"You okay?" Victor asked Darcy as she walked into the house.

Darcy nodded. She went to the kitchen counter and dropped her keys. "Where's Emily? Is she sleeping?"

Sísele nodded. She took a drink of her beer.

Darcy stared at her mother drinking.

"She's okay. I just came back down from checking on her." Victor said.

Darcy nodded again. "I'm hungry. I don't even know what time it is." She looked around the kitchen.

"It is 8 o'clock." Victor told her. "I'll make you something. Sit down." He jumped to his feet.

Darcy took her coat off and sat down in a stool beside Sísele. She sighed, heavily.

Sísele grabbed Darcy's hand and squeezed it. "She be okay." Sísele nodded.

Darcy nodded back. She was tired. Was a long day and it was still early in the night.

Victor pulled out three steak he had sitting in the fridge. He had hoped to have it for dinner earlier. "Gotta cook the steak." He said. "Sísele, you can eat steak, can't you?"

Sísele laughed. "Shmart ash."

"I'll take that as a yes." He said. He looked at Darcy. "You hungry now? Or do you want to eat relatively soon?"

"Relatively soon. I want to go to bed." Darcy answered.

Victor opened a cupboard and pulled out a box of instant mashed potatoes. He went to the pantry and grabbed a can of corn kernels. "That's it." He said. He waved his hand to show off his line up of cheat foods. "This is dinner. It should be ready in about fifteen to twenty minutes." He announced cheerily.

Darcy nodded and went back to staring at the counter.

"I will shtay with you until Emily feelsh better." Sísele said. "I will shtay here while you two work."

Darcy nodded at her. "I think that's a good idea, mom."

After dinner, Darcy went upstairs. She went into Emily's room to check on her. Her temperature was down. Her breathing was normal. Darcy pulled some hair out of Emily's face and stared at her for a moment. Then she pulled the blanket up and tucked her in.

Victor was downstairs getting Sísele set up in the spare room. He made sure the bed was made and the lights worked. "I guess I'll have to get your bag tomorrow." He said.

Sísele nodded. "I'm okay."

"Yeah? I can see if Darcy has anything for you."

Sísele paused. "Pleashe don't be mad with your tá:l. She wanted to do right by you."

Victor stopped. He looked down at the floor and sighed. "I'm not mad, Sísele. I should be. But I'm not. I've got other things to worry about. Besides, I trust my mother. I'll figure out how I feel later." He grabbed a couple of blankets from the closet and placed them at the foot of the bed. "Just in case you need them." He offered. He walked to the door and stopped.

Sísele watched him.

"Thank you." Victor looked over his shoulder. "For telling me. I know you told me for a reason." He walked out the door, closing it behind him.

The next morning, Darcy woke up late. It startled her. She slapped her hand on the bed beside and felt an empty space. Her eyes opened and she realized Victor was gone. She reached for her phone to check the time. 8:27. She frowned. Her mind was already trying to wake up. Her body didn't want to. She rolled over, pulled the blanket up to her chin and closed her eyes.

"Darcy." Victor called. He was standing at the door.

Darcy groaned.

"Darcy." Victor called again. "You getting up for breakfast?"

The one morning Darcy wanted to stay in bed, and Victor decided to want breakfast. She sighed. "What do you want?" She grumbled.

"That's what I was going to ask you. What do you want? I'll cook it."

"You cook a steak and now you think you can cook anything?" Darcy teased.

"Well I am quite proud of my mad skills last night. I thought I'd use them for breakfast too."

"Mm-hm." Darcy said. She sighed again. She flicked the blankets down and looked at Victor.

"Come on. What you want for breakfast? We got ham, sausages, bacon, hashbrowns, eggs, rice." Victor offered.

Darcy dug her head into the pillow. She thought for a moment. "Sausages."

"Okay. You want breakfast sausages, farmer sausages, Italian sausages...."

"Holy shit! Forget it." Darcy complained.

Victor chuckled.

"If it's going to be that complicated, forget it."

"Okay. Breakfast sausages it is. You want eggs with that? Hashbrowns?"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you want." Darcy interrupted.

"I'll make it."

"You're overwhelming. I'm not going to tell you what I want because you'll break it down too much. Just make whatever you feel like making." Darcy said.

Victor stood quietly at the door for a minute. He turned and went downstairs.

Darcy slid out of bed. It's been a lot of years since she slid to the floor like that. She sat by the bed for a few minutes as she tried to wake up.

"I will check on Emily." Sísele told Victor. She started up the stairs.

Victor had laid everything out on the counter. He pulled out pans and utensils. He was set. "Yeah, I just checked on her. She's still sleeping. Her temperature went down some."

Sísele nodded as she climbed the stairs. She walked into Emily's room.

Emily lay, sleeping, in her bed. She seemed calm. Her breathing was normal.

Sísele walked over and checked her forehead. Cool. Her neck. Warm. Her arm pits. Warm. Sísele noted Emily was wearing a long sleeved nighty and that it was flannel. Her blanket was a thick comforter. All of which would aid in warming Emily's neck and arm pits. Her forehead was cool. Sísele concluded that Emily's fever had broken. She walked out of the room.

"Good morning, mom." Darcy said.

"Éy látelh." Sísele smiled.

"How is she?" Darcy asked. She peeled through the door.

Sísele moved out of her way. "She'sh doing good. Her fever ish broken."

Darcy stepped into Emily's room. She went over and stroked Emily's hair. She frowned. There was still something wrong here. Emily seemed more pale than before, if that was even possible.

Emily was laying on her stomach. She made a sound and rolled onto her side.

Darcy continued to frown. She turned to Sísele. "Have you been checking on her through the night?"

Sísele nodded.

"I kept hearing movement. I woke up a few times. I checked on her twice. I know Victor checked on her, at least, once. But there were other sounds."

Sísele smiled and nodded.

"Okay. Thank you, mom." Darcy walked out of the room.

Both women walked down the stairs to the kitchen. Victor had started cooking already. He even went so far as to making bannock.

Darcy sat at the counter with Sísele. Neither said a word as they watched Victor cook.

Darcy was trying piece things together in her head. Emily fainted twice. The second time lasted longer than the first. She was pale. Tired. Lethargic. Weak. Fever. All are symptoms of a flu. Why couldn't she leave it alone? The shock of watching her daughter fall lifeless haunted her. Maybe she was over-analyzing the situation. Darcy tried to forget about her worries and concentrate on what was in front of her at the moment. Emily was sick in bed, sleeping. Her fever had, hopefully, broken. Victor was cooking breakfast. Sísele was here to help with Emily. A lot to be thankful for.