Thanks again for the your feedback RevSue, sue, Clarisse and Joe, aserene, Prettycrazy and gremlin313, I'm so glad you like the story so far and hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Now here's chapter 3 and then the next chapter is Clarisse and Joe!

Chapter 3

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Joseph was in his new suite at the palace unpacking boxes when James knocked and came in. "Everything ok, Joe? Sorry, I wasn't able to find some Spanish beauties as a welcoming present."

Joe laughed, "Damn, I guess I'm really not welcomed here, maybe I should just leave now." He joked back.

Joe and James knew each other from their early days in the Spanish Military together, James was the junior officer in the first division Joe was assigned to after training camp, and it didn't take long for them to hit it off. Although Joe eventually moved to a different division and James was discharged after being injured during a skirmish and eventually started working at the palace, they kept in touch, always joking about the woman they met, jobs they had, anything and everything.

"Speaking of woman…" James said sitting down on the couch.

"Oh, no, not again." Joe said, rolling his eyes.

"Come on, don't tell me that you still haven't met anyone. What ever happened to that leggy blond, Joyce…Janet…Jessie…"

"Maria."

"Yeah, that's her. So, what happened."

Joe stopped unpacking the box in front of him and joined James on the couch, "What always happens, she wanted to get married, have kids and a nice house in the country…"

"And you want to be a confirmed old bachelor for the rest of your life."

"First off, I'm not old, because then you'd be ancient." James laughed, "Second, I don't want to be a bachelor for the rest of my life, I just don't want to marry a girl that I don't love just so I can be married."

"I know, when you find the right one you'll marry her, but until then you're just living your life."

"Exactly. Can we get to another topic now?" Joe said standing and searching through a box nearby.

"Fine by me. So I hear you're going to be spending a lot of time with her Majesty." James said grinning, "I give it a month, maybe two before you want to quit."

Joe finally found what he was looking for and brought a bottle of brandy and 2 cups to the couch and sat down again. "I don't know what you're talking about, she seemed fine when I met her."

"Yeah, wait until she finds out you're going to be her shadow permanently, not just temporarily." James poured himself a glass, "Her majesty is a very complicated woman, hell, I've been here 20 years and I still don't understand her sometimes."

"Like what, she has mood swings? Because I have news for you, that usually happens to woman, at least once a month." Joe said and took a drink while James laughed.

"That's not what I meant. She's a good woman, anyone who's met her can tell you that, she has a heart of gold, especially when it comes to her children or what's best for the country and its people. But despite that she's not really herself, I mean, she really feels those things, but she always has to be 'The Queen', always putting on a show for the people around her, even if it's just her family and a guard around. I wonder if she's that way even when a guard isn't around and it's just her or her and the King or the Princes. And boy does she hate being watched…"

"Well what did she expect when she married a guy who was going to be King?"

"Honestly, I don't know if she had a choice, I think it was arranged between her parents and his. I mean, really, she was 18 when they got married, he was 28, and I've heard that their engagement was announced and 6 months later was the wedding, but that they were barely seen together in those 6 months, and never seen together before the engagement."

"Still, shouldn't she be used to it by now? And besides, you really think her being annoyed at me watching her is going to scare me away?" Joe said, still not understanding what the big deal was, he'd been a bodyguard enough times before to know how to do it discretely.

"No, but don't underestimate her, look what she did to get away from Samuel, and that's not the first time. She doesn't dislike the people watching her, it's the fact that they're watching her that's the problem, she tries to get whoever's watching her re-assigned as soon as possible. I think it's almost a trust or maybe even a fear issue, like if she let's her façade slip and the person watching her actually sees her true self, what would they do or how would they react to her true self and not 'The Queen'. And then what would happen if they became friends, would they actually be friends or would he just be pretending so as to not loose his job."

"You seemed to have given this a lot of thought." Joe commented and James nodded.

"I've had a lot of time to think over the years, and you learn a lot just from watching people. Hell, I probably know more about his Majesty than the rest of the staff put together, and some of them have been here much longer than I have. But she's a mystery, you think you finally figured it out and then she throws you a curve and you're right back to wondering who she really is and what she's thinking."

Joe smirked, "You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say you had a crush."

James shook his head, "Yes, you got me, I'm in love with the queen, we're planning on running away together on white horses, into the sunset and under a magic rainbow to go live happily ever after in never-never land."

Joe laughed, "Ok, so she's a mystery and you, Sherlock, are trying to figure her out." He paused for a moment, "So, I now know about her Majesty, and starting tomorrow, I'm going to be not only trying to update this joke you call a security system, but guard her as well, without her realizing that's what I'm doing." He finished the rest of brandy, "I think I'm up for the challenge."

"I hope so, because I just found out that for 2 weeks, starting tomorrow, the King and I will be out of the country, so you've got her all to yourself, enjoy." James raised his glass to Joe and then downed the rest of his brandy as well.

End of Chapter 3

Hope you enjoyed it, hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in the next day or two.