Making A Choice - Part 2.

After updating Peter and letting him know that Joseph had gone home, Queen Clarisse returned to her office to finish the daily paperwork. But it wasn't long before she was disturbed again, this time by the telephone. Letting out a sigh, wondering if she would ever get the paperwork finished, she removed her glasses with one of her hands while reaching out with her other hand to answer the phone.

"Queen Clarisse speaking," she said, putting the receiver to her ear.

"Hello Clarisse, it's only me." Said the person on the other end.

"Hello Harry, this is a lovely surprise," Clarisse smiled as she placed her glasses down on top of the paperwork and sat back in her chair. "Wait a minute, if you are calling me and not Sabrina, does that mean that the baby has finally arrived?"

"Yes, late last night," Harry replied.

"Oh how wonderful," Clarisse beamed, "and what did you have?"

"A beautiful baby girl," Harry said happily, "and I mean beautiful. She looks just like her beautiful mother."

"Oh I'm so happy for you both, it's about time she arrived," Clarisse smiled.

"I know," Harry laughed, "she was only a week and two days late."

"Bless her, she was obviously cozy in there," Clarisse smiled while putting her free hand on her bump and smoothed it downwards, "does she have a name yet?"

"Yes she does, its Julia," Harry answered, "after Sabrina's grandmother."

"That's such a lovely name, are they both okay?" Clarisse asked.

"Yes, both mother and baby are doing just fine. Obviously they both need to stay in hospital for several days, so I just popped home to grab a couple bits for Sabrina, who told me that I had to call you to let you know while I was here," he said and chuckled.

"Well thank you Harry, I appreciate you letting me know," Clarisse said and smiled, "and please can you let me know when they come home so I can get some flowers sent."

"Of course I will, I know Sabrina would love to speak to you but you know that you don't need to send flowers," Harry said.

"I know, but I want to and I will," Clarisse said as Harry laughed on the other end. "Anyway, I will let you go so you can get back to the hospital to be with Sabrina and Julia. Please pass on my love to Sabrina and give both her and your new baby a hug and kiss from me."

"Oh I will, of course," Harry said, "I'll speak to you in a couple days, oh, and, before I go?"

"Yes?" Clarisse said with a smile.

"Can you let Joseph know? I was going to call him but remembered he would probably be working at this hour."

"He's actually taken the day off today, but I think he has gone home to sleep so I will let him know when I see him next," Clarisse answered.

"Okay, that's great thank you Clarisse. I'll talk to you soon."

"You will," Clarisse smiled, "and don't forget to give them a hug and kiss for me."

"I won't," Harry laughed.

"Okay, good," Clarisse smiled, "goodbye Harry."

"Bye," Harry laughed and hung up.

Placing the receiver down, Clarisse sat back in her chair and smiled to herself. After the morning she'd had so far today, she was overjoyed to have received that news from Harry. She was ecstatic that her friend had delivered a baby girl safely, it even got her thinking about her and the Kings unborn baby and whether it was a girl, like she had always dreamed of having ever since she was young, or if it was another boy, and what they would call him, or her, when they arrive. But either way, she didn't mind what they had. As long as the baby was healthy was all that mattered to her.

Later that day, after finally getting the rest of the daily paperwork done without anymore distractions Clarisse finished for the day and made her way to her suite where she spent sometime with Pierre, reading and playing together, just the two of them before Rupert returned home from his golf game.

"Daddy," Pierre exclaimed as he shifted off the sofa, where he was sat beside his mother, and hurried over to him.

"Hello son," Rupert smiled while scooping him up in his arms. "Have you had a good day?"

"Yes," Pierre nodded while looking at his father, then across the room at his mother still sitting on the sofa. "We have been reading and playing lots." He beamed and looked back at his father.

"You have?" Rupert smiled while walking over to Clarisse sitting on the sofa and stood Pierre down before leaning over to kiss Clarisse. "Hello."

"Hello," Clarisse smiled as she watched him move to sit down on the edge of the sofa beside her. "How was golf, did you win?"

"I did," Rupert said and smiled as she smiled at him. "How was your day?"

"Pleasant enough," she said while putting one hand up, fiddling absentmindedly with her earring as she continued, "I finally convinced Joseph to go back home to get some rest after Peter came to me about his behaviour and then Harry called to let me know that Sabrina had their baby late last night."

"She did? Well it's about time," Rupert laughed, "what did she have?"

"A little girl," Clarisse smiled.

"Oh what wonderful news," Rupert nodded and looked down at Pierre as he knelt at the coffee table drawing a picture. "Do they have a name for her?"

"Yes, they are going to call her Julia, after Sabrina's grandmother," she answered as he looked back up at her.

"Oh that's a lovely name," he said. "We should send flowers or something."

"I already told Harry to let me know when they come home from the hospital so that I can get some flowers, and the baby hamper that I have been putting together, sent for them." Clarisse smiled.

"Oh of course yes, I forgot you were doing that hamper for them," he smiled and watched her a moment, "they will like that."

"They will," Clarisse smiled and nodded as she looked down at her baby bump. "Getting their news got me thinking about this one though."

"How do you mean?" Rupert asked while watching her smooth one of her hands over her bump.

"Well wondering if it'll be a girl or another boy, and what we would call him or her," she smiled up at him.

"Well, I have been thinking about that too," Rupert said while placing one hand on the sofa and leant on his arm for support while reaching his other hand out, placing it lovingly on her bump, "and I think that, if it's a boy then we should call him Philippe, after your father."

"Really?" Clarisse replied in surprise.

"Yes, of course," Rupert laughed, "we called our first after my father, so if we are blessed with another little boy then it's only right we call him after your father."

"I love that idea," Clarisse said as she leant closer to him and kissed him, "thank you."

"You're welcome," he smiled and kissed her once again before looking down at her bump, "but as for a girl, I haven't thought of a name yet."

Placing her hand on top of his, Clarisse looked up and studied her husbands face as his gaze remained on their hands resting on her bump together. "We have plenty of time to decide on a girls name," she said and smiled as he finally looked up at her.

"Yes we do," he smiled and leant closer, kissing her and letting it linger a long moment.

"I like Isabella," Pierre said and continued to colour in his picture as both Clarisse and Rupert broke the kiss and turned their heads to look at him.

"What did you say, Pierre?" Clarisse asked and smiled as he looked up at her.

"I said, I like Isabella?" Pierre smiled and watched as his parents looked at one another.

"It is a beautiful name," Rupert said.

"I agree," she nodded, mulling over the idea in her head before looking back at her son. "Alright, if we have a girl we will call her Isabella."

And with that, Pierre put his colouring pencil down onto his picture and got to his feet to give his mother a hug.

Sitting in one of the armchairs with her feet up later that evening, Clarisse watched as Rupert and Pierre read one of his favourite books while snuggled on the sofa together when a knock came to her suite door.

"I wonder who that could be," Rupert said as he looked up at Clarisse then across the room at the door, "come in," he called out and watched as Joseph stepped through the door. "Hello Joseph."

"Hello your highness," Joseph said as he looked at Rupert sat on the sofa with Pierre then at Clarisse as she lifted her feet from the foot rest and placed them down on the floor to get to her feet. "I wondered if I might have a moment or two of your time, your majesty?"

"Of course," Clarisse nodded as she clasped her hands together and looked at her husband. "Can you take Pierre to start getting him ready for bed and I'll be along shortly?"

"Of course," Rupert nodded and looked down at Pierre, "come on, let's go and brush your teeth for bed."

Watching them leave and close the door behind them, Clarisse turned her attention back to Joseph as he pulled an envelope out of the inside pocket of his jacket. "So, what can I do for you?" She smiled, "did you manage to get some sleep."

"I did, yes, I got a few hours. Thank you," he nodded while walking over to stand in front of her and looked down at the envelope in his hands before extending one hand with it in out to her, "and I just wanted to give you this."

"What is it?" She asked while taking the envelope from him and opened it.

"It's my resignation, I'm sorry," he said as she read part of the letter and looked up at him in surprise. "I have to go."

"But why?" She exclaimed and looked back down at the letter. His letter of resignation. "I don't understand."

"Me and Viola had an argument last night, and this morning she left me with an ultimatum. It's either you and my job, or her and our marriage." He said and watched as she slowly shook her head in disbelief.

"Okay, alright," she said, still in a state of disbelief as she folded up the letter and put it back in the envelope. "I still don't understand what's happened for her to do this, but you need to do what you need to do and if that means leaving then so be it."

"She doesn't like how we are around each other, she doesn't like how close we are and believes there's something still between us even though I told her it was just the once-,"

"What?" She interrupted, "you told her about us?"

"Yes I did," Joseph nodded.

"But when, why?" Clarisse exclaimed.

"It was a couple weeks before we were married she asked if there was anything going on between us, and because we were getting married I didn't want any secrets between us so I told her what happened in New York and that it happened just the once," he said and watched as she put one hand up onto her forehead while slowly sitting down in one of the armchairs in her suite.

"Why would you do that? What if she tells someone, and it got out... my god the press are going to have a field day with that. It could ruin everything, Joseph. Why would you tell her!" Clarisse panicked as she quickly got back to her feet and looked at him.

"She's not going to tell anyone, and even if she does they can't prove anything. Not now that you are married and have obviously been with Rupert," Joseph said and watched as she glared up at him, "I promise she isn't going to tell anyone."

"I really hope she doesn't," Clarisse said and looked down at the envelope he had given her just moments ago as she held it in both of her hands.

"She won't," he said while stepping closer to her and watched as she looked back up at him. "I am sorry you know, you know that I love my job and would do absolutely anything to stay here, working for you and seeing you everyday but I need to do whatever I can to save my marriage. I need to make it work."

"I understand," she nodded sadly, "I will miss you, you know?"

"I know, I will miss you too," he said as their eyes met a moment before he leant closer to whisper in her ear as she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip at their closeness, "and you will always have a special place in my heart," he whispered before pulling his head back and turning to walk over to the door.

"Joseph," she exclaimed as he opened the door and turned his head to the side. She wanted to tell him not to leave, even though she was Queen she was powerless in this situation, knowing whatever she did say was for her own selfish reasons. Of course he had to leave, he had to do all he could to make his marriage work. But it didn't stop her from feeling heartbroken that he, someone she now considered a close friend, someone she had a close bond with, was leaving. "Am I ever going to see you again?"

Turning, he looked over at her a moment and nodded. "Never say never," he said and left.

Thanks for reading and remember, please do let me know your thoughts ;)