A/N: This is the final chapter. Be warned those of you that are happy enders, it isn't going to end the way you wanted. It doesn't end unhappily, just not...well...you'll have to read and decide for yourselves. I did warn that it probably wouldn't lol It's a long chapter, but I just couldn't keep dragging things out. It's ended much as I always supsected it would. And yes, Clarisse is most definitely out of character in the beginning, but remember...she's had brain surgery, and no matter who you are, the type of surgery she had would change anyone. Thank you all for the patience for my slow updates and the wonderful reviews.

Clarisse murmured into the heated kiss, her fingernails digging into Joe's biceps. Her mind whirled at the implications of what this meant. He'd been aloof and hidden away for the last few weeks, ever since he'd asked her to give him back his heart and soul. Coming to her senses and pushing against his chest, she stepped back. "Joseph? What are you doing?"

"Giving in," he answered.

"Giving in?" she parroted in the form of a question.

Joe nodded. "You can't give me back my heart and soul. I can't live without them."

Clarisse shook her head. "This isn't what I want. Giving in? Giving in? What the hell kind of," she seethed then stopped, her eyes wide at her outburst.

Joe's own eyes were wide. In all the years he'd served this family, and known this woman, he'd never heard her utter a curse word. "So it would seem I'm not the only one that's changed," he muttered as he blinked away his surprise.

Picking up the nearest object, which just happened to be one of her shoes, she chucked it at him. "Damn you!"

Joe, having ducked the shoe, looked at where it landed then back at the woman standing in front of him, anger rolling off of her in waves. "You chucked a shoe at my head!" he shouted. "A damned shoe!"

Picking up the other shoe, Clarisse chucked that at him as well. "I did," she seethed.

"What the hell, woman!" Joe shouted as he ducked the other projectile. "Have you gone mad?"

"Have you?" Clarisse shouted back.

"Of course not! I'm not the one throwing things!" he yelled, ducking another flying object, this time the book she'd been reading.

"Grandmother!" Andrew shouted to get her attention, his eyes wide with his shock at what he'd witnessed.

"Andrew." Clarisse breathed as she turned to look at the young man. "What is it?" she asked when she took in his disheveled appearance.

"The baby, Grandmother."

Clarisse, all anger gone, grasped Andrew's hands. "Have you called for the doctor?"

"Yes, he's on his way, but Mia wants you."

"Alright." Clarisse let go of his hands and moved to put on her shoes, realizing too late that they weren't there anymore.

Joe, his own anger gone, dropped Clarisse's shoes at her feet. "You'll need these."

"Thank you."

CnJ

"Easy, Darling." Clarisse soothed as she wiped Mia's brow with a cool cloth.

Mia moaned through the contraction then sighed, "I thought the second baby was supposed to be faster."

Clarisse laughed lightly and shook her head. "It doesn't always work that way. Your father took longer than Pierre."

Mia snarled. "I didn't need to know that, Grandma."

Winking at her granddaughter, Clarisse leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You're doing fine, Mia."

Yawning, Mia closed her eyes. "I'm so tired, Grandma."

"Then rest, Darling."

"You'll be here?"

"I'm not going anywhere."

Reaching out, Mia searched for her grandmother's hand, sighing when she found it. Holding Clarisse's hand gave her security and let her know she wasn't alone.

Clarisse caressed Mia's damp hair from her face as she watched her sleep. She hated the pain the young woman was in, wishing she could take it for her, knowing she couldn't. She'd hoped this birth would be easier than Joey's had been, but after sixteen hours, that hope was diminishing. As she sat there, her thoughts turned to the shouting match she and Joseph had been in.

Good heavens, what had happened to her?

Cursing?

Throwing things?

Who was she?

Maybe Joseph was right.

She wasn't the same.

CnJ

"Grandma, I can't!" The cry was heard through the door causing Andrew to start toward it, stopping when Joe caught his arm.

"No. It's best you stay here."

Andrew ran a hand through his hair. "But, Joe, it's been so long. She's,"

"She's doing what she and every other woman has done for thousands of years, Andrew."

"But Joe, it's been over thirty hours! That's longer than Joey."

Joe nodded. "Baby's have their own timing, Andrew. I remember when Philippe was born. The King nearly went crazy."

Andrew nodded as he sat down on the sofa. "Grandmother told me. She said that his doctor sedated him."

"He did. You're handling this far better than he did." Joe shook his head. "For a man that faced down powerful leaders of other countries without batting an eye, he was ridiculous that night. Pierre's birth hadn't taken nearly as long, and we'd been away for part of it, but the way he was the night of Philippe's birth was strange. I think it was partially because they'd argued so much over having the spare child."

"She didn't want another child?"

"Oh, that wasn't it. It was that they kept referring to the baby as the spare."

"Ah." Andrew nodded. "Mia has had that same argument with several different members of Parliament."

"But never with you."

"Oh no. I'd never do such a thing. I want them as much as Mia, but I would have been satisfied with just Joey."

"And therein lies the difference." Joe handed Andrew a tumbler filled with whiskey. "Drink that. It will help steady your nerves."

As they sipped at their drinks, Mia's cries filtered out to them again, causing Andrew to tighten the grip on his glass. "More stories, Joe. Tell me more stories," he pleaded quietly as he looked up at the older man.

"What would you like to know?"

"How did you come to work for the Royal family?"

"I saved a reckless Prince after a fall from his horse."

Andrew's eyebrow shot up at that. "Really?"

Joe nodded. "He was always doing things he shouldn't while riding. This particular day, he was showing off to a group of young ladies and decided to jump over a fence that was too high. I was a young soldier at the time and saw what was going on. Just as I rushed to stop him, he flew over the fence, but the horse's front legs didn't clear and it threw him off. I managed to keep the horse from crushing him by grabbing him and yanking him out of the way just as the horse went down."

"So you didn't just save a reckless Prince, you saved Genovia that day too."

Joe shrugged. "I was only doing what my father had taught me. I would have done the same if it had been one of the local farmers."

Andrew nodded. "I know that, Joe. So, what happened after?"

"I was summoned by King Edward and offered a job as palace guard. I worked hard and was eventually promoted to part of the Prince's security detail."

"Did he promote you to his personal guard?"

"No. That was King Edward after I saved the Prince from an assassination attempt by one of the Von Troken family's supporters."

"How many times did you save his life?"

"Only those two." Joe looked down in his glass. "The only time I took a bullet, was for the Dowager."

"Grandmother?"

Joe nodded. "Yes. Those first months after the death of the King and then the Prince, were difficult ones. She was grieving, and the Renaldi supporters in the country were grieving with her, but there were those from Genovia and other countries, that saw the deaths as an opportunity for the Von Trokens to finally take what they considered was their rightful place on the throne. Shortly after she made the decision to go to America to meet Mia, it was leaked that there was an heir. She was supposed to go to one last performance of Madame Butterfly at the old opera house before we left for America. I'd had a bad feeling all day about the appearance, as if I knew something was going to happen, but I knew that I couldn't keep her from going without a known threat."

Clarisse sighed as she walked out to the waiting limo. This would be her first appearance at a social function since the deaths of her husband and son, something which her black formal attire gave proof of. She really didn't feel like being out where she was expected to be smiles and grace. What she really wanted was to be left alone in her room, curled up with her grief. Couldn't they understand?

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" Joe's voice sounded in her ear, his hand resting lightly on the small of her back.

"Hmm?"

"You've stopped walking." Joe whispered.

"Oh." Clarisse sighed then continued on the path. "Sorry. I was lost in thought."

"I know that you don't want to go, but you have to start living again sometime, Your Majesty."

Clarisse paused at the open door of the limo and looked up at her bodyguard and friend. "How can I?" she whispered before gracefully taking her place inside the car.

Joe sighed as he closed the door and walked around the car to climb in on his side. Looking at the woman sitting opposite him, he tapped on the window to let the driver know they were ready to leave. "I wanted to keep you home. I thought about coming to you, telling you that I've had a nagging feeling about this appearance, but I didn't."

"Why?"

"Because, I know you, and I know what you would have said to me. You would have told me that you can't stay home just because I have a feeling something will happen. You would have said it is your duty to your people to appear at a performance you are sure they are doing just for you." Reaching out, he rested his hand on her arm. "Your people love you, Clarisse."

"Not all of them," she whispered.

"No, not all of them. But there are more that do, than those that don't."

Clarisse smiled at him. "Thank you, Joseph. I don't know what I would have done without you through all of this." She patted his hand. "Do you really think something is going to happen tonight?"

Joe sighed, "It's just a feeling, but you're safe, no matter what happens."

"I know I am. I always have been with you." Clarisse sighed as the car slowed to a stop.

Joe watched as the mask she wore for the public slipped into place. "I'll get you in and out as quickly as I can if you want it."

"Thank you, but you know that I can not ignore anyone going in or leaving."

"I do." Joe told her before stepping out, frowning at the crowd that seemed to be pulsing toward the car. He hated this. He had always hated taking her through a crowd.

Clarisse could hear the people outside the car and took a few calming breathes to prepare herself. Taking Joseph's hand after he opened her door, she easily stepped out of the car, smiling at her people.

"Then suddenly I saw movement in the crowd and barely had time to step in front of her before I was being slammed back against her by the force of the bullet hitting me in the shoulder." Joe shivered at the thought of where it would have hit Clarisse. "If I hadn't moved in front of her, it would have hit her in the heart."

Andrew swallowed. "Did they catch the shooter?"

"Yes. Shades didn't take kindly to his boss being shot. He tackled the guy and broke his collar bone and a few ribs when he landed on top of him."

Andrew chuckled at that. "Oh my."

"That's why I never had any doubts about handing things over to him. I knew he could do the job."

"So that's why Grandmother didn't go to America until months after the news leaked."

Joe nodded. "I tried to get her to go without me, to take Shades and the team, but she refused."

"Because she didn't trust anyone but you to lead the security for the only remaining heir."

"That and," he shrugged.

"And she loved you." Andrew whispered.

"And I loved her." Joe answered quietly.

CnJ

Clarisse cuddled the baby close, her head covered in soft dark hair, so much so that Mia had giggled and said she needed a ribbon and a good brushing to tame it. "You gave your mother a hard time, Little One," she whispered as she kissed the baby's tiny forehead. Feeling his presence beside her, Clarisse looked up and nodded. "Joseph, I want to apologize for my behavior. You were right, I'm not the woman I used to be. I have changed."

"You're right. You aren't the woman I used to know, just as I am not the man you used to know. Neither of us have stayed the same. Too many things have happened."

"A lot of those things are my fault," she whispered as she let her gaze drift back down to the baby.

"Some, but not all. We can't change the mistakes."

"Were they mistakes?"

"Not all of them. Some were things that simply couldn't have been changed."

"But my choosing duty over you instead of letting it all go was a mistake." Clarisse looked up at Joe. "The biggest mistake I have ever made in my life," she whispered.

Looking away from the blue eyes staring up at him with love in them, Joe stared down at the baby. "What did they name her?"

"Elisabeth Mignonette." Clarisse answered quietly, her voice cracking slightly.

"Elisabeth? Does she know?"

"She does now. When I told Mia, she was going to change the name so I wouldn't be reminded. I told her not to."

"Because there needs to be a living, breathing Elisabeth in the family to honor the one that was lost."

Clarisse nodded. "Joseph?"

"Yes?"

"Can we start again? Get to know the new people we've become?"

Gently caressing Elisabeth's hair, Joe sighed, "I can't promise it will be what it once was, but yes, we can try."

"It's all that I ask. All that I ask."