The door to the office was thrown open and someone came barging in. Jacob had asked not to be disturbed and felt irritated that the Rooks disobeyed his request. He turned around and was about to give the man he expected to see, a piece of his mind. Then he realized it was Evie entering, the look on her face a mix of frustration anger and something else. Is she sad?

"Evie?"

Surprised to see her there, his mind went over the missions he had recently carried out, trying to pick out if any of them had led to unforeseen consequences, bringing Evie to his door in this state of mind. He came up empty. The minor fights against Blighters was of no concern and the missions had gone as planned, nothing to give Evie cause for anger. He had made no new allies, and besides, after the Attaway incident, he had started checking all of them using the eagle sense, to root out enemies.

Still something had happened.

"I need to stay here for a while," she said, pacing the floor.

"What is wrong with the train?" Watching his sister, concern grew in the pit of his stomach.

"Nothing is wrong with the train. I just cannot go back there right now," she said absentmindedly as her hand trailed along the bookshelf.

"Evie…" his voice carried a menacing tone he usually used when she would not tell him everything. There was no way he was going to let her get away without an explanation. "What has happened?"

Evie's countenance faltered. Her shoulders dropped as she drew out a chair and slumped down, leaned her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands. Far from the composed and collected Evie, he had grown accustomed to in London and so much more like the sister he knew from their training days back in Crawley, whenever some mission had not gone to her plans.

Jacob sat down across the table.

"What did you do, sister?" he said. She had him worried now; for a long while her missions had been as close to perfection as one could hope to get, however, something was clearly wrong.

"I went on a mission with Henry, to retrieve the plans of Buckingham palace," she said talking to the table. "I just asked him to create a diversion."

Frustration was written on her body.

"And then what happened?" It was clearly a story she was not happy to talk about, but she needed to tell someone, and apparently, he was the only one to turn to.

"One of the Blighters saw me as I jumped down off the roof."

Jacob supressed an impulse to taunt her and averted his face to conceal the lopsided grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. Evie rarely made mistakes like these. She was too caught up in her frustration to notice his smile.

"It was nothing I could not handle, but Henry exposed himself to draw attention away from me. Then he went and got himself captured."

"What?" Jacob sat bolt upright. "Evie! Where is he?"

"It is fine. I got him out." Evie's voice was rimmed with annoyance. "However, the Templars secured the plans."

Was that the reason for her frustration? A failed mission? "We will get the plans back, Evie," he said leaning back against his chair.

Evie sighed. Her story was not over it seemed, and Jacob was curious to what came next. Evie was having trouble finding the words she needed. When she finally found them, she lifted her gaze and looked him in the eyes for the first time since she entered the room. "I scolded him, Jacob. I told him he should go back to the train and that I would no longer need his assistance."

"Oh, Evie! That's harsh." The situation almost made Jacob smile, his sister mistaking their friend for her brother, but the thought of what her words would do to their friends self-esteem washed the smile of his face.

"I was just so angry. Why did he expose himself? Why didn't he just let me handle it?"

"You know why, Evie." He fixed her in his gaze, and she turned away. "He will do whatever you ask of him. He fancies you Evie."

She made an annoyed sigh and got up to pace the floor again. Jacob walked after her and continued:

"and you love him back, sis. It is why you are so angry; you were scared you were going to lose him."

Jacob took her arm, turned her around and pulled her into an embrace. She let him do it, her eyes closed and a pained expression on her face. Evie had always been better at bottling up her feelings, keeping her emotions in cheque. Now she was all but falling apart, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I yelled at him, Jacob," she said, her voice muffled against his chest. "He has done nothing but help me, and I yelled at him."

Losing control of her emotions was not like Evie. He held her tight for a little while, until she seemed to have her emotion in cheque. Then he held her out and took a good look at her.

Evie had a drawn look about her and dark circles under her eyes. He had not noticed how tiered she seemed. A concerned wrinkle spread about his brow.

"What have you been doing apart from work, lately?"

Evie looked away.

"Have you been sleeping at all?"

She clenched her teeth, a defiant look in her eyes.

"There are things that need to be done, Jacob. If the Templars..."

"You still need to sleep, Evie. You need to take care of yourself!" She shrugged her shoulders and he let go of her arms.

"I should get going." Evie said, rubbing her forehead. "I need to retrieve those plans."

"Not tonight, you're not! You're not going anywhere."

Jacob seized her arm and started unbuckling the gauntlet on her wrist. When she tried to wring her arm from his grip he turned around, pinning her arm under his own and undid the fastenings with practiced hands, ignoring her fervent protests.

Undone, Jacob raised the gauntlet in the air, held out the other arm to fend her off and smiled at her.

"You are coming down to the dining hall, to eat and drink and have a night off, sister. You will get the blade back in the morning, when you have had a good night's sleep." She could have fought him, but resigned and just smacked him on the head as he walked her out of the room.

Down in the dining hall they were greeted with cheers as Jacob brought Evie with him. It was a long time since Evie had visited them socially, and it was evident the Rooks appreciated to see her there.

In the company of the Rooks, Evie's spirit lightened; the meal, and taking some time off was doing her good.

When the Rooks started to clear parts of the floor to make room for dancing, Jacob took his sisters hand and pulled her to her feet. She protested, but Jacob would have none of it.

"Come on, Evie. It has been too long since you had any fun."

Reluctantly she followed, but with a smile on her face, and when the music started he could see she really enjoyed herself, following his lead and letting him twirl her around. At the end of the first tune, Jacob gave her hand to John.

"Keep her dancing," he said, with a wide grin to his sister.

"Sure, Boss!" John answered happily, taking her hand and pulling her close.

"What? Jacob!" Evie was caught aback, but being the polite sister she was, Jacob knew she would not refuse. Moreover, when she had accepted to dance with one of the lads, she would not refuse any other Rook who asked. Meeting the wide smiles and gaze of the other lads Jacob knew Evie was in for a few rounds on the dancefloor.

Jacob sat back at the table, enjoying his ale and casting occasional glances at Evie as one after the other of the lads took the opportunity to dance with his sister.

When she finally sat back down at the table, Evie was flushed and warm.

"I thought you were going to let me take a night off," she panted as he handed her a tankard of ale. She drank thirstily, shortly emptying the contents. Jacob sat watching his sister with raised eyebrows. Evie did not drink all that often, but when she did, she had a tendency to forget how much she could handle. Jacob took her tankard and his own and got up to fill them. On his way back, he found Elisabeth by one of the tables.

Elisabeth and Evie had not formally met, and Jacob chose to cut in on the conversation.

"Elisabeth, will you join me? There is someone here I want you to meet," he said.

Elisabeth seemed a bit flustered as she agreed and stood up. She had been acting that way around him since she kissed his cheek in the hallway, and Jacob suspected the memory of that kiss was the reason. Smiling warmly at the thought, he put a hand on her shoulder, steering her in between the tables back to Evie. He introduced her to his sister, and pulled out a chair for her at the table, before sitting down beside his sister.

Evie was the natural centre of attention, her eyes lighting up while telling a story from their childhood, making everyone laugh. However, Jacob had a sense Elisabeth was not paying attention to her narrative. Her eyes followed Evie, but she looked somewhat distant and thoughtful.

It was not the first time his sister evoked curiosity in others. Seeing a woman brought up with fighting skills such as Evie, the confidence it gave her and the self-asserted way in which she carried herself, had often left new acquaintances silent and wondering. He thought he saw some of the same wonder in Elisabeth, and yet, there was something in her eyes and the way she smiled, that he could not quite catch. A mild amusement, to which he could see no reason. It puzzled him slightly for a while until he had to get something more to drink.

Halfway through the third tankard of ale, Jacob regretted having served it to Evie. She evidently had not eaten nor slept enough of lately, and the alcohol was getting to her head. Saving her from ridicule in front of the Rooks, he pulled her to her feet, put his arm around her shoulder and escorted her out of the dining hall. Out on the stairs she looked at him with glassy eyes.

"I really blew the mission today."

"No you did not," he smiled at her.

"I let my personal feelings get in the way."

"Evie." Jacob rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You see now, Jacob, why I cannot fall in love with him?"

"A little too late for that now, isn't it?" Jacob said, more to himself than to her, but Evie did not seem to notice. She kept on talking as they entered the office, sounding like she was trying to convince herself as much as him.

"Tomorrow I will apologize, and then I will resolve myself to be his colleague. Nothing more and nothing less."

Jacob took her to his room. She needed a good night's sleep, and he would take a pillow and a spare cover and sleep in the office, while Evie got his room. Jacob sat her down on the bed, and then crouched down to pull her boots off. Looking up at her, he said, "You need to tell him how you feel, Evie."

She was sitting with her eyes closed, drunk and half-asleep.

"But father said…," she started.

"Screw what father said. He never meant for you to live your life alone, Evie. You and Greenie just need to figure out how to do field work together. That is all."

He lifted her feet up, tipping her onto the bed and pulled the cover over her.

"If it is that easy, how come you haven't told Elisabeth how you feel?" her gaze was suddenly clear as she watched him through half-lidded eyes.

"That is different," he said.

"In what way?"

Jacob stood by the bed looking down at his sister. "In every way," he said dismally, "I nearly got her killed, Evie."

Evie watched him in silence for a moment, before closing her eyes.

"She blushes every time you look at her," she said, the grin spreading across her face, taunting him, was one he had not seen since they left Crawley. He could not help but smile back.

"Go to sleep, Evie," he said, finding he wished his sister would get drunk more often.