"No, let me," he replied, though with obvious reluctance in his tone. He wasn't eager to jump into this conversation with Caroline, by any means, but he felt he ought to be the one to apologize — probably to Zelda as well to as to Caroline. "It was my fault. I didn't mean to react that way," he said, pushing his hands into his pockets. "It just — surprised me, is all."

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda bit her lip; there was more that she should say but she didn't think she could manage to explain herself properly yet. "Go ahead," she said, equally reluctant — but this would just get more difficult the longer they were in the hallway, wasn't it? "It'll be fine." It had to be fine — with Caroline, with the empty room, with her reluctance to have children.

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AMAZING set by MJ

It was probably time to go out there. Caroline decided, sighing. She really wanted to do this chaperon thing right, but she also understood what it was like to want and need time to talk. Besides, she had snuck away from chaperons a fair bit when she had been younger. She blushed to remember it. Those boys (and compared to Evander they had only been boys) hadn't had the constraint that her husband had had. She had been curious and had had shared more kisses that she should have. Looking back she had been so naive so silly in her school days. But now she was mature, and married, and respectable, and she had a duty to do.

She opened the door only to find Alfred right on the other side of it. "Oh!" She exclaimed jumping ever so slightly in surprise and placing a hand on her now furiously beating heart as she took a deep breath to collect herself. Then she put on a wide smile as if nothing was amiss at all with the day and asked, "Shall we head to see the study?" As if she hadn't just left the two lovebirds alone in a hallway while she stared out the waves intentionally shirking her chaperon duties.

  

The apology that had been on Alfred's lips died as Caroline opened the door, apparently content to carry on as though nothing had happened. His shoulders sagged slightly in relief, because he wanted nothing more than to move past all of this. "The study," he agreed gratefully, before pressing on down the hallway.

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER