"Dad, what is the reason for you to dislike him so much?" Charlotte sighed.
"Everything." Gold shrugged, sitting next to her at the table. "First of all, it's the fact that he is an intern."
"Resident." his daughter corrected.
"Really? And when did he become one? Yesterday?" Gold inquired turning towards her.
"Last week." Charlotte smiled softly.
"Great." Her father nodded, pouring himself some wine. "That changes the matter. So we have to wait for... how long? Five years at least before he gets some kind of work and begins to occasionally sleep at home".
"The residency is work." the girl objected. "By the way, I am also a resident."
"Moreover," Gold sighed, "how are you going to live together if both of you are constantly on duty? And I don't even ask with whose money, that's obvious."
"Not obvious at all." said Charlotte, offended.
"Honey," he gently grabbed her by the shoulders, "I didn't mean to offend you. Truly. I just want you to think it over again. You like this guy. Okay, I've already reconciled with that. But why would you want to marry him? Why to even get married so early on?"
"Dad, I'm twenty-six years old." She put her head on her father's shoulder.
"So what?" He kissed her on the temple. "Isn't that early?"
"Someone here got married at twenty-five." She nodded at her brother sitting across from her. "And you didn't say anything about this, didn't you?" she specified.
Gideon nodded agreeable, chewing a steak.
"It's different." Gold pressed his daughter tighter to himself.
"Why?" Charlotte said surprised.
"Because I'm not Daddy's little princess." her brother grinned. "But remember how much I heard from our mother? About my dissertation, for example. Really mom?" He leaned towards the Queen and quickly kissed her on the shoulder.
"But you still finished it." Regina smiled. "And now you have a decent tablet on your cabinet door, with a PhD in front of your name. As for Charlotte, I'm calm: she loves surgery more than Derek." she added under the reproachful eyes of her daughter. "Gideon is right." she continued. "Dad in general isn't used to the idea yet that his girls will get married someday."
"Don't you think that she is in a hurry?" Gold raised his eyebrow, letting go of his daughter.
"I think you worry too much." She pushed her glass towards him and he poured her some wine. "They have a steady relationship already. What will change if they get married? And he won't always be a resident. Maybe he will become a famous doctor one day and you are going to be so proud of your son-in-law."
"He's an infectious disease specialist." her husband grimaced. "How is he going to become a famous doctor? Build a palm leaf clinic in Guatemala and then perform on a talk show?"
"I don't think there are infections only in Guatemala." The Queen shrugged.
"Okay, enough about his specialty." Gold grimaced. "It makes me feel bad every time, the thought of him poking around day and night with various exotic rashes and then touching my daughter with the same hands."
"Dad!" Charlotte blushed deeply and buried herself in her plate.
"I'm sorry." He patted her hand lightly. "I won't do that again."
"He will be transferred to our clinic next year." Charlotte, still red, said after a pause. "David will take him to orthopedics with him."
"Wow." Gold remarked sarcastically. "He hasn't even married you yet but is already benefiting from your relationship."
"Nothing like that!" His daughter was indignant. "I didn't ask Uncle David to take him. I didn't even know he wanted to transfer to us. He didn't tell me anything before he entered the competition. And David, by the way, believes he was one of the best."
"Yes, he probably thinks so." Gold said thoughtfully. "Okay it doesn't matter. The main thing is that you're happy with everything."
"Daddy, everything will be fine." She covered his palm with hers. "And if you had observed Derek closer, you would have seen he isn't as bad as you think."
"Everything is possible." he agreed. "Shall I pour you some more wine?" he suggested.
"No." Charlotte shook her head. "I still need to finish writing an article for "Lancet" today".
"Instead of whom this time?" Gold asked.
"You won't believe it." she grinned. "Instead of Uncle David."
"What prevents David from writing it himself?" Gideon asked.
"He has no time." His sister shrugged. "He has residents for this."
"Is it time to give you a MD?" Gold asked ironically. "Instead of which professor in line are you writing the scientific article?"
"The third." she answered, thinking. "And I'm still hoping next month I will write instead of Professor Eggerton, there will be a very interesting topic."
"And what do you get for these articles?" Gideon asked. "What is the practical interest?"
"A guaranteed place in the operating room on the most difficult cases." Charlotte smiled prettily.
"Now you see why I don't worry about her studies?" The Queen grinned, patting her son on the shoulder.
The door slammed in the hallway.
"Oh, and here is Rachel." Regina rejoiced. "How long is it since you haven't seen each other?"
"Mom, we see each other on Skype every day." Gideon stroked her back.
"It's not the same." The Queen waved her hand.
"Mom, dad, are you back yet?" The younger daughter peered into the dining room. "Wow! What are you doing here?" She stared in surprise at her brother.
"I accompanied our parents home." He smiled.
"From Washington to New York?" Rachel was even more surprised, sitting down at the table between Gold and the Queen.
"Why not?" Gideon shrugged.
"He just wanted to make sure we had actually left and he and Judy could cuddle Josh again by themselves, without trying to persuade dad and I for hours to give them back their child." Regina laughed.
"Then I understand him." She took turns kissing her parents. "For all this week I have never seen any of them with their son in their arms. No matter what time I called, the child always belonged to its grandparents. But for real, why are you here?" She turned to her brother.
"For real, he contracted as a driver for us." her mom answered her just as merrily. "Apparently, the salary of government officials isn't so high."
"For real, mother continues to tease me." He looked at the Queen with an innocent reproach. "Just like she and dad continue to ignore the excellent transportation connections between our cities and drive to us by car."
"Instead of taking a comfortable bus." Regina interjected.
"What does the bus have to do with it?" Gideon sighed. "There are planes, there are high-speed trains. What is the need to spend five hours behind the wheel? We have already discussed all this. Well, I tried to discuss along the way while you were malicious and making fun of me."
"Well, I'm sorry, I won't do it anymore." The Queen stroked his shoulder. "But you know, it's very difficult to take you seriously when you once again start telling me how difficult and risky it is to drive three hundred kilometers on our own Bentley. And how easy and pleasant it is to spend half a day on a trip to the airport or the train station"
"You spend five hours driving." her son said.
"So what?" Regina shrugged. "Really, dear, your dad and I don't have so much strength anymore to spend on your beloved excellent transportation connections. First, go through traffic jams to the airport and then there is check-in for the flight, waiting, handing over the baggage, getting the baggage back, again being stuck in traffic jam in Washington. Additionally, these are just some local airlines that don't have a first class. This doesn't suit us."
"So you're really here as a driver?" Rachel grinned, cutting herself a piece of lasagna.
"In that capacity too." Gideon nodded. "Plus, I have a few meetings here in New York tomorrow. Which doesn't cancel my opinion." He squinted at his mother. "Until today, I somehow didn't think about your trips to Washington. But now we have to change something. I don't like the fact that you're spending half a day driving. If you really like to travel by car and you won't exchange it for anything, hire a driver next time."
"Not a chance." The Queen grimaced. "You know I don't like strangers."
"Dad?" He looked hopefully at Gold.
"I don't understand in general why you're wasting your mother's and your own time." He shrugged. "It's obvious you won't out argue her nor convince her. So in your place, I would focus on tomorrow's affairs and not occupy my head with meaningless things".
"And what kind of business affairs do you have here?" Rachel got interested.
"I don't want to say yet." Gideon shook his head.
"State secret?" His sister asked in a theatrical whisper.
"Something like that." He smiled.
"Okay, I still have to finish my term paper." Rachel sighed. "Will you come back for dinner tomorrow?"
"Of course." Gideon assured her.
"Then I'll see you again! Mommy, lasagna, as always, is simply wonderful." She quickly kissed the Queen on the cheek and, grabbing her plate, headed toward the kitchen.
"Do you need help with your coursework?" Gold called to her.
"Nope." Rachel turned. "But it will be good if you look at it later, if you are not very tired. I think I'll finish in a couple of hours."
"I'll take a look." He nodded.
"It's time for me to start the article too." Charlotte glanced at her watch. "So I'll go as well."
"You can write here." the Queen remarked. "Perhaps you'll stay?"
"No." Charlotte shook her head. "I have printed all the material that I need at home. And tomorrow I'm on duty, I need to change clothes. But on the days off I'm all yours."
"And when are the days off?" Gold inquired.
"Good question." she thought. "On Thursday and like, on Saturday. But on Thursday for sure."
"Okay, that means until Thursday." He stroked her back. "I'll call you a taxi."
"There's no use." Charlotte objected. "I'd rather take a walk, it's not far away."
She kissed her father on the temple, then walked around the table and kissed her mother as well.
"Ok, then I'll accompany you." Gold stood after her. "It's already dark on the streets but you'll go through the park, won't you?"
"Daddy, this is Manhattan." Charlotte smiled. "Besides, it's only eight in the evening. Rest, nothing will happen to me."
"Can I accompany you?" Gideon raised his hand. "Well, unless of course Derek is waiting for you out at our porch, not daring to knock." He grinned.
"Let's go." His sister laughed.
"Well, since when did a second glass of wine prevent you from writing any scientific work?"
Gideon and Charlotte walked leisurely through the park.
"You notice everything." Charlotte squinted at her brother with a slight grin.
"That's my job." He smiled back. "Besides, such a rush with the wedding. You kind of planned to get married when Derek finished his residency, weren't you?"
"It was like that." Charlotte agreed. "But as you can see, we had to make some adjustments."
"And were these adjustments unplanned?" Gideon asked.
"They were." she answered. "But with my work schedule, it's not surprising I forgot to take the pill and then didn't immediately notice that every day I drank the pill for the previous day."
"Our parents don't know?" He asked.
"Mom knows." Charlotte nodded. "But we won't tell Papa yet."
"And when are you going to tell him?" Gideon was surprised.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "Sometime after the wedding."
"You do understand that you don't have to get married just because you are pregnant, right?" He took her by the shoulders.
"See?" She laughed. "That's exactly why I'm not telling dad yet. Calm down, we'll just get married a little earlier than planned. It's all."
"You know, the fact that papa didn't notice today doesn't mean he won't along the way." Gideon squinted at her. "Maybe his observation skills are not the same but with mathematics he is doing pretty well. So when the baby is born, everything will become obvious. I think it's better to tell him now".
"It's not a fact he will even start to calculate anything." Charlotte objected. "When his grandchild is born, dad most likely won't be up to mathematics. So we won't complicate everything yet. Let him somehow gradually get used to these ideas. That I'm getting married. That I'm going to have a child. Not all at once. And the math here is pretty arbitrary. Mom and dad know this well. Rachel, for example, was born on the thirty-fourth week, here's some math for you."
"What do you mean?" He was confused. "Our Rachel? I didn't know."
"And I didn't know either." Charlotte nodded. "Mom told me, because in theory I can have the same problems as hers. There are certain points that will need to be closely monitored."
"Okay, you know, I guess I don't want to know such details." Gideon stopped her. "Tell me better what you're going to do with your schedule in the future. Derek and you alike."
"Nothing." Charlotte shrugged. "We have day nursery in the children's department, so the kid will always be with us."
"Seriously?" Her brother raised an eyebrow."You're going to raise it in the hospital?"
"So what?" She was surprised. "This is way better than any kindergarten. In any other place, you can't be sure that in any case your child will be immediately provided with qualified help, just as you can't stop by to see it at any time when you have free time."
"You know, you should get your baby to our mom more often and not at the day care." Gideon said after thinking. "This won't be as close and convenient as your child care wing but the kid will be seeing something other than stethoscopes and mother will have something to do."
"Mom already has something to do." Charlotte smiled. "She's busy with dad."
"Yes." her brother agreed. "And it's almost her only occupation since I remember her. One more thing to do won't hurt her. And certainly they'll both benefit from communication with their grandchildren. They miss the kids in the house."
"Okay, we'll see." his sister dismissed him. "Why do we even discuss only me? Tell me better, what kind of affairs can the Washington District Attorney have in New York?"
"Maybe I don't want to be the Washington District Attorney anymore." her brother answered her after a pause. "I'm thinking of coming back here."
"Wow!" Charlotte admired. "This is an even bolder confession than mine. Our parents, of course, don't know?"
"Our parents, of course, don't know." Gideon confirmed. "First I need to know what will happen with work. Tomorrow I will meet with someone who can help me get settled here".
"Mom and Dad will be horrified." His sister sighed. "What happened anyway? Why don't you like Washington so much? Are you having any serious problems at work?"
"Everything is fine at work and I like absolutely everything about Washington, except the fact that between me and my parents are three hundred and sixty kilometers. And this week I realized that this minus outweighs all the pros. I need to be near them."
"Are you crazy?" Charlotte was amazed. "Do you understand that here you have to start all over again? In a couple of years, you can run for governor there. And you want to tell me that you're giving up your career for the sake of your parents? You know, I think this is one of the worst things you can do for them."
"I'm not doing anything yet." Gideon said conciliatorily. "So far I'm only trying to assess my prospects. After I am aware of what I can count on here, I will discuss this with our parents. And if they are as opposed as you think, then I will abandon this venture. Okay?"
"And you, I see, have doubts they will be so against it?" She grinned.
"I have." Gideon nodded. "I, unlike you, see them not a couple of times a week but a couple of times a year. Therefore, I see how they change."
"It's not you alone who sees that." Charlotte gave her brother a thoughtful look. "Look, just don't tell them about it. Come up with some other reason to move."
"It's nice that you have such a high opinion of my mental abilities." He grinned with irony.
"Come on, don't be offended." She nudged him slightly with her elbow on the side. "I am a surgeon; everything should be under my control. Listen, what about Judy? Does she agree to moving?"
"I think so." Gideon shrugged.
"So you think so or yes?" his sister inquired.
"We'll see." He sighed. "As you've probably already noticed, the idea of returning was quite spontaneous. So we'll do everything gradually, as you say. First, I'll find out what my prospects are, whether our move is possible in general or just in theory. And then I will discuss this with everyone."
They reached Charlotte's house.
"Would you like to come in?" She turned to her brother, taking out the keys.
"I do." He nodded.
"Are you going to sleep?"
Entering her husband's office, the Queen bent over an armchair. Hugging Gold by the shoulders, she kissed him lightly on the temple.
"I'm going." he answered, not looking up from the papers.
"I mean today." Regina smiled.
"I'm going today." He reached for her kiss. "But a lot of things have accumulated over the week."
"Truly?" She slid her hands over his shoulders, massaging them a little. "And are all so urgent that you have to sit over them at midnight? Plus, in front of you lies the same report that lay when I went in an hour ago and it's still open on the same page."
"Perhaps I was a little distracted." He covered her palm with his, stroking it a little. "Go to bed, I'll be there soon."
"And perhaps it's not a matter of work at all." She went around the chair and squatted down, looking at her husband from the bottom up. "Will you talk to me?"
He gently pulled her elbow up and had her seated on his lap.
"It's not just that you don't like Derek, is it?" She slowly ran the back of her fingers across his cheek.
"No." He pressed her on him and buried his forehead on her shoulder. "Everything ends too fast. Just yesterday all three were still small and today everything has already changed; everyone has their own life, their own families. I miss them. And every day they get further away. You're right; I'm not ready for this." He raised his head and looked at his wife. "Which doesn't negate the fact that I don't like this guy. Seriously, Regina, what kind of a husband will he be? He is twenty-five years old and he still doesn't even know what he wants to become when he grows up. He has just entered his residency and decided to change his specialty, thus losing a whole year."
"I think he is doing this just to become a good husband in the end." Regina put her arm around his neck. "So he transferred to a more promising specialty and is even ready to lose this year that he'll have to spend in his previous residency. Well, that's if you look at him without prejudice. But nobody will be good enough for you. Even if you now think for certain that if he were more successful, it would be easier for you to come to terms with the idea that Charlotte is no longer our little girl. But no. Because you are not ready. You haven't come to terms with the fact that Gideon has left for Washington yet and now Charlotte. Even though she's not leaving, she's just getting married."
"I hope Gideon comes back anyway. He didn't come here now in vain." Gold said thoughtfully. "When he graduated from college, he wanted to prove that he was worth something without me. But now he has already proved everything to everyone: that he can make a career without any help, in another city, in another area where I have no connections. It's time to come home."
"Are you serious?" The Queen was amazed. "If he abandons everything now, then all his previous achievements will be wasted. In Washington, he may have a brilliant political career that he will no longer have here."
"And what's good about that?" Gold asked calmly. "He won't be seeing either his wife nor his children, he will always be under the gun of opponents and ill-wishers. All this for what? If he were a boy from a simple family, like Trenton for example, he would have no choice. But Gideon, having proved his self-sufficiency, may as well return to the family business and live in peace. And I will be calmer with the thought that he will be next to you and the girls when I won't be."
"What?" Regina was confused.
"We need to think about this too." He ran a hand along her cheek, picked up a strand that had fallen off her hairdo and tucked it behind her ear.
"No, I'm sorry. I don't want to think about it, nor talk, nor listen." She wanted to get up but Gold held her back.
"Well okay, we won't." He buried his nose in her neck, clutching his wife tighter.
For a while, both were silent.
"In any case, it will be good if he returns." Gold finally broke the silence. "I don't know about you, but I want to see my son and grandson every week, not every six months. And that's how often we will get to see each other during his brilliant political career."
"I want that too." The Queen laid her head on her husband's shoulder. "It remains to find out what he wants." she added, holding back a yawn.
"Well, I hope we'll find out soon." He stroked her hair. "Let's go to bed. It's definitely time for you to sleep."
"And you won't run away from me when I fall asleep?" She reached out to kiss him. "Back to your gloomy thoughts?"
"No." Gold assured his wife. "I'll be with you."