Freedom 8

Falling asleep with his future wife was not part of the plan for the evening, but it had happened anyway. Shaan tried to stretch, wondering what had woken him from their unplanned nap, when he heard it. His mobile phone, the one that he used for his employment with The Crown. Reluctantly, he moved Zahra from where she was finally peacefully sleeping on top of him. Slipping out from underneath her, he goes to where he had tossed his cell, on the bookcase against the back wall of the living room.

He missed the call, not getting to it in time. But recognizing the extension as Buckingham Palace. His boss' number. He immediately dials the number back and waits to be connected, before doing some mental calculations. It is the middle of the night there. Her Royal Highness, Princess Catherine's equerry answers the call. His tone is cold and formal. Direct. "Wainwright"

"This is Shaan Srivastava returning your call." Shaan states formally, feeling silly but knowing it is protocol. That Wainwright would know it was him from the caller ID.

"Srivastava, how nice of you to take time from your busy schedule to telephone me back." His tone is a bit more snarky than usual. Shaan and Wainwright had no love lost between them. Both of them had done their training together, while Wainwright had been good, Shaan was better. He had wanted to be Arthur's equerry, but Shaan and Arthur had known one another since they were small boys and the choice had been Arthur's. Wainwright had resented him for Arthur's choice. Wainwright had become snarky and smug, when he had been promoted to Catherine's Equerry last year when Smythe had retired. "I am calling to inform you that you return to London, immediately."

"I am on leave from my employment, you cannot do this to me." Shaan protested, looking over at his sleeping fiancé and the love of his life. He was ready. This was the call that they had been waiting on. It was time for Shaan to give The Crown, the command performance of his life. "I am entitled to take my personal leave whenever I choose. My replacement is a competent man."

"He was discharged from the Crown's employment this morning for his incompetence." Wainwright informed him, smugly. "For now, her majesty has ordered your return and has halted your application for a Green Card to the US. Your resignation from our employ, has been halted and the Queen seeks an audience with you as soon as you land. You have twenty-four hours to return."

That was not what either he or Zahra had been anticipating either. "And if I refuse?" Shaan asked, returning his snark. Whilst technically he worked for the Firm, he and Henry had an arrangement outside of his employment with the Crown.

"You will be forcibly returned to the Uk and your application for a green card will be halted, indefinitely." Wainwright smugly added.

"Well, I best prepare to return to England." Shaan snapped, looking over at Zahra who now was awake and looked palpable with anger at what was happening.

"Oh, and one more thing. His Royal Highness Prince Henry is missing, and you have until you land to find him and present him to Her Majesty. You should prepare him for the fact that you will be ordered to keep away from the public eye until he is no longer homosexual. He will be forbidden from leaving the palace or having any contact with the outside world." Wainwright dropped the bomb. "Good evening!"

Shaan looked at his mobile phone in disbelief. As soon as he relayed the conversation to his fiancé, she admitted that she had woke to the cellphone ringing and had been listening in. She reassured him that she was not angry at him, but at the Queen. Shaan just smirked at her. Which drove Zahra's ire further about how he could be so calm and collected.

"Darling, when I submitted my resignation to the Crown and we put this plan in motion, I installed an app on my phone that would record any and all communication. That is why I had burner phones." He said simply and kissed her lips chastely, before heading into the kitchen to make a late, light dinner. When Zahra followed him in, he looked up at her and indicated she should sit. "Whilst I did not expect to be ordered back to England or the threat of having my application for a green card halted, I did expect some pushback once it was known Henry was missing."

"They cannot legally do that." Zahra huffed. "How arrogant is the Crown to think that they can interfere with the progress of a green card in the US? What the actual fuck?!"

Shaan had to admit, he loved how vulgar Zahra's mouth got when she was frustrated. More than once, he had seen Henry's eyes glaze over when Alex did the same thing and he had never understood how Henry had found it erotic. Until Zahra had let loose and gone on a verbal tirade when the boys' emails were leaked. Now he understood it, perfectly. The vulgarity of Zahra and Alex's American language alongside their mutual love of the word fuck, had rendered both he and Henry speechless. He'd heard Henry utter 'the mouth on you' exasperatedly to Alex too many times, but in this very moment, he understood it more than he cared to admit.

"I have a plan, but first, I need you to do two things for me." Shaan sad, gathering her in his arms from behind her. "First, I will get you a recording of that call and I need you to give it to the President to give to Catherine, the Queen is playing a game, and I am not going to be her pawn." He said kissing her neck, enticingly. "Secondly, I need you to keep Beatrice occupied here. If she returns to the UK, the Queen will have her doing her bidding, against her own mother. I need you to coordinate with her, Miranda and Mr. Okonjo to keep her here, where she is safe. I will not allow that woman to come between Henry and his sister. I promised Arthur to take care of Henry, but I also promised Henry to help him take care of Beatrice too."

"I will send her with June and Nora on some charity work. Something that will be mutually beneficial to the Crown and the White House." Zahra promised. "I suppose, should Mr. Okonjo wish, he may join them. But it cannot be for his own charity. Perhaps some charities that interests both the First Daughter and the Princess."

It was 3am when Ellen's cellphone sprang to life, waking her from her peaceful slumber. Beside her, her husband Leo barely stirred. Sadly, he was used to one crisis, or another waking his wife and had trained his body to sleep through it for his own sanity. He was sure that if he needed to know, his wife would wake him.

"Yeah." She muttered in the phoneline, bleary with sleep. She had seen that it was Zahra on the caller ID.

"We need to talk, right now. No questions asked, meet me in the Solarium on the third floor, now." Zahra's voice was shaky, and Ellen bolted herself upright. She had never heard a shaky Zahra before.

"I'll be there in two." She replied, hanging up and reaching for her robe at the foot of the bed. She slipped her well-worn bunny slippers on that Alex had gifted her for Mother's Day two years ago on and slipped out of her bedroom.

Reaching the Solarium, she saw Zahra pacing. A pacing Zahra was never good. "Zee, is it Alex?" She rushed out, worrying that the news was bad, and it was about her son. She had been surprised when Zahra had thrust a hot cup of coffee in her hands and told Ellen to take a seat. That what she was going to tell her, would irreversibly change her world.

"Kind of, but first I need to apologise and beg you for your forgiveness." Zahra was going to spill everything. She just hoped that one, she didn't lose her job and two, Ellen would protect Henry, and Shaan by extension.

At Ellen's nod and verbal declaration of "Of course, Zee. You are part of our family, above all else." That declaration was Zahra's undoing. She confessed everything. She confessed how Shaan and her had meet, literally bumping into one another on the streets of London when she had gone over to UK to negotiate the trade deal with the UK's government. That he had asked her for a date, and they had begun seeing one another. How that had been two years ago. That they had been secretly seeing one another and that Henry and Alex's cake gate scandal had allowed them a little more flexibility in the get together's. She confessed that although she was upset when she learned of the boys' relationship, she was relieved because it allowed her and Shaan more time to spend in their own relationship. That not long before the emails had been hackled, Shaan had proposed, and she had immediately accepted.

She explained that they had a plan, she would move to England after Ellen's eventual second term and be with Shaan, knowing that Shaan could not leave Henry's side due to a promise he made to Arthur on his deathbed. Then when the video was leaked of Henry and Alex and the White House had pretended that Henry had been there to see June, Shaan had confided in her that their plans needed to change. He would need a green card to the US. She confessed to Ellen, that one night, while they were in her bed in DC, Shaan shared his concerns about Henry's wellbeing with her. He elaborated on what Arthur's plans and worries were, before voicing his own fears of what the future held for his young charge. Before telling Zahra of exactly what the Queen was capable of and backing up his fears with other times in history, she or one of her ancestor's had treated their own flesh and blood horribly. Even going as far as telling Zahra about the time the Queen had trodden on her own sister Louise and how it had led to Lousie's abdication and the rift in which the two of them had not spoken in almost fifty years.

"So, when the Queen issued the order for Henry to break up with my son? What happened?" Ellen had demanded hastily, interrupting her best friend.

"Shaan contacted me, and we set Arthur's plan in motion." Zahra confessed. "We got Alex on board, that was easy. He hadn't even needed convincing. Alex told me he was worried for Henry too. Henry played his part and did his duty. But he didn't even know about the plan by the time Alex was in the UK. As soon Shaan told him of his father's plan and showed him that Alex was waiting for him. They set the plan in motion."

Ellen smiled at the story of her son's selfless actions. He was a hopeless romantic little shit, just like his father had been. Zahra continued her confession. "Shaan had someone he knows change the boys' appearance slightly before he got them out of the UK. They're safe, but if they come back yet, Henry isn't going to be safe. I am sorry for the deception."

"Where are they?!" Ellen demanded. Her tone firm, before she softened her stance. "I am not going to tell anyone. I just need to know they're safe. I am glad that henry has Shaan, like I told Catherine, Henry is a good kid, and he balances Alex."

"Arthur purchased a private island and didn't tell anyone. He had a house built on it and the boys are there." She confessed. Ellen hadn't acknowledged her apology yet, but there was so much more to say. "There's more."

Ellen let out a breath, "How much more could there be?" She asked out loud. Looking out over the Solarium to the DC skyline, she could see the night slowly begin its decent into day. Zahra pulled her laptop out. The laptop was already cued up to replay the recorded conversation between Catherine's equerry and Shaan. At the conclusion of the recording, Ellen pulled Zahra in for a hug. "I never thought I would thank you for essentially kidnapping my son and the prince of England's hearts, but here we are." She laughed.

"I don't know what the Queen's end game is, but Shaan isn't going to play it." Zahra declared, pulling back. By the look on her boss and best friend's face, she and Shaan were forgiven. "But he needs Henry's sister to be protected, by us. He is insisting that he return to England, but he will not be bringing Henry and Alex out of hiding. He left his burner cell, the one he uses to stay in contact with the boys, with me. He is worried that they won't allow him to return to the US."

"I will call immigration myself and push his green card through this morning. It will be approved before he lands in the UK. I'll even give him a job as a member of my staff, so he has diplomatic immunity." Ellen promised her. "They cannot and will not keep him from you." She promised Zahra.

"C...can I talk to them?" Ellen asked, seeing Zahra pull a second phone out of her bra. "I need to hear Alex's voice."

"It's daytime where they are." Zahra stated, before dialing the phone for Ellen and setting it on loudspeaker.

Ellen shakily took the phone. "Hey." Her son's voice came through the phone, and she let her eyes fill up with tears.

"Baby, are you ok?" She rushed out. She never thought that hearing her son's voice over the phone would give her so much relief.

"We're ok, mom." Alex replied, his tone sounding like he was smiling. "Henry's safe, mom. That's all that matters. Hen, babe, come say hi to my mom."

"Hi" Henry's warm voice came through next, and Ellen let herself cry those joyful tears now. "Please don't cry."

"I am just so glad you're both ok." Ellen sobbed. "Please know everything is going to be ok. We will protect you both, I promise. Henry, your sister is on her way here with your friend. I am going to protect her too, like I would protect any of you young'uns. She will be safe."

"Thank you, Ellen." Henry rushed out. "I have been worried about her."

"Thanks mom, Bea is awesome." Alex added. "You're going to love her."