Another short story but this time it's about a photo album of memories; memories about their relationship and how far they have come from the beginning

A/N: The Princess Diaries doesn't belong to me!

"What are you up to?"

Clarisse heard a voice from the doorway of her suite and she glanced up to see Joseph standing there, a broad smile on his face and she couldn't help but respond in the same way, always happy to see him. "You look awfully serious and absorbed in what you're reading- I would have thought you were have stopped reading official paperwork upon your retirement."

"Believe me, I'm trying to, although Mia and Charlotte are still seeking advice from me and I cannot say no to my only grandchild, can I?"

"Of course not, you should help her as much as you can," he suddenly looked sorry for what he had joked about as he made his way over to where she was sitting, and she couldn't help but smile smugly.

"However, I'm not actually reading official paperwork at the moment and I'm glad I'm not because I'm sure my husband wouldn't approve and would have something to say about it."

"Indeed he would have," he agreed as he sat down next to her and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. "He's just glad to hear it," he said with a grin before leaning forward again and giving her a tender kiss on the lips. "So," he said afterwards. "As I asked before, what are you doing?"

"Oh," she glanced down at the package in her lap, running her hands over the smooth cover of the rectangular package. "We got another wedding present this afternoon," she said, glancing down again, the silver cover catching her eye, as well as the title on the front.

"Oh? I thought we would have received all our presents by now," he said mildly- they had been married six weeks and most of the presents Mia and Andrew had received now belonged to Clarisse and Joseph, although the newlyweds were planning to donate quite a bit of it to charity, as a suggestion made by Joseph when he had seen the pile of presents a week after the coronation.

"Why do we need any wedding presents? I'm married to a former Queen and we live in a palace."

"It IS tradition," Clarisse reminded him as she glanced through the list of gifts and the people who had given them- she too had been somewhat taken aback by the pile of gifts, knowing that she already had enough from her first wedding, but she thought it would seem ungracious not to accept them, as she then said to her husband.

"I'm not saying that we don't accept them, but we could also donate them to charity- I know Mia's Children's Charity always needs funds for the orphanage and other children's issues here in Genovia, and there's always Phillipe's foundation…."

Of course, there had been some slack in the press and the parliament when they found out about the royal couple's intentions, but after discovering that the funds received from the presents (they were usually auctioned off) were going to charities close to the royal family's heart, there wasn't much more said about the matter.

The former Viscount Mabrey had tried, of course, to win back favour by causing trouble, stating that "the presents should be returned to the givers rather than being donated," but once it became clear that none of the gift givers were insisting on the gifts being returned, and the obvious pleasure shown when the donations were given, the fuss died away and had all but been forgotten… except that Clarisse and Joseph were now the unofficial patrons of the charities that they had donated to….

"I thought so too," Clarisse said thoughtfully, coming back to the present and indicating the silver book as Joseph reached out and touched it before resting his hand on top of hers.

"You have obviously opened it…" he teased, waving towards the small pile of gold and silver wrapping paper sitting on her other side. "So, what is it?"

"Our wedding album… from Andrew," she said softly, turning to look at him with a shy smile, which he returned just as shyly.

"I wondered whether that would come, or it would be sold to the papers," he joked gently but they both knew that Andrew would never sell the pictures to the paper- they were valuable in terms of monetary value, but they were much more precious to the bride and groom in question- they were the first pictures they had as an official couple, as a married couple…

"Well, he obviously wanted to take his time with this… and I can tell you that it's well worth the wait."

"Well… are you going to open it and show me or am I going to have to wait until our first anniversary?" he teased, sitting back on the sofa, an arm resting around her shoulders and Clarisse snuggled in, resting the album on their laps, between them.

"Of course, Mr Impatient."

"Me- Mr Impatient? I'm the one who just got here, you spring this on me and… I'm Mr Impatient?"

"Oh be quiet," she nudged him with an elbow. "Do you want to see this or not?"

"Of course, so I'll be quiet," and he was just as that as he watched her open the cover and suddenly Joseph came face to face with their first wedding picture… a picture of them out in the garden, kissing and seemingly completely unaware that they were being photographed….

"Wow," he murmured in amazement- he could remember the moment perfectly, they were trying not to feel self-conscious that they were being photographed by Andrew, the young man who, only hours earlier, had been going to be Clarisse's grandson-in-law but who was now not married to Mia and was instead taking their photograph…

He could also remember feeling very self-conscious of the fact that the Queen of Genovia was now his wife and that he was actually allowed to kiss her and touch her in ways that they had been dreaming about for years but hadn't as yet… he had been trying not to act like a fool in front of either Clarisse or Andrew… he wasn't sure how to behave but Clarisse, sensing his discomfort, had squeezed his hand comfortingly from time to time, making him feeling a little more reassured….

"It's a wonderful picture, isn't it?" she asked gently, bringing him back to the present and watching his face, seeing the exact same expression and emotion flit across it as she had felt when she had first looked at it… joy, happiness, tenderness…

Of course, she had wanted to wait for Joseph and they could have flipped through it together, enjoying it for the first time together, but she had been so excited to receive it, she hadn't been able to wait, a fact that made her feel guilty and slightly abashed.

"I'm sorry, I should have waited for you to return from your meeting, but I couldn't wait…"

"I don't blame you for not waiting, you deserved to have the first look…and indeed it is a wonderful picture…"

"What were you thinking when you looked at it?"

"I just could remember how self-conscious I felt, trying to kiss you properly and knowing that Andrew was taking pictures of us….but you were so patient and so comforting, squeezing my hand from time to time…"

"I knew you hadn't foreseen this from happening, us finally being together, married…."

"I have to admit, I hadn't woken up that morning and thought: 'Clarisse and I will be man and wife by the end of the day!'" he admitted with a chuckle.

"No, I hadn't thought of that either," she agreed. "But I just felt… light… happy… wonderful… I was just happy standing there with you, I could barely even register Andrew being there with us…and I could feel your tension… while I'm used to having pictures taken, this was different and I have to admit that I too felt a little awkward… I mean, I never particularly liked people taking intimate pictures of me, particularly ones of me kissing my husband (not that that was a problem with Rupert- he didn't believe it at all)…but it was Andrew doing it, he's a nice young man and I knew that he would do a good job."

"Which he did."

"You've only seen one picture!"

"Nevertheless, I assume that the rest of them will be just as good…."

"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"