A/N- To celebrate brain bending exams...

Chapter 7

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Michael gasped in laughter as he unzipped his suit.

I smiled. "This used to be my favorite hang out when I was a teenager. I try to come here as often as I can, but it's no fun without your friends."

He grinned. "Well I can now say that I have officially played a game of paintball with the Queen of Genovia."

"Yeah, and she totally kicked your ass too."

We walked back to the car and I drove him to the best ice cream place in Europe. As he licked his Rocky Road, I saw an expression of pure delight pass over his features. "This is the best ice cream I've ever tasted! How do they do it?"

"They don't make it from preservatives. They make it natural."

After ice cream, we went to the park and fed the ducks in the pond. As we were sitting underneath the towering oak tree, Michael reached for my hand. "I've never seen you like this."

I raised my eyebrows questioningly. "Like what?"

"Like you're happy."

I grinned as I rested my head against his shoulders. "I haven't had this much fun in a while."

"You should get out more, then. It makes you smile."

Edward was sitting with a newspaper as usual and sipping his coffee in silence. Inwardly, I sighed. Another pointless day.

"So, darling, what have you got planned today?" He asked, not taking his gaze off of his paper.

"I don't know. I thought that perhaps I could—"

"That's nice."

Suddenly, I lost my appetite. "I should be going now. You have a good day, alright, sweetie?" I said as I got up from the table and went up into my chambers.

On my bed was the newspaper that Lilly delivered to me daily. She and Boris were probably out, so I lazily browsed through it, not bothering to read anything.

Then my eyes passed over a story of how the hospital needed volunteers. I looked up at the clock and shrugged. Why not? I have too much time on my hands. So I got up, dressed casually, and drove to the hospital.

When I arrived, the staff members' eyes nearly bulged at the sight of me, but they quickly welcomed me. When I said that I wanted to be a volunteer, they happily gave me some scrubs and let one of the resident nurses, Caroline, show me around.

"Do you know anything about medical care, Your Highness?" She asked as she pulled a clipboard from the holder next to one of the rooms.

"Please, just call me Mia. And I do know a little."

First stop was Candace, a sixty-five-year old woman who recently suffered a stroke. Caroline showed me how to check the IV and the heart rate monitors and what to do in case of an emergency. She also gave me a beeper that I was to have on me at all times, in case I was needed and I would run immediately to wherever it was.

After Caroline left, I sat down next to Candace and she and I talked a little while. She told me that she used to love to go to the parades when my father was alive. "He was such a handsome man," she murmured. "And he was so kind too. I remember one of my sons went up to him to shake his hand and he just gave a big smile and took the pin off his own suit and put it on my son. You're already starting to turn out like him, Your Highness."

Tears started to cloud my vision. That was the nicest compliment that anyone had ever paid me. "Thank you."

My beeper went off and I looked down. I excused myself from Candace's side and ran to where I was needed. I found Candace rolling a stretcher with five other nurses and surgeons. The girl on the stretcher was unconscious and bleeding profusely from the stomach.

"Quickly, Mia, this girl was stabbed. Go prepare room 513."

I rushed to the room and set everything up. They got there only seconds later and lifted the girl from the stretcher onto the bed. Candace did a quick examination and said, "This girl's organs were torn. She's gonna need surgery."

"How old is she? If she's under eighteen, we have to get a guardian's approval first!" One of the resident interns called out.

"Then you find out how old she is and if she is under eighteen then you find out who the hell she belongs to and get their ass down here!" Candace shot. "Goddamn it, I'm working with idiots!"

I looked down at the girl. Even though she was unconscious, her face was contorted into an expression of agony. I wiped her cold, clammy forehead and held her hand. "It's alright," I whispered. "You're gonna be fine." I turned to Candace and asked, "How did this happen?"

"Some guy tried to rape her, but she fought back. He got frustrated, then stabbed her. Her friend was in a store and when she found her in an alley she called for an ambulance."

A few minutes later, Candace was given the OK and they rolled her down to the OR. "Mia, you stay here, alright? If anyone else comes along, you know what to do."

I nodded and went into the waiting room and stayed there until I was paged again.

At five o'clock, I went to the front desk, and checked out. "Are you going to be a regular here, Your Highness?" Megan, one of the new nurses asked hopefully.

I thought about it, then nodded. "Yes. I think I will."

When I left, I felt a huge grin lift the corners of my mouth. It felt so gratifying to help someone who you knew needed it.

I got back to the palace to find Lilly waiting for me impatiently on the steps.

"Where the hell were you?" She screamed. "I have been searching for you everywhere!"

I rolled my eyes. "I was volunteering at the hospital."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was bored of just sitting around and doing nothing while you and Boris went out on dates." I frowned as I looked at her formal attire. "Didn't you just get back? How did you know I was gone?"

"Michael said that you weren't in the gardens, like you usually are. When he told me that, I got worried." She gave me a smile as we walked into the palace. "So what was it like?"

"It was fun," I said truthfully. "I like helping people without a mask, you know?"

"Yeah, I can understand. So," She said cheekily. "were there any cute doctors?"

I laughed. "Well there was this one cute intern."

"Describe him," She demanded.

"He had, like, this shaggy brown hair with blonde highlights and really bright green eyes," I said, trying my hardest to serve this man's looks justice. "And his name is Kent."

"Whose name is Kent?" A voice asked from behind us.

Lilly and I turned around and found Michael following us up the stairs. "Whose name is Kent?" He repeated suspiciously. "And Mia, where were you this afternoon?"

"I was volunteering at the hospital, and one of the interns there was named Kent."

He rolled his eyes. "Is this a girly conversation?"

"Sorta," Lilly said.

"Bye."

She laughed. "Get back here you big idiot. Mia hasn't finished her story yet."

I grinned. "Yes, I should make this into a children's book or something. Princess' first day at the Hospital."

"Did anything interesting happen while you were there?"

"We got a girl who was stabbed in the stomach," I said. "Some of her organs were torn so she needed surgery."

Lilly grinned. "Look at you, sounding all doctor-like. Did you get to see the inside of the OR?"

I shook my head. "No, but I did get a cool beeper!" I said as I pulled it out. "They gave me some scrubs too."

"So does this mean you're going back?"

I nodded. "If Parliament isn't going to give me anything to work on and I can't hang out with any of my friends, then I want to do my part to give back to society. It's about time I put my money where my mouth is."

I silently snuck into the bank as the masked robber began flailing his gun everywhere. "Put your jewelry and wallets in the bag! Now!" He shouted.

There were only five people including him inside, but they were still scared. The women started to unclasp their necklaces and the men pulled out their wallets.

When he made sure that everything was in the bag, I crept up behind him and pointed a dagger into the small of his back. "Drop the gun."

Immediately his weapon fell to the ground with a loud clatter.

"Drop the bag."

It fell on the creamy tile with a thud.

I pulled his ski mask off and threw it aside. Then I twisted his arms behind his back and tied them tightly together with a length of rope. "Armed robbery: one way ticket to jail, my friend," I muttered as I tightened the rope.

"I've got a family at home! My kids are starving and my wife's threatening to leave me! I was at the end of my rope! What the hell am I gonna do?"

"You can get a job like every other working stiff and earn the money to buy food, that's what you're gonna do," I shot back.

"How can I? You're carting me off to jail!"

"You should have thought about that before you decided to rob a bank."

"What's gonna happen to my kids?"

"They're gonna be put in social services."

The man started crying as soon as the cops showed up. "I don't want to leave my kids! Don't let them take me away!"

His pleas fell on deaf ears.

As I lay in my bed, I thought about that man. If what he said was true, should he be granted clemency?

I suppose there's a motive behind all criminals. They choose to break the law either because they think it's a game or they really are at the end of their rope. So do the ends justify the means?

I couldn't get any sleep that night.

"Wait, don't you mean Truth or Dare?"

I shook my head. "No, just Truth. It's the same concept only without the Dare part and you have to tell the truth."

"Then how do you win?"

I rolled my eyes. Typical, every guy wants to know how to win first."It starts out with someone asking a question and the other person has to tell the truth. You also have the option of passing that question. If you passa question that I ask youand I answer the next question you give me, then I win."

"Wait, that's not fair. It's too easy."

"No, not really. If you pass and you don't want me to win, then you have to ask me a really tough question that you know I wouldn't want to answer. Then if I pass nobody wins and the game goes on."

He nodded. "Oh, I get it now. Let's play."

I shook my head as I pulled an apple off the tree. "No, it's too stupid. Really."

"No, I want to play. You ask me first."

I shrugged. "What's your favorite color?"

He grimaced at me. "Don't pull any of that crap on me. Give me some tough questions. I can take it, I swear."

I raised my eyebrows. "Are you sure? I can be pretty brutal if I wanna be."

He smirked. "I can take whatever you have to dish out."

Ishrugged and took another bite of my apple. "Okay…what made you want to be a prosecutor?"

He considered the question carefully for a little while, then said, "As you know, Lilly's and my parents are psychoanalysts and I didn't want to be like them at all. They would sympathize with criminals and I didn't think they should be offered mercy. Then I became even more motivated as I watched the country go down the tubes…and then I just…decided that I wanted to be prosecutor and get some of these guys in jail."

I nodded. "Okay," He said. "My turn."

Inwardly, I braced myself, waiting for a doozie. I wasn't disappointed. "How come you don't want to marry Edward?"

I took another bite of my apple, stalling as much as I could. "I just don't feel that…you know, that zing. I'm not in love with the guy and I was never really comfortable with the idea of marriage without love."

"Then why are you going through with it?"

"Hey, no you can't do that, you're breaking the rules."

He looked bewildered. "What rules?"

"The rules are you have to tell the truth and you can only ask one question at a time."

He rolled his eyes. "Alright, it's your turn then."

"Okay…what do you dream about most?"

He sucked in a deep breath as he rubbed the back of his neck. Then, very softly he murmured, "Phantom Phoenix."

My heart lurched. He dreamed about her? A lot? God, maybe Lilly was right. Maybe he is obsessed.

"Okay, now will you tell my why you're going through with this marriage, even when you don't want to?"

I lay on my back and looked up at the azure sky. "For Genovia. It's been a law for ages, and I don't want to disappoint my dad. I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted me to reject him."

"I'm more sure that he would have wanted you to be happy."

I continued to look up at the skies as I blinked away tears.

"So maybe it's not the best idea, you know?"

I looked away. "My turn. Why are you so obsessed with Phantom Phoenix?"

He grimaced. "I don't like to call it obsessed. More like…passionate."

"Potato, po-tah-toe."

He sighed. "It's just…she's everything I look for in a girl. Haven't we gone over this?"

I nodded. "I just need to be reminded. Because quite frankly, the whole idea of you crushing on a superhero with identity issues is still a bit weird for me."

He stuck out his tongue. "The whole idea of you getting married to some guy that you don't even like is still a bit weird for me."

"Touché."

We paused for a moment. Then he asked, "Where did you really get that bruise on your arm that I saw the other night?"

Damn it. That's what I hated about playing this game. Your secrets were exposed to the whole world if you weren't careful.

"Pass."

"What?"

"Pass."

"Why?"

"Because I obviously don't want to answer that question."

"Mia, if it really was Edward—"

"Michael, Edward doesn't beat me, okay? I promise, he's a nice guy. I just have soft skin and I tend to be a little accident prone at times."

"Liar."

"What?"

"You're lying. You're one of the most graceful people I've met. I don't know why, but you remind me of some of the martial arts training I received when I studied them. You're always physically balanced."

A blush crept up my neck and spread over my cheeks. "I said at times, not all the time."

"Mia, let's put the game aside for a moment, alright? How did you get that bruise?"

I sighed. "Truthfully, I don't know. I really don't. I get bruises all the time and I don't know what from." I pulled up my jeans and showed him the bruise that I had gotten a few weeks ago from god-knows-where. "See? I bruise easily and half the time I don't know what happens."

He looked at me intently, trying to scan me with that lawyer's eye he has. I was telling the truth; I mean seriously, I get way too many injuries to keep track of anyway. "Alright," He said, finally convinced.

I finished my apple and threw the core away. "So is it my turn?"

He nodded.

I tapped my chin for a while, trying to come up with a question that would really stump him. Then I got it. "What is the one thing that you always wanted to say to me, but you never did?"

He raised his eyebrows. "What kind of question is that?"

"Like, have you regretted not telling me something that I deserve to know, or decided not to tell me for some weird reason or other."

He looked at me carefully, then said, "Well, before we were friends, you know I didn't like you very much."

I nodded.

"Even though I thought you were running the country into the mud, I couldn't help but notice you were kinda cute."

My already slightly red face darkened at that comment. "What? That's crazy, Michael. My face resembles a potato."

"First of all, you are way too much into potato references today, and second of all, you do not look like a potato."

I smirked. "I'm probably not as pretty as Phantom Phoenix."

It was his turn to blush. "Well, we don't know that."

"That's why I said probably." I countered as I closed my eyes.

I was rapidly falling asleep, due my lack of rest last night. While I was barely conscious, Michael's voice drifted in my head, "So does this mean I win?"

"No," I replied, my eyes still closed and my mind still floating away.

"Yes. I answered the question after you passed on the other one."

"Nooo, I answered it after all so the game is still going."

"No fair," He whined. His voice was getting softer and softer. And those were the last words I heard. But then I felt something…I felt a pair of arms lift me, like my father used to do when I was younger. In my dream-like state, I thought it really was my father, taking me back into my chambers because I had fallen asleep during Beauty and the Beast again. Instinctively, I buried my nose into the chest as a strange thought drifted into the back of my mind. My father never used to hum.

A/N- Please guys, please please PLEASE review! That's all I ask: reviews. You can't see it right now, but I'm giving you the puppy dog eyes. And if I do say so myself, they're pretty cute puppy dog eyes.

You know you can't resist puppy dog eyes.