Just One Word?

Chapter 36

•••Almas POV•••

I smoothly made my way out of bed without waking y/n. When I did my hair and flattened out my skirt, I moved over to y/ns side of the bed. I press the back of my hand carefully against her forehead and am relieved when I notice her fever went down. She stirred a bit, possibly from my hand being bit cold and slowly opened her eyes.

"Love, go back to sleep." I say softly and plant a kiss on her forehead. She hums a response before drifting off again. I pull the covers over her and sit her outfit on top of the nightstand beside the bed in case she wants to come down stairs. Afterwards I make my way quietly down the steps as to not wake the children. When I reach the kitchen, I take my pipe, lighting it as I look out through the small window in the kitchen. I then glance down at my pocket watch.

In about 36 minutes and 22 seconds I'll have to wake the children.

My gaze lifting from the watch, I tuck it into my coat pocket as I walk through the doorway suddenly bumping into someone.

"Sorry, Miss P."

"Emma? What are you doing up?" I ask and she gives me a glance.

"Did you find Miss Bluejay?" She asks and I nod, a look of visible relief going through her features. "Thank the birds, I was worried."

"Me too." I mutter more to myself.

"Where was she?"

"Outside the loop. I can't put a name to the exact location though and that shouldn't be much of your concerns." I say and I start to turn to leave.

"Wait! Miss Peregrine?" I glance back over with a raised eyebrow at her sudden demeanor.

"Yes?"

"Is she alright?"

"Emma, she's fine." I say with a sigh.

"I don't mean if she's hurt, I mean is she...mentally alright?" She says the last part quietly and I quickly answer.

"Emma, that is not something you should be worrying about." I say in a somewhat scolding tone. My tone softens though when I can sense her worry. "She will be alright, Miss Bloom. Now, would you like to help me set the table?" I ask, hoping to clear her mind for a while. She nods and we both head to the dining room.

•••Y/ns POV•••

I groan when I woke up, my head felt like someone was stabbing me in the skull. Immediately I brought my hand up to rub my forehead as I painfully opened my eyes to see who woke me. Olive was standing by the doorway, quietly shutting the doorwith her gloves hand. She glanced over at me when she heard me and sent me a small smile. I try to return it, but it probably look more like a grimace when the light from the window made my headache spike.

"Sorry to wake you, I was just checking in. Miss Peregrine wouldn't let us." She says and gives me a worried smile.

"It's alright." I say my voice sounding a bit raspy.

"Do you need anything?" She asks as she comes over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Is there anything here I could take medicine wise?" I ask and she pauses a moment as she thinks.

"There may be, but Miss Peregrine keeps them somewhere where no one can find it for certain reasons." She says and I was curious to know why but didn't question it. "I can ask her." She says and stands, almost leaving the room when suddenly the door opened and Alma was there.

"What are you doing in here?" She asks but her tone wasn't firm, instead it was gentle as if she understood why she was here.

"I was just checking on y/n." Olive says and I see Alma glance at me for a second before back at Olive. "She was just wondering if there was anything she could take for her fever."

"Alright, thank you." She says and Olive nods before making her way out the room. Alma shuts the door behind her and then casts me a small smile as she then takes a seat on the edge of the bed, bringing her hand to my forehead.

"Your fever seemed to go down a little." I hum an answer in acknowledgement and she tilts her head and narrows her eyes when she notices something. She brushes the tip of her finger against the small bruises that cover both sides of my jaw. "Was this from him?" She asks and I completely forgot about the marks. I didn't have to answer her for her to understand that it was. Her lips went into a thin line as she casted one last glance at them before returning her gaze to mine. "Headache I'm guessing?" I nod and she gets up from the bed and smoothly makes her way to the bathroom, soon emerging with 2 light blue pills in her hand. She sits them on the night stand.

"I'll go get you a drink." She says gently before leaving the room. While she was gone, I felt myself growing tired again and didn't realize I must have drifted off for a small moment when I felt her breath against my ear.

"Hey love." Her breath felt warm against my ear. I open my eyes and smile when I met her blue ones. Alma moved to sit on the side of the bed as she took one of my hands to help me up, my other hand pushing myself up from behind. I scoot myself up to a sitting position and she hands me the two pills that were originally on the nightstand. I bring my slightly shaky hand out to hers and she places them in my palm. I take them with the water and once I was done, I felt her lips press against mine. She pulled away though when she felt me gently push her away with a playful smile.

"Don't, I don't want you getting sick." I say and she chuckles as she gives me a small peck on the lips.

"It would be worth it, little bird." She says.

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