Of Princes and Princesses
AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Happy Saturday my wonderful readers. We're almost there. Seven more chapters and we're finished this fanfic. Are you guys excited to see how it ends? I know I am cause I haven't figured it out yet! This is a little more of the movie for yah, so I hope you guys enjoy it. And as always, don't forget to review and I'll see you guys next week.
31.
After Rose found all the information, Louis got stuck in a spiral.
At first it was just phone calls. He'd call her from his office, hoping she'd pick up. Every time he'd get her voicemail and he'd hang up in a panic.
He didn't know what to say. Not to her… and definitely not to her voicemail.
But then… then calling wasn't enough anymore. And she wasn't picking up anyway.
So, he packed up a suitcase, packed his guitar, which he had been using a lot more now that he wasn't denying himself his musical nature, and then headed to Chicago where he knew her to be.
He had even gotten out of the monkey suit like Marshall had suggested. Put on the ripped jeans and the brown leather jacket he and his brother were famous for. Granted it was cold in Chicago so he had a massive woolen sweater underneath but he had messed up his hair to go with the look. Hopefully, when he finally got face to face with her, she'd recognize him by the messy hair alone.
Then like the little stalker he was he stood in front of her apartment and waited for her to come home. He pulled out his guitar and played songs, wrote her a new one. At one point, a cop came to ask him what he was doing. Yes, he knew he was being that creepy but it had romantic intentions.
He managed to explain what was going on, and what he was doing and the cop drove away. But that opened his eyes. There was a difference between being a romantic surprise and being a creepy stalker. And he was already borderline and easily edging towards creepy stalker.
So, he started stopping people on the way out. Which, in hindsight, was probably worse. But he was just looking for someone who knew her, someone who could tell him if she was in her apartment and just dodging calls from a number she didn't recognize.
He finally got one lady, who stopped to talk to him and seemed alright with him asking questions about a tenant, seeing as everyone else got weirded out. He explained who he was looking for. He was lucky, she knew who he was talking about but unluckily she knew where she was too.
"Oh, the musician. She keeps me up half the night. Well, I haven't seen her in a few days. She's off on her honeymoon I think…"
That one sentence was a knife to his heart. Honeymoon. Married. His heart had frozen with that realization.
What was he thinking? How stupid was he to think that maybe she might… be waiting for him? This wasn't a fairy tale, and if it was, he was certainly no prince. He wasn't going to win the princess. Just like his brother had warned him.
He was supposed to go home. Tuck his tail between his legs but then he got to the airport and… well… he didn't want to go home. Yeah it would have been great to go to Marshall and cry on his shoulder. If only because Kate would be there and she'd probably be the best comfort. But something was calling him.
To New York.
To where it all started.
But being in New York didn't make him feel better either. He felt more lost. He didn't know what to do with himself, what the calling was telling him to do.
So, he called his brother to get a little bit of clarity. Or sanity.
His brother didn't pick up right away but if he was home he'd be with Katie and he was always distracted with her.
As soon as Marshall picked up, Louis was talking. "Hey Marshall, it's me."
"I know yur number yew bellend."
Louis had to laugh. He needed this. Needed his brother's strength and infinite brotherly wisdom. He wanted to spill everything out to him. Wanted his perspective and his advice.
"I… I'm in New York…" he said instead.
He waited, waited to hear what Marshall had to say. But Marshall had paused. "Yeah?" he asked. He seemed confused. "What are yew doing there?"
Trying to get over his broken heart once and for all. Trying to forget a princess he never should have gotten involved with. Just like his brother and father had warned him.
But something in him told him if he could just redo it. That one night. Maybe get it right with her. Make it up to his brother and his band. Maybe he could learn to live without her. With that hole in his heart.
"Is… is the band still minus one Mad Connelly Brother?"
This time when Marshall paused it was even longer. "Well yeah, I mean… we haveni replaced yew with my Katie officially yet. Why? Wanni join up again?"
Was it sad that Louis always smiled with Marshall called her his Katie? Just because he wasn't happy didn't mean that he wanted his brother to suffer too.
"Well, I was tinking, tinking we get started up again. Play a gig out here… in New York. Having you guys here, it'd be great, you know? Just an idea."
Marshall paused again. "I'd have tae tink about it. Ask the guys, see if we're good. Yew got a date in mind?"
Louis found his smile growing. Yeah. He'd feel better once they were all there.
-AR-AR-AR-AR-
"Hey," he said the second she came through the door. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and put a mug of tea in her hand. He was always attentive but having him meet her at the door ready to hand it to her this was… extra… even for him.
And luckily for her she didn't even have to wait to find out what it was about, he just launched right into it.
"I gotta call from my baby bro today," he said. "He's in New York."
Kate shifted on the couch so she was facing him. "Why is he there? Wasn't Lyla in Chicago?"
"Yeah."
"Did he not go to Chicago?"
"Well I tought he did," Marshall said. "But he uh… he called today and told me he was in New York."
"Well that can't be good."
"No, it isni… but that's not all."
"Oh no?"
"No, he uh… he called and said he wanted tae get the band back taegether."
Yes! Oh god yes! Kate had to be careful not to look too excited. Marshall and his band had been pushing for her to replace Louis and she had been struggling to keep her answer to a no. Marshall was irresistible to her and he had been tugging at all her heartstrings to get her to agree.
"Well that's great. Is he going to start coming to practices?"
"He wants me tae go to New York. All of us I mean, the band…"
Kate blinked her eyes, okay. She wasn't expecting that. "Wow, really?"
"Yeah, he got us a gig at a place we performed once and uh… yeah… I'm gonna go."
A gig? Really? She could see the Mad Connelly Brothers live? Be still her wildly beating heart.
"When is it?"
"Next weekend."
Oh no! No! "I have a shift next weekend," she said with a pout. "Is that the only time you guys will be playing?"
Marshall nodded. "I uh… I won't go if…"
"No, no, you have to go!" she cried. "This is a big, right? You couldn't possibly miss it!"
"But if yew canni…"
"So what? I'll just cheer you on from here!" she cried. "Please Marshall, don't worry about it. I just want you to go and have fun. Sing with your brother, have a good time. Be the Mad Connelly Brothers again. Maybe this gig will lead to other ones."
"Yes but what if…"
"If you don't think I won't harass Louis into scheduling another gig in San Francisco where I can attend you have another thing coming."
Marshall smiled. "Alright, I'll uh… I'll tell the guys I'm good to go…"
"Wait a second, you really weren't going to go if I said no?"
"Well… yeah… if you don't want me to go Kate…"
"Do you have any idea how shit a girlfriend I would have been if I told you that you weren't allowed to go? I don't want your friends to think that you need my permission to do things… I don't want them to think I'm controlling or stifling you…"
"No, no, I… okay I can make that clear tae them," he said. "I just… I unno I wanted tae go with yew so I wanted tae be sure yew were good to go… but… I unno… I guess I was a little worried that yew wouldni be okay with me going by myself… that yew might not trust me…"
"Oh… I forgot about groupies," she whispered absently. "And you are super dashing… and that is like totally amped up when you're playing the guitar… I mean… how are you going to resist those girls… throwing themselves at you…"
She was being sarcastic, playfully so, and just as she expected he was struggling to hide his smile.
"Alright, alright, I deserve that."
Kate put her mug of tea down and then crawled down the couch to put herself into Marshall's lap. Once straddling him his hands went to her hips to hold her there, longing and desire already painting his face. She'd have to say what she wanted to say quickly because he was going to start kissing her soon and she'd forget all about what she wanted to say.
"I was partially serious. You are very handsome and you get like ten times hotter the second you've got a guitar in your hands," she told him and a debonair smug grin played across his lips. "But I also trust you. You're not going to cheat on me… right? I'm right in trusting you?"
"Of course, yew are," he said softly. "I only want yew."
"See, nothing to worry about. But uh… maybe don't bring it up so much cause I might actually freak out about groupies…"
Marshall laughed, his hand travelling to the back of her neck. "Then I'll just have tae do all I can tae assure yew of just how much I want yew."
Kate let him guide her mouth down to his. Well if pretending to be insecure had her boyfriend walking shirtless around their apartment well… she'd just have to suffer through it.
-AR-AR-AR-AR-
Louis had met him at the airport. It had been a long week of soothing Kate. Which really just meant sex. Constant sex with her, he couldn't keep his hands off of her normally, but the impending separation made it worse.
He told himself that he was doing this because he was going to miss her, that he was worried about leaving her on her own. Any guy could swoop in and snatch her away while he was playing this gig. Not that he really believed she'd do that to him.
She must have been worried a groupie might snatch him away too because she didn't turn down a single attempt to sleep with her.
God he still couldn't believe that he had come to New York without her.
The old Marshall wouldn't have given a shit. He'd've left any girl behind to go to a gig. But he hadn't been the old Marshall in a very long time.
They got to the Imperial where they would be performing and went about unloading all of their stuff. He was nervous. He never used to get jitters like this before. But he had a feeling that this had something to do with being away from Kate.
Still he tried to both shrug it off and laugh it off.
"Are yew sure you're ready for this Lou?" he asked going for teasing his brother.
"Are yew?" he shot back and Marshall laughed.
They got everything settled he found that he couldn't stay still. So, he and Louis went for a walk.
He wasn't even surprised that his brother ended up taking him to the arch where, once upon a time, he had waited for his princess, for Lyla to come and meet him. She never did show up and she wasn't going to show up now.
"Do yew wanni talk about it now?" he asked his brother.
He still hadn't gotten the story, because Louis hadn't wanted to talk about it. And Marshall had been content to just let it lie. Kate would have gotten it out of him by now, but he didn't want to shatter this newly reforming relationship with his brother. So, he had stopped pushing.
Louis shook his head again, as he always did when Marshall asked, and once again he dropped it. Though he was greatly starting to get annoyed.
"Right, I'll uh… I'm gonna put a call in to Kate and get us some dogs…"
"Call Kate again? That's the tird time since yew got here."
"Yew want a dog or not?" Marshall shot back instead of coming up with yet another excuse why he had to call his girlfriend again. Sure, she had asked for updates but he had been updating her every hour or so.
The fact of the matter was… he just missed the sound of her voice.
Dear god when had he gotten so fucking pathetic?
Why was he still dialing her number?
"Hey babe, everything okay?"
Marshall immediately stopped feeling pathetic the second she picked up his call. And on the first ring and everything. He just stood there smiling to himself, happy to hear her voice.
"Yeah I'm good baby. Just wanted tae hear yew. Make sure you're okay."
"Well it's only been a few hours since you last called. Not sure what you think I'm doing." Marshall paused to laugh. "It's not like I've decided to take up every single dangerous hobby a girl could have since you left."
"Well that's good, isn't it? I just… I wish yew were here."
"Ah, Marshall… I know. But it's only for another day or two then you'll be home." God he couldn't wait to be back home. He couldn't wait to have her jump on him. "What about you baby? What are you doing? Are you and Louis having fun?"
Marshall paused to look at Louis, why was he talking to that street kid?
"It's fine. We're fine. We're having fun," he said. "Walking in the park. Wish yew were here."
"You said that already."
"Well I do."
On the other end of the phone Kate laughed and his heart fluttered. He missed her. God he missed her. But it had only been a single day. This was stupid. Missing her that much for only a short amount of time.
"I wish I was there too, but I have work… you're gonna make sure I get a video copy of the gig, right?"
"Of course!"
"Oh good! I'm sorry I can't be there with you baby," she said again. "I really am. I just… I took a lot of time off… with England and Ireland and our trip to California…"
"It's fine babe, I know you'd be here if you could."
He glanced back and found Louis finally walking towards him. "I uh… I gotta go, kay babe?"
"Alright. I miss you and I love you," she said. "Don't fall for any groupies while I'm gone."
"You're ridiculous. Call yew tonight."
Then he hung up. Why didn't he tell her he loved her before he ended the call? Probably because he was still afraid of the power those words had. Yes, he meant them, yes he felt them, but it still scared him to know that he was so lost to her. That she had hold of his heart in that way. But he'd call her tonight and tell her then. Once his gig was over.
But seriously… this was going to be his last away gig without Kate, because he clearly couldn't hack it anymore.