Rose was bored and annoyed. She was stuck on cleaning duty with Sheila and Mary. Mary was good. But Sheila was worse than she was better.

The trouble started when Mary had a bucket in her hands, and Sheila stuck her mop out just a little bit too far.

"Argh!"

In a splash, Mary was on the floor, the dirty bucket water all over it as well.

"Now look what you've done!" Sheila shouted, roughly pulling the poor girl up. "Mop that up!"

But Rose stepped in between them. "Don't you dare," she said to Mary, taking the mop she now had, and shoving it in Sheila's direction. "You did this! You mop it up!"

Unfortunately for her, she had banged the mop on the floor face up, so when Sheila took it, it gave her the perfect opportunity to shove it in her face.

"Stay out of this, Green-"

"Argh! Get off me-" Rose shouted as Sheila continued to wipe the dirty mop in her face.

"You need a good wash! Might get some of the green out of your eyes-"

"I said GET OFF ME-" Rose yelled, siezing the mop and turning it on Sheila, knocking her over and also shoving it in her face.

"Argh! Argh!" She let out a high pitched scream. "Ar-"

"What is this ungodly noise?"

When Matron and Macclesfield walked in, Rose quickly took the mop off Sheila and let her stand up.

Sheila spoke first. "It was Rose Green! She pushed the mop in my face!"

"She shoved it in mine first!" Rose shouted.

"So you are both to blame," Matron snarled. "I will not tolerate such infantile displays of wilful temper!

Rose and Sheila looked down as Matron nodded to Mary. "You clean this up."

Rose reluctantly handed her the mop as Matron dished out her fate. "Nurse Macclesfield, take these two to the infirmary."

"Yes, Matron," nodded Macclesfield, walking forward and siezing the backs of Rose and Sheila's dresses.

"We're going to be nurses?!" Rose exclaimed as she was walked past Matron.

"You're hardly fit to bare that title," Matron snapped back. "No, you'll be skivvvies. You will fetch, carry, work all day and late into the night until you learn the virtues of hard work, discipline and humility."

"Yes, Matron," the two girls murmured before they were marched from the room.

Rose rolled her eyes.

Great.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

"Stop it-"

"Get off me!"

"Get in there!"

So Macclesfield pushed a shouting and squirming Rose and Sheila into the infirmary, to a confused Nurse Winterson.

"Rose? Sheila? Are you sick? What's wrong?" She asked warily.

"Nothing," Macclesfield answered. "Well, nothing a good dose of hard work won't cure. Don't spare them and be sure to put them in their place."

Winterson nodded, finally getting why the girls were here. As Macclesfield left she said. "Nurse Ormsby, Nurse Green, I look forward to working with you."

Rose looked up at her and then at Sheila. She didn't care whether she was a skivvy or a nurse.

She would still have to work hard.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

Making beds was something Rose wasn't the best at, but making them under pressure was even worse.

"Lovely work, Nurse Ormsby, very neat," Winterson commented as she made her way round. "Maybe you could help Nurse Green over there?"

"No, she can't," Rose muttered bitterly.

But Sheila made her way round with a smirk on her face, tutting. "Oh Rose, let me show you how it's done-"

"Shove off, Sheila," Rose snapped.

But Sheila proceeded to undo all the work Rose had spent the past ten minutes on in a matter of seconds.

"Leave me alone!" Rose shouted.

"I'm just trying to help-"

"Well, you're not so get-"

"Stop-"

"Look what you've done!" Rose exclaimed when Sheila took the whole sheet off, making her angrier than ever.

Sheila snarled. "You started it-"

"And I'll finish it-"

They started fighting over the sheet, each pulling as hard as they could, until Sheila let go and sent Rose falling onto the next bed along, which contained a small boy.

"Ow!"

"I'm sorry!" Rose said as she hurriedly got up. "Are you okay?"

The boy smiled but Sheila shouted. "Of course he's not alright, you just squished him with your big, fat behind!"

"My big, fat behind's prettier than your face and when your patient's see that they'll die of fright!" Rose yelled back at her, turning to face her.

The boy's laughs made both the girls turn. He was sitting up, openly amused at the situation.

Sheila, of course, ruined it. "Don't know what you're laughing at!" She shouted forcefully at him. "You're riddled with consumption and you're not getting out of here anytime soon-!"

"Sheila Ormsby, you horrible bully, you take that back now!" Rose shrieked, turning Sheila to face her.

"No! Why should I? It's true!" Sheila bellowed at her.

A silence hung between them as Rose clenched her fists and fought the urge to punch the girl in front of her.

Then Sheila said. "Finish your work on your own, if you can. I'm off to help the proper nurses."

And away she went, Rose staring after her angrily.

She sat down on the bed she was supposed to be making and looked at the small boy in the bed. "Ignore her. She doesn't mean it."

"It's alright, I know what's wrong with me," the boy shrugged. "I'm Charlie, by the way."

She smiled, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you, Charlie, I'm Rose."

The boy smiled warmly at her, and Rose grinned.

Maybe this day would be better than she thought.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

She soon found out that Charlie was miserable at being locked up in the infirmary, not even able to do drill with the junior boys.

So Rose did what she was best at, and painted a picture in his mind.

"Just because you're body's stuck here, your mind doesn't have to be here," she smiled at the boy. "You can go anywhere, you just have to picture it."

"I'm picturing it," he answered interestedly.

"Good, where are you?" Rose leant forward slightly.

"On the shining big sea water of the Gitche Gumee, like Hiawatha," he answered.

"Hia-what?" Rose frowned.

"He's a Red Indian chief," Charlie explained. "He was in a poem Nurse Winnie read me."

Rose's face turned into a grin. "If you're a Red Indian, then you'll need a wigwam!"

So she excitedly set about, jumping over so she was next to Charlie on the bed and taking the sheet she and Sheila had fought over with her, starting to set it up around both of them before Nurse Winterson's voice came over to her.

"Nurse Green?"

Rose peeked out from the sheet. "Yes, Nurse Winterson?"

"Freshly starched sheets make the best wigwams, go and fetch one from the cupboard," smiled Winterson.

Rose grinned, getting up to go and get a sheet when Sheila came back in, a chamber pot in hand. Rose sniggered into her hand as her enemy exclaimed.

"What?! That's not fair! I've changed the sheet on every bed! I even washed the blimmin chamber pots! And all this time she's just been playing games with that boy!"

"'That boy' has a name," Rose commented "And so does 'she', whilst I'm at it."

"Rose, enough," Winterson said, turning to Sheila. "It may not seem fair to you, but this is the first time I've seen Charlie smile in a long time, so whatever you're doing, Rose, carry on."

Rose smiled. "Thank you, Nurse Winterson."

"And Sheila..." Winterson turned to the girl. "You've done a very good job today, you've really impressed me. I think you've got the potential to be an excellent nurse."

Sheila smirked as Winterson added. "But remember... it's not a competition."

Rose smiled.

It wasn't. But that didn't matter. She was winning anyway.

"We're gonna build the best wigwam the foundling hospital ever saw," she promised Charlie as she unfolded the sheet.

"Can we?" His face lit up. "And can we build it outside?"

Rose shrugged, turning round. "May we, Nurse Winterson?"

Winterson sighed before saying. "Not today, Charlie."

"But you said fresh air is good for me!" Charlie said.

"Yes, but we've got to be very careful that you don't overtire yourself," Winterson explained. "Maybe another day."

As she bustled about doing various infirmary chores, Charlie turned to Rose and said sadly. "But you might not be here another day. This might be our only chance!"

Rose sighed as Winterson announced that she was going to run an errand and that she and Sheila were in charge. Charlie was right.

This was their only chance.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

So Rose smuggled Charlie out the infirmary when Sheila wasn't looking, and took him outside to a small little area that was hedged in on all sides with only a small gap. It was their own little den.

After putting her hair up in plaits and putting a feather in her hair, she danced around Charlie, singing a song before coming to rest in front of him. "This is your reservation, Big Chief! You must keep guard!"

She handed Charlie his makeshift bow and he smiled. "Hiawatha must defend his tribe!"

However, it was then that Charlie shouted. "We're being invaded!"

Rose frowned, going forwards to look out the gap in the hedges and seeing none other than Walter run past, a heavy bag on his back.

Charlie ran out in front of him, brandishing the bow. "Halt! This is Hiawatha's reservation!"

"Chief! They're friends, not foes," Rose said, lowering the bow so Walter could run off.

"Oh, move it, shrimp!" Vince yelled, also running up next to Walter and shoving Charlie sighting.

"Leave him alone!" Rose shouted angrily after the boy.

"Rose!"

Rose's head snapped round to see Ned and Will, running up to her and stopping, both panting.

"What are you doing here?" Ned frowned at her.

"Helping out at the infirmary," Rose shrugged, before chuckling slightly. "What are you doing?"

"Raising the flag contest," Will rolled his eyes. "Winner gets to join the army."

Rose scoffed. "You? The army?"

"Don't look so surprised," Will couldn't help the smile that came on his face.

"Come on, Ned!" Walter panted after his friend.

"Stop chatting to your girlfriend and MOVE, Will!" Vince roared to his enemy.

Rose rolled her eyes as a faint flush came over Will's cheeks and the two boys ran off.

As they did, Charlie said sadly. "I wish I could see the race."

Rose smiled slightly. "Don't worry, we'll see them again soon."

𑁍𑁍𑁍

And they did. About twenty minutes later, Will and Ned came running back to her and Charlie, who were still in their same little hideout.

"Rose! You'll never believe what happened!" Ned shouted angrily as they ran in, dumping all of the bags and sitting down opposite the two.

"It was Vince and Judd..." sighed Will, who then went on to tell Rose a story of the two bullies trying to make him eat a slug.

"If they try and make you eat another slug, I'll punch one down their throats," Rose snarled.

"It's alright, Ned and Mathias got there at the right time," sighed Will. "But now Mathias has to beat Judd or their team's out."

It was then that Rose heard footprints hitting gravel roughly and leaned out to see Judd running at full speed towards them.

"Here they come now!"

And before anyone could stop him, Charlie ran out and collided head on with Judd, knocking him onto the gravel then sitting on top of him.

"Urgg! Argh! Urgh! Get off!"

"Kick him off-"

Rose almost smiled when she saw Mathias overtake them, but she also knew that she couldn't let Judd get ground away to nothing.

"Let him go now," she said, helping Charlie off him once Mathias had a good enough lead.

Vince helped Judd up and off they went, but not winning anymore.

"Did it work?" Charlie asked hesitantly.

"Think so, Mathias is winning," smiled Rose.

"Yeah, we should go," Will said, him and Ned standing up and saying goodbye to Rose before running off.

Rose smiled as she watched them go.

Thump.

Turning around, she expected to see Charlie, but she didn't.

That's because he was on the ground.

"Charlie? Charlie! Charlie, are you alright? Charlie! Charlie!"

𑁍𑁍𑁍

How Rose managed to get back to the infirmary with a boy that was out cold, she didn't know. But somehow, she did.

"Come on, Charlie," she murmured, soaking a wet cloth and putting it to the boy's forehead, just begging him to be okay.

Sheila was there, too. She had been outraged at the fact that Rose had broken the rules, but had diguided it, as she too was concerned for the boy.

"Keep soaking these rags in cold water, and when he wakes up, try and get him to drink," Sheila instructed Rose, filling a cup of water and handing it to her. "You drink this, too. You've probably got a touch of heatstroke yourself."

So Rose reluctantly took a swig of drink, and looked back down at Charlie.

Please be alright.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

When Nurse Winterson arrived, Charlie was awake, and sitting up, drinking slowly from a cup.

She sat on the end of the bed, as Rose and Sheila were on the bed opposite. "How are you feeling Charlie?"

He smiled. "Amazing! This is the best day ever!" He turned to the girls. "Rose really looked after me, she's great. And Sheila!"

Winterson grinned. "Well done, nurses."

As she walked away, Rose realised how much she and Sheila had worked together today.

Still, it didn't mean that they were friends.

Just that they were... closer.

Well, until they started fighting over the water jug.

Okay, so maybe they hadn't been brought that close together.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

That night, only Rose went to the tower out of the girls. And she was told a story by the boys. Both Walter and Will had been chosen to join the army. Walter had wanted to go, to find his foster dad who he knew was in Africa. But Will had stood up to the man, telling him that he wasn't going to take orders, that he was a general.

"You could've gone!" Ned told him. "We'd be alright!"

"You lot?" Will scoffed. "Don't make me laugh! If I wasn't around, Vince would rule this place."

"No he wouldn't, I would!" Rose joked with a laugh, making everyone join in.

When the laughter ceased, Rose sighed. "But you did the right thing, General Burton," she chuckled, doing a joke salute.

Will chuckled with her, his face alight with all the candles in the room.

"Yeah, you did."

Everyone looked shocked as they saw Walter come into the tower, Rose included.

"Walter?"

"I thought you joined the army!"

"Nah, I told them I'm staying here," replied Walter conversationally, taking a seat in between Gideon and Ned.

"Why?" Rose frowned.

"Cause a soldier doesn't just abandon his mates," shrugged Walter.

"But you wanted to find your foster dad!" Rose said sadly.

"Yeah, but, Africa's a big place," Walter sighed.

"But you mustn't give up hope," Rose told him.

"I'm not," smiled Walter. "I'll find him one day, but... you guys are enough family for me."

They all laughed at this, happy that he thought them family, before all hugging each other.

Rose hugged Will last, holding him tight as he said to her. "Today wasn't so bad after all, right?"

Rose smiled warmly. "No. It really wasn't."