Climbing the stairs, one laborious step at a time, neither woman spoke. Casey couldn't seem to catch her breath, as pain seared through her body with each inhale and she stubbornly tried to hide it. While a familiar echo of fear silenced Audrey, as she practically pulled Casey upstairs. The expecting mother was drenched in her own sweat and Audrey couldn't help but speculate if the old bird had worn a dark dress to hide it from the men or if the cause was the exertion of traveling the stairs.
Each step drained the fight, the caged fury, and the desperate need that Audrey had felt in the dining room. Each snort or gasp of pain left an anxious and unsettled panic. Casey knew by the time they reached the second floor that her ward knew the child was coming. But still, they moved in slow silence.
Casey Longfellow was sure this was the longest she had ever taken to get anywhere in her life. She had always moved with grace, agility and a speed that had even her husband envy. Until this day and Casey remembered with a jolt how she had never seen her own mother move very quickly. The arm supporting her lower back slid away, carefully until fingers pressed firmly into her elbow. Audrey was reaching out to open the bedroom door, but the girl wouldn't let go.
"Do you want me to get Nancy?" Audrey finally murmured once they were inside. Casey settled her hands onto the bed as Audrey released her. She smiled and shook her head.
"Oh, Nancy will be along soon enough, I'm sure." She hissed. She fidgeted a bit, to settle onto the beautiful wooden chest at the edge of her bed.
"The baby is coming?" Audrey whispered, standing near the door like a frightened child. Casey snapped her head up at the tone and stared at the girl. For the first time since Casey had met her, Audrey Kai was a child. Casey felt her arm raised, her fingers reach out to the little girl pressed against the door. The movement was stiff, off and unfamiliar and Casey dropped her hand when the girl didn't budge. A sharp pain in her right side gave her a place to drop her hand as she gritted out an aggravated smile.
"You were in fine form this evening," Casey snorted. Resorting to the familiar banter of frankness and demand.
"I didn't mean to…" Audrey blurted out the words too quickly, too panicked. Filled with a childlike terror that unsettled Casey. The laboring mother tried to stand but Audrey lurched forward. Quietly, patiently settling one hand on Casey's shoulder and resolutely gripping her fingers into one of her elbows. A movement that South remembered every Newsboy leader she had ever seen use with an unruly boy. Casey managed to let out only one angry snort before Nancy flew into the room. The maid spared only one glance to her mistress before marching to the dresser.
"Let's get Mrs. Longfellow out of that afternoon dress, now shall we?" Nancy murmured.
Audrey nodded, smiling timidly at Casey as she carefully helped her stand yet again. On her feet, Audrey released Casey and dashed away to the washing table. Casey watched curiously as Audrey soaked a towel in water, wrung it out once.
"To wipe your face, and drape around your neck. It will cool you down." Audrey whispered, handing off the towel. Casey frowned with understanding, as Audrey pressed the cold cloth to her hot forehead. They were the same height, yet something in the action, made Casey feel as if Audrey was reaching up to give her relief.
Nancy was undoing her buttons, the tiny brass ones that smartly ran down the back of her afternoon dress. Audrey was dancing around her, around her skirts, skipping as a child might.
"I didn't use to think I could care for you." Casey mused, just loud enough to catch the girl's attention. Audrey stopped moving but didn't look at her as she bent down to help remove her shoes.
"Thomas was so fond of you, a curious creature that so captivated the newsboys of New York." Casey continued, finding that focusing on this memory, was pleasantly distracting from the jolts of pain. Nancy was preparing the bed now, pulling off the quilt and propping up the pillows. Nancy murmured in a whisper to Audrey to keep Casey Longfellow talking.
"You didn't want me." Audrey wasn't asking, her voice was understanding and knowing. Her voice sounded like that of a Brooklyn bird.
"No." Casey agreed. "You were a kind of trouble I wasn't looking for. But, Thomas. He did want you and after everything… I couldn't deny him."
"Why not?" Audrey was carefully guiding Casey into bed, as Nancy slipped from the room.
"Don't ask…" Casey began before taking a sharp breath through her teeth.
"Stupid questions. I think that's the first thing you ever said to me." Audrey laughed, pressing a cold compress to Casey's forehead.
"No." Casey snapped immediately. "It's the first thing you remember me saying to you because it's the first time you remember meeting me."
"I met you when I was a child?"
"You are a child now." Casey snapped impatiently. "But, yes, I have known Thomas Longfellow my entire life."
Audrey nodded, biting down on her lip carefully before stepping away from Casey. But the laboring woman reached out, curling her fingers around the girl's wrist.
"When Thomas looks at you, he still sees that little girl," Casey explained.
"But you see trouble?" Audrey smiled carefully, keeping her place an arm's length's away.
"I have always seen you as fearless, the way you set your jaw and refuse to look down." Casey motioned for the girl to come closer, effortlessly this time. Taking the step closer, Audrey let Casey catch her chin in her clammy fingers.
"You can hold my hand and squeeze for the pain," Audrey whispered carefully, unable to make eye contact.
"I see it now," Casey said, squinting at the girl's face. "The little girl, the one that Cricket's been trying to protect this whole time."
Audrey threw her head back, jutting her chin out and flash all the defiance that Casey had always been fond of in the girl. But avoided eye contact, still.
"I don't need protecting."
"Everyone needs protecting, sometimes." Casey laughed, impatiently releasing her. Several footsteps could be heard thundering up the stairs now and Audrey stepped away from her guardian.
"Laces," Casey locked the girl in her stare. "Everything is going to be all right. Remember that, remind Cricket and Critter, they do worry so."
Nancy and the Doctor rushed into the room. And Audrey slipped from the room, as if she had never been there, like every bird Casey had ever known.