Title: romance
Fandom: Winning London
Disclaimer: not my characters; just for fun.
Warnings: spoilers for movie
Pairings: past James/Chloe, James/OFC
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 220
Point of view: third
It was a nice fantasy, but it couldn't last forever and they both knew it. Chloe had a life in the States and James had a life in Parliament, and even Father's approval couldn't shorten six-thousand miles.
So Chloe went back to her life, with a single letter to him every month, until those tapered off. James had been called a romantic his whole life, so he kept writing almost a full year after she stopped. But James has never been stupid, and he finally moves on.
James meets a nice girl at university and takes a year off. He goes to the continent and then to Asia, spends a few months in Australia. And then he goes home, back to university and Margaret, who becomes his wife after graduation. And like Father always planned, he joins Parliament.
He still dreams about Chloe, though, every now and again. He drafts letters to her that he never pens. He remembers those heady days of young love, showing her around London, dancing with her. He sometimes thinks he sees her on the street or on the bus, those few times he doesn't drive himself.
Margaret is a lovely woman. She deserves better, so he turns his back on those memories of his youth and becomes the man Father fashioned him to be.