Takes place a few days after the Amy interview.

[palace-david.livejournal.com]

Amy interview can be found here but it is not needed to read it before reading this piece:

David walked down the hall and thought he spied Christian step into the lift. He'd been looking all over for that man! "Christian! Wait up!" he called out jogging down the hall hoping he'd heard him. He needed to ask him some questions about Telepathy.

Christian had already pushed the button in so he 'froze' it and waited for David to reach him. "Hey," he smiled. "You need me?"

"Yeah, thanks," he said stepping through the doors. "I need to talk to you about Telepathy I had something weird happen to me the other day and now that Jake is here well I'm a little worried about the episode in my office with a young Telepath named Amy. She tried to read me without my permission and honestly it hurt like a son of a bitch. I had a headache the rest of the day." David explained rubbing the back of his neck.

"It hurt?" Christian stepped back out of the lift. "C'mon, we can't talk about it here. Let's go back to your office." Pain from an intrusion was not unheard of, but it wasn't quite ordinary either. Unless the telepath was very unskilled or rough. Christian pursed his lips as he walked back with David.

"Yeah. It was really strange I *felt* her in my head. It was like my brain was scrambling trying to push her out but couldn't. Strangest feeling I ever had," David said stopping in front of his office door and opening it for Christian to go in ahead of him. He followed and walked over to his desk and sat down waving a hand to Christian to have a seat opposite him.

His first thought upon hearing David use the word 'push' was some kind of incomplete shielding. And it wouldn't help that he'd felt the intrusion in the first place; this 'Amy' can't have been very experienced. Oh well, only one way to find out. "David, it could be shields." he told him. "If you like, if you trust me, I can do a light probe? See what I find?" He sat back and waited for David to decide.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt...well I mean if it's like last time it probably will but there really is no other way to figure it out," David said frowning. "Worth a shot, I can live with another headache."

Christian grinned at him. "No headache, I promise. If you get one, I'll fix it." He sat back and folded his fingers in front of his face, concentrating and applying the lightest of touches, he sent out tendrils of intent in David's direction. He had no trouble gaining access at first, but the more he scanned around, the harder it became and when he gave the tiniest of shoves, he was surprisingly, amazingly thrown out, figuratively-speaking on his mental ass. "Wow!" he said, shaking his head to clear it. "That's quite a push you've got there, Daisy. What did you feel?"

"Shit, like my head just exploded," David said leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. "What the fuck is that? I...I've never, I could *feel* it."

"Damned if I know." Christian said and it was only the truth. He'd looked for shielding and found none, at least none of the variety he was used to, like Harry's, for example. He told David this and then asked, "You want that headache taken care of? 'Fore it sets in?" He felt a bit guilty about the pain he'd caused, was unused to such a reaction and stymied by it as well. What could possibly be causing it?

"Yeah...aspirin didn't work last time and I didn't want to bother Nicole with it. Only thing that helped was sleep and I was late the next day had trouble waking up," David said softly so that it didn't cause the ringing in his ears to increase. He blinked a few times trying to clear his head but just like last time all he did was hurt.

Christian stood and leaned across the desk, his fingers gently coming to rest on David's temple. It shouldn't hurt to send healing; he'd never come across any resistance to that and he didn't now. With a careful mental touch he unknotted the tension that was causing the blood vessels to constrict and quieted the nerve endings before withdrawing, confident that David’s head would ease momentarily. Sitting back down, he said. "Well, it's not a problem for a doctor, it's down to a bit of homework on your part, I'm afraid." He bit his lip while he ordered his thoughts. "It's shielding. No doubt about it, though what kind I couldn't tell you. Not any sort I've ever come across before. You'll have to do research on it. Bound to be a reference somewhere that rings a bell."

"I've looked when I had some spare time," he grinned, "though you know how much spare time I have. I'll check into it some more. I guess a Telepath just never tried to read me before. Feel a little uninteresting now." He chuckled; his head was already starting to clear from whatever Christian had done. "What worries me is...well I'm pretty certain you were gentle just now. Amy was intrusive she wasn't trying to hurt me I know that she was just curious and being nosy. I'm worried about Jake, from what I have heard he and Craig do not get along and you never know. I've basically been warned away from him, but what if he approaches me and tries something. I have no real defense really...just because I shoved you out just then doesn't mean I could if someone really and I mean really tried to hurt me." David said the last sentence softly.

"Hmmm, no." Christian's eyes darkened, along with his thoughts at the mention of his brother's name. He knew all the stories, had initially either dismissed or devalued them, but now . . . if Jake ran true to form, David was definitely going to have to watch himself. "You could, I think, keep him out, but not without great cost to your own health and well-being." he said. "Which kinda defeats the purpose." An idea sprang to mind and he gave David a wicked smile, knowing the other man was not going to like it. "You're engaged to my brother." he said, his twinkling eyes inviting David to query the strange statement.

David frowned immediately knowing exactly what Christian was meaning and he didn't need his Insight Talent for that. "A body guard? Seriously?"

"Seriously." Christian got to his feet. "I'll have a word with them, get you assigned." He began to head for the door, just in case... "You'd have gotten one soon, you know." David opened his mouth to speak and Christian raised a finger, silencing him with a look. "Don't even bother." he chuckled. "Mess with me sunshine and I'll report you. To Craig."

David immediately snapped his mouth shut; he wasn't going to argue this out with Craig because he was no easier to deal with than Nicole on matters like this. He sighed pitifully and looked at Christian for a moment then nodded his concession. "Yeah...yeah. The wedding is in two months. You NEED to talk to your brother when you get a chance or he's going to have a coniption fit by the way," David said smiling. "I'm ahead of him three to one on the wedding attendants," David laughed, "He's none too pleased about that."

Halting in his tracks, Christian swung around. "Protection starts the second it's official, David. You should know that. Or maybe not..." Been a while since there'd been any royal wedding in Calera. He registered David's words. "Attendants?" His eyebrows rose. "Me?"

"Talk to your brother, that is all I'm saying," David grinned at him. "You should have seen Harry, man he blushed when I asked him."

Oh God! While he was pleased at the thought of being asked, actually participating in the ceremony meant . . ."Suits? Ties?" he said with mounting horror. "Buttonholes?" He pantomimed looking for an escape route. "If Craig wants me, tell him I'm in the nearest broom closet, okay?"

Laughing David shook his head, "Well yeah something like that I think we might do without the ties though, not fond of them myself."

Christian was backing out the door, hands held up defensively and pleased that his little performance had made David laugh. It was a bit of a rare commodity these days and it was nice to hear it again. He stalked off down the hall, knowing full well that David could hear him as he muttered aloud. "I knew there was a reason I'm not getting married. Ever. Buttonholes! "

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A few hours later David looked up when someone knocked on his door. He didn’t have any appointments set up and Hugh wouldn’t knock. “Come in!” he called out curious who his visitor was.

A tall broad shouldered man entered smiling rather sweetly. “Hi, I uh…I’m Bret I was sent from the Security Office, requested by Prince Christian to be your body guard,” the larger man said holding out his hand to a somewhat stunned David.

Well hell…Chris certainly works fast, he thought. He took the other mans hand in a handshake.

“Um, yeah. He decided since I’m marrying Prince Craig that I should have a body guard in place even before the wedding,” David explained.

“I see. Well when is the wedding…afraid I’m out of the loop on the latest gossip going around?” Bret asked smiling.

“Well we set the date for October 11 but it hasn’t been announced yet,” David grinned.

“Ah, well then its time you got used to me then,” Bret smiled at him, “You won’t know I’m even around.”

David frowned for a moment wondering how the hell asking Christian about Telepathy changed to him getting a bodyguard two months early?

Well like Bret said it was time he got used to him, he often forgot about Craig’s bodyguard, so he could get used to this. Hopefully.