So those of you that are familiar with events in the comics will be familiar with parts of this story line, I think. I'm trying to make this stick to cannon as much as I possibly can, only in a Tudors like setting. So, yeah, keep that in mind.

Jesters and Kings
Part the Second

Barbara was in her sitting room when she heard the loud open and closing of the heavy front door, accompanied by the rumble of male voices. She smiled to herself; Richard was here. She waited for him, continuing sewing the little doll she was making for Charlotte, a little girl who lived on one of the farms down the road. The little girl's mother had recently passed away and Barbara felt an odd sort of kinship with the girl.

There was a loud banging noise, which Barbara assumed was the unloading of Richard's trunks, and the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Barbara smiled to herself, but didn't put down the doll's head, and continued her steady work.

There was a knock on the door and one of her ladies' maids entered. "His Highness Prince Richard, my lady," she said, and stepped aside to allow the prince access to the room, and turning to leave once he was gone.

"Your Highness," Barbara greeted him, not bothering to get up. "You find me working on a doll for a young farm girl that lives down the road. I am afraid I cannot take a break from my work to wait on you."

Prince Richard smiled deviously and chuckled. "I am sorry to disturb such charitable work, Lady Barbara, but I am afraid that I demand your attention. All of it."

Barbara looked up from her work, her eyebrow cocked, and set down her needle, standing and curtsying low. "Is Your Highness satisfied?"

The prince shook his head. "No, my lady, I am not. I shall not be satisfied until you come here and give your oldest and dearest friend a hug."

Barbara, smiling, ran at Richard, and wrapped him in such a hug that nearly knocked them both over.

"I've missed you," said she upon releasing him, and he patted the top of her head where her hood wasn't resting.

"I've missed you, too. Court is so busy and buzzing and I never have any time for myself."

Barbara sat, and motioned for the price to do the same. "I'm sorry to hear that," she replied, picking her needlework back up. "I had hoped that you would be able to visit more frequently, but if court is so busy as you say, then I suppose it is not possible,"

Richard inclined his head towards his friend and sighed. "I fear that that is not the worst of it, either. My father has told me that he wishes me to marry soon. He has begun looking for a princess for me to wed."

Barbara was by no means shocked by this. In reality, she had wondered when the king was going to force Richard to marry. He was almost one and twenty, beyond what was considered normal marriageable age. "I cannot say I am anything but surprised, Richard," she then told him. "Your father is a practical man, and he knows you must marry. That he is looking to unite his kingdom with another is no surprise."

Richard seemed to visibly slump and ran his hand through his hair, a sheer sign of just how he was feeling. "But what if I don't want to marry a foreign princess? What if I would rather marry someone I know and am familiar with?" he asked, sounding desperate.

Barbara smiled at him kindly and reached out to touch his arm I comfort. "I know it must be a thing that it hard to accept, Richard, but you are a prince, the crowned prince at that, and you must marry where your father bids you. Just as I must marry where my father bids me, when the time comes. See, you are just like a woman; the instrument of your father, as all women are."

Richard looked at her crossly with such an expression that Barbara couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, don't be offended. This is the nature of all princes."

"It is the nature of all princes to be like women?" Richard replied, his voice bordering on uncivil.

"Oh, Richard, you are too sensitive. You know what I mean. If your father tells you must marry a specific woman, you must do it."

Richard sighed again and took Barbara's hand and put his lips to it. "I know," he said, giving her back her hand. "But I don't want to marry a stranger. I don't understand why Father cannot marry some foreign princess and leave me to wed whom I choose."

"You know as well as I that that is not the way it works. Besides, how do you not know that your father won't have you marry someone like Princess Donna? You are quite close to her, are you not? Were you not raised together?"

Richard almost instantly seemed opposed to the idea. "Donna? Good Lord, no! She is like a sister to me! I could never marry her!"

Unable to control herself, Barbara giggled. "Well, my darling, I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but if you have half so much affection as that in your marriage to anyone else, I shall be surprised. Though it is possible that your father may indeed choose for you to marry Princess Donna, I doubt it will be so, and anyone else he could pick you are unlikely to have the pleasure of knowing. I fear that you are doomed to an unhappy marriage."

Though Barbara was teasing, Richard took what she said to heart. In all honesty, what she said was true. It was unlikely in the extreme that he would know his wife, much less love her.

"What if I wanted to marry you?" he asked halfheartedly.

"Richard, don't be ridiculous. I may be the daughter of a duke, and one that your father loves dearly at that, but I am not a princess. It would never even be considered."

Richard looked up at her with a devious smile. "But you do not object marrying me, Barbara. I think perhaps you have fallen victim to my charms."

Barbara huffed, indignant. "Yes, of course I have." She paused, brushing a stray hair back into her hood. "Of course I would not object to marrying you, you lout. For one thing, marrying you would be much better than marrying that son of that minor noble that I believe my father may want for me. Secondly, I do love you dearly. Though you are like a brother to me, I would rather wed you than perhaps any other my father could find for me. But don't flatter yourself. I have long been free of the want of your charms."

Richard laughed and sat back in his chair. "Yes, I daresay that's true. You've know me far too long to be subject to all my ensnaring ways."

Barbara smiled and returned to her sewing. "So what have you been about these days, Richard? You rarely ever write me anymore."

"I'm busy," replied he. "My father has me mostly running the kingdom. He fears assassins or the plague or what have you will force him into an untimely death and that I will be forced to take the throne much sooner than he wants."

"That's not entirely unreasonable, dear. He has many enemies that would love to see him dead."

Richard looked at his friend with a glare that could melt stone – a glare that Barbara was entirely used to, one that had no effect on her. "Oh, don't give me that look. You know I am very rarely anything but honest with you. You know that it is a possibility."

Richard, glare still in place, shrugged. "That doesn't make it any less infuriating, darling. Maybe I don't want your brutally honest truths."

"Pity," she replied. "I think I shall have to learn to be less liberal when I speak to Your Highness, then. I suppose you shall take that very well."

Barbara smiled as Richard groaned, content that she had managed to irk him. "I suspected as much. What would you do without my flippant tongue?"

"Die," Richard replied dramatically, throwing his arm over his eyes. "Absolutely and completely die."

XXX

On the second day of Richard's visit to the Duke's home, Barbara took him out to one of the outer-lying apple orchards on the property and brought their dinner in the form of cold cuts. Richard spread out a blanket for them as Barbara dismounted, taking care not to step of the hem of her new and expensive blue dress.

"You could have helped me down" she complained. "Father would kill me if I ripped my brand new gown. Some gentleman you are."

Grinning, Richard turned to her and held out a hand. "M'lady," he said as he drew her towards the blanket. "Allow me to take care of the horses while you recline."

Barbara rolled her eyes and sat down and watched Richard as he properly hobbled the horses, something she wasn't entirely sure she would have been able to do anyway. She wasn't sure where Richard, bred a prince, had learned, but she didn't care to dwell on it.

Once finished with the horses, Richard came and sat down next to the lady, sitting near to her and enjoying her closeness. "I must confess, I had missed this," he admitted, pulling an apple from their basket and taking a large bite of it.

Barbara looked at him and laughed as she noted the juice from the apple dripping down his chin. "I think you've something on your chin, my darling. Here," She pulled a line napkin from the basket and wiped tenderly at his chin, almost as if she were his mother.

Barbara looked up at Richard just as he lowered his head, and their eyes met. She looked at him as he looked at her, and she felt herself moving in closer towards him. His hand was suddenly at her chin, holding it tenderly, and she cocked her head to the side, unsure about the close contact. They had always been good friends, but they had never been intimate. She knew the bounds of propriety, and she knew that if King Bruce (or anyone, really) knew that she was out with Richard, unchaperoned, he would probably be in a great deal of trouble and she would probably be looked at as if she were a Jezebel. But so it had been since they had been children. Her father did not seem to mind that they went on the excursions alone, though all parties involved were careful not to mention it to the king.

Inhaling quickly, Barbara removed her hand from Richard's face and moved away from him. "There," she announced. "You no longer have a puddle of juice on your face. I am satisfied."

It took a moment for Richard to regain his composure, but when he did, he grinned. "Very good. I'd hate to disappoint my lady."

"Then I fear you are too late, Your Highness," she teased. "I am afraid you disappoint me rather regularly."

"Well, than I am sorry for it," he replied, puffing up with false indignation. "I shall remedy this as soon as may be."

"Very good, sir, very good."

They finished their mean in peace, birds chirping mildly around them, but Barbara couldn't help but think that Richard had been rather close to kissing her, and all that such a thing entailed.