Thank you for the reviews.

So.

...

I wish I could be telling you now that I had another job lined up. I wish I could be telling you that I will be having more time to write as I will have more evenings and I will actually have a weekend. I wish I could be telling you that everything is on the way up. But it isn't.

Hold tight guys. Hopefully soon.


Chapter 9

The Talk

Ten knew one thing. He couldn't let this go on for much longer. He had to be the one to put his brothers back on course. No one else was.

He debated with himself about which brother he should talk too first, opting for Twelve as he was the more level-headed one and the one that he thought would take less offence. The one that would less likely to call him a hypocrite.

"Twelve, could I have a word?"

Twelve stopped strumming and looking up at his brother. "I think I know what you are going to say."

"I know about me and Rose and I might seem like a hypocrite."

"But the council?" Twelve said as he leant his guitar against the window ledge he was sitting on. "I have told you that this suits me fine. River doesn't want to know me. I have thought about it. We will just have to marry to keep the council happy and just live two separate lives, that way I satisfy the council. Or I could keep doing and outright refuse. I don't need her. I don't need anyone."

Ten was slightly taken aback. "What about Clara?"

"What about her?"

"Just, to me, it seems like you are working your charm on Clara because you are struggling with River."

Twelve's forehead creased with confusion, his eyebrows doing most of the talking. "I am not working my charm on Clara."

"Just Clara is Eleven's."

"I know."

"And you are spending a lot of time with her."

"Well, if your brother spent as much time with Clara as he has done with River over the past few days, then there wouldn't be a problem with my supposed charm working on Clara. You do know that the only reason she is spending as much time with me is because she feels sorry for me because of River. And the fact that I spend so much time on my own. She is just taking pity on me."

"You are enjoying her company though."

Twelve looked up at him.

"Because you haven't acted this way for a while." Ten continued. "Twelve, you are happy again. I feel like I have my brother back rather than the mess of a man that was left after the war. Yes, you do need someone. Unfortunately, that person seems to be promised to our brother."

"I know what you are saying. And yes, you are a hypocrite. But a hypocrite that knows what the council is like if I did what you did." Twelve sighed. "I will spend less time with Clara."

Ten could only watch as Twelve picked back up his guitar. He had really hit the nail on the head there. Clara was well suited for Twelve, just not promised to him.


"I know what you are going to say," Eleven said as soon as Ten stepped into the room.

"Eleven."

"You are a hypocrite."

"I might be a hypocrite but look at how many hoops I have had to jump through just to get the council to recognise my marriage to Rose. I didn't know about the arrangement that they had made when I asked Rose to marry me. You did when you started whatever you are doing with River. It has to stop."

"Does it?"

"You are putting Twelve's arrangement under strain but you are also stopping any progress with your own arrangement. The worst part of all of this is that Twelve is going to be the one that is going to get hurt in the end of this. He will have to marry River, whether he, you or River like it. Whether he knows about you two or not. You are going to end up with Clara."

"Yes, you are a hypocrite. Me and River have something good."

"Are you trying to suggest that Rose and I didn't?"

"No, but you got to marry the person that you wanted to. Clara is lovely and all that but she isn't River."

"These arrangements were made so that we could win the war. We needed them to win. Just remember that." Ten said before he walked off, knowing he wouldn't get his brother to see his way of thinking.

Eleven huffed.


"What's wrong?" River asked when she met Eleven in their spot.

"Ten. He is being such a hypocrite. I thought he would understand because of what he did. He has said that this has to stop between us because it is putting a strain on Twelve's arrangement and my own. I said we should have eloped."

"Ten does know what he is saying."

"I don't want to marry Clara as much as I want to marry you. I am sure that me and Clara will get along when we are married and are living together and just being together. But she won't be you. She won't be my sexy archaeologist."

River couldn't help but blush at his comment. Not that she wanted him to see it. She thought that him, looking like a lovesick puppy was enough. She didn't need to act the same.

"And I want to marry you as well. Look, we still have time. We can still find a way so we can be together."

"River we should have found one by now."

"You are not giving up now."

"Ten is right. Whether you, me or Twelve liked it or not, you are going to end up marrying Twelve. I will end up marrying Clara. I will have the better marriage. You will just spend your time away from my brother."

"You have given up." She shrieked. "And don't blame Ten."

"If we did it when I first mentioned the idea, I would be able to fix it. I would have said that it was a spur of the moment idea and we eloped. They might have sorted something out about Clara and Twelve. But not now. You have met Twelve and I have met Clara. The agreements are in progress." Eleven huffed. "We now have to go along with it."

He didn't stay to see the look on her face. Ten had been right but it felt like the wrong thing to do. He cursed as he left the one that he loved behind.