Querencia [Prince Harry]

『TWO』

Bella Caldwell never thought that she'd arrive at her childhood home to find it covered and unused, she had expected her sister to have opened the door and throwN her arms around the twins while claiming that they were growing too fast, she had expected her mother to wrap her arms around her and claim in French that she was never going to let them leave the house again because she missed them so much and finally she had expected her father to arrive late, as per usual, teasingly inquiring if she had finally decided to climb out of the rabbit hole she had fallen in.

But the reality was that her sister was in America sharing an apartment with her significant other and her parents were no longer with them. Sighing softly, Bella peered over her shoulder, back at the car that she had rented for the time being, the twins were in the back fast asleep with no real knowledge of what their mother was feeling, their excitement due to be traveling to England having worn them out.

Bella wished that she hadn't brought them to the one place where she knew that people tended to groom rumors even if they were non-existent, but at the same time she knew that she had to bring them, she couldn't just leave them in Greece and her sister was too busy to take care of the twins until the wedding was done. 

Suddenly a car pulls up to her driveway, a car Bella knows she's seen before the last time that she had been in London, also as a wedding planner. The tainted windows prevented her from seeing who was inside, although she didn't need the windows not to be tainted, she knew who the person was, she had called the person to let them know that she was visiting London.

The car door opened and out stepped a simple clothed Duchess Katherine Middleton, or rather Kate as Bella knew her, her long brown hair was in a messy ponytail, something that the Duchess of Cambridge was rarely seen in, and her face bare of make-up. There was a pleased grin on her face as the Duchess closed the car door, the car that Bella and Kate had bought when they were in uni, although Kate was older than her.

"My god, don't you age woman?" Kate questioned teasingly, her words coated with happiness and longing, as the brunette quickly made her way to the blonde and threw her arms around her, something that was against protocol in the Royal Family. Bella, of course, wasted no time in wrapping her arms around Kate's middle, nuzzling her face into the older woman's neck as they embraced. 

"Greece does that to a person." she replied against Kate's neck making the older woman chuckled slightly as she squeezed her for a moment before pulling her, keeping her hands on Bella's shoulders. 

Besides her sister, the only other person that Bella knew she could rely on for a shoulder to cry and for support was the now Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. The Duchess had cleared her schedule in 2011 and then in 2015, while heavily pregnant in the latter, for both of Bella's parents' funerals, she was also the only person, and besides Lucie Caldwell and her significant other, the Duchess was the only other important person that knew of the twins' existence.

"How are you? How's Will? Georgie? Charlotte?" Bella instantly questioned, turning the question table on the older brunette woman, watching as a loving smile etched on her face at the mention of her family. "They're wonderful, Granny's been hogging Will as of lately, which for the better part is rather annoying but today happened to be great." Kate replied.

Bella nodded and peeked over the brunette's shoulder as she saw a flicker of movement in Kate's car, "You brought the kids?" she inquired, hope and happiness coating her words, "Yes, Charlotte is still breastfeeding and George would have thrown a fit if he didn't come." The Duchess confessed, looking over her shoulder as well.

It was her son who was awake, he was quite curious and distrusting of things as well as rather overprotective of her when they were in places that he didn't know. "Well, I have some toys he can play with, in the old art room. Maybe once we're done uncovering everything and dusting the place he can play with the twins."  Bella offered. An offer that the Duchess happily took up as she wanted to spend more time with her blonde friend as well as wanting her son to meet the blonde's children.

Before they brought the children inside, however, the two women uncovered the living room and cleaned it, so that at least the young ones would be inside and within earshot. Then after doing that they began to clean and reopen the house until dinner time rolled around, the twins and George having disappeared into the old art room once it was cleaned and ready for use, leaving the two women to sit back in the living room with an awake and attentive Charlotte.

"Can't believe you've been married for 5 years already." Bella claimed from the sofa she was laying on with Charlotte on her chest, "I know, time flies." Kate commented, flicking her eyes flicking from the blonde down to the sapphire ring that rested on her left ring finger. "And you have two kids." The blonde added shortly, making cute and funny faces at Charlotte, who would laugh in return.

"So do you." the Duchess retorted with a small smirk on her slender face, "Not what I meant missy." The mother of twins huffed making the brunette laugh wholeheartedly and shake her head. The Duchess's green eyes locked on the blonde as she accessed her, the last time she had seen the blonde, it had been at her mother's funeral but even then she remembered how much the blonde had matured since having become a mother, she no longer was the wildish young blonde that used to get in trouble with the ginger British prince.

Instead, she was a focus and family-driven young woman with a blooming business that treasured every moment as if it were her last and didn't care much for shenanigans. At the same time her mind reeled back to her brother-in-law, the ginger British prince who the Queen had been pestering to settle down and giving hell for having let go the only person who actually stuck with him through thick and thin, through his time in the army and his shenanigans.

She remembered how just days prior the very same prince had wandered into her and her family's apartment and flopped on the couch with a heavy sigh escaping his lips, his bright ginger hair messier than usual and the circles under his eyes darker, she remembered how he pleaded to no one in particular for a miracle that brought the very blonde currently before her back into his life.

A teasing yet knowing smile etched on her lips, going completely unnoticed by the blonde who was too entertained entertaining the baby on her chest, as a plan formulated in her head, a thousand possibilities creating themselves.

Unfortunately for her, her attention was brought back to reality by her ringing phone, prompting her to look to her side, at the phone that rang on the table, to find the picture of her husband on the screen. For once she cursed him for interrupting her malevolant plan to bring two of the people of cared most for together once more, still however she grabbed the phone and accepted the call, pressing the rectangular object to her ear as she stood up.

Bella paid her no mind as she continued giving little Charlotte her undivided attention, allowing the brunette to walk past her and towards the kitchen, "Will?" she said into the phone, "Where are you? Where the kids?" Prince William, heir to the throne and her husband, instantly questioned worriedly, "Please don't leave me." Kate rolled her eyes at her husband's theatricals, even after 5 years of marriage and 14 years of being with him she couldn't comprehend why he was like this.

"I'm not leaving you." she claimed breathlessly, almost as if she had just resurfaced from a long dive, "Th-Then where are you?" William questioned sounding like a lost puppy, "I came to visit an old friend, I'll be home soon." the brunette told her husband, rolling her eyes as he once again started firing questions. William and Harry's persistence was something that she couldn't handle alone and that Bella had been able to control almost effortlessly when she and Harry had been together.