I woke on Valentine’s Day alone as usual. Princess Jennifer did not like to spend the night with me in her apartment. She visited several times a week if she had time in her schedule, but she never wanted the press to see her leaving in the morning for appearance’s sake.

I was used to it though. I started dating her officially at Christmastime and we had over a month as a couple for me to get used to playing second fiddle to her royal life.

Saving her and her son, Prince Walter’s, lives when the terrorists tried to assassinate them brought us together. It was the time we spent at a cabin in the north woods of Wisconsin while hiding from the enemy, that brought us closer. I fell in love with the real Jen. Not Princess Jennifer.

It was like having two different girlfriends. One was a sweet, funny, and caring young woman while the other was a busy public servant that had to schedule her boyfriend into her calendar. I could love both, but it was not easy.

I jumped out of bed and began to check on my preparations for the day. I knew I had the entire evening with Jen after five, and she would be visiting a Children’s Hospital in the late afternoon, so I planned everything around that. I confirmed our dinner reservations at her favorite restaurant, and I confirmed the flower and candy delivery to her there at the restaurant. She loved the place because they had amazing food, but also because we could get a private room to dine in when we went there.

She loved a particular kind of wine the restaurant didn’t carry, so I made sure they found it and had it in time for our meal. I was going to make sure everything was perfect, and all systems were a go.

I got a text from Jen at noon that said she was having a bad day but was looking forward to our dinner. As I expected, she told me we would have to meet me at the restaurant. I expected that because that’s how it always went. She’d for some reason get delayed and would be late for most of our dates.

I was suited and booted and sitting in the private room of the crowded French restaurant at six. I was tempted to order appetizers so the escargot would be there when she arrived, but that was pointless. I had no idea when she would arrive. I did have the Sommelier decant the $500 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.

A half hour after she was supposed to arrive, the flowers and candy were delivered. I reached into my breast pocket for my phone and realized I’d left it at the apartment.

“Great!” I said aloud and our personal server hustled over.

“Everything alright, Sir? Can I get you something?”

“No, Trevor. I left my cell phone at the apartment and she’s late. I’m sure she texted me what time she’d arrive, but I have no way to know.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me, “Feel free to call her, Sir.”

“Thanks,” I said and then I realized that would mean he had the Princess’s personal number. I dialed her personal assistant instead and got his voicemail.

“Hi, it’s Andrew. Can you let Jen know I left my phone at home and I’m waiting for her at the restaurant? Thanks.”

I sat down and handed him the phone.

“Oh, well!” I sighed and continued to wait. I had no idea what people did to keep busy in the dark ages before pocket cell phones.

Another half hour passed, and I poured myself some wine and ordered myself the escargot. I tried to call the apartment from the restaurant’s phone but there was no answer. I left a message expressing my irritation and that I was waiting for her. I also called my cell, but I didn’t have any messages from her.

After finishing the appetizer, I drank another glass of her favorite wine which was apparently a wasted effort and ordered the rack of lamb. I must have looked at my watch a hundred times as the minute hand slowly crept by. The servers and host gave me their most sympathetic looks as I continued my futile wait.

I also ordered the chocolate souffle for dessert, as I realized I was being stood up. She knew where I was. I left messages everywhere I could, so she knew I was waiting on her. There was no excuse for her not to reach out to me. She could have easily called the restaurant.

I had just taken a bite of the lamb when the owner of the restaurant burst into the room. “Mr. Carlton, come quick, there’s a problem.”

I jumped up and followed him as he urgently pushed his way through the crowd at the bar watching the television with great interest.

The reporter on screen said, “We have no idea of what is going on inside the hospital. Unconfirmed reports say four men have taken the Pediatric floor hostage and shots have been fired. Again, the reports are unconfirmed, but Princess Jennifer was on the floor at the time the shooters took over. There have been no demands yet, and there have been no reports of injuries or deaths.”

“Jesus!” I shouted and ran out of the restaurant. I looked around for a cab but didn’t see one, so I ran the mile or so to the hospital.

I knew it well, because I went with Jen a few times and dressed like Thor for the kids. I’d been called Thor since high school when I looked like the actor that played him with my long blond hair and beard. I got away from the nickname for a bit when I cut my hair, but then that bastard got his hair cut in one of the movies and the name came back.

When I saved Jen and the Prince, the press got wind of the nickname and it stuck in England too. Whenever I did something stupid, the Queen suggested I dress up as Thor for the kids. The press ate it up.

I got to a ring of police outside the hospital and saw that they were in the middle of evacuating the building.

“Officer, is the Princess okay?”

He didn’t even look at me when he answered, “Bugger off, Yank. We’re busy here.”

“Don’t make me call the Queen, buddy,” I growled. I loved knowing the Queen.

He turned to look at me and he turned white, “Sorry, Sir. We don’t know what’s going on inside yet.”

I looked around and didn’t see anyone that looked like they were important, so I walked around the ring of police and stopped at the end of the barricade. It was about twenty yards from one of the entrances to the hospital which surprised me. On TV shows they would shut down the area well beyond an area that close.

One of the reporters saw me and rushed over. The policemen moved from the spot in front of me to stop the press which gave me the opportunity to do something stupid again. I sprinted into the hospital as they were pushing patients in wheelchairs out the doors.

I saw a bathroom and ducked into it. After I locked the door, I looked in the mirror and said, “You idiot, what are you gonna do now?”

The person in the mirror had no idea either so I took off my suit jacket and tie and peeked out the door to see if anyone was coming.

From knowing the hospital, I knew the action was on the second floor in the wing I was in, so I made my way to the stairwell. If what they said on the news was right, there were only four of them, so they couldn’t possibly be covering every exit. My guess was they would have two men with Jen, one man at the elevators, and another roaming the halls watching for anyone coming from the other exits.

I had no idea what I was doing or if I was even close to being right, but I was going to help Jen no matter what.

I opened the door to the floor and found a couple of nurses huddled behind a desk.

“The stairway is clear ladies. Hustle out.”

They didn’t need me to tell them twice and I heard one of them say, “Oh my God! That was the Princess’s boyfriend. They’re fucked now.”

I shook my head and had a flashback to when I first “met” Jen and the Prince. I felt the pain in my back from the bullets hitting me as I jumped in front of her and her son to protect them from the evil doers trying to assassinate the child coming out of a hotel I was walking past.

My reverie was snapped by the sound of footsteps as I looked around for something to use against an armed asshole. I saw a fire extinguisher on the wall across from me, but I feared that would put me in the line of sight of the person coming down the hall perpendicular to me.

I decided to chance it and ran across and pulled it off the harness and ran back. I didn’t see him, so I hoped he didn’t see me as I waited.

I saw the barrel of the gun before I saw him as he moved in front of me. Without thinking I swung where I assumed his head would be and in a stroke of luck, I cracked him across his bearded face. He went down like a sack of potatoes and thankfully didn’t pull the trigger on his gun.

I kicked the gun out of the way and dragged his lifeless body into the empty room nearest me. I found a bunch of hospital wristbands in a drawer and lifted him onto the bed. I used about twenty of the wristbands on his ankles and wrists to tether him to the bed and hoped they held. If you ever had one of those things on your wrist, you know how hard they are to get off. I hoped all of the ones I used made it hard for him to break free. I also tied bed linens around him to keep his body down on the bed. Lastly, I shoved a hand towel in his mouth to keep him quiet.

I looked out into the hall and didn’t see anyone. I was surprised that I couldn’t hear anyone at first, then I realized they were probably holding everyone in the big room on the other side of the floor. They had a large room where we met the kids and told stories and they had other various entertainment acts perform.

I crept down the halls, thankful that my soles were soft and quiet. I couldn’t believe my luck, but I was right about there being one guy by the elevators. I watched as he paced back and forth with sweat pouring from his body. I could tell he was nervous and probably scared.

After the fifth time he turned away from me I ran at him and hit him on the back of the head with the butt of the rifle I stole from the other guy. He too went down silently. I put him on the elevator and sent him down to the first floor. Hopefully there was a police presence there to handle him.

I walked down the hall and peeked around. I saw another guy standing by the door to the main room and he was clearly standing guard as the other guy in the room shouted commands to the people trapped in there.

I watched for a few minutes and was shocked when the guy in the room walked out. He wasn’t holding his weapon. It was slung around his back. I couldn’t believe how lucky I got. Without thinking I came out from around the corner and fired a burst of bullets at the two men as they talked. I prayed that they were the only ones as I emptied my gun’s magazine into them.

The guy keeping watch never got a chance to fire at me as he and the other guy fell to the ground. I ran up and grabbed the guns on the floor. I saw the blood pouring from the bodies and hoped they were dead as I went into the room to find Jen.

She ran up to me screaming, “Andrew,” and grabbed me in a hug.

There was a security guard in the room, and he came up and took the guns from me. “Thank you, Sir.”

“Hey, there’s a guy in room 227 tied to the bed. I sent the guy by the elevator to the first floor. I don’t know if anyone got him or not.”

“Don’t worry, Sir. We’ll take it from here.”

A few minutes later, I heard the shouts and footsteps from the policemen running through the halls as the kids who were able, and nurses surrounded us smothering me and Jen in hugs.

Many of them recognized me as the guy who read them stories dressed like Thor and that only excited them further.

It wasn’t long before the police spread everyone out and tried to take Jen out of my arms. She freaked out and started screaming at them. I pulled her back into my arms and said, “Anywhere she goes, I go, understood?”

“Okay, but we have to get her out of here. We don’t know if there are explosives or a second crew hiding somewhere around.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Jen was nearly catatonic as I walked through the hall with her draped in my arm. I almost vomited when we walked past the room where the bastards put her security detail’s bodies. I cried when I saw Anne’s lifeless body on top of the pile. She was good to me when she was in charge of my security, and I liked her. She would be missed.

We made it past the front entrance where a swarm of media and police were gathered about a hundred feet away. I saw the SUV with the door open waiting for us, and the driver holding the door, but I didn’t recognize him. It wasn’t her normal driver Charles.

“No!” I grunted and ran back into the hospital pulling Jen along.

The police chased me and the man I supposed was in charge said, “What are you doing?”

“That’s not her driver. I’m not going anywhere with that man. Where’s her driver Charles?”

All of a sudden there was a commotion outside and an explosion rocked the front of the building. It knocked us down and the ceiling started falling around us. We were hit by falling debris as I dragged the Princess to the reception desk and was able to get us underneath it as the ceiling above us collapsed and debris trapped us under the desk.

There was nothing but darkness and I pulled Jen into my lap. It was difficult to breathe with all of the dust and particles in the air, my head was spinning, and it wasn’t long before I passed out.

I woke eerily similarly to the first time I saved Jen’s life. The room was dark but there was some moonlight creeping through the curtain that couldn’t close all the way. I looked around but that room didn’t have a couch and Jen wasn’t sleeping there.

I prayed she was okay as I gathered my wits and tried to find the call button. I had to know how she was.

Once I pressed the call, it was only a moment before a nurse and doctor burst into the room. The light from the hall shocked my eyes.

“Mr. Carlton, how are you feeling?”

“My head hurts. My back hurts. My leg hurts. How is the Princess.”

“Yes, having a building fall on you is no fun. Sharon will give you something for the pain. You’ll be happy to know, there are no serious injuries. The head injury is our main concern, and this is the first time you’ve woken since they brought you in. You have a concussion, so we’re keeping you for a bit to monitor it.”

“Fine, how is the Princess.”

“I can’t discuss that with you, I’m sorry,” the doctor said, and he genuinely seemed sorry.

“I tell you what,” I said sharply, “either you tell me how she is, or as soon as you’re out of the room, I will get up and roam the halls looking for her.”

He sighed, “Sir, she’s a bit worse off than you, but I can’t elaborate. She’s not in critical condition, but she has some injuries.”

“You have two minutes to tell me specifically what is wrong with her before I call the Queen and you won’t be able to get a job as a country vet.”

“Sir, I could lose my license,” he begged.

“Buddy, either you tell me, or you find an administrator that has some God damned balls and will tell me how the woman I love, whom I risked my life to save is doing, or I will raise such hell that none of you will escape the burn.”

He hustled out of the room and the nurse gave me some pain pills.

“He’s really not allowed to talk about other patients,” she said as she checked my vitals.

“I don’t care. I can’t lay here not knowing how she’s doing.”

She patted my arm and said, “You’re a good guy, Andrew. Be patient.”

She left the room and one of the security guards came in.

“Sir, I’ve been asked to tell you Her Royal Highness’s condition.”

I nodded.

“Her leg’s broken and needed surgery. She was struck on the head but didn’t have a concussion. She’s going to be fine”

“Thank you. What’s your name?”

“Michael, Sir.”

“Thank you, Michael. I’m sorry about the losses you guys took.”

“Thank you, Sir,” he said. “By the way, Sir. She’s raising as much hell as you are trying to get you moved into a shared room with her.”

I thanked him and asked, “Michael? How many died in the explosion?”

“None, Sir. There was a dozen or so injured, but luckily no one was seriously hurt.”

Thank God for that.

I woke as I was being poked and prodded by a nurse.

“Good morning, Mr. Carlton.”

“Good morning. How’s the Princess?”

“You know better than that, Sir,” she smirked.

“Fine. What time is breakfast?” I asked.

“You’ll be served breakfast after we move you. You’ll now be sharing a room with Princess Jennifer, and I’m going to arrange that in a moment.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Sir. Just don’t call the Queen and bust me down to a country vet.”

She smirked and news of my tirade must have spread. I hoped the press didn’t find out about it. I had enough issues with them.

I turned on the television and the morning news, as expected, was all about the fun we had the day before. There was video of me waiting for the police to move and then running into the hospital.