It was the following week and Ellie was continuing to settle in. She had returned to school the next day and there had been no other bunking issues. Ellie had returned to her friends and simply told them that she hadn't been feeling well. She was embarrassed about her behaviour.

However, although she was back to normal at school, she still had her moments with Stevie. Most of the time, Ellie was respectful and followed Stevie's instructions but sometimes she found it difficult. It was just so different from the life she was previously used to, and it was taking her a while to adapt.

Stevie was so glad that it was the weekend. She had been busy working and was glad to get some time off to spend with the girl. She made sure to let the girl have a long lie on the Saturday as she could tell that she was exhausted and needed a break.

"My arm is so itchy" Ellie complained as she walked through to the kitchen where her aunt was sitting nursing a coffee.

"The doctor said it was healing well, he said hopefully just another two weeks and then you can get the cast off" Stevie explained reiterating what the doctor had told them on Wednesday at the appointment a few days ago.

"Can't I just stick something down it?" Ellie begged.

"No, you might cut yourself. You really shouldn't. I can give you some medication that might take the edge off" Stevie suggested, and Ellie nodded.

"Fine then" Ellie huffed as pulled the chair out and angrily sat down. She narrowed her eyebrows and glared at Stevie.

"Really? You've been up for about 10 minutes, and you already have that face on you" Stevie stated.

"Don't know what face you are on about" She muttered again. Stevie rolled her eyes and walked away. She knew that she could be sarcastic and needed to work on her people skills at time but the way that Ellie was treating her was getting on her nerves. Stevie put her hands through her hair and shook her head.

"Ellie, I just really don't know what to do with you" Stevie admitted, and Ellie just stormed away. Stevie watched as the girl walked into the bedroom slamming the door behind her.

"And what exactly has that door done to you?" Stevie shouted behind her. She had no idea where to go next. She didn't understand why the girl was treating her this way.

She waited for about 20 minutes before heading through to the bedroom to check on Ellie. She knocked on the door.

"Go away" Ellie said, and Stevie could tell that she was crying. Stevie opened the door and walked in. She sat next to her on the bed.

"Why are you crying?" Stevie asked and Ellie embarrassingly wiped her eyes. She didn't want to talk right now. Ellie just shook her head.

"Come on, it's got to be something" Stevie said, and Ellie shrugged. To be honest, she wasn't completely sure why she was crying and didn't want to admit that to her aunt. She wasn't too sure how she felt but she was annoyed at herself for being so mean to her aunt.

"Speak to me" Stevie said softly, and Ellie thought for a moment. She just didn't know how to explain this to her aunt.

"I really don't know why I'm crying. I was angry and I felt like you were moaning at me for every little thing I did and then it made me burst into tears and I feel bad now" Ellie admitted as the tears continued to stream down her face. Stevie nodded, it was then she realised that not only was the girl getting used to living with her but she was also a 12 year old girl who's hormones were all over the place. It was a lot for someone to go through.

"It's your age" Stevie said pulling the girl into her arms, "Your hormones are all over the place and that's without having all of this added."

Ellie nodded, she was becoming more able to trust her aunt. She no longer became embarrassed if her aunt mentioned hormones, instead it helped her identify why she was feeling like this.

"Does it get better?" Ellie whispered into the side of her aunt and Stevie smiled.

"Yeah, it's normal for your moods to swing around your period but the rest of the time, it's normally more stable" Stevie said, "Puberty can make your mood swings often until your periods start and then it's more predictable."

Ellie nodded, she loved the way that her aunt explained things, it all just made sense.

"Do you have mood swings before your period?" Ellie asked.

"It depend, to be honest, sometimes I'll be really mad and have no patience at work" Stevie said.

"You never have patience at work" Ellie muttered, and Stevie nudged her.

"Oi, well sometimes I'm not in the best of moods and then my period starts and then it clicks" Stevie said, and Ellie nodded.

"Feeling any better?" Stevie asked as their conversation turned to a soft relaxed silence. Ellie shrugged.

"I suppose a little" Ellie said before turning again to snuggle into her aunt. Stevie looked down at the girl and realised just how young she was. Sometimes the girl tried to act a lot older than she was but then other times like this, Stevie was reminded that she really was just a child.

"Oh crap" Stevie said as she fished out her phone. It was ringing and she noticed that it was Dylan.

"It's my day off. No….no…of course. I'm not my way in" Stevie said as she stood up.

"Get dressed. I'm sorry, we need to go into the hospital. They are really short staffed" Stevie admitted, and Ellie rolled her eyes. She was still grounded so had to stay with her aunt.

"Stevie" Ellie huffed.

"Right, if you come in with me. We can go to the carnival tonight, but you have to stay with me the whole time. No going off with your friends." Stevie reasoned and Ellie nodded. That sounds kind of fair. She was up for that. She'd never been to the carnival before and had been desperate to go.

"Thank you" Ellie said, and Stevie smiled. Stevie shimmied the girl into the bedroom and told her to quickly change so that they could get on their way.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the hospital. Stevie walked into carnage and was quickly whipped away. Ellie took herself to the staff room and pulled out her homework. She started working her way through it and as she was sat, she felt tears coming down her face.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jodie asked softly as she entered the staff room. The girl quickly tried to wipe her tears and nodded.

"You're Stevie's niece, right?" Jodie asked and Ellie nodded.

"Would you like me to go and get her?" Jodie asked and Ellie shook her head.

"No, no, it's fine. I'm just being stupid," she said before getting her pencil and continuing to write in her jotter. Jodie nodded but she wasn't too sure. She decided to speak to Stevie just to be on the safe side.

"Hey, you're niece is crying in the staff room" Jodie whispered to Stevie.

"Crying?" Stevie asked confused.

"Yeah, but she was desperately trying to hide it" Jodie explained.

"Oh, I'll go and check on her. She's been a bit hormonal recently so it's probably just that" Stevie said as she pushed herself off the stool at the nurse's station and walked to the staff room.

"You okay?" Stevie asked supportively as she put her hand through her niece's hair. Ellie nodded her head but didn't dare raise her gaze as that would be too much.

"You sure?" Stevie asked raising her eyebrow and putting her hand on the girl's chin to encourage her to look up.

"I don't understand the work" Ellie admitted. "It's different from the work I did at my old school."

Stevie nodded.

"Oh sweetie, we can deal with that. I'm more than happy to help you. Why don't you find out from your teacher's what you have missed, and I'll help you. I'm sure Ana and Natalia will help too. They used to go to your school. If needed, I will find you a tutor" Stevie explained, and Ellie nodded.

"I didn't want you to think I'm dumb. I get good grades honestly, it's just I've missed a lot of stuff because if I didn't want to go to school no one forced me so I have some stuff I've missed" Ellie explained and Stevie nodded.

"Listen I know you aren't dumb. Don't ever think that and I don't care if you pass everything with an A or you just pass. All I care about is that you have tried your best" Stevie said to the girl and Ellie nodded. That made her feel so much better. This was exactly what she needed.

"Thank you" Ellie said, and Stevie nodded.

"What time will you get off at?" Ellie asked.

"6 o'clock. Then we can go to the carnival. We'll get food there" Stevie explained as she kissed her niece on the head before leaving the room.

"Is she okay?" Jodie asked clearly worried.

"Yeah, she is. Thank you for getting me" Stevie said, and Jodie smiled.

"I would not want to be her age today. I thought it was bad when I was younger, but society today is something else" Jodie said, and Stevie nodded. Being in the hospital, she saw a lot of youngsters but until living with one, she hadn't been aware of all the pressures that they were under.

Luckily, Stevie's shift went relatively quickly and she finished at 6:15. Only working, 15 minutes over her finishing time. She walked into the staff room and Ellie had already packed up and was ready to go.

"Come on then" Stevie said putting her arm around the girl. Oh how times had changed, previously it had been drinks after work, now it was all about this little girl.

They arrived at the carnival and quickly got food. They were both hungry so that was the main thing on their minds.

"Omg, this is so good" Ellie said as she munched on loaded fries. Stevie smiled. She loved how little things like this would make the girl so happy.

"What do you want to do first?" Stevie asked and Ellie just looked around mesmerised. She didn't even know where to start.

"Oh we need to go on this ride" Stevie suggested and Ellie nodded. She was so excited and allowed her aunt to guide her around the carnival. They ended up staying until 10 o'clock.

"Right, we really best get off now" Stevie said looking at the time. It was late and she was working tomorrow. She was glad that she had taken the girl even though she was grounded. Stevie felt she'd been fair as originally the girl would have been spending the day with her, not at the hospital and it was still slightly a punishment as Ellie had planned to meet her friends for a while at the carnival as well.

They arrived home and went straight off to bed. They were both shattered. Every night before going to sleep, they would snuggle and have a little chat.

"Thank you for today" Ellie started off by saying and Stevie smiled. Normally it was her who started the conversation.

"No problem sweetheart, that was the first of many memories" Stevie said.

"I've never been to a carnival before, it's too much money. I'm so happy that I got to go. I like spending time with you. I'm glad that I spent it with you and not with friends" Ellie explained, and Stevie smiled. She hoped that the girl would stay like this for just a bit longer.

"I love you," Stevie said kissing the girl.

"I love you too" Ellie said cuddling into her aunt and allowing herself to drift off to sleep.

Sorry it's been so long. It's not the most exciting chapter but let me know what you think please :)