Thanks to Tanya Reed for beta-work! Claudia centric, with a couple characters borrowed from Adventure Inc. None of these characters are mine. I am making no profit from this and will return everybody in... pretty much the same condition in which I found them.
Claudia sighed happily, twirling in the full-length mirror to show her newest acquisition off to its fullest potential. The teal blue sundress looked absolutely divine on her and was only wanting the perfect accessory to complete it, like, say…a gorgeous male, draped over her arm and attentive to her every feminine whim…or at least a great piece of jewelry, preferably given to her by a gorgeous male attentive to her every feminine whim.
She loved it here. The shopping was fabulous and the nightlife was phenomenal. Paris was now home to her in ways she never could have imagined and she fully explored and exploited all that the city had to offer. Occasionally, though, she thought back on what she had left, or rather, those she had left behind. The world of fashion suited her far better than her former job as secretary to Sydney Fox, professor of Ancient Studies, ever had, but she missed the energy that Sydney's presence generated, the strength and purpose that practically radiated from the other woman. Sydney had been a true friend to her, and in Claudia's present career that so often focused on the fake, she missed the genuineness of that friendship. Not to mention, the friendship of a certain timid Englishman whom she loved to tease, and who seemed to enjoy turning that teasing back on her.
Claudia gave herself a moment to wonder how her friends were doing without her before shaking off those thoughts. It wasn't in her nature to dwell on the past or to feel upset for long. After all, her true friends would only want her to be happy, right? Skipping back out of the little boutique, swinging her designer bags as though she didn't have a care in the world, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of an unexpected but well-known figure. He walked past her with his head down and eyes lowered, but she didn't need to see the face to recognize that slight build and familiar profile. They belonged to the man who just happened to be her favorite target to embarrass and torture.
With a high-pitched squeal, she launched herself at her unsuspecting victim, nearly knocking the startled young man off his feet. "Honeybun!" she squealed again in pure delight.
Flustered, the young man stammered slightly, turning bright red from her close proximity. "I-um, I beg your pardon?" There it was, that nervous clearing of his throat and the slight cracking in his adorable English accent, just the response she had craved from him. She'd missed their verbal battles so much, and she soooo loved putting him off guard.
Thoroughly pleased with his reaction, she paid no attention to his awkward greeting. "I haven't seen you, in, like, forever! Isn't Paris amazing? But you probably haven't even seen any of the good stuff, have you? Just the libraries and museums and all the dull places, I bet. So, what are you here for? Hunting down some boring old dusty relic? Or did you just come to see me? So, how's Syd?" She leaned into him further, enjoying the way he nearly bent over backwards trying to keep a little personal space between them as he tried to make sense of her rapid-fire questioning. He tried to pull free, but after going for so long without seeing him or any other familiar face from home, there was no way Claudia was going to let him squirm out of her grasp.
"Hey, Brother John!" a voice called out behind Claudia, startling her and bringing a relieved smile to her captive's face. In her moment of confusion, he gently disentangled himself with a murmured, "Excuse me," and waved to the person who had just rescued him.
The newcomer, a dark-haired young woman who was definitely not Sydney Fox, glanced at Claudia, then at him, and slapped the young man heartily on the back. "Finally getting around to breaking that vow of chastity? Way to go, brother!" she said with a wide grin.
His face turned an even brighter shade of red as he muttered, "It's not what you think…"
Claudia shook her head, trying to make sense of the scene in front of her. "Hold on a second. You're brother and sister? But…you don't look anything alike, and she, like, doesn't even sound English, and I thought you had a brother! Unless…she used to be your brother?" Claudia's head was starting to hurt.
The dark-haired woman clapped a hand on her embarrassed friend's shoulder as she clarified for Claudia. "He's not my brother. I just call him 'Brother John' because he used to be a Brother. When we met him he was a monk, couldn't even talk to us because of his vow of silence. Once the good Brother here got his first taste of adventure hunting the real Angel of St. Edmunds, well, there was no going back after that. Ditched the robes and the monastery soon after." She smirked. "Guess Judson and Gabe were a corrupting influence on you, huh, John?"
"I'm sorry," the man Claudia had pounced upon said with an apologetic smile, ignoring his friend's commentary on his former life. "I think you've mistaken me for someone else."
Claudia held a hand out to brace herself against the nearest thing that would support her, reeling from the news that she was potentially wrong in her thinking. The hapless young man she had so recently accosted just happened to be that nearest object, and he caught her and held her up hesitantly, shooting his amused friend a helpless glance.
"Soooo…you're not Nigel Bailey?" Claudia asked weakly, still trying to sort out the situation.
"No, sorry. It's John Worth, actually." Oh, but that sheepish smile just screamed "Nigel" to Claudia…
"You never worked with Sydney Fox?"
John shook his head.
"Are you sure?" John's eyebrows rose at Claudia's question, but she pressed on, needing some form of validation. "Like, what if you got amnesia and you just think you're this John person when you're really Nigel and just don't remember you're him?" Even while saying it, Claudia had to admit that answer was a bit far-fetched. She tried again. "Well then, you gotta at least be related to Nigel, right? Long-lost twin? Cousin? Switched at birth? Stole his identity? Were him in a past life?" Claudia's voice rose in desperation. How could there be two Nigels in the world? She had her hands full trying to hold her own with just the one! Mentally she cursed the version she knew for putting her through this emotional turmoil by means of his unknown double.
John denied all her theories. "Not that I'm aware of," he responded slowly, still acting a little wary around her, which only served to frustrate her more.
Claudia took a deep breath to try and steady herself. She looked over into his eyes and, though his face still burned and he hadn't quite recovered from his embarrassment, his eyes held concern for her. Without thinking, she flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing, "I am so sorry! I just, I…" Why couldn't he just be her Nigel?
While Claudia broke down, the other woman patted John on the shoulder and discretely excused herself to give Claudia a chance to pull herself back together. Once his friend had gone, he gently maneuvered the girl in his arms to a spot that offered them a little more privacy and waited awkwardly for her to get her emotions back under control.
It took her a moment to regain her composure, and she pulled away as soon as she was able, dabbing the tears away from her eyes and feeling deeply thankful for the invention of waterproof mascara. "I am sooo sorry," she said again. "I usually don't throw myself on a guy like that, you know? Unless he's totally to die for, but it's just, you're so much like Nigel, and I just…I miss him so much!" Her eyes shimmered with tears again, but this time she wouldn't let them fall.
Again, he cleared his throat nervously, but now the familiar sound upset Claudia more, because she knew it hadn't come from her Nigel. He said softly, "You…ahh, love him, then?"
Claudia stared at him as though he'd gone crazy, momentarily distracted from her unhappiness, and the corners of her mouth quirked upward in amusement at the thought. "Uhhhh, no! …Well," she amended, "not in, you know, that way. I just liked hanging out with him while we were working together for Sydney and he was so much fun to tease, and he'd always tease me right back. I don't know if he knows I made fun of him because he was my friend and I cared about him, and not because I thought he was like, geeky, or klutzy or weird because he actually liked reading all those musty books and taking girls to museums on a date…"
She rolled her eyes at her friend's idea of showing a girl a good time, but then added quietly, "I didn't really think that about him, you know. Well…maybe I did, but I didn't think it in a bad way." Claudia sighed miserably. "He probably thought I was just an airhead, anyway…"
"I sincerely doubt that," John said with a gentle smile. "If this Nigel is as smart as you say, then I can't help but think that he knows how you feel about him." He shrugged self-consciously, still looking a little off-balanced from Claudia's whirlwind introduction into his life. "I've only known you for a few minutes and you managed to convey those feelings quite well, so I'd imagine someone who's known you for longer would be aware of how much you care about them."
Claudia smiled gratefully and she gave him another quick hug, brushing her lips across his flaming cheek before pulling away again. "Aww, you're so sweet!" she gushed. "Although, I guess, since you're a monk and all, we probably should have been talking in one of those confessional booth thingies, huh. So now what, can you absorb me or whatever it is you monk guys do?"
John stared silently at her for a long moment with almost the same expression Nigel got on his face when he was trying to decide exactly how—or if—he should respond to something Claudia said to him. The exact same muscle under his eye even twitched. Claudia found the expression oddly comforting. He finally stammered, "Um, I believe you mean "absolve" and, as a former monk, I don't believe I've much authority in that regard…"
"Oh, that's okay. I'm not Catholic, anyway," Claudia said graciously. She glanced over at him again, still amazed at how much like Nigel he was, and not just in looks, she could see now. It amazed her that there could there be two such similar men in the world, both so compassionate, so soft-spoken, so easily flustered, so cute…A thought occurred to her and her eyes lit up in a way that made her new acquaintance stumble back a pace as his own eyes widened in alarm. She advanced on him, and her fingers teasingly traced down the ribbed pattern of his sweater, while her smile grew wide and predatory.
"So, you're a former monk, huh…" she purred. Oh, here were definite possibilities.
Thanks for reading!