10/6/00

I've noticed that Clarisse and Mia (as she likes to be called) were getting along very well today during their princess lessons. They have finally taken a shine to each other, perhaps that make over actually did the trick after all. She told me that she thinks Mia is becoming a mature young lady and will be more than ready to take the throne when the time comes. I like how she's becoming close to her, it's what I hoped would happen.

In a matter of days, Clarisse is hosting a State Dinner. It is my job to introduce the Princess to important people and then I have to keep an eye out for uninvited guests. I don't get to join in of course because I'm only the help, but I can occupy myself with other things while they're eating.

11/6/00

Earlier today we were informed that Princess Amelia's secret had been revealed. Clarisse wasn't too happy about this, so she asked me to find out who let the secret out. It didn't take very long; I just called the few people we had been in contact with during our stay here and soon discovered that our good friend Paolo sold the story to the press. Clarisse was informed that there was a mass of reporters out the front of Mia's school, so she told me to meet her there, which I did. I helped her out of the limousine and led her into the school making sure nobody touched her or got too close – one can never be too careful when there are that many people around. I liked her outfit, it was very clean looking.

After I made Paolo explain his actions, I shoved him out the door and waited for further instruction. I noticed how uncomfortable Clarisse was with the vice principal, but was taken by surprise when she deceitfully asked me to take her away. I was stuck with her for a whole hour discussing security plans that I was making up as I went along and didn't plan to follow through. Usually I would be happy to speak to a woman for that long but this woman was too much of a suck-up for me to handle. I was quite happy when Clarisse tore me away from her when it was time to go. The woman was holding onto her arm begging her to tell her more about royal lifestyle. I could tell her a thing or two about royal lifestyle: it's not all it's cracked up to be, it stops you from having any sort of relationship, love isn't a necessity…

Hmm.

We took Amelia home for the day and continued on our way back to the consulate, Clarisse and I sat across from each other – she was first to speak:

"Thankyou so much for taking that dreadful woman away from me."

"Anything to make you happy, my queen."

"She just kept clinging onto my arm and asking about how it was to be royal."

"I know, I was there."

"So what happened when you two left the room?"

"I mentally banged my head on the table wishing for the day to end."

She laughed, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I believe I am now owed a favour?"

"Oh you are, are you?"

"I think it's only fair."

"Alright, what is it?"

"I don't know, are you free this evening?"

She looked at me suspiciously, "Why?"

"I was thinking we could go out for dinner."

"We went out for dinner the other night."

"I know, but I want to spend more time in public with you, something we can't do in Genovia."

"We can't very well do it here either now, the people know who I am."

"Fine then, forget I asked."

I turned my head away from her and felt her hand on mine, "We could always spend the evening in the garden or we could make our own dinner…in the kitchen."

"You know how to cook?"

"No…that is, I haven't cooked in a while, but that can't stop me from trying again."

"Alright then, if I'll be there to supervise you, it's a date."

"As friends."

"Of course."

Later…

Clarisse can so not cook!

She tried making Goulash, something I thought would have been simple, but no, not for our queen;

First she cut her hand with a knife, delaying the cooking by an hour, then she burnt the onions, undercooked the meat, forgot to add flavouring and put a whole packet of cornflour in to finish the job. In the end you couldn't tell what was the meat and what was the "gravy".

It was fun to watch her being domestic for once I must admit, it made me think of her as…umm…normal.

After the Goulash, I suggested we make scones, but this time we did it together. After we put all of the ingredients into the bowl, she started mixing them together with a wooden spoon. When it was all mixed together, I took the spoon from her hand, placed it on the table, then took the formed dough out of the bowl and placed it on the bench. I then stood behind her and lay my hands atop hers, kneading the dough. I liked our hands pressing together on the dough, but soon I found that my eyes were closed and my head was resting on her shoulder. She was frozen, "Joseph."

"Mmm?"

"That better be a wooden spoon in your pocket…"

My eyes shot open – oops! I had no idea of how aroused I was from simply kneading dough with her. I wondered how long it took her to notice that I was unintentionally 'saying hello'.

"Sorry, your majesty, I didn't realise-"

I backed slowly away and carefully sat myself down on a chair - the closest chair.

"I didn't realise how attractive I was."

She turned to me and smiled.

"Believe me, madam, you are very attractive and I can't emphasise the word 'very' enough."

I grew tense as she started heading towards me, hips deliberately swaying from side to side, "Joseph," she whispered, sitting gently on my lap.

"Yes?"

She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought her lips closer to mine, "How long do the scones take to cook?"

My eyes shifted from her eyes to her lips and then back to her eyes again, "Fifteen minutes or so."

"Good, that should give me enough time to call the palace and see how Maurice is doing."

She stood up and continued with the scones, while I sat there bemused. What a way to ruin the moment - I hate that dog.

Twenty minutes later we were eating our scones in the garden, they weren't bad considering her history in the kitchen.

"How's your dog?"

"He's fine, thankyou for asking. Apparently he was caught whizzing on my favourite pear tree, I'll have to speak with him when I get back. And also he…"

I tuned out right there, I only asked the question out of spite, but she obviously didn't seem to notice that. She spent the entire evening talking about her dog while I sat there staring up at the stars.

"You haven't listened to a word I've said have you?"

"I listened to the first few."

She threw a scone at my jacket, it had cream and jam on it, "You naughty girl!"

A scone made its way into my hand and found itself flying through the air and landing on her neck, "You bad boy."

"A bad boy am I?"

I got up and lifted her into my arms. The cream was running down her chest, "Joseph, look what you've done!"

"I'm sorry, let me get that for you," I smiled and licked my way from in between her breasts, up to her neck.

"Put me down now!"

I put her feet back onto the ground, but I wasn't expecting her to grab my hand and lead me to a secluded corner of the garden, nor was I expecting her to throw me down and start kissing me.

"Clarisse, I know I provoked you, but do you have any idea what a break is?"

"Of course I do!"

"Would you care to explain what it is?"

"A temporary separation of two people."

"Do we look separated to you?"

She looked at our bodies and sighed, "No."

"So where do we stand?"

"Can't we just spend one night together and then go back to being on a break?"

"What do you think the point of a break is!"

"I didn't mean sleep together, I just want to lie against you and do some star gazing."

"So what you're saying is that the temporary separation is going to temporarily come to a halt for the night and then it's back on tomorrow?"

"Yes, you could say that."

"Then no can do."

"Oh…"

The look in her eyes was priceless, full of disappointment. This was my way of playing the field, my way of trying to get her to end our break sooner.

"I refuse to be your yo-yo!"

"I'm sorry I make you feel that way, I don't mean to."

"I know you don't."

"I told you that we would be together as soon as this whole thing is over."

"Yes, when it's over, not now. You change your mind too often."

"I can't help it! I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before, I'm confused! You know that!"

"I think that's enough arguing for tonight."

"Fine!"

I got up to leave, but she stayed where she was, "Goodnight, your majesty."

"Wait! I need to talk to you about something else."

"What?"

"A business matter."

"Go ahead."

"It's Mia. Now that the press know who she is, there's a high possibility that she's going to be swarmed by them at school. When you take her to school each morning, I want you to walk her into the building and after you've made sure she's safe, you will report back here. Is that clear?"

"As you wish, madam."

"And you will do the same when you pick her up after school, understood?"

I nodded and walked away.

12/6/00

Never have I been so bored in my entire life. Miss Mia asked me to stay with her today, so I had to oblige. She spent a matter of hours just sitting and staring out at the scenery instead of going to class. I had to keep myself occupied by playing basketball for hours. I scored a lot of hoops considering I had and umbrella in one hand. I was quite relieved when the bell rang.

In the car on the way home, she started questioning me:

"Joe, would you mind if I asked you some personal questions?"

"It depends on what they are."

"I just want to get to know you better cos I really like you, you're so much easier to talk to than grandma."

"What would you like to know?

"Do you have a girlfriend? I mean, I know you're not married because there's no ring on your finger-"

"I'm separated."

"Oh, things weren't working out? Was she having an affair?"

"We grew apart."

"Oh that's sad. Did you love her?"

"I did."

"And you never wanted to re-marry?"

"I'm working on it."

"Oh? With whom?"

I shook my head, "I'd rather not say."

"Do you have any kids?"

"Years before we got married she had a child, which at the time I didn't know was mine, and she adopted him out. We came into contact with him about ten years ago."

"What's his name?"

"Sammy."

"How old is he?"

"Twenty-five."

"Oooh, is he single?"

I laughed, "He's married, he's been in love with this woman for over ten years, I don't think he'd leave her for anybody."

"Aww…too bad."

"He has a son."

Her head shot up, "Really?"

"He's a few weeks old."

"I like to meet your son sometime."

"I could arrange that."

She continued asking me about my life, which I didn't mind – I just steered clear of conversation about Clarisse and I.

15/6/00

The dinner party went on as planned, I fulfilled my duties and spoke with Clarisse afterwards. She said that Mia ruined it, but in a humorous way. We laughed and joked about it and then went to bed, otherwise it was quite a boring day.

16/6/00

Clarisse surprised me today, she went out with Amelia to tour San Francisco - I was gleaming with joy when she told me where they were going.

I would have liked to have followed to keep an eye on them, but I thought they'd be safe enough…I was wrong.

They crashed the car! No one was injured, but they could have been. I could have lost my love, my reason for living! As soon as I heard I rushed frantically around the consulate waiting for her to return.

She came about an hour later, clutching her stomach.

"What's wrong? Are you injured?"

I lifted her up and attempted to carry her upstairs, she covered her mouth with her hand, "Did you have to do that?"

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No, you just made me want to vomit."

"I didn't know I had that effect on you."

"It's not you, it was something I ate, please put me down…lightly."

I did as she said and then followed her up to her suite, she ran straight for the bathroom and shut the door.

I could hear her throwing up, "Are you alright in there?"

She didn't reply – I guess she wasn't in a position to. Eventually she did come out, I held her around the waist and led her to the couch, "Joseph please, I'm fine."

"If you say so."

"There's no reason to worry."

"I have to worry about you, you're my responsibility."

"But I'm not hurt. I had a wonderful day, it was just that silly corndog."

"I see. So what did you two do today?"

"We went to this amusement place and had photos taken, see?"

She held out a small photograph and smiled.

"Beautiful."

"After that we went to the beach and I told her all about myself, my marriage to Rupert, my sons, the last time I was in this godforsaken country, my little Amelia and how she never had the chance to live in this world."

"You're still upset about that? It was years ago."

"I wanted that child!"

"I know you did."

"Let's not talk about it please, I'd rather concentrate on the live Amelia."

"Sorry."

"I managed to talk her out of a fine when she crashed the car. I think she likes me now."

"That's very nice to hear."

"She's like the daughter I never had. We've grown so close over the past few days."

"I've noticed that."

"I think I may even love her now."

"I'm very proud of you."

"Thankyou. Would you please tell Charlotte I'm not feeling at all well and to cancel anything I have planned?"

"Yes, madam."

She put her hand on my cheek and walked to her bedroom door, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yes you will."

"Goodbye."

I lay back on her couch and sighed, tomorrow – what will it bring?

I had the hardest time writing this. Trying to figure out dates – I'm trying to make it as accurate as possible, which I will give up doing in the next chapter. I would've posted this last night but I had internet problems.

R & R.