Captain Weirdo: Hehe, yeah, that was the point :D- of course she can´t, I mean she IS the queen, who needs homework after all... Besides everyone likes homework, unless it´s their own!
addlogcon: Good point- well, phone Clarisse and ask her then- but from the way you say it it´s over now anyway, isn´t it?
Liesel Meminger: Ok, ok, I´m soooooory, so here´s a LONG chapter and I´ll have another part tomorrow, I hope you forgive me now and stop being annoyed... :(
"Hello?"
"It´s me."
"Oh, hello, Rupert."
"You sound incredibly distracted, what happened?"
"Nothing special, I simply had a long day."
"You always do, now tell me."
Clarisse wondered for a moment what convincing lie she could feed her husband, then she decided to simply cause some distraction herself.
"We´ll have to do something about Amelia´s French, she´s hopeless."
"A nice try, Clarisse."
"I´m serious, I watched her trying to do her homework."
"Not good enough, Darling, you have to come up with something a bit more convincing."
Her husband sounded amused at her obvious attempts to get around answering his question but not upset about it, Clarisse knew that he thought it polite to ask her what was wrong but would let her get away with not telling him if he was convinced that she actually didn´t want to.
"Fine, I´ll give up- are you still coming here as planned?"
"Up to now, yes- that reminds me, Pierre will call you tomorrow, I talked to him earlier."
"Oh- how is he?"
"He is fine, busy like always, sometimes I think he might be busier where he is now than he would have been in my place."
"Probably- how was Parliament today?"
"Boring and we have to do something about Van Troken, the man is getting to me."
"I know but he´ll come over here next week for the state dinner, so I´ll deal with him for a change and you can take a break."
Clarisse joked, causing her husband to laugh.
"Yes, Dear, I know, I´m very sorry about that."
"It´s fine, I´ll have him seated as far away from me as possible."
"I bet Josef will see to that" Rupert replied smoothly and Clarisse sighed.
"Not again, Rupert."
"What, can´t I even mention him now? That´s a bit difficult, Darling, he´s around you twenty four hours a day."
"Hardly- besides I have told you that he´s with Amelia most of the time."
"I´m not upset to hear that- as long as whoever is watching over you now is capable of doing a good job."
"I suppose so, I havn´t been killed yet" Clarisse answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"That´s good news then" Rupert said cheerfully, then added "you should go to bed now, Darling, it´s almost midnight over there."
"You are right, I´ll do that- I´ll call you again tomorrow, goodnight."
"Goodnight, Clarisse- and don´t be too mad at me."
"I´m not."
Clarisse replied gently, then put the receiver down and got up from her desk.
She briefly wondered if she should indeed just go to bed, then decided that some fresh air would do her good and walked over to the office doors.
She found Josef in the entrance hall, like she had expected, sitting over some papers.
"Moonlight stroll?"
She asked, hoping the he wouldn´t refuse her after their little bantering this morning and to her relief he instantly put the papers down and got up.
"Of course."
They slowly made their way down the garden path and Clarisse found herself missing the waste expanse of her gardens back home in Genovia.
"I´m sorry about this morning, I was out of line" Josef began, looking over at her but the queen shook her head.
"Don´t apologize, Josef, you were right- let´s just not talk about it anymore, please."
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
They walked in silence for a while, both lost in thought, then Clarisse said "I have to ask something of you and I know you won´t like it."
"Why don´t you ask and let me decide on that?"
"Oh all right then- can you please teach Amelia how to dance? At least the basics?"
"I can try" Josef answered diplomatically, causing Clarisse to smile.
"Yes, that´s what I meant- it would be good if it´d lead to a positive result though, it´ll be highly uncomfortable for her at the ball otherwise."
"Obviously- so when are you planning to start?"
"I thought tomorrow- if that´s fine with you."
"At your service, Ma´am."
Josef bowed to her, causing Clarisse to slap his arm rather hard.
"How often do I have to tell you not to do that, I know I´ve acted childish this morning, there´s no need to bring it up over and over again."
"My sincere apologies- so how are things at home?"
"The same as usual, nothing out of the ordinary, Van Troken is messing with Parliament, Rupert is really glad to get rid of him next week- oh and Pierre called, he´ll call me tomorrow."
"He will want to hear about his niece."
"Yes, I think so, too, it´s a shame he can´t make it to the ball, I´m sure Amelia would have liked to meet him- well, she might be interested to visit Genovia this summer."
Clarisse sounded hopeful, the idea of having her granddaughter at the palace was wonderful, it would bring back life and laughter that was head far to rarely since Phillippe´s death.
"I´m sure she will want to visit you, you worry to much."
Josef reached for her hand and dropped a comforting kiss onto her knuckles, causing a wave of heat to surge through Clarisse.
This had to stop, she couldn´t feel about him this way, she was married for heaven´s sake!
She couldn´t even recall when her feelings towards him had changed, or had she perhaps never felt for him in a just friendly way?
"Penny for your thoughts."
"You wouldn´t have enough pennies to get me to tell you what I was thinking" she teased, back in control already.
"You wouldn´t know about that but fine, I´ll let you get away with it. We should go back inside, it´s getting too cold for you to be out here in just your dress."
Now he mentioned it Clarisse became aware of how chilly it had become and pulled her scarf a little tighter around her shoulders but Josef shook his head and got out of his jacked, draping it around her.
"Thank you."
She deeply inhaled the scent of his cologne, wishing she could take the jacket to her room with her, falling asleep with her nose buried in the soft leather- oh not again, her thoughts had a way of traveling down this particular road without permission lately, she hoped this was simply because she was alone with Josef so often and that things would go back to how they had been before she had left Genovia when her husband arrived- though she had difficulty to remember a time she had not felt drawn to Josef to say the least.
They walked back towards the building in silence, Clarisse still trying to work out what was going on inside her mind and- more important- her heart, Josef next to her, obviously wonering what was going on with her and Clarisse sincerely hoped that at the end of this walk he would still be as ignorant, she didn´t even want to imagine what might happen if he found out about her mixed up feelings.
"Are you sure you don´t want to talk to me?"
He inquired, still looking concerned and the queen firmly nodded.
"Maybe you should talk to Charlotte then."
"There isn´t even anything to talk about, I´m simply feeling a bit off color."
"You never feel- heaven´s what an expression is that by the way, I don´t expect it´s very queenly."
Clarisse couldn´t help but laugh, he had a way to cheer her up, no matter how distressed she was.
"No, probably not- please, Josef, just forget about it, will you?"
"If you really don´t want to discuss it I will of course."
"Thank you- now do me a favor and go to bed, don´t stay up all night and make plans again."
"As you wish, Ma´am."
"You´ll never stop that, will you?"
"Not as long as it still gets your attention" he replied calmly, then he seized her hand and kissed it gently.
"Goodnight, Your Majesty."
"Goodnight, Josef- will I see you tomorrow morning before you leave?"
"If you are up early enough."
"I see, that was an opportunity too good to miss, I will have it printed and attached to your steering wheel, Im sorry for making you a baby sitter, would that make you feel better?"
"Considerably so" Josef winked at her, then he looked at his watch.
"You really should go to bed now, His Majesty will be anything but pleased if he arrives here and you are completely worn out."
"He won´t be here for another two weeks, I´ll have plenty of time to prepare till then."
"Then go to bed because I ask you to, you really need some rest."
"That I can do" she replied softly, then turned around and climbed the stairs, hoping he hadn´t noticed the slight flush creeping into her cheeks.