Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters since Princess Diaries 1 & 2, and its characters are the property of Disney, Buena Vista, and Meg Cabot. I make no money from this work of fiction.

FRIENDS

"So, darling," Clarisse looked across her desk to Mia who had just come into the office the two queens now shared. "You saw Lilly off at the airport?"

"Yes. I'm really gonna miss her, Grandma," Mia said, slumping into the chair which Charlotte usually occupied.

"I'm sure you will. But you have other friends here ..."

"Not that many, and none as close as Lilly is. I've known her practically forever!"

"Hmmm," Clarisse made a noncommittal noise as she looked back down at the papers on her desk.

"Grandma? Can I ask you something?"

"Of course you MAY," Clarisse emphasized the last word, looking up again.

Mia characteristically ignored the gentle correction. "How many friends do you have? REAL friends, I mean. I know you hobnob with all the royalty and the aristocrats of Europe, but did you ever have any REAL friends?"

"Of course I've had friends, Mia. I do believe I already told you that Rupert was my best friend while we were married." Clarisse said simply.

"Doesn't count," Mia replied succinctly.

"Very well, then ... Joseph. He's most definitely my best friend now." was Clarisse's next answer.

"Grandma! I MEANT friends of your own sex!"

"Oh, I see. Hmmm, female friends ... well, there's Charlotte ..."

"CHARLOTTE?"

"Of course. Is there any reason why Charlotte and I should not be friends?" Clarisse asked, rather startled at Mia's astonishment.

"No, but I wouldn't have thought ... hey, let's ask her," Mia said. "I'm curious to see if SHE thinks you two are friends!"

"Oh, Mia ..." But Mia had already sent for Charlotte. Clarisse shook her head and bent to her work again. Mia was a dear child, but prone to distraction!

When Charlotte came into the room, Mia said immediately, "Charlotte, do you consider you and Grandma to be friends?"

Charlotte blinked at the question, then looked at Queen Clarisse and back at Queen Mia. Finally, she nodded, rather timidly. "If her Majesty says ..."

"Okay," Mia agreed, nodding to Clarisse. "I'll concede that you have one friend. Charlotte. But how about someone your own age?"

"Age is merely a matter of mind one might conceivably be friends with all ages. You and I, Charlotte and I, you and Charlotte ..."

"Your list still seems pretty meager to me, Grandma, no matter how many ways you try to stretch it! Charlotte, tell me, if you had to make a list of everyone you consider to be your friend, would we be on it?" Mia asked, intently peering at the other woman she had been growing to know and like more and more in the last few months.

"I, well ... I suppose ..." Charlotte stammered, her face growing red. Why did it seem that Queen Mia could always ask the most embarrassingly direct questions? Was it because she was an American by birth and upbringing?

"REALLY? Charlotte, you're not very good at lying," Mia grinned slyly.

"No, I'm not," Charlotte sighed. "Well, I would LOVE to be able to list the two of you, your Majesty, but to be perfectly honest, I would not presume to ..."

"TOLD you so!" Mia crowed to Clarisse. "Okay, Grandma, do some serious thinking here. What about school? Do you have any friends from school you still see?"

Clarisse frowned in thought. "Well, there is Lady Palimore. Elinor is two years younger than I am, but we were ... friendly, I suppose you could say, in school."

"Nice!" Mia grinned. "I remember seeing her face when I was up at the front of the church ... she was smiling at me and nodding. I'd like to get to know her better. She looks like she could be fun. Do you ever see her now? I mean, obviously you SEE her, but do you ever just hang out together?"

"Hang out?" Clarisse looked blank.

Charlotte smothered a smile, and began edging towards the door. It seemed she was no longer needed, and she thought she should make her escape before Queen Mia fired another question her way. And yet, she was glad the younger queen was making Queen Clarisse talk about such things. She had always felt that the former queen had been very alone and lacking in deep friendships with other women.

"You know, do fun things, crazy things with her. Lilly and I have done a lot of wild things like going to a mall when there's a sale, and pretending we don't know each and both grabbing at the same item and fighting over it loudly." She grinned at the remembrance.

"Mia, you didn't!" Clarisse remonstrated.

"Of course we did, and more than once, too. And it was lots of fun. Did you and Elinor ever do anything like that?"

"Certainly not."

"NEVER? Not even when you were little?"

Clarisse sighed. "I knew my place, Mia, even when I was a young child."

"You never did anything wrong?"

Charlotte, having gained the door without being noticed, now stealthily opened it, slipped out, and closed it softly behind herself before taking a deep breath.

"I didn't say that," Clarisse looked back at her papers.

Mia leaned over the desk eagerly, blocking Clarisse's view of her work. "What was something you and Elinor did that you shouldn't have?"

Leaning back, Clarisse gave in to her grand-daughter. She thought for a moment. "Well, we had a whistling contest once."

"A WHISTLING contest? What's wrong with that?"

"Our parents and teachers continually quoted the maxim 'A whistling girl and a barking dog come to no good end.' We were actually taught that whistling was forbidden for girls. One day, Elinor and I were experimenting, whistling different songs and trying to guess what the other was whistling. Then Elinor dared me to do that loud whistle ... you know, the one with the fingers? I did it. I was sent home in disgrace, and haven't done much whistling since, I'm afraid."

"You could DO that? Can you still?"

"Mia, I haven't tried for fifty years!"

"Try! Please?" Mia looked pleadingly at her.

Clarisse considered it, then smiled. "Very well." Without further ado, she let out a whistle which echoed through the palace.

Charlotte came rushing back in, her eyes wide, followed by the footmen and guards from the doorway. Mia was convulsed in laughter but Clarisse was calmly looking at everyone with an inquiring expression on her face.

"Yes?" Clarisse arched a delicate eyebrow.

The footmen and guards cleared their throats, then backed out of the room again.

"Your Majesty?" Charlotte looked from one to the other. "Your Majesty ... who did that?" Charlotte finally asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Mia, still laughing, pointed to Clarisse. When she could get her breath back, she asked, "Can you teach me to do that, Grandma?"

"I don't think so," was the quiet response, but Clarisse's eyes were sparkling. She began to whistle a few songs, then the Genovian national anthem, then, at Mia's urging, she let out a loud wolf whistle just as Joseph and Shades burst in the door.

The men both stopped dead, and Mia and Charlotte collapsed in laughter at the disconcerted look on the men's faces, as well as on Clarisse's! Then Joseph grinned and said smoothly, "As it doesn't appear that there is an emergency here, I must conclude that the hoyden Clarisse has finally returned after years of suppression!"

"Joseph!" Clarisse frowned at him.

When Mia could finally get her breath back, she said, "Were you really a hoyden, Grandma?"

"I suppose I could have been called that, on occasion. Not often, though. With my station in life, and as the future queen, well, I've always been very aware of my duty."

"If a hoyden is someone who whistles, I guess you're STILL one!" Mia grinned.

Shades and Charlotte left the members of the royalty to continue discussing friendship and whether or not 'the queen' had a certain reputation to uphold and a placement on a pedestal. Charlotte grinned to herself as she walked beside the disgruntled Head of Security. The men had obviously been caught as unaware as SHE had been by the discussion and the actions of the two queens!

Mia argued that Elinor could still be Clarisse's friend, even if she knew all of Clarisse's secrets. "She has obviously kept them this long!"

"Oh, she would have long forgotten those days, I'm sure. No, sad to say, Mia, but a queen is naturally set apart from the others in the country."

"Is there a LAW to that effect?"

"No, no law," Clarisse was slightly taken aback. "No, of course not! It's just, well, people look up to us, and we have to hold to a different standard of behaviour."

"You said that before to me. When I lost it at the garden fete a few months ago."

"And I believe I also told you queens are not supposed to lose it but rather FIND it! Mia, you'll find that being a queen can mean that there will be times when you'll be lonely and feeling very isolated indeed. You have to be strong and sure of yourself to survive with your spirits intact. Of course," and Clarisse smiled warmly at Joseph and tucked her hand in his, "it helps to have a good friend at your side, WHATEVER sex that friend may be."

"Aw, gee, Grandma, and I thought you and Joe LOVED each other. Back to that fondness and friendship stuff already? Is the honeymoon over?" Mia teased the two.

Clarisse ignored her. She mused, "I remember one masquerade ball when I was seventeen when I acted QUITE out of character for me. Only one friend, Elinor, as it happens, ever knew. I haven't thought of that in YEARS! Elinor and I both loved dancing, so we snuck out of school to attend a masquerade ball."

"You SNUCK out?"

"Of course. We had been forbidden to go, but we were both rather headstrong in those days."

"You haven't changed much, have you?" murmured Joseph wryly.

Flashing him a smile, Clarisse continued, "We had a marvellous time! Why, after dancing all night with the same boy, not knowing who he was and knowing he never knew who I was, I even kissed him in the moonlight ..."

"Grandma, too cool!" Mia said admiringly. "And he never knew who you really were?"

"Not to my knowledge." Clarisse's eyes were clouded with memories of that kiss in a garden so long ago.

Joseph cleared his throat. "Oh, he knew, Clarisse. Believe me, he knew." he said softly.

The two queens looked at him. "What do you mean?" Clarisse asked blankly.

"Why do you think I fell in love with you and loved you for so long?" Joseph grinned. "I was the mystery boy!"

"Awesome!" Mia breathed.