“We’ve done it again” Sean greeted Claire as he entered their chambers where she was sitting stiffly at the vanity. Upon seeing her continuing mood, Sean corrected “I’ve done it again.”

“Am I supposed to know what you’re talking about?” Claire responded quietly.

“I’ve once again seemed to forget our plan to just stop hurting each other in the time we still have” he answered sadly.

Claire scoffed quietly “you really think I’m all that hurt by you kissing one of our servants?”

“Not particularly” he managed, “but I was referring to the rest of the night.”

“Whatever Sean. It’s hopeless. We’re just going around in circles” she stated quietly.

“Hopeless? Really?” Sean was then the one who scoffed as he let his feet move him across the room to come to stand near her chair.

“Letting you in would hurt. Not letting you in hurts. Hopeless circle” she repeated sadly.

Sean sighed again then as he spoke “remember how I told you that I have no choice but to forgive you for any wrong you think you’ve committed against me? Well, consider yourself forgiven. Now can we please move on?”

Claire just shook her head, “it’s that simple, is it?”

“It can be if we want it to be” Sean stated plainly.

“So wishing something makes it so now?” she questioned with another sad shake of her head.

“Wasn’t that the point of the spell?” Sean asked as he moved to lean against the vanity so he could look into the eyes that she wasn’t turning towards him on her own.

“Spell?” Claire asked, thrown enough by that to finally look up at him.

“The spell you were casting on the day we met” he explained gently.

Claire couldn’t help a slight chuckle of disbelief at his mention of a moment they had shared so long ago. Of course, it was the moment they had met for that very first time. “But you interrupted that spell” she reminded softly.

“So? You still found your happiness. It has just been a little bumpier than you planned. See, the spell wasn’t a total failure” he told her with an attempt at a faint smile.

“A little bumpier?” she scoffed as she continued to look up at him while biting back her smile.

Sean then offered a more apparent smile as he leaned down to be on eye level with her before speaking “I can prove it worked.”

“Really?”

“Just by asking one thing” he stated confidently.

“And that thing would be?” she asked warily.

“Have you ever regretted the day we met? Honestly regretted it?” Sean asked her in a soft whisper.

“You already know the answer to that” she returned, matching his volume.

“Then the spell obviously did work” he told her as he moved to cover her lips with his.

When the kiss finally ended, Claire remained close, laying her head against his neck as she spoke “I’m just so tired of hurting and being sad and upset all the time. I’m so very tired of it” she finished in a whisper.

“Another thing we agree on” Sean murmured back as he placed another kiss on her cheek. He then moved back only slightly to look at her questioningly.

“Yes?” she asked as she turned her eyes to his face.

“Now what’s this about a saloon?” Sean asked.

That did cause Claire to let a tiny laugh escape her throat before answering, “I need some kind of distraction for all the nights that… you’re distracted.”

“Thought Finn was your chosen distraction” he replied skeptically.

“Can’t a girl have more than one distraction?” she asked, making an attempt at another smile.

“So, you want a saloon now?” he asked again as he offered her a hand to help her to her feet and lead her toward the nearby sofa with him.

“When we ran the theatre and the club I felt like I had a bit more of a purpose than I feel I have now, just staying here and waiting for a single moment with you each night” she attempted to explain as they took their new seats.

“Now who’s trying to make who feel guilty?” Sean returned wryly.

“You have a job. Why shouldn’t I?” Claire pressed, not allowing herself to be deterred.

“You want to be a saloon girl now?” Sean asked as he raised a brow.

Claire smirked as she responded, “yes because it’s not like I ever thought women should have any other purpose than being subservient to men.” She then shook her head with a wrinkle of her nose at the thought.

“What exactly did you plan on doing at this saloon then?” Sean had to know.

“Running it of course” Claire told him plainly.

“Running it?” Sean asked, “you mean with prostitutes and such?”

“What? No!” Claire denied, “I said a saloon, not a brothel. Drinks, music, and other… less lurid things” she clarified.

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“Well most saloons are brothels” he had to inform.

“Didn’t know you had been frequenting so many” she returned wryly.

“No, but the dockworkers do. And they tend to talk about their adventures at them from time to time” he added.

“Well, maybe I want to break the mold. I’ve been known to do that in the past, you know” she reminded.

“Nah, I hadn’t noticed” he returned with the same playful sarcasm.

“Maybe I’ll even perform there” Claire offered, as though mulling the idea over in her mind.

“Perform?” Sean repeated as he gave her another look that made it obvious that his mind immediately jumped to the last time she had been on any stage, considering what he had done to her on that stage so many times.

“Not like that!” she assured as she gently punched his chest to scold him for his carnal thoughts.

He allowed another chuckle before speaking; “But I thought I was the one who gravitated toward the stage” he smiled down at her again.

“I have some talents; and shut up” she added as she saw his lips curl into a grin at that statement, “besides; you’ve left the limelight to become a politician now, haven’t you?” Claire reminded.

Sean simply groaned as he tilted his head back tiresomely at the reminder, “I may as well be a fucking Ventrue now” he mumbled.

“Nope” Claire disagreed, causing him to look back her way, “I think after our twentieth orgy or so they definitely would have kicked you out of that uptight little clan” she smirked.

Sean couldn’t help a small chuckle, “once a degenerate…” he finished with another little smile.

Claire smiled again as she pressed slightly closer to him, “so will you buy me a saloon, daddy?”

Sean allowed another laugh as he shook his head, “it sounds so very wrong when you call me that.” He then allowed a more thoughtful tone, “and are we sure that this is the best idea?”

Claire narrowed her eyes at that question, “why wouldn’t it be?”

“The whole point of the wall was to keep you safe. If you were outside of it running this saloon…” he worried aloud.

“Isn’t there a fine line between being safe and hiding behind a huge wall?” she pointed out.

“I still can’t help worrying though; all things considered” he added more quietly.

“I guess I just wanna do all I can, while I still can” Claire replied with her own sadness at the reminder of that ever-present prophecy threatening them every night.

“And there’s the fact that we already have very little time to spend together. Wouldn’t that be even less if you were out there running this place?”

“When I am here, all I’m doing is wishing that we had more time together. And every night that passes without me seeing you ‘til nearly dawn… I can only take that for so long, Sean; and I’ve already taken it for six years” she had to remind, though quietly.

“Making me feel guilty again” he returned, though quietly.

“But am I wrong?” Claire gently stated.

“We’re going to have to work out something though. We need to, in order to keep you safe and also to still allow us to spend some time together before we both go nuts” Sean attempted to put the plans together in his head as he spoke.

“Coordinate our nights off?” she suggested.

Sean smiled slightly, “I’ll have to talk to the Prince about that.”

“Yeah, you do that” Claire smirked over at him.

“I’ll still be really worried about you not being here with me though” he admitted a moment later.

“So you’re not worried when I am here?” she asked pointedly.

“To a slightly lesser degree” he admitted.

“Remember why we originally left for England over two hundred years ago?”

Sean sighed, “because you felt like you weren’t living at all, and instead just hiding from the world” he repeated the reasons he did know well. He then had to add “admittedly though, that was before this prophecy of doom and gloom.”

“Again, I need to live while I still can, Sean” she reminded him with only a bit more force behind her words.

“I know” Sean admitted, “but I’ll never stop worrying about you. I really don’t want to have to know what it feels like to lose you, ever.”

Not able to offer any real words of comfort, considering she had the same very real worries, Claire simply curled into his arms, holding him close; while she still could.

----------------------------------------

Despite the reservations Sean had about her being outside those walls at all, he did buy her that saloon. It was the nearest one in the small port town, as it was a little less than two miles from the high walls around his stronghold. When Claire finally moved into her new role as saloon owner, Sean’s nervousness only grew; though he knew he could hardly keep her a prisoner within his high walls, as much as it pained him to have her less protected outside of them.

Finally it was the night that Claire took over the establishment after Sean had paid the previous owner enough to live quite comfortably for quite some time. Though most of her evening was spent solemnly looking out from behind the bar at an empty tavern. Various men came to the door expecting to find a room full of prostitutes and other patrons. Upon explaining to them that the saloon would only be a saloon now and that the prostitutes had all been sent off to the nearest brothel, most every customer headed that direction instead.

She sighed as she shined the glasses for the fourth time that night. She knew that it would be an adjustment to make the saloon prostitute-free; but she had vainly hoped that drinking, cards, entertainment and just having a place to rest after long journeys across the ocean would be enough to at least keep the place running long enough for her to establish her own customer base. The one saving grace is that her husband was honestly the richest man in the entire port town, even if most of those riches had been inherited from his sire. So, at least she did not need to retain her customers just to make ends meet.

As the clock struck midnight on that summer evening, she dejectedly moved around from behind the bar to take a seat on one of the empty bar stools. She sighed heavily as she placed her arms on the bar and laid her head upon them. She had to admit that her little business venture was apparently going to be a failure unless she gave into the practice of exploiting other females into believing that was the only thing they had of value to offer the world. Perhaps her hatred for allowing women to believe they had no other purpose had always stemmed from those deep-seated memories of what her own father had said about Claire herself on the night when she finally bravely left her parents’ home in favor of Sean’s all those years ago.

She was then startled as the door opened behind her again. Claire lifted her head in response to the sound, but did not look back as she spoke “the prostitutes are all at the brothel now. Sorry to disappoint” she added in more of a mumble as she waited for her customer to make some complaint and leave once again.

“Good to know” his voice responded, “I’m assuming I can still get a drink though?” he asked as he took another step into the saloon, though his voice reflected an obvious distraction in his tone.

“You mean you actually would have a drink in a place without that added amenity?” Claire asked with surprise which only deepened when she turned to face him at last.

He was stunningly attractive, with shoulder length black curls and deep brown eyes, two features which she had also found appealing in Aidan. He only stood at about 5'8" which, while short for a male, was still four inches taller than Claire herself. Though it was difficult for her to guess the ages of most mortals after so long without aging herself, she placed his age at somewhere in his twenties. Though his attractiveness could explain why he wouldn’t particularly need the company of prostitutes. Nonetheless, his willingness to stay despite their absence did cause Claire to center a smile on him.

In response to the way he seemed to be at a loss for words as Claire turned to him and graced him with that smile, she asked again “so you actually did come to a saloon for a drink rather than…?” she simply looked down with another smile.

“Judging by the crowd, I guess that hasn’t been the prevalent opinion of the evening?” he smiled at her as he pulled his dark eyes away from her long enough to glance around the empty room.

“To put it mildly” she offered with another slight chuckle as she moved from the stool and made her way around the bar, keenly aware of the way his gaze moved over her, which was a fact he quickly tried to hide once her emerald eyes moved back to him again.

He then bravely spoke up again upon making his feet carry him over to take a seat on another stool, “besides, I somehow doubt any of those women could possibly compare…” his voice trailed off as he looked her way once more.