Requested by: MichaelaTheWordsmith
OC: Celestine Louise de Medici

"Hush, you don't want to wake your father, now do you?" Celestine stepped into a moon beam, wrapping her arms tightly around her youngest child. The baby gurgled, but didn't make much of a fuss.

Sighing to herself, the new mother looked out the window. Barely a few months ago it felt like she had gotten married to the Prince, and now here she was with two children. She knew she should feel happy, but there was something that made her heart sink.

As she rocked her baby back and forth, she looked out of her window. The world behind her glass pane was silent. However, she knew far beyond the horizon of mountains was a city that never slept, only an ocean away.

Celestine heard the door to her bedroom open, and she turned around hurriedly. She noticed her husband had awaken and was standing by the door. "Augustus?" With a hint of worry in her voice, Celestine walked towards him.

He seemed startled. "You're awake? I-I-" But no other words came out. Celestine had never seen him in so much fear. She tilted her head, quietly murmuring, "Are you alright?"

Her husband chuckled dryly. "Of course, I'm alright. You should go back to sleep." He reached out for her, giving her a hug. It wasn't like the embraces they generally shared. This one was cold and shape, unwelcoming.

Celestine was thankful when it was over. Being the intelligent woman she was, her mind told her that something was not right. After he left, she wandered back to the window.

Not even five minutes had passed, until she saw him out on the front lawn. Her eyes widened and heart pounded. The baby within her arms wailed all of a sudden, and she shushed him soothingly. But her eyes never left her husband.

She watched him enter a carriage that had pulled up in such a quiet manner. He looked back at the house before ordering the carriage to take off again. With a crack of the whip in the dead night, the horses began rushing down the road.

Celestine reacted quickly. She knew something was terribly wrong. Setting the child back down, she rushed over to her husband's desk.

The order she received was not to ever search the contents of his writings. She knew it would be wrong to disobey him, but it was her only choice. From what her heart was telling her, it made sense to do such a thing.

Opening the files he kept, she lit a candle. It took a few tries, until she got a perfect glow to illuminate the parchment. Her eyes scanned the papers, hurriedly, as though she feared her husband returning.

Then she discovered what she had been dreading. Tracing her fingers gently over the ink, she read it softly aloud. "My darling, of what we have is unknown. You needn't worry about our story being told. My love for you is the upmost-"

Cringing, swallowing her tears, Celestine put the papers back where she found them. It was true. How could he do such a thing? The thought of her husband with another woman, made her heart crumble into millions of pieces.

But then she reminded herself that she too was guilty of seeing someone. Lafayette, her heart pounded the name. She hadn't forgotten him for one second. When he had asked her to chose the right man those years ago, she had chosen the Prince.

It certainly wasn't what her heart wanted. It was what her mind wanted. Celestine pressed her hands to her head. Her mind seemed to always have control.

Her instincts told her to run. She was the type to run from things. And now seemed to be the exact moment. Grabbing her baby, she rushed out of the bedroom and down the hall.

When she was to be married, her father required a nanny so that the couple could not stress over issues. Although Celestine refused several times, saying how she could take care of her children just fine, her father ignored her.

The nanny awoke at the sudden entrance. She barely opened her mouth to speak when she was cut off. Celestine hurriedly put the baby in her arms, talking rapidly.

"I don't have much time to explain. I'm going back across the ocean, it's very out of the blue, but you are not to question it. Take care of my children, make sure they are fed and dressed every morning as usual." She kissed the baby's forehead.

Without another word, she rushed out. The baby sat on her bed, confused. "Wait, miss!" It was too late, for Celestine was already running to the only person she knew she could go to.

It wasn't long before she found herself standing back in New York, the city she had so many memories in. People pushed past her, unwilling to help the pregnant, worried looking woman who wandered the streets.

Celestine searched for the only person she knew well enough in the city. Her heart only hoped that he wouldn't turn her away, or be dead. With the revolution in heel, he could be anywhere.

When she reached his place, her heart pounded faster than it had for the past few months. Her stomach flipped, and she groaned at the pain that felt unbearable. Stumbling up the steps one by one, she knocked the door.

The door opened and Celestine had to hold back a gasp. A woman answered the door, her curly hair sprawled out on her shoulders. She looked as though she had just awoken.

Feeling mistaken and flustered, Celestine chuckled. "Is this Lafayette's house?" The woman raised an eyebrow, looking the pregnant woman up and down. With a hesitant smile, she nodded. "Yes, are you a friend?"

Friend. Smiling to herself, Celestine pondered about the word. She wouldn't consider herself a friend, as they had at one time a romantic relationship. "You could say that. Mind if I come in?"

The woman stepped aside, calling, "Darling, there's a woman here to see you!" Celestine held back a frown. Darling? She felt this was a sign that he had already moved on. Even though it wasn't something that should affect her, it did.

Lafayette entered the hall, looking just as handsome as he did the last time they met. Her heart swelled at the sight of his face. She tried to stay as collected as she could.

"Long time, no see."

When Lafayette saw her, he gasped. His mouth opened and then shut. But he finally spluttered, "Celestine!" He could've said more, but the other woman was standing beside him.

Instead of holding each other, a common greeting for the pair, they just smiled. The woman beside Lafayette reached up and kissed his cheek, before saying, "I will leave you to discuss things." She walked off, her hips swaying.

Celestine bit the inside of her cheek, jealously growing. "Who is she?" She made to say it when the woman was out of earshot. Lafayette chuckled, holding out his arms. "It's not what you-"

"Not what I think it is? Why was she kissing your cheek then?" Realizing how rude she was beginning to sound, she took a deep breath to herself. "I-I didn't mean that. How...how have you been?"

Lafayette linked his arm with hers, leading her to his study. "Very well, miss. For me, things have been looking up. I'm to be fighting in battle by next week they say, and married in only a few more weeks." He gestured eagerly to a chair for her to sit in.

It took all of her strength to not burst out into a frenzy of emotions. Married? "What?" She didn't sit down in the chair he offered her.

"Yes, that was my fiancé, Adrienne, who you just had the opportunity to meet." He circled Celestine. "She's such a beautiful, int-"

Snapping at him, she said, "Intelligent? I thought you considered me to be the intelligent one." Lafayette opened his mouth and quietly said, "Are you alright? You seem uneasy."

He was right. This certainly wasn't the way she intended it all to go. She just wanted to talk to him, like they once did. Things were just changing so quickly, and she couldn't handle it.

"I'm sorry. I-I just found out my husband has been cheating on me, and things have been difficult."

Lafayette curled his hands into fists. He didn't really think that Celestine had been serious when she said would marry a Prince. And even though he had a woman in his life now, he felt obligated to look out for her.

"Celestine, why didn't you write? You should have told me sooner." Soothing her, rubbing her shoulders, he tried to calm down the woman in his presence. He knew Celestine well, and he knew her well enough to know this would truly break her.

There was long time of sobbing. Lafayette was sensitive to crying, and he almost felt like crying with her. But he kept a straight face and kept calming her down.

Eventually, Celestine managed to speak. But it was nothing that neither of them expected.

"Do you love her?"

Lafayette faced her, his own heart now pounding. "Excuse me?" He clutched his chest tightly, his eyes trying to meet hers. But she refused his eye contact.

"Answer me truthfully, please." Celestine reached out and touched his arm. Uncertain about the touch, he flinched.

"Yes." There was silence again, and Lafayette tried to make eye contact again. Even though she had just told him of her husband having a mistress, he knew he had to be upfront with Celestine. She was an intelligent woman, most certainly, and she would find her ways to change his mind.

"Does she make you happy?" Her eyes filled with tears. She didn't know way she was even saying. All she wanted was comfort, and she received more heartbreak. "Yes," he said.

Celestine wiped her eyes, not listening to Lafayette who desperately whispered to her things that just seemed to blur together.

"Do you love her more than you loved me?"

God, no. Lafayette couldn't believe what he was hearing. She had asked a question that he pondered on for too long. She knew how to make him feel vulnerable, and was certainly doing her job at it.

Not long ago, he had feelings for Celestine. But it was all gone now. He felt those same feelings that he felt for her, to Adrienne. It didn't make sense how she couldn't seem to move on.

"Yes."

That was all she needed to know what to do next. Celestine choked out, "I'm glad. You finally have someone you truly love." She avoided his eyes, faking a smile. It wasn't like she hadn't faked it many times before.

She sighed, patting Lafayette on the shoulder affectionately. "I-I don't know why I came here today. I wasn't getting anything out of..." They met eyes. Her heart melted at the feeling.

"But I need to go."

Celestine wanted to say goodbye, but she knew it was already inappropriate to burst in uninvited. And he didn't stop her when she ran out of the study.

When she got outside, Celestine wept the whole walk down the sidewalk. Though her mind was still working, her heart was throbbing in the worst way possible. She covered her mouth and suffocated her sobs.

Lafayette had moved on. And it broke her heart too terribly. She had expected to continue something, confess her love, but all she got was the truth. That life keeps moving forward.

And that she missed her chance.

. . . . . . . . . .
A/N: Thank you MichaelaTheWordsmith for the request! This was definitely a longer one, but I loved continuing it. Will be posting more one shots, thanks for all the requests and feedback.