Author's Note: Happy reading!

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'There was so much blood.' Mattie shook her head, her voice no higher than a whisper as her eyes burned with tears and she stared down at the carpet when she was sat with Jean on the couch one afternoon. 'She knew that she was going to die there. She kept begging me to go to the bar and find her husband; she kept on telling me that she wanted him beside her, but I knew that if I had left her then I would have been the one responsible for her dying there alone and I just couldn't live with that on my conscience.' She sniffed.

She felt Jean run her hand up and down the length of her back, a tear dancing down her cheek before she reached up to brush it off of her skin. 'I wasn't her nurse; I didn't go to her house whenever I went on my rounds, but we always spoke whenever we saw one another. Just a couple of days ago she told me that she and Jackson were thinking about trying for a baby, but now that's never going to happen and it's all down to some idiot who decided to go for a drive after he had been drinking all night long!' She sobbed quietly.

The furious tears that she had been trying so hard to keep from falling began to stream down her cheeks then, her sobs loud and harsh as she allowed Jean to wrap her arms around her frame in a tender embrace. She rested her head on the housekeeper's shoulder as she cried, her eyes drifting closed as Jean began to comb her fingers through her dark hair and release soothing shushes. 'Isabelle's death was not your fault, Mattie.' Jean told her, knowing exactly what was going through the young woman's mind at that moment.

'I should have tried to do something at least!' Mattie choked out.

'What could you have done?' Jean asked as she placed her hands on Mattie's arms and brought her out of her embrace, nothing but kindness in her eyes as she ran her hands up and down her arms. 'You couldn't have known that you were going to find her like that. You had no medical supplies with you because you were off duty, so there is nothing that you could have done.' She wiped the tears from her cheeks with the tips of her fingers. 'You were there with her in her last moments; you made certain that she didn't die on her own, and you should feel so proud of yourself for that.' The smallest smile appeared on Mattie's lips.

'When I told Dad that I wanted to be a nurse like my sister he laughed in my face.' She admitted a few moments later. 'He told me that I would never be as good a nurse as her, no matter how hard I tried, and it's days like this that make me feel as though he was right.' Jean brushed a dark curl back behind her ear.

'He wasn't.' She told her. 'If you weren't meant to be a nurse, Mattie, you wouldn't have gotten through the exams and you would never have qualified as one. If it means anything to you, Lucien and I think that you are an exceptional nurse and the two of us are so proud of you.' They both exchanged a warm smile.

'It means the world to me.' Mattie said. 'Jean, I - I know that we don't always get along and I know that we don't always see eye-to-eye on things, but I have so much respect for you. You're like a mother to me and I honestly have no idea what I would do without you.' Jean felt a surge of warmth course through her veins at the young nurse's words, a quiet sigh escaping her as she gave her cheek a caress with her hand.

The two of them shared another smile before the whistle of the kettle on the stove caught their attention. 'I'm making some tea; would you like some?' Jean raised her brow at Mattie as she rose from the couch.

'Please.' Mattie nodded after lifting her textbook off of the table and leaning back against a cushion,

As Jean headed for the kitchen she was unable to stop herself from smiling.

Yes, the two of them bickered every now and then - like she and the little girl that she had lost would have done if she had reached Mattie's age, she supposed - but more often than not the two of them got along just fine and always managed to find something to share or have a laugh about.

Mattie had just admitted that she was like a mother to her, but what she didn't realise was that she was the closest thing that she had to a daughter. Even though they were of no relation, she felt such a need to look out for the girl; felt a need to guide her footsteps and protect her from the dangers that were in the world.

She knew that - whatever happened in the future - she would always be there to offer Mattie a shoulder to cry on should she need it.

She would always be there to support her.

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Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed that and please review! X