Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Thirty-Three: Late Night Meeting

20th of August 2004 - Clarence House

The sudden sound of crashing in the hallway followed by laughter jolted Adeline from her sleep, a groan escaping her as she turned over to look at the digital clock on her bedside table. 

The glow in the dark digits making her want to strangle whoever had woken her up, it was usually quiet when she here especially with her brothers normally out of the house. 

Kicking away the covers that were tangled around her legs because of the heat, Adeline was silent as she listened for any further noise that came from the hallway outside her room. 

It was very unlikely to be William as he had stayed up in Scotland where he was studying at St Andrews with his girlfriend; he was expected to graduate next year. 

That left Harry as the suspect that had woken her up, although it was unsurprising that he had done so; he had spent many nights that Adeline had been home for the summer holidays sneaking in trying not to wake anyone. 

Climbing from her bed and making her way across her bedroom, Adeline was not looking forward to wrangling a drunk Harry to his bedroom. 

The last thing that they needed was for one of the staff to see him or worse yet have their father catch him coming home drunk out of his mind, there had been plenty of warnings since she had come home about the matter at hand. 

Opening her bedroom door and stepping into the hallway, Adeline expected to find her brother leaning against the wall trying to support himself rather than a complete stranger that she did not recognise. 

A squeak of surprise escaped her causing the stranger who was in the process of helping Harry back to his feet to drop him and look up surprised. 

A disgruntled yelp from Harry was ignored as the stranger stared at Adeline who regretted not grabbing her dressing gown on the way out of her room; the pyjama shorts that she was wearing were a little shorter than she felt comfortable in company wearing in unexpected company. 

"I apologise I didn't want him falling up the stairs and breaking his neck," the stranger replied awkwardly signalling to Harry, who was slumped on the floor unable to pick himself up. 

He'd never have forgiven himself if he allowed his friend to do such a thing especially since he knew that he was in no condition to walk on flat ground let alone attempt the stairs to his bedroom.

If he was being honest, he hadn't even realised that his friend was that drunk until Chelsy had asked him to help Harry get home since she refused to have him in her apartment in this state; the couple having had an argument earlier that evening as it was. 

"Simon FitzClarence," the man said introducing himself, the last thing that he wanted to do was freak her out; he doubted Harry would let him hear the end of it when he sobered up. 

The two of them had been friends since Harry had attended Eton, they had bonded of their upbringing and Simon was certain that he was one of Harry's few true friends in the world.

He didn't care who Harry was, his own parentage was almost as stellar; in fact, he doubted that his own surname would not cause some looks of their own. 

His own 5×great-grandfather was King William IV, as he decided from George FitzClarence who had been one of the many bastards that the King had sired in his lifetime that had been entitled. 

His friendship with Harry was perhaps one of the few things that Simon could say that his father was proud of him for, as his father the proud man that he was had high hopes for himself when he had been at school.