Chapter Text
"We are going to be totally unreachable," Alex explains. "No phones, no laptops, no Shaan, nothing."
Nora rolls her eyes, but Alex continues to look at her earnestly. This is no joking matter to him, she knows; the stars had finally aligned so that Alex's second semester of law school ended the week before Henry had a full week free from royal duties, and with nothing big planned between Kensington, the White House, and the shelters, they had decided to take a much needed vacation to a secluded cabin in Colorado where there was absolutely no service to speak of. The only possible way to communicate with them would be through secret service or PPOs, and even that would be sketchy. Which means she has heard his 'how to take care of the brownstone in our absence' lecture several times in the last hour. But it’s all worth it. Because they need a break.
"Yes, Alex, I know where you're going and what you're doing," Nora says slowly, as if to a toddler. "It's not like you haven't told me 50 times."
He wrinkled his nose at her. "C'mon, Nora-" he starts.
"I have house sat for you before," Nora says, hair bouncing as she shakes her head in annoyance. "And David's not even here this time! There's barely anything to watch."
"What about the plants-"
"Alex!" Henry shouts from the stairs of the plane, foot tapping impatiently. "It's time to go. Stop bothering Nora."
"I'm just making sure she doesn't burn the house down," Alex yells back, though he's smiling. "But seriously, don't burn the house down-"
"Go," she says and steers him by the shoulder toward the waiting aircraft, "or there's a very high chance of me killing you."
As they make their way to Henry, Nora pulls Alex's phone out of his back pocket and types in the password Alex doesn't know she knows.
"Hey-"
"Hush." He reaches out to take the phone back, but Nora holds it out in front of her so his little 5'8" arms can't reach it. Then, she quickly puts it on airplane mode, Henry chuckling behind them.
Alex makes an offended noise. "The plane won't even take off for another 10 minutes!"
"And I just did you a huge favor," Nora counters, and she knows she's right.
"Yes, thank you, Nora." A look up shows Henry doing the same thing. "Tell Nora thank you, Alex."
Alex heaves a sigh. "Thank you, Nora."
There's a 92% chance of him actually being grateful.
Finally, he sends her one last grin before finally going up the stairs and entering the plane with Henry, and she watches idly as attendants get it ready for takeoff.
Ten minutes later, the plane is rolling down the airstrip, blowing Nora's curls all around her face.
Her phone dings. It's a text from June.
hottest month ❤️: check the news right now
Not a second later, there's a flood of notifications, all under the key words 'Queen Mary' and 'royal family.' Hands shaking, she clicks on one.
Buckingham Palace silent amid reports of sick Queen
Reports came in early this morning of Queen Mary falling suddenly ill overnight. Authorities have yet to determine the cause, but sources say they spotted HRH Princess Catherine, HRH Prince Philip and the Duchess of Cambridge, and HRH Princess Beatrice arriving at the Palace in the last hour.
Buckingham Palace denied comment.
Our hearts go out to the royal family in these trying times.
There are at least a dozen others just like it, all of them which Nora reads word for word. Within minutes, she's accepting a call from June.
"What the hell," she says without waiting for the other girl.
Fortunately, June is used to it. "Yeah, I know. The story just broke, like, a minute ago. Please tell me Alex and Henry are still on the ground?"
With a dawning horror, Nora raises her head to the sky and sees nothing but clouds in every direction.
She presses the phone back to her ear. "I've got some bad news."
"Shit." There's a rustling on the other side of the phone. "Mom wants everyone at the Residence."
And, okay, that's kinda weird. There's no actual reason anyone but Ellen needs to do anything beyond a sympathetic Twitter post (except Henry, obviously, who is probably expected at Buckingham Palace any time now).
Which means- "She thinks there's foul play, doesn't she?" The words aren't even all the way out of her mouth before Nora's fingers are itching for a computer so she can hack her way through this problem.
June sighs. "She said not to panic, but because of how abrupt it was and the current political climate in the UK, there's a possibility it's not natural."
A group of leaves blows through the airstrip. "And because of our ties to the royal family-"
"She's afraid we could be next," June finishes, tone grim. "The good news is, so many of our policies are in direct conflict with Mary's that if it is dirty, we may be in the clear."
"That's a good theory, especially considering her last endorsement." It's well known that the Queen's most recent focus was a Tory immigration bill the likes of which the UK has never seen.
"Analysis?"
Nora thinks for a moment. "36% chance of an assassination attempt on the Queen, 23% chance of an assassination plot on the rest of us."
June hums. "That low on the Queen?"
A laugh bubbles out of Nora's throat. "She is very old, babe. What does this mean for Alex and Henry?"
"Hang on, I'm pulling up to the airstrip."
A second later, a black SUV pulls around the corner, and Nora hangs up the phone as June climbs out.
She frowns, loose bun bobbing in the breeze. "You hung up on me."
Her UT hoodie and old jeans fit nicely with Nora's Claremont-Holleran sweatshirt and black leggings with holes in the knees. Neither of them thought anyone would have to see them today.
"Hello to you, too," Nora answers. "What's happening?"
"We're gonna fly to D.C.," is all June says.
"And the boys?"
She scratched her neck uncertainly. "I don't know. No one can get a hold of them."
"No one can get a hold of them, or they're ignoring attempts at communication?"
"No one can get a hold of them. Calls aren't going through to them or Cash." June looks more and more uneasy as the conversation goes on, and Nora wishes she had any words of reassurance.
"Shit." They hadn't wanted to take a ton of security on the off chance the media figured out what was going on. That idea wasn't looking too good anymore. "Who all knows where they are?"
June straightens, probably already having thought of this herself. "Me, you, Pez, Bea, the parents, Zahra and Shaan, Rafael, and the security teams. Not even the Queen knows."
"Well," Nora starts, "if someone really is trying to kill us, they may be safer in nowhere, Colorado."
June sighs, and . "I hope so."
-
Alex doesn't even make it 15 minutes into the flight before he starts feeling the effects of not using his phone, which is weird because he has been on flights before where he can't use his phone. It's probably just the knowledge that he won't be able to use it when they land. Or when they get to the cabin. Or for the next four days.
But it's okay. This is what he wanted. He left his laptop at home of his own volition.
The sound of a page turning distracts him from his thoughts.
Henry has one hand buried in David's fur where the dog naps at his side and is reading a book from the truly giant stack he brought - Sense and Sensibility, he thinks - and has a pleasant little smile on his face. It's so cute that Alex snaps a photo.
Henry looks up at the shutter sound. "Can I help you?"
Alex grins at him. "You look good, babe."
"Well." He laughs when Henry's ears turn red. "Is that all, then?"
"Yeah, babe, you can go back to your book."
A few more minutes pass with only the sound of Henry's page turning and Cash's crossword puzzle, and with nothing to do but stare out the window, Alex realizes he seriously needs to pick up some hobbies.
At some point, he finds a pen on the table between him and Henry and starts clicking it against the table to see how high it will go.
The answer? Pretty damn high.
"Alex!" Henry exclaims, squirming and upsetting David as Alex's pen hits him in the chest. "Can you really not occupy yourself for a little bit?"
"Sorry, babe." He's not sorry.
Henry throws the pen at him. "Didn't you bring something to do?"
"Yeah." He brought several things to do: Michelle Obama's biography, a complete guide to the political references in Parks and Rec, and, because he couldn't resist work, a speech June wanted him to look over for an event he was heading for Mom in July.
"Then why don't you do that?" Henry's left eyebrow is approaching the ceiling.
"I don't know! I just don't feel like it." Yes, he is aware he sounds ridiculous.
Henry closes his book and puts it down next to him. Oh, shit. "Alex, you have been on longer flights than this without your phone. What is going on?"
"I don't know, I just have a weird feeling that something happened," he says. It's hard to explain.
"Darling, if anything important happens, someone will contact Cash through comms."
Objectively, he knew that, but, "I don't know what to tell you, I just have a weird feeling." He makes grabby hands. "I need to check the news. I need my phone."
Henry slaps his hands away. "That's called an addiction, babe."
Alex throws the pen at him.
-
There's a car waiting for them when they land in D.C., and in no time, they're pulling up to the White House.
As they walk into the Residence, June pulls out her phone. "Bea still hasn't texted me back, and Pez says it's radio silence on his side. Alex and Henry are still unreachable."
Bea nods. "Well, their flight isn't even half over, and Buckingham is probably under lock and key."
June supposes that makes sense, though it doesn't do much to reassure her. Of course her little brother would be unreachable now, of all times, when there might be an assassination plot. Dramatic shit.
The white tiles pass under their feet quickly until they hear the sound of heels clicking, and Zahra rounds a corner straight into them.
She waves them farther into the hallway. "Come on, everyone's in the sitting room."
June scrunches her face scrunch up in confusion. "Everyone?"
"Yes, everyone except your brother and his boyfriend are here because someone might be trying to kill you. Keep moving."
June looks at Nora, alarmed. "I thought that was just a theory."
She is not ready to face an assassination this early in life.
"Your mother is the first female president. There are always threats to your life. It's when the threats start connecting to real events when we actually take notice." Zahra doesn't slow down throughout her little speech, and June has to admit she has a point.
Finally, they round a corner and reach a sitting room, still overly white like the rest of the building. Blue couches and armchairs spread out across the room, and a light brown coffee table sits in the middle of it all. Her dad, Rafael Luna, and Amy are seated in two of the armchairs while her mom and Leo share a couch. With Congress in session, she supposed they all had less travel time.
The room is quiet. Too quiet.
Everyone looks up when they enter, and June unsticks her tongue from the room of her mouth. "What do we know?"
Ellen stands, looking thankful to not have to break the uncomfortable silence for once. "Queen Mary fell sick some time around yesterday evening. Catherine, Bea, Philip, and Martha are all at Buckingham Palace as of this morning. There has been no attempt at communication, and they are not taking my calls. Shaan-" June recalls that Shaan and Zahra were going to spend the weekend off together while the boys were in Colorado so he must be somewhere in the Residence "-is currently trying to get ahold of someone on their end." She pauses, taking a breath. "As of right now, poisoning has not been ruled out as a possibility."
June sucks in a breath, even though it's all stuff she already knew. "And Alex and Henry?"
Ellen clasps her hands in front of her and purses her lips. "No answer. And before you ask, no one can reach Cash either."
Next to her, Nora snorts. "Sounds about right."
That really breaks the tension. Everyone starts laughing, even Zahra, because it really is such a typical Alex thing to do, cause an uproar in the midst of an international crisis and not even be there for it. This is how Shaan finds them a couple minutes later.
Unfortunately, that makes them sober very quickly.
"Well?" Ellen asks, voice surprisingly strong.
Shaan clears his throat. "I was able to get in contact with the head of security at Buckingham Palace. She informed me that while there is no concrete reason to believe Her Majesty has been poisoned, there are some extenuating circumstances that make the situation suspicious. Increased threats immediately before her sudden illness, things breaking around the Palace, et cetera, all aligning with Her Majesty's newest controversial policy announcement."
Oscar raises an eyebrow. "What's the verdict then? Are we safe?"
Shaan looks stricken, and Amy stands. "Because we don't have a good picture of the whole situation, I think it would be best if everyone were to remain here."
Again, the age old question. "And Alex and Henry?"
"I see no reason to cut their vacation short since there's only suspicion. Besides, if something really is going on-"
"They're probably safest in bumfuck, Colorado, where nobody knows they are," Nora finishes.
Amy nods. "Exactly."
Something else occurs to June. "What about the Queen? Is there any news on her?" Not that she particularly cares either way, but if it really ends up that she was poisoned, it'll only make her a martyr, and June will need to start working on some pieces to negate that load of shit.
Shaan hesitates. Bad news? Good news? She can't tell without knowing how he feels about Her Majesty. "Well, that is the other thing." June steels herself. "The head of security wasn't positive, but it seems the Queen is taking a turn for the worst."
June braces herself. (Or does she see a glimmer of hope?)
"They don't expect her to make it through the weekend."