Day 8

Halt had been fussing all night about his apprentice. The fever still hadn't broke and Will had been asleep most of the time. Sometimes he woke but was quite delusional as if he was in another world.

In the morning Halt woke up from mumbling noises in Will's room. He decided to check again on the boy. As he stepped into the room it appeared that Will was mumbling in his sleep.

"Must….. Christmas….. Halt…" Will tried to roll over in his sleep but was held back by his mentor. Halt was confused about the mumbling. Sure he knew Will liked Christmas, but he had given permission to celebrate it with his friends, so why would the boy still fuss about it. And why was his name mentioned in the same sentence as the word Christmas.

Halt decided not to give it any more consideration, he had enough worries on his mind right now to even begin to think about what Will was dreaming about.

"Shh Will, it's okay, you'll be celebrating Christmas with your friends." But don't think I'll be coming, he thought. He put a wet cloth on the boy's forehead, hoping it would cool him down a bit.

As if on cue Will's eyes shot open. He observed the room with great curiosity and saw his mentor sitting on the bed.

"whataboutchristmas?" he asked with a slurry voice.

"Nothing, you just go back to sleep, Will." Halt coaxed while gently pushing aside a wet hair string from the boy's head. Will seemed to be at peace by hearing the voice and feeling the touch of his mentor and fell back asleep immediately.

After what felt like hours, the fever finally broke. Will was still sweating but the heat didn't radiate from his body anymore. Still Halt was not less worried, he knew he was a tough mentor but he really didn't like seeing his apprentice get hurt or sick. The sooner Will was on his feet again the better.

Suddenly he heard a knock on the door. Cursing himself for not register anyone coming close to the cabin, Halt walked to the door. When he opened it he was surprised by Lady Pauline.

"Pauline, what are you doing here?"

"I came by to see why you didn't show up this afternoon. We were going to lunch together remember?"

A slight color showed up on Halt's cheek as he remembered the deal they had made weeks ago. "I'm so sorry, I must have forgotten it entirely. I'll make it up to you."

"Oh you sure will," Pauline said with a tiny hint of a smile. "But you look like you've been dragged through hell and back again. Have you even slept tonight, what's going on?"

Halt sighed as he grabbed coffee for himself and tea for Pauline. "Will came home sick yesterday. He had a relapse a few days ago and I thought he was fine after that, but clearly I was wrong. I shouldn't have let him out."

"He had a relapse again, how? It was going so well the past few months." She remembered Will going home that day when it was terribly cold. Never had she felt more guilty, but she couldn't let Halt know.

"He went to see Alyss but forgot the time I guess. Although it never happened to him before. Either way it was probably too cold for him and his cloak was wet so it brought back all the memories again. I found him not far away from the cabin."

Pauline had a hard time looking Halt in the eye. She didn't know what to say to make the man she loved feel better. Knowing what really happened that day and not able to tell him was just agonizing, but she knew it was for the best to keep the secret right now.

Halt continued, "I thought he was doing alright and I let him come along on the boar hunt, but things started to get worse from there. I was stupid enough to let him out again to talk to Horace and Alyss, and yesterday even though I knew he was sick I let him outside." He grabbed his hair and looked down. Once he finally blurted everything out he knew he had made terrible mistakes this week, and the result was now sweating a nasty fever off in the other room.

A soft but steady hand grabbed his and Pauline whispered, "It's not your fault. Will is a strong young man who has to learn when it's better to stay inside. You can't keep him forever on a leash, one day he will leave this cabin for his own fief and he has to manage on his own. He just overworked himself this time, he is not going to die."

He tried to look Pauline in the eyes, knowing she was right. He finally felt like he could tell everything that had been on his mind. "I'm scared to lose him again, it's even worse than with Gilan years ago." He said silently.

Pauline nodded, astonished by the softness that came from the stubborn ranger before her. "Your bond with Will goes much further than just an apprentice and mentor, you know that. He never had a father like you never had a son, this is just a natural outcome of that. Besides you have already lost him once, so it's not that crazy to be afraid. Just make sure to realize where to draw the line between your emotions and reality."

They held hands together for a long time as they sat silently in the room enjoying the cracking fire.

In the other room Will woke up again with a blinding headache. His throat felt sore and his muscles felt like a castle had been thrown upon him. Will tried to remember the past day and had flashes of him and Gilan walking back to the cabin. Somehow he had ended up back in his room, hopefully Gilan had remained unseen.

Then flashes of memory appeared of the past few hours. He remembered the dreams of preparing Christmas for Halt. He remembered Halt talking to him. Shit I hope I didn't talk while I was out of it.

As fear started to rise, Will wanted to get up as soon as possible. He couldn't sleep anymore if there was a possibility that he would talk. He tried to stand up, which proved harder than it seemed. He took a step but immediately tumbled sideways against his wardrobe.

The door swung open and a terrified Halt ran into the room. Both he and Pauline had heard the stumbling and Halt couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his apprentice trying to walk.

"What the hell are you doing?" he thundered, but when he saw Will's eyes close at the loud voice he took a deep breath and helped the boy back to bed.

"You shouldn't get out of bed yet." He said with a softer voice, "You're sick Will, just stay still."

Will let himself being guided back to his bed, maybe walking wasn't such a great idea after all. He wanted to know if Halt had learned anything about Christmas, but he didn't dare to ask.

Before anyone could say something, Pauline entered the room with a cup of water. She saw the terror in Will's eyes and had the most difficulty holding back her laughter. The poor boy had worked himself sick to organize Christmas behind Halt's back, and even now he was probably worried that Halt would find out.

In the time she had been in the cabin, Halt hadn't uttered a word about Christmas. She knew that if Will had muttered something significantly, Halt would have mentioned it. So she shook her head trying to convince Will not to worry about it right now.

But Will was not so easily convinced, maybe he hadn't told Halt right now, but who knew what would happen if he fell asleep right now. He sat straight up in his bed, despite his mentor's efforts to push him back down. He knew if he lay down now he would be greatly tempted to sleep .

Halt was not having any of the nonsense anymore, "Will you need to lay down, you can't sleep while you're sitting." But to his frustration the stubborn eyes in front of him didn't change.

"I don't need to sleep Halt, I can rest like this."

Pauline coughed her laughter away and got a glare from Halt in return. She knew Will was pushing the limits of Halt's patience right now and she knew someone had to step in.

"You need to sleep Will, everything will be fine. You will feel much better tomorrow." They shared a meaningful eye contact and Will knew that Pauline would make sure Halt wouldn't find out.

Halt oblivious to the silent communication going on, decided to add a little more, "Yes, if you sleep now, you'll be able to celebrate Christmas with Horace and Alyss."

Pauline luckily had more experience with changing situations and staying in character. She quickly realized that Halt was under the impression that Will was somehow celebrating Christmas with Alyss and Horace. Which was of course partly true.

As Will laid down and let his eyelids close, Pauline guided Halt out of the room. She needed to distract him today so he wouldn't notice if Will was talking in his sleep.

They sat down in the living room and Pauline decided to question more about what Halt knew about the plans for Christmas. She knew she needed more information to play her part.

"So you changed your mind about no Christmas for rangers then? As you are so generous to let Will celebrate it." She tried to sound indifferent. Lucky for her Halt would never expect her to lie or fool him. He loved her too much to see anything strange.

"Well he is just a kid, and he was already trying to plan something behind my back. So I gathered it would be better to just let him go this on time."

"He tried planning something behind your back?" Pauline asked shocked like she would have never suspected Will to do anything like that.

"Yes and he failed horribly. As if he could keep a secret for even a day. Probably the last time he tried that, hah."

Pauline only managed keeping her face straight due to the years of training and experience. Will had probably been real close to exposure, but had somehow fooled Halt into believing this story.

"Brave of him to try, though." She said. She couldn't bring out more, because for the first time she was really afraid to burst into laughter.

Halt nodded not seeing Pauline biting her lip, it was sure brave for an apprentice to try and fool him. After these years Will should have known it was just impossible.

At the other side of the table, Pauline had finally regained her control again and took the conversation into her own hands again. "So what will you be doing? Maybe we can celebrate it together this year."

As expected Halt immediately shook his head, "we've talked about this, I would gladly celebrate it but we can't. Maybe a few weeks after Christmas, so no one will notice."

Pauline knew in a normal situation she would try till the end to convince the stubborn man, but now it was not needed.

"Okay, well if you're bored you could always join the festivities at the castle." She smiled.

Halt grinned sour, the extravagant festivities at the castle were more like torture to him "no thanks."

They sat together for hours and neither of them had noticed the sky getting darker. Halt looked out the window and was shocked how fast this day had passed. Will had only woken a few times but was completely exhausted so he also fell asleep immediately.

He looked at Pauline who also was looking outside, "I shall walk you back to the castle." He said.

Pauline raised her perfect eyebrow, "I don't need a bodyguard you know. And I was thinking, maybe I should stay here tonight. You definitely need sleep and I can watch over Will."

The determination was clearly radiating from the elegant woman and Halt didn't dare to refuse her. Not knowing he had yet been fooled another day.

A/N: Oooh it's getting tricky! I must say it was so enjoyable writing a private moment between Halt and Pauline.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Stay safe, keep on your cloak, listen Christmas music all day and see you tomorrow!