To say Juliet was excited was an understatement. She bounced around her flat as she gathered her things for the new day. She was heading to Palace today and starting her new position, she was practically jumping over the moon as she set her bag and jacket.
She checked herself once more in the mirror. Her hair was perfect in the half up-half down ponytail, her glasses sitting straight, her red blouse being decent and her slacks pressed as her flats added the final flare. Yep, she was ready to go and be her very best. A yip caught her attention as she threw her bag over her shoulder.
She saw Duchess sitting in her spot on the couch, toy before her feet. "Oh now, don't you fret pup. I'll be home at a normal time today."
Juliet pet her soft head as she gave a satisfied sigh, "Well, off I go."
She nearly skipped out of her building as she made her way across the bridge. The sight of the Palace was invigorating, exciting, and alluring for her. There was so much she couldn't wait for and do, that and all the people she would meet from so many countries near and far. She never believed she'd get this far in the medical line, and the week at the hospital went so fast she barely noticed it. She could hardly wait.
The familiar chimes of Big Ben rang out the day, as she came closer to the monument. Juliet cranked her neck back to see the face of the beloved clock tower. It was amazing. She really wanted to see it at night up close, to hear its bell echo the night. With a shake of her head, she made her way up to the door and went in, only to be greeted with a sharply dressed woman.
"Miss, I'm afraid you have to have an appointment to come into the Palace." she said.
"Oh, that's right." Juliet said pulling the slip of paper from Dr. Beck out, "I was to report to this room at this time."
The woman looked it over, smiling at the piece and her, "I see. One moment and I'll let them know you're here."
Juliet waited and marveled at the grand entrance. It's historical structure and items galore would send any history nut into a coma with everything it had. As she looked around, her ring grew warm as the whispers of his name started again.
"Not now, please." she whispered to herself.
"Miss?"
Juliet turn to see the woman smiling as she pointed at a door, "If you go right through this door and follow the corridor down towards the end, you will be at the room. Mrs. Braginski will be there waiting for you outside of it, just in case you get lost."
"Thank you kindly, have a good day." Juliet said, giving a polite nod.
"You're welcome dear and thank you too, I hope the same for you as well."
So, there she was, walking down the corridor of the Palace, internally screaming in excitement. She couldn't believe it still. Here she was walking down the corridor of The Palace of Westminster to help the men and women of the UN. Yes, Juliet was truly...a thud and shout cut her off as she was half way down the hall.
The sound of men arguing and yelling filled the spot. Juliet cringed, the yells going right through her and hitting her memories right square on the head of the nail. She felt the fear well up within her. She had to keep moving or suffer a breakdown again. Hurrying as fast as she could, she moved away from the spot, thinking only of the room she needed to make to as his voice echoed her head and the vision of his fist coming at her flooded her mind.
"Miss?" someone called.
Juliet looked up to see a woman standing at the end of the hall, "Are you Miss Reeves?"
Oh, that had to be the woman the lady spoke of, "Hello there, you must be Mrs. Braginski."
"Da, I am." she said holding her hand out as Juliet got close enough to shake it, "But call me Lily, no need for formality."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lily. You can call me Juliet." she said, "You must be from Russia, or close to it I presume?"
"Da, ochen' khoroshiy. Muskav." she chuckled as she opened the door, "Come on in. There is everything you need here, the two men made sure of it."
"Two men?"
"Our husbands. The worriers they are." Lily replied as she walked over to the small playpen.
"Oh, I was told that there might be kids but I didn't think this early." she said placing her bag down, "Aren't you the sweetest little thing I ever did see?"
Lily smiled, "That he is, this is Alexei."
"Hello there Alexei. Oh, I can't wait to hold you and check you out." Juliet nearly jumped.
"Jeanne, sortir de là!" Someone shouted.
Juliet turned to see a small tot opening her bag as her mother came next to her, grabbing her hand. She scolded the little one in her native tongue as she watched. Lily chuckled beside her as she picked up the baby.
"Jeanne?" Lily called, "Can you help me with Alexei?"
The little girl ran over to Lily, taking her hand as they grabbed things for him. Juliet looked up to see her mother making her way to her.
"Désolé. I did not mean for her to be in your bag. She moved faster than I thought she would and I can't keep up." She said holding her hand out, "I'm Brie Bonnefoy."
"Juliet. Nice to meet you. So, I see I now have two kiddos to check out and one on the way huh?"
Brie smiled, laying her hand upon her bump, "Oui, but this one won't be here until December."
"Maman. Maman." Jeanne called as she pulled on her mother's arm.
"Quoi Jeanne?" she replied.
The tot flew out fluent French, glancing back between her mother and Juliet, mentioning the name of Alfred.
Lily and Brie laughed as Jeanne looked at Juliet, "You must've asked something about little old me huh?"
"She asked why you speak like Alfred but don't sound like him since you come from America." Brie told her.
"Awe sweetheart, I'm from America but just a different set of state." Juliet replied.
Jeanne gave her a confused look as the women giggled at her, "I do have to say, I am puzzled of which state you are from? I can tell it's southern but not sure which?"
"Pondering your brain on which state? Well, I'll tell you it's two states not just one." Juliet said, "Now the question is, which states?"
"Tennessee and Louisiana." someone said behind her.
Turning towards the door, Juliet saw a man standing there placing a car seat and bag down, holding tightly of the bundle in his arm. He seemed out of place, like he wanted to be elsewhere or have something with him.
"Alfred." the two women said.
Juliet watched as Brie walked over to the man, "It's alright Alfred. We're all here and we have Juliet here as well to help."
Alfred looked over at her giving a small nod as he looked down at the baby in his arms, Brie rubbed his shoulder as he gave the little one a kiss.
"It's alright, she'll be ok with us, I promise. If anything comes up, I'll call you." Brie reassured him as she held her arms out to him.
With a saddened smile, he laid the baby in her arms. Brie pulled her close, giving gentle rubs and kisses, "She'll be fine."
Alfred moved backwards, slowly out the door as another man stood outside waiting for him, the same sorrowful look on his face, hidden under a smile. With a final nod, he closed the door. Murmurs of reassurance slowly faded away as the men walked away.
"I think I missed something, I'm putting two and two together but I'd rather not guess." Juliet said to Lily, only receiving a nod.
"Jeanne, can you get a blanket for me? Alexei's hungry." She said sitting down in the chair as the tot ran off, "He's alone. Her mother died after her birth."
Juliet clamped a hand to her mouth, "Good heavens, now I just wanna chase him down and hug him, just letting him know everything will be ok."
"You are not alone there." Brie said walking over to them, "We all have been trying to be as supportive as possible for him. Losing Amber was devastating for him, his only hold to reality is Liberty."
She walked over to Brie and looked down at the baby, "Liberty huh? You got such a pretty name, sweetheart."
A tug on her blouse pulled her attention to Jeanne at her feet, "Mademoiselle, est mon nom assez?"
"Jeanne, parler anglais s'il vous plait." Brie told her.
"Oui maman," she said, looking back at Juliet, "Is my name pretty?"
Juliet giggled at Jeanne, "Why it most certainly is. You know what, since Miss Lily is feeding Alexei and your mama needs off her feet for a moment, why don't you help me with my exam of Liberty?"
"Vraiment?"
"If that means really, then yes. You're a big girl and soon to be a big sister too. Gotta be able to help mama and daddy huh?" Juliet said as she grabbed her bag.
"Oui, I am. I'm going to have a sister too!" Jeanne exclaimed.
"Oh really?" Juliet gave the same excitement back to her as she set everything up.
"We don't know just yet, Jeanne. All because papa says he wants another girl, doesn't mean it is." Brie said, relaxing in her seat.
Juliet smiled, "Well, we might have to change that thought huh?"
Jeanne nodded her head as she shook Liberty's hand. Juliet ran through her usual's; length, weights, reflexes, hearing, sight, heartbeat, and more. Jeanne was more than eager to help as she told her to hold the measuring tape and listen to Liberty's heart.
"Sounds good, doesn't she?" Juliet asked.
"Oui. Très bien, Libby Bell." she said, her finger dancing around a small patch on the baby's skin.
Looking closer, Juliet noticed the small birthmark on her shoulder and the harder she looked, the more she wanted to laugh.
"Libby Bell huh?" she chuckled, "Hey Brie, lookie here."
Brie came over as Juliet got the last piece of the baby's pajamas on her, "Look at her shoulder, what shape does that birthmark look like?"
"A bell." Brie chuckled.
"So, Alfred's nickname of Libby Bell works then huh?" Lily asked as she pulled a final burp from her son.
"That is so." Brie said placing the last piece on and lifting Liberty.
"Alright, bring me Mr. Man." Juliet asked as she readied her spot once more.
Jeanne ran right over as Juliet went through the same routine, checking everything through and through. He gave a disgruntled humph at Juliet as she checked his eyes.
"Oh, sorry mister, didn't mean to block your view of outside." she said looking at his eyes a little more, "I'll be damned. Pardon my tongue there."
"What is it?" Lily asked.
"Got a bet with daddy on what color his eyes will be?" Juliet said, looking deeper into his eyes, marveled by the strange color they were forming to.
Lily laughed, "I say his father's eyes. Ivan is determined they're mine. His father has what I would consider amethyst."
"Well then, he's daddy's boy. He got glittery streaks of purple in those blues." she said, admiring his eyes, "Odd though. He's not old enough for them to change but each child is different. Alright Jeanne, your turn then I check your mama."
In a flash, she was before Juliet, barely giving her a moment to breath. As before she did the same to Jeanne as the two babes, gathering all she needed. "Seems like you're growing to be a big girl Jeanne."
"Oui!" she exclaimed, disappearing to the corner of the room and began to play.
The shutter of a camera filled the air as Brie and Lily giggled at the playpen. Making her way over, Juliet saw the two babies laying in the small piece, covered up and holding hands with one another.
"Blackmail for when they are teenagers." Lily said pocketing her phone away.
"You are horrible." Brie laughed.
"Hey, you gotta catch the cute moments fast before they grow up." Juliet added, "Now sweetheart, your turn. Just go ahead and laydown on the long sofa as I pull the portable."
Juliet grabbed the portable ultrasound machine and readied it as Brie laid down and Lily joined her side. As the device warmed up, Juliet measured Brie's growing belly and checked her vitals. The ding of the machine made it known it was ready to use.
"Sorry sweetie for the cold." she said, placing the gel mix on her belly along with the wand.
"I can hardly wait. You were lucky with your first." Lily said watching as the little screen came to life with the image. "Ivan wanted to wait."
"You didn't know it was a boy?" Juliet asked, taking measurements of the baby within Brie.
"No. Not until he was born. This one snuck away and did it without her husband." Lily stated.
"He would have been a pain in the ass." Brie explained, "That and I was nervous."
Jeanne ran over to see what was going on with her mother, sitting patiently in Lily's lap. "Well Jeanne, there's the baby. See its face? And there's a hand waving to you as well."
The tot's eyes were bright with excitement, amazed of what Juliet was doing, "And we said sister right?"
"Oui, une soeur!"
Moving the wand around a little more Juliet found her target, giving a weak smile to Jeanne, "Um, how about un frère?"
"Non!" disappointment ran across her little face as the women laughed at her upset.
"You can blame papa, it's his fault. He put it in your head that it was a girl." Brie laughed.
At that moment, Jeanne, hopped down and made her way to the door, waiting for them to follow to find her father.
"Well even though she doesn't want a boy, he's truly showing off his stuff clear as day and he's healthy and growing as well." Juliet said, wiping the gel away.
"Sounds like Francis more and more." Lily laughed as she walked over to the pen, lifting Alexei up.
"And that terrifies me for when he's a teenager." Brie added, "Alright you can go and scold papa."
Juliet walked over and lifted Liberty to her chest as she followed the women down the hall, letting the tot have the lead. They spoke of nonsense the whole way down, how each country was and how it was different from the rest. All it did was make Juliet want to travel to each of them.
"Papa!" Jeanne shouted, darting down a small hall.
Juliet could hear the two of them speaking French to one another, and her telling him about her brother as they turned the corner. There was Jeanne, giving grief to a blonde man that held her in his arms, as another man laughed at the situation he was in.
"You caused that thought Francis, not me." Brie said, walking up to him.
"But I thought it was a girl, not that I am complaining either way." he said, placing a kiss upon his wife's lips.
"And you lost bet to me, Ivan." Lily said heading toward the taller man.
"How so?"
"Guess his eye color?"
The man leaned down, looking his son in the eye, "You made me lose bet to mama, you're supposed to be on my side. Why do you look like me?"
"Just lucky." Lily laughed.
"Liberty?" Juliet heard Alfred from behind her.
Turning around she saw him standing there, looking at both, "She's perfectly fine. Healthy as can be and growing strong."
He gave a gentle nod, hearing what she said, "You want her Alfred?" Juliet pulled Liberty from her shoulder.
He nodded and took his daughter into his arms, enveloping her in a deep hug. A bond that no one could separate.
"Look Alfred. I know you don't know me well and I know what you went through. But I want you to know that if you ever need anything, and I mean anything. I'm only a phone call away. Heck, I'm right across the river there." Juliet said, handing him her number and address. "I don't care what time it is, night or day. You or Liberty need anything, you call, ok?"
"Thank you, I will." he said, diving back into the world with his baby girl.
Looking around at the happy parents, Juliet felt that her time was done pestering them. She turned the corner to make her way back to the room only to run into a solid body.
"Bloody freaking Christ!" someone shouted.
"Dear Lord I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" she was cut off.
"Watch where the hell you are going! I just lost all of my afternoon tea now because-" the man stopped.
Juliet finally looked up onto to be face to face with the man she took home last week. His demeanor was totally different from then, he seemed tense, irritated, and well angry now that she ran into him. His voice echoed in her head as the man before her was angry with her. No not thing, not now.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper." he apologized.
That was new. Juliet felt the waves of fear slow down, as his apology rang in her ears. "I'll, um, go clean up."
Juliet didn't know what to say really, except, "Do you remember the pub last week?"
His eyes widened at her, "Oh hell. I'm so sorry love. Um, here."
She watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out bills, "Here, you paid for my drinks and dragged me home, it's the best I can do."
"Good Lord in heaven, there's no need for that. Knowing you were home safe was good enough for me. Keep your money." Juliet waved her hands out.
"I feel like a total dick, please. Let me repay you." he asked again, his emerald eyes pleading with her.
Those eyes, those green eyes. They can't be..."Arthur." it whispered in her head.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"What? Oh yes, I'm fine, just lost in thought." she said, correcting herself, "Don't you worry about me. I don't need that, like I said, knowing you are ok is good enough for me."
"It's not the gentleman thing to do. I just feel guilty that you did all that." he explained.
"Nah, don't you worry over nothing. Just don't get that drunk again. Nurse's order. I'm in here so I'll find out." she said, pushing his hand back.
With a defeated sigh, he smiled and nodded as he went passed her to clean himself up.
"Arthur. Arthur, Arthur." it chanted repeatedly.
"There is no way, they are the same man." she said to the voice as she made her way down the hall.
There was just no way in her mind... or could there be?