Things started to improve for Andie after the pregnancy scare – though she still felt incredibly stupid every time that she thought about it now. Sebastian had held true to his promise of finding a solution to her issue with some of the rooms around the manor and she now had her own room to work from.

She got to work with Mey-Rin again for a lot of the time, after promising not to run out and abandon her duties again. And when she wasn't still helping with the cleaning work she was given clothes to mend and knitting designs for new garments to follow and create – all of which she would carry out in her new working environment.

Andie had no idea who or what the clothes would actually be used for… They were certainly nowhere near the same high standard of master Ciel's usual attire. Not to mention a lot of the new designs she was given were so small that they would surely only fit babies or small children…

But it wasn't her job to ask questions. All she needed to do was carry out the jobs that were given to her. And she did so much more happily than she had with anything else at the manor so far. It was much nicer to be working on her own, especially now that she had somewhere better to work.

The room that she'd been assigned to was one of the vacant guest bedrooms. It was south-facing with a large window, which allowed a good deal of light in no matter what the weather was like outside. On top of that it didn't hold any lingering negative emotions like so many of the manor's other rooms that Andie had grown to hate.

No… This room was the perfect environment for her to work from. Sebastian had clearly realised that. And Andie felt much better about being at Phantomhive Manor now. Things were finally looking up.

Or so she'd thought.

A looming black shadow that seemed to creep into Andie's very being signalled Sebastian's presence outside her room. Despite what the butler had gone out of his way to do for her, Andie was still very much afraid of him. No amount of nice deeds could erase the blackness from his soul. A blackness that surely could never amount to anything good.

"Good afternoon, Andie," Sebastian greeted her formally, upon entering the room.

"Hello," Andie replied softly. Though she still much preferred to speak up only when she needed to, Sebastian had begun to chastise her for it. As he'd already pointed out, nobody at the manor was going to bite.

Sebastian gave her an approving smile. "I see that the new arrangement seems to be working well for you." Andie nodded automatically out of habit, but for once Sebastian didn't scold her for not responding audibly. "Very good. I actually have a new proposition for you, if you'd care to spare me a few moments…"

Andie's look immediately turned fearful. Pretty much every other proposition she'd been offered in the past had been of a very specific nature. Was this what Sebastian was hinting at too? This was why she hadn't wanted to be around men any longer – she'd been dreading the moment that something like this would happen…

Sebastian caught the look on her face before she had the chance to say anything. "Oh I wouldn't worry, it's nothing like that," he reassured her. "I can promise you that nobody here at Phantomhive Manor will ever ask those services of you."

Andie still wasn't sure just how much she could trust Sebastian – how she could trust someone who felt to her like evil incarnate – but it was good to actually hear those words. It lifted a tiny bit of the weight that she'd been carrying on her shoulders for the last two years of her life.

"Then… what is it?" she asked curiously. What other kind of proposition could Sebastian possibly want to offer her?

"It's regarding your gift," explained Sebastian. "If you remember from when I first hired you, I stipulated that I'd like to help you hone your abilities to the best that they can be."

Andie remembered. She hadn't stopped remembering… She just wasn't sure that it was possible. "Do you think maybe I'd be able to… block stuff out? Things that I don't want to feel?"`

"Almost definitely," Sebastian confirmed. "Though if I were you I wouldn't be making that my priority. Control takes time and patience… Firstly, I believe that we should be working to improve your balance."

"My balance?" Andie repeated.

"You can perceive only negative emotions, and in turn that has a negative effect on your mind," Sebastian elaborated. "So it stands to reason that if you can perceive positive emotions then the effects on your mind would also be positive. If you can outweigh bad feelings with good, then you may not feel it so necessary to learn the skills to block emotions out entirely."

Andie took a few moments to digest everything that he'd said. Was that really possible? He made it sound so easy… But exactly how was she supposed to learn how to pick up on the positive feelings of others? Her ability was one that she'd been born with – that had grown stronger over time. She hadn't learnt anything. It had simply just happened…

So she asked just that. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"I'll teach you," Sebastian replied. "I have a few ideas that I believe may work… With your consent, we will start planning lessons immediately. That way we can get your abilities developed to their full potential sooner rather than later."

Somehow Andie had a feeling that it would be a lot more difficult than Sebastian made it sound. She wasn't sure if she was ready for more mental pressure… She was only just beginning to feel like she was settling here at the manor.

Plus she knew that these proposed lessons would mean having to spend more, regular time alone with Sebastian. That didn't really make the idea any less unappealing than it already was…

As usual, Sebastian seemed to follow her thought trail. And he was prepared with another ace up his finely-pressed sleeve. "It may not have become apparent to you yet, but here at Phantomhive we hire people of a certain… calibre, if you will. You fit into this category also, which is why I'm so interested in improving your abilities. However, I do understand that this is not part of your job description, so you are under no obligation to agree to it."

Andie just stared at him in silence. Where was he going with this? He said that he wanted her to take these lessons of his, but also that she didn't have to if she didn't want to? Why would he offer her that option? Surely he'd know that her answer would be no… There had to be more to it.

And there was. "But if you were so inclined as to take these lessons then I'm sure we can come up with a suitable loyalty arrangement. If you show significant progress then I don't see why you shouldn't be rewarded for it…"

So he was going to bribe her? But with what exactly? Andie had never had much to her name, so she'd never really been a materialistic sort. And her pay was already more than what she could have ever expected – Sebastian had previously confirmed that her family had been living quite comfortably on it since she'd started working here. So what else could he offer her as a reward?

"I know that you much prefer being outside," Sebastian continued. "And if you agree to my proposal and do well in your lessons, then I supposed that it would be alright for you to give Finny a hand with the gardens on occasion."

"…Really?"

Sebastian smiled. It was clear what Andie's answer would be. Right from the beginning she'd very obviously singled Finnian out from the others as the most harmless. And Sebastian had noticed that recently she'd been clinging to him even more than usual and following him around whenever she could. He had a feeling that she wouldn't pass up the chance to work with him…

"If you fancied it as a change of pace," said Sebastian.

"Yes," replied Andie automatically. "I'll take your lessons."

She'd never been so certain of anything in her life. She'd never really had somebody who she could call a friend before… But Finnian had been so nice to her – nicer than anyone else ever had. She wasn't prepared to let that go. She was going to hold onto it for as long as she could.

"Splendid!" said Sebastian, clapping his hands together. He liked nothing more than when things went to plan. "In that case I would very much like for us to begin as soon as possible. This afternoon even, if you're feeling up to it."

Andie chewed her lip. Though Sebastian had came up with the best possible reward scheme for her, it still didn't mean that she was eager to start the lessons themselves. "And I can go outside after?"

Sebastian smiled again. "The rewards will be dependent on how much you improve on your skills. But seeing how happy you've been to agree then yes, you will be allowed outside after today's lesson."

Andie nodded. "Alright then. I'll do it."

"Excellent," said Sebastian briskly. "I'll let you get back to your work for now, and once my schedule has cleared up I will come and find you later this afternoon."

XXX

Though Andie hadn't had a clue what to expect from Sebastian's lessons, what she did have to do was certainly not what she'd expected.

The lesson had lasted for an hour. Sebastian had spent the first twenty minutes explaining in full about how her background had caused her mind to create some form of mental block against positive emotions, allowing in only the negative. The old arrangement that her mother had forced her into had only increased her fear of lust, need and desire.

After making her aware of why her gift was so limited Sebastian then gave her a meditation exercise for the rest of the hour, getting her to close her eyes and try to clear her mind. Though Andie was loathed to close her eyes in front of him the exercise wasn't exactly difficult so she did as she was told, absent-mindedly wondering if this was all she would be doing for these lessons… It certainly wasn't as bad as she'd feared it would be.

"That's enough for today," announced Sebastian once the hour was up. "I believe that the young master has an appointment tomorrow afternoon if my memory serves me correctly, so we'll schedule the next lesson for the day afterwards."

"That's it?" asked Andie in surprise.

Sebastian looked amused. "For now. Remember, you've been used to these limits on your abilities for a long time now. We must start small if we want to see some improvement."

"Err, okay…" said Andie. At least that meant she wouldn't have to do anything more difficult just yet. "So… I can go outside now?"

"If you so wish," Sebastian conceded. "Just try and make yourself useful."

Andie nodded. "I will." She then headed straight for the gardens.

She'd barely just gotten outside when she heard her name. "Andie?" It was Finnian. He was carrying two big sacks slung over either shoulder. He looked surprised to see her. "Are you… Are you sure you should be out here?" He knew that Andie had already gotten into trouble in the past for being outside when she wasn't supposed to.

"Sebastian said I could come and help," Andie replied.

"Really?"

Andie nodded again, though more enthusiastically this time. "Really."

Finnian beamed. He understood the appeal of being outside better than anybody. He was glad to see that Sebastian was trying to make things easier for the newest member of their little family. "Alright then! Come on, we can go and lay this grass seed out."

"Okay." Andie followed the gardener round to the freshly dug patch of soil that he'd clearly been preparing. She watched as he set down the sacks that he'd been carrying. "What can I do?"

"Well we need to cover this patch with the grass seeds," explained Finnian. "But we have to make sure it's even, so we need to use… Oh. Wait…"

"What is it?" asked Andie, watching Finnian's puzzled face.

"I'm not sure where I left the tool that we need," said Finnian, scratching his head as he tried to remember.

"I'll go find it," Andie offered automatically. Like Sebastian had said, she was determined to make herself useful. Though it wasn't for the butler's benefit that she was doing it. "What does it look like?"

"Err, are you sure?" asked Finnian. Andie nodded quickly. "Okay… Well it's on a long pole and it has a flat piece of metal on the end… It's sort of curved on one side like this." He attempted to demonstrate with his hands.

Andie paid close attention to what he was saying, trying to visualise this tool in her head. "Okay. I'll go and look for it."

She headed round towards where she knew the little gardener's shed to be. But after a few minutes of going through the clutter it was obvious that what she was looking for wasn't in there. She should have known… If it had been that easy then Finnian would have known where it was.

She went back to the other side of the manor instead. She knew that Finnian had been working on a different part of the garden earlier this morning – she'd seen him through the window of the room that she'd been working in herself. Maybe he'd left the tool there…

Her guess turned out to be a lucky one. The tool was propped up against the wall, along with a bucket and a small hand spade that were lying on the ground next to it. Andie decided to take everything back with her. Finnian had probably forgotten that these other things were here too and might need them.

She put the little hand spade into the bucket and grabbed the tool with her other hand, taking them back round to where Finnian had started laying out the grass seed. He straightened up when he saw her. "You found it!"

"You left it where you were working earlier," Andie said softly. She put the bucket down. "I thought I'd bring your bucket and your little spade back too in case you needed them as well."

Finnian gave her a bemused smile. "Thank you. Though the spade's called a hand trowel."

"Oh…" Andie inspected the other tool that was still in her hands. "So what's this called?"

"It's a garden hoe," explained Finnian. "You use it to move soil. But it works for levelling things out too."

"Oh!" said Andie again, though more interestedly this time. She'd never learnt anything like this before. "Can I try using it?"

"Sure!" said Finnian brightly. "Here, I'll show you what to do…"

He helped demonstrate to Andie how best to hold the garden hoe and at which angle to drag it to get a better effect out of it. It wasn't exactly rocket science, but Andie really was a novice when it came to gardening. They hadn't even had a garden of their own back home.

She normally never would have willingly allowed a male to stand so physically close to her… But like always with Finnian, she couldn't feel anything at all from him. She doubted that he'd ever had any bad intentions in his life. Instead he just seemed eager to help out and pleased with the sudden interest that Andie was taking in the gardens.

Andie managed to successfully level out a good deal of the grass seed and then helped to embed it more into the soil. The processes of gardening weren't difficult, but they required a lot more physical effort than she'd expected. Her arms and back were aching by the end of it, yet Finnian hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Doesn't it make you tired?" Andie asked after a while. She was now sat on the ground, taking a small break. She definitely didn't have to do quite this much physical work when it came to maid's duties.

Finnian laughed. "No, not really."

Andie watched as he turned over more soil like it was nothing. She remembered how on the first day that she'd came out here he'd easily been carrying around sacks of dead plants that she'd struggled to even move. When she'd first started working at Phantomhive Manor Sebastian had mentioned that the other servants had special abilities of their own. Unusual ones like hers. Did that mean that this was Finnian's gift?

"You're strong," Andie observed out loud.

Finnian looked up again. He could tell from the way she said it, and from how she was watching him, that she wasn't just making a passing comment. "Yeah," he smiled, looking a little abashed. "That's why Sebastian hired me in the first place."

Andie knew that it wasn't really her place to ask, but she was suddenly eager to know more about the young gardener that she'd attached herself to. "How did… How did you get so strong?"

Finnian stared at her. Was the shy girl who had once struggled to speak more than two words to anyone really asking him something personal about himself? "Nobody's ever asked me that before."

"I'm sorry," said Andie guiltily, looking away. Maybe it was an unspoken rule that none of them discussed their abilities. "I was just curious. I didn't mean to…"

"I don't mind," Finnian interrupted with a smile. "I was just surprised. Here, let me show you something…"

He put the garden hoe down and sat next to Andie on the grass. He turned his back slightly towards her and lifted up the straw hat that always hung around his neck on a string. Andie could see the characters 'S-012' tattooed in black at the nape of his neck.

"What is that?" asked Andie, staring. She'd never seen anything like it before. The characters looked like they were permanently etched into his skin.

"They used to do experiments on me to make me stronger," explained Finnian, dropping the hat into place again and turning back to face her. He didn't elaborate on who 'they' were. He held out his arms, which were littered with tiny white scars. "They killed all of my friends and they locked me inside for a long time."

Andie listened in horror, staring at the little dots on Finnian's arms. How could anyone have done such a thing to somebody as kind and innocent as him? "What… What are they?"

"They gave me lots of injections," said Finnian. "That's what made me so strong." He then smiled. "But Sebastian saved me. He said I could come and work here at Phantomhive Manor. He even let me be the gardener so I could be outside as much as I wanted."

His comment made Andie feel a little guilty. She'd always viewed Sebastian as the bad guy… But it was clear that he went out of his way to make others happy – he'd saved both her and Finnian from their miserable lifestyles, and it was probably the same case with the other servants as well.

She knew that she still wouldn't be trusting him any time soon – especially with what she could feel through her gift – but she should probably stop thinking of him as evil… Evil men didn't try to help other people. Plus the other servants all seemed to have a lot of respect for Sebastian. And Andie trusted Finnian's judgement at least.

Finnian seemed to know what she was thinking. "I know he frightens you," he said gently. "I understand why any man would… But Sebastian's not a bad person. You can trust him."

"I know. I just… It's hard for me to trust people," said Andie softly. "Especially him. You see, I have…"

She stopped herself. She'd been about to explain about her gift and all of the bad feelings that she always picked up from Sebastian… But Finnian had a high opinion of the butler who was always in black. Of the man who had saved him from his misery. She didn't really want to change that.

"What is it?" asked Finnian, seeing that she'd been about to tell him something.

Andie bit her lip. She didn't have to tell him about Sebastian in particular, but it seemed only fair that she explained more since he'd already been so open with her. "I have a gift too. I can… feel things from people."

A confused frown creased Finnian's forehead. "What do you mean?"

"Like if someone's sad or in pain or angry… I can feel it like it's me who's angry or sad," explained Andie. "But I can only feel the bad stuff… I've never been able to pick up anything good from people."

"Really?" Finnian had never heard of anything like it.

Andie nodded. "Sebastian's trying to teach me to develop it more so I can pick up good emotions too. We started on it today. That's why he said I could come and help you… He said it's my reward for doing well in my lessons."

Finnian felt a pang of something that he couldn't quite distinguish. He was happy that Andie enjoyed helping him so much, but a little sad that that was all her 'rewards' amounted to. He still couldn't quite imagine what it would be like to feel everybody else's pain as well as her own.

But it just made more and more sense why she kept everybody at arm's length. Yet she never pushed him away… If anything it was completely the opposite. Finnian still didn't understand why she put so much trust in him, but he'd grown to like the quiet doll-like girl and in turn he just felt all the more protective of her.

"Well I'm always happy to have you help out," Finnian beamed. "So I hope you keep doing well in your lessons!"

Andie gave him the tiniest of smiles. "I do too."

"Right…" Finnian clapped his hands onto his knees and got back to his feet. "I've gotta get this patch finished before Sebastian comes to see how I'm doing." He then smiled sheepishly. "Sometimes he checks up on me to make sure I haven't wrecked anything."

Andie followed suit and got up too. "Do you think it'll take long or will it be done in time?"

"No, it should be fine," said Finnian, grabbing the garden hoe again and inspecting the patch of soil that they'd been covering. "I think we may need some more grass seed though. I'm not sure if this is enough…"

"I'll go and get some," Andie offered. She'd seen the spare sacks of it in the shed when she'd been looking for the garden hoe.

"Are you sure? The bags are quite heavy," said Finnian, concerned.

"Yeah, it's fine," Andie reassured. Finnian had been really nice to her yet again – she wanted to help out as much as she could. And she certainly didn't want him to get into trouble with Sebastian.

"Okay then… Just be careful," Finnian cautioned her. "Don't hurt yourself or anything."

"I won't," said Andie, heading off in the direction of the gardener's shed again.

She found out one of the sacks of grass seed, more easily identifiable through her eyes by the image of a sweeping lawn on front of it. It was fairly heavy, like Finnian had said, but nothing that she couldn't manage. She was able to at least drag it along the ground without too much effort.

It got a little more difficult when she got closer to where they'd been working and had to drag it across the cobblestone pathway. It then got caught on something along the rough surface and she couldn't move it at all. Andie pulled at it resolutely with both hands. Surely it had to give if she put this much effort into it…

It did. But not exactly in the way that she'd hoped. With the last fervent tug, she heard a loud rip as the sack tore all along one side. She was suddenly able to move it again, but the contents of the sack had now poured all over the cobblestones and more of the seeds were still escaping through the hole.

Andie stared at the mess in dismay. She couldn't leave this here… She'd get into trouble! She knelt down next to the sack and desperately tried to scoop the grass seeds back inside. But her efforts were in vain. The rip was too large and she was only causing more to fall out…

"Is everything okay, Andie?" Finnian had appeared from around the corner, clearly concerned at how long it was taking his new helper to bring back one sack of grass seed. He looked quite startled to see her kneeling down on the ground.

Andie scrambled back to her feet when she saw him. "I'm sorry! The bag ripped and the seed wouldn't go back, and it went everywhere. I'm sorry. I couldn't get it back in the bag; it just made it worse!"

Finnian stared at her, even more surprised by her apologetic rambling and the obviously worried look on her face "Andie, it's okay! You don't have to worry about it so much!" He assured her. "We'll be able to clear it up."

"Are… Are you sure?" asked Andie, still uncertain.

"Of course!" Finnian gave her a reassuring smile. "We just need to find a dustpan, that's all."

"So you're… not mad at me?" Andie asked quietly, not quite meeting his gaze.

"Why would I be mad at you?" The same confused frown as before crossed Finnian's soft features again. "Everyone makes mistakes. And it's not like it's something we can't fix."

"Oh… Okay," said Andie, looking up a little more hopefully.

Finnian smiled sympathetically at the look on her face and very gently patted her on the head, taking extra care to control his strength. "Don't worry; I've made plenty of mistakes before. Everyone else will back me up on that! Now let's go and find a dustpan so we can clear this up…"

Andie watched him for a few moments as he turned and headed towards the gardener's shed, moving her hand up to the spot where he'd patted her head. She wasn't used to not getting reprimanded for doing something wrong. She certainly wasn't used to being treated so nicely about it…

Feeling like she now had even more to prove, Andie hurried after the young gardener. She was suddenly determined to be the best helper that Finnian could ever have!

XXX

Author's Note!

Don't have much to say on the chapter right now… Still getting over being home from holiday LOL. Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been helping me out today with the problem I've been having over somebody copying from one of my other stories T_T But thanks guys, your support means so much to me!