young man, pick yourself off the ground

Arabella heard that there were leftover cupcakes in the kitchen, and strutted down to the place where she knew she would be guaranteed sugary happiness. She was a little surprised to see her brother munching on some plain bread in the hallway right outside the kitchen. “Plain bread?” she asked, raising an eyebrow slightly before excusing herself and then returning with a chocolate frosted cupcake. “There’s also vanilla and red velvet inside, if you want some too,” she offered her brother. A peace offering, of sorts.

He nodded at her question. He didn’t know the kitchen like the back of his hand, how was he supposed to know that there was something better than plain bread here? Was he even allowed to have a cupcake? He wasn’t considered a royal or anything. “Wait seriously, there’s red velvet? And I can just take one? Even if I’m not a Royal Taste Tester?”

“Tobias, hello,” Charlotte greeted, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice. Her lack of closeness with her cousins was something that she’d always wished to rectify, but she could never figure out where to start. The result was an awkward amount of distance between all parties involved, but if there were ever a time for them to become closer, it was now. “Charlotte, please. In private, at very least,” she corrected quickly. She was more than familiar with the proper pleasantries, but they were family.

Charlotte drew her cardigan tighter around her shoulders and sat up straighter as she listened to him speak, always aware of her posture and presence. Hearing him stumble over his words, she couldn’t help but smile slightly; his concern surprised her but it certainly wasn’t unwelcome. “Thank you, Tobias. I appreciate that.” She’d heard similar remarks in past hours, about her strength or her bravery. She would never tell them of the petrifying moments of terror, when she felt anything but strong. “Oh, sit, please,” she said, motioning toward the chair that had been pulled up to the side of her bed.

“I’m fine,” she reassured automatically before realizing that her words might have come out to quickly to sound like the truth. “I will be, eventually,” she amended. “Shaken, but…getting better. Yourself? And Arabella? You’re both alright?”

After losing the Queen, and then having Charlotte kidnapped, 2016 was a terrible year. So much for trying to keep his distance. “Charlotte, yes. My apologies your—” He had a tendency to make things awkward, and right now was no exception, apparently. 

He held clear disdain towards the British monarchy and this was one of the many reasons why. His family was always in the line of danger due to their bloodline, and it was more than concerning for Toby. Clearing his throat, he headed towards the chair to sit. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a one on one conversation with her.  

“Oh yes, of course. I mean I can’t speak for Arabella.” He stated, knowing that he didn’t know Arabella well enough to do so. “But physically she’s alright, I assume. But I’m glad you’re getting better. Take one day at a time, you hear? If you need anyone to talk to about the whole situation, you can always give me a ring. I have some great puns up my sleeve if you’re ever in need of a pick me up.” 

Charlotte hadn’t closed her eyes since she’d been rescued. She wasn’t tired – how could she be? The world had spun on for a week as she remained confined to a bed; days bled into each other to make a long stretch of darkness, punctuated by brief moments of consciousness and panic. There was an exhaustion that lay deep in her bones, but it wasn’t the type that could be cured by any amount of sleep. The rational part of her brain told her that she was safe; she was back in the palace and security had probably doubled in her absence. The other part had her sending worried glances toward every possible entrance; it made her unable to turn her back to them. If it were anyone but her experiencing such paranoia, she’d implore them to relax and try to reassure them that the worst was over, that they were safe. But the majority of Charlotte’s senses were screaming at her that she wasn’t, and ‘safe’ seemed like a bad lie.

Since she’d been back, her composure had barely wavered. There had been too much fuss over her already and it felt suffocating – breaking down would only make it worse. In just a few days, she’d be back on her feet with the smile she’d perfected back on her face, ready to reassure her family, friends, and the public that she was okay. Eventually, she’ll have reassured herself so much and so often that it would feel real. Until then, she’d just have to get by.

A knock at the door pulled her out of her thoughts. She dog-eared the page of the book she hadn’t been reading and closed it before calling toward the door, “Come in.”

If Charlotte was taken so easily, he could only imagine how easily they could take his sister. Charlotte was part of the Royal Family while she was just a lady-in-waiting. Now, more than ever, he was concerned with Arabella’s safety. But that didn’t matter now, Charlotte was back and he wanted to make sure she was alright. He didn’t consider himself close with her, as he was with all of his cousins, but they were still family nonetheless. 

He could tell that security was going to be tighter than ever, and was relieved when he was allowed to enter the castle. Knocking on her door, Toby had hoped that the blonde was there. He had to make sure she was alright. 

Once he heard her voice, he opened the door with a smile. “Your Highness.” Toby hated the logistics, though he knew it was polite to refer to his cousins as their Royal Highnesses. “I...uh...” He paused, looking at the wall as he did so. Would she even tell him if she was actually okay? “I heard about what happened and I’m sorry.” He added, looking at her. He knew what he wanted to say, just not how to say it. “It takes courage to survive...that.” He wasn’t sure how to even address the situation. “I mean,  you’re really strong and I’m glad to see that you’re okay. You are okay, right?” 

Eleanor raised an inquisitive eyebrow, her interest peaking at the mention of Tobias never having any romantic companions, wondering how on earth that had ever occurred. “No women in your life, Mr Buchanan? Why do I find that so hard to believe? Such a charming young man such as yourself,” she responded, placing a hand on his shoulder as they began to move effortlessly to the rhythm of the music blaring from a nearby speaker. Eleanor was thankful the song was not much faster, otherwise she would have certainly battled to keep up with her partner. “I only learned to ride a bicycle once I arrived at the palace.” The brunette pointed out, hiding her shame behind a soft laugh; something she had learned to do from an early age. “It was not for lack of interest— quite the opposite, in fact. I just never had anyone to teach me, and I assume that is a parent’s job, but mine were relatively absent during my childhood.” Eleanor was rather surprised by her admission, especially given how easy the words had flowed from her mouth, and to someone whom she barely knew.

There was Carolina, of course. But that was just an awkward subject to bring up. How could he explain that his ex-girlfriend from the states got a job here out of everywhere in the world? And that he had never exactly explained to her that he had a relation to the Royal Family at all. “Well thank you, but no.” He had found that a lot of women especially would hit on him when they realized that his family was extremely well off. But he didn’t want that life, he never asked for this life. He had almost stopped in his tracks when he heard her speak. He had always tried to play the pity card when it came to his upbringing but when he heard of people’s parents who were pretty much absent, he knew he didn’t have it too bad. Sure his father worked a lot but he still had his mom to lean on when it came to anything in his life. “I’m sorry to hear that. If it makes you feel any better I didn’t learn until I was about eight because I just couldn’t balance myself without training wheels.” He chuckled, before realizing he was making this about himself again. “But I’m sorry to hear that. You turned out extremely wonderful, though.” From what he could tell, of course. “You should be proud of yourself.” He smiled reassuringly. 

Liam looked up to see Toby. Tobias Buchanan. His future brother-in-law, unless external circumstances drew Liam away in time to break things off. Liam returned a smile, not buying Toby’s own. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied, his manners a bit over-the-top given the situation. “I can’t have my beloved’s brother go without coffee.” This was unnecessary, and Liam knew it. Tobias was there when Arabella was but sixteen, and Liam was an established university graduate ready to court her to be married. And yet he couldn’t help himself.

He refused his first reaction of bristling when his newspaper turning was criticized, instead matching Toby’s chuckle. “Ah, of course I should. But then we wouldn’t be having a conversation, would we?” Liam smiled again. He clapped him on the back. “Do you have a moment? I would just…” he paused, taking a breath before continuing. “I would just love to get to know you better. I fear that we haven’t, and that’s no way to treat family.”

His relationship with Arabella was quite literally a mystery. He wasn’t sure how to even describe their relationship, but he did know for sure that he loved her and that he thought marrying Liam would do her more harm than good. But still, Toby kept his mouth shut in fear that she wouldn’t even invite him to her wedding. He figured they all knew his distaste for the whole ordeal without having to say anything. “No really, I’m okay.” He insisted. 

Toby nodded, wishing that they were in fact not having this conversation. Family? He considered Toby family? Was it strange that he didn’t consider his sister’s fiancee family yet? Probably not considering that his relationship with his sister is virtually non-existent. But Toby wasn’t rude often and he knew that it would be in poor distaste if he refused his offer. He sat down in the other seat at the table. “So uh, what would you like to know?” 

‘ No, we’re moving that to tomorrow, ’ she said into the receiver. ‘ I don’t care what you have to shift around, we’ve been shifting things around too. ’ The few days post the Royal Christmas Party already had Carolina’s work phone, email and cell phone  ( for the few industry colleagues who wanted to call in a favor )  chiming in a chorus of rings and beeps, trying to get an in into the family’s already busy schedule. Her friend at The Telegraph emailed her first thing the morning after, asking for an exclusive statement from her about what happened to warrant a temporary lockdown. Carolina was insulted that there was hardly any nuance in the email and promptly deleted it with no further deliberation. In fact, in the past three days, she’s deleted over two hundred messages asking about the same thing without a reply. 

It’s not that she doesn’t understand; of course she does, jobs in communication are all interconnected and they should all work together, but, God, does she hate journalists.  At least the ones she can’t manipulate but that’s a story for another time. They’re all about self-interest and are so blinded by their ambition that they don’t realize that there are more than two sides to a story. It’s all about winners and losers; heroes and villains; saints and sinners. No gray areas; no inbetweens. And now with the still dire situation of a missing princess, there is no way that any of them are getting anything besides the general statement released by the Communications Office. 

Carolina penned down the exhausted confirmation from the person on the other end onto her desktop planner, wishing them a Happy Holiday before hanging up. She sighs tiredly and looks into her coffee mug. It’s empty, what a shame. She should just ask one of the interns to grab her another refill, but she needs to get up and walk around. Dejectedly, she gets up from her seat and grabs her mug and  ( with a second thought )  her cell phone and steps away from her desk.

She decides to forgo the coffee they have in the small kitchen in their offices and heads out to the main palace to siphon coffee from the kitchens. Carolina’s friendly with one of the cooks, having traded her grandmother’s lamb stew recipe for access to hand ground imported coffee. She walked into a hallway and found someone else in the halls. ‘ Why hello, ’ she greeted. ‘ I thought you would have other things to do. ’

He usually avoided the castle, his family, and more so any drama at any cost. He figured the Holidays would be full of them, since he kind of thought his family had a flare for the dramatic. Not to mention that this Holiday season was the first without his aunt. Though he and his aunt weren’t close, he still loved her and he still misses her. 

“Who me?” He asked, stopping himself from running into each other. “Oh well I thought I would too.” He shrugged. “I honestly don’t know why I’m here.” He wanted to ask where Charlotte was, if they had found her. Sure Toby had known, but he wasn’t exactly in the loop and he knew for sure that they wouldn’t be notifying him first. Charlotte was his cousin and although they weren’t particularly close, he was still worried about her. He wasn’t heartless. Would she even know? 

More importantly, he wanted to know if Arabella would be safe. He wanted to get her out of the castle, if Charlotte was missing, who knew who would go missing next? He was not going to just sit here and watch his sister stay in danger. Maybe that’s why he had decided to make an appearance here. He needed to make sure that she was okay. “I’m glad I ran into you, though. Are you busy? If not, I’d love to be able to speak with you.”

Liam was staring pensively out the frosty window, aware of how dramatic he looked to any passers-by. It didn’t matter. He didn’t have the energy to put on a tight smile. It was nothing emotional. No, he was only jet-lagged, only physically exhausted and altogether bitter that he was in the cold once again. He sipped the last of his coffee mug’s contents and opened the paper on the table. It flopped a corner, and he sighed louder than the volume for which the situation called. He ruffled the paper, adjusting it roughly so that it was straight.

His elbow bent outwards, knocking into someone who was walking by. Liam clicked his tongue, hearing and seeing the coffee splatter onto the floor. Well, this day is just ridiculous. “I’ll buy you another,” he sighed, folding the newspaper on the table and reaching for his wallet. “My apologies.”

Ever since he came back from the states, he happened to acquire a taste for coffee. He didn’t have it often, knowing that he could sometimes be a lot more hyper than needed, but sometimes he felt as if he needed it. The Holidays were a strange time, and it often caused him to have an incredibly hard time sleeping, mainly because the guilt of not being as close to his family often weighed him down. 

Watching some of the coffee on the floor, Toby shook his head. Of course he had to run into his sister’s fiance. Of course. He tried to keep his distaste for this marriage on the down low, but with a situation like this, it was hard. “Oh, no worries.” Toby announced reassuringly with a smile. “It didn’t get on me, I’m not too concerned.” He shrugged. “You might want to practice your newspaper turning skills though.” He chuckled, trying to indicate that he was joking. 

“More along the lines of a scorned lover making his escape to another continent,” she corrected him matter-of-factly, an air of amusement in her voice as she spoke. “However, I never did learn the name of your supposed lover. Casper, perhaps?” Eleanor added, giving the man a kind smile before bringing the flute of champagne to her lips once more. “No one deserves to be treated that way. The humiliation she suffered is insurmountable— I wish I could have shielded her from such pain.” The brunette’s reaction was sincere, her voice growing quiet as her own words rang true to her current situation; almost wishing she did not share such a thing in common with the princess. “I would be honored,” she replied, placing her empty glass on a nearby table as she took Tobias’ extended hand, allowing him to lead her onto the crowded dance floor. “Forgive me, but I may be out of practice. I haven’t had much reason for dancing as of late.”

“Oh, well I can assure you that wasn’t the case. I’ve never really had any lovers here anyway.” Did he just say that out loud? Yes. Yes, he did. “Casper works, I mean they aren’t real so you’re more than welcome to use any name.” Toby replied, not catching onto the double meaning. “It’s not as if you could’ve known. But at least she was able to see his true colors before it was too late.” He added. He smiled as he led her onto the dance floor, shaking his head. “Don’t even worry about it. Besides dancing is like learning how to ride a bike again, you just never forget.” He placed his left hand out and placed his other hand above her hip. “I’ll continue to talk to you while we dance, it’ll help get back into the whole dance atmosphere.” Sure he was a decent dancer, but that didn’t mean he was knowledgeable at all. He was just hoping to make her feel a little bit more comfortable.  

“He is, but it is what it is,” Arabella conceded. It was no use delving into the topic with her brother, for she did not want another argument. “Of course, Aunt Beatrice would have only wanted this had she been alive,” Arabella agreed with a small smile, speaking fondly of her deceased aunt. She had no idea how Toby felt about the fact that Arabella saw her paternal aunt as more of a mother figure than she did their own mother, and figured it was best not to test it out. “Being with Adeline, for the most part. Diana is around too, and well us three have just been up to our usual shenanigans,” she replied to her brother. Should she mention that she and Carolina had spoken? Would Toby even care? “Who have you been spending time with tonight?” she asked her brother in turn.

He nodded politely in agreement. Talking to her felt unnatural yet natural at the same time, he couldn’t explain it. Of course she was hanging around Adeline, they probably acted more like siblings than the two actual siblings did. Granted they were cousins, so it made sense. “Oh well don’t get yourself into trouble or anything. I don’t know if you meant shenanigans in a good way, I’ve always just associated it as a bad thing.” Toby shrugged, “Different people, I guess.” He didn’t have a squad like his sister. He roamed around uncomfortably, knowing that he didn’t belong here. “I’ve surprisingly conversed with a whole array of people.” 

Staring at her non-alcoholic drink, slightly wishing she would let go of inhibitions while the content of a champagne or wine would make a better effect on her body, soon her ears were filled up with someone’s voice, too close to her. Her eyes scanning him, paying attention to his words as confusion grew inside of her brain, trying to understand the reason why, of all people, he decided to share that with her. “We all come from different cultures and different views of what happens in the world, it’s understandable” Learning english was a challenge, that didn’t make her scared, and despite the strong accent Milena found her way with words, and eventually, she was able to use a second language in her favor as well. “For your bad luck, they’ve been here a few seconds ago. But your lucky may change and they could come back.” Allowing her dark eyes as night to stare at the man in front of her, she took a sip from her drink, the tip of her fingers playing with the glass still resting on her hand while she tried to read him. “Having fun?”

“It’s still extremely interesting.” He admitted. “But yes, it’s very understandable. I apologize if that came off rude, that wasn’t my intentions at all. ” He added, striking her a slight smile. He had a tendency to not fully process what he was saying before he said it and the last thing he wanted to do was offend anyone in any way. “That always happens, food is never in the right place at the right time for me.” He chuckled, before watching her take a drink. “As much fun as I can here.” He replied, shrugging at her. “How about you? How is that drink of yours?”

“I have heard the rumors as to why you left London, but I do not think I ever heard the real story — however, the rumors are always far more fun to recount than the truth.” Eleanor said, turning to give Tobias a small smile. “Scandalous entertainment? Something tells me that having Princess Sophia and the Duke of Sutherland in the same room is enough scandal to last us an entire week; but I have yet to trip him on the dance floor or spill my drink down his jacket. In short, the entertainment should be plenty tonight,” she added, rather enticed by the thought, but knowing the princess would never approve of her actions. Eleanor shook her head, throwing Tobias a threatening glare as a laugh escaped his mouth, clearly amused by her obvious discomfort. “I think he would be more inclined to keep away if you were to ask me to dance, Mr Buchanan. That way he knows my attention is otherwise occupied.”

Toby had never even bothered to entertain himself by asking what these rumors happened to be. He didn’t care, honestly. “Were any of them about me just wanting to get an education in the states? Because that’s basically it.” He replied with a shrug. “I never agree with violence, but I think that he’s a special case. Princess Sophia didn’t deserve what he did to her.” He hated what the Duke of Sutherland had done to his cousin, and even more so that it had to happen in the public eye. “Yes, of course.” He nodded. Surprisingly, he wasn’t an awful dancer. He might have tripped on his feet while he was walking, but he was light on his feet when it came to dancing. “Would you like to dance with me?” He asked with a smile, throwing his champagne glass onto one of the waiter’s trays as they came around.

The Harrington heirloom ring that Liam had given to Arabella, and that she would pass on to their first-born son to give to his chosen spouse. She wore it rather proudly on her ring finger, and noticed her brother glancing at it. “Liam is great, he’s on a family trip so he was unable to make it tonight,” she responded cordially. She had no idea how Toby actually felt about her arrangement with Liam, but she had a feeling that he was not particularly eager to accept the marquess as his future brother-in-law. “How are you, though?” Arabella asked, diverting the conversation to Toby. Part of her wanted to avoid another tense argument, but another part was actually curious as to how her brother was. Had she ever really asked him how he was doing? How he was feeling, what his desires were at the moment? She hadn’t, and she would not lie, she felt a slight twinge of guilt.

“Well I’m sure he’s missed.” Not by Toby though, that was for sure. He had to hold his head from looking around to make sure that she was still talking to him. How could two people grow up similarly but be so different? “I’m good. I’m really just glad that there’s a good cause being helped tonight. Thank you for asking.” He replied with a courteous nod. This shouldn’t have been awkward, this conversation should’ve felt somewhat normal. But it wasn’t, they weren’t normal siblings. They were more complicated that most siblings.“So what are you up to tonight? I do hope that you enjoy yourself, whatever you’re doing, just be careful.” . Just because they weren’t close didn’t mean that Toby didn’t feel a need to protect his younger sister. Even though they don’t have the best relationship, he still cares about her. 

Valeria hadn’t really seen him coming, a bit too distracted by the ornament that had nearly hit the ground, she was just about to tell the youngsters to move away from the tree – she knew how difficult children could be when not reprimanded at the right moment, just as she was about to take a step in their direction, a familiar face graced hers. “Tobias–” she greeted warmly, glancing in the direction of the tree, relieved yet concerned by their sudden disappearance. The man before her had somehow managed to gain her attention, than again his entertaining personality simply had people at the end of their seats, “santa claus?” she repeated, her nose scrunching in disdain, “Americans are odd–” the distaste in her tone said it all, “Tobias, I just got that song out of my head, that and the wretched jingle bells – I can’t relive it again” she warned, “Adriana won’t stop, the amount of times I have heard the word bell in my household is enough to make me truly want to invest in a pair of ear plugs” she sighed, a finger tracing along her temple soothingly, as if the very thought of it was enough to bring on a migraine. “I saw some pastries in the far corner–” pointing in the direction of a crowd of eager young ladies, “I’m not too sure if it would be wise to brave that–” she added, a chuckle slipping from her lips as she glanced at them, clearly they were looking for their next prey, “we need a plan–”

“Hey now, Jingle Bells is a classic, let her sing her heart out.” He replied, chuckling in the process. His eyes moved to where she was pointing, knowing that it wasn’t the best idea to move through a crowd of enthusiastic young ladies, to say the least. “Hmm...” He replied, resting a finger on his lip as he thought. “Maybe we could wait until a promising young bachelor walks on by? Use him as bait without him even knowing about it. Or maybe you can distract and I’ll grab us some tasty treats. I think either could work.”

Her frown quickly softened as the man started stumbling over his words, making it obvious she had overreacted. He didn’t seem like someone who would judge, let alone comment on the length of her clothing. “Thank you,” she smiled gratefully, the compliment almost enough to make her forget about all the people looking her way in that moment. Truth be told, Katherine enjoyed the allure of these events. She liked the fancy clothes, the intelligent conversations and she wanted more than anything to be a part of it all, she just never seemed to fit it completely. “I wish you would’ve, you might’ve just been able to steal some of this attention away from me. The dogs sound like a definite bonus as well.” As nice as he was being, it was clear his opinion was greatly outnumbered by all the people looking at her with disdain. “I wish I could, but they’re pretty hard to ignore. I’m guessing you grew up around these people, huh? You seem to know quite a lot about them.” 

“Maybe next year I’ll have to do that, though I don’t really like being the center of attention, so someone would have to outshine me though, somehow.” He then began laughing, picturing himself showing up in sweats and with his two dogs. “I’m not even sure that they’d let me in if I did that.” His laugh then died dow as she guessed that she grew up around these people. “Yeah uh, you could say that.” He said with a nod. “I’m guessing you didn’t. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course. I think it’s actually very cool. What brings you to this gala?”