A month has passed, two weeks ago Rupert came home. He is still pretty ill and wanted to be at home if anything happened. Clarisse and Pierre have taken it in turns to sit with him in his suite so he wouldn't be on his own, they both know the time is coming, though they don't want to admit it.
After Clarisse was dressed she headed to his suite again, she softly climbed on the bed next to him as he slept. Even though they aren't together anymore, her heart was still breaking.
He opened his eyes and looked up at her "hello"
she looked at him and smiled "did I wake you?"
"no" he shook his head "where's Pierre?" he asked
"I think he's down having breakfast" she answered
"Ahh ok" he nodded "I saw the sun rise this morning" he said looking towards the window
"I heard it was lovely" she smiled watching him "oh you didn't mind me sitting on here did you?"
"no" he shook his head and closed his eyes
"do you want me to leave?" she asked
"no, please stay" he answered opening his eyes again and looked at her "actually I was wondering if you could do something for me?"
"anything" she smiled
"I know we aren't together anymore, but I was wondering if you could maybe wear your wedding ring for a bit?" he said looking at her "I know its a weird request"
"no its not, and of course" she nodded "where is it?" she asked
"In my sock drawer" he answered
"ok" she said climbing of the bed and got it out then climbed back on the bed and looked at him for a second "would you like to put it on?" she asked taking the ring out
"yes please" he whispered looking back at her
"here you go" she said putting the ring in his hand then held her hand up for him to put the ring on
"thank you Risse" he whispered "it means so much" he held her hand
"its ok" she said looking at him as he brought her hand up to his face and kissed her fingers "you haven't called me Risse for a long time" she whispered
"I know, you didn't mind, did you?" he asked
"no of course not" she watched as he closed his eyes and she moved putting her hand up onto the top of his head and started playing with his hair
he smiled "thank you"
"you're welcome" she whispered back
"promise me you will look after Pierre, and your country" he whispered
she looked at him for a second then nodded "of course I promise, and I am sure Pierre will look after me too"
"no... Joe will do that" he answered "I know he will look after our boy too" he nodded "and look after Amelia"
"of course" she answered looking at him as he closed his eyes again giving her hand a squeeze
She started humming and smiled when she heard him joining in, after a while however she noticed he had stopped so she opened her eyes and noticed he had gone. She couldn't help but start to cry as she placed her hand on his chest and lowered her head to him while still playing with his hair.
"Say hi to our Philippe for me" she whispered through crying and placed a soft kiss on his forehead "we will miss you" she cried as she rested her cheek on his forehead
Pierre was in Rupert's suite with Joe and Shades when he heard her crying, he slowly stood up and walked over to the door seeing her crying he slowly walked over and knelt next to the bed placing his hands on Rupert's arm as he started crying too. As he cried out, Joe and Shades knew and looked at each other. After a few minutes Clarisse sat up and tried to wipe her tears away.
"please, can you leave us" Pierre asked looking at his mom
"of course, darling" she climbed of the bed and walked around to him putting her hand on his shoulder then walked out into the suite, pulling the door up behind her and tried to compose herself she rested her forehead against the door in front of her.
"Clari" Joe asked as she turned her head sideways
she turned to look at him "hes gone" she whispered while walking over to him and standing to his side as he put his arm around her shoulders
"I'm sorry" he whispered and kissed her forehead
Standing still for a few minutes she looked at Shades "please can you inform the staff"
"of course, Your Majesty" he bowed and left them in the suite
As news spread around the Palace of Rupert's passing Clarisse and Joe stayed in the suite, waiting for Pierre and after half an hour he came out, trying to be strong.
Clarisse stood up as he walked over "I'm sorry darling" she said hugging him
"thanks" he said "at least he wasn't on his own" he said stepping back and looked at her "thank you for that" Clarisse nodded and watched him walk over to the door "where are you going?" she asked
"to my room" he stopped and looked back at her "can you please let everyone no and do what you need to do" he said looking at the door with tears in his eyes "and let the country no that their King is dead" he whispered and walked out
Clarisse looked at Joe for a second as a couple tears fell then she headed down to her office with Joe following, made a call to the Prime Minister who headed straight over. He made the public announcement to the country and the world, as it went live the flag that waved on top of the Palace, was placed at half mast.
After checking on Pierre Clarisse went and sat in her suite, wanting to be a lone for a while. Joe was busy helping the security team downstairs as news spread, everyone was in mourning.
As Clarisse sat with her legs up on the couch playing with the ring Rupert asked her to wear, she heard a knock on her suite door. She slowly looked over.
"come in" she answered and saw Helen appear holding Amelia
"sorry, I know you wanted to be on your own but Amelia wants her Grammy"
"that's ok" she answered "she can come sit with me" she watched as Helen put her down
"I did tell her you wanted to be alone but she wanted to be with you, I'm sorry" Helen said watching Amelia as she walked over to Clarisse
"that's ok, don't worry Hel" Clarisse answered helping Amelia up on the couch "you can leave her with me" she looked back over at her
"ok" Helen nodded and left them alone
"do you want to watch cartoons" Clarisse asked
"yea" Amelia answered with a smile and snuggled down between her and the back of the couch as Clarisse put cartoons on
"there you go darling" she said looking down at her and put her hand on the back of Amelia's head and ran her hand down her hair, she fell to sleep not long after.
After a while Joe appeared shutting the door behind him as Clarisse looked over the back of the couch
"shh Amelia's a sleep" she whispered
"sorry" he said coming over and looked down at her "she looks so peaceful" he whispered and lent over giving Clarisse a kiss then walked around to the front "I just came to see if you are ok" he lifted her feet up and sat down resting them on his lap
"yea, sort of" she said looking at him "what have you been up to?" she asked
"on crowd control" he whispered and started rubbing her feet noticing the ring "whats that" he pointed to her hand
she looked at her hand "oh, its my wedding ring" she said staring at it
"why are you wearing it?" he asked as she looked at him
"Rupert asked me to wear it, just before he died" she whispered "I forgot I was wearing it actually" she said about to take it off
"no" she stopped and looked at him "leave it on" he whispered
"why?" she put her hands down
"out of respect to Rupert" he answered and looked as Clarisse nodded a little
"your right" she said looking at it again then looked at Amelia as she moved crying a little "whats the matter darling?" watching as she sat up not saying anything she just moved and sat on Clarisse's lap "you still tired darling?" she asked putting the blanket over Amelia as she snuggled up to her
"shes sucking her thumb" Joe said
"she had a dummy just now" she said looking down
"here it is" Joe reached over and grabbed it passing it to her
"thank you" she looked down as Amelia lifted her head "here you go" she said putting the dummy up and she shook her head "you can't suck your thumb darling" Amelia shrugged and snuggled back down "ok, forget the dummy then" Clarisse whispered wrapping her arms around Amelia as she buried her face in Clarisse's neck "I think someone's feeling grumpy"
"I think you could be right" Joe whispered taking the dummy from her and placed it on the table in front of them
After a couple hours she took Amelia back to her mom then went to sit with Pierre for a while and started going through some cards what people had sent to them already.
After dinner she headed back to her suite and was surprised to find Amelia in the middle of her bed watching cartoons.
"and what are you doing in my bed madam" Clarisse half smiled walking over to the side of the bed "and who put you in here?"
"Grampy number 2" she answered not taking her eyes from the tv
"Grampy number 2?" she asked as the bathroom door opened and saw Joe come out "whose Grampy number 2?" Clarisse asked again leaning on the bed and rubbed Amelia's leg softly and watched as she pointed to Joe
"Grampy number one is RuRu" she answered looking at Clarisse while sitting up "and that's Grampy number 2" she said putting her arm around Clarisse's neck
"well" Clarisse said looking up at Joe with a small smile then looked back at Amelia "who told you that?"
"Grampy RuRu" she whispered "its a secret though"
"ahh ok" Clarisse said watching her "when did he tell you this secret?"
"the other day" she nodded
"ahh ok" Clarisse smiled "well you call Grampy number one Grampy RuRu?" Amelia nodded "so why don't you call Grampy number two Grampy JoJo"
Amelia sat thinking for a second "ok" she smiled and looked at Joe "Grampy JoJo" she giggled and looked at Clarisse
"can Grammy have a kiss now?" Clarisse smiled as Amelia nodded and gave her a kiss "thank you darling" she smiled as Amelia hugged her and Clarisse tickled her making her giggle
Joe smiled watching them "I hope you didn't mind I said it was ok that Amelia stayed in here tonight as she wanted to be with her Grammy"
Clarisse looked up at him "it's ok, I don't mind" she smiled and stood up "you carry on watching your cartoons ok" Amelia nodded not taking her eyes from the tv again Clarisse chuckled and walked over and went into her closet with Joe following "well that was a surprise" Clarisse started sitting down and slipped of her shoes
"it was indeed" Joe smiled
"you don't mind her calling you that do you?" Clarisse asked standing up and undone the zip on her skirt
"of course not, I will be a Grampy soon so I don't mind" he smiled
"yes indeed" she nodded stepping out of her skirt "she really does know how to cheer me up" she said slipping of her top and started getting into her pyjamas "shes my little angel" she smiled "I am surprised though that she started doing it today"
"I noticed that but didn't want to say anything" he whispered "how are you feeling now anyway?" he asked as she walked over to him
"well with a little angel in there, its hard not to smile" she stood close to him "I know we wasn't together anymore, but my heart still broke" she said looking up at him "if that make's sense"
"it makes perfect sense" Joe whispered wrapping his arms around her shoulders
"thank you" she rested her head on his chest while putting her arms around his waist "are you staying here tonight?" she asked lifting her head and looked at him
"if you want me to" he whispered softly
"of course" she kissed him "but if you don't mind Amelia being here?" she asked "well when she's fallen to sleep we can put her in her travel cot" he nodded and kissed her
"of course" he kissed her again
They went and watched cartoons with Amelia, then when she was fast asleep Joe put her in the travel cot and snuggled down with Clarisse for the night.