The Unexpected Journey-A Prince Harry Fan Fic

Chapter 160

Maddie was sitting in the garden when she heard them arrive. The crunch of the gravel along the drive pulled her eyes from the stars, towards the sound.

"That's odd..." She glanced down at her watch and rose from her spot on the bench. As she left the garden and rounded the path, she caught sight of the Aston Martin parked right in front of the doorway; Harry's detail unloading from the black SUV that had followed behind.

She felt instantly lighter; happier as she took a step towards them. "I'm over here..." The two POs who came with him, turned to look; Jim and Brad.

"Good Evening Ma'am," Jim nodded to her. "He is already inside."

"Sure," Maddie nodded with a small smile. "I would imagine he'll end up out here eventually."

"Yes Ma'am," he nodded again. Offering a wave to Brad who was continuing on inside, Jim smoothed down his jacket and made his way over to Maddie.

"Good Evening Jim," Maddie watched as he walked up to her, a little surprised. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes Ma'am," he nodded. "I was wondering if it would be okay if I spoke to you about something for just a moment?"

Maddie blinked and nodded, waving her hand towards the garden. "Of course. What's on your mind?"

"I want you to know that my line of work requires the utmost discretion and privacy," he began to speak in low tones, moving to stand with her on the path in the garden.

"Sure."

"And betraying the trust of my protectee is simply something I would never do; it would put him or her in harm's way, it would make my job more difficult..." He cleared his throat and took a breath and Maddie couldn't help the way her curiosity peaked as he spoke. "So he doesn't know what I'm about to say, but there's something I think is important for you to know."

"Oh?" Her voice came out in a breath; her mind moving into alert mode.

"What happened on Monday night, between The Duke and Ms. Whitworth..." His eyes leveled with hers. "I saw the entire thing."

"Jim..." Maddie shook her head; not wanting to put anyone else into this place where she and Harry were.

"It was completely unsolicited, Ma'am," he continued on anyway. "Unprovoked, unwanted and very quickly, and harshly, rebuffed."

"You don't have to..."

"I know I don't," he agreed quickly. "And I probably shouldn't and maybe under normal circumstances I wouldn't."

"Normal circumstances?" Her forehead wrinkled in confusion.

"There's a difference between a matter of 'personal life' and a matter of 'security'," he explained with ease, with no guilt or issue with what he was saying. "And this, Ms. Whitworth, she's a matter of security. We were keeping a light eye on her before but after the incident on Monday and then with all of the phone calls..." He took a breath and stood a little taller; getting back to business. "I just wanted you to know; I thought you should know. We're monitoring her closely Ma'am," his smile slipped into soft for just a moment. "And this was, in no way, a mutual thing."

"Well..." Maddie took a breath; stunned that he had told her such things, that he had thought to tell her such things. "Thank you Jim."

"Yes Ma'am," he nodded and took a step backward; back towards his job, his duty.

"And you know..." She smiled at him. "He told me the same thing...and I believed him."

"Very well then," he nodded again.

"Thank you for looking out for him, Jim."

"Of course," he smiled in return and then, with one final small nod, he excused himself to return to the house.

Maddie watched him walk away from her, her mind drifting through his words as her eyes settled on her husband's car. He loved driving that car; and she loved watching him drive it. She felt her cheeks warm just a bit as she shook her head; never really able to escape the way her blood pulsed at the thought of him.

With her thoughts stuck somewhere else, somewhere a bit lustful, she moved back into the garden; her smile wide and loose as she walked through the delphinium. And then she heard it; him.

The light shuffle of feet, the subtle clearing of his throat; wanting to draw her attention but not wanting to disturb her. Maddie's eyes snapped up in his direction the second she heard it and her heart jumped into her throat. Damn it, she thought. Even when she was mad, even after the days they had just had, when she saw him, when she saw those eyes and that hair and the broad set of his shoulders—she still felt it.

"Hey," her lips curled up into a smile.

"Hey," he answered; his heart beating crazily in his chest; nervous and excited all at once. "I should have guessed you would be out here..." His hand waved around as he took in a breath and took a tentative step forward.

"Yeah," she sighed. "And you..." She nodded her head towards the car out front. "You're nearly twenty minutes early. Did you fly here?"

"Nearly," he chuckled, moving through the path towards her. "The car," he explained. "It was eager to be let out."

"Sure," Maddie laughed lightly, her body getting warmer and warmer with every step he took. "And you?"

"You said you wanted me here," he shrugged as he stepped up to her. "Did you think I was going to make a scenic drive out of it?"

"No," she shook her head; slightly breathless. "I suppose not."

"I suppose not," he repeated, smiling down at her as he stopped. Though she had asked for him to come, though she appeared happy to see him, the last time they were together she had demanded more than once that he keep his hands to himself. So that's exactly what he was going to do until told otherwise.

"Fair enough," she nodded; unsure herself as to how to greet him. "Dinner isn't quite ready yet."

"That's okay," Harry smiled. "How much time do we have?"

"About twenty five minutes," she looked down at her watch.

"Perfect," he let out a breath. "There's something I wanted to show you...would that be okay?"

"Sure," Maddie nodded.

"Come back to the house with me?" He lifted his eyebrows, nodding back towards the direction from which he had come.

"Oh-kay..." Though she wanted to stay outside, in the breeze and the starlight, she was more interested in this, so she agreed.

Harry smiled and turned, keeping a slow pace as they walked back inside. He looked down at her as she fell in step with him, his eyes scanning over her; taking her in. "How are you doing? Are you feeling okay?"

"I am," Maddie smiled, her hand rubbing over her little bump. "The baby is great. I think he enjoys the fresh air."

"I'm sure he does," Harry chuckled, reaching out to open the door for her.

"The food certainly hasn't hurt," Maddie grinned as she slipped past him into the house. It was warm and quiet inside; the staff and protection having drifted off.

"Speaking of food," Harry shut the door behind them. "Whatever you're cooking smells wonderful."

"Yeah well, don't get too excited. It's a new recipe from your father's chef....we'll see how it turns out." She turned to face him there in the entryway. "Where are we going?"

"To my father's office," he pointed just down a hallway, nodding for her to lead the way. And she did. With a quizzical look on her face, she moved down the hall and into the office. Harry's work bag and his laptop were sitting out on the long table on the far end. "Right over here..." He gestured and she followed.

"What's this?" Maddie looked down at the papers he had sitting on the table next to the laptop.

"This..." Harry pressed a finger to the pile. "This is a print out of my phone records for the last six months..."

"Harry," her voice grew stern as she shook her head.

"And this...." He leaned over and clicked on his laptop. "These are my email accounts. I thought maybe..."

"No," Maddie shook her head more forcibly; moving away from him, from the table. "I don't want to do this."

"Maddie..."

"No Harry," she turned to face him; her face twisted up, her eyes darker. "I don't want to read through all of this. I don't want to look at your phone records or your email accounts or....none of it." She shook her head and moved towards him. "I believe you. I believe you Harry..." And then she softened; her eyes welling up. "Doing this...looking over the last six months...it's only going to make me...sick."

"But I want you to know that you're not being foolish for..."

"I already know that," she blinked. "I trust you." She laughed as she said it; her mind feeling a bit chaotic. "I trust you. And if you say there was no relationship, there was no communication..."

"There was nothing," he held his hands up wide and empty. "Absolutely nothing."

"Then I believe you."

"I..." He shook his head as he exhaled; long and slow. His hands running through his hair as he tried to grasp it all. "I don't know what to say to that."

Maddie nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat as she moved closer; stepping into the bubble that had been around him, the personal space they had both kept. Her eyes welled up as she reached out and touched him; her hand running up and down his bicep. Harry's eyes flashed wide and his breath stopped. "Listen...I owe you an apology..." She was soft and quiet and sweet as she looked to him.

"Hold on," he shook his head, his brain just a bit slow as it tried to gain control of his heart. "You owe me nothing."

"I should have given you a chance to explain before I jumped," she continued on. "She just...she knew enough to get my blood boiling and to put a tiny bit of doubt there and it just...exploded. Or unraveled as the case may be."

"Maddie," he turned pleading eyes to her, wanting to tell her how ridiculous it was for her to be apologizing in this moment.

"I should have given you the benefit of the doubt first," she nodded, her hand sliding down his arm. "I should have asked you instead of yelling..." She swallowed and took a deep breath. "That would have been the right thing to do. But I reacted and I jumped. And I'm sorry for that..."

"But..." He hated that she was apologizing to him right now.

"But," she echoed, swinging her eyes to his. "But when you made a decision not to tell me about what happened Monday night...you put a dent in us, Harry." And his heart thudded in his chest.

"I know." His voice was low and deep and solemn as he nodded. "I know I did."

"And when I came out here, I really just came so I could separate the two, you know? So that I could be mad at you about Monday but NOT let that impact my trust in you about everything else."

"I don't know how it couldn't," he mumbled; mad at himself.

"It did," she sighed. "That morning it did. That day it did. But it doesn't anymore..." She took a deep breath. "I spent a day walking around the grounds, another in Tetbury...I can separate the two. I have separated the two."

"What can I do?" His eyes softened. "What do you want me to do about either of these then? If you don't want to see this stuff than..."

"I don't want to see that stuff," she shook her head quickly. "I never want to see this stuff."

"Then what?" His eyebrows lifted. "What do I..."

"We," she cut in, squeezing his arm before dropping her hand. "What do we do..."

"What do we do first?" Harry asked. "You told me on the phone that we needed to talk, that we needed to be together to do this and I'm here and I'm yours and I'm ready to do whatever you want me to do so that we can start moving closer to...undented," they both smiled at his choice of words. "So tell me. What do we handle first?"

Maddie took a minute, a moment to think it over, before she took a deep, cleansing breath and smiled. "Dinner. We eat dinner first."

"Dinner?" Harry's lips curved up. "You want to eat dinner first?"

"Mmm," she nodded and took a step towards the door, gesturing for him to follow. "And so does your baby. Come on Harry. Let's eat. We'll talk. I promise...we'll talk. But I'm hungry."

"Okay, okay," he laughed, waving his hand; his heart still cautious but beginning to relax. "Let's get you two some food."

And just like that, they were off to the kitchen, leaving his stack of phone records and open email accounts behind.

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"Okay..." Maddie wiped her hands on her napkin and sat back in her chair, looking across their mostly eaten dinner to her husband; putting the small talk aside. "Do you have any ideas?"

"About?" Harry glanced up at her as he took another bite.

"How..." Maddie shook her head as her eyes looking at her drink for a moment. "How she knew all of that stuff?"

"Ah," Harry blew out a breath as the mood shifted around them. He put down his fork and sat up in his chair. "Well," he wiped his face with his napkin and leaned in, watching her closely as he spoke. "I've been thinking about it over and over and over and I swear to you, the only person outside of the family who knows any of that—the accident, the fight—the only person I've told any of that, is Bishop."

"But Bishop would never..." Maddie shook her head.

"No," Harry agreed. "He wouldn't. In fact, I would believe that I told her before I would believe that he told her."

"I wouldn't go that far," Maddie laughed lightly. "But I do get your point. Did the two of you talk about it on Monday night?"

"We did," Harry nodded, his eyes narrowing as he thought it all out again. "But God, Maddie, we were off in his office with the door shut and...it wasn't like I was complaining or...I was happy; delirious. I was going on and on about how perfect my life was...that we had this bump in the road when we were trying and trying and how we couldn't. I told him it all worked out because after I came home, after we got past the argument, you were pregnant right away. It wasn't at all like I was listing issues we had, it was me telling him just how right it was." Harry sucked in a breath and looked away from her for a moment; gathering his thoughts, bringing in his emotions. "How right it is."

"Do you think she heard you?" Her voice was quiet as she let his words settle inside of her.

"I don't know," he shook his head, turning his eyes back to hers. "I really don't. I mean, that's the only option that makes sense; that's the only scenario that I can think of where she would have even had access to that kind of information...but it..." He chuckled bitterly as he looked down at his hands and then back up to her. "It means she had to have had her ear pressed to the door or, I don't know, have been hiding in Bishop's closet or something that makes it all so much more sinister."

"More sinister than calling your pregnant wife and confessing to a made-up affair?" Maddie offered.

"No," Harry met her eyes and shook his head. "Not more sinister than that."

"Yeah..." Maddie let the silence fall over them for a minute; letting it sit. Her fingers twisted at her napkin as she looked up at him; thoughtful and reflective. "You know what's the really horrible part of it all?"

"That I haven't slept for two nights?" Harry tossed out before he thought. "That I watched my wife walk out the door not knowing when I would see her again? That it's put doubt into your mind? That you spent any time at all thinking she was telling the truth..." He sucked in a breath and shook his head; upset at how this had all happened, at his own part in it as well. "That you cried for..." His voice cracked and he turned away from her then, his hand running back into his hair as he took a second, took a breath. "That's not what you were going to say, was it?"

"No," she shook her head, biting at her lip as her eyes welled up. "No...but you're right. All of those things were the really horrible part..." She reached across the table then, her hand resting on his arm as his eyes flashed wide. "I'm sorry Harry."

"Don't apologize to me for this Maddie," he shook his head, letting his hand rest over hers. "I mean it. Not one single part of this is your fault and if you keep apologizing..." He let off, not sure exactly what he wanted to say.

"I'm still sorry it's happening," her thumb stroked at his skin, bared from his rolled up sleeves.

"I am too," he nodded, his fingers running over her hand; his whole body warmed at her touch. "And..." He nodded to her, wondering what she was going to say before he went off on his own little rant.

"And..." She shook her head slightly, thinking she should just let it go, but then she looked in his eyes and she shrugged. "And we may never really know how...or why or..." She let out a huff of a laugh.

"Yeah," he nodded, his fingers tightening over hers. "Yeah. I know." He took a deep breath and shrugged. "Though. If you wanted...I'm sure we could get Jim to drag her in and..."

"No," Maddie snickered. "Though I love the fantasy," she sighed. "That's not how we're going to do this."

"Fair enough," Harry nodded his agreement, his expression softening just a bit. "Let me know if you change your mind?"

"I will," she inhaled a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "But I think we're going to just have to...let it sit."

"Okay," Harry nodded, his jaw tightening as he agreed; whatever she wanted was what he was going to do.

"Though..." Maddie squeezed his arm. "If I ever get the chance to take her out, you should know I'm going to do it."

"Ha!" Harry let loose just a bit.

"I mean it. Warn your father. And the family attorneys."

"I will," he smiled across the table to her; happy to see her smiling back. And then just as quickly as his smile had taken over his lips, a sadness took over his eyes and his emotions took over his heart. "I'm so sorry Maddie," his voice had a waver to it; his eyes wide and sincere.

"Harry..."

"Not for this," he shook his head. "I'm talking about...wow..." He sniffed and took a second to get his breath back. "I should have told you what happened on Monday." Maddie opened her mouth to speak, but Harry continued. "I should have told you. I should have and I think there were points all week where I was going to tell you but...I don't know." He shook his head again. "I really didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to put a black mark on our amazing week..." He laughed; a low, bitter sound at the irony of it all. "I know it's wrong. I know that I messed up and God...when you flipped the scenario, when you asked me how it would feel if some man kissed you and..." His eyes grew dark as his muscles tensed. "I'm sorry I made you feel that way Maddie. That's on me. Just me. Even though she kissed me, even though it ended instantly...the dent in us...that's all me. And I am so, so deeply sorry for that."

"I know you are," she whispered, seeing how this sat with him; his tensed shoulders, his sad eyes that were just this close to tears, the way it seemed as though he was holding himself back from hugging her tight and never letting go. "Harry..."

"I'm so sorry Maddie," his voice cracked and his head dropped down; pulling her hand to his lips. "I swear to you that it will never happen again..."

"I know that," she took a breath, trying to control her own emotions that were swirling inside of her chest.

"And I'll do whatever it takes to make this up to you, to us...to fix this..."

"I know," she whispered.

"And I swear to God..." His lips kissed her hand again before he sat up to look at her, pulling her hand to his heart. "I'll kill anyone who tries to come between us like this again."

"Maybe..." Maddie pressed her palm to his chest, smiling sweetly. "Maybe we don't have to go to such extremes." She could feel his heart, his heat underneath her hand. "Just...just don't keep things from me anymore..." Her eyes locked with his and he nodded. "And when something happens, tell me, bring me in....don't let somebody else know more than me." She smiled. "Does that sound fair?"

"Beyond fair," he nodded, his eyes still sad; his heart rebounding at her grace and her smile. And then he saw her yawn; her mouth twisting and her arms stretching and he found her to be unbelievably adorable. "You're tired."

"I haven't slept well the last two nights either," she blinked as her body settled. "Are we going to be okay?"

"Yes," his answer was quick, reflexive; certain. "Do you think we're going to be okay?"

"Absolutely," she nodded without thought; her mouth opening for another yawn. "Goodness..." She laughed. "I'm sorry. I...ha...I think your child is ready for bed."

"Well then we should probably time out here for the night. Here..." Harry smiled, dropping her hand to reach for their dishes; on his feet and moving to set them in the sink. Maddie waited in the doorway for him, moving towards the stairs as he turned off the light and followed along.

They moved slowly through the house; taking the stairs in that half-asleep state they were wading through. They were quiet and thoughtful and much more at peace than either of them had been for days.

"Hey Harry..." Maddie stopped as they reached the top of the stairs, turning to look at him. "Thank you for coming out."

"Of course," Harry nodded; grateful she had asked. "Any time, you know that."

"Okay," she smiled.

"Okay," he mirrored her grin. "I'll see you in the morning then. Maybe we can go to town for breakfast or I don't know...whatever you want..." He took a step towards the room he had put his stuff in just down the hall from hers. "Good night Maddie. Sleep well."

"Good night..." Maddie watched him for a beat, her eyes narrowed as he moved away from her and then, with no real thought, no real say in the matter, she called out to him. "Hey Harry?"

"Yeah?" He turned back around, his fingers rubbing at the back of his neck, his features softened by the dim light.

And Maddie felt nervous and silly and slightly unnerved as her head cocked to the side, nodding towards her room. "Stay with me?" Her eyebrows lifted and her lip pulled into her teeth and just over ten feet away from her, her husband was floored by the mere idea that she thought he might say no.

Without even looking back to the room, without a thought to any of his things he might need—pajamas, a toothbrush—he took a deep breath and exhaled. "Absolutely."

And he closed the distance between them.

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Maddie wasn't sure what amused her more, his nervousness or hers. They laid together in the bed, the moon dusting a soft light over the tip tops of the things in their room and neither of them moved. With her head nestled into her pillow, her eyes were trained on the ceiling and she knew without looking that his were doing the same. She chuckled softly at how silly it felt; laying apart, as though an imaginary line had been drawn between them—married and expecting. But not touching. As if on cue, the baby inside of her fluttered through her stomach.

"Oh!" Maddie smiled in surprise, her hand moving over her stomach.

"You okay?" With his head laying in his hands, he turned his eyes to her.

"Yeah," Maddie nodded, turning her own head to smile at him. "Your child has perfect timing; time for bed and...wide awake..."

"He's moving?" Harry's head lifted up just a bit as he turned to look at her more solidly.

"He is," she nodded, her grin pulling higher as she watched his eyes; watched his reaction to anything baby. He was so happy to be becoming a father. "You know...you haven't touched my belly once since you've been here." Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Why is that?"

"Why?" Harry chuckled, his eyebrows lifting in amusement. "Because the last time I saw you, you screamed at me to keep my hands off of you."

"Ah yes," Maddie sighed, stopping her mind from going backwards at all as she reached out and grabbed his wrist. Pulling one of his hands out from under his head, she drew it straight to her and pressed his hand to her stomach. And she watched his entire face light up there in that dark room as his fingers stretched out and curved around her small bump. "God Captain, I can't wait for you to be able to feel this..." She was happy; warm and light and happy.

And Harry was struggling with all of the emotions that her words, her actions, were brewing up inside of him. "Maddie..." His voice was low and soft. "You called me Captain."

"I did," she turned sweet eyes on him, her hand sliding down over his. With honesty and love and a feeling of letting go, she sighed. "I missed you."

"Oh God," he exhaled. "I missed you too." His hand moved over her stomach, taking in the roundness, checking for anything new. "You know..." He turned his body then, laying on his side to face her, moving his other hand to her stomach as he tucked the other closer to his head. "You never told me what made you decide to call."

"Well," Maddie's cheeks flushed slightly as she remembered; her heart warming. "It was the book."

"The book?" Harry's forehead scrunched up in confusion

Maddie took in a breath and let it out, trying not to feel silly for what she was about to tell him. Holding his hand to her, she turned to face him. "The Winnie-the-Pooh book I bought for Buckie."

"Are you going to elaborate on that or..." He chuckled lightly, not understanding.

Maddie laughed and nodded. "Don't make fun."

"Oh I swear it," he held up his free hand, beyond happy to have her smiling at him, laughing with him; there.

"There's this passage when Piglet walks up to Pooh and says 'Pooh?' and he says 'Yes, Piglet?' and Piglet takes his hand and says 'Nothing. I just wanted to be sure of you'..." Maddie's voice cracked as her tears returned. "And that's when I started crying."

"Aw Maddie..."

"I was standing in this bookstore and the tears just...came," she laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it's because I'm pregnant and hormonal and we've just..." She sighed and wiped at her cheeks, her wide, wet eyes looking into his. "I just wanted to be sure of you again..."

"Oh Maddie, Maddie..." His hands moved to her cheeks then, cupping her face and smudging back tears, even as his own eyes filled up. "You can be sure of me. You can. I swear. You can be sure of..."

"I know," she nodded, her hands moving up to his arms as she smiled through her tears. "I know I can. I just need you here. I hated being without you."

"Baby I'm so sorry that..."

"Stop," she shook her head, her fingers moving to his lips. "Stop apologizing. Just..." Her eyes searched his for a moment and then she moved, leaning in to kiss him.

And her lips answered the prayers he didn't know his were making.

His hands left her cheeks as his entire body reacted in surprise when she moved in closer, her arms wrapping around his neck as she leaned into him; her lips pressing to his over and over and over again.

And then finally he gained control of his mind, got a handle on his pounding heart and realized what was happening around him—within him.

And he moved to her

He was kissing her back. He was pulling her in. He was hugging her tight. He was taking in her sighs and her smile. He was moving his hands over the curves of her body as she took back the edges of his. He was thankful for her mercy, for her understanding, for her absolute trust in him.

He was letting her pull his shirt over his head, asking silent permission with tentative fingers to do the same with hers. And when she giggled and did it for him, he was swearing to himself, to God that he would die before he let something come between them again.

She wanted to be sure of him again; of them.

And that night, when they pushed pause on what was happening around them, when they resigned themselves to let go of the unknown at least for the moment...when she let him back into her bed, back into her arms...when they wiped each others' tears, when they sighed and laughed and moaned...when they made love, she was sure.

She had been—before, during, since—and this was how they began to move forward. It wasn't exactly over and they weren't exactly sure what would happen next. But this night they were loving each other and finally, finally sleeping.