Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in forever... T_T Anyways, thanks to my reviewers and readers, please keep reviewing! I love reviews! Now here is the fourth chapter!
The woman that Jack was plotting against was, at this exact moment, skipping down the cobblestone road to the clinic happily. The weather was warm, not sweltering, but warm. This made Claire happy, she liked this weather. When she was younger, this weather meant a trip to the beach with Jack and her other brothers... Claire stopped at the clinic and pulled open the door. Once she entered she was hit with the familiar cold blast of air. Elli, who was sitting serenely behind her desk, looked up when Claire entered and gave a soft smile. Claire returned Elli's smile with a beam of her own, then jogged over to Elli's desk.
"Hey Elli!" Claire said happily .
"Hey Claire, what are you doing here? Just visiting me? Have anything important to share?" Elli asked. Claire bit her lip.
"Um... Actually Elli, I DO have something important I really need to tell you and Doc..." Claire said, in a voice just above a whisper, although the hospital was, apart from them, deserted. "It's about last night..."
Elli looked a small bit confused, but after a second, her eyes grew big. "You had the dinner with Jack last night, right?"
Claire glanced at the floor, then nodded. "I'll tell you in Doc's office."
Elli stood from her chair, and she and Claire walked across the room into the small curtained off section. When the two entered, the village Doctor was sorting a mound of papers into six different piles, a stressed expression on his pale face.
"Hey Doc. I have something to tell you and Elli," Claire said. The young doctor looked up from his sorting and gave Claire a smile.
"Oh, hi, Claire," smiled Doctor as he put his mound of papers down on the small free space on his desk. "I was just doing a small bit of sorting! Now, what did you come here to talk to us about?"
"Well..." mumbled Claire. She was unsure about how to tell Doctor and Elli about the events of last night. They were both staring at her, their worried dark eyes boring into her skull. Although she felt a bond with the two in fact of her stronger than any she had felt, save for Gray and her family, it was a small bit daunting to have them staring her down. Suddenly, even in the air-conditioned clinic, Claire felt hot. She took of her rucksack and the small cardigan she was wearing, laying them on the nearest table. "Well..." Claire repeated. " It started off well! Although Gray came late he looked pretty perfect."
Doctor and Elli nodded. After Claire paused, Elli sighed, and motioned for her to continue.
"Umm... Well, then we sat down to eat . One of the first things Jack said to Gray was: 'You're late,'" Claire paused, and allowed Elli and Doctor to exchange small "Tsk, tsks" and to shake their heads.
"Then we ordered. Gray ordered his dish, then made some joke about eating animals. That turned out to be a bad move because Jack is a vegetarian. So then Jack started to, as Gray put it, conduct the inquisition Gray. He put up with Jack's questioning until Jack asked about religion. That's when Gray got REALLY mad. He threw down his knife and fork and said something like..." Claire stood up straighter, and puffed her chest out, clenched one hand into a first, and contorted her face so that she looked very angry. "Then he said something like, 'THAT'S IT! YOU MAY CONDUCT THE INQUISITION ABOUT WHAT I LIKE TO WEAR, OR WHAT I LIKE TO EAT, OR WHATEVER, BUT THATS TAKING IT TO FAR, MISTER! MY RELIGIOUS PRACTICES ARE NONE, AND I REPEAT, NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!'"
At this point Elli gave a gasp and put a hand to her mouth.
Claire regained her normal posture and carried on with her story.
"So then Jack stood up too, they glared at each other for a bit. Then Gray went upstairs to his room, and Jack and I went home... And the rest is a small bit foggy..." Claire said, her last sentence was untrue, she actually could remember every bit of her and Jack's argument, but she was too afraid she would burst out into tears again. She looked up at her friends incredulous faces and quickly amended her previous statement "But I can try to remember!"
Elli gave Claire's hand a squeeze.
"Then Jack, and I got into a big argument, and he said that..." Claire felt a small lump in her throat. " And he said that... That he hated Gray and it would be a good thing if we broke up!" At this point Claire burst out into tears. She lead herself to the porcelain white hospital bed and sat down. Doctor and Elli rushed over to her side. Doctor sat down by Claire and allowed her to lay her head on his shoulder.
"It's okay, Claire!" Elli said softly as she sat down on the other side of the sobbing farmer. She embraced Claire with both her arms and lay her head on Claire's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Claire," Doctor said into Claire's mane of blonde hair. "There is no reason to cry! You and Gray will get married anyways!"
"Everybody has been telling me there is no reason to cry!" Claire said between sobs. Nobody talked for the next ten minutes, the trio of friends just sat there in complete silence. Apart from Claire's sniffles, that is. Claire loved having her two best friends in the great wide world hold her. She loved the sweet, warm sensation that she experienced when the two hugged her close. Elli broke the silence.
"So Trent. You're the doctor, what should Claire do?" Elli asked. The aforementioned doctor lifted his head from Claire's hair and said, "I think what you need to do is have a nice day off-" Claire interrupted Doctor by crying out,
"I can't have a day off! What about my animals?"
"Hire somebody to look after your farm... Just take a day off! Go swimming, take Gray out to the inn, go to the church, the hot tub... Whatever-" Claire interrupted Doctor yet again.
"B-b-but what about JACK?! "
"I was just getting to that part! After you finish your day off, and you're all rested up, confront Jack about your problem! Okay?"
Claire looked a small bit unsure but agreed. "Okay..?" she said hesitantly.
"Thats good!" said Elli happily, standing up from the bed, and smoothing out nonexistent crinkles on her spotless apron.
"Okay, I'd better go!" Claire said with a small smile, standing from the hospital bed. "Thanks Doc! Thanks Elli!" Claire shouted, as she skipped out the door happily, with the same amount of energy as she came in...
At the exact same time Claire was skipping out the door, Jack was heading out of the supermarket with a green bag of grass seeds in his hand. He had changed from his dirty clothes from last night into a a stylish long sleeved shirt rolled up to his elbows, and brown shorts. Claire had not been home for half an hour, so he had decided to introduce himself to everyone in town, he had meet a young lady called Mary; the town's mayor , Thomas; and he had just meet Sasha, Jeff and Karen, a family who all worked in one small supermarket. Karen had been nice enough to give him a bag of grass seeds, which probably wouldn't come in handy. But it was a nice thought... Jack's next stop was the clinic. He entered, and first saw a young brunette sitting behind a desk, looking rather bored.
"Hi," said Jack as he approached the desk.
"Hello," said the nurse softy. "I've never seen you here before. Who are you?"
"Oh! I'm sorry for not introducing myself! I'm Jack, Claire's brother! I'm just visiting for a bit"
"Oh. Well, I'm Elli, Claire's best friend! If anyone does anything to her, they will answer to me." growled Elli.
"Um... Okay..." said Jack, unaware of the conversation Elli and Claire had just had. Just then, Doctor walked out of his office.
"Hey Elli, I need you to sort out the-" He stopped short when he saw Jack. " Oh, hi," Doctor said. "You're a new face! I'm Trent, Mineral Town's doctor! Pleased to meet you!"
"Doctor. This. Is. Jack. You know? Claire's brother," said Elli, her teeth bared in a snarl. Her voice got a little hysterical near the end.
"Oh," said Doctor. Jack noticed that the doctor's eyes started sending invisible razor beams through his head.
"I've never meet these guys... What is their problem?" thought Jack.
"Have you come for a cheek up?" Doctor asked coldly.
"Um... No, but I guess I could use a cheek up..." Jack said brightly. "Okay!"
"Very well..." Doctor muttered. The two men walked from the desk to the curtained off area in the clinic. Once inside the curtains, Doctor instructed Jack to sit on the edge of the bed. Jack did as he was told and sat down.
"Now where is that little f-" He looked up at Jack. "Sorry about that. Where is that stethoscope?" Doctor whispered as he rummaged through a drawer. As the doctor looked for his equipment Jack scanned the room. He noticed the cobalt blue sweater and the small ragged rucksack as Claire's.
"Oh, those are Claire's," said Jack, fingering the soft material of the sweater. doctor looked over and nodded.
"She must-a left them here..."
"Okay," Jack said. " Umm... Doctor, if you don't mind me asking... What is your relationship with Claire?"
"I don't mind you asking..." said Doctor. "Claire is my best friend. Thats all, sadly." The last word of his sentence was said in a small hushed voice.
"What did you say?" asked Jack, his brown eyebrows raised. Doctor flushed red.
"Nothing!" exclaimed Doctor as he approached the bed "Now say 'ah!'"
"Wait one second..." Jack said mischievously, a small smile creeping up his face. "You said 'sadly', didn't you!?"
doctor flushed even redder then he was. His face alone was a confession. Jack looked into the Doctor's dark eyes. "Why?"
The doctor looked at Jack then said, in a voice just above a whisper, "I guess I liked her. Once upon a time. But now she's going to get married to Gray, and he's a good guy."
Jack looked over Doctor, head to toe. He looked good in his gleaming, white doctor's coat. Not at all like Gray in his ore covered beige trench coat . He was a doctor, who probably earned much more money than that blacksmith. He seemed like a kind man, who would never swear or shout... Unlike Gray. And to top that all of he really did like Claire. The wheels in Jack's mind started to spin...
He could be Claire's alternative.
Jack gave Doctor a sickly sweet smile, and lowered his voice to just above a whisper, like doctor's, "Doctor, I have a confession to make."
Doctor narrowed his thin eyebrows. " Do tell..." He said suspiciously.
"I don't think that Gray is such a good guy."
Doctor looked very puzzled. "I think I know Gray better then you do, Mr. Jack. Now if you'd be so kind-"
"But- but I've seen the way he looks at Claire. It's kinda like this..." Jack gave doctor his best glare. Doctor flinched a small bit.
"Really?" said Doctor.
"Really," confirmed Jack.
"Nah, I don't believe that," said Doctor.
"But it's true!" cried Jack, nodding his head frantically. "And if you don't mind me asking, could you do something for me?"
Doctor looked at Jack skeptically.
"I guess so..." he said. Jack smiled.
"Okay! Then please... How shall I put this? Please... give Claire an alternative. Please... help her get away from Gray. He's not a good person."
Doctor looked at Jack. He looked very convincing. His eyebrows were raised, his brown eyes pleading.
"No," Doctor answered.
Jack frowned. "But you want the best for Claire, don't you?"
"Yes, of course!"
"So accept my offer!"
"But she was just in here a few minutes ago crying about how you were trying to break her and Gray up!" Doctor insisted.
"She was?" asked Jack. "Umm..." There was a small pause while Jack tried to formulate an excuse to why Claire had been crying about him trying to break her and Gray up. "Because she's afraid Gray will yell at her if they break up?" He was less confident with this lie than any of the other lies he had gave to Doctor. It sounded a small bit more like a question than a statement.
The silence that followed was long. After a while, Doctor sighed, and said "I'll think it over..."
Jack's dark eyes lit up. "Aww. Thanks, Doc! Claire will thank you someday, I PROMISE!" Jack dug around in his pocket for some G to pay Doctor with. He pulled out 50 G and stuffed it into Doctor's hand.
"But the fee is only 10 G. Plus, you didn't actually HAVE a check up!" cried Doctor.
"Erm... Well, I just remembered I had my cheek up a month ago. You can have the 50 G though!" And with that, Jack hurriedly excited from the cool clinic.
Jack felt a small bit bad about lying to that doctor, but he did what he needed to be done, and Claire would thank him. Someday...
Okay, so thats the end. Icefire149, I hope your head is still intact! This story was planned a long time ago, so I'm not going to change anything. But don't let that discourage you! Please keep reading. I promise you that Doctor and Jack will get what is coming to them!
In the next chapter of Brotherly Love... Love is in the air! But maybe not the way we want it to be. Although Gray and Claire are drifting apart, Claire and Doctor are coming together, and Jack seems to have found someone special too! Who is it, and how long can Jack keep up this charade before he tells Claire what he has done? Or will Doctor do that for him?