Angryfanfic: Thank you! I hope you also had a good New Years Eve!

Green Meadow1870: Thank you, I usually try looking at some photos of clothing from around that time and making my own outfits based on them. Rose's clothes are some of the most interesting things to come up with. The twins' names were actually just the names of the actresses, but they are definitely beautiful! And this chapter will have a lot about their relationship, especially Rose's feelings about it all.

Sorry for the wait, my Drama class has our performance on Friday and we've been spending a lot of time preparing for that.

Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Five

Christmas passed uneventfully, but was fun. The family woke up around mainly the same time, and shared presents. They spent the day inside, playing card games and cooking. Anne and Phillip let the teenagers have a bit of coffee, and it was honestly surprising to see Rose's energy level go up. It didn't seem to affect Jackson much.

Rose's birthday came up, and they once again had a party at the circus. In fact, the whole month of January seemed to breeze by for the young girl.

She was trying to figure out what to do with her new feelings for her best friend.

Although, perhaps 'new' wasn't the right word. She had felt like this for a while, but hadn't wanted to admit it. And, although she didn't want to say it, she was scared. He probably didn't feel the same, and - even if he did - they could be hurt. It wasn't exactly easy for people like them. Her parents weren't even able to be officially married. She didn't know it then, but it would be around seventy years before anything like that was legal.

But for now, that wasn't her concern. While the thought of what could happen to them if they were together scared her, she was trying hard to focus on just her feelings, not the law.

She had only known him for a bit more than a year, and they had been friends for most of that time. She trusted him. A lot more than she ever would have trusted someone years ago.

Maybe it was that her new family had taught her how to let her guard down before he came along, so it was easier to become close to him. Or maybe he was just special.

She wouldn't admit it, but it was probably the second option.

She hadn't wanted to trust him with her secrets or her feelings, but it had just seemed to naturally happen. She'd definitely felt a pull to him, but had assumed that was just because he could relate to some of her feelings easier than most people.

And maybe that was it. But even if it was, it was just another thing that helped her become closer to him. He didn't see her as a charity case, or a traumatized little girl. He respected her, and cared about her, and felt sympathy for her because he knew how hard it was. But he didn't pity her, or treat her like she was delicate. He knew she wasn't.

It was honestly a wonder it took her so long to realize her feelings. Looking back, she knew they had definitely been growing slowly over these past few months, and she had mistaken them for friendship.

But could you blame her? She'd never had a friend before, how could she have known what was going on?

Still, she wished she'd realized sooner. Maybe she could have told him when it was a small crush and they could have laughed about it and everything would be fine.

But it was too late.

She may still feel like 'love' was too strong of a word, especially since she was only a teenager, but she cared about him.

A lot.

Rose was having an especially restless night and decided that, screw it, she was going to see if Jackson could help her.

She walked up to his room, and decided that she shouldn't knock. It would be better to see if he was awake and then ask him to…what? Let her sleep next to him?

She sighed and, before she could change her mind, opened the door as quietly as possible, and gasped when she saw what was inside.

Jackson's face was streaked with tears, and he was clutching his pillow to his chest. His shoulders were shaking with silent sobs.

Rose immediately knew what was happening.

She closed the door and walked across the hard wooden floor as softly as possible. She paused, not sure what to do.

Taking a deep breath, she moved forward again, taking his free hand gently. He flinched a bit, but she traced circles along his wrist and carefully moved to lace her fingers through his. She reached for the other one and, not trying to pry it away from the pillow, placed her hand over it. His fingers relaxed and she slowly pulled them away from the pillow.

She held both of his hands now, and all the movement seemed to wake Jackson up. His eyes cracked open, and he frowned at Rose, then noticed the state of his blankets and seemed to understand.

"Rose-" he started, but she shook her head, silencing him.

She understood.

And he knew that.

Wordlessly, the young girl stood up and lay down next to her best friend, wrapping her arms around him. His tears had stopped, and he pulled her in as well.

They fell asleep like that.

She should have known. She may have mostly healed from what she went through, but Jackson hadn't. Of course he would still be in pain, especially with everything so recent. But he wouldn't want them to know.

He probably didn't want to 'inconvenience' us, she thought that morning as she stared at his sleeping face. They didn't have work today, which was good. She could enjoy this moment.

He woke up about thirty minutes later, and blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he looked at Rose. He stiffened slightly, but she just hugged him again. It was okay.

He sighed into her shoulder, relaxing. She pulled away after a moment, taking in every inch of his face in the steadily growing sunlight.

After a couple moments of silence, she spoke.

"You don't have to say anything," she whispered. "You don't have to tell me all about it. But if you ever want to, I'm here. I always will be."

He nodded, and sighed.

"It's just hard. I see her sometimes, or my dad. And it hurts," he said softly, then looked away. "I'm not ready to tell you everything right now. But I will someday."

Rose nodded and took his hand again. They lay there for another hour, awake and silent, just enjoying being together.

Once they heard Phillip and Anne preparing breakfast, Rose left to get ready for the day. Jackson rested his head against the back of his bed for a moment, thinking.

She had been there for him. He didn't tell her because he didn't want to get her involved in her tangle of emotions when she had her own to deal with. But she had come to him. She had decided to do it.

Maybe that wasn't bad. It was painful sometimes, dealing with it on his own. He had always been there for her, and she had tried to be there for him, but he had kept her out.

Maybe he should let her in instead of pushing her away. He smiled, remembering the way she held him. It was obvious she wasn't leaving anytime soon.

He really liked that girl.

About a week later, everyone was in the circus, talking and practicing, when Phin brought in the morning newspaper and a gasp echoed throughout the room.

"What's going on?" Phillip asked, walking up to him and taking the paper, his eyes widening when he saw what it said.

"Phillip?" Rose asked. She was in front of him before he knew she had moved. "What does it say? Is it about us?"

He briefly thought of hiding the paper, but knew that was ridiculous. She deserved to know. He wordlessly handed the paper to her, and all she could do was stare at that headline, dread filling her.

Ambers' Family House Burned Down, Both Parents Killed in Fire, Daughter Left Orphan

Of course I had to end a kind of angsty but at the same time sweet chapter with a cliffhanger. What else did you expect from me?

I'll try to update the next one a bit sooner, but please review and tell me what you thought of this!

-Creator of Magic