A/N:: A quicker update this time! Please read and review. It really means a lot to me.

I Can't Live Without You

There had been no real warning for the sudden confession Joseph had revealed to Clarisse as they were taking one of their usually afternoon walks in Clarisse's garden. In fact, Joseph's words had been spoken so unexpectedly that Clarisse had not even been fully certain that it had not only been a fleeting reverie.

"Pardon me?" she said, tilting her head to the side slightly.

Joseph had already begun looking flushed, and even though he was quite sure Clarisse had heard him the first time, he repeated himself with an effort to keep calm.

"I said…" He took a deep breath. "I'm in love with you."

"Oh," Clarisse said softly before averting her eyes. "I love you, too, Joseph... Isn't the garden lovely this afternoon?" Clarisse declared, flagrantly failing to feign ignorance.

She quickened her step in order to walk ahead of him, but he caught her by the hand to stop her.

"That's not what I said, Clarisse," Joseph replied in a low but kind voice, knowing she had not really misunderstood him. "I said I'm in love with you. You can't keep ignoring this," he said, the tone of his voice becoming more serious than before.

She sighed as she realized there was no escaping this confrontation. Clarisse stopped before him, her heart pumping loudly and rapidly inside her chest. This was everything she had ever wanted, but there she stood, defiantly refusing her deepest hopes and dreams.

"I… I can't do this, Joseph," she muttered, tears stinging her eyes.

Joseph stepped dangerously close to her body. He could feel her heavy breathing on his face as he fought the incessant urge to kiss her quivering lips.

"Tell me you're not in love with me," he dared as he stared her straight in the eyes.

Clarisse kept silent, knowing that it would be better to say nothing at all than to attempt to lie to him now. She was in love with him, but she felt it would be foolish to put her own personal life before her duties as a Queen. Her country needed her, her granddaughter needed her, but… oh, how she herself needed Joseph! She felt that her first marriage, though it hadn't really been anyone's fault, had been a failure. She could not stand to fail again with a careless relationship with the one and only man she ever truly loved. She forced herself to look deeply into Joseph's eyes, and as she did so, she knew that he deserved much better than she could give him while she remained Queen. Slowly and painfully, she turned from him and began walking away before he called to her.

"When are you going to start living your life for yourself?

Joseph's words froze Clarisse in her path. She closed her eyes briefly before opening them again and turning to him.

"You care so much for everyone else that you're willing to ignore your own needs in order to serve others," he went on. "You can never fully help anyone else without caring about yourself first."

His words hit her as if she had run headfirst into a wall.

"What are you really afraid of?" he asked softly.

"I don't want to lose you," she replied in a strained, barely audible voice.

Joseph walked towards her slowly and caressed her cheek with his hand.

"Then don't push me away," he said gently.

"I ruin everything…"

"No, you don't. Don't blame yourself for the things you can't control. We can make this work."

Clarisse embraced him tightly.

"I think I realized what I'm most afraid of," she whispered.

"What's that?"

She pulled back in Joseph's arms to look him in the eyes.

"Living my life without you."

He leaned forward and caught Clarisse's lips in a soft kiss before he whispered into her ear.

"Then don't."

To Be Continued

A/N:: The next chapter of this will probably be the last chapter unless I decide to add another.. We'll see.