"So, you actually decided to show up?"
Not having expected someone to enter the room, Ravenna startled at the voice breaking the silence. With a hand clutching her heart she whirled around to find herself face to face with her second favorite person in the world: Jack, Mush being her favorite.
She could not help her face from sneering.
"Decided to check up on me? Didn't think sending me with the overgrown curlicue was enough? I am not one to skimp out on her duties, even if it means spending time with this street rat."
Jack's gaze became deadly.
"That street rat is an adopted brother to me, and if I hear you call him anything like that again I swear I'll kill you. In fact, if I hear you insult my boys in any form you will regret the day you ever saw a newsie." Jack took a deep breath before he continued. "Now, do I need to get you anything to help you care for Les?" He put emphasis on the name of the lad sleeping in the bed next to them.
Lifting her nose a bit higher in the air because she was rather put off at being chastised, she waited a moment before informing him as to what he could do for her.
"As a matter of fact there is something I need you to do. Seeing that I am a lady," Jack gave a brief snort at the mention of the word causing Ravenna's own gaze to coolly assault him before continuing. "As I was saying, seeing that I am a lady I do not think it would be proper for me to give the…lad a bath"
Jack gave her as nonplussed look.
"Why would he need a bath? He's sick."
She took a moment of delight in Jack's ignorance; he had just given her ample material to rub his face in his lack of knowledge, something she would enjoy due to her recent rebuke from him.
"To lower the fever. Everyone knows that when someone has a fever the best thing to do for that person is bathe them in cold water. It helps to reduce the body temperature, therefore lowering the chance of having the person's brain overheating which leads to death."
Jack's face became slightly red at Ravenna's tone insinuating his stupidity. He mumbled something under his breath about her and a female dog, though what that had to do with the price of tea in china she did not have a clue. Jack walked briskly over to the bed, gathered the sleeping boy in his arms and headed towards the water closet.
"Do make sure that the water is very cold and bathe him for at least 20 minuets. I will go to the kitchen and see if I can find something fitting for him to eat."
Jack merely nodded his head in agreement as he trotted off leaving her to find the kitchen on her own. At least she assumed there was one; after all, any decent place had a kitchen.
Much to her relief there was a kitchen, if the room she found could be called that. There was a rather ancient looking stove in the far corner with a few pots and pans hanging on the wall beside it. A miniscule pantry contained the barest vegetables and she did not even feel up to looking in the ice box to see what it contained. However, Ravenna was getting used to the idea of doing things she did not wish to and braved a glance. Much to her surprise there appeared to be a little bit of meat that did not seem to be spoiled.
Lighting the stove, she retrieved a rather large pot and wandered her way towards where Jack and the little kid were. Knocking upon the door she was answered with the always pleasant "What?"
Leaning in upon the door in an attempt to enable Jack to hear her better she replied
"I was wondering if you would fill my pot with water. I need it to cook the stew.
The door opened abruptly, causing Ravenna to slightly loose her balance and give Jack a glare. Shoving the pot into his hands she backed away from the semi open door. Jack went back to the tub and pumped water into the pot before returning it to her. She faltered slightly under the added weight of the pot.
Jack gave an exasperated sigh while running a hand through his hair and leaning on an elbow on the door frame.
"Do you want me to carry that downstairs for you?"
Ravenna snapped an "I'll be fine," before struggling to maintain carrying the pot while not breaking her neck walking down the stairs. Luckily, she made it without spilling too much of the water. She immediately placed the pot upon the stove, which was greeted with a hiss when the stray water met the flames.
She took the last of the meat from the icebox and chopped it up into fine pieces before placing it in the pot. She did the same thing with potatoes, carrots, celery and onions. She added a bit of salt and pepper for flavor and simply hoped that all went well. It was not the usual way stew was made, for she had watched cook prepare it many times when a storm kept her from playing outside, but she hoped that it would suffice. She shook her head for a brief moment after the last thought had crossed her mind. What did she care if the little newsie liked her soup or not? It was a warm meal and he should be grateful that she cared enough to feed him, for feeding him was not in her job description, at least she didn't think it was.
The stew had been simmering for a few minuets when she heard voices on the stairs.
"Jack, do you smell food?"
A chuckle arose before it was followed by a compassionate voice.
"Yeah, I do, smells good doesn't it?"
"Yeah, smells like Mama's. Jack, I miss her something terrible."
There was a pause before Jack answered the boy
"Yeah, I know you do, but Les, she's gone."
"I know, I just miss her and thought I'd say so. I really miss her when I'm sick though. She would always rub my chest and sing to me softly, even if it was only a cold."
The voice of the little kid pulled on the heart strings of Ravenna. She could relate to the lad. She missed her mom too; she just couldn't remember any pleasant things about her like he did. The only thing she remembered was her mother's voice shouting to the gypsies. Tears perked at her eyes and she stubbornly refused for them to form any further. She had lived without a mother for 15 years, she would not cry anymore, it was ludicrous to do so. Steeling her emotions she checked on the stew again. It would only be a few minuets before it would be ready. Her stomach growled as if supporting the idea that food would be ready soon causing a smile to twinge upon her lips.
Jack walked into the kitchen a few moments later interrupting her while she was stirring.
"I'm going to sell the rest of my papes. Les is in the bed and I think he feels cooler, the bath did him some good."
Not even lifting her eyes from the pot she replied, "That's what it was ment to do."
She heard a sigh from the door as Jack left her alone once more with the food while he mumbled something again linking her to a female dog. Shaking her head she concentrated at the task at hand.
Once she thought the meat was thoroughly cooked and the vegetables had had proper time to simmer, she dished two bowls before proceeding to where the lad was. This would be the first time she had to deal with the kid while he was awake. She only hoped that she could remain civil to him.
Opening the door carefully while balancing the tray containing two bowls of stew, she managed to enter the room without dropping any of the scalding hot liquid. Resting the tray upon the bedside chair she handed the lad a bowl before taking her own.
"It's beef stew, Cook always made it for me when I was sick, I thought I'd do the same for you."
The lad sniffled his stuffy nose before blowing at a spoonful of the liquid, popping it into his mouth, and smiling after he had pulled the utensil from his lips.
"Too bad Jack's not able to be here, this tastes even better than it smells."
The lad's praise of her food warmed her heart a bit causing a slight smile to waver on her lips before she realized who she was dealing with. Her smile immediately left her face.
"I'm glad he's not, for if he ate my stew and liked it I'd never be able to make it again."
The boy appeared to be puzzled by not only her harsh tone but also her words as well.
"If Jack liked it why would that be bad?"
Ravenna was at a loss for how to respond. If she told him it was because he was a newsie, meaning he was practically as bad as a gypsy, the lowest thing in the world, she knew that she would appear childish. Unable to find a suitable answer she growled something along the lines of "Eat before focusing her attention on her own food.
The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, the same way the rest of the day was spent. Ravenna spent most of her time sitting next to the lad's bed working on her latest cross stitching project while the child slept. Every once in a while she would feel the lad's forehead and gently wake him to see if he was all right, but the child seemed content to sleep most of the day away. She assumed that he must not get enough sleep during the week, which to her was rather astonishing; she had always been able to obtain as much sleep as her body needed when she was a child. The lad was sleeping as if he had not had a proper nights rest in months. Shaking her head from side to side at that thought while she worked, she grudgingly felt a bit of respect growing for the lad sleeping beside her.
As the day wore on and he did not complain or ask any extravagant tasks of her, the respect grew a bit more. The few requests that the lad did ask for were minor ones, such as "Can I have a glass of water" or, "Will you open the window, it is a bit hot in here." Never before had she met such a polite patient. She knew when she was sick she might not be a brat, but she would play up the sympathy as much as she possibly could. What negative actions he had displayed the day before that she kept reminding herself of were being replaced by the way in which he was conducting himself while she was nursing him. She tried to repeat that he had lied to her and was as bad as a gypsy, yet her argument seemed weak and flawed, for surely a gypsy would not act this way while sick.
The question of whether she had been too harsh in her quick judgment of him began to roll around in her mind, along with the question of whether or not she had been too harsh with her judgments with the rest of the newsies; except Mush of course, for he was a gypsy.
A/N: Ok, I lied; this has become a regular thing for me, so sue me. I'd like to see you try, only thing you'll get is my holey toe socks hehe. Ok but seriously. Aren't you happy for me? An update only 2 days from the last one *dances* Woohoo! I am so good! I was struck with inspiration for this chapter at 1:00 in the morning while in the water closet. I know you didn't need to know that, but I thought I'd tell you anyway hehe. *watches reviewers run away screaming* Dang it! I knew that would happen one of these days. Ah well. Ok, so Ravenna is showing she has a heart! Happy? She isn't a cold heartless *insert following word* Really, she's not! Oh, and if the recipe for stew is way off I don't take any responsibility. The closest thing I've gotten to making (or eating by the way) stew from scratch is opening a can of Dintie Moore. OK on to the SOs. *Passes out Werther's Original Hard Caramel Candies to reviewers*
JP: Don't worry deary, you were the 1st reviewer for that chapter, and if you hurry perhaps for this one as well! Hehe. I know how you feel being the 1st, make you feel spiffy. Hehe Bizarre word alert. Hehe. As for ffn not being 1st priority *snorts* that's my comment hehe. She's getting nicer, slowly but surely. I agree with not relating to tall women. I'm 5'2 ½. Not exactly model height considering they are oh…5'7 at the least. I usually enjoy being short but I was only slightly pissed when I learned that I couldn't' be a Disneyland princess because you have to be 5'7. I'm not mad at all. Really. I didn't WANT to be a princess. *sticks out lower lip and mumbles something about stupid shirt wearing sewer rat*
AaronLohrLover24: Hehe, I'm glad I could please you. I didn't know that my description of Mush in the last chapter would be so popular hehe. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Sorry there wasn't any Mush in this chapter, there should be in the next one though. There was a nice Rav though…that good enough?
Chronicles Bailey: Hope I didn't leave you hanging. Hehe. I also hope you enjoy this update.
Mondie: Ok, I'm sorry you aren't getting as many reviews but it is nice to know I'm not the only one not getting a lot. That sounded mean, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it in that way. I'm glad you liked my description of Mush hehe. I don't think I've ever seen MD3 all the way through so I don't remember that part of the movie. That's funny that he did something similar in that movie though hehe. As for Rav, well, she's getting nicer. First comes friends with the newsies then come the feelings. Baby steps, she is taking aby steps. Can't just leap into his arms now can she? Well she could but the story wouldn't nearly be as good would it? At least I don't think so :o) Trust me, I know how you feel, the romantic reader side of me agrees with you but then the realistic writer side of me says the time will come. BTW thank you for always writing long reviews. I love reading them. :o)
Hottie5Star: *dances* you're back! Yeah, a reviewer comes back from the grave. Ok, I'm done, really! Can you blame me for not being all here though? It's 3:22 and I'm doing SOs. I know, I'm insane. Stupid Muses. But anywho. Don't worry about not reviewing the important fact is your back to reviewing. :o) I know, she is rather prejudice, but as you assumed, and I think this chapter shows a bit, her further experience with the newsies is changing her opinions and she is getting nicer. I'm glad you like the cat, I do too. Wish I could have her in real life. Ah well. I'll have to remain happy with her only in my mind and story. Hehe. As for a long review, don't worry, I love them. The longer the better! Hehe…well as long as it's pleasant things. Don't know if I could read a long flame…would be sad. But I gave you more like you asked for so I hope you enjoyed it.
Another side note: For all of you who like the cat, I have a feeling she wants to be in the next chapter so don't worry, she will return.