27. What I Wouldn't Do For You

I felt much better the next morning I woke up, but I decided to take my temperature just in case. The thermometer beeped, and my face dropped when I took a look. "Hmmmmm, over thirty-seven. It's a little high." Not a good sign. Still, I decided to ignore it, thinking it would come down later in the day. It wasn't like I had a fever or anything, and I looked perfectly normal.

We had a continental breakfast all together in the hotel's dining room. Anthony called right in the middle of our meal. I answered the phone, speaking to him first. "Say hi to Anthony, everyone," I instructed the table. "Hi Anthony," the three replied simultaneously. After telling him the day's plans and him talking to Benedict briefly, we quickly finished our breakfast and rushed back to our rooms to get ready. I had to get to the university while Benny and Eloise had to catch their ride to the highlands.

"You sure you'll be ok, Daph?" "I'll be fine, bro. Just go and enjoy your day," Benny and I were having this little exchange as the four of us exited the hotel. "We won't be back until around midnight," he told me. I nodded. "That's alright. I'll be back at the hotel by dark." "No going out after dark," he tacked on, making me roll my eyes. "I won't. Now hurry! You're gonna miss your train." "Alright, have fun at the university. And remember to drink lots of water and everything like that. See you tomorrow! Have fun, Simon!" "You too," Simon gave our brother a nod. I waved as he and Eloise ran down the street, leaving just the duke and I there by ourselves again. I grinned up at Simon.

"So, what are you going to do now?" "Huh? What do you mean?" He blinked down at me surprised. "I don't expect you to come to the exhibition with me. You should go enjoy your time here!" Simon spun in such a way so to face me directly. His hands were clasped behind his back in his usual casual fashion again. "Miss Bridgerton, I did not come all this way to abandon you in this city." "You're not abandoning me! You know where I am; I won't leave the university. I just don't want you to get bored, which I'm afraid might happen… if you come with me," I hesitated a little at the end of my sentence. He let out a light chuckle. "What makes you think that?" "Well, you've…. never really expressed an interest in history before, your grace. Wouldn't you rather go see the sites or a football game?" Simon's grin disappeared as shook his head with some severity. "I came here to be your escort, Daphne. Dull as I may the topic of medieval poetry, I have no desire of being anywhere else other than your side. I'm not letting you out of my sight until we get back to London." He said this, and I smiled. Oh, how I smiled….

"I can live with that."

The University of Edinburgh wasn't far from the hotel. The university was unsurprisingly packed, mainly with tourists who likely didn't know that all these really old buildings made up a university. Happened all the time back in London; there's nothing more annoying than trying to shuffle your way to class in between mobs of people. Likely for us, the history department wasn't hard to find or enter. The exhibition was open to all and gathered a significant number of visitors.

True to his word, Simon stuck by my side the whole time. Funny, it felt so natural and normal that neither of us really noticed or felt weird about it. The first thing we did was visited the exhibit proper. It was jammed packed, but because I was a Masters student with a student ID card we were able to get a close look at the material. Simon stood by, patiently waiting in the wings while I conversed with the guest lectures and professors on the topics. They were more than happy to talk to me about well, everything. The grad department head for history at the university and I got into a particularly long conversation. She was quite interested in my Masters project, and I was very interested in the research she was conducting. My heart skipped a beat- several beats- when she invited me and Simon out for coffee. She had a free twenty minutes then and saw I wanted to keep talking.

We went to a little café on campus where she and Simon ordered a coffee while I got a hot chocolate. Simon sat there, quietly sipping at his drink; I think the department head was impressed by him. But we did the majority of the talking. She stirred her coffee with one of those little sticks and grinned up at me.

"Your dissertation sounds intriguing. How many more chapters do you have to go?" "Two….. I hope. I want to keep it under five." "And you plan to submit early?" "Yes, if I can. W-With my supervisor's permission, of course!" Dr. March nodded. "Are you submitting early because of a PhD offer?" I nearly choked on my drink, though I don't know why. It was an innocent enough question, and I should have known the subject of PhD would come up when talking with a graduate department head- or any professor really. Still, it felt awkward bringing it up around Simon. He still didn't know that I applied to Amsterdam last month….

I regained my composure in a snap of a finger and straightened up my back. "N-No…. No, I-I don't have any offers at the moment," which was true; I didn't even have any interviews lined up. Granted, I'd only applied to one PhD position thus far. Dr. March seemed more than understanding at this, nodding her head a little. "Well, you're still in Masters. There's lots of time," she encouraged. "That's what I've been telling her," Simon gazed at me. Dr. March looked his way from across the table. I think she got the wrong idea about us right then.

"Waiting for a better time to apply, Miss Bridgerton?" "Huh? Oh! Oh, no! No, no! I'm not waiting… Well, erm I guess I kind of am, but…" My head drooped down a little. Her grin widened in its corners kindly. "Waiting for the right position then?" "Something like that…." I felt Simon's eyes still on me, and it was no longer a pleasant feeling. Dr. March leaned in closer a bit.

"Have you ever considered Edinburgh?" "Edinburgh?!" My head shot up in astonishment. Truthfully, I loved the city and the school but never really considered it as a viable option before. Still, I could see myself being happy here; really happy. Dr. March's head nodded; she arms folding across her chest. "We have a strong research concentration in medieval history. I'm sure you wouldn't have a hard time finding a supervisor for your project, if you'd like to continue studying the same material. Have you written a research proposal?" I blushed mildly, lowering my head somewhat embarrassed. "I have….." Simon's head shot back to me at this; his eyes wide and confused. Meanwhile Dr. March smiled pleased. "Excellent! That's the good step in the right direction for finding a PhD position. Here, take my card; why don't you fire off a copy of your proposal to me? Let me see if there's anyone I think who would be good for the topic." "Really?!" My face lit up like a candle, my heart beating a mile a minute. She slid her card across the table, which I tucked safely into my backpack. We said our goodbyes afterwards- she had to run to another meeting- and Simon and I decided to visit the National Museum of Scotland. This was more to reward Simon for being so patient with me at the university. But for some odd reason, he'd been strangely quiet since we left the café.

We visited the animal panorama first, then the history of fashion, then the technology section. We had reached the historical part of the museum when it all came to a head. I was admiring this ancient indoor windmill with Simon standing close by. His hands were clasped behind his back once more, though his posture was not relaxed.

"I thought you were going to take your time with PhD." "Huh?" I blinked to him startled. What brought this up? But his expression remained serious, however. I took a step towards him, trying to figure out what was the matter. "What's wrong, Simon?" "You've written a research proposal?" His eyebrow raised. "Yes? Why? What's wrong with that?" "If you've written one, you must be thinking about PhD. Why else would you write one?" "Simon, just cause I have one doesn't mean I have a PhD position. I don't even have an offer yet," my hand rose up to my chest. His eye arched a little. "Of course you don't have an offer yet. You're not married. Don't forget about the clause on your PhD trust fund." I sighed. I suppose I should have been offended by the way he was talking to me about my issues, but I knew Simon would never say anything to deliberately hurt me. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I shut my eyes for a second. When I reopened them, I walked over to his side.

"I know that, Simon; heh, there's no way I can forget it. But I don't want to put my life on hold just because of it either. I want a PhD more than anything." His eyes finally softened onto me. "I know you do, but you have to be patient. It'll come in time. Edinburgh would be a great school! But when the time is right. You'll know…. You'll know." And I grinned up at him. "I know I will."

After the museum we went to Holyrood park. I'd have another chance to go back to the university tomorrow and listen to more guest lectures, but for now, I thought we might just stretch our legs. The duke was a lot more chipper now, talking nonstop with me all the way to the park. We even stopped to get ice cream along the way; him mocking my scoop of cookie dough and me calling his sense of taste pretentious. It was a good afternoon.

We had finished our snack by the time we got to the park. I saw the palace and immediately wanted to go inside, only to be told by one of the guards in a red coat that it was closed for a special event. Sad. Nevertheless Simon and I made our way over to the hill where lots of people were out walking. We had to be careful not to run into anyone or accidently slip and fall. There were lots of steep edges along the way.

"What's your plan then?" "My plan?" "Yes, your plan. You're not going into grad school and your currently not working," Simon and I were on one of the particularly rocky parts of the trail. He was up ahead of me, constantly testing the way as we went about. "I work! Just not for an official boss." "Oh yes. You run your "estate"; heh, just like my brother." "Not everyone likes academia. Unlike you, who lives for learning, I never particularly enjoyed school," he admitted freely. "Then why'd you go to Oxford? That couldn't have been cheap." There was this brief pause between us. "Because my father wanted me to go." "Oh… So it wasn't really a choice, then?" "No….."

I tactfully waited a second before asking my next question. "What's your dream? Your goal in life?" "My goal in life is to be happy and be the exact opposite than my late father." "Not the best role model, huh?" "You can say that again. I suppose, if I did have a dream, it would be to become a great boxer- or at least better than I am now." "Oh I bet you're a great boxer already," I chimed. He snorted. "How would you know? You've never seen me fight." "I don't think I could handle it," I responded honestly. "Why not?" He seemed slightly surprised. "I don't do well with violence and gore." "You watch football." "Yeah, but it's not like American football or hockey. There's not much blood in football." Simon laughed. "You got a point there."

He's smiling; I like it so much when he smiles…. I wanted to keep talking about this so to make him happy, or happier than he already was. "What else makes you happy?" "Me? Oh, you know; normal stuff." "Dinosaurs and candy, then?" "I said "normal"; not "Daphne-centric"." He and I both laughed out loud now. "I guess my tastes are pretty weird." "Eh, they're what make you "you". As for me, good food, lots of travel, little worry…. All that sort of thing. I've had so much stress in my life before; it'd be nice just to have a breather for a while." "Well then, I think you should do what makes you happy. You deserve a break." "You don't know what I've been through," he didn't say this in a mean way, more like a "this is a fact" way. But I didn't care. I simply shook my head. "I know, but you still deserve one all the same."

Simon was about to say something when all of a sudden, his foot twisted the wrong way when he stepped down onto it. Immediately his body contorted and, in an effort not to fall backwards onto me, he practically forced himself to lean forward, hurting his foot more in the process. His ankle wasn't injured, rather just positioned the wrong way. I, however, upon seeing his stumble and the pointy rocks out in front of him, felt this sudden nausea come over me. You ever get that feeling when in an instant you realize something bad is about to happen and your body reacts to it before your brain has time to catch up? That was my situation then.

I don't remember my feet running. I don't think I'd ever run that fast in my life before if I'm honest. But somehow, at some point, I was standing by Simon's side. My arm flew out in an effort to break his fall and protect him from the pointy rocks, completely neglecting my own safety right then. "Simon!" I let out a cry. I only had one subconscious thought on my mind at the moment: don't let anything bad happen to him. Before either of us knew what was happening, we both landed on the ground with my arm underneath Simon's chest, effectively stopping him from crashing into the rocks. I, however….

It took a second but when we blinked, we realized what'd just happened. There was the pointy sharp rocks, then my arm, then Simon's chest. My sweater luckily protected my arm from getting all torn up. My hand, though, was a bloody, bruised frikin mess. It's like it had to just land on top of the sharpest, hardest, most pointy jagged rock there was in the park. The duke was thankfully unharmed, so it was a win in my books. I'd much rather be the one bleeding than him; so long as it was me instead of him, it was worth it. But Simon still instantly threw him up off of me, jumping back to his feet in a hurry. I laid there for a moment, my arm all twisted, and the palm of my hand sliced open and bleeding all over the ground.

You'd think I just taken a bullet by the way Simon reacted.