Chapter One

Author's Note: This was a prompt fic I wrote with the flower-themed prompt yarrow which symbolizes a cure for a broken heart.

This fic takes place shortly after Hail Caesar! (Episode 4.05)

In Tristan's Farnon's mind, there were few things better than time spent with a lovely woman.

Currently, he was sitting in Sugden's, a quaint little restaurant with a chef who was always trying to add an "international" flavor to his menu. This week, it was Oriental Rice and Spiced Chicken which both he and his dining companion, Madge Ellis, were eating and which, surprisingly enough, turned out to be quite tasty.

"This is so much better than his last special," Madge said as she scooped up another forkful of the rice. "Remember that spicy curry? I thought my tongue was going to keep burning for the rest of the week."

"That's because you didn't follow my advice and do what I did," Tristan smirked. "Enough quality English bitter will make anything better. Years of careful and copious amounts of study mean I can vouch for the veracity of that fact."

Madge gave him a fond nod, but Tristan noted that there was still some teasing in that smile on her face.

"Apparently, years of careful and copious study didn't teach you about how important it is to return to work sober."

"Now that's unfair, Madge. I was not drunk."

"No, but you were tight. Or are you actually going to tell me that you would have thought that gluing all of Seddon's files to his desk was a good idea while you were completely sober?"

"A vicious slander," Tristan protested. "I may have made some mention of the idea and how best to pull it off around the office, but I can't be held responsible for the actions of interns who were clearly in the throes of youthful high spirits."

Madge laughed and continued eating. Tristan had met her the day she had started to work at the Ministry as a secretary and had swiftly realized that she was an absolutely enchanting lunch and dinner companion. Pretty, witty, and possessing a playful sense of humor.

These days, Madge had a remarkably understanding beau who she spent her evenings and weekends with and who didn't mind her continuing to have lunch with her male friend from work. A pity, really, as Tristan sometimes wondered what an actual date with her would be like.

"So when are you going to tell me what is bothering you?" Madge asked, her green eyes flashing with impatience.

Tristan frowned and fell back on a tried and true delaying tactic of taking a long drink from his pint before answering.

"Why should anything be bothering me? Especially when I'm enjoying a delectable meal with you. Well, granted, Siegfried and his usual tantrums over difficult clients and lack of funds are still annoying. Not to mention his recent lectures about how I need to act more professional lest I get sacked."

Madge let out a sigh and sat her fork down onto the edge of her plate. "You always do that. You always go back to griping about your brother whenever you're bothered by something. You know, I don't believe he does even half of the things you say he does."

Tristan responded with a sigh of his own, albeit a much more dramatic one.

"The story of my life, really. All the women see my brother Siegfried as the consummate charmer. Well, those women should stick around while Siegfried has to deal with the paperwork generated by the bad debt within the practice. They'd change their tunes very quickly, I can assure you."

"I still don't believe it," Madge insisted.

"And why not? It's the truth."

"Because if he really was the tyrant you make him out to be, you'd never spend all the time that you do in Darrowby, helping him with his practice."

The smirk immediately left Tristan's face, his expression taking on a parody of thoughtfulness.

"Yes, yes, I see your point. Perhaps it is me. Perhaps I have developed a deranged mind and desperately need treatment."

"While you are at it, see what they can do for having an over-abundance of school-boy humor."

Tristan looked hurt and fully intended on coming up with a devastatingly clever reply, but Madge stopped him by reaching over and placing a hand onto his forearm.

"It's about her, isn't it? That girl from Edinburgh? Deidre McEwan?"

Tristan took a sharp breath, but didn't reply. Of course, Madge would know by now that she was right so there was no use in trying to argue his way out of it. Better to just take another drink and think of a suitable distraction.

Unfortunately, Madge appeared to have thought of this too.

"Come on, Tristan, I'm a secretary. That means I hear about everything that happens around the office. And everyone knew about how you were trying to catch McEwan's eye. Mary told me yesterday that she'd seen McEwan on a very cozy picnic with that new vet in Darrowby. He's the assistant your brother just hired, isn't he?"

"Calum, yes," Tristan replied, his tone much more glum. "Yes, apparently, I underestimated Deidre's love for all things Scottish."

The hand on Tristan's forearm tightened, a sympathetic look appearing on Madge's face. "Oh Tris, I'm sorry. I know you were getting serious about her."

"Oh, it's all right," Tristan said with a pronounced shake of his head. "It wouldn't have worked out between us anyway. Not with my lounge lizard ways and all."

"Lounge lizard?" Madge echoed. "Who said that?"

Tristan shrugged. He could have said Siegfried, but Madge would have brushed that off. He also could have said Calum, but that would just look petty.

Besides, maybe they had a point. Maybe he wasn't quite as romantic as he always pictured himself. Or at least, not in the ways that actually appealed to the women he went for.

His descent into self-pity was rudely interrupted by Madge frowning and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Tristan Farnon, I'll have you know that not every girl considers a nice dinner out or an evening at the pictures to be the actions of an incorrigible playboy who is making a move on her. There are plenty of women who consider things like that to be a lovely way to spend an evening with someone special."

"Like you?" Tristan replied, a cheeky grin appearing. "Is that how you like to spend your evenings with Norbert or whatever his name is?"

"It's Norton," Madge scolded. "And don't try to pull that faulty memory trick with me. I know better. And yes, as a matter of fact, that is what we do once in a while. Sure, a lot of the time, we do much simpler things, but a girl likes to have her special moments too."

Her stern expression softened, and she laughed, shaking her head.

"I suppose it's the same for a man too," she mused. "Even if they are too tough to admit it."

"Is that my problem?" Tristan said with a mock pout. "Girls actually want a sensitive chap instead of a tough guy like me?"

Madge took his hand and laced her fingers through his. "You're already special, Tris. Do you know why? Because you're both. The tough guy who can always shield himself with a smile. And the sensitive chap who believes far too much in romance for the lifestyle he's trying to lead."

Tristan drew his hand away and resumed eating, forcing himself to choke the food down. Any time he started to ask himself why he didn't have a go with dating Madge, a moment like this happened. A moment when she looked a little too hard and a little too deep into the inner workings of his heart.

Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, but that still didn't make Tristan any less uncertain that he could feel secure around a woman who could figure him out so deftly.

"Someone should tell old Sugden that he finally struck gold with his lunch," he mumbled between bites. "Maybe he'll think twice about reaching for the curry powder again."

Madge let out a sigh and took a sip of water. Tristan knew that sigh well enough to know that he had disappointed her. Seemed to be what he was best at these days.

"It might be too late," she replied. "I overheard one of the waiters mention something about fire roasted tacos coming soon. We may want to find another place for lunch that week."

Tristan smiled at her before shoving the last forkful of food into his mouth. Well, at least she was still thinking in terms of seeing him again in the future. One had to take whatever victories one could.

Madge finished her water and reached for her purse. "Come on, we still have plenty of time. Let's go for a walk before we go back."

After paying their bill, the two of them strolled along the sidewalk in front of the restaurants and shops in the heart of Mannerton. Lunchtime was pretty much over, and the streets were swiftly becoming empty and quiet.

Tristan took Madge by the arm, and she accepted it with a smile. They walked in companionable silence for a few minutes before she finally spoke again.

"Tris, Mary told me that you you've been spending more time in the research department, boning up on those new fertility methods."

"Purely practical, my dear," Tristan replied. "You have no idea how hard it is to convince a Dales farmer to embrace the march of progress. So the more knowledge I can arm myself with, the better."

Madge looked up at him with another smirk. "Oh come on, Tris, Crawford didn't give you that promotion because of your technical expertise and you know it. That's giving him far too much credit. He was just hoping that you could use your charm with the farmers to persuade them to use the new methods."

"It's certainly a new use for the Farnon charm at any rate," Tristan snorted. "Getting cows to be artificially inseminated. Brother Siegfried would be quite amused if he knew."

"Crawford is a useful idiot," Madge said. "That's why he's been able to have the career he's had at the Ministry. But Tris, don't act like you didn't know all of this already. And don't say that all this extra research is just to get a leg up on your job."

Madge squeezed his arm. "You like this sort of work. You really do. You enjoy learning about this stuff and figuring it out for yourself whenever you can."

"I suppose I better like it," Tristan said with a shrug and a laugh. "Or all those years I spent studying in Edinburgh would have been a waste of my time and Siegfried's money."

Madge let out another sigh, and this time, Tristan decided he didn't want to keep dismissing her efforts.

"Madge, I…yes, you're right. I guess I always was interested in it. Animals in general, I mean, not just this new AI stuff. I think my brother…and maybe other people too, I don't know…think I just became a vet because of Siegfried. That I just went with what I'd seen growing up."

"Did you?"

Tristan spotted a bench further up the sidewalk and guided Madge over to it. Once they had sat down together, Tristan pulled out his pack of Woodbines and lit one, shaking the match out and then taking in a deep inhalation.

"Some of it was that," he continued. "I already felt like I was learning the job anyway as a kid, what with me going out with Siegfried on his rounds and helping him with his jobs and things. After I decided to go to veterinary college, I'd always thought that Siegfried and I would go into practice together."

Tristan paused and took another puff of his cigarette, flicking away the ashes at the tip.

"But it wasn't just about convenience. Being a vet and learning about animals did interest me a lot. Of course, there were other things that interested me in school too. For a little while there, I did consider studying chemistry. My father was a chemist, you know, and it seemed like it could be fun to be a mad scientist or something. But I guess I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't go into something that interested me even more and that I could, well…you know…."

"That you could do with your brother," Madge finished for him. "Honestly, Tristan, I don't know why you try so hard to act like you're not terribly fond of him."

"Yes, well, you haven't spent time around him like I have," Tristan said, blowing smoke out of the corner of his mouth. "The last thing I need is for him to have something else to feel superior about."

Madge laughed, and Tristan wasn't entirely sure if she was laughing at the lengths he had to go to in order to avoid inflating Siegfried's ego or because she still didn't believe that his elder brother was so impossible. Then again, watching her smile at him like that made Tristan wonder if it actually mattered either way.

She moved closer to him, patting his knee.

"Tristan…I know that whole thing with McEwan hurt. And that it can't be easy to watch the two of them be together whenever you visit your family and friends in Darrowby."

"Don't worry, Madge," he said, making sure to give her a reassuring smile. "I'll get over it."

"Yes, I know you will," Madge replied, smiling back at him. "You always do. But what I'm asking you, Tris, is to not try to get over it too quickly."

Tristan pouted again. "And here I thought you were my friend. Some friend you are. Wanting me to wallow in misery like those old romantic poets who wrote sonnets while wasting away over lost loves."

"Tris, if this is what your brother has had to put up with during all those years you lived with him, I can't say I blame him for getting tetchy with you from time to time."

Tristan added a suitably aggrieved whine to his pout, but Madge's smirk was far more playful than annoyed.

"I'm not saying sit around and be sad," she continued. "Of course I don't want that for you. I'm saying let yourself heal. You deserve to be happy, Tris. To find someone who will love you as you are. Ridiculous pouting and so-called lounge lizard ways and all."

She put her hand onto his again. "I'm saying embrace the things that you really care about. Your work. Your friends. Your family. Find another reason to be happy, Tris. Even if it's not in the arms of the woman you wanted."

Tristan leaned back and took another long drag on his Woodbine. He understood what she was saying, of course, but at that moment, he wasn't sure he had the strength to go through with her advice. Sound as it most likely was.

Madge let his hand go and stood up. Tristan took one more puff on his cigarette and snuffed it out onto the cobbles.

"Come on," she said. "We should have time for one last, quick drink before we have to be back. And I need to tell you what Mary said about seeing Seddon with Crawford's new secretary."

Tristan's face immediately lit up. "No. It can't be. Why, that's trouble just waiting to happen."

"Oh it is," Madge nodded. "Not that that will stop someone as foolhardy as Seddon. He's got something to prove after spending a day trying to pry files off his desk."

Tristan laughed and quickened his step so they could grab some half-pints and ruminate over what was sure to be the best bit of gossip either of them had heard for over a month.