Ravenna awoke to a sandpaper tongue showing its adoration to her cheek.
"Oh, Ferocious!"
Her nose crinkled as her head moved as far away as it could on the pillow while the black and white kitten cocked its head to the side and let out a tiny innocent "meow."
A soft sigh escaped her reddened tiers as they lifted to form a smile. A slender hand ruffled the kitten's head before Ravenna grasped it with both hands and placed a kiss upon her companion's nose.
"You are simply too cute."
The animal let out another soft meow as if to let Ravenna know that she was fully aware of the effect she had on humans, causing her new owner to chuckle while placing warmed feet upon a mercilessly cold floor.
Slipping on a simple morning dress before pulling her hair into a rather messy bun, Ravenna frowned into the mirror before heading downstairs in hopes that Elena could make some sense of the wild mass she dubbed her hair.
"Elena, farete prego i miei peli?" Ravenna asked as she padded down the stairs causing Elena to look up from the bar top she had been cleaning.
"Ma naturalmente prezioso"
Elena grinned as she pulled Ravenna into a nearby chair.
"I am so glad to have someone with whom to converse with in Italian that is not family."
Deft hands made quick work of the task in front of her and in a few moments Ravenna's messy bun was turned into a beautiful French twist. Turning around to face her new found friend, Ravenna gently cleared her throat.
"Elena, is Anthony busy at the moment?"
The woman's catty eyes narrowed slightly as she took in Ravenna, clearly trying to decide what she would want with her brother.
"I was simply wondering if he might be up to delivering a message to my butler telling him I will be gone for a while longer. Since Mush is sick, I fear that I will be taking up residence in that room upstairs for a while longer. I am not too worried about convincing Jeeves that my absence is acceptable, but I do know that Cook will be back on Monday and she is the one that will be hard to pass an acceptable excuse by." Ravenna let out a soft sigh.
Elena gently rested a hand upon her shoulder.
"Do not worry prezioso, everything will work out. Now I will bring you a pen and paper while Anthony brings you your breakfast; nothing fancy, simply oatmeal with a bit of sugar in it along with orange slices, but it should be filling."
Ravenna's face broke into a smile.
"You are simply too good to me Elena."
"Nonsense. I am simply making sure that I have a satisfied customer because satisfied customers are returning customers."
Ravenna swatted at Elena as she left the room, laughing, in search of writing utensils, as Anthony appeared with the aforementioned food. Once her breakfast was finished and her note was completed to her satisfaction, Ravenna walked to the Lodging House where she would face her new patient.
Pushing open the door with slender hands she noticed that the boys were still tramping about upstairs which caused a slight smile to appear upon her face. Tonight was the night that she would be participating in the poker game with the boys. Half of her was excited about experiencing something as different and foreign as a poker game among the Newsies, while her other half was nervous; why, she was not exactly sure, but it felt as if she had horses tap-dancing upon her inners.
Heading into the room downstairs, golden orbs took in the sleeping male form on the bed. Beads of sweat were forming on his brow, and Ravenna hurried over towards him to feel the forehead that was hotter than Les' had ever been. Just as she was thinking about him, the boy's head popped up from the end of the bed.
"Hi Nettle."
"Morning Les, how do you feel?"
The boy let out a yawn that was followed by a smile, which warmed Ravenna's heart.
"I'm feeling much better. I even think that I can go sleep in the bunk room tonight."
Ravenna arched a brow at that comment which caused Les' grin to turn sheepish.
"Does that mean no?"
Ravenna nodded and Les sighed.
"When do you think I'll be able to sleep in the bunk room again?"
"I'm thinking that Monday would be a good day."
Les sighed again.
"All right. Does that mean I can sell again on Monday?"
"I think so, you'll have had a few days rest and I bet you are going stir crazy at the moment."
Les fell back onto his bed dramatically.
"You got that right. I never thought I'd say I'm sick of staying in bed, but I am."
Ravenna chuckled.
"People often underestimate the joys of being bed ridden. But that reminds me, I have a patient to pay attention to, and I think I will need your help. Remember how I had to bathe you because your fever was so high that sweating it out would be too dangerous?"
Les nodded his head in acknowledgment.
"Well, Mush's is that high, if not more and so I will need you to help me. You understand that I can't…um…change his long underwear so he can take a bath, and well I need you to…"
Les nodded his head again in understanding, trying to bite back the slight smile that was threatening to appear due to Ravenna's obvious lack for words.
"I'll change him if that's what you need me to do Nettle."
"That would be most appreciated Les. Thank you. Now," she said as she turned to the unconscious form on the bed, "we need to get him upstairs. You think we can do that between the two of us?"
Les slowly got out of bed and shuffled over towards Mush and began to pull the covers down as an answer to Ravenna's question. Carefully and slowly, the two managed to bring the large Newsie upstairs, and settle him into the cool water that Ravenna had pumped while Les changed him.
"Les, why don't you go downstairs and rest. I know that doesn't sound like fun, but you've just exerted a lot of energy and haven't been active for a while."
The pale faced boy simply waved his hand as he disappeared out of the bathroom and footsteps could be heard as he made his way to the bedroom. Putting a washcloth into the cool water, Ravenna squeezed it over the gypsy's head hoping that the cool water would do him some good.
A few minuets went by in this fashion, with Ravenna pouring water over the Newsie in an attempt to ease his raging fever, and allowing her mind to wander. Her thoughts first fell to how she had found herself in this position. She would never have pictured herself nursing someone she considered to be an enemy a few weeks ago. Well, he wasn't exactly her enemy now was he? I mean he did save her life, and he never personally did anything to harm her, in fact, he seemed to do the exact opposite.
She shook her head as if trying to shake away the traitorous thoughts. She would not think about the gypsy in such a way. He was a gypsy and that was all there was to it. So what if he had the strongest jaw line she had ever seen and his hair begged to be run through when it was dry, shoot when it was wet too.
Scrunching her eyes closed in an attempt to stop her thoughts, she didn't notice that the subject she had been torturing herself over had opened his eyes. A wet hand covered the arm that had paused in ringing of water over the head of her patient, causing her to jump slightly.
"I didn't mean to startle you." A croaky voice entered into the air.
Pushing a stray curl behind her ear, a shaky half smile appeared upon her face.
"You didn't. How do you feel?"
Glazy eyes met hers and held them captive.
"Like I'm going to burst into flames at any minute, while at the same time I think I'm going to loose the feeling of my limbs because they are so cold."
As if it had a life of its own, her right hand reached out and gently soothed Mush's brow, her thumb tracing his eyebrow and lingering at his cheekbone. His hand moved to cover hers, and before she comprehended what was happening, he slowly moved towards her and gently rested his lips upon hers.
While it was something rather chaste and innocent, the feelings that it evoked inside of her was nothing that she had ever experienced. Mush was certainly not the first man she had kissed, she had "stolen" a few kisses before in her life, and some of them were more intimate than the one that he was giving her at the moment, but never had she felt anything like this. Her thoughts turned back to the lips that were upon hers and just as she was about to respond to what his were beginning to ask for, the sound of footsteps approaching the bathroom reached her ears.
Pulling back immediately, the realization of what she had just done and was about to do flooded over her, causing all of the blood to drain from her face. Shaking, she stood, and turned her back to the man who seemed to have slipped right back into unconsciousness. Opening the door, she found Les there wondering what had happened to Ravenna.
"Ravenna, are you all right?"
"What?"
Furrowing his brows Les looked quizzically at her.
"I asked if you were all right Nettle."
"All right? Oh, yeah, sure, I'm all right." Ravenna stated as she headed towards the door.
"Do you want me to get Mush changed?"
"Yeah, sure, you do that. I think I'm going to go downstairs now."
With that, she wandered out of the bunk room and down the stairs.
The rest of the day passed in a blur to Ravenna. She could not seem to get over the fact that she had kissed Mush. The gypsy. She had pressed her lips against the guy that she loathed, or was supposed to loathe. Escorted only by Jack, since most of the boys had stayed out later hoping to earn a few more pennies with which to spend tonight, Ravenna entered the Dancing Bear.
Noticing that Elena looked rather busy, Ravenna gave a forced smile of thanks to Jack before she wandered up the stairs to prepare for tonight.
(There is another chapter coming later tonight so be sure to check back soon.)