About two years later:

A large crowd spilled out of the Grove High School auditorium on the night of Mia's graduation. In the general pandemonium, she had some difficulty locating her mother, but when the crowd began to thin, they finally found each other.

"Mia!" Helen Thermopolis embraced her daughter.

"There you are, Mom! I thought I'd never find you!"

"I'm so proud of you, honey!"

"I can't believe this day has finally come! I've graduated!"

"Yes, you have, and we're going to celebrate!" Helen looked around. "Has Lilly already gone?"

Mia and her mother linked arms and walked toward the exit. "Yes, she's with her family. But she'll be at my party tomorrow."

"I guess it's just you and me tonight. Let me go get the car and I'll pick you up here. You shouldn't try walking too far in those shoes."

Mia grimaced. "You're right about that. I barely made it across the stage upright."

Helen kissed her cheek and hurried off.

Mia looked up at the stars and sighed, then felt someone tap on her shoulder. She whirled around.

"Congratulations, Princess."

"Joe!" she exclaimed, hugging him. "What are you doing here? Is Grandma in the car?"

"Your grandmother is at the Genovian consulate. She wanted to come tonight, but she knew if she did, your graduation would have been turned into a media circus."

"So she asked you to come in her place?"

Joseph nodded. "Naturally, I'm no substitute for Her Majesty, but-"

"What are you talking about, Joe? I'm thrilled to see you!" She hugged him again. "Grandma's at the consulate, you said. Is she really busy? Can I come to see her?"

"Of course you can. She's very much looking forward to seeing you. That's why she's come to San Francisco."

Helen pulled up to the curb. "Mia!"

"Mom, look who's here! It's Joe!"

"Hello, Joe."

"Ms. Thermopolis," he greeted her.

"Grandma's in San Francisco, Mom!" Mia exclaimed. "She wants to see me."

Joseph pressed a card into the girl's hand. "Just call this number and Charlotte will schedule a time for you to see your grandmother. Good night, Princess."

He disappeared into the night. Mia looked at the card, shrugged, and got into the car with her mother. "How about we drink root beer floats and watch Marx Brothers movies?" she suggested.

Helen laughed. "Sounds perfect!"

#####

"Root beer and vanilla ice cream?" Joseph asked. "I've never had a… what's it called again?"

"Root beer float," Clarisse supplied, as they walked together in the garden behind the consulate.

"A root beer float, thank you. I've never tried it, but it sounds delicious."

"It is quite good. I plan to bring the recipe back to the palace, for Mia and for me."

"Did you and Mia have a nice afternoon together?" he wondered.

"Yes, we did," she told him. "It was even better than I expected. I sometimes forget how much I'm missing by seeing her so infrequently."

"It will be nice to have her with you later this summer."

"Yes, it will," Clarisse assented. "She's a lovely girl and every time I see her she's grown up just a little more. She'll be a wonderful Princess and Queen."

"Yes. I've known it almost from the day I met her."

"I'm afraid you had more faith in her than I did at the very beginning," she remarked ruefully. "I'm ashamed to have doubted her so."

"Don't be, Clarisse. You know better than anyone what the job requires. Of course you would be harder on her."

"She seems to have forgiven me, in any event."

Joseph chuckled. "Forgiven you for what? You're just as hard on yourself as you've ever been on her."

Clarisse shrugged. "Perhaps. But she was especially touched that you attended her graduation and gave me such a detailed account of it."

"An easy order to follow," he commented.

"Well, thank you for doing such a wonderful job of it." Clarisse laughed a little. "Mia was proud of herself for crossing the stage in four-inch heels without falling."

"As she should be. I couldn't manage it!" Joseph exclaimed.

She laughed again. "What a ridiculous thought!"

"Quite," he acknowledged with a smile.

"We leave tomorrow?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "Are you prepared?"

"I'm always prepared."

Joseph smirked. "Always?"

She pursed her lips, amused. "Do you doubt your Queen?"

"Never!"

"Good."

"What of your doubts, Your Majesty. Do they include your head of security?"

She looked him in the eye and smiled slightly. "No. Never."

He met her eye and nodded in reply to the compliment. "Good. Now if you don't mind I'll take myself off to the kitchen and see if there is any root beer and ice cream left."

"That sounds like a good idea," she agreed. "I'll walk back with you."

"Will you join me?"

"No thank you, Joseph. Some other time."

"I look forward to it."

They entered the building soon and went their separate ways, to meet again the following day.

#####

"Your Majesty."

The Queen of Genovia absolutely did not snore, but she did sometimes sleep quite heavily.

"Clarisse."

When she was in just such a deep slumber, it took some time to wake her.

"Clarisse." Joseph shook her gently by the shoulder. "Wake up."

Clarisse smiled, eyes still closed. "Good morning, Joseph," she greeted him in a low, musical voice.

He was amused. "I'm not sure if you'll still think so, once you've heard what I have to say."

She sighed contentedly and Joseph's brows drew together. Is she asleep or awake? he wondered. He didn't have the time to wait and see, however, so he spoke her name again, more firmly this time, and squeezed her hand. At last she began to stir. She answered him then, though her eyes remained closed.

"You have bad news for me, Joseph?" she wondered.

"I'm afraid so."

She opened her eyes and found him directly in front of her, still holding her hand in his. She allowed herself to squeeze his hand in return and then spoke to him in a more businesslike tone, though her voice was still groggy. "Is it serious? You don't seem very troubled."

He shook his head and smiled reassuringly. "Nothing serious, merely an inconvenience." He stepped to the side so she could rise from her seat on the airplane. "Your private jet, Your Majesty, is temporarily grounded."

"What?"

"There's a maintenance issue that needs to be taken care of before it can safely leave the ground. It won't be ready to take off until tomorrow morning."

Clarisse sighed impatiently. "But I've a dinner with several dignitaries tonight and an early session of Parliament in the morning."

"Don't tell me you were looking forward to those two events!" Joseph smirked.

Clarisse ignored him. "Meanwhile, I'm stuck here in… Joseph, where exactly is 'here'?"

"We're at Heathrow Airport."

For the first time, she noticed that they were alone. "Where is everyone?"

"Inside. Charlotte and the maids have gone for a cup of coffee and my staff are inside securing the area."

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't want to disturb you. But now we really do need to go."

She nodded. "What do we do now?"

"You have two options. Stay overnight in London or take a commercial flight back to Genovia today."

"A commercial flight?"

"First class, of course, though nothing as nice as what you're used to."

She glanced sharply at Joseph, wondering if he were teasing her, but his expression was bland. She knew, however, that his impassivity was a practiced art. There was no way to tell for sure what he was thinking just by looking at him. "I'm sure I could manage just fine," she replied in clipped tones.

Now he let his smirk show. "Have you ever flown commercially, Clarisse?"

"Only once," she admitted. "And I was about eight years old. I don't remember much about it."

"Then I recommend that you stay in London until tomorrow."

"Very well, I will take your advice. Shall we go?"

Joseph ushered her off of the plane, his hand on the small of her back. They walked down the steps to the tarmac and got into the car waiting to whisk them away to the VIP suite.

"Your suite has already been reserved at a hotel near the airport," he told her, as they drove away. "I believe you have stayed there before."

"Thank you, Joseph."

"If you don't mind, some of my men will catch a flight back to Genovia today. I'll keep a few of them here and Charlotte wants to stay with you."

"That sounds acceptable to me. What about my maids?" Clarisse asked.

"They will stay, of course, if you need them."

"Hmmm, I don't think I need both of them for just one night. Let Marie go home and I'll keep Susannah with me."

"Very good," Joseph agreed. They reached their destination and he got out of the car first, then took her hand and helped her out. He stayed close as they walked from the car into the building. It wasn't crowded inside and, after the VIP customs staff had cleared them to enter the UK, Charlotte appeared.

"Are Shades and the others here?" Joseph asked her. "I told them to secure the area."

"They were here," Charlotte replied. "But they've gone. I'm not sure where, as I was sitting in the corner reading through some reports."

"Excuse me." Joseph stepped away from them, looking very stern, and took out his mobile phone.

Charlotte grimaced. "I hope Shades has a good reason for disappearing," she remarked. "Judging by Joe's expression, he had better explain himself well or he might be out of a job."

Clarisse's eyes followed Joe as he paced the room. "I'm afraid you may be right, Charlotte. He certainly doesn't look happy."

Suddenly, a small knot of other passengers approached the two women. Charlotte stepped smoothly between the crowd and the Queen. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"It is her!" someone exclaimed. "The Queen of Genovia!"

To be continued…

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you can spare a few moments.

a/n: I went in search of details about which part of Heathrow Airport a private jet would use for takeoff and landing. I couldn't find anything that specific, but I did discover a marvelous service offered to some passengers. It's called Heathrow VIP and is available to First and Business Class passengers only. A chauffeur-driven luxury car picks you up at your address in the UK and brings you to the VIP suite in Heathrow Airport. You wait in the VIP suite and go through VIP security. When your flight is ready, a luxury car drives you from the VIP suite directly to your plane. It can also be used by passengers with a layover at Heathrow, driving them from their plane to the VIP suite and then from the suite to their next flight. You can eat gourmet food and use the services of a Heathrow Personal Shopper. They even keep paparazzi out of the VIP area. Expensive, I'm sure, but just where a Queen could go to avoid the press and the crowds. Google "heathrow vip" to read about it, if you're interested.