The next morning, Ty woke up early, or at least what he thought would be early, to take Elizabeth home. By the time he got dressed, settling for business casual that day since they were presumably in a hurry, he found Deejay and Elizabeth already waiting for him in the boardroom, looking out the massive picture window on the far side of the room. Elizabeth had her same dress on from the day before, and Deejay's outfit was unchanged except for the black Winger t-shirt. He had his arm around her, and Ty noticed a suspicious amount of smiles and laughs being exchanged between them.

“Morning, sunshine,” Deejay said to Ty, only briefly turning to acknowledge his presence.

He turned back to Elizabeth and put both hands on her waist, and she wrapped her arms around behind his head, like they were getting ready to slow dance at prom.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed your stay, Your Highness.”

“Oh, I did indeed,” she replied. “It was quite an experience.”

“Oh god. What happened?” Ty marched toward them. “Why are you two being that obnoxious PDA couple that everyone hates?”

“Oh relax,” Deejay said. “Nothing happened. We just decided to get up early so we could watch the sunrise together.”

“It was so romantic,” she added.

“And alright, we did kiss a little beforehand. Well, made out really... There was a bit of heavy petting... I taught her a couple of fun tricks that most girls have to read about in Cosmo.”

Ty nearly broke his glasses with the force that his palm hit his own face.

“...How in your screwed-up mind do you choose to describe that as 'nothing happened'? Do you realize what the hell you've done?”

“Yeah, I've made her future husband a very happy man. Will you chill out already? She's a big girl; she can make her own decisions.”

“Of course I can,” Elizabeth chimed in, holding Deejay close to her. “Really Sir Tyler, why are you so opposed to Deejay and I being together anyway?”

Ty strode up to them, visibly seething but trying to hide it. They instinctively separated, as if physically compelled to do so by the waves of anti-romance radiating off of him like the heat off of scorching asphalt in the middle of summer.

“You want to talk about it?” he asked. “Fine, let's talk about it. You like Deejay a lot, right? He makes you feel special?”

“Isn't it obvious?” She turned to look at Deejay again and smiled. “My heart races whenever he is near, and I'm filled with elation every time I look into his eyes. Yes, I like him very much, and I feel things for him that I've scarcely dared to feel for anyone before. I could even go so far as to say I love him.”

“You've known him for two days.”

“Is that so odd? Love at first sight may be the strongest kind of love there is. And why shouldn't I love him? When we first met, he bravely risked his life to save mine. And ever since that moment, our love has only grown stronger.”

Deejay nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I guess love's kind of a big word, but-”

Seemingly without hearing him, Elizabeth clasped his hand and continued heaping praises on him. Ty looked like he had something to say, but hesitated.

“He is brilliant and charming, and so strong yet so gentle as well. Really, what more is there to talk about? He makes me happy, and he is a great man.”

Deejay shrugged. “Hey, I'm not one to brag, but-”

“And I want him to marry me.”

“Wait, what?”

“And when we return to the castle, I will introduce him to my father so he may ask for my hand in marriage.”

“Okay, we really should discuss-”

“And then we'll start our new life together and have so many beautiful children-”

“Time out! Hold the phone! Take a breath! Just wait a minute here!”

Deejay pulled abruptly away from her, gesturing wildly. She looked pleadingly into his eyes.

“...Deejay?”

“Look, sweetie... as wonderful as that all sounds, I can't just get married right now. I have so many responsibilities here. Right, Ty? A-and the king might be mad at me for trying to run away with you. He would, right?”

Ty cleared his throat, but otherwise didn't respond. Elizabeth held Deejay's hands in hers, continuing to stare at him expectantly.

“None of that matters as long as we're in love. Don't you love me?”

“I... it's... we've known each other for two days! Isn't that too soon?” He looked at Ty again. “It is, right? You said it.”

Ty folded his arms. “Why do you expect me to help you right now?”

“Come on, what happened to all that sanctimonious 'butterfly effect, you're going to start a war' crap?”

“Oh, we're way past that. You're into 'reap what you sow' territory now.”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. “Why won't you marry me? Wouldn't I make a fine wife?”

Deejay backed away as far as Elizabeth holding his hands firmly in hers would allow.

“Can we just take a minute to think this through? I like you a lot, and I'm sure you'd be a great wife, but am I really husband material? I mean, just politically speaking, don't you want to marry a prince or a lord or something? Your father definitely wouldn't want you marrying below your station.”

“You're not below my station. You might even be above it. Kings only rule over countries, but you rule over this whole world, don't you?”

“She's got you there...” Ty said.

Deejay shot him a frantic look. “Seriously, do you want to be an uncle by the time you're 24?”

Ty shrugged. “Our cousin had kids at 25. She's doing okay. And by Zalarian standards, she would've been an old maid, right?”

Deejay sighed. “Listen, Elizabeth, I'm not saying no, but let's not rush into this. Getting married right now is tough. I really do have a lot of important work to do here. People are counting on me and Ty. Right?”

Ty relented. “...Alright. Your Highness, I hate to admit it, but this place pretty much runs on Deejay's blood, sweat, and whatever fluid genius brains have in them. We can't really afford to have him distracted with married life. He may be a lord or whatever of this little world of ours, but he's also an architect, engineer, physicist, electrician, anthropologist, machinist, botanist, programmer, medic-”

“Uncertified. Except for that CPR course I took in high school.”

“He's overworked as it is. Adding husband and father to that list might just kill him.”

“Exactly. So you see, our getting married would kind of throw everything into disarray here. With so many people depending on me, I can't be selfish and turn my back on them in favor of marrying you.”

Elizabeth looked back and forth between the two of them, and her heart visibly sank.

“...I hadn't really thought of that. I suppose the needs of your people are important.”

“Right. So maybe it's best if we just take things slow for now. Maybe someday, if things calm down here a bit, and if you still really want to marry me, we can think about it then.”

“...I understand. I won't pretend I'm not disappointed, but I do understand. Nevertheless, I will hold out hope that we may be together someday.”

“Sure, sure. We're both young yet. You never know what the future will hold. Now come on, let's get you home before you father murders me.”

“As you wish, Sir Deejay...”

Her statement had an implied “you bastard” tacked onto the end of it. Or maybe that's just my mind filling that in.

Deejay escorted Elizabeth up to the roof, where they boarded the ship bound for her home. The ride back was completely silent. She tried to put on a brave face, but it was hard to hide the sadness, and slight sense of betrayal. She had read a lot of stories of young love and passionate romance. None of them ever ended like this. Realistically though, if they did, who would want to read them?

–

After returning Elizabeth safely and quietly back to her room, Deejay headed back to the Tower. He met up with Ty who was getting to work in the board room, answering messages from the people in town.

“Wow,” Deejay said. “Listen, thanks for the backup there. I think you saved my ass.”

“Believe me, I would've loved to just let you soak in it, but I meant what I said. These people need you. You're not Deejay the kid genius anymore. You're an adult, and with a lot more responsibilities than normal adults have to deal with. You started something big here. I need you to help me see it through.”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks just the same. I owe you.”

“I know.”

Deejay itched at the spot on his arm where the bandage had been. All signs of injury were gone by that point.

“I still hated to send her off like that,” he said. “I basically said goodbye forever without actually saying it. But I guess it had to be done, didn't it?”

“Yeah.”

“...I haven't seen the last of her, have I?”

“I seriously doubt it.”

He hadn't, of course. But that's a story for another time.