Hey all! I am back! I first apologize for the lengthy vacation I took. I was stuck with the most wretched writer's block I ever knew, but I refused to let go of the story! It took a few months of staring at a sentence and some skiing off in some mountain to get my brain working and now.... BACK ON TRACK! WHOO YAY! I'm sorry, I know this is a lousy apology, but trust me I felt terrible the whole time! NOW for the newest...and last...chapter of Summer's Nightingale. (sniffs)

DISCLAIMER: (bursts into tears) It's not mine!!! WHY?? ...Only original characters and storyline is mine...


Part Fifty:

No doubt that in that little room there was the biggest scramble ever to be known to any of them. Shouts and exclamations echoed throughout the house as Rachel, Erik, and Richard scurried about for calling the doctor all at the same time. Upstairs, Lark sat in the bed, amazed at herself and wishing someone had stayed with her for the noise and excitement rather frightened her when she was alone. The lantern still sat on the bed and Lark had gazed at it intently, making sure to herself over and over again that she could see the light. To no one else's surprise, not one person slept that night and in all the hustle and bustle, Richard was forgotten and stayed another evening.

Morning came too slow for everyone and the family of the Peter's got to share in the bubble of hope that had sprung up. Even Monsieur Peter peeked his head in at the 'lil' girl', to see for himself what the cause of the uproar was for. As for the Madame, the excitement thrilled her and she went up and down the steps bringing tea, coffee, and a strong glass of wine for her guests, her face all alight in a charming, hostess way one would want to find in any household.

During the early hours that everyone found each other completely awake, Erik never left Lark's side and Richard fidgeted in a chair beside the bed. His sister and Thomas paced together around the walls as they waited for the old doctor. Called early for quickness didn't seem to have any effect on the elderly doctor, for in his sharp eyes he had already seen the little girl and did not expect any change so soon. Time was leisurely taken to everyone's acute distress.

Lark hadn't even been dressed properly and was still in her nightgown when the man came in, expression showing no surprise in the amount of people in the little room. Families always jumped at the slightest things nowadays. The girl turned towards him in the usual fashion and nothing about her, except the slight squinting of the eyes, told the doctor there was something wrong or new. He held up a withered hand against the sudden burst of hurried conversation, pleads of help, and hopeful discovery.

"I will see what the trouble is," he said in the leathery way of his, "And I'll ask the little girl what is wrong."

Everyone silenced themselves and Richard and Erik moved away from the side of the bed for the worthy doctor. Lark turned her face directly towards the medic, and found that in whatever poor sight she gained, she could find the blob that was the face. To her immediate annoyance, however the man went through the customary checkup instead of going straight to the very reason they asked him for. All the others, annoyed as well and equally impatient, bore the checkup with good taste and waited for him to at least reach her eyes.

The doctor tutted and muttered to himself softly as he examined her, checking her ears, mouth, and temples where the horse hoof bruise had only a few shades of yellow remaining. He complimented the care Madame Peter provided and frowned on Richard as the story of how she was moved came about. Erik, the least patient of all of them, scowled heavily behind his mask and took his wife's hand to keep him at bay.

"Good condition, it seems you will recover nicely, my dear," the doctor said, patting Lark's head, "but I hear it's your eyes that are the trouble…"

It felt as though every single person in that room held their breath as the old man peered into the round eyes expertly. He 'hmm'd' and 'aaah'd' to himself until Lark was at her wits end and Rachel quite wanted to sock him. Suddenly he asked her to look towards the window with sudden interest.

"What do you see, my dear?" he pressed, "tell me exactly."

Thomas watched Lark's eyes squint and stare and he bit his lip worriedly. Madame Peter calmly observed the window as well as if told to look at a beautiful sunrise.

Lark's little voice caught each ear as she quavered, "I see a…a light. But it's all dark around the corners. And, there's a shape by it…oh, that was you Erik? And, that's all, sir."

The good doctor then put her to looking everywhere, to at certain people (to which she stared the hardest at Thomas who blushed) to the palm of the doctor's hand.

"Extraordinary!" the doctor murmured to himself, jotting it down in a little book. "I've heard of this, but now I can see it for myself. How very interesting."

Lark wrung her hands as the doctor cleared his throat and peered at each individual.

"The little girl has taken a strong blow to her temple," he said in an explanatory way, "shown here." Here he pulled back Lark's lock of hair gently to reveal the fading wound. "Now, with blindness in most people, if born with it, it is not likely and sometimes impossible that they will gain any sort of eyesight."

"Lark wasn't born with it," Erik growled, tapping his foot irritably.

The good doctor beamed and nodded.

"Certainly," he allowed, "but it is taught that her own type of blindness, this haze seen here over her eyes, has not been well countered. However!"

He paused as everyone's faces fell with sudden disappointment, then swelled back to the hopeful glances. He bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly.

"However, for this girl, there seemed to be a clog, in a manner of speaking, in her blood vessels here in her head, affecting the eyesight. Generally these clogs go undetected, and the victim goes blind. However!"

He bounced joyfully again and now Richard was rather intent to sock him along with his sister. Lark's gaze darted back and forth from the blob of a doctor, to the smudge of dark that was her foster father's form, her mouth open in amazement.

"However," continued the doctor, "the clog has been known to be able to be knocked free if hit with a strong blow. Obviously, we don't do that for fear of harming the patient. But here, with this girl, the unexpected blow to the temple from the horse knocked her into a coma. But also, knocked out the clogging."

The good doctor took Lark's hand and patted it and turned to the rest of the group.

"I would like to say that, though the chances are still unpredicted I will warn you, the little mademoiselle will regain some, if not all her sight, in time."

The effect was immediate. All at once Richard moved forward and grasped the old man's hand in his, shaking it vigorously and professing true thanks and wonder. Erik also came forward, to question the reality of the doctor's word while Rachel clapped her hands and danced about. Thomas darted to Lark's side and laughed with her as she threw her arms around his neck. Madame Peter looked on, with a happy smile and went to fetch some breakfast tea.

The doctor nodded, smiled, and shook many hands that day, not feeling this well since he saved a boy's legs from becoming lame back in the early days of his career. He refused to stay for there were more patients and only paused at the door of the bedroom to say, "thank you," and to explain that Lark would not see perfectly, and it would take time for the haze to clear if at all. No one cared about that and Lark was then passed around, to ask if she could see them or count their fingers only to be delighted by her modest: "Almost, but not quite. I can almost see you, and your hand is not just a blob that much more." Erik turned away to look out the window to hide the few briny drops that slipped out from underneath his mask and Rachel hugged her husband tight from behind.

In the chaos, Thomas seized Lark's hand and looked into the eyes of the face he held so dear in earnest. Her own amazement had rendered her now speechless and working her hand free, she wordlessly reached out and cupped his face in her hands. They both stayed like that for a while, smiling at each other with the biggest grins on their alighted faces. From a distance away, Richard smiled too.

"I'm so happy I could just burst," Lark finally said, smiling so hard it hurt her cheeks. She tweaked Thomas' nose mischievously, secretly delighted she didn't have to grope his face to find it. "So will you be as handsome as I pictured you?"

He blushed slightly and she clapped her hands joyfully as she watched the shape grow redder. However, neither got to say much more to one another as Rachel's arms wrapped around Lark's shoulders and pulled her into a mighty hug. Her sibling soon followed and the girl was quite out of sight beneath the loving embrace of the Bairs.

"I had hoped for this," Erik said, a hand pressed to his mask as he came to stand by Thomas to watch. "That I could see my daughter with sight again in my lifetime."

"Yes, messier." Was all Thomas could reply with a tentative smile.

Erik gazed almost forlornly at the bundle that was his foster daughter, wife, and brother-in-law. He felt saddened that Lark was growing up so fast. It didn't meet his agenda to have her stretch her wings of independence so soon. He felt and was old. He was a married man, and had the prospect of seeing Lark married even, in just a couple of years. It both filled him with sorrow and elation as he gazed on. So long ago, he would have never been able to predict this. So long ago when he ran into that little girl without a mother, he never would have predicted the adventures he would still live to have.

Erik knew he would forever give credit of his happiness to Lark. That sweet little child who made him grow just as she did. Now she could be happy as well. Erik was determined to let her have her share of happiness.

With this in mind he turned to look down at the boy whom his daughter loved with a stern glare.

"I expect much from you if you so choose to be with Lark," he told the boy, "I will not put up with any shortcomings from you, so do your best to make my child the happiest."

Thomas stared back at the tall, skeleton man and nodded gravely, his eyes wide and heart pounding. He then opened his mouth to say a quick, 'yes, messier, of course, messier' as his physical agreement did not cover what Erik wanted. To Thomas' relief, Erik seemed to smile slightly behind his mask and heaved a small sigh.

"Why she chose you, Heaven only knows," he muttered, whether to himself or at Thomas, the boy would never know.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The joys of Lark's regained sight did not permit Richard's stay. That very afternoon was his quota given by a very stern, but very forgiving older sister. There outside Erik's house they all gathered to watch the man leave. Rachel watched him closely, in case he tried to protest again and her husband stood off to the side of her, a hand on his daughter's shoulder. Rather tearfully, Lark both listened and watched as her friend heaved his bags into the carriage that would take him back to Paris.

"I wish you didn't have to go," she told him, her lower lip atremble. "I'll miss you so much!"

Richard put the last bag in and turned around to give her one of his large smiles.

"That almost makes it worth leaving," he said, "to have such a wonderful girl miss me."

Lark sniffled a tiny laugh as he patted her head fondly, avoiding Erik's and Rachel's protective eye. Though everyone had forgiven him, it was for his best that he leave and return home, to heal and recuperate from his ordeal. This Richard himself agreed to, not wanting to put himself in any temptation for slide backs on his resolve. It was still hard on him, though, to watch Lark's eyes threaten to overspill with held back tears. He kneeled by her and took her hands kindly in his own.

"Now, now," he scolded gently, "there's no point in crying over little old me. Think of it as a holiday for myself! …Oh, wait, that's not a good one. Think of it as…what it is. You and I've got to get better, right?"

Lark snuffled an agreement.

"Good girl." Richard said beaming, "And also, this means I can go back to my 'old strings' as Rachel so kindly puts it. I bet people will be in need of some music with my absence. This will be a good thing for the both of us. I leave you in very good hands."

He nodded at his family and a faint smile crossed his sister's lips. Lark still wiped at her cheeks carefully, her movements very slow when it came to her recovering eyes. It seemed it would be quite the while before she got to rub them or bother them as if they were normal.

"You…you will…take care?" she asked, trying her best not to let her voice quaver.

Richard nodded again, seriously, promising he would take the best of care for himself. He opened his arms and slowly hugged Lark as to not startle her or his watchful guards with quick moment. Unable to keep calm, she burst into unhappy tears and clung around her best friend's neck. He bore it with admirable calm until she kissed his cheek in a familiar, sisterly way. Then he unclasped her arms firmly but as always gently. He grinned and tweaked Lark's nose before standing.

He turned and spread his hands out to his sister.

"Well?" he joked lightly, "May I be permitted with visitation rights or not?"

Rachel pressed her lips together tightly and looked over to her husband, who merely shrugged. She viewed her brother with her icy blue eyes and sighed.

"If you show good behavior," she said solemnly with a wink. "And show improvement."

To Lark's bleary eyes' delight, he smiled his too-wide, jack-o-lantern smile and took a gallant bow before clamoring up into the carriage.

"Much obliged, sister," he called as he snapped up the horses' reigns.

"Truly!" he shouted over his shoulder as the carriage cobbled away with haste.

Against Erik's protests, Lark raced into the empty spot and waved fiercely to Richard's retreating back, smiling through her small tears. He waved back, but she did not see as she looked back at Erik and Rachel with delight, small hands clasped to across her heart. Erik shook his head and let out a heavy sigh.

"This has been one of the most interesting summers in my lifetime," he said, viewing the brown grasses and vaguely changing leaves on the trees.

Rachel laughed and hugged her husband tight.

"This has been one of the best summers in my life," she agreed.

Lark beamed at both of them and turned towards the other side of the road. A lone figure was making its way down, arm waving in an enthusiastic greeting.

"I can't wait for the next summer!" she said happily, waving back.

Erik leaned his head on top of his wife's and brusquely shooed at his foster daughter.

"It's not completely over yet," he said, while Rachel nodded with sudden understanding, "go and enjoy it with him."

The girl didn't need to be told twice. Picking up her skirts, Lark tripped her way out of the yard and ran to meet with Thomas who met her quickly. They could be seen together in the bright sunshine, the boy twirling his sweetheart around once before setting off, hand in hand. There would be not a young and lasting love sweeter than that of Lark and Thomas.

Rachel watched them for a moment before stretching on her tiptoes to kiss Erik's cheek.

"I love you," she told him shyly.

"I know," he replied simply.

With a hidden smile, he took her hand also and they strolled back into the house. It certainly was a summer they would never forget.

END OF SUMMERS NIGHTINGALE


Ah, my readers...where would I be without you all??? Thank you, THANK YOU for reading and finishing with me to the very end of my second completed phan phiction. It's been a pleasure writing and now I shall devote all time to I Want a Refund On My Phantom, Please from now on.

It's so sad ending...but...I did it! (celebrates)