He awoke the next morning to a knock on his door. “Alec time to wake up! I’ll be in the kitchen making breakfast, hurry up!” Rose yelled from behind the door. He groaned and rolled out of bed, and went into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and his hair, then went to the closet and got out a suit that was basically the same as the one he had on currently since he had forgotten to take off last night.
He got dressed and then tried to put on the tie, but couldn’t figure it out, so he brought it with him as he left the room and walked down the halls and finally made it to the kitchen.
Before he entered he could smell French toast cooking, and he heard his stomach grumble. “Good morning.” She said without turning from the stove as she put freshly cooked French toast onto a plate. “This is yours; eat as much as you want.” He took the plate and went to sit at the table, placing the tie on the back of his chair. He took a bite, and realizing how good it was scarfed the rest down, and turned as if he was about to get up to get more.
But before he got up he noticed Rose looking at him, or rather it seemed looking threw him. But when she noticed he saw her she quickly looked back to the stove and put a few more pieces of French toast onto a serving plate. Alec got up and got more, she smiled.
“Good?” She asked, he nodded enthusiastically. “That’s good, I’m glad.” She said as she went back to cooking. This time he ate slower. As he was eating she started talking, at first he thought to herself, and then realized it was directed to him. “The masters called this morning; they are stuck on a job, and won’t be back for a month or so. They also said we’ll be having guests while they’re away.” He groaned a little, it was hard enough remembering how to clean room and such without having to serve guests.
“Do you know who?” He asked rather bemused.
“Yes, Madame Stella and Sir Viren of the Caelum clan.” She said as she turned off the stove. He thought she would join him for breakfast, but instead she walked over to him and put on his tie for him again. “They’ll be here probably in a few days, so today we just have to clean out the double room for them; it should only take until lunch or so.” She turned and started cleaning off the counter, and leaned the utensils and pans she used to make the food. “So hurry and eat, sooner we start sooner we finish.”
He finished eating, and then gave her the plate. “Thanks.” He said, actually meaning it.
“Welcome.” She said absent mindedly. He felt rather offended since she seemed to not care, he pouted a little and then watched as she put dishes away. “Ready to get started?” She asked as she walked away. He realized even if he said no that she would make him.
Some odd days passed and there were not yet any guests, days passed with meals served at regular times, cleaning rooms and dishes and clothes. Alec got easily used to the pattern, even waking up some times on his own. But as the close of the third week came Alec realized Rose was seemingly getting less and less energetic. She started to get slower while working, and burned herself once or twice making food.
On Saturday he woke up relatively on time, he took a shower and got dressed, and waited in his room like he usually did, but when 30 minutes passed and she hadn’t come to his room he got curious and left his room and started down the hall to her room. He knocked first, and when he didn’t hear any movement he slowly opened the door. He peaked in and noticed she still lay in bed, sound asleep. He grinned mischievously, and quickly strode down the hall way into the kitchen and got a cup and filled it with cold water. He then walked back down the hall and peaked in her room again to make sure she was still asleep. When he confirmed she was he quietly entered and stood at the edge of her bed near her head. He couldn’t see her face because her hair had fallen over it. He smirked. “Wake up time!” He laughed and dumped the cold water on her head, soaking her, her pillow and sheets.
She shot up out of the bed with a yelp and looked around quickly before her gaze fell on him. He was laughing, and the empty cup in his hand lead her to know what had awoken her. She looked to the clock on the wall and saw she was late. “Sorry, I’ll make you breakfast now, just let me get dressed.” She said as she shakily walked to her closet. He stood watching, almost feeling bad now, since she had apologized rather than getting angry.
“It’s okay; I was just playing a joke on you.” He said standing awkwardly in her room as she took out her clothes for the day and put them on her bed. Though as he was about to leave he saw that she was leaning heavily on the frame of the closet while doing so. “Are you okay Rose?” He asked, walking over to make sure she wasn’t about to faint.
Before he got to close she turned and laughed slightly, her face somewhat pale. “I’m fine Alec, just tired, couldn’t fall asleep last night.” She laughed again and then shooed him out of the room so she could get changed. He stood in the hall until she came out some minutes later and then they started their day as normal, well until lunch.
The day went by slowly; Rose seemed to be working harder than usual just to keep up with his slow pace. He tried to move faster since usually they would be mostly don’t by 11, but it was already 12 and they were only half way done. He noticed her stopping every so often, as if she was straining herself just to stay awake, but she didn’t complain so he didn’t ask, he thought she was just tired.
They finally finished at about 2, and so they went to the kitchen to have lunch. She was making them sandwiches when the doorbell rang. She put down what she was doing and went to answer it. He started to follow but she had him stay back in the library which he thought seemed odd, though she seemed to be feeling better so he figured it was some rule here or something.
Rose opened the door and curtsied before a slight look of shock flashed across her face only to fade away into a smile. "Aqua, I wasn't expecting you." Rose said giving a quick hug to the girl who walked in. Aqua was about Roses height, maybe slightly taller. She had light blue hair that flowed down to the middle of her back and blue green eyes. She wore a halter style dress that went almost down to her knees. It was ruffled and the blues changed from light to dark, like lake water with small ripples catching light. A gold necklace encircled her neck, a heart dangled from it.
“Rose!” The girl squealed as Rose was backing out of the hug, and Aqua pulled her back in. Rose struggled a little, obviously having trouble breathing in the vice like grip of this seemingly frail girl. “Rose it’s been ages!”
