As it turns out, a national tragedy does not mean the end of exams. Once the initial shock of the event had passed, life seemed to go back to normal.

Well... except Arthur is yet to come back

He and Grace talk on the phone almost every night, and video chat when they can. But it just isn't the same as holding each other.

"What's the first law of thermodynamics?" Arthur asks Grace during their revision call.

She's lying on her back with her legs over the edge of her bed, bent at the knees. Her laptop is set on the desk to her left and her head is turned to look at its screen

"Something about energy..." She answers nonchalantly.

"Grace..." Arthur groans, "You know this. Stop messing around."

"I'm not messing around." She rolls her eyes and looks toward the ceiling, "It's just hard to focus with everything that's going on... I hate that you're there struggling without me."

With a sigh, Arthur closes his textbook and puts it to the side. Then he gets up, lifting his own laptop and travelling through his giant room to sit on his bed.

"Sunshine, I'm okay, I promise. Just a little stressed. Please stop worrying."

"How can I not?" She complains, "I'm always gonna worry about you, Arthur, I love you."

Arthur smiles softly at that. Grace obviously hadn't put much thought into what she was saying, but it still makes his heart flutter whenever she utters those words.

"I love you too, Sunshine."

"Actually," she says, propping herself up and turning to face the laptop, "I was meant to ask - why do you call me that?"

"What? Sunshine?" At Grace's nod, Arthur continues casually, "Because your smile is bright, like the sun... You light up every room you're in."

Grace can't react, not verbally at least. Arthur was looking down at his notepad, scribbling down more notes. But at his girlfriend's silence, he lifts his head to find her gaping at him.

"Close your mouth, Sunshine, you'll catch flies." He teases.

"Can I give you a nickname?" She says suddenly.

"What? Why?" he laughs.

"I dunno." Grace shrugs, "It just feels more... intimate."

"I can think of plenty other ways to be intimate without nicknames, Love." He winks at her.

She laughs and swats a hand toward the screen, "When did you get possessed by the spirit of Richard?"

Arthur shrugs with a chuckle, "He's a bad influence."

"How is he anyway?" Grace asks seriously.

Arthur lets out a heavy sigh, "He hates this. He's the sort of person that likes to go where life takes him. It's probably killing him having follow protocol and stuff."

"Will's missing him."

"And he misses Will." Arthur huffs a laugh, "The two of them are joint at the hip, they act like an old married couple."

"If that's the case, then why didn't he tell Will he was leaving?" Grace doesn't bother asking why they hadn't revealed their royal identity to him. It was clear that that was just a privacy thing. And it wasn't her place to question it. In fact, it wasn't her place to ask what she had asked. But Will and Rich are her friends, and she hates seeing them hurt.

"Honestly.... I have no idea."

~~~~~

The next day, as she races into the library, Grace utters a phrase she never thought she'd use.

"I'm in the tabloids."

"What?" Elina says dumbly, lifting her head to look up at the frantic girl stood above her.

Suddenly, a newspaper falls onto her table.

Elina's first thought is, who the fuck buys newspapers anymore? Her second thought is, why the fuck is Grace on the front cover?

Sure enough, in full print, is a giant photo of Arthur and Grace. It's pulled from Grace's Instagram; a cute picture that had been taken when the three of them had gone for a meal along with Will and Rich. It's not particularly PDA filled; just the two of them sat next to each other in a booth. But the devil's in the details. Arthur's arm is placed protectively behind Graces shoulders. She is snuggled into him, one arm disappearing beneath the table, probably holding Arthur's hand. Her other arm is propped up with her head resting on her palm. While Grace is staring at the camera with a content smile, Arthur only has eyes for her. The expression on his face is nothing short of awestruck.

"Is this from your Instagram?" Elina asks, shocked.

"Uh-huh." Grace responds angrily, "And they cropped you guys out! How the hell could they tell we were together?"

Elina can't help herself, sometimes her friend radiates dumb bitch energy. She gives Grace the most disapproving look she can muster.

"If you got any closer to him, you'd be up his arsecrack." She says flatly.

"We aren't that obvious, are we?" Grace sheepishly replies.

"Sis, Arthur is staring at you like he wants to write Shakespearean sonnets about you."

Despite herself, Grace smiles brightly at the sentiment, "I suppose you're right."

Elina looks back down at the paper, studying the title that reads, "Is this the Prince's girlfriend?"

"It's tame, I'll give them that." She shrugs, sliding the paper back to Grace who sighs and folds her arms.

"Yeah well it's just the beginning." She says, shoving the paper into her bag and dropping her head onto the table.

"Excuse me?" A soft, polite voice comes out of nowhere causing Grace to raise her head, "Is anyone sitting here?"

In front of them, standing beautiful and poised, is a tall blonde girl with sharp blue eyes and a soft smile. She's referring to the empty seat at the other end of Grace and Elina's table.

Grace looks to Elina, expecting her to say something, since she's the more confident one of the two. But to her surprise, her friend is completely silent, just staring at the girl with a far-off expression. What the hell?

"Um, no, you can sit there." Grace manages to say, sure that her voice is slightly wobbly. Grace isn't very good with complete strangers. Friends of friends are iffy, but strangers are a big no-no.

"Great, thanks." The model smiles, moving toward the space, "I don't usually come to this library, I'm studying English, but this is the quietest library near my building. I'm Rebecca."

Rebecca extends a hand to Elina, the smile still present on her pretty face. Elina, to her credit, manages to pick her jaw up from the floor and actually come back to reality.

"E-Elina." She responds, shaking the delicate hand in front of her.

"I'm Grace."

"Nice to meet you." Rebecca grins, "So, what do you girls study?"

"Physics." The friends say at the same time, then look at each other.

Rebecca laughs delightedly, "You guys are so cute, I want a gal pal like that!"

For some reason that strikes a chord with Grace. She hates for people to feel left out, like they have no one. So, she does what she always does, what she did when she met Elina, adds a new member to her pseudo-family.

"Lucky for you, there's always space at our table."