A Zoo of a Romance

Chapter II

A/N: Woah, it's been awhile, hasn't it? For some reason, I uploaded this on ao3 over a year ago and never put it here. I do plan on continuing this fic because I am bored out of my mind and I didn't realize how many people liked it until I checked the comments on it on ao3 last night and realized I left a bunch of people hanging. So here's this chapter, which should tide you over until I get the next part out.

Ever since he could remember, Newt went to the stables when he was upset. It was so peaceful in there – he didn't have to worry about Theseus or Leta or his public image. His mother used to follow him out every time she noticed he was gone. She never worried about where he was until she checked the stables, and if he wasn't there, she would alert the royal guard, because she had no idea where he would be – and she's only ever had to do that once, when he and Leta were going riding on the horses that were in the stables, so not really that much of a difference. Except Leta was there –

No. He wouldn't let her ruin his peace.

She had finally deigned to talk to him on the 16th of February, the day after the incident with Theseus, and the day before this blissfully sunny day. She sounded apologetic and genuine, saying how she hoped they could still be friends, but she would understand if they couldn't, especially since she was now officially courting Theseus-

He didn't realize he was sobbing until the horse he was leaning on whinnied from the discomfort of Newt's trembling. He sat up, mumbled an apology to Frank, and began the lengthy process of pulling himself together.

He had a brunch to attend, after all.

~

Earlier that morning, Tina was informed that she would be introduced to the royal family at brunch. After flying first class for the first time in her life, she wasn't sure she could picture more luxury than was on that plane, but as she approached the palace from the royal motorcade with her coworkers, she realized she was incredibly wrong. The luscious greenery from the forest surrounding her was such a sharp contrast from New York that she felt completely out of her comfort zone – before she even entered the grounds, at that.

And then she saw the palace.

All thoughts of the forested areas she just passed were forced from her mind as she took in the beauty displayed in front of her.

The uniquely blue rooftops were the first thing that caught her eye. She'd also never seen the vast number of windows going down the sides of the exterior, and wondered just how many there were that weren't visible from her current vantage point. The forest behind her was surrounding the entire palace grounds, and the light filtering through the trees from the barely risen sun made the whole place look ethereal. The gardens were filled with flowers of all kinds, ones she couldn't even begin to name. The fountains contained water so impossibly clear, she felt as if looking into them would be exactly like looking through glass. And when the man sitting next to her – Achilles, she had learned – rolled the window down, the smell could have been placed into one of Queenie's perfume bottles and no one would have been any the wiser.

"It's beautiful," she breathed.

"It sure is," said Achilles, looking more at Tina than she was at the view outside. He moved his hand closer to hers.

"You know what else is beautiful?"

Struggling to come up with an excuse not to be around this man who was slowly suffocating her (comments throughout the entire flight and ride about how pretty she was and how lucky anyone would be if they had a chance to be with her, excuses made constantly in order to be in close proximity, the works), she decided to come up with someone else to complement.

"Hannah over there is very pretty, isn't she?" she exclaimed frantically.

The woman Tina was referring to gave her an odd glance.

"I'm not – into girls, Tina, but thanks for the compliment all the same--"

"No, Hannah, that's not what I meant –"

Achilles butted in, much to Tina's dismay.

"While she is very pretty, Tina, there's no need to be modest. Everyone here knew I was talking about you except you, apparently."

The motorcade came to a halt (finally).

"Look, Achilles, I appreciate it, but I'm not interested," Tina shot back. She grabbed her bags and, as soon as the driver opened the door, swung out of the vehicle and quite literally sprinted towards the palace entrance.

"C'mon, Tina!" Achilles complained in the distance. Turning around, she realized he was following her – and being significantly taller than her, he would catch up to her sooner or later.

Veering off the main path, she made a right into the gardens. She realized there were people yelling after her, one of them being Achilles, but after turning around for a split second, she realized palace guards were on her tail as well.

Shit.

She couldn't actually enter the palace until she had been thoroughly inspected, and it wasn't like she could leave the grounds and effectively lose her pursuers without getting lost in that forest. Her only options were to either keep running aimlessly through the gardens or be further subjected to Achilles's flirting – and she had a feeling the former would result in the loss of her job for the second time in a week.

In other words, she was going to have to stop running at some point or another.

Spotting a gated area up ahead, she sprinted into it, hoping it would lead to somewhere indoors she could hide for a few seconds to catch her breath.

Unfortunately for Tina, this was not the case.

She found herself in the palace stables. And, just her luck, it was a dead end.

Frantically looking for a place to hide, she found that the only places she could successfully go were inside the horse stalls themselves, and she was not about to get her uniform dirty. But she didn't really have a choice in the matter, so she dashed into the one on her left, and ended up bumping into one of the stablehands.

"Sorry, sorry, excuse me for a minute-" she muttered, trying to get past him.

Then, an idea hit her.

Without making eye contact, she stalled, "What's your name?"

The (very handsome) stablehand replied, "I'm Newt, and you are...?"

"Tina." Then, at the sound of rapid, heavy footsteps coming from the entrance she had just walked through seconds before, she added, "I'm really, really sorry about this."

And just as Achilles Tolliver yelled her name, she grabbed the straps of his overalls and brought his lips to hers.

It was only for a blissful few seconds, (she would later argue they were the best seconds of her life), but she finally heard the sounds of Achilles walking away and swearing up a storm. The guards followed not too far behind him as soon as Achilles said she was with the NYPD, and soon, they were alone.

The stablehand pulled away, looking at Tina in a state of shock.

Finally, she looked into his eyes to apologize one last time before she ran away to hopefully never see him again during her time here, but the syllables died on her tongue.

She recognized that face from somewhere.

"Ma'am, are you quite alright?" Newt asked.

"You're – you're the prince."

And running her hands through her hair in exasperation, Tina sprinted out the way she came in just a few minutes before.

A/N: Votes and comments are much appreciated :) Love you all!