Grace woke up in a strange unfamiliar bed for the second time in a row, though this time her stomach felt like she hadn’t eaten in a week.

“Oh you’re awake dear,” a somewhat familiar voice said, from to her side. Grace bolted upright in a slight panic, before her gnawing stomach could stop her. “Calm down child,” Katherine purred, from her chair beside the bed. “You’ve been asleep for quite some time child,” she told Grace, before picking up a bowl of soup from the nightstand, while humming lightly. The soup was softly bubbling when she handed the bowl to Grace “Careful dear, the soup is a little hot.” Grace nodded, her mouth dry, after her countless hours of sleep and accepted the soup gratefully. She sipped the broth, scalding her tongue slightly, but felt the warmth of the soup seeping throughout her body and settling in her bones. Grace drained the whole bowl in seconds, before she finally came up gasping for air and something to cool her burning mouth. “Here’s some water hon,” Katherine said, handing Grace a cup that she accepted immediately, her mouth buzzing after inhaling the hot soup. “Don’t forget your vegetables dear,” Katherine gently reminded Grace, handing her the spoon that had lain on the table forgotten.

“Thank you,” Grace told her, suddenly remembering her manners and feeling very self-conscious.

“Don’t worry dear. The children were dreadfully worried for you. They had worried that you wouldn’t wake up, as you had collapsed two days ago.” Katherine told her, and as if on cue the 3 eldest children poked their head through the door and rushed over to the bed, delighted to see that Grace had finally awoken.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry for worrying all of you,” Grace exclaimed, grabbing the children and nearly knocking over her bowl of rapidly cooling leftovers in the process.

“You’re finally awake,” the young girl murmured into Grace’s chest, “we were worried about you,” she sniffed, still trapped in Grace’s embrace.

“Aw, I won’t do it again,” Grace told the small fox girl, patting her head, trying her best to avoid squishing her ears.

“Promise?” the girl asked, giving Grace the best puppy dog eyes she had ever seen, a feat made easier and even cuter by her other canine features.

“I promise,” Grace started, hesitating as she realized that she had never caught any of their names. Slightly embarrassed at this realization, Grace gave a big smile that was reflected back to her, before the small fox managed to wiggle out of her embrace and plop herself onto the bed next to her.

“My name is Cynthia. What’s yours?” the tiny fox told Grace, while burrowing herself in the bed covers and resting her head on Grace’s lap. 

“My name is Grace. Nice to meet you, Cynthia,” Grace replied, absentmindedly smoothing Cynthia’s messy hair.

Cynthia lay, purring contently on Grace’s lap, when one of the two boys, who had been awkwardly standing next to the bed during the whole interaction, finally spoke up, “We’re really glad that you’re awake Miss Grace … My name is Nicholas, by the way. Everyone calls me Nick, though.”

“And I’m Thomas, Miss,” the other boy told her in a scratchy voice, and giving her an awkward bow.

“Hello Nick and hi Thomas, it’s nice to meet you both,” Grace told them, giving them both another awkward but radiant smile.

“Now dear, you still have yet to finish your food,” Katherine spoke up, handing her a bowl of suspiciously still warm food. “Shoo boys,” she continued, “She has to rest up and eat, and don’t bother her too much young lady.”

“I won’t mom,” Cynthia said, taking her head out of Grace’s lap and sitting up on the bed, pouting slightly at the suggestion. Katherine simply gave her a knowing motherly look, while Grace struggled not to burn her tongue on the food.

“Ooh It’s still hot,” Grace exclaimed quietly, fanning her tongue in an attempt to cool her tongue off again.

“Have some more water honey,” Katherine said, filling her cup of water from a ceramic jug on the table, humming as she went. Grace took a big gulp of water from the freshly filled cup and let out a deep exhale. Filled with determination not to burn her tongue again she fiercely blew on her next bit of food, before it was stolen by the fox sat next to her.

“Hey,” Grace said, watching the little girl giggle, her face slowly turning pink, suddenly took the cup of water and downed the rest of it, gasping for air as the bit she had stolen was still hot.

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“Tsk, tsk,” Katherine said, “though I suppose it can’t be helped. I’ll go fetch you two another bowl soup, please try your best to share until I return.”

“Okay mom,” Cynthia called out, watching her leave the room, before turning to Grace expectedly. “You have pretty eyes.”

“Uh, thank you,” Grace replied, slightly taken aback at the sudden compliment, “I like your hair,” responding quickly after recovering.

“Thanks,” She replied chipperly, “I like to take good care of it along with my tail,” she finished, holding her fluffy tail like a pillow in her arms.

“I like your tail too,” Grace said, “It looks very soft and fluffy.” The door suddenly opened interrupting their conversation, and a small familiar looking dog ran in front of Katherine jumping onto the bed and curling up on the pillow.

Katherine chuckled, “He’s been sitting outside of the door the past couple days and now he finally decides to come in.” The dog briefly raised one ear in response and started snoring contently on the pillow. “Never mind him, I’ve brought some more soup for you two, along with some bread and I made cookies for after you two have finished your meal.”

“You only make cookies for special occasions,” Cynthia said excitedly, her tail escaping her grasp and wagging wildly behind her.

“I think this qualifies for a special occasion. Don’t you?” Katherine asked, setting two bowls of soup in front of them, “The cookies will be done in a little while, try to finish your meal before then.” Katherine set down another cup and filled them both with water and headed downstairs once again to keep an eye on her sons, who had become much livelier in the past hour. The two remained in bed slurping down their soup, regularly gulping down water as the soup seemed to stay hot no matter how hard they attempted to cool it down. Grace finished her soup first, setting her bowl down, she pushed herself off the bed and stood up very shakily using the table and wall for support.

“What are you doing?” Cynthia asked breathily, as she had been eating her very hot soup.

“I’m going to head downstairs,” Grace replied shakily, “I can’t stay cooped up in bed all day.”

“You’re not going to be able to get down the stairs,” Cynthia responded concernedly, “At least wait for my mom to come back and help you.”

“I can do this,” Grace said defiantly, “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Cynthia said clearly not convinced, “at least let me help you.”

“Ok,” Grace conceded, after seeing the concern welling in Cynthia’s eyes. Cynthia quickly hopped out of bed and shouldered Grace’s weight on her small frame as best as she could. Tear drops streamed down Grace’s face and dripped to the ground, as the tiny girl did her best to keep her upright as best as possible. Together, with additional help from the wall, they slowly made their way to the door. Tears still uncontrollably streaming from Grace’s face, they reached the door, before it was swung open by a surprised Katherine with a plate of cookies.

“Oh dear, you two,” Katherine said sympathetically, “let me help you. Here Cynthia take the cookies, I’ll take Grace.” Katherine made the exchange in one motion, swiftly placing the cookies in Cynthia’s hands and placing herself underneath Grace. “We should get you back to bed honey,” Katherine told Grace, while attempting to steer her back towards the bed.

“No,” Grace replied feebly, “I want to go downstairs.”

“You’re in no shape to do such a thing,” Katherine responded, “Are you sure you want to about this?”

“Yes,” Grace nodded.

“Fine, but afterwards it’s straight back to bed with you,” Katherine reluctantly agreed, “C’mon Cynthia it’s past your bedtime as well.” Cynthia nodded and scurried downstairs, leaving her mother to take care of Grace by herself. Grace leaned against the slightly taller woman, feeling less uncomfortable than when she had Cynthia helping prop her up, but still feeling a heavy unease in her stomach. As they made their way down the stairs, Grace couldn’t help but to notice how much more muscular Katherine was than she originally thought. The revelation made Grace think of Mary and wonder if she was faring any better than she currently was.