Present Day

To be honest, I was terrified of speaking to Alexander. He had caused me so much physical and mental pain during my time with him that I was shaking from only thinking about it. But here I was, waiting for the door to be opened and for the interrogation to begin. As I sat on a cold metal chair in a small windowless room, I contemplated the idea of asking another officer to do it. But I knew that Alexander was expecting me and I wanted to show all of the men around me just how strong I was.

BUZZ.

The doors swung opened to reveal a chained man still wearing the uniform that we had caught him in. Even though he was a criminal, I made a mental note to find him fresh clothes - I wasn't going to treat anyone like an animal no matter what they had done. I remembered how the palace had treated beggars who had stolen clothes and I had sworn to myself to never sink to Clarkson's level. I kept my eyes on him as he was led to his chair and chained to the table.

He watched me intently until the doors swung shut again behind the guards who had brought him in.

"Hello America." he smiled with a wicked grin.

Taken aback by the question, I countered it with a question that would hopefully move him away from the idea.

"Why do you think I am her?" I asked simply, trying to refrain from giving anything away.

"Because there is no one who has the same piecing eyes." he replied, sending shivers down my spine."Did you really think I wouldn't guess?"

"What are you doing here Alexander? Why would you come here alone and try to do what you failed to do before?" I questioned.

He merely shrugged and laid back in his chair.

"Why would I tell you anything you TRAITOR!" he yelled, leaping from his chair and nearly lifting the table that had been screwed to the floor.

I jumped back and took my gun out of its holster. Pointing it at his head, I said calmly:

"I am no traitor. If you will not give me any information then I will have to call in someone who is far worse than me."

"You tried to destroy us." He said through gritted teeth."But you only made us more determined to kill the man you love."

Before I could continue, five men stormed in and grabbed Alexander before pushing me out of the room. Andrew had been watching on a screen in the next room - without sound - and must of been very concerned to set off the guards. Rolling my eyes, I sent a message to him with the nearest available guard. I planned to spend the day alone - even though I was supposed to be seeing the King. I just didn't feel up to trying to convince him that this was a serious threat and not just a lone attacker. As I walked to my room, I noticed that the door to the Women's Room was open. I stopped to peer my head around the door and saw that it was empty. No one was in there. As I looked around the room that I spent so much time in, I noticed that it wasn't as empty as it had been on first glance.

Lying on one of the sofas, was the Princess Madeline. She was wearing a beautiful day dress that reminded me of ones I had worn. Even though she was the only princess I had met, she seemed to not enjoy wearing the flashier jewelry and dresses that many other girls her age chose when given the opportunity.

"Shouldn't you be studying, your highness?" I asked politely as the young girl suddenly sprung up from the sofa.

"Well... Yes but it's music."She replied with a stunned look on her face.

"Whats wrong with music?" I smiled as I made my way towards her.

Although she had the same hair colour as her mother, her eyes and smile reminded me so much of Maxon. I watched her turn towards the piano to grab a piece of music that was sitting on the stand. To my horror, it was a piece that I had composed during the countless hours of boredom. It had not been my best and was astonished that someone had found it.

"My tutor found it and said I should try."

"It looks very ... complex." I said quickly, as if I was trying to persuade her to leave it.

"I'm a good pianist, actually." She replied cheekily.

She asked me to join her and I agreed - mostly to avoid the paperwork waiting for me. We made our way towards the piano and sat down together. She began to play the piece nicely but it lacked the emotion that I had had when I had wrote. It wasn't long before she gave up and offered me the chance to play it. Although I was afraid that someone might catch me and tell me to do something else, I was aching to play the piano. It had been so long, yet as soon as I put my fingers to the keys, I knew exactly what I was doing. As I began to play, felt a happiness that I hadn't felt in years. My hands glided over the keys with ease as I played the tune that I had wrote so long ago. It was filled with passion and love - with a hint of jealousy. All the feelings I felt towards Maxon during that peaceful time in my life.

I had forgotten that anyone was in the room until Madeline began to clap beside me. Smiling down at her I asked that she play me her favorite piece and soon we were playing songs together, laughing as we went. I had not realised that anyone was watching until I saw four figures at the door. I jumped up in surprise and curtsied to them quickly - it was Maxon, Kriss and Amberly. Behind them, Andrew stood patiently, holding a mountain of folders that I knew had would have to comb through. I saw the amazement in their eyes that had been there the first time I had played for them.

"Mummy! Daddy! Did you hear us playing?" Madeline said as she ran towards her parents with a giggle.

"Yes, it was absolutely beautiful!" Maxon declared as he lifted his daughter high into the air while keeping his eye on me.

I smiled as Madeline giggled at her father's attempts to tickle her. Kriss soon joined in, making me feel suddenly very alone. I almost didn't notice the Queen approach me and smile as she said:

"That was truly incredible!"

I mumbled a reply and smiled sadly as she went to join her family. They were all so happy, because of a choice that I had made. As I looked towards Andrew, I noticed that he had a concerned look on his face. Quietly, I made my way out of the Women's Room and back towards my own. As I sat down at my desk, I noticed a locked drawer tucked to the side. It amazed me that I hadn't seen it before - or that I hadn't even remembered it's existence. As I searched for the keyhole, I saw a small hole near the corner. Trying to remember where I would hide a key I felt under the desk and found a small metal object. As I took it out from it's hiding spot and unlocked the drawer, I felt extremely nervous - what if I didn't like what I was going to find? Inside were all of the letters that Maxon had wrote to me during my time away for my father's funeral. I didn't know why I had chosen to hide them - maybe I had hoped that Maxon would find them. It annoyed me how in my worse mood, the world found a way for it to become even worse. In my self pity while reading through the top letter, I barely noticed that Madeline had appeared at my door.

"Back for more?" I asked as I put the letters back in the drawer.

"Well, you left really quickly. I never got a chance to say thanks "

"Are you supposed to be in lessons?" I asked cheekily seeing the dread spread over her face at the thought of sitting in silence.

"My parents know I'm here, they said no more lessons for the rest of the day!" She said excitedly as she skipped towards me.

Inviting her to sit on my bed, she smiled up at me. As we sat in my bed, I noticed how she straightened her dress to ensure there were no back was as straight as possible with her hands resting in her lap - like a true princess.

"You really don't have to act so proper around me Madeline." I said to her, "I would rather you show me who you are than try to present your perfect princess image to me."

"Really?" She replied skeptically.

"Yeah, when you are with me you can just be a regular seven year old."

"So... You're like my fun aunt?" She asked excitedly.

Even though I was on a mission, I knew that it would be lonely if I didn't have someone to laugh with. It felt like this child didn't always have a chance to be young and fun - especially when her grandfather was around. If being a fake aunt to this child would help her find some fun in her life, then I would do it - no matter what Maxon or Clarkson said.

For the next two hours, I laughed and played with Madeline. I styled her hair in a half-up do, like I used to wear during my time. It had been pulled back in a pony tail to conceal the roots until Madeline had got hold of it and styled it into a beautiful braid. To see the girl happy made all of my stress melt away because it had nothing to do with the Special Forces or Maxon. As we sat on my bed, we talked about what we liked to do and I found she was so much like her father. They shared a love of photography and Madeline talked to me about some of her favourites.

"Look what I found in my father's room" she whispered, "It's Lady America!"

I gasped as I looked at the photo. I had remembered seeing this one in his display when he had shown me his room. I couldn't believe that he still had it. I watched as Madeline talk about what she thought I was like and how she wished she could have met her.

"Do you think she would have liked me?" she asked nervously.

"Absolutely!" I replied as I pulled her in for a hug.

Even though we had barely spent any time together, we had formed a connection that I didn't want to lose. We continued our conversation until a pale Kriss appeared at my door. Madeline didn't seem to notice as she walked towards her mother, but I could see there was something wrong. I barely got a chance to say goodbye before the royals left the room and I returned to the abandoned paper work from this morning.

I tried to recount all that Alexander had said and it didn't make sense. Why would he do this? What possible advantage did they have to gain? How did he get back into the palace?

The questions swirled around my head like a storm until I gave up for the evening. I continued to work through the paperwork, when Anne walked in. It felt as if I would never be alone for two minutes ever again.

"Yes?" I asked irritably, not realizing who it was.

"Ahh... Sorry, is this a bad time?" she asked cautiously, sensing my mood.

"What? No. Sorry. What can I do for you?"

"It's just I was sent to inform you that you have a meeting with the King tomorrow because you failed to turn up today." she replied simply, "Their words not mine."

"I will try to attend." I assured her as she promptly left again.

I put my head on the table and it felt like I would never be able to raise it again. Without realizing, my eyes closed and didn't open again till the following morning. Little did I know just how much more stressed I would be before the day was done.