A/N: Okay just let me start by saying I will not be defeated.I do plan to finish Fated Reason. This is something I just had to write. I've been watching a lot of historic films and reading books and I got inspired, and since House is the only show I get to watch consistently, I used the characters off the show. That being said, the characters names might be a little different to fit the time period, but I own none of them since they are based on the characters from the show. (Yes Cuddy is Annalisa, but I'll probably just start using Lisa half way through. House is still House, it just might not be that obvious in the beginning, but he has to be a little more mature in this fic since he is actually the one in power with all the responsibility.
Again this is an historic fic. Before you judge it, I just took the things that I liked from each individual time period and made my own. Don't worry it makes since.
Annalisa was a young maiden that lived in the countryside with her mother Margery, her sister Emma, her brother Thomas, and her two cousins Alice and Cecily. They were fairly poor, but considered themselves lucky, since they were actually one of the poor that owned land. Her father, John, had been a serf, and had gained his freedom from his nobleman after saving the man's only son's life. Her father had studied medicine when he wasn't out working the fields. When the boy injured himself while out in the woods, her father had found him and packed the wound right then and there with some healing beads that were known to grow on the trees to keep him from bleeding to death. He then returned the boy to his father, and grateful and having faith in her father's ability, the man offered him the job of nursing his son back to health, knowing that the battle wasn't over. The boy soon developed a fever as almost everyone did after obtaining such an injury. Her father was able to bring the boy back to health. The man had also given her father a piece of land to further show his gratitude.
Her father had built a small house, with the help of other men from the village, and had cultivated the rest of the land in order to earn a steady income for him and his growing family. He also practiced medicine on the side when someone in the village really needed it and couldn't afford a doctor. They would give him whatever they could, so that added to their income. Annalisa was the middle child, Thomas being the oldest and Emma being the youngest. Her mother was a seamstress and made beautiful garments that she often sold in town. Cecily and Alice's parents had died when the Black Death had hit their village. It was a scary and trying time and the small, and the slightest sign of illness set everyone on edge. Their mother was Margery's sister. The children were still young, so her mother and father decided to take them in and raise them as their own. Cecily, or Sissy as her family liked to cal her, was a couple of years older than Annalisa, but younger than Thomas. She, Annalisa and Emma had always been close and were like sister. Alice was younger than Annalisa but a year older than Emma, and had always been one to do things her way. She wasn't really close with the other girls due to her own accord, and they often regarded her as spoiled. She had an heir of entitlement about her, but was the laziest of the bunch. They still loved her, but she always thought that she was better than them.
A few years after Cecily and Alice's parents passed, John died at war. Annalisa was young, but she still remembered when the men had come to tell her of her father's passing and how her mother had cried. She was older now, but still missed her father as they had had a close relationship. She had always been more interested in the medicine he practiced than she was in working the fields with everyone. She still helped in the fields, but her father would always take her with him whenever he would go and practice medicine. She would read the books with him for countless hours and he would explain things to her that she did not understand. She continued to study medicine after he passed, feeling that was the only way that she could still be close to him. Thomas had taken the role as the main worker of the land upon their father's passing, and her mother had taken to selling her garments at the market to make up for the loss of income from her father's medical practice. It had been tough for a few years, but somehow the queen had gotten word of her mother's amazing work and invited her to design a dress for her. After being satisfied and beyond at her mother's work, the woman offered her a job as one of her regular seamstresses. They had all been invited to live in the castle, but her mother declined, not willing to leave the land her father had earned to perish. The queen still held a place for them which her mother often used not wanting to travel the long distance from the castle back to the village after working long hours. Thomas stayed behind to take care of the home and the land, while the girls joined Margery whenever she went to the castle.
It was interesting for them to go to the castle, since not many people in their village or at their status level ever got to see the inside of it. It was huge and it was beautiful. It often gave the girls a chance to pretend that they were royalty. Her mother had been working there for a few years and the girls had gotten comfortable enough with the place to explore different parts of the castle, even some parts they weren't supposed to. It had started out when Alice had convinced them to come on a man hunt with her to find the prince that lived there. It was rumored that he was to find his queen before his twenty-third birthday, and she was sure that he would fall head over heals in love with her the moment he saw her. The other girls had tried to convince her that she was delusional, but she was a very ambitious girl, especially when it came to status. It was said that it had been prearranged for him to marry Anastacia, the daughter of Lord Geoffry. There families had a long and enduring relationship and it had been arranged since their birth. They had had nothing better to do, so they had decided to accompany her on her journey. After many adventures through the castle and never once running across the prince, or thankfully, the queen or the king, they had just opted for exploring the different parts of the castle.
"You girls stay close, and don't go making any trouble," Margery warned them as they prepared to go off on their own again. She had not yet found out about their little adventures and thought that they only stayed on the worker's floor. They made sure to keep her uninformed on the fact, because they knew if she found out that they would no longer be allowed to accompany her on her visits to the castle.
"Mother, have we ever been known to cause any trouble?" Annalisa asked with a mischievous smirk on her face that was accompanied by giggles from the other girls.
"No, my dear," her mother replied sweetly. "But just because it isn't known, it doesn't mean that it's not there."
The girls traded knowing looks and giggled as they left the room where the seamstresses worked. The easily found their way up to the floors that they were not supposed to be on and began their search of nothing in particular. It was amazing that after all this time, they wer still finding new sections of the castle with new things to explore.
"Well this is going to be my home one day," Alice piped up after the girls had just finished marveling over one of the marble statues. "You can all come and visit me, if you learn how to conduct yourself in the presence of royalty."
Annalisa and Cecily looked at each other and smiled at the naivety of the younger girl.
"Oh, Alice," Emma started, her voice holding a little sympathy for the girl, "when are you going to realize the prince is not going to marry you? Not only will you not get to meet him, you are nowhere near his level he couldn't marry you if he wanted to."
"You don't know that," Alice told her, sounding a little offended. "You are just jealous, because if the king had to choose between you or me, you know he'd choose me." She stuck her head in the air and began to walk ahead of the other girls as if she owned the place.
"What is wrong with her?" Emma asked.
"She is just living and a fantasy world," Cecily said. "Let her be. Hopefully she'll wake up so…,"
She stopped mid sentence and in mid stride, as did all the other girls when they heard a thunderous and commanding voice coming towards them from the other end of the hallway.
"But your majesty," a weaker voice said to the man as if they were trying to explain something to the man.
The girls looked at each other and their eyes grew wide as they realized they were about to be in the presence of the king.
"They are coming this way," Alice said turning back to the other three girls.
"We have to hide," Cecily told them. She looked to the sides of hallway and luckily they were close enough to two of the large statues that lined the hallway. She grabbed Emma's hand, since she was the closest to her. "Anna, Alice, you get behind that lion man," she said describing the obscured statue as best she could. She pulled Emma behind the other one with her as the voices got closer.
"I don't understand that boy," the more robust of the men, who was obviously the king said. "He has an entire kingdom in his hands and he still acts foolishly. I don't know if he'll ever be fit to be king."
The girls peaked out from behind the statues trying to get a better look at the man who ruled the kingdom without revealing themselves. He wore the most luxurious garments the girls had ever seen, besides the pieces their mother made for the queen. He seemed to be more than well nourished, and held an heir about himself that made the girls even more afraid of being caught. They would have hated to have to come face to face with the man standing less than ten feet away from them.
"Well he has two more years sire," the other man said.
"If he does not mature by then, I don't know if I'd be willing to pass on my crown to him. I've worked hard to build this country back to the way it was before the war."
"But your majesty," the other man started again, "he is your only son, the sole heir to the throne. If you do not pass the kingdom on to him, who will you pass it on to?"
"I still have a few good years left in me Peter," the king started again as he and the man began to walk again. "Just because I promised him the throne after he is wed on his twenty-third birthday, doesn't mean I have to give it to him then if he is not ready."
The girls waited until the voices were comfortable in the distance before coming out of their hiding places.
"That was close," Emma said, still a little frightened by what had happened.
"Yes it was," Annalisa agreed, "now lets get out of here."
The girls were ready to end their adventure for the day, or at least limit it to the workers' floor since the royal family was obviously roaming about the castle today.
They all took off in quickly making quick strides as they started to make their way back to the floor they were supposed to be on.
"He'll get over it," the tall muscular man said.
"I do not understand," his companion said. "Why do you love upsetting your father?"
"Because my father is easily upset," he returned. "He has a whole country to rule over. He should be more concerned with that and less concerned with the way I live my life."
"Well you can't blame him for being a little concerned. You are scheduled to replace him as king in only two short years. He just wants to make sure you are ready."
"James, you sound just like him," the taller man started. "This country better be happy that it has someone like me. Between my father and all the mundane peop…," he was caught off guard when someone crashed into him.
It was a female, he could tell before looking at her by the yelp she let out and the feel of her small frame against his taller, broader one. On instinct he held her upright to keep her from falling, especially after the three other girls he had now noticed behind her had crashed into her from behind. After she regained her balance he let go of her, and looked down into a pair of piercing steal blue eyes. The expression on her face grew to one of terror as she opened her mouth to say something. She took a while to get the words out, but before she could speak, the third man with him who had been quiet until now spoke.
"Are you insane?!" he yelled at her. "You foolish, clumsy girl, you should watch were you are going. The prince could hav…"
"William, it's fine," the prince said as he held his hand up and spoke over the man. No harm had been caused, by her bumping into to him. He had barely moved an inch under ther force of the four of them. But he was still mesmerized by the eyes staring back at him that were now filled with fear. He finally noticed the rest of person that the eyes belonged to and how beautiful she was in addition to the now somewhat gray eyes staring back at him.
"Forgive me my lord," she said as she dropped her head and lowered her eyes assuming the appropriate position when in the presence of royalty along with the rest of the girls. "I should have been paying attention to where I was walking."
"It is alright, no harm done," he said with a smile that she could not see for her head being lowered. He surveyed the girls one by one. He could see the other girls' faces since they were not standing directly in front of her. One of them had light colored hair and looked to be the more mature of the group. She was pretty girl with beautifully accentuated features that made her beautiful. She was about the same height as the girl standing in front of him. The other two girls were shorter, and one had light brown hair, while the other had darker brown hair like the girl standing in front of him. They were both very pretty too and had younger features that told him they were a little younger than the other two girls. They were all beautiful, but the one standing in front of him still captured his attention more than the rest of them. He felt the fire in his loins growing the more he stared at her. James noticed the smirk on his friend's face and couldn't help but to give one of his own, already knowing what his friend was thinking.
"Tell me," he started, "what is your name?"
She tilted her head to look up at him to make sure that he was talking to her and that she wasn't talking out of turn.
"Annalisa," she responded when she saw that he was indeed talking to her.
"Do you live in the castle Annalisa?"
Alice shot her a glare which she did not notice as she was too busy answering the prince's question. Why was the prince asking her all of these questions? Had he not noticed her? Cecily smiled to herself as she noticed the smirk on the prince's face from her peripheral. She noticed the way that he looked at Annalisa as they spoke, and being the oldest of the girls, it was more obvious to her and the prince was clearly smitten with her cousin.
"No, sire," she told him.
"Then may I ask why you are here?"
"My mother works for the queen."
"She does?" he said sounding a little surprised. He had never seen a worker that looked as beautiful as these girls. He would have to start spending more time on the labor floors, he thought to himself.
"Yes sire," she said still not raising her head. "She's a seamstress."
"Well do you come here often?"
"Yes sire."
Normally he would have asked what they were doing on the floor where they weren't allowed, but he was happy that he had had the pleasure of bumping into them.
"Do you stay the ni…" he started, but was interrupted by one of his father's minions coming down the hall.
"Prince Gregory," the man started, "your father would like to have a word with you. Now."
"What does he want?"
"He didn't say sire."
"Tell him I am busy."
"With all due respect sir," the man started again, "he seemed pretty upset. I think you should get there now."
The prince let out an exasperated sigh, but decided to see what his father wanted, knowing that the man was the only one he knew of with a temper that could rival his own. His further exploration of the girl standing before him would have to wait.
"I'll be right there," he told the man before turning his attention back to the girls. "Ladies." He tilted his hat and the curtsied before he walked away with the other two men following as they followed the man who had come to fetch him back down the long corridor.
The girls watched as he left, happy that they had not gotten reprimanded for trespassing. Alice was the first to speak.
"See I told you," she said as her face lit up with excitement. "I told you we would see him. He is so handsome." She looked dreamily at the hallway where he had just disappeared before speaking again. "I am going to go talk to him."
"You are not," Cecily said grabbing her by her arm to stop her. "We aren't even supposed to be here. Now lets get back to the labor floors before we get into more trouble."
All the girls agreed except Alice but she was dragged along with them. They made it back to the worker's part of the castle, that was far less elaborate than the rest of the castle, but was still pretty nice as far as they were concerned.
"Did you girls have fun?" Margery asked them.
"Yes," Emma answered eagerly. "We saw the prince."
The other three girls looked at her and she quickly realized her mistake. Margery's face fell at the thought of the girls getting into trouble with one of the members of the royal family.
"How did…," she started, but was cut off by the quick thinking Cecily.
"He came down to the labor floor to make sure things were running smoothly."
She gave them a suspicious look. She knew that the prince could care less about what was going on on the labor floors, and that they had people just to make sure that things ran smoothly. All of the girls looked at her with looks that she doubted, but since she had no evidence to prove them wrong, and since they had not be harshly escorted back to her, she had no other choice but to believe them.
"Well Alice," she turned to the girl whom she knew had a crush on the prince she had never seen before, "was he everything you dreamed of?"
"Yes Aunt Margery," the girl said as her face lit up again. The other girls giggled at her enthusiasm as they two found the soon to be king fairly attractive, Cecily, a little fonder of his friend that was with him.
Margery gave an admirable laugh to the girls' obvious naivety and innocence, before she began working again.
"He even asked for Annalisa's name," Cecily added with a smile.
The girl's face fell at the mention at this fact and she shot Cecily a mean glare. Her mother only smiled knowing why she had that reaction. Just the thought of having to be considered so inferior to a man made the girl cringe. All of the girls knew many trades that were considered unladylike. When John had been alive, he had opted to teach them these things since they had been so interested when he was teaching them to Thomas. The other girls however seemed more willing to take their place as wives to the three lucky men that would marry them while Annalisa had made it clear that she could not take her place as someone's wife unless he was willing to take his place as her husband. But she could tell from the slight blush that rose in her eldest daughter's face that she was intrigued by her meeting with the prince as were the other girls.
"He was clearly more interested in me," Alice said sticking her nose in the air as she turned to walk away.
"Alice, wait," Emma said leaving out behind her.
"Well he did," Cecily said after seeing that Annalisa was still staring her down. "If you ask me, I'd say he's quite fond of you."
"Well no one asked you, and he does not know me to be fond of me," Annalisa said before stomping out of the room to find Emma and Alice. She had a feeling that she would enjoy their company more right now than she was enjoying Cecily's.
Cecily and Margery shared a knowing smile, as the girl sat on the bench next to the woman to help her with the embroidery on the garment she was making.
"Are you listening to me?" the King yelled at his son who stood before him.
He did not respond and James had to nudge him to bring him back to their world.
"Oh. Yes father," he said as the remanence of his father's questions echoed in his head.
"You are to being king one day. You have to be more responsible. The King of Spain will not let his daughter marry a king that is not mature enough to run his own country."
Gregory let out an inaudible sigh. He knew that he was mature and capable enough to run any country that was placed under his rule. He just did not see the point in not having fun and taking advantage of the fact that the country was to one day soon be under his rule.
"Yes father," he said knowing that agreeing with him would get him out of the room quicker so he could get into something else that his father would probably disapprove of. "Now if you are finished, James and I have some unfinished business we are to attend to."
The king gave out and audible sigh, knowing that his son had not listened to one word of what he had just said. He did not doubt the boy's capability to rule as king, just his discipline to be able to use his capabilities effectively.
"That is all," he said with a nod of his head.
The two younger men did the same before exiting the room.
"If you do not mind, would you like to tell me what is this business that we have to take care of?"
Gregory did not answer but only smirked as his friend with a knowing look. James did not need another word for he instantly thought back to the events prior to the tongue lashing they had just received.
"Ahhh, the girl."
"The girl," he confirmed. "There were three more and I saw the way the one in the green dress was looking at you."
James only smiled, having found the girls attractive himself. "Do you think your father will let you have another concubine after that trickery you just pulled?"
"My father is a man of great needs. He understands that I am his son. He will let me have another concubine."
James only nodded as they made their way to the labor floors. When they got there, they could not find the girls. They went into the room where the seamstresses worked and asked around for them. Margery and the girls were well known, and it did not take long for someone to realize who he was talking about and inform him that they would not be in until the next week.
Not wanting to seem lustful, he opted to wait those few days.
A/N: Okay, now you can judge it : ) Don't be too harsh...