Sean sat next to Princess Maeline. He'd never rode in a limo before, so this was a new experience for him. Inside the limo he saw different kinds of snacks and drinks which he happily ate and drank away. He stared outside the window and saw the vast amount of land leading to Lancaster. There were barely any houses nearby and they were practically in the middle of nowhere. Princess Maeline, dressed in her warmest gown stared out at the land. Her thoughts circling many different ideas of how she would decorate the castle. Maeline turned back toward Sean.

"Sean," She said. "thank you for accepting the invitation."

"No problem, it was an honor to meet you princess," responds Sean. "traveling to England was different from when I was in Ireland. There's really not much to do there and my family wanted me to help in their restaurant."

"Well, I'm glad you came." she said. Sean's stomach turned. There had been something he'd been wanting to say. It was hard cause he'd never exactly asked a girl out before. So this had been his first time.

"Your highness?" Sean said his voice cracking. "There's something I'd like to say."

"Please, Sean, call me Maeline," she responded.

"Are you and Mark um...." He stammered. Maeline laughed, like she knew what he'd been talking about. "This is so hard to ask."

"Are you trying to ask if Mark and I are engaged?" She asked. "No we aren't he's just trying to make you think that we are." she continued. "My father wanted me to be betrothed to Mark, but he's not my type. Mark thinks that power is what makes you a king, it's not about that," Maeline explained. "Being a king or queen, you must rule with compassion, never for power and hatred. You must also look at how you could take care of your kingdom and your people. Especially in times of need."

"So why does he live in that castle with you?" Sean asked.

Maeline shrugged. "Because our parents think that if we lived together, we'd probably fall in love with each other," she answered sadly.

"That's ridiculous," responds Sean. "how could they possibly think that?"

"That's how royalty works." Maeline turned her attention away from the conversation and stared out the window. The rest of the drive went quiet as they neared the town.

"Well, I don't think an arrange marriage is the answer," Sean said. "If you love a person then you should be able to decide who you want to marry." Maeline remained quiet before she looked up at him. The two locked eyes, suddenly forgetting everything that they'd been talking about. A warm feeling suddenly came over him as he tried to push that feeling away. Unfortunately, they'd arrived in town before anything went any further.

"We're here." The driver said.

"Thank you." said Maeline. Sean and Maeline climbed out of the car. The weather outside was so cold that he could see his breath. He put on his heavy coat and gloves. Sean closed the limo door. The limo driver drove back to the castle while Sean and Maeline walked through the town.

Meanwhile at the top of the hotel, one of Mark's best snipers had hidden in a hotel room that was directly across from the Christmas trees. The sniper watched as Sean and Maeline were heading toward the trees. The sniper positioned himself with his A S50 and aimed at Sean's head.

Meanwhile, unaware of the sniper in the room, Sean and Maeline were heading toward the Christmas trees when he noticed a local orphanage. A sign hung on the door, saying that the orphanage was going to be shut down. Sean's heart broke when he saw that. A young woman with sandy blonde hair and green eyes stepped out of the orphanage. She smiled lovingly at Maeline and Sean.

"Can I help you guys?" the lady said.

"Sean, this is Maddison," Maeline said. "Maddison, this is Sean, I'm allowing him to visit Lancaster."

"How do you do Sean," Maddison bowed. Before she turned back toward Maeline. "Your highness, I'm glad you made it, we've been so worried," she explained. "We're running out of money to keep this place running, and it's been hard, a lot of the orphans haven't even been adopted yet let alone had a good Christmas."

"Maeline?" Says Sean. "What's going on with the orphanage?" Maeline looked over and saw the woman, she knew exactly what was going on.

"Like Maddison said, with the orphanage shutting down there's no place for the children to go." Maeline said. Tears threatening to come down.

"Is there anything you guys can do?" Maddison asked. "Do you have money? Or something that can help with the orphanage?"

"Yes," Sean said sadly. "Here," He pulled out his wallet and opened it, Sean took out a wad of cash and handed it to Maddison. Maddison smiled and politely took it thanking them for what Sean had done.

"Thank you so much sir!" Maddison said as she gave him a hug. Sean smiled and hugged back. Maddison turned away from Sean and Maeline and walked back into the house. Maeline watched and smiled softly.

"That was kind of you Sean," says Maeline, "Come on let's go get a Christmas tree."

"Right," says Sean as he and Maeline walked toward the Christmas tree shop. The sniper in the hotel room waited but did not have a clear shot, not since Sean had entered the grove of Christmas trees. The man once again aimed and waited until Sean was in sight, Sean and Maeline walked through the grove of trees to find the perfect one. Most of the trees were either too large or too small, however, they eventually came across the perfect tree. It wasn't too big, and it wasn't too small. It would fit perfectly in the main entrance. The two went to go pay for the tree but a sudden feeling came over Maeline as if something or someone was watching them. She looked around until her eyes landed on a hotel room. She couldn't see much but the sound of gunfire made her react quickly.

"Sean! Lookout!" she exclaimed as she knocked Sean into the snow, Sean fell back with a groan as a bullet hit the nearest tree. Gunfire continued but eventually stopped as Maeline assumed that the sniper was discovered. Sean and Maeline were relieved when the gunfire ceased, but the minute that they looked at each other, Maeline realized that she was on his stomach. The two got up as fast as they possibly could. Both blushed in embarrassment.

"Thanks for the save there." Sean said, rubbing the back of his neck.

The shopkeeper raced toward them out of breath. "Are you guys, okay? What happened?"

"Yeah, we're fine," said Sean. The shopkeeper nodded his head and went back to what he was doing, Sean's heart had been pounding. "What the hell happened?"

"Someone tried to kill you," Maeline responded. "Whoever that was, they wanted you dead."

Sean couldn't stop thinking about what happened. He thought about the reason why someone wanted him dead. It just never exactly occurred to him about who had wanted him dead. "Let's get going, I want to get back to Lancaster. Thank you for saving me again."

"Yeah, but I won't let anything happen to you" Maeline reassured him.

Sean laughed as Maeline paid for a tall Christmas tree that would look lovely in the ballroom. The limo arrived not long after and together they tied the tree to the roof of the car with the help of the limo driver. With the tree secured, they climbed into the limo and made their way back to the castle.

Mark, meanwhile, was sitting in the library busy reading a book when Andrew entered.

"What is it?" Mark asked.

"Sire, her highness is back." Andrew bowed.

Setting the book on the side table, Mark stood and walked out of the library certain that his sniper had done the job. If Maeline came home crying then he would be the one to comfort her, no one else. He stepped out of the library only to become angry all over again seeing that Sean had survived. Apparently, the sniper hadn't done his job after all, how could that be possible? It was one of his best snipers and Sean should have been dead, or at least mortally wounded. Taking a deep breath, Mark walked over to Sean and Maeline wondering what had gone down.

"You made it back," Mark said, deadpan. Not only did his sniper fail to kill Mcloughlin, but they had successfully bought a Christmas tree. "And I see you bought a Christmas tree," Adam dragged the Christmas tree inside.

"That's right," says Maeline. "Though we almost had a close call."

"Really?" Mark said acting surprised. "What happened?"

"Someone tried to kill Sean." Maeline answered.

"Whoever it was, knew that we were going to get a tree" Sean said.

Maeline narrowed her eyes.

"You wouldn't know anything about that now would you Mark?" Maeline said suspiciously.

"I don't know what you're talking about but thank God you're okay." Mark stated.

"Glad that I got out of that unscathed." Sean responded

"Oh, and one other thing," says Maeline. "We're going to have a charity ball," she continued. "I think it's time we used that ballroom once more," she continued. "All the funds and charity are going to orphanages that are being threatened to shut down."