Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

Ladysharkey1 worked her magic on this one.

4

As Alice could have expected, Mrs. Cope wasn't exactly thrilled when she found out about the Cullen's new houseguest.

"You can't go picking up strange people from the streets, Miss Alice!" she scolded as she scrutinized Alice's somewhat windswept appearance. "And I haven't even started about the fact that, once again, you absconded unchaperoned and without leaving so much as a note to indicate where you off to!"

Alice sighed as she fought the desire to roll her eyes. "While I understand your reservations, I couldn't very well leave her lying there as she slowly caught her death from the cold. What kind of Christian would that make me, Mrs. Cope?" she added in a sugary sweet voice.

Mrs. Cope huffed, wondering once more why she persisted in staying in the service of a young woman who always seemed to do the exact opposite of what she was told. And with a brother who didn't seem to mind that his little sister was running rampant all over town.

"Alice?" Edward asked, coming down from upstairs, where he had deposited their guest in one of the extra bedrooms. "Can I entrust her to your care while I go out and meet with a client? Dr. Whitlock will be by shortly to assess her condition. He just had to run by his clinic to fetch his bag."

Alice nodded, making sure she didn't race up the stairs like she wanted to. She'd been on the bad side of Mrs. Cope's tolerance for her shenanigans too often to know when not to push her luck. Not that Mrs. Cope seemed to take note of her effort. No, deeming her obstinate young charge sufficiently scolded, she'd targeted Edward and his haggard appearance.

Chuckling slightly, Alice listened as her brother finally admitted defeat and trudged up the stairs in search of a change of clothes. If he had thought he could slip out of the house unnoticed, he had another thing coming. Alice could have told him it took far more than a smile to get passed their housekeeper unnoticed. After all, it was a skill she had perfected over many, tiresome months.

"Now you know what it feels like, brother dear," she jested as Edward brushed past her on the landing—his face as tempestuous as the storm that had raged the day before.

"Go take care of your patient, Alice," Edward grumbled.

Suddenly remembering that his bed wasn't slept in the night before, Alice turned and fixed her brother with an inquisitive gaze. "Where were you last night, anyway?"

"The beach. What did you think?" He didn't elaborate as he fled into his room and quickly closed the door behind him. Though where his haste could have explained his behavior, there was no hiding the look in his eyes just before he'd managed to hide it.

Shock and guilt.

Sighing, Alice tried to shake off the growing feeling of unease as she entered the guest bedroom. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that both her brother and the man she had every intention of marrying someday, were involved in some sort of unsavory business.

And her gut feeling told her that the poor woman in front of her, tucked in warmly with a blanket that used to belong to Alice's mother, was somehow involved as well.

If only she knew how.

"Who are you?" she whispered as she carefully lifted the blanket.

Of course, her patient didn't answer. She just lay there, shivering slightly and still completely lost to the world.

Alice jumped as, from out of nowhere, Mrs. Cope's voice rang out behind her. "At least she looks like she comes from some half-decent part of society."

"That's what made me offer up our home," Alice confessed. "I know that had it been me in her position, I would wish for some decent, well-respected family to offer me some kindness as well."

Mrs. Cope sighed, thus admitting defeat, though Alice suspected the older woman would rather eat her stockings than outwardly yield to Alice's superior logic. "You'd better fetch one of your old nightgowns," she ordered the younger woman. "If we don't get her out of those wet things and into a warm, dry bed, she'll soon be beyond our care."

For once, Alice did what she was told and quite happily too. There was something about the young woman that made Alice want to help her. As she assisted her housekeeper undress her new charge and made sure she was dry and covered in time for the doctor's arrival, her sympathy only grew with each gruesome bruise the poor unconscious woman's body revealed.

"It's a nasty business, being shipwrecked." Mrs. Cope sighed, quickly covering the shivering body with a few layers of sheets and blankets as the scullery maid set to the task of lighting the fireplace.

Alice nodded, though that licking flame of fear that licked at her spine grew in intensity with every second that had passed since the schooner had run aground. For Alice had heard enough tales about the unfortunate souls that had washed up on the beaches near Flint's Landing to know that while some of the bruises on the unknown woman's body could be explained by the ferocious forces of rocks and surf, others could not.

And as Jasper arrived and examined his newest patient while the two women stood guard against anything untoward, her suspicions only stood to be confirmed.

"Now that her body is starting to warm up, the effects of being cold and wet for God knows how long are starting to become apparent," the doctor concluded, putting the tools of his trade back into the leather doctor's bag. "She's starting to run a fever already and I suspect that in the coming hours, her situation may worsen ever further."

"What are her chances, doctor?" the ever pragmatic Mrs. Cope asked.

"It's too early to tell," the doctor had to admit. "Keep her covered as much as you can and wipe her forehead with a cool cloth when she starts to sweat. If you can, try to get some fluids—water or maybe some light broth—into her." Sighing, he shook his head as he clasped the lock of his bag shut. "All now depends on her strength and determination."

"Thank you, Doctor Whitlock." Mrs. Cope nodded, outwardly calm while Alice was increasingly worried about her mysterious castaway.

"I will be by in a couple of hours to see if there is anything more I can do," Jasper added. "If her condition changes, either for the better or worse, please have someone send for me."

Mrs. Cope fussed over her new patient as Alice walked the doctor to the door. The diversion of having someone to care for, made the housekeeper turn a blind eye to a few unsupervised moments between the two lovebirds.

"Alice." Jasper stopped her on the stairs, his eyes worried and intense as he grabbed her arms with both his hands. "I want you to be on your guard."

Alice nodded, though she wasn't sure why. "What's the matter?"

"Did you see the bruises on her neck when you were changing her out of her wet clothes?" Jasper asked as, mindful of watchful eyes as they continued to move down the stairs.

Alice nodded. "They seemed a little strange to me, very unlike the kind of injuries one would expect to come from being shipwrecked.

"You're right." Jasper let out a deep breath as he retrieved his hat and coat from the spot near the door where he'd left it and opened the front door.

"What does that mean, Jasper?" Alice pressed, forgoing proper etiquette as her anxiety took over.

His face was grim, his eyes anxious as they scanned the street outside the house. "It means that someone tried to kill her."

Thoughts?