A/N: Hey all, just a quick thank you to everyone for reading so far, and to bee-327, Chelsietx and the wonderful guest for leaving reviews. It's much appreciated :) Thank you so so much.

I would also just like to say that if you are a fan of Rupert, then please don't read this chapter. He's not a very nice person in this story. I'm sorry.

Now on with the chapter… sorry it's another smallish one, but I still hope you'll enjoy it all the same :)

Standing across the Palace ballroom, the Queen's head of security and trusted childhood best friend had seen the exchange between the Queen and the Prime Minister before they said their goodbyes and he went on his way, and she went on hers. He could tell from the way she tipped her head back after he walked away, that it hadn't gone well and he knew exactly where she was escaping to when she made her way across the ballroom and snuck out to the back terrace. It was the place she always went to relax. To think. And he would join her out there shortly, like he always did. He just wanted to give her a little time alone first after the stressful day she'd had.

But as he remained, for now, rooted to the spot, keeping guard, he couldn't help but ponder how gorgeous she looked tonight in her chosen attire, a wine red lace overlay knee length dress with her beautiful long hair styled into a french twist for her birthday celebrations. Everyone else thought so, too. He'd heard them all saying how beautiful she looked tonight as he stood guard. But no one thought so as much as him. He was secretly in love with the Queen, had been ever since they were teenagers. They had grown up together, but he had moved away with his family for four years when he was eleven, but when they returned and they had met up for the first time after his return he instantly fell in love with her and has been ever since.

He had known that she was a Princess from quite a young age, but that didn't deter him. He still wanted to be with her and prayed that one day, she, the most beautiful woman in the world, would be his. But he was left utterly heartbroken, when at seventeen, just when he finally got up enough courage to ask her if she would go out with him, he found out that she was to be wed through an arranged marriage. To someone who, he very quickly discovered, didn't love her, and was twenty years older than she was. But there was nothing that he could do. It was her destiny. Her fate. And so he kept his feelings to himself, buried them deep in his heart, and carried on with his life as her trusted, best friend.

It wasn't until the following year that, a few weeks after his eighteenth birthday, when he was contemplating what he wanted to do with his life, her parents called him to the Palace for a meeting, to ask, with them having grown up together and being as close as they were, if he would join the Palace security as her personal bodyguard. They wanted someone that they could trust, who they knew wouldn't let any harm come to their daughter. Princess Clarisse. And who better to protect their daughter than him himself. He knew Clarisse well. Her family was like a second family to him. And he knew the Palace, and all it's nooks and hidden passages like the back of his hand, having spent many many happy hours there as a child.

So, of course, he said yes. He didn't even need to think about it, like they told him to do. Given the role he was to take on. But he didn't need to think about it. The moment they asked him, he knew the answer was a yes. Deep down, he knew that they, her parents, knew that too. Yes, he may not have been able to be with her as her partner, lover, or even her husband. But he was still able to be with her, part of her everyday life, as her best friend and now personal bodyguard. He just had to keep his feelings at bay. Hidden away.

Over the years, he was there by her side when she married Rupert, was there for her, and her mother, when her father passed away and when she was crowned Queen of Genovia. All in a space of two short years. He was her confidant, a shoulder to cry on. Unlike her husband, who should have been there for her, but instead preferred to spend time drinking with his friends and playing poker, or cards, than spending time with his wife.

Joseph was the first person she told when she discovered that she was pregnant with Pierre, and again with Philippe two and a half years later. He was there for her, when after cleaning up his act at the news of her pregnancy with Pierre, swearing that he will be forever changed, Rupert soon slipped back into his old habits when Philippe was a toddler. It broke his heart to see his best friend so broken, thinking that becoming a father had changed him. That they could finally be a family. Something she so desperately longed for. But it wasn't to be.

And so, after every row between them, when Rupert would return home drunk, he was there. He was someone for her to vent to. A shoulder for her to cry on. Or to just simply sit in silence with. Contemplating her life. He was there. Everyday. But he wasn't just there for her. He was there for her sons, too. They saw a lot over the years, and he always let them know that they could go to him if they wanted to. He was very protective of the three of them and he wouldn't let any harm come to any of them.

And that was put to the test when one cold winter night Pierre, who was nine at the time, and Philippe six, who had both been fast asleep in their mothers bed when their father returned, came hurrying into his suite in the middle of the night to tell him that their father had returned home after a night drinking with his friends and he was hurting their mother. Jumping up, Joseph told the boys to stay in his suite where he knew they would be safe and ran, as fast as he could to the Queen's suite. Banging on the door was met with an almighty crash and Joseph, needing to get to his friend, to make sure that she was okay, instinctively kicked down the door where he found a smashed vase on the floor in front of him and Rupert standing in the middle of the room. Staring across at him, his face like thunder.

Thankfully, Clarisse was okay. After sending the boys to alert Joseph, she had locked herself in her bedroom after Rupert had grabbed hold of her arms, shook her, and pushed her to the floor in anger. Causing bruising to her upper arms. But that night, after security had taken Rupert to another suite for the night to calm down and to sleep it off, Joseph slept on the settee in her suite while she and the boys, who were left absolutely terrified over their father's behaviour, slept in the bed with her. Not that any of them got much sleep. They were all scared in case he returned to hurt them some more.

The next morning, he stood beside her as she gave her husband an ultimatum. She told him that they couldn't divorce, that wasn't an option, but they also couldn't carry on the way they were either, so they unofficially separated. To close friends, family, and staff, they were no longer together. To everyone else, they were still together. She told him that he had to change his ways, if not for her or even himself, then for the sake of their sons, who didn't need to see their father behave that way ever again.

And he did. He changed for them. And for Clarisse, too. In the hope that they could try again. He stopped drinking, spent more time with their sons and Clarisse, whenever she had some free time, and completely turned his life around. Until his death last year. Even though they were still separated, Clarisse was completely heartbroken. Not so much for herself, who was now a widow the month before her thirty ninth birthday, but for her sons. They had so many lost years with their father, and even though he tried to make it up to them in the last few years of his life, they found it hard to grieve for him. Pierre even said when they had returned to the Palace after the funeral, 'how can we grieve for someone we didn't really know, who was hardly ever there. Who had spent most of his and his brothers life not caring and hurting their mother. Over and over again.'

And that night, once Pierre and Philippe were in bed, Joseph was there for Clarisse, like he always was, as she cried in his arms. That wasn't what she wanted, for them to think like that about their father. She had hoped that with Rupert finally turning his life around they could salvage their relationship and would become close, but she realised that, from her eldest sons words, how Rupert had behaved in front of them over the years, how he had treated them all, he had damaged them and their relationship with their father.

After the period of Royal mourning had finished, Clarisse struggled to get back into her role as Queen, but she had to remain strong for her boys. She had to carry on. They needed her more than ever. She couldn't just let them down like their father had done many times over the years. And so, with the help of her trusted best friend, Joseph, standing by her side, helping her and her sons, as much as he possibly could, they all got through the last year together.

Some days were a struggle for the boys, and some were easy. Some days, they missed their father, and some days, they hated him for the way he treated them. But Clarisse was ever so thankful to Joseph for being there for all three of them when they needed him. Just like he always had been, and she knew in her heart that no matter what happened, he always would be.

Thoughts? Please do let me know. It's much appreciated :) Thank you. Especially since I'm not feeling all that confident about this story now I've started it.