Plans for the Future.

At the other end of the street, Evie did not have to worry about mushy stuff happening when Ethan arrived home a little later that evening. She had been delighted to see her father at home, and they had hugged on the threshold for a long time, Mike walking unnoticed past with a grin, before they headed inside for a light afternoon tea; going out for tea had been one of her favourite treats back in London, so Drew had spent the little time he had alone making up crustless sandwiches, putting cupcakes from the pantry on a stand, and finding one of the packets of Party Ring biscuits he had bought in London as a treat for her out as well. She had always been so fond of the colourfully iced ring biscuits…

They sat together at the table in the sitting room, over which he had placed a cloth, and she listened as he told her how Miss Frobisher was, and that she had been asking all about her too. Then he paused, and deciding that it was as good a moment as any, he told her that he had seen her great-grandmother in the queue to see the Queen's coffin. Her reaction was to stop eating and just stare at him, her face frozen for a moment. Then the silence ended, and she asked him quietly, "Was she with anyone?"

"She was with some friends, but not with any of the rest of that family. She decided once we had gone to cut all of them out of her life; she was angry at the way they had behaved towards us, and at the way that they all treated her too. She has left Oxford, and now lives in a town much closer to London, where she grew up… I know you would have seen me as I walked past the Queen's coffin on television, but if you go back and look again, you will see that she was there at the same time…"

Evie thought for a moment, then said, "She was always so nice to us, unlike the others…"

"I went to see her on Monday, and we had a long chat all about you and the new life that we have here in New York; she wanted to see all of your photos, and I ended up showing her every single one I have on my phone. She told me that you are even more pretty now than she recalled you being when we lived in England…" Drew paused, then said, "What would you think about maybe seeing her again in person? She has always wanted to come and visit New York, and now she has an excuse to do so…"

Evie looked thoughtful again, then replied, "It would be nice to see her again, particularly now that she has managed to escape from the wicked witch and the rest of her family as well. Would she come and stay here with us?"

"I don't know yet, but now that I know that you are okay with her coming, Ethan and I will have a chat and work out how it could happen."

That discussion would happen later that night, after they had eaten dinner and Evie was in her bed. Drew was tired, given how long he had been awake, but he knew that the conversation was an important one, and could not be put off constantly. "I told Evie who I met in London, and that she wanted to see her again," he began, which earned him a nod from Ethan. "She hasn't got an issue with it given that she is away from that family; all that needs to happen now is the two of us having a conversation about where she will stay."

Ethan nodded again, then said, "I am going to be honest here, and say that I do not think it is a good idea that she comes here and stays with us. Yes, I know that most of the time you and I share a bedroom, so there is a spare one, but nobody knows about that other than Evie. A long term guest in the house would soon twig that you haven't moved in with me temporarily, and that it is the norm, given that most of your clothes and personal stuff is in my room already. We don't know how she would react to that, even if we told her in advance and explained why you and I share a bed. However, I also understand why you would not want to invite her here and then have her stay in a hotel uptown, or even one of the ones down near Wall Street. We will need to talk to Jeff, but the guest apartment he keeps in the house next to his would be the obvious solution. She would be close by, but independent of us at the same time."

"That does seem to be the obvious answer to the problem," admitted Drew. "I can speak to Jeff in the morning when we take the kids to school; he will understand as he and Sebastian had their concerns about her coming back into my life as well." Ethan nodded again, then got up to place their empty coffee cups in the dishwasher. Drew waited a moment, then said, "By the way, did her story check out? I'm assuming it must have done, or this chat would have gone another way…" Ethan paused for a moment in the act of placing the cups in the tray. "It's okay Ethan; to be honest, it is one of the reasons I told you so soon."

Ethan sighed, then turned back to his best friend. "It does, she is telling the truth. I have also taken the liberty of having checks done into Lucy and her parents, but the results for those haven't come back yet. Anyway, I think it is time that we called it a night and headed to bed. I must admit that bed has seemed a lonely place without you here…"

"I know what you mean; I had Jeff sharing with me, but it wasn't the same," responded Drew.

Adam had to wait the longest to be reunited with his loved one of those that lived in New York. Lawrence had once again been on a day shift, and an emergency case had come in just before he was due to finish; like all good doctors, he did not leave until the needs of that patient had been dealt with, his assistance to the qualified doctors in charge being invaluable. They sent him home at the first opportunity as they knew that he had a reunion on the cards that evening. He changed out of his bloodied scrubs though before he left, then hurried out of the building.

As he travelled home, he cursed that tonight of all nights he had been delayed, his natural human emotions overwhelming his sense of duty now he was off the premises. He decided to take the subway that night for once rather than walking, but as he neared the station he looked down the Avenue and saw a bus approaching that was heading uptown, and would drop him off closer to home than the train, so he took it instead…

Off the bus, he ran straight to Adam's door, and let himself in with his own set of keys. He saw that the lights were on in the sitting room, and he headed in; that was where he found his boyfriend, asleep in his usual armchair. He chuckled quietly to himself, but did not for one second consider turning round and leaving; he knew that Adam was as desperate to see him in person as he was to see Adam. Instead he turned around and made his way into the kitchen, that he had stocked with milk, bread and other essentials the previous night. He began to make himself a sandwich, but he did it with a little more noise than was strictly necessary, as a way to rouse his boyfriend from his slumbers. He knew that his plan had worked when he felt Adam's arms wrap around him from behind…

"I missed you so much… Don't get me wrong, Sebastian is a good guy, but he is no substitute for the man that I love with every bone in my body," Adam whispered in Lawrence's ear. "can you stay here with me tonight, and snuggle up in bed together?"

"I can; I am not in college tomorrow, so we can just have a relaxed and quiet day, the two of us catching up," replied Lawrence. "I told Dex this morning that I would not be home tonight, because you would have missed me so much and would be craving my company…"

"That is even better than I had hoped for. So how were things here yesterday when the funeral was taking place?"

"It was a bit strange if I am being totally honest; I thought that it would be just Nurse Crane and I watching it in the staff room, but the place ended up being almost full and the tears flowed freely. The moment with the bagpiper at the end… That lament broke my heart; it felt as if we were witnessing the end of an epoch even here on this side of the Atlantic. Of course, your interview with the BBC was also very well received here; Sam called me and let me know that Ms Kudrow felt that it was perfect. She felt that in your words you managed to embody all that Clive would be feeling too. He hinted that she has a concept for something later in the season now that might relate to everything that has happened; wants to sound you out about British actors that are not well known here that could portray Clive's family…"

Adam chuckled, and said, "I did wonder if she might do something of that sort, and between us, I kind of think that Sam and I will be taking a trip to London for work purposes in the near future. If it is in the summer, then I will tell her that I want you to accompany us, so that you can see everything with the sun shining on it…"

"Now, I am not sure that is such a great idea my love. If you are allowed to bring me, then Sam will be obligated to bring Rachel along as well. The only way out of that one would be to have her in the middle of a show." Adam laughed at that, before he pulled Lawrence into his arms again and kissed him.

Adam had not eaten since he had arrived home, so Lawrence insisted on making a sandwich for him and brought with it a large bag of chips that they could share. They snuggled together on the sofa afterwards, and chatted about everything that had happened in London. Adam was able to tell him about what had taken place after their visit to the Lying in State for the first time, and the fact that they had spoken in private to the new heir to the throne and his wife was quite something to Lawrence.

"I decided that because our meeting did not take place in a public way that it would not be appropriate to discuss it on the telephone," Adam explained. "I mean, I am sure that nobody would have been listening in to my phone calls, but still, it didn't feel quite the done thing in the circumstances…"

"I do understand; it was a big thing for them to take time out and talk to you, given everything that was going on. I can imagine just how overwhelmed your parents and grandmother would have been by it…"

"Granny was a little bit, certainly, but I think that the biggest thing for her is the fact that she cannot go out and tell all of her friends that she met William and Kate, and she is desperate to… She said as much to me on my last night, when we made a point of finding time and space to talk in private, away from my parents; Sebastian helped out there by distracting them for us. We ended up talking about two things really; first off, she informed me that she intends to come and visit us in New York sometime, quite possibly this summer. She wants to meet Dex and all of my friends in person…"

"I will warn Dex that he needs to be on his best behaviour when she does," interrupted Lawrence at that point.

"Secondly, Granny and I had a deep discussion about how fleeting life is for us all when you think about it; how we never know the moment when our existence will come to a close, and how it is always better to just take the opportunities when they come. We all need to take the moment more and seize the day…"

"I heartily agree with that. Yes, you might come to regret some of the things that you do later, but who's to say that you might regret not doing those things even more in time."

Adam laughed then, and said, "That is more or less word for word what Granny said to me, and it was once of the reasons that she gave me something; it is also the reason why I have decided that I might as well do this…" With that, Adam sank down onto one knee in front of Lawrence, as his eyes widened in surprise…

"I know that I said that we should wait for this until you had graduated, but the fact is that I am sure that this is what I want now, and being away from you for the last week and a bit just made me all the more certain of it. Now, just because I am asking this now doesn't mean that I am in any great hurry to make our surname the same. Lawrence, will you do me the great honour of becoming my husband?"

There was silence, and for a moment Adam wondered with horror if he had misjudged the situation, as Lawrence just stared at him with his mouth open. Then he shook his head, and said, "Well, that was quite the conversation that you had with Joan! Of course I will marry you and well, I don't think that there is anything wrong with a long engagement at all. I know that I told you I wasn't ready a while back, but that was because I wasn't certain where your career would take you, and I didn't want to hold you back by being an important consideration in any career choice. Now that I know that you are here for the long run, everything is different. I want to tell everyone that you are my fiancé Adam rather than just my long-term boyfriend…"

Adam chuckled, and got back up onto his feet, then pulled Lawrence up from the sofa and kissed him again. Then he suddenly gasped, and pushed him back onto the sofa, hurriedly sinking back down onto one knee before him. "Sorry, I am such a klutz! I wanted to do this totally right, and I ended up forgetting what Granny gave me for this moment!" With that, as Lawrence looked on with a look that was a mix of startled and confused, Adam dug deep into his pocket and pulled out a ring box…

Adam opened up the ring box to reveal a simple gold band with a Celtic knot pattern, and alongside it a substantial gold link chain. "My grandfather worked in an industry where he could not wear his wedding band all the time, as it was perceived to be a health and safety risk both to himself and those around him, so he wore this, his wedding ring, on the chain that is with it. My granny sent both of them, as she thought that in your profession it might also be more practical for you to wear it round your neck on the chain. I like that idea, because it actually means the ring is closer to your heart. The other benefit is that nobody else needs to know that we are engaged if you want to keep it to ourselves and our immediate family for now…"

"I agree that it is much more practical for a doctor, but I want everyone to know that we are engaged, my love. We should tell our families first though, before we let the rest of the planet know…"

Adam looked at Lawrence for a moment after those words, then he realised what he was saying. "Of course, it will be the whole planet! The media will be keen to see us together when we announce it. I'm afraid that is the price of being engaged to a sitcom star. You need to be very sure exactly how public you wish us to go."

"If it means that when we go out together people stop glaring at me because they think that you are cheating on Darrin by being alone in my company in a restaurant or theater, then I will handle whatever the media can throw at us. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to ask Ms Kudrow for advice, and then we can reveal our engagement to one magazine; of course, the exclusive would go to Isabelle Wright and Vogue magazine."

Adam nodded, and then before he could stop himself, he yawned. Lawrence smiled, then said, "All of that can wait until tomorrow though; right now we need to get you into your bed before you fall down. In the morning we can start to let the world know just how happy we are to be a couple officially." Adam smiled, and then allowed his fiancé to guide him to bed. He changed into his nightclothes and climbed in, and by the time Lawrence came back into the room, Adam was sound asleep…

He would wake at 6am the following day after a solid nine hours of sleep, and smiled instantly at seeing Lawrence curled into him. He was still asleep, but the moment that Adam moved, he woke up and grinned at him. "If the two of us can wake up like this everyday for the rest of my life, then I will be content… Shall we go and make some breakfast, then see if your granny and parents are available to chat with us? It will be lunchtime for them soon, so this is the ideal moment to try. Dex should be awake too, so we can ask him to either come over or go online with us, so that nobody finds out first. That way we can avoid any possible upsets…"

Adam agreed, and so after a breakfast of wholemeal toast with scrambled eggs and bacon, he got in touch with his parents back in Surrey. He was delighted to discover that they were both at home, and that his granny was with them. He asked them to join him on a Zoom call at noon UK time, which was no issue. Meanwhile, Lawrence call Dex, and hearing how tired his brother was from his voice, he asked him to join them online at 7am. Whereas the Crawfords had agreed without hesitation, Dex was curious as to what was going on, so he told a little white lie and said that the Crawfords had something to say that concerned them all, but he had no idea what it was…

Adam and Lawrence went online just prior to 7am, and were joined at once by a sleepy looking Dex, who it seemed was barely out of his bed. Moments later the Crawfords came online, the camera showing that were sat at the dining table. To the surprise of the two young men in New York, another camera joined them, and revealed Adam's sister, sat at her desk at work…

"Your granny thought that it would be a nice way for her to finally see your boyfriend's brother. I hope that is okay for you all," said Annie, and Adam nodded, although he was trying hard not to laugh as his grandmother had just given him one of the most theatrical winks he had ever seen. Lawrence nodded too, but secretly wished his brother had been looking a little more presentable for the moment in question.

Adam eventually spoke. "Well, I am afraid that granny is the most terrible of liars. I am glad that she asked you to join in this conversation though, because the reason for this call is that Lawrence and I have an announcement to make. I asked him to marry me last night, and he said yes. Now, we have no intention of rushing to the altar, but we are both certain that we want to spend the rest of our lives together…"

As words of congratulations rang out from everyone, the two newly engaged men smiled, at least until Joan blurted out, "So tell me Lawrence, does it fit and do you like it?"

There was silence, as they all contemplated what on earth she could be talking about, and Dex wondered if it was some kind of double entendre that he did not need to know about. He was relieved when his brother said, "It does, and it is perfect. I intend to wear it on a chain like he did though." With that he produced the ring from inside his shirt, and the entire gathering nodded in approval of it.

Three hours later, and after a physical visit from Dex, Adam and Lawrence walked into the office that Ms Kudrow kept in midtown to keep the appointment that they had made a short while earlier. She was pleased to see them, and immediately began to ask the Englishman all about his experience in London, and how he felt now. "I saw your interview with the BBC, and you looked remarkably fresh for having been standing in line for half a day. Your homeland certainly knows how to mount a state funeral, particularly when it was one for a much loved Queen. We have been looking at the scripts, and we have decided that we could put a flashback sequence in at some point where Clive and Darrin discuss the whole thing."

Adam nodded, and said, "I approve of that concept wholeheartedly; Clive is so quintessentially British that for him not to mention it or show his emotions about the whole thing would just seem so wrong."

"We are also now seriously considering having you take Darrin and his daughter to London to meet your family. As for casting, a few names have been suggested, but I want to take your expertise on the whole thing, as you will know who is good outside of the all too predictable big names. As for filming that, well it would be much easier to do it on location to get the accuracy people need these days."

Adam smiled inwardly as he recalled exactly what Sebastian had said to him back in London. "I don't see a location shoot as an issue, just as long as my fiancé can come with us as well…"

Those words threw Ms Kudrow for a moment, and then she realised what he was saying, and smiled warmly. "My congratulations, although I have to admit it is earlier than I would have predicted. I guess that the emotional upheaval that the death of the monarch caused made you realise that you are soulmates. It will be no problem for him to travel with us, and well, I guess that we will need to ask Sam if he wants to invite Rachel…"

She did not look all that pleased at that prospect, which made Lawrence chuckle for a moment before he saw the look Adam was giving him. The latter spoke again. "In connection with that, I would like to ask your advice on how we handle the media, given that we have both decided that we want to make our engagement public. We both thought that the best place to start might be with giving Isabelle Wright an exclusive interview?"

Ms Kudrow nodded in agreement at that idea, and the three of them began to plan what they would do in earnest.

As Adam, Lawrence and Ms Kudrow went through all the processes by which they would make the engagement public, Sebastian was finally able to catch up with Thad at Dalton, the timetable for his classes having kept the latter busy all morning. Like Adam, Sebastian had employed the 'stay up as long as you can' technique to try and avoid being jetlagged on Friday morning, and he was feeling reasonably chipper and alert, ready for his own scheduled classes that day.

The night before, Dave and the children had been delighted when he arrived back earlier than he had said; after supper, and once their children were in bed, he had confessed to Dave and told him all about his breakdown on The Mall the day before. His husband had nodded, then said in sympathetic tone, "It was very intense watching it here, so it must have been twice as bad actually being there amidst all of the crowds, and with the action happening right in front of you…"

"I felt so embarrassed about it at the time, but once it was over I felt so much lighter; not cheerful, because that is definitely the wrong word, but somehow less burdened. I am glad that I had the opportunity to go and it was good to catch up with Russell on his home territory. It also got me thinking that if he can have a successful podcast on art, then there is nothing to prevent me from having one on drama; not just Broadway, because that is a crowded market already, but on all aspects of the genre, aimed specifically at a younger audience. It would be a bit like teaching my drama class at Dalton, but on a global scale."

Dave stared at his husband for a moment, then replied after carefully choosing his words, "Well, you are very passionate about the subject, and if you could possibly get a guest in each one, people like your Aunt Bette for example, and other former co-stars, well i think it would be a hit."

Sebastian smiled, and said, "I know that it won't be as big as Russell's art one, but I would like to try. Theater is important on so many levels, and in a world filled with Tiktok and Youtube there is a real danger that it could become something that plays to a dwindling audience of older people unless we can ignite a real passion for it."

Dave nodded again, seeing in his husband's eyes the familiar spark that he used to see when he was about to embark on a new production on Broadway, and that was something that he did not see quite so frequently these days…

When he sought Thad out in his classroom that Friday morning, he had just come from teaching his first drama class of the day, where he had done something almost unthinkable and stepped away from his lesson plan. He had talked about Shakespeare's royal plays, the various historical ones, King Lear, Hamlet and of course 'The Scottish Play', which was as it should be as he said he would teach about the portrayal of royalty in drama. Then however he had strayed from the plan, and talked about a production that had been staged in the West End of London in 2013, and then on Broadway in 2015, entitled The Audience

He had been lucky enough to get a ticket to see Dame Helen Mirren play the lady whose funeral he had just attended, and he felt that it fitted as a timely example of the portrayal of a royal on stage. "As far as I am aware, it is the only time, certainly in the English speaking world, when a reigning monarch has been portrayed on the stage in their own country; what is more, I do believe that Her Majesty actually came to see a performance without warning, as she was wont to do. It must have found favour, as Helen Mirren remained a Dame…"

His class had laughed at that, so he went on to relate how one afternoon, as a matinee had been in progress, a group of drummers that were part of a parade had stopped by chance right outside the theatre, and had continued to play, their drumming so loud that it could be heard clearly inside the auditorium. Angered, Dame Helen had come bursting out of the side door of the theatre at the interval to give them a piece of her mind. The moment had been captured quite by chance on film, and it quickly went viral, and even ended up on the BBC news at the time, as she had come straight from the stage, in full costume, and clutching the Queen's trademark handbag…

The boys had looked at each other in disbelief until Sebastian played them the actual video; they had sat in silence until it was all over, and then had burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity and brilliance of the moment…

When they calmed down, Sebastian said, "I know exactly how she would have felt at that moment; there is nothing more frustrating and irritating for a performer than to have someone in the audience chatting loudly to their neighbour, or worse, talking on their phone, or indeed, letting it ring out loud. The drama of a moment can be quite destroyed by hearing one, and more than one actor has broken out of character to berate the person in question. I suspect that even the late Queen herself would have been annoyed by a group of drummers whilst she was trying to speak…"