Author's Note: starting to get to the end of this story, and it's been such fun! Thanks to all the readers who are reading and reviewing… you guys all rock!

The Princess Diaries doesn't belong to me!

The wedding was a few days away when Joe and Clarisse left the beach house with their armed escort, driving carefully around the group of photographers milling around the gate, hoping to get another picture of the royal couple. The press had left them alone for a couple of months, bored at how little they seemed to do, but had returned in the lead up to the 'Wedding of the Year', as one newspaper had declared. Of course, there had been the nasty little jibes- 'Will the Queen follow through with the wedding?' or 'Second time Lucky?' or 'Her grandmother won't be able to come to her rescue this time if this doesn't work out', but most of the media was feverish with excitement.

Mia had only laughed when Clarisse, in town to help Mia with some final details for the wedding, had casually mentioned it to her.

"The press are getting rather inventive, aren't they?"

She was less pleased, however, when another headline read: 'THE QUEEN IS FINALLY GETTING MARRIED', making it sound, to Clarisse, that Mia should have married a long time ago, and that they were still bringing up that ill fated almost wedding to Andrew. Clarisse didn't blame her- she was annoyed as well… it was a mistake, but they didn't have to keep throwing it in her face.

"I just don't get why they're making such a fuss about this," she complained to Clarisse on one visit to the beach house. "I'm not quite 23, and most girls my age wouldn't even think about getting married now!"

"Everyone's getting excited, you must realise that- this is the first royal wedding (not including mine to Joseph) since I married your grandfather. I suppose they're just concerned because, when I was your age, I was just about to have my second baby…"

"Dad?"

"Yes, your father."

"But, it's none of their business when I should marry…"

"I know, my dear, and it would be irritating to be always asked when you're going to get married," Clarisse said sympathetically.

"Seriously, marriage isn't the be all and end all of life. It's not that I don't want to marry Nicholas, I do more than anything, but I refuse to be told what to do, and when to do it, and be someone else… someone they want me to be!"

"Spoken very much like your father's daughter," Clarisse smiled.

"And your grandmother's granddaughter," Joe added, giving Clarisse a meaningful glance, both of them remembering her defiant speech over the press invasion, before Clarisse turned back to Mia, having thought of something else.

"It might have seemed that I was trying to change you…"

"No, I know you were doing it for my benefit- although, at 15, it may have seemed that you were trying to change me…"

"But, very seriously," Clarisse said after a pause. "It might not mean much now, but I'm very glad you waited a year or so before you made this commitment… although," she added with a grin. "I am glad you didn't wait for over 25 years," Clarisse knew her and Joseph's 25+ years relationship would always cause some jokes, but she didn't mind- they were finally together.

000

"It's going to be chaos when we get to the palace, isn't it?" Joseph asked as the car cruised along the road.

"I'm afraid so- and you'll be very lucky if you see me at all for the next few days… this is going to be bigger than our first wedding, which was meant to be Mia's!"

"Is it going to be as big as…"

"Yes, this is the modern press age, and there's a lot more technology, but that wedding was a mess at the time…"

She smiled wryly to herself out the window for a moment- while she had been 'hidden' in the palace up until her marriage to Rupert, only appearing when necessary, the press secretary had been inundated with requests to see the Prince's fiancé, but they were all giving a firm 'no'.

"What are you thinking about?" Joseph broke into her thoughts, and she smiled, about to tell him, when she realised they were near a familiar place.

She sighed when they drove past the road that lead down to the cemetery where Phillipe was buried, and almost jumped out of her seat belt when she felt him put his hand on hers.

"We'll go and see him after the wedding," he murmured, and she smiled slightly but continued to look out the window.

As Clarisse had expected, the palace was in a state of excitement, as well as chaos, and Mia was frantic.

"I don't know how you managed to run a country, plan my wedding, train me, worry about Viscount Mabrey, AND ponder marrying Joe, without turning a hair!" Mia cried when they entered her study almost as soon as they arrived. "You are absolutely amazing, Grandma!"

"That's what I keep trying to tell her- especially as it was unbelievable that she did so much then- but she won't believe me," Joe added, giving her a warm look as she blushed as red as a tomato.

"Thank you, you two, but it was also part of my duties, but… we'd better get down to business- how is everything going?"

"Count down to the wedding is four days, and everything seems to be falling into place… oh, I have a final dress fitting the morning before the wedding… no, it's nothing, I just need to practice putting it on… would you like to come, Grandma?"

"Do you want me to come? Where's your mother?"

"Flying in this afternoon of the bachelor parties… anyway, yes I would love you to come… and Joe, the guys are around somewhere…"

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" he pretended to sound injured.

"No, Joey," she smiled teasingly at him, giggling when he rolled his eyes at the use of a nickname he hated. "You're more than welcome to stay, but we're going to be talking about flowers, place settings, music…"

"I'll see you both later," Joe said hastily, standing up and squeezing Clarisse's shoulder as he left the room.

"That was easy," Mia giggled. "I know Nicholas hates all these 'girly' (as he calls it) details."

"Joseph is just the same- like any other man."

00000

The next few days were busy, and Clarisse was busy most of the time, returning to the suite in the evening, very tired.

"It's only a few more days, and then we'll be back at the beach house," she said reassuringly as he massaged her feet for her, moving his hands upwards to her calves.

"I don't mind… I actually feel rather lazy and helpless compared to you… but no, I don't envy you in the slightest. So, what's left for you to do?"

"Apart from the parties… one final fitting of the dress- I haven't seen it since the initial sketches…"

Mia's dress was extraordinary- very different from her first dress, it was beautiful and suited her perfectly.

"Well?" Mia asked anxiously as she paraded in front of Clarisse. "Do you like it?"

"It's… it's extraordinary," Clarisse finally said, stunned at how she looked… and this was when she wasn't full made up. "I like it very much," she continued, before becoming aware of how meagre the praise sounded.

"In fact, I love it… has your mother seen it?"

"She's seen sketches of it, but you're one of the few have seen it complete… and the bridesmaids dresses are gorgeous as well, although Lily doesn't like the shade of blue I picked."

"Lily will be Lily," Clarisse chuckled fondly. "But now," she leaned forward in her chair, looking at Mia intently. "I know I was hardly attentive the last time…"

"Grandma, I can understand why- you had just lost Joe…"

"Nevertheless, I should have show you more attention, but now I can, and I have one question for you- how are you?"

"Honestly," Mia smoothed down her skirt, and then looked up, letting out her breath. "I will be so glad when this wedding is over and done with. Alright, I'm not as terrified as I was the first time, but there's still so much to do…"

"It's going to be sheer craziness until the reception, but it will be all worth it if you remember your day for the rest of your life with fondness," Clarisse said understandingly.

Mia looked at her for a moment, almost nervous, before she decided to ask.

"You don't have to answer this, but… how did you feel when you married Rupert?"

Clarisse looked at Mia thoughtfully for a moment- she hadn't thought about her wedding to Rupert in a long time, mostly out of respect for Joseph and their weddings, but also because she couldn't really remember anything about it.

"Well… I was 18, and I will admit that I was terrified," she recalled, thinking about that day. It had been a blur for many reasons, but she could remember feeling that her life was over.

She, at 18, was about to marry a man 13 years older than her, a man she barely knew, and while he had been kind to her, he had also been distant, leaving her to own devices for much of the time, which was rather isolating. It wasn't that she hadn't been used to being alone- her parents had done it as well- but she remembered wishing that she had had someone to talk to, to tell her she was doing the right or wrong thing.

"Why did you marry him, then, if you weren't sure?"

"I could hardly do that- it would have caused a scandal for the royal family, and my family. I know it's difficult for a modern young woman like you to understand," she said quickly, seeing Mia's horrified expression. "But, at the time, I was expected to marry him, just as most upper class young women were expected to make good marriages."

"What about love?" Mia was horrified at what she had heard, but she was also enjoying the conversation with Clarisse- she was talking to her like a grown up, woman to woman. While she usually talked to her mother about most things, since Clarisse had come back into the picture, she had turned to her (particularly when she spent a lot of time in Genovia), and she had felt comfortable talking to her about anything, like a real grandmother and granddaughter relationship… and she had loosened up more since she's married Joe, and it was a relationship she cherished.

"Love wasn't an option in those days, or all that common… Yes, I know it's sounds awfully barbaric, but that was what happened in those days, but, in the end, I did get two sons… then you," she smiled affectionately at her granddaughter.

"And you met Joe," Mia said with a sly smile, and Clarisse laughed, before Mia looked serious again. "Just one more question I want to ask."

"Just one?" Clarisse joked.

"Yes… is Joe…"

"The love of my life?" Clarisse finished her sentence for her. "Yes, unequivocally… I was fond of your grandfather, but… Joseph was different, and always has been..."

000

"So, do you envy the bride and groom?" Joe joked the evening of the combined bachelor/bachelorette parties, and a day before the wedding. She smiled at him from the mirror as she checked her outfit- a simple pair of pants and shirt, very casual.

"Let me think… no, I definitely do not… the nerves I suffered the night we were apart…" she leaned over and touched his cheek. "Is it really possible to be that scared and nervous when you don't see them?"

"You know my answer to that- I found it rather endearing when I saw you that day, but I felt the same way the first time I saw you after I realised I loved you… So, do you know much about the party Lily's organised?"

"Only a little…"

While she had been helping Mia with wedding plans, Clarisse had also been in contact with Lily and Charlotte, planning Mia's hen's night. While she didn't know everything that was going to happen (she suspected a stripper was probably involved), she also knew that both Lily and Charlotte had eagerly agreed to her and Joseph's request that they, like Clarisse and Joe, be kept apart for 24 hours beforehand.

"I don't think they're going to like it," Clarisse grinned when Joe suggested it, and he grinned wickedly.

"Maybe not, but they're going to have to enjoy it anyway!"

The guests Lily invited were, apart from the three of them, Annie (who was also bridesmaid and had got time off from her TV series), Julie (who was extremely pregnant), Lisa, Marion, Sheila, Asana and Helen, as well as some of Mia's girlfriends. Nicholas's stage night, meanwhile, was being coordinated by Scott, causing Joe to tease, when he saw him,

"It's going to be a disaster in the making."

Nicholas's guests included his friends from Cambridge, as well as BJ, Sebastian, James, Charlie and Patrick. According to Scott, there was no plan as such, but "whatever's going to happen is going to happen," before adding "But if we happen to go downtown, you and your two cohorts better not come."

Joe grinned- it was clear that Scott would never let it go, but he teased him with such good natured respect that Joe couldn't chide him.

"So, do you know if you're going to be visited by a stripper tonight?" he inquired as she slipped her shoes on, and she shrugged.

"I don't know," she blushed at the thought. "I tried to veto it, but I suspect I was overruled… don't you grin at me like that, Joseph Bonnell, I think young Scott has probably arranged something similar for Nick tonight… a female… stripper," she blushed at the word.

"I wouldn't put it past Scott, but… it sounds like fun," Joe mused with an impish grin, and Clarisse laughed as she walked over and looped her arms around his neck.

"Yes, it sounds like fun… but don't you get any ideas about that…" she teased with a smile, but he quickly noticed a flicker of concern in her eyes, and he was quick to reassure her.

"Don't worry about it, I only have eyes for you," he said gently, stroking her cheek, then leaning over and kissing her. "But it's going to be a late night for both of us, isn't it?"

"I think so and even longer for Mia and Nicholas."

"I wondered whether Lily and Charlotte would go through with it- I knew that Scott, the perverse wretch, was pleased to do it for us… and I'm sure Mia will return the favour for him, eventually… Anyway, are you going to party all night?"

"True… but I know I'm not going to stay up all night with them!"

"You'd better not, otherwise I'm going to have to come and collect you."

"You make it sounds as if I'm at school," she teased, before kissing him again.

000

All the girls and women were already gathered in Mia's suite when Clarisse arrived, the younger women already drinking, the music blaring.

"Thank goodness the wedding is at three o'clock- it's probably going to take a while to wake them up in the morning," Clarisse murmured to Marion, who giggled in reply as Mia waltzed over and handed her a glass of champagne.

"Lily told me that you and Joe made a request of Nicholas and I, but she wouldn't tell me what…" she turned to pout at Lily for a moment, before refocusing back on Clarisse.

"So, what have you and your husband requested we do?"

"Well," Clarisse began teasingly, before pausing to sip her champagne. "Last year, you told us that we should experience a few things before we got married, so Joseph and I though you and Nicholas should…"

"Oh no," Mia groaned, closing her eyes for a moment as she realised what Clarisse was about to say. "You're not going to let Nick and I see each other…"

"Or talk to each other for the next 24 hours," Lily interrupted, holding up and waving Mia's phone triumphantly, and Mia groaned again.

"Oh Grandma, I can't believe you would be so mean to do this… thank you so much," she gave Clarisse a withering look, but Clarisse, not at all intimidated, only chuckled.

"Glad to help," she chuckled cheekily, before the evening began with a lingerie party- Mia's friends had organised one (as Mia had done for Clarisse), and the lingerie was far wilder for Mia than at Clarisse's party. While the younger women were giggling over different negligees and lingerie, the older women were peppering Julie was advice. The baby was now a week overdue, and she was extremely uncomfortable.

"I will be so glad when this baby arrives," she sighed. "I hate being so uncomfortable…"

"Motherhood isn't meant to be easy," Clarisse said quietly- she could remember her second pregnancy much better than her first, but she knew how difficult it had been.

"At least it's not the summer," Annie, who had been listening, piped up and her mother threw a pillow at her. "Hey, what did you do that for?"

"For being insensitive," Lynn retorted, but Annie only shrugged with a cheerful grin, and turned back to her conversation, before Mia said something.

"Do I have to look forward to that?"

"Yes, my dear, you have to look forward to childbirth," Clarisse smiled fondly at her.

"I think I might skip it then."

A little while later, as the younger girls started to turn a little wild, there was a discreet knock on the door, and Clarisse was a little startled- who could be knocking on Mia's door- before she coloured, realising who it could be.

Lily peeked through the door, and smiled gleefully. "It's the stripper!"

Clarisse was embarrassed and mortified as the male dancer began to divest himself of his clothes, dancing provocatively in front of Mia, and she tried to avert her eyes, before Mia called out: "Grandma's embarrassed!"

"I wonder what the boys are doing downstairs? I wonder if they can hear us?" Sheila asked thoughtfully, and Lisa shrugged as they all watched the handsome male stripper.

"Who knows, but I'm sure they will probably hear this lot by the end of the night."

The boys, meanwhile, had been unhappy to discover that they weren't allowed to leave the palace grounds, causing them to groan "Boring" before deciding to play cards. This quickly escalated into some serious competition, particularly between Scott, Nicholas, James, Charlie and some of Nicholas's friends, leaving Joseph, Sebastian and BJ, who chose not to get involved, to watch with amusement, particularly once the game, already heated, turned into strip poker.

"You lot can do that… we'll just place our own game over here," Joe said calmly when they asked them why they weren't going to join in.

"Spoilsports," Charlie said accusingly.

"No, just smart," Sebastian retorted calmly. "By the way, Scott, did you inform Nicholas of the additional request…?"

"Yes I did," Scott said, before BJ interrupted, demanding

"What does the groom have to do now?"

"Just not talk to Mia until they meet at the altar tomorrow," one of Nick's friends sniggered, and BJ's confused expression suddenly turned to one of understanding.

"Oh… just like Joe and Clarisse last year… sneaky… was it your idea, Joe?"

"Maybe," Joe cleared his throat, slightly annoyed at his often tactless brother… Thankfully, there was a knock on the door before the conversation continued, and the room went silent.

"Who is it?" Scott called.

"A visitor for the groom," cooed a female voice, before her voice was drowned out by welcoming calls from the boys.

"Did you do a security check on both the visitors?" Joe hissed to Scott as the boys crowded around the girl.

"Yes I did, for both of them, and there are boys downstairs who are sober so, Joe, don't worry- just relax and have fun."

The young men whistled and jeered appreciatively at the young, buxom dancer, but Joe was bored- this type of thing had never appealed to him, and he suspected that Clarisse wouldn't like it…

He looked over at Sebastian and realised that he, too, was bored.

"I wonder if the women are having some wild times up there?" Sebastian murmured under his breath to Joe.

000

At midnight, Clarisse decided to retire for the evening (as were most of the others, although Julie had already gone to bed)- the girls were already seriously drunk, and Mia, who was considerably less so, was already getting crazy without talking Nicholas. Clarisse was slightly sympathetic to Mia's plight, but she could also still remember her gleefully teasing her the previous year…

"Have fun," she said teasingly, kissing Mia good night. "This time tomorrow, you'll be able to talk to your husband…"

"Grandma, please…" she began pleadingly, and Clarisse almost gave in. "Please… I need to… I can so understand how you felt last year…"

Clarisse again remembered how nervous, yet tipsy, when she had spoken to Joseph the night before, and she felt sorrier for Mia. Maybe only one phone call would be alright….

However, fortunately, Lily came up to them, staggering slightly, and tugged on Mia's arm.

"We're just about to play your song… and no, you can't!" she added as Mia opened her mouth to say something. "You're getting married tomorrow- can't you just wait until then?"

"I suppose I could," Mia admitted with a smile, before giving Clarisse a slight wink.

When Clarisse walked into the suite, it was quiet, but she discovered that Joseph was already stretched out on the bed, waiting for her.

"You didn't have to wait up for me," she said gently as she disappeared into her dressing room to change.

"I wasn't… I only just got back myself!" he protested.

"So… how was your night?" she inquired when she reappeared in the room, and climbed into her side of the bed.

"Fun, in a way… the boys (led by Scott) went completely wild within an hour- a simple card game turned into a massive competition, followed by strip poker… oh, and downed by quite a few beers."

"And the stripper?"

"A very lovely young woman, could dance quite well…. But, no I didn't feel anything for her… besides, she was too busy lapping up the attention from 10 very drunk young men… So, what about you, young lady?" he teased as she curled up next to him, and he put an arm around her.

"A very wild lingerie party… probably something most of the men would have appreciated… and a very handsome young man…"

"Very handsome?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, but definitely not my type…But I think I must be getting too old for things like that…"

"But how was Mia when you left?"

"Starting to go a little crazy, and I was…"

"Don't tell me, you were going to give in, but someone (Lily, hopefully) managed to interrupt you."

"You are so very sympathetic, aren't you?" she teased. "But yes, Lily did come up and distract Mia… and yes, I probably would have given her her phone back… but I didn't…"

"I am, a little…I can only imagine… but it serves them right for doing it to us last year! But I always knew that you were a big softie at heart!"

He switched off the light, and they both reclined back in bed, both hearing the noises from the suite next door, as well as downstairs.

"It's going to be interesting for the palace staff to clean up tomorrow before the reception… thank goodness the parties are contained," Clarisse said thoughtfully.

"We're going to have to wake them up tomorrow, aren't we?" he joked, and she chuckled along with him.

"Yes, I think so, darling… like I said to Marion before, when I first got down there, it's just as well the wedding is at three o'clock!"

"Three o'clock in the afternoon- yes, that should be enough time to have everyone almost back to normal… How come we aren't like them, celebrating like that?"

"Because we don't need to… we've never had to do that…" Clarisse said calmly, resting her head on his pyjama shirt. "Unless you want to…"

"No, definitely not… I do prefer this…" he caressed her hair with his hand, and then brushed it with her lips. "So, our little Mia is getting married tomorrow," he said softly.

"Yes, our little Mia is getting married tomorrow," she repeated gently. "And her father will be there to see it…in a way..."