she wasn't even sure was still alive, and the prince, that was currently away and whom she would never be able to share a courtship with. She was a little happy on the other hand because he was scheduled to return home in a little over a week.
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" Cecily asked as it was her room.
"It's me Emma," she heard from the other side of the door.
She rose from the bed and went to open the door. When she did, she saw Alice and Emma standing on the other side with their bags.
"What are you two doing here?" she asked with a confused look as Lisa came to stand by her.
"Mother, said we could come stay a while with you," Emma said happily as she and Alice pushed pass the two older girls and sat their bags down.
"Why?" Lisa asked, as Cecily closed the door and locked it again. They had successfully avoided Wiliam up until this point and didn't want to take the chance of one of his men just barging in.
"Because she said so," Alice said stepping closer to Annalisa. "Is that a problem?"
Lisa just looked at the girl. Ever since she had been summoned to come to the castle, Alice had been a little hostel towards her. She knew that the younger girl was still convinced that she was going to marry the prince, but that would be a sad reality that both of them would have to come to terms with.
"We had been asking her for a while now, and finally she decided to let us come," Emma said. She noticed the confused look on Cecily's face. "Can we stay Sissy?" she asked. She knew she was the one to ask as they would not be able to stay with Lisa in her room. "We won't be a bother, I promise. "
"Of course you can stay," Cecily told them. "I just don't know where we are all going to sleep."
She and Lisa were currently sharing her room and she would not dare send the girls to Lisa's room alone for the fear of William was still lingering around up there.
"We have an extra bed in our quarters," Amelia said. "One of the other maids just got married and her bed hasn't been filled yet."
Emma smiled, while Alice scowled. "Sleep in a maids' quarter," she said with an attitude.
Cecily frowned along with everyone else. "Well you were going to sleep here," Cecily said gesturing to her bed. "It's not any better."
"Or you can sleep on the floor," Lisa told her, earning herself a glare from Alice.
The room became quiet for a while as the two girls stared at each other.
"Well you have a choice," Cecily said breaking the tense silence.
Alice turned her nose up, "Well I guess that will do," she started then looked back at Lisa, "until the prince comes for me at least."
Lisa rolled her eyes and Cecily smiled at her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She knew that if Lisa was as immature as Alice, things could get bad between them fairly quickly, as Lisa was herself was now in love with the prince.
The girls picked up another conversation as Cecily tried to figure out why her aunt had sent the girls to her without any notice. She knew that her aunt knew that she wouldn't mind and that she would look after them while they were there, but Margery would normally give her some notice before doing such a thing. She shook the thought and joined the discussion going on among the other girls.
"Excuse me your majesty," the young boy said as he walked up to the king and handed them the two envelopes. He bowed slightly before leaving out the way which he had entered.
The king's brows furrowed when he saw that one of the envelopes was from the archduke of Spain and another from his son. He figured that one contained a letter complaining about his son's behavior and the other was a letter of his son trying to explain, so he would read them in that order seeing as how they would both make more sense then.
He opened the archduke's letter and was surprised to see that it was a letter praising his son rather than condemning him.
"Is something wrong?" one of the men from the parliament asked. The king looked up almost forgetting that he was in the middle of a meeting with parliament.
He shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong." He opened the second letter from his son and although he was a little confused as to why the boy was returning earlier than expected, he figured it okay as the archduke couldn't seem to sing high enough praises of the boy. He smiled, feeling a little more comfortable with handing his crown over and having had some good news to deliver to the men sitting in the room with him.
"This letter, gentlemen," he started, "is from the archduke of Spain, and this one is from my son, your future king."
"What did he do now?" William asked.
"Apparently a lot," the king said still baring his smile. "It seems that my son has fulfilled his duties to his country, and our alliance with Spain is stronger than ever. And he will be returning home later this evening."
He knew the boy had made a sudden decision to come home, seeing as the messenger had only gotten there a few hours before he was to arrive, but still, he couldn't be angry.
The men in the room all began to applaud and began individual discussions, that was much more cheery than the mood was previous to the letters. They had been discussing the stirrings in the east, that seemed like they were starting to die down, and some members had been voicing their concerns about Greg taking over as king. Now everyone seemed a little more confident in him, all except for one person that is.
William's face showed one of anger as he got up from his seat and exited the room. He stalked throughout the castle, finally coming to a room where he knew his men resided.
"Change of plains gentlemen," William told them. "We have to find the girl now. My cousin will be here within a matter of hours, and I want her before he arrives. I want this palace searched throughly until she is found, so find her"
The men just looked at him. "Now!" he bellowed causing all the men to stir from there seats and flock out of the door. He huffed and clenched his fist before pouring himself a drink.
"Where is the girl?" the one man asked as he forced the woman to look as the other man hit her husband every time she refused to answer him. All of the workers knew they were looking for Annalisa, but they all refused to tell. They would never give up one of their own from someone who not only did they despise, but who wasn't even to be there king. Still she hated to see her husband in such pain. She would have told but…
"Don't tell them," the bloodied man told his wife. "It's okay. I am," before he could finish the man standing over him dealt another blow to his face.
"Shut up!" he spat at the man.
"Where is she?" the man standing next to the woman demanded again as he grabbed her face.
"I will never tell you," she sneered at him.
He just smiled evilly at her. The beater raised his hand again to punch the husband but the other man stopped him.
"Wait," he called. "I have another idea."
He through the woman on the bed and straddled her.
"What are you doing?" the husband asked as the man began to claw at her clothes. The woman screamed.
"Shut up," the man yelled as he slapped her across the face, turning her yell into a soft cry.
"Get off of her," the husband yelled as the more muscular man held him back. "What are you doing? Stop!"
"You don't want to give us what we want," the man said as he ripped the front of the woman's dress open, "then we'll take what's yours."
The husband watched in disbelief as the man began to fondle his wife and brought his lips to her neck.
"Stop!" he yelled. "I will tell you were she is," he said brokenly.
The man grinned as he climbed off of the woman. "Okay then," he said walking over to the husband. "Where is she?"
"She's staying with the other girl, in the cooks' quarters," the husband told him.
The bulkier man pushed him to the floor as they both headed towards the door.
"If she is not there," one of them said as they opened the door to leave the room, "we will be back."
The five girls sat in the room not really saying much. They had been hiding out in Cecily's room for the past few hours after hearing that William had sent the forces on a hunt throughout the palace for Lisa. Ameilia had recently left the room to see what she could find out about the latest status of the manhunt, and why all of a sudden William was so hell bent on finding her. They figured he would at least wait until the end of the week when the prince was due back before he went mad.
There was a knock on the door causing all of the girls to jump. "Who is it?" Cecily asked after clearing her throat.
"It's me, Beth," they heard the strain in the woman's voice but figured it was because of her nervousness about the angry men that had been lurking the floors since earlier that afternoon.
They all sighed sighs of relief, figuring the woman was there to update them, or at least bring them food since they had been imprisoned in the room before they had a chance to eat lunch.
Emma got up to open the door, but as soon as the latched turned, she was thrown to the floor as the door was forcefully opened. Beth followed soon behind her as the man pushed her to the floor next to Emma. All of the girls immediately jumped to their feet.
"They're you are," one of them said with a slimy grin, as he eyed Lisa.
She backed into a corner trying to stay far away from him. Cecily stepped between them as did Giselle.
"Leave her alone," Giselle told him. "She is not William's, she is the prince's." Lisa would have spoken up at this but she was too afraid to. And if that would get them to leave her alone so she wouldn't have to face William, she would gladly be labeled the prince's.
"Get out of my way you whore," the man spat at her. She responded by spitting in his face.
The man wiped his face with his hand, before using the same hand to back hand her to the floor.
"Please don't," Cecily cried out as the man grabbed Lisa. The two girls held on to each other as Alice stood dumbfounded in the other corner. Sure she hated her cousin because she was trying to steal her prince from her, but she had never wished anything like this on the girl. She wanted to help, but she was frozen with fear.
Emma whoever, had managed to get up. She was about to go and help the other girls fight off the man, but the second man caught her and threw her violently to the bed. He then grabbed Cecily, and he and the other man pried them apart. He then threw Cecily against the wall, her back making hard contact with the hard surface and she slid to the floor.
She quickly pushed the pain away though as she heard her cousin yelling her name as she was dragged from the room.
"Lisa," she said as she pushed herself from the wall and began following the men. "Please let her go," she pleaded with them. Alice, Emma, and Gieselle followed.
About thirty seconds later, Amelia appeared in the doorway. She searched the room, which looked as if a storm had hit it and then looked to Beth, who was just making her way up off of the floor.
"What happened in here?" she asked with a shocked look.
"They took Lisa," Beth managed to get out.
"Oh no," Amelia said before she began running down the corridor. She had come back to tell the girls that she had found out some great news. On her search for information, a huge commotion had begun just outside of the palace walls. She asked what was going on and one of the guards informed her that the prince had returned early.
She ran through the palace, her only thought being getting to the prince. She knew that he was the only one that could and would save what had become her friend. She ran as fast as she could to the front entrance of the palace, knowing no one would pay her any mind since everything was in an uproar at the surprise of the prince returning early.
She pushed her way through the crowd that now stood inside the palace walls. She smiled when she saw him, and began to push towards him, but was stopped short by the guards. She immediately began to call his name, but soon saw it a futile effort as many welcomer's were yelling his name. But she spotted James walking closely behind him.
"You thought you could escape me," William said as he pulled Annalisa towards her bedroom she had been avoiding for the last few weeks.
"Let her go William," Giselle spat as they followed close behind. The two men from earlier keeping them from actually getting there hands on William.
"I will let her go," William laughed, "after I am through with her."
"You are hurting me," Annalisa said as she tried to wiggle from his grip. She had tried to drag her feet earlier, which she figured would delay the inevitable if not prevent it, but he only responded by squeezing her tighter, and demanding she walk faster.
"Shut up," he spat at her.
"Please," Cecily pleaded again, "just let her go."
William stopped in front of the bedroom and looked back at the women that had followed him down the hall.
"Make sure no one disturbs us," he said before opening the door and pushing Annalisa in ahead of him. The two girls went for the door but the two men guarding the door stopped them.
The shove he had given Lisa had caused her to fall to the floor. Now she slid slowly backwards as he walked towards her with that grin that made her skin crawl.
He bent down and picked her up from the floor, but she began fighting him.
"Greg," James whispered as he tried to hold his smile as they were still in front of a huge crowd.
"What now?" Greg asked. "Do you not have other business to attend to."
"I do," James told him. "I just thought you would want to know that I've been informed that William has recently gotten his hands on your latest prize."
Greg's smiled dropped as he looked at James. "How recently?"
"You need to find her now if you want to stop him," James told him.
Greg looked around him and saw that he was very close to the steps of the palace. Forcing the smile to return to his face, he made haste of running up the stairs and making his way inside of the palace where Amelia was waiting impatiently for them.
"They've gone to the concubine's quarters," she told them as she began to follow them. She had made use of the time they used to make it through the remainder of the crowd to find out the girl's location.
Greg heard the people behind him yelling and asking him where he was going, but he was happy that James was there as the man quickly dropped from his side to defend his actions. He had no idea what lie he would make up, but he had good faith in his friend that it would be a good one. Greg quickly made his way through the palace. He turned the corner onto the corridor which housed Lisa's bedroom and knew he was in the right place as he saw the guards keeping the four girls from entering the room.
"Open the door," he bellowed not quite to the door yet.
All of their eyes flew to him. Cecily felt a flutter of relief, but it didn't last long as she didn't know if they were already too late.
"Your majesty," one of the guards said shakily. "I didn't know you…"
"Open the door!" he yelled again causing the man with the keys to quickly turn to unlock the door. He had no use of hearing their excuses. He knew that William had his on subset of men in the castle and that they all had a part in this, but they all knew that he trumped William.
The door flew opened just as he reached it and his eyes grew at what he saw. William had his hand around Lisa's neck, effectively pinning her to the bed. Her hands clawed desperately at his as she struggled to breath. He took advantage of the fact that her hands were preoccupied with trying to save her life to raise her dress midway her stomach. He was brought of his shocked state as he heard the sound of fabric being ripped. The small piece of fabric fell to the floor and she managed a whimper, he realized that it was her panties. He made quick strides towards them and pulled William away from her. He pushed him and the man fell to the floor.
He heard Annalisa take a big gulp of air behind him, and vaguely noticed Cecily running towards her as he stared at William in disgust. The man had already freed his manhood from his trousers and was now trying to put it back in.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Willam spat looking up at Greg as he zipped up his trousers.
Greg didn't answer. He turned to see that Lisa had crawled to the far side of the bed and pulled her knees to her chest. She clung to Cecily as the girl hugged her trying to calm her down. Her dress was ripped some and she had tears running down her face. He was happy that he had gotten there in time, but he felt his skin getting hotter as he turned back to William who was now making his way up from the floor. He wondered what all happened when he left away from the castle.
"Why are you here?" William spat. Greg only responded with a blow to the face. The two men began to brawl and the guards just looked at them, not sure of what to do. It wasn't everyday that they saw the heir to the throne and the second in line for the throne get into an all out brawl. Normally they would side with the prince, and though the two men both seemed to be landing some pretty healthy punches, it seemed that Greg was getting the better of him, so they didn't know if or how to intervene.
Luckily James and Alex came to the room and pulled them apart before one of them got seriously hurt, though they both were bleeding by now. The two men just glared at each other. Alex pushed William towards the guards, and they escorted him from the room.
"Your mother and father are looking from you," James told him.
He had managed to fabricate a lie when he stormed off before, but it would be pretty hard for any of them to explain how he had ended up in the room of the concubine he had been all but prohibited from seeing only moments after arriving from Spain paying a visit to his future wife and her family.
Greg looked at him and finally his angered subsided enough for him to put together a rational thought. He turned towards Lisa who was still clinging to Cecily, as was Cecily to her.
She looked up at him, fear still in her eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to hold her. But he couldn't now. He also didn't really know what to say, he felt stupid for leaving her with no protection from William. He just had never thought about the fact that William was so low as to use his absence to attack her. He finally managed to tear his eyes away from her and walked out the door, James and Alex following him.
Lisa's brows furrowed at this. She wanted to get up and run into his arms and make him promise to never let her go, but she knew that wouldn't be accepted. And from the way things looked, he didn't want to be near her right now. She felt Emma and Alice sit down behind her and begin to rub her back, as she burried her head in Cecily's shoulder and began to cry harder.
He was repulsed by her. She had almost let another man have her and he had witnessed it, now he wanted nothing to do with her.
"Shh," Cecily shushed her. "It's okay now. He won't bother you anymore. Greg is back."
Lisa continued to cry. For all she knew he was going to now freely give her to William and anyone else who wanted her. She no longer held any value to him.
It was later in the evening now and things had began to quiet down around the castle, from what they could tell anway. Lisa had refused to leave her room, other than to take a bath. She could still feel William's hands clawing at her and she wanted to get out of the clothes and clean her skin as soon as possible. Cecily had sent Emma and Alice to get cleaned up for bed after dinner, so they were currently on the laborer floors.
Lisa lay with her head in Cecily's lap as the girl gently ran her fingers through her curls.
"I think you are wrong?" Cecily told her. "I don't think he will get rid of you so easily."
Lisa had voiced her concerns to her about the prince not wanting anything to do with here anymore after what had happened. "Why else would he beat William so badly," Cecily smiled.
Annalisa gave the faintest of smiles. "He has not said a word to me since he returned," she told her sadly.
"Lisa," Cecily told her brushing the curls from her face. "He could not stay with you, even if he wanted to. He is the prince for heaven's sake."
"But I don't want him to be the prince," she told him.
"Aww, Anna," Cecily said hugging her tighter as the few silent tears fell.
She knew that Lisa really didn't care if he was a prince, a commoner, a trader, or whatever as long as she was free to be with him and him with her. It was just that title of prince made that impossible. She knew that her cousin was not thinking straight, but after the events of the day she could not blame her. She knew Lisa just wanted Greg to stay with her and comfort her and that was all that mattered because she was traumatized, but the fact that he had to go and report to his parents then put on face with everyone else in order to keep them all out of trouble didn't really register to her because of it.
"I wanna tell you a tale my mother used to tell me," Cecily told her.
Lisa looked up at her and smiled, "I am not a child, Sis," she told her.
"I know," Cecily told her, "but I think you'll like it. So quiet and let me tell it."
Cecily began telling her a story of a common girl that had nothing and was forced to work for wealthy family that had three daughters, all of them spoiled. Just for fun, she named one of the girls Mary. Lisa laughed at this, as Cecily continued to tell the story, soon switching focus to bring in the character of a charming prince.
Lisa sat, listening intently to the story. She was happy for the distraction. She was able to focus on the story instead of having flashbacks of William hovering over her and pawing at her or Greg walking away from her. Lisa was lost in the story, and jumped when they heard a knock on the door.
Cecily tightened her arm around her as she felt the girl stiffen.
"Who is it?" Cecily asked.
"Alex," the voice on the other side of the door replied.
Cecily slowly got up from the bed and opened the door, only to find Alex's kind face smiling back at her.
"Hello," he said stepping into the room.
"Hello Alex," she replied, happy to now be seeing some comforting faces wondering the palace again. It's not that everyone around the palace was bad or on William's side. It's just that they were oblivious to the little situation that they had all created for themselves. Of course they were oblivious to it to, but they all knew it existed, it was a secret, and they were in on it, like it or not.
He turned to Lisa. "I've been sent to escort you to your new living quarters."
Lisa looked at Cecily with a confused look.
"New living quarters?" she replied.
"Yes, Prince Greg is moving you closer to him," Alex told her. He knew he didn't need to explain more.
She still looked confused. "Lisa," he started again, "if you would please come with me."
Cecily went over to pull her off of the bed as the girl still wasn't moving. She was still trying to make sense of what he was saying.
Alex turned to leave and Cecily pulled Lisa down the hall as they followed him. Cecily was sure they were going to stop soon, but it seemed they kept turning onto more extravagant hallways and she was pretty sure they would be coming upon the prince's room soon. Sure enough they turned onto the corridor that housed the huge doors that lead to his bedroom, but stopped before they could get to the other end of the long corridor where he resided.
Alex stepped aside and held out his hand, gesturing for them to enter. "Your maid has been informed of your new living arrangements and that is Radley," he said pointing to one of the huge men that was obviously a guard on the floor. He has been informed that you are staying and will make sure that no unwanted visitors bother you.
The two girls looked down towards the man who smiled at them as he continued to pace to floors. "Have a good night," Alex said as he turned to leave.
"Wait," Cecily called to him. "Will she not get in trouble for staying here?"
"As with most things," Alex told her, "only a few people know about this, and if all goes well only a few people ever will. The prince has his own personal floor which is far enough away from the king and queen's chambers should not cause any trouble. "
Cecily nodded, understanding that Alex was just as caught up in whatever was happening as she was. Alex left, and the girls closed the door behind him. They then turned to inspect the room.
"This room is beautiful Sis," Lisa told her, still in awe that this room was now hers, for the time being anyway.
"See, I told you he would not throw you away," Cecily smiled at her as she went to sit on the bed.
Lisa returned the smile, but it was forced. He still had not come to see about her. He had been gone for two and a half months, and she missed him, but yet he seemed to be mostly indifferent towards her. She still was not convinced.
A/N: There goes it. Can you guys please review. And also I remember someone making a comment about more detailed sex scenes and "teaching", anybody have any ideas on that especially as it would acquire to this era of time. And always suggestions are welcomed. Also if ya'll won't me to continue now that once strong infrastructure called House M.D. is starting to crumble before our very eyes. Again PLEASE REVIEW! AHHHHHHHHH! whew, just needed to get that out.