Not long ago, young Lucy had rolled out the back of a vehicle, headed away from London, maybe forever. Though she'd hopped out the delivery van before the driver had a chance to stop and found her curled up in the back, shivering from the cold. Though the weather was slipping into winter, becoming tight and crisp, it certainly made the girl glad that she didn't wear frilly, flower patterned dresses like most girls her age.

Instead, Lucy usually donned a cosy jumper, dungarees, and, if she managed to source one, a nice neat shirt underneath, or perhaps a jacket. Truth be told, Lucy didn't, or rather couldn't change her clothes that often, she simply never had the money for it all.

It was her first time in the country, which wasn't great as the light from the day had oh so suddenly been sucked away. But she kept pushing through the fields. She was in the country! There had to be a barn somewhere for her to crash for the night on a couple bales of hay.

And sure enough, it wasn't long until she found one, and standing proudly next to it, was a large house.

As Lucy drew closer, she squinted through the pitch blackness to get a better look at the sign on the gate.

Skeldale House Veterinary Practice

Well, that sparked a little bit of hope. Lucy had always been led to believe that people like Doctors and that were little kinder to the less fortunate, although she had never been to the country before. How was she supposed to know?

Lucy stalked her way around the house and towards the large barn. Locked, unsurprisingly. She sighed and stood on her tiptoes, curiously, to try and get a better look inside through a small gap in the wood. A light smile graced her features as she spotted the animal residing inside. "Oh- Hello there-" She said kindly before her breath caught in her throat.

James Herriot was driving home from a long day. He couldn't wait to return home to a lovely home-cooked dinner, perhaps a drink to wash it down. Unfortunately, the sound of the car rolling up the tracks at the front of the house startled Lucy, and she fell backwards over a water bucket.

James, being none-the-wiser of the girl who was trespassing on his property, or rather, Siegfried's, got out of the car. He went to shut the door but it just wouldn't budge. The young man threw himself up against it in a fit of rage before the thing finally slammed shut. "Blasted door!" He hissed under his breath before he began walking up towards the house. Mr Herriot almost missed the girl beside the barn until he heard the bangs and splashes of water as Lucy struggled to get to her feet.

James faltered a little bit and peered forwards into the darkness. "Hello..?" Mr Herriot called softly. "Is that… Someone there?"

Lucy stepped out, suddenly illuminated by the dim lights of the house. The poor girl had her hands above her head as she shot James a nervous smile. "S-sorry sir…" She apologized quickly. "I can get off your land as soon as you like, sir… Just ah- do me a favor and don't do me in for trespassing."

"Oh uh…" James smiled nervously and took a few more steps forwards. "Just James is fine, no need to call me sir" He chuckled a little before he went to put his arm around her to lead her back towards the house, a look of concern suddenly crossing his face. "Are you certain you're alright?" he asked.

James was rather surprised that Lucy hadn't pulled away. Well, at least it would be a little easier than he had expected.

On Lucy's end, James seemed nice. Like she'd suspected with 'people like that'.

Upon reaching the steps up to the back door, the pair were greeted by another face. Another young man, a mop of blonde hair on his head, and a wide, mischievous grin on his face.

"Tristan!" James exclaimed, a hint of disappointment in his voice. Lucy noted that he perhaps sounded a little fed up, as if whatever was going on was a usual occurrence. "What the DEVIL are you doing, sneaking out at night! Won't Siegfried-"

"Oh don't worry about Siegfried." Tristan smirked before his eyes drifted to the girl beside James. He leant forwards, his lips coming only a few centimeters away from James' ear. "Oh, well done James!" He whispered excitedly, perhaps under the impression that Lucy could in fact, not hear him. She could. "You know, I never thought you were the type to bring home girls in the evening" He said proudly, crossing his arms over his chest as he leant on James' shoulder much to the other man's discomfort.

"It isn't like that." James snapped, pushing Tristan off of him, the blonde man laughed.

"Oh really?" Tristan chuckled lightly.

"Why on Earth would I ever-" James said, trying his best to get a word in.

"I thought you'd gotten yourself a young one-"

"TRIS!" James snapped.

Tristan smiled "Well… If she's not yours-" He said hopefully, reaching a hand towards the girl to sweep up her own and kiss it, well… That didn't go to plan as James stepped in front of Lucy.

"She isn't anybody's!" James hissed.

Tristan looked rather taken aback, but he soon smiled again and backed off down the steps.

"Yes that's right!" James said bitterly. "Go off and- and get yourself one too!" He shouted as that blasted car pulled out of the driveway. That was before James remembered Lucy. He snapped his head round to give her an apologetic smile. "Ah- Sorry… You know what I…meant-"

Lucy nodded and gave a tight smile. "I know."

"Of course!" James smiled and opened the back door ushering her inside. "Now. Let's get you… sorted… Have you got a name?" He asked her, he seemed to be walking to the telephone, even Lucy knew that would be no use. She had no family name.

"Oh uhm…" Lucy began, she couldn't just keep silent, that would look suspicious. "Smith. Lucy Smith."

James nodded along with her words and flicked through the phone book, the instrument to his ear. "Is it ah- Alastair and Gwendolyn?" He asked, looking over his shoulder. Lucy shook her head. "No? Ah- lets see-" James went back to studying the phone book. "Christopher and Jane?"

Lucy shook her head again.

James sighed. "Last one ah- Agatha and Henry!" He exclaimed, the man obviously seemed very confident this time, after all, those three had been the only three Smith families in the small town. Though after not receiving a reply from Lucy, he frowned. "Oh- You're not from around here are you?" He put the phone down. "In fact, I can't even say that you're from the country, your voice, I can tell" James said, suddenly realizing that he had been talking for quite a bit and didn't realize that Lucy hadn't a chance to get a word in.

Lucy shook her head. "No sir, I'm not."

James chuckled uncomfortably and slid his hands into his pockets "Ah uh, please refrain from calling me sir…" He said before clapping his hands together. "Now! How about you stay the night, then we'll see what we can do in the morning for you alright?" He smiled, leading her over to the stairs. "You don't talk much do you?" He smiled a little, looking down at her.

Lucy shrugged. "Ain't much to talk about… James."

"Perhaps it's just the tiredness eh?" James laughed and patted her lightly on the back. "Now, you take my room just there, and I'll see you in the morning!" He said cheerily.

It had perhaps been a few hours since Lucy had laid down to sleep. It was the first time she'd laid in a proper bed in months, perhaps even years, actually, that was probably more likely.

She was peacefully sleeping until there came a thud. Then another, then another, and then, the door banged open.

"James! JAMES!? That you?" In strode the young blonde man from earlier, Lucy instinctively climbed out of bed

"I must say the weather out there is… Oh James!" Tristan beamed as he staggered towards Lucy with open arms, which the girl narrowly avoided. "Brilliant night you see… It ah… Beautiful, she is! But only slightly cold out-" Tristan said, his words slurring together until it didn't really make much sense.

Just then, Tristan fell knee-first onto the bed, a wide grin on his face as he pulled up the covers as Lucy inched her way towards the bedside table, her hand reaching for the lampshade.

"James, are you there?" Tristan laughed drunkenly before-

SMACK-

Tristan was out cold.

James was woken abruptly the next morning by shouting that could only belong to Siegfried, especially at six in the morning. James at first, forgetting that he had fallen asleep on the sofa the night before, must've thought it was simply that Tristan had failed to answer the early morning calls. Then, he remembered Lucy.

Oh crumbs!

"James!" The shouting sounded closer now, almost as if Siegfried was hovering just over- Oh.

"James!" Siegfried snapped again. "What the DEVIL are you doing sleeping down here!?" He exclaimed, pulling the knitted blanket off of James' still fully-clothed body. "And get up!"

James opened his eyes, sure enough, Siegfried was indeed hovering just over the bed. James looked at him fearfully "I ah- was testing out a new place to sleep" He smiled weakly, he knew that wouldn't do the trick, and seeing now that Siegfried had opened his mouth to speak again, James only expected the worst, like Tristan had said, Siegfried wouldn't like him bringing woman home despite how it certainly wasn't like that between him and Lucy. Infact, James was a very happily married man.

"And where is that damned boy!" Siegfried snapped.

"I'm sorry… I don't-"

"Yes you DO! You certainly do! If he went out late last night you must've crossed paths!" Siegfried shouted. James' silence in the situation was certainly making his anger bubble and boil even more in his chest, ready to explode like a kettle.

"Whatever Tristan get's up to isn't any of my business!" James said defensively.

"No! No you're certainly right, it is MY business" Siegfried paused, in thought, removing his glasses in exasperation as he chewed on the arm. "James. Is that why you're asleep down here?" He asked, surprisingly calmly. Though James was certain that wouldn't last long knowing Siegfried.

"What?"

"So Tristan could hide up in your room until he's sober enough." Siegfried snapped before turning to make his way up the stairs, although it wasn't the loud stomping of Siegfried's feet that woke Lucy up, it was in fact-

"TRISTAN!" Siegfried's voice shook the house again

Luckily, before the man practically knocked down the door, Lucy had just enough time to duck under the bed where Tristan was beginning to stir.

The blonde man gazed up for a split second before he caught sight of Lucy, smiling tiredly. His vision was still a little blurred, both from the horrible hangover and concussion that Lucy had given him. "Oh hello-" He said smoothly before Lucy shoved his head down again, hearing two pairs of footsteps entering the room, one belonging to a rather panicked James.

"Tristan, where the bloody hell are you!?" Siegfried exclaimed, examining the room before he saw a foot poking out from under the bed that unfortunately wasn't Tristan's. Luckily, James managed to stop Siegfried with a little "no", before the man had a chance to yank poor Lucy out from under the bed.

Siegfried turned on him, immediately suspicious of how quickly James had reacted. "You knew didn't you?" He exclaimed. "You knew he was out!" He was accused.

"I swear I didn't Siegfried." James said fearfully yet firmly. "All I wanted to point out was that you didn't have to resort to brute force to get… him out." James faltered as he edged his way around the bed, meeting gazes with a very dazed looking Tristan.

"Oh dear-" James remarked.

"What's the matter?" Siegfried snapped.

"I hit him…" Lucy muttered to James, making his face pale, but he knew it would look a little strange if he didn't say anything to Siegfried for that long while he was straining to listen to Lucy, but he knew she had to be quiet.

"He seems to have hit his head, Siegfried!" James called over his shoulder as he pulled Tristan to his feet. "Come on. Up you get." James said, though it sounded as though he was speaking to one of his patients, his patients which weren't human. "We can get you downstairs and sort you out," James said gently.

Tristan put a hand to his head, looking rather concerned, perhaps even worried. "Sort… Sort me out?" He asked. "I am fine James and… well, you're not really a Doctor"

"Do what he says Tristan." Siegfried snapped angrily. "It would be a step in the right direction." He said bitterly before grabbing the blonde boy's front.

"And don't think you've heard the last of this Trissy, once that blasted head injury of yours is cleared up I'll have words with you dear brother." He seethed, dropping Tristan back to the ground before he stormed back downstairs.

James took one glance over his shoulder, hoping Lucy would be able to keep herself safe up here, before taking a very poor and shaken Tristan downstairs.

Lucy clambered out from under the bed as she heard the footsteps fade downstairs. Her eyes drifted over to the window, then to the bedsheets, she didn't need them. Lucy had run from many people before, and growing up alone since she was 10, she'd learnt to be very cautious, especially now since James had seemed to drill in so much fear around Siegfried finding out she was there that she was now terrified. Especially after all that yelling.

And so, the girl opened the window just enough so that she could just about squeeze through before-

THUD-

"What the-" Siegfried stopped his shouting rather abruptly upon hearing the noise one hand, it could've been a child messing around, that wasn't a very strange occurrence in Darrowby, or perhaps it was an injured animal, now, for a Veterinary Surgery, then that was a concern for the partners.

James' eyes widened. "I'll get it!" He exclaimed, racing past the other two towards the door. Although Siegfried was still fuming at his brother, James' eagerness to get out at such an early time in the morning was almost refreshing for the man. He smiled faintly, well, as much as Siegfried could as he watched James go.

"You could take a few pages out of his book, you know." Siegfried said firmly, seating himself at the dining table as Mrs Hall brought in that morning's breakfast, lovely fatty sausages with equally fatty bacon. "Thank you Mrs Hall!" Siegfried called as the woman excused herself, he began on her breakfast.

Meanwhile, Lucy was laid out on her back beside the house. Her head was throbbing just as much as her back. And although James was taking no time in getting over there, though Lucy could merely make the man out to be a blurred shape of the man that he really was.

"Ow…" Lucy muttered through gritted teeth as she looked up at James, an anger building behind her eyes. James had seemed like the safest person that she had met for a while, boy was she wrong, or at least, in that moment, felt that calling James the 'nice vet' in her head was one of the poorest judgements that she had made.

"LUCY!" James exclaimed.

"Lucy?" Siegfried paused

Unfortunately, James had been loud enough for his voice to carry itself right into the ears of Siegfried. That man was notorious for hearing everything, Tristan knew that all too well.

"Oh yes." Tristan threw out casually, waving his cutlery around, his mouth still stuffed with bacon. "Some girl he brought home last night." He said with a light snort of laughter.

Siegfried, however, was not in the mood for laughter. In fact, Siegfried was never usually in the mood for laughter. Instead, he hovered tensely over his breakfast. "A girl." He muttered. "Last night"

"Oh yes!" Tristan exclaimed. "Lovely thing. I saw them both at the door as I was on my way out, introduced me to her"

Siegfried was fuming at this point, he was absolutely red in the face with anger, and though Tristan had spent his night with a new girl, he was finally not going to be on the receiving end of his elder brother's anger. And all for a simple misunderstanding on Tristan's end. Only Tristan knew for a fact that it was not a misunderstanding, more of a light hearted joke.

"JAMES!" Siegfried's voice thundered right through the house and out of it, as the mischievous little Tistan hurried up the stairs to listen in.

James had only just helped Lucy to stand before he heard the heavily and quite possibly angered footsteps of Siegfried marching around the house and down the back lawn.

"So you thought you could hide her from me did you?" Siegfried seethed as he approached James. His voice was surprisingly calm after all that shouting, though the redness in his face was making it seem as though that seething anger boiling up inside his chest, ready to steam like a kettle. "Thought you could hide your pretty little flower did you?"m

"DID YOU!?" Siegfried yelled after a deafening silence.

"Well-" Siegfried laughed dangerously. "You can't hide anyth-"

"Sorry sir… You what?" Lucy would have laughed if she wasn't so scared. James took a step back as Siegfried looked at her.

"Well" Siegfried sighed and took the girl up uncomfortably from the shoulders. "You are the famed Lucy aren't you?" He asked

"Well… Yes… If you skip over the…" Lucy paused, her face scrunching up. "What did you call me? His… pretty little flower?" Lucy felt as though she could quite positively throw up.

"Siegfried!" James exclaimed, pointing a finger at the man as, with some newfound confidence, marched right up to him. "This has gone far enough! Tristan's been talking to you hasn't he?" He seethed through gritted teeth. "He's said something about me and Lucy!"

"How long have you known her!?" Siegfried shouted, perhaps not quite getting the memo that his little brother had been messing with him. James would've thought that Siegfried would be used to that by now!

James clenched his hands by his sides. "Siegfried. As you have said many times yourself I am a very happily married man! I put it to you that my intentions with Lucy are no more than a moral instinct to give the girl somewhere to stay for the night!"

Siegfried opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get the words out, the three heard something from up above. It was a quiet titter that eventually turned into a snort of laughter. The three looked up, only to see Tristan hanging half out the bedroom window to watch what was going on down below.

"TRISTAN!" Siegfried yelled, making the poor boy jump, hitting his head yet again, this time, on the top of the window frame. Lucy couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter.

"Steady on Siegfried-" James said carefully, taking a step back, James knew for a fact that the moment Siegfried was angered, he could take it out on anyone, whether he was angry at that person or not.

Siegfried drew in a breath, almost as if he was attempting to calm himself down. "Did you know he was married?" He glanced at Lucy briefly.

Lucy shook her head, opening her mouth to speak just as Siegfried was about to most likely blow up in James' face. "I didn't know he was married-"

Siegfried opened his mouth yet again, James took another step back, before Lucy cut in again. "Congratulations on that, but what he said was true. "I don't have any money, a place to stay- he was just being kind is all." She shrugged.

"Kind?" Siegfried glared at James. "Where exactly did you find her?"

"Oh, last night. Outside the barn. All looked pretty cold out there. Freezing, even. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her."

"Outside? In the cold?" Siegfried asked, his anger beginning to cook up once again.

"That's right." James said certainly. If he knew Siegfried well, then he would know that the man would think James either did the right thing or the wrong thing, it depended on how Siegfried was feeling on that particular morning. So far, not great

"Alone?"

"Oh, yes, all alone. Just as I came home, too." Siegfried looked towards Lucy again, even pulling a pair of spectacles from his inside pocket to look down at her through them. "Mm. No money, new clothes?"

"I suppose n-"

"I wasn't talking to you, James." Siegfried snapped, James took a step backwards, afraid that one good grilling from Siegfried would scare Lucy off for good. To his surprise, Siegfried smiled. Sort of. Good enough. "We'd better get you something better to wear, then."

"Siegfried?" James asked, completely taken aback by the man's reaction, his voice going up a note out of panic.

"You've done a terrible job, James. Awful, awful job. Not even offering the poor girl a bath." Siegfried said, placing his spectacles back inside his pocket.

"But you said-!?" James faltered

"I expect better from you, Herriot. Come along Lucy" Siegfried said, leading the girl inside.

Just as James was about to follow, he heard another snort of laughter from the window, despite his shock at Siegfried being so hospitable. James, in one final rage of anger, ripped off his right shoe and threw it towards the window Tristan had popped out of again. The man yelped and ducked out the way just in time. "I'm going to murder you Tristan." James seethed before storming away into the house.

Well, at least Lucy was staying.