London Calling

[Nick Ryder]

"We'll be there." Nick replied with a smile and gave Alice and Gale a look. "Providing that we don't get stuck in some big project and we lose all track of time."

"That's what alarms are for daddy." Gale replied.

"And that's the Alice half I love so much about you kid." Nick said as he scooped him. "So... let's hit the Palace, I don't think your mother's ever been there."

[Nick Ryder]

Later --

Buckingham Palace - Art Gallery

Nick was sitting on a bench looking at a painting he remembered being fascinated by as a child when his mom took him there once, it was a street scene and ever since the foundation of the Federation, they added to it, every few months, there would be a new figure in the crowd, usually it was whoever was the newest politician or a media darling or someone who passed away. The painting itself was massive, taller than he was and about as long, there were hundred of people, some he could recognize and some he had no idea about. There were figures from the past, the present and from fiction as well. He found Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Alan Davis as well as JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien and Alan Moore who so many people mistook for some character from Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, but he had actually met Alan Moore in person at a convention in the 20th Century when he was stuck there for a little while. There were a few faces in the crowd that he didn't recognize, they weren't there in the version of the painting he saw as a boy. He wondered if perhaps the artist had a falling out with them and painted over their faces at some point in the future, but again, V'Lin K'zaria was a stickler for 'once it is on canvas it is there forever' He was well into his 9th century of life he had met him in his 20s at an art exhibition.

"I think they got my figure entirely wrong. My breasts have never been that big." a woman's voice said from behind him.

"Artistic license I suppose." Nick replied casually and then glanced over his shoulder. "I was wondering who that woman was, I was doing pretty good at naming the faces... your Highness." he bowed slightly as he looked at her.

"You knew my voice before you knew my face... I knew I did too many video logs." she chuckled softly and sighed. "I think V'Lin hates me. My brothers look entirely too good looking."

"As I tell my wife, images seldom capture true beauty, that has be seen in person." Nick said and blushed slightly and held up his hand. "Happily married, just an artist at heart."

"I can tell. You have paint under your fingernails." She replied and glanced around. "So I guess as far as disguises go, this is pretty much rubbish eh?"

"Pretty much. And you wanted to be in disguise why...?" Nick inquired. "If you mind me asking of course."

"As silly as it sounds, I want to get out of here, the Queen seldom has time for my 'antics and foibles' we argue and fight more than we don't and my father is getting increasingly tired of it. I think I just need to get away from this for a while. Do something with my life." She said softly and laughed. "I can't believe I'm telling you this... "

"Well I'm the only other person here and my wife is drooling over the royal fashion exhibit, probably trying to think of something she can create that'll wow our neighbors I'm sure." Nick said with a smile as he held up a padd. "I always enjoyed this part of the tour, this painting always fascinated me."

"It has a lot to notice, you can look at it a hundred times and still not catch everything. Like the three black cats playing with a tribble." she pointed out a tiny corner. "See... I just found that like last month and I've looked at this since I was a child."

"Y'know... me too and I never noticed that." Nick squinted. "That's something I need to get for the estate, some black cats. I had two before I went into space long term, sweetest things in the world."

"They do tend to be." she said and saw a slim blonde walk in. "That must be your wife."

"How'd you guess?" Nick asked.

"I just sensed it I guess. I kinda do that." She shrugged her shoulders. "That and she has a liiiiitle bit of jealousy on her face... oh yes... entirely jealous. Watch her walk. More hip sway,"

Nick chuckled. "I'll make it up to her... your highness."

"Princess Cassandra... or even Cassie is fine." She replied. "I sort of hate the titles. Like I said, I want out of this but I have no idea how."

"Burden of royalty I suppose." Nick said, thinking back to his own abdication of his position as President and leaving it all behind. "I suppose it feels like it's smothering you. Like you're always on display, no real personal life, no real privacy... strangers basically treating your home as theirs." he looked over at Alice. "Hard to keep someone special from being a target."

"You sound like you have some experience in that regard." she said softly. "Mr... Huntington was it?" Cassandra said as she glanced at his visitor badge.

"Nicholas... and my wife Alice... " Nick said as he gestured for Alice to come over. "I must say, we didn't expect to meet any of the royal family when he came to tour the Palace."

"I wasn't planning on it... usually we keep to our quarters, but I had this feeling that I should come down here." Cassie said as she looked around and then gently made a vase levitate.

"You can control the Iljuna." Nick said as he stood up.

"That's what it's called?" Cassie raised an eyebrow. "I never knew... I just thought maybe it was some weird mutation. Part of the reason why my mother tends to keep me at arm's length."

"It's not a 'weird mutation.' Listen... contact me sometime." Nick handed her a small piece of paper with a comm frequency. "We can discuss it further."

"I will... and thank you. First person I've shared this with that didn't look at me like I was some witch." Cassie whispered.

"You'd be surprised how many like us there are." Nick snapped his finger and a lit a candle on the piano. "Among other abilities. Just keep it hush hush."

Gale came running up to Nick and leapt into his arms. "Daddy daddy I mommy and I saw the coolest looking car... it had like rockets and flame throwers and spikes and everything..."

"The James Bond car... when they stopped making those movies, they gave the last car to the Queen, my grandmother." Princess Cassie said with a smile.

"You're a Princess?"

"I am." Cassie said with a grin.

"That's so cool... only people we've seen have been those stuffy security guys with the fuzzy hats. I think mommy wanted to touch one of the dresses." Gale whispered.

"I wouldn't be surprised..." Nick whispered back.

"Tell her I can give her a personal tour of the Queen's wardrobe..." Cassie said as she winked at Gale. "She looks like one of my model friends." she walked over to Alice and cocked her head slightly. "You look so familiar... wait... Huntington... Huntington... oh yeah... a Huntington was one of my governesses when I was just a wee child, younger than your boy. Thought she was one of the last of her family. I always liked her, even if she was a bit strict, but she would always sneak me little candies and makeup, infuriated my mother. Probably why I liked her."

[Cassandra Windsor]

Cassie extended her hand. "It's quite alright... mother is away on some tour or some such and pretty much left me behind because there was that unfortunate incident with a bow and arrow and my tits on the front page of the London Times... I got my top caught in the bow and it tore... I'm a Princess not an archer. In any case, they're keeping me under lock and key, of course... there aren't many locks I can't get past."

[Nick Ryder]

"Useful skill." Nick mused and handed her a piece of paper with the address of the Huntington estate. "I know this may seem... odd, but I think you've got more to offer than simply being a 'Royal bad girl'. Granted I'm just a simple engineer, a family man... but I think there was a reason why our paths crossed." he gestured and the paper floated from his hand to hers. "Not many of us around, so it's logical that we should keep in touch."

"You just want to be on the guest list for the royal ball..." Cassie said with a smirk.

"I'm sure Mrs. Huntington has something for that." Nick said with a wink. "Not why I'm offering to keep in touch."

"I'm getting that impression. So Mister Huntington... at the risk of making your wife jealous, I would not mind speaking with you somewhere else. Somewhere where the walls do not have ears and eyes." Cassie whispered.

"We have a rather large estate, easy enough to get lost on your way back." Nick replied casually. "In another life, I used to work intelligence."

"And now I'm intrigued. Wife too eh?" Cassie glanced at Alice

"Something like that. We're just trying to raise a normal child, as a normal family."

[Cassandra Windsor]

Two Months Later --

Cassie dropped another couple of large shopping bags on the floor near the couch in Nick and Alice's living room and flopped down. Alice was pulling a couple of the new things she got out and draping them on one of the chairs.

"I have to say, meeting you two was one of the best things that happened to me in recent memory." Cassie said as she pulled off her high heels and wiggled her toes. "And these shoes were the worst. Absolutely no flexibility." she picked them up off the floor by gesturing with her hand and 'threw' them into a box. "I really do love spending time with you Alice, you're sort of one of my only female friends that isn't friends with me because I'm 'Her Royal Highness' and they think it'll be a boost to their own career if they're seen with me. So... do you think Nicholas will be mad that I've kept you away for so long? It HAS been almost a week and a half."

"Oh I'm not mad... it's about time Alice has a friend here. Although I am a little... " he gestured to the car in the driveway. "Annoyed. What the hell is that?"

"Its a Mini Cooper... the idea was to blend in." Cassie said and tossed him the keys. "You'll like it, trust me."

"It's a clown car to a tall guy like me." Nick shook his head. "Gale's almost too big for it and he's 5!"

"Well if you must know, it's from the Royal livery... no one drives it, that's why I nicked it and told them to give it to you two. I'm rather smitten with that Jaguar you and that bald bloke are building." Cassie wiggled her eyebrows. "Tell you what... I'll be the good friend and watch Gale while you two... do whatever married couples do when a best mate takes one of them away for almost two weeks. And we'll get back to our training... if I can make an offer on that car."

"You really don't want to go back to the Palace huh?" Nick chuckled lightly and nodded his head. "Alright, we'll work something out. My neighbor keeps going 'is that really the Princess' and I just smirk and go 'looks like her doesn't she?" I'm trying not to make it look like I'm having an affair with a royal when I am blissfully married."

"Who's to say I'm not the one having an affair with your wifey?" Cassie teased. "She's incredibly fun to be around. Oh! I almost forgot... Alice, our rose gardener said he'd be able to get you some of the same bushes we have in the front of the Palace, I got a message from him while you were in the lavatory... just needs to know how many you want." she smiled broadly. "And... I... may need to stay here for a week or two starting next week. Mother decided that she wants to have the Palace power grid updated, normally I would just stay in a hotel but... usually that doesn't end well and my naked arse ends up in a tabloid somewhere because someone is always watching me. So... can I stay here with you three? I've almost forgotten what it's like to be a 'normal' person and... I don't do bloody stupid shit when I'm around either of you."

[Alice Ryder]

“Well...we do have plenty of room.” Alice smiled broadly. “And Gale does enjoy your company.”

[Cassandra Windsor]

"And I do enjoy his, such a lovely boy you two raised... I truly hope he stays that way." Cassie said as she looked over at Nick. "Judging by his father that does seem likely, of course, I've no idea how much trouble he got up to as a boy."

"Nothing too scandalous." Nick replied and sat down. "And I promise we won't use your titles, just Cassie."

"That's all I ask. You seem like you two have done something like this before?" Cassie hummed. "Alice seemed to know all the tricks to avoiding paparazzi and drawing attention to ourselves. And yet we still managed to have fun and get people to do things for us."

"Wait until I teach you how to do 'mind tricks'." Nick said with a wink of his eye. "Yeah... Alice is good at both avoiding the wrong kind of attention and getting just enough that people do things for her." he looked at Alice. "Should we tell her? She's going to find out some how if she's living here."

[Alice Ryder]

“I think it would be safe.” Alice said with a grin.

[Nick Ryder]

"You're swingers?" Cassie teased.

"Hah. No. We're... actually from the future. Early 2420s. Came back here because our lives were getting increasingly dangerous for us to raise our son. Alice knows how to avoid the paparazzi and has that regal bearing because she was my First Lady. I was the President of a planet called Terra Alpha, out sort of on the edge of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Spoiler warning, the Federation fell on some very hard times, Earth wasn't exactly an ally for a little while, so we formed a new Alliance and I headed up that Alliance." Nick explained as he tapped a holographic display that popped up from his wristwatch. "I was a spymaster for a number of years, mainly due to my ex-wife who was also part of the reason why the Federation fell. There's still a Federation but it's a lot smaller, they're an ally of my Alpha Quadrant Alliance. In any case, there's a very powerful enemy we were facing, that had already taken us prisoner once and has tried numerous times since we escaped to kill us. A shuttle was kamikaze'd into our 3rd story apartment and enough was enough for my wife. She had one plan, I adapted it and figured this was an era that was safe enough and there weren't any major interstellar wars going on."

"Holy shit." Cassie just sat on the couch and blinked as she looked at Nick and Alice. "So... you're from the future... and the future in about 200 years is royally fucked up? Wow... " she shook her head. "So are you really Huntingtons?"

"She is. This was her family estate, just not much of her family was around at this point, so we've got oh a solid twenty years to hang out here before others come around. Plenty of time to raise our son and either remain in his century or go back to the future at some point. We kind of got word from further out from the time we left, that things kinda got better without us, so this is home." Nick said and sighed. "All this was for her and Gale. I dragged her into enough crazy in the six years we've been together."

"So that's why you seem to be unimpressed by 'new' things here. It's old shit to you." Cassie nodded her head. "I had a feeling Alice was sort of royalty..."

"People did tend to call her the Queen of Terra Alpha. I was just the President, but she was the Queen." Nick chuckled. "She'd go out in an outfit and by the next day it became a trend. My eldest daughter and her had a fairly successful lingerie brand and clothing line."

"Well if you need to dress someone... I am entirely game Alice luv... you picked some amazing things, combinations I never considered before." Cassie stood up and cocked her head. "I'm getting the feeling that I'm one of the only people that knows the truth right? So that settles it, I am entirely staying here. You need a friend Alice. And clearly history forgot me, so I guess no matter what I do unless I do something epically daft... I wouldn't mind following you both back. I mean... I'm like 8th in line for the throne. My three older brothers and their kids... I'm barely even the spare heir. And... I have few friends that I would consider true friends. More like bad influences..."

[Cassandra Windsor]

A month and a half later --

Cassie was laying on a chaise lounge near the newly refurbished pool that was surrounded by meticulously groomed rose bushes and other shrubbery that despite it's airy appearance, provided a surprising amount of privacy and it smelled heavenly. It was almost an oasis of the tropics in the middle of a dreary London hamlet. Nick had managed to set up a system that allowed the air temp to remain in a comfortable range that kept the water cool and refreshing but not too cold and the air around it was nice and warm, they even set it up so that it got the maximum amount of sun during the day and set up an ingenious set of heaters that kept everything around the pool area feeling balmy... despite it being a mild winter.

"So that's where Alice's towel went." Nick said as he walked in with a tray of drinks and a couple of padds.

"This is mine, Alice used her's like this to sop up some mess that Gale made." Cassie said and slid her sunglasses down her nose. "I must say Nicholas, this is far better than popping off to the tropics for Christmas."

"Well, when you're pyrokinetic you understand heat... and my ex-wife was Hawaiian and we lived in Honolulu for a while, kinda got used to it. Plus back on Terra Alpha, my daughter lives in a similar area. I like the heat but it's nice to have a bit of cold too, gives me a reason to expend the excess without having to be human flame thrower." Nick chuckled lightly.

"That was impressive to see. I must say, this has been an amazing month. Mother hasn't really said anything, she's just happy that I'm not in the tabloids." Cassie said and sipped her drink and closed her eyes. "I keep thinking she was hoping I would O.D. on something. Although she thinks we're in a Swinger relationship... and she doesn't give a bloody crap, mainly because... family secret alert... she was doing both her Lord Chamberlain and my Uncle. And yet she always had the gall to give me hell about my own affairs. As if she hasn't opened her legs for more men than I have. That air of superiority... " she shook her head and took a cleansing breath. "I'm sorry..."

"It's alright, it's good to vent. So it seems like your decision to move in with us was a good idea all around?" Nick chuckled. "So for Christmas I was thinking of taking Alice for a little trip, it's funny, we've been in Starfleet and we've been to Federation HQ in Paris, but neither of us have really 'done' the whole romantic Paris thing, so I told her we'd spend the weekend in a hotel, sightsee and have basically a date weekend."

"I take it Gale and I are going to be having our own little 'date weekend' too? Sounds lovely. So that's why there was more lace than actual fabric in those bags..." Cassie said with a hum. "You two are truly relationship goals. If she wasn't my best friend I would entirely be jealous of you lot."

"Well you know Thad has been working up the nerve to ask you out." Nick replied.

"Only if he showers... the man smells like he bathes in motor oil and bon fires." Cassie giggled lightly. "It's alright, I'm not interested in dating now... it's nice being my own woman for a change. And yes I will watch Gale without a single hesitation and I promise I won't spoil him or be a bad influence. Although we may watch a ton of movies together and eat junk food."

"I can accept that and thank you Cassie. " Nick said as he looked at her. "He does like strong women though."

"So does that mean you think I'm on par with the other women in your life?" Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Your daughters, from what you've told me, seem like real badasses. I never was a fighter, but I'm getting better when we spar."

"What you may lack in martial training you make up for in grit and determination and stubbornness. And snark when you need to." Nick teased.

"That is entirely my favorite tool in my arsenal, a biting wry wit. Only good thing I've gotten from mother's side of the family. " Cassie looked at her hands. "And slender hands. So out of curiousity... does this whole Paris trip mean you and Alice are going to give trying to give Gale another sibling a go?"

"I dunno... maybe... but it'll be nice to just be that 'young couple' strolling the most romantic city in the system." Nick replied.

"It is romantic... stay away from the downtown hotels, they're pretty but no privacy. Go a little out, not as over booked and with people that understand that couples make noise..." Cassie blushed. "It's funny I'm starting to think of you two as my brother and sister now... "