A.N. – So sorry about the long wait for this chapter, but I've been terribly busy. The next few chapters should come along quite quickly now because I want this finished before I go on holiday. Thanks to the reviewer who cleared up the disclaimer business for me, it was greatly appreciated!
Just a quick note to those who had the thought of a Charlotte/Pierre romance cross their mind, I AM SO SORRY! That will definitely NOT occur in this story because that is just WRONG! But if you want me to write a separate one-shot of them, without them being related, then just let me know in your review and I'll get onto it. Well that's it from me…
Chapter 12 – A Night of Torture, A Lifetime of Suffering
Pierre seemed not to notice Charlotte's paled face or trembling figure as she waited for his answer. He was staring into space, figuring out the date.
"I believe it was in 1967…sometime in July, although I could b – CHARLOTTE!" Pierre sprang up as Charlotte collapsed out of her chair and onto the cold hard floor.
The truth had overwhelmed her.
An overwhelming sense of déjà vu filled Charlotte as she opened her eyes to the sunlight streaming down onto her face. She was once again on her bed, fully dressed with the curtains open. Looking over at the clock, she found that it was still the same day. It was late afternoon, so…why was she in bed?
It all came back. The unbelievable truth struck her once again and Charlotte found herself gasping for breath as her heart beat irregularly. She tumbled off the side of the bed, scrambled to her feet and practically fell out the door into the corridor.
She had to find Queen Clarisse and she had to find her now.
'Breathe' Charlotte told herself, pausing in the corridor to collect herself.
She took some deep, calming breaths with her eyes closed, feeling the hysteria leave her. She needed to be calm when she spoke with the Queen or she wouldn't get anywhere.
Calmed down immensely, Charlotte started striding down the corridors to the Queen's office, the only place she would be at this time. Charlotte just hoped she would be alone, or this could get very difficult.
Looking dead straight at the door ahead of her, Charlotte lost all thought of her usual quiet polite manner as she burst through the door into the Queen's office.
"Charlotte!" Joseph scolded, as Charlotte stood fuming in the doorway.
Charlotte lost some of her resolve as she noticed that Queen Clarisse was definitely not alone. Both Joseph and Pierre were present. And they both had a very shocked look on their face at her trembling form radiating anger.
Charlotte ignored them and looked towards her Queen.
Clarisse's look was the one that struck Charlotte as most unusual.
She had a look of fear.
"You were there" Charlotte whispered tensely, not knowing what she was going to say so just opened her mouth to the words.
"Both you and the doctor were there the whole night" Charlotte was shaking with the emotions rushing through her system.
Clarisse had opened her mouth to say something but no words came so she just shook her head slightly, clenching her hands together in front of her.
"How come you never told me? You know something that you're not telling me and I have an idea of what it is" Charlotte's voice was still a whisper but it was slowly rising.
"Goodness me! Charlotte, what on earth are you talking about?" Pierre asked, shocked at the manner in which Charlotte was speaking to her sovereign.
Joseph was shifting uncomfortably at Clarisse's side, looking at her with immense concern. He appeared to be ignoring Pierre's question and Charlotte's shocking behaviour. He only had eyes for his Queen as she stood there opening and closing her mouth, struggling to find words.
"Why don't you fill us in? It appears not even your own son knows what happened that night. Tell us, Your Majesty, what happened on that night in July of 1967" Charlotte was fuming, speaking in a slow and tense voice.
"Pierre does know. Like he told you, I was suffering from an illness" Clarisse said quietly, seeming to have gained control enough to speak.
Pierre opened his mouth as if to speak but Charlotte cut across him.
"What was it you were suffering from? I find it interesting that it lasted months and not just weeks. Why couldn't even King Rupert, may he rest in peace, see his own wife for months? I'm sure now that we are all grown up and it was so long ago that you wouldn't mind sharing the information" Charlotte muttered through clenched jaws.
Clarisse's eyes widened at her usually polite and timid assistant as she swallowed and shook her head.
"No…it no longer matters" Clarisse whispered, almost pleading with her hands for Charlotte to stop.
Pierre was stunned into silence at the interactions happening around him.
Charlotte stood there, fists clenched at her sides, eyes closed and attempting to breathe deeply.
'Just breathe' Charlotte was telling herself. She knew it wasn't working at she felt her words boiling to the surface.
"IT DOES MATTER!" Charlotte exploded, losing all control as her eyes snapped open.
"It makes all the difference to me! So stop lying to me and tell me the damn truth! I now know what happened back then. I now know why you have been acting so strange around me since I first asked you to help me find my parents. And when you were reluctant to bring Dr Fitzgerald into it. He knows too, and you have both been keeping it from me; you have both been lying to me" Charlotte's voice was getting quieter and quieter as her eyes began to shine with unshed tears.
"Mother?" Pierre finally croaked out.
He was looking at Clarisse with a mixture of concern and confusion. He clearly wasn't following what Charlotte was talking about, even though he knew it was the time that his Mother was very ill and when Aunt Marie died.
"What is Charlotte talking about?" Pierre asked his trembling Mother that Joseph was clearly trying not to take his eyes from or take hold of her.
Clarisse took no notice of Pierre as she continued to tremble and just open and close her mouth silently. Pierre turned to Charlotte.
"Charlotte?" he asked quietly, moving towards her slightly.
"Why are you so angry? Why do you say that Mother was lying about her illness?"
"Because she wasn't sick" Charlotte replied, still looking Clarisse dead in the eyes.
Charlotte's voice was void of any emotion. It was flat; stating the facts.
Clarisse seemed to take control of her voice as she stepped closer to Charlotte, holding out her hands, pleading. Her eyes were threatening to shed tears but she only had eyes for the young woman standing before her.
"We couldn't tell you" Clarisse whispered.
"We didn't know if it was possible. Nobody else knew and we couldn't risk it getting out if it was just a possibility" Charlotte began to say something but Clarisse carried on.
"There was no way to be sure. You wouldn't have understood and then you would have begun asking unwanted questions. We couldn't let people find out. It's been too long" Clarisse finished with an almost inaudible whisper, tears streaming down her face.
"So you kept it from me" Charlotte whispered back.
"How could it be anyone else? There was no one else there when I was born. You even heard what Pierre said when he arrived. Yet you still would not believe it when I looked so much like Marie? Why?" Charlotte also had tears streaming down her face.
"I – I just couldn't" Clarisse whimpered, lower lip trembling.
"You're not my Queen" Charlotte stated quietly, voice breaking from her tears.
Clarisse was too stunned to answer.
"You're my mother" she stated, her voice still void from emotion.
Charlotte turned from the shocked expressions looking at her and walked from the room.
Just as she closed the door she saw Clarisse collapse onto her knees, clutching her stomach as she sobbed. Joseph fell down beside her and wrapped his arms around her, no longer holding back.
Pierre was staring at where Charlotte had been standing moments before, his mouth half open from shock.
Charlotte quietly closed the door and walked blindly down the corridors until she left the palace.
All she could think of was to keep walking. Nothing else mattered.
A.N. – Well, well, well…what do you think? Charlotte still has one more unanswered question. Do you know what it is?