Saving Her: Chapter VIII


Summary: Carter knows this is a good idea. She really does, because she's going to be saving Rosie, and anything after that just doesn't register. CarterxRosie

Author's Note: Happy Tuesday Update everybody! :]

Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Rosalinda/Rosie Gonzalez, Carter Mason, or Princess Protection Program and all affiliated characters and environments. They are the property of Disney in conjunction with Annie DeYoung :]


"Rosie. Wake up."

Rosie rubbed her eyes, trying to blink away the bleariness as she focused on a pair of familiar warm brown eyes looking down at her. Her chest felt warm as a smile stretched across her lips.

"Carter…"

Suddenly the eyes turned sad, and Rosie's blurry vision cleared to reveal the owners of those familiar chocolate eyes. Majour Mason gave her a small smile as the past few hours caught up with her groggy mind, and she grabbed his outstretched hand to help her from the vehicle.

"Sorry pal."

Rosie gave him a small smile, holding the hem of her ball gown as she stepped down from the rusty blue jeep. The moon was perfectly round tonight as she looked up, the Louisiana sky riddled with thousands of tiny bright stars. Rosie briefly remembered an old Costa Lunian folktale about this moon; the story of two star-crossed lovers from the warring countries of Costas Luna and Estrella, whose only chances to be together were under the guarding light of the full moon. The Moon took stars straight out of the sky and bonded them together to from a bridge for the young lovers, to provide for them a way to reach one another over the ocean that separated them.

Rosie wished very hard that the folktale was true, just so she would have a way to get to Carter.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the arm that wrapped around her shoulders. She smiled up at her tall friend, thanking the moon for at least giving her Ed.

"Mr. Mason, would it be alright if I borrowed Rosie for a few minutes? I just wanna talk about something."

The princess looked up, confused, but Ed didn't meet her eyes.

The Majour nodded. "Sure thing. I'll set up a place for you to sleep. It's too late to drive home alone."

Ed said his thanks, both him and Rosie wishing him goodnight. As soon as the Majour disappeared into the house, Ed turned, leading the still puzzled princess to the dock and sitting down, legs dangling over the dark water. He waited until Rosie mimicked his position to speak.

"You know, when you said you were going to be a queen someday, I didn't think you were being serious."

"I am sorry Ed, but you must understand why I could not tell you—"

He grinned. "Relax, Rosie. I do get it. It's just a lot to take in, is all."

She gave him a strained smile. "I am glad, then."

"I also take it that Carter's not really your cousin."

Rosie's eyes crinkled at the mention of the brunette. "No, she is not."

"I know you love her."

Rosie's heart gave a powerful jolt, brows shooting up into her bangs.

"Pardon?"

Ed's grin stretched at the deer-in-headlights look on the princess's face. "Carter. I know you're in love with her."

The Costa Luna native fumbled over her words, turning away from the tall boy. "I-I do not know what 'love' you are speaking of, Edwin. Car-carter is purely my best friend, nothing more."

"Rose, c'mon, I've seen the way you look at her."

The princess met his eyes again. "Then it could be argued that I have seen the way that you look at her as well."

Ed didn't even try to rebuke that statement. "Yeah, but I've also seen the way that she looks at you."

Rosie's jaw clicked shut. Ed laughed outright, as even in the moonlight he could see her face glow red.

"Carter does not 'look at me' as I do her, Ed."

He grinned. "So you admit you do 'look at her,' then?"

Rosie's cheeks flushed deeper as she buried her face in her hands. Ed caught a small, muffled 'yes' slipping past the cracks in her fingers. Her hands slid down as she took in a large breath, and the smile that had lit up Ed's face crumbled at the distress on hers.

"It does not matter Ed. I am supposed to be a Queen, and marry a royal man to carry on the bloodline of my family. I am not supposed to fall in love with my best friend, who not only is not royalty, but is also very clearly not a man!" There were tears in Rosie's eyes, and Ed drew back slightly as he could finally see how much her feelings for Carter were confusing the young girl. She trembled as she drew her knees up to her chest, resting her forehead on the caps. "Carter would never return my affections anyway." She whispered, her voice quiet and weary. "It is something I should not be thinking about right now. I need to find her…I need to know that she is safe. That is all that matters."

The impact of Rosie's words sat heavily between them; a reminder of their situation. Ed's eyes tightened as he turned his eyes from the dark water to face her again.

"I think I know a way to find out where she is."

The princess's head rose. "Tell me, please."

"Okay, so you think Carter was taken by this Cane guy?"

Rosie nodded. "General Kane, yes. He must have her somehow."

"Kane. Right. If he took her he had to've taken her from school, yeah?" Ed brightened at her slow nod. "So then all we need to do is check the security cameras! If he was there, it'll be on that footage."

Ed felt his cheeks heat up, as the way Rosie was looking at him with such open affection and admiration could make even the most callous of men melt.

"Ed that is brilliant!" Rosie squealed, immediately shooting up from her sitting position. "Let us go then!"

"Wha—wait!" Ed scrambled up from the dock, elongating his strides to catch up to the princess who was racing away from him surprisingly fast. He caught her arm. "Rosie, we can't, not right now!"

Rosie stopped, the sad, distressed look back in her eyes. Ed hated having put it back on her face. He sighed.

"Why can we not?"

"It's—" He glanced at the digital watch flickering on his wrist. "—almost 3 o'clock in the morning?!—Wow, yeah 3 AM…" He laughed at the embarrassed tint colouring Rosie's cheeks, her smile mildly sheepish as she realized the time.

"First thing tomorrow?" He gave her a tired half-smile that she mirrored, albeit reluctantly.

Rosie cast one last look at the full moon as she let her tall friend lead her back to the darkened house, a hard frown pulling her lips down again.

"First thing tomorrow."


Author's Note: Okay, so I lied. NOW I'm out of prewritten chapters. And have made no progress with the next one. Like, at all. XD Ehh well I'll figure something out…XD