Title: The Story of the Bandit Prince Charming: PC Author: Nicole Category: S, R [Harm/Mac], Angst Rating: PG Spoilers: none Disclaimer: not mine Summary: prequel to my story ‘Coming Back,’ and companion piece to ‘The Story of the Bandit Prince Charming: Bandit’ Feedback: desired I sigh as I sit on the beach with my best friend, Keeter. ‘Why did I ever agree to this?’ I wonder. “Oh, man,” Keeter groans. “Look at her! Geez, man, if I don’t score here, I’ll never forgive myself!” That said, Keeter gets up and walks over to the young woman in question. He feeds her a line and whatever her response was turns Keeter’s face bright red. He slinks back over and drops to the sand. “Struck out, buddy?” I ask, knowing damn well that he did. “Shove it!” Keeter snarls. “I’d like to see you do better!” “Is that a challenge?” Keeter looks at me and smirks. “Damn straight!” I stand and brush the sand off my six before I walk over to the woman. Not knowing what to say, I stay silent as I walk beside her. About 20 feet later she stops and turns to me. “Okay,” she says, her voice hard, “who are you and why are following me?” I smile as she glares at me. “Can’t a man appreciate a beautiful woman, Bandit?” Where the ‘Bandit’ came from, I’ll never know, and unfortunately, that’s the part of my sentence that she latches on to. “Bandit?” I smile again as I try to improvise my way through this. “Would you rather I call you ‘thief,’ ‘robber,’ ‘crook,’ or ‘pirate’?” She frowns, confusion lighting her beautiful features. “*What* are you *talking* about?!” I smile harder as I explain a la Keeter. “You stole my heart.” It hits me suddenly how incredibly stupid that sounds and I snort, then run my fingers through my hair. “Okay, yeah, I know,” I say. “Lame. Look, I’m sorry, I’ll juts go.” I turn away and take a few steps towards Keeter’s smirking face before she speaks. “Bandit,” is all she says. I turn, confused, yet still a little hopeful. She smiles, then says, “I like ‘bandit’ best.” I return her smile and walk with her again, turning my back on Keeter’s glare. We wander the beach talking for an hour before Bandit suddenly says, “You know, you still haven’t told me what your name is.” “You haven’t either,” I point out, grinning. She shrugs. “You call me ‘Bandit’!” “Well then,” I say reasonably, “what do you want to call me?” She’s silent for a moment before saying, shyly, “PC. For Prince Charming.” I smile. “Why Prince Charming?” She smiles back. “What I was a little girl, my dad would yell at me and treat me very badly. I always told myself that the first man I came to who made me feel like a princess would be my Prince Charming. And you’re that man.” Oh. God. Of all the women on the beach, I pick the most perfect. I feel tears in my eyes and try to blink them away as I rasp, “Thank you.” I see her waiting for me, nervously shifting from one foot to the other. She is so beautiful. It’s the third day that we’ve met on the beach, including our accidental meeting. I never thought I would, but I’ve fallen in love with my Bandit. “Bandit!” I call, catching her attention. She turns and smiles and as I walk up next to her, I pull her into a hug. After I let her go, I ask, “How is it that you always manage to get here before me?” She smiles and says in a flippant voice, “Maybe because I never leave!” What the hell? I meet her eyes, concerned and ask, “Bandit, do you sleep on the beach? Don’t you have anywhere to go?” She looks at her feet, ashamed, and nearly whispers, “No, I use all my money for food.” My heart breaks a little and I cup her cheek, lifting her face to look at me. “Bandit, why didn’t you tell me? Look, from now on, you stay with me, okay? I’m not going to take no for an answer.” She sighs and the corners of her mouth tip up. “Okay,” she whispers. She looks around the apartment, then smiles and says, “Only one bedroom.” My face heats up and I mumble, “Yeah, I know, but I’ll just sleep on the couch.” “I’m not putting you out of your own bed, PC.” I meet her determination with my own. “Bandit, you probably haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks! I’m not shoving you onto the couch!” She glares slightly, then says, “Than I guess we share the bed. I sure hope it’s a double.” She blushes as she realizes what she said and I raise my eyebrows suggestively. “Only a double, huh?” I ask and she blushes harder. “Well, I’m sorry, but I have a queen size,” I say with a smirk. Attempting to regain her dignity, she smiles and says, “All the better,” then walks into the bedroom and puts down her bag. I grin and shake my head. “I’m sure.” I hear her open the door and creep into the apartment, obviously trying to be quiet. She enters the bedroom and carefully puts her bag down before noticing that I’m watching her. “You’re still awake,” she says, obviously surprised. I turn to my side. “You really think I could sleep not knowing where you were?” Okay, I know, it sounds possessive, but I can’t help it! She frowns and says, “What difference does it make? I mean, why do you care so much? I’m just the lost little girl you took in.” I feel a slow smile spread across my face at her naiveté and I shake my head. “You’re more than that, Bandit. You’re my soulmate. I love you.” Her eyes widen and jaw drops and she looks completely shocked. “You love me?” she breathes. “Do you really?” I nod. “Yeah, Bandit, I love you. More than anything.” She laughs and launches herself at me, landing partially on me. “I love you so much, my Prince. So much it almost hurts.” I smile and kiss her, stopping her laughter. I’ve kissed Bandit before, but not ‘forever’ kissed, like this. “Let me make love to you,” I whisper, still brushing my lips with hers. “No,” she mutters, and I pull away, hurt at her rejection. She continues, “I want you to make love with me.” I realize that she didn’t reject me and smile, kissing her again. We near the tattoo parlor and Bandit asks, “PC, are you sue this is a good idea?” Apprehension colors her voice and I try to soothe her. I smile and say, “C’mon, B, don’t you want me to have your mark and you to have mine?” She smiles back and says, “Yeah. Okay, let’s go.” I push open the door, hearing the bell ring and the woman who owns the shop approaches. “Can I help you?” I grin. “Yeah. We want to get branded.” The woman smiles, and out of the corner of my eye I see Bandit roll her eyes. “Of course,” the woman responds, “I have several books, what kind of theme do you want?” I look at Bandit, leaving the choice up to her and she thinks for a moment before answering. “Roses. Roses and ivy.” The woman smiles and walks over to a bookshelf, searching for the right book. Deciding to tease Bandit, I say, “You tryin’ to make me a laughing stock of the Navy?” She rolls her eyes at my tone and says, in a ‘duh’ voice, “It doesn’t have to be anywhere where they’d see it!” Before I can retort, the woman comes back and hands us a book, not saying a word. Ten minutes after opening the book, Bandit points at a certain image and says, “Oh, PC, it’s perfect!” I glance at the tattoo, already knowing that I’d agree to anything to make her happy, and I have to admit, the tattoo is nice. “Yeah, it is,” I say. Without another word, we approach the woman. As soon as we exit and tattoo parlor, Bandit whines, “Ooooh, this hurts!” And I have to admit, it does. “Why did we agree to have it around the left nipple?” I ask, trying to keep from rubbing the sore spot and thus destroying the image. “I don’t know, it just hurts,” Bandit whines again. I can’t help but roll my eyes, which earns me a smack on the arm. “So, I guess you’re a future Jarhead, huh?” I ask, hoping to take her mind off the pain. She smiles and says, semi-sarcastically, “Gee, PC, whatever gave you that idea?” I snort. “Could be the ‘Semper Fi’ you asked her to add to your tattoo. That sorta gave it away.” She crosses her arms defensively. “I like it!” I smile and softly say, “So do I, B,” and she relaxes. I hear her enter the apartment, trying to be quiet. She enters the bedroom and I look up at her from the bed. “What took so long, B?” She shrugs, appearing guilty but trying not to. “Got turned around and lost.” I frown. She’s not telling the whole truth. “Bandit, you’ve been here for a week and a half and never gotten lost.” She shrugs again. “First time for everything.” Her tone is light, but guarded. I watch her for a long moment, observing her body language. “B, what’s up? What happened?” “Nothing,” she insists, her voice hard, a tone I haven’t heard since the day I met hr. “Nothing happened. Everything’s fine.” I grab her arm and pull her onto the bed, forcing her to meet my gaze. “Bandit, everything is not fine. What is it? What happened?” Her eyes tear up and she pushes herself away. “You want to know what happened?!” she yells, “Do you?!” I feel my eyes widen, not having expected this reaction, but I say nothing. “What happened is that I cheated on you! Okay?! You happy?! I wen out, intending to just go to the drugstore, but some guy propositioned me and guess what! I accepted. I went to his house with him, and he screwed me! It meant nothing, but I guess it was my teen years coming back to me! One guy just isn’t enough!” OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod. No! God, please, no! I don’t think I’ve ever been so hurt or angry or betrayed in my life, not ever when my dad went down. Tears fall down my cheeks, but I don’t pay attention. When Bandit finally looks at me again, she has tears in her eyes, and I ask one question. “Why?” She shrugs, indifferent. “Just something to do. A way to pass the time.” My heart is being squeezed by an invisible hand so hard I think it’s going to burst. “I’m not enough? My love isn’t enough? I thought you loved me, B.” “I do!” she exclaims, the indifference gone. “Obviously not!” I shout, anger taking over. “Obviously you don’t love me like I love you, ‘cuz if you did, you wouldn’t have gone out and screwed the first horny bastard to look at you twice!” “PC!” she exclaims, her voice tortured and desperate. “PC, I *do* love you! It was just a mistake! I didn’t mean it! It was nothing. PC, I love you more than anything in the world!” “Not more than sex,” I say coldly. I stand up, leaving her on the bed and say, “I’m going for a walk. Yo have one hour to get out. Don’t come back.” As I approach the door to my apartment, I hope to God that Bandit didn’t listen to me and is still there. I unlock the door and enter, the small bronze key on the table tells me that she left. I walk into the bedroom and drop onto the bed. Oh, God. I wish I didn’t tell her to leave. I wish I had listened. Now I’ll never see her again. An object in the corner of my eye catches my attention and I turn my head. I reach over and pick up the item. I pull the ring from around the paper and look at it. It’s simple, a silver band with a circular piece of onyx, but it’s one of Bandit’s most prized possessions, as it is the first piece of jewelry she ever bought. I slip the ring onto my pinkie finger and unroll the note, reading it quickly. _Dear PC, You may not believe me, but I do love you. I’m so very sorry for what I did, and I hope that one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I may be married to Chris by law, but in my heart, I am married to you. You will forever be my love and soulmate. I love you forever, Bandit PS. My name is Sarah._ The words blurred, then the tears fell as I let out all the anguish I’ve been feeling for the past hour and a half. She’s really gone.