When you tell the world you're mine

Chapter 44: Normalcy

After Valentine's day, Harry and Carol were, again, glued to each other. Either he'd spend the night at her place, and it was scaring both of them how comfortable and at home he was in there, or she'd spend the night at the cottage. 

He had granted her the ever-present white magnet card, so she could come and go as she pleased. And she had made herself comfortable at his house as well. Whenever he wasn't there, she'd look at his collection of books, she'd chat with the staff and even take a stroll with one of them around the gardens. She always tried to not let the other residents of the palace spot her, but to be honest it didn't really look like there were other people living in there. Because it was always too kept, too tidied and too quiet that she sometimes wondered if Harry really had neighbours.

Since he was having a stressful week, with family matters and important decisions he wasn't quite ready yet to share with her, she left work a bit earlier than usual, stopped at a store to buy fresh ingredients and went straight to Kensington. 

By now she knew the name of most of the guards and they didn't even have to ask for her ID anymore. She walked carelessly to his house and entered it by the Staff's entrance. She put her shopping bags on the counter and washed her hands. She walked around the kitchen and heard his voice coming from his office. She simply let him be. She went upstairs to take off her heels and store her bag. It amazed her how she was turning into her mom now that she lived alone and had to do everything by herself. 

She came downstairs to find Harry groaning on the couch holding the phone annoyed. She walked to him and he gave her a small smile. She simply sat on his lap and he hugged her breathing her in while he talked and she was silent for the whole time. She played with the buttons on his shirt and he was starting to calm down just with her presence.

"William... let's be honest. YOU are the one who don't want to do it." Harry stated after a while. "Everyone knows that William gets what William wants." the prince groaned annoyed again. "You just should know that your selfish decision to not move back to London is going to impact everyone else's lives. You should really reconsider. Because right now you're putting a lot more on my plate."

Once Carol noticed the subject of Harry's conversation, she tried to get up and give him privacy but he only tightened his hold on her. She mouthed an "Are you sure?" and he simply nodded.

"Ok, William. Stop whining. I gotta go. Talk to father and gran about your decision. I'm not helping you with this." Harry said and hung up a few minutes later.

He closed his eyes and rubbed it with the palm of his hands. He was worked up, that she could feel. But she didn't know why and she wasn't going to ask unless he wanted to share with her. She was trying to be away from Harry's royal talks and information as much as she could. She didn't want anything leaking through her (she wouldn't tell anyone, of course, but she knew that devices weren't as safe as they made us believe).

"Bad day?" she whispered looking at him.

"Bad week..." he answered still not opening his eyes. "My brother's such a wanker."

"What did he do?" she asked looking at him and hoping he'd open his eyes so they could chat.

"What he isn't doing you should be asking. My grandmother asked him to move back to London so he and Kate could step up the game and do more engagements now that grandfather has passed. But they're pretty much comfortable up in Norfolk in their secluded fairy tale lifestyle and they decided they won't be moving back." Harry said and looked at her. "That means I will have to work more. Because Kate and William are using the "we have small children to take care of" card. And that annoys the fuck out of me. Millions of people in the world have small children and they work!"

"Well... I don't know if I can give my opinion in anything but you're really worked up tonight, Henry." Carol said and used her fingers to comb his hair back into place. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

He smirked and she took a while to understand what it meant. When she did, she playfully slapped his shoulder and tried to get off his lap.

"You're impossible. We were just talking about your brother."

"I didn't say anything, Carol. You're the one having dirty thoughts with me..." he wiggled his eyebrows a couple of times and she rolled her eyes.

"Ok. Back to the subject, Wales. What does it mean to your schedule that William's not coming back?" she asked sitting beside him while he side hugged her and kissed the side of her temple.

"That means that all the engagements my grandfather used to accompany gran will have to find someone to replace him. She can do a couple by herself, of course, but it's not how she wants to be portrayed, you know? Family union and ties and the like. So my father and I will be more booked to go with her than before. And when she needs a female companion, then it'll be Anne, Sophie and Camilla with her." Harry explained to her while she carefully paid attention to what he was saying. "And William and Kate will get along doing the small number of appearances here and there. Like always." he rolled his eyes.

"So that means we're going to see less of each other for the upcoming weeks?" she said and bit her lip. Harry could see a small pout in there.

"Yeah. Kind of. I'm going to try to move a few dates here and there." he said looking at her. "Why are you going to miss me?" he joked and poked her.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?" she shrugged.

"This morning you were calling me a royal wanker if I recall correctly." he said amused.

"Because you are a royal wanker that's making me arrive late at my job." she pointed.

"Well... you don't complain of my royal wanking habits when I'm eating you out."

"HARRY!" she slapped him a bit stronger now and got up. "I'm going to make dinner and if you're done working for today you better start helping."