Listen to Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits for feels

It had been some time since Hindley had been able to play his guitar properly. but he was improving all the time. Once again. he'd taken to going out to the summerhouse by himself through the day, just to play and quiet his troubled mind. The music seemed to help him a lot and stopped him from being so angry about things. Francis realised how much he needed that time to himself and left him to it. Hindley had taken him to the town that morning and bought him his own set of clothes in payment for tutoring his son as well as opening a bank account for him. He now owned three rather fine suits two black and one deep blue, and two pairs of knee length boots. Finally, Francis felt like Hindley was treating him like a human being and not some object, and definitely not like Alice. Had he been completely wrong about him after all? He hoped so. The gentle music floated through the halls of the Kirkland mansion, restoring the peace that he had become used to. He started to feel good about this again but wished the past few days hadn't happened at all. He took some blame for what had happened. The way he saw it was, he just didn't think about Alice or what Hindley would be thinking when he danced like that. It occurred to him that maybe he didn't really understand about her, and what she must have meant to him. It hit him that she must have meant a lot and he felt bad, and he must have seemed so selfish and uncaring. As Hindley played a sad song on his guitar at dusk, Francis came out to him looking quite worried and thoughtful.

"Hindley can we talk please?" He asked. "It is important." He continued. "Can you come inside?"

Seeing the worried look on Francis' face Hindley set his guitar down and went to him and held him close. "Are you alright?" He asked "You look so worried… has something happened?"

Francis shook his head. "It's not that anything has happened to me… " he uttered as he embraced him. "Please let us talk, inside?"

"Well if it is that important…."

"It is… it really is."

Hindley put his arm around his lover and they went inside to the lounge, and as usual he made sure the door was locked and the curtains were drawn. He poured some wine for him and they both sat on the sofa.

"What is it my love?" Hindley asked with concern as he reached out to hold his hand.

"Je t'aime…" Francis replied, and leaned forward to kiss him. "I feel like I haven't been understanding enough towards you." He said quietly. "You've been so kind to me, and yet yesterday all I could think about was… how you might lose your temper, or what you might be capable of. I saw a dark side to you and I hate myself for seeing that…"

"I…" began Hindley, "I haven't been as good to you as you deserve…"

"No.. listen please Hindley, I'm not blaming you for anything…" Francis replied. "But I feel like… I need to understand you better… and…" He said as he held his hand in both of his "I want you to tell me about Alice… "

Hindley was silent for a while, and drank his wine, he pulled his hand away from Francis' and stood up, dealing with very powerful emotions, it wasn't easy.

"Why do you want to know about her…? I told you all there is to know… "

"No you didn't Hindley…" Francis replied in a serious tone. "You didn't tell me anything about her, only that you were once married and that she died."

"What good would it do?" Hindley replied in husky tones. "She is gone…"

"Then I would understand you better… I only danced like that because I was having fun… but if I'd known how you felt then I would have respected your feelings more. I feel I haven't done that… I feel I trampled all over them."

Hindley nodded and sipped his wine before turning around to him. "Alright…" he uttered and sat down again.

"Alice and I were childhood sweethearts… she lived not far from here, on the outskirts of town, in a large house. She was my second cousin… I met her when we were four years old as our parents wanted us to be betrothed, and I loved her immediately…"

24 years ago…

Hindley was just a small boy at that time, and was taken by his Father, Arthur Dorian Kirkland, to visit his second cousin Alice, who was around the same age. She lived with her parents, Rob and Sarah in a large house comparable to his own mansion. Whilst the adults got on with talking and things and playing cards he and Alice were left to talk.

"Hello." He said with a smile. "I'm Hindley." He said "What's your name?"

"I'm Alice…" she replied. She was a sweet little girl with long blonde hair tied in bunches, and she wore a pretty blue dress. "Would you like to go outside and play?"

"Yeah I would…" Hindley replied. "What do you like to play at?"

"I have dolls…" she replied. "But you're a boy so you can play on my hobby horse." She said "Boys don't play with dolls. "

"I can so play with dolls…" he said and laughed. They chased each other round the garden much to their parents delight and then sat down and had a pretend tea party with the dolls and the hobby horse. When it was time to leave, Hindley turned to her and kissed her on the cheek. "You are a very pretty girl Alice…" he said.

"You are a handsome boy." She replied. "We will always be friends." She continued "And when we grow up we'll be married."

Every week his Father would bring him to see his new friend Alice and it continued like that for years, but then things began to change for the two youngsters. They became young teenagers and curious about each other in a different way. They were each others best friend and it grew naturally into a loving friendship, and then more, but Hindley and Alice couldn't do more than kiss, for their strict upbringing had left other such carnal desires only to be explored after marriage. Hindley however found himself curious about other boys in such ways, and he plucked up the courage to ask his Father about that one day as he sat reading his newspaper in the breakfast room.

"Father…?"

"Yes son…"

"I … um… really like Alice…" he said "I feel different though, when I'm with her, like… things happen…"

"They are bound to. You will be a man soon… " he replied as he adjusted his glasses. He sighed and looked at his son. "One day you and Alice will be married and you'll find out all about it… she excites you already in good ways, this is so that one day you too can be a mother and Father. You see?"

Hindley thought about it for a moment and then asked another question. "I also have strange feelings for my friends at school… the boys…"

His Father threw down the paper and leaned forward menacingly. "You listen to me Arthur… you don't go near a boy ever, do you understand? That's not natural, you are only allowed to love girls. Is that clear?"

Terrified of his Father's wrath, Hindley nodded quickly and gulped in fear. "Yes sir…" he replied.

"Now we'll say no more about it." His Father replied. "You will marry Alice soon and have children of your own…"

Hindley was scared of his Father and believed every word he said, suppressing his attraction to the boys he spent all of his time with Alice, and they were inseparable, spending hours on end together. Then they had their first real kiss when they were 14 years old, it was Alice who initiated it, finding herself madly in love with this boy she'd known since they were small children.

"I think I love you Hindley…" she uttered "Our parents say we are going to be married."

"That's right… " he replied. "And I can't wait for that day… I love you too Alice…" he replied. Hindley proved to be a true romantic, and he learned how to play the guitar, so he could sing songs to Alice underneath her window at night, to woo her. She loved it and often let him in when her parents were asleep. Unbeknownst to everyone else, he and Alice slept together before they were married, and he formerly proposed to her the following year. They married at a little church in the town and were very happy together. Then came the day his Father died, it was a terrible time for him because his mother was dead too, and his Father was all he had. His horse had thrown him whilst he was out riding, and he lay in his bed in agony, and hardly able to move. Hindley dashed home from his workplace when he heard about it, worried and upset that his Father was going to die. Alice too, arrived and joined him at his Father's bedside. He was very ill and close to death by the time he got there, and it was touch and go. He knelt at his beside, Alice was kneeling beside him as his Father slowly opened his eyes. "Arthur…" he sighed. "Thank goodness you're here…"

"I came as soon as I heard… Father… what happened?" He asked as he grasped his Father's hand.

"I fell…" he replied. "It was an accid.." he tried to say but the pain was so huge he could barely speak.

Alice was being trained to be a nurse and tended to him, trying to make him comfortable.

"Thank you Alice…." He wheezed. "But I know there is not much time left…" he said "That's why I need to be with my son… he said and turned to him." His eyes were heavy and he was barely alive. "Arthur… there's something you need to know, something I haven't told you because it would be too overwhelming… and Alice too… its very important…"

"What is it?" Young Hindley asked as his Father moved a little closer to him.

"I am England…" he said "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland…" he said.

Hindley looked confused. "I don't understand… what do you mean?" he asked.

At that moment Arthur Dorian Kirkland placed a hand upon his son's head and something strange began to happen. Hindley's mind was full of images, memories, deep feelings he couldn't understand or explain, flowing through his mind as they transferred from his Father's own memory. It was jumbled and strange and he couldn't comprehend what was happening, but he knew why his Father had said he was England, he understood it now.

"Now… you are England…" his Father struggled to say before he collapsed on to the bed. Arthur Dorian Kirkland was dead. Alice wrapped her arms around her husband and they both wept for his death, and Hindley was exhausted with everything. She helped him to his bed as he tried to cope with what happened.

"I've always known this Hindley, but your Father made me promise not to tell you." She said. "And I know our child will be the same as you… and him…"

There was something about the way she said that, which made Hindley look to her in wonderment. "Our child?"

"Yes…" she replied. "I found out this week, and was going to tell you… but then this happened… you're going to be a Father Hindley."

It was an interesting few months. Not only was Arthur Hindley to meet the other nations as the new England/Britain, but he was also going to be a Father and it was an exciting time for them. However, towards the end of her pregnancy Alice became very ill and weak, but the doctor couldn't fathom what it was that was wrong. Hindley realised that he didn't know his mother either because she too had died in childbirth, and then it occurred to him that his grandmother had also died in childbirth. He sat by Alice's bedside and held her hand, knowing what was going to happen. There was no explanation for it but may because of what he was, what is Father was, what all the Kirklands were, maybe that's why she was weakening and dying, because the child inside of her was to be a nation as he was. He didn't know what to say or what to do as he sat with her in the twilight of a summer night, and the contractions began.

"You need to get the doctor now Hindley…" she gasped "And the midwife… get the midwife…"

He didn't want to leave her but, after getting the midwife he waited as most expectant Fathers did, downstairs in the lounge for the inevitable news. The mansions halls echoed with her cries and screams as she gave birth to their son, and then there was silence, but for the sound of a baby crying.

Hindley remembered when he went to her bedside and she looked so peaceful lying there, but she was dead and their son was a newborn, needing love and attention, and his only parent. At the age of 20 years old, Hindley was already the master of the Kirkland mansion and estate, a Father and a widower.

"I kissed her one last time…." Hindey uttered as he sat with Francis on the sofa. "Her body was cold… her life extinguished. She will always be my Alice…" he whispered and sipped his wine. Francis watched him, the firelight reflecting off his face softly. He looked distant, as if he was in another world and for once he wasn't afraid to cry. A solitary tear rolled down his cheek and down his neck, and he didn't bother to wipe it away.

"Ohh…" Francis sighed, a look of tenderness on his face. "You must have loved her a lot…"

"She was my world." He replied. "I couldn't love anyone else after that, not till you came along. And at least I know you won't die like that…" Hindley whispered "I'll love you till I die…" he said, his voice faltering. "But I loved her... I loved Alice…"

Francis understood it finally, and he took Hindley in his arms and held him. "I promise you I won't ever leave you Hindley…" he whispered. "Now I understand what you went through…"