Written by: Me, MrsJosephElizondo ;)
Summary: Clarisse learns a shocking secret.
Author's Note: Just something that popped up in my mind! I'm not sure at this moment in time if there will be a second part, if I can work it out then I will post it but until then ENJOY! :)
Oh and, you may want to get a tissue. You may use it or you may not, I had to use one so I wanted to let you all know to get one, just in case.
ooOoo
Queen Clarisse Renaldi stood looking at herself in the full length mirror on the wall of her closet. She was up early, like she was every morning and as she stood looking at herself her thoughts traveled back to just yesterday. It was the day that she buried her Mother, Clara. She had suffered a long time with illness and heart break since losing her husband, George, 3 years ago. And as she fastened the brooch that belonged to her mother, to her dress, she couldn't help but sigh.
Running her hand over the top of the coffin Clarisse's heart broke, yes she knew her Mother wouldn't suffer anymore and that she would finally be reunited with her Father, Thomas, but that didn't stop her feeling heart broken that she'd never see her smile in the mornings anymore.
"Mother?" Pierre whispered as he placed his hand on the top of her back, watching as she turned her head a little.
"I know, I just need a couple more minutes." She whispered.
"I understand." He nodded and stepped back beside her body guard, Joseph.
"I will miss having you around Mother," Clarisse whispered "But I know now you are where you've wanted to be for the last 3 years." She sighed sadly and placed the rose on top of the coffin "Until we meet again." She said leaning over and kissed the top of the coffin before stepping back and turned around to Joseph and Pierre.
"Are you ready?" Pierre whispered while extending his arm to her.
"I think so." Clarisse nodded, linking arms with him "Thank you for waiting." She whispered.
"No trouble Mother." He said looking at her as they slowly made their way to the pathway "It was a lovely service, wasn't it?" He asked looking at her as she nodded slowly.
"Father Michaels done a wonderful job, and so many people attended." Clarisse said looking towards the car "I must remember to send them thank you notes." She said softly as Joseph opened the car door for her, climbing in seconds later "Thank you, Joseph." She said looking at him as he bowed his head to her.
"Where to now?" Joseph asked looking at Pierre then at Clarisse.
"Well home of course." Pierre said as Joseph looked at him then back to Clarisse.
"No." She said shaking her head while slipping of her black gloves.
"No?" Pierre exclaimed "What do you mean no?"
"I think I want to take a walk by the river, and feed the ducks." She said grabbing hold of the door and closed it as Pierre and Joseph looked at each other.
"Ahh," Pierre whispered "She done that when her Father died, didn't she? A memory from her childhood?" He said as Joseph nodded.
"Where's Grandma?" Amelia asked while coming to stand beside them.
"She's in the limo waiting to go," Pierre said while looking at her "We're going to the river, to feed the ducks." He nodded "Want to come?"
"Of course." She smiled and rushed around the other side of the car.
And now the following day there was something about that day that bugged her, something she couldn't put her finger on. Staring at herself in the mirror again still thinking about the day, her mind drifting of once again. With another sigh she brushed her hands down over the front of her dress, moving them around to her waist and down the top of her skirt to straighten it out. Not realizing that her Head of Security, best friend and private lover was stood watching from the doorway.
"You look beautiful." He whispered as he stepped inside, making her smile while turning to him.
"How long have you been stood there?" She asked while watching him close the door.
"Long enough," He whispered while turning and slowly walked over "Are you ok?" He asked, taking her hands and pulled her closer.
"I am now." She nodded while putting her arms up, locking them around his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I saw you, you looked lost." He whispered while looking into her eyes as she nodded just a little.
"I feel lost today, among other things do you know it's been 10 years since Rupert passed away today?" She said sadly "And ever since then we've had nothing but bad luck." She sighed looking down.
"Do you see me as bad luck?" He asked, watching her slowly lift her head.
"Oh no, how can I see you as bad luck? You bring me smiles." She smiled at him.
"Then it can't all be bad, can it?" He smiled.
"No," She giggled "You're right, I'm sorry." She smiled up at him "What are you doing up here anyway? Shouldn't you be watching the door?"
"Shades is on it." He smiled "I told him I had a meeting with you, besides can't I come see my love now?" He whispered.
"Of course you can." She smiled and kissed him a couple times while moving her arms, locking them around his neck.
Holding her as close as he could, breaking the kiss several moments later "I missed you last night?" He whispered.
"I missed you too, although it was a good job we decided against meeting as Mia fell to sleep on my bed." She said tilting her head a little "We were talking about Mother, well her Great Grandmother and she fell to sleep."
"Good job I didn't come and surprise you then," He said and started laughing "I could just imagine what her face would of been like." He smiled as Clarisse giggled.
"The poor child." Clarisse smiled "But tonight, is ours."
"Good." He smiled while moving his hands to her sides "I can't wait." He whispered and kissed her a couple times.
"Neither can I," She smiled stepping back "Anyway do I look okay for the day?"
"Yes of course, you look absolutely beautiful." He answered truthfully "Even if you are all in black." He frowned.
"I know, it's proper that Royals mourn a good amount of time." She whispered and looked down at herself.
"I see, it won't be as long as you did with Rupert and Philippe though, will it?" He asked, taking her hand.
"No of course not, and please don't get me wrong I did love my Mother but we weren't really that close." She said "I was closer to my Father."
"I remember." He nodded as a thought popped into his head "I forbid you to wear black when you mourn me." He whispered as she looked up "You must wear colorful outfits."
"If anything happens to you, which I hope and pray it doesn't," She whispered while stepping closer, putting one arm around his shoulders and her other hand up, placing her forefinger on his lips "Then I will forever wear black." She whispered, looking into his eyes "I'd be wearing black for the rest of my life, just like Queen Victoria did when she lost her love." She nodded and kissed him before stepping back.
"Black really doesn't suit you though." He said watching her slip her shoes on when something caught his eye "Clarisse," He started as he stepped in front of her.
"Yes?" She asked and looked down as he started to take her brooch off "What are you doing?"
"You had it upside down." He smiled while looking up into her eyes then back down "I'm rearranging it for you." He said fastening it back to her dress as she bit her bottom lip.
"I guess I really was in a whole different world when you came in then." She laughed a little and looked back down, biting her bottom lip again.
"I guess you were." He smiled as she lifted her head, their eyes meeting both stepping closer to share a kiss, then looked at her as she smirked at him "What?" He asked.
"Well I was going to ask you if anything happened to me, would you wear black." She giggled just a little "Then I remembered you wear black all the time anyway."
"I do." He nodded and wrapped his arms around her.
"You do look very handsome in black." She smiled while putting her arms up.
"Why thank you." He said lowering his head "But as much as I like hearing you call me handsome, can we start talking about something else? As I really don't like the idea of losing you, it's breaking my heart already." He whispered while looking into her eyes as she nodded.
"Ok, yes, let's talk about something else." She nodded "What would you like to talk about?" She smiled.
"Well how about we 'make out' as Mia calls it these days, instead." He chuckled.
"Yes, that sounds good." She smiled as he lowered his head, kissing her a couple times.
"Grandma?" Mia called from the bedroom door as Clarisse and Joseph quickly stepped apart.
"I'm in the closet." She smiled at Joseph as he headed towards the door.
"What are you..." Mia stopped when she saw Joseph stood just inside the door and Clarisse next to her dressing table, with her back to her "What's going on?"
"Nothing Princess." Joseph smiled as Mia walked slowly inside.
"Joseph was just checking to make sure I was ok." Clarisse said turning around and looked at her "Weren't you, Joseph?" She smiled as Mia looked between them and shook her head.
"Yes of course." He nodded "Yesterday was a hard day after all."
"Indeed it was." Clarisse answered and looked at Mia.
"Okay." She smiled with a slight nod.
"If you would excuse me..." He bowed his head and left.
"Now Mia, what may I do for you?" Clarisse asked and headed back through to the bedroom as Mia followed.
Later that day, once all the paper work was finished Clarisse grabbed a cup of tea and headed up to her Mothers suite. After her Father, George passed away she had her Mother move into the Palace, so she could be looked after and given the proper care she needed. When she reached the door she slowly pushed it open and stepped inside, peering around the room. Everything still in the same place it was before her Mother passed, untouched and unmoved. She knew however that one day she would need to clear it out, but just not yet.
Sipping her tea as she made her way around the room, stopping at the fireplace she took a photo down from the mantle and couldn't help but smile. It was one of herself, with her Mother and Father in the house that she grew up in. She remembered that day well, she was only 3 but she did remember it.
Sitting down on the couch, she lent forward to place her cup on the coffee table when a knock came to the door. Looking towards it she noticed Mia stood peering through the gap.
"Come in darling." She smiled and motioned for her to enter.
"I just wondered if you were ok?" She said walking over and kissed her cheek "Would you like some company?" She asked.
"I would love some." Clarisse smiled and patted the space beside her.
"Great," Mia smiled while sitting down in the space beside her, tucking her feet under her as she rested her arm on the back of the couch "She had a lot of lovely things and photos." Mia smiled while looking around the room.
"Yes she did." Clarisse nodded "She had a lot more photos in the albums." She said while pointing towards the cupboard "You will find them all in there." She said looking back at Mia "Feel free to have a look through them," She smiled "You will find a lot of me growing up."
"Can I?" She smiled.
"Of course, I wouldn't of said it otherwise." Clarisse chuckled as Mia jumped up.
"I have wanted to see photos of you growing up for ages, just never got around to asking Great Grandma." Mia smiled while opening the cupboard then gasped.
"What's wrong?" Clarisse exclaimed while standing up, making her way over to her.
"There's lots and lots of albums in here." Mia gasped again while grabbing a couple albums and made her way over to the table.
"I told you there would be." She smiled grabbing a couple files plus a file that was filled with paper work.
After a short while Mia looked up at Clarisse, noticing the movement Clarisse looked up over her glasses at her.
"What's wrong?" Clarisse asked.
"Well, I have gone through this album that's meant to be from birth to whenever and I found it strange that there isn't any of you from when you were younger younger, like when you were born." She said moving the pages back to the start "It starts from when you were like 6 months old." She said slowly looking back up at her.
"I know, I found it strange also." Clarisse nodded and looked back at the paper work.
"Did you ever ask them about it?" Mia said closing the album and opened another one.
"I did, but honestly I can't remember what the answer was." Clarisse said looking up at her "It was so long ago after all."
She nodded slowly "I see." She smiled and looked back down at the album "You were really cute as a kid." Mia smiled.
"Only when I was a kid?" Clarisse gasped as Mia looked up quickly.
Laughing nervously, realizing her mistake "Of course not Grandma, you have always been cute." She smiled "I'm sorry."
"It's ok darling, I was just messing with you." Clarisse smiled and looked at the album she was looking at.
"I have to go and call home in a little while, but would you mind if I took a few of these to my suite to continue going through them?" Mia asked.
"I wouldn't think you'd be interested in looking through all these." Clarisse answered.
"Oh I am, I love looking at old photos." Mia smiled "And getting to see my Grandma growing up, it's even better." She smiled "So can I?"
"Of course you can, just as long as you return them once you've finished." Clarisse said looking back down.
"Of course Grandma." Mia smiled.
A short while later as Mia carried on looking through the photo albums, Clarisse came across an important looking envelope. Taking out the contents she began to read, followed with a gasp, which made Mia look up.
"Grandma?" Mia whispered "Are you ok?" She asked looking at her hands as she fiddled trying to get the letter back inside the envelope.
"Yes of course," Clarisse nodded and stood up "I just need to go and..." She said walking over to the door then quickly turned to her "You can see yourself out, can't you?"
"Of course, but Grandma?" Mia exclaimed as she watched Clarisse walk out the suite "Grandma?" She whispered and looked back down for a second.
Going down to her office she read over the letter time and time again, her hands shaking, anger burning up inside when she suddenly had a thought. Grabbing the phone she called her Mother's lawyer, who confirmed what she had read over and over.
"I am sorry to break this to you now, I did have many talks with your Mother about this and I did tell her to tell you, even before your Father's passing I told them both that they must tell you." Her lawyer said.
"I understand," Clarisse nodded "Thank you for confirming this to me."
"I wish I didn't have to tell you this, Your Majesty." He said softly "I will be over tomorrow, where we will talk more."
"Ok, thank you." Clarisse whispered "I will see you tomorrow then?" She said "Goodbye." She said sadly and put the phone down.
Looking at the letter in her hands once more, before bursting into tears.
Meanwhile back upstairs Mia was moving some of the albums to her suite when she bumped into Joseph, doing his rounds.
"What are you up to Princess?" He asked as he stood beside her.
"Oh I'm just moving some of these to my suite." She smiled.
"Does your Grandmother know?" He said looking towards the suite door she just came from then back at her "These are her Mothers after all?"
"Yes Joe, relax." She smiled with a nod "Grandma knows about it, so you don't have to grass on me." Smiling as he chuckled "Talking of Grandma, have you seen her?"
"No, I thought she was up here with you actually?" He started while raising his eyebrow "But after this question I am guessing she is not?"
"No, she was with me up until a little while ago but then when she read a letter or whatever it was she started acting all weird and ran out the room." Mia said seeing Joseph's jaw drop.
"Did she say what was wrong?" He asked.
"No, she didn't." She said shaking her head.
"Ok, thank you Princess." He exclaimed and hurried away to look for Clarisse.
"Dude, what is it with people running away today?" She whispered to herself as she made her way to her suite while shaking her head.
Finding her still in her office moments later, he pushed the door up and slowly made his way over to her standing by the window.
"Clarisse?" He whispered, putting his hands on the tops of her arms, making her jump "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump." He whispered as she turned to him, seeing she had been crying "What's happened?"
"I..." She started while shaking her head "I just want to be alone at the moment, I'm sorry." She whispered while looking down.
"Are you sure?" He asked, his voice full of worry and concern.
"I am sure." She nodded, not looking up.
"Ok." He whispered and left her alone, standing at the door as she slowly made her way to the couch picking up the letter again. With a sigh he stepped out of her office and closed the door behind himself.
Later that evening as Joseph done the checks with Shades, he noticed that her Mother's door was ajar again. Walking over he pushed open the door a little to find Clarisse sat on the couch, crying.
"Shades." He whispered while stepping back and turned to him "Can you carry on without me?"
"Of course." He nodded "See you in the morning?" He asked.
"You will." He nodded and watched him walk away. Turning back to the door he walked in, closing it and walked over to her unnoticed "Clarisse?" He whispered as she looked up at him "What's wrong? And don't push me away this time." He said looking around everything she had around her.
"I'm not who I thought I was." She whispered covering her eyes with her hand as she sobbed.
"What do you mean?" He asked softly.
Leaning over she grabbed the letter from of the couch, taking it from the envelope.
"It explains it in there." She whispered, looking at him as she passed him the letter.
"Ok." He said taking the letter, unfolding it as she covered her eyes with her hand again.
Seeing the top of the letter he straight away realized what she meant, reading only a few lines his heart broke. Folding up the letter he moved and put his arm out to her while sitting on the edge of the couch.
"Come here." He whispered as she lifted her head to see his arm.
Moving so he could sit beside her on the couch "For 65 years I thought I was one person, but turns out I'm not that person after all." She cried on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her "My whole life has been one big lie." She sobbed.
"Shhh." He soothed while rubbing her back "It will be ok."
"How will it be ok? For you maybe." She said lifting her head "I don't even know who I am anymore Joseph." She cried.
"Well we will find out." He said against the top of her head "I will help."
"There's no point," She cried shaking her head "I hate the fact that the two people I loved and respected so much my whole life couldn't even tell me." She said looking down as he looked at her "They couldn't even take me aside and tell me those two god damn words."
"Even if they had done that Clarisse, would you of been ok with it?" He asked as she looked up at him.
"Of course, because it would of been them telling me." She said shaking her head "Not finding out after I had lost them both." She cried looking down "Only to get it confirmed by the lawyer." She said slowly looking up.
"I understand." He nodded and watched her sit forward.
"And why is it before you never notice things?" She said resting her elbows on her legs as she put one hand up onto her neck, grabbing a couple of photos with her other hand "Then when you learn the truth you realize that you look nothing like the people you thought were your parent's." She said bursting into tears again.
"Oh Clarisse, I'm so sorry." Joseph whispered while sitting forward, placing his arm around her and kissed her shoulder while running his hand up and down her arm "I'm here for you, remember that." He whispered and watched her slowly nodding.
"Thank you." She cried while turning her head a little, feeling him kissing her cheek she sighed "Hold me, please?" She said opening her eyes as he lifted his head "Because right now I really don't care if any one sees." She said wiping away her tears.
"Ok." He whispered, sitting back as she snuggled up to him resting her head on his chest "I promise everything will be ok soon." He soothed while stroking her back.
Shortly afterwards Joseph felt her body relaxing, knowing that she had fallen to sleep, not that he minded. Looking towards the door to see Mia stood looking at them.
"What's going on?" She whispered while stepping into the room.
"Your Grandmother was a bit upset earlier, so I stayed with her." He whispered.
"Is she ok?" She asked while kneeling beside the couch, looking at her Grandmothers face then looked at Joseph as he nodded.
"She will be, Princess." He whispered "I will have her come see you in the morning, okay?" He asked.
"Sure." She nodded and stood up "When she wakes up, tell her I said goodnight and that I love her."
"I will do." He nodded and watched her walk to the door "Goodnight, Princess."
"Goodnight." She said looking over at them then walked out, leaving them snuggled on the couch.
