A/N: If you're reading this when its posted, Happy New Year!

This chapter was painful. For many reasons I'd rather not go into. I'm so glad it's done. :P

Thank you once again to Kitkatkatester and Muttlpe Mike for reviewing the last chapter. :)

Enjoy!

How does one approach an arranged meeting at one's home with a beautiful girl who happens to be a princess? Is it possible to get through such a situation alive?

Of course not!

Luckily for Mike, he didn't fully see her right away. DJ was standing at the door, having been the one who knocked. That gave him a split moment to collect what was left of himself before DJ smiled and stepped aside to allow for him to see her.

She wasn't standing anymore, appearing to still be recovering from the long walk from DJ's house to here. She wasn't used to travelling such a distance by foot, and her shoes were not the best for it, to make matters worse. She leaned back in the seat that she'd found for herself in the garden-the same one Jo had sat in before handing Mike back to his stepfamily-and looked over at the doorway, feeling her throat tighten as she took in the fact that he was right there.

Mike started his approach towards her slowly, partly because of his still-persistent limp and partly because he was very nervous, feeling his heartbeat increase with every step towards the bench. When he finally found himself in front of the bench across from her, he forgot the usual formality of bowing before royalty in order to keep himself from falling over from nerves, sitting himself down and then remembering. He started to get up in order to perform the bow, a bit unstable, but she stopped him. "Please, stay seated," she insisted. "There's no need for formality."

Mike paused, then nodded silently and returned to a sitting position. He allowed for his heartbeat to return to a normal anxious level before even thinking of speaking. "...you really came here," he said with a level of disbelief in his tone.

"Well, I wouldn't send so much notice if I didn't intend to follow through," Ella replied, trying to sound more energetic than she felt physically. "That wouldn't be very fair to you, now would it?"

"...I guess not," Mike replied, glancing down. "It just...surprised me. I mean, to travel all the way here to see me…"

"Ever since we met last year, I've wanted us to spend more time together," Ella admitted, her cheeks flushing pink. "As soon as I heard you were alive and well, I knew I had to find you again."

Alive, yes. Well, that wasn't the case at the time and still wasn't, not really.

That aside, hearing her say that made Mike feel a bit warmer around his face. "...I'm honored that you think me worthy of your time, Princess," he replied quietly, a small smile sneaking onto his face.

"If you don't mind, I'd like it if you would refer to me as Ella," she requested as she noticed his little smile and felt her face heat up more. Seeing him smile made her feel some sort of way that she couldn't quite figure out. Maybe because it seemed such a rarity to her, an expression of his free of pain and anguish, as

He agreed to do so. She then inquired, "...might I ask for your name?"

"Right, I've never formally introduced myself...sorry about that," he said sheepishly. "...my name is Michael, but no one calls me that anymore...nowadays everyone calls me Mike," he explained. His mother was the last person to call him by his full name on a regular basis.

Ella found she quite liked his full name. It had a nice ring to it. "Do you mind which one I use?" she wondered.

Thinking it over a moment, Mike replied, "...no, I don't," he decided. He could always change his mind later.

"So, Michael," it was very weird being addressed as such again, but...nice, somehow, "May I ask who tends to this lovely garden?" Ella asked.

"That would be me," Mike admitted. "I take care of it."

Ella was surprised, but smiled. He gardens, that's another thing she knows about him now. "It's beautiful, I bet you're quite proud of it," she wagered.

"...it gets me outside," was all Mike had to really say about it. Truthfully, he didn't mind tending the garden most of the time, but in the days of his house arrest it had been his chance to be out in the sun when he couldn't go anywhere else...not that she knew this of course.

"Well that's always good, right?"

"Right." Mike wanted to change the subject. "I'm sorry there isn't much here to really see or do...I didn't have time to prepare anything," he apologized.

"Oh, I don't mind at all! It's quite nice being out here," Ella insisted. "It reminds me a little of the forest behind the castle, very calm and quiet…" She was used to the bustle of servants rushing to and fro all around her as she went about her daily schedule, and even DJ's place was in town far enough to have some background noise present. This was a good change of pace.

Mike now glanced over briefly at DJ, who was standing watch by the road in case anyone was approaching the house. DJ gave him a smile from afar before returning to guard mode, a state of being he was very accustomed to. "I don't know if DJ told you, but we can't talk for too much longer," Mike informed the princess.

"He did mention we'd have to get here hastily…but I still don't feel like I know much more than I did before I came here," she admitted with a small sigh.

"Well...we've still got time, don't we?" Mike figured, a small smile making its way onto his face yet again.

Ella returned the smile. "As much as is allowed," she agreed.

Now, while the two of them finally got to the real juicy bits of conversation that can't possibly be interesting enough to write out at this time, the other members of Mike's household were up to their own shenanigans and whatnot, spread out as they were. Things would start to get more intense, for better or for worse.

Oh, how the plot would thicken indeed.

That last paragraph was definitely not just put there for word count. Nope.

Please review if you want. This is the longest scene I've ever written Ella in so idk how she held up. The next chapter is already in the works so hopefully it'll be out soon.

Til then, stay safe out there y'all, and I'll see ya next time :)