And I'm back! Hopefully I didn't completely fail my exams!

I continue to own nothing and will never own anything despite my endless pleas to the almighty creators of Phineas and Ferb...They still refuse to let me share a small piece of their awesomeness...it's terrible.

Chapter 4

Candace's POV

I bit my lip. I did say that I would talk to him…then why was I so nervous? He was just another boy, I had never had any trouble talking to boys before…well before everything.

Boys had always been equal creatures to me, as easy to talk to as Stacy. But now, I could hardly trust one of them.

I peeked around the stable and into the fenced in pasture. The cold wind bit at me, even through my thick cloak and woolen skirts. I tugged my cap around my ears and double knotted the laces. The ground was covered in at least a foot of snow and my stockings were already soaked through. I knew that I shouldn't be out here, I could get a cold and risk hurting the baby.

But still, I had to apologize.

So I swallowed in my fear and unlocked the gate.

Jeremy was with a new foal at the other end of the pasture. He had a rope tied inside of the foal's mouth and was busy trying to lead her forward. She seemed reluctant however and kept pulling back. I had to smile at the image.

'Here, girl. Shhh, it'll be alright.' He smoothed.

'Having a hard time?' I asked.

He turned around, his face broke into a wide smile. I could practically hear his surprise and delight upon seeing me here. It was a strange feeling, knowing that he was happy to see me. Still he knew basically nothing about me but that was going to change, I had promised Isabella.

'Good morning, Candace.' He said, turning to smile at me.

The pony took that as an opportunity for escape and jetted forward. His hand slid out of the rope and she was free and took off racing through the snow coated pasture. I giggled.

'She is the most stubborn mare that I've ever met.' He mumbled.

'How old?'

'About a year,' he replied. 'The princess likes to have the horses trained before they are actually old enough to be ridden. So we start training around when they are a year or so old. But, Lucy here is just plain-'

'Stubborn?' I offered.

'I would another word but yes, she is very stubborn and refuses to do anything that I say.'

Lucy had gotten bored of running around and had stopped by the gate. She glanced back at him as if challenging him. Jeremy sighed and ran over to her and grabbed the rope before she had another chance to run off.

'Alright girl, that enough for today,' he said rolling his eyes.

He led her back to the stable. Every few steps, Lucy would stop and he would have to tug on her rein to get her to move forward again. I followed along.

We walked in silence until reaching the stable.

'Hold this,' he said. He handed me the rein and unlocked the doors. He nodded to me and let me lead her inside. Right in there.

He pointed towards an empty stall. The other horses, by this time the other horses had shouted their hellos. I held onto the rope tightly while he strapped her into the stall.

'She seems to like you more than she likes me.'

'Doubt that, I've hardly ever been around horses.'

'Still,' he muttered.

He shut the door on her stall and turned to me.

'So what brings you down to the stables today? By now you'd normally be cooped up in that corner of yours with a book.'

'You.'

He raised an eyebrow, the edges of his lips curling into a smile.

I blinked. 'No I didn't mean it like that! Well…I did but not…like that. I just came to say hello…to…to the horses..yes to the horses.'

'I thought you'd never been around horses before.'

'Well I am…stretching a bit.' I stumbled.

'Well alright then, now that you've said hello to the horses…want to take a walk?'

My hand came to rest on my budding stomach, feeling perhaps even the gentlest of whispers of movement against my palm, I remembered the warnings other mothers had given me about the cold weather. If I were to catch cold, it would affect the baby more than myself and maybe kill the poor thing off before he or she can be born.

I bit down on my lip. 'I'm a bit cold, I wouldn't want to fall ill...so maybe we could talk inside?'

'Deal,' he replied, with a wide smile.

I had truly never known anyone quite like him before. He could take all the cold out of a room with just the warmth of his smile alone, there was a certain magical quality about that smile, it was almost hepatizing. I wondered how he could always remain so positive, surely there must be something sorrowful on his mind.

I knew nothing about him.

I vowed to learn that day, hopefully he wouldn't ask too much about me. Though he's bound to have heard by now and yet…didn't seem disgusted by the idea, if he did know…did he?

He quickly completed the rest of his chores and linked arms with me. We started our walk back to the palace in pleasant silence until I felt the need to break it.

'So, what got you into the horse carriage driving business?' I asked.

He smiled. 'Ah, I see I am quite a mystery, aren't I?'

'Not many people know much, and I'm friends with some of the best gossips in the royal service!'

He laughed. 'Well, it was my dad really. We grew up on a small farm on the outskirts of the kingdom. We hardly made enough profit to support ourselves, let alone pay the taxes but we always managed somehow. One day, my father left to go trading with a village nearby, it was only a few miles away and my siblings and I were worried when he didn't get home before dark. But sure enough, the next morning he came back, with a donkey cart and a little pony that we named: Lightning.'

As he expected, I awed at this.

He smiled and continued. 'Well we trained her and trained her and eventually I really fell in love with horses. I grew of age and managed to get a job here and history continues there.'

'What happened to your mother?' I blurted out, blushing madly when I realized how loud I was being.

'She died giving birth to her seventh child.' He paused a moment. 'I was that seventh child.'

I gasped. 'Oh, Jeremy I'm so sorry.'

'There was nothing you could have done, it was a long time ago.' He sighed.

I felt bad, I had wanted to direct the conversation somewhere slightly less depressing and here I was questioning him about his dead mother. Could he possibly think that he had killed her? Oh, that was even worse.

I tried to think of something to say in retort. I blinked, lights had started appearing in my vision. I tried to blink them away but there was no use. That always happened right before…

I moaned, clutching my head.

'Are you alright?'

I couldn't see any more than a few inches in front of me. I tended to get really bad headaches and it was already becoming unbearable. The cold made it worse. My head pounded, draining out the sounds of him asking me if I was alright.

Then it all went black.

Jeremy POV

She was limp in my arms as I raced back to the castle. She had been perfectly fine and now? It was so sudden, I honestly didn't know what to make of it. She muttered a little in her sleep and curled up against my chest. I couldn't help but smile, she looked so small and so innocent there, like that. I didn't forget my task.

I forced my feet to move me faster, by now I was practically flying across the snow. I hardly remembered traveling that far, it felt like I had arrived in seconds and had located her mother in less than that.

'Will she be alright?' I asked, quietly.

Mrs. Flynn had been ignoring me ever since she saw her daughter's pale face. She only had me gently set her onto her bed, then she proceeded to not acknowledge my existence. It was alright, I could understand why she was in such a state despite not knowing much about mothers. So I made myself comfortable leaning against the wall, looking away when needed. I made sure I was ready to help if my help was needed.

I still didn't understand.

Could she have already caught a cold or something much worse than that?

Mrs. Flynn was busy removing Candace's thick shawl and she unbuckled her boots. Her stockings went flying across the room.

'Oh, thank goodness,' she finally sighed.

'What happened?' I asked, a little bit louder this time.

Linda blinked and looked back at me as if just remembering my presence. She had her hand placed over her heart.

'It is good news, she's not bleeding.' She said, matter of factually.

I frowned. 'I hadn't seen any cut marks on her…why would she be bleeding?'

Linda laughed. 'Oh, of course you wouldn't know, it's a woman thing but trust me it is good news.'

'Then she'll be alright?'

She nodded. 'Right after she wakes up.'

She paused for a moment. 'Help me remove her wool. It's far too thick and she has a fever…she'll overheat herself.'

I blushed. 'You mean…'

'Yes, I mean that! If you're going to be such an incompetent assistant then go and fetch one of the girls from the servants ward.'

I moved forward and stood at the side of her bed. I did not want to be thrown out, I had to know what was wrong and I wouldn't figure that out if I was forced to leave.

'Sit her up, we need to untie her dress strings.'

I did as I was told. Candace was still out, but her body was indeed warm, too warm.

I watched in fascination as her fingers worked apart the loose strings, so quickly. I could never have figured it out for the life of me. She pulled down the dress and gently folded it and placed it on the side of the bed.

'Lower her down,' she said.

I set her back on the bed, momentarily missing her warmth on my fingers.

She muttered a little in her sleep, much too low for me to understand. So I watched her for a moment. I had seen my own sisters [There were four of them] in much less than this and yet my breath quickened still. She wore a long shift that reached just above her ankles, there were little lace patterns on the neckline and the seams on the poof sleeves and along the bottom edge.

Her chest rose and fell with each breath. She had stopped muttering and appeared to just be asleep, possibly even dreaming sweet dreams.

'Will she be alright'? I asked, again.

'Yes, it is actually very common for women in her condition to have dizzy spells. I'm surprised that it hadn't happened sooner.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'In her condition?'

'Mm, I guess palace gossip doesn't go around all that quickly at all. A few months ago, dear Candace was attacked and she ended up, pregnant from it. I'm actually very surprised that you didn't know that already! Never see much past your horses, do you?'

I didn't respond.

I looked back down at Candace, I had finally noticed that bump under her underclothes and everything finally made sense.