A Fresh Start A Fresh Start Chapter 189, a guiding light fanfic

A Fresh Start

Chapter One Hundred Eighty Nine

William, Ava and Emma walk into the palace after spending the day exploring the Capital. Anything Emma said she wanted William bought her until Ava finally put her foot down. "I'm going to take her up to the nursery." Ava says, turning to William.

"When she's settled, meet me in the courtyard?"

"What do you have planned?"

"You'll see." He says, leaning over to kiss her before he steps back. "Go take care of Emma and I'll be waiting."

Smiling, she takes Emma's hand after she hugs William good night. They are walking upstairs when Emma asks. "Do you love William?"

"Yes, very much."
"Do you want to marry him?"

"Yes."

"I think I love William too." Emma says, as Ava smiles. "And I'm going to marry him when I get older."

"Sweetie, I don't think that would work."

"Why not?"

"Because William will be too old for you."

"How can he be too old for me, we're the same age."

"Oh, you mean Will, William's nephew."

"Yes, we're best friends and he protects me at school and he'll play with me even when his friends laugh at him."

"That makes a good friend but aren't you a little young to be planning who you're going to marry."

"Nope, I'm marrying Will."

"But what if he doesn't want to marry you, did you think of that?"
"Of course he wants to marry me, we're best friends." Emma says, looking up at Ava.

"Sweetie, I wish it were that simple, but you've got a lot to learn when it comes to boys and girls and getting married." Ava says, as they walk into the nursery. "Let's get you ready for bed and for now I'd wait a while before I said anything to Will about getting married."

"Okay." Emma says, looking up at her sister and smiling. "But are you going to wait to tell William you want to marry him?" Emma asks, as the nanny walks in.

"We'll see." Ava says, as she looks up. "She needs a bath before she goes to bed."

"Yes ma'am."

"Ava, can I have some milk and cookies before I go to bed?"

"I guess so."

"Thanks." Emma says, with a smile.

"I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too."

While Ava is upstairs with Emma, William finds one of the maids. "I want you to go to the kitchen and find Madam Ledeau."

"Yes sir."

"Tell her to begin the preparations that I spoke to her about this morning. She'll know what you're talking about?"

"Yes sir." The maid says, curtseying.

"Go on." William says, turning away as the maid goes to do as he asked.

William heads upstairs to his bedroom. When he gets there he goes directly to his closet and changes clothes, putting on a pair of dress pants and shirt, he forgoes the tie. Going into the bathroom, he washes his face and then brushes his teeth, running a brush through his hair, he leaves the bathroom and on his way out of his room, he stops at his safe. Opening it, he takes out a small box putting it in his pocket as he closes the safe and then leaves.

While he's upstairs, the staff has been busy fulfilling his instructions and when he walks into the courtyard, he stops for a moment, staring until one of the kitchen staff notices him. "Your Highness." The servant says, bowing.

"This is perfect." He says, looking around.

The courtyard is small with only enough room for a small fountain, a table for two and small place for dancing if you wanted too. In the trees, small white lights hang giving off a soft glow, but most of the courtyard is lit by the moonlight. On the table is a dinner for two. They had stopped and gotten something for Emma on the way home from the palace. The staff is finishing up his instructions when Ava comes in. She stops for a moment, staring, until he walks over to her. "What's all of this?" She asks, looking around the courtyard

"I've got a surprise for you." He says.

"A surprise."

"Yes, are you hungry?"

"I was hungry at the restaurant, but you said to wait."

"Yes, I did. Would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to your table, Mademoiselle?"

"Is this a formal invitation, Monsieur?"

"Of course, Mademoiselle." He says, bowing low.

Laughing, she takes his arm as he smiles, leading her over to the table. He helps her with her chair before he goes to the other side. One of the servants steps forward and pours them both a glass of sparkling cider. "I wanted champagne, but…." He says, nodding to the glass.

"We can't, but this will do. So what are we drinking to?"

"Umm, how about our future?"

"Our future." She says, lifting her glass. They touch glasses before she takes a drink. "So, are you going to tell me what's going on here?"

"In due time, I will." He says, as another servant brings the food he had asked the cook to prepare. "I asked Madam Ledeau to prepare all your favorites. I hope you enjoy them."

"I'm sure I will, but are you trying to prepare me for something, maybe something I'm not going to like."

"Maybe I am trying to prepare you, but it's not for something you won't like. In fact, I hope what I have to say makes you very happy. But before that, let's eat." He says, picking up his fork.

They begin to eat, as Ava says. "You will never guess what Emma said to me as we were going upstairs."

"What?"

"She said she was going to marry Will."

"Marry Will." William says, after coughing slightly.

"Yes." Ava says, smiling.

"Where in the world did she get that idea?"

"I don't know, but she seems to think that she's going to marry Will because he's her best friend."

"I'm assuming that Will knows nothing about her plans?"

"No, he doesn't and I informed her that she might want to keep them to herself for the time being anyway."

"How did you get on the subject of marriage anyway?"

"She asked me if I loved you and if I wanted to marry you."

"What did you tell her?"

"The truth, that I did love you."

William was tempted to ask her about marriage, but he decided to wait till later as the servant brings out the second course. "Did you tell her anything about Olivia?"

"No, and I guess I should've but I wanted to give her one day of not worrying about anything. We had fun today and I didn't want to bring up such a serious subject. I know that it would be a relief to her in some ways but it might worry her too."

"Worry her, how?"

"She might be worried that Olivia thinks she doesn't love her anymore because she's staying with me. I don't know, maybe I should've told her, but it's too late now, she's in bed and…."

"It will wait till the morning." He says, reaching for her hand. "I think when you tell her, she'll be happy."

"I hope so. She's been through a lot in the last few weeks."

"So, have you."

"I can handle it, but she's just a little girl and everything that's happened is a lot for an adult to handle."

"She'll be fine. Do you want to dance?" William asks, partly to bring the conversation back to them and to stop her from worrying about Emma.

"That would be fine." Ava says, putting her fork down. William gets up and then walks around the table. He helps Ava up and then into his arms. "We don't have any music."

"I don't think we really need any." He says, pulling her to him and holding her closer. Slowly they begin to dance. "It was fun showing her the island."

"She enjoyed it. We both did."

"Maybe before you go back to Springfield we can go to where I grew up on the other side of the island. You can both see the house where I grew up."

"You still have it?"

"Well the government of San Cristobel has it. After I became prince, the Parliament purchased my parent's home from the family that bought it and they've turned it into a national museum of sorts."

"Isn't that a little weird?"

"I guess so. I haven't lived there for years. I sold the place after my parents died."

"Why didn't you keep it?"

"I wasn't planning on staying too long on the island. I thought I would spend my life at sea. That was my life before I met Camille and my brother and Cassie, before Will, and Camille and Dax forcing the country to choose between democracy and the monarchy and I became prince."

"I guess it's sort of ironic that we were both adopted. I never thought about that."

"It is ironic. Did you know your father?"

"Not too much, he left when I was little, but I was close to my adoptive mom. She worked so hard to raise me."

"Where did you grow up?"

"Actually it wasn't far from Springfield. My mom worked for a guy that owned most of the town. He had a son and we were close friends and when my mom got sick, she begged us to get married."

"Did you marry him?"

"Yes, we got married and then as soon as my mom died, he left for a private school in Switzerland. He didn't come home after that."

"You never saw him again. Are you still married?"

"I heard he was back in the states a few years ago and I followed him to Springfield. He was friends with your nephew."

"My nephew?"

"Yes, Jon. They were best friends in Switzerland until something happened and there was an accident and then Sandy came to Springfield. For a while, he tried to impersonate Jon, I don't know what happened with them, but I followed Sandy to Springfield and I ended up running into Jon one night and he helped me out. One thing led to another and I ended up confronting Sandy when he tried to marry your niece Tammy. I filed for divorce, but Sandy never received or signed the divorce papers before he married Tammy. The police found out and he was arrested right after the ceremony. That all led to Sarah being conceived. It was messed up, but Sandy and I finally got a divorce and shortly after that, Sandy was killed."

"I had no idea you were tied to Jon."

"I wasn't really tied to him. He was friends with Sandy. I was married to Sandy for a while that was our only connection. Are you shocked?"

"No, not really, it just makes me realize that we don't know much about each other."

"How did you meet Camille?"

"She was down here on vacation and I ran into her on the beach literally. Some guys and I were playing soccer and I ran into her. We got together and were married within a week. We quickly realized that it was a mistake and I immediately shipped out for a year long cruise with the merchant marines. When I came back a year later, she had divorced me and Richard and Cassie were set to adopt Will. I knew she could be manipulative but I didn't know how much until after I found out I was Richard's brother."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, Richard and Cassie were hurt by her and that they lost so much time with Will. I can't imagine thinking that my child was dead and yet my child is dead."

"What do you mean?"
"Camille was actually pregnant. She was at the hospital at the same time Cassie was there. That's how Edmund found her. She delivered just minutes before Cassie and Edmund arranged for Cassie's doctor to tell Cassie that Will had died and then Edmund took the baby, gave him to Camille and paid her to leave with Will."

"Why would he do that?"

"He wanted the throne and he wanted to hurt Richard and Cassie. He had been after them for years. He did everything he could to stop their wedding. He went after Cassie about her past. He engineered and accident during the Spaulding project. He convinced Richard and Cassie that Cassie needed a bodyguard and then maneuvered it until they hired the man he had hired to make Richard think Cassie was cheating on him. And that's just the stuff he did to Richard and Cassie, there's more that he's done to Richard while he was married to Reva and he tried to kill Jon when he was a baby. And then Richard figured out that he wasn't the prince, but he knew everything that Edmund had done.

The country knew it too, and when Richard announced that he wasn't the true heir and that the Parliament should consider dissolving the monarchy instead of letting Edmund have the throne. He couldn't let that happen, so he staged a coup. He seized control and then he went after Cassie and Richard and all the stuff happened with Will. And that is why I don't want to be Prince anymore. It's not worth the power struggle and heartache."

"So, you're going to give up the throne."

"I never wanted the throne in the first place. If Camille hadn't've forced me to claim my right to the throne to protect Will from her and Dax, San Cristobel would still be an democracy and Richard might still be President. He certainly would not have spent the last five years laying in a hospital bed in a coma. He would have seen Tammy grow up and RJ and Will. He and Cassie wouldn't have lost all that time together. Do you want to sit down? We've been dancing for a while."

"That's fine."

William helps her sit down and then he turns to the staff. "We're fine, you can leave us now. I'll call if we need anything."

They bow before the leave the courtyard. "You know, for someone that doesn't want this life anymore, you give orders well."

"I've become accustomed to my life."

"So, I'm guessing that you didn't make all these preparations for us to talk about our past."

"No, I didn't. I had something else in mind when I made these preparations."

"So, are you going to tell me about them or are you having second thoughts."

"No, I'm not having second thoughts." He says, reaching for the glass of cider. He takes a drink before he puts the glass down. "Like I said when I toasted I wanted to talk about our future."

"Our future, I thought that was settled, you were going to move to Springfield after the election and then we would live at the loft with Emma and our baby."

"Would you be open to something more permanent?"

"What do you mean permanent?"

William gets up and taking his chair, he moves it around to Ava's side of the table and then he sits down, taking her hands when she turns to him. "You know that I love you, right?"

"Of course, and I love you too. I haven't said…."

"You don't have to tell me everyday." He says, looking up.

She watches him for a moment before she asks. "What's bothering you?"

"I'm not really bothered. I'm just not sure how to put this into words."

"Then tell me what you are thinking about?"

"Your dad just married Sam after years of them being apart. Richard just remarried Cassie after being in a coma for five years. What if we got married too?"

"You want to get married?"

"I think we should consider it and not simply because of the baby. I love you and I think we should be a family in every way you can be a family." He says, getting up and bending down on one knee. "Ava, will you marry me?" He asks, pulling out the box that he had in his pocket.

"Oh, my, William… I… don't know what to say. I wasn't…." She looks up at him.

"Do you want to marry me?"

"Yes, but I wasn't expecting this now."

"Will you marry me. We can take our time and we can plan it all out. We can…."

"I'll marry you." Ava says, laying a finger across his mouth.

"You're sure."

"Yes, absolutely."

He reaches for her, pulling her to him. He kisses her before he hugs her too him. "I love you."

"I love you too." She says, laying her head on his shoulder.

He holds her for a moment before he remembers the ring. "I guess I need to put this on your finger." He says, sitting back. He takes the ring out of the box as she holds her hand out.

"I can't believe you had a ring already. How did you know what size to get?"

"Umm, you know when you were looking at those rings that day on Main Street. I paid attention to your ring size when you tried them on."

"But how did you get the ring?"

"I had the ring. It was my mother… my adoptive mother's. My father gave it to her. It was the only thing I kept after their death." He says, as she looks down at the simply diamond solitaire, set in 10k gold."

"It's not much and certain not what a normal prince would give his fiancé, but I'm not going to prince for much longer." He says, with a smile.

"This is perfect." Ava says, looking at her ring before she looks at him. Leaning forward, she kisses him. "I love you." She whispers.

"I love you too." He says, sitting back.

Sitting up, Sam moves off him after he releases her. Lying down beside him, she closes her eyes. Turning his head, he sees her close her eyes. "Why don't you go to sleep?"

"I'm not sleepy." She says, looking at him.

"Sam…."

"I'm not, I promise. Play for me, please." She says, moving to her side.

He looks at her and then pushes the sheet back. Getting up, he goes over to his case. Opening it, he takes the guitar out and walks over to the bed. She watches him and he smiles, seeing the desire in her eyes. Sitting down, he leans over and kisses her. She pulls away before he gets to carried away. Picking up the guitar, he strums it softly and then adjusts the tune. "What do you want to hear?" He asks, watching her.

"My song." She says, watching him

He starts to play, humming softly while she watches him. And then he softly begins to sing. "For months I dreamed, for years I waited, to see you again. I would lay awake at night and pray that in the morning, I would open my eyes and see your smile, your eyes again. The sun rose, the seasons past and I didn't see your smile, I couldn't hear your voice in my head anymore as the years past. The road looked dark, and I felt deserted. The years ahead looked gray and bleak.

One of these days, I'm gonna wake up in your arms again. One of these days, you're gonna know this is where you belong, beside me, holding me, loving me. One of theses days the memories will be happy again, and I'll hold you again. One of these days, you'll know my life is yours, and that you hold everything for me.

Time passes and my memory fills with heart broke memories, of our moments together. The years change, people come and go, our lives move on but the memories never fade. Then a miracle happens you come back to me. I see your smile and the memories aren't filled with pain, but filled with the reality of knowing that I can have more.

So much time has passed, so many years we've been apart, but you're as beautiful today as the day you walked into my life. You know me better than anyone I know. I see us again, I see the future we were building back then and I hope and I pray that I will never know what it feels like to not have you beside me again."

He looks up as he finishes playing and she asks. "Why didn't you ever do this when we were together before?"

"Music was something I played around with and before it didn't seem to fit with what we were doing."

"But you never even sang in the shower, everyone sings in the shower."

"But not everyone should…." She reaches over and slaps him as he laughs. "Seriously, I have never taken this too seriously."

"Why not? You're good, really good."

"Because my life never went this way. I was reckless and free when I went to San Cristobel and then all of the stuff with Olivia happened and I was forced into the agency and rock star didn't fit with the image that the agency had for me."

"It didn't fit the image of a DA either I guess."

"No, I was the hard ass that everyone hated in New York."

"You were good at what you do."

"Being a lawyer kept me sane along with many other things after you left. It reminded me that I couldn't go to far out in left field. Here let me play you another song."

"Okay."

He starts to play again and then begins to sing "I feel the rain on my face, and the cool autumn wind. I feel the breeze as it caresses our bodies after we make love. The moon shines down, painting a silver light. Baby, I feel your love, every minute, every hour, every day, every month and every year. I feel you.

Baby, can you feel me. Do you know what I feel when I am in your arms. Do you know that I love you? And that I love the way you love me. I love that you know everything about me, every dream and every sorrow, past and present. I feel you.

I feel you when wrap my arms around you every night. I feel your eyes, as you watch me. I feel your heart as it beats in your chest. The sunlight warms us as I sigh with contentment while you hold me. I feel your love and I know you feel mine.

Summer rolls into fall, fall reaches into winter and winter rushes into spring. The cycle continues every year, along with our love. I want to feel every experience, every emotion that comes with every step we take together. I want to know that I've lived my life feeling the depth of love that so many others have never felt.

Baby, I feel you. I feel you, every hour, every minute, every moment of the day. Through all the seasons, through all the years. I feel you. I feel you. Baby, I feel you."

He looks over and smiles. Leaning up, she kisses him softly. "I love you, every minute, every moment of the day, through all the seasons and all the years." He leans over to kiss her again. "Where did that come from?" She asks, lying back down.

"They were songs that I wrote while we were apart. I've never played them for anyone, except the night that I played One of These Days at Jon's Bar. I'm going to have to sit down and write us some happier songs." He says, fiddling with different chords while she watches him.

After a while he puts the guitar down and starts to get out of the bed. "Where are you going?"

"I'm hungry." He says, headed for the door. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No, I'm fine." She says, watching him walk across the bedroom. When he leaves the room, she looks over at his guitar and then reaches for it as she sits up. Running her fingers over it, she feels the words under her fingers where she had it engraved. She slowly moves her hands over those words, smiling. Putting the guitar across her lap, she puts her hand on the neck and then picks up the pick he was using to strum as he was playing. She moves the pick down the strings, and is surprised to hear notes being played. She continues to play around, strumming different strings until she feels his eyes on her. "I'm sorry, I was…."

"It's okay, Beca." He says, carrying in the pizza box. Sitting it down on the bed, he sits down beside her. "I didn't know you wanted to learn how to play."

"No, I don… I mean… I never really thought about it. It was laying there and I just picked it up and started playing with it. I was surprised that it played notes without holding any of the strings down."

"Those are called open notes, and when you hold a string down it plays a different note and when you play three notes together, like this." He says, taking the guitar and playing a C chord. "That is a chord and there are a bunch of them." He says, switching through different cords and playing different scales.

"How did you learn to play?"

"I used to hang out at my neighbors house while my mom was at work."

"Was this the one she forbade you from seeing?"

"The one and same. He played all the time, even played gigs around town and he would let me go with him to help with the equipment when I was older. I was never allowed in the bar and I never went with him when he played the bar where my mom worked, obviously, but otherwise, he would take me with him and I would help him and he would teach me different chords and rifts."

"Did your Mom know about this at all?"

"No, I never told her."

"You didn't ever want your own guitar."

"Of course I did, but if I asked her for one, first she couldn't afford to get one and seconds she would want me to explain why I wanted one. The neighbor let me play on his."

"What was his name, the neighbor?"

"Mr. Rollins, I never asked him what he did during the day. I would just wait till Mom went to work and then I would sneak downstairs and he would let me in and he would play and then he would teach me as I got older." Jeffrey says, playing different chords. He looks up and then smiles.

While they were talking, Sam had laid back down. When he looks down, he finds that she's fallen asleep. Putting the guitar next to the wall, he reaches for and pulls the covers up before he takes a piece of pizza from the box and takes a bite.