It's another terribly short chapter….enjoy….

Disclaimer: Well obviously I don't own the Discworld…c'mon people, lets get some perspective….

because love makes you stupid

chapter three

Vimes walked into the Watch House as the shift was changing. He nodded cheerfully to the zombie at the front desk, internally trying to place his name Cadwall? Camel? New one of Carrots, I guess.

No sir, Carrot's voice said in his head, one of ours.

Vimes grinned, despite himself. His nights with Carrot always put him in a good mood, despite the invariable longing it brought…the if only things could be different train of thought which was too dangerous, too painful to follow through with.

They'd drifted towards it late last night, just before he'd left.

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'I have to go, Carrot' he said, 'Sybil is expecting me at home some time tonight' he managed a weak chuckle, 'can't have her come looking for me'

Carrot didn't reply for a while. Then;

'sir…?'

'Sam, Carrot'

'Sam…do you ever wish…I mean, isn't there some way things could be…different'

Every dammed day Vimes thought, looking at Carrot's hopeful face every godsdammed day… 'How would that work, then Carrot? You tell Angua, I tell Sybil. We flip a coin for who tells the Patrician?'

Wounded blue eyes looked at him.

Gods Carrot, please don't…don't make this any harder 'Carrot I'm just being realistic. I love you, but I can't….I can't leave Sybil. You can't leave Angua, you've said so yourself'

'But I don't love her!' There was panic in Carrot's voice now 'Not like I love you'

Vimes relented 'I know, I know. But we can't have any more than this, no matter how much we want it.'

'But…'

Carrot was silenced with a loving kiss. 'No buts…' this conversation has to end now, before we start making promises we can't keep, 'This is all we can have' Finality in his voice. 'Carrot -what would you have us do…? Leave Ankh-Morpork?' He chuckled softly, sadly, and let himself out the door.

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Because Vimes was occupied with lacing his boots, and because the noise from the outside world was louder than usual, Carrots near-inaudible reply missed him entirely.

'If you asked, sir'

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He shook himself out of memories, bracing himself for the day ahead. It was Carrot's day off, and he had made Vimes promise that he would make a dent in the paperwork. 'No patrolling today sir. Not till you've tackled these piles.' And I'll do it too. I'll work my way through this dammed paperwork till night. Because he wants me to. And smiling, he stepped into his office. So wrapped in memories of Carrot he didn't notice Angua, waiting in the shadows.

TBC?

Would I do that to you?

I know this is short….I'm sorry…I meant to write something much longer, and to be frank, far less Vimes-centric. In fact, he wasn't meant to feature at all. D*mn that man! He turns up in the unlikeliest of places…anyway, this is as close to 'Carrot eating breakfast' [he had shredded wheat. With bananas. And then he looked at some of his mothers dwarf bread, if you're interested] as I could get. *waves at VimesLady*

I've also been removed from the world for a few days, because I've been reading the most wonderful book. Stonedogs, by Craig Marriner. Everybody go read it….it's super *shamelessly plugs NZ writers*. But I have another chapter (equally short) almost ready for uploading…will probably be up tomorrow.

As always, do tell me what you think, especially areas where I could improve. A big thank you to all those out there who have said such nice and encouraging things….you make my day!