Christmasàfamilyàwrathàflightàcomputerànew chapter!!

I'm too lazy to write something proper at the beginning. Just the usual stuff:

Disclaimer's still the same.

Feel free to review.

Enjoy.

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*When Maureen woke up the next morning she was utterly confused. She remembered very well what her last thought before falling asleep had been.

Love.

She once had sworn to herself to never fall in love. How could this have happened?

But DID she, Maureen Pears, really love Geoffrey Chaucer? The man who often could be seen writing and mumbling some weird stuff (which Bob called "pure poetry")? The man who had rescued her from what she didn't even want to imagine? The man who surely was the kindest and most warm-hearted person she had ever met (except for Jane of course)? The man who had those amazing blue eyes in which she'd like to dwell all day? The man whose smile made her always blush so deeply she had to turn away?

Maureen gasped. She WAS in love with him! She had seen the whole world in his eyes yesterday. She had wanted him to look at her with that special glance he had given Gina. ... Gina...this affected snobbish bitch who fretted around Geoffrey with this horrible fake giggle. Maureen was sure that he could see right through that annoying woman and that he would recognise how positively different Maureen was to her. He would see Maureen's advan...Maureen's? Well, no...Ryan's!!!

It had taken some time for Maureen to remember her actual idendity. But now it stroke her with full reality: she was a boy for him! She had been a boy when he first had met her. She had been a boy when he had safed her from Pete. She had been a boy when he had given her that hiring. Would he treat her differently if he knew her true idendity? Well, probably. The best thing she could do was going on as usually. But it wasn't usual anymore. It hadn't been ever since Cole had stated that he would marry her. Her life had been out of order ever since her nineteenth birthday.

What was she supposed to do now?

Well, going down for breakfast would be a good start, stated her stomach. Actually she didn't want to go down. She didn't think she was prepared enough for facing Geoffrey now that she knew she loved him. But sure enough she was really hungry and so she forced herself to get up and dressed and down the stairs. The others were already gathered around the table. However one place was empty: Geoffrey wasn't there. Horrible imaginations of annoying Gina having stayed for the night haunted her mind at once.

She sat down and looked around her hoping to see Geoffrey just coming in from the garden or something. The others, especially Elana, oddly seemed to avoid her eyes. What was wrong??

"Um...Ela...is Geoffrey eating with Gina in the dining room?"

She really had to know! But Ela acted strangely evasive. She still avoided eye-contact and only muttered

"Er...no..he's-" but was cut off by Bob who quickly said

"We don't speak about THAT, as you clearly know!"

"But Ryan..."

"He doesn't need to know...not yet. Sorry mate." He quickly added turning to Maureen clearly not wanting to offend her.

Maureen didn't understand what this all was about. She remained silent until the end of breakfast but after that James vanished into the stables and Bob into the study. Maureen didn't follow him but stayed in the kitchen pretending to help Ela. But in fact she was intending to find out what was going on. While she dried the dishes she decided it was time.

"Um...Ela. We usually get along with each other very well, don't we?"

"We haven't known each other for a long time...but yes." Maureen sensed a trace of suspicion in Ela's voice but still went on.

"And...um...what is this Bob didn't want you to tell me? Why shan't I know?"

"You have been here for too short a time..." Ela avoided her.

"Please tell me. Is it something bad?"

Elana looked in her eyes - for the first time that morning, then made sure that Bob and James were both out of earshot. She came very close to Maureen (who thought it to be somewhat too close) and whispered:

"You have to promise not to tell them you know it."

Maureen nodded eagerly.

"And you are not to tell anybody. As servants we know but we have promised each other to never tell anybody outside this house - and to never discuss it with each other. You have to promise me the same, too."

Maureen promised.

"Well...it's a bit difficult to explain. Um...first of all, he didn't spend the night with Miss Gina."

Maureen felt hugely relieved.

"At least I don't expect HER to take part in things like that."

Now Maureen was anxious again. Ela thought high of Gina so what was waiting to be revealed?

"Geoffrey has a small problem...with gambling...he sometimes goes out and...um...doesn't come home until the next day. ... It's then when he has spent the night in a dice-booth. ... He sometimes looses a considerable amount of money. ... Then we willingly do without our wages. ... Say something! You make me nervous with being so silent!"

But Maureen couldn't say anything. She was horrorstruck. A dice-booth! That was the kind of place she was expecting Pete at not a decent man like Geoffrey. He didn't look like a gambler. They usually were badly drunken so that they didn't realise what was going on around them. And they were dirty. And smelled bad. At least Pete's friends had usually been like that and Maureen knew most of them for being under the die's spell. Maureen couldn't believe it. She was thinking hard about a possible answer as she heard Bob call for her.

"That Geoffrey isn't here doesn't mean you have a day off for staying in the kitchen and gossiping around with Ela! So get your arse in here - I'll give you your lessons today!"

Maureen was shocked. She had never heard Bob talking like that (she usually forgot that she had been there for not even a week yet). He had to be in a really bad mood!

The lesson was hard and demanding. Bob was rather strict with her - a way of behaviour she had never expected him to be capable of. She endured it with her particular meekness and all the time was waiting for a sign that Geoffrey was back. But the whole day she didn't hear nor see him. He wasn't even back at supper time so Maureen began to worry. She wanted to stay awake until he came but Ela secretly explained to her that Geoffrey probably had lost his very clothes and waited for the hide of darkness to come home.

Maureen went up to her room and lay down. She thought about Geoffrey and his gambling. It was some sort of a shock that Ela had so much experience with that situation although she had worked here for hardly one year. So this must have happened quite often. Maureen thought gambling to be some disgusting character flaw. To even loose the very own clothes!!! But this didn't spoil her newly discovered feelings for Geoffrey. What she had hated on Pete just caused pity for Geoffrey in her now.

Pity soon enters the gentle heart.

+1 month later+

It was Ela's birthday. And in the morning Geoffrey wasn't there. He again hadn't come home at night. Meanwhile Maureen had been "officially" informed about the whole situation and how to deal with it. She thought it to be no help for his problem but didn't say anything. At least their behaviour held up his dignity.

He wasn't back at about lunch time and Maureen knew what that meant. She imagined Geoffrey hiding in some dark place near the dice-booth waiting for the night to find his way secretly home. Always in the fear that members of the noble society spot him wandering naked through the lanes. At the thought of a naked Geoffrey Maureen blushed deeply and had to supress a hard giggle which was stubbornly trying to find its way up her throat and out of her mouth. She buried her head into the huge pile of papers she was working at so that Bob wouldn't notice it.

Maureen was proud of herself (nevertheless was Geoffrey): she had learnt writing so fast it was almost hard to believe she hadn't been able to do it before. Her handwriting wasn't very good to read but enough for the daily work of archiving and writing addresses and the like. Geoffrey had said that it would not take too long until she would've been able to copy texts, too. It had made her ears burn.

However during lunch at the sight of Geoffrey's empty seat she remembered him and his assumed situation. She decided to act. Ela had the afternoon off and she was going to her aunt to celebrate her birthday together with the woman who had brought her up. Maureen was responsible for the kitchen now and while she was washing the dishes she heard Bob going out for delivery. That was the moment she had been waiting for. She sneaked up the stairs and into the laundry room where she nicked some old clothes of Bob (she didn't dare trying to get into Geoffrey's room to take clothes of him), tucked them into a bag and silently left the house.

Her stomach was going to burst with excitement. It was the first time she was on the streets again. Pete's bullies hadn't been seen for almost four weeks now (the norces of the city knew how to deal with the likes) but Geoffrey still hadn't thought it safe enough for her. Maureen tried not to think about his order to stay in the house. She only thought about bringing him some clothes so that he hadn't have to hide as if being some wanted criminal anymore. She sneaked through the lanes of the city towards the place she expected Geoffrey to be: a gamble-booth near the walls of the town in a less respected area. Ela had told her about that booth (Ela once had followed Geoffrey to find out where he was spending this wasted time) and Maureen dearly hoped he now was there, too.

After some time of walking and hiding in turns she reached the booth with one eye looking anxiously around her to hide quickly if one of Pete's gang was around, with the other eye she was searching for Geoffrey. It was early afternoon but there were already many bets going on. She couldn't see Geoffrey anywhere. But as she was passing a dark entrance next to the booth she heard a muffled yet obviously surprised cry coming out of it. She peered inside. It had sounded like Geoffrey.

"Master Geoffrey, is it you? Um...I'm bringing you clothes."

Now the voice was speaking making clear that it was undoubtedly Geoffrey's.

"Why?"

"Um... I thought you could need them. Nothing special, just pants and shirt from the laundry. They're Bob's but with them you can come home at least." With that she handed the clothes into the entrance avoiding to look into it for she was afraid of what she might see. She felt his cold hands when he quickly took the garments.

"Thank you, nice of you. But what are you doing outside on the streets? I really have a good use of the clothes but it clearly is not worth that you leave the safety of the house."

"Pete's guys weren't in front of the house for so long now - it was time for me to see something else than the house again. And I couldn't bear the thought of you hiding somewhere waiting for the night like being up to no good."

"Um...yes...well, we will speak about...um...that situation when we are at home, all right?" She heard sounds of rustling clothes so he was starting to dress now.

Maureen's ears burnt again. There surely had been gratitude in his voice. But also embarassment. And that he was embarassed meant he cared about her and her opinion about him. She always was searching for such signs of affection although it surely wasn't the kind of affection she was craving (her feelings had quickly deepened the last month).

Maureen was so deep in thought that she didn't notice what was going on around her. It was not until she heard a cold voice behind her that she realized that she and Geoffrey weren't alone on the world just now.

"And whom do we have here? Talking with doors are we now? Knew you weren't very right in the head!" the menace voice snapped. It was Pete's voice.

Maureen didn't so much as think but followed her intuition and ran.*

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Aaaah, that's a nice cliffhanger, isn't it?

Sorry for the shortness and lack of plot but I recently started an HP-fic and am currently much thinking about how it'll go on and why I don't have any review for it (small hint for every HP-fic-fans lol). It means either that it sucks terribly or that nobody reads it...

However please let me know what you think about this chapter!