Running With Lions

Ben glowered at his sister. She had been laughing for minutes, long minutes that felt like a year to him. Her laughs came out fast, loud and unrelenting.

He had taken the train into London with a bad hangover to meet Lavin at a cafe that she proclaimed to be the love of her life.

He had taken the train to meet up with her only to tell her about what Melanie the elf had told him last night. Ben did not expect to laughed at when he repeated the information.

"Are you done?" he asked impatiently as he stirred two lumps of sugar into his coffee that was nearly black.

Lavin covered her mouth with her hand trying to contain her laughter but immediately lost control when she saw how serious Ben's face was.

"Quit laughing, Lavin. This isn't a joke!" he said.

"Okay," she said. "Okay, let me get this straight--" She pointed at him, Ben seemed it only added to his humiliation. "You're telling me that an elf came to you in a bar and told you that Caroline knows Harry is going to propose?"

Lavin's cheeks puffed out as she tried to restrain herself but that only lasted a fleeting moment before she laughed in her brother's face.

"I swear she had pointy ears, Lavin."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Fine," Ben muttered bitterly. "Don't believe me."

"I believe you, Ben. It's just an elf in a bar...it sounds like a beginning of one of those jokes."

"Okay, so maybe she wasn't an elf but she sounded sincere in what she told me."

Lavin looked away. Ben knew this was her attempt to stop her laughter but great chuckles still managed to escape between her lips.. After a while she managed to calm down but a jubilant grin was still painted firmly on her face.

He knew what would shut her up.

Ben narrowed his eyes. "Since you've lost your mind I assume you haven't heard the only significant detail of my story." He cleared his throat and nearly shouted: "CAROLINE KNOWS!"

Lavin's face fell and she smacked him on the arm. "Shut your fat hole, Ben! Scream it any louder and they'll hear you in the States!"

Ben smirked as he rubbed his arm. Knew it.

"How did you even find out? I've only told Gen."

Ben sunk backward against his chair. "You've spent twenty-six years in this family and still haven’t learned that things don't stay a secret for long."

"Gen told you!?" Lavin looked alarmed.

Ben shook his head. "No. Gen told Peter who told me."

"So," Lavin's voice was mirthless now, all happiness had faded from her eyes. "Caroline knows. This isn't good."

"I know," he said. "In my opinion I think she's pressuring Harry into this."

Lavin nodded, her head bobbing up and down slowly as she absorbed Ben's thoughts.

"The elf also told me that Caroline kept bragging about how she was going to be the next princess and their wedding would be the biggest England had ever seen."

Ben watched as Lavin continued to nod as she stared deep into the frothy dark liquid of her latte. Ben remembered that she declared this was her favorite next to champagne.

Lavin continued to stare, her eyes hard and speculative. Ben could tell she was scheming either something insanely brilliant or extremely treacherous.

"I know that look," Ben baited. Lavin peered at her brother, her eyes intense and volatile. "You have an idea."

"Yeah." She tilted her head sideways as she took the delicate spoon into her hand and began stirring her latte. "I just think if Caroline wants to be a princess so bad I will just have to show her what it means to be a princess."

Ben's eyes widened in delight. "Oh, sister." he said, his tone cunning.
____

Lavin raced back to her flat after her brother and her finished their brunch at the cafe. She kicked off her heels and locked the door.

Then she rushed to the windows made sure they were all closed. Paranoia does seem to claim a person when they're doing something dastardly.

With one glance into Gen's room and no sound of running water coming from the bathroom Lavin knew she was alone.

Ben and her had agreed to have Kate involved. She was going to be the first true commoner to marry into a royal family in almost a century so she knew more than Lavin did about the luxuries of normalcy Caroline would have to give up in order to become Harry's wife.

Lavin jumped onto her queen-sized bed and dug through her oversized bag. She nearly emptied the contents before she found her cell phone in the bottom corner.

Her heart beat harder as she slid her finger across the screen to unlock the phone. She quickly thumbed the Phone button and clicked onto her favorites.

She stared at Kate's name that sat right after Harry's name and right before William's.

Her heart was hammering against her ribs either from adrenaline or the fact that she knew she was asking a lot from Kate and possibly jeopardizing Harry's friendship if this didn't go as planned.

She pressed Kate's name and brought the phone to her ear.

It rang nearly four times before Kate picked up.

"Hello, Kate. I have a favor to ask of you."