Chapter 16

Part II

Then next morning everyone sleeps very late. Ethan has manipulated the time on Miss Peregrine's alarm clock so that she can sleep longer and therefore doesn't wake up until 11 o'clock.

Opening her eyes to an unusually bright room she first takes in Ethan's scent. Her head is lying on his chest and as he notices her moving slightly, he gently strokes her back.

"Good morning," he says lovingly and kisses her forehead. Miss Peregrine smiles and turns around to look at him properly.

"Have you slept alright?" Ethan keeps asking. "You look more rested than yesterday."

Miss Peregrine nods. "I have, thank you," she answers but still yawning.

"What time is it?" she asks then as she takes in the light from outside the room. She has woken up some time ago and took a look at the clock but as it said that it was only 6 o'clock she fell asleep once more, now she has no idea how much time has passed since then.

Ethan hesitates for some time until Alma directly looks into his eyes. As Ethan still doesn't say anything she takes a look at her clock herself. It shows 8 o'clock. Alma frowns.

"It's not really 8 o'clock, is it?" she asks unsure. "It's way too bright outside."

Ethan still doesn't say a word but at seeing her puzzled expression he can't help but smile a little bit.

"Hey!" Alma exclaims and playfully punches him. "You manipulated my clock!"

"Maybe," Ethan laughs and kisses Alma again.

"So what time is it really?" she wants to know.

Again Ethan hesitates before answering. "Round about 11 o'clock maybe," he says, nearly shyly.

"What?" Miss Peregrine asks back with a shocked expression and then shakes her head.

"But you needed it," Ethan justifies.

"I know," Miss Peregrine answers honestly while getting up slowly.

"Thank you!" she says before putting on her dressing gown and leaving for the bathroom to get ready.

Ethan himself gets up and dressed himself. He quickly washes his face and brushes his teeth at the little sink in the room before leaving for the living room.

He can hear that most of the children are already up, talking silently in their rooms. He wants to go to the kitchen to start preparing some breakfast, making up for the time he kept Miss Peregrine in bed.

But on his way through the deserted living room, he sees that Fiona is sitting on one of the couches, obviously waiting for someone.

"Hey, good morning," he greets her friendly. "Good morning," Fiona retorts but doesn't return the smile. A bit worried Ethan approaches and sits down next to her on the couch.

"Is everything alright?" he asks but Fiona just shrugs.

"Is Miss Peregrine awake?" she asks finally.

"Oh have you been waiting for her," Ethan guesses. "I'm sorry, I changed the time on her clock so she would sleep longer. I thought that she needs it and that you all would enjoy sleeping late as well. I didn't know that you waited for her," Ethan apologizes. Even if he would like to help Fiona he also understands that she rather turns to Miss Peregrine when she's having problems.

"But she's awake now," Ethan continues. "She's in the bathroom. Just go and wait for her in her room, then you can't miss her."

Unsure, Fiona nods and stands up slowly. She's not sure if Miss Peregrine would appreciate her being in her room and she wants her to be in the best mood possible when she'll ask her.

But Ethan just winks at her. "I'm going to tell her that you're waiting there for her, don't worry," he says. A little bit encouraged, Fiona makes her way to Miss Peregrine's room while Ethan follows her to knock at the bathroom and informing Miss Peregrine.

Then he makes his second attempt to go into the kitchen and starts preparing the breakfast.

Soon the other children gather in the living room. Some of them help Ethan or set the table, while Claire and Bronwyn are feeding their pets.

After some minutes Ethan is startled to see Fiona in the door of the kitchen as he just wanted to carry a pot full of porridge into the living room.

"Ethan?" she asks carefully.

"What's up Fiona?" he asks back while making his way past her to set the pot on the table.

"Is Alma still not ready?" he asks then and walks back into the kitchen to get the rest.

"No," Fiona says shyly. "And I think you should go and take a look because it sounds like she's sick or something."

"Are you sure?" Ethan asks , now a bit worried. The last time he saw her, Miss Peregrine looked alright, still a bit pale but so much better than yesterday.

Fiona shrugs. "I don't know exactly but I thought it's better to let you know.

"Yes, definitely, Fiona, thank you," Ethan answers and carries some sausages to the table before making his way to the bathroom. "I'll take a look, but you can still wait for her in her room," he calls back to Fiona.

Carefully he knocks at the door and calls for Miss Peregrine. Through the door he can only hear water from the sink and nothing else.

"Alma, could you please open the door," he says again and then he finally hears the clicking of the lock. Opening the door himself, he enters the bathroom and sees Alma walking back to the sink where she is just washing her face.

Confused, he approaches her and can see at her posture that she's hiding something from him.

"What's wrong?" he asks concerned and rubs her back gently. "Are you feeling sick?"

"I'm already feeling better," Miss Peregrine assures him and dries her face with her towel.

"But you had to throw up?" Ethan wants to make sure and Miss Peregrine nods.

"I've been feeling a bit nauseous sometimes before but I never had to throw up. It's probably just the stress, with the arguments and all" she sighs and turns back towards Ethan to leave the bathroom.

"Maybe," Ethan agrees. "But let's keep an eye on it." Miss Peregrine nods and they leave the bathroom together.

"Fiona wanted to talk to you. She told me to take a look at you and I sent her into your room to wait for you," Ethan lets her know as they part in the corridor.

Worriedly Miss Peregrine nods and goes into her room. What could Fiona want this early. Is something wrong with her?

Entering her room, she sees Fiona sitting on the small couch.

"Hey, are you alright?" Miss Peregrine asks and takes a seat next to her.

Fiona shrugs. "I guess so...Are you alright too?" she asks back. "I am, thank you, Fiona," Miss Peregrine assures her, giving her an encouraging smile.

"So why did you want to talk to me this early?" she asks.

Fiona looks down at her lap immediately and Miss Peregrine is unsure if she can see tears glistening in her girl's eyes. Caringly, she lays her arm around Fiona's shoulder and pulls her closer into her arm.

"Hey please tell me what's wrong," she says carefully.

Shyly, Fiona explains her problem and the conflict she's in. Miss Peregrine listens and begins to shake her head. This causes Fiona to really start crying.

"Hey, hey," don't cry," Miss Peregrine wants to comfort her.

"I knew that you would say 'No'," Fiona sobs, so Miss Peregrine hugs her even tighter.

She's nearly crying herself by now. Damn it! Why can't she control her own emotions in front of her children...

"But I didn't say 'No', did I?" she says, which makes Fiona look up in confusion.

"But you shook your head," Fiona argues.

"I shook my head because I was disappointed that I seem to be the reason why you let it come to this point. Why didn't you talk to me earlier?"

"I was sure that you wouldn't allow it as it could be dangerous for us all. And with your mood lately, I was even more afraid of asking," Fiona admits shyly.

"Oh," Miss Peregrine says, now really struggling to hold back her own tears.

"I'm really sorry to have made you feel this way," she says honestly. "I don't know why I behaved the way I did lately. I promise you that I never wanted that. As for your request, I'm so sorry that you thought I wouldn't allow it. Yes, of course it could be dangerous. But I also want you all to have a normal life like all the other children. And I don't want you to feel that you have to miss out on anything just because you're living with me instead of your real parents. When all your other friends are allowed to have friends coming over, then you may do that as well, alright?"

Immediately, Fiona's face lights up.

"Are you serious?" she asks and looks into Miss Peregrine's eyes, which are clearly as damp as her own.

Miss Peregrine just nods and forces herself to smile. She doesn't trust herself to keep her composure if she should say anything else.

Happily, Fiona hugs her ymbryne.

"You're the best!" she exclaims. "And we're having the best life possible with you. Please don't think that we would prefer anything else."

Miss Peregrine hugs Fiona back, what her girl has said touches her deeply and she can't hold back the tears any longer.

Happily both stay like that for a while until Miss Peregrine suggests to join the others for breakfast. Gladly Fiona follows her ymbryne.

As they both sit down at the table the other children guess from their expression that Miss Peregrine allowed Fiona's request. They all have to smile and are really happy for Fiona. During the meal, they all talk about what to do for the day. Fiona will call her friends after breakfast to let them know that they can come over. Miss Peregrine suggested to invite them for the afternoon, so they can eat cake together before they can go into her room or into the garden to spend some time alone. Happily Fiona accepts this idea and runs off to the phone as soon as she has finished eating.

After the breakfast the children have to practice their instruments before going to play. Emma and Jake have offered to do the grocery shopping while Miss Peregrine is busy in the kitchen with baking the cake.

As they have all had breakfast this late, none of them needs something for lunch.

Very soon the door bell rings and Fiona's friends arrive one after another. They are all dropped off by their parents, some of which Miss Peregrine knows from picking up Fiona from their houses. She invites them inside and talks for a while with the mothers but they are all too busy to stay any longer.

Therefore only the four girls sit with them on the table to eat the delicious cake and drink some hot chocolate. All four of them are really nice girls. Of course they have known that Fiona lives with a foster mother and many siblings but so far they have only known Hugh and Bronwyn from school.

Excited they talk with all the others as well. In the beginning they have felt a bit uncomfortable with talking to the twins or Millard as they have never seen children who have to wear such masks or a overall like Millard but soon they got used to it and they all spend a joyful afternoon together, playing lots of games inside the house and also in the garden. Proudly, Fiona presents all her lovely flowers and plants, which her friends have wanted to see for a long time.

All four girls stay for dinner. They have agreed on eating some fresh vegetables out of Fiona's vegetable garden, which Miss Peregrine and Ethan prepare while the others are watching something on TV.

After the dinner, Fiona's friends are picked up. They all say thank you for the lovely afternoon and evening and are looking forward to the next time. Happily and relieved beyond belief, Fiona waves them goodbye before going back into the house.

Soon Ethan has to leave, too. He says good night to them all, gives Alma another kiss before driving off.

Left on their own again, Miss Peregrine and the children decide to go to bed early. Even though they have all slept late they are tired from the eventful day. As all the children are in their beds and everything is cleaned up, Miss Peregrine goes to bed herself. After getting ready at her sink, she lies down and decides to read a bit in her new book.

After only a couple of pages, she hears someone knocking at her door though. As she invites her guest in, she sees Fiona entering her room. Miss Peregrine motions for her to sit down next to her, so Fiona climbs into the bed and Miss Peregrine covers her as well with her blanket.

"I wanted to thank you for the great day," Fiona begins and smiles at her ymbryne.

"You're welcome, Fiona. I'm happy that you enjoyed the day. And you're friends are really lovely girls, they are allowed to visit you any time you want, alright?" Miss Peregrine says.

"Oh, yes, thank you. I think they really liked it here as well," Fiona answers.

Miss Peregrine takes Fiona in her arms again.

"I'm sorry that I made it so difficult for you," she says. " I never wanted any of you to be afraid of talking to me."

"Don't worry," Fiona cuts in. "We know that. I guess I was just a bit insecure for a moment but it's over now. I know that you only want the best for us and I'm sure the others know that as well," Fiona assures her ymbryne, who's close to tears again.

At seeing it, Fiona has to laugh a bit. She's not used to her ymbryne showing so many emotions on just one day but it's kind of cute.

"Thank you Fiona," Miss Peregrine says grateful and gives her girl a kiss on the head.

Fiona smiles. She hasn't felt this happy for a very long time. Not that she's usually unhappy but today was a very special day and now being here in her ymbryne's bed feels really good, like when she was younger. She had always felt protected in Miss Peregrine's arms.

"May I stay here a little while longer while you still read?" she asks her ymbryne.

Miss Peregrine has to smile. "Of course you can," she says happily. Also for her it's something she likes and even misses sometimes as all her children are now so old that they don't come cuddling as often as they used to.

Miss Peregrine lays her arm around Fiona and continues with her book. After some time as she feels tired enough to stop reading, she places the book on the nightstand and takes a look at her girl. Fiona is lying in her arm, her head resting on her left shoulder. She has fallen asleep some time ago. Miss Peregrine watches her sleeping form for some time until she switches off the light. She wouldn't have the heart to wake Fiona while she's sleeping so peacefully and besides she's really enjoying it herself.

Happily she closes her eyes and falls into a peaceful sleep as well.