George could not get the little scene he had witnessed between Estelle and Patrick out of his head.

Later that evening after the show, and feeling concerned for her, he decided to approach her to make sure she was alright.

Thankfully Patrick wasn’t around for once, so he had a chance to speak with her alone

She was just leaving the Big Top and he called after her. She stopped, and on catching sight of him and smiled making his heart lift a little.

It had been a while from they had actually talked, as George had found himself avoiding her since she took up with Patrick. But now things were looking a little shaky on that front, he decided she could use a friend

“You know I am just realising its been a while since have we got together, or had a chance to and talk with each lately,” he said as he caught up with her, and they started to along walk together.

“Yeah, I guess it has,” she agreed, but then suddenly brightened as she recalled something, “actually I am glad now I have this chance to talk with you; there is something I needed to ask you and Maria anyway,” she then said slipping her arm through his, and shooting a furtive glance around her as if to make sure no one else was listening in

“Oh?” George queried in surprise, and also slightly intrigued

“Yes, it’s about your parents twentieth wedding anniversary coming up in a three months time, my Mum and Lisa are thinking we should have a kind of surprise party for them to celebrate,” Estelle then explained, “They just came up with the idea the other day, so nothing definite is planned, but I told my mum I would get your opinion on it.. To find out if you and Maria think it’s a good idea and want in on it”

“I think it’s a great idea,” George replied smiling enthusiastically, suddenly touched that others were thinking of his parents future wedding anniversary, and also feeling a little guilty, it was something that had slipped his own mind lately, “And I am sure Maria and Carlos will too,” he assured Estelle

“Oh good, then I can let my mum and Lisa know, and they can start putting their plan into action. But remember it’s top secret,” she hissed

“That’s ok,” George said, “It seems I am getting good at keeping secrets,” he then murmured dryly, more to himself than to Estelle.

“So how is everything else going? He found himself asking casually, but his dark eyes rested on her intently, he came to a halt so he could turn and face her straight on, “I happen to see the little spat between you and Patrick earlier today, is everything ok?”

“Oh that,“ Estelle gave a little laugh of embarrassment and rolled her blue eyes, “It was nothing really,” she replied dismissively, “I just overreacted I guess”

“Well maybe Patrick give you good reason to overreact,” George pointed out as tactfully as he could

Estelle sighed, dropping her light hearted demeanour, her expression suddenly becoming solemn. “Sometimes its hard y’know, when I see him with other girls, especially with his reputation. But from the beginning he openly admitted to me that he knows he is a terrible flirt and couldn’t resist the urge of a pretty face or figure, and that he couldn’t change overnight, I think it’s a case of ‘Old habits die hard’ kindda thing,” she then said

“I see,” George managed to reply, “But it doesn’t mean you have to put up with his old habits either,” he added quietly

“I know I don't have to, but I want to,” Estelle replied, then she frowned a little, “It’s hard to explain with Patrick, I know you are probably thinking I am dumb to still want to be with him, but I know he is trying to make this relationship work; I have to give him a chance and not give up on him at the first hurdle.. The important thing is we can talk these things out honestly and work on them”

“Well as long as you think he is worth it,” George remarked feeling his gut wrench instinctively as he realised how much Estelle was caught up in her relationship with Patrick, and she didn’t seem to want to break up with him anytime soon

“Oh I think he is,” she now smiled, “Because when things are good between us, it’s really good; if you know what I mean?” she blushed slightly

George didn’t know what she meant, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out either, so just manage to smile tightly in response

“But it’s nice to know you are concerned about me,” she then said, “ it’s very sweet, I am glad to have you for a friend, and know I can come and talk with you anytime about stuff like this”

“Yeah, as long as you know I am here for you,” he said quietly

“I do,” she now hugged him.

It took of all of George’s effort not to wrap his arms around her and just hold her to let her know how much he did care about her.

Before returning for the circus season. he had daydreamed about the different scenario’s where he would have told Estelle about his feelings for her, and always in his head, she would have welcomed and returned those feelings without question.

Now the reality was starting to sink in that might never happen and he was realising how foolish his daydreams were.

So now he kept his thoughts and reservations to himself, realising his own view was obviously tainted, because he had his own reasons why he didn’t want things to work out for her and Patrick.

But if being with him made her happy, who was he to deny her that?

So he forced himself to appear cheerful and enthusiastic as she returned conversation to her mothers plans for a surprise party for his parents anniversary.

"Where to hell have you been?” Maria demanded a few hours later as she met up with George outside their caravan

At first George was a little bewildered by her angry greeting, then he caught sight of Jelena with Maria, and he suddenly realised why his sister was mad. He now recalled he had promised to help them set up the trapeze apparatus after the show..

Only it had went completely out of his head after talking with Estelle, and he had wandered of for a walk after he had left her, trying to clear his head and sort out his emotions where she was concerned.

He now slapped his forehead, “dammit, I forgot, I was suppose to be helping you!” he exclaimed in irritation,

“I am sorry, I got caught up talking with Estelle earlier, and it completely slipped my mind.” he tried to explain, “Look, I will go and help you now if you like,” he then suggested

“No, its too late now,” Maria replied stiffly, “Anyway we manage to do it by ourselves luckily enough, though it took a lot longer, which meant Jay didn’t get to use it as much as we would have liked”

“Oh God Jay, I am so sorry!.” George shot remorseful look in her direction.

“It’s ok,” Jelena replied soothingly, realising George was feeling genuinely bad about his actions or lack of them, “It couldn’t be helped, and at least we did get it up in the end.

“Well I will make it up to you, I will even use up some of my own spare training time to help coach you” he then hurriedly suggested.

“You don’t have to do that,” Jelena protested, not wanting to put him out

“Yes he does, actually it’s the least he can do,” Maria counter argued, still annoyed with her brother,

“She’s right,” George agreed, now addressing Jelena, “So no more arguing about it, ok?”

“Ok,” Jelena relented,“Thank you,” she shot him a small grateful smile

“No problem,” he returned easily

“And this time I will make sure you stick to your promise,” Maria said shooting George a look that told him she meant business.

“I have no doubt you will,” George replied dryly

“Well now that is sorted out, I had better get back now before my dad sends out the search party looking for me,” Jelena spoke up not wanting to cause any further friction between the George and Maria, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she gave Maria a quick hug and was gone, hurrying across the field toward where her parent’s caravan was situated

As they stepped into their own caravan Maria shot George a thoughtful look, now her annoyance with him had cooled of a little, she was curious

“So what were you and Estelle talking about?” she enquired

George didn’t want to go into too much details, and mentioned about the surprise anniversary party for their parents Carla and Lisa were planning which Estelle had told him about.

“Wow, sounds like a cool idea!” Maria said excitedly, "I wish we had thought of that, but I wonder what sort of party they are planning exactly?”

“Not sure, I think they just came up with the idea, you can talk to Lisa about it tomorrow, and find out, I think they want our input too,” George replied.

“Great, I will do that,” Maria looked thoughtful as she tried to imagine the look on her parents face if they were able to pull it off, But then her attention turned back on her brother as she watched him make himself a sandwich.

“So you spent all that time with Estelle just talking about this surprise anniversary party?” she then queried doubtfully

“No, that’s not all we talked about of course,” George replied, “There was other stuff too” he finished vaguely

“Oh yeah, what like? Must have been important when it made you completely forgot what you were suppose to be doing,” she then pointed out

George glanced round at Maria, not quite sure what she was trying to imply.

“Like I said, we just go talking, and I forgot the time.. that’s all,” he then informed her.

Having finished making his sandwich, he headed for his room, “I am going to bed now, I am tired,” he informed his sister wearily not in the mood for her interrogation, it felt like a very long day.

It was a few days later before George could get around to keeping his promise to Jelena, but decided he couldn’t leave it too long in case Maria started nagging him about it.

But he wanted to get it over with before they ‘upped sticks’ again and started dismantling everything the following day, when they would be moving onto another town

So he had arranged to meet up with Jelena and Maria during the afternoon when he usually done his own practice and training, and made his way to the training tent where they had the trapeze apparatus set up.

When he entered, George glanced around and didn’t see his sister, but found himself doing a double take, as he caught sight of Jelena, who was busy limbering up near the area beside the trapeze.

She was dressed in a short white cropped top, that showed of her new bare slim mid riff, and dark lycra three quarter length leggings.

He could not remember her looking quite so curvy before, and found himself wondering in surprise where the heck she had got such a good figure? The diet she was on, seem to had done wonders.

He was so used to seeing her in her clown costume, or baggy tee shirt and jeans; he was suddenly finding it hard to believe this was the same Jay.

After all, she was the girl he had looked upon as just one of the lads almost. She had to kicked a football with him and her brothers around the field, and played cards, even wrestled and tumbled with them messing about.

He found himself suddenly wondering why he hadn’t even noticed that she had let her hair grow beyond her shoulders. At the moment it was tied back in a pony tail, but he recalled she usually had it cut really short.

She seemed so petite and very feminine, and all he could do was stare at her, too stunned to speak

Now she was looking around and caught sight of him, she smiled in delight to see him there .

But then she looked uncertain, realising he was gaping back at her in a rather odd way. His dark eyes seem to be inspecting her up and down in a manner that suddenly made her feel very self conscious, and brought heat to her cheeks.

She guessed he had finally realised at last, how much weight she had lost and how different she looked

“Hey George,” she spoke up approaching him, sounding almost shy, and found herself shifting uneasily under his gaze

“Jay!” George finally found his voice, realising he should really stop staring so, because he could see it was making her uncomfortable.

He cleared his throat and smiled, “Y-You haven’t been waiting long have you?” he queried, hoping his voice sounded normal

“No, I only got here five minutes ago, it seems you have beaten Maria here as well,” Jelena informed him, wondering why this moment between them felt so ridiculously awkward

“Good,” George nodded, ”now she can’t rag on me for letting you down,” he manage to grin, then glanced around towards the entrance of the tent to give himself another chance to gather his scattered wits back together again, so he didn’t continue to gape at her like an idiot.

Goodness only knew what she was thinking of his strange behaviour.

“Actually I feel bad,” Jelena then confessed ruefully, making him look around, her remark and troubled look was enough to make him act as he usually would around her; thankfully it seemed he had recovered his senses again,

“Why, what is wrong?” he asked in concern

“Well I get the feeling you have enough on your plate already without having to help me as well; even though Maria says you want to do it.. I understand if you don’t have the time, and can’t,” she said understandingly

George shook his head, “No, really, I want to do this for you, honestly. I think it’s great what you are trying to do, and its my pleasure to be able to help you achieve your goal.. I just haven’t been with it these last few weeks, but I promise you have my full attention from now on” he assured her.

“Well only if you are really sure, because I will happily let you of the hook now, before Maria comes along and nags you into submission” she grinned

George chuckled, “Thanks, but really there is no need, I want to do this for you as a friend, believe me, it has nothing to do with my sisters nagging,” he finished on a sincere note

Jelena smiled and nodded, “Fine, as long as you are ok with it, then so am I”

“Good, well I am glad we got that sorted, so shall we go and get started?” he then asked nodding towards the trapeze swing, “Don’t want Maria accusing us of wasting time

“No I guess not,” Jelena laughed, and after a moment’s hesitation, accepted the offer of his hand as he walked her over to the trapeze swing, insisting he should show her what she had learned so far.

Showing him, she was pleased to see he seemed impressed. The awkwardness of earlier well and truly gone, as they both had switched to professional mode

So when Maria arrived a short time later, George was so occupied instructing Jelena about the importance of balance in certain movements, and she was listening intently, they were not aware of her presence until she spoke. “Well well, it’s nice to see you finally decided to show up at last” she drawled eyeing her brother meaningfully

“Just as well I did, if Jay had been waiting for you this time, she would never learn anything fast,” George retorted smug in the knowledge Maria was late this time

“Hey-” Maria started to protest indignantly, but was quickly interrupted by Jelena

“Now you two, don’t start bickering for god sake, or that will waste another half hour while I end up playing referee between you both,” she warned, “we are suppose to be working together as a team, remember?”

The both of them looked dutifully chastised

“You are right of course,” George agreed, then held up his hand, as if to hi five, “To Team X”

Maria and Jelena exchanged looks, then grinned, “Team X,” they both finally echoed in unison, and slapped his hand with theirs, laughing as the mood lightened between them all; much to Jelena's relief