Part 3 of The Princess's Bodyguard series

No smut: Nurse Penny accepts her dream job, the medical professional to the royal family, but couldn't resist being dragged down by their secrets.

Tank smiled as he watched the woman dazed by the outside. "I catch you at that window more than I do your desk." He strolled through the office and joined her at the window that overlooked the blooming garden. "She's truly mesmerizing, isn't she?"

Princess Mercedes sat beside Mr. Puckerman at a table. She bounced her six month old baby, Malcolm, in her lap, leaving all the writing to the bodyguard.

He asked the golden haired woman at his side, "Is this why you're behind on your paperwork?"

"That is one of the secrets that stays between us," she smirked.

Nurse Penny had been the medical professional for the royal family and their staff for two months. Her days were mostly giving out aspirin and bandages, and she loved it. It was a job that she had only dreamt of before, so when the prince showed up at her door to offer her the position, she jumped at the chance and moved her family into the royal home.

Other employees knew that her husband being Head of Security put her on the family's radar, but they were more interested in using her close proximity to learn more about the most secretive family in the country, especially the older princess. Penny tried to ignore rumors and conspiracies that were brought to her, but she remembered the most wild ones: "The king secretly put in his will that the crown will skip Mercedes and go to Whitney. Why else is he calling her 'my princess?' " "The real Princess Mercedes is dead. They postponed her and Tank's wedding until they found a good look-alike." "Mercedes didn't have a second pregnancy. She adopted Malcolm because he was Tank's love child."

She studied the way Tank looked out at his wife, and she knew that the pictures didn't do their love justice. "She must be really amazing." When asked about her personal experience with the princess, she shrugged, "I haven't met her."

He nodded before ordering, "Take a walk with me."

She chuckled, "No, you're not distracting me, bribing me or talking your way out of your exam this week." She began to gather medical tools from around the office. "The fudge you left won me over yesterday, but we're doing this now."

"I believe an introduction is past due."

Penny wasn't given the chance to argue as her boss strolled out. She released a deep breath as she tossed the blood pressure cuff on her desk. She brushed her hands over the imaginary wrinkles in her dress while chasing after the prince. "Wow, I'm finally going to meet her. I don't think I've ever been this nervous… Actually, not since the weeks we studied injections in college. I sort of had an extended anxiety attack."

"That's comforting to know before you start giving us vaccines next season," Tank teased.

The parties met at the base of the staircase.

Mercedes huffed, "The heat ran us inside." Her smile shifted to accept her husband's kiss, but it returned as he pecked the baby's forehead. She reached out to rest her hand on the guard's arm. "Puck and I were reviewing the agenda for my trip to South Africa."

After nearly ten years, the duo was finally allowed to travel alone.

"Why wouldn't you take Mr. Evans?" Tank turned and swore, "Mr. Puckerman, I mean no harm by saying this: though you're a close second, I want her to have the best protection." He patted the other man's shoulder and gently nudged his wife's hand away in his drawback.

"I couldn't take him away from his family for two weeks straight. He would have to land with me, and three seconds later, get on the flight with you to Canada. That wouldn't be fair to him… or his wife," she pointed, finally taking notice of the woman. She declared that her decision wasn't up for debate. "You can take as many guards as needed, but if you're taking Whitney with you, you're taking Mr. Evans."

The husband chuckled before agreeing. Over his shoulder he asks Penny, "Amazing, that was your word, right?" He pulled her to step into the circle.

Mercedes reached her hand out. "People have told me good things about you, Dr. Evans."

She blushed, "I'm - I'm not a doctor. You can call me 'Penny.' "

Mercedes nodded with her mind set that she couldn't. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Evans. I have a lot of work to finish, and I'm sure you do too." She wished the nurse a joyful day before letting her second best bodyguard lead her up the stairs.

Penny sighed at the short meeting but then smiled because of the opportunity. "Okay," she cheered as she turned to Tank. "Let's start your exams." She pranced on.

He lumbered behind, stalling his least favorite activity of his week.

Penny finished her check ups and dedicated a few hours to filing. She hadn't had any emergencies to stop her from clocking out early. She entered her bedroom and was greeted by a screech.

"Okay, okay," Sam argued from the floor of their ensuite bathroom. "You don't have to be a pirate. It was just a suggestion." He leaned over the tub's side and continued his son's bath.

The five month old squalled and babbled.

He nodded until the baby calmed. "Cyrus, you can't become a superhero. That's way more dangerous than being a pirate… and you'll have to be bitten by a radioactive spider. That might hurt." He stopped to give the baby time to respond. "Yeah, you're going to be a cool dude," he proudly smirked. When Cyrus began to blow raspberries, Sam took that as an order to take him out of the bath.

Seeing her men always put a smile on Penny's face, but in that moment, it didn't last. When her husband approached her, she frowned and stepped back. "You don't look well," she judged. "Believe me, I know… All you need is a night-in with us and a movie marathon."

Sam claimed his overlooked kiss and promised, "There is nothing I would love to do more than stay with you two, but I can't ask any of the guys to take my shift. They're working hard enough." He took the baby to the changing table and began to dress him. "I'm happy that you're home early, but I should probably change and release Puck for the night. I think he's about to snap."

Penny agreed to do what was best for their friend, but promised, "He seemed fine earlier."

"He was in your office?"

She rushed to sooth his worry. "No, I saw him with Mercedes." She took over baby duty, giving Sam time to gather his uniform. "We met for a second, but she doesn't seem like the person in Puck's stories."

He shrugged as he pulled the folded shirt from the drawer. "We were different then. We have to focus on our work, and we all have families now." He chuckled when he remembered that Puck was a married man; he never thought that he'd see the day.

Penny did have her hopes set high about meeting a brave and vibrant princess that would celebrate meeting someone new, but she was most happy to say that she didn't sense that the princess was anything like the woman that the staff gossiped about.

Sam declared, "She's not an alien." When his wife shook her head, he grew curious. He moved to her side and quietly asked, "What do they say?"

She tried to find the most polite way of repeating their words. "They say-" She paused when the baby began to fuss and squirm on the table. She gave herself more time to think as she moved the baby to his crib. In a volume lower than her husband's, she shared, "They said that she likes to keep company." After watching him grow confused, she warned him to brush off the rumor.

He didn't understand what she meant, so the comment was easily evicted from his mind.

Penny patted the white stain on her husband's chest and promised, "I'll lay your suit out. Go take a shower." She glowed when he stole a quick kiss before rushing into the bathroom.

Night fell and everyone played into their usual routine- everyone but Prince Tank.

Mercedes silently leaned against the door of Tank's bedroom as she watched him in bed with his journal. "We missed you at dinner," she announced. She began to the baby crib on the opposite side of the room.

He didn't look up from his writing to answer, "I don't have much of an appetite tonight."

"I hope that changes by tomorrow. I asked the cooks to make your favorite for breakfast." She turned to the crib and was unable to keep her hands off the sleeping baby. She traced his round chin with her finger. "I don't remember Whitney being this small." She cut her giggle short and looked at her husband when she noticed that she had set herself up for a jab.

Tank moved his book to the side. "Am I going to be awoken by you as you abduct our son to your room?" he teased. He beckoned her into his bed.

"I can't promise you a 'no.' "

When she joined him, he rested his chest against her back. His hand moved to her belly, reminding him of the days when it was full. "Do you remember our honeymoon?" he asked. "We should take the kids there."

Mercedes shrugged and smirked, "Maybe we should wait until Malcolm is old enough to remember."

"But we'll remember. Malcolm will feel sand for the first time. Whitney can play in the water. You'll go into town, and I'll pray to God that every shoe store on the island has closed since we've left." He wrapped the laughing woman tighter in his arms. "We have to go soon."

She agreed, "That would be great after the fundraiser for the orphanage."

He silently held her, waiting for the air to clear of the last conversation. "You could have been nicer to Penny. Meeting you was supposed to make her day, but you and Mr. Puckerman ran off so fast that you could have earned a speeding ticket."

"We had so much work to finish. I didn't think much of it." She drowsily shrugged. "I'll apologize. I might get a paper cut, and need her to dress it."

Tank couldn't find a reason to wait. He released his wife and turned to take a small box out of his bedside table. "I will call Penny to come to your office when Cyrus is down, and you'll give her this." He stopped Mercedes from pulling at the ribbon that held the gift closed.

She frowned, "Do I have to tonight?"

"Yes."

Mercedes sighed and took the box. "Goodnight," she threw out. She climbed out of his bed and began to drag her feet towards the exit.

Tank called after her, but when she turned, he had run out of words. The hundred pounds of worry that he had picked up was apparent. "Mercedes, I, um." His speech didn't improve as she sat across from him. He looked into her brown eyes that were full of concern, and knew that he needed to protect her heart a little longer. Massaging his thumb into the back of her hand, he admitted, "I, um- I love you… and I need you to know that." He let out a heavy breath as he watched his wife's stress melt.

"I love you too," she admitted, breaking the long curse that kept them from repeating it to one another. She leaned into him until their lips met in a sweet kiss. With a grin, she repeated, "Goodnight"

Mercedes softly pulled the door closed behind. Her attention was drawn to the tall, blonde man at the end of the hall. "Mr. Evans," she called, stopping him from completing his scan of the palace. Stutting past him, she announced, "I want to speak with you." She led the way, never turning to check that the bundle of nerves was following.

When Penny took the job with the royal family, Sam promised Mercedes that they'll keep their distance. Besides Cyrus, who was welcomed to share the nanny with Malcolm when his parents were both busy, the Evanses weren't supposed to speak to them unless their jobs called for it. He never told his wife of the deal he made with the princess; what words could explain it? He trusted that Mercedes holding up her end would've been enough, but he didn't expect Tank to roll out the welcome wagon and help Penny to whatever she asked.

Sam rushed further into his boss's office. He slapped his hand against the desktop, blocking her from taking another step. He was sure that if she sat behind her desk, she'd fill out a slip and have his family cleared out by sunrise. He defended, "Penny is great at her job. She loves helping people… and she loves you. She just got excited to-"

Mercedes brought silence with the lift of a single finger. She focused on him. "Why didn't you tell me that the guards were having problems with staffing?" She leaned her backside into her desk, and her arms naturally folded as she waited.

"Puck told you?"

The guards had been short-staffed for months, and it became a secret between only the four that were filling in the holes. A wave of security had retired, and there weren't many applicants to pull replacements from. For a while, Sam blamed the academy for being too tough on the trainees, but after having a rookie literally shoot himself in the foot, he leaned a little into their side.

"He told me that he was working his second 24 hour long shift this week and that he did three last week. I was worried about taking him away from his family to tour South Africa with me. Now, I know that he was hardly at home before!" She challenged, "How many double shifts have you done this week, Mr. Evans?"

He held his breath before admitting, "This is my third."

She melted, watching her employee grow shy. She stroked his arm as it continued to rest on her desk. "I know you meant well. You thought that you could fix it before it became a problem to anyone else. You didn't think it could get out of hand." She looked into his eyes and admitted, "I love how strong and proud you men are, but none of you will last much longer like this."

Sam huffed, "I'm really trying, but-"

Mercedes had a plan, and although she wasn't ecstatic about it, she was doing it for her workers. "First, I'm going to decrease the number of guards that work overnight. Second, I will run more ads for openings. Lastly, I invited Tank's brother to visit. The men that come with him will carry the same responsibilities as you all until you fill the positions." She failed not to make a face before explaining, "And if he insists on leaving, I'll invite another brother to visit."

"Approving a guard takes a while."

"Tank has eight brothers. I'll have them lined up neater than my shoe closet."

Penny opened the door to the sound of giggles. She tapped her knuckles against the wood before pushing the opening further than a crack. "Hello."

The sight of her husband and boss standing so closely to each other knocked the blonde back a step.

Together, Sam and Mercedes pushed off of the desk.

"Mrs. Evans, I wasn't expecting you to come up this early." Mercedes grabbed the box that had been mindlessly thrown behind her. Approaching the woman, she asked, "How's your son? Did he go down safely?"

Penny rediscovered her smile before the woman had gotten too close. "He's become a night owl. I asked our neighbor from the next room to watch him, but I can't be too safe." She waved the baby monitor that played a woman reading from a child's book. In her other hand, she carried her medical bag. "Tank asked me to come. He didn't call the emergency phone, but I didn't want to be unprepared."

"I like your thinking," Mercedes smiled, "but I wanted to give you this." She volunteered to hold the nurse's things while she opened her gift.

Penny was in awe of the gold name tag. It shined bright as light danced around the engravement: NURSE PENNY. Badges and name tags were necessities owed to every employee of the palace, but Tank knew how to make women feel special to have theirs.

Mercedes peeked over her shoulder towards Sam before returning to the grinning woman. "Would you have lunch with me tomorrow at noon?" She was sure that she could remain professional while building Penny to be an ally. "I don't believe that I made the best impression earlier today. I would like to fix that."

Penny couldn't turn her down.

Mercedes passed the bag and monitor back to the nurse and started for her desk. Taking her seat, she directed, "Mr. Evans, kiss your wife and go back to work." She buried her face in a book, giving no attention to if her orders were followed.

Hours past and before either woman knew it, it was lunch hour. They sat in the sunroom, picking pieces from the spread in front of them. Silence surrounded them as they both struggled to find a starting point for conversation.

"Mrs. Evans-" Mercedes stopped, knowing she had nothing to add afterwards.

"You can really call me 'Penny,' " she announced. "How would you feel if I greeted you everyday as 'Her Royal Highness Princess Mercedes of…' "

Tonelessly, she explained, "I wouldn't feel a way about it. That is my title." She found an interest with the napkin in her lap. "There's a level of respect I want to keep with you, and calling you 'Penny' is beneath that."

"You don't call Puck 'Mr. Puckerman,' " the nurse quietly pointed, unsure if she was overstepping.

"I never noticed" was all that she said before the topic was closed.

When the silence returned, Mercedes replayed the short conversation in her head. Her calm attitude didn't play as she intended. She picked up her smile and apologized. "My husband told me that I can be aloof at the wrong time. I don't know when that started. When I was a kid, no one could make me stop talking. The guards were the only people that listened to my rambling… or they were really good at pretending to." She slid back comfortably into her seat. "My experience in girl talk is minuscule, but I want you to feel free to speak on anything you'd like."

The lunch had moved to a smoother path. They found that the best topic for them was married life and motherhood. They talked through the hour, and as the kitchen staff began to clear the spread, they continued unbothered.

"Whitney has made plenty of friends in school, but we thought it would be sweet to watch Malcolm grow and build skills with another child before starting school." Mercedes repeated the nanny's compliments about how well Malcolm and Cyrus played together. "Every parent wants to give their children what they didn't have. With the both of us being home schooled, we didn't have friends. Your family moving into the palace was a blessing."

"There wasn't any fun with your brothers?"

Mercedes flung her hand up with a shrug. "For a while, but no one prepared me to watch them go through puberty." She had grown to laugh at the miserable memories of mood swings and overpowering body odors. "Tank always says that 'brother' is a synonym for 'bully,' but he loves his."

Penny promised that she was moving onto her last question, but warned that it was serious. "How would you feel if someone kept a secret from you?" Her knuckle bent as she pressed her finger into the table. "Maybe, like, your husband?"

Mercedes folded her arms over her lap. Her head tilted to the side while she leaned closer to Penny. Her voice had an edge as she asked, "What are you hinting at Mrs. Evans?"

"I'm- I'm asking for a friend."

The princess pulled back at the stutter. "Oh, a friend," she repeated, knowing the game. She huffed and took her time to think. She softly explains, "Well, she has to, um- She has to understand that he didn't keep his secret because he couldn't talk to her. He loves her, and- and he only wants to keep her happy. He wants her to continue to see him as the perfect man that swept her off her feet and stole her-." Her heart jumped into her throat, stopping her from finishing.

When Penny's phone buzzed, Mercedes insisted that it be answered, taking attention from her.

Penny listened to her husband through the phone. Her mind began to rush from the news. She worried, "Is he okay? I mean, of course he isn't! We are coming!" The nurse stood and didn't give the other woman a chance to ask questions. Rapidly, she spilled, "Sam said that Tank is hurt and something about the stairs, and I panicked, and- and now, we're hurrying away." She snatched her bag from the third seat and led Mercedes to Tank's bedroom.

Tank growled as the nurse pressed the diaphragm of her stethoscope into his back. Leaning further down, he massaged his forehead. "Mercedes, stop pacing. You're making me dizzy."

She stopped and glared at the man resting in bed. "You could have broken your neck!" She returned to her back and forth. Her anger was stoked every time Tank tried to send Penny away.

He scowled at the man that started the racket. "To say that I fell down the stairs is dramatic." He sat back against the headboard when he was clear to do so. "I just lost my footing on the way up the stairs. I tripped forward, and would have gotten back on my feet just fine alone."

Sam continued to watch silently from the corner.

Tank reached out to stop the nurse from pulling another tool from her medical bag. "My heart rate is good, my blood pressure is good- and all the other stuff you check for. You can go," he swore. "'I'm fine."

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Her feelings had reached their boiling point, and Penny exploded. She had promised to keep his medical information under lock and key, but the fear that overtook her when she got that call put things in perspective. "You have to tell her. You're GOING to tell her. Tell her now, or… or we're having a prostate exam tomorrow." The nurse didn't have much to hold over the prince's head, but her annoyance with him didn't improve as he laughed at her.

"With what I've been through, that's not a threat," he argued, throwing his legs over the edge of the bed.

Mercedes stopped him from standing. "What's wrong?" she whispered, too afraid of the answer.

Looking into Mercedes' wide, doe eyes, Tank knew he could tell the truth, downplay it, or lie and make the memory fade from his wife's memory.

When he looked into Penny's baby blues, his options were gone.

Tank looked in between the women, focusing on the door behind them. He couldn't bear to watch their faces shift and react as he admitted, "I have cancer… colon cancer." He released a heavy breath as the fact settled into his own mind; every time he said it, it felt fresh. "We had the polyps removed, but the cancerous cells had spread a little more than what surgery could help. They told me to start chemotherapy."

"Ok," Mercedes breathed. Her hands cupped each other as if she was sending out a prayer. "When do you start treatment?"

"I'm not."

Penny's stomach fluttered and flipped. "I'll give you some privacy," she announced as she backed away. "Tank, I'll bring you a snack to bring your blood sugar up." She left the couple to dig through the can of worms she forced open.

"Mr. Evans, you can go too."

The guard's feet were nailed to the floor as he watched in shock.

She didn't have to take her eyes off of her husband to know that the guard was still with them. "SAM!" she roared. With the energy left, she mousily ordered, "Leave."

Tank's eyes followed the guard until he closed himself off on the other side of the door. He raises his hand up to shush his wife. "Can I explain before you start yelling at me?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Go," she directed. She leaned in at an angle, wanting to hear his excuse loud and clear.

"My mom used to drag us to volunteer at hospitals, and as hard as me and my brothers tried to stay away, we always finished the day in the cancer unit. We used to keep our heads down, chin in chest. We didn't want to see them because they looked so miserable," he breathed, feeling a knot forming in his throat. "They looked like they were waiting for death to finally bring them peace. I hated every place we went because they were all the same.

"But then we took a trip to the newest children's hospital, and I loved it. I was seventeen when I started to volunteer at that hospital without my family. I was there twice a week, never had to move a day, and I always finished my schoolwork to get there at the same time. After a while, they gave me a group of five kids to mentor. The kids were so bright, and all they wanted to do was run and play, and… They didn't know they were different. They were too innocent to know what was going to happen to them." He sniffed, failing to blink away his tears. He twiddled with his fingers as an excuse to keep his face down. "Whitney Michael was the second youngest, just seven, with a brain tumor.

"With all she was going through, she always had a gigantic smile when I saw her… She di-" His body trembled as he tried to swallow down his cries. "She died on Wednesday, the sixteenth of January, at 3:17 PM. I remember the time because, for so long, I focused on the thought of her passing just forty-three minutes before I arrived at the hospital. I knew it hurt the other kids, but I couldn't find it in myself to come back… I don't know what those people at the other hospital did, but I know kids don't deserve to be sick."

"And you think you do?"

"You know how I've treated people. You can look at our marriage. Two good years doesn't erase all we did to each other, Mercedes" When his wife sat down, he stood up. He wiped his last tears with his cuff; how expensive his shirts are was not on his mind. He started for the seat beside his window, but stopped mid stride. To the back of his wife's head, he argued, "It's easy for you and Nurse Penny to talk about chemotherapy because you don't have to go through it. I would have drugs pumped into me without a single promise that my cancer would never come back. I'm looking at a death sentence, but I don't want to turn into one of those zombies that I spent my childhood avoiding eye contact with."

Mercedes breathed in the silence and huffed, "We need you."

"We talked about that, Mercedes," he warned.

"So I want you!" she corrected, hopping on her feet. She closed the distance between them and looked up at him. Filling every word with sincerity, she declared, "I want you there for our kids. I want you to stand beside me as my husband- my king. I don't know where our marriage is heading, but if we start to argue everyday, I want that for many years."

Tank rested his hands on her shoulders, trapping her in place. "I want to be there for all of that too, but it's not realistic for us." He looked at her frown, and almost dropped to his knees to beg God to take back the past few minutes and allow her to be ignorant again, but he would never be able to pray loud enough for that. "I want to see Malcolm's first steps. I can't see Whitney graduate from high school, so I'd be proud to congratulate her for finishing grade school. I want to make memories that you and Whitney can tell Malcolm about… And if I die at the end of this year, it's fine. I will die a happy man."

"No, don't-" She snatched out of his hold. "I never want to hear you say that again!" she exploded.

He scratched his chin. "You're right, I shouldn't say that. I'm not going to sit around, waiting for my timer to run out. I like staying present and alert to you. I would like to keep as much energy as I can, so Whitney and I have been traveling and meeting with the best naturopathic doctor."

"I don't know what that is," she admitted. She stood frozen, as each word sunk into her brain at its own speed. "Whitney knew about your diagnosis?"

Tank took her hands, stopping them from trembling. "I wanted to prepare her, and I'm sorry that I was slow to do the same for you." He saw the fire in her eyes when he pulled her close. He gave a quick and one sided kiss. "My decision has been made. Can we start making the most of the time we have?"

Again, Mercedes snatched away from her husband. She stomped out of the room with a slam. She could hardly finish two steps before the cap that held down her emotions shot off. She clenched her eyes tightly as her fist rested over her broken heart.

Sam rushed to catch the stumbling woman. "Mercedes," he called. He didn't need to say more before she fell into his arms. "It's going to be okay." His fingers tangled in her hair to keep her to his chest.

Never attempting to rise up, she wept into his jacket, "It's not." She tightened her arms around his midsection, pulling him closer. "It never is."

Sam helped Mercedes finish the short trip to her bedroom, giving no attention to the onlooker that watched them from the opposite end of the hall. He rested in her bed and held her in the same pose as he did outside. He worked slow circles into her back as he waited between her random and incoherent mumbles.

He knew she had fallen asleep when he heard her repeated exhales. He peeled himself free, but stopped to study her face in the glow of the lamp. He took a mental picture to compare to the memory of the last time he was so close. He didn't fight his urge to lean in and softly kiss the princess's forehead. After pulling a blanket over her, he left to find another teary eyed woman.

Penny had her face buried into her pillow. She didn't respond to her name but didn't fight as her husband turned her over. Her blue rings were lost in the red irritation of her eyes. In a faint cry, she admitted, "I don't want to be here anymore."

He assured, "What's happening to Tank is sad, but no one can force him to get help that he doesn't want. He's your patient. You can't leave him because you don't agree with what he's doing."

She didn't want to hear an argument. She sat up and scooted closer to him at the edge of the bed. "I don't want to be here anymore, and we need to leave. We can go anywhere else. It doesn't matter where as long as we're together. I just want our family. Please, please, please." She was asked what was wrong, but she held her tongue for a while. Her dream of working in the palace had died quickly, and Sam wanted to know why without having to wander through a maze for the answer.

Her body continued to deflate as she explained, "I don't trust this place. I don't trust the people- I don't trust her. I heard things, I was warned, and I felt stupid for entertaining the ideas that Mercedes could do something so mean… Then I saw how you two were together." Her eyes closed and evicted a tear to her cheek. "I saw how you held her."

For a moment, she felt bad for asking her husband about an affair with a woman whose own husband had just come out about his disease, but she remembered that her family had to have a place in her mind too.

"She is my friend, and you're my wife, the mother of my son."

Penny paused, wanting more to be said. "But I'm not the woman you love?" Her question hit a cord, but she was too fragile to be mad with.

"Of course, I love you… Do you love me?"

"With all my heart," she sniffled, "but do I have all of yours?"

The silence was deafening.