"You know, she is probably the only person who could get influenza without having any contact with the illness. Yet she could sleep in the same room as a group of infected children yet not catch it."

James' voice washed over as I felt myself being pulled from a rather comfortable sleep. The cloth on my head had remained damp, though I knew Robert must have replaced it, and the top of my nightdress felt damp against my chest. Although I knew I had been asleep for several hours, it was still too hot under the blanket and I couldn't shake the sensation of being in a rather high-temperature oven. Still, I kept my eyes closed and snuggled further into the blanket in the hopes of falling back asleep. With how loud James was talking, I didn't think that would be possible. Noises I could sleep through, conversations were a different story especially with James who had no volume control whatsoever.

"Rosie's never been one to do what is expected of her. This is the same child who climbed the tallest tree in the park at the age of five and fell out if it without injuring herself in the slightest. The day she does what is expected will be a miracle." Matthew's voice joined the conversation.

"So that's where she got her tree climbing skills from," Robert said, the legs of his chair smacking against the floor.

"She started climbing trees around the same time she started to walk, used to drive Mother mad," James said.

"If we couldn't find her, we knew she'd be either up a tree or sat in a bush."

"In a bush?"

"Yes, she would sit in them with a piece of paper and pencil and draw. We would find her a few hours later."

"And I thought Zachariah was bad," Robert muttered.

"I can hear you," I mumbled from under the blanket.

Groaning slightly, I pushed the blanket off my face and rolled over on the bed, so I was facing Robert who had abandoned his book in favour of rocking back on his chair. James was stood at the far end of the room with his back pressed against the chest of drawers and his arms folded across his chest. He looked calm and relaxed, the exact opposite of Matthew. Matthew had taken up a position by the window, his bandaged hand laying by his side whilst his other hand rested over his shoulder and on his back. He stood with his back straight, and he watched me out of the corner of my eye as I shuffled myself into a sitting position, the cloth falling from my head and landing on the floor. The sling had slipped off my arm in the night and I made no attempt to retrieve it.

Although it still hurt to breath and the room still lurched to the side when I moved but the sleep had done its job. I pushed my hair off my eyes as it clung to my now damp forehead, the top of my nightdress seemingly soaked through from the water of the cloth. I glanced over towards Matthew and the window. The sky had turned a dark grey as the sun had started to set, clouds dotted the dark sky and a small strip of the setting sun still found its way into the room. With the fading light, someone had lit several candles and small lantern which hung from a hook on the wall. I slept for the entire day and didn't even know it.

No one said anything and I found myself sitting there with three pairs of eyes staring at me as though I was about to collapse or something. I glanced from person to person, my eyes lingering on Matthew for a few seconds longer as I tried to formulate a reason for him being there. Two days before he had stormed out of the office without so much as a hint of wanting to talk to me again. Yet there he stood, looking the most anxious out of everyone and acting as though the events had never happened. How he had found out that I was ill remained a mystery, but I was glad he knew. Now I had a chance to explain everything.

"Ah, she's awake," Doctor Ealing said, appearing in the doorway.

"It's hard to sleep with James and Matthew telling the world my childhood adventures of tree climbing and hiding in bushes," I said.

"I would ask, but I don't see the point. You seem more alert then you were earlier, how are you feeling?"

"The room is still spinning, my chest still feels like someone's squeezing it, and I feel like I'm in an oven, but other than that I feel better."

"Good, the fever will go away over the next few days and I'm hopeful the breathing issues will go along with it. I'd give it two to three days before you're back on your feet hopefully, the rest will help your shoulder a little as well."

"So, we can consider the influenza a blessing in disguise?"

"I wouldn't go that far. I'll get Miss Jenkins to bring you up something to eat."

Doctor Ealing smiled at me slightly before he slipped from the room without checking my fever or any of the other influenza symptoms. I didn't mind all that much, I had never been a big fan of people poking and prodding me and although it came with being ill, I wished it didn't. I listened to the sound of Doctor Ealing's footsteps as they disappeared down the stairs right before the sound of pots and pans travelled up from the kitchen. Before Doctor Ealing had made his appearance and left again, there was no sound coming from the kitchen. It sounded as though Miss Jenkins was waiting for him to come back.

Once again, a silence descended on the room and I glanced around the room between the three people standing – or sitting in Robert's case – doing nothing other than staring at me. I wished they would do anything other than stare at me, it felt rather uncomfortable, though I wasn't going to be the one to tell them that. My stomach growled and filled the silence in the room as the sounds of footsteps echoed up the stairs. Esther appeared in the doorway with another bowl of porridge and a spoon. She crossed the room and handed them to me, smiling slightly as I muttered a word of thanks. Esther then shuffled out the room after a quick glance at the others who watched her every move. Their staring was unnerving.

"If I have to eat another bowl of porridge, I think I'm going to turn into a bowl myself," I said, picking up a spoonful and upending it so the porridge dropped back into the bowl.

"As entertaining as that would be, it's not possible," Robert said.

"Are you sure? I ate porridge every day for seven years, there must be some part of me that is now part porridge."

"Just eat it, Rosie. If you turn into a bowl of porridge, we'll be sure to feed you to the right person," James added.

"That just sounds strange," I muttered.

James raised an eyebrow at me from across the room and nodded to the bowl of porridge I was holding. The heat of the bowl burned my hand and my legs as it travelled through the blanket and made my small oven environment that much worse. Despite the porridge being hotter than the fire at the side of the room, I ate as much of it as a felt like, which ended up being the entire bowl. Miss Jenkins had added some of the leftover strawberries from the Summer season as well as some sugar and honey, like before. By the time I had finished it, beads of sweat lined my forehead, a combination of my fever, the fire burning and the temperature of the porridge. I felt like a roast chicken.

I wanted to ask Robert to put out the fire, to take away one source of heat so I no longer felt as though I was cooking. I knew, however, that it wasn't going to be possible because of how cold it would be in the room if they fire wasn't burning. Until my fever went down, and the weather started to warm up, the fire would have to keep burning but I hoped that when my fever passed, the roasting sensation would go along with it. All I had to do was hope my fever lasted no more than a few days, I didn't like the idea of being stuck on a diet of porridge whilst simultaneously being cooked from the inside out.

Influenza was more hassle then it was worth.

When it had spread through the factory a few years before, there was nothing we could do to keep people warm and prevent it from spreading. Those who had the illness still had to work which only added to their troubles. More people were killed because of the influenza then because of the work they had been doing, I was one of the lucky ones.

"I need to go and get something to eat for myself, I'm starving," Robert said, pushing himself out of the chair and stretching his back. "You two are welcome to stay up here and I'll ask Miss Jenkins to bring you something or you can come with me."

"I think we're going to stay here, but food would be great, as long as Miss Jenkins doesn't mind."

"I'm sure she'll be fine with it." Robert turned to me. "Don't get yourself into any trouble.

"We'll see, I'm not making any promises."

Robert glanced at me and smile slightly before taking the bowl off me and leaving the room, his footsteps echoing down the stairs as he went. I dropped my hands into my lap and twisted them together nervously. The last time I had seen Matthew he hadn't have been in the best mood with me, not after the list and now I was in the same room as him with no way of escape. Robert had given me the opportunity to explain the reason behind the list, but I didn't want to explain it if I knew Matthew wouldn't see it the way I did. If the incident with the list had never happened then it would have been so bad, but it was bad, and I wasn't sure how I would explain it the right way.

The sound of the fire crackling filled the room as neither Matthew nor James said anything, James looked unsure about what to say and Matthew had focused his attention to the window behind him. In the short time I had been awake and had eaten the porridge the sun had set completely and the only light in the room came from the fireplace and the few candles that flickered throughout the room. Matthew's shadow projected on the wall behind him, looking slightly ominous against the darkness. Just a large, looming figure on the wall. It looked like an outward representation of how he was feeling, and I didn't like that it looked so threatening. If that was how he was feeling, then I was in trouble.

After a little while longer, Matthew pushed himself away from the window and took the seat Robert had vacated. I looked at James who pulled a face but remained rooted to the spot, I expect they had already discussed what was going to happen, but I wished he would say something. I focused my attention onto my hands, picking at my cracked nails and the skin that was peeling off my hands after the work I did at the house. Cleaning and scrubbing floors was painful, but it proved I was doing hard work.

"I should apologise, for how I acted the other day. It was uncalled for and I shouldn't have been so dramatic," Matthew said, leaning forward and pressing his elbows into his knees.

"You don't have to, I should have explained it when we first met," I said.

"James informed me, rather forcibly, that I was behaving worse than Sebastian in church and being compared to my three-year-old son certainly taught me a lesson. What you had on that list was your business and your business alone, I had no right to get so worked up over it. The truth is, I was scared that you would suddenly decide you wanted nothing more to do with us and I couldn't do that, not again."

"I told him he was overreacting," James added, pushing himself off the chest of drawers and perching on the edge of the bed.

"I'd be lying if I said the list hadn't been the push I needed to talk to you, but it was my choice in the end. I didn't want to spend my life knowing I had the opportunity to talk to you and then failing to do so. It Matilda hadn't encouraged me to write the list, I never would have spoken to you in the first place."

"At the time, I failed to see if that way, only the way I wanted to see it even though I knew it was far from the mark. It was my own mistake, I thought about myself and failed to realise that the list wasn't your idea and that without it we never would have started speaking again."

"The one thing Isabel wanted to do, more than anything else on that list, was to see her parents again. Even after everything."

"I understand why you took on the list, maybe we can help with it?" Matthew said.

"I seem to remember there being a note about a new dress on that list, right?" James added.

"Yes, Isabel always wanted something other than the drab uniform we would work in."

"As a tailor, I believe I can be of some assistance. You should come down to the shop one of your afternoons off and we can put something together."

"You don't have to do that, especially since I can't pay you for it."

"We're family."

Family.

The last person who had said that to me was Isabel. The day before the foreman dismissed me, we were talking about Suzanna's upcoming birthday and how we had never celebrated our birthday's since being in the factory. She had been the one to remind us that just being together meant that we were around family, that it didn't matter that we couldn't have a party or exchange presents, just being together was enough. She reminded us that family was all we needed and nothing else mattered. For only twelve-years-old, Isabel was a lot more intelligent then all of us put together, she had grown up far too quickly.

We had made our own families for years, the girls at the factory had become my family but sitting in front of me was my real family. Matthew and James were my family, yet at the same time, they felt so distant, as though I didn't know them as well as I knew the girls. Despite that, they were still my family and hearing James say it made everything real again. I had two families; my factory family and my real family. I didn't know which end of the spectrum Robert sat on, but I'm sure he was on there somewhere. He was one of the few people in the Ealing house who didn't turn there back on me if I did something wrong, he was supportive no matter what.

After a few minutes of silence, footsteps echoing up the stairs filled the blank space and Robert quickly appeared in the doorway with what looked like a tray of an assortment of food. He placed the tray on the chest of drawers and turned to face the room, clapping his hands together as he did so.

"Miss Jenkins was going to bring this up for you, but I need to check this one's fever per Father's request so I thought I would. It's not much, but it's food."

"Is it porridge?"

"No. You're the only one eating porridge, the rest of us get real food."

"You really are a pain, you know that right?"

"Yes. I've been told multiple times. By you."

"You know, you two remind me so much of myself and Kitty when we met. She wasn't the biggest fan of me either, not until I charmed my way into her life," James said, grinning.

"Charmed, or annoyed her into defeat?" Matthew added.

"Go away."

Matthew grinned at James before pushing himself up from the chair and crossing the room to the tray of food. James followed suit, stretching his arm across Matthew to grab one of the sandwiches off the tray and stuffing it into his mouth as though he hadn't eaten anything in days. I watched them whilst Robert took a seat on the chair and placed several sheets of paper, a large slab of something and a collection of pencils onto the floor. He pressed the back of his hand to my forehead for a few seconds, his hand cold to the touch, before removing it and grabbing the items on the floor.

"Your fever is better, but still too high and you're still sweating a lot more than normal. I'll get you another damp cloth to try and bring it down overnight. These, however, are for you." He placed the paper, slab and pencils onto the bed. "I figured that after so long, you might want to get back into drawing."

"I can certainly try."

I hadn't drawn anything in years, I didn't even know I could still draw, but I liked the idea of going back to the one thing I had loved as a child. Grabbing the paper, I laid it on the slab and placed it on my lap along with one of the pencils. Robert watched as I chewed on the inside of my cheek and glanced around the room for some sort of inspiration about what to draw. When I was younger, sitting in a bush would allow me plenty of things to draw, from bugs to the leaves, there was always something. After a little while, I turned the paper and slab away from Robert and started to draw.

Sketching across the piece of paper, I glanced up at Robert who took another sheet of paper and a pencil to start drawing, his lap acting as a table. He focused on his drawing and didn't notice me as I kept glancing over before returning to my own drawing, sketching the little details that I could notice now that he was sat so close. When he concentrated, he would get a little crinkle by his eye and he would chew on his cheek when he was thinking. A small smirk tugged on the corner of his mouth as he worked.

By the time I had finished drawing, James and Matthew had stopped eating and I stifled a yawn as I looked up from the piece of paper. Robert looked up from his drawing and glanced at me, trying to peak over the top of mine to see the drawing. I wasn't going to show it to him.

"Can I see?" he asked, almost reading my mind.

"No, it's not finished yet," I lied.

"I'll see it, eventually."

"Don't count on it," I muttered.

"We should go, Lily and Kitty will be wondering where we are," Matthew said.

"Alright."

"When you've over this, we'll have another meal out, you're invited as well, Robert."

"I intend to take you up on that offer."

"Goodbye, Rosie."

"See you soon."

"I'll show you out." Robert turned to look at me. "I'll be back in a minute with another cloth."

Matthew and James smiled and waved slightly as they left the room with Robert following close behind. As they went, I placed the slab onto the bed and looked down at the drawing. Robert stared back at me from the page and I caught myself grinning slightly at the picture. There was no way he was going to see the drawing.

~~~

A/N - Chapter Eighteen is here whilst I work on Chapter Twenty-Seven! I'm aiming for a total of Thirty-Five chapter so I'm almost there! Also, CHECK OUT THE NEW COVER!!! IT was made by Azanthiel and I love it!!!

Anyways, this chapter :D Matthew has apologised and we have a Robise moment... How do you guys feel about Rosie drawing Robert? Are you glad Matthew apologised?

Comment below! (Please comment, I miss them)

Dedication - This chapter is dedicated to Lucille_Dixon who has an amazing booked called 'Eternal Orchids' which you should all check out!

First Published - September 24th, 2019