The Throne (Prince Harry fanfic #6)

Chapter Eight

Harry took the advice of the counselor, and Lucy tried to follow it too. The kids were once again, sent off to Buckingham Palace, and the royal couple was alone in their Kensington Palace apartment again. The first suggestion was a holiday, away from everything that currently went on, but after looking into the schedules, there wasn't any way possible. So the latter was the only choice.

Intimacy was a scary thing for anyone, but neither of them had been intimate with each other in a while. There were other things to be doing. Life continued to move. And this was another scheduled moment in a calendar. Both of them had the night off, along with William and Catherine.  It used to be a joke, when sex was scheduled, yet this was what their lives came down to: a schedule.

Gradually Harry tried to go in. He wanted to make Lucy feel the most comfortable, which included slowness. He didn't reach for romance, but Harry made dinner. There weren't roses placed about. Candles weren't lit. The food wasn't even that filling so that it wouldn't be too difficult later. However, Harry had ice cream, and he remembered that about Lucy well.

Tonight was meant for Harry to get to know Lucy again. He wished to the way he was with her once, but they both knew that wasn't possible. So they had to look toward the future. Hopefully there was yet a future for them. Hopefully there was still something between them. Hopefully the fire could be re-lit and it would've burned brighter than ever before.

Both of them put their better foot forward. Harry dressed in nicer clothes, so that perhaps he would look the part. Lucy matched him. To put her better foot forward, she did her hair and makeup up nicely. It sat on top of her head, because she remembered one of Harry's favorite things was to take her hair down. He liked to run his fingers through her hair. He liked to run his fingers down from her hair to her face, then to her neck, and then his fingers liked to dip lower.

At dinner, it was a complicated time to speak. Both of them tried, but it was hard to say anything. Harry asked about politics, usually one of Lucy's favorite topics, but she didn't have much to say about it. Lucy lost interest a while back, when it became a sport for the greedy. This time, Lucy tried to come up with a good topic for conversation. All of it was lost when she thought about where Harry was when he wasn't here. He never said; he just said he escaped.

"Harry, where do you go?" she asked suddenly.

He nearly choked on his food. Coughing, Harry sat up a little straighter.

"You said you escape, but where? Where do you go?" she wondered. "Where do you need to go to escape? What are you doing? Why do you need to escape?"

Harry wanted to tell her but it was hard to explain.

When he said nothing, Lucy grew angry. Her voice was heavy and thick, low and dangerous. It was rare for her to ever raise her voice. It wasn't different now. Sometimes she got a little louder, but never did she yell. "No answer, Harry? No explanation ever."

"Lucy, it's not that." His anger started to bubble too. Lucy didn't give him any explanations, but he had to explain himself? Lucy just did what she pleased, but never answered to what she did. "I don't understand why you need to know."

"Curiosity."

"You're not my keeper, Lucy."

"Oh, that's great, Harry. That's great."

He bit his tongue. Silence fell over them. Harry didn't want it like this. He didn't want to fight. Harry wanted it to be calm and collected. He wanted his wife back-- he wanted his life back. It began with being civil. Neither of them said anything for a long time. Knives and forks clanked against the fine china. Harry drank some wine, even though it was offered to Lucy, but she didn't take it.