Home again

This story takes place at the beginning at PD2, it's my take on how Clarisse welcomes her granddaughter and a certain head of security, but let's get started:)


It had been nearly half a year since she had seen him… in her opinion this was far too long… but with Mia on her way to her final exams and her upcoming graduation, things got a lot more stressful and hectic for the girl and it was impossible for her and Joseph to visit Genovia during one of the holidays. Clarisse knew that there was no way for Mia to come home during those times and she also knew that her wishes to be with him were a little bit childish and completely egoistic, because it was after all for the future of her country, but still those thoughts wouldn't leave her mind. She really had missed him terribly, she had missed their secret meetings in her suite every Friday night, their daily, private walks in the garden or even just feeling his presence when he was guarding her at official events; life just wasn't the same when he was not around. Of course, she also had missed her beloved granddaughter but it was different with Joseph… they had never been apart from each other for such a long time and even the times they hadn't seen each other for 2 months were kind of hell but those were nothing compared to this time. Clarisse wasn't sure if she actually could cope with him being apart from her for another week, but the positive thing was: she didn't have to find out… today was the day of their return and this time would be, and she really hoped it would be, one of the last times they were on different sides of the globe for so long.

Completely caught up in her thoughts, she didn't notice that somebody knocked at the door of her office and she nearly jumped in surprise as she heard the voice of her assistant Charlotte behind her: 'You're Majesty? I'm sorry for interrupting but you didn't answer when I knocked and…' 'It's alright Charlotte, you didn't interrupt me while doing something important., she answered, 'Was there something you wanted?' 'Yes Ma'am, I wanted to inform you that the princess's plane landed on the Genovian airport 5 minutes ago and that they'll arrive at palace in about 30 minutes. So, I think you should get ready for the official reception with the prime minister, the parliament, the whole staff and of course the press.'30 minutes… then she would finally see him again… why wasn't it possible for those stupid clocks to run faster? Oh, she was being impatient again and that was not something a queen should be, even when she was waiting for her love of her life to return… but oh how much she had missed him. 'Your Majesty?', asked Charlotte, who seemed to be worried because she hadn't answered her request at once. 'Yes Charlotte, I'll be down in the entrance hall in 15 minutes, thank you.', she replied quickly. 'Okay Ma'am, I'm just going to check if everything is how it's supposed to be and then I'm going to meet you in the hall.' With that the young woman nearly rushed out of her office, while giving quick orders through her micro. Despite her growing excitement and nervousness (why exactly was she feeling nervous now?) she had to chuckle at her assistance's seemingly never-ending enthusiasm and power of endurance. Why exactly did she tell Charlotte that she'd be down in 15 minutes? Now she was standing left alone with all the excitement and nervousness that made her feel like trembling and there was no way of having any distraction… not even one hour and then she'd finally be in his arms again…

There it was… she could see the escort of her granddaughter entering the palace gates… Even though she just wanted to run over to those black cars and first of all hug Joseph and then her dear granddaughter she reminded still, because she was after all the Queen of Genovia, and well queens weren't allowed to just loose it in front of the whole government… The cars stopped right in front of the grand stairs in front of the palace. She hold her breath as she waited for the bodyguard, who would open the door of the limousine, to exit the car and she felt kind of disappointed when she saw it was not the one particular man she wished it would be, but on the other hand it was better for her, because she really didn't know if she had her body and her reactions fully under control and if it had been Joseph, she couldn't have guaranteed that she wouldn't have run straight into his arms. When Mia got out of the car as gracefully as possible, well at least she didn't jump out of it, she couldn't but smile… oh how she had missed that girl and to her surprise, the whole 'welcoming-ceremony' went without any bad surprises: Mia politely greeted the parliament and the palace staff, spoke a few words with the press and then went inside to finally settle down. Despite her now even more growing excitement, Clarisse tried to be as concentrated and focused as possible during Mia's welcoming, but she couldn't suppress looking out for him from time from time… but… it seemed that he wasn't going to show up. She couldn't find him anywhere: not near the cars, nor in between of the rest of the security or the staff in general. Where was he?

'Amelia, do you know where Joseph is?', she asked her granddaughter as soon as they reached the entrance hall, trying to hide her curiosity and bitterness. 'I don't know Grandma.', was the kind of surprised answer of her granddaughter, 'The last time I saw him was at the airport when we entered the plane, buuut I haven't seen him ever since.' Well, that was strange… but she nodded and said sounding as optimistic as possible: 'Well I'm sure he's got a good excuse for his absence.' However, to her it sounded more like convincing herself that this was in fact the truth… maybe he didn't want to see her? She quickly tried to shove off those thoughts away and turned her attention back to Mia. 'You must be tired, my dear.' 'Oh yes, I reaaaly am.' Why exactly did she always have to stretch words like that? 'Well then, come with me I'll show you your room, even though it's only a temporary one…'

After she guided her granddaughter to her room, Clarisse made her way to the West Wing of the castle. Even though she really wasn't in the mood to get back to her office and with that to the workload that was waiting for her, she knew she had to go back there. The anger and frustration about Joseph, who still seemed to be missing, wasn't making her situation any easier… When she finally arrived, she was such in a bad mood that she ignored all of that 'a queen is always calm and collected'-business, rushed into her office and slammed the door as hardly as possible. She quickly turned around to rush to her desk as well, but she froze in surprise…

'I think you just gave me the heart attack of my life Clarisse.' Saying that she was surprised was a total understatement. 'Joseph', was all she managed to say. 'Yes Clarisse, it's me… who else would I be?', Joseph answered with an amused tone in his voice and a slight grin on his face, still standing on the other side of the room. 'I…I…Where have you been?', Clarisse asked, really trying to hide her bitterness about his late arrival but she knew she hadn't been able to suppress the hurt tone properly. 'Yes, I know I am late and I'm really terribly sorry about that but…', Joseph started but he wasn't able to finish the sentence because she interrupted him. She really didn't know what made her loose her temper now… maybe it just was the mixture of love, anger, longing for months and now finally being able to see him again after feeling so disappointed that he didn't show up earlier: 'Oh you're sorry about that?', she said with a raised voice, 'You better ARE sorry about that… you're letting me wait for DAMN 3 hours after I haven't seen your for HALF a year! Half a year that felt like… like a whole eternity… first of all I was worried about were you are, just to find out a few minutes later that you left the airport for some kind of reason that seemed to be FAR more important than I am because you needed three hours?! Yes, I think it is appropriate for you to say sorry!' Joseph hadn't said anything during her burst out of feelings and after she was finished, he stepped aside, still silent, just to reveal… a beautiful bouget of white and light pink roses in a crystal vase… what was this all about now? Now she was totally confused… 'I really am sorry Clarisse…', Joseph finally said in a quiet and serious tone, 'all I did after leaving the airport in an extra car was getting those… for you… because I you love them, and I wanted to be with you as soon as possible but then my car got stuck in one of those stupid afternoon traffic jam and I wasn't able to drive anywhere.' He really did that? He really had driven for 3 hours just to get those flowers for her, even though he had an exhaustingly long flight from San Francisco to Genovia? It seemed that all of her anger and bitterness, was swept away within a few seconds… oh good how did she really deserve that man… 'I'm sorry Clarisse really…', Joseph started again but she interrupted him: 'Will you stop apologizing?!', she basically screamed while finally coming over to him, 'I am the one who has to apologize after what I said to you… I'm sorry Joseph, I really don't know what came into me… I shouldn't have said things like that, especially not when you do such sweet things for me…'she stopped when she saw his facial expression soften, but then added in a mocking tone: '…and I do hope you accept my apologies, because if you don't I'll just repeat them over and over again, until you'll grow so sick of them, that you HAVE to accept.' 'I'll never grow sick of you my dear.', he replied amused but sweetly. She was standing right in front of him now, so she was able to look directly into his dark eyes, she really had to pay attention not to get completely lost in them… 'They're gorgeous by the way, the flowers I mean.', Clarisse whispered, not trusting her voice under his intense look. 'Not as gorgeous as you.', was his short, but sweet reply. She chuckled. 'Oh Joseph...' She didn't exactly know who stepped towards the other first but it didn't even take a second and she finally was in his arms again… it felt like pure heaven or at least how she thought that heaven would feel… she hadn't felt so save and secure for what felt like an eternity. She felt Joseph planting light kisses on top of her head and she smiled brightly… now she really felt complete and whole again…but still… she felt kind of guilty for making such a scene a few minutes earlier. 'Joseph?' 'Mmh?' 'I apologize for being childish…', she whispered and lifted her head from his shoulder to look him in the eyes again. Joseph lifted his other hand and caressed her cheek with his thumb. She leaned into his soft touch and closed her eyes… 'Oh, shut up now or do you really want to keep apologizing for the rest of our lives.', he said in a soft but mocking tone. Clarisse couldn't but had to grin as she opened her eyes again. 'Well maybe…', she started but she wasn't able to complete her sentence because Joseph silenced her by giving her a sweet kiss…

THE END

I hope you liked it:) aaand I'd be really really happy if there was one or maaaybe even more rewievs;) (I'd be happier than Clarisse when she gets married to Joseph... okay yeah I know that's not possible but anywaaays)