Of Princes and Princesses

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Guess what my wonderful readers?! This is the chapter. This is the chapter where we're officially in the movie! Isn't that exciting? I know I'm excited. As always don't forget to review and I'll see you guys next week.

29.

Marshall and Kate had been invited to Nick's birthday. Kate was certain that this meant that she had to be some what fancy attire, it was a birthday after all. Marshall had to tried to tell her but she was stubborn about it so it wasn't until she got there when she realized that she was the only person dressed up that she should have listened to her boyfriend. Marshall himself was in a simple white tee-shirt, his leather jacket and jeans, and that should have been a give away, but of the two of them, Katie had always been the better dressed.

Kate may not have been in an evening gown, but compared to what everyone else was wearing she might as well have been. She had had chosen to wear a high colored black dress with a white choir girl collar. Luckily, she changed her high heels into her scuffed-up converse that she kept in the back of car that so that casualled up her outfit a bit.

Since Kate didn't really know these people Marshall promised to stay near her for the duration of the party, and so far he had done as asked. In fact, he seemed to be greatly enjoying having his arm around Kate's waist and telling everyone who asked that she was his girlfriend.

Though it still annoyed her when people were thoroughly surprised that he had settled down, with an English woman no less.

Marshall had promised her he wouldn't fight at this party, that was surprising because Marshall apparently always got into some sort of squabble around these people, but he knew the consequences of fighting at this party. Even if it was someone else who started it.

She had been very clear. If she caught him fighting it would be no sex that night and for the next few foreseeable nights. She figured that enough incentive to keep him on the straight and narrow.

She had left his side only to go to the washroom. He had wanted to go with her, but he was also setting up the projector at that point to get the home movies of their old gigs up and playing on the sheet he had put up against the wall. So, she had kissed his hair, reminded him that she knew exactly where the washroom was, and went by herself.

But she never got there. She had just come up the stairs when some blonde woman she didn't recognize her shoved her out of the way. Kate turned to tell her to watch it but then she caught sight of the man in the nice suit with her and her heart stopped.

That was Louis. Marshall's long lost brother!

Nick had said he bumped into him and invited him but no one actually thought he'd come.

He made his way through the crowd and Kate followed, but not too closely behind. She stayed on the steps, as Louis and girlfriend, coincidentally the blonde woman who had shoved her, threaded through the crowd of the basement.

She clocked the exact moment Marshall realized his brother was in the basement with him and a smirk donned on his lips. She didn't want to interfere, she knew things were precarious with the two brothers, and she wanted to see Marshall be a good big brother and fix things. She was worried if she was standing there he might decide to put on a show and be the big brave angry brother for her benefit. Maybe if she stayed away, he'd actually tell his brother he missed him.

"When were you going to tell me you were in a band?" Louis's rude blonde girlfriend asked. Poor Louis looked so uncomfortable, clearly he hadn't planned on telling her at all.

"I'm sure there's a lot of tings our Louis hasni told you, darling," Marshall said appearing before his brother. He was leaning against once of the support poles, one arm up in nothing but his white shirt and jeans.

She might have thought him handsome if he hadn't opened his mouth and had stupid fall out of it.

"Like, who'd'yah write the song for?"

God why was he being like that? Why couldn't he just have said hello like a normal brother?

Then again, when she met his father Marshall and the Seamus almost came to blows, it's made sense if he came to blows with his brother too.

Still Kate stayed on the stairs. Marshall promised he wouldn't fight tonight. He better keep that promise.

Louis shook his head he whispered something to his girlfriend and then moved to walk away.

"That's it. Go on. Walk out on us again."

Louis was facing her for that cat-call. She saw something on his face change and figured she was about to see that Connelly temper on a different Connelly family member. At this rate she would almost have the full collection, she'd just need to meet their mother and get into a fight with her too.

And just like that Louis was walking towards Marshall and Marshall pushed off of the pillar he was leaning on so he could square up with him.

"Eh, Lou?" he said with a nod of his head as the party around them went silent except for the music.

"Say what you gotta say, Marshall," Louis shot back. Marshall seemed to realize what was happening and actually took a step back. Though he kept his smug smirk on his face she could see a beat of worry there. "Say what you have to say."

Marshall tried to wave him off. "No, you want to go. So go, go on."

"Come on, say it," Louis ordered shoving him.

Marshall let the shove push him but he didn't shove him back. "That the best you got?"

God why wasn't he defusing the situation? Why was he making it worse? Kate finally left the stairs, clearly Marshall needed her beside him to see the side of reason.

As she went down the stairs Louis kept shoving Marshall and Marshall kept accepting it and asking if that was the best he had. And with each shove Louis would order: "Come on say it," but that shortly changed to "Come on. Hit me."

Dear god what was wrong with these two?

She got one step off of stairs, Louis was practically on Marshall. He had shoved him into the projector screen, had a hold of his face in one hand and the other had a hold of his shirt. Poor Marshall looked shocked, out of everything he was expecting that wasn't it.

"Come on, I'm suffocating here!" Louis practically shouted and then Marshall finally did it. He hit him.

Kate held her breath as Louis spun away. She watched the concern on Marshall's face and realized that was as far as the fight would go. Then she stood back as the two brothers eyed one another and caught their breaths. Marshall fixed his shirt and asked his brother twice if he was okay. When Louis hit him with half a nod and half a smile he turned to the girl Louis had come with and shot her a wink as he said: "Welcome to the Connelly clan."

Kate groaned and turned her eyes heavenward. Yeah, and what a welcome. My god the two of them were disasters. She pounded her way up the stairs. First, she'd go to the washroom then she'd go to get ice.

She didn't really blame Marshall for this fight. At least he only hit his brother once and he was fairly made to do it. But he knew the consequences and she figured there wasn't any harm in letting him think that she'd follow through for the next few hours.

-AR-AR-AR-AR-

Marshall stood at the window watching where his baby brother was dealing with his current princess. Marshall watched and winced as she got in the car and drove off leaving him there. That may… or may not have been his fault. Taking a swig of his beer he realized that being away from Louis hadn't helped his baby bro at all. He was still absolutely hopeless with girls and chasing pretty princesses way out of his league.

Marshall hadn't expected his baby brother to show up at Nick's party. No one had told him that Louis was coming. Granted he probably could have been nicer. He didn't need to goad him into a break down, but he had never been that easy to set off before. And never had his brother demanded to have Marshall hit him before.

He shouldn't have complied either. If Kate found out she'd be livid. Especially since she had specifically told him not to hit anyone. They had had a huge conversation about it that morning, though to be fair, she was in a state of undress and he wasn't fully paying attention to her. How could he when his girl was walking around in nothing but a pair of his boxers and her black lacy bra? But he couldn't think about that now and distract himself from what he was about to do.

Steeling himself, Marshall left the house and approached his brother. He dropped a cold beer beside him but Louis just looked at him over his shoulder looking all sorts of ridiculous in that grey pinstriped suit and then promptly turned away. So, instead of being sympathetic he went with lightly bullying.

"You know it was nice tae have the old Louis back there, even if it was for a second," he said. Still Louis said nothing. "Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't you supposed tae be in the car with the girl when she drives off intae the sunset?" Marshall asked.

Now that got a chuckle out of him. "Yeah…" and then the two of them were chuckling together.

Marshall knew he should say something soft. Like how he missed his baby bro and how he was sorry for hitting him and chasing away his ridiculous blonde girlfriend but he was interrupted before he could even open his mouth.

"MARSHALL DEAN CONNELLY!"

Marshall jumped and turned to where he saw Kate stomping towards him, without her coat. He knew she was mad, he knew she was going to yell at him but he didn't care. Her little polka dotted dress didn't match the party's vibe but he could proudly say she had been the most beautiful girl there. The only problem was that it had no sleeves and was made of very thin fabric. She'd catch her death with no coat on. He handed his brother his beer, ignoring the perplexed look on his face and then quickly shrugged off his jacket before she got to him.

"Here before you get cold," he said offering it to her when she got close.

She slapped it away. "You punched your brother?! I was gone for five minutes and you punched your brother? Jeezus, god forbid I go to the washroom, you turn into a goddamn cave man the second I'm not there!" Why did he think that she wouldn't find out? I mean, really. "You promised me Marshall, you promised me you wouldn't fight anymore."

"Tae be fair, he kinda attacked me first and then flat out begged me tae hit him sooo…"

"That is not an excuse!" she snapped stomping her foot and Marshall hung his head he hated it when she was mad at him. She then offered him the first of two ice packs he just noticed she was holding. "Here for your hand."

"Actually, I didni hit him that hard so it barely…" he started but when she hit him with a dark glare, he took the ice pack and put it to his knuckles just to appease her.

"Thank you."

He glanced down to Louis who was watching them with his mouth open wide. Then she turned to Louis, who was now looking at her like she was a goddamn unicorn or something. "Hi, I'm Kate, do you mind if I take a look, I'm a nurse."

"She's British. Fucking hell, Marsh, she's British!" Louis cried while Kate took a hold of his chin to check out his cut lip. While she was distracted Marshall dropped his jacket to her shoulders so she'd be warm. He didn't miss the way his brother looked at him when he did so. Like he didn't recognize him.

"Why is everyone always so surprised about that?" she asked softly like it upset her and the urge to hit his brother for hurting her feelings rose up in his chest but he tamped it back down. She took the second ice pack she had brought out with her and put it to Louis' mouth. "Keep that there, it'll keep the swelling down."

She then whirled around at Marshall. "What did I say?" she asked him. Marshall couldn't help but be distracted. She was wearing his jacket like a cape, the black leather dwarfing her, he could only see one pale hand holding the jacket closed to keep her warmth inside. He loved her in his clothes.

"Uh… about what?"

"What did I say would happen if you fought again?"

She'd leave him. The panic must have lit up on his face and Kate balked at it. "No, not that, that's if you get arrested for fighting again. What did I say this morning, what did I say if you got piss drunk and punch happy tonight?"

Oh this morning's talk… right… yes that did have a stipulation, didn't it? No sex! Fuck! "Aw come on… no… I'm not drunk, I've had one beer! And he asked me tae hit him!"

"It's true, I did," Louis says from his spot on the curb.

Kate half turned to him. "Well that's all well and good but Marshall, you're the older brother, you're thirty-five years old now, you should have known better," she said folding her arms over her chest. "You my dear, are soloing tonight cause you are not getting laid."

"Aw… Kate… come on, Kate! You canni expect me to be okay with that when you came out looking like that!" he said to her. She half turned to him a sort of smile on her face that made him light up. Compliments always made her glow. It was why he gave her so many.

"You should have thought about that, before you punched your brother," she said to him.

He called her name again and again but she didn't heed him. She was already walking away with his jacket. "Babe… my jacket."

Kate paused, hit him with that side glance that set his blood on fire and said: "Freeze," and kept walking.

From the curb Louis started laughing and Marshall found himself laughing too. His girl, what she did to him. He had no doubt that she'd refuse to have sex with him tonight as punishment, he had no doubt that he'd suffer through it practically panting for her like a dog in heat. But he also knew, if he looked too cold she'd be right back out there with his coat. She cared way too much about him, just like he cared way too much about her.

"You hypocrite. You got yourself a goddamn princess," Louis cried. "Jeezus, and a British one to boot. She's down right royal, that one."

Marshall found himself smiling. "Yeah. She is," he answered. "You know… Louey… I never thought that… I never in a million years did I tink dat I'd ever land a girl like her. And every day I'm with her I wake up wondering if this will be the last day. And every day that it's not I'm in shock."

Louis stared at him, suddenly very serious. "Whoa… you're… you're really intae this girl aren't you?"

Marshall lowered his eyes. "You know… in New York. I was only trying to save you from the same heart ache that killed our father… the same heart ache that almost killed me. But if a girl like Kate could look at all of me and still wanna stay then maybe… maybe yours would'a done the same for you."

Louis stood taking the beer and opening it. Both he and Marshall took a swig of their beers, their eyes on one another. "It's serious then. You and Kate?" Marshall nodded and Louis sighed. "Well damn. I better get properly introduced tae her, eh?"

Marshall clapped an arm around his baby brother's shoulders and they walked together back to the house where Kate was waiting for them with his jacket.

"You didn't get too cold, did you?" she asked, despite her literally telling him to freeze two minutes ago.

"Naw, you know me. Always hot," he said taking the offered coat from her, he shrugged it on and then pulled her close, making sure she got some of that warmth. She snuggled into him and when he looked up again Louis was trying to hide a smirk.

"My baby bro wanted tae meet you properly," he said and Kate let him go and turned back.

"Hello, I'm Louis, I'm sure he's told you terrible things about me," Louis said shaking her hand.

Kate merely smiled at him. "Naw, to be honest it took pure ages for Marshall trust me enough to talk about you at all. I will say that I've heard you guys play, you have such a beautiful voice. It's a shame you're not playing anymore."

Oh that hypocrite, he could say the same thing about her. Luckily Louis just laughed at her and thanked her for her kind words

"She… uh… she's your replacement, eh? Sings yur songs better than yew," Marshall said to him his accent really coming out in that one and Kate dug her elbow into his side, but still he couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

"That's not true. I filled in once and did a passable job. If anyone says otherwise it's only cause I'm dating Marshall. And Marshall has to tote my praise cause I'm his girlfriend," she said, smiling up to him. That wasn't the reason but alright.

Louis's eyes had widened at girlfriend as if he hadn't been expecting that, despite Marshall literally just telling him that he was serious about this girl. It must have been a surprise for him, his wild older bro, settling down with any girl. But Louis didn't know Kate, he would soon and he'd understand then.

"Well Kate, I gotta say, taming the wild Marshall Connelly is no mere feat," Louis said grabbing her hand and shaking it firmly once more. "Welcome tae the Connelly Clan!"

Marshall shook his head at him. That was just what he said to Marshall's little princess before she ran off. He glanced to Kate for her reaction. Kate's head tilted to the side in almost confusion, she turned her eyes from Marshall to Louis and then said: "Well… I sort of thought I was already part of the clan."

Louis and Marshall broke out laughing and then the three entered the party properly and engaged in small talk. As they walked her hand immediately reached for his, and she paid close attention to everything Louis had to tell her, he realized that she already was near and dear to his heart, and most certainly already part of the clan. She sure as hell fit in with him, his family and his band mates. More importantly he most definitely could name that emotion that constricted in his chest and made his heart run wild.

It was that moment there that he knew he was going to marry Kate Axton.