Alfie awoke to the sound of a scream. He lay blinking at the ceiling, attempting to determine if the scream was real or a snippet of his recurring nightmares. When he heard a loud CLANG of pots and pans, he quickly rose and tugged on his trousers, anticipating an intruder. Grabbing his revolver off his bedside table, he swung the door open and rushed to the kitchen, hearing his new maid release another scream.

He entered the kitchen ready to fight the man that had entered his home and attacked his maid to find flames coming up from a pan on the stovetop, rising higher and more out of control when she desperately slung water from a bowl onto it. Tess screamed in panic again.

"Fucking hell!" Alfie shouted as he raised his arm to shield his face from the heat of the flame.

"I don't know why it isn't going out!" Tess cried.

Alfie grabbed an empty saucepan that had been sitting on the countertop and quickly used it to cover the pan that was aflame, removing both from the stovetop heat. When the fire had been smothered out, Alfie threw the pans into the sink with a loud crash, breaking a whiskey glass and bowl that remained unwashed and causing Tess to flinch.

"What the fuck was all that?" Alfie asked, his raised voice making Tess recoil.

"I- I was just warming some oil and it caught fire." Tess offered in a small voice.

"Oil? You caught fucking oil on fire then threw water on it? Are you trying to burn this entire fucking building down?" He shouted.

"No! I swear, I just… I thought- … I didn't know." She finally admitted.

"I should put you out for that!"

Tess's eyes went wide at the possibility.

"There better not be a single trace of a fire or flame when I get home this evening." Alfie said before he turned back to his room to get ready for his day.

—

Alfie readied himself for the day, his anger bubbling just under the surface. What maid doesn't know how to put out an oil fire? More importantly, who wouldn't know that water would have made it more dangerous? He wanted to let her go. He should've let her go. Yet he didn't. Instead, he heard himself telling her to clean the kitchen after watching her grey eyes go wide at the prospect of being fired.

Soft. He was too fucking soft. He was soft. And she was young. Too fucking young to be his maid. What business did a young woman in her mid-twenties have being his maid? He could think of at least five good reasons she shouldn't be in his house and her posh accent was one of them. He needed an experienced maid that could handle him and his lifestyle.

Alfie could hear her in the kitchen cleaning as he left for the day, ready to have a glass of whiskey for breakfast.

—

Tess stood frozen in the kitchen as she stared at the stovetop. Her first day alone and she had almost burned down the entire block and if she doesn't clean the kitchen, she will be fired. She knew Mr. Solomons was angry and not expecting breakfast this morning so she began to clean while simultaneously hiding from him.

When she heard the door close, signaling his exit, she sagged onto the floor and buried her face in her hands. She wanted to cry and almost succumbed to her tears when she heard a knock at the door. Gathering herself, she left the kitchen and the mess behind and opened the mail to find a young man.

"Alfie's post." He said as he extended a stack of envelopes.

"Thank you." Tess said as she took the items and paused awkwardly. "Um, is there something else?"

The young man looked at her, running his eyes from her head to her toes and back up again with a smirk.

"Alfie is having whiskey for breakfast at 6 a.m." he said with a chuckle before he said, "You're in for it."

"In for what?"

"He's very cross this morning."

"I know." Tess groaned.

"I'm Ollie." He said as he held out his hand for her to shake.

"Tess." She replied.

"If I were you Tess, I'd make a dinner that is truly remarkable or you are going to end up out on your ass." He paused and looked at her. "Or better yet, you should probably just quit and move on. I don't think Camden Town is the place for you."

Ollie turned and left, Tess quickly closing the door behind him. Camden Town was definitely not the place for her, but she didn't have any other options.

Deciding she would clean the kitchen after she had done other chores, she gathered the laundry and went to the roof.

—-

"Alfie, that maid." Ollie said as he shook his head. "Where'd you find her?"

Alfie said nothing, he simply continued to look at the still that was causing him problems.

"Well, if you need someone to watch after her for you, send her my way." Ollie said and the three other men in the room laughed.

"Ollie." Alfie said, his temper making him irritable. "Fuck off."

Ollie chuckled but didn't bring Tess up again.

Meanwhile, Tess lifted one of Alfie's shirts after hanging his bedsheets to dry and paused.

"What is that?" Tess said aloud. "Oh, my. Is that blood?"

She held the shirt close and examined it. It was splattered with blood. She began to wash the shirt, scrubbing until her arms hurt but the blood was still there. She hung up the shirt, deciding she would try to find another way to get the blood out before she ruined it.

When the laundry was washed and hung, she finished cleaning the kitchen. By late afternoon, Tess was exhausted, and she still had so much to do. She thought about what Ollie had said. If she was going to keep her job, she needed to cook something without catching it on fire. Looking at the clock on the mantle, she racked her brain for an idea. Suddenly, she had the perfect dinner in mind, and she rushed to the kitchen to prepare it. She would impress Mr. Solomons yet.