"Can you pass me the bandages, Rosie? These aren't enough," Doctor Ealing said as he tried to unravel a bandage with one hand whilst keeping his hand clamped around an injury.

"Yes, sir," I replied. I scurried to the other side of the room, past Robert, and to the cabinet. Pulling out a handful of white bandages I approached Doctor Ealing and dumped the bandages in the pile.

"Thank you. I'm going to need you to hold this, I can't do both."

Doctor Ealing moved to one side as I shuffled closer to him, I could smell the oil on his hair as I pressed my hands against the man's leg whilst he wrestled with the bandages. Robert hovered nearby, two of his fingers resting on the man's neck whilst he bit down on a cloth to keep from screaming. The man had been bought into the office several minutes before with his leg bleeding profusely all over the floor. Whilst Doctor Ealing preferred to keep me out of way due to my lack of medical knowledge, he had recruited me into helping as the injury needed an extra pair of hands. Robert had been charged with making sure the man stayed alive whilst I had been asked to do the dirty work. Par for the course of being a servant.

With my hands pressed over the bleeding wound, Doctor Ealing unravelled one of the bandages added a small square of cloth to the centre of the strip of bandage. He placed the roll of bandage to the side and grabbed his suture needle before leaning over me. Blood gushed over my fingers and up my wrists whilst also soaking the front of my apron, I knew Miss Jenkins would kill me when she saw the state I ended up in. My ventures to the office were supposed to be organisation and that would be it, dust should have been the only thing on my apron, not blood. Still, I couldn't argue against Doctor Ealing and I had seen worse injuries at the factory.

"Right, I'm going to need you to keep pressure on it whilst I suture this up. If you move, it could be catastrophic, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright. Robert, how are we doing?"

"He's pale and his pulse is racing. The sooner we get this done, the better," Robert said.

"Agreed. Remember, keep still."

I nodded and pressed my hands a little harder against the cut. Doctor Ealing manoeuvred around my hands with his suture needle as he made an attempt to suture the injury within the man's leg. He worked with lightning speed to put in two small sutures to keep the blood from spurting everywhere and he had tied the thread off, he nodded to me and I slowly took my hands off the wound. My hands were sticky with blood as Doctor Ealing pressed the pad of cloth to the wound and slowly round the bandage over the man's leg, tying it off at the end to keep it secure.

With the bandage secured, Doctor Ealing moved up to Robert and muttered something in his ear. Robert nodded and quickly scampered away to one of the cupboards, returning minutes later with a small jar of liquid which he passed over to his father. I watched as Doctor Ealing removed the cloth from the man's mouth and lifted his head slightly, pouring the liquid into his mouth and coaxing him to swallow it. Robert, meanwhile, moved away from his father and towards me though he had a small glint in his eye like he was up to something.

"Well, that was more than you get paid for," he muttered.

"Hm, definitely not what I expected to happen today. Here was me thinking all I could do was paperwork and the occasional drawing," I replied, stifling a laugh.

"Don't give up your day job. Miss Jenkins is going to kill you."

"Probably, I don't think I can convince her it was an accident."

"I expect not."

"Mr Crawly will need to stay here for a little while, I've sent a runner to the hospital and they should be sending a cart to collect him later on. Rosie, can you scrub the floor for me? I know you're here for paperwork and organising, but I cannot have patients being treated in this. You can put your apron in to soak for the rest of the day. If Miss Jenkins asks, the fault is all mine."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll untie it, you'll get blood all over the back of your dress," Robert said.

I could hardly refuse so stood in front of him as he worked to untie the knot that kept my apron secure. Once untied, he removed the apron and held onto it, gesturing me into the small room at the back of the office. With my apron in hand, Robert turned the tap on and nodded his head towards a small bar of soap by the side of the sink. Taking the signal, I took the soap and scrubbed the blood from my hands, Robert having to move my sleeves out the way so they wouldn't get blood or water on them. It took longer than I thought to remove the blood from my hands and under my nails. I didn't know how Doctor Ealing and Robert dealt with it, cleaning blood from their hands and clothing almost every other day.

Once the blood had been scrubbed off, Robert and I filled a large basin of water and dropped my apron into it. I took to the apron with some soap to try and help with the stain before leaving it to sit in the water. Miss Jenkins had never thought it necessary to remove blood from clothing seeing as it had never been an occupational hazard, but it would have been nice to know. Then again, neither of us expected me to be helping with a patient at the office, that had never been mentioned when I agreed to join Doctor Ealing.

Leaving the apron to soak, I filled a small bucket of water and took a brush from the counter to scrub the floor with. At least scrubbing a floor was part of my job. Whilst Robert and Doctor Ealing checked the bandage and kept their eyes on the man in question, I crouched down on the floor and dipped the brush in the water before setting to the task. I thought kneeling to scrub a floor was difficult, crouching was far worse. Within seconds my calves ached as did my knees. I didn't know how I would stand back up again.

As I scrubbed the floor, I couldn't help but wonder what Mrs Ealing would say if she had seen how close Robert and I had been in the other room. Although I had followed through with her order and avoided seeing Robert for three whole days, there was nothing I could do when Doctor Ealing had asked me into the office. I couldn't say no because it had been the arrangement for six months and questions would have been asked if I didn't go. Still, I was glad I had somewhere to go that didn't involve Mrs Ealing.

"First patient of the day and there's blood all over the floor. Why do I get the feeling that this is going to set the precedent for the whole day?" Doctor Ealing said, rolling his shirt sleeves down and glancing towards Robert.

"Because it probably will," Robert replied, placing several jars onto the shelves in the cupboard.

"Ever the optimist." Doctor Ealing shook his head towards Robert and then turned to look at me. "Your brother should be coming in today, Rosie. At least that's what he said when I saw him yesterday. Once you're done there, why don't you go over to the bakery and get us something? After this morning's events, I think we all need a little something sugary, preferably in the form of a cream cake."

"I'm almost done here, Sir," I said, scrubbing the last of the blood from the floor.

"That can't be a comfortable position to clean a floor," Robert said.

"It's not, but I didn't want to get blood on my dress. Getting back up might be a bit tricky." I dropped the brush into the bucket of water and placed my hands on my knees.

"Come here."

Robert held his hands out in front of him and I took them, allowing him to pull me up to a standing position whilst Doctor Ealing watched on. My knees ached as they stretched out and I stretched my back and neck out at the same time as they had stiffened up after all that time hunched over with my neck towards the ground. After stretching out my limbs, I glanced down towards my hands and realised they were still being held by Robert who himself noticed and instantly dropped my hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Doctor Ealing watching us and unless I was being deceived by my own eyesight, he appeared to be smiling slightly.

"Here, take this and Robert will tip the water away," Doctor Ealing said, fishing around in his pocket and pulling out a handful of coins which he handed over.

"Will I?" Robert asked.

"Yes."

Doctor Ealing slapped Robert on the back and chuckled to himself before returning to one of the cupboards to sort through it. With Doctor Ealing's back turned, Robert stuck his tongue out at him whilst I tucked the coins in the pocket of my dress. The coins clattered against the paper already tucked away and as Robert continued to make faces behind Doctor Ealing's back, I took it as my cue to leave him to it. Grabbing my shawl from the hook in the corridor, I slipped out the backdoor and down the front steps as I wrapped the shawl around my shoulders and pulled it tightly across my chest against the harsh winds.

Winter outside of the factory seemed completely different from Winter within its walls, but both meant spending a large portion of the time shivering against the cold. Back at the factory, we had thin blankets and dress that were far too flimsy to provide heat both in the dormitory and on the factory floor whilst we relied primarily on body-heat during the night. Away from the factory, I had a better dress, a shawl and a warm blanket at night, yet I missed snuggling up to Isabel on the Winter nights trying to keep us both warm. It was strange, there were things I missed about the factory, things I never thought I would have when I daydreamed about leaving for those seven years. I suppose it was because it had been my life for so long. It had been all I knew for years.

Pulling my shawl tightly over me, I meandered my way through London's streets and past all the people who were more bundled up then I was. The men walked around with long coats, the collars pulled up to protect their necks whilst the women walked around with shawls, or a coat and gloves. Anything worked to fight against the cold. I always thought moving around worked better to fight the cold than clothing. When I reached the bakery, I pushed open the door and almost hopped over the entranceway in a fight to keep the cold from following me into the shop. The heat from the ovens at the bakery warmed me almost instantly.

"Rosie? Blimey, it's been a while since I last saw you," Jack said, dusting his hands off on his apron.

"I know, a lot has happened recently," I replied.

"I asked Robert where you'd been, and he said you 'ad influenza."

"Hm, but I'm fine now. I'm helping out in the office today and Doctor Ealing thought we could do with a sugar boost. The first person we saw cut his leg with a saw and it caused quite the scene, if the constable had come, they might have thought someone had been murdered."

"So tha's three cream cakes then?"

"Sounds about right."

"Mr Martin made more penny buns then we need, I don't think the Doc will complain too much abou' 'em." Jack grinned as he placed three cream cakes and some penny buns onto a brown sheet of paper and started to wrap them up.

"Thank you, I'm sure Doctor Ealing will be pleased with anything as long as it contains sugar."

"I saw Suzanna the other day, she came in to get some buns for the young ones at the 'ouse. Seems to be doin' well for 'erself."

"She's got a knack for controlling the children there, Mrs Jesop might take her on full time. They think she's too old to learn the proper actions of a servant."

"Tha' would be nice. She'll be around 'ere a lot more."

"You sound like your sweet on here," I said jokingly.

"I'm keepin' my mouth shut. Pay up, you're scarin' my customers."

Laughing to myself, I pulled the coins from my pocket and handed them over to Jack, exchanging them for the paper bag. I bid Jack farewell and slipped out of the shop and back into the cold streets. The wind felt colder then it had before, I wished I had stayed in the shop for a little while longer so I could bask in the heat from the ovens. Instead, I raced back over the cobblestones as fast as I could to return to the warmth of the office and dive into the buns and cakes. It hadn't been all that long since breakfast, but my stomach groaned with hunger at the smell of the contents of the paper bag. Cream cakes always sounded better than breakfast – unless they were for breakfast.

As I went, I passed by the church we attended on the weekend and, despite the cold, found myself lingering at the gates to the graveyard. I never went in if I could help it. The last time I had stepped through those gates had been of Isabel's funeral and I couldn't bring myself to set foot in there again. I had tried, more times then I cared to admit, but I just couldn't do it. I always imagined walking down the road to see Isabel, as I did with the others, but now it was a walk to the graveyard. Isabel had been buried in a marked grave amongst people she never would have met thanks to the Ealing's. They had arranged everything after the constable had been unable to find any trace of Isabel's family. Having a marked grave meant she was important, someone people remembered. I didn't want her to be remembered, I wanted her to be with me.

I took one last glimpse through the iron gates and scurried back down the streets and towards the office. The paper in my pocket rustled as I took the stairs two at a time and twisted the door handle open, stepping into the warmth of the office. The fire from the main room crackled as I walked past the door and into the smaller room, grabbing a plate from the side and filling it with the cakes Jack had given us. I left the paperback in the back room and returned to Doctor Ealing and Robert. The man from before was gone and the chair he had been lying on wiped clean, it looked as though he had never been there. I placed the plate on the table and took my own cake off before the others attacked.

"Just what we needed! Mr Crawly was transferred to the hospital just now, hopefully, he got here fast enough, and he won't lose his leg," Doctor Ealing said, taking a cake off the plate.

"He was just lucky the accident happened down the road, he wouldn't have made it here otherwise," Robert added.

"Hm. I'd like to know how he managed to cut his leg with a saw, and so deep as well."

"A question we will never know the answer to."

Silence fell over us as we all tucked into the cream cakes, Robert ending up with sugar around his mouth and all over his shirt. After I had finished, Doctor Ealing set me the task of reorganising the paperwork on his desk, a task I had done every week I had been at the office. Somehow, he always managed to destroy my work and send papers flying all over the room and I would find them tucked away in cupboards with no idea how they got there. He lived exactly like James; in total chaos. The only difference being Doctor Ealing allowed me to clean the mess whilst James would have roasted me alive if I went anywhere near his so-called organisation.

Mid-way through my work, a knock came from the office door and whilst Robert went to answer it, I finished collecting the papers from various placed throughout the room and started to place them into piles. Why I bothered remained a mystery because I knew that come next week, the papers would be all over the place and I would have to do the same job all over again. I glanced up briefly as the sound of footsteps approached the main room and Robert entered shortly followed by Matthew. His hand was still heavily bandaged after the hammer incident a few weeks before and he smiled and waved at me before turning to Doctor Ealing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Doctor Ealing unravel the bandages and bend and twist Matthew's wrist and fingers to make sure they were in working order. He muttered something to Robert who nodded and grabbed something from the cupboard and handed it over to Matthew. The bandages were disposed of and were not replaced and as I finished up the last of my organisation skills, someone finally spoke aloud.

"It's healed up nicely and the cream will help protect the cut through its final stages of healing. I don't think the bandages are necessary anymore," Doctor Ealing said.

"Sebastian will be happy. He can't wait for his treehouse."

"Just be careful, I don't want you coming back in here having torn the cut wide open. We've had one dangerous injury today and I don't want to add to that."

"Rosie even helped with it, though her apron is a little worse for wear," Robert said, laughing slightly.

"If you're done there you can go and check on the apron, maybe scrub it with the washboard and leave it to dry over the fire. Miss Jenkins need be none the wiser if the blood comes out."

"Yes, sir," I said, shuffling the last of papers and leaving them on the desk.

"I'll come and help, I want to have a word with you anyway," Matthew said.

I nodded and I left the main room and entered the small room, Matthew followed but said nothing as I pulled a washboard out of a small gap between the cupboards and the wall and placed it in the basin of water. The soap and the water had done its job to a degree and the blood on the apron had turned into a light pink stain, I hoped a little scrubbing would remove it completely. Taking the bar of soap, I rubbed it against the pink mark and then took the apron and scrubbed it as hard as I could against the washboard, watching the pink bubbles fall into the water. My shoulder ached slightly as I scrubbed it, but I didn't mind all that much, I had grown used to the pain from my shoulder. Doctor Ealing may have thought it was fine, but it never had been, and I doubt it would be again.

"That can't be good for your shoulder," Matthew said.

"It's fine. Doctor Ealing gave me the all-clear, I wouldn't be doing this if he hadn't." I paused. "What did you want to talk about?"

"First, you and Robert. Is something going on there?"

"No! Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Alright, don't shoot the messenger. James mentioned something the other day, that's all." He tucked the jar of cream into his pocket and leant against the counters. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something else. James and I have been talking recently and with Christopher, on the way home we thought it was odd that you were still living and working with the Ealing's."

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, we were wondering if you wanted to come and live with either of us. It's entirely your choice and if you want to keep working then we won't try and coerce you into leaving. You can do whatever you feel necessary and feel free to tell me to shut up."

"I'll think about it," I mumbled.

"Alright, well I won't mention it again. Actually, I want to give you this. It's from Christopher, his boat docked for a few days in Spain, so he sent a letter to let us know, he included one for you."

Matthew handed me an envelope before pushing himself off the cabinet. He said no more on the matter as I tucked the letter into my pocket with my other pieces of paper and grabbed the apron out of the water. With Matthew's words swirling through my head, I carried the apron into the main room and draped it over the fireguard to dry. As I hung the apron up, I glanced around the room. Matthew was shaking hands with Doctor Ealing and Robert was subtly trying to steal a penny bun of the plate without anyone seeing him.

I didn't think I could choose between my family and those who had looked out for me when I was at my lowest.

~~~

A/N - We are back! I'm still working my way through Chapter Thirty, I really want to keep up with the weekly chapters and I have fallen behind a little because of all the work I have to do xD

Anyways, I threw you all into the deep end with this one! We got to see Doctor Ealing at work and Matthew had an interesting proposition for Rosie...

What do you think Rosie will choose?

Comment below!

Dedication - This chapter is dedicated to SheWhoLovesPineapple who is slowly making their way through TFG! We love a new reader :D

First Published - October 29th, 2019