AUthor's Note: Go ahead and throw stones.You know you wanna.

Dedicated to Lissie-Pooh's great return to the real world (Liss, the boy left today :( )

And to Lucie on her last days of summer vacation

MICHAEL:

I went back to my room to get into my swim suit. Mia told me to meet her down in the pool on the first floor. I had to have a man servant take me there. He was a huge form of entertainment. Everytime I would stop to look at some piece of Mia's family history on the walls he would stop with me and give me all the information about it.

I stood in the door way and saw her already in the pool, doing laps. After four laps she looked up and saw me. "How long you been standing there? Come on."

I tossed my towel aside and jumped in with her. We fooled around a little in the pool until Louie and Katie came down in swimming attire.

"Where's Lilly?" Mia asked.

"She said she was really tired. She wanted to nap," Katie replied. "I don't think she's doing all that well."

Mia and I shared a nervous glance. "I think it was the food on the plane earlier," I replied. "She didn't take to it too well."

"I'll be right back. I'm gonna get a lemonade," Mia said stepping out of the pool. I watched as she grabbed her towel and wiped her face. She looked amazing standing there in her two piece. Something that I would never imagine her wearing. She used to wear one pieces when she went to the beach with us as kids.

"Stop oogling my sister," Louie said tossing a pool ball at my head.


Mia and I went into the hot tub later that night before bed time. She straddled me and whispered non-sensical things into my ear as I tried my best not to get excited. Her grandmother would not appreciate it if I had her granddaughter in the Jacuzzi.

"You'd do what?" I asked. "Uh huh….uh huh, I'd like that…yeah….I'd totally support you doing that," I replied to her words.

She backed off and asked her lady's maid to leave us alone. She undid her top and then wrapped her arms around me. "Come on," she said with a smile. "Why are you being so shy?"

"Mia, there's always someone watching here."

"Then they can have some free porn," she joked. "Come on Michael…."

"No."

"We aren't going to have sex for crying out loud! Let's just sit here naked together and have a hot tub."

I shook my head. "Your dad will kill me."

"He doesn't kill people. He has the national guard to do that," she said with a smirk. "C'mon, he's on the other side of the palace. He won't know. Come on," she encouraged. I pulled off my shorts finally and she clapped at my bravado.

Our suits were soon thrown aside and we let ourselves get carried away. I mean yeah. Sure, it's a bad idea to do anything in a hot tub because of all the bacteria and stuff but come on. Hot girl. Naked. Hot tub? It could have been Siberia and I would get naked with her.

I looked up while we were in…um, well, the middle of doing stuff and noticed that our clothes were gone. "Mia, who took our things?"

She turned around quickly "Ohmigosh!" she said jumping away from me. "Someone was watching us."

Now that's sick.

We grabbed some towels that were on a shelf in the sauna next to the tub. Then we scampered off to our respective rooms.


I hate not having her in bed with me. And not just in a sexual way. But in a general kind of way. Like being able to see her first thing when I wake up. Being able to stuff my face into her hair and smell honeysuckle shampoo. It was a very long night.

We ate breakfast with her father and grandmother. Her father is actually really cool. He kept asking questions about life on the road and stuff. "If you can't tell," Mia started, her hand on my knee, "He's insanely jealous that you get to do all this."

That night was Anna's ball. Lilly still hadn't told Louie the truth yet. I felt bad for the poor guy. Joking around and thinking that Lilly was seriously just coming to visit him because she liked him or something.

I dressed in a tuxedo. Mia had told me that the reporters were salivating over the fact that she and I were attending together. I guess it was our official outing as a couple. I'd gone out in public plenty of times. With very little known women. A few rising stars (or they thought they were rising stars, none have really done anything yet). I was the center of attention because I was Michael Moscovitz. Now I was the escort of the princess.

Sure we'd get extra attention because we were part of the band. But the public would be more interested in the fact that their princess was bringing a new boyfriend home. Geez. Most guys stress out about the family. I just have to deal with an entire country. That's all.

"Sir?" the manservant, Charlie said coming into the room. "Your lady is waiting for you."

I walked into the hallway and looked toward Mia's room.

"She got dressed in her grandmother's wing," Charlie explained. "You can meet her at the grand staircase. That way now," he said pointing to the end of the hall.

"How do I look?" I asked him.

"Handsome sir."

"Thanks. Wish me luck."

"Luck, sir."

I stood at the top of the stairs and watched as she came out of the dressing room. She was talking to her assistant who was fixing her tiara. Then she looked over at me and smiled. She gave me a goofy face and then started toward the stairs.

We met in the middle of the stairs and heard flashbulbs going off. Okay, not flashbulbs cuz we're not in the fifties, but cameras. I kissed her gently and her cheek.

"I feel like Belle," she said with a laugh.

"Belle?"

"Beauty and the Beast," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Duh. Come on."

We faced everyone and walked down the stairs. She smiled graciously and waved to reporters she remembered from the past. "It's really important to remember the members of the Genovian Press Corp," she whispered.

"Why?" I asked with a smile.

"That way they'll leave you alone when you want to be in private," she said with a smile.

"Princess!" a younger reporter called.

Mia motioned for me to follow her, "Hi Jessica," she said kissing the woman on both cheeks. European Mia. "How is your baby?" she asked with glowing eyes. She was such a pro.

"Great. But the real question everyone wants to know is if you are here with Michael Moscovitz as a couple or as acquaintances?"

Mia glanced at me quickly, "I think that tonight is for my younger cousin."

"But-"

"Night Jessica," she said waving to everyone else.

"That was clean and bloodless. Good job," I said kissing her forehead once we were in the privacy of the ball.

"Princesses should always know how to deal with the press," she replied. "Besides, it is about my cousin that I hardly even know , not us. We aren't going around announcing to everyone that we're together, right? Let people think what they want, right?"

I nodded and tapped her nose, "They come right up to you like that a lot here?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said looking around. "We should socialize a little."


But we didn't really. There wasn't anyone we knew there. All older people. Everyone said how much their grandchildren and children liked my music. One guy offered me money to go on a date with his granddaughter. "Sorry sir, I already have a girlfriend. And I'm very happy with her," I replied, looking at Mia, who was talking to her cousin Hank who arrived with his newest girlfriend Lindsey.

"You two are a couple?" the man asked with raised eyebrows. "And how does the dowager princess feel about that?"

"I am not going to say who my girlfriend is," I replied slyly, "She's working tonight so it wouldn't be fair to oust her just yet." Not a lie. Mia really was working. Family events for most people are social events. For her it was a national event.

Mia and Louie danced when he finally arrived (ever so fashionably late, but I suspect it was because Lilly was going to tell him tonight). The press was allowed in finally to get pictures of the 'beautiful people'. Mia explained that there was an after party that we'd go to where the younger crowd would show up.

I sat back with Prince Phillippe and talked about music. "We have more in common than people think," he said waving to a camera. "Both of us live in a bubble."

I looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"People are watching us both. Every little decision we make is going to be judged like it's life or death. With me it is at times…with you it's what you decide to wear on stage. And who you are dating," he said raising his glass to his date, Miss Universe. "Dating Mia might just be the smartest thing you've ever done. Finding someone to settle with and who understands what you are going through is the best idea. She might understand it more than you do."

He made sense. Damn the man; he made sense.

"I mean, she watches the attention you get from the band, while she too is in the band. Sure she gets some popularity. But you are the one that people are interested in. The lead singer. But here she has that role. She's the future of this government. You have no idea how much tourism has increased because of her. She's always talking about Genovia in interviews. Great publicity."

"Yeah…she's really proud of Louie," I replied. "She thinks he'll be a great leader."

"Oh, and he will be. I'm proud of how she handled things when Louie came up. She handled it with grace. Even my mother was impressed."

"Things work out for the best," I replied.

Across the room we noticed two older men yelling at one another. One tossed his brandy at the other. Phillippe burst out laughing, very un-princelike. Hell, if he was I could too. Mia glared at us from the dance floor.


We changed into more comfortable clothes for the after party. She wore a lacy black top with a white skirt. She suggested I wear black pants and a white collared shirt, which I could keep open (isn't she so kind?).

The young and beautiful were all there. Musicians. Models. Actors. Actresses. Her brother and my sister were noticeably absent. "Where are they?" I mused, looking at Katie who was talking to a girlfriend.

"He told me that she wanted to talk to him after Anna's party. I suspect to tell him about…well, you know."

"Let's go back home," I whispered after a few hours.

"I have to stay. Louie still hasn't shown up," she said tiredly. "I have to play hostess."

I looked around. "I highly doubt he will show up after getting this news. Besides, everyone seems happy and entertained. Let's go."

I pulled her out a side entrance and no one noticed.

We passed by our limousine and her old bodyguard Lars. "Oh, hey man. What's going on?" I asked, extending my hand.

He looked at Mia. "Princess, you pierced your nose? Why did your new bodyguard let you?"

"Because I'm a grown up and did it on my own," she said hugging him. "How is watching Princess Sophia?"

He looked tired. "I would rather be watching over you again. She's too much of a party animal."

"You are the one who chose to leave," she reminded him. Only weeks ago he had requested a position in Europe so he could be closer to his mother who was ill. "But your job is always waiting for you when you decide to come back," she said smiling at her old friend.

"You treating her well?" he asked looking at me behind his big sunglasses.

"Well enough," I said with a laugh.

"We better be off. Back the palace for us," European Mia said, kissing both his cheeks. "Have a good night and stay safe," she said as we walked away.


"You know, I think it's being around so many people in a small area…"

"What?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her.

"That makes me tired. 'Cuz when it's just you and me I'm fine. Wide awake."

We spent some more time, just walking around. She pointed out the highlights of her adopted hometown. "That's the Cathedral," she said standing at the bottom of the steps. "It's over five hundred years old. All my ancestors got married here."

What she didn't say meant so much more. I sat down on the steps and she sat next to me. "And Louie will, right?" I asked carefully.

"Anyone who is going to be the ruler will. I don't have to. I wouldn't want to," she replied, holding my hand.

"Where would you want to?" I asked softly, her head resting on my shoulder.

"Back home. Something small. Maybe even elope. Wouldn't want a big deal with everyone watching."

"That's what I'd want," I replied.

We continued our walk and returned to the palace at four in the morning. "We have to be up in three hours for mass," she said with a laugh.

"Let's skip. Get out of town," I suggested. "Let's go to Paris or…I dunno, let's just leave. Disappear until we have to go back home."

She smiled which reached her eyes, "You think?" she asked. "Is that possible?"

Which is why we quickly packed our things and left for the airport. The ticket person was shocked that we were there in the middle of the night. "Do you need to charter a private plane? We can do that for the princess you know-"

"No. We just want to get out for a little while."

"Well, we can get you to Venice-"

"Perfect," we said together.