Story requested by fictionlover94. Story takes place after The Princess's Knight in my one-shot series.
One-shot timeline:

1)Olaball Aftermath
2)Dating in the Rough
3)The Princess's Knight
4)Prince Not So Charming

Enjoy!

Prince Not So Charming

Elena felt like her ego had gotten a huge boost when she had managed to do the Leaping Stag with a sprained ankle, she was rather proud of herself… now she was cursing her impulsiveness more than ever. She had royal duties to attend to, but at the same time she needed to keep her foot still, but since crutches were more of an obstacle rather than help, she would have to go around the castle on a wheelchair. Luckily for her, she had a rather attentive nurse, Gabe, since he had casually volunteered. They both smiled to one another when they thought that even if he hadn't offered, Luisa would have volunteered him anyway, pretending to be angry at him, her point being: Gabe trained her, she got hurt, Gabe looks after her. They knew Elena's grandmother was playing matchmaker, she was trying to set them up so bad!
Isabel would try to play nurse as well, but when it came to take her down the flight of stairs, they needed a strong guy like Gabe. Still, even Gabe needed help when Elena got impatient and frantic and would leap out of the wheelchair instead of behaving like the doctor had told her to: two weeks if she behaved. Plus, the wheelchair had been the best option, since it was either dealing with a demanding, frenetic, hyperkinetic Elena in bed for two weeks or with a just frenetic Elena on a wheelchair. Everyone had chorused: "Wheelchair".
Luckily for her, she just needed to be patient for one more week. One more week and then she was free to hop around the castle and the kingdom.

That day had been like every ordinary day, with the exception of Isabel skipping inside her room and helping her onto the wheelchair, and Gabe knocking on the door before taking the lead and wheeling her towards the Grand Council's assembly room before taking Isabel to school and coming back not even an hout later to join his princess. Elena was still with her grand council discussing a few more matters, mainly internal economic matters. Apparently they were having some trouble with some exporting and importing products and Elena needed to find a solution to the problem and fast. She had come to the conclusion that the best way solve the problem was to re-arrange some of the trading agreements. The council approved of the solution and Elena was left to writing a few letters to discuss matters with their trading partners, of course, she had to agree that her abuelos would check the letters before she sent them.

"Seriously?!" Elena complained "I'm sixteen, not illiterate! I'm capable of writing a diplomatic letter!"

"We know you can do that, Mija" said Francisco calmly "We don't doubt your diplomatic abilities, it's just that a correspondence with a king and/or queen are quite different from ordinary letters"

"We just want to make sure you keep an appropriate register and not let it slide into a more colloquial one as you get more confident in your writing" said Luisa, stroking her cheek.

"But-" Elena was about to complain, but then she realized that that was indeed a little bad habit she had "I guess you're right…" she sighed. She knew that when she wrote these kind of letters she was supposed to keep herself distant, impersonal and keep up a formal, almost solemn, language throughout the whole letter, no matter how long it was. Elena on the other hand, even though she started like that, as she built up the confidence in her writing she would get personal and her language would go into a refined but colloquial register.

"I guess I could use a hand to fix this little problem of mine" Elena said, after all, the only thing they would do would be help her rephrase a few sentences if her habit popped up.

"Hey, look on the bright side" Naomi said smiling "It means you take matters of your kingdom to the heart"

"Yes" said Luisa "It's really more like a boring matter of etiquette" she added with a smile. Elena smiled back.

"An etiquette that must be followed in order to make a good impression on our trading partners" Esteban said with his usual annoyed look. Needless to say, as soon as the meeting was adjourned, Gabe had expertly grabbed the enthusiastic princess by the shoulder and pushed her back down on the chair, before she could leap out of it, and wheeled Elena back to her room so that she could start working on the letters; their exit accompanied by their friend and her family's snickers. The moment they got to her room, Gabe helped her set up all she needed before leaving for his patrol shift, recommending Elena to stay sat and not jump around, until he was back. Then, with a quick kiss, Elena watched him leave her room, smiling at his sweet recommendations.

The young princess was soon concentrated in writing those letters. After her agreement with her grandparents, she checked each paper at least twice to make sure she did not let her habit interefere. She did not just want to do this for the good of the kingdom, but she also wanted to impress her grandparents. She wanted them to read those letters and be unable to have her rephrase anything. She wrote reminding herself to keep her style distant and as formal as possible. It was a good thing Elena was a fast writer for she had lost track of time and had written four different letters along with a rough draft each. She admitted she was being maybe a little too much of a perfectionist, but that was important and she was very motivated in doing a good job. Plus, as Gabe always said: "If you want something done right, do it yourself" and she deeply agreed, especially after having to deal with Prince Alonso of Cordoba. Elena was in the middle of checking over for the second time one of the letters when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" she said and Naomi appeared in her peripheral view.

"Hey, Elena" she greeted walking towards her friend as Elena kept reading her letter "You're not too busy are you?" she asked.

"No, no! I'm listening. I can do two things at once" she said giving her friend a smile.

"Ok, well… You have an unexpected royal visit from…uhm… Cordoba" Naomi said, hoping her friend wouldn't be too distracted and get the hint. Elena looked at her surprised for a moment, but turned back to finish reading the letter

"Oh, okay! I'll get Rico and be down in a minute. If I'm not wrong he's on castle patrol right now" Elena said

"Maybe I should fetch Gabe"

"No need, King Juan Ramón is quite polite"

"Prince Alonso's here too"

"Fetch Gabe"

"I'm on it!" and Naomi sprinted out of the room to find Elena's favorite royal guard, remembering full well her best friend's feedback regarding the Cordoban prince. Meanwhile, Elena put down the letter and letting out an exasperated sigh her head fell with a loud bang on the desk before bouncing back up.

"Ow…" she muttered rubbing her hand on her forehead, hoping she hadn't just bruised herself.

"Okay, Gabe, remember: keep calm and don't punch Prince Alonso" Elena silently recommended as Gabe carried her down the flight of stairs, where the wheelchair he had moved not too long ago was waiting for her.

"I'll try, but only for the good of the kingdom" Gabe replied. Elena was glad he was walking slowly, it gave her more time to make sure he would be on his best behavior. She knew Prince Alonso was probably going to start shamelessly flirting with her again, but this time she was worried he would push Gabe's buttons in doing so. Her boyfriend wasn't entirely happy with being secretive about them and even after the talk they had, she couldn't help but feel like Gabe was getting a little restless, even if he patiently waited for her to decide when they could come clean with their relationship. Not to mention his natural protectiveness towards her and Isabel; when in Cordoba she had noticed Gabe's dirty looks towards the prince whenever he flirted with her, he didn't like the guy and maybe he was already a bit jealous then. Now that they were actually dating, and in secret, she was afraid Gabe might get a little too protective.

"Considering how you two parted, I hope your presence is enough to discourage him to start any flirting" Elena told him, hoping to reassure him.

"I hate to point out the obvious, Elena, but your ankle is still injured" Gabe replied raising an eyebrow. Elena raised one herself in reply.

"So?" she said, not really getting his point.

"So, guys like him, when they see that a girl is hurt, they don't try to aid her out of kindness or because they actually care, they do that in order to impress her hoping in a head-start to charm her once she back on her feet" Gabe said with an annoyed hint in his voice, just by thinking about Alonso trying that technique with Elena. She huffed, that meant not head-start for her in discouraging him.

"Okay, got it. But still, if he starts flirting again and doesn't get the hint" she started, placing a hand on Gabe's chest getting him to a halt "Don't say anything about the jaquins" she warned whispering so that none of the nearby servants would hear her. The jaquins had become their code word regarding them being a couple.

"You know, that might actually get him to back off" Gabe whispered back.

"Gabe…"

"Fine! I'll keep quiet about the jaquins" he responded and took the last few steps left, before gently placing Elena back on the wheelchair and wheeling her to the throne room. They found Elena's grandparents already there waiting for her, along with Naomi. Esteban was going to be there in a minute with King Juan Ramón and Prince Alonso. Gabe settled Elena's wheelchair a few feet from the throne, between Naomi and her grandparents, then he went to stand beside her, clasping his hands behind his back and puffing out his chest the moment Prince Alonso and his father entered the throne room, led by Esteban.

"King Juan Ramón!" Elena greeted "It's so good to see you again!"

"The feeling is mutual, Princess Elena" he greeted.

"Prince Alonso" she greeted a little more sternly but keeping a smile on her face.

"Princess Elena!" he greeted with a grin, then he realized how she was "I don't remember you being in a wheelchair" he pointed out, his grin vanishing.

"Alonso!" the king scolded.

"Princess Elena had a small accident during our fencing tournament last week" Gabe spoke up "And even if injured, she won" he finished proudly.

"I had a good teacher" Elena replied pointing towards Gabe with her head, smiling.

"Impressive" said the king of Cordoba with a smile "How long will you have to be on a wheelchair?"

"Till the end of the week" she said "It's just sprained but with the royal duties, well, crutches would have been more of a problem rather than help"

"You surely take your responsibilities rather seriously" he said giving his son a look.

"Oh, well, I see nothing's changed since our last encounter" Alonso said, his 'charming' grin returning on his face "I hope I might get the chance to know you better this time, Princess" he said taking Elena's hand, giving her his signature flirty look. Gabe tensed as he watched Elena reluctantly allow him to kiss the back of her hand, with a slightly uneasy look on her face, but the young guard didn't do anything and allowed Elena to handle things.

"Well, your visit is quite unexpected!" Elena said, turning towards the king, quickly snatching her hand away from Alonso. She hated being on the wheelchair in that moment, not just because she would have wanted to run as far as she could, but also because having the flirty, narcissistic prince tower over her like that was really making her uncomfortable.

"Oh, yes, about that" Juan Ramón said, placing a hand on his son's shoulder so that he would step back and give her some space, and with that, he meant pulling his son back enough so he would stand a couple of steps back, so that he would be on eye level with the injured princess.

"Is something wrong with the bridge works?" Francisco asked.

"No, councilman Francisco. The bridge is actually almost complete" the king replied with a warm smile "Actually, I'm here to go over our trading agreements. You see, those documents go back to the day my father was ruling, but then Shuriki cut off trading with Cordoba. Now, 41 years later, we're allies once more and our feelings towards Avalor haven't changed, but our trading needs have. I wanted to personally discuss matters with you Princess and have my son take part of the discussion for his royal training"

"That is a wonderful idea!" Luisa said "Just this morning Elena decide to contact our trading partners to renew our terms and catch up on our kingdom's new needs"

"Actually, the Grand Council decided that" Esteban pointed out, puffing his chest out.

"Well, it was Elena's idea for a solution. Us approving is just a formality, nowadays" Naomi replied, sending Esteban a scolding look. The Chancellor didn't back down, he was not going to let the king of Cordoba think that he was just a mere accessory to the crown. All he needed to do was prove that Elena was not ready or not suitable, and what better thing than give her all the power the others gave her and see if she could handle it.

"Well, since you put it that way…" Esteban started and looked back at the king "King Juan Ramón, I have a proposition that could get us two birds with one stone. What if we allowed Prince Alonso and Princess Elena to take matters in their own hands and discuss trading business on their own? Once they're done we can supervise their agreements and give our approval, us as Avalor's Grand Council and you as King of Cordoba and father of the Prince. That way, we will renew our agreements and our Crown Prince and Princess will also have gained experience"
Gabe tensed up beside Elena and she did her best not to leap out of the chair and punch her cousin in the face. He was there when she told them about Prince Alonso, either he did not listen or he did it on purpose to challenge her and not back down to Naomi.

"Actually, that is not a bad idea" the King said considering it "If that is okay with Princess Elena, that is" he said, remembering her last encounter with his son. He would have understood if Elena did not want to work with him. Unfortunately, Elena's hands were tied, not to mention that she was not going to give her cousin the satisfaction of seeing her running away, even if out of exhaustion, certainly not fear of Alonso.

"It is, your Majesty" Elena replied with a polite smile. The king gave her a grateful nod of the head.

"Very well! It is settled" the King said "Alonso, you will now function as representative of Cordoba. Your job is to renew our trading conditions, ensuring the most benefits for the kingdom" he instructed. Alonso mimicked Esteban's earlier move, puffing his chest out smugly.

"Yes, Father" he said.

"I hope you will be up to the task" Juan Ramón said, with a scolding look that the prince missed as he flipped his hair back with his hand.

"You make it sound like choosing to buy bananas or apples is hard. We'll be done in a minute" Alonso commented rolling his eyes. If anyone was there to take a portrait of the moment it would have been a great comical picture. Esteban's face had suddenly contracted, eyes shut and lips in a thin line as if someone had just kicked him in the shins; now he knew Elena was not exaggerating. Naomi looked at Alonso like she had just seen a jaguar successfully scrub the spots off its own coat. Luisa and Francisco had an unsure smile, unable to understand if the young prince was actually serious or if he was joking. Gabe bit the inside of his cheeks not to laugh at him, expecting something like that, and Elena wanted to cry at the prospect of having to work with him once more.

"Would you rather start now or tomorrow morning, your Highness?" Juan Ramón asked, pinching the bridge of his nose, embarrassed. His son really had no idea what discussing trading meant. At his question, Elena knew one thing: the sooner she started, the sooner Alonso would leave.

"We'll get on it right away" Elena said.

"I can't wait to discuss matters with you, Princess" Alonso said with a grin.

"Very, well" Esteban said "Lieutenant, please show King Juan Ramón to his quarters and take his belongings there" he commanded.

"No, Gabe's my royal guard and, as you can see, I need him right now. He is coming with me" Elena said, glaring at her cousin. He glared back.

"Besides" Luisa cut in "He trained Elena, she got injured, he looks after her" she added, sharing a look with Elena.

"We'll show you around the castle, King Juan Ramón and you're luggage will be taken to your quarters" said Francisco said.

"Thank you, councilman Francisco" the king turned to Elena and his son "And we will see you both later" and with that he walked away with Naomi, Francisco, Luisa and Esteban.

Gabe had lost track of time. When they had entered what was unofficially Elena's study, he had been standing beside her for an hour in full-on royal guard-mode, until Elena invited him to sit down since they had a lot of work to do still. Unfortunately, they seemed not to be getting anywhere. While writing down some notes regarding the trading, Elena had basically been going on with a monologue, trying to get some information out of Alonso for a fair proposal, as she went through some of the papers Naomi had made for her while Elena was busy writing the letters. It was a list of needed goods and the purpose they were needed for. Unfortunately the prince kept interrupting her with a yawn every now and then or with some attempts at flirting with some self-appreciating not-so poetry, which only fueled Elena's frustration and slowly killed Gabe's ability of self-restrain to just wheel Elena out of the room, find Alonso's father and discuss matters with him, after punching the prince in the face. At some point after another good hour, Elena's nerves were having enough as well.

"Well, Prince Alonso-"

"Yes, my fair princess? And please, you can call me Alonso" he said with a side grin. Gabe and Elena held back a cringe.

"Alonso" Elena restarted, taking a breath. Gabe got up from the chair he had been sitting on and went to stand beside Elena "What do you think about this proposal? Replacing the goods we used to trade, Avalor will provide you with cocoa, boniatos and copper. Cordoba, on the other hand, will provide us with truffles, wood and linen. The only goods from the old contract we'll keep on trading will be Cordoban iron and Avaloran crystals. Is that agreeable to you?" she asked.

"Well, you already sorted things out, so we're good!" Alonso said

"I don't know the Cordoban situation, that's why I'm asking if the new goods are okay" Elena pointed out.

"We came here to decide what food to buy from you. So that's good enough" he said "Well, now that we're done. I'd love to go on that tour of Avalor-"

"Not so fast" Elena said "We haven't discussed the goods prices and trading tariffs"

"Oh, come on! We've been here for hours! Let's take a break" he said "We could go for a ride" Gabe rolled his eyes.

"You did hear I'm stuck on this wheelchair for another seven days, right?" Elena said unable to hold back the sass in her voice.

"Oh, right! I apologize, but your liveliness and lead-taking makes your injury easy to forget. Perhaps I shall wheel you out for some fresh air?" he insisted.

"Maybe... when we're done with this proposal" Elena said.

"Okay! Tell you what: we'll make it 10% on everything. How does that sound?" Alonso said.

"Uhm… not agreeable?" Elena said "First of: 10% of what? Second: 10% raise or decrease? Third: either way on everything is useless for both of us"

"Fine. So what do you suggest?" he asked, rolling his eyes. Elena breathed in. By the end of the day, Avalor would be going war against Cordoba, because she was going to murder it's prince, sooner or later.

"So, inside Avalor, the prices are: 2 pesos per kilo for chocolate, 2,50 pesos-"

"-Why don't you just give me a list of the goods with the prices? Just tell me how would you like to arrange the tariffs" Alonso interrupted. Gabe's patience was running short already and he fought not to roll his eyes again. Elena wasn't much different.

"Fine" she cut short "For the Avaloran goods the tariffs would increase by kilo: 50% on boniatos"

"Okay" he nodded

"53% on copper"

"Yeah"

"And 63% on cocoa or 70% if it is already refined"

"Uh-hu…" Elena watched him fix his hair.

"Refined as in chocolate bars, or chocolates for example"

"Yeah" he said mirroring himself on the window's reflection.

"Is it congeniant?" Elena asked, using a disused word on purpose.

"Yeah" she knew he wasn't listening and she was about to lose it.

"You know what? For the exporting tariffs I'd increase them of an 80% percent!" she tried.

"That sounds great!" Alonso said fixing his hair again in the window's reflection. Elena lost it.

"Or maybe we could agree on a 100% raise! In hopes that Cordoba goes broke and will be forced to beg Avalor for support and become a protectorate of my kingdom!"

"Yeah…"

"Alonso!" she shouted, making even Gabe slightly flinch at her outburst, as she finally got the princes' attention.

"What? Hu? Oh, yes! I agree it's perfect!" he said

"I've been talking for two hours now and you did not listen to a word I said!" Elena complained.

"Sorry. I was too busy admiring a rare beauty" he said giving her a cocky, flirty grin and fixing back his hair, clearly complimenting himself rather than her and in all fairness, Elena was done with his 'compliments'.

"Do you know what we're discussing right now?" Elena started "Do you even know what are your kingdom's needs?! Were you actually listening to my trading proposal?"

"I must have been too busy thinking of a more romantic kind of proposal for you" he flirted. Gabe lost it too.

"Listen Prince Alonso" Gabe said stepping in front of Elena "I don't know what are the customs for rejection in Cordoba, but Princess Elena made it clear that she's not interested" he said sternly, puffing his chest out menacingly, just in case the visible height difference wasn't enough to intimidate the prince. In fact it wasn't, even though when Alonso stood up to stare him down, the height difference was still evident.

"Oh, look who's here! I forgot you were even in the room Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Blandsome" the prince provoked, his face turned serious "You're just a commoner. Stay out of royal business"

"That's enough, Prince Alonso!" Elena snapped angrily "Unlike you, I have work to do and I'm done wasting my time with you. So unless you come around within the next hour, we are done talking. I don't suppose your father will be too happy to hear about this, will he?" she said. Alonso glared at her.

"But Ele-"

"No. I'm done! Gabe, I need some fresh air. Take me to the royal gardens, please" she said.

"Yes, Princess" he said and swiftly wheeled her out of the room, leaving a dumbfounded prince behind them.

That was a much needed break for the both of them. Gabe needed to stretch his legs and stop hearing Alonso's annoying voice making self-appreciating comments and flirt with Elena. Mostly he was mad at the situation because he couldn't 'mark his territory' like the Major said one time he talked about how he put back in place a man trying to flirt with his wife. He couldn't just get to Alonso's face and tell him to back off from his girlfriend accompanied with a punch in the face, not just because Elena wanted to keep their relationship private, but also because he was a prince and Gabe wasn't. He was far from being royalty. He couldn't risk a diplomatic incident, most of all, he couldn't be the cause of it.

"You're mad" Elena stated. It wasn't a question. She had noticed. Gabe was walking beside her and Elena was wheeling herself, after convincing Gabe to let her. She couldn't walk and blow steam off by jogging, so she figured she would wheel herself alongside him. They were having some small talk and Gabe's replies were mostly polite nods and monosyllabic responses.

"At him? Yes" Gabe replied.

"Sit down and talk to me?" Elena suggested pointing at a nearby bench . Gabe sighed and sat down as Elena wheeled herself in front of him.

"I'm just annoyed" Gabe said looking at her "I mean, you are working and all he cares about is flipping his hair and remind you how attractive he is- and by the way, I'm way more handsome!" Elena burst out laughing.

"Wow! Where did that last part come from?" she said. Gabe just then realized what he had just said, he sounded like Alonso.

"Nowhere. I just- I mean…" Gabe stuttered in a miserable attempt of a save.

"Does that mean that you actually spend quite some time in front of the mirror?" she replied holding back a smirk. Gabe's cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

"No!" he responded way too quickly "I-I-… I just do what's necessary to be presentable"

"Oh, really?" Elena said with a playful smirk "Does that mean that your perfect hair gets like that on its own?"

"Well… not entirely" Gabe said embarrassed. Elena giggled at him. He slightly chuckled at himself, seeing her smile made him happy that he was the one doing it, even if she was laughing at him. Then her face turned more serious, but the corner of her mouth was slightly twitched up in a reassuring look.

"Are you sure you're just annoyed at him?" she asked. Gabe smiled back, taking her hand in his.

"I just don't like it when people are being disrespectful other than unprofessional, especially when I know that you have a lot to do and don't appreciate people wasting your time, just as much as I do" Gabe said "Besides, we've been out here half an hour already, I don't think Alonso will come apologize anytime soon"

"I agree" Elena said "But Gabe, in case he does show up and I will still have to work with him: relax. I'm thankful for your concern, but I can handle Alonso" she said reassuringly.

"I know" he replied with a small smile "Do you want me to go get King Juan Ramón and tell him what happened?" he suggested after a second of silence.

"As much as I'd prefer to discuss matters with him rather than Alonso, I said I'd give him an hour before going to his father and considering what we're talking about, it wouldn't give a very good impression not keeping my word even on something this small" Elena said. Gabe turned away, filling his cheeks with air and letting out a long huff, making Elena laugh "You really dislike him, don't you?"

"Gosh, yes…" he said, hanging his head low, before looking back up at Elena with sweet eyes "Can I tell him about the jacquins?"

"Gabe" she scolded giving him a look.

"But it could work" he said.

"Gabe" scolded again.

"Kidding!" he said with a playful grin. Elena shook her head.

"You keep that up and you're going to have a slip up" Elena warned with a smile.

"Slip up?" Gabe joked, making sure no one else was there "Slip up on what? About the jaquins?"

"Stop it" she giggled as he inched forward.

"What? Why would I slip up about us having a jaquin?"

"You just would! Lower your voice"

"Why? Afraid people might hear about our jaquin?" he inched closer.

"Gabe!" she tried to shut him up, bringing her hands to his mouth, but failed as Gabe caught them and move them away.

"I wouldn't blame you in that case. People could be jealous-"

"Gabriel!"

"-and their jealousy would be very appropriate!" he finished with a grin, his face inches apart from hers. Elena stopped struggling against him and thought about his last statement, for a moment.

"Okay, their jealousy would be appropriate" she replied, snickering with him.

"Yup! And now kiss me"

"What?!"

"Nobody's here. If you don't kiss me, I will" he said and eagerly captured her lips in his with a soft kiss, cutting off her upcoming complaint. Nevertheless, Elena kissed back, smiling against his lips. The kiss was short and sweet, but it was well needed from both of them. When they pulled back, they stared into each other's eyes a moment longer, before pulling further apart from one another.

"I'll wheel you back to your study. If Alonso doesn't show up, I'll go get his father for you" he said standing back up.

"Thank you, Gabe" Elena replied with a grateful smile. As much as they both wanted to relax and enjoy each other's presence, they knew it was about time to get back to work. They were not like the prince of Cordoba, they knew that there was a time to relax and one for business, now it was time to get back to business.
They had gotten not too far away from the bench they had previously sat on when they heard an all too familiar voice call the princess.

"Elena!" Alonso called "Elena! Where are- Oh! There you are!" he said spotting the princess and her guard.

"Yes, Prince Alonso?" Elena said eyeing him, with a look between hopeful expectancy and annoyance. The Prince remained quiet for a moment. Standing in front of them with a hand behind his back, he took a step forward and revealed a small flower in his hidden hand.

"I came here to apologize" he said, offering the flower to the princess "I thought about what you said and I realized my behavior was far from prince like, disrespectful and immature. You're right, my father wouldn't be pleased to hear that I've disappointed you again. So, I hope we can give it another shot and work together, for real this time, but if you prefer to work with my father rather than me, I won't blame you. I understand completely" Elena and Gabe blinked incredulously, neither knowing what had just happened. They glanced at each other, but both finding a reflection of their expression on the other's face, before glancing back at the prince. Elena knocked out of her trance first and eyed the prince suspiciously and so did Gabe.

"Do you actually mean it? Or are you just saying it because you're afraid of the consequences of me telling your father of your lack in sense of duty?" Elena asked suspiciously.

"I mean it. From right now, I swear I'll do my part of the agreement and I won't bother you while we're fulfilling our duties of future monarchs" Alonso said "Please give me one last chance" Gabe held back a snort. He was not buying it. There was no way a guy like Alonso would have a change of heart that quickly, unless he had been touched by a miracle in their absence. Elena remained silent for a moment, but then she spoke up.

"Alright" she said and sensed Gabe tense up behind her, she didn't need to look at him, but she didn't have that much of a choice anyway "One last chance" Alonso bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Elena! I won't let you down" he said and offered her the flower once more.

"Third time's the charm, right?" she said and hesitantly accepted the flower.

"It is! You are too kind. Please, let me take you back to the study. I already had my servant take there some documents that could benefit the trading agreement on both sides and some water with a few Cordoban treats I brought as a gift, so we won't starve ourselves before lunch" he said as he basically pushed Gabe away from the wheelchair and started wheeling Elena himself.

"That's very considerate of you" she replied. Gabe remained still, straightening back up, watching Alonso take Elena away with this new responsible and lead-taking attitude that made his stomach twitch nervously and angrily. Still, he swallowed the lump in his throat and followed closely. His eyes digging holes behind Alonso's head.

Earlier Gabe was still annoyed at the prince and was sure that his act would be forgotten in less than thirty minutes, after watching him cooperate and seriously discuss matters with Elena and actually seeing her happy and smiling at Alonso's contribution, he was just plain annoyed. He was liking it even less when he noticed Alonso staring at Elena with a certain look. To an unknowing eye, it might have looked like he was captivated by the young princess, but Gabe knew that it was far from fascination. Alonso was studying her like a lion ready to strike at its prey. That was confirmation that Alonso's was all an act. Elena had rejected him-clearly!- more than twice, to Alonso that meant that he had to woo her, not because he felt any sort of affection towards her, but only to prove a point and 'have fun' like the prince would say.
The young royal guard had to bite his tongue back more than once, but his patience was getting to a limit, especially since he noticed Alonso standing a little too close to Elena, or he would 'casually' brush his fingers against hers whenever she passed him a paper and occasionally drop a flirting line to which Elena replied at first with a polite smile and later with a scolding look.
They were almost done when Armando came to knock to the door.

"Princess Elena, Prince Alonso. I've been sent to inform you that lunch will be served shortly and that your family is waiting for you in the dining room" Armando said.

"Thank you, Armando" Elena said "Alonso, we can finish the last few details after lunch" Gabe smirked. He didn't know if Elena did it on purpose, but she had just thrown the perfect bait for Alonso to drop the act.

"Nonsense!" Alonso said "Let's finish right away! I was hoping you could show me around Avalor, once we were done. I would love to spend the afternoon with you touring kingdom!"

"Yeah, right! Touring the kingdom" Gabe blurted out, before he could bite his tongue back. Elena glanced at Gabe, having a bad feeling of where that was going.

"I beg your pardon?" Prince Alonso said turning towards Gabe, taking a few steps towards him. Armando took it as his cue to take his leave, in case things got ugly.

"I'm just surprised you'd pass up an opportunity to relax immediately" Gabe said "If I'm not wrong, you were the one who said that when you're young 'your only job is to have a good time', am I right?"

"Yes, but I decided to take example after Princess Elena and finish my duties as prince before enjoying my short stay in Avalor. Besides, the dining room is downstairs, what kind of honorable prince would I be if I did not help the princess when she is clearly still recovering from an injury?"

"That's very kind of you, but she's got me for that and all the help she might need for anything else"

"Ha! That's a good one, Sergeant!" Alonso said.

"First Lieutenant, thank you very much" Gabe replied getting more and more irritated.

"Guys" Elena tried, but neither of them paid her any attention.

"I don't care" Alonso dismissed quickly "You're not a Cordoban delegate, so I am afraid your help is not needed for this proposal, as is your presence in this room"

"Oh, please! As if you actually care about the trading agreement!"

"Gabe!" Elena scolded him

"So what if I don't? It's none of your business, anyway. You're nothing but a lowly commoner thug, who has no business in royal matters"

"Hey! That was uncall-" but this time it was Gabe who ignored Elena completely.

"Oh really? Because my 'royal matter' is to kick the butt of whoever acts like you did ever since you set foot in Avalor and disrupts the princess in any way, which includes you. Is that 'royal matters' enough?" Gabe said stepping menacingly towards Alonso

"Guys!" once again she was ignored

"Oh, real charming! You'd better learn what is your place, Sergeant. You're talking to a prince and right now you are just wasting precious time we could use to finish our job. Our important job…commoner" he said with despise.

"Because trying to take advantage of a woman's injury to impress her is very honorable and prince-like, right?"

"Gabe!" the princess scolded.

"Don't you see that this is all an act?!" Gabe said turning to her "He's pretending to be interested in the job so that all he needs to do is read off of documents he certainly had someone else do for him, while he was busy flirting around, and impress you by playing the good diplomat" then he turned back to Alonso "Because apparently even taking credit for someone else's work is prince-like!"

"Actually I just wanted to get the job done and spend the rest of my time getting to know you better, Princess" Alonso said turning towards Elena "Maybe somewhere more private, without insolent over-controlling guards watching us" he added glancing back at Gabe snapping the last part at him. Gabe lost it.

"Do you want me to say it again?! She already seeing someone! She's not interested!"

"That's enough Lieutenant Nuñez!" Elena thundered, getting between them with her wheelchair "Enough!" she repeated before the boys started fighting again "Lieutenant, I want you out of this room" she commanded. Gabe looked at her with his eyes wide, shock written all over his face.

"What?! But- Princess!" he tried, but Elena cut him off, looking at him sharply.

"I said I was going to handle this, now leave. It's an order" she said. Elena had never looked at him like that. She was dead serious and getting mad herself. Gabe shook his head but backed down.

"As you command, Princess" he said and left. Ignoring, but not missing Alonso's smug look as he gave him a small two-fingered hand. Gabe left the room and as the doors were closed Alonso turned back to Elena with a satisfied smirk.

"Wow" he started "Someone should tell him that you're way out of his league. I mean- That guy's clearly in love with you! Seriously, he's ridiculous to think he might actually have a chance with a princess!" he said laughing at Gabe "But now I am curious. Are you really seeing someone or did he just make it up because he feels threatened by me? And let's face it. Who wouldn't? But aside from that, you should teach your guards how to speak to royalty and where they belong"

"First of all: don't you ever dare to talk like that to my friends again" she said, surprising Alonso at how darkly calm but powerful her voice was "Second…" she continued standing up from the wheelchair, holding herself by lightly leaning on the table and balancing her weight on the uninjured foot, staring directly Alonso in the face. He didn't move and stood his ground "Lieutenant Nuñez knows his place very well and you should consider yourself lucky of the title you bring with you, because had it been anyone else harassing me the way you did, he would have kicked you out of my sight long ago; that's his job! And third: my private life doesn't concern you" Alonso looked at her weirdly, not sure how to reply. After a moment of hesitation he spoke up.

"Whatever" he said "Let's go to lunch" he was about to turn around and leave, but before he could take a step away from her, Elena grabbed his shoulder with a hand.

"Not so fast" Elena said "You said you wanted to finish this first and I don't suppose your father will be too happy to hear his son postponed his job again" Alonso was about to reply but her eyes clearly dared him to walk away because she was going to report him to his father. The prince huffed.

"Fine!" he said "Let's finish that stupid stuff!" and walked to where his papers were on the table. Elena rolled her eyes and carefully sat back on her wheelchair, trying not to put any weight on her injured ankle, then she got back to work.

During lunch, everyone noticed there was something up between Elena, Gabe and Alonso. Gabe was not there to guard them and Mateo had seen him angrily stalk down the stairs and head to the castle soldier's quarters. Alonso had a scowl on his face and Elena, not only had called Rico to help her get down the staircase, even if she smiled politely, she had the 'nobody-talk-to-me-I-might-bite' look she had whenever she got in an argument with Esteban when he tried to put his nose in her way of ruling. The good thing was that when she announced that she and Alonso were done with the trading proposal, everyone seemed to forget about it and decided they were going to take a look at it later, after lunch, to allow the prince and princess to have a small break, before going back to their duty in case they had to fix something. After their break, the Grand Council and King Juan Ramón reunited in the assembly room and the teenagers presented their trading agreement. The outcome, on Elena's side, had been hilarious and the princess fought hard to pretend she was actually feeling bad for the young prince, when in reality she wasn't at all. He got what he deserved. Her side of the deal had been more than acceptable. Elena had managed to hit all the goals Avalor needed, if not obtaining even a little more. She was a little mad that she had to spend another hour working on the proposal because of Alonso's laziness, but even though discussing matters with the Cordoban king himself made her lose most of that surplus she had gained and was hoping to use for other agreements, she had managed to obtain what was necessary to Avalor. That success had made her grandparents and herself very proud, made Naomi able to brag about having Esteban proved wrong again and Esteban sulkfor having lost to prove his point.

There was one more matter she needed to solve, and that was talking to Gabe. Not only to share the news, but also because, if she knew him well enough, he would have wanted to talk to her even though it was probably going to end up in their first argument, besides, she had one pretty good reason herself to be mad at him. She had asked Naomi to go call him, while she was on her way out to the palace to head out to the docks, and come find her in her room. Elena was reading a book, sitting on her wheelchair as she waited for him to show up. She couldn't get back on the letters, she decided she was going to finish them in the morning, with a clear and relaxed mind. She was too exhausted to finish without messing up. Then she finally heard a knock on the door.

"Princess Elena" Gabe called "It's Lieutenant Nuñez, you called for me, may I come in?"

"Come in" she said, closing her book and putting it aside. Elena wheeled herself around so that she could face him as he entered. Gabe closed the door behind him and, as he turned around, his glare met Elena's. Gabe stomped towards her.

"I can't believe you sided with that conceited jerk!" he said kneeling down in front of her so that he could look at her eye to eye.

"I did not side with him!" Elena replied "And I can't believe you blurted out about the jaquins! I knew you were going to have slip up by keeping up joking about it!"

"I didn't tell him about the jaquins! I told him that you were not available, therefore not interested, meaning he'd have to back off! But instead of going along with it, you sent me away so you could have some alone-time with Narcissus Flirtypants!" he argued.

"No, Gabe!" said Elena "I sent you away to avoid a diplomatic incident! You don't talk to a prince like that! I know you don't like the guy, but you know that unless you're royalty you don't question a prince's honor, ever!"

"I wasn't questioning his honor. I was simply denying it's existence"

"Exactly! Which is even worse! You were being completely out of control!"

"Oh, I'm sorry if I was just doing my job and defending your honor!" Gabe said sarcastically. Elena glared daggers at him.

"I am not a damsel in distress! Let me remind you that I'm the Crown Princess of Avalor who defeated the evil sorceress Shuriki, I don't need to be protected, I can take care of myself and most of all: I told you to stand back because I was handling it!" Elena snapped at him

"Yeah well, Elena, you stuck on this chair for another week should remind you that sometimes you're not a good judge of what you can handle. So…" he paused with a clap of the hand "There you have it!" Elena's mouth was left agape looking at him incredulously as Gabe stood up, thinking that she was probably going to kick him out.

"Wow!" she said sarcastically "Are you serious?!"

"Yes!" Gabe stated.

"So that's why you didn't want to train me for the tournament!" she said slowly getting carefully back on her feet, to stare him up "You didn't want to teach me because you thought I couldn't handle it!" she said as Gabe worriedly grabbed her by the arms and had her sit down again, before she could hurt herself. He didn't need her stuck on that chair for another two weeks.

"No!" Gabe replied, kneeling back in front of her as he sat her down "I didn't want to train you, because I didn't want this to happen!" he said pointing to her bandaged ankle.

"But it did and I won the tournament. That was my goal and I achieved it! But that was not the point. You shouldn't have told Alonso that I was seeing someone! What the heck were you thinking?! You could have just told him 'hey! back off! that's my girlfriend!' while you were at it! Alonso might be a lazy conceited jerk but he isn't that stupid! With the way you were acting he understood that you don't see me as 'just a friend', another slip up and he could easily put two and two together!"

"Look, I was not just going to stand there and say nothing, and this is not just the boyfriend talking! Only because he's a prince it doesn't give him any right to harass you like that and disturb you when you're actually trying to work for your people. I am your royal guard and protecting you is my job!"

"You still shouldn't have acted like that, Gabe!" Elena argued, her eyes never leaving Gabe's.

"Oh come on! Why are you being so hard on me?!" he said "I was doing my duty as guard and boyfriend. Alonso made it clear that all he cares about is himself and his looks. He doesn't care one bit about his country and his people, he clearly had no idea what you had been talking about for hours and what you were supposed to do, he is selfish and a cowardly flirt. The only reason he had to accept cooperating with you was so he could impress you and because he was afraid of you reporting his misbehavior to his father. But did you say anything to him? No, you didn't! Because Alonso is a prince and he can just snap his fingers and have his servant bring him documents that make him look a little more prepared in his royal duties, then he claps his hands and gets servants to have a romantic picnic set up and he can snap his fingers again and have the fastest chariot of the kingdom that seats for two ready for a romance-themed-kingdom-tour with you!" Elena stared at him with a tiny amused smirk forming on her lips as she heard his rant.

"Oh my God! I can't believe it!" she exclaimed

"What?" he snapped

"You're jealous!" she exclaimed with a huge grin. Gabe scoffed.

"Don't be absurd!"

"That's exactly what someone who's jealous would say" she insisted, grinning even more.

"That's… ridiculous!"

"Is it?" she challenged

"Yes!" he insisted "Absolutely preposterous!"

"Ooh, using the big words to make your point, are you? Sounds like jealousy to me" she teased.

"You know what, Elena? I never thought you had the 'full-of-myself' streak in you-"

"-Full of myself?!-"

"-but I clearly have to reconsider" he continued.

"Are you kidding me?!What does it even have to do with this?!" she exclaimed, slightly offended, but Gabe went on.

"I'm not jealous, I'm angry!" he clarified "Because you have unfair double standards"

"Of course I don't hold you and Alonso at the same standards!" Elena said angrily "I expect bad behavior from Prince Flirtypants, but from you, Gabriel" she said pointing her finger on his chest "I expect so much better!"

"Oh, no! That's not going to work!" Gabe argued, pointing his finger at her "Don't you dare turn this around on me, Elena! I am the one who got kicked out, had to watch his girlfriend fight off a playboy who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'no', and now gets lectured about it when I couldn't take it anymore! I am the one who is supposed to be mad!"

"Yeah well, I am the one whose boyfriend almost caused a diplomatic incident and told the blabbermouth flirt that I'm in a relationship when I clearly said I wanted privacy! So I get to be mad!" she finished. The two teenagers remained in silence for a few seconds, glaring towards each other and took a deep breath together, closing their eyes. They had both made a few valid points. Keeping on fighting wasn't worth it, mostly because they understood the other's distress and realized that they both had something to apologize for. When they opened their eyes and glanced back at each other, the frown on their faces was gone. It's place had been taken by a coy guilty smile.

"I am an idiot…" Gabe said, looking at her with a tiny shy smile and guilty eyes.

"I am too…" Elena said. Her eyes matching his. Their tiny smile grew a bit larger and building up some confidence, Elena timidly held her hands out towards him. Gabe smiled even more and took her outstretched hands in his and brought one to his lips planting a kiss on her knuckles, before shifting his hands so that he covered her smaller hands with his larger ones, resting them on her knees.

"I'm sorry for acting like a jerk back there" Gabe said "I should have had more self-control. I know you can handle your own and I don't think you're full of yourself… you're right. I was jealous and I'm sorry I told Alonso about the jaquins to get him to back off, I swear I didn't mean to say it, but it slipped out. Even if I kept my identity hidden, it wasn't fair to you… I…" Gabe looked away taking a deep breath, hanging his head low "I know I have nothing to fear from Alonso, but… there is a reason why I got jealous-"

"I know, Gabe" Elena interrupted him, cupping his cheek with her hand, her thumb gently caressing his face "Him being a royal reminded you that if you were a prince things would be easier. We wouldn't have to sneak around in order to be left alone, there wouldn't be the risk of pressures from my family or the possibility of people thinking you're with me for the crown… and I wouldn't have had to ask you to keep us quiet" Elena paused, sadly "Gabe, I'm so sorry I didn't realize sooner how this silence not only bugged you but it hurt you. I know you care about me and I was stupid not to think that not being able to step up and do something because I asked for privacy was not going to upset you" the teenagers remained quiet for a moment. Gabe leaned into Elena's touch, savoring the quiet moment, before speaking up.

"Forgive me?" he said with a small smile.

"Of course" Elena said "Forgive me?" with a matching smile.

"Of course" he replied. Their smiles got wider as Gabe pushed himself up a little and hugged Elena as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. The two of them remained quiet, feeling one another's warmth as they held each other in that embrace.

"Elena" Gabe said softly pulling away from the embrace, but keeping her hands in his. The princess hummed in response, cuing him to go on "Did telling Alonso about the jaquins backfire?" Gabe asked worriedly.

"Luckily, no" Elena said "Everyone was kind of wondering what took so long for Alonso and I to make that proposal, but in the end the Grand Council was more than happy with what I achieved. King Juan Ramón, not so much. He realized that Alonso had no actual clue of what was going on and the fun part is that the documents Alonso used to help himself with the proposal, not only were they written by someone else when he had time to do it himself, he had no idea which items he actually had to ask for. You should have seen his father. Alonso got a lecture he is certainly not going to forget. Can you believe he even tried to blame you?!"

"Me?" Gabe said surprised "For what?"

"Everything he didn't do. He even tried to bring me into that and he did try to tell him about us. Good thing King Juan Ramón couldn't care less and dismissed it before he could finish the sentence and went on lecturing him. Long story short, I finished the agreement with the King"

"So… no damage was done?" Gabe asked.

"No" Elena confirmed.

"That's a relief!" Gabe said "And Alonso got what he deserved, so that's a bonus" he said with a chuckle, but that small laugh ended quickly. Elena noticed Gabe's discomfort as he looked to their interlaced hands. He wanted to tell her something, but was not sure if it was the case or it was better to keep it to himself. She knew right then what she had to do and it was about time, too.

"Gabe" Elena called. He looked up at her "King Juan Ramón and Alonso are leaving in two days" she started.

"Okay. Good to know" he said.

"I was thinking about telling my family about us as soon as they leave" she said. Gabe's sad face became blank for a moment as he processed her words, then, a small smile appeared on his face.

"Really?" he said feeling his heart race in his chest at hearing that.

"Yes" Elena said smiling back "I'll just need to find the right moment, mostly for Esteban and Abuelo… do you think you can be just a little more patient?" she asked a little shyly, but seeing Gabe smile turn into a huge happy grin instantly warmed her heart.

"I can definitely be a little more patient!" he replied with a happy grin and before Elena could say anything more, Gabe pushed himself up, holding himself on her wheelchair's arms, and crashed his lips against hers. Elena responded to his happy kiss immediately, feeling him smile into the kiss just as much as she was. They pulled back for a moment glancing into each other's eyes, before kissing again. This kiss was more tender and sweeter than the first one, Elena's hands found their way around his neck sending sparks of electricity through him as her fingers played with his hair. Gabe cupped her cheek with a hand, deepening their kiss. A moment later he realized he was getting a little carried away when Elena pulled back, as her hands quickly went to his chest gently pushing him away. Gabe pulled back.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry… I'm stopping" he said with a tiny apologetic smile. Elena smiled sweetly back at him as he planted a small kiss on her cheek as he kneeled back down. "So… I imagine you were taking a break and I suppose you were reading a book" Gabe started, nodding his head to the book on the footstool.

"Leyendas Maruvianas " Elena said smiling. Gabe's eyes lit up.

"Do you want to read it together?" he said suggested. She smiled.

"Help me hop to my bed and we'll get right to it" Elena replied, Gabe smiled but instead of helping her up, he stood up and scooped her up in his arms, earning a small yelp of surprise from her as Elena wrapped her arms around his neck. Gabe gently set her on her bed and as Elena made herself comfortable, careful not to make bad movements for her ankle, scooting over a little bit as Gabe handed her the book and laid down beside her. He held one arm out for Elena to use as a pillow and put the other behind his head, as his free hand caressed Elena's arm while she held the book up. They decided they would read one story each as they went and as Gabe kissed her temple, Elena started reading the first story.

It had been an intense day, but it was worth it. Neither of them really considered that their first real fight, more like their first real bickering, but they needed that talk. It had opened their eyes in a way and it certainly helped them grow as a couple and even though neither of them were fans of Alonso they had to admit that he had done one good thing: unknowingly he had brought them closer together. Elena and Gabe now knew that what started as a normal teenage crush was growing into something deeper they couldn't quite define yet. They knew they were probably going to face harder challenges once the whole kingdom knew about them, but now they felt their bond was strong enough to face them head on.

And there you have it! Next episode, which has also been requested, will be about Elena trying to tell her family about her and Gabe. How did you like this episode? Tell me your thoughts on it with your reviews! Constructive criticism is well accepted!
Have any of you guessed what series I quoted? 10 points to who can guess them! ;-)
Also, since fictionlover94 asked for this one-shot, I kind of wrote a small part at the beginning that reminds of her own story My Fake Fiancé.

See you all on the next one-shot!

The Princess of Stars