Three months. Three months since James had been taken prisoner. Three months since Victoria's world had shattered. She had cried herself to sleep every night. Bailey slept beside her and licked her tears away until she fell asleep. He was learning fast. He knew how to herd sheep a bit better, and he could gently take the chicken's eggs in his mouth and take them to Victoria. Victoria rose as she did every morning. Bailey got up. He and Victoria went and performed their morning chores. Bailey gave Victoria several eggs. She would take these to market to be sold later. She also had to take some milk. She went to the barn to milk their cow. Bailey sat with both paws up, begging. Victoria had discovered the third day she had him that he liked milk. Victoria got the milk she needed first and then filled up a bowl for Bailey. He lapped it up eagerly. 

"Alright, Bailey. Let's go into town." She said. "I want to see how Evelyn and Amy are doing."

Amy and Evelyn were as distraught when they had found out that Charlie and Jamie had also been captured. They, however, seemed to have been coping a little better than Victoria was. Victoria barely talked to anyone, except Bailey. 

Victoria and Bailey made their way into town. James' old belt had become his leash. It wasn't going to have any other use. It might as well be used on Bailey. 

Victoria didn't see her friends in town. She sold her eggs and milk and left. All the way home, she looked at the picture of James in her locket. She snapped it shut and sighed. Life had to go on, didn't it? James would have wanted her to be happy. Her heart ached when she thought of how hard he had been able to make her laugh. He had always known exactly what to say to make her smile if she was angry, sad, or frustrated. 

Victoria came home and read a book. It was the first book James had gotten her. She was a little too sentimental at the moment, and she knew it. James probably would have teased her for it. 

I'm going to take you to the doctor. You're obviously sick. His voice said in her head.

"Oh, shut up." She replied. 

You're going mad. She thought to herself. You'll probably only stop when James comes home.

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James was finally ready to work. He wanted to see Jamie and Joey first. Both gunshot wounds had healed rather nicely. They were still sore if he pressed on them, but he usually didn't do that. That was a dumb idea and he hated himself for doing it that one time. He was thrust into a very gross and grimy dining hall and found Jamie and Charlie right away. It looked like they were staying very close to each other.

"Hello, chaps." He said, casually walking up to them. They turned to look at him and grinned broadly.

"Where on earth have you been?!" Charlie asked.

"Through hell and back again." James said.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic." Jamie rolled his eyes. "You aren't the one who's been doing twice the work load." 

"What do we even have to do?" James asked. "Thank you, by the way."

"Oh, just whatever the Germans tell us to. And you're welcome. They were going to shoot you, but I knew Victoria would kill me if I had just let you die, and, honestly, she scares me." Jamie said.

"You don't have to live with her." James said. "But, the work doesn't seem to hard."

"That's what you think. It's absolute and utter torture." Jamie said. 

"Are Topthorn and Joey here?" James asked.

"Yes, I saw them a few days ago." Charlie said. "They seem okay." 

"Good." James breathed a sigh of relief. "I'd like to see Joey again."

"I would also like to see Topthorn. Maybe we can request to work with the horses." Jamie said.

"Good idea." James said. "Are you alright, Jamie? You seem more...friendly than usual."

"Yes, I'm fine." Jamie said. "Just glad to see you up and moving."

"Okay. Thank you, I suppose." James said. 

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"Come on, Bailey! You can do it!" Victoria encouraged.

Victoria was actually seriously trying to teach him how to herd the sheep. It was harder than she'd anticipated. She didn't understand how it was so hard for him. She sighed and sat down beside him. He whined.

"Remember, you need to bend them to your will." She said. "They're sheep, they're inferior to you and me!"

Bailey just tilted his head to the side. Victoria sighed again and shook her head. Bailey was a sheepdog. He was supposed to be good at this. Victoria took a deep breath. She had to remember that Bailey was just a puppy. It was like teaching a child to read. She needed to have patience. 

"It's okay, Bailey. You're doing just fine." She encouraged. "Just...try again. Away to me."

Bailey tilted his head. Victoria finally thought of a way she could train Bailey. She grinned. She clapped her hand on her thy.

"Come on, Bailey!" She said. She ran around the sheep counterclockwise. Bailey ran with her. Victoria kept repeating, "Away to me, Bailey!" She thought that this would teach him the command. "Good boy!"

Bailey just seemed to think it was a game. Victoria taught him all the commands like this. Finally, she stopped running with him and sat down on one of the fence beams. Bailey panted, but he looked very pleased. Victoria didn't know if she had made him tired or if he wanted to practice some more. 

"Away to me." She said cautiously. Bailey got up and sprinted counterclockwise around the sheep. Victoria grinned. Bailey seemed to have finally gotten it. "Walk up!"

Bailey walked up to the sheep calmly. He maintained eye contact. He waited. Victoria could see the sheep looking stressed. She panicked for a moment. Bailey, however, looked very calm. The sheep directly in front of him beet its hoof on the ground, trying to scare Bailey. It finally panicked and turned around to run. Bailey nipped at its hoof and forced it to move along with the others.

"Come by!" Victoria commanded. 

Bailey switched directions and drove the sheep clockwise towards Victoria. He drove them into the yard that Victoria kept them in for the night. Victoria shut the gate and then knelt down.

"That'll do." She said. Bailey ran up to her and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Victoria scratched him behind the ears. "Good boy. You think you can help me do that tomorrow when I have to sheer them?" Bailey barked and Victoria laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."

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James collapsed in his bed, exhausted. The work that Jamie had said wasn't all that tedious turned out to be very tedious. James expected it was because he had missed three months work. He felt like he was going to die. His shot wounds ached like never before. He had managed to see Joey and Topthorn. He had also been able to pet Joey without the guards seeing. 

"Well, how was your first day of labor?" Jamie asked when he came in.

"Oh, wonderful." James said sarcastically. 

"Yeah, you try doing double the work for three months." Jamie said. James was getting slightly annoyed about Jamie reminding him of that, but he held his tongue. Jamie had saved his life, after all.

"Leave him alone." Charlie said. "It's not his fault you didn't listen to him."

"Thank you, Charlie." James said.

"I wonder how Amy is doing." Charlie said.

"And Victoria." James said.

"And Evelyn." Jamie said. "How on earth do they survive? All they do is sit and home and complain that we don't do as much work as we should."

"I bet they cry all day over us." Charlie said. 

"Not Victoria." James said. "She's stronger than any woman."

"All Evelyn does is whine about how I don't do as much work as I should." Jamie said. 

"Victoria's really the one in charge at home." James reflected.

"Than you need to set your priorities straight." Charlie said.

"I like things the way they are, thank you." James said. "I'm tired so if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep."

"Alright. Goodnight." Jamie said.

"Goodnight." James said.

He rolled over and took the locket out. He looked at Victoria's picture and smiled. Just a picture of him could calm him down more than he ever knew was possible. James tucked the locket back inside it's hiding place in his shirt. He closed his eyes, determined to get some sleep.

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Victoria woke up in the morning to discover that Bailey was not beside her. He was by the door and he was whining. Victoria took him outside, thinking that he had to go to the bathroom, but instead, he took off towards the fields where the sheep were.

"BAILEY, COME!" Victoria called. Bailey slowed to a halt and then walked back to her, his head hung low. Victoria gave him a stern look and then sighed. "Alright, let's go. We can gather the eggs and feed the animals later."

Victoria took Bailey to the fields. She let them out in the pasture and then had Bailey bring one into the yard, where she was ready to sheer it. James had never taught her how to do this, but she had watched him do it several times. How hard could it be? For her, very.

"Sorry!" She apologized after cutting the sheep for the fourth time. She felt awful about it. "How did James ever manage to do this?"

She finally seemed to get the hang of it around the seventh sheep. She hoped the cuts on the other sheep she'd sheered before didn't get their cuts infected. That wouldn't be good. Bailey seemed very pleased with himself when he was able to get the sheep to do what he wanted them to do. She wished James could see her progress with training him and how well she was doing with all the farm work. Victoria reminded herself to take the wool to the seamstress tomorrow so she could use it. Victoria stored the wool in the closet in her and James' room. Bailey jumped up on the bed and curled up to fall asleep. Victoria stayed up and read. She kept one hand holding the book and the other pet Bailey. The only time she stopped petting him to turn the pages of her book. Every time she did it, Bailey would paw at her arm until she pet him again.

"You're such an attention hog." She laughed. Her smile then faded. "Just like James."

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The song I put in is from Babe. It's the part where Rex and Fly (the sheepdogs) are herding the sheep, so I thought it would be good. I've always wanted to try training a sheepdog or driving a dogsled. *adds to Bucket List*