A/N: Apologies for the wait. I hope you like this. Thanks for reading.

It wasn't easy being without her husband. Thankfully, there was plenty of work to keep her occupied.

There was sickness at the Slattery's and Ellen was spending as much time as she could there, especially with Scarlett taking over the running of the house. The routine gave her distraction and suited her need for control and order.

She could barely remember the life of luxury she had experienced with Rhett and as the War continued, it took on a dreamlike quality, visiting her at nights and when she woke in the morning, she always expected Rhett to be by her side.

He never was.

XxX

Careen often followed her sister around. She had missed her while Scarlett had been in New Orleans and enjoyed her company. She was also willing to help out, when she wasn't visiting Suellen and her daughters.

Neither girl noticed the steady decline of the house and lands. They only knew that their sleep was deeper and at the same time shorter.

Meanwhile, Rhett wrote when he could. Due to his WestPoint education, he'd been placed in the artillery. He spared his wife the gorier details of the War, content with the idea that she was safe. It amused him greatly to hear that she had taken up housekeeping.

"I'm practising for when we have our own home."

He found he quite liked the idea and it was this that saw him through the hunger, dirt and much later, dysentery.

XxX

When Careen fell ill, she tried to hide the evidence from the house but Mammy always knew when her young Missus was lying.

She informed Mrs O'Hara who took up nursing. She wanted to send Scarlett to Jonesboro but her daughter didn't appreciate the idea. Nor would she go to Atlanta.

"Mother, I can't leave now, I'm needed at Tara."

"Scarlett, please."

Ellen tried to beg but her eldest refused to bend and she found she was tired of fighting the inevitable.

Soon after, the Yankees came.

They set up Camp all around Tara and tried to get the family to evacuate. Gerald refused. By now Ellen was showing signs of the same sickness that had plagued the Slatterry's. She felt a very real fear her god deed had rebounded and in doing God's work, she had put her family at risk.

The Yankees offered the use of their Doctor and Scarlett found the expected gratitude hard to take. Luckily, he was not offended by her directness and did all he could for the women.

They spoke regularly, once she discovered that he had kin in Charleston.

"My mother wanted me to attend West Point, but I knew my true calling. I wanted to help people. Whatever their place in life."

It proved a very humbling moment.

Despite all his best efforts, Ellen continued to decline until one night, in a state of hallucination, she called out to someone. A man. Not Gerald O'Hara, but Philippe.

Scarlett looked to Mammy, who shook her head. They laid Ellen O'Hara to rest in the family burial ground. Funds were scarce but Gerald insisted on buying a headstone and engraving the simple message:

"Beloved Wife and Mother. Now at Peace."

XxX

The Yankees left the next day, promising Tara's female slaves fine silks and jewels and they abandoned their former employers.

The male slaves were also encouraged to leave, as they would have more luck fighting alongside the Yankees.

"The Confederacy is dying out."

Gerald swore it would never die and that anyone who left would never be able to return.

XxX

Things were bad in the Country. Food was scarce and there was always an endless list of things to do. Scarlett woke early and was often the last one to bed. Her hands, once so fine were now blistered by work and burnt by the sun.

Her sister had recovered from her sickness but she was such a frail creature. Scarlett wanted to send her to Jonesboro but Careen refused to go. She was left in charge of the house. The remaining slaves Mammy, Prissy, Pork and Dilcey, complained that they were expected to do field work but Scarlett paid them no mind. She no longer cared.

The War had taken so much from them yet still the Yankees came back for more. They returned late September, two weeks after Scarlett had shot one of deserter's. She'd felt a great satisfaction in cutting short the Yankee numbers. The bloodlust created an overzealous nature as she'd removed anything of value to be hidden in the swamp.

Careen protested but Scarlett response was succinct. "Better hidden than in the hands of a Yankee."

She hadn't heard from Rhett for a while now but didn't dwell on it. He had always been an unpredictable hound; that was why she loved him.

XxX

When Christmas brought the troops begging for food, Scarlett was hard pressed to be generous. It was the men that brought them all to this state. So why should they expect them to starve themselves? The fact that Rhett was out there failed to sway her mind. The man was a survivor. He'd cope.

XxX

The days were an endless toil and by the time General Lee declared surrender, Scarlett felt none of the patriotism. The War may be over but there were still plants to harvest, food to find and the land to tend.

"Why did we ever fight?"

Scarlett neither knew nor cared. She was too busy.