Monday through Wednesday seemed to fly by for Ravenna. In the mornings she would have breakfast and chat with Elena before she walked the block to the Lodging House where she would take care of Les. There she would cook him breakfast and lunch and cross stitch, or read, while he slept. When he was awake they would talk, though those times were few and far between because of how fatigued he was. The days had seemed to fall into a routine which Ravenna was surprised to find herself enjoying.
What surprised Ravenna even more was how she was finding herself enjoying the company of the Newsies. The boys seemed to be hanging around the Dancing Bear more now that they had to walk Ravenna over there at night. It seemed that once everyone had learned that Ravenna was staying at the Dancing Bear, she needed more than one Newsie to walk her home. On Monday she had three Newsies, on Tuesday the number had increased to seven and on Wednesday the number was at a whopping ten. Once at Elena's, she and the Newsies would grab a table where she would have a lemonade while the others usually had the like or something a little bit stronger.
At first she felt rather odd hanging around a bunch of boys she had decided not to like, but she really had no other place to go. True, she could have gone up to her room, but not being around people all day made her crave human contact; so, she had found herself surrounded by Newsies. At the end of the second evening she found herself relaxing in the boy's company. While she did not do much but observe, she discovered that the Newsies were really a bunch of caring, genuine people that did what they had to in an attempt to survive. The boys would joke around with each other and talk about all of the types of people that they had sold a paper to that day, usually eliciting a smile from her. By the end of the Wednesday night gathering, Ravenna had even began to participate in the conversation, drawing a rather surprised look from Jack and a rather pleased look from Elena. Wednesday was the first night where she realized that she truly had judged the Newsies too quickly, causing her to make the resolution of trying to befriend the Newsies; something she planned to do starting with the poker game on Friday night. She had to get through Thursday first, however, which proved to be a rather trying task.
"When do you think I'll be able to get out of bed?"
Ravenna sighed; she had not been looking forward to this day, even though she knew it would be coming. Les' fever was down and she knew that he would want to be up and active as soon as possible. However, she also knew that doing so would likely signal a relapse of his sickness. Les needed to stay in bed until he was fully recovered. Gently running a hand over his hair she offered a small smile.
"You'll be able to get out of bed when you've fully recovered."
At that moment the boys decided to come home and were making all of the typical racket. A relieved smile graced her lips. She was rather glad she wasn't forced to give a specific number of days that she knew Les wanted because in all honesty she didn't know. What she didn't seem to want to admit to herself was the real reason she didn't want to give a specific number of days; if she did, she would be finalizing her time spent here. Ravenna was beginning to enjoy taking care of Les and spending the rest of her night with the Newsies; she hated to see all of that be swept away so quickly.
Jack decided to stick his head in the door at that moment and announce that they would be leaving shortly. Nodding her head in acknowledgment she turned to Les.
"It seems it's time for me to leave. I will see you tomorrow."
Dropping a small kiss upon the top of his head, she had somehow seemed to take up the roll of Les' big sister, she began to gather her few personal items when she heard a racking cough from the other side of the door. Furrowing her brows she placed her hand upon the doorknob to pull open the door just as the door was being pushed open, causing her to stumble backwards and lose her balance.
Just as she was mentally bracing herself for the hard landing that was impended, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around her. Slowly opening the eyes that she had subconsciously squeezed shut, she found one of her least favorite people. She was stunned to see the concern that was etched upon his face. All she found she could do was blink as her golden gaze stared into his chocolate brown one.
"Are you all right?" was huskily whispered, breaking the trance that had surrounded them.
Suddenly she was extremely aware of the arms that she had wrapped around her as well as the closeness that the arms forced them to have. A sent drifted to her nose that was distinctly Mush, it was a mixture of sweat and myrrh. She assumed the sweat was from the unusually hot March day and the myrrh was from his soap. A rosy hue rushed to her cheeks as her thoughts registered, causing Ravenna to become frustrated that he could illicit such a response from her. No man had ever been able to do such a thing and now this gypsy had done so.
Pushing his hands off of her, she somehow managed to stand and immediately began to brush herself off in an attempt to straighten her dress. Remembering that he had asked how she was, she was about to snap an 'I'm fine' when he began to cough the same racking one she had heard earlier. The maternal instinct in her caused her brows to knit together again, and forced out the same question he had asked earlier of her.
"Are you all right?"
He waved off her question with his left hand as his right one was covering his mouth.
"I'll be fine. I just seemed to have inhaled a bit of dust."
Ravenna's golden orbs narrowed at his pitiful attempt to assuage her concern.
"For someone who 'improves the truth' everyday I am surprised that you could not find a better reason as to why you would have such a nasty cough."
"He sounds like I did before I got really sick Nettle." Les piped from the bed. The boy had picked up Jack and Mush's nickname for her, yet when he said it she knew it was his term of endearment. Les was merely trying to take the sting away from the insult. However many of the boys had seemed to pick up on the name and it had unofficially become her handle, though now it was more out of conditioning than actual malice.
A wave of heat rushed over her face again as she realized that someone had been privy to her earlier charade. At the same time as that thought crossed her mind, what Les had said registered with her brain. Mush's cough was the same as Les' had been. The blood that had flooded to her cheeks immediately left. She slowly turned to Mush and lifted her hand to his forehead. Mush, not knowing what she was doing, gently batted away her hand as he backed away from her.
"What are you doing?"
Shaking her head as she realized that she had acted without thinking she again began to feel her cheeks heat for the third time that day.
"I was trying to check and see if you have a fever. I think you have what Les does."
Her statement was returned with a disgusted disbelieving look.
"There is no way I am sick. I can't be sick. I only have a cough, that's nothing special. Everybody has coughs this time of year."
She released a stream of air out through her nose, something she normally did when perturbed. She didn't like it when people discounted her intelligence. She knew she was not a medical expert, yet it did not take a genius to put together the facts. Les had a cough before he became ill; Mush had spent every night looking after Mush; Mush now had a cough. In fact, if Ravenna thought about it, Mush had seemed to be rather withdrawn lately. On Monday night he had been rather boisterous when at the Dancing Bear, on Tuesday night he had not been as loud, and on Wednesday he had been down right lackadaisical; Mush also seemed to be rather flushed now that she looked at him, and his eyes seemed to be a bit glassy. Why hadn't she noticed this earlier? 'Because you've been trying to avoid him you nit wit, that's why.'
"I'm afraid that whether you want to be sick and whether you are, are two different matters entirely. I've never known a body to care about whether or not the person living in them wanted to get sick, so I suggest you get used to the idea."
Her hands had been placed upon her hips as she spoke and her golden orbs had begun to flicker as if put afire. Mush didn't seem to know what to do, and Ravenna used this to her advantage. She placed the back of her hand to his forehead and sighed when she felt it was hotter than it should have been. Luckily, however, it was no where near where Les' had been those many days ago. She removed her hand and shook her head.
"You are most definitely ill."
Mush's eye's narrowed as he looked at her. "I. Am. Not. Ill."
Ravenna closed her eyes. She really did not have the patience to deal with a stubborn man, especially when she didn't have any desire to be the one to nurse him back to health, yet she knew that she would be the one given the job. No Newsie could afford to take multiple days off of work to care for someone, even if that someone was their best friend. Being a Newsie simply did not pay enough, that was her entire reason for being here in the first place.
Slowly she opened her glittering hues and stared her reluctant patient straight in the eyes. It was best to let him know who was boss straight off.
"Look, I know you don't like the idea of spending time alone with me any more than I treasure the thought of being locked up with you for hours on end. However, face the facts. You are sick. There is nothing else to add to it. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is having you admit that you're ill, go upstairs to grab any belongings you need and move in here with Les. Les is almost cured now anyway and will probably be able to move out in the next few days. Until then I'm sure Kloppman will be able to find a cot of some sort for you to rest on." She merely raised a hand in Les' direction to stop the cheer of excitement that the boy was about to release at the news that he would soon be leaving the "sick bay." "The hard way is me going to Jack and having him force you to stay here, which I will be able to do, believe me in that. I happen to be friends with Elena, and I'm sure she would share my sentiments, and we all know that she has…influence over Jack. Now I'm sure you do not want to be ordered to stay in bed, so let's be adult about this."
Mush didn't seem to know what to say, he simply stared at her in the same fashion he had the day after he had saved her. Waving him out of the room with her hand, he trudged upstairs to gather his personal belongings in a rather dazed manor. A self satisfied noise escaped her lips as she turned around and gave Les a wink before gathering her items that had fallen onto the floor, forgotten.
"Now, I really am leaving you. I will see you tomorrow."
Les nodded his head and said good bye as she left the room. Gently closing the door behind her she found Jack sitting on the steps waiting for her, along with a bunch of other boys.
"Are you ready to go Nettle?"
"Almost. Jack, may I speak to you for a moment, alone?"
Jack gave her a rather nonplussed look.
"Yeah, sure"
The two walked a few feet away to ensure that no one else would hear what they were saying. Ravenna began to bite her bottom lip, a nervous habit that she had never seemed to be able to cure herself of. She hated doing this, especially after she had basically just told Mush she wouldn't do this if he cooperated with her, but she needed to have a back up plan just in case he tired to "pull a fast one" on her.
"Um…Jack, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but it seems that Mush is sick. He has the same thing that Les did. Now he's not nearly as bad as Les was, but he is sick and won't be able to work for a few days. Now he seems like he is going to be compliant and stay in bed for a few days, but I thought that I should tell you seeing that you are the leader."
Jack ran a hand through his hair and let out a stream of air through his lips.
"All right, thanks for letting me know. I thought he looked a bit off color lately but was just fooling myself in thinking that he would be fine. I mean he has been the only one to watch Les during the night, wouldn't even let me take a shift." He shook his head. "This is going to set him back a bit, but the boys will chip in and lend him a bit of money so he can buy papes when he's better." He turned his brown gaze towards her, narrowing the slightest bit. "You are going to stay and take care of him right? I mean he did save your life after all."
What Jack implied and the tone with which he said it in rubbed Ravenna the wrong way. How dare he insult her integrity! Of course she would nurse the man who saved her life even if she had paid back her debt by nursing his friend. What sort of monster did he think she was? And here she had thought that they had begun to have some sort of friendship if not an understanding.
"I'll have you know, Jack Kelly, that the thought of fleeing had never even passed through my mind. As soon as I had discovered that Mush was ill I made it clear to him that he needed to gather his belongings from upstairs so he could join Les in the sick room so I might nurse them both. I never had any plans for abandoning the man who saved my life and I certainly did not need you to remind me of my duties."
Her golden orbs were smoldering, and Jack's brown ones seemed to be mirroring something akin to respect if she read them correctly. 'Well it's about time if you ask me.' Ravenna thought to herself.
A slow smile spread across Jack's lips. "No, I guess you didn't need me to remind you of your duties."
"You got that right."
At that moment Mush decided to walk down the stairs, followed by Kloppman and Skittery holding a raggedy looking cot. Mush's demeanor seemed to have worsened simply on his trip up to the bunk room. She was extremely grateful that she had caught the sickness when she had. Shoving the few items she had with her into Jack's hands she walked back into Les' room.
"Les, I've changed my mind, I think that Mush will need to use your bed and you're going to have to sleep on the cot. I'm sorry."
Les looked as if he was about to protest when Mush entered the room and nearly collapsed onto the bed. Les' dark brown hues grew to the size of baseballs and he nodded in agreement. Carefully he crawled out of the bed as Ravenna helped maneuver Mush into the bed. Once he was settled she turned her attention to the cot that was now on the floor horizontal to the foot of the bed. Two blankets and a pillow were lying on top of the cot. She laid one of the blankets on the cot and then places the pillow near one of the ends on top of the blanket.
"There you go Les. I'm sorry it won't be as comfortable as the bed but there's not much I can do about that."
"It's ok. Nettle." Les let out a soft yawn. " I'll see you in the morning."
Ravenna gave a soft smile.
"Yes, you will."
"Night Nettle."
"Night Les."
With that Ravenna slipped out of the room, leaving the two sick people sleeping, and headed towards her own warm bed at the Dancing Bear while being accompanied by twelve Newsies.
A/N: I am SO SORRY! I did not mean to go over a month without updating. I truly had no intention on doing that. My mom was on vacation and so I didn't want to be on the computer than much and then my Muses left me for Bermuda! It was a mess, but I did it! I finally got out another chapter of HP. What do you think? I now it's not the most action packed exciting chapter, that's the next one, but it was necessary to further the plot. Sorry I couldn't give you one of those blow me away chapters as an apology, but I have a feeling that if you stick around for the next update that you will be pleased with what is put up next.
Ok. I was supposed to have this Betaed…but I got impatient so I'm posting this as is. Sorry Keza! I luvs ya but I was itching to get this uploaded…perhaps next chapter?
*Hands out every reviewer's favorite "mini-me-Newsie" as an apology for the lateness and also as a thanks for reviewing.
JP: Here it is! I did it. More HP for you. Sorry no Kitty, but perhaps she will enter in the next chapter. I'm not sure. She has a personality all her own and just seems to enter and leave whenever she pleases, just like a real cat. LoL. I've never had a cat breath on me in the morning, but I do have 2 dogs, so I thought that a Kitty's breath must smell the same hehe. Aww I made you cry! I'm sorry, even if it was a good type of crying. I thought you deserved this, after all you are the one who pokes and prods me whenever you think it is time for me to update heh. Thanks for all of your help, I hope it was worth the wait. :o)
Raeghann: Don't worry about not reviewing, I didn't writ that to make you feel guilty I just thought that you deserved a SO because you have helped me so much in the writing of this. I'm glad you liked this, and I'm sorry I didn't have this up for you when you were on the other day. Please forgive me, but as I said my Muses were off relaxing in Bermuda (hehe mental picture of my Muses partying with the cartoon Merlin from Sword in the Stone by Disney, *giggles*). I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. :o)
AaronLohrLover24: I'm so sorry for not having this up sooner. I'm so glad you like this bit of creativity that won't seem to leave me hehe. Not that I want it too mind you. Thanks for the compliment of having it well written, that means a lot since I do try to write to the best of my abilities, though how well that is is in the eye of the beholder. I hope you enjoyed my latest installment.:o)
Hottie5Star: I'm not holding anything from you *smiles innocently* I'm glad too that Rav finally seemed to warm up, and she'll warm up even more in the next chapter. I'm looking forward to writing that one. It's the Poker night. Hehe. But I can't say anymore 'cause that's for next time. I'm sorry this didn't come sooner, but I do hope you liked it. :o)