"I thought I might go visit my sister now that the case is over."
Matthew looked up from his book to watch Alice slowly strip out of her clothes for the day - she'd missed dinner, so he'd made sure she got something to eat before they retired to his bedroom at the Blakes.
"I called her today while at the morgue," Alice smiled over her shoulder as she pulled on her pajamas and neatened the room. "If I'm not needed, I think I'll go down for the weekend."
"You know Anna will want to come."
"She can, and you can too, my dear Matthew."
He smiled when she crawled into bed next to him - lifting his arm so she could lay her head on his shoulder and tuck herself against his side as he went back to reading.
"I'm unfortunately on duty this weekend, to make up for the time I took off."
"Not fair," she pouted.
"Make it a girl's trip, you and Anna, maybe go do some shopping."
That got him a laugh, "More like prevent Phryne from taking us shopping. I think I might take Anna to the museums, she loves them so much."
"Maybe shopping at the bookstore would work better for you two - at least there I know I'll see you again after you're done. Anna might want to live at the museums, sweetheart."
"Oh, very funny, Matthew."
He laughed and kissed her forehead, "Let me know how it all goes with Cora… I hope that I don't feel another water jug thrown at your shoulder."
"No guarantees, us Harvey women are a decisive bunch," she poked his chest.
"Alright, well, try not to fight in front of our daughter."
"That I will promise," Alice kissed his cheek. "I'm going to go to bed, try not to stay up too late."
"I'll try," smiling into her kiss, Matthew turned back to his book as Alice turned off her bedside lamp and curled up away from him - her breathing soon evened out, and Matthew had to smile at the sound of her faint snores; she was evidently very tired.
Just when he was about to turn in for the night himself, he heard a light tapping on their door.
"Come in," Matthew called out quietly and smiled when Anna peeked around the door - his smile dropped when he saw her tears and the quiet sniffling sobs. "What's the matter, sweetheart?"
"Can't sleep."
"Bad dream?" he asked as she hurried over to the bed. When Anna nodded, Matthew sat up and lifted her up onto the bed. "Want to tell me about it?"
"Bruce cut off the rest of my hair," she cried, "and then pushed me down the stairs."
"I'm sorry you had that dream, sweetheart," Matthew kissed her forehead and held her close as the tears continued to flow. "But Bruce won't be able to do that to you, you know that, right? Your mum would be spitting kittens if he came within earshot of you."
Anna sniffled and giggled as she nodded, "That's funny."
"Thinking of your mum spitting kittens? Yeah it is," he chuckled and gently wiped away her tears with the corner of the sheet.
"What's so funny?" Alice slurred slightly as she rolled over - her eyes screwed shut against the light. "Is that Anna?"
"Spitting kittens!" their daughter giggled before Matthew could get another word in edgewise.
"What?" Alice pushed herself up on her elbows - blinking owlishly as she frowned at the two of them giggling.
"She had a bad dream, sweetheart," Matthew smoothed Anna's hair back from her face. "Bruce MacArthur cut off the rest of her hair and then pushed her down some stairs. I told her he'd never be able to do that to her, that you'd spit kittens if he came within earshot."
"Too right," Alice leaned over and kissed Anna's cheek. "Feel better now, Anna?"
"Yes, Mumma. Can I stay here?"
Matthew hid a smile when Alice sighed, "You really should be in your bed, Anna."
"But what if I have the bad dream again?"
Alice ran a hand over her face and then through her hair, "I'm… I'm too tired to insist on you going back upstairs, Anna, so… try not to kick me or Daddy while in this bed, alright?"
"Thank you, Mumma," Anna crawled over to her mum and hugged her tight around the neck. "Mumma?"
"Yes?"
"Can you sing a song?"
Alice swatted at him when he chuckled, but she cuddled Anna close, "If it'll get you to go back to sleep, I will, my girl. Your mum is tired."
Matthew leaned over and turned off his lamp as Anna snuggled into her mother's arms and Alice ran her fingers through the girl's unruly curls; as Alice softly started to sing - nudging him with her foot when he was amused at her song choice ("I didn't know you knew that one." "Hush, you're ruining it for Anna.") - Matthew leaned over and kissed her forehead and then Anna's as both his girls drifted off to sleep.
Idly, he mused that they should probably buy a bigger bed for the house.
"Can I meet your sister, Mumma?" Anna asked her as they walked up to the hospital in Melbourne.
"She's your aunt, so I hope you will, but let me… let me go in first and talk to her for a bit; I don't want to put you in any danger. Maybe Dr. Mac will let you tag along on her rounds for a bit."
"Really?"
Alice nodded and smiled when Anna practically skipped next to her; Mac met them out by the front desk, and gladly let Anna come with her - holding onto her hand as Alice tucked a stubborn curl behind Anna's ear.
"Want me to give you an hour?"
"Please," Alice smiled as Anna was bouncing on her toes - excited to see what Dr. Mac got up to in a hospital. "It'll give us… time to talk."
"One hour, and try not to break anything."
"Very funny, Mac."
"I'll take care of your little one, you go see your sister."
"Thank you," Alice smiled as she watched them go - it widened when she heard Anna ask Mac what they were going to do.
"Oh, I thought we'd count tongue depressors, see how high we can go. Can you count to a hundred?"
"I don't think so, is it hard?"
"It's fun, so let's go!"
Ducking her head as she walked down a different hallway, Alice walked towards her sister's room; Cora's husband was nowhere in sight, but the door was ajar, so she knocked on it lightly as she peered in.
"You made it," her sister smiled when she looked up from her book. "Come in."
Alice pulled up a chair and sat next to her sister's bed, "How've you been?"
"Oh, nearly bored to tears," Cora sighed - smiling when Alice chuckled. "Peter's been wonderful bringing me books, but…"
"You'd like to get out, I'm the same way."
"The worst kind of patient?"
Alice nodded, "I don't throw things, but yes, the nurses walk on eggshells around me."
At that her sister laughed, "I promise, no throwing things this time. How was the trip?"
"Uneventful, thankfully."
Cora reached out and patted her hand, and Alice could feel her cheeks warm when her sister lifted it up to take a closer look at the ring.
"Now, this is new… or did you have that the last time you visited and I was too mad to see it?"
"No, no, it's new," Alice cleared her throat.
"Are they here with you?"
"No, he had to work this weekend since we took off time for a vacation a few weeks ago before my first visit here."
"Bloody unfair."
She laughed and nodded, "Comes with being engaged to a copper."
Her sister smiled and patted her hand once more, "Is he…?"
Alice watched as her sister played with the edge of her hospital blanket; Cora was clearly trying to figure out what words to use, so she waited for her to find them.
"Is he… good to you?" Cora asked quietly.
"He is… more than I feel I deserve most of the time."
"He's not like Father?"
"No," she shook her head, "far from it."
"Good because if he wasn't, I'd give him a thumping or two."
Alice laughed, "You'd have to stand in line. I wouldn't stay with him if he was like Father."
"Are you… are you two… bonded?"
Smiling, Alice nodded, "We are. Are you and Peter?"
"Yes, but…" her sister chewed on her lower lip. "Have you… known anyone who had a sort of… complication with their bondmate?"
"The bonding can be as complicated as its premise is simple from what I know. What kind of complication?"
"Well… I have Peter's marks, and he has mine, but… both of us have gotten another's."
"Both the same marks?"
Cora nodded, "Have you heard of anything like it?"
"Of having more than one soulmate, yes, but not more than one at the same time… do you know who they are?"
"No, but I-I think they're a woman."
"Really?" Alice leaned forward, her curiosity getting the better of her. "How?"
Her sister just gestured towards the bump of her abdomen, "I felt another pregnancy that wasn't mine, and so did Peter."
"So… your other soulmate is with someone else?"
"It looks like it, but… who would marry someone not their soulmate?"
Alice knew of two examples, but it wasn't her story to tell, "Maybe she believed they were, or maybe whomever she's with - if she's married to begin with - gets her marks and they assumed, Cora."
"True… I just wish… if the bond between soulmates is so important to know about, why don't we get informed more growing up?"
She smiled and ducked her head - she'd wondered the same sort of thing when she got older and before she knew Matthew was her soulmate.
"Perhaps there's still some sort of… taboo about it all, Cora, I don't know, but I didn't have many people to turn to when learning about the bond."
"Regardless, I'm happy you've found yours," her sister smiled and grasped her hands. "Now, tell me all about what's happened since you left Sydney."
Alice squeezed Cora's hands and slowly started relaying all that had happened since they were children; she was in the middle of telling Cora a story from university when her sister looked over her shoulder and smiled.
"We've got an observer, Allie," she nodded slightly behind her, and Alice turned to see her daughter peeking around the doorframe.
"Bored of Dr. Mac already?" Alice asked Anna as she gestured for her to come in.
"Emergency surgery."
"Ah, it's a good thing you knew where to come."
"Nurse Ariel helped me," Anna smiled as Alice pulled her up into her lap. "Dr. Mac said I could keep some tongue depressors."
Smiling at the thin bits of wood clutched in Anna's hands, Alice kissed the top of her head, "I'll show you how to use them, but first, there's someone you need to meet."
Anna's eyes looked up at her and then over to her sister on the bed, she smiled and waved shyly at Cora from the safety of Alice's arms.
"Anna, this is my sister, Cora Rogers; Cora, this is my foster daughter, and hopefully my adopted daughter in the future, Anna Marie Harvey."
"Ah, that would make you my niece then," Cora leaned forward a little bit to offer her hand to Anna - the other resting on her baby bump.
"I'm gonna be Anna Lawson soon!"
"Yes, your mum showed me the ring! Is he a good man?"
"Daddy's the best!" Anna nodded and shook Cora's hand. "If you're Mumma's sister, do I get to call you Auntie?"
"Certainly, Miss Anna," Cora smiled. "And I have some kids of my own so now you've got cousins as well."
"Mumma! I have cousins!"
Pressing a kiss to Anna's forehead, Alice smiled, "Yes, you do, and in some months you'll have another one."
"Really?"
"Mm-hm," Alice nodded as Cora put Anna's hand on her bump, "right in there."
"A baby?"
"Yes," Cora smiled. "Before the year is out, we'll have a baby."
"How?"
"Oh, I think that is a conversation for when you're older, my dear girl."
Anna huffed a little, "Everything is for when I'm older."
"Not everything," Alice tapped her daughter's nose to make her giggle, "but I don't think your Auntie Jean, or the mums of your classmates will appreciate your new knowledge should I tell you how babies come into the world."
"Oh, is it like me knowing about autopsies?"
Feeling her cheeks warm as Cora laughed, Alice nodded, "Yes, like you knowing about autopsies, and you remember the lecture we both got from Auntie Jean."
Anna giggled, "Auntie Jean is sometimes scary."
"She can be, so the baby talk will come later, alright?"
"Yes, Mumma."
Cora watched them with a smile as Alice showed Anna how to use the tongue depressors - giggling when her sister winced as Anna shined the penlight in her eye rather than her mouth. She hadn't pictured this when she'd imagined reuniting with her sister after all these years, but then again Alice had been twelve the last time Cora saw her.
Living with her parents after Alice's flight from home hadn't been a paradise, but Cora spent as much time away from the house as possible. When she turned eighteen, and the marks started appearing, Cora grew afraid; the bond had put their parents together, and their father had repeatedly beat their mother and them… if that's what the bond did, Cora didn't want any part of it.
And then, she'd met Peter, and he was gentle and kind and so very different from their father; she'd been wary, of course, their father had been charming when he wanted to be, and Cora never wanted to be trapped in a relationship like their parents. Peter was patient, however, and as soon as she realized he wasn't like their father, and that he had her marks, they married and Cora was able to leave like her sister had years before. The Harveys didn't stay away for long, however, and Cora knew it would be a matter of time again for them to show up with her in the hospital… she just hoped Alice and her beautiful daughter weren't anywhere near here when they did.
"How… how did you and Anna meet?" Cora asked with a smile.
"Mumma saved me!"
"Really?" Cora felt her eyebrows rise as her sister's face flushed a dark pink. "How?"
"Punched a bad man in the nose!" The little blonde girl mimicked an uppercut even as her mother kept her from falling off the bed from her enthusiasm.
"You punched a man?"
"Yes," her sister admitted quietly.
"Why am I sensing that's not all you did?"
Alice's cheeks burned brighter as her daughter giggled, but she smiled as she tucked a stray curl behind Anna's ear.
"I, uh… I may have broken a bottle on his head as well."
"Alice."
"He was going to hurt Anna! He was a brute and a bully an-"
"Alice, it's alright, I understand," Cora laughed a little - holding up a hand to stem her sister's babbling. "I'm just surprised, is all."
"I… I surprised myself," Alice smiled and tickled her daughter lightly, "but Anna was worth it."
"I can see that."
"Mumma saved me," Anna agreed as she hugged Alice around her neck.
"Just as you did to me, my girl," Alice hugged her back. "But let's not need any more saving for awhile, alright? It makes your dad worried sick."
"Yes, Mumma."
Alice continued to regale Cora tales of her life after Sydney, and Cora responded with her own about her husband and children - her work as a schoolteacher and tutor once she had her kids; Anna eventually slumped into Alice's arms for a nap and the sisters watched her for a bit.
"Do you… do you still speak to them?" Alice asked her quietly as she shifted Anna a little - smoothing a hand over the girl's curls to soothe her.
"Mum and Dad?"
"Yeah."
"Every so often," Cora admitted. "Mum comes by to see the children… Dad comes asking for money."
"Still gambling it away and using it on cheap alcohol?"
"Yes, thankfully it's only every few months, and I keep him away from the children."
"Why not tell him no?"
"I don't want Mum to get hurt, Allie."
"She made her bed, Cora."
"And I'm not excusing her that, but I still can't… I can't let her get hurt more on my account. I won't do that to anyone."
Her sister shifted in her chair - a deep furrow between her brows as she frowned and soothed Anna as her daughter continued sleeping; Alice still looked the same when she thought about something as she did when they were children.
"I'm not asking you to forgive our mother, Alice… but I don't have to forgive someone to not want them hurt."
"True… I just… I want nothing with either of them. I can't have them in my life, not when it was just me, and not now when I have Anna to think of as well."
"Then God willing, they will leave you alone; Mum or Dad won't hear of you from me, I promise."
Alice smiled and reached out to grasp Cora's hand, "Thank you, Cory."
"Now, can you tell me about you and your copper?"
Her sister smiled and nodded, "It's quite the tale, let me know when you want a break."
"It's more fun than books, please tell me all the stories and tales you wish, Allie."