None of these characters belong to me, they belong to Meg Cabot and Disney. Elle magazine does not belong to me either.
Hope you like this one, not much will happen just little things. Thanks to everyone who's has reviewed it, you've been such an encouragement. thank you so much again and please keep those reviews coming. Note: thoughts in italics.
The two royal limo's pulled up to a gracious building in the middle of Pyrus, on the rue de. Renaldi . Clarisse hated things being named after her, but they always were. She was like a marketing pun! She turned to Joseph who was smiling at her.
"I HATE dress fittings", she moaned, straightening up her jacket and combing her fingers through her hair "and the press are here!".
"no you don't really like people fussing about you, do you?", he asked as the driver opened the door- subjecting the former queen and her new, much talked about consort to the horrible flashing bulbs and prying photographers. Clarisse pulled her best fake but very convincing smile and being ever the lady swung her legs around to touch the ground before her body. Closely followed by Mia they made there way to the entrance of De. Garre's - the best and most expensive dress maker in Genovia. They were being hounded with questions from the press - apparently Clarisse and Joe's marriage was still a very hot topic. Elsie Kentworthy was there as usual, Clarisse thought. That woman loved to cause trouble!
"your majesty, your majesty tell us! how's married life the second time round?", shouted one while the others all chorused some other stupidly obvious questions. Clarisse and Mia just smiled and ignored them but Joseph was so aware of them, aware of how they made Clarisse feel, he knew she would be upset by their questions so he placed a warm, reassuring hand on her back. He had always done that, as her Head of Security he had been obliged to but now it was different, now she was his wife. He beamed at the thought. His wife! She smiled at him gratefully as two security guards stepped forward to open the double doors of the store which had been specially closed for the afternoon, quite happily making sure all of the press and public saw they had guns but it didn't stop them, they'd just wait until the royals came out again.
Clarisse slumped against Joseph as the double doors shut behind them, just the thought of the press exhausted her. Mia threw herself down on the nearest chair and groaned.
"why do they always do that, they know every where we go!", she moaned and looked at her grandmother who smiled gently.
"nonsense Mia, we must deal with the press! It's our duty, darling", she said recomposing herself as De. Garre came to welcome them. Mia just grunted her reply and Clarisse glared at her. She hung her head and looked at Joe who was biting back a laugh.
"François, how are you?", Clarisse exclaimed. She hated dress fittings but liked De.Garre who had always been a friend.
"fine. Clarisse and you Joseph, you cheeky beggar" he winked at Joseph "how are you both?", he laughed taking Joe's hand in a warm handshake. "and this must be Amelia, it's lovely to meet you. I know you've been here before but I've always been away. I made it a point to make sure I could assist you today", he said kissing Amelia's hand.
She was quite taken back by his formality towards her grandmother but Clarisse looked quite comfortable as one of the many assistants took her and Joseph's jackets and offered all of them tea and coffee and champagne. Joe watched his wife. She had glanced out of the frosted windows a few times, just to make sure the press couldn't get in.
"Shades?", he motioned to the younger man "make sure no one and I mean no one can get in or out of here, ok? I do not want Clarisse to be worrying. Is that clear?"
Shades nodded eagerly, he was always trying to impress Joe who had been such an influence on him when he had first started at the palace. He respected Joe, he liked him - there had only been one time he'd been afraid of him but it had made him respect and admire him more. Shades had been about 20 and had heard every rumour abut the queen and Joe. How he would sneak out of her room early in the morning, how he would defend her to the death even if she was in the wrong, how he went everywhere with her and how he helped her with all the diplomatic troubles and woes getting at her. He remembered the evening Joe had told them the queen had demanded that the security cameras outside her suite be permanently switched off and that she didn't want anyone guarding her room or that corridor. No one understood then, they all did now. It was probably the only time they got to be together. He suspected the real reason of course and questioned Joe.
"Hey, Joe?", he had said "do you think the Queen's hot, I do?".
Before he knew where he was , Joe had him pinned up against the wall, his jaws clenched he spoke through gritted teeth.
"don't let me ever hear you speak about Clarisse -I mean the queen like that again. Do you hear me? Don't, she is respectable and I would never answer a question like that!", with that he had dropped Shades who slumped against the wall and walked out of the room, muttering and slamming the door behind him.
It had made Shades respect Joe more, he had done what was right ,he had hid what he felt to protect his love for her. It didn't make him hate him, no he respected him even more from that day forward.
"shades are you listening?", Joe questioned- he had seen the young mans eyes glaze over.
"oh yeah Joe, just thinking. I'll put Lionel on guard outside, Lars with him, Tony and Jacques at the foyer, all of the rest of the men will be deployed around the perimeter and Frank and I will stay with the two queens and yourself."
"good plan. Just watch the two of them, ok?"
"yeah Joe, don't worry. Relax, your wife and granddaughter are in very good hands. Spare maybe Lionel's but hey you can't have everything, right?".
Joe laughed and nodded at Shades, he trusted Shades but he liked to watch Clarisse. Life time habit, he supposed.
Clarisse sighed, this was the third dress she had tried on. They were all equally as beautiful, all equally as elaborate and it was ball season - she needed ten for over the next month! Seven more to go and then home, she pondered. Mia was still trying on shoes in the next room and knowing Mia Clarisse knew she would really be enjoying herself. She let the assistant slip the fourth dress over her head and zip it up. This one was exceptionally beautiful, nicer than the rest put together. It was dark, burgundy red, it had a beautiful skirt which swayed when you walked and the sleeves were perfect length for evening gloves. It crossed over at the back and front and came to a low V at the neck. She smiled and decided to show Joseph this one, she really liked it and for the first time she wanted reassurance he liked it too.
Joseph was sitting in a comfy chair in the large dressing room. No one was there, charlotte and Mia had just went to pick out shoes, they would take forever, Clarisse was in a private fitting room trying on countless dresses and De. Garre had gone to fetch himself and Joseph some coffee.
He fingered the pages of the "Elle" magazine idly, wondering why clothes meant so much to women and why his wife had four closets worth of the stuff. His wife, he liked the sound of that and wondered what she was doing just now- probably getting annoyed at one of the young assistant who were trying to fasten up a dress and were so in awe of their queen they couldn't do their job properly. He smiled to himself, she often didn't realise just how much people adored her, at least she knew how much he adored her.
He returned to the magazine, how could anyone find that interesting. He bent forward to put it on the table and fished around in the bundle to see if there was anything that wasn't to do with fashion when he heard someone come into the room. He looked up and it was Clarisse- god she looked amazing! Her dress was beautiful, really gorgeous. It made her look ravishing, god she was so beautiful. He had stopped moving, she seemed to be the only thing in the room to look at. It wasn't that she never looked beautiful, she was one of the most beautiful women in Genovia. It was just that she belonged to him, he was hers and he still had to pinch himself sometimes - this was defiantly one of these times.
"what do you think?", she said, beaming at his obvious reaction. She began to spin around. "will you dance with me when I have this on, it sways so beautifully," she said innocently.
"Clarisse- you look- you look so beautiful", he had finally found the ability to speak and he moved off the seat to walk across to her. She had stopped spinning now and was standing watching him. He took her hands in his and faced her.
"I mean it my darling, you look amazing", he whispered, kissing her cheek.
"thank you", she said with a rich laugh, "you look so shocked, I do scrub up well".
"it's not that darling. It's the fact that you belong to me that still shocks me."
"oh, Joseph. Thank you , I like belonging to you," she said, cupping his cheek.
"your dress is amazing, really my darling your just-", but he was truly, for the first time in their marriage, lost for words.
"are you lost for words, Joseph? That's the first time in a long while. I'll have to wear a low-cut dress more often," she teased, raising her eyebrow and running her hand down his cheek onto his chest.
The assistant in the corner stepped further back, making sure she was still in ear-shot and smiled to herself- she had never seen this side of the queen and she had worked here for a very, very long time!
She was just teasing now and he knew just how to get back at her.
"Clarisse?", he said a little loudly. She was fiddling with the buttons of his shirt pretending to be inocent, teasing him again.
"yes?"
"that dress is really lovely but it will look even lovelier on our bedroom floor", he said, earning himself a glare from his wife and a quickly stifled laugh from the assistant.
"Joseph!", she hissed.
"what, my dear? Are you embarrassed?", he said raising an eyebrow and stepping back from her. Clarisse began to open her mouth in protest but was interrupted by her very excited granddaughter closely followed by Charlotte, who stopped dead t the sight of her grandmother in what must have been one of the nicest dresses ever.
"whoa grandma, you look amazing!", she commented.
"thank you Mia, my dear. It's very nice isn't it?".
"yes it's rather stunning, Clarisse but as I said it would look a lot nicer on our bedroom floor", butted in Joseph, winking at Mia who decide it would be a lot of fun to play along.
"oh come on Grandpa, that's hardly fair. Grandma would kill you if you didn't let her hang it up first!", said Mia through hearty laughs. She laughed even harder at her grandmothers clearly mortified face and the triumph on Joe's was just as obvious.
Joe pulled Clarisse up to him and wrapped his arms tightly round her waist and kissed her lips. He was quite surprised that she didn't try to put up a fight but immediately relaxed, after all there was now Mia, the assistant, Charlotte, Shades, Lionel and De.Garre in the room.
"now that you are quite finished, Joseph", she smiled pulling away "I have some shoes to pick out, come along Mia, Charlotte and help me pick some. I won't be needing you Joseph, you're too much of a distraction", she said winking at him and with that she turned on her heels and walked out regally. She was going to kill him when they got home, he was so in for it.
Mia and Charlotte followed her out suppressing giggles unsuccessfully.
"she's quite a handful, eh Joseph?", laughed De. Garre.
"yes, she is but she's defiantly worth it!" , he said accepting the coffee, de Garre offered him. With the rate that Clarisse and Mia bought clothes at this was defiantly going to be a long afternoon.
Hope you liked it! Please R&R. don't know what the next chapter will be but I'll think of something. Yours, M.