Nick and Charlie One-Shots

i will save you

NICK

"Where the fuck is he?" I am doing everything I can not to scream at the guard standing in front of me. He is visibly shaking as he swallows and looks up at me.

"I-I'm sorry, your highness. The intruders took him..."

"They took him?!" The guard flinches and takes a step back.

"Nicky, calm down, sweetheart." My mum steps up behind me and lays a hand on my shoulder. "We'll find him, okay? And the people who took him will be punished."

I look between her and the guard who is still standing on front of me and sigh. I know that I need to calm down so that I can think clearly about how best to find and rescue my fiancée.

"Sir, I will personally see to it that the events of today are investigated and changes to procedure will be made where necessary." He says, a determined expression on his face.

"I don't care about that right now. That can all be arranged once Charlie is safely back here. I want all available staff out there searching for him. Now."

"Understood. I will get search parties organised." He bows his head before turning and leaving the room. Mum steps around in front of me and places her hands gently on either side of my face.

"Nick, just breathe. Charlie will be okay. I can almost guarantee he won't be making things easy on his kidnappers. He's feisty when he wants to be and those pregnancy hormones have definitely exacerbated that." A tiny smile tugs at the corner of my lips when I think back to a couple of weeks ago when I walked in on Charlie yelling at a trembling maid who had accidentally brought the wrong flavour of tea. I had instantly wrapped him in my arms and dismissed the maid, staying with Charlie until he relaxed. He'd felt so bad about yelling that he'd insisted on tracking down the young girl and offering her to have a few paid days off as an apology.

My beautiful Charlie would never hurt a fly intentionally, he's just had some issues controlling his emotions while he's been pregnant. Which has led to some pretty funny moments. And now I can only hope that his hormones are making him strong enough to fight the bustard who has him.

"I feel so guilty mum, I should have been with him, not just left him alone in our room."

"It's okay, Nick. You did what you had to do. The palace was under attack, you thought he'd be safe where he was."

"I just don't understand how they got to him. Our rooms are not easy to access for this exact reason."

"I don't know, honey, but it will be looked into, as your guard told you. We will find out the truth. And the people involved in this will face the full extent of the law."

While mum is no longer officially on the throne, she still likes to ensure our people are fairly treated and punishments are given where necessary. So she has taken on a position within our courts and is present at all hearings.

I give her a small smile and then leave her in the company of her lady's maids. I head out towards the stable where my horse has already been readied for my arrival and several guards are already mounted nearby.

"Sir, we are under instruction to accompany you while you search for the Prince consort." One of them speaks up. I recognise him immediately. He's been at the palace for years, his father was one of the guards when he and I were young and he's now following in his father's footsteps. There's no one else I would trust more to be out searching for Charlie, besides myself of course.

"Thank you, Tao. I appreciate it. I have to ask, are all of you prepared to take whatever measures necessary to bring him back safe?" I look around at the small group and see them all nodding. "Alright. Keep close but keep your eyes open. I want him found. As soon as possible."