The Segment (Completed)

10. Watch

The door swung open and Richard looked up expecting to see Farrah but instead he found himself looking into the amused blue eyes of Charlie. "Was it a buy one free one type of night, tonight?" Charlie said adding as an afterthought, "Your Highness."

Richard shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of Charlie's blue eyes. His lips curved up in the smallest smile as he noticed Charlie shooting Ben, who stood behind him, surreptitious glances with what could only be described as a cheeky grin. "Please call me Rich, and the gentleman behind me is Ben Sherman – my bodyguard, Miss...."Richard trailed willing for the woman before him to fill in the blanks.

"Oh sorry, how rude of me; Charlotte Woods, you can just call me Charlie. Please do come in," she said ushering them in through the hallway and into the living room. There were boxes with what looked like Christmas decorations scattered around. As Richard walked further into the living room, he took note of how cleanly furnished it was. It was a bright space with what he could only describe as retro furnishing.

"So sorry for the mess," Charlotte cringed. "We were planning on putting the tree up tonight."

"A tree?" He asked confusion leaking from his voice.

"Yeah, it's kind of a tradition. We try to get the tree up in the first week of Dec." Charlie turned and gestured towards the sofa.

Eyebrows furrowed, "I thought she's...she's a..."

"...A Muslim?" Charlie supplied slowly.

"Then the tree?" Richard asked, still finding himself grappling with the idea.

"Well, she does practice Islam. We put the tree up just as decoration. To be completely fair, even I am not a proper, proper Christian, if you will," Charlie shrugged.

"So it holds no meaning to her other than it looks....pretty?" Richard asked making a face.

Another shrug, "Yeah, pretty much," Charlie answered. "Do you know what the Christmas tree means?" Charlie looked at Richard pointedly.

Blinking rapidly, he exhaled and admitted, "No, I actually don't know."

Happy that she managed to prove her point, she then turned to the other person in the room. "Well then, who is this?" She asked putting on her most charming smile.

Eyebrow quirked and a half smirk on his lips, Richard introduced Ben to Charlie and watched them skirt around each other flirtatiously.

"Ahem...as amusing as it is to watch whatever this is," Richard gestured towards a blushing Ben and a smirking Charlie, "I actually do need to talk to Farrah."

"Oh she's quickly performing her namaz, it's been a long day at work," Charlie said still eyeing Ben unashamedly. When she didn't get an answer from Richard she spared him a look, and was surprised at the clueless expression on his face. "Namaz means prayers. You know, the ones that Muslims are under obligation to perform 5 times a day..?"

"Na-..., nam-...what what is again?" Richard asked. "Is that Arabic?"

"Namaz, it's Urdu," came a voice from somewhere behind him. Richard turned around and took in the sight of a relaxed Farrah in her comfiest pajamas, her face scrubbed clean of all traces of make up was glowing and her hair piled high on her head in a messy bun. Looking at her, he could feel all the tension in him seep out through his pores and his posture relax. It had been a long day today, who was he kidding, everyday felt long. But today in particular had been full of Allan's refusal to talk about the Princess' death until his father, Charles, told him in not so many words to shut up. He smiled softly at her and he could see her mirroring him.