The following morning no one woke us up, we woke up on our own. I woke up before Harry. He was still fast asleep, his arms wrapped around me holding me close to his torso. I let out a sigh looking at him sleeping. It's hard to believe he is the king now. Never did I think that I would be in a bed next to the king of my country. I reached over, and brushed the strands of curls tickling his face. He exhausted a sleepy sigh as his eyes fluttered open.
"Good morning my handsome King," I smiled trailing my finger down his jawline.
"Good morning, my beautiful Em," he stated grabbing hold of my hand and kissing it gently. "I love knowing you're here."
"I came home is all I did," I smiled. "The last three weeks made me feel so isolated because though it was the same people I grew up with, it didn't feel like home."
"It didn't?" he smiled.
"Home is where the heart it," I whispered placing my hand over his heart. "My heart is with you."
Harry leaned over and kissed my lips gently. There was no sense of urgency behind the kiss. It was a kiss that had a fire behind it, a slow burning one at that. His hand cupped my cheek, and he deepened the kiss.
"GOOD MORNING!" Someone yelled walking into Harry's room. "Oh! Are we practicing for the wedding night when I am cheering you on?" Gemma asked being the someone barging in.
"Fucking hell," Harry groaned burying his head in the crook of my arm. "Go away Gems."
"No dear brother," she said hopping on his bed and lying between Harry and me. "I am your virginity."
"What?" we both laughed.
"No sex until marriage is me," she said patting both of our chests. "If you ever feel the need to be intimate, I am your seeing eye."
"Who instilled this?" Harry asked. "Because last time I checked I was the king."
"I did," Gemma smiled.
"Fuck no," Harry shook his head. "I don't need you telling me no. I'm also getting rid of that damn wedding night thing. Fuck that shit, it is not happening."
"We know," Gemma laughed. "Mum got to see your sperm, I think she knows you two have consummated quite well."
"Oh dear God," Harry groaned pinching the bridge of his nose.
"On the bright side, at least she's not knocked up with your bastard child," Gemma laughed. "You're not are you?"
"No," I laughed shaking my head. "We've always used a condom."
"Good," Gemma smiled. "You know what I think we should do today?"
"We?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Yes we," Gemma said. "If I am stopping you from having sex, it is my duty to follow you two around all day!"
"You're going to make sex puns all day aren't you?" I asked.
"Don't you know it," she winked. "Harry, want to know what I said to mum when she saw your sperm?" she asked with a smile. Harry let out a heavy sigh.
"What?" he asked with wide eyes.
"What did the penis say to the condom?" she asked and Harry gave me a bewildered look. "COVER ME UP! I'M GOING IN!"
"Jesus fucking Christ," I groaned turning over.
"I'm done, I am so done," Harry said getting out of bed.
"Come on! I'm just getting started!" Gemma said loudly. "I'm sorry if you're offended. Vagina jokes aren't funny. Period."
"Gemma!" I yelled hitting her with a pillow.
"For the record my future sister-in-law," Gemma said standing up on Harry's bed. "Jesus did not fuck Christ, it's the same person."
"Enough!" I said shoving her on the bed.
"Harry, why did the condom fly off the room?" Gemma asked. Harry flipped her off over the divider as he got dressed. "Because it was pissed off!" she cackled.
"Is this what you do with your free time?" I asked crossing my arms. "Look up sex jokes?"
"What else is there to do?" she asked. "It's not like I have an exciting sex life. Harry's had more good luck than I have."
"That's because you're single, Gemma," Harry said rolling his eyes. He walked over to the wall phone and rang Mrs. Willer.
"I wonder what is all in dad's office," Gemma said quietly sitting down at the small table in Harry's bedroom. "He never let us kids in there unless we were being scolded."
"I'm sure he had his reasons," Harry said sitting down next to me. He draped his arm over the back of my chair with his hand tickling the skin on my arm. "I think the weirdest part is that he is gone."
"I know," Gemma said with a sigh. "You're finally more powerful than me."
"I've always been more powerful than you, Gemma," Harry said with a taunting laugh. "You just don't like to admit that."
Mrs. Willer came not long after the conversation paused. I could see the both of them pondering over the loss of their father. I could see they were visibly saddened by the loss of him, but they didn't seem to be overwhelmingly upset.
Mrs. Willer placed a plate of eggs, toast, and hash browns in front of all of us. She placed a bowl of fruit in the center as well as a pitcher of orange juice. We thanked her as she left the room. I picked up my fork picking at the warm breakfast I missed. I didn't think I would miss this meal as much as I did, but I did. I think the fact I wasn't eating my meals with Harry made me even sadder. Here I was though, sitting beside him enjoying a breakfast.
"Oh God! I'm crumbing!" Gemma said and I sighed setting my fork down on my plate and running my hand over my face.
"At breakfast? Really?" I asked her incredulously. "Where in the right mind is that okay at the table?"
"I thought it was funny," Gemma shrugged finishing off her toast. "It was a good one, you have to admit that."
"No," Harry said shaking his head. "It's not that funny."
"You're as boring as cardboard," Gemma huffed.
"Then I'm the almighty cardboard."
Gemma flipped him off.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After breakfast, we found ourselves scattered around Harry's new office cleaning his father's items. Anne had joined us at this point in time. She stood at her husband's bookshelf looking for the items he had there for his own entertainment. The palace had a list of books that stayed in the King's office and what didn't.
"Eew," Gemma groaned as she opened a drawer. "Dad's leftover booze."
"Just get rid of them," Harry sighed looking at the drawer. "If he wasn't killed in battle it looks like he might have drank himself to death."
"It was only the evenings, dears," Anne said turning to us. "He only had some drinks in the evening after all his responsibilities were taken care of."
"This doesn't look like a few, Mum," Gemma said, her brown eyes wide. "It's empty bottles and half full ones. He only has a few full ones."
"It's in the past," Anne said softly. "Your father is dead, we can't do much about it now. We can only change the future with your brother as king."
Harry stayed silent looking up at his mother from beneath his lashes. He was sorting through the papers on his father's desk tossing some into the bin by his leg every once in a while. Anne was behind me now looking through the cabinets. She was on the floor, as was I, with her back to mine.
"Emerald," she said turning to face me. "Look at my little boy," she grinned showing me a photo of Harry.
In the photo was newborn Harry. He was in someone's arms fast asleep. His plump lips seeming too big for his face then, but they fit him now. I smiled at the photo and then up at her.
"Mum?" Harry asked. "What is this?" he asked holding up a piece of paper. "I've never seen this before."
"Hold on dear," she said leaning on me to stand up off the ground. She walked toward Harry grabbing the paper from his hand. Her eyes scanned over the document.
"This—this was to have Emerald arrested," she said softly. "For treason."
"What?" Harry, Gemma, and me all asked in surprise.
"He told me he wasn't going to do that," I whispered standing up off the ground.
"Well, he lied," she said as Harry snatched the paper from her hands. He looked up at us and tore up the paper throwing it away. "You can't just do that!"
"The royal seal was never pressed on it," Harry said. "Besides, any unsealed arrests are void unless I say so. Clearly I would never arrest Em."
"Clearly," Gemma said with an eye roll. "I can't believe he was going to arrest her."
"Me either," Harry whispered, his eyes locking with mine. "I would never have forgiven him if he did."
Harry looked back down at the desk going through each individual paper. Gemma looked bored out of her mind as she did whatever it was she was doing. Anne sat beside me looking through old photos of her family. A smile on her face whenever her children popped up in the pile.
"Look at this one," she said showing me a photo from Gemma's birthday ball. "It feels so long ago."
"It feels like it was years since then," I said touching the photo. It was the photo where Harry and I were gazing into each other's eyes. It was my favorite photo of us. "I still had long hair."
"You fit the short hair," Anne smiled hugging my side. "Not many queens have short hair."
"Not queen," I laughed.
"Not yet."