Thank you so much to aserene and Clarisse Renaldi for your wonderful reviews. I guess you girls forgave me for going into mature material!!! LOL I'm almost done with the next part, and I'm feeling very productive at the moment. Again a BIG thank you to Shakayla for helping me out and being my ever so patient beta!!! Love you!!!

So here goes nothing.

Enjoy.

Wanting and Waiting...

Time sure flies! Rupert and I have now been married about seven months and it feels like we've already been around the world twice visiting everyone and everything between heaven and earth. Perhaps we were a little overbooked - with functions, charity work, balls, meetings and work in general. For the past month or so neither Rupert nor I have had a workday that was less than sixteen hours. I don't know how we are going to enjoy each other with workdays like this. Of course we have been working together; but somehow we manage to separate our work from our time alone together. Our ability to do that is very nice. Once we close the door to our suite, we don't talk about work; but try to focus on what we want together for the future or even that very moment.

After we returned from our honeymoon, we started working out a plan for the children of Genovia as we had agreed upon that would be our main concern. We made a really fantastic plan that would be for children of all ages. We hoped to be able to get the plans finalized within two months; but it took a little longer to organize than we originally thought. The delay was mostly because, in the beginning, we got interrupted all the time. This resulted in us not always achieving the goal we had set for each day. Of course, there were all the balls that Queen Maude arranged under the pretence of wanting to show off her newly wed son and his wife. Finally, it was finished and had been running for about two months. We were already told that there had already been improvements and progress, so we hope to continue what we are doing so that Genovian children will be among the world's elite when it comes to education.

The relationship between Queen Maude and I has not improved any; a week after our return she came to my office, "Clarisse I want to have a word with you now." She announced

"I'm sorry Monsieur Claude, I will have to return your call later - a meeting has just come up," I apologised to my phone call, hung up and looked over at the Queen.

"Clarisse, are you with child?" She asked suddenly, not even looking at me.

"I'm sorry…mother?" I half laughed.

She looked sternly at me; and I tried to find an expression that wouldn't agitate her further. "I asked you if you are with child," her harsh voice matching her expression.

"No mother, I am not with child and we are not planning on that for at least a year." I answered proudly.

"What nonsense girl; of course you will be with child soon. It is your duty to give Genovia her heir to the throne!" She huffed again not looking at me.

"I don't know if it's my duty but….."

"Of course it's your duty. That is the only task you have here besides supporting my son in all of his decisions!" She interrupted.

"Well Rupert seems to think otherwise; as do I!" I firmly stated.

"I do not care. You are to produce the next heir to the Genovian throne and that's all there is to it!" She spat while rising from the chair.

"I thought Genovia already had its next heir," I calmly stated.

"Rupert will need a son to follow him," she said

"We will have children, mother; but we agreed upon waiting about a year so we could enjoy some time with just him and I before we start our family. I'm sorry if you can't accept that…it is our decision." I explained and rose from behind my desk and walked towards the door.

"Where do you think you are going? We are talking!" The Queen loudly stated.

"No we are finished for now, Mother. I have a lot of work and I have a meeting with Rupert in five minutes so I do not have anymore time to discuss something that has already been decided and that you will not have a say in it!" I said and left the room.

"The people of Genovia will demand an heir within a year!" She yelled after me. All I could do was head straight to Rupert's office to let out some steam.

I quickly arrived at his office door and knocked and I entered at his 'come'. When I looked around the door, Rupert looked to see who it was. When he registered it was me, he immediately rose from his desk and dismissed his secretary and aide. I followed them, with my eyes, as they walked out the door, as did Rupert. His eyes followed them, but he was moving towards me.

When the door closed, I was in his arms sharing a loving kiss which soon deepened. We backed up against the newly closed door and I could feel Rupert's already growing erection pressing into me. I gave a small outburst of surprise when he suddenly lifted me up and guided my legs around his hips; he pulled back a little and looked at me while running his hand up my arm.

"Oh God, Clarisse, I've thought about you all day!" Rupert panted.

"It's only been two hours since we emerged from our suite." I giggled.

"I know darling, but ever since the minute I kissed you and we went to our separate offices, I've missed you, your kisses, your touch, your everything!" He said quickly.

"Then why don't we work in the same room, darling?" I questioned

"Because we wouldn't get anything done; I would be all over you all the time. We wouldn't even be able to have anyone else in the room. If we did, we would embarrass them all the time. I would do this!" He said and kissed my mouth, "and this…" he kissed my neck… "and this…" unbuttoning my shirt "and this!" pulling it from my skirt. I claimed his lips and he carried me over to the sitting area in his office where he laid me down on the sofa covering my body quickly. We were kissing and fondling each other like there was no tomorrow. We didn't even notice that someone had entered the room until Rupert let his hand run up my leg under my skirt pushing it higher…then we were interrupted by a cough. We looked up and there was the Queen.

"Well I'm pleased to see that you at least are working on giving Genovia her heir; even if it is in your office, my dear!" She said satisfied.

Rupert rose from his position on top of me pulling me with him. As soon as we were standing, I turned around to close my shirt and make myself presentable again. I listened to Rupert who continued to stand there with his shirt open, untidy hair and still maintaining a strong erection, facing his mother. "Have you never heard of knocking? Didn't you think that it wasn't the proper time to enter when you noticed my secretary, aide, and bodyguards outside?" He challenged.

"Darling, there is no need to get upset; I just came into see if you were alright!" She said and reached out to touch his face, but he stopped her hand.

"Do not do that. I am no longer a little boy. I'm a grown man who was in the middle of an intimate moment with my wife, leave!" He now yelled.

"Ok darling, I will see you at dinner." She said as if nothing happened and left.

Rupert was breathing hard and was annoyed. I put a hand on his shoulder which he covered with his own and ran his thumb back and forth a couple of times before turning his head to look at me, "I'm sorry darling; I think we'll have to take a rain check on a little intimate time together until bedtime." He smiled

"Well I think we can manage until then. We did enjoy each other this morning, so I think we can wait." I kissed his cheek and left for my own office, leaving the door open to let the staff know it was safe to enter again. They all had smirks on their face when I opened the door, but I have already learned to ignore it.

We've had plenty of encounters since that day in both Rupert's and my office, some louder than others; but we do work well together and we work hard because straightening out Genovia's education system is a cause that is very dear to both of us. We are very determined to have all the children in Genovia get the best education; whether they are orphan or not…we want them all, at some point, to be equal.

Rupert hasn't stopped trying to agitate or embarrass his mother at a ball or any other functions that are dear to his mother. He seems to want something to happen that will embarrass her which often results in my head on the block as well, because I am almost always right by his side, so she always thinks that I'm part of it. This seems to make her dislike…no hate…me even more. Not only am I married to her only son, I'm also not pregnant. Add to that the fact that I have embarrassed her in the past.

But no matter what the Queen thinks of me, Rupert and I are enjoying each other immensely.

When we had been married for four months and the press hadn't received any news regarding the Crown Prince and Princess being pregnant, they started speculating. We enjoyed their stories and theories immensely. Also apparently when no one from the press had seen us in two days or more, they assumed we either had taken off on a vacation to forget that we weren't pregnant or on a vacation to get pregnant. There was, of course, speculation that we were finally pregnant and that plans were being made to determine the how, what, when and where for the announcement. They had even gone so far as to talk to about sixty percent of the doctors in Genovia to try and find out if any of them had recently had an unexpected royal visit.

One morning our servants brought us our breakfast in our suite. When they left we took it into the bed and started to read through the enormous stack of papers that arrived every morning. Normally, we usually didn't read these until we reached our offices; but this morning the palace staff had thought that we would want to see the paper before the Queen and King. On the front page of each paper was a headline that indicated that I was pregnant and promised pictures inside.

The headlines ranged from "Finally" to "Pitter Patter". The funniest was the alleged pregnancy reveal photo: It was a picture of me stretching out on the balcony of our suite really early in the morning. Rupert is behind me putting his arms around my midsection with his hands resting on my stomach…with a second picture of him wrapping them completely around me. He was nuzzling my neck. The final picture was of him carrying me back inside. Apparently, according to the press, that was a sign of pregnancy. We had a great laugh about it and couldn't wait until the Queen read it knowing what her reaction would be. The minute after she had gotten the newspaper, she sought us out to determine if it was true. We told her it wasn't true…her response was something along the lines of, "…then get started!"

We are sticking to our plan to not get pregnant before we both want to as right now we both want to concentrate on the unfortunate children in Genovia. Two months ago we opened a new orphanage and school all in one. It was amazing to see how happy most of these children became just from receiving a simple little bag for their schoolbooks or a pencil…just something that was theirs.

It was very touching; especially a little girl that took to Rupert instantly. When she had been handed her schoolbag with all of the treasures inside, she ran over to where we were standing and hugged my leg. She looked up at Rupert who lowered to a chair to be closer to her level. She quickly said thank you and threw herself around his neck. He returned her hug and lifted her up to hold her on his arm for almost an hour while talking and laughing, carrying her around until it was time to leave. As we left, all I could think of was how great Rupert looked with a child on his arm and how he is going to be a great father.

After we opened the first new orphanage, we went on the royal family's annual spring cruise to visit all the countries that imports Genovia pears. It was not, however, a dream being on a ship with your mother in-law who apparently hates you. Even though I was living at the palace last year when this event took place, I did not attend. As a result, I was a little excited to try this and, of course, see so many different countries.

When we first left the harbour, I was glad that this was only something we had to once a year. The ship was slowly rocking just enough for me to feel sick. The Queen took advantage of this and started commenting when we ate. She was mocking me and continued to taunt me with overly enjoying her food…which only made me sicker. It seemed to me that every comment she made towards me had a hint of 'if only you were pregnant…' and I was getting tired of it.

One night Rupert and I had retired. I turned in bed and just stared at him until he noticed.

"Darling, what is wrong?" He asked concerned.

"Your mother." I answered.

"Oh darling, please do not let her bother you. She just wants to have it her way." He said and kissed me on the cheek.

"I'm trying Rupert, I really am; but I can't take this constant harassment about not being pregnant. I don't even think that is what really bothers her…I think she's jealous." I complained.

"Why do you say that?" Rupert laughs

"Oh Rupert, don't say that you can't see it. She is so annoyed that we are married. Perhaps she wouldn't have married you herself; but I think she regrets that she chose me. I'm tired of her complaining, interrupting, the way she looks at me, the way she speaks to me and just the way she is. I'm sorry Rupert; I know she is your mother, but I have to be honest…she truly hates me!" I stated.

"Darling, what does my mother's opinion matter as long as we care about each other?" He asked and ran his hand gently down my face and rested it just above my breast.

"I don't know…it's just hard. I've always tried to see the best in all; but I'm sorry, I just can't find any in your mother." I said

Rupert sat up and pulled me up as well. He held my gaze for a long time. His stare was so intent that I got nervous that I might have just destroyed our relationship. I looked away…then he cupped my face and turned me so that we were again looking in each other's eyes.

"Clarisse I promise you a baby will change everything. A baby will make it all better. Can you stand this for at least six months more? I really want to enjoy our first year with it just being the two of us." He asked very sincerely.

"Of course I can dear, but please help me at times. She does it even when you are there; so if you will pay a little more attention to what she says, I think it will be easier." I begged.

"I promise Clarisse. Now, come here." He instructed as he pulled me into his arms and we lay down and fell fast asleep.

We have now been married for a little more than seven months and we are very happy. We are having fun together and work well together too. I'm also coping with the Queen. We are trying to stay as far away from her as possible and I have begged Rupert to not pull any tricks on his mother so we won't have that between us as there is already enough tension between us. As long as we are not expecting, I want to avoid her as much as possible as I do not want to be on her bad side anymore than I already am.

We are still planning the opening of the second orphanage and school and are really looking forward to getting it opened. Additionally, we have a few public events scheduled in the next couple of months including the annual Pear picking festival. After that, we have decided to take a week away from every thing once the orphanage is in order. We look forward to seeing what the press will make of that vacation.

Thank you for reading this far yet again…..please take the two minutes it takes to leave your opinion, thank you it means a lot to me!!!