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[palace-anna.livejournal.com]

Brad raises his head, shaking it slightly. The sunlight shining in through the window tells him its morning. Rubbing his eyes he looks over at his Travis, still sleeping. Brad leans down and kisses him on the forehead before shaking him slightly. "Travis, Travis my pet. I need to go now. It's morning." Brad says as he kisses Travis on the neck softly.

Travis stirs, but doesn't wake up at first. Instead he moves closer to Brad, wrapping around him. After a moment he opens his eyes, blinking as he looks at his love before smiling. "Morning." He kisses him, rolling onto his back and taking Brad with him.

Brad rolls on top of Travis. "Morning beautiful." He kisses Travis on the lips. "I need to go. Don't worry, I won't be gone long." Brad smiles at him.

Travis's smile fades a little. "Do you have to?" His hold on Brad tightens a little, before realizing he would probably be alright without Travis with him. "Promise you won't be gone long?" He hated how helpless and needy he always seemed to get when Prince Jake was around, but he couldn't control it. Or the worry for Brad. "Want me to come with you? No, nevermind. I'll wait here."

Brad smiles at him lovingly. "I will be back, Travis. I promise." Brad kisses him deeply before getting out of bed and putting on his pants. As he leaves the room he looks back in on Travis and smiles at him before closing the door.

Travis sits up to watch Brad leave, only to fall back onto the bed when the door closes. Pulling Brad's pillow toward him, he wraps his arms around it and waits.

"Do you think they'll be awake?"

"I don't know. But we might as well get this done with. Maybe if they're still half asleep, it'll be easier."

Anna and Mark look at each other as they turn the corner to go to Travis's room, which is why they don't see Brad til he runs into them. Mark catches him before he can fall, looking back at Milla as he does to show her this is her guy.

Brad looks at Mark, then over at Anna. He still isn't fully awake yet. "Sorry." Says Brad as Mark stands him upright. He looks over at Anna "Morning Princess." He says with a smile. He then notices the other, rather attractive woman with them. He just looks at her then back at Anna.

Anna glances at Mark, then back at Brad. "We were just coming to see you. Brad, this is Milla Jovovich. Your new bodyguard."

"My, my bodyguard?" Brad looks at Milla, then over at Anna. "My bodyguard?" he repeats himself.

"Yes, for as long as Jake's here. She's going to follow you whenever you leave your room, not matter who you're with. It's her job to keep you okay. Milla, it looks like he's going back to his room now. You can go with him."

"If that is what you feel I must have, then I will oblige you Princess." Brad looks over at Milla and smiles.

Milla looks from Brad over to Anna. "I will keep an eye on him. No worries about that." She then looks over to Brad, giving him a 'don't even think about it' look. She steps up beside him as his smile fades.

"Brad." Anna waits til he looks at her. "She's going to protect you, by getting you away from Jake. Just you. No matter who you're with, her only concern is getting you away. No one else. No one. Understand?"

Brad thinks of Travis for a second, but then he understands. "I, I understand." He gives her a smile. "Thank you Anna." Brad moves forward to give her a hug. "Thank you for watching out for me."

Anna hugs him back. "I know Brad." She whispers. "I wish he would let us. But I've tried to before and he wouldn't have it. He can't let someone else take a risk for him." She pulls back. "We'll go tell Travis about her. You go ahead to your room."

Brad moves back and gives her a nod. He looks up at Mark and sticks his hand out. "You will take care of him won't you, as best you can anyway?"

"As much as he'll let me, which is never enough for my liking." Mark shakes his hand. "I chose Milla for this myself, Brad. She's good. And she'll do her job in spite of you if she has to." He turns to her. "You know how to get hold of me. I'll see about your bracelet, so just follow him and use his." One last look at Brad. "Don't try to lose her, Brad. If you do, it won't be me or my Princess you'll have to answer to, it'll be my brother."

Brad looks at him and gives him a reassuring look, letting him know there is nothing to worry about. He looks back to Anna. "Thank you again." He turns to Milla. "Well, follow me. I'll show you where my room is." Brad nods to Anna and Mark as he makes his way past them with Milla following close behind.

"Well, that went better than I thought it would."

"Almost too well. But it's done."

"Yeah. Come on, let's go tell Travis."

Travis is just pulling the covers up when he hears the knock on the door. Hoping its Brad deciding to stay for a while longer, he jumps out of bed and runs to open the door. "Oh. Hi."

"Don't look so happy to see us, little brother." Mark walks in, followed by Anna.

"No, just...nevermind." Travis closes the door and goes back to the bed, curling up around Brad's pillow. "You told him."

"I did. That day in the dining room. I asked him to let us know if Jake found you, than I had to tell him the rest when I found out he was an Empath. I'm sorry Travis." Anna sits on the bed, running her hand thru his hair.

Travis lays his head in her lap. "It's okay. I..." He shrugs. "I'm glad you sent him back to me, even though he..."

Mark crawls across the bed, laying behind Travis and wrapping one arm around him. "We got him a bodyguard, little brother. Remember Milla? Only thing she has to do is get him safe if Prince Jake shows up. That's all."

Travis lifts his head in surprise, looking from Anna to Mark. "You...you did?"

Anna nods. "Yup. We told her to get only him to safety. No matter who...who he's with."

Travis is too stunned by the news to notice the looks Anna and Mark exchange over his head. "So he's going to be safe?" He closes his eyes. "Good. Now I..." He lays his head back down on Anna's lap. "Why do I always get like this when he's around? I hate it. It's not me but he makes it be."

"I know, Travis. He makes all of us act like we don't want to. He enjoys it. And I don't know how to stop that short of stopping him. And that sounds like a better idea all the time. I don't think he's ever going to come back to us like the others hope he will. I'd like to have my brother back too, but I can't wait much longer to see if that will happen. I haven't even tried to see Father cause I'm not sure what good that will do. I want Craig thinking about the wedding and not this and I keep missing Christian." Anna sighs. "Harry told me not to try and deal with everything by myself. But I'm the one with nothing to do but wait."

"Than wait here with me, til my Brad gets back. Forget about him, right now just us three matter. Tell me about your latest maneuvers with your company. Is whatshisname still trying to get you to like him?"

Anna rolls her eyes. "Like you wouldn't believe. Every chance he got. The first day we made camp he..." She smiles at her boys as she launches into her story, forgetting for just a moment about everything else but them.