The Shield (Prince Harry fanfic #2)

Chapter Thirty-Four

September finished up and October passed quickly for Harry and Lucy. The couple got together when they could, which proved to be hard. Lucy had nights where she had to work, weekday and weekends, from one or both jobs. Harry had events to do as well, during the day and night. Sometimes Lucy stepped in the bounds of Kensington Palace for a quick lunch with Harry, but it didn't last long. On the weekends and some week days, they had date nights. It was usually a quiet night for the both of them, and it was no different now.

Harry found this most difficult, upon his other girlfriends were there when he wanted them. Really, most of them never left. It would be quiet most nights, when Lucy was already asleep and he stared at the ceiling above him. During October, Harry was given a Kensington Palace apartment for himself. It was yet another push by the Queen and his father for him to eventually settle down. At thirty-one years old, Harry wasn't quite getting any younger, by the Queen and his father's standards. He was expected to marry and have some children, but he never found someone really to settle down with. There had been many girls, and if Lucy and him didn't work out, there would be many more.

William didn't push his younger brother to find a wife or have children, because he had enough trust in his brother to follow his heart. There were rules for such thoughts, like who he might be allowed to marry. Anyone liked to believe they would marry for love, but for Harry, it would be difficult to marry Lucy. She was, after all, American with not an innocent past and quite the age difference between them, with twelve or thirteen years. Ironically, thirteen years was the age difference between his father and his mother, and they had gotten engaged when his mother was nineteen. Harry didn't wish to repeat the past.

Without any doubt, Harry knew Lucy didn't want settled down. Perhaps in a few years time, if they were together that long, he would bring up the idea with Lucy. However, in two years, and this would make Lucy twenty with Harry at thirty-three. He wanted to wait longer. At three years, if they were still together, he would approach the idea with Lucy, at her age of twenty-one and his age of thirty-four. The idea was to approach Lucy with the thought of their future but not ask her. He thought about this every night as he went to sleep. Perhaps when Lucy was twenty-three and he was thirty-six, an engagement. Perhaps when Lucy was twenty-five and Harry was thirty-eight, a marriage. Whatever happened next just happened.

It was a Tuesday night in early November that Harry and Lucy got together again. If they went out, to a restaurant or some social place, it was usually Friday or Saturday night when the places would be brimming with people. With so many people, they were lost in the crowd. They were just faces like everyone else. In the beginning, it was scary for Harry because someone could've spotted him, known his face in the crowd. In these usually dim lit establishments, no one ever noticed him.

Because of the Tuesday and though pubs would be open with patrons, Lucy still went with Harry to his Kensington Palace apartment. They could've tried to go out to the pubs but Lucy wanted to be back in her apartment by a certain time so that she could get some sleep. Harry always left the offer open that Lucy could leave things at his apartment, where he was usually alone. She could sleep over, even in a different room if she wanted. Lucy never took his offer. She would travel on the Tube to the outskirts of London before she walked another ten minutes to reach her apartment building. In the morning, she would go back into London by foot and then by Tube.

With the shorter daylights now, Harry was almost concerned for Lucy's safety, and she always told him not to be. She wasn't scared of even the biggest guns, and that wasn't a concern here.

Harry kept a promise to Lucy, which was when they watched a film and they cuddled he would allow her to escape. He gave her full range to escape. Arms curled around her slightly, Lucy laid a little on Harry; she felt his chest go up and down in breath. He had chosen the film tonight, and Lucy liked it. Never in her life had she really ever watched a comedy like this, with this much quick wit and dry sense of humor. Sometimes Harry's blue eyes fell upon her, as she stared forward at the screen. His grip would tighten on her for a short while but would relax as his mind numbed to the people moving on the screen.

Lucy escaped once during the film, but she came back and was greeted by a kiss from Harry. They settled back into the sofa.

Once the film ended, Harry's arms stayed still around her, wishing for her not to leave. "Want to stay over?"

Laughing, she tried to pull away, but Harry called her back. He planted another kiss on her forehead. "No, because I have work tomorrow."

"So do I."

"What time?"

"The afternoon."

A smile tugged at her lips. "That's what I thought." Lucy turned around and her eyes fell upon him. "Busy this weekend?"

Harry nodded. "Remembrance Day is coming up, and things are happening. I have a busy schedule, especially the weekend, and all next week. We'll have a hard time meeting. But this week, I'm free, mostly."

Lucy wasn't. "This is important to you."

"You're important to me," he whispered and kissed her on the nose. She giggled, and her cheeks reddened. "But yes, everything about Remembrance Day is important to me. I think of all the people who have fought and died for my country and my freedom. And then I think about all the people that died for not just my freedom and my country, but people all around the world, our allies and our friends." His blue eyes shone.

Without much to say, she only nodded.

Harry ran his fingers through her hair. 

"I should probably go."

"I wish you wouldn't." He kissed her on the lips but paused.

Harry knew how important her job was to Lucy, how everything she did was important. She had finally found her platform and what she cared for. She was willing to die for it, Harry could tell, and it scared him. But he felt this passion too. Remembrance Day and the activities around it, this was important to him. He felt the passion burn within him, how Lucy felt at her job.

"I hate to say," he spoke, "but I think you should go." He kissed her deeply. "But come back some day."

Lucy laughed and stood. "Yeah, I'll come back eventually."