The Unexpected Journey-A Prince Harry Fan Fic

Chapter 107

Day Five:

When Harry woke up on day five, the day already felt off. To begin with, Maddie was no longer there in bed with him. And after a night like that, he had expected her to sleep in with him. As he peeled his eyes open to look around, he could see that their tropical sun had given way to a dark, cloudy, rainy day. Rubbing a hand up over his face, he tossed aside the blankets and stepped from their bed. Reaching for a t-shirt, he was surprised to find it felt kind of chilly. Funny how the sudden absence of sun in the tropics made what he would normally consider warm weather, cold. He glanced outside again and sighed; the rain was really coming down.

He moved into the living room, his eyes instantly seeking and finding her. He smiled as she looked up to him. There she was, content; bundled up in a large chair, blanket covering her legs; laptop open as she drank from a mug of what he assumed was something warm.

"I think it's going to be an indoor day," Maddie called out to him with a warm smile on her face.

"I think so," he agreed, stopping by the breakfast spread set up in the dining area for a cup of tea and a muffin. "What are you doing?" He nodded to the computer as he took a seat and took a bite.

"I don't want to tell you." She was sweet and slightly embarrassed.

"No?" He grinned, taking a sip of tea. "Why not?"

"You'll make fun of me."

"I swear I won't."

"Okay..." She looked down at the screen and back up to him. "I'm looking at pictures from the wedding."

"Our wedding?"

"Yes," she rolled her eyes at herself. "I woke up early and didn't want to wake you...and I was curious. So I googled it." She waved her hand to him. "Go ahead. Make fun."

"I'm not going to make fun," he took another bite, washed it down with some tea and, taking his mug with him, moved to her chair. "Let me see..." Maddie moved forward in her chair and Harry, holding tight to the mug, slid in behind her, his legs stretching around her as he cuddled close. "What do we have here?"

"Well..." Maddie smiled, leaning back against him; tucking the blanket around his legs. "I was just looking at some pictures of the carriage ride from St. Paul's to Buckingham. Remember when you kissed my hand and the crowd went nuts?"

"Yes," Harry nodded with a chuckle. "Such a thirsty crowd, no?"

"Yes," Maddie nodded. "But there are actually some really good shots of it..." She pointed to the screen. "Look at that smile on your face."

"Yeah..." He looked at the screen and then turned to her; his head close to hers. "I was happy." He pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Incredibly happy."

"Mmm..." She sighed, settling closer to him as she turned her face to meet his lips. "Good morning."

"Good morning," he kissed her again. "How long have you been doing this?"

"Not long," Maddie turned back to the screen and laughed. "Look at Ella in that carriage. Lord, she must have just been dying..." She shook her head, her mind wandering to their friends back home.

"I'm guessing she enjoyed herself," Harry had a smirk on his face.

"I wonder what ended up happening between her and Bishop..." Maddie brought her mug to her lips as she thought for a moment. "Do you think they..."

"I have no idea," Harry shook his head. "With those two it could be anything."

"True..." Maddie sighed and closed the computer, setting it to the side; snuggling into his warm arms. Harry's hand rubbed up her arm, over her shoulder, pressing her closer to him as he settled in the chair; content with what appeared to be the extent of their day.

A wonderful silence settled over them; a silence born of comfort, of ease. A silence that spoke of a serenity they shared between them. Both had come to the conclusion that they would be spending the day indoors. Both had accepted that fact with a smile, both had welcomed a chance to be together in quiet closeness.

It was minutes later when Maddie's soft voice broke the silence.

"Hey Harry?"

"Hmm?" His eyebrows rose lazily as he smiled down at her.

"Does that happen to you often?" She adjusted slightly, wanting to look at him. "What happened last night...that's happened to you before, hasn't it." It took him a moment to pull forward enough of the night to remember what she was talking about.

"You mean the woman who propositioned my wife and I for a threesome?" He squinted with a smirk as he looked at her. "No. That was a first."

"Not that," she rolled her eyes, sitting up a bit more. "Well not that specifically. I mean...in general. Women slipping you their phone number like that."

"Ah..." Harry nodded, his voice flattening as he sighed and met her eyes. "I'm not sure you really want to know the answer to that."

"I'm sure that I do."

"Well..." He took a deep breath and looked down into his mug before answering. "No. This wasn't a first."

"I didn't think so." She paused, taking in his answer; weighing it in her mind as she looked at him. "I mean...you're you...I suppose women meet you and figure, what the hell, and take their once-in-a-lifetime shot."

"I suppose," Harry shrugged, watching her carefully as she processed it.

"Did it always go down like that? An inconspicuous piece of paper with a name and number?"

"Not always," Harry shrugged. "Sometimes they were bolder, slipping it in the pocket of my jacket, pressing it into my hand, or...I don't know, writing it directly on a receipt or an agenda from a meeting or something like that. A room key now and then."

"Women would slip you their room key." Her voice spiked, her posture tensed and, sensing that, Harry worried he may have gone too far.

"I told you that you didn't want to know," he reached for her hand then, his fingers stroking hers as he smiled softly; wanting to guide the conversation in another direction.

"Did you ever..." Maddie's eyes were watching him intently.

"Call a number that a random woman slipped into my palm? No."

"What about..."

"No." He shook his head with a laugh. "I have never used a room key that some woman...Maddie, come on..."

"Sorry." Maddie shook her head, her eyes rolling as she snapped back to the moment. "Sorry. I don't know why I asked that. Of course you didn't. I was just...curious..." She shook her head again, dropping his hand and rising from the chair. "I'm sorry I asked..."

"It's okay," he watched as she walked to the kitchen, pouring more tea. "You can ask all the questions you want. It's really not a big deal."

"Sure," Maddie shrugged and turned her eyes away from him, looking out at the storm clouds rolling slowly through the sky. "Can you believe it's raining?"

"No..." Harry followed her eyes, not entirely sure that this conversation was over; even if it appeared over for the moment. But, not wanting to push, he rose from the chair and walked over to the large windows and watched the water fall from the sky into the ocean.

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Harry had been right to suspect that the conversation wasn't entirely over. Though they had moved on that morning to other things, planning their excursions for the remainder of their stay in the Maldives, taking guesses as the outcome of the Ella/Bishop extravaganza, the topic had stayed in the back of Maddie's mind. Despite her best efforts to rid it completely; it stayed.

They had just finished lunch and after a lengthy debate over if they were even going to bother dressing for the day or if they were going to stay in pajamas, they had finally given in and showered; opting for comfy, lounging clothes. Harry had just finished reading through a newspaper when Maddie's voice cut into the room.

"Have you ever been tempted?"

Harry froze in his spot, his eyes snapping to hers. There was a moment of stilted silence and he took a deep breath. He knew exactly what she was talking about this time; no guessing needed.

"Sure." He shrugged, tossing the newspaper aside and folding his hands in his lap. "I mean...I was once an awkward teenager with raging hormones. I was curious."

"Why didn't you ever call them?" She studied him as he spoke, her mind churning. She wasn't sure what emotions were brewing within. There was quite a bit of curiosity—at the whole practice, not just Harry's involvement. And, though she wasn't anywhere near ready to admit it, there was a tiny bit of jealousy, a smidge of defensiveness.

"Because..." Harry took a deep breath. "Because who knows who these women are or were. They could have been underage or...overage. Some of them could have been reporters for God's sake."

"What do you do with them?" She took a few steps into the room, sitting down on the couch across from him. "The numbers?"

"Throw them away, mostly. If the moment allows, I'll hand them back and tell them no thank you, just like you saw last night." He shrugged. "When I was younger, I used to pass them on to Bishop, Sean, and Leo. They got quite a kick out of it."

"I would imagine," Maddie smiled wide then, imagining the four of them riled up at slips of paper with phone numbers on them. "Wait...when you were younger? When did it start?"

"I don't know...when I was about thirteen I think."

"Thirteen?!" Her eyes went wide. "Jesus, you were a baby! And women were passing you their numbers?"

"Well they were mostly girls at that time, but yes." He laughed.

"Wow..." Maddie shook her head, relaxing back on the couch with a chuckle. "Did it stop when you started dating me?"

Harry grew silent, his eyes meeting hers. He studied her for a moment; wondering if she really wanted to know, wondering what he was about to jump into.

"No." He was honest; always honest.

"No?" She laughed, surprised. "What about when we got engaged?"

He blinked and answered. "No."

"No?!" Maddie's surprise shifted a bit, her territorial side showing.

"Honestly, no."

"But..." Maddie was stunned. "Why?"

"I don't know," he shook his head. "I think that maybe they are attracted to the challenge?"

"Wow..." Maddie shook her head. "I don't even know what to say."

"There's nothing to say."

"How often does it happen?"

"I don't know."

"Once a month?"

"No."

"More or less than that?"

"More."

"Once every two weeks? Once a week?"

"About once a week, once every two."

"Jesus Christ!" Maddie rose to her feet, not entirely sure where she was going or what she was doing.

"Easy..." Harry's chuckle was low, his mind working overtime to keep up with what she was doing, where she was headed.

"Easy? Harry..." She took a breath, trying to maintain control of her heated emotions, unclear as to why she was getting so worked up. "When was the last time it happened?"

"Maddie." He could see she was getting upset and everything inside of him wanted to back it up, calm her down.

"Harry. When?" She held her ground, knowing he would be honest with her. And he was; painfully so.

"Not including the woman last night?" He breathed. "A few weeks ago."

"A few weeks? When? Where? Who was she?!"

"I don't know who she was," Harry's mind went back and forth between finding this funny and finding this disturbing. "It was the night of my stag party and..."

"You never told me about that."

"I know." His hand reached out to her as she paced past him. "We decided not to talk about the parties and..."

"You never told me about any of them." She spun around on him then, pulling her hand out of his reach.

"That's because..." He looked up at her, the smile fading from his face. "Hold on. Are you mad at me?"

"No!" She yelled out, catching herself. "No. I'm not mad. I'm just...I don't know what I am. What I do know is that women have been slipping my husband their phone number and...and this is the first I've heard about it..." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at him; confused.

"Hey..." He rose to his feet. "Come on. This is not a big deal."

"Not a big deal? Women are trying to sleep with you and..."

"And they don't get to sleep with me!" He yelled out, astonished. "Come on Madeline. Women hit on me. Sometimes women hit on me. They see me in a magazine or on the internet and they think they know me, they have this delusion of what it might be like to be with me and they think they want to be with me and they...they take a shot and they hit on me. That cannot be news to you. Men hit on you. That's not news to me."

"Men do not hit on me," she shook her head.

"Bullshit!" Harry laughed, wide and loud. "I see them hit on you."

"Please."

"Please."

"Men are not slipping me their phone numbers, their room keys..."

"That's because I'm a Captain in the British Army and they know I'd hunt them down and..."

"Harry," she cut him off, halting the grin that was working onto his face. "Why didn't you ever tell me this?"

"Because..." He grew serious, taking a deep breath. "Because it doesn't matter. They don't matter. It's so not a big deal, it's so completely not worth mentioning..." He snatched her hand into his. "Look at you. You're mad, you're upset, your mind is processing this like it's something that matters and over what? Women who I don't know slipping me a piece of paper that I'm never going to use...Madeline..." He tugged at her hand, wanting her to really hear what he was saying. "I'm married to you. To you. I can't help what these other people are doing and..."

"Stop," Maddie's voice was quiet as she squeezed his fingers. Her eyes met his with an apology, with confusion. "Stop. You don't have to...Jesus...what is wrong with me?" She rolled her eyes and sighed; dropping his hand and turning away from him. "I'm sorry," she looked out the window. "I'm sorry. Please don't explain anymore. I feel...ridiculous for even asking, ridiculous for even..." She turned a smile to him but what he saw was the tears in her eyes.

"Madeline..." He was soft, sweet, and she felt so stupid. "What is going on right now?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "Maybe the sun's gone to my head..." She laughed. "I'm sorry. You don't need to explain yourself. There's nothing to explain. You can't help that women see you and want you and can't help but take their best shot at you." She waved her hand at him. "I know I would."

"Sure you would..." He chuckled, watching her carefully.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I feel like...this." She cringed a bit, trying to shake it off. "I'm sorry I got all...crazy."

"It's okay," he shrugged; happy she was moving on from it.

"No, no it's not." She shook her head. "You know what...I think I'm going to take a walk."

"A walk?!" Harry looked to the window, to the pouring rain. "But you'll be drenched."

"I'll take an umbrella." She had made up her mind and, as such, was heading towards the door; slipping into shoes.

"Wait a second..." He moved towards her. "Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know," she turned a small smile to him, pressing her lips to his quickly. "I just need to take a breath and calm myself down. I don't need to be acting like this. I need to..." She met his eyes. "I just need a minute to get myself in check. Maybe I'll head up to the resort or...I don't know. But I'll be back. I promise."

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Maddie wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there. After she left Harry at their place, she picked up Williams and had walked along the pier for quite some time before she went to the main house. The storm was dropping rain heavy and steady and she needed a moment of reprieve. She checked first for the woman from the night before—not wanting to handle that situation at this particular time—and then, finding she wasn't there, she took a seat at the bar and ordered a drink. Williams, wanting to be respectful and give her some space, took a seat off to the side and ordered a soda. She sat there for a while, sipping her way through two cocktails while she tried to sort through her wild mind.

She trusted Harry—with everything about her, she trusted Harry. So why in the world was this notion of women slipping him their numbers getting to her so? She had no idea but she knew it didn't make sense. She was a strong woman; independent, confident, one hundred percent secure in her relationship with her husband. But for whatever reason, this new information was under her skin.

She sighed and glanced over at Williams with a smile before looking back to her drink. It was then that the bartender returned to her; drink in hand. He sat it in front of her with a small napkin folded in half.

"Oh...I didn't order another..." Maddie looked up to him with a smile.

"I know," he nodded, handing her the napkin. "A gentleman sent it over for you."

"A gentleman?" Confused, she looked down at the napkin, opening it up to read the writing on it. A wide grin spread across her face at the unmistakable penmanship.

"If you would like to make him jealous, I'm available."

Maddie's eyes lifted up to the bartender who had already moved to the other side, slowly wiping down the counter. She turned around on her stool, scanning the bar. And then she found him; sitting off to the side, near a window that looked out over the rainy day; Jim moving to sit with Williams. His eyes were intent on her as she shook her head back and forth slowly, fighting a grin. With a sigh, she lifted her glass from the bar and abandoned her stool. She stopped in front of his chair, holding the napkin out to him.

"When you say him, you mean..." Her eyebrows lifted.

"Your husband." He shrugged with a smirk on his lips

"Ah. And you're available for that?"

"Use me at your leisure." He waved his hand. "Care to join me?"

"Hmm..." She sighed, lowering into the seat across from him. "I'm not mad. I'm not upset."

"Okay."

"I'm not. It's just...strange. It's hard to wrap my brain around it...all of these women hoping they'll be the one you leave me for."

"They will never be the one I leave you for." He was dead serious, eyes steady and dark. "I'm not leaving."

"I know that." She reached for his hand. She did know that. Nothing inside of her doubted him. "This isn't about that. I'm not worried. I'm..."

"Jealous?" He offered, stroking her fingers. "Territorial?"

"Oh God..." She rolled her eyes; feeling more and more like a silly, prepubescent girl than the strong, confident woman she knew she was.

"I would be." He admitted. "If men were slipping you their numbers, handing you room keys..." He let out a staggered breath. "I would be mad crazy about it."

"Lucky for you that doesn't happen," she smiled again, the tension easing from her a bit.

"I don't know," he kissed her fingers. "I've seen Bishop slide you a few slips of paper. Who knows what was on them."

"Bishop!" Maddie's head tossed back in laughter. "As if you ever had anything to worry about with Bishop."

"You never know," Harry shrugged, happy to see her relaxing. "He's basically the less-baggage version of me. I had a few moments of valid concern along the way."

"Please!" Maddie laughed again. "That is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard."

"More ludicrous than me calling some random woman who totally disregarded my commitment to my wife and handed me her phone number? More ludicrous than my wife being the tiniest bit jealous over women who I will never see again?" Maddie sighed at the truth in his statement. "More ludicrous than that?"

"No..." She shook her head; conceding, giving in, letting it go. "You're right. It's not more ludicrous than that."

"No," he shook his head. "It's not. Listen. I know you trust me..."

"I do." She was quick to reiterate that.

"Then you are just going to have to trust that, when this happens, I handle it as best I can. I always refuse, I am always polite and...and I don't know what else I could possibly do about it."

"I know," she moved closer to him then.

"I mean...I took vows, incredibly public vows, to be faithful to you. I'm not sure how much more obvious I can be about my devotion to you..."

"I know."

"And if they still don't get it, if they still think they have a shot...then...I don't know..." He shrugged. "Let them take it. I will continue to refuse them, every time. I will continue to tell them no. And, if you want me to, I can start telling you when it happens; every time it happens."

"No," Maddie shook her head, her face scrunching up. "I don't want to hear about it. I really don't. I don't know what came over me today. Maybe the rain has thrown me off." She moved to sit closer to him then, pulling his hand into both of hers. "I don't want you to think that I'm questioning you or doubting you or..."

"I don't."

"Good. Because I'm not. This was me; all me." She took a deep breath and let it out. "And I'm done. The walk, the sitting, the drink...it worked. I'm done being a nutty."

"You sure?" He winked. "Cause I kinda like you when you're nutty."

"Of course you do," Maddie shook her head, leaning to kiss him. "I'm sorry Harry..." She kissed him again.

"Mmm..." He smiled against her lips. "Who's Harry? I'm Paul..." He nodded to the napkin on the table. "Here to make your husband jealous...remember?"

"Ha!" Maddie laughed, leaning to nuzzle his neck. "Well I'm sorry Paul. I have every intention of going back to my husband...to wait out this storm together. In bed." Her eyes locked with his.

"Lucky Bastard," Harry grinned wide, pulling her lips to his.

"Nah..." Maddie shook her head, her nose bumping his. "I'm the lucky one."

"Come on..." He nodded his head towards the outside, his heart warm in his chest. "Can we go now? "

"We can," Maddie nodded, rising to her feet. "We absolutely can."

And then, arm in arm, hand in hand, Harry held the umbrella over the top of them as Maddie snuggled close and they made their way back to their honeymoon. She would never really be sure what exactly it was that had sent her reeling that day, but she recovered quite quickly and quite permanently. She meant what she said, she let it go, she let it drop. For the remainder of the trip, the whole incident was essentially forgotten and the newlyweds had survived their first, and only, bump in the road for their time in the Maldives.

Day Six:

When Harry woke up on day six, the day already felt better. Though the rain continued to pour outside, though the heavy clouds spoke of yet another day of shut in, he turned to his side and smiled wide. This time Maddie was still there next to him; naked and warm and sleeping soundly. Moving his hand to her waist, he moved closer to her; his nose nuzzling into the sweet smell of her hair as he tucked her close and closed his eyes.

He knew that life with him wasn't going to get much easier for her. He knew that she would continue to face bumps in the road like the one from yesterday, that women would continue to assume he was who they thought he was, a rouge playboy ready for anything. He knew that there would still be moments when he was presented with a number, a key, an opportunity to step out on her, on this.

But he also knew what they didn't. He had waited a very long time for this kind of moment. He had waited through years and years, through doubts and regrets. And he had finally found it, found her. A partner, an equal; Maddie. And if anyone, anyone, thought he was going to step out on that, they were going to be horribly disappointed. His head bent to press a kiss to her shoulder, knowing that her worries from the day before had drifted, knowing that she was confident in herself, in him, in them. And, as he let the rain lull him back to sleep, he was prepared to spend their lives reinforcing her, reinforcing their bond.

To Be Continued