Saving Her: Chapter XIII
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: Hey everyone. I know it's been months since you've seen an update, and I'm so sorry about that. My mother has recently up and abandoned my family (my dad's the negligent, abusive type so he's never been there for us anyway), so hopefully you'll understand why writing wasn't exactly my top priority. I've been left with the responsibility of everything she left behind, and trying to deal with it has been tough. I feel like I want to throw up, cry, and claw my way out of my own brain all at the same time. But returning to writing is helping take me away from my brittle reality for a bit, so here I am again. :] I hope you guys are still with this story, and that you enjoy the fluff you've been so patiently waiting for. Thanks so much for your support, seriously you guys, on some days getting a review was really all that made me smile. :]
I didn't mean to sound like an attention-monger up there lols. Just feels relieving to acknowledge it aloud, I guess. :] Anyway, ON WITH THE SHOW!
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.
The coliseum was alive with a different kind of energy as doctors and nurses flitted around between the injured, buzzing with Program helicopters chopping through the air and backup agents flying to aid. Several agents stood to attention, calling out orders and directions for the scurry of people running this way and that. Down in the pit lay the fallen former General, covered over with a gray plastic tarp. A team of forensic cleaners worked around the concrete, washing away the stains of the bloody battle as it flowed down the drain and into history.
A white overhang had been pitched, shading the long line of partially occupied gurneys underneath. Nurses flitted to and fro between the prone, Program soldiers and citizens alike. One particular injured lay off to the far left, off limits to reside under the care of anyone but the girl vigilantly perched at her bedside.
Her world wasn't in focus as Carter blinked, heavy eyelids struggling to lift upward. She groaned, her head lulling to one side as she recovered consciousness. The sand in her eyes blurred her vision, but the bleary form hovering over her own was unmistakable. She was sure a sight such as this could only exist in heaven, which meant one of two things: either she was dreaming, or…
"…I'm dead, right?"
Rosie's worried gaze liquefied into relief as she chuckled, smoothing a gentle hand over Carter's hair from where she was kneeled beside her bed. She brought the back of Carter's palm to her forehead, shaking her head with water in her words.
"No, Carter…" She gave a relieved laugh that rang with something Carter couldn't quite comprehend. "…no you are not."
Carter was left confused as the princess dashed away into the sun, yelling 'she is awake!' loud into the air. There was a cheer before two familiar people came running.
She tried to sit up, swallowing back a gasp at the pain that shot through her entire right side at the action as she fell back onto the mattress. Rosie quickly dashed back to her side, slipping behind her to support her friend's insistence to sit up. The taller girl croaked a quiet thank you as she settled back against her friend, ignoring the flip of her stomach at the arm that snaked around her waist in favour of the skip in her heart at the sight of who came running.
"Dad!" Carter felt a smile spread over her face at the sight of him, which was quickly replaced by confusion as she caught sight of someone else. "Ed?" Rosie giggled quietly behind her at the inflection in her voice as they reached the tents, ducking into the shade to crowd around her. She quirked her eyebrow at her tall friend's Royal Guard uniform. "What are you doing here? And what are you wearing?"
Ed laughed, leaning down to hug her as carefully as he could. "What, I can't be a hero for a day?"
"Guitar Hero maybe." Carter smirked as he pulled back, the biggest smile on his face.
Ed slapped a big palm onto his heart, grinning even as he tried to look affronted. "Wha—after I risk my life to save yours all you can do is insult me? Some best friend you are!"
Carter's teasing grin melted into teary gratitude at his words as she reached over to take his hand into hers. Her voice was thick with the emotion she tried to swallow as she whispered, "Thanks, Ed."
It was short and sweet and somehow adequately meaningful to the both of them. Ed smiled. Just like she was.
"Anytime, bait girl."
It fell silent as the three teens noticed the troubled, pensive look on Majour Mason's face, arms crossed tightly against his uniformed chest. His lips were set in a straight line, eyes glued to the thick white bindings on his only daughters' tiny body. Tension rolled off of him in solid waves as Carter withered. She knew that look.
Rosie exchanged a glance with Ed, sliding out from behind Carter. She kept a gentle hand on her back as she lifted the top half of the gurney so she could sit up. Involuntarily, Carter's fingers steeled around the grip she still had on Rosie's own, her eyes boring into the other girl's with a plead not to go. Rosie smiled in reassurance, kissing her forehead gently before moving away.
Despite the huge trouble she knew she was going to be in, Carter blushed anyway.
She watched them walk away in easy camaraderie, Rosie tucked playfully under Ed's arm, and couldn't help but wonder when they had gotten so close. She didn't get to wonder long as Joe began to pace the foot of her bed. She watched him apprehensively through her lashes, wriggling against the cushions.
"Carter…I don't even know what to say to you right now."
Her eyes fell down to her lap then, and she felt like she was five years old again.
"Are you mad?"
Joe let out a loud breath at her timid whisper, his tension collapsing like a house of cards and just as frail. He sat on the corner of her bed and gathered her into his arms as gently as he could. Carter's eyes were wide.
"…Dad?"
"I'm not mad baby girl." Carter felt her chest burn at the exhaustion she heard in her father's voice. She had never heard him so defeated. And then she felt his jaw tighten against her hair as he tucked her under his chin, and he cleared the lump she could plainly hear lodged in his throat, and she felt even worse.
"I don't think I've got room left for anger." Mason said, his voice thick as he held his daughter tighter. "You should've told me."
"Dad you never would've let me do it."
"Yes, Carter, because we've got an entire agency of professionals in whose very job description it is to be doing things exactly like this!" He was getting frustrated, all the emotions of the last few days catching up to him as he pulled back to look her in the eye.
Carter held his gaze for a long moment, searching his familiar brown eyes for some shred of understanding. She needed him to understand. And then she smiled.
"Dad…I love her."
He didn't even bat an eyelash. "I know."
The petite girl blinked. That's it? No yelling or shock or appalled exclamations of 'you're an abomination!'? She could only stare at him in consternation.
"…You…know."
"I know." He nodded.
Again, she could only stare at him. When more than a few minutes passed in complete silence, Joe couldn't help but chuckle.
"What did you expect? You can't hide these things from your old man."
Carter shook her head clear. "So…uhh…" She ducked her head. "Is that…okay, with you?"
Joe laughed, smoothing his daughter's hair back from her eyes. "Of course it's okay. Rosie's a great girl."
She couldn't help but smile, red in the cheeks as her eyes dropped down to her hands. Rosie was great.
"I would have done the same thing."
Carter looked up, confused at her father's quiet statement. He had that intensity again, looking out into the movement beyond the shade of the overhang. He only got that way on two occasions: one, when he was working, or two, when he was thinking about—
"If it had been your mom, I would have done the same thing."
And just like that, she knew he understood. Carter leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder as he scooped her into his arms again. And then someone was clearing their throat, and both Masons looked up at the Program agent giving his salute near the edge of the shade.
"Majour Mason, sir. Sorry to interrupt, but your presence is required."
Joe sighed, slapping his hands to his knees as he rose. "Don't think you're off the hook yet." He pointed a finger at her. Carter waved him off with a casual 'yeah, yeah' as she watched him go, contentment in her chest.
Joe paused just beyond where the shade could reach him, his epaulettes lighting up in the sun. He smiled at her like she was his whole world, and suddenly she felt like she was five years old again.
"You and me, pal."
Carter smiled back, just the same way.
"You and me, Dad."
The sun had long since sunk in the sky, dipping into the ocean to sparkle with dazzling orange, pink and gold. The chaos had dulled somewhat as the day had gone on, swept away on the cool coastal breeze to become a song in the wind, a story of the greatest day in Costa Luna history.
Carter felt woozy, watching it all as she leaned back into the gurney cushions with a sigh. She swiped her fingers over the stiff white bandages encasing her shoulder, careful not to lean back on her right side. It had all felt like a dream. In fact, she thought, it still felt like a dream, even as she prodded at her bandages again, just to make sure. She winced, retracting her hand as her eyes watered. Or maybe not.
A dainty hand slapped at her fingers, and Carter ducked her head, catching her best friend's stern frown.
"Stop touching it."
"Sorry."
She turned her head back to the scene before them, letting loose a deep sigh in an effort to release the knots that still seemed to restrain in her chest. It was the first thing Rosie had said to her since she had come back to her side hours past. The princess had simply climbed up onto her bed and tangled herself into Carter without a word. She had adopted such a troubled, far away look on her face that Carter desperately wracked her brain for a way to make disappear. But comforting others had never been her strong point, and so in silence they sat. Until now.
Rosie's hand danced over the side of Carter's face as her eyes flew over to lock with the princess's own. Her heart swelled up and down to the melody of a strange symphony it seemed only she and her best friend could hear. The smoldering coals of Carter's eyes were rolling straight into her and collecting at the very bottom of Rosie's stomach.
They sat so close together you couldn't tell where one girl started and the other stopped. Rosie shared half of Carter's space, legs dangling off the other side. Carter's own were draped over her lap, a collection of fifteen different fingers tangled over their knees, the missing five threading lazily through strands of dark chocolate brown hair.
"Carter…"
She didn't reply, watching the way Rosie's eyes caught the gold of the costal sunset with mildly contained awe.
"Carter."
Rosie pressed harder, one corner of her pink lips turning down. Carter unknowingly mirrored her expression, disentangling one set of her fingers from the big knot on their lap. Her index finger pressed into the dimple the action made on her best friend's face, letting it drag down to settle in the cleft of her chin. It made Rosie smile, and then Carter smiled too.
"Stop distracting me." The future queen whispered, and Carter's smile turned into a grin.
"It's not my fault you're so easily distracted." She answered back in equally dulcet tones.
Rosie's heart clenched at her best friend's perfect grin, her voice ghosting over her skin, and then she heard that same voice screaming, terror rippling through her entire body as an arrow sunk through her flesh, and Rosie was reminded of their reality. Her smile fell again.
"Carter."
It came out weak this time, riddled with a deep pain she herself couldn't quite understand. The joke fell from her friend's face in an instant.
"Why…why did you do this?" Rosie's eyes flew to the dotting of bruises on her friend's arm, painted in the shape of fingertips. "Why did you not just let him take me?"
"What, so all this could just happen to you instead?" Carter said softly, derisive. "No way."
"This was my fight, Carter. This was meant to be my battle." Her eyes swirled into such a deep sadness as she lightly traced her friend's heavily bandaged shoulder, remorse pulling at the edges of her lips. Her voice dropped to a thick whisper. "This was meant to be my scar."
Carter brought that hand back to their shared lap, thoughtful. "Your mom told me something a while ago that I think is important. Can I tell you what she said?" At her friends' weak nod, she continued. "She told me that she can't take the throne because she doesn't come from a royal bloodline. That there's nobody left who does, except for you. You're the last pureblooded member of your family, Rose, which also means you're the only person in the entire world who can fix this mess."
Rosie's head shook slightly. "I cannot—"
"Lemme finish." She said quietly, letting the pads of her fingers drift lightly over the apple of her cheek. "I know how important your people are to you Rosie. Your country. If I had let you be captured then what do you think would happen to these people and this place? Kane would have killed them. He would have killed your mom." She knew her words stung the princess but she needed to hear them. Just the thought of how this—any of this—could have played out with Rosie instead of her was overwhelming. It wasn't a place she was willing to go.
"He would have killed you."
It was silent for a moment, as both girls let the strength of Carter's words swing between them. Rosie's eyes were narrowed with pain, downcast. Her gaze shot back up to her friends', eyes hard.
"I do not care. About any of it."
"Rosie—"
"No, Carter. If I am allowed one moment of selfishness then let it be this one. I do not care. If I do not have you then what do I have, if anything at all?" She took Carter's face in her hands, slightly desperate. "Do you not understand what you are to me, Carter Mason? How can you not understand?" Rosie's eyes were flitting around, back and fourth between Carter's as she searched her best friend's gaze beseechingly. "Can you really not see how much I—"
Rosie cut herself off, sucking in a breath through her teeth as her head dropped down, her hands sliding from Carter's cheeks to her neck. She felt her chest getting tight, her mind far too busy to catch up with the words falling from her mouth.
There was a moment of charged silence before the distraught princess felt gentle lips on her forehead. Carter's gaze was many things, but disgust at her selfish words was not one of them. The tight knot in her chest loosened again as she sighed, intertwining her fingers again with the other girls.
"Rosie…"
Rosie shook her head, a single finger in the air. "Now it is your turn to let me finish."
"You are right; I could have been killed. But the difference is that you were going to be killed. What if we had not reached you in time?" Rosie felt tension coiling tighter and tighter in every fiber of her being. "Only a few more seconds and you would have been impaled with far more arrows than just this one!" The image sprang up unbidden in Rosie's mind, and her muscles locked as the fear shot through her veins. She squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to take a breath as she willed the image away; it wouldn't leave.
"Rosie…Rosie!" Carter was anxious as she watched her best friend's chest heave, the beginnings of a panic attack constricting her lungs. "Rosie open your eyes. Look at me."
The princess's watery eyes opened, tears clumped into her lashes and tumbling down her cheeks. Carter wiped them away gently.
"I'm sorry—I'm fine, see? I'm okay. You saved me. You saved me. I'm not dead."
She hiccoughed; a sad little sound that stung Carter's heart. "But you could be."
"The point is that I'm not."
"No, the point is that you could have been."
"But I wasn't."
"But you almost were."
"You almost were too, then."
"That does not matter."
"You being assassinated doesn't matter? It matters to me!"
"It was you who was about to be assassinated, Carter!"
"You really think they wouldn't have knocked you off afterwards?" Carter's voice was low and strained. "Then what? This whole thing would have been a waste! Kane would have killed you and I would have failed because I couldn't protect you!"
Any frustration Rosie may have had blew out from between her lips, a knit in her brow. She opened her mouth but Carter shook her head, the movement causing their noses to brush.
"I promised my dad I would protect the Princess. But I promised myself I would protect you, Rosie. If not for your safety then for the entirely selfish reason of my sanity. I need you to be okay, otherwise I can't—I wouldn't…"
Rosie's shoulders immediately fell with guilt, while Carter's began to tremble. The hand that had settled at the nape of her friends' neck slid back around to cup the curve just beneath her skull, pulling her close enough to bury her nose into Carter's collarbone. She kissed the skin there, unashamed, nails lightly scratching where they rest.
"I am sorry." Rosie mumbled against her friend's shiver, her lips again finding the milky dip in her skin just below her throat.
"Rosie…" Carter's voice was deep, the vibrations tickling against Rosie's nose. "Not here. People are watching." Carter felt her friend smile against her neck, her heart beating wildly and out of control. She replied, teasing,
"Really? Tell me, Carter…"
Rosie pulled back with a small but amused smile. She touched their foreheads together again, somehow closer together than before. The princess' lips barely skimmed Carter's own when she talked.
"Just what are they supposed to be watching?"
Carter's heart was somewhere down in her toes, her skin rippling with the husk of the princesses' voice over her skin; her lungs burned, crammed up into her throat. She had to close her eyes, her insides twisting with the desire to just lean forward those last, few millimeters and capture her best friend's full red lips with her own. It would be so easy; she could almost taste it—
"I—"
A sudden, deep breath through her nose and Carter pulled back, biting her lip and turning her head, her pulse beating untamed against her skin in protest. She swallowed thickly; she couldn't. Not here.
Rosie's smile was no less amused, her playful expression remaining unchanged. Carter grinned slightly as she noticed the girl's usually warm honey brown eyes had swirled into something darker. She sighed, resting her head onto the girl's shoulder.
"Tease."
Rosie laughed, quietly but no less genuine, and Carter's heart melted at the sound. She had missed that sound. It was the sound that kept her alive; the sound that held her hope and kept her believing.
It was the sound that saved her.
Carter's body sagged deeper into her best friend's arms, no space left between them now. She felt the euphoria calm somewhat, and the aches and pains leftover from the long battle settled back into her bones. The painkillers they had gave her effectively numbed her shoulder, but it was beginning to sore. Rosie's arms tightened protectively around her, wandering carefully over her back.
"Rest, Carter." She whispered gently into her ear, the kiss she left on the side of her head sending a warm spider web of tingles shooting in every direction of Carter's body. "Just rest. I am here to keep you safe."
"Will you stay with me?" She mumbled almost childishly, one foot already into her dreamscape.
Rosie chuckled, nuzzling her nose into her hair. "Always."
Carter sighed, content, finally letting herself fall into sleep.
Rosie would be there to catch her.
Author's Note: I hate this chapter lols It's awful. I'm sorry guys :[
I'm not sure how many more chapters there'll be…most likely one more. Either way I feel like it's time to wrap this up. I've had many more ideas stored for later that I wanna get started on, so this is, sadly, almost over. :] Thanks you guys, I hope you liked it! And again I'm so sorry for the wait. I won't promise because who knows what life's gonna do next, but I will dang sure try my hardest to have the next chapter up in at max two weeks. Thanks for everything you guys!
