Castle on the Hill ~ Prince Harry

Chapter 13 ~ The Trial

January 26, 2023
Kensington Palace, Harry's Apartment

"So, you wanna tell me why you were crying earlier?" Harry asked Addy with a raised brow.

They had just finished eating dinner and we're now cleaning up the mess.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Addy mumbled as she dried her hands, having finished washing their dishes from dinner.

"Come on Briar, I know you. Your face was red and you still had tears in your eyes, but you tried to hide it because Archie was still awake and you didn't want to scare him. Then when I put him to bed, we were eating dinner and you thought you'd ruin the date, and now you're out of excuses so please tell me." Harry called her bluff.

He walked over to where she stood, leaning against the kitchen counter, and hugged her from behind, placing a gentle kiss on the side of her neck. "Talk to me, love. What's wrong?"

Addy took a deep and leaned into Harry's warm embrace, "Before I came here earlier, I was at Arty's spending time with the kids, because I won't have much time to before we leave. Skylar had said that she wanted to have a sleepover with them because she would miss them while we were in Genovia, but when I went to leave..." she trailed off as tears filled her eyes.

"Take your time." Harry whispered softy as he rubbed her arms comfortingly, "Why don't we go sit down?" He said as he guided her over to the couch.

Once they were both comfortable on the couch, with his arms around her and her head on his chest, she continued.

"When I went to leave Skylar freaked. She yelled for me not to leave and then wrapped her arms around me and refused to let go." She sighed, "The closer we get to the trial the clingier she gets. I don't know how to help her. Louise is going with us to Genovia to stay with Skylar while we're in trial, that seemed to perk her up a little bit but not much. Kate even offered to keep Skylar here so we didn't risk her seeing Meghan, but after what happened earlier I doubt that would work. If I thought I could talk Joey into just discussing the trial, I would."

Harry just held her and let her rant out her feelings, while gently rubbing his hand up and down her back. "She's strong, just like her Mama, she'll get through this. The next few days are probably going to be tough, but over this is all over with, everything will go back to normal."

Addy stayed silent for a moment, trying to calm herself, "Can we talk about something else now?" She asked softly.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Anything, something happy."

Harry smiled as he got an idea, "How about we talk about we talk about where to go on our first official date?"

Addy looked up at him with a soft smile, "I thought this was our first date."

"Well it kind of is, but you deserve the best there is to offer, and as amazing as tonight was, I can do better." He smirked lightly.

"Okay then, what were you thinking?" She asked in curiosity.

"I was thinking," Harry smiled down at her, "We leave the kids with Will and Cath, ya know, cash in for all the times we've kept their kids so they could go on a date." He joked, causing her to giggle.

"Well, I promised to take you that restaurant in Kensington that you love so much. Then we come back here and watch whatever you want on the telly, or whatever else you might want to do when we're get back here." He finished while wiggling his eyebrows teasingly, causing her to laugh.